puppylovefor3

Thanks for the links... I’ll have a look at them. Yes, I have been needing to do mouth handling and extract stones or sticks that she tries to chew on.. the nipping and biting is not normally a problem, just a couple of times a day when she’s a bit crazy! Although today went much better.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone right now we have lots of chew toys all around the place ready to shove into her mouth if she tries to mouth us. Teething sticks, soft crackly squishy toys, rope toys, textured bones, you name it. I also use kongs stuffed with her kibble..she’s getting better indoors at controlling her mouth on us. If she gets too much we just step away outside the barriers we have put up, and a few goes of this and she snuggling in our laps after so that’s good. her crazy outdoor behaviour is the one I’m clueless about how to handle. She suddenly turns around, shakes her bum and then tries to run at you and jump up your leg! Is this her version of play? She jumps up high and lunges at our legs. When this happens, the lead gets caught in her mouth and it’s a tug of war game now...sigh! I’ve tried ignoring it and turn away like you suggested..she persists and nips the crap out of my leg! Ouch! Today i picked her up and held her a few seconds, then put her down. I did this twice, and then she seemed to reduce it or maybe that’s what I hoped for! but it’s so tricky trying to pick her up in this mood, she’s a slippery little thing! Do you think treats for when she stop biting the lead is an option? But what should I do about the lunges? If she’s biting the lead and pulling and playing then if I stop dead she pulls away thinks it’s a game then lunges... if I first stop the lead biting by offering a treat for her to spit lead out and choose the treat instead maybe we can go about our exploring and prevent the lunge game altogether? So confused as to how to deal with this one

Yes I have noticed she’s completely crazy at zoomies time I worry about her banging into things! right now I’m still not letting her off the lead outside. I just walk with her. She’s quite consistent with her wees in the one place (happens as soon as I take her out).. then she wants to go exploring so I just follow her around the yard. The lead biting may be slowly reducing...I’m just shoving toys instead or distracting her so she forgets about it. She’s only doing it during crazy time now. Also she’s more nippy and jumpy when she’s all hyped up. Do you have any advice how I should handle that? I still can’t let her off the lead in the backyard because the neighbours fence guy hasn’t finished up! So annoying! Do you think it’s ok to keep playing on the lead outdoors? Also she’s so curious she’s putting everything in her mouth and chewing on it...sometimes even eats it! Stones, bark, soil, mulch, leaves, grass.. basically anything outside. Is this ok or should I try stop it? She’s constantly gnawing on the pavers today! Just wondered as well, how long everyone keeps going with the puppy play pen concept.. the way I see it, I’d keep going for ages because it’s so helpful! But wasn’t sure what generally happens.

Mackiemad, I noticed this exactly today.. I think I’m slowly starting to read her a bit better too. Today we did a lot of outdoor play as the weather was decent,, but I had her on a lead but we walked around the garden, let her sniff a lot and run around playing. She’s consistently doing her business outside now. I was was trying to take her to the same spot in the garden on a lead so she learns to wee and poo in the one place..is that something I can achieve with consistency? Sometimes what happens is she wees quickly in that spot then she wants to play so we walk along the garden and then ends up pooping somewhere else. I guess I’d like to try and avoid having to go through the whole lawn to pick up poo later down the track when she’s let loose outside. Any suggestions on how to do this or your experiences with this? Shes learning not not to jump up on my 4 yr old now as well. Pwd are mouthy but I keep shoving toys in instead and never leave the kids unsupervised with her. Crate training is is going well.. I’m not waking her up at nights anymore. She wakes up every 3.5/4 hours now.. which is great given she’s only been here since Saturday!

Hi, thanks for the messages She's doing well. Her name is Zara. Yes I have stopped playing with her if she gets in a hyper nippy mood. She did that twice today..morning and evening. Perhaps like children's "witching hour!" She was acting absolutely nuts and jumping, being nippy, initially tried shoving a toy instead into her mouth, it distracts her a bit but she comes back. Then we just left her play area, watched her go crazy attacking her pee pad in the pen then she eventually settled and we came back. Thing is when we leave her area if she's in a crazy mood, doesn't seem to bother her sometimes! She will continue to pay rough for a while. Should we just let her be? And only come back when she's calm again and settled in one spot? she also keeps jumping at the pen and gnawing it when she's in this mood...how do you recommend we handle that? just ignoring? Has anyone experienced this crazy puppy behaviour, at certain times? I take her out to toilet on a lead and sometimes she thinks the lead is a toy and keeps biting it and playing around with it, then she'll eventually let go and do a wee. when she's calm she does one quickly.. when she's playful it's a whole other story. IF she's acting rowdy when it's toilet time what do you recommend I do? Just stand there and let her keep biting the lead and pull away at it? or try something else..surely lead biting is something I wouldn't want to encourage right? is my lead length perhaps not right? Thanks for all the advice! when she's not in a hyper rowdy mood, she's an absolute darling

