PAX

Isn't the question 'Does early desexing make your dog taller or grow more coat'?

I had never noticed a difference in smaller breed dogs but have noticed it a lot in large breeds like Dobes and GSD's that were castrated under 12 months. It was only when my Dobe male, desexed at 9 months grew to a whopping 74cm (much taller than his undesexed litter mates) that I started asking people with tall males what age they had them desexed. IMO there is some truth to it.

If you keep doing this you are training him to whine and hate the crate. If the puppy cries cover the crate with a blanket and remove it as soon as he is quiet. Only let him out when he is quiet, but be careful if you think he is getting too hot in the soft crate. I prefer wire crates because they can't wreck them and they are cooler.

I don't think she loves dog's at all. If she loved dog's she would not let a puppy have pupies TWICE. To make it worse the dog has mange. If she loved dog's she would know that she is not in a financial position to have them. If she loved dog's she would not let them have fleas and mange..FGS She would also have their basic health needs covered, what a selfish person. What moron would let a dog with bad mange have pups, geez lets breed more of them. ;)

She took the puppy back and your friend got a refund, what more could the breeder do?

Years ago I minded my brothers GSP on a farm in Bathurst. He would get heaps of grass seeds lodged into the skin between his toes and some would travel up his legs. I used to put magnaplasm(sp?) on them every night and bandage and by the morning the grass seed would be drawn out enough to remove with tweesers. Apart form Magnaplasm there was another blackish drawing oitment that we used to use sometimes but I can't think of the name of it.

The whippet is car sick. She needs lots of frequent car trips to fun places so she has a good association with the car. Try to make the car rides as short as possible, if you have a park around the corner that would be perfect. If you keep at it she will get out of it. Often sitting on the back seat with the window open helps but make sure she is secure.

You need a crate and to PM Nekhbet.

Why soak it?

Some Greys just hang on to their coats and some have very thick rough looking coats so it is quite common for racing greys to get clipped. I personaly would never do it as I think it just makes the coat thicker. It's really a bit like horses, all short haired but some have thick coats and some have very fine coats.

Jules. For your heeling you could teach a hand touch and then work that into heeling/duration. With your recall, it sounds like the good boy is laying down waiting. Try running from him after you give him the come command and he is on his way to you. This should add a bit of excitement and might keep him up in a sit. Just try to think 'fast and fun'. He is just a baby and he sounds lovely. I say 'Are you ready' before I start any training or games and it really stirs the dogs up.

Yes that would be right. Most vets only do the two now days.

I disagree, sorry . The second vaccination is usually done at 12 weeks and not before as it is thought that by this time there are no maternal anti- bodies left to interfere with how well the vaccine works.

They DO NOT KNOW it is wrong, they only know that you are angry. How and why would a puppy think going to the toilet was wrong? There has been hundreds of toilet training topics posted. Do a search and start reading. Two pups will be a lot (a really huge lot ) harder to train then one pup.

Q1, Most pups don't show any signs or symptoms after vaccination. The vet should explain what to expect but in my experience it is a non event. However try to make it a low stress day out by taking him straight home afterwards and keep an eye on him. Some dogs do get a bit of local reaction around the vacc site but usually not. Ask the vet to give you a nail trimming lesson while you're there. Q2, You shouldn't walk your pup too far on lead because at this age they are growing so fast you can cause harm to their legs and joints. I think it is recomended to wait until the dogs are around 12 months before lengthy walks. You can and should go for short walks around the block as it is very important at this age to socilaize your pup and let him meet as many things as possible with out frightening him. I like to walk past schools and markets and lots of people places. It's best to wear him out with training and playing in the yard. Q3, I like to tie pups up before teaching them to lead. If you tie him up to a solid post and take a seat about 6-8 metres away and watch your pup. When he stops struggling go and release him and have a play and a walk around the yard. Make sure you tie the pup up low on the post so he is less likely to get tangled and make sure he doesn't chew the lead (if he chews through the lead & gets free he will always do this). If he is a lead chewer tie up with one of those tie up cables. Try to do this a couple of times a day for a couple of days until your pup is comfortable tied up. It teaches the pup that pulling gets them no where. Only ever do it when and if you have time to watch him. After the tie up lessons I would do what you have been doing but give him the treat, lots of treats. With my pup I shovel them out every time she looks at me while leash walking as that is what I want. If you just hold the treat but never give it he will stop trying. Pup trying to get the treat is a good thing you just need to teach the pup how to take the treat gently but that's anothert story. Are you going to go to dog training? If you have a good club in your area they will help you with all sorts of training problems.

