Genabee

Genevieve would wear one.... if she hadn't worked out how to remove it! She (somehow) takes it off and then runs around with it in her mouth, chewing on it! Almost as if to say 'haha... look at me Mum! Take that!!'. As we try to walk her daily, it is more convenient if she has it on, so we can just clip her lead on. Also, if I need to pick her up for anything , its easier to grab her collar when I am chasing her around. This latest trick of removing her collar has only been since we bought her a new one. She never did it with the old on. Aurora rarely has hers on, she is very much an 'at home' dog... She is microchipped so if (by some highly unlikely chance) she escapes we hope the kind natured people in the street would hand her in.

Yes, we have a release word. She stays when we ask her to sit.... but for some reason, she is not so keen on 'staying' while lying down - at least not when we have asked her to do so! I will keep working on it. I read somewhere that drop/down, is like push ups for dogs and that they should do 50 per day! Not that I get her to do anywhere near that, but maybe I should up the anti!

When we went to view the litter to pick out Genevieve, the breeder asked us if we had a name picked out for her already. We had our hearts set on the name ' Genevieve', so she was registered as 'Lady Genevieve'. At home we call her Genevieve or G for short. When we are talking about her amongst ourselves, we refer to her as Little G. Or if she has been naughty, I usually hear 'That bloody dog of yours...!'. Because she's only HIS dog when she behaves!!!! :p

They are such cute stories - and so reinforce why we have doggie friends in our lives. My childhood dog... she would always hear the theme music from the afternoon soap opera, 'Passions'. They used to play the song at the beginning and the end of each show. Whenever she heard it, should would go mental!!! She would run up to the TV and bark at it until the song ended. Then she would jump up on the couch, and proceed to watch it!!!! :p After a while, she would start barking at the introduction to the show if they showed a particular character (the bit they show before the theme music kicks in). Needless to say we all used to dive for the remote control to mute the TV at the beginning and end of the show. She drove us insane! I think she was trying to protect us from the evil characters in the (stupid, very stupid) show. Mind you, she seemed to be fine while it was on! The show has been off air for a few years now, but my sister downloaded the theme song and plays it occasionally to wind the dog up! And she still barks at it.... 5 years on!

Once they are lying down, how do you get them to stay?!!!

It's helped me! Not that Genevieve is left outside, but I love the way you make him work for his food! I make G sit and wait, then shake hands and lie down. I never thought to do any of the other things you mentioned! Might give it a go! The other tricks you mentioned (waving etc), are tips on training those found in the training section of the forum?

Bwahahaha that post is awesome. I'm reading it now - and it should TOTALLY be a sticky post so that daunted newbies like me don't feel so bad I just had a read and had a very good laugh! You people feed your dogs maccas??? I don't even feed myself that! I totally agree! I have had moments with things where I felt others thought I was the devil dog mother! But I have learnt to take it in my stride... I think fundamentally, if you have a happy, healthy dog, you are half way there. And all of us who bother to visit, read and post at this site, whether or not everyone else agrees with our approach to things, we have our pooches best interests at heart. It is still ok to agree to disagree.

I'm interested!

Excitement. I make Genevieve sit, as she tries to beat me into the cupboard to get the food, then into the drawer to get the scales.... and on and on it goes! And if she doesn't sit, I stop moving... she quickly sits again. She knows it will take longer to eat if she goes too mental!!! They are funny little things though! Anyone would think they never get fed the way they carry on!

Awwww.... that is just too cute!

That is what we tried to do with the back garden beds... made it her own area so to speak. They look like sandpits as nothing has been in them.... just sand and her toys! I didn't want to do the clamshell thing, as we have one for my niece to play in when she comes over. It's covered over in the corner when she is not playing in it, but I thought that would be confusing if we had one for Little G... to then be kicking her out of Ciel's! Someone suggested to me to leave a few half full water bottles along the garden beds.... does this really work or is it an old wives tale? I may just have to keep her out of the front yard full stop... Our last dog must have been a freak of nature, as she didn't chew and didn't dare go near the garden beds!! Now I am getting it back two-fold! Genevieve tries to dig up the grass!!!!!!

Assuming there was no adverse reaction to the Advance that she did eat, try just the advance and see what happens.... the worst that will happen will be she has unusual bowel movements... You can always go back to mixing in the Supercoat. I think it is mainly puppies that are of concern. I could be wrong, but a lot of dogs eat anything in their paths and survive through it!

Perhaps if you mix the Eukanuba with another food source, maybe the hyperactivity will lessen enough that you could feed out the bag? It would certainly give a good indication if the food is the source, I would think.

My sister got a Westie puppy earlier this year. They had a hard time finding someone in WA and ended up getting Lily sent over from Melbourne. I don't know if it was due to the lack of Westie breeders in general, or if it was that no one had a litter at the time. That being said, I know they were on a waiting list for Lily before she was conceived! Good luck! I am sure the right pup will come to you soon!

