Apricot

A year ago we purchased a pup to to keep our 3 year old dog company after the death of her 11 year old companion. Best thing we ever did. We did look into getting a guardian puppy. Seriously looked into it, but didn’t go ahead. What put us off was having to pimp her out to have sex and then go on to have puppies. Even though this is what breeders do, it's the whole point of breeding, it didn't sit comfortably with our family. I can’t see anything wrong with the guardian ship programs that breeders are moving to. Ethically, I think it's much nicer for a breeding dog to be part of a loving family rather than be locked up in a formal kennel until its breeding retirement. Even though the dog is in your home, the breeder generally covers some costs such as council registration and introductory obedience training. Also covering the complete cost of comprehensive health testing at 1 year of age, and then if it gets the all clear, all of the costs associated with breeding. The other thing that put us off was the dog would have to leave our home to have it's puppies. I think they said it would be away from home for around 8 weeks, 10 days prior to birth then the puppies being weaned by around 7 weeks. We didn’t want our pet to be away from us for 8 weeks. If those things don’t bother you. Then go for it. My sister in law has a dog that is part of a guardianship program and she’s very happy. Her dog is a purebred not a labradoodle. I’m not sure what sort of labradoodle you have been offered. You will need to scrutinise the breeder under a microscope because as with ALL breeders there are a lot of cowboys out there. We have an Australian Labradoodle which is different from first cross LabradorXpoodle that the forum here criticize. She’s a 5th generation, from health tested parents. She’s smart, gentle, loving and eager to please. She looks exactly like what we were expecting, has a coat like we expected, a temperament like we were expecting, she is the perfect pet for us and is a lovely companion for our other dog. As for whether a labradoodle is right for you, with all the bias and misinformation here about Australian Labradoodles, I don’t think this is the right place to gather that information.

To the original poster. Did the lady end up getting a pup?

We have a 10 month old pup that we are getting ready for agility. We also have a 3.5 year old dog that competes in agility. The club near us does a prep class where the pup has to be a minimum of 9 months old. While we were waiting for her to turn 9 months, we did the basic obedience class with her. Besides learning obedience, it has familiarised her with new, busy surroundings. These are the surroundings she will have to do agility in. She has learnt to focus, and has great recall despite being surrounded by many people and many dogs. So even though you know all the obedience stuff, it wouldn't hurt to participate in their obedience classes. Can I ask which area of Queensland you are in? The reason I ask is that when we started agility, I could only find 2 clubs near me. BUT over time, I have learned there are at least 5 places we could have done agility.... they were just hard to find on the internet.

Well to be honest. 2 year old child? I would have given mine away at that age if I could. Apparently it's illegal.

Oh that's just terrible!

Hard to say. Give it a week and and try again. If it happens again the kibble may be upsetting his tummy.

It looks good, but we haven't ended up buying it because from my understanding it is imported from America. ( I could be wrong ) We would prefer a food that is more locally made, so we went with another brand.

Thank you! K9 crates were the ones I was searching for. I like the size range and the window flaps. I've bookmarked the page. Now need to wait and see how big this dog grows.

Hi, I am looking for a soft crate for my small/medium sized dog. I saw a link here months ago to a website that sells many different sizes of soft crates, but I can't find it. If I remember correctly there's a member here that sells the type of soft crate I am search for. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Have you looked on facebook? kittie Kat Rescue inc. on facebook currently have a ragdoll for rescue located at Ermington Vet Surgery (not sure where that is because I am in QLD) There are other groups and pages there on facebook too. Good luck with your search.

Please don't suggest I have done nothing inbetween the first and second groom. The first time I took Olive to the groomer she was with my other dog. The groomer told me that Olive fretted when she was separated from my other dog and that is why she was barking. She was about 14 weeks old at the time. This time I sent the puppy on her own so that she wouldn't see Peaches on the grooming table and frett. Obviously that didn't work though. In that instance I did what the groomer suggested. I don't think anyone was suggesting that the groomer should not have told me she was barking. It was obvious that she was barking, I could hear her. It more that the groomer is unwilling to work WITH me and the puppy. Funny thing is I CAN pick my puppy up before and after appointments. However this groomer has strict drop off and pick up times. All dogs are dropped at 8am and picked up at 12. And in the afternoon session all dogs are to be dropped off at 1pm and picked up at 5pm. And it is because of this inflexibilty, I can't see this grooming practice being the right place for my puppy, (it's fine for my older dog) until the puppy is properly comfortable with being groomed and being crated. And to get her comfortable with grooming I am going to find a groomer that has less waiting time for the dog. Thank you everyone for your help. Reading everyones suggestions has made it clear to me what actions to take.

How about on a dedicated Rottweiler re-homing site on Facebook? https://www.facebook.com/groups/rottierescue/

Thank you for your replies. You've confirmed what I was thinking, and that I'm on the right track. That she's young, anxious, needs some crate training and a nice gentle introduction to the grooming environment. The groomer told me to get a professional trainer in. Implying that I can fix this at home and she will be "fixed" by the time the next groom comes around. The problem I saw with that was, how do I fix the barking at the groomers if the dog doesn't do it at home. I think I'm tempted to find a new groomer who can work with me doing what Rascalmyshadow said. She starts obedience in 2 weeks time, then after that course we start a prep course for agility which includes crate training. I am hoping that this will give her a bit more confidence when in strange situations.

5 month old Olive had her second groom yesterday. The groomer did a great job on her summer cut, however the groomer told me that after the groom was completed she barked the whole time until I picked her up. So about 45 minutes of solid loud barking, and wouldn’t settle down. This happened on her previous groom too. I’ve been taking dogs to groomers over the past 11 years, and have never experienced this . Personality wise, she is a bit nervous around strangers. Shy I suppose, but very friendly once she gets to know you. And she doesn’t bark at home. Has anyone experienced this, and what did you do to fix the problem? What do I do? I've got about 5 weeks until I take her to the groomers again.

What a long journey for the poor little pup. I'd be devastated if that were my dog.

Such a sweet little face.

How is your pup going? Are you feeding her a high quality dog food? Sometimes some of the lower quality foods contain a large amount of fillers that some dogs can't digest properly. If the food is not digested properly their poos will still smell like food to them and they will eat it. Good luck. I hope you've already solved the problem and she's not eating her poop anymore.

2 of my dogs have done this recently. One of them had an ear infection and the other one had a piece of stick stuck in the roof of it's mouth. Good luck