Nushie

As a pup Jager slept in his crate next to the bed. Once he was trusted with toilet training he had run of the house and can sleep where ever he likes. 100% of the time it is on our bed, between my knees. One leg has to be straight and other bent so that he can curl up between my knees and rest his head on the bent knee.

Thats pretty funny. So its discriminatory to say you only want someone with a dog but its not discriminatory to say "No pets allowed"..... stupid!

My friend had a bad infestation when they moved house about 2 years ago. They thought it was coming out of the grass in the back yard as they were still visiting the same parks and dogs as they were before. So they bombed the house, sprayed the backyard and spot-on treated the dog and the cat. That knocked the lot out and from then on they just continuted with the spot-on treatment each month with no problems. I agree with what has been said above. I would stop washing so much and just use a spot-on treatment. Also i would get some spray from Bunnings and do the grass area outside that you were talking about. You can get some pet friendly ones. Maybe do it at night so that there is less chance that a dog will come into contact with it just in case and then bomb your unit (most can be set off in the morning and you can return home that afternoon and still be safe. From memory you can use the spot treatment every 2 weeks (my aunt used to do it when she lived in a tick prone area during summer). I dont think you would need to if you tackle every other aspect but if you wanted too you could do 2 doses in the first month just to make sure you knock it all out. Other option is to just avoid that grassed area altogether if that is where you think they are coming from....

I had a foxy and he was PTS about 6 years ago now but i remember for months afterwards i would get a whiff of his smell... not a bad smell. We used a different shampoo on him than our Dally. And i remember sometimes i would be sitting watching TV or studying and i would be able to smell him, and turn around and he would not be there. Sometimes i swear i could feel him curled up at my feet or at the foot of my bed, only to look and remember that he was no longer with us.

We had a house full of family and friends over for Christmas and Jager decided to eat a couple of day old cooked oysters. He was not a happy man! He was lethargic and he could clear the room about every 15mins.... But the next day he was fine.

Generally Jagers play still is a lot of running and jumping. When he plays with a friends Staffy though it totally changes and he becomes very vocal. She is rather big and Jager has to stand on his back legs and wrap his front paws around her neck to play play face bitey. When we are both down at the park and Jager and the Staffy are playing people always give us weird looks, the noise that Jager makes is so loud, growls and grumbles all over the place and my poor friend gets looks as if to say her dog is attacking Jager, i have to reassure everyone that its Jager and even then half of them dont believe me. Poor Staffy gets a bad wrap and she is playing perfectly.

Another vote for Earthborn grain free. Jager does really well on it and his coat shines, which i had never seen prior to switching.

That Orangutan photo is amazing! I love the lighting :) Great shots!

I have been considering that bowl tray now for a few months - been looking at it on the Sasha and me website.... thanks for posting. You just saved me $80!!

Some of the obedience clubs run puppy classes. Maybe check out the local clubs and see if any are suitable. In general I really liked puppy school, but as others have said, it was more for the people rather than the puppies. My school had limited interaction between the puppies with only about 10 mins of "play time" and the pups were selected so that like puppies could play together and wouldnt annoy the more timid pups in the bunch. The puppy school that i went to didnt start until after the second vac, but we had family that had dogs so we could get some socialistation with them before the school started.

Jager will still occassionally steal things like bottle caps etc and it took us a while to teach him "give" cause my boyfriend used to play chasing with him so he would think it was all a big game. So i started to trade treats. If he took something or was chewing something he shouldnt, i would walk away and generally he would follow me so that i would play with him so i would go and get a treat or two and ask him to "give" and offer him the treat. Then grab what he was chewing and give him something that he can chew on - bone etc. Now he will drop whatever he has when asked to "give" and i still give him a treat. Even if i dont have treats with me, i will go and get one for him. I would rather that then him take off and choke on something he shouldnt have in the first place. If your dog doesnt come when called and they have something they shouldnt, put the treats in a contained and shake it, they soon learn that that sound means treats and will run a mile to get back for one.

We moved house last week and Jager has been barking more than usual. Not excessively. But if there is a bird that lands in the yard, he will race outside and bark twice and come back in. He barks at other dogss that bark but usually only a handful of times and then comes back inside. Helicopters get chased away with with a few barks as well. He will bark at someone at the door too, but i would think that is pretty standard for most dogs. Generally I let him be as he only barks about 2-5 times and then seems satisfied. On the rare occassion that he barks more it drives me batty! And i tell him to get inside and then he is quiet. I dont really notice other dogs barking but i dont want to be the owner of a barking dog so anything more than a bark or two gets squashed pretty quickly. I think being that he spends most of his days inside asleep helps as well :)

