mackenzie11

Are you sure she's not a cat?? ha ha ha, she lounges around like a cat and sleeps in their beds, but she could pass for a piggy as she is an absolute guts

Hands up to all dogs being inside I have a doggy door best investment ever, then again she usually just wants to be where I am and I am ok with that i am ok with her being inside, that is not the problem, she seems to want to be both inside and outside at the same time, our elder dog, as i said b4, when we got him we tried to keep him inside and he hated it, so now he is out side and is loving it, doggy door is not an option as we have cats

I was thinking just that too pers can't have a doggy door as we have two cats that live indoors and never go outside, we live opposite railway lines and with the trains, feral cats, loose dogs in neighbourhood, snakes, ect the cats are safer inside

i think she has bonded with us people folk as once she is inside she sleeps on our laps and on our beds, she has slept in my bedroom from the start, she follows me around the house all day, when i am cooking meals she sits at my feet, when i shower she used to come into the bathroom with me (now she goes out at that time of the morning), when i leave other memebers at home and i go down the street, apparently she sits at the front door and cries till i come back, when school went back on monday she sat on my daughters bed and sooked for most of the day, so i think there is a big bond there she goes to obedience training and is doing well, listens and obeys, she does not cry or scratch at the back door to go out and often you can open the back door for her and she does not go out prefering to lay on her couch, but also does not want to come in once she is outside if she is playing with the other dog, once he is tired from playing with her and he goes to bed then she is at the back door crying and scratching to come in, whilst she has some one to play with she is perfeclty happy outside and wont come in BUT once she has no one to play with outside she wants to come in and gets up on her couch and lies on the arm of the couch looking out the window - it looks so sad, she will stay like this for about 1/2 hour to an hour, but no crying, scratching, barking to go out, just the sad woefull look, then she will come and sit on your lap and follow you everywhere i just don't know if leaving her outside would be better for her in that she really enjoys playing with the other dog, but also loves being inside, does she just want to be inside cause that is what she is used to????? i think she wants the best of both worlds, being inside where she can be cool/warm and snuggle and outside to play, i let her out 7am-8am and 5pm-7.30pm she is full of beans and any more than this and the other dog gets cranky at her this time is good for her as soon it will be getting to hot in the middle of the day for her to be out and also the snakes will start to come out soon will letting her outside for the times listed above be enough for her??? the other dog is outside as he was bought aged about 6mth - shelter and vet could not be accurate about this age, we tried to have him as an inside dog but he hated it, would scratch at the doors to get out relentlessly, once he was outside he never tried to come in and is happy to be out doors, he has a kennel in a garden shed and is protected from the elements

hey all my cavalier x poodle lives inside, she is 16 weeks old, we have another dog who lives outside, mollie goes outside for a play in the morning and a play in the evening, but does not seem to want to come inside through the day, my question is - can cavaliers live outside fulltime if they have the companionship of another dog, i have read and read heaps of info in regard to them living outside and it all says no they will get lonely, but none of it says anything about if they have another dog for companionship, when she comes inside she just mopes at the back door, does anyone have a cavalier that lives outside???

i bought my cavalier x poodle (vet told me she can not see any poodle in her at all) from a pet shop (i have since been educated in regards to why this was the wrong thing to do) and i was not given much information in regards to grooming, BUT, when i got home and got her to sleep that night i got on the internet and looked up as much information that i could, brought the required combs and comb her every second, day, i have booked her into a groomer that i use for my cat, and she has her first appointment in 4 weeks, i have bought books on how to care for cavaliers, bathing, grooming, training, ect i understand that some people fail to treat their pets with respect but not all do, people need to realise that it is their responsibility to care for the puppy and to find as much information as possible, i have found many sites very helpful, including this one, found many books helpful, as well as talking to people who own such breeds No i did not get any information but it did not stop me from finding it out myself mollie is so spoilt and is well groomed and well loved If your Vet doesn't see poodle in you little girl you may be blessed with a dog that has thrown to her Cavalier ancestory and may have a coat that is easier to manage than most Cavaleir X Poodles are. Although bear in mind that when you have her desexed often the Cavalier coat becomes heavier in the neuter and you may then need the help of a professional to teach you to manage it. many people have said lately that you can not see any poodle in her, one even asked me was i sure she was a cross and she could have sworn she was full breed cavalier and that i was very lucky to get a cavalier from the pet shop for $500, ( i have now been educated through this site as to why i should not have done this) i have read about when cavs get desexed that their coat often becomes heavier and that regular grooming is esential, and i already have her booked in in 2 weeks for her first visit to the groomers, it is one we use regularly for my cat and mollie will also go regularly

