Bindii

Yes! And going on from this....your kids do not need to learn about the miracle of life by allowing your dog to have a litter :shakehead: This piece of advice should be number one on everyone's list.

They're my two as well. Some people think it's snobby, so then i'd go into the whole genetic testing thing... plus explain a little about puppy farms/BYB. I think it's so important to have a good relationship with your breeder, and to have similar views (or be able to trust their knowledge/opinions/advice). I know i've said it before, but that was the number one thing i learnt after i got Hugo, so it's now my number one rule. I love Fletcher's breeder

definitely not too late, Hugo was paper trained till 12 month when we moved house, now he's spot on with asking to go outside! Just as poodlefan said, and even yourself said, taken him out often and reward him for doing his business!!

The Protech C3 used to say earliest time to give booster is 11 weeks, they've changed this recently to 10 weeks, Fletcher got his at 10 weeks But it's always been 12 weeks and it's still fine to give then.

Actually i'd say you could discuss this with your vet! They're the one that gives the injection, after all. Your breeder will provide you with vaccination records from their six week vaccination from their own vet, which is usually a C3 or C4 - and your vet will be able to see what was given and when. You then decide for yourself whether you want to vaccinate against kennel cough ... if so, you'll need a third booster shot, if not, you'll just take the puppy in for the 12 week one. Some vets are a bit different and only offer the C5, though... It doesn't really matter, just you'll be paying a bit more (if you didn't intend on vaccinating against kennel cough)... so if you've decided you really dont want to (for whatever reason) double check with your vet that they stock the C3 also. ETA: i dont give mine C5 because i dont use boarding kennels, and because there are so many strains of kennel cough, the vacc only does two of them, why put their bodies through the extra strain (i say, while i look at my snotty nosed boys recovering from kennel cough right now.. ugh)

:cool: just wanted to announce that Fletcher and i played fetch tonight! He brought me a little ball, i threw it, he brought it back - 4 times. Then he just lay down and chewed it. Still, i was excited. Maybe one day Shyla will just chose to play it her self? i guess a dog wont play a 'game' unless it find the game fun too.

Thankyou pockets!! She is a dream...except when she's hyper when we get home from work, and when she's hyper she nips at our ankles and hands and arms But otherwise she is good! Nothing compares to nip training a ferret though Shelle, so if you can do that you can do this! I also recommend crate training! Fletcher loves his crate, trots in there at night and curls up ready for sleepy time. In the middle of the night, sometime he makes little noises, but he just wants to make sure i'm there, i stick my hand through the crate, he rubs his cheeks on my hand then curls right back up to sleep again. They definitely let you know when they're desperate to go though!! I didn't have a proper crate for Hugo from day one - just a box with an open top.. he was *terrible* and sleeps in the bed now. i think you need to be persistent... but i'm not sure if i could have ever crated Hugo, he screamed all night till i put him in bed, Fletcher never did that, not even on night one.

We get calls all the time saying people have wormed and used flea products on their pets and they still have the problems.... 90% of the time they are using supermarket brands (like exelpet). I say 90% because i'm sure that vet/more expensive products do occasionally fail but TBH i've never actually seen a case when advocate/interceptor/sentinel/advantage/frontline etc haven't worked. I think that if the cheap ones work, then they work if they work, but if they don't on your pet then you'll end up having to buy the expensive stuff anyway. Seeing what i see now, i'd never waste my money on the 'cheap' stuff. ETA: for treats there's nothing better than boiled chicken, i reckon. It smells *amazing*, they can eat it quickly and not have to stop and chew and you can give tiny, tiny pieces at a time. It's also really bland and easy to digest - so sure! you can buy some chicken from the supermarket

I know!! no one can answer it, not even the vets.. they reckon it's just rough play with Fletcher.. who knows. At least he's still got some

Hugo played fetch at the breeders place before i even took him home. Fletcher's not interested - like Shyla! Except with that squeaky duck thing at your house

Hugo *still* wakes us up at 5am... it became a really bad habit when we'd feed him at that time occasionally when my OH had to start work early. So now he's still waking us up to go to the toilet with the hope that he'll get fed too. Of course when he wakes up, he wakes Fletcher up and Fletcher, being only 14 weeks, *desperately* realises he needs to go to the toilet. Really bad cycle! But if i got straight back to bed after, it's so blurry, it's like it never really happened at all!

