Genabee

So sorry to hear of this Teebs. It is never easy. I hope your children are doing ok. In our house, this was the hardest part, watching our children grieve. Sending you all much love.

Thank you everyone for your condolences. It means a lot. Stellnme, I foresee we will most likely get another fury friend as some point in the not too distant future. As broken hearted as we are, I believe it is important for my children to grow up with a pet (well, a dog...). They have so much to offer and learn. Particularly little boys. Both of them have already started asking about another one (and brainstorming names! ).

I must confess I have been absent from DOL for a few years. Life really got in the way of my online social life! I also found my groove with my crazy pup and didn't have the same need to seek advice or research everything dog like I once did. However at this time, it feels like the right thing to do, to honour Genevieve, as I shared so much of her puppyhood here. We started here (from finding her breeder) and so we will end here. In May 2010 we bought home our beautiful 8 week old CKCS pup Genevieve. My husband bought her for me as he was going to be travelling extensively for work, leaving me by myself in our house for sustained periods of time. She was a handful and I am pretty sure I suffered some form of Post Natal Doggy Depression!!! She had a soft spot for electrical appliances and Tuffy Toys. Once she destroyed a pair of prescription glasses. Right to the very end she would bark at anything on wheels, door bells on TV shows (which I never understood because we have NEVER had a door bell in any of our homes!) and people that walked past our home but didn't stop to pat her! Affectionately referred to as the 'Friendliest dog in Glen Iris', she grew up to be a beautiful companion and fur sister to our two children who came along after her. She was there through the turbulent times of having babies, losing babies, career changes, interstate moves, moving houses, and on the list goes. She loved fiercely and not once did I ever see her retaliate or act untoward in anyway (and God knows my children have given her enough reasons to!). From the minute our children came in to the world she instinctively protected them. The bond she had with them was so special and it breaks my heart that they no longer have their 'Genabee' to play with. On Wednesday evening as we were all coming in the door (at an unusually late hour for us), Genevieve managed to escape out and ran down our drive way to the street. My husband went after her. Unfortunately she took this to be a game and was running at lightening speed. She shot out in front of a car and the driver did not see until it was too late. She died on impact. Prior to this, Genevieve had never been sick a day in her life. We had never had cause to take her to the vet (other than her regular vacs/check ups) and she was in tip-top condition. Still very much a puppy in spirit and tragically her playfulness led to her demise. Losing Genevieve has devastated our family. My children don't know life without a dog. Every night my 2 year old would hug and kiss her good night before he goes to bed. The past few nights have been incredibly painful as he wanders around trying to find her. Each day she would accompany my 7 year old as we walked her to school. Now she is confronting grief for the first time and planning a memorial/wake for her beloved pup. Genevieve was my 'furborn', the first baby I raised. She has taught us what unconditional love really is. So incredibly loyal and our evenings on the couch will never be the same again. We loved you more than you will ever know Gevo. We hope you didn't suffer and that you are now frolicking with Aurora, eating whatever you please at Rainbow Bridge. Love from Mumma, Daddy, Maddie and Raffi 20.03.2010 - 08.08.2018

Hi Gretel, The size she is now is good - I don't want her to put on any more weight I don't think. There seems to be a fine line between the right size and fat with cavs!! What is the advantage with feeding raw meat over cooked meat? I've never given her raw meat to be honest. She will gulp down a chicken neck, but invariably ends up with loose stools... I've tried other bones from the butcher (lamb and beef) and they do the same thing. So if she gets a bone, it's usually chicken necks or wings. How much should she be eating in one day?

Hi Ladies! I haven't been in for a while! I hope you and your doglets are all well! I come in with a question... Genevieve is now 4. Since she was a puppy, we have had her on various premium kibbles. She hates them all and pretty much only eats them when she has starved herself for a couple of days. She gets rice whenever we have it (which is about 3 times a week) and she will hove up whatever scraps she can off the floor, or whatever she can convince Madeleine to sneak her under the table. Also will give her the odd egg, tin of sardines and other bits and pieces, but not as a regular thing. Bones seem to give her the runs, so she gets them very rarely. She always has chews and raw hides on the go. We've had issues keeping weight on her. Recently she has been staying with a friend who has been feeding her rice, cooked mince and cooked mix veg every day. She looks great and seems to love it! She has put on a bit of weight which is so nice to see! So I have decided to go raw at home and do away with the kibble. I have tried bashing the kibble into crumbs and string it through the rice/meat mix but she still refuses to eat it. I'm over it. So, I cooked up 2kg kangaroo mince, a bag of frozen mixed veg and a rice cooker full of rice, that I have portioned out into approx. 100gm serves (she gets a serve morning and night). What other mince meats are good to use? Do I need to be incorporating more variety than this? I am also going to go back to giving her sardines regularly. I want to keep it as easy maintenance for me as I can, but as balanced as I can for her. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks Ladies!