Finally managed to shrink the size..here’s a pic of our new little bubba. She’s done remarkably well for her first day she’s doing all her toileting outside (no rain has helped!) has learned to sit has gained her appetite back playing nicely with her chew toys. and we left her on her own for 20 mins in her pen inside the house with a kong teething stick smeared with some puppy paste. She howls a bit when we (especially I) leave the room..but she’ll find someone to cuddle up to and fall asleep. Anyway she she whined when we all left but was sleeping in her crate when we returned. Then we all cuddled and fussed over her can I ask how long does she sleep for around this age during the day? She does a large amount.. and will it ever affect her night sleep? They still need lots of sleep right? shes had a couple moments today where she went really hyper playing with some toys..or chewing on the lead after I take her for a wee, and gets all fired up thinking the lead is a toy! Then she gets nippy and I have to pick her up and calm her with cuddles. Then she settles on a mat with a chew toy.Is that the right way to deal with this hype? Or else should I try something else? shes also in her crate with the door closed and no whining so far..fingers xx it continues! Thanks so so much once again for all the advice and support

Aaaw she’s so cute! Yes lucky people

Yes in the light of day it’s all become better. She’s such a sweetheart she’s doing wees and a poo outside too. And she ate most of her breaky too (although it was at 5 am ) the sun and better weather should hopefully help.. still trying to figure out how to post a pic! My iPhone pics seem too large.

Thanks I might try that.. she was in a confined pen when she came back in but maybe I missed the signs.. not sure. I’ll try again I guess. She’s sleeping now I took her out nothing again. . I wanted her to wee before I put her in the crate.. might wait up a bit more to see if she shows signs when she wakes up again. Also she didn’t eat well tonight. Just a bit. Must need time settling in.

She has finally arrived and settled in beautifully. Was so happy to sit and get petted by the kids and loves snuggling to us too. Toilet training is another story. It’s been absolutely pouring and windy and freezing here. I’ve taken her out multiple times this afternoon but she stands there shivering rooted to one spot. We stood there for 15 mins, she sniffed the ground many times and nothing so I went back in.. she did a wee on the floor inside this happened three times.. I’ve decided to try pee pads near the door for today and tomorrow unless the weather improves.. what do you think? She’s just scared or cold or uncertain outside don’t know.. and tries to pull away with the lead. ?? Hmmm I tried to post a photo but seems to be too large a file.

Thanks Dogsfevr. I will check with my breeder about bloat. I'll also read up about it to get more info. At the moment I"m thinking of having a small hanging bucket of water inside the crate (this is what the breeder does). and then see how it goes. My friend in Sydney had a mini schnauzer...she was an absolute darling! Puppy is arriving around mid day tomorrow. Can't believe the time has finally come!! I've got all my gear (as suggested in this post) packed in the car ready to go.

Thanks Tassie I think I'll try that as well. As BlackAsBandit, hello ! That's so exciting to hear, and thanks for your suggestion about consistency. That seems to be the key message. I"ll PM you about the puppy preschools I found and where they're located. We're getting a Portuguese water dog. Can't believe it's another day before she's here!

Thanks for the tip Dogsfevr Found out today the puppy will be coming in a crate that I actually get to keep. So that makes things a bit easier! Just pick it up in the crate itself and head straight home. Can I also ask - should I keep a bowl of water in the crate for the puppy at night? Like in one of those hanging food bowls I;ve see you can hang off the crate bars? Or would that make it need to go to the toilet more in the night...just wondering what everyone does with regards to water before bedtime, or at night for an 8 week old puppy. Thanks again!

I was in contact with the breeder today. She suggested I organise the times to suit us on the weekend, and gave me names of a contact of the animal travel company that they've been using to transport the dogs for ages. So I will ring them tomorrow to work out the details on that and that should give me a chance to sort out issues such as crate hire, sizing etc. For what it's worth I bought a cheap $20 foldable soft crate from Kmart to just have on hand in case I need to deploy it. Should fit a puppy easily in the beginning at least, given once it settles down I'll eventually be carting it up and down from school and all the kids activities and so on. Regarding the food, I have already purchased the exact same food the puppies have been eating and have it all ready to go I was actually thinking of what to do regarding the toilet break, once I pick it up before we head home. I don't think it's lead trained yet. I"m still planning to put a collar and lead on though as suggested just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for the detailed info on the crate Allerzeit! Helpful to know what to discuss with the breeder regarding crates. Time is drawing closer, I will need to work out flight details etc with the breeder this week before the weekend I'm sure. Thanks again