thanks so much for all your replies so much helpful information, will try what you folks have suggested and will hopefully get somewhere, baby steps and short outings for now and lots of treats thanks again

we are in a dead end and there is only 5 houses in my part of it, and the houses have rear access bar 1 and theirs is pretty much the only car that goes past, i know we have plenty of time as she is only young, i just don't want her to be afraid, she just seems so afraid of everywhere and everything, the first walk was a good one went about 10 houses all up as i did not want to push her to far and overdo it, but the next day she heard a bus go past and it has all been down hill from there, BUT at school she is not afraid and goes really well - ODD i know. but i will give it a break for a few weeks and then start out by taking her to an area with some traffic and build her up from there,

thanks everyone, i will take some time out from taking her for walks, i was thinking this today, maybe start her back in a few weeks, and take poodles advice and take baby steps and ease her into it again, if it is a fear problem, you would think she would be afraid at obedience class but she is not, granted the first class she was such a goose, and the second class - we walked around the back of the car to go to class and she saw where we were going and took off back to the car and wanted to get in, but once she got over to the class she was fine, thanks again for all your advice,

tried that and it worked to start with - till she saw another person and then she refused to walk the only place that i have found that she will walk fine is out the front of the house, she will walk 3 houses up and then turn and go 3 houses back up the steps and wants to go inside - she wont go further than this, she gets to the corner peers around the corner then runs me back home - even though the very first walk she had was twice the lenght of this, i want her to go further than 3 houses up and 3 houses back, she is keen to go for a walk, but it is the actual walking bit that she does not get or like

Poodle fan - i am using treats, pats, encouragment, squating down in front of her to get her to come to me, taking my other dog with us, taking my daughter with us - does not work. at obedience class she does really well, first class was really bad all she wanted to do was play with the other puppies and play in the fresh mown grass, but the second day she was amazing really good and did most of what she was told, and walked with no problems, Perspephone - the obedience class is in an area that is closed off on the days that the obedience training is on, otherwise i would as that sounds like a good idea

i need some help getting my puppy to go for walks, she will only go about 30 steps then she digs her heels in and refuses to go any further, she is 16 weeks old and is a cavalier x poodle, our first outing was not far as she is only little, the second day she heard a bus near by and hated the noise of it - cowered down scared and afraid of it, the next day i took her to a walking track away from traffic, but there were some people and she did not want to walk near them - cowered down afraid again ;) she goes to obedience training and has been twice and loves it - people, dogs, the works and enjoys it!!! so i took her to a grass area where no traffic and no people were, first day her was excellent she was able to run on her lead in the grass and had a ball, so i thought great will keep coming back here, BUT the next day we went down there and as she was running about a motorcycle came through - (even though they are not allowed down there ), it scared the daylights out of her, she took off running that fast she ripped the lead out of my hand, my daughter finally caught her and she was shaking so bad next day took her back but she refused to go down there, have tried parks, cycle tracks ect but don't know what to do next, how do i get her to walk????? :D any ideas would be greatly appreciated thanks

i know cats are different to dogs, but we got a kitten a few yrs back, she was 3 months old when we got her and she was feed on adult food fromthe day she was weened from her mom, the owner did not want to buy two lots of food was what she told us, we put her on kitten food when we bought her home, and after many trips to the vet she has tummy problems due to being on adult food to early, as i said cats differ to dogs but maybe this result may be the same, i mean why would they make puppy/kitten food if not for puppies and kittens till they are no longer puppies and kittens

