Rosaline

Names are hard aren't they Rosaline! We took forever to get the name for our coming pup, and the name we choose was chosen by my 2 year old... Oh dear. We have a 6 year old involved in our naming process :laugh:

Bless! Look at that sweet little black & tan face! It looks like our little girl is arriving next week, just waiting confirmation as she's coming from interstate. :D We're still throwing around names...I forgot how difficult my husband is with names, he's vetoing everything, and this time I can't pull the "when you're the one carrying the baby.." card!

Do they have other pets? Maybe a smaller animal might be a better starting point for the family to ease him into the idea. Something like a guinea pig or a rabbit (if they are legal where they live) and in the meantime work on minimising his fears, without making a big deal about it.

Rehoming doesn't have to be the only answer, I've had neighbours who took their GSD to the UK for 4 years, then bought it back to Aust.

We don't yet have a dog, however, my daughter calls herself our cat's mother, and me the grandmother, so I guess with a pup it will be the same!

I used to know some people with a Ridgeback called Jane. Never, ever Janey. We are still at the "stumped" stage for names. I'm currently saying no to names of disney princesses!

I have only ever had female dogs myself, so it was really a no-brainer to agree to getting a female, husband's only comment was that a male would be cheaper to desex. I was more wondering along the lines as to whether anyone had bought a dog because their kids had asked for one? Probably not, given this is a dog forum! It's just something I see happening quite a lot, and seems to me to be a disaster waiting to happen - kids want pet, parents give in without really thinking it through...not actually considering that it will mean picking up poo everyday for the next however many years and when the novelty wears off you can't just put it in the cupboard or give it away. I'm guessing this is why petshops are doing so well - the parents who give in to little Johnny's whims!

I'm curious to see how involved in the "getting a puppy/dog" decision process your kids were or are. Too many times I'm hearing the "Oh but the kids saw the puppy in the shop window and so we just HAD to get it" story. The old instant gratification. Our daughter has never had a dog or actually asked for one, but we have seen how much she loves my parent's dogs, and how much it frustrates her that the cat won't play with her for more than 5 minutes :laugh: . We had always planned to get a dog once she was school aged, and my husband and I discussed getting a dog for months before we mentioned it to her at all, then explained that we have to wait for puppies to be born. I think this has actually been a great lesson for her. We were visiting friends yesterday and playing with their 9 month old pup. After school today she was sighing and saying mentioned that she wanted to get our puppy now :laugh: I don't much like waiting either, but could never stoop to the pet shop level of "off the shelf" animals. Anyway, as far as her involvement, she gets to help pick the name, and has pleaded that we get a girl. We, as the adults decided the breed, where to buy from and the timing (breeder dependant). My other question is how much involvement do your kids have with your dogs? (Feeding, help with training etc).

People baffle me, they really do. And yes, no matter how intelligent someone is, brainpower doesn't always equal common sense. It also seems that in this day and age people are letting their kids make all the decisions! One of the most 'professionally accomplished' women I know recently bought a puppy from a petshop, even though all her FB friends tried to talk her out of it (they wanted a puppy NOW and she "couldn't let the kids down"). Then the other very smart, triple degreed, friend of mine who went to "visit a breeder who had all these different breeds of beautiful designer puppies", and they HAD to take one home then and there as it was a 3 hour round trip and again, "The kids were desperate to take one home". My little one is 6, she knows we are getting a puppy, but has been told that we are waiting until we can get "the right puppy", and it may take months. It's a great lesson. Sorry, went a bit off topic there with my ranting...

Aggressive or yappy breeds? I think you might mean individual dogs, as no breed are all aggressive or yappy. From my experience there are breeds which "bark" and breeds which "yap". I have sensitive ears, a big deep woofing doesn't bother me, whereas the higher pitched bark of some smaller breeds (which the owners may call a bark, but to me is yappy!) does. Semantics.

Aesthetically there are lots of breeds which really don't appeal to me as I prefer those which are IMO more traditional looking like gun dogs. Temperament wise I can't stand any agressive or yappy breeds.

