Simply Grand

I loooooove this thread. What great memories to bring back! And what absolutely gorgeous puppies and dogs everyone has Here is the photo where I first saw Saxon, even though I didn't know it was him: Saxon is the one on top of his brother on the left. At the time I hadn't made any choice, and all the puppies were available but I just knew that he was my puppy . When I went to meet them at 2.5 weeks, it just so happened that I had the best connection with the puppy I was first drawn to in the photos (Saxon). Here he is when I first met him - and knew he was meant to be mine: I brought him home at 6.5 weeks, which I now know is too young, but it worked ok, he could have done with the extra time with his family to learn manners better, but all in all it has turned out great. I do think he is VERY attached to me because he was so young when I became his mum/pack leader, but he is also a happy, confident and clever little boy, and those total baby days were so precious :D This is the day after he came home... I really like that there are so many stories where the dogs have chosen their owners, even better than the other way round!

Thank you thats a lovely thing to say ! You might not think you have a wonderful story but im sure it is. Id love to hear how you met your dogs or cats or whatever creatures are in your life. Ok, my German Shephard was a shy, scared, skinny little girl who was 5 weeks old, she was the only pup, backyard breeder, but I fell in love with her. She ended up living to nearly 16 years old and was a really wonderful dog and I still miss her a lot....I'll never forget the day I met her I haven't got to the end of the thread yet so will comment again, but that's absolutely a great story! Who knows where she would have ended up if not for you and she obviously had a long life of being loved

OMG "we" are a curious lot aren't "we",all want what we are not allowed.....mmmm I have ages to go,when you get there (ot) tell me what it is that is discussed Sounds like a board room. I'm still feeling my way around re what and where every-thing is and for....heh I'm a fast learner I find some-thing new here every day,but the trouble is I get obsorbed in reading and before I know it I've been on the site hours........yes and hours!!! P.S. I wanta spell check.....is there one????? haha, know exactly what you mean. It is totally addictive! No one ever talks about what's in off topic, so it's obviously very exciting and mysterious I think you must get sworn to secrecy so I won't be able to tell you what's in it Oh, and from some of the random words and sentences that end up getting posted I think there probably isn't a spell check! Hang on, just found the button for it... but it seems to be not active...

HAHAHA Wazzat! Well, what I meant was "I can't wait to get to off topic! Not that I have any idea what I'll find in there". Nearly there!!!

I can't wait to get to off topic! Not that I have any idea what I'll find in there This is a sneaky post to get me closer!

How sad for you all italmum Still, you really had not choice, you just can't risk your son's health! I'm sure little Ollie (Christian again now?) will find the right home for him, and hopefully your family will find the right doggy for you, when the time is right. At least Ollie's breeder will be able to confirm to his next family that he is a happy, adaptable little fellow who is definitely good with children. Hugs to all of you

I'm also inclined to think that in a lot of cases people won't listen whatever you say, and even the more you try to convince them not to, the more determined they'll become. I'm also not sure that information about pound dogs and pups being euthanased will get the message through - I expect she would just believe that that would never happen to her pups. Could you get her to come on DOL and read the Breeder's Community threads? That might help if she is any sort of caring person. I had no idea what's involved in breeding (not that I was ever planning to) and reading the stories about the struggles and the poor babies and mums that don't survive is so heartbreaking. Only problem might be that seeing all the gorgeous baby puppies might make her want to do it even more...

Saxon freaks out over brooms and the vacuum cleaner! He jumps all over the place and grabs at them and does the weirdest little yipping/growling/barky noises! I can't quite tell if he's excited or scared - a bit of both I think. I'm trying to teach him to stay calm and leave the vacuum cleaner alone - whenever he goes towards it I stop moving and turn my back on him, and whenever he moves away and focuses on something else I praise him and keep praising him as long as he does the right thing. It works but it's slow progress, I think because he only gets exposed to it once or twice a week. I should get serious about it and vacuum every day for a while until he's properly desensitized to it... it's so annoying though and it takes FOREVER to vacuum I haven't even tried with sweeping yet, I just shut him away, much easier!