Hi Teebs, I don't post a whole lot these days, but felt the need to share with you. My daughter is now 2 and I have struggled with post natal depression and anxiety since she was born. It comes and goes in waves - some times I feel completely normal, other days I don't want to get out of bed. Before Madeleine was born, Genevieve was walked religiously and we did obedience classes once a week. I envied all the mothers in the neighbourhood who I would see walking their babies and their dogs, as it is all I wanted to do!! 26 weeks into my pregnancy I was hospitalised and put on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. Poor Genevieve hasn't been to an obedience class since. Genevieve is a great family pet and I love her to bits. But I have days when I wish we didn't have her. I feel awful to say that, but it is true. These thoughts usually coincide with similar thoughts about my daughter/husband/self. My point is, you are not alone. The realities of motherhood are very different from the ideals we have beforehand. While I used to envy those mothers walking their babies and dogs each morning, I now realise it was probably because if they stayed in the house another second they may be at risk of harming one of them. Are you able to take bub outside (perhaps in a hug-a-bub or similar?) with you for short bursts in the day, so you can both interact with your dog? Maybe from there, you can gradually invite the dog inside again. Apart from taking the edge off your Dog-Mummy guilt, just being outside will help lift your spirits. The advantage of just going outside at home, is that you don't have to get dressed if you don't want to! I do find that taking both for a walk helps me, especially on days when Madeleine just wants to whinge. She can scream as much as she likes in the pram, outside, and it doesn't seem to bother me anywhere near as much as it does in the house. We used a couple of strategically placed child safety gates when Madeleine was a newbie, but these days both human and fur kids roam free. Genevieve still doesn't get walked as often as she used to, especially in winter, but she doesn't seem to mind for the most part. Madeleine chases her around enough at home, so a quick stroll around to the shops for milk suffices her. She seems to love 7pm when she can stretch out on the couch, child free! :) I generally don't take her to the park or beach without Hubby there, as I can't be watching two of them at the same time. If one runs off, there would be no one to supervise the other. So I completely empathise with how you are feeling overwhelmed by it all. You are not a bad Mum (to either dog or baby). It is a huge adjustment. You will work through it. If you do decide that rehoming is the option for you, don't make the decision on a bad day. Sit with it for a couple of weeks first. You don't want to do something in haste, that you may regret later. Good luck and chin up!

You are not alone. Far from it. This is what Genevieve has done to her brand new, rated 9/10 for toughness, Tuffy Toy: She hasn't even had the bloody thing for 7 days!!!! She is a goat dog. A perfect example of a dog that doesn't live up to her breed description. If I wanted a dog that would destroy things, I would have got a Lab!!! Not a Cav!!! If it is not her toys she is destroying, it is more useful things, like... Lamps! To her collection, she has added: 2 other lamps, 2 lap top chargers, 3 phone charges, 1 iron, 1 GHD hair straightener, 1 sofa (all corners), 1 breast feeding chair (needless to say, I no longer use for breast feeding)... She has also eaten the better part of a nylabone. Goat Dog.

Love the Elbie pics!