Until recently Jager hasnt been affected by storms. We always just ignored them and he didnt really seem bothered by them, so all was good. About 6 months ago we had a storm come through and everytime we had a clap of thunder he would bark about 3-4 times then go back to sleep. We were on the lounge and he would jump up, run to the back door, bark a few times and then come back to the lounge, settle down and go back to sleep. No panting, no shaking, no pacing. Didnt seem worried about them except for the barking. I didnt think much of it as it was a one off. Last night we had another come through and he did the same thing, except this time it was about 4am and i was trying to sleep. Lucky there was only about 2 claps of thunder, but i dont know what has changed to start this behaviour. My OH says that he is chasing the thunder away, cause as soon and the loudest part of the thunder is done, he calms down and goes back to sleep until the next clap. He doesnt seem to care about the low rolling thunder, just the loud claps. Any ideas on why this may have started or how to stop it before it becomes a habit??

When we went to puppy school with Jager (all those years ago) there was a pug x in the class and the owner introduced himself and said that our two could be brothers. They looked nothing alike and I just smiled and said his name is Jager blah blah and he asked if he was a "puggle" i said no just pug to which he replied with "yeah but what else does he have in him, no one buys a pug, they cant breathe, they are fat and lazy you have to cross them so they dont get all the bad genes". Meanwhile his pug x was snorting and sounded like he was struggling to breathe and Jager just walked around breathing fine. I also get told that i am starving my pug cause he isnt built like a tank. I like to keep him so that he has a waist and that i can still feel his ribs but not see them. Apparently all pugs should be hugely overweight... But on the flip side of that, i have been praised by many people, including strangers i meet on the street, that its nice to see a pug that isnt obese and doesnt sound like its suffocating.

Why is it that if we try and play with a stick from our yard that Jager is so disinterested and just looks at us like we are fools for waving a stick around. But go down to the park and pick up a stick there and its the best game ever invented? :laugh:

Great opportunity! Very jealous!

Just noticed your avatar Nushie, is Jager a pug? May I ask what you do on the really hot summer days - do you continue to give him indoor/outdoor access as usual or keep him inside if it's too warm? Odie is a frenchie so I worry about her overheating & not having the sense to come back inside if she gets too hot. She also loves to alert the townspeople of any birds that invade our yard :laugh: Yep he is a pug alright! He barely spends any time outside unless we are out there with him. So he still gets both in and out in summer. We leave the fan on for him, close the blinds to keep the heat out (except the one that he looks out of) and we have a cooling mat - which i have never seen him use :) He pretty much sleeps the entire day (conserves his energy for zoomies when we get home from work) and we take him for a walk later when the sun is going down so that it isnt as hot. He has a thing for helicopters as well. Planes, no problems but if a helicopter dares fly over the house he is outside chasing it away.

Jager has access inside and outside via a dog door. We shut off part of the house with a baby gate (usually just the bedrooms) when we arent there so that the cat has her space. He spends most of his time inside generally only goes out to toilet and bark at any birds that dare land on the ground.

Can you put him in his crate next to your bed? That way he is still confined but he will settle quicker because he is still near you. Jager slept in his crate next to our bed from night one. First night he whimpered for about 10mins but that was the only time he did it (apart from needing to toilet). Can you do some training or something to wear him out before you put him to bed? That way he is nice and tired?

+1 Jager HAS to be with you if you are home. But i wouldnt call him "needy" as long as he is with you, he is happy. Curled up on the lounge, on my feet if I am on the computer, snuggled in next to me in bed. He is a mummy's boy though. On the odd occassion that he choses to nap in his own bed or snuggle on the couch with my OH I get a little offended. Its nice having a little shadow that I know is always there. I will never be lonely :)

Thanks Tassie - good point :)

Okay so i spent the last few days doing some of It's Yer Choice and he seems to be getting it. He already knew "leave it" so he has picked this up quickly (I'm not using a command) but in general that is how we started to teach "leave it". I have been holding onto the treat and if he lunges for it or if he gets too excited when i am about to give it to him, I dont and i move the treat away. He is getting that he only gets it if he is patient and doesnt snatch. Its taking time and the first few of each session is a bit all over the place but he remembers quickly. I think we will get there eventually :) Thanks

Empty toilet rolls and cardboard boxes were Jagers favourite as a puppy. Loved to rip them up and if he ate some, didnt matter. He also loved (and still does love) empty coke bottles. Remove the lid and the plastic ring, Jager pouces on them and they fly across the room and he chases after it. When he is bored of that, i use the squashed bottles (they always end up squashed) and i put his breakfast in it, because it is squashed the kibble doesnt come out as easy so he has to push it around and flip it over to get it all out. Just be warned that if you have floorboards, it is REALLY loud!

Haha he is a pug.... soggy food is still food :) Thanks for this, its a great tip I will also have a look at Its Yer Choice - thanks Kavik.

So when you want to treat you just lower the spoon to their level so they can have a lick and that is their reward??