I don't understand this nail clipping thing! I've clipped Hugo's nails once (he's 14 months old) and it was only his dew claws. I was told by a groomer that the nails should be level, or just shorter than the paw pad... that's a good way not to go too far with black nails. But then again, If that's true... daily walks should be enough, shouldn't it? In older dogs it's fine and dew claws because they don't reach the ground... but other than that i don't understand how nails can get long.

Also ruled by the puppy alarm!! He was certainly a good one in the first few weeks... now he's fitting into this lazy, sleeping-in family well

Mmm yes, as i thought they might. And hair 'Why all at once?' is what i should have made more clear in my original post.

I've been finding lots of black puggie whiskers over the house in the last 2 weeks or so. They're very cute and amazing to look at and play with, but why is it happening? Do they 'shed' their whiskers to grow new ones? I thought they'd be like nails, they just kinda keep growing and stay at a good length with natural 'erosion' .. Just tonight i found 3, and i vacuumed yesterday! If they don't 'shed' their whiskers, could it be because he sleeps on top of the ducted heating? (we didnt have ducted heating in our old house) I've noticed most of the whiskers seem to be near that vent that he sleep on - could just be a coincidence. Or could it be because he now has a wrestling buddy (Fletcher) so they hadn't dropped out before? Hugo is 14 months old.. so maybe he's getting a new yearly supply of whiskers in!

Hugo - the pug - couldn't care less about Fletcher's tail, but maybe it's the pug tail that's just too tempting! Thanks WS! Good to hear Fletcher's not the only naughty Sam on here! Hopefully he'll grow out of it before any damage is done

sounds like it's, as everyone and yourself have worked out, inflammation from the wood. Just keep an eye on his poo for the next few days though because the wood could be a red herring, you never know, so just to be sure Maybe feed him a bland diet for the next 18-24 hours to give his tummy a rest, ie. just boiled chicken, even small quantities more frequently if you're home to do it so that he's not having to work too hard and to get everything working as normal again.

So in the last week Fletcher has taken to tail chasing.. not his own, Hugo's! He grabs on and wont let go. Hugo doesn't seem to be in pain, no yelping or anger from him - but he just kind of stands there waiting for it to end - ie. for me to notice and yell at Fletcher. I feel sorry for Hugo, he's being very tolerant. What sort of long term damage does anyone know of that has resulted from tailing pulling? I'm guessing spinal etc. And how common is it? i remember when Hugo was a pup he used to chase his tail which i thought was a cute puppy trait... i was promptly informed by a puppy school instructor that he must be discouraged as it could lead to future problems. to be honest, i don't think i ever did discourage it but he did grow out of it pretty quickly and i never actually think he 'got' his tail, just ran around chasing it. Of course i'm doing my best to stop Fletcher pulling Hugo's tail, it's not happening all that often which makes it hard to teach him not to do it because a) i have to see it, and b) he needs to know exactly what i'm telling him off for. So what i'm really writing to ask is.. what are these 'future problems' and do any of you know of any cases that are, or could be, a direct result of tail pulling.

Yep yep yep, light on is a bit of a problem for Fletcher too! Unless he's *super* sleepy. So good to hear that she was a good girl! i didn't realise that she hadn't actually had a night yet... clearly she just needed to be sleepy to understand what you wanted from her.

I'm just replying to wish you luck!! I'm certainly not the best example to be replying. First we had Hugo who HATED the box we had, so i gave up after a week or so and he's been in the bed since, next we had Fletcher who howled a little the first night and from pretty much night two, he trotted himself in there and curled up and slept through the night - we got lucky! I guess as others said just keep perservering on! ... on second thoughts, Hugo was in a cardboard box (with no top on it, so he could see us, i could pat him, but he just couldn't get out...) maybe the wire crate we got for Fletcher was what worked. Maybe the soft crate is what's causing the problem?

