Gayle.

You know what I did? And I'm not in any way suggesting you do the same thing, just relating my experience. I took the screaming, crying, unhappy puppy out of the crate, made him a bed on our bedroom floor and he slept there very happily, and now at over 2 years of age, sleeps under our bed (or outside when he wants to). He's grown up to be a lovely, well-balanced and well-mannered dog, who's more than happy to relax in a crate at events or any time I need to crate him. With our next puppy, I didn't even bother with the crate, she just came to bed with us, and now sleeps on our bed for most of the night and on her own bed in our room for some of it. And she's also happy to be crated at events or when I need to have her in a crate. Crates aren't the be all and end all of puppy training, and even if you don't successfully manage to have a happy puppy in a crate, don't give up hope. As an older puppy or an adult, he might be happy to go into a crate and stay there for as long as you need him to.

I'd prefer a photo (or video) of LP trying to photograph that. I think it would be hysterical! LOL! Trying to arrange two full grown and reasonably obedient dogs to pose nice and still together is a major feat......I managed it once with four of them (Benson, Kinta, Dusty and Leo) and that was nothing short of a miracle......so I wanna see it done with one full grown and very obedient dog and six wriggly, squirming, mischevious puppies!

If you sew, or know someone who does, or even just pick up cheap remnants in a fabic store, you can make really cheap tug toys from tightly plaited polar fleece fabric strips. My dogs LOVE them and they last for ages.

The Warehouse (also called Sams Warehouse in some places) have fabulous stainless steel dog bowls for around $5 each....the smaller ones are even cheaper. I have about 8 of them in the kitchen, 2 permanantly in the car and one on the balcony for when the dogs are vegging out with me. I've had plastic ones in the past, but they split and go powdery, the stainless steel ones just last and last. I wash them every day in the dishwasher, so the dogs always have clean bowls and they are a very good investment.

When I got Benson as a 10 week old puppy, my biggest purchase (besides him) was a crate......it cost me $275.00 and my husband would have hit the roof if he'd known I'd paid that. I couldn't stand the pitiful crying of a puppy in a crate, so we didn't use it after the first few days and I thought it was a waste of money. When we got Dusty, we started to show her and dragged out the crate to take with us so we'd have somewhere to rest the dogs.....and they both now love going into it for a snooze when we're at a show. So while we didn't need it for baby puppies, it eventually came in handy for soemthing and wasn't a complete waste of money. Not sure why I'm telling you this but maybe it's to let you know that you really don't need anything expensive straight up. I've had dogs of various breeds, cross breeds etc for years, as well as a variety of cats (we currently have 3 purebred cats). Maybe I've been lucky (touch wood!) but aside from regular checkups, vaccinations and desexing of all pets except my showgirl, the most I've ever spent at a vet was $200, and that was just a few weeks ago when Benson developed an allergy. He had to have a steroid injection and ongoing meds, plus the consultation fee. All has cleared up now and I've not spent any more money at the vets. Good luck with your puppy and make sure you post piccies!

Check your local op shops for toys, bowls etc. Puppies don't need fancy bowls, just get some cheap second hand ones. Soft toys can be bought very cheap from op shops, remove the eyes, hard plastic noses and anything else puppy is likely to chew off and choke on. Baby chew toys can be good for little pups too. While you're at the op shop, pick up some old blankets and towels. I buy all my dogs bedding from the op shop, I throw it out when it gets past being worth washing and just go buy some more. Discount stores are great for leads and collars. You can pick up some very pretty ones quite cheap. Puppy will outgrow thm very fast so no need to spend a whole lot on them. You can also get cheap brushes and combs, but beware of cheap slicker brushes, they can have very sharp pins, which can scratch. Once you get back on your feet, put some money aside for emergencies. I have about $1500 in an emergency fund for the dogs.I hope I never have to use it but it's there just in case.

I use the Trublu one in my town, it's fantastic. I take my own shampoo and conditioner and just use the rinse cycle for the whole wash. $10 for 10 minutes, but if I have someone else with me, I can get both dogs shampooed and conditioned in that time. I don't use the dryer as I find it's useless on the thick heavy coats my dogs have, so I towel dry them and I have thick towelling dog coats they wear home. Then I have my own dryer at home.

I've heard Woofbix is pretty good, a lot of the breeders on the Ozshow list seem to use it. I use Uncle Albers, which is made by the same company as The Great Barko. It's $30 for 22kg and the first three ingredients are meat, chicken and fish. I've noticed a huge improvement in my dogs coats since switching to it, even though they'd only get kibble once or twice a week. What are the first ingredients on the Woofbix bag?

Lab puppies are robust little things that don't stay little for long. She'll be happier outside than in, as long as she has a warm, safe place to go out of the weather and some toys to play with. Don't sweat the work hours, we work, the resident kid goes to school and it didn't stop us getting puppies. When we got Dusty, I took 2 weeks off work to spend with her and she slept the whole time. I might as well have saved my holidays til she was older!

Rather than a fish oil capsule, he might enjoy a sardine more. My dogs love their sardines and they are very good for them as the soft bones provide them with calcium. Add in some offal as well.....liver, kidneys etc. Maybe in with the mince. A little dog would enjoy a lamb brisket bone too.......they are edible as they aren't weight bearing bones, and are a nice alternative to chicken pieces. Go easy on the chicken wings, they are very high in fat. Try him with a small, whole apple as a snack. One of my dogs loves apples to the point where he will steal one and sneak away and eat it in private.

Lacey, Piglet and Polly all have gorgeous heads. They are all so adorable though!

