Ausmoz

Why not just use dog shampoo... possibly less irritating than dishwashing liquid.

;) I didn't even consider that because it looked so damn testicle shaped, but you're probably right

Yesterday at the Animal Welfare League we met an Amstaff X who had just been desexed. There were stitches inbetween his penis and testicles - which were still there (that or they'd inserted "fake" testicles). I'd never seen a dog desexed that way before. It made me wonder how common it is to perform a vasectomy in a male dog, or even a tubal ligation in a female dog (or maybe to remove the uterus without removing the ovaries) It seems like a great idea, as it would allow the dogs to still have their natural hormones. It might also be a down-side in the case of some dogs with aggression, but it would be great for their coats etc in other dogs.

Very impressive

Sounds about right. A vet told us that Emma was probably 16 weeks old as that is when they lose the two teeth in the middle at the bottom.

As long as he is behaving normally and going to the toilet normally I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Can someone tell me what BARF patties actually are? :rolleyes:

Wow, Tamsyn's coat changes were really dramatic.

We feel Pedigree (PAL) dry puppy food as Emma's staple diet. Nothing fancy, but she's in great health

Emma's toilet training is frustrating us too. Sometimes I feel like we're really getting somewhere, then she does her business inside a couple of times and I feel like we're back to square one. She slept inside for the first time on Sun and Mon night with no problems, but last night when we brought her inside she did her business (#2 - and this was just after her doing her business out the back). We took her back outside, and one of us stood with her in the toilet spot while the other cleaned up. When we brought her back inside, she did it again. So... we cleaned up again, and brought her back in again... She just wouldn't settle down, so we ended up taking her out to sleep in her kennel. I was so happy about the last two nights and now I feel deflated. We'll just keep persisting, rewarding the good, and doing our best to avoid accidents.

Yep, that's her It is an easy name to train with, but there's also a "Gemma" in the class, so it was a bit confusing at times. I'm glad to hear that Humphrey did so well too

Our training with Emma went pretty well too. It was the first time she'd been around so many other dogs, so she was often distracted. It was all very exciting for her, and she cried and jumped up a bit, but she wasn't particularly disruptive, and she did settle down well at other times. Overall it went really well. We have come away with so many different things to practice though, I almost wish things were moving more slowly.

If you're going to use aspirin, make sure you check to see whether the particular tablet you have should be taken with food. It would probably still be worth ringing a vet if you haven't already. They might be happy to give you advice over the phone. I hope Leo feels better soon

I wouldn't give a dog any medication that hadn't been prescribed by a vet (or at the very least checked by a vet). Even if aspirin is ok for dogs in general (which I don't know about), your dog might have other conditions (eg. gastrointestinal, or bleeding problems) that make aspirin a bad choice. Those kind of decisions are better made by a vet that knows your dog rather than a chiro.

Emma's going to her first training session this Sunday too - but in Adelaide. We went without her last week for our intro session. I'm really looking forward to socialising her, and meeting everyone else's dogs of course! I just hope she wont be the naughtiest dog there

When we first got Emma, she would poo on the concrete or brick paving out the back under the veranda. It took a little while to get her to stop due to the fact that it mostly happened when we weren't there. Still, always taking her out onto the grass to pee, and calling her away from the paving just a few times when she was ready to poo seems to have done the trick. She has gone from most of her "business" on concrete to not having done it there at all now for about a week. Definitely a relief. As for the rain, it can help a lot to walk out there and call your dog to you. Luckily we have a tree that we can stand under that provides pretty good shelter and still has grass underneath, but if the rain is really light, we just stand in it. She needs to get used to the idea that the rain isn't a big deal.

