poochmad

Periau - details please! Name: Summer Sex: Female DOB: Age: Colour: Red & White Breed: Irish Red and White Setter (?) Hobbies: Loves: Hates:

NO-but he also knows who is 'leader'- and my guess is that it is your husband. he is a puppy of a breed which is meant to focus on moving things Puppies use their mouths to play. Puppies chase and chew. Puppies need lots of physical exercise and pyschological exercise Owners need to set out the rules from the minute the puppy comes home. if the rules are not 'set in stone', or the owners are too 'kind' and 'loving' the puppy will make his/her own rules having not had a pup do this, I can't be of help... The stamping foot thing, tho may not be a good idea. you do NOT want him to be fearful of you, or loud noise, or a sudden movement.... can you carry a water pistol and squirt him? when you are with him... try having a toy handy- if he is focussed on the toy being rolled, thrown- then he won't be chasing you! He is a working breed, and may need more to 'do' than he's getting..... Thanks for your response. I have been a bit slack with training him, so will start doing that again tonight. I will also try the water pistol and see how I go with that. This morning I ignored him (no talking, no pats) and for the first time he ignored my legs...perhaps he's just too excited in the morning?

I'll try the water, but last time hubby did that when he was chewing on a chair leg it didn't bother him. (He ended up with a soaking wet face. ) Perhaps if I do it, it will have a greater impact?

She's gorgeous! How can such a sweet little face like that cause so much grief???

Danois, what would be a high fat diet? (He's fed Orijien mixed with half a sardine and given 2 x chicken wings a day.) My understand is that is isn't the protein that's an issue with growth acceleration, but rather a diet too high in calories (ie fat). Any food that is balanced for either regular puppies or large breed puppies should be balanced. The general rule for pups is to keep them lean and not overweight. So if you are feeding extras like chicken wings and sardines, just remember to feed a little less of the dry food than you otherwise would if you were just feeding dry. Thanks! He is nice and lean, so there doesn't seem to be a problem there. He's not a guts; he stops when he is full which is good. I just realised that I'm feeding him too much. He's supposed to get 1 cup each meal, but I should reduce this if he's also getting chicken necks, etc.

Through a friend... isn't he cute! Gorgeous!

Henschke's breeder has advised that the kibble he receives should be less than 20% protein. The kibble we are giving Henschke is 42% (Orijien). With the breeder he was getting Advance Puppy Plus, but we found that he would scratch heaps after each meal and had continously 'sloppy' stools. After 2.5 weeks we switched over to Orijien and the scratching has all but stopped. His stools are lovely and firm (you know it's been trouble when you get excited over poo!) He's a Field Spaniel and is currently 30cm tall and should get up to around 46cm at the shoulder when fully grown. I'm a bit reluctant to go back to Advance or to another food as this one seems to be agreeing with him. I should also advise he gets 2 x chicken wings each day and half a sardine mixed with his kibble. He gets 3/4 cup of kibble morning and night. Can you please advise whether we're giving him too much protein as I don't want to be doing the wrong thing. Thanks.

Danois, what would be a high fat diet? (He's fed Orijien mixed with half a sardine and given 2 x chicken wings a day.)

Agree. Henschke's are a lot bigger (sometimes they make you wonder how a small dog can do something so large! ) and they are black as well.

sooty.pepper - your pup is gorgeous! Where did you get him?

Henschke is now 3.2 months old and won't stop biting the back of my legs when I walk. When he does it I stop and have: growled at him, said no in a growly voice, stamped my foot at him (so he backs off) and he will either stop and sit or sits and then when I move latches on again. It's gotten so bad that he has put holes in clothes (luckily it hasn't been work clothes yet). He rarely does it to my husband, which makes it even more frustrating. How can I stop him doing this - is he doing this as a dominant thing?

Henshcke's a lot better since I changed the brush to a slicker brush. He seems to enjoy it a lot more as well. I've had a bit of trouble with him, but started a quick brush every day and giving him a treat for each section. Brush the left ear, treat and brush the right ear, treat. Seems to work well. I'm just happy that he now stands there, doesn't chew the brush and lets me brush him. Next thing will be to trim his paws and nails...

Not like he was.

We were feeding him Advance and switched over to Orijien as he was continuously scratching and had lots of soft stools. Now he scratches the normal amount, i.e. every now and again and his stools are nice and firm. So it sounds like a diet high in protein is ok - as he also gets 2 x chicken wings a day?

Henschke's breeder has advised the dog food shouldn't be over 20% protein (if he's scratching - which he's not now), yet I note that Orijien is 42%...over double the advised amount. Can anyone enlighten me on which is correct? Should Henshcke be getting less than 20% or is this only if he's scratching?

Sorry to hear about your pup. Hope that it's nothing serious and Mason is up and running around like a normal puppy! Look forward to hearing about the result.

I too use pookinuk. I had trouble with our postcode and called them and they were very friendly and helpful. The food came within 2 days. Will definitely be using them again!

We have a 12 week old Field Spaniel who's 10 kilos and has huge paws...everyone comments on how big his paws are...I'd be quite happy if he grows into those paws as there would be just more to cuddle!

The original plan was to allow the dogs to 'run free' in our pokey yard with the Bullmastiff and run around in a large yard with the Great Danes. Personally, I'm glad that most people have said 'don't do it' as I was a bit nervous about the whole thing...but just wanted to make sure I wasn't being over protective (can't help but do that). Agree with the meet and greet on leads - I would have felt more comfortable about that - but considering the dogs would be at each other's houses...this was not going to happen.

Thanks for your responses. I was concerned that I was just being over protective and thought that I would see what you experienced DOLers thought! The Bullmastiff is a lovely boy, but oh so huge...I think it would be terrible if something should happen... I think I will hold off from having these play sessions and allow Henschke to mix with smaller dogs...

I have a 10kg Field Spaniel and my nephew has an adult Bullmastiff and friends have two adult Great Danes. We were planning on having two separate playing sessions - lasting the day (with the Bullmastiff) and a weekend with the Great Danes. However, I was wondering whether this is an ok thing to do considering he's still growing and we have been warned about his pasterns and legs (we were told to be careful with him going up and down stairs, jumping off things, over exercising and watching his pasterns 'collapsing'). Am I being over-cautious or should we hold off allowing such large dogs to play with him until his bones are stronger? Any advice is appreciated.

Fantastic news poochmad! Maybe add sardines every week too and reduce the amount of kibble that night for assisting further with the itching (great source of omega 3!) Instead of adding the sardines weekly, would it be ok to mix it in daily? Just concerned about him having a change of diet and also more than happy to eat the kibble one day and then not the next - without the sardines.

Well, he's been on Orijien for 5 days now and at long last almost every stool being normal. One thing I have noticed is that he's pooing less...but boy are they big! They're a lot less smelly and he's almost stopped scratching. So all good.

Willow - great pics. Did you train your dogs as a pup or when they were adults? Which was there first, the rabbit or the dogs?

I'm posting this question for my neice. She has an adult female rabbit that is housetrained and has full access to the house. She would like to get a puppy, but is unsure how to train the pup to leave the rabbit alone, or whether it's even possible (and the instinct of the dog would be too great). Has anyone had any success in this area and how did you do it? If the rabbit has already reacted in a negative sense to a dog being in the house (acting stressed when it has smelt a dog), does this mean that it's impossible to get a pup, or can the two learn to coexist like cats and dogs do? If the responses are negative (i.e. the rabbit will be eaten/killed regardless of the amount of training), then she won't get a pup until the rabbit has died. Thanks.