tlc

We reckon Albert park about 12. Hope you can make it, would love to see you guys and Bruno!

Ok bummer, for some reason I thought you already had her? The wait must be excruciating! Especially seeing TNs girl Fable with her new family.

Thanks he sure is!

Well done Zero, I bet you will make a lot of people happy as a therapy dog for sure!! The wheels are in motion here, but it is my girls I am having assessed, they are having thier vet work done in 2 weeks then the assessment is in september sometime. I really wanted to get Cooper assessed but would like to give him a bit more time, I am firstly not sure he will cope with the assesment (although I have been reassured by someone who has been through it that he will) and I secondly don't want to undo all the good work we have done with getting him to where he is now. The plan is to get the girls assessed this time then in 6 months get Coop assessed. I have no doubt in my mind that he will be awesome, especially in the kids ward at our local hospital, its just getting him through the assessment. Thanks for all the lovely comments about my boy, he sure is one of a kind!!

thats so cute, really suits him!! What a sweet face he has!

Great action shot! Do you have a special thread for your puppy? I'd love to see some more pic!

Mmmm dunno, someone said he was sick? I did get some lovely pic of him and that was the last time I seen him, I reckon that was about 12 months ago. Maybe it is some of Sammys off spring?

Wonder if the male is Sammy? I haven't been down there for ages.

Me + 4 Tez + 2 JJ + 2 .....will you bring Jr?? Maws +1

Great shots!! Great bunch of doggies you have there!!

Totally bloody awesome shots, love love love the family portrait one. And the ones with Zero are just so lovely, what a beautiful boy he is, a credit to you Shell!!

Hey RJ, have a look here http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...p;#entry4658771 at post number 144 in particular, wonder if you rebooted your phone would your pics come good?? How did your sister go with the kittys did you hear any more? Are you moved out yet? How many takers do we have for Sunday so far Me + 4 Tez + 2 JJ + 2 .....will you bring Jr?? Tanya, haven't seen you about lately, hope to see you with Bruno.

More great photos of your gorgeous girl. So good to hear she has fitted in so nicely with her brother and sister.

Paris is gorgeous, great work!!

My Oh is big on rough play but from the time my lot were puppies I had told him no rough housing allowed and that's the way it has always been, we still have lots of fun and do play with them but no really rough play.

Hi Guys, thanks for all the great responses, it is interesting to hear others take on what is important to them. I just thought picking the top two would be a challenge and make you think about what is really important to your own situation. Of course I realize there is a lot of other things that are important and possibly equally important as some of the things mentioned here.

Isn't it in the best interest of the pup to stay with the mother and litter mates till 8 weeks?? Nice to have your breeder close.

Great answers, it is tough when you actually think about whats important there is so many that spring to mind and trying to narrow it down is quite hard. I have had to think about this a lot this arvo before I actually posted about it. Whats interesting for me to is the different rates at which each different dog learns, my 4 are all so different and have done things at different stages. Like you said CW EW Charlie and Emmy being so different with thier recall, that is similar to my lot but opposite. No food aggression is a good one, we have so many people come to obedience and they have never even thought about taking a bone from thier dog and when they try find they can't.

Arghhhh the jumping, I agree it is soooo hard to combat when they are encouraged by other people to jump up upon greeting, My MIL is the worst culprit she loves the dogs and encourages them to jump up and they do as much as I tell her not to do it she still does it! My oldest two are pretty good but my younger two are jumpers, with us it is still a work in progress!! I agree with recall in a dangerous situation good recall can be a godsend!

Hi Guys, a few threads have got me thinking lately about puppies and what is most important for them to learn. It may be useful for newer puppy owners to hear others thoughts on what is important. So my task to you guys is to tell me what you think are the two most important things you think a puppy should learn from the outset and why. (toilet training is not to be one of them) also did you put these things in to practice when you first got your pup/dog or did you realize later that you should have but didn't? Ill go first. The two most important things for me to teach my pups were 1. Early socialization, with other dogs and people and environment, so that it was possible to be able to take my pups into any (within reason) situation and have them be calm and confident and able to deal with anything and everything. 2. reliable recall. so I can let them off lead and be comfortable that I have still have control and they respond to me especially in a situation that could be potentially dangerous. Did I do these things. 1. Yes all 4 of mine were taken to puppy school and strait on to obedience training from the age of 8 weeks. This has been very beneficial for our lifestyle. 2. With Cooper now 4 years old, when I got him I hadn't had a puppy for 16 years so it was important for me to learn and do everything right, he was strong willed and recall was practically 0 till he matured a bit even though I practiced and practiced he seen everything else more exciting than me but I perservered and it is only probly in the last 18 months that I can now say that his recall is really reliable. The other 3 have had really reliable recall since they were young pups, don't know if I did anything differently but they certainly weren't as hard to train as Cooper was!! There is lots of other things that it is important to teach them but for "me" these two things have been the most important. So no right or wrong answers I'm just curious as to others thoughts on what is important to them for thier dogs.

Thanks Helen.

Jj do you have face book?

What are you actually giving her to increase fibre? Maybe he diet needs tweaking a bit more to help her along. i Had trouble with one of my girls when she was younger and I upped the fibre in her diet and now after going to the vets every month she hasn't had them done for well over a year. I used Phsyllium (sp) mixed with her meat and veg. She doesn't need it at all now.

Have a looky through the training section, I'm sure there is 100's of threads about training really reliable recall. Do you go to Obedience school??

Im with Poodlefan, you need to start on getting him to be reliable when you call him to come back. otherwise it is not wise to let him off at all. It could be dangerous for him and others if he doesn't come to you when called, especially at the beach. There is always lots of dog owners at our local beach in summer mostly friendly dogs but occasionally not so friendly, so if your off leash dog runs up to a not so friendly onleash dog who knows what might happen?? I started recall training with mine from 8 weeks when I got them and all of them have really reliable recall, we go off leash mostly everywhere it is safe for them to do so, parks beaches etc. All of mine went to the beach (5 min drive from my place) from the time they were fully vaccinated. I first took them to the river mouth shallow water so they could get used to it, they were all pretty cautious but not afraid and love the water especially running through it chasing each other, and they are all very strong swimmers now. Although they do not go in the sea where there are big waves. We are lucky enough here to have the best of both worlds with our beaches, ones with calm water leading in to the sea and also ones with big waves where they prefer to just paddle in the shallows. I did let mine off the leash right away all except Lacy as she was tiny and had a tendancy to follow Cooper where ever he went and I thought it coudl be a recipie for disaster as she is fearless, she climbs cliffs and goes in deep and is always the first one in the water :p She does have a life jacket but only for places where we go that she can get herself into trouble. We haven't needed to use it yet!! If you would like to see some photos of my lot swimming I'm sure I could dig some up. Im sure others have some good swimming shots too. Someone told me once that not all dogs can swim, I don't know if that is right or not but with my lot they were born to swim having water dog in both of the crosses that they are helps!