Nadine83

stonecutter- You must live near me then Yes, not many reviews on the Blacktown one but it takes me 15min to get to Castle Hill (not via M7) so I am happy to go there, especially with such great reviews!

Ok, no worries. Thanks Now to find a good vet LOL.

That is just so sad There are some very awful and very heartless people out there!!!

Thank you so much for your replies ladies TerraNik- We get the puppy at 9 weeks of age so how soon after should we start bringing her to puppy preschool? Also do we have to register before we attend or do we do that on the day/evening? Thanks

kirst_goldens- Hehe, I did reply to you the other day (you probably missed it) It said: kirst_goldens- Our puppy will be coming from the central coast of NSW. We are in Sydney. How about yours? Do you have long to wait? smoothiegirl- Lovely picture Jakemon- Sounds like you have been busy! She seems like a fast learner too! What breed is she? (sorry I am fairly new to the thread).

Naomi- How gorgeous! Our puppy is coming to us at 9 weeks but it's a larger breed (Golden Retriever). 6.5 weeks left to wait LOL.

My husband and myself and our two girls are going to be welcoming a Golden Retriever puppy to our family in April. I have read that puppy preschool is important so I started searching for local ones and came across Hills District Kennel and Training club. I would love to hear experiences you have had (good or bad). Thanks

Naomi and Smoothiegirl- Such gorgeous puppy pics kirst_goldens- Ours comes to us in April too Naomi- I haven't gone to visit yet but not sure on how long I would stay. We have to drive 3.5hrs to get to the breeder so it won't be a rushed visit When we drove up to meet the breeder, she had pups at the time. I think we stayed for 1.5hrs chatting to her and playing with the pups.

Thanks for the welcome everyone WhiskedAway- she is so beautiful! PointerMum- Welcome I am a newbie too. Naomi- Enjoy visiting your pup! kirst_goldens- Our puppy will be coming from the central coast of NSW. We are in Sydney How about yours? Do you have long to wait? SmoothieGirl- Yay! What an exciting day for you. Looking forward to the photos.

I am guessing this thread is for any breed? If so I would love to join in We (my husband and 2 daughters) are looking forward to welcoming our new Golden Retriever pup to our family in April. Pups are currently 12 days old so we still have a bit of a wait!

I hope your hand is ok! And I agree in that your dog would not have known it was your hand. I have been reading a good book and it says to pull the dog away by it's tail if they are fighting. So maybe try that if it happens again.....hopefully you won't need to though!

Sorry to hear of your loss :D What a beautiful story. She sounded like a lovely girl. RIP Maggie.

A friend of a friend knows some Malamute breeders and one of them is going to have a look at him tomorrow! Oh I hope this is the start of a happy ending! Please keep your fingers crossed for this beautiful boy :cool:

Aww, the poor thing. I really wish people would be treated the way they treat animals!!!! It's just not right I have posted the link on my Facebook page hoping someone may know someone that can help out. I just wish I could help him myself

I just wanted to say that I am sorry your dog (and you) have to go through this I am not sure how you would approach the breeder about this (I am not a dog owner yet so am unexperienced) but I hope someone can help you out.

How much does your dog cost you per month (including food, pet insurance, vaccinations, worming, flea treatments and any other expenses they incur)? Thanks ;)

There are too many replies for me to thank all of you personally but I do appreciate all of your replies and for sharing your thoughts, advice and stories with me! We have decided on a breed and we think we have lined up a breeder (we need to visit them first) We will get the other breed later on down the track. gsdog2- That's very wrong. By the sounds of it that womans dog was probably more vicious then your GS! The only dogs that I get nervous about are dogs that roam around the streets on their own.

Wow, so many repsonses! Thankyou to all of you for making an effort to respond. It's much appreciated I know that which ever breed we decide to go with that they will need to be trained etc from day 1. Luckily I grew up with dogs so I learnt a lot by watching my parents, and when older helped as well. My children will be taught to respect the dog and treat the dog gently as well. There will be no teasing the dog. I see this so often and think it is just cruel! You can clearly see the dog doesn't like it and the owners do nothing about it. Kids need to learn how to treat a dog just as much as a dog needs to learn it's place. Our Shepherds were great dogs but Kim (the female) hated birds etc and Rex (the male) hated little dogs (with a passion) and he would bite (and probably even kill them) if you let him. But then kids could tug on their tails, look in their mouth, pull their ears, take toys away etc and they wouldn't be bothered by it. So I guess each dog is quite individual and alot is determined by their bloodline and then how they are treated once in your care. I think (and by what alot of you have said) the key is to do the research, find the breed my husband and I are happy with and find a good breeder! (which I have hopefully done). Thankyou again everyone for all of your help and advice.

Hi, I am new to the forums so I am hoping I am posting this in the correct section. I have a bit of a dilemma and am stuck on which of the 2 breeds to go with. My husband and I have 2 young daughters so the temperament of the dog is VERY important to us. I have done alot of researching and also looked into breeders and found a couple (one for each breed) that I like. I grew up with 2 German Shepherds and they were just so loving, gentle, intelligent and gave us so much joy. But I know that you can get biters. How do you know that the dog comes from a bloodline of biters? Where do you get this sort of information from? The breeder I have found for this breed seems to be lovely and her dogs have grown up around children. She said in all her 36 years of owning and breeding shepherds, she has never had a biter. They have all had great temperaments. I also love the Golden Retriever and have read they are great with kids and as a family pet. The breeder I liked for this breed seems very passionate but they don't have any children, so the dogs wouldn't get that contact with kids. I am not sure if this is important or not.... I am a stay at home mum, so the dog will mostly have company. We plan to go to dog training with it and it will get it's daily walks etc. So I was wondering, would you personally choose the German Shepherd or the Golden Retriever? And why? Thanks