cavNrott

I guess we do what works for us. I give a toy to redirect the undesirable nipping behaviour not to reward it. I don't physically put baby pups into a sit. I lure them into sit with a treat. A baby puppy who is in a state of high excitement with nipping, jumping and generally being silly is not focusing on commands. I won't ask a pup to do something unless I'm pretty sure it will comply because I don't want pup to think any command is optional. Though I would expect a 10 week old pup to sit on command I wouldn't expect it to 'stay' for 60 seconds. A of second or two of compliance keeps me happy. I do expect my older dogs to hold a command until I release them but I don't ask this of a baby puppy.

Poodlemum: Where are you in Melbourne? Hope it's SE 'burbs.

Righto! Please tell us how you prevent a puppy who is hell bent on mouthing/nipping to stop for 30-60 seconds (without getting physical with them) before you produce the toy? If I knew how to bring an immediate halt to a determined puppy nipping for a period of 30-60 seconds I probably wouldn't need to stuff a toy in their mouth. What do you do and what does the pup do in that 30-60 seconds waiting period? I would be very interested to know. With me and mine, the pup continued to nip and I continued to yelp ouch! Turning my back and folding my arms would meet with pup nipping at the back of my legs or clothing in most cases. I mentioned what worked with all my pups My pups learnt very quickly that teeth are never to meet with flesh. I would say Ah Ah (for the nipping) and then put the toy in pups mouth within a second or two and praise pup for taking the toy. Sometimes I played with the pup and other times puppy played with the toy by itself. My adult dogs will still bring a ball or a toy to me whenever they want me to play with them. I don't have a problem with that. If it's convenient I'm happy to play with them. They don't make pests of themselves if I tell them 'later'.

No need to flick any puppy noses That's NOT what puppies do and it's not the way to treat a little puppy. Anyone who tried to flick the nose of my dogs had better get ready to have their own nose flicked I would suggest you carry a stuffed toy around in your pocket and when pup starts nipping, stuff the toy in his mouth. Puppy need to know what he is allowed to bite so when he takes the toy, praise him.

Rest in Peace Sophie

I get BARF beef and vegies from Top Shelf Pet Food Company. Delivery is free and the quality is excellent. Phone Chris 0425 707 379

Run like the wind Phoebe. Godspeed little girl. :rolleyes:

I wouldl take her to the vet just to check them out. A dog trainer I know had a black mole removed from her Kelpie's abdomen. It was a melanoma. It didn't look like the pic of the moles on your dog....but just to be safe I'd have them checked out.

Mine are all fed twice a day. I believe two smaller meals are better than one large one, especially with the larger breeds.

No one has been harsh with you It seems your dog has not yet been desexed so you have been informed before the procedure. I would not agree to having puppy teeth extracted unless the second teeth have already erupted and the baby teeth are in the way and interfering with the alignment of the second teeth. Of course if the baby teeth are loose they will come out on their own. My dog didn't start teething until she was 6 months old and yours is 5 months old? Has she started teething yet?. Re: dew claws. Do you know what they are? I ask because you said IF SHE HAS ONE. If your pup has rear dew claws on both hind legs it is probably a good idea to have them removed. The dew claws on each front leg are usually left as they are.

Blossom are you in Melbourne? If so there is a gastro bug going around in the dog world. The vet said they'd seen quite a few dogs with the problem in the last few weeks. Two of mine had diarrhoea that I guess was picked up at the local park. I put them on a boiled chicken and rice diet for a few days. The Cavalier had to have Metronidazole though, the diet itself was not working. The diarrhoea lasted for about 4 days before any improvement but they're all fine now. Strangely enough my old girl didn't catch it, neither did the boy Cav.

A friend of mine who owns greyhounds has had two dogs who needed to have their tonsils out. I can't remember how old the dogs were.

I agree. I hate seeing dogs on the back of utes and wouldn't allow one of mine to be transported this way. Can you not carry her in the car? She's only a puppy and must have been so frightened.

It sounds like an infection, maybe a UTI. Whatever it is she needs to see the vet. If it is a UTI, they are painful.

Fence off the clothes line would be the easiest.

My guess is that the Rimadyl was prescribed for the inflammation rather than pain relief. It's an excellent anti inflammatory.

Some dogs have adverse reactions to some drugs the same as people have adverse reactions to some drugs. My dogs who have had Rimadyl have always had a blood test to ensure they have no health problems that would contra indicate the drug. We've had no problems with Rimadyl and none of my dogs needed it long term. What is the alternative to NSAIDS? Many of the natural products are very slow to work or they don't work at all. These products are quite expensive and for something that doesn't work it's a PITA...but more importantly in the meantime we have a dog suffering pain. I've found Joint Guard to be the best for arthritis and joint pain but a dog post surgery or any other condition, acute or chronic, that causes serious pain needs pain relief immediately. What do you give dogs for pain relief if they are unable to tolerate NSAIDS?

