Archerlove

What do you think of Off The leash Areas? Safe?Dangerous? Do you use them ? Do you go when there are other dogs are there? Do you wait until no one else is there.Have you had bad/ happy experience in an Off The Leash Area?

Fleuri I`m so sad for you all.I have three boys too ( )and the grieving when our beautiful Lab,Archer was put down unexpectedely after a terrible incident a few months ago was dreadful .They were totally inconsolable as were we all. It happend at a bad time for us any way and in the end my middle son had to see a clinical psychologist about his grief. The pain continues and we were advised not to get another dog for a while. As if. Our boy was and still is irreplaceable. I do not feel one dog can be replaced with another as each has a special place in our hearts. Some good ideas above and I think you should all be commened for not rushing out and replacing him.After all there is a small chance he may come back to you. Things we did to help them were spending time with friends dogs and talking about Archer as much as possible though this caused lots of tears and reminding ourselves how lucky we were to have had him in our lives at all.One thing I wish we had done was foster a/some dogs for a while.I have a friend who fosters and I do feel that might have helped them a bit. Someone above has suggested that. Boys especially need someone to love.They often pour emotions on to a dog who will hear all secrets but not pass judgement. Knowing we would have another dog at some point gave us all something to look forward to.We had alist of possible names on the fridge which we addded to as ideas struck us.They enjoyed that.Also researching breeds and discussing which kind of dog we shoukd have next. We recently chose a new puppy and the boys are over joyed (4 months on) but we still talk about Archer a lot.I kept some of his things and the boys have enjoyed giving them to the new puppy and telling her about `her big brother`!!!! I`m sure you give your boys big hugs and lots of love and eventually the pain will not be as bad as it is now. It takes time.

Oh no.That is terrible and my heart aches at the thought. We have blocked off the beneath deck area now. I have seen her trying to squeeze through the bars of pool fece but as she is growing daily this will no longer be a possibility in a few days. In a couple of months the pool will be full of children so we`ll let her in to check she can swimand show her how to get out safely.

Oh yum! How cute. I can see how it would be hard to deny that face anything. Remeber that you are doing her a favour when teaching her manners.

SaltheGal I feel your pupy pain. We are in a similar position with our Puppy and while I want to give her the best life I can I`m worried about getting it wrong. Its hard with small children too as basically the pup is the 4th child.Hang in there.Your puppy sounds perfectly normal and is still very young. I`ve picked up some ideas fromthe other answers on here which I`ll try out today. I`m up early to let Emma out and give her breakfast and she`s had frst night with no accidents on kitchen floor.Hooray.Small steps!!!

Thank you everyone.We had to watch her like a hawk in garden last night having just got to stage where we let her wonder around semi supervised.Off to Bunnings today to get the items required to pupy proof the pool. My heart still races at the thought of yesterday.

We feel she is settled into her new home.We adore her and she is a happy little pup. Maybe we need to vary her diet a bit more adding the sugested chicken necs/wings/eggs etc. Thank you all so much for sharing ideas.

Chicken necks? At 9 weeks? Is that OK? She looks wonderfully healthy and her eyes are bright and alert. Think I`ll just reduce a little as I want to avoid her gaining excess weight.

I just found my 9 week old puppy inside pool area.She had found a way under deck and into pool area. I took her out and watched as minites later having tried to squeeze through the bars she found her way back under deck and was leaning into the pool. I know Labs love water but the thought of her in pool terrifies me. I have whipped pool cover off so if she did fall in at least we could see her and she`d have a chance to swm or we could hook her out . I cannot leave her alone in garden now until we have blocked off her beneath deck access to pool.. Questions ?? When would she be able to swim? Could she swim to save herself now? Any furthur iseas?

For a young puppy yes......a puppy that's feeding 4 or more times a day, but by around 3 1/2-4 months, a puppy doesn't need more than 2 meals per day. I still think I`m feeding her too much as she is not finshing most meals and does poop a lot.

Just out of interest how do your Labs and bunnies get on????????????

Does anyone have opinions on pet insurance? Is it worth having? What does/ should it cover? Which companies offer best rates? Thank you in advance. FYI I have a 9 week old Lab .

Your puppy is a labrador correct? I fed Mindy dry biscuits from 8 weeks old and she did fine with them. I'm sure she would manage fine, after all she is a labrador! I sometimes mix an egg with the kibble because i've heard eggs are good for them. Lab is correct. Actually her kibble is enriched with egg according to the package.I`ll stop adding water now as she probabaly needs to crunch a bit to stop her crunching` us!

Good idea. I just love all the ideas I`m getting from Dogzonline.I used a Kong for our dearly deprted Lab and he loved it.He`d spend ours licking out peanut butter as treat. However I think our lab puppy is too small for one as yet but I`ll use it in future for food rather than a treat.

Hmmmm! Spoke too soon.Came down this morning to 3 lovely large piles of poop in kitchen.Perhaps I am over feeding her. Blimey this is as worrying as a new born baby!!!!!!!!!!!

Just out of interest when would one stop adding water to the kibble? My puppy is 9 weeks today and when we collected her( a week ago the breeder suggested we soften the kibble . We have continued to do so this week. Could she manage now without our softening it?

Thanks Koalathebear for all that info.I`ll be usin some of Elbies tricks for our puppy.At what age did you start training? Is he sleepin outside yet?

Thank you.Kibble as a treat is also considerably cheaper than the `treats` available in pet shops. Think we have food quantities correct now as she licked her bowl clean at lunchtime today and is pooping asbout twice a day. Thanks everyone for advice.

OMG What a wonderful thing you are doing for someone. I guess you go into it knowing that the dog is not yours forever. I have a friend who fosters dogs until they are re-homed and she finds it hard letting them go sometimes.

Not me!!!! We don't have that problem here How long have you had her? I wouldn't be giving treats until she is settled in, maybe a week after you got her. Sometimes the stress of going to a new home can cause tummy upsets (and inappetance) so its best to avoid the treats for now. Something less fatty such as chicken breast or dried chicken breast may be ok though if you wanted to give high value rewards for special things such as toilet training. Mindy only wanted to eat her puppy bicsuits (which she was used to) for the first few days after she came home. She has now turned into a little mobile garbage disposal unit, which I'm sure yours will soon! BTW please come join us in the lab breed forum! We have another Archer there as well, except he is black! Are you training your lab to be a guide dog or is he/she yours ? I`m off to find the Lab forum

Well exactly.Whoever heard of lab saving something for later!!!!!!! Is 8 weeks too early to give treats? Which are known to have no sugar?

Thank you all for prompt replies.This is our 3rd lab over 15 years but the first two were rescues and this is the first time we`ve had a new puppy. Breeder said 1 cup morning and evening with 1 tbs fresh mince. This seemed alot and she was not finishing it. I now give her 1/2 cup 3xdaily with 1x 1tbls mince.She gobbles the lot. The packaging suggests far less for her weight. Currently she is round a chubby , the picture of health but I know Labs ar e greedy and obviously I wish to avoid her having a weight prob later. We`ve only had her 5 days so maybe I`m worrying too much too early.

Hello I`m new to this forum though I have been visiting for a while. We`re very lucky to have an 8 week old yellow lab.Just wondering how much food is enough for her.At the moment she has three meals a day with 1/2 cup kibble at each meal and a tbls fresh mince at two meals. Is this enough? Too much.She usually eats the lot . .