Sorry I completely disagree with this. The fact that your dog may have had APBT in him and the fact that he became "aggressive" towards your daughter are in no way related. And believe me, if he had truely wanted to do damage he most certainly would have. Most dogs need more than "affection, love, regular walks, played with every day, given all the love in the world". They need rules, structure, disapline and (for some) a LOT of training and mental stimulation. The fact that your dog lashed out may have had very little to do with bad breeding or true aggression and more to do with a combination of the dogs personality, poor pack structure and/or lack of respect for you/your child as the dogs "pack leader". Without seeking the advice of a professional you would not know this. And taking an "aggressive" dog to the pound is extremely irresponsible IMO. What were they to do with him? Two options there, rehome or PTS - and no-one rehomes an aggressive dog. He should have either been seen be an experienced behaviourist to determine the problem, or humanely euthanased by a vet. on the damage bit - he left a mark on her neck no blood, just a red mark where he tried to bite her, i think i got him off b4 he could do any damage, he was trained at an obedience class and i put him in a 2 week intensive class but they ran me after 1 week and told me that he was too agressive and could not help, i did take him to the vet and discussed my options with him as i did not want to have him put down, and he suggested taking him to the pound and maybe he could find a home with other dogs and NO children, so you see that is why i took him to the pound - i wanted to give him another chance with another owner, i did not want to just give up on him so easily as to just put him down,

Sorry I completely disagree with this. The fact that your dog may have had APBT in him and the fact that he became "aggressive" towards your daughter are in no way related. And believe me, if he had truely wanted to do damage he most certainly would have. Most dogs need more than "affection, love, regular walks, played with every day, given all the love in the world". They need rules, structure, disapline and (for some) a LOT of training and mental stimulation. The fact that your dog lashed out may have had very little to do with bad breeding or true aggression and more to do with a combination of the dogs personality, poor pack structure and/or lack of respect for you/your child as the dogs "pack leader". Without seeking the advice of a professional you would not know this. And taking an "aggressive" dog to the pound is extremely irresponsible IMO. What were they to do with him? Two options there, rehome or PTS - and no-one rehomes an aggressive dog. He should have either been seen be an experienced behaviourist to determine the problem, or humanely euthanased by a vet. SecretKei I completely agree with your sentiments here, too many misinformed people are prepared to make unfounded generalisations that have no merrit what so ever. This council employee is a prime example. It happens so often in the media too which is why the poor dogs have a bad reputation in society, uneducated people make unfounded statements. If it happened to a 'race' of the human bread it would be discrimination or slander or something of the like. Ie my shop gets held up and I say it was a man of afghanistan decent because of his skin colour. That's harldy fair now is it, since I have no experience in identifying people's national backgrounds based on appearance. There is any number of nationalities or biracial mixes the person could have been. Point in note: it's a massive assumption that is unfounded, like saying the dog must have APBT in it because it turned aggressive. I know a number of pure APBT & crosses that are wonderfully natured and live with little kids no problem at all. Ears and tails tugged on, knocked over you name it, they don't care in the slightest. My two amstaffs are wonderful with my 4 year old nephew, the 4 month old pup nips on occasion but what 4 month old pup doesn't? It's a behaviour we are training her on that isn't acceptable and she listens to my 4 year old nephew when he says no and points his finger at her (at the same time). My brothers cross (border collie x maltese shitzu - spelling?) is terrible she launches at your face to nip, chews everything and has no concept of no. Clearly the nurture factor is at play here. She believes she is the leader of all three in their family. She gets exercise, play time, love, affection, but has NO boundaries, and is laughed at when she does these 'naughty' things, pushed away and then played with again. Not ignored so she realises she's done wrong. The pack is all out of whack in that house. Now I have nothing against border collie's either, my ex in laws owned the most wonderful bc and my aunty owns 2 amazing shitzu (spelling?) crosses, it's just how they are allowed to behave that varies. I appreciate you were upset Mackenzie by the experience it wouldn't be pleasant, but I can't tollerate people like the council man that have no idea and give you such false statements with no backing. With the right training from a professional your dog could have been wonderful. No two dogs will react to the same environment and situations in the same manner as another dog and we as their 'leaders' need to learn how to teach each individual so they can be a wonderful part of our pack. I previously owned a 'bitza' that had no history of parents known, and vets were unable to tell me conclusively what she was, as a pup she looked like a SBT but she grew up nothing like them, or anything else really, she had white fur, black dots on her skin, a similar shape (not size) to a whippet and the few different vets she saw couldn't conclude what she was by appearance, there were thoughts of APBT/SBT/ACD/English Staffordshire Terrier but there was no way to know for sure. That's coming from trained professionals. Personally IMHO I believe nurture plays a much larger role than nature ever can in the true temperament of a dog. Activity levels, intelligence, natural obedience etc may be more likely to be influenced by nature (breed). Just like some humans are naturally lazy or fitness freaks, naturally intelligent or otherwise. (please don't misinterpret that as me likening dogs to humans, it was merely to make my point clear). Others may see it differently and I'm sure they will express their opinion as well. my pup had training, he was obedience trained - he started that when he was 14 weeks old, when the aggression problems started i enrolled him in a two week intensive obedience course where they take the dog for two weeks and work with them, they rang me and told me after a week, that nothing could be done and that he was too agressive, even they could not fix him, he was very healthy, very horny, he humped everything he could, he was 12 weeks old when he came to me and was 18 mths old when he left, he was given to my family by my brother who was going to abondon him when he moved out of his house and his new house did not allow pets, so i told him i would look after him, and then we had to let him go.

