PoppyDog

This is the BEST idea! Do you use just an old coke/mineral water bottle with the label removed? Will have to try this with Poppy!

Thanks TLC! It's good to know that toilet training them can be hard and that its okay for it to be hard. As a first time puppy owner I had visions of it being over and done with in a few weeks! What a rude shock I got. I think Poppy would still go inside if she was BUSTING and she couldn't get out but she is definately getting better at telling us and we are getting better and knowing her signals! We love her so much! We never thought owning a pet would be SOOOO rewarding! :D

:D I think I enjoyed it more than she did! We drove home with BOTH back windows open! Last night we went to dinner with friends who have a 18 week old Border Collie and she got SO dirty playing with him. She was covered in doggy spit and mud! So she has had 2 baths this weekend!

Hehe! Thanks Sue! She is looking forward to her playdate and sleep over with you this weekend!

We had issues with our CKCS X and sleeping. We would be lukcy if she made it till 5am. Then we moved her crate to our bedroom from the main bathroom that was at the other end of the house to us. It improved for a while and she would sleep till 6am sometimes later. ' After she was desexed OH got all soft and let her sleep on the bed for ONE night. And the rest they say is history. She is 8 months old now and sleeps on our bed. Or next to my side of the bed on the floor on a blanket. She sleeps SOOOO much better now and I really believe it is because she just wanted to be WITH us. She is such a people dog and LOVES to be at our side. I know having a dog in your room/on your bed is not for everyone but just thought I would share our experience!

Thanks Sonia! We think so too! We heart her!!!

And thats her at 7 months old after a bath! All clean and fluffy!

Sure! I'd love to! Let's see if I canfigure out how to attach some! Here she is at 4 weeks before we got her. Here she is at 18 weeks. First visit to the beach!

Our 8 month old CKCS X is our first ever puppy. She was a HUUUUUUGE learning curve and we found toilet training a long hard battle but got there in the end! ;) She now goes in and out as she pleases and never has an accident inside. As long as the back sliding doors are open for her. Night toilet training took us the LONGEST and we eventually crate trained her which worked perfectly! After she was desexed at 6 months my fiance got soft and wanted her to sleep on the bed "just one night". Needless to say she doesn't use her crate anymore! I'm a really light sleeper so if she jumped off the bed I would know that meant she needed to be taken out to go toilet. The last few days have been REALLY warm where we are! So Poppy has taken to sleeping on the shower mat in our ensuite or next to my side of our bed. Last night my fiance and I were in bed, lights out, Poppy on the blanket next to my bed, us chatting when we heard our door rattling. She had gone to the bedroom door and rattled it with her paw/nose to tell us she wanted to go out! ;) We were both so proud and surprised that she did that! Such a clever puppy!

We have a CKCS X who is an indoor (mostly) dog. We recently looked into to adopting a 12 month old CS and found that they are very different! The CS would not have been suited to living indoors and required a lot more exercise than our cav! I would go with a CKCS! If your in Qld I know a great breeder!

Our 8 month old CKCS X is also a gulper! We have done the following things in the past... Soaked her dry food so it swells causing her to eat it slower. Soaked it and then frozen it making her CHEW. When we feed her raw minced chicken carcesses we also freeze that. Chicken necks are frozen. Even her bones are frozen and given to her that way. She doesn't mind and she chew chew chews!

Is there such thing as puppy clucky??? Coz those big blue eyes make me want another! Even though your post brings back memories of everything we went through! Hugs!

Poppy came to us to teach us about puppy mills and farms! She came to us to teach us patience. Toilet training her was HARD work and it took a LOT of patience, repitition and rewards! She came to us to teach us about training, and doggy health, and grooming! But most of all she came to us to teach us to love something else in our lives. We never thought we would love our pet dog as much as we love Poppy. Close family and friends often ask my fiance and I if Poppy is our practice baby! But she really is. We love her with all our being and while I'm sure the love we feel for her will be different to the love we feel for our future skin babies I think that love will be VERY similar!

Pollywaffle! Not helpful! Lol! I'm stuck! Do I try and find a sitter? Or do I give the kennel a go? Time is running out!!!

I'm SO confused!!! I HATE going away for this very reason! I wish we had family close who could look after our puppy.

I recommend a kennel too. Kennels are designed to keep dogs safely enclosed, and kennel staff are paid to interact with the dogs. There is no way I would trust some random in Ipswich to keep my dog in their yard. It could so easily get stolen, or attacked by neighbour's dogs, or eat poisonous plants or try to escape to find me or anything. Okay, you've convinced me to give a kennel a go. The one I inspected is one you reccomended to me and one my vet reccomended and I did truly like the lady who showed me around. I think that if Poppy likes it and does well it will make having to have her cared for less stressful because like you say they are professional and I know she will be safe and well looked after! I just hope she copes okay!.

I have every sympathy for you in this situation. May I ask why the kennel did not attend to your dogs needs and left you to do this. I think you may find that CLASS kennels would never have allowed your dog to get to this state in the first place. It wasn't actually a kennel. It was a pet sitter. Poppy was only 14 weeks old though and I think that had a lot to do with her reaction. Which probably makes you wander why I want to go that way again. But the 2nd and 3rd time she stayed there she was fine and a lot older than her first time. And on the 4th time something happened that made me really incomfortable. I don't know, maybe its me thats the baby and maybe I should give the kennel a go. I just worry that she will react like she did the first time we left her and I will be interstate so it will be hard for me to rush back. Last time we were only an hour or so away.

Thanks OakWay. The kennel I inspected was great. And I could tell the couple who owned and ran it were very passionate about their business and the dogs. But like Sky_Mel I think that all the noise and activity would add to the stress for our dog. She is also a big baby!!! Sky_Mel - Our doggy is like that too! A big sook. The first time we left her she got so stressed and anxious that she ended up with vomiting and the runs, wouldn't eat and we had to take her to the vet. She has been sat since then and has been fine but I think a kennel environment would just not sit well with her.

Really? I find that hard to believe. I think that in a home environment with only one or two other dogs our puppy is more likely to get more one on one time than in a kennel situation. Just because there are going to be more dogs and less humans in a kennel. I have inspected a local kennel that was reccomended to me by our vet and some members here but I'm just not comfortable leaving our dog there. I just think the noise and the concrete and the whole environment would completely freak her out.

Hi, We are looking for a reliable pet sitter for our 8 month old CKCS X. I would like the type of care that involves our puppy staying with you in your house and yard. I don't want to use a kennel because I do want her to have as much human contact as possible when we are away. We are located in Ipswich but would be happy to travel to drop off as we will be flying from Brisbane Airport so will be travelling that way. Does anyone have any reccomendations? Thanks in advance.

As the title states, I'm after reccomendations of places to stay with your dog in South East Qld. I have heard of a place in Coolangatta that is supposed to be great! Anyone stayed there? DF and I are not really into camping so we would prefer things other than camping! Thanks in advance!

She is at Sumners Park but if you ring I think they may also have just started to transports, so may be able to pick up for you. Thanks! Will wait to hear from Jadesamara too!

Ams - Where is Wagtails Daycare? Their website looks great and I see they run their training courses in a few different locations but can't find where the daycare is located? Might be a bit far from me as both DF and I travel to work along the highway towards Toowoomba not towards Brisbane. Hmmm...

Thanks Ams! Just being impatient!

Did you get my PM??