aliwake

We bought the collar within a day of getting our pup at 8 weeks. I can't really say if it assisted on not, cos he was still a fairly difficult and needy pup regardless, but as Ams said, it could well have taken things down a notch. There was one or two occasions where we took the collar off for a day or so and I think he may have seemed a bit more anxious? Very hard to quantify anyway, but it's worth a try.

Lisa, that's so awful! Poor Nova glad he's physically ok, and hopefully he won't have any other issues. Hopefully puppy attention span will work in your favour...

I hate posting on my iPad, so will keep it short and just wish you all Merry Christmas! Nixon had an absolute ball - apparently he's a gun present unwrapper, and was very spoiled! He also got an enormous bone which kept him occupied for many hours, if not days! Happy puppy :) Hope you've all been enjoying the season with your lovely puppies! I'm looking forward to lots of beautiful puppy pics, and supportive advice/suggestions from everyone in the new year x

Nixon has generally been quite an unsettled sleeper at times. Likes to get up and move around, and then occasionally nudge his wet nose into your arm while you're sleeping, then refuse to go outside when you get up... sigh. So the last couple of weeks he seemed to voluntarily start sleeping either in the lounge, bathroom, or laundry, and wouldn't come join us at bedtime, so we started shutting the bedroom door and leaving him to it! It's been working out so well. We've all been sleeping so much better! After months of broken sleep we're all (including Nixon), very happy. I still occasionally hear him move around, and he comes to sleep outside our bedroom door at times (particularly in the early morning, when he's waiting for us to get up). If he needs to go out he'll usually do a big shake and a few sighs outside our door and one of us will let him out. To be honest though, he hasn't actually done that lately at all. It's been months since we all slept this well!! hooray! Lisa, sounds like Nova's training is coming along brilliantly! I guess the distraction of other dogs probably reduces his focus at training?

P.s. we always fed him in the laundry too, to help keep it as a positive place, even though he didn't like the playpen. He doesn't seem to have any lingering issues with it now - in fact it seems to be his crate equivalent - he'll go lie down in there if he wants some quiet time, and space to himself. I still remember we had a party one afternoon when he was about 12 weeks, and when he got sick of playing with all the kids he wandered away quietly and I found him sleeping in the laundry. I was so proud of him that day!

It's good to hear that someone else has had the same problem. When did you start letting your dog use a doggy door and go outside alone? I'm not sure that the diet will fix things either but I'm willing to try. I was considering changing to raw anyway eventually. We don't have a doggy door. When we leave we put him outside, and when we're home we either let him out when he needs to go, or leave the door open for him to come and go as he likes. We have a very secure yard, but I wasn't comfortable having him outside when he was small - we have lots of big brush turkeys and possums and I didn't want him becoming fearful of them when he was small and we weren't there to supervise. So, for the first couple of months he was in his playpen in the laundry when we went to work. We had an inside toilet he was trained to use, and he used it well 'most' of the time. But he had no poo awareness, and would occasionally eat it, or often step in it. I was going home every lunch time, so he would see someone every 4 hours and I could clean the toilet etc. We also had a webcam set up to check on him (which is how I know how distressed he got at times). Despite all this inside toileting, once he started being outside during the day, i think we only had 1 inside accident from that time forwards. He is inside all night and has never tried to toilet inside, so I think they can easily adapt to new situations.

It sounds like you're doing the right things to me. Our pup was the same - he was very distressed in his playpen. He never grew to like it particularly, and would often walk in his poo and spread it around. The only way that he would settle enough to sleep in there, was if I put a crate inside for him. He was also never that interested in playing in there, despite having lots of lovely toys. For us he was always eventually going to go outside during the day, so we just had to suck it up for a couple of months, til he was bigger, and eventually we made it through. Now, at 10 months, he's pretty well adjusted and seems happy enough to let us leave to go to work during the day, and he thoroughly enjoys being outside - especially if it's raining :) Our boy also ate his fair share of poo - though it only started after a vet visit. Now he only seems to do it if he's not feeling very well? There doesn't seem to be a sure way to stop it - you just need to limit exposure as much as you can. I doubt switching to raw would change that behaviour, but I'm not an expert... I'm sure there're plenty of puppies on proplan that don't eat their poo.

We have this puzzle feeder: http://www.petsneedalifetoo.com/products/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=246 They get the hang of it fairly quickly, so I'm not sure it's all that mentally stimulating after a while, but it certainly slows down the feeding process, and Nixon definitely likes his. It was very frustrating for him when he was a smaller puppy though, so I put it away and re-introduced it when he was a bit bigger. You can use it without the lids too, to start off with.

I always felt a bit silly calling it a penis, when it was so cute and small!! :) Doodle seems far more suitable for a baby puppy!

That's hilarious! I wondered if that might be it! It took me weeks to work up to trimming the doodle hair, and it was so much better afterwards. No more dripping! Can highly recommend doing it asap :)

I did a bit of a search before, and there are drontal 3kg tablets apparently. Might work better for you donatella?

Do you have any other dogs at home? Do you know how many vaccinations your pup has already had? Should possibly have had 2 by that age? Maybe see if they will hold him til monday and re-test? That would more than cover the 5 days the vet suggested. Would be best to be safe. Your kids will feel even worse if you take him home, then he gets sick and doesn't make it... Not to mention treatment for a sick pup will be very expensive for you. I would suggest getting pet insurance as soon as you have him! I can highly recommend petplan.

I've heard you can quarter the tablets, but they usually say to round up to the closest 2.5kgs anyway, so the correct dosage would still be half a tablet I think...

Maybe talk to a proper pest control company - they may have some ideas for you? We usually get a general treatment for our house yearly, and it's around $100. Might be worth looking into if it means they can get rid of the fleas properly for you?

I trimmed the doodle hair too - drove me nuts when he was tiny! There would always be a droplet left on the hair after he'd finished peeing :)

I would tend to think it'd be ok to just keep an eye on it for a couple of days? But someone else might have a better idea. Boys can just be weird sometimes... For ages ours would pee every time he had a ball in his mouth :) Hopefully it's not a problem, but baby puppies are such a worry!

OMG he is super cute! Look at those HUGE feet! Seems like a very happy boy :) Not sure about the dripping. Had he gone in his crate on the flight? Are you planning to have a vet check in the near future? I don't remember dripping with my boy, so it might be worth asking about.

Congrats Esky! pics please :)

Oh yeah, we get a heap of semi legit looking emails with .zip attachments at work, and there are people who continually keep opening them... Even after numerous emails saying not to. All our work emails then usually end on a banned list and we can't email any clients... happens with frightening regularity.

Just got an email from ebay about a group buy they have running for the next few days - it's an awesome deal on a gazebo: http://groupbuy.ebay.com.au/deal?itemId=141128157837 Thought some show people might be interested

I've been feeding my choc lab livamol (coat supplement) and he's looking great! Apparently it's meant to help prevent fading, and he has shown no signs of it. He's outside all day too. He just gets a tablespoon a day. Your boy is lovely, and his 'bandit' markings are kinda awesome!

Hank is looking so handsome! And I LOVE Mila's one upright ear - so cute!!

That is so hilarious! I have the best mental picture!! Nixon didn't hump anyone at the park today (yay!) but he did get humped in the face by two separate small dogs?! Didn't seem to phase him much :) I swear there must be something in the air at the park at the moment -it's out of character for all of them! Had all us humans in stitches though.

Thanks for the update Lhok, I'm really sorry you've had to make such a hard decision I know you adore Treble and will miss him like crazy! Hopefully it will be 3rd time lucky with your lovely new rottie pup

I was wondering this too - would love a Treble update, Lhok