He is a baby puppy. The same as a human baby he has no control over his bowels and bladder. You need to be consistent and patient. I have house trained few pups and my Cavalier boy was 15 weeks before he was completely toilet trained. He had very few accidents inside the house because he was also being crate trained. I used the crate if he didn't oblige when I took him outside at the appropriate times and when he didn't eliminate I popped him in the crate for 15 minutes with a toy, then we went outside again. After he had obliged he was praised and treated and he had the freedom of the house for an hour before we went through the process again. When he was free in the house I kept my eye on him so I was able to learn what his signals were when he needed to toilet. I would use caution if you are letting him out onto the balcony. Hopefully you are at ground level and the balcony is safe for him. Please make sure he can't fit through the bars or jump over the balcony when he gets a little older and bigger. Is there a reason why you can't take him outside to toilet? Your puppy is not being stubborn, puppies chew everything they can get hold of. It's normal behaviour. They learn by exploring with their mouths. Puppy proof your apartment so he doesn't come to harm by chewing things that will hurt him and keep things up and out of his reach. I wouldn't walk him out on the streets until he is fully vaccinated.

You've got me a bit confuzzled LOL. Dogs don't actually sweat through their skin. If you mean a wet dog smell, an infection has a pungent and slightly sweet odour. I think if he had an infection you would smell it. Is he scratching his ears or shaking his head at all? A vet nurse told me I should be plucking the hair inside my Cavs ears too but I hadn't heard of that being done with Cavs and I've never done it. I do cut the hair very short around at the bottom of the ear canal and they do have some hair growing slightly into the canal. I must ask the vet next time I'm there. Being Spaniel ears I give the underside a good wash with shampoo when they have their baths. I put my finger in the ear so the water doesn't go in them when I'm washing the underside and they get a good shampoo and rinse. Drying the underside well helps too. I use a dryer on the cool setting.

If it smells bad he probably has an infection so you'll need take him to the vet. Healthy ear don't smell awful. An ear infection usually has a distinct odour and once you smell it you don't forget it.

I've found Rimadyl to be an excellent anti inflammatory and very good for pain relief. It should always be given with a full meal though, never on an empty stomach. Some dogs do seem to be intolerant of this drug but all mine have been fine with it.

To be totally honest with you it sounds as though you are not set up for caring for a baby puppy and he is a baby. The timing is all wrong. He is toileting inside the house because a)he's a baby and b)because he is not house trained. House training takes time and effort. This puppy is not yet in control of his bowels and bladder just the same as human babies don't have control. It takes time, dedication and the knowledge of when the pup needs to eliminate so you can take him outside at appopriate intervals. He needs to be taken out after eating, drinking, sleeping, playing and you need to stay outside with him until he obliges so you can praise him for being a good dog. Choose a word you use for toilet and keep repeating that word until he associates it with what is required of him. He is crying because he has been taken away from everything he knows in his life. His mother, his litter mates and the familiarity of the home in which he was raised. Everything is new, strange and frightening to him. He sounds like a perfectly normal puppy to me and is behaving as normal puppies do. If I were you I would contact the breeder to see if you can return the puppy. I would also suggest you wait until you have time to give a puppy the attention it needs before getting another one. Puppies are a lot of work and they are time consuming. Baby puppies, like human babies, need a lot of time and attention to house train them and teach them that they are not allowed to put teeth on human skin. He is behaving with the children as he would with his litter mates. Did you buy this puppy from a registered breeder?

If she was my dog I would be taking her to the vet for a diganosis and safe pain relief. I would not be taking them to the park to play ball whilst either one of them have an injury. Paracetemol is not suitable for dogs.

When my kids were young....4 children under 5 1/2 years old and I had two two GSD's. These dogs were great with the kids and the children knew that they treated the dogs with respect or they heard about it from me. If I ever heard a dog yelp, whichever child was the culprit got a telling off from me no matter how young the child. No one paid any attention when the kids got bowled over by the dogs, it was a fact of life. Kids and dogs lived in harmony inside the house. I never had kids running to me complaining about the dogs knocking them over, they just picked themselves up and kept on with what they were doing. These dogs were gentle with children because they grew up with children. The kids were good with dogs for the same reason. No one ever got bitten by the dogs and if they had done I would have asked them what they did to hurt the dog. I read so often now that people are advised to get a small breed because a large breed might knock small children over. Kids fall over all the time without being knocked by anyone or anything. Aaah the good old days :p

I don't think it's the information available I think it's because dogs aren't able to live the way they used to. Neither can we. We used to trust our neighbours and our dogs. Things changed, firstly with people and then with dogs. I'm afraid common sense has left us for good. We have all lost our basic freedoms. Kids and dogs used to be great and got along well together. Now they are all feral and it's our fault. Actually I think our dogs are better behaved than our kids though. At least most of us train our dogs without them screeching about their rights. Not so with many of the kids. The books and training are a good thing. We are treating our dogs better and training them but everyone now seems to think that anything they don't like should be reported and as a result there are too many laws. People are always yelling about something else that should be banned. I SAY BAN THE PRACTISE OF RUBBING DOGS NOSES IN THEIR ACCIDENTS. We never did that even back in my grandmothers day though. I don't know how she house trained her dogs but they all sat around the fire of an evening, they slept in the house but I don't recall any peeing accidents.