Jigsaw

Glad they settled down for you! How sweet they both look when sleeping!!!!

I don't know whether it works for dogs or not, I'm not sure they can reason that way. But having said that it's worked when my kids were little (like 2 and 3) and they fell on something or broke something. It deflects the problem from them and perhaps stops us from overreacting! Great distractor getting your kids to shake their finger at the hole in the ground they just tripped over and tell it off for being naughty and tricking them.

Bitches in particular seem to like going in the same place! I can tell from the yellow patches on my lawn!! Sometimes they don't want to do it anywhere other than home either, especially if they are not used to peeing while on a lead. Have you tried blotting with a pee pad so some of the smell is on there and using this pad on the balcony or even on your walk? Probably would look a little weird but if it might help??? As suggested using the right cleaners too is very important. Urine Off is pretty good!

Could be an infection, could be anxiety. He may have realised that when he goes in the crate you go out. Does he have access to water in the crate?

Definitely try to make the crate a safe place, a happy place! lol Leave the odd treat in there during the day for him to discover. I found that even sticking my head in the crate and pretending I had found something interesting encouraged my pup to come and have a look! Things we do!

Sometimes like kids you have to step in and say "bed time". Yes the pups will settle eventually but they will possibly be so hyperstimulated by the play they will be exhausted and you may find that unwanted behaviours start creeping in like nipping, peeing on floors because they forget the "right" thing in their excitement. IMO you might be better off letting them play for a while and then stepping in and separating them. Sometimes they can even become stressed because they don't have an "off" time. Can you not leave your Cocker in a crate for 3 hours? At 4 months he should be able to last that long. Dogs/pups usually won't pee in their crates. I wouldn't leave them on their own together, that might be just asking for trouble!!!lol Let them have a good play together, feed them, toilet them and put them to bed go out and enjoy yourselves! Good luck puppy sitting!

I find that covering the crate so the dog can't see out sometimes helps my dog settle much more quickly than when she can see what's happening. I just use some towels. I don't do it all the time just times I really want her to settle like at night. Her crate is in our family room and sometimes she'll bark in her crate if we're in the room - I do my best to ignore it and she usually settles down in a few minutes. If it does go on I let her out and toilet her (which somehow sometimes takes sometime!) and then see if she'll settle out of the crate maybe with a pig's ear on her mat for a little while before trying again. But I don't make a fuss of her during this time it's "quiet time, settle time". Good luck.

I have rung the vet and they have recommended reducing the amount of antibiotic to see how she goes. They said that the antibiotic she's on (which are Noroclav) is the one that usually has few side effects like this. :cool: No vomiting today!!! But have also not given any Nature's Gift!! My previous dog wouldn't even look at them I remember now.

She's on ab/s because she developed a suture sinus from an internal suture from desexing about a month ago which just popped up within a day and was pretty yuck I must say when they took out the suture.

Bought some of these Nature's Gift treats the other day and started giving them to my pup (nearly 6 months). Have noticed that she has been vomiting them back up again. She is also on antibiotics atm so I'm not sure if it's the medication causing the nausea as well. She vomited yesterday and wasn't hungry at all last night, except she did eat a tiny amount of dry cat food which she kept down. She was fed this morning (dry dog food soaked in water - about 1/2 cup) but so far everything staying down, but she did put herself to bed in her crate about 1/2 hour after having her pill which I have to put down her throat as she won't eat it by itself or mixed in soft cheese or with peanut butter. (Have also caught her eating daisy bush leaves over the last few weeks - can't find anything to say they're bad for dogs though.)

Would you think it's the antibiotics causing the nausea and the Nature's Gift treats just don't sit well at present? Will try them again when she's 100%.

I'd love to practice with you but I have no obedience experience at all and my dog is only very young still! But like you have trouble with some of the local clubs methodology. I'm in the Lake Macquarie area and depending on time and day happy to come and be a distraction!

I highly recommend using a crate. It's a great way to keep your pup safe and a great toilet training tool. The crate acts like a den and most dogs won't use it as a toilet. You could also set up a puppy play pen with the crate in that and the extra area for toileting playing. A cardboard box will most likely be chewed to pieces in a couple of days or less depending on what sort of pup you're getting! There are lots of threads about crate training here and also toilet training!

I think you're probably expecting a bit too much too early. The pup has to learn first that you want him to go to the toilet outside. It's best if you're there encouraging pup giving a verbal command "go wee" or whatever you choose and then praising and rewarding his efforts. Don't forget actually training the pup to go through the door is an entirely separate matter and just because he knows how to use the door doesn't mean he knows to go through the door to go to the toilet. This will come in time. Be patient Dog doors are wonderful when they're a little bit bigger but early on pup may even be afraid of it and if he has a bad experience (such as catching tail or banging on face) getting him to go in and out will be very hard. Even when he uses the dog door you're probably best to follow and still reward any toileting so it is still reinforced.

Syringe sounds great advice. Glad to hear he's had some liquid. I was going to suggest crushed ice as some dogs really enjoy the ice. They usually like to lick it off your hand though when they're sick!

What about a puppy pen - with a crate in it and the paper at another end. With a pen she has some freedom and a place to play and not be a worry to you. Another alternative that might work is if you have a spare bit of carpet or can buy a small piece - you can usually buy some cheap small rugs/mats - use this where you want her to pee. This seems to be her preferred surface so it might help with the spare carpet or even the paper to touch it to where she has peed to put the smell on it (before you clean it up that is). Then put the carpet square on top of the paper. Take her to it when you want her to toilet. The problem is you can't clean it at first so it might smell! But hopefully it might only be a couple of days before she gets the message. You could with time reduce the size of the rug by cutting it down so she has to walk on the paper to get to the rug and maybe she'll get the idea that the paper is the right place with continued effort and praise. Generally dogs are not considered toilet trained until they go 4 weeks without an accident. Good luck!