Thats a shame about your pup mackenzie. It's also a shame that the aggression was automatically attributed to Pitbull ancestry. It is impossible to tell if a mixed breed dog would have Pitbull in it, especially if it could pass as Foxy x JRT as a pup. Identifying a Pitbull is not easy, have a look in the BSL forum and you will see what I mean. I own an Amstaff that was identified as a Pitbull by a local council and it lead to all sorts of strife for me. Some will argue Pitbulls are Amstaffs and others say the gap between them is now too wide. Either way they are closely related. My dog is very stable and has never shown signs of aggression, I have also met a few great natured Pitbulls. It can be a hot topic on this forum sometimes as you will probably see. I personally do not accept that Pitbull = Aggressive and feel compelled to defend the breed when this is notion is implied. Off topic I know. Sorry. i am glad that you have never had any problems with you pup, i understand that not all pitbulls are bad, i will never know why my pup went the way he did and understand your desire to defend them, i was just pointing out what i was told and my situation, no offence intended sorry

i always thought that puppies should be on puppy food til they are 10 -12 months old, but i could be wrong

That's a really sad story - and it must've been hard to go through - for your daughter as well! yes my daughter was devestated, i feel for the pup though as we know it was not his fault, but it was not safe to keep him

About 4 yrs ago i was given a puppy, it was meant to be a foxy x jack russel, but as it grew it was obvious that this was not the case, this pup was getting bigger all the time, we had him for about 18 months and he was getting rougher and rougher as he got older, through not fault to us, he was walked regulary, loved, had loads of attention, obedienced trained, then one day he got really rough with my daughter and then things went down hill, he took chunk out of me and knocked my daughter down and went for her throat, he was standing on her chest and she could not get up, i ran over and pushed him off, the next day we took him to the pound, the guys at the pound asked what breed he was and we told him foxy x jack russel, and he then stated that he could see American Pit Bull in him and that that would explain why he was getting vicious, my daughter was heart broken as this was her first puppy this pup was shown nothing but affection, love, regular walks, played with every day, given all the love in the world, but a mix in his breeding was coming out deadly, so even a bad dog in a good home can be predisposed to being bad - i guess

with mollie i have an area of 4 liners in corner of a small room, with these four i leave them down for a few hours with her wee on it, poops get thrown out straight away, but the pee ones stay for a while, then when they are replaced i keep 1 of these four that is not as soiled and replace the 3 worst ones, this encourages her to go back, an air freshener in the room helps keep the smell down, not that there is much as it is well vetilated good luck with it and persever as it does work

i have used these with mollie for 5 weeks now, she is 15 weeks old, and she has never dragged them around the house, fingers crossed she never will, i have a room set up for her "potty" room and the pee pads are set up in there, i take her in there at all the standard times & b4 i crate her, mollie has tried once or twice to dig them up and have told her in a stern voice "Leave It" and she does, maybe persevere and you will get there with you dog good luck

wash it in a vinegar/water solution, they wont want to put it in there mouth then, i wash my puppies beding in it and either she is not a chewer - not likely or she does not like the taste of it

why don't you make one out of a quilt, you can pick up single bed ones quite cheap, then measure the size you want for you dog and sew it up, would be much cheaper than $190, depending on the size you need you might get more than one out of the quilt just an idea, it might work

sounds like my mollie, she had her first obedience class last night - not good, all she wanted to do was play, she was obedient for about 15 min, after that she had had enough and just wanted to play in the freshly mown lawn, she kept picking up the grass and trying to give it to the other dogs, this is what she does at home, she has just started going on walks in the big scary outdoors, she has 3 walks a day for a grand total of about 5min, she hates it, all the noise from the traffic scares her, a bus went past today and it scared the daylights out of her,

very true,