Phew! that's good to know that you have had positive experiences with pups flying. I didn't even think of the gear that I might need to take as Dogsfevr suggested. Thanks for thinking about that So I'm assuming the crate they travel in on the plane you don't get to take them home in that? Do you have to return that to the airport or something? I'm sure my breeder will tell me more about which specific section of the airport I will need to go to...but yes it's Adelaide airport. When you say airline freight area that's on the ground somewhere with all the luggage, that area? I'll experiment with the play pen arrangement. For now think I'll leave it in the family room area, but if it's getting too much in there for the puppy I"ll move it to the corridor probably. In terms of signs for toileting - usually sniffing around, circling and starting to squat is that right? But I"ll probably just take it out every hour initially for the toilet, In the first couple of days when I need to leave the house for school or the shops etc, I'm planning to leave the puppy in the pen with the crate door open (I've got a setup from vebopets with the crate and the hexagonal pen attached to it) but leave it indoors. Super annoying timing, but our fence joining the neighbours house came down just last week..grrrrr. They're rebuilding and had to redo the fence as advised by the council, and of course it had to come down last week! Anyway the fence guy knows (I've been pestering him all week!) I'm on a tight schedule and that the back part of the fence which adjoins our house NEEDS to be up by this week. But knowing them just in case it rains or they don't finish in time, I would not be happy leaving the puppy outside even if it's in the pen. so back to my question, if I need to leave puppy alone in the pen when no one is home...should I use a pee pad in the far corner of the pen? Or perhaps one of those grass cover indoor toilets? The breeder said the puppies have used pee pads before. It wouldn't be for very long but the puppy may need to use the toilet while I'm gone. So many questions...they just keep coming to my mind constantly! Thanks again for all your help

Such great advice! Thanks SO much everyone, it really helped calm my nerves down a bit! I like the idea of taking puppy to the toilet on a lead..our backyard would be way too big for a little puppy if it decides it wants to explore at night instead of pee. (especially with winter coming up!) IN terms of the puppy preschool, I looked around carefully and I think (and hope!) I have made the right choice. There were so many around, the one I chose only enforces positive training, and it's a very carefully monitored environment with only another 3 or 4 puppies in total. The instructor's emphasis is on teaching the puppy to settle after a play, and she specifically enforced bringing the puppy on a lead, along with a training mat and a kong or other chew toys. and told everyone that although the pups will be allowed to play with each other the primary focus of the first few lessons, is learning how to stop playing and settle on a mat with a chew, then learning the basic skills and reinforcing calm behaviour. So fingers xx it's a good experience for puppy. I guess one other thing I was unsure about was during the day, should I put the puppy in the crate with the door closed at all for a rest, or just set it up in the playpen with the door open so that it can go in and rest if needed then come back out? I'm planning to set up the play pen in the family room, but am in two minds about that as well. There's always something going on in the background in the family room, kids playing, talking, cooking noises So would that be too much for the puppy to take in in the first few days? Or should I set up the play pen and crate in a section of corridor off the family room, which has doors that can be closed if need to give the puppy quite time. Don't know whether the puppy would be overwhelmed with the constant bustling around right in the middle of the family room or feel isolated if left in the corridor area (which is still very close by but not in the middle of the action), The breeder has said that the puppy will come with some of the dry bed covering and a blanket that it's been used to. My biggest concern is how the little thing is going to cope with the flight poor little tyke might get quite scared. Has anyone used or had experience with Adaptil? I have read that can help a new puppy settle into its new environment. Wasn't sure whether it was needed or not. The kids have all been instructed to leave the puppy severely alone for the first day and just let it settle in slowly. They seem to be understanding about that and have promised to obey!! Picking it up from the airport...what should the strategy be? I go alone and pick it up to avoid overexcitement about meeting too many people at once, (but if that happens then I might need to keep it in a foldable crate or something in front with me as I'll be alone driving with the puppy). If everyone goes then I can at least hold the puppy in my lap while my husband drives perhaps..? Any thoughts or suggestions? I really like the idea of that game Tassie, bet the kids will love that one! Thanks again all, really appreciate the advice. Sorry about the newbie questions! p.s will definitely post pics of puppy

