**Super_Dogs**

One of my labs nudges with her noses when she wants something - usually a pat!! She nudges our hand - she has never nudged our legs. Do you thing maybe she is playing? Maybe she is playing tag!!!

Lucky you. No velcro with my boy - I cannot even pat him for as he is in such a state. He looses so much weigh, not just from not eating, but the constant pacing from door to door and not sleeping! The last heat, which is just ending, I had to keep them apart longer than normal as my bitch was growling and snapping at him.

My boy marks everything. When a car pulls in he runs up and pees on their tyres (rather embarrasing). He also on several ocassions has marked the walls and furniture in the house. The way I have controlled this is he gets in trouble when he goes somewhere he should not. This has worked for me because he is a good boy and does not like getting in trouble. When we are walking, from a young age, I have never let him sniff and pee on the walk. If I did we would never get anywhere!!! Also, we walk on the road so there is less temptation. One day though I was walking along and felt a splash on my leg. He could just not help himself, he was peeing while walking down the street and behind us was a trail of pee for about 20 metres . Good luck! It is a pain - I know ;)

I would agree with this. I would definitely send your boy to the kennel. You are lucky to have this option! If I could I would send my boy to my mum's place, but he is an escaper!!! Because I cannot send my boy away I keep my girl inside and my boy outside. I am lucky as my boy is generally a quiet dog, however he still does cries for hours on end day and night for about 4 days. He also stops eating for about 2 days. I am lucky though as his crying is not too loud - it is more of a whimper - so he is not too disturbing to the neighbours. If you boy is vocal, there is a good chance he will be very loud. I cannot have them indoors as I have a very open plan house and only have door on the bedrooms and bathroom. The good thing about keeping your boy indoors is he will not disturb the neighbours - but you won't get any sleep!! It is not a fun experience for you or your boy. He will be far more stressed at home than he will be going away. Also you will get very frustrated with him when the crying and howling and he will not stop!!!

I got mine from Callicoma My link Great price, great quality and heaps of colours and patterns to choose from. Can't beat them!

My rotty chewed for years. If it wasn't bolted down she would chew it. I never added the amount of money we spent replacing items she chewed as I think I would have had heart failure. We had to keep everything out of reach. She is now 8 and will still chew occassionally!!! Some dogs take a loooonnng time to grow out of it. Sounds like you are going to have take the advice and increase the amount to activity and training to tire her.

One of my labs ate a sock when she was a pup (can't remeber exactly how old - guessing around 6 months). It was my partners, mens size 12 tube sock. I did not know until she brought it up whole!!! The worst thing is she brought it up while we where out in front of several people.

My mums neighbour got a puppy and had a similar problem being the pup could not access the grassed areas as you had to go through the pool area. So this mean the pup only had a paved area. They just moved in and planned to change this, but what they did in the meantime is made a box and brough some grass and layed in in the box. I suppose the same concept as a pot plant but with grass. This may be a good idea until you pup has had all its vacinations??

You should have been given the form to fill in and send off. Lucky you realised

I also a chocolate lab lover!!

I agree it is instinctive. I have never taught my dogs to fench. My Rotty LOVES fetch. She is so into it that now as she is getting older we have to stop the game as she hurts herself. My labs, one loves it the other has no idea. He chases the other dogs and only want the ball just because the others do. Then if he does get it he runs in the other direction so the dogs chase him.

I have some dog that growl during play and other that do not. Each dog is different. Nothing to be worried about.

This is very normal for a labs nose to go light brown/pink over winter - hence the name :D It is also called snow nose. There is not much you can do about it. It is also pretty common for this to happen with age.

I would get in while the postage is free. It is only $25.

Thanks Sheena. I have just ordered this book. Free postage saves heaps!!!! Now I just have to be patient and wait for it to arrive :D

I did not know Cesar was coming. Thanks for letting me know

The 42" is massive!! I keep my crate in the lounge room where we spend most of our time. My pup did not sleep in my room - she slept in her crate in the lounge room. We have had no problem with her sleeping though but she does wake up very early!! I do not intend keeping the crate in the lounge forever (does not really go with my decor) - I plan on moving it to the rumpus room where the other dogs beds are. You want to make the crate very cosy. I use vet bed to line the bottom on the crate (is great as it is machine washable and lasts forever) and then I have a human pillow as the bed, another smaller pillow, and a large teddy. A small blanket is also a good idea as puppies like scratching around to get comfy.

