Safadao

would hate to be your milkman

i love her tail, that white streak ... Bueatiful lil pup you have

Strange .... my lil guys like it too ... makes you wonder how they intereact with the TV (if they can tell the difference). As my GSP is usually quite flighty when he hears a big dog. Although, watching footloose the other night ...... the big put bull in that "Grunt", when ever there was a bark Eddy would jump up into a defensive stance, and scan the house .... was quite funny.

As soon as you make your back yard puppy safe. Ours was out at 14 weeks. We had to put things under fences, and gates to ensure pup stays inside, and others stay outside. We just used scrap timber, bricks etc. Both my dogs love their outside time as much, if not more than their inside time :rolleyes:

you could always crate your snorer in a different room. I found my dogs accepted the crate very quickly (mind you it was an improvement to outside) ... Or better still, crate both the dogs in the same crate. Just make sure there is enough room.

Woofbix, they sound delightful .... but alas, we don't even have a big W so i have no idea.

just thought i'd add my 2c worth. My wife and I are both away from the house for 8+hours a day working, and then some nights most of the evenings. We spend as much time as we can with our dogs, and look forward to weekends etc. Mind you we were concerned about the time we are away which sort of lead us into the decision to get a second dog. For us, i really believe two dogs has worked well. We have a GSP and a dalmatian, both like to run around aimlessly, dig, jump, roll .... they do it together, and I can see Eddie (my older GSP) happier when i get home.

just make sure all shots are up-to-date, esp. pavo. Oh, be careful with young ones when swimming. My dog will swim out to you, and try to hug (usually dunking me). Life jackets are a good idea. Actually i am sure i have seem life jackets for dogs .... that could be quite a sight

i introduced mine to the river just after he got the last round of pavo shots (very young). He would only go out to waste deep, but loved it. He went in over this once, scared himself by splashing close to his head, and then ran out 100 mile an hour. A few months later we took him down again with some friends dogs who love swimming, and he jumped head long in from a 2 meter cliff :rolleyes:. Just what ever you do don't force them. They wil go the whole way when they are ready. You job starts when trying to get them out

I was an avid "outside only" dog person, but they grow so much on you, that I cannot enforce it. I still don't let the dogs sleep inside, well sort of. We have an enclosed and insulated garage, and I crate both my dogs in there over night. During the day they have free reign over the back yard, and in the evenings (when we are there only), they are allowed to come in and spend time with us (as long as they aren't too energetic). My GSP barks at everything, well everything in the sky. Clouds, the moon, shadows, birds, bats, sometimes i've caught him snapping and barking at moths. Crating has been a god send with Eddie, everyone gets a good night sleep, and he actually looks forward to going into his bed. Even when he is inside, if he wants to go to bed he will sit at the door and wait to be let out. I have not yet tried this, but I was told on the weekend that cat kibble (sardine flavoured) is apparently a creat treat to train your GSPs with. From what i was told, they love the fishy smell/taste. Personally i've found cheese the best. Eddie often turns his nose up at dried liver, smako type treats, kibble, or anything. Cheese (and sliced) seems to work. Something else, which you probably know from researching the breed, the LOVE LOVE LOVE water. Eddie would swim till he drowned if you let him. In Mildura, during summer we had a kiddies pool in the back yard in the shade, he actually lays down in it to drink. Even now he submerges his head sometimes when drinking. They are great swimmers (when they realise they can swim), and is a easy way to exercise them. GL with your GSP.

nothing better than not being able to move BC you GSP wants to sit so close to you, their little bum is on your foot They are so loyal it is amazing.

i've just recently started crate training my 14month old GSP, about a week after i started, he would wait at the door to be let in bc he wanted to sleep. Possibly helps that I have outside dogs, and they are let into the warmer garage into the crate. Also stuff some kongs and add them incase they wake up and need some entertaining. I have also added my 15week old dalmatian to the same crate (x-tra large one), and they keep each other warm. One thing i have noticed though, when they start to bark you really need to get there quick. My GSP only barks if he needs to go toilet. They hate peeing on their bed, and seem to get very frusterated if we can't get there in time (happened once or twice I think for us it has been the single best investment with our dogs. They are warm, they no longer bark all night, and valuable items/poisons/shoes are out of reach. We have our dogs inside most nights with us, and when they are too tired to louge about, they actually wait to get into the garage into their crate.

Howdy, i have a 13 month old GSP and I know your pain He is cute, but barks at everything. Clouds, birds, shadows, stars .... the moon. I have just recently started crating him in the garage with new 3 month old Dalmatian pup, and we have complete night of sleep. He actually looks forward to getting into the crate at night. I highly recomend it. I got the largest crate i could (as i wanted to keep them both in it), and they start to bark at around 7am when they need to go to the toilet. Other than that, not a peep no matter what noise goes off around them. Is without a doubt my best pet related purchase yet. By the way, i tried a citronella collar for 2 weeks. First 10 days it worked a treat, then came a full moon, in which he learnt that if he barked over the top of it, he only had to endure 3-5 sprays of it to be allowed to bark all night. Cheeky bugger

We have been using a crate now for a very flighty 12month old GSP who would bark at clouds (anything he could see in the sky i think), and was especially bad on full moon nights. Anyway, since the introduction of the crate in the garage, everything is great. Both dogs sleep until 7ish, where they let out a 'quiet' bark to remind us that they need to go to the toilet. Neighbours are satisfied, and we are over the moon I love my crate now