Hello! Dandybrush - I can't really answer your question as I only have one mutlet... I would ordinarily suggest ignoring him, but if that is going to drive your neighbours nuts, it might not be the best solution for everyone. Have you tried walking him first? Perhaps if he is a bit warn out, he will be quiet for long enough for you to be out with Willow.... Just a thought! Aussie - DWD is dancing with the dogs. I am not sure if someone has answered your question or not!! Hi Everyone else! Loving the pics Clastic. Not much to report on my front. Genevieve and I went to visit my friend and her German Pointer pup on Saturday afternoon/evening. I found it very stressful. Jager (my friend's pup) is about 12 weeks old, twice Genevieve's size (hasn't been fixed and they aren't planning to) and all he wanted to do was jump on Genevieve. He was only playing and certainly wasn't trying to hurt her, but poor Genevieve just hated every minute of it. Every now and then she would turn around and swipe him and give him what for, but then she would just run off again - which of course Jager thought was all part of the game! G loves to say hello to another dog, but then she likes to bugger off too!!! She doesn't really like playing a whole lot with other dogs, certainly not for prolonged periods of time. We did separate them a couple of times, taking in turns in crating them, having one inside while the other was out etc. By the time I was leaving, she was giving me the saddest look "Take me home Mum! Puhlease!!!" I felt so sad and like I was letting her down. I didn't relax the whole time I was with my friend because I just felt so guilty. I won't be in a hurry to have them do that again. I am not really sure how to approach this kind of behaviour. We have a great dog community at our local park and she loves running around with them - but always comes back to Mum and Dad. There are a couple of large dogs down there who intimidate her, but they usually don't hang around long enough for it to be problematic - or they end up picking on another dog closer to their own size. A few times G has run off to the other side of the park and just found herself a comfy spot and lied down - just to get away from all the dogs! While it looks really cute (and we sympathise - because Hubby and I are exactly the same with people!!!!! Maybe she is just too much like us!!??), I know it is not all that healthy for her. She rarely ever barks at other dogs and is always the first to submit (sometimes she will lie down about a couple of metres away from another dog, as they are approaching one another). How do we teach her to be more assertive with other dogs? She was like this as a puppy at puppy school and obedience too, she would always try to hide in between my legs (which I wouldn't let her do, I would always side step her or widen my legs way over her) or under chairs. We have had play dates with other dogs both at our house and theirs and it has always just been much of the same.... Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated!

Welcome Rumor!!!!!!!! Loving the not-so-happy raincoat pics Clastic!!!!!

Woof! It must be the shrink in me.... I knew all that time at uni would pay off eventually!!!! I spent a while writing the post. I tried to put myself in Kylie's shoes... and to offer constructive points rather than advice so to speak. And I remember how hard it was in the early days with Genevieve. Hell, how hard it can be now. Sure, it has got easier in some regards. But at the same time each new day presents new challenges. And some how I think I am still yet to have the biggest one... We have no idea how she will cope with a baby in the house, or how we (I!!!) will cope having a dog and a baby to think about. But we will work it out as we come to it I guess. I just hope KG doesn't take it the wrong way... I was a good Mum this morning! I took G for a short walk to the park. I didn't let her off lead though... SHe was most disappointed! As I was by myself and there was no one else at the park, I really didn't want to risk her running off as I wouldn't have been able to go after her. Normally when we have her off lead at the park, there are heaps of dogs around and Hubby is there to chase after her if need be... I tried running after her the other day when she chased after a toddler and it seriously was not a good look!