BF - at least you know if you ever went missing (god forbid) it would be noticed pretty quickly! Zoe is such a cutie, of course the cat's tail is a toy for her to chew This morning I heard a kerfuffle in the hallway and my grumpy old cat's usual warning hissing escalated to growling then some yelps and barking from Saxon. Poor old cat was cornered against the baby gate and Saxon wouldn't leave her alone She's too old to jump the gate but she can climb over it, it just takes her a while

Oh Mantis, how hard for you I've been thinking a lot today about how precious that bond between our dogs and us is. Don't worry, I'm sure you haven't lost that with Kenny. I don't think you should pressure him at all, he knows you love him, he's probably just confused about what happened. I'd suggest act pretty much as usual, but maybe with a bit of extra happy talking and telling him he's a good boy, maybe some food treats, and when he approaches you a gentle lead in to a game he likes. Don't feel too guilty, everyone loses their temper sometimes, especially under stress. He will be ok and he knows you love him, and I think he'll feel most comfortable when things are just back to normal

Oh yay CW, she to tooooo adorable! I'm picturing little Charlie spending the day showing her around the house going "this is the dog door, and this my room (maybe you can share), and this where we get food...." How cute! I was also thinking she was a little poser for the camera, the only non-blurry photos I have of Saxon as a baby are when he was asleep (actually it's still like that). I hope she settles into your family really well, and is the perfect little sister for Charlie

Saxon is the first dog I've ever had. We've had cats my whole life and I still adore them. It's lovely to have a cat around and it's so satisfying to hear my very grumpy 16 year old cat - who I adopted 9 years ago when she was abandoned after a clearly unhappy life - accept a cuddle and purr when I scratch her chin, but the dog/human relationship is so special. Tonight I got tears in my eyes when my gorgeous puppy sat and waited for his dinner until I released him. Even with both cats going ahead and eating, dinner being late and him being hungry, he still sat there and waited until I said it was ok to eat. I know this is a very basic training thing, but actually he started doing it of his own accord - I made him sit when he was a baby but not wait, he just started to wait for me to tell him it was ok. I feel so lucky and honoured to have this little creature give boring old me such respect, devotion and trust as to patiently wait for me to tell him it's ok to obey his natural urge to eat :D Ok, enough emotional gushing

This particular situation wouldn't have happened at all if the other dog hadn't been only a pup. Even though I acted stupidly in this situation, I know I would never let my dog play with an adult GSD (or other large dog) who was boisterous and rough, and whose owner allowed that with a small unknown dog. Had the dog been an adult showing the excitement level of a puppy and trying to make contact with Saxon I would have been straight out of there.

Interesting recent posts. I'm not close minded on either dog parks or small/big dog behaviour, discussion is great. Lo Pan - it was my own dumb fault because I didn't step in when my instincts were telling me to, not because I was at the dog park. You gave a scenario where big and small dog play, big dog gets full on, small dog can't handle it etc. The point where I usually step in is where big dog (or any dog) gets full on. Having said that, at my dog park there have been negligable numbers of times I've had to do that. To you and also Clyde, who said we should stay away from prey driven breeds, do you think GSDs and other prey-driven dogs should have no contact with small fluffies? Edited to make more sense now I'm not on iphone and can see what I'm doing.

Yay, well done to both of you! It's so exciting when they learn a new thing, I love the moment when you see it click in their head and it's like "oooohhh, I get it "

I'm glad you got it wrong the first time, coz that is the cutest photo ever!