Hi, we are first time dog owners and looking forward to the arrival of our first puppy in about 10 days. This puppy has been over an year in the planning and in that time we've done LOTS of research, I have already joined a puppy preschool and even attended the first session (without puppy). All the crates, equipment, toys you name have been bought, play pens set up everything done. But having never owned a dog before I'm a bit nervous about how to manage the first night, so was hoping for some advice. I've looked at all the posts in the forum relating to this topic and read them carefully. My plan is to have the crate near my bed, (I usually go to bed around 11...take it to the toilet before sleep time) then just respond when puppy stirs in the night? Or should I specifically take the puppy out every few hours? Puppy will be 8 weeks plus a few days when we get it. On the first day after it arrives (coming from interstate) we just do some gentle interaction with it (I've got 3 kids aged 9, 7 and 4) and let the puppy settle in? During the day keep it in the play pen downstairs in the family room with another crate attached to the pen but leave the crate door open so it can go in and out within the pen as it pleases? We're all usually around in the family room, kitchen most of the time. My plan is to take it out for toileting in the backyard every couple of hours during the day. I don't work so am home all the time except when I go to drop the kids off/pick them up at school, or run errands for a bit here and there. My question is how do I get it to go into the crate at bedtime? Just plonk it in with a biscuit or something then lights out, close the crate door and then just soothe with my hands through the crate if it whines? what should I do if it starts playing up? I also have an intention of getting the puppy used to being on his own for periods of time during the day from the beginning while we may be in another part of the house, keep it busy with stuffed kongs, chew toys etc. So it can cope with being alone as well. After the first few days I also plan to take the puppy out with me wherever I go so it gets used to life outside (socialisation, sports games with the kids, school, shops etc) but carry it if its going to come in contact with areas where other dogs may have been till it's fully vaccinated. Well, these are my intentions but having had no experience in actually doing these things I'm apprehensive! So would greatly appreciate any help or advice in the next few weeks Especially about what to do on the first day and night as it's drawing closer. We're excited as anything, but I'm also nervous about stuffing it up!

Hi Amber, I just wanted to share my experience regarding looking for one of these designer breeds. Like you, I would also be a first time dog owner, and originally wanted to get a Labrador x poodle (due to my limited experience in dogs, breeders and the resulting phenotype of these crosses) during the school holidays, as half the families around my neighborhood had them and told me how great they were with kids and about their no shedding bonus. But as as I was looking for lab x poodle breeders locally I came across a blog/website on google called "farms of shame" which was a real eye opener for me on the going ons on puppy farms. So many people discussing on there had come across lots of health problems in their purchased dogs related to poor breeding crosses, uncertified parent pedigrees etc, the list goes on. But more importantly the thing that saddened me the most was the conditions the dogs would've been living in and the puppies would've been born into...it's hard to imagine how one breeder could realistically socialise and care for puppies from 10 plus litters simultaneously in the house, as a lot of them say they do, rather than an overcrowded outdoor kennel. while I'm sure there may be some good and ethical "designer" dog breeders out there who may breed genuinely, I couldn't go ahead with my original plan for moral reasons and for the reason that I may be unknowingly supporting puppy farming. Then I found dogzonline and the experts on here have given me some great alternatives and invaluable advice. Best of luck in finding your puppy/dog

Totally agree no harm done thanks for taking the trouble to read through and help out

Thanks so much for the information regarding the Royal Show and the judging schedule. I'll have a careful look through to work out which day/days are best to attend. I'm also going to give DogsSA a call to see if they can advice me of any potential shows where I could meet the Lagotto breeder. I think for now we've narrowed it down to either Lagotto or Soft coated Wheaten terrier. My husband was seriously researching the Portugese Water Dog...but from what I've read it's a breed that requires loads of active physical stimulation - Apparently two 1 plus hr long walks a day was the info we found on a few of the breeders sites...does anyone have any additional knowledge to share in this regard with either the Lagotto or the Wheaten? So for now I'll just play the waiting game and hopefully the SA Lagotto breeder will get back to me or I'll try and meet the breeder at one of these shows.

Thanks for that info. Went to the dog show today, spoke to a breeder about the schnauzer... But could not find the wheaten around. Still haven't closed the Lagotto avenue off, I've contacted the SA breeders for them but haven't heard back from them. Is there a way to find out if Lagottos are part of any upcoming events through dogssa? Or would the Royal Show in September be the best bet? Thank you

That's great to know I noticed that in the breeder listings too! I wonder if this breeder or the other SA listed breeder for the wheaten will be there at the dog show this weekend. If I don't see them there I'll contact the breeder and go look.

thank you...that's definitely something to keep in mind! ;) What are your thoughts on soft coated wheaten terriers? Is my understanding that they don't shed correct or am I off the mark...? I've also heard they're a good family pet..there is an Adelaide breeder for them I think. As mentioned I think it will be tricky to find Adelaide breeders for the water spaniels..I've had a look and there are hardly any.

Thanks so much everyone, that is some really splendid advice. I was thinking of going to the show this Sunday and just see as this would be my first time (exciting!) ...I must say I hadn't considered poodles as I had heard a few people in the past query the child friendly aspect..but as you say will now consider standard. I'm sure whatever breed it is,the first year would be critical to commit as much time as possible for training, interaction etc. that's why I was waiting till my youngest is at least 4, Then I can focus on my new canine baby! On another note, do you have any experience on the kid friendly aspects of the water spaniels that are also meant to have the low shedding coat property? That's another one I was looking into. thanks so much once again joining this forum was the best decision..