jasperwall

hi everyone we have a 10 year old female chihuahua. when she was a puppy, we had her desexed and her behaviour changed. she started not liking being pat, when you reach for her, she would cower. when you carry her, she would squeal. over time, we learned what she likes, what she tolerates and what she doesn't like. now she's in her senior year. she's going blind. i noticed an increase fearful behaviour in her which i think is natural. but this fearful behaviour would make her bark more often. and we would be doing our best to guess what she wants, either go outside, have something to eat, take her to bed, etc. the other night, she barked most of the night due to pain when she tries to poo. she would squat but nothing happens, and when she does, she would have runny poo and she would squeal in pain. we took her to the vet and found out she has a cyst and infection so the vet gave her enema and antibiotics. what do you do with your senior dog when their behaviour changes? how do you deal with increase barking and you don't know what is causing it? thanks for all your advise

Hi All I have a 17 weeks old chihuahua and we are going to attend a puppy school. i'm looking at getting some treats for her as rewards. any recommendation? also i'm looking for a sausage meat that when you cut it in small pieces, it won't turn into crumbs? anyone use any of those? thanks in advance

thank you! yes, i think i saw that dog club training at a park near DFO at homebush. i will check their website. also i saw susan garrett's recaller's program coming back on again soon. i'm also subscribe to ian dunbar's dogstardaily

thank you to @mrs rusty bucket. i found this great article in helping us prepare our new pup to be left alone http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/HomeAlone.pdf

thank you again for the feedbacks. i appreciate how much you care for your dogs and be upright honest with all the warnings. i understand. i had a dog before i got married and had children. we were so naive back then and we allowed the dog to have too many priviledges and freedom at an early stage too early. and so the dog pretty much runs the house. but with committment we still manage to toilet train her. as far as other basic obedience training - there were none. this is why i want to ensure there's structure and discipline also with our new dog and restrict his access to all our room when he is unsupervise. by all means, this is not a permanent situation. when we are at home, i will ensure he is supervised at all time and the play pen will not be use. i want to teach him he's welcome in our bedroom when he's invited and when we are at home so he doesn't do his business there when unattended. we have thought of a place in our apartment where he can eliminate. and we plan on using the playpen and crate to toilet train him and self settle when left alone. i've been doing a lot of research and reading about having a dog. so now as a family we are ready to have a dog and we have been discussing and made plans to incorporate the dog in our life. i know it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be instant. this takes committment, time and consistency. but i'm preparing as much as i can manage before we get him. yes, i'm subscribed to kikopup, pam's dog academy, training positive, and i'm a fan of gone to the snow dogs in youtube. :-) so i definitely want to nurture our dog to his full potential. @mrs rusty bucket thanks for those suggestions. i will surely look them up and incorporate your suggestions in our training. i saw something similar in kikopup youtube chanel in her crate training and being left alone.

all your comments are so so appreciated. yes, i plan on using our two weeks school holiday to get our new puppy adapt to our lifestyle and routine. not necessarily to pamper him LOL. but to shape him and be used to our schedules. definitely high on the list is toilet training, bed training and being left alone training. i've been reading books and watching plenty of dog tutorials in youtube this past several months. i was going to use the playpen as a means to restrict his access to all the rooms but to his toilet space when he is unsupervised. but whenever myself or my partner is with him, he'll be tethered to us so we can ensure he doesn't make any toilet accidents or destroy our furniture or harm himself. this will be our daily routine with him even after school holidays anyways until we are sure he is house train. so plenty of training, shaping and proofing ahead. @persephone oh definitely, he's big for a puppy. already almost to my knees when we saw him. when he stands up, he can put his front paws to my chest (but so gentle). yes, the balcony is child proof and will be puppy proof. actually i am also thinking of bed vs crate and would like your feedback about it. in an apartment, a bed is more ideal but for his need... maybe a crate inside a playpen is better? what size crate should i get for a collie? i was looking at life stages crate... any suggestions there?

..unfortunately - this then suddenly leaves a dog totally alone after 2 weeks of humans 24/7 , and mega attention. not a very good situation for any dog ....coming from a breeder with lots of company, smells, sounds, and dogs ..then to an apartment with humans in close contact . .then................................ ............................. ..I know it has been done before ..however a collie has a pretty good bark/howl ..and can also cause a LOT of damage in a short time . These problems are best never let develop , rather than have to be fixed .. A good trainer is a must ;) thanks for that. and yes, we've thought of our own work and school schedules. i agree with you that we definitely need to invest not just money and food to our pets but more importantly time. as much as possible, this new member of our family will be involve in everything we do because whatever we do, all family members are always in it together so our new puppy will never be left out. the only time i can think of when he will be left alone is when we do our groceries and/or go to church. during this time of unsupervised time, i plan on keeping him in a playpen with some interactive toys. i would definitely seek a good trainer to help me train him. i'm also looking for puppy schools. any advice on that would be great. my goal is to nurture and shape this puppy to be a good manered part of our family. i am committed to invest my time with him.

WOW! Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of experience. This is priceless. yes, I'm in Sydney, NSW. we are getting our puppy from a great breeder. we have visited her kennel and we are so impress and just fell in love with her dogs (smooth and rough collies). they're so gentle, calm and affectionate - specially with my two daughters (age 10 and 4) yes, the breeder has been very helpful with her experience and she has given me some info. she will also give me plenty of other useful information once we get the dog... but i'd also like to be proactive and start doing some research ahead of time. we live in a 3rd floor apartment. (that's why we agonised over whether we should get a dog) i was concern about our home not being adequate. but i find that collies are very adaptable but yes i am committed in ensuring this new bundle of joy will have plenty of love, walks, exercise and training daily and regularly. i am also looking for a dog school to ensure he stays socialise with dogs and other people and to help me train him. any advice around bankstown area? we've already started puppy proofing our place and have started plans on how to incorporate our lives around the needs of our new dog. with the school holidays coming up, it'll be a perfect time for us to bond with him and give full time supervision - i would literally tether his leash to my waist with a bag full of treats and a clicker to mark his good behaviours. my plan is to get a bed with a playpen. the playpen will only serve when we cannot physically supervise him or when we go out of the house that we can't bring him with us. again thank you so much for your advice. @benshiva i know what you mean. i visited one of the biggest petstores which has an online store... didn't get any help i then visited a small business self owned petstore and the customer service was great. very friendly and gave plenty of free advice.

Hi All This is my first post! After agonising over and over if we are qualified to get a dog, we finally got ourselves the approval to adopt and add a new member to our family. we are getting a smooth collie in a few weeks and he's about 6 months old. Buying for things the dog needs for the first time can be challenging. with all the choices, brands, accessories, and costs... it can get overwhelming. So for all those experience owners, can you please advice or suggest. do you buy online or in the shops? which online shop / local pet shop do you often visit (base on good quality and cheap/reasonable cost) what would you suggest the first lot of item a new puppy owner should buy?