There are actually loads of breeds I love and would have considered, however my husband also has input and his criteria included Medium size (no large breeds and no little dogs); no Terrier breeds and nothing "fluffy". We wanted a breed that was also great with kids, and would enjoy playing and possibly something like agility. I've had a GR in the past and wanted a dog with a similar soppy temperament. I narrowed it down to a Cocker Spaniel or a Welsh Springer Spaniel, then we ruled out the Cocker and considered a Brittany. In the end, after meeting both, we all fell in love with Welshies and now we're waiting for a puppy!

I think I paid $600 for a pedigree Golden Retriever in 1993. No idea what one costs these days but I'm sure it wouldn't reflect CPI increase!

I'd be very concerned. Something here just isn't adding up. Is the breeder feigning innocence over this? It's been a long time since I had a GR, but I do recall when I picked her up at around 8 weeks she looked more like a roly poly baby seal than a puppy! I'd be highly suspicious that it wasn't a purebred.

Good on you for reporting it. Next time it could be some small white fluffy that ends up as dinner

I LOVE my 24-70mm, but it's HEAVY!

We currently only have a cat (waiting on a puppy!), but if we go away for more than a week we get a house sitter. My parents are also frequent travellers and have two dogs, they also always get house/pet sitters who stay. Would this be an option? I think my parents may have used an agency at some stage, but we've also at times arranged friends-of-friends just by asking around to see if anyone knows someone.

Even "good on paper" tenants can turn into a disaster! Our previous neighbours had to move interstate for 12 months and rented their beautiful, newly renovated house to a couple in their 50s who were here from Melbourne themselves, as an "executive rental". When it came to the Christmas holidays, the tenants went away for 6 weeks and their kids were on a Uni break, so they turned up for the holidays - with a pile of friends and several dogs, not to mention a drum kit and electric guitars! We had to call the cops several times to get them to shut up. Apparently the polished floors were trashed, the carpets and curtains stunk of cigarette smoke and the place was filthy. The kids weren't listed on the lease as they weren't actually living there, they were "just guests".

I've had several friends with Cavs, pretty sure most of them were kept inside as they are such a curl up on the couch type of dog, or at least some other secure place rather than in the yard. One was in a unit, so obviously dog was inside all day. Another had a big rear deck and their two Cavs were out there when they left the house.

Adorable! Our first family dog was an Airedale

I guess this is a tricky one for me. Right now I work from home, so when we get a puppy (and we are talking about a velcro welshie here) she will have almost unlimited access to me, and to be honest I'm looking forward to the company during quiet school hours! It's also easy for me to take a puppy most places, other than the shops etc. However, in talking to a breeder recently, it was suggested that this might not be ideal - what if circumstances change and I decide to get a job away from home, or even other situations where I may want or need to be away for any period of time. With husband at work and child at school, and a puppy used to ME being there all day, we could have a situation on our hands! So, I'm a bit stumped. I had planned on letting the puppy/dog have access to the whole house when I'm home, and I will often sit on the back deck to work, but maybe I do need to let her have periods of being alone, so she knows that I will go away, but I will come back. Most likely not make it routine either, so she's aware that it could be an hour or it could be a few hours. I'm thinking too, that I could take her to my folks place occasionally and leave her there for short periods so she's familiar with their home as well, in case we need to leave her there at any stage.

36", great, that sounds about right. Thanks for that. No, I'd never leave a dog in the car!

Interesting. My first thought was "100 people, no way", but thinking about it, school pick up should cover that one easily. May just have to find more males to introduce, other than my husband and father, and the cafe owner! Possibly explains why the GR I had many years ago was so sociable...I picked her up two weeks before my 21st Birthday That girl loved nothing better than being the centre of attention in a crowd of people.

Thanks Zug Zug, great info. It's not likely that I'd ever be out for more than an hour or two at the most at somewhere I couldn't take the pup with me, at least in the first few months. We may have to set up a pen in the yard though, good idea.

That was one of the main reasons, so that the puppy/dog could have a place to "escape" if we happen to have friends around with noisy kids and it gets too much. Is that a Maremma puppy? Gorgeous! How do I figure out what size I need? Do I just go for the largest that will fit in my car?