dotdashdot

My belief is obviously no high dog traffic areas, and below the tide line at the beach, and yesterday we took Nala to the river (in the water, near the mouth of the river). Obviously that could be hard if you don't have a beach. Our beach is mostly deserted too, I would never have taken her to the dog beach in town that has every dog in town there. I've taken her to work, totaled about 2 weeks there with me. I work in a pet store, which seem high risk but not once did she meet another dog, only people and - and only people I allowed. She spent 90% of her time behind a barrier where we serve from and she slept most of the time. Only time she went out was to toilet. She met SO many nice people in this time, I think it's been very good for her socialization. The only dogs she's met so far are the other dogs that we have here, and my mum and dad's dogs at their house. Vaccination on Monday, countdown until I can get her out in ON!

And some photos.... "I stuck in bed mum" swimming sisters and just a blurry playing shot It's amazing how these two play, Cleo has never played like this with another dog, it's definitely a breed thing! they have their own game that's for sure. When she plays with the mini schnauzer it's bitey face and leg game and when it's the staffy x it's a lie on the ground pawing each other game. With Nala it's jumping and running and biting and play bowing!

Totally forgot that we had a bit of exciting news this week! I entered Nala in the DogsNSW puppy competition under my husbands name, as if you win you get a year's membership and a goody bag. Well....we won! I used that beautiful shot of Nala on the beach at 8 weeks and answered some questions. For those who are already members, I think we'll be in the January magazine, but we're on the website already http://www.dogsnsw.org.au/puppies/puppy-competition.html now just to wait for our parcel to arrive!

A promising start! I love whippy faces, my workmates have 4 between them and they are the most soulful looking dogs. I've been practicing Nala's stacking a lot more lately, and she's picking it up very quickly. I didn't start with Cleo until she was 5 or so months old, so it's all new to me with a baby puppy. She's got so much 'tude though, she's going to be a perfect little show diva!

Summer it's a hose job outside. Winter is in the bath. Either way it kills my back to bend over (not the bending, the straightening up after! I nearly got stuck bent over yesterday after washing both dogs!). I have a hydro bath at my work but being 1/2 hour/30kms from home I don't really use it, I probably will once I move in to town as it's raised and I won't have to bend.

I would just ignore her, or take her out to pee then back in crate. Nala understands our routine now, and doesn't cry in the morning, she might go on her puppy pad before we get up, but she doesn't wake us up with any noise. We do take her out last thing before bed and 7am we take her straight outside (that's her poo o'clock).

Ohhh are they lappies? Good luck with making a decision, I had enough trouble when the breeder asked me to choose my preferences!

I was trying to wait for someone else to start this thread, I feel strange starting it but I'm so keen to show my girl off now I have her official name!! Introducing Neilros Jaznala "Nala". She's currently 10 weeks old and our first show is the Australia Day long weekend (the Dorrigo/Bonville show at Coramba) her at 7 weeks 9 weeks (I know now I was holding her tail too high! Still learning!) 10 weeks

OHHH it's official!!!!! Nala is Neilros Jaznala!!! Just received the scanned copy of her papers :)

Haha so glad I have girl dogs :) Cleo will air hump when aroused around my mum's male dog (he's entire) but i'm cool with that. Cracks me up though! Nala has hit 10 weeks and she's CRAZYYYY. I was told that livers are crazier than black and whites, and OMG it's correct. Cleo was never like this little minx, she's into EVERYTHING and I swear she's vindictive. But also adorably cute so she just melts your heart. So glad I have 2 weeks off work starting on Thursday, we'll be able to get out for walks soon and I'm going to teach her how to swim!

I know it's not recommended but when I got Cleo I switched her food instantly. I really didn't want to get Supercoat at that time, and there were no ill effects or diarrhea. With Nala I've taken it slow and bought the supercoat and the stuff I was switching too, and she's had the runs! Totally cut Supercoat out now, and her poos are firming up again. Cobber, Dog pro, Bonnie, Coprice would all be in the same basket really, much of a muchness.

What brand is it Esky?

change of clothes is a good idea. Cleo peed on me when I first got her out! And I didn't walk Nala long enough before we drove off, she pooped on my shoe in the car.

Agree with what Lisa has said and re. the second part, from memory you're getting a malamute as your second dog? Some breeders do desex before they are sent to their new owners but with such a large breed i'd be trying to keep it entire until it was 18 months old, for the reasons Lisa mentioned. The only time i'll desex a pup before 12 months of age in my future will be if I definitely under NO circumstances want it bred from (i.e a deaf Dalmatian pup).