Thanks for the advice everyone We're going to try her inside tonight and see how it goes. My OH only has two days of work left before his holidays, so hopefully we'll get on top of things then - he'll be able to be with her almost constantly. Fingers crossed

From a couple of the responses, I guess I might not have given enough detail. Emma is now 18 weeks old. When we first got her from the Animal Welfare League she was 14 weeks old and hadn't been toilet trained at all. The first night it was pretty obvious that she hadn't even attempted to hold it. Yes it was a pain to clean up, but of course I didn't see it as something she had done wrong, just something that she obviously didn't know about. We chose to leave her outside at night so that she never, or almost never, went to the toilet inside. We read that every mistake that gets made is a step in the wrong direction... Our reasoning at the time was that the whole thing would go more smoothly if we spent some time toilet training her during the day before we expected her to "automatically" hold it at night. We've now had her for 4 weeks, and she's been inside whenever we've been there to watch her. It's not like she's been an "outside dog" that we have to start again with. We both work, so we leave her outside during the day where she has a lot to play with, and she is with us when we're home. We take her out to go to the toilet, and we've had a lot of success with toilet training, to the point that she now sometimes heads to the back door by herself when she needs to go. There haven't been any accidents for at least two weeks. I feel that now there is a good chance that if we keep her in overnight she will at least attempt to hold it until we take her for a toilet trip (which we are fully prepared to do). I guess we could have gone about things differently, but she is our first dog, and although we read books first, the main message we got was "watch like a hawk and take them outside after sleeping, eating, playing and every 30-60 minutes", which is what we've been doing... But none of the books said anything about what to do when we're working, or at night, so we did what seemed to make sense at the time.

Emma has been sleeping outside in a kennel since we got her. We'd always planned to have her sleeping inside eventually, but after trialling one night and having a huge mess to clean up the next day, we decided to wait until she had at least some idea about toilet training. I don't know if she completely has the idea now, but it's been a while since she had an accident. I feel guilty that she's been outside for even this long. She has blankets and pillows, but it's really cold, and she has a short coat. My partner has 2 weeks of holidays at the end of the week, and it would be an ideal time to bring her inside. He can take her out during the night if she needs to go. I know a crate generally makes toilet training easier, but we don't have the money to buy one at the moment. Apart from crate training, does anyone have any tips about moving her inside? I'd like to have her bed somewhere on our bedroom floor. We have wooden floor boards, so I was planning to set her up in the bedroom from the start and see how she goes. Any advice?

Emma had a lump like that on the back of her neck for a while. It started fairly small, like a sultana, and got a little bigger (the max size was probably the size of a medium grape), and then completely disappeared. By the time we took her to a vet it wasn't there (the whole thing came and went in about 2 weeks). We think it was just a reaction from her immunisations.

We've had Emma for 4 weeks now (she's 18 weeks old). I'm still not sure if she's 100% toilet trained, although she hasn't had an accident for two weeks. Toilet training is definitely a frustrating process, but just keep being consistent, take her outside at the times when she is likely to go (after food, playing, and every 30-60 minutes otherwise) say something like "Do your business" and wait quietly without distracting her. Praise her if she goes, and repeat Sure, you should do everything you can to avoid accidents, but all puppies will have the occasional accident, and I think it's important to not get too depressed or worried about it. It may take a little time, but she will get there.

That looks great

Thanks so much to everyone who's replied. There is some excellent info here.

Eventually I'd like another dog as a companion for Emma. Growing up, my parents have usually had 2 dogs, and there are some definate advantages. There are things that dogs can do together that just don't work as well with people. I do feel guilty that Emma spends most of her weekdays at home alone, but we're first time dog owners, and right now we don't have the time and energy to cope with another new dog, let alone another puppy. I like that we can both focus on Emma, take her on walks together, and spend time bonding with her and training her without even more distractions. I'd want to wait a while even after I was "comfortable" with Emma's training before we got a second dog, as I don't want to risk her going backwards. Even then, I'd definately consider an older dog who already had some basic training. I think it's nice when there is an age gap of a few years, as the older dog will still play with the younger dog, but usually wont let things get too crazy.

Wow, excellent pics everyone! The black and white with highlighted colour is amazing