cassie

I think that's very caring of you to put his needs first :) Hopefully he'll be back with you in no time.

Oh my gosh a Supreme title at such a tender age, that is amazing! Well done and congratulations to all involved! Some kind of record perhaps?

Also for anyone wanting to keep up with Sumo photos, I'll be putting them in this thread from now on: http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/249126-introducing-sumo/ :)

Sumo carried on a lot on the first night in his crate, but last night he actually went and put himself to bed in there We shut the door after him and there were no complaints at all. So your pup may whinge etc initially but things will always get better and easier with each day :) Stay positive, I'm sure it'll be fine! :)

Oh my Cassie he is the cutest fluffball I have ever seen! How on earth do you get anything done? I would just want to play with him all day :D How has Sumo settled in? Thankyou! And yes he is the biggest time waster! I haven't done any washing or vacuuming or anything at all since he came home! :laugh: Yesterday I sat and watched him and Moose play for ages, it actually started to get dark outside which is what made me realise it was probably time to organise some dinner He's settled in really well. Moose and Sumo are inseparable already :) We've had lots of visitors come around and he's just taken it all in his stride. I've never had such a confident pup! He's a real credit to his breeder and parents.

Ahhhh maybe THAT'S where I've heard it before!!! :D We were agonising over names for weeks and weeks and nothing seemed right. I had a huge list but OH and I just couldn't agree on one. Finally I came up with Sumo, didn't think I had ever heard of it for a dog name before, and perhaps I still haven't if it's your cat's name! :laugh: But yes I love it and it seems to really suit him :)

Thankyou everyone for your kind words, they are my world :) By "they" do you mean Saints or Bernese, or both? Anyway neither breed is too difficult to maintain. A thorough brush once a week is enough to remove dead coat and keep any tangles under control. At the moment I'm brushing Sumo every day but that's purely so he gets used to it. I often let Moose go longer than a week if I'm being a bit slack, and there's never an issue with matting.

Last one for now. This is Moose and Sumo. My other Bernese Zephyr passed away from cancer not long ago, and Moose has been a bit lonely since, so it's nice for him to have a brother again :)

At the airport. Sumo (left) with his sister Sassy who went to a friend of mine. They flew in from NZ.

Here he is with my OH so you can get an idea of his size :laugh:

Yesterday we welcomed home our new Saint Bernard baby Sumo :) He is everything we were hoping for and more. He is 9.5 weeks and around 12kg.

He still fits in your arms? How heavy is he? Yes here's proof! :p Sumo with my OH. He's about 12kg at 9.5 weeks.

We will be complaining for sure. It was hard to stay upset once he was in our arms though :)

His feet are actually ridiculous! :laugh: And his ears hang in his water bowl! :laugh: He is the most beautiful baby we just love him. Moose loves him already too :) I have nothing but bad things to say about Adelaide customs though He travelled here in a crate with his sister as a friend of mine got a girl from the same litter, and we rang in advance to find out in detail the entire process regarding his pick up. Well when we got there it was problem after problem. Every person we spoke to had a different story and required some other piece of paperwork that we weren't told about etc, we were also slugged with extra fees. Not happy. And the worst part, the pups flew all the way from Auckland to Adelaide (about 5 hours) then were on the ground in Adelaide still in their crate for another 5 hours before they would release them to us! I'm so grateful that at least they had water (the people at AAE where he was held were wonderful and giving them lots of attention) and at least he had his sister with him. They were fine once we got them, not stressed in the slightest. Us on the other hand....!

Hi all! :D Sorry for the wait. Please let me introduce Sumo! :D

Crate training is the greatest, I highly recommend it! It's based on the fact that dogs do not like to go to the toilet where they eat and sleep, so your pup will cry to be let out to the toilet. When I first bring a pup home I leave the door of the crate wide open and encourage them into it by putting their food bowl in there, some toys and some nice soft bedding. Any attempt the pup makes to investigate the crate, I praise it. Don't shut pup in at this stage. When it comes time to go to bed, make sure pup has just gone to the toilet, then encourage them into the crate (I have it in my bedroom at this point) and gently shut the door behind them. Pup will most likely cry and carry on a bit, but you know this isn't a "I need the toilet" cry because they've just been. They WILL settle eventually :) You can give a few soothing words to try to get them to settle but don't go overboard, as it could be mistaken for praise (ie. rewarding the pup for sooking). Once they're finally asleep, I find they usually wake up in the night at some ungodly hour, and this is when I take pup straight outside and give the command to go to the toilet. DO NOT play with pup, this is not the time, then they will learn that they can cry and then they get to play. Once they've toileted I say "Good pup" with a quick pat, and straight back to bed. In my past experience it only takes about 3-4 nights for pup to learn the routine, and very soon they love their crate. It's also handy in case they ever need to be contained in a crate for any other reason - eg. vet, travel, etc. They already know what a crate is and they will feel secure rather than stressed :) My two cents anyway! This is what happens when I can't sleep as I'm too excited for tomorrow!!!

Hopefully you can bring Louis home on Monday :) better to be safe than sorry though as I'm sure you would agree. Although the extra wait must be killing you! I was looking forward to getting my puppy on the same day as someone else :)

I'll be visiting fully vaccinated dogs with my pup :)

Ohhh I have such a soft spot for purebred Mastiffs! They are a breed that is historically behind all of my favourite breeds :) I laugh how many dogs get mid-labelled as a "Mastiff cross" when they look nothing like the true giants :) All the best with your pup and I look forward to the photos! When do you get her?

I love Tollers! Congrats! ONE more sleep for me! I'm starting to get butterflies

Very cute!

My pup was close to that at birth :laugh:

Agree, save the worry until you chat with her more. He probably just caught a little tummy bug or something.

Down at the Grange Vet Clinic, Grange. We just started a new class, I can see if we still have room if your interested. Thankyou for the offer but it's a little far from me, I'm in the hills :) Do you have Facebook by the way? I've just joined a group called Dogs SA Show Handling Classes/Practice. They do show training on Thursday nights at Kilburn I'll be going when I can (translation: when I'm not working).