sjl79

As long as she is health checked and deemed to be fit and well, there should be no worries at all. In our case though having a dog the size of a coke can in the house proved for some interesting changes to our way of walking, sitting, opening doors, manouvering chairs etc. The day I found him crying behind the couch was the most heart thumping of my life! Squeak, squeak, squeak I hear, I had turned my back for 30 seconds!!!

Timmy was 72 grams born compared with the 150 gram brothers, and was only 750grams at 7 weeks to their 1.4kg. He is growing, but is still only 2.6kg and it looks as though he will be slightly under the breed standard of 3-4.5kg. He is very healthy and robust and he did, as the old saying goes, really have the most spunk. He climbed up on to my hubby lap, dived off and went back for more! So he chose us I guess!

Photographic evidence ... can you spot the wee?

Hang in there, it gets better. We have pics of Timmy at 10 weeks that we thought were cute lil puppy action shots. We put them on the computer recently and saw he was actually mid piddle! He had no clue. He would jump and nip, and cry when left alone. Refused to walk, or when he did he'd pull. I cried one day at around the 11 week mark as I was just so frustrated with him. I wondered what I had done getting myself into this?! Fast forward 11 weeks and LOTS of DOL surfing and he is a toilet trained little gentleman of 22 weeks. Sure there is a LONG road ahead, but it gets easier as they mature. We crate trained to get the toiletting under control, we would crate him at night next to our bed and get up to let him out to toilet - he's a mini foxie with a tiny bladder so that was up to 4 times a night. Now he pretty much sleeps through. You must watch her like a hawk, ie. one step behind her, ready to correct and re-position any wees, OR crate her when you can't watch her. There are heaps of articles on crate training if you search DOL and the web. Another tip I heard was to spray his crate and its bedding with lavendar (a few drops in a large atomiser of water), it's calming and he associates his crate with lavendar. Then after few days of doing this, spritz the carpet and furniture with the atomiser so he sees the whole house as non toiletting area. We didn't resort to this, but if you are desperate, it's worth a go. One method we followed religiously was to never let him see us clean up the mess, the theory being that if they see you clean it up they see you as their mum who will continue to clean up, or worse still they think "ooh, she likes that there, I'll leave another present later!". I stand by this theory as the pee and poo parties we threw (lavishing attention and praise on the poop when it was in the right spot) really worked, he was chuffed that we'd pick up his "gift" and dispose of it! With the jumping, nipping and scratching, we would correct and then stand tall and firm ignoring him, he soon got it (took about 4 solid weeks, not fun when you are kicking back with a chardy and have to get up and dramatically turn your back with arms crossed!). Reward ALL positive behaviour, sitting nice, being gentle etc. We also practiced getting Timmy to lick honey off our hand and said "kisses, good kisses" in a praising tone. Now if he nips our toes we say "aaargh" to correct and he'll usually back up with a kiss. Hang in there, it gets better. I remember walking Timmy one morning and being overheard by a (horrified) elderly lady as I muttered, "That's it, next Saturday's paper - free to a good home, accessories included". Also, look at diet. Timmy was F-E-R-A-L on dry food, absolute monster. We switched to a raw BARF diet and he is so much calmer and focussed (less wee too as he doesn't need to drink so much to counter the dry kibble!). Keep us posted on your progress. ETA: Lots of toys on rotation helps too, we tend to put fresh ones out whilst he's out of the house and put them in odd spots like under the coffee table or in the corner for him to discover.

I'm going to watch this thread, as with winter coming keeping the balcony door open is too cold an option. Bells may work, but being in a rental property I'm not sure where I'd hang one. At present, I have taken to laying down a puppy pee pad right near the door tat leads from our bedroom to the balcony and keeping the door closed. We have accidentally left the door closed once or twice and if a night time accident were to occur, that would be the spot. But the lil rascal has slkept straight through the night the last few days whilst we are trialling this!

Oh we are in a different situation given Timmy's size. No way coluld I share the bed with a big dog! A cat would even be a bit big! It's funny, we are on the lookout for signs of pack climbing, but he still hops off when told and snuggles at the bottom of the bed rather than the pillows. I think being so little he's just happy to have guaranteed warmth, even in his crate he was chilly. Keep us posted on your progress.