No, no change in anything except their coats. I don't give it to my littlie though (an old Lhasa Apso) as it's a very dense kibble and much too hard for her old teeth. And that could be a clue as to why your littlies are drinking more.....they may have a residue in their mouths they're trying to wash out or something. It might be a kibble that is more suited to big dogs than small.

My dogs have a mostly raw diet and have done since they were puppies, but they also had super premium quality kibble as a supplement (2-3 meals per week). Benson's coat was harsh, his skin was flaky and itchy and I was never 100% happy with the way he looked. I tried Eagle Pack Holistic, Pro Plan and Pro Plan Selects (which they absolutely loved) and a couple of others I can't think of right now who's price tag was over the $120 mark for a large bag. I decided to try Uncle Albers and within weeks, his skin was clear, his coat was soft and shiny and I was thrilled with the way he looked. Now Dusty has just done a big coat drop and her new coat is coming through thick, lustrous and looks absolutely fabulous. With the results I've had with both super premium and a cheaper (but Australian Made) kibble, I'm keeping an open mind and am less inclined to recommend something just because it's manufacturers tell us it's fabulous.

If you like the convenience of canned food, give Natures Gift a go. It's not expensive, it's readily available and is all natural. It doesn't smell revolting like a lot of canned dog foods either. My son has a young kelpie x pup, he was feeding her Pedigree kibble because he'd been told it was good, plus it was cheap and he couldn't afford much. I bought him a bag of Uncle Albers kibble ($30 for 22kg) and some cans of Natures Gift. He changed the pups diet over the course of a week and is now thrilled with her coat, her weight and the lesser amount that's coming out the back end.

Oh gee, Miss Polly Pocket is a beautiful girl. I'll lay odds she's the one you keep. And Miss Piglet is prettier than ever, I just love her markings. The one climbing out of the box in the first pic reminds me of Dusty as a baby.

Not sure about the current crop of cameras, but the older Canon DSLR's used to limit the ISO to 400 in sports mode. So even if you had it set to 800 in the manual settings, by turning the dial to sports mode, it would automatically default to 400.

Unfortunately, being a registered breeder doesn't automatically assume clean and hygenic living conditions.....for human or animal. My son collected an ex-show dog from a registered breeder, he was buying it as a pet. His description of the house he collected the dog from "Like a third world country, mum, it was absolutely disgusting!" And this is from a young man who used to think cleaning a room meant kicking the dirty clothes under the bed. I'd be extremely unhappy having a baby puppy (and such a young one!) on antibiotics without a proper diagnosis. I have a 2yo dog on antibiotics at the moment, for a diagnosed skin condition, and I am appalled at the change in his manner. He's gone from a gorgeous, bouncy, ready-for-anything dog to a flat, listless, don't-wanna-even-go-for-a-walk fella. I can't wait til this course of meds is finished with and I have my boy back.

Take him to the vet. it could be demodectic mange, brought about by stress. My pup got it when I took her away from home for a few days, to some dog shows. She was very unsettled and the stress brought on the mange, the hair around her eye fell out. A quick trip to the vet and some treatment got it set right within a couple of weeks.

Don't compile bad experience on top of bad experience. It does you no good and it certainly isn't doing your puppy any good. Once he's had his final vaccination, why not see if there's a community obedience club local to you and have a chat with someone there about puppy obedience classes. Our local club has them as part of their regular Saturday classes but the puppies only lasts 30 minutes and it's made up of some basic obedience (sit, stand, walk nicely on leash) and lots of *on-leash* soclialising. The puppies also get to meet lots of other dogs on their own terms, and always on leash, before and after class in a situation where you always have control. Once you've comleted the puppy classes or your pup is 6 months old, it's up to you whether you continue on with more formal obedience. We did and we absolutely love it. My dogs get very excited when they realise the car is headed towards the obedience club, cos they always have a fun time there. In the meantime, get him out meeting people, getting used to traffic noises, household sounds, as many experiences as possible.

Mine don't wear collars at home for that exact reason. They like to pull each other around by the collar/neck fur and to come home to a dog with it's jaw stuck in another dogs collar would be my worst nightmare, so I remove their collars and just have them attached to their leads.

Turns out it's an allergy, so he has some tablets, some cream and anti-bacterial skin wash. Plus he had an injection to stop the itching temporarily so he doesn't keep pawing at it. I think he might be allergic to something in the grass at obedience training....he's always very itchy there and it started on Saturday night (we'd been to obedience that morning). Poor little punkin is very leery of me right now. Every time I go near him he ducks for cover in case I'm going to try and put cream on his nose or stick a tablet down his throat.

We're off to the vet this afternoon. The poor boy has made it worse overnight and it looks horribly sore and unsightly.

Yes, most puppies get stinky breath when their baby teeth are falling out and new ones coming in. Give her some meaty bones to chomp on to speed the process up a bit, but really, it's just a matter of living through it and holding your breath for puppy kisses!

This morning I noticed Benson's nose had a raw scrape on it and it was a bit swollen, my husband told me he'd been rubbing it through the night. I'm wondering if he has a mossie bite or something and it's itchy. He's been rubbing it all day....he licks the side of his paw then rubs it across his nose. He now has a raw patch the size of a 10c piece there. I tried to put some Betadine on it, but he's just gone around and rubbed it off on the drapes. Now he's attacking his nose again with his paw in my bedroom. It's obviously bothering him, but what can I do?

Raw chicken pieces make up the basis of most BARF and prey model diets. They are good for dogs, not bad. Grumps might be trying to tell you something......he wants a change of diet!