:)

I've picked up my girls from a regional airport and a major airport. I preferred the regional one because we saw the plane land and got her 10 mins later, in Brisbane we had to wait half an hour in the freight area! So we got to the freight area carpark when the plane landed, and waited in the car for 1/2 an hour watching every time a door opened incase it was her! Finally we saw some crates unloaded and little yips :) -take a towel, they are likely to be wet -take a collar and lead. Cleo came with a collar, Nala didn't -I should have taken a toy for Nala to chew on, she wanted to chew on me in the car -take a book or something to do while you wait. You will be excited and nervous if you're anything like me and need a distraction!

Find a new vet!! Lol. RC isn't totally bad for dallies, as it's purines more than protein that matters, but it has a lot of corn anyway. RC make a dally specific food but it's not sold in Aus as there isn't enough of a market! Stupid really, there are 500 of us on that Dalmatian group and most of us have 2 or more dals. I'm so lucky that my vets understand that I have my own opinions and knowledge, although wearing my work uniform (Petstock) helps, as they must figure that I do know more than the average owner. Lhok and Lisa, great to hear you got vouchers!! I got a Christmas card from my vet, the first ever. I'm thinking it's probably more because of the amount of money spent there this year rather than them actually liking me. Now on the adventures of Nala...today we visited the vet for her first serious reason, she had a little bit of blood in diarrhea. No vomiting, still had a good appetite but I took a stool sample in with me and the vet was pretty much happy with how she looked, her stomach and her temp + no coccidia (sp?) or worm eggs. So she's on Scourban for a few days but already the runs have stopped. I think it's time to stop with the Supercoat that the breeder had her on and switch fully to the premium food. She also weighs a whole 5.9kgs now! When we first got her she was 4.8, so a nice little gain :)

That's exactly what it looked like to me, she's so cat like! She could also just be being affectionate. I wouldn't read into it too much from what you've described. I encourage my dogs not to have any resistance coming into my personal space, so they will lean on me, jump on me etc. I was just curious :) this might be her only way of showing affection lol! Already, after 1.5 weeks Nala is more affectionate than Cleo has ever been. Oh she does shove her head into my chest when I sit on the ground, that's her other way of showing her love. I don't mind that she does it, the dogs have to have their order.

An experienced behavioural trainer I work with says that dogs rubbing against people in that cat like way are showing dominance (or attempting to). It made sense to me knowing the character of the couple of dogs I've come across that do it and the situations in which I've seen them do it... thank you :) I've always had a bit of trouble seeing who is the dominant dog out of Cleo and Izzy, they'll both do dominant behaviours but Izzy's health has gone a bit downhill in recent months and I think Cleo has stepped up.

That's exactly what it looked like to me, she's so cat like!

I just had a nephew named Finn, I think that's a gorgeous name. Also love the name Felix. I call my girl (Cleo) Fleo as a joke. I have a bird called Pheonix which could always be Feenix, she gets the nickname Feeny.

My parent's lab is 12, nearly 13. She's deaf, nearly blind and we suspect has cancer. She turned at about 10, the last year has been a sharp decline as far as arthritis goes though.

I've got a question...not a problem and not really about my puppy but I want to access some of the DOL brain trust. So today my FIL set up my old Petsafe kennel run for Nala, so now she has run of our loungeroom (puppy penned) and out our sliding door to this huge kennel run - because he knows I don't trust the staffy x and Cleo with Nala unsupervised. It's the sweetest thing he's ever done for me! I think Nala has him wrapped around her paw lol. Anywho, I've noticed that the dogs are LOVING running along the fence together, playing and it's safe. However, an interaction between Cleo and Izzy has me thinking. Izzy was sitting about half a metre back from the fence, Nala was in front of her, but obviously on the inside while Cleo walked cat-like in front of Izzy, literally rubbing herself on Izzy each time she passed. She passed several times like this. I've noticed Cleo does this to me too, she actually did it as I was helping put the kennel run together this afternoon. While I was crouched and trying to cable tie something, she pushed in front of me and rubbed her side against me. I normally push her off me, because it's usually when I'm doing something. Is this behavior telling me something? In the instance with the other dog I would have seen that as saying "it's MY puppy/toy", but with me there was nothing of value, I was just putting something together. In that instance I would say she was just being a pushy little thing. Any ideas? It's not something I'm worried about, or I would make a thread about it. I'm just curious as to what you guys might think :)

Awww such gorgeous babies!!!!

total fluke and one shot of several lol. I must say it's easier to stack her than to get her to sit and wait for her dinner! She is the most food driven little dog I've ever met! But very driven in general, loves a good tug already (we hold the middle of the Kong Tugga Wubba and have Cleo on one end, and Nala on the other so it's a gentle tug)