pennyw74

I think I'm going to buy that book, Marley and Me. Sounds very sweet.

I always wanted a female because generally (but not always) they're a bit smaller than the male. Being a Cavalier, they're pretty dogs, too. When we spoke with the breeder, she also suggested a female would be better for our lifestyle.

Izzy never had water overnight. She went to bed in her crate and she was fine til the morning. Even in the morning, she didn't drink for a little while, so I don't think she missed it overnight.

Izzy loves serviettes, cork coasters, bark from the garden. She knows when she has something she's not supposed to have. I ask her..."What have you got?" She looks at me, stands up and gets ready to run. Puppies are funny.

Does this get rid of the existing stains or just prevent more staining? I wipe Izzy's eyes almost daily. Some days are worse than others. As soon as I wipe, they start "leaking" again. The vet is going to check them out next week.

Harry is really cute. I must say, our little Izzy was very similar. She had an accident on her first night at home in her crate but never had another accident in her crate, since. She never cried all through the night. I was prepared for the worst - I had a puppy when I lived at home and he cried all night, so I was ready. I had to check her the next morning to make sure she was ok because she didn't make a sound. Izzy is still a very good girl, no destructive chewing or digging - we are very lucky. Good luck with your little Harry.

I get up in the dark as it is and only have enough time to get ready to go to work. Maybe I should just give up work but unfortunately, the bank would take our house off us.

I want to take her to obedience classes - just have to find a good place. It's hard when I don't get home until it's dark - I guess dogs don't care if it's night time or day time for walks, as long as they get out, although it would be more fun if it was light so she could see where she's going and so could I. She's just over five months now - is this the teens? She's acting like one.

We have been to puppy school and she did really well at all that. I just have to get her dad to be a little more patient with her instead of getting frustrated when she doesn't sit and just wanting to move on.

She is perfect with the sit command at home - no worries at all. When she's out, though, her mind is elsewhere. She won't even look at me. When she's out, she will sometimes do it for a treat. At home, she does it every time for treat or no treats, right in front or from a distance. There are no worries about her not knowing commands.

I have tried making her sit at every corner but she just doesn't listen. She wants to go, go, go. It can take a couple of minutes to get her attention and make her sit but she's just not interested and is too focussed on rushing ahead. I will keep trying.

Everybody gave me the same advice when our puppy was young. She hated her collar and would sulk. I tried everything. I tried treats. I would put her collar on and then attach the lead and let her walk around dragging it. She gave us filthy looks and would sit and not move until we took it off her. We were taking her to puppy school and I wondered how she would go with that because we had to have her on collar and lead (not during the actual training but at other times). I was really worried, thinking she would carry on and sulk. Once we got to puppy school, she was fine. It was like she'd been wearing this collar and lead forever and from that day on, she was fine. She was happy to walk and now she loves it. It's all new so I guess puppies have to get used to it. We only just bought a car harness for ours and she lets out little cries from the back seat but eventually she'll realise she has to wear it because we're going somewhere fun. Good luck.

Izzy's favourite toy is her tiger. It's a soft toy we picked up at Coles for $2, no beady eyes, nothing she can swallow and it's lasted better than other dog toys. Her other favourite is a duck.

How do you teach a Cavalier road sense? How do you stop them running across the road if they spot something or someone on the other side? Our yard is fenced, so we have no problem but at her grandma and grandpa's place, their yard isn't. Last night when we were there, she had to go outside to the toilet and found a way out. When she was called, she came running back but then saw somebody on the other side and just crossed the road. Thank God it's a quiet street but still... I know she's still a puppy (5 months) but she needs to learn and not scare me half to death. I can take her outside to the toilet with her lead, that's fine (not sure if she'd be too happy with that, though) but that's what will be happening in the future if we take her there again but I'd be interested if anybody has any tips.

I have been watching her to see exactly what she's doing. I can distract her, though. She has training every afternoon (going over what we learnt at puppy school), she has fetch games and chasing games with us. She has a kong with the little biscuits inside and plenty of different toys. I will try to discourage it. ETA she also gets a walk almost every afternoon and goes to the park every weekend (unless it's raining).

Our puppy is now just over five months. In the time we've had her, she has played with her tail if she's caught a glimpse of it but just in the last few days, she is really getting angry with this tail. She is growling at it while she's got it in her mouth, it's almost like she's at war with this tail. She doesn't do it all day or anything but if she starts it, she'll do it for a few minutes, attacking, growling, biting, even to the point of biting it too hard, she yelps. Is this a normal thing at this age?

We had similar problems with our little Cavalier, playing always included biting but not hard, of course but you could definitely feel the teeth. She's just over five months now and we've noticed that the biting has almost stopped. During the time she was biting, we did yelp and walk away - everything everybody has already said. It didn't really stop her doing it, maybe a little but next playtime, she was back to biting. I think the yelping teaches her not to bite too hard or us humans are just too fragile and she has to learn that she can't bite as hard.

Out of curiosity - what causes urinary tract infections in dogs?

I thought it might have been her game. She bounces away and bounces back. She's a nut!! Whenever we have to put her collar on for a walk, she backs away and does this a few times before finally coming over and kind of puts her head on the ground and rolls to one side.

My puppy is five months old now. Still very playful and loves her games. We have found, just in the week, that if we put our hands out to give her a pat, she backs away. She still loves her cuddles and will snuggle on our laps to have a snooze but she backs away from the both of us if we just want to give her a pat or a scratch down her back. What does this mean?

No, she's fine to stop the game. I mean, during the game, she barks and runs. She runs away from us after each bark, then comes back for more, then runs away again.

We get down on all fours and growl away at our puppy and she growls back, barks a little and we do this for a couple of minutes then stop the game. It's all done on our terms and once the game is over, it's over - no more growling. She will growl then bark and then run away, come back, bark and run away. What does this mean? Is she scared of us or does she know that we are the "pack leaders" and knows her place?

Yes, my puppy jumps around and is very excited to see me. If I leave the room for a minute and close the door (if I go to the garage or the bathroom), she sits outside the door until I come back. We have cuddles and kisses and lots of play time. I wish I could spend more time with her during the week but unfortunately work gets in the way. She gets plenty of warmth - I am going to have a fight on my hands this winter for the heater. She gets all her food and water and treats. I hope that's enough.

They may not laugh but they can smile 8 weeks old 19 weeks old

Simple question, difficult answer, I expect. I mean, how do you really know if your puppy is happy? They don't laugh. I know their tails wag but Izzy's tail wags all the time, so does that mean she's happy all the time?