I would love to think Genevieve could be a dog like the ones you are all describing. I guess I will have to wait until she is well past puppyhood! At the moment she would just pee all over whoever she was supposed to be making feel better... somehow I don't think that would win her any brownie points!! I work afternoons, so usually have my mornings to keep busy. It would be nice to do something like this one morning a week. I like the thought of giving something back to the community... one day that could be me, really sick and frail. And I would like to think someone could take time out of their busy lives to say hello. I'd love to visit sick kids as well.... How do you do it and not go home bawling your eyes out? I love the banana trick Barb!!! That is sooo cool!

That is a lovely idea!! A (very young) friend of my mother - in law's was diagnosed with cancer last year. His parents bought him a Cavvie puppy and the dog goes everywhere with him, chemo etc. The sad truth is that this guy probably won't see this Christmas, but by all accounts he was lucky to see last Christmas. His doctors believe his dog has a lot to do with it - his state of mind. He has a reason to keep going, to tend to the dog etc. There has been heaps of research on the impact an animal has on the elderly and terminal patients. There should be more of this kind of thing. It doesn't hurt to do someone else a good deed. And if a pat and a hello from a wagging tail is it, how hard can it be?

Oh no! The poor roses!! I hope he didn't get thorns in his teeth! Maybe I will have to try the chicken mesh.... as an added precautionary measure. I guess she turns out to be part dog part monkey

What is a bambi ear? Is that similar to a lamb or pig ear?

Go Mrs D!!!

Could there have been a spider or a mouse or something there at some point? Where in relation to you did he sleep while on holiday? Maybe he thinks the new spot is at the end of the bed/doorway, rather than the corner? Don't totally dismiss the spirit idea... I know it is a bit out there, but I have been spooked by ghosts so I am sure dogs can be too! Did anyone die recently? Or previous occupiers of the house? Maybe they are hanging out in the bedroom and he thinks their weird!! Don't you just wish he would come out and tell you what the problem is!!?? I would love to know what runs through their little heads at times!

I don't know how to tell the difference, but Little G does the same thing. And when I take her for walks and she sees other dogs she does it. Often she just lies there under them to let them sniff... so I guess that is obviously her surrendering to the older/bigger dog. It is a bit embarrassing, as I feel like I want to take the shower power everywhere with me. Did your diagnosis come with a treatment plan?

I definitely recommend dragging his bed around the house! We do it with Genevieve - drag her house around that is. And when we have had enough, I say 'Go to your house!' and point to it. She usually sits and looks at me with her dog chops, but then I give her 'the look' and she wanders into her house. And for the most part she is quite happy in there, as long as she can still see us and what is going on. She also knows she is not allowed on the couch uninvited. So she sits at our feet waiting. She also does the same when I am sitting at the table having breaky. She just sits and waits! I'm sure your little guy will get there too!! He sounds like a bit of a character!

Hi bjmort, There are many schools of thought on this. And I guess what makes them wrong or right is how they work for you. But believe me when I say it is very early days for you! In theory, if he is not destroying anything and not making a mess, then, why not!? But.... as I said, early days. He is bound to get himself into to trouble, because that is what little doggies do! I personally wouldn't leave him in the other room unsupervised. He is slowly learning that the laundry is 'his room'. Let him get his head around that first. As he is a little dog, a 'big' room (that is, a room larger than a crate!) is easy enough to section off into 'sleeping' quarters and 'toilet' quarters. And although it hasn't happened yet, it may well do (I would go as far as to say, it is very likely to). If you set the boundaries now when he is little, get him trained and behaving how you want him to... When he is house trained and playing by the rules, then you can relax them a bit. He is a dog first and foremost. You give him too much space to soon, he will think he is King of the Castle!! If you do it too soon, he may become too big for his boots so to speak, and toilet training may become a nightmare for you. Good luck though! And where are the piccies?

I hope you get better soon! My mother in law lives in Scarborough and had the roof swept off the house last night!! They haven't seen Colin the cat in two days, which is out of the norm for him. We suspect he is hiding somewhere.

I have recently taken up gardening (which if you knew me in real life, would have you in hysterics right now. I am the queen of killing indoor plants). Don Burke - take me on!!!! Out the front we have a bit of lawn (the only lawn at our home) and a length of garden bed along the picket fence. So I completely dug out what was there and have started again. For a novice, I must say it looks quite pretty. I bought some Skedadle from Bunnings and sprinkled it around, as Genevieve thinks that the garden bed is the quickest route to China. We have garden beds out the back of our house (courtyard area), which I have left for her to do as much digging and burying and running around as she likes. These run the entire length of our back fence. I don't mind her being in the front garden when I am there, as I know she likes to frolic in the grass and watch people as they go past. We also play ball and chase one another around out there. But how do I keep her off the garden bed? She does not seem phased by the repellant - she still jumps in and sniffs and digs around. I don't want to restrict her from being in the font garden if I can help it. Any ideas?