Forgot to say, Go to the Training forum and pinned at the top is a trick section. In there, there is a list of tricks one is 'How to teach your dog to retrieve'. You should teach a retrieve first then you can get her to bring you all sorts of things after she learns the basic concept. Good Luck.

You could teach her to bring the stolen things to you. My dogs do this, it's amazing the things that they get a hold of. I always reward them for bringing it to me no matter what it is. One day my dog bought me my OH's Shimano fishing knife that he left laying in the yard, I nearly had a heart attack. My girl thinks that continually bringing me a tea towell when I'm in the kitchen is very useful. Being a Lab it shouldn't be to hard to teach her this game by swapping for something yummy. I think it will be pretty hard to train her not to eat food that kids have thrown over the fence. Maybe easier to talk to the kids in a nice way if they are old enough to understand.

Haven, thanks for the reply, I shouldn't have replied. My pet hate is the thought of a 3 month old pup being smacked. Also in your earlier post, How would a person know if the dog\pup truly knows the command and is ignoring the handler? (I not taliking about experienced dog trainers I'm talking about the average reader). Another one of my pet hates...lol. Let's get back to the topic although the OP looks long gone.

Haven, I don't smack my dogs, I just don't see a place for it in training.

I would suggest you join and take the dogs to a reward based dog training school. I believe dog's don't choose the wrong behavior to annoy us, we just haven't taught them the right behaviour. Learning is always more fun when it's reward based and their is something in it for the dog. Why would you discipline a pup for playing with it's kennel mate? Hopefully I have misunderstood you.

I noticed you said he comes most of the times. I would nip this in the bud now, you want to encourage behaviours that you want for the dog's whole life. You can play a little game where you say his name and then reward with a 'yes' (a verbal reward marker) and pair it with a treat when he looks at you. This is not coming when called but name recognition. Have a word that means come to you, I use 'come' and only use it when you know 100% he is going to come (dinner time is good and anytime he is running to you) and always reward for coming. If he is doing something and you think he is likely not to come don't use your special 'come' word just whistle or say here fido or what ever. You need to invest lots of time (fun and games) in coming when called as this is the most important command for dog's to learn. You don't want to be practising ignorance. Playing tug is a great game to wear out pups as long as you have strict rules. Pick a tug item and you own the toy, you start the tug and you end it. I like to have a word to start the game like 'get it'. Make sure he has a good 'out' (releasing the toy) ask for a sit or drop and start the game again. All of these sort of games help the puppy to learn a bit of self control. If he is reluctant to release the toy put a treat near his nose and swap him. If he growls and barks while tugging that is fine as long as he remembers the rules. I agree with the other posters about the 'triangle of temptation'. You can then use this also for waiting at doors, in and out of the car and a thousand other things. What ever you decide to do with the waiting at doors, you will need all family members to do the same thing to be fair on the dog. Good luck and happy training.

As long as you use the correct dose for her size you will be fine. It is safe to use fortnighly as that is what you do for ticks. My dogs rarely get fleas (touch wood maybe the ticks eat them...lol) the last time they had a flea treatment was over a year ago. When they have had fleas I have found Advantage cleared them up very quickly. When we first moved in here the cat (only ever in the house) always had fleas and frontline was doing nothing. I used the spot on and the spray and I think the fleas were drinking the stuff. I used Advantage on him three times and I have never seen another flea, I also think the Dyson does help. Don't stress about you will get on top of it. Hey in between treatments, get one of those metal flea combs and run it through her coat. The little suckers get stuck in the comb teeth and you can squash them.

Myzska, I would re-apply advantix in two weeks and use it every two weeks until you get it under control. Try and vaccum really well (you'll need a Dyson :D ) and perhaps let some flea bombs off in the house when it's safe to do so. Remember they don't live on the dog's so try and work out where they could be getting them from. Do you have any cats around? Neighbours dogs that have a flea problem? If that all fails move up here.

The purchaser needs to provide the letter from the vet to the supplier before they can supply in NSW if dealing directly with the the company, the vet does not give training advise. The vet apparently is to make sure that other training methods have been investigated first.

If you can manage it I would suggest keeping your puppy off the carpet until he is toilet trained. Dogs would rather wee on carpet so their legs don't get splashed than on hard surfaces. If your are able to restrcit him to tiled or smooth surfaces he should prefer to wee on the grass. Good luck.