I thought they were receptionists too, before i became a nurse haha. Ah i get what you mean now about the vet not being there- as in, the same vet. I guess the thing is as i said earlier, where you described is where most injections are given so chances are that's definitely what the lump is from.. Either way it's getting smaller!

Completely normal for it to last up to 2-3 weeks (as puggy puggy said, as long as it's slowly going down and not getting larger) Sometimes, not always, but in many cases 'receptionists' at vets are actually vet nurses and do know what they're talking about. If they don't, they would generally always check with the vet - i'm suprised there wasn't one there when open? Most injections are given on the back of the neck, or lower - in between the shoulder blades... i think the main reason is probably because they are given subcutaneously and it's easy to grab skin in that area of dogs and cats. i got my 2nd cervical cancer vacc just over a month ago and still have a little lump!!

Fletcher was doing this up until last wednesday (Facebook told me so, very excited status update) Almost word for word what you're saying. Then last week, he just.. stopped it. He grew up. He snapped. He started to scratch at the door, did a nice long wee, came in side. Only 2 accidents inside the house, right near the door when we've missed his requests to go outside (ie, i was in the shower once, and in the toilet myself the other time haha) Fletcher is fully crate trained and holds on over night, never gone in his crate - been like this since night 2. But i don't crate during the day. Everyone has their different ways of training etc. I'm positive it works, just didn't want him crated in the house with me home. We had accidents which i would describe as him 'sneaking' away to do, - it's so impossible to use DOL and watch everything a puppy does .... I say it's up to you. If you've truly had enough, crate training seems to be the way to go... If you continue as you are a little longer, cleaning all wee with a good product like UrineOff, he'll grow up. Perhaps over night like Fletcher did? He's 13.5 weeks old now, so when he 'snapped', just a little older than yours.

haha! It is like they know hey?? SO glad that i shared and you had a similar story so i don't feel so bad. Hugo definitely knows when he's been naughty... Fletcher i *think* has just recently learned what "NO" means ... tonight he's ripped up the edge of the carpet in the hall way. I said "fletcher no!" (from the computer chair, too lazy) tail was down and he slinked away. It was just last week that me yelling "no!" resulted in a tail wag and a happy leap towards me, thinking i was playing... We've come far, my young padawan. I can't believe how horrible dog wee on the bed is though... There is *never* a good time for it. You're either sleeping, or just ready to go to sleep... It's the last thing you want to think about or do. ... like when you forget that you've stripped the bed, finally take yourself off couch or computer, drag your way to the bedroom only to find a naked bed.. NOooooo!

Sounds to me like puppy play, but i agree with other that the behaviour needs to be discouraged - ie by walking away. Nipping could be just a part of teething, so offering a toy, rather than your hand is a good trick. Just want to add something interesting that happened with Hugo and I the other day (quite of off topic, but i don't think there's any "on topic" here now because it sounds like it might all be a whole heap of crap.... maybe) I have never and would never hit a dog, but the other night at about 2am I woke to the sound of Hugo urinating on the pair of jeans i had got out to wear the following day... GRR. I was SO angry. and yelled at him "HUGO! NO!" etc etc... i then proceeded to leap out of bed towards him with my hand up ready to give him a smack! As i got closer, he ducked back away from me. I didn't touch him, simply grabbed his collar and put him in the bathroom as punishment. Needless to say i felt TERRIBLE seeing him duck like that!!! I have never touched him but it was like he knew my anger + sleepness made him super scared. The next day i was still feeling guilty about my "almost smack" that i had to test that Hugo wasn't afraid of my hand... i moved my hand towards him quickly, of course without touching him. haha and nope, not a flinch. Did it a few times just in case he didn't see it with his good eye (poor huugz) and yep nothing, just looked at me like i was strange. Thank God! i though i'd scarred him for life!