**Super_Dogs**

It may be she is not stubborn, if she was not around people much she may just not understand she is meant to listen to you! The good thing is goldies LOVE food. Always have treats close by and reward all behaviour you want to see. So I would start by rewarding basic behaviours. For example when she approaches you - reward, when she looks at you - reward. Then slowly make her do more to get a reward, which will eventually be basic commands such as sit and down. You want to make her to acssociate you with value - and the value to her will be the treats. When she has had her shots and you can take her out it will be really important for you to socialise her ALOT and take her places where she will meet all types of people.

Cheers for the reccommendation. Have ordered it and can't wait for it to arrive! Me and my girl Juno will be attending our first agility class on Sunday :D Good Luck. I am sure you will have fun! You will love the book. :D

There are heaps on agility "foundation" exercises you can teach your puppy without any equipment. If you are interested I would get your hands on Susan Gerrett's book Shaping Success.

I teach my pups nose touches onto my hand. If you like, you can then use this other tricks for example weaving between your legs. I know this is really simple but it is useful as a way of giving quick, fast treats, before you start a more challenging exercise. For my older dog it is a warm up before practicing agility equipment.

Love it! If you like Rotty's maybe this is the way to go? My rotty LOVES children. She is happy to play dress up - anything when she gets attention. I don't even have kids and we still have fun with her!!

If you like the look of Rotty's - what about a staffy? I heard they are fabulous with kids.

Good luck! Let me know if you need any tips for resting. When my puppy was 12 weeks she fractured her front left elbow and required surgury - so 'çonfinement' was a must! When she came back after the surgery I was soooo stressed....as I could not keep her still. I went away for work for a few days in that first week, which was a good thing, otherwise I think I would have had a nervous breakdown. It has been 6 weeks and she had her final vet visit this morning and now has the all clear - we can now get back to "normal". Yeah!!

Well I am a lab person - so of course I think they are best. However if you want a smaller dog Cav's are great. My brother got a cav as they wanted a smaller dog and they have 2 young kids. The Cav is so patient with them!! Also don't have to worry about then escaping from the yard.

I would not panic yet - toilet training takes time. Unforteuntly my puppy when she was 11 weeks old fractured her leg and had surgery, so she had to be contained. This threw tiolet training out the window. So we are now having to start from stratch. I am not looking forward to it. It you have thought about crate training - I would say do it. I have several dogs, but have only crate trained my younger dogs - I wish I had done this with all my dogs. Anyone who does it will tell you to do it. It is so handy. Sometimes you just want to put your dog away for some quiet time, but best of all if saves alot of stress if you go somewhere. Out for the day, stay at someones house with your dog, camping. Also if puppy sleeps in the crate at night, it wont be long until he last the whole night without toileting - they will not go in the crate.

I have 3 labs and yes they love to eat, but so does my rotty. My female lab is 26kg and my boy is 37kg. My boy is massive - he is as big my female rotty. They are slim and athletic. These people should be ashamed - this dog must find it hard just to walk.

You may have already called Dogs Qld now. I used my straight away. I got in only a few months before mating (i was meant to get it in with more time to spare but forgot!!).

Congratulations on your new puppy :D Your puppy may have toileted on concrete when he was with the breeder as he may have spent time in a kennel. So he is just doing what he is use to. As Olivebaby said, watch you puppy and when he is about to go, pick him up and move her to the grass and then praise her. She will eventually tiolet in the grass. For night time I can definetly recommend getting a crate for him to sleep. If you do this you will need to train your puppy to be in the crate. I have followed training by Susan Garrett - there is a DVD called crate games. Easy to teach and excellent results. However your puppy will be will not be able to spend a full night in the crate without having to be taken out to the toilet for a few weeks. My girl could last the night from about 13 weeks. If you don't want to go with a crate pick a place, like you have, for your puppy to sleep. If you puppy cries you need to ignore him. Usually they will cry for a short time and then settle. However if you puppy is getting very distressed I would presonally let them sleep in the bedroom - only for a few night though. To help this process, have a play with puppy before bedtime to wear him out! Hope this helps

Oh no! One of my girls is still eating her daughters poo - who is now 16 weeks. She does not touch the other dogs, just her baby. I had to stop her from eating the whole litters poo when they where 8 weeks old! She would sniff it out a mile away and comee running. She was a good mummy She knows she is not allowed to, so will not while I am watching. I was hoping she would grow out of it. But is seems she may not Looks like I might have to try some pepper to try and break the habbit. ;)

I was watching a show recently, hosted by a British guy, who travels around the world looking for world records. This recent episode was the worlds largest dog. Anyway they showed a fat lab in the UK, that looked alot like this poor dog, and it was taken away from it owners by the RCPCA and put on a diet. You will be pleased to know that on this show they were against fat dogs, they where looking for big and healthy

We used the same chip board from bunnings.

This is alittle hard to see, but this is where the pen is attached to the whelping box. The pen started small and grew to half room as the pups grew. Hope this helps!

You can see the pig rails are a ledge, so the puppies could safely lay under. When they were older they would stand on the rail. If you go with ledges remember to take this into account when you decide the wall height!!

I have attached a pic of my whelping box. My partner made this for me. Unfortunetly I did not take a pic of the whole things so you cannot see the front. The front panel was half the height of the walls so mum could get in and out. We could add the other half of the panel if needed (never did though). When the puppies got bigger and more mobile I attached a pen to the box. It has no floor - I brought some cheap lino and then lined it with paper with vet bed over the top. I will add a few more replies with some more pics. I was really happy with this. Nothing I would change.

Did anyone listen to Nova this morning - the breakfast project? They had Chris Brown from Bondi vet on and he was talking about this as a listener called in. He talked about it either being a territorial thing or bladder control. His ideas for bladder control where to feed the dog latter, cut off water at night (he did not specify a time), and get the dog into a habit of going out to the toilet before bed.

This is what the vet suggested may happen. The good think is the vet practice that did the surgury will also be doing the x-rays for the scoring so it will be really easy to organise a letter. Will be interesting to see if anyone replies that has been through this. My guess is it does not happen often. You would imagine it has to have happened before though.

I have another great idea for treats, from another thread. Good O dog food. I break one price (a ring) into 6 small pieces. Great size and easy to chew for a puppy! All my dogs love them!! I also use cheese, sausage and kabana, but it is good to have some others treat on hand so you can save the good treats for more challenging training.

Unfortunetly I don't have this option as both hip and elbow scoring is required.

My most recent was very accurate. The vet could see 9, but said add 2 and there is often one or two hidding with a larger litter. She whelped 10.

I had my recent ultra sound a Qld Vet Specialists and Stafford Heights. Was very accurate!!

Keeping a puppy confined and quiet is hard. We have recently gone through this when our 12 week old puppy fratured her elbow and required surgery. We crated her when we where out and at night, she was only allowed in a confined area inside under supervision and outside on a lead only. I am sure days keeping your puppy quiet will make a massive difference.