Kylie Girl, just thought I would respond to this... One thing I have learned form DOL... Everyone has a different approach to getting results from their dogs. Unless you are belting the crap out of your dog, I don't think any one approach is wrong. What might be too much for one dog, is not enough for another. I remember reading about Elbie as a puppy and KTB would spend HOURS training him - I couldn't compete!!!! (I am pretty sure that woman has 48 hours in her day!!! ). But I also knew that Genevieve didn't need that much stimulation either. Each dog is different. (BTW, I use Elbie as my comparison as he and Genevieve are about the same age and they were achieving similar things at the same time. KTB kept me sane in the early days because I knew she was sharing similar frustrations). It pays to stand back for a moment and assess ECHO for what ECHO needs. And he will mentally mature in spurts here and there, and slow down at other times, much like he will physically. The trick is to strike when you know his mind is being sponge like and soaking it up, but back off when you aren't getting anywhere. Backing off when you need to does not mean you are abandoning everything you have achieved thus far, it means you are giving him time to process it all. Like kids, doglets need down time too. In teaching them things, you need to be able to read into their behaviour. They are behaving a certain way at a certain time because they are trying to tell us something. It is up to us to interpret what that is. I think I may have said ages before, but if the clicker isn't working, try something else. You can always come back to the clicker later... I know you have invested a lot of time and patience (probably money too) into it, but if it isn't working... Find what his currency is. If it is treats/toys/praise etc. Use it to your advantage. A dog behaviouralist told me that when rewarding our dogs, we should only be using ONE form of praise at a time. Either a treat, praise, pat or toy. The only exception to this was for toilet training - when I had permission to use all of them!! The theory behind this, was that they didn't become too accustomed to one kind of reward over another... I can't say I have subscribed to that theory ALL the time, but certainly when she starts acting up, I go back to basics. She soon works out what I want from her. Yes, it took A LOT of time and patience on my part in the early days, but now... she's alright. Nothing special, no circus performer, but she does the basic things I need her to do. Manners. I don't profess to have the world's best behaved dog - and the others in here will remember how I struggled with Genevieve when she was about Echo's age (seriously, I was tearing my hair out and ready to give her away. I would be sitting on the floor in tears some evenings)... But sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Elbie for example has always been thirsty to learn more tricks and will do ANYTHING for food. Genevieve on the other hand, jsut wants to play and snuggle (often when I don't want to or have time to, which is when she becomes naughty. Now that I have worked this out, I can deal with it a lot more effectively and it is less of a problem for me). It is not worth stressing yourself out over and certainly isn't worth getting yourself into such a state that you aren't enjoying your dog. I have to remind myself every now and then why I wanted Genevieve in the first place and what behaviours are and are not acceptable in my house. When I scale it all back and remember those few basic things, I can let the other things go. By all accounts Echo isn't a naughty, evil, nasty dog... He is just a teenager!!! Anyway, I hope I make sense and didn't offend. Certainly not my intention. If anything, I can understand your frustrations as when I first got G, I had all sorts of ideas about how she would be and behave etc... But it just didn't turn out like that. Since I have re-adjusted my expectations, I enjoy my dog so much more. Now that I have that with her, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Hi People and Doglets!!! I hope you aren't all too full from chocolate! We had a lovely family weekend. We took Genevieve down to Ocean Grove Beach and she got to hoon around like a maniac. I have been having pre-labour contractions so the walk was great for me too, as the drive down was horrendous!. Poor Hubby was so tired because Genevieve and I were like energiser bunnies, I could have kept walking all day!! We just kept going! That night though, Genevieve was sooooo exhausticated (so was I!)! On the good side though, yet again she was an awesome beach dog! We have found her to be extremely well behaved off lead at the beach. I think because they are generally more contained and we are more relaxed about it... She doesn't like the water so never goes near it. She just runs the length of the beach (sand). If we get too far ahead or behind her, she heads back to us as for some reason (one I am not knocking) she has to have us in her sights. She has been good at the park also, but I still don't feel brave enough to take her off lead by myself (pregnant lady running after excited mini dog is not a good look). If there are other dogs and their people around, she usually hangs around close (until the dogs give her the shits and she goes and finds a quiet spot to rest in!). She LOVES kids though, so always makes a bee line for them - way more exciting than other dogs. I worry that not every one is a dog person and to a little kid, she could be scary. I don't want to get a bad rep as the waddler with the naughty pup!!! So all in all, we are pretty happy with her off lead behaviour. Happy Birthday Max! Loving the photos of Echo Kylie Girl. I'll add my two cents worth (if it helps!). Like Betsy, I went through a stage of sheer frustration with Genevieve where she wouldn't do a whole lot, other than sit, high five and drop (or down as we call it in our house). And she would do that for everything, no matter what you asked her to do (I think she thought she was covering all her bases!!!!). Anyway, I backed right off for a while. A few weeks later when I had built my patience back up and G had a bit of a growth spurt, she was more responsive again. I use treats for training and I would wean her one trick at a time. She would only ever get a treat for the new trick she was learning, not the ones she already had under her belt. Took her a few goes, but eventually it clicked in her head. Now I can get her to sit, high five, drop, roll over, stay, stand, kiss and touch on command without a treat and in any order of succession. She does get them from time to time for things, just to keep her on her toes... By nature she just wants to please though, so occasionally she just randomly does a bunch of things out of nowhere!! I mainly use treats now to bribe her to do things... I just have to say 'Do you want a treat!?' and she cocks her head and comes running!!! Oh, and stand took some time. As others have suggested, I taught it from the 'sit' position and lured her forward with a treat - which she didn't get until she held the position. I started off making her just get up and treating and progressed to staying in the position. Has been a saviour for bathing her!!! She does get lots of treats when she is being bathed/dried. Genevieve hasn't learnt a whole bunch new of late. We have been working on her off lead recall and 'bring it back' - retrieving the ball/toy/object. Let's just say they don't call cavs retrievers for a very good reason!!! She LOVES to chase the ball if you throw it, but has no intention in bringing it back!!! It is pretty funny to watch! She always runs straight past it and then does this big circle around it and comes back to you - then sits so politely right in front of your feet!!!!! As if to say 'Do I get a treat now!?'. Prompting her to 'Well get your ball!' and she runs back to it and finally brings it back!!!! Silly doglet!

I love those pics of Ziggy!! I am so there is Kuma - the cash cow is irritating!!!

Babies? On sale??? What have I missed???? Well, so far... doglet is behaving!