Great questions My puppy is 20 weeks. I have been following the exercises from Shaping Success by Susan Garrett. I would love to hear what others recommend.

Didn't even think of that - although I've got a feeling that most dogs are bi ;)

Being that 3 of the 4 breeds are medium size dogs - I would guess your dogs wont be any taller than border collie. I knew someone who had a dog staffy x border collie x rotty and her height is a alittle shorter than a border collie and weighs about 20kg. To compare, my lab puppy, who I expect to weight close to 30kg when grown, was 14kg when she was 4 months old.

Callicoma Kelpies & Pet Supplies can beat Priceless Pets by a long shot http://www.callicoma.com.au/ And PPOTW beats Callicoma Kelpies & Pet Supplies outright (I like this game) They are cheap! Do you buy from here? I notice they do not have a contact number. I try to avoid buying online from sites that do not have a phone contact. Yeah, they're the ones I always go to for all Hugo's medication needs and sometimes other needs too (though unfortunately bought a halti from ebay, mistakenly thinking I'd found the cheapest source before realising that these guys actually stocked cheaper haltis too!! Arghfdfgfg). They're not the most user-friendly website, or even nice-looking, but dammit, they have good prices. http://www.trixanpet.com.au/ Trixanpet rivals some products on price, though I like how PPOTW has free shipping (whereas Trixanpet does not), so it ends up a similar price anyways. I buy Sentinel and Interceptor Spectrum and they are the cheapest I have seen. That website Pets24/7 which was that fraudulent site was also very cheap. My mum got caught from this site!! So this is why I asked if you had brought from this site as I am now more cautious! Yeah this site looks bloody dodgy I have to say but I was recommended to them from another DOLer and they haven't let me down so far. And I can't seem to find a place that can beat them in Comfortis and Valuheart so I'm a happy chappy. Thanks I will give them a go. As they have free postage it works out about $10 cheaper a packet - and when you have 4 large dogs every $$ counts!!!!

Jus checked them out. Also cheap. Thanks

Callicoma Kelpies & Pet Supplies can beat Priceless Pets by a long shot http://www.callicoma.com.au/ And PPOTW beats Callicoma Kelpies & Pet Supplies outright (I like this game) They are cheap! Do you buy from here? I notice they do not have a contact number. I try to avoid buying online from sites that do not have a phone contact. Yeah, they're the ones I always go to for all Hugo's medication needs and sometimes other needs too (though unfortunately bought a halti from ebay, mistakenly thinking I'd found the cheapest source before realising that these guys actually stocked cheaper haltis too!! Arghfdfgfg). They're not the most user-friendly website, or even nice-looking, but dammit, they have good prices. http://www.trixanpet.com.au/ Trixanpet rivals some products on price, though I like how PPOTW has free shipping (whereas Trixanpet does not), so it ends up a similar price anyways. I buy Sentinel and Interceptor Spectrum and they are the cheapest I have seen. That website Pets24/7 which was that fraudulent site was also very cheap. My mum got caught from this site!! So this is why I asked if you had brought from this site as I am now more cautious!

Callicoma Kelpies & Pet Supplies can beat Priceless Pets by a long shot http://www.callicoma.com.au/ And PPOTW beats Callicoma Kelpies & Pet Supplies outright (I like this game) They are cheap! Do you buy from here? I notice they do not have a contact number. I try to avoid buying online from sites that do not have a phone contact.

As most people have already said - a puppy is like a baby/small child. So firstly you have to be willing to take on the extra commitment. Secondly you need to have the time to train and walk your dog. If you don't your dog will be naughty and your family and your dog will be happy. If you don't have the time for this or are not mnoitvated and commited to training your dog - I would say now is not a good time for a puppy. If you do decide to get one - I think a cav is a great choice. My brother got a cav and they have 2 children (then they were about 2 and 4). My sister in law had no experience with dogs and had no trouble training their cav. However, she was at home, so had the time. Good luck