My 10 month old puppy has displayed all sorts of weird and wonderful (and annoying and frustrating) behaviours as he's grown up. They do just start out of the blue and something he never even noticed before suddenly becomes totally exciting/scary/fun. So don't worry, you're not alone! And this probably won't be the last sudden behaviour change and testing of boundaries. As the others have said, rather than disciplining, try distracting. Get his attention with an excited, happy voice and give him a good reward (treat, lots of praise, a game) when he directs his attention to you instead of outside. I found this worked quickly with Saxon when he decided he would try and chase cars. Totally out of the blue, on the same road he's always walked on, he suddenly started barking and trying to run after cars. He was on lead but it was still worrying. After some excellent DOL advice I made sure I had treats in hand and whenever he started to turn his head towards the road I'd talk to him excitedly and when he looked at me give him a treat. He pretty quickly figured out that he needed to keep is attention on me, not the cars, in case he missed getting offered a treat! It won't work exactly like that in this situation and as Mrs Rusty Bucket said probably a fun toy and/or some training to focus him would work better. Eventually he'll stop finding outside things so very interesting. With the biting, I totally sympathise, Saxon was/is a terror with his mouth. I got through the puppy nipping stage using a sharp, high pitched yelp, stand up and turn my back on him. It took a lot of patience and consistency but it worked... kinda. He's still very mouthy but is much gentler now. And it helps that he has adult teeth now not sharp puppy ones. Good luck with the gorgeous Ozzie

:D :D

Well, we went back to the park yesterday afternoon. Saxon was fine, still as eager as always to get in there! I felt really nervous though but was trying very hard to keep myself calm so I didn't project fear to Saxon or any of the other dogs. Luckily we knew many of the big dogs that were there so we went around them first. He reacted totally normally and so did they so I calmed down a bit and let him meet some new dogs, including a very shy GSD, he was funny One of the dogs who we know quite well (just from the dog park) is a husky of about the same age as Saxon. He always thinks Saxon is a fascinating toy but he can be a bit rough for a little dog. His owner and I know this though so we let them greet each other and maybe have a little play then separate them. That's exactly what happened yesterday and I was glad to see that Saxon stayed relaxed and didn't show any fear aggression. Incidently - the husky belongs to a girl of about 12. She has a twin sister who has the brother husky. They've been coming to the park (with their parents obviously) for about the same time as I have with Saxon and they've done a fantastic job of teaching their dogs to be well behaved and obedient. They also watch them really closely the whole time and call them away if they're in any sort of risky situation - to them or other dogs. Many adults could learn from these girls!! So it seems no harm has been done, although I will continue to keep a very close eye on things. I still think that for me the benefits of the dog park outweigh the risks, I just need to be vigilant and trust my instincts. Also yesterday we got to meet Clastic and her gooooorrrrrgeous BC puppy Mars. He's such a cutie and he and Saxon had a very good play

Hi Longclaw, I've taken my poodle x puppy to Dogworld at Hume - not exactly Northside! I was happy with them. I was able to stay and watch, which was very important to me, at least for the first time (and I only went that once, I'm doing it myself now). There seemed to be a nice atmosphere there, they were calm, gentle and quick, and there were a few dogs around out the back (they do doggy daycare) and they all seemed happy. If you want to stay and watch you need to tell them when you book. I have heard that there is one at Kippax which is good, but no personal experience there. I've also heard about some not so good experiences, so I think if your friend can get a personal recommendation and/or stay and watch it would be a good idea

Heehee, spottychick I just read your Tango update and I see what you mean! It was a great read though, and it did bring a little tear to my eye

Oh, I also wanted to ask, I'm planning on taking Saxon back to the park this afternoon. I will take him in the gate at the quiet end and will be watching very closely, believe me, but I want him to be exposed to both the park and other dogs, particularly big dogs, as soon as possible so he can see that most of the time there will be no problem. I also want to make sure that the aggression he showed yesterday was just a last resort reaction to the situation and not something he will do normally. Anyone think that's not a good idea? I suspect he'll be totally fine to be honest, he's a tough little fella!