Can't help you with a Sydney pool, but doers anyone know of one in Newcastle? Good luck with your husky husky (I liked the pun!)

An answer? YES!! I would be having her sleep in there at night...so she sees it as 'her space' She sleeps in there, with her toys etc, and it becomes her own liittle secure spot. I guess, tho..you have her sleeping with you?? Hmm..some very noisy times ahead Our puppy who is now 22 weeks started sleeping with us around the 16 week mark (previously crated in our room) and we have noticed a marked difference in his attitude to be left alone. We used to pop him into the bathroom (our laundry was too small) with his Pet Loo, toys, open doored crate, water etc. He would whine a little - never much, but was VERY excited when we got home. Submissive wees, lowered so low to the ground he was practically crawliong. We followed trainer's advice and ignored him (just a quick hello) for 10 mins or so until he was calmer. Once he started sleeping in our bed, we started leaving him in our room, with access to our outdoor enclosed balcony via a door in our room. We came home to find him snoozing comfortably on our bed and not overly fussed to see us. This behaviour has continued, it's almosty as though he knows that this is where he and his pack sleep, so we must be coming home soon so there's no need to stress. Our dog won't be getting much bigger than 3kg though, and we are committed to 15 years plus of him snuggling with us, so it works well here. Just a thought re dogs in bed.

I make my own food based on BARF and using guidance fromn Kymythy Schultze's Ultimate diet. My 22 week old has that for breakie, a little bit for lunch an d chook necks or wings for dinner. I have starting adding the odd sardine here and there too. It works out fairly cheap (I need to cost it properly next time I make it) - PM me if you would like the recipe.

Yeah, I am worried puppy pads will set him back, ideally I'd love for him to hold his bladder through the night or at least let us know when he wants access to the balcony. For eg, last night we came home and accidentally closed the balcony door and so he just peed right near the dining table - it's like he didn't realise there was anything wrong with it either! He's 100% trained with access, but without he will happily go anywhere. The layout of the bedroom won't fit the pet loo in our room, so I think the door will stay open for a while yet.

Bumping to see if anyone can help?

I make a home made BARF patty mix after I found that the BARF principle worked best for my puppy. Dry kibble made him HYPER, gave him horrible hard poops. Wet food saw him eating his poop. Home mix of plain cooked brown rice and raw chicken mince produced what looked like dijon mustard. So I got a book called The Ultimate Diet for Dogs and Cats (see http://www.kymythy.com/) and it was, from what I gathered, BARF based. Now, once every few weeks I buy roo and lamb mince, mix it with pulped (and then strained) veg, chopped up offal (usually lambs fry) natural yoghurt, flaxseed oil, ground alfalfa and kelp, a tiny bit of garlic and ginger and a few whole crushed eggs (shell and all) - takes 30 mins and costs nix. I freeze in portion sized containers. I give my puppy this for breakie, a tiny bit at lunch (we are weening him down to two meals a day) and a raw chook neck or wing for dinner. I have sardines in the fridge and am going to experiment adding that to his meals here and there. I also occasionally give a raw salmon tail for dinner in lieu of chook. And doesn't he trot around like the ants pants with that! That's just what I do and I find it economical, easy and I feel good feeding it ... plus his coat looks AMAZING since switching from the pre made BARF patties to the home made stuff which really surprised me. It looked fantastic on the pre made, but on this he GLOWS!

The ONLY non sliding balcony door in the entire house is the bedroom door! Which is such a bummer ...

Hello all. I have a 21 week old mini foxie boy who has been reliably toilet trained for about 2 months. We have a pet loo on our balcony at home that he uses, a pup head at work (he comes to our office 5 days a week) and he knows to go for a wee / poop on our walks too. My question is that with winter coming I'd like to not have to leave our bedroom door (that leads onto the balcony where his pet loo is) open as it gets chilly. He sleeps on the bed with us, and has puppy stairs that he goes up and down on (usually once) during the night to relieve himself on his pet loo. A doggy door isn't an option, so I have bought some puppy pee pads and the frame that you can buy for them and am going to trial leaving this on the floor near the closed door. Is this too many loos? Will he get confused? The pads are scented, so I'm hopeful he understands, any thoughts guys? He just can't hold his bladder all night yet as he's so tiny at 2.6kg. Cheers!