My vets were not in favour of the Barf diet, (i felt anyway) not becuase they prefered us to buy their brand dog food, more they were concrened that correct levels of vitamins, minerals, protiens, fats and sugars would be very hard to monitor ... especially for a new pup. Where I go, science diet is on display, and for sale however they rattled off a number of other brands that are also recommended taht they don't sell. I find this reasonably neautral stance pleasing. I still feed my dogs raw foods, I just rely on the bought dog food for a complete balance that I really think I would have trouble offering. I mean, the more research you do in even having a complete diet for yourselves, the more difficult everything becomes.

grapes are bad? Our old dalmatian used (when i was growing up) used to run all around the town we were growing up in. He knew everyone, and everyone knew him. But he used to all the time go and eat grapes right off the vines. The more rotting the smell, the better. If he at too much, some times he would get the runs .... but it was impossible stopping him. I guess the seeds would not be very good for dogs in some varieties.

the problem stems a little deeper than that i think. I've sat up myself, and listend for things that have been setting ed off, and have asked a few neighbours. It's actually a little yappy dog a few doors down that starts it all. Eddie just chimes in with I a "i can beat that bark" .... That said though, eddie is flighty, any sound and he has to investigate. If he can't see what it is, or doesn't like it BARK BARK BARK. Tell him its ok, play with him .... he's not interested. Offer him food, his not interested. HE just wants to bark at the noise :D Has now been 5 days inside at night, and although he woke me up this morning (he needed to go toilet) all has been fine.

Well, it has been a week now of bring lil eddie inside into the laundry, and the sound of claws on my nice new walls has stopped. Actually everything is going well. New pup has arrived, and although i was very very worried on how to introduce them, there was no problem what so ever. Eddie was an instant big brother, and loving it. Little Rani seems to be what he needed. Rani even got away with playing with his favourite tennis ball :D Having eddie in the laundry has stopped the barking. We've even introduced puppy into the laundry with him, and pup no longer cries. So this is a great step forward. Just have to get pup trained. Am contemplating building/buying a large cage/crate for the garage (garage is enclosed and insulated) for them to spend the night. As for cold nights, i guess the temprature has dropped to how it was, but i don't believe here it has dropped below 20 (at night) yet. Will keep you posted with how everything is going. Also keep an eye out for pics of both my little buddies. I went stupid with the camera yesterday .

i guess where the options are (due to enough complaints) put your pooch down, or debark ... then debarking is an option. :-/

No, house is one year old last weekend. We've had eddie for 10 months. They have grown together ;-) Day 1: Eddie stayed inside last night. He had run of the laundry, he started whining, and scratching a bit so we opend the laundry door and gave him run of the laundry, hallway area (all tiled) and we all got a good nights sleep (well except for me keeping an ear open for the sound of scratching on my doors). Eddie was SooOOoOOooOoo bouncy this morning, it was bordering psychotic ;-), but he calmed down after his morning drive with me. I let him out about 6:30 this morning in case he needed to go, he ran outside 100miles an hour, stood in the centre of the yard, and barked for 5 minutes straight, took a drink of water, and came back to my feet. Seems to me like a bit of stress releif that he wasn't willing to release inside It's going to be an interesting week next week I would imagine. Eddie gets a baby sister (dalmatian) sunday night ;-). More to come:

yikes, debarking never even crossed my mind .... I will try the "laundry"treatment tonight i guess, with a New house, and my issue with dogs inside i've been a little narrow minded. I am getting better though, he is inside most of the time when we are. Only to be put out for meals, play time, other dogs comming over, to sleep etc. Thanks again. *Crosses fingers* Here goes

thanks everyone, back to the drawing board. As i've said, it wakes me up, but i can live through it .... just worried the neighbours aren't as patient as I am

Heck, have tried so many things in the last month. I really thought that we were getting somewhere too. Two weeks we hired a citronella bark collar. Eddie barked once, was prayed and then for more than a week the problem was cured. Then the smart little pup learnt the volume he could bark at without setting the collar off ... (whilst this was funny, it did not stop him barking, and he learnt that when the collar is off he can keep barking). Now, after the bark collar he is back t normal ... well actually worse. Last night from 12:30am-3:30am (until we let him inside) he barked non stop. The night before Eddie started around 4am. I know the full moon has a bit to answer for, and there are other dogs in the area barking but just not as loud as my little fella. I am contempating building a small 4mx4m shed outside, with the intention of giving 1/2 of it to the dog. Putting him in there every night, and shutting the door. Either that, or as you guys have mentioned, the laundry. The other thing is, that this weekend I am picking up puppy Number 2 (a 3 month old dalmatian). If his barking is fear related, the addition of a constantly friendly pal should help should it not? Thanks again.

lol .... i know if i started barking at 5am, my wife would kick me outside ..... *shrugs*

Thats an idea, yeah am close enough to hear bird scarers if they go off, i guess it could be that. Also we are getting close to picking season, so there will be increase activity on the roads, and equipment running all night. I had thought of that, but seems odd that it only occurs at 5am, and not all night. As for the birds, Eddis starts about 20 min before birds are out, but i guess he could hear them starting to stir in their nests etc. He is quite partial to birds. Getting his attention when he has spotted a magpie or pigeon is near impossible :D