Thanks for your replies everyone! It was scary but it could have been much worse. I really don't think the GSD was intentionally trying to hurt Saxon, he just got carried away with his game and then I guess his instinct to grab the little thing running around in front of him kicked in. The reason it was my fault was because I let it get to the stage it did. I wasn't feeling comfortable with the way they were playing from the beginning and I should have stopped it, but in all honesty I didn't want to offend the woman by saying I didn't want my dog to play with hers I have said to people before that their dogs are a bit rough for Saxon and don't generally have a problem doing that, but for some reason I didn't last night... I will definitely not make that mistake again! I felt awful for letting Saxon get in that situation, especially as he must have felt he had no other option but to try and fight for himself when he turned aggressive He has never barked and advanced on another dog like that, and I feel like, having chosen to have a toy dog, it is my responsibility to make sure he never has to, because in reality he wouldn't have a chance. Luckily the other dog wasn't really trying to do harm, because he certainly could have. dandybrush, I totally agree with you, this is what I usually do in such situations, if just calling Saxon away doesn't work. This happened so quickly though, I was literally two steps from Saxon but by the time I got to him he was already being pinned down. I didn't want to do anything that would make the other dog close his jaws... Once Saxon got free, my reaction was just to get my dog away from those teeth!! Hmm, very interesting. Thank you for your explanation of their body language, especially the poodles, I really hadn't thought about that. There is so much to learn about dogs! Saxon has interacted with lots of bigger dogs inlcuding GSDs and I do say that he plays with them, but it is certainly not real playing with wrestling and boxing like he does with small dogs, especially poodles and poodle xs. It's more running in circles around each other or chasing, with maybe the odd tap with a paw. I always watch closely and stay right there, and only let him do it when I know the dog, or at least have watched it interacting with the other dogs around. I just don't know what I was thinking last night!!! Well, lesson learnt for me, hopefully the other owner has learnt something too, and no one was actually hurt

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll respond properly tomorrow on the computer, I'm on the iPhone now. Just a note, please don't anyone think I'm saying that the breed of either dog had anything to do with this. I mentioned GSD purely for the size comparison but realised I should have also said that Saxon is a toy poodle x Maltese of around 5kgs. You may have realised he was small from me lfting him over my head (I'm not that strong!) but just wanted to be clear.

I was at the dog park quite late tonight and it ended up being just Saxon and me, and another lady and her 5 month old GSD. They came over and the dogs had a bit of a play. The GSD was very playful and quite rough but Saxon seemed happy to have a play, he was actively joining in and his tail was up and wagging. Then the GSD bit Saxon, it was in play but was hard enough to make Saxon yelp in pain or fear or both - it wasn't his usual little "hey don't step on me" yip. He also dropped down on his tummy. I thought that would be enough to make the other dog pause at least, so that his owner, or I if necessary, could grab him. Instead he went for Saxon again and pinned him down with his mouth on Saxon's back. Saxon was yelping and trying to get up and away but when he realized he couldn't he went on the attack. It really shocked me actually, he was barking (not yapping, full on barking) in the other dog's face ready to fight. The GSD backed away and Saxon ran to me. I thought that would be it but the other dog ran over before his owner could grab him and started snapping at Saxon again. I try not to pick Saxon up when other dogs are around, if he's scared I just pat him and talk in a calm but happy voice telling him he's fine, but this time I grabbed him and lifted him up. The other dog kept biting at him, and got him a couple of times, including grabbing his tail when I had Saxon up above my head to try and keep him out of reach. He also scratched my chest when he put his paws on me, and JUST missed my lip - I felt his teeth graze me. The owner was running around trying to grab him while this was happening but having a lot of trouble getting him under control. Eventually she got him and they left. I checked Saxon over and he was fine, we had a bit more of a walk around and a play and he was his normal self. It was my own fault that this happened, I'd felt uncomfortable with the roughness of the playing from the beginning and i just didn't feel like this other owner was quite in control of her dog. Saxon often plays with bigger dogs and I likethat because I wan him to be relaxed and not fearful around all dogs, and I don't want to be a small dog owner who freaks out whenever a big dog goes near hers, but next time I will definitely trust my instincts! Thanks for letting me get that out! Any opinions are welcome, but please, I'm not looking for a lecture on how bad dog parks are