She looks a very sweet pup! Puppy chasing kids is probably not a good idea. The focus becomes the kids and not you when you are walking. The excitement level increases and it is really hard to calm them down. Rosie may also start to think that this is the normal thing to do while on lead. Ideally you want a nice calm puppy so she can socialise and learn about her environment. Whilst she is excited and running around she's not observing cars, cats, other people, strange noises etc but most of all she's not paying attention to you but seeing you as another plaything. Start walking her on the lead in the backyard with no kids rewarding her for good behaviour, especially calm behaviour. If it becomes a habit to chase kids now as she gets bigger (even though she won't be a big dog) it will be harder to stop and may even become a problem.

Good on you for taking on Jake! Sounds like he had a rough start. I'm sure there'll be lots of advice to come on this. Firstly though have you done any training with him? What about using a crate rather than the back yard? Using it without shutting him in at first but using it as a safe place for him with maybe a jumper of yours for your smell, putting lots of enticing treats inside. Some dogs become anxious when outside but not when inside. Seperation anxiety can be very hard to stop, sometimes you can lessen it to some extent. Does he have any sight or hearing problems that may make his anxiety worse?

There is some debate as to whether to reassure a dog or not. Usually it is best to ignore the behaviour as you are rewarding their barking, whining etc. Sometimes you can use a diversion such as a bone, stuffed kong etc. I'm sure you'll get plenty more ideas on here!

ETA - seems you've already answered some of these questions! Oh - if it is SA the symptons usually occur very early after you leave, so if you leave him outside and can sneak back and listen or get the neighbours to report you might be able to distinguish whether it is SA or just him being demanding!

Chewing/tugging on the lead can also apparently be a stress indicator a behaviourist told me last week. I have found asking my pup to sit is one of the best distractors. She gets focussed on the lead and will not be distracted by another toy, so we stop and sit, trying not to make it a tug of war helps! Have tried the bitter spray and the chain, neither of them worked!!!

Gee I hope they do outgrow it. Mine does it (5 months) when she's bored at training, I've even put a small length of chain on it. I now take a rope toy and a couple of others that I can swap with to try and entice her to use these instead of the lead. She still thinks the lead is the best tug toy though but we are making small steps to success!

I have her book on Dog Tricks - has photos and steps and covers basic, agility and complex tricks.

My toy poodle used to be depressed when he had to wear an Elizabethan collar. For the whole ten days he would have a real woe with me demeanor. He would try to get at the stitches, rigged up a type of cover out of my daughter's old undies to cover them up. I know it is usual to leave the stitches uncovered these days but perhaps a wide cotton bandage or some sort of cover as well as the collar may help her. Sounds like they are really irritating her. There's no redness or anything around stitches - some people I know are allergic to the sutures themselves. All else fails maybe some Valium??

As Delta Charlie said just try being out the front door. Make it a positive thing, lots of treats and praise. Some dogs just want to observe the world first before joining in. The martingale/limited slip collar is very good, very hard to slip out of (although mine managed once!). She loathes a harness and will brush up against walls trying to push it off. The world is a scary place to a pup or a dog that hasn't been out much.

Sorry to hear of your miscarriage. It is possible that Bam may have picked up on your emotional stress associated with this even though you may not realise it or feel that you are any different. He may have decided to try and push himself up the pack order if he thinks you are not strong enough. It's tough, we want to use our dogs as an emotional crutch sometimes and they throw it in our face! But perhaps that is a good thing too, keeps us on track. I don't know if this is what is happening or not with you and Bam but another thing you could try is to break up his training sessions through the day (if you can do this that is). Keep them short, three to five minutes. Maybe try some training when you are on a walk too, just put him through the sit, drop, stand stuff every so often, but not under too much distraction. Vet check is also a good idea.

Where would I be without frozen bones. Frozen chicken carcasses and frozen wings - two together, great for getting those baby teeth out and keeping the teeth strong and clean.

I sympathise Noodlenut, my last dog was a sook whenever he had stitches and was depressed and looked miserable in his Elizabethan collar. My pup Paxy behaved like there was nothing wrong with her! Didn't even look at her stitches but she did test them to the limit and now has a lump of scar tissue.

Where can you get the Ivan Balabamov DVD's from? I haven't tried any libraries yet.

Yeah the dandruff was there before desexing.

My pup had dandruff, flaky skin with dry hard hair when I got her as a pup. She also had fleas with dermatitis patches. She had been raised on a dry food diet with chicken frames. I changed the dry food and added raw meat/BARF diet and now also feed sardines at least once or twice a week. Also maybe once a week I mix dry food with a raw egg. Her coat is now much shinier and softer, this change happened within a couple of weeks. So you could try changing your dog's diet and see what happens. Depends whether he is really itchy or irritated with it as well as it could be an allergic reaction to something in diet or environment. Some shampoos do help but don't use a human one!

My vet advised short walks, keep calm (yeah right!), no jumping or excessive exercise, no bathing.

But it's mainly keep an eye out for redness, irritation, glands in the groin swelling, swelling around stitch site or anything that might show he's not well. Definitely no running around off lead or swimming or running around with other dogs.

Was the dandruff there before being desexed? If it was it might be a skin problem that might need a medicated shampoo or an allergy. If the dandruff appeared after desexing it might be stress related. Ask your vet about it when you get the stitches out.