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Freaky, that's really bizare! It looks like it's irritating a bit so think they'd probably just cut it off? Be really interested to know how that occurs though.

Do you know how long the dog was kenneled for? Making a huge leap into the assumption area here but kennel madness for some reason jumped to the top of my thoughts for some reason. Sounds like an unbalanced pooch to me that's not very happy right now. Can your friend afford a qualified Behaviourist to come out and assess the dog? Someone from here that lives in QLD would most likely be able to reccomend one. Could it possibly be a form of seperation aniexty? Hopefully Erny or Steve will pop in to advise further?

I've had a dog with fear aggression before, he was on prozac and beta blockers to assist us during behaviour modification training, he actually got worse.

I've used that before, takes a little while to 'kick in'. But it's not strong enough for aggression issues.

I have about 100 different products that we have tested before for one of my dogs allergies and I use them on myself too if I don't have a human brand available, I don't see whatthe difference is apart from the price tag.

I personaly feel you are expecting too much from a 10 week old puppy. I would also bring the crate into the bedtroom, make sure the puppy toilets before going in it and get up once or twice throughout the night until you create good toileting habbits. In regards to the whining in the crate, puppy is only doing that for a reason.....can I guess that you go out to her to either comfort her or tell her to shut up? Complete ignorance of the puppy when it needs to go to sleep. Puppy may wake up in the night and whine and that is your cue to take puppy out to toilet, that's why I personaly feel it's important to have the crate in the bedroom so you can hear the whine. And when you do toileting stops overnight, you simply take the puppy outside and give the toileting command which they will come to understand in time - no playing or interaction at toilet time except when puppy goes toilet then you can praise, puppy goes straight back in its' crate and igored again. The more toileting mistakes you allow to occur the longer it will take for puppy to understand what is expected of it. Puppies do wake up early - get used to it LOL As they get older and more settled they tend to sleep longer. In our personal experience our puppy cried for 2 nights and was up and down in the crate throughout the night for the first week. He always let us know when he needed to toilet whilst in the crate and never toileted in the crate. That brings me to another school of thought...a crate should only be big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around that way it is less likely that a puppy will toilet in its' crate. Our dog was sleeping through the night at 11 weeks.

Dogs aren't wild and they get fed a different diet so therefore evolution as smart as it is would have to start changing to digestive system to cope with these changes. Wonder why humans aren't always born with wisdom teeth these days....the wonder of evolution. Tess, no one is saying to remove meat from a dogs diet, but I think some people need to open their minds to including some vegetable matter into a dogs diet, it's been in our dogs diet for so long that if evolution works the way the smarty pants people say then the digestion system should be undergoing changes as we speak if it hasn't lready occured, however seeing that scientists lack a number of good quality samples of the digestive system of early canines it can be kinda tricky to see the difference. Even if a dog gets some veggie matter that doesn't mean they can't use those wonderful jaws for ripping the flesh off a nice tasyy bone as well. I don't know about anyone else, but jesus come on already, the dog has been domesticated for how many thousands of years, it's not a wild dog anymore!

What may come into play is domestication and what part that plays in the evolution of the dog.

Dante never got clicker training, he had me thinking he was deaf at one stage LOL Nearly 14 months old and he's now only starting to develop a brain.

You take them outside and wait for them to go to the toilet and then place a container underneath to catch the wee.

I personaly think 4 months is too young to expect 100% in the area of toilet training. Your husband needs to be re-educated. Take for example when your children were potty training, they didn't understand the whole concept within a couple of short months when they were so young did they? A 4 month puppy in my opinion should not be let out of your sight. I think you need to lower your standards because you said you were so unspet....it's a poo....you cleaned it up, what's the big deal when it's just a baby puppy? Dominance? I'd be fairly confident to say not at all, not in the circumstance....puppy had an accident. What's your husband going to do when you dog does something really bad? Send it to the pound? Puppies have accidents and do naughty things. I'd reccomend kiddy gates on doors you don't want the dog to go into, I still have them now and my dogs are adults, just habbit I guess.

Thanks for this, I've made a note of the paperwork I need to ensure I get. The pups are being reared on a BARF diet at the mo and its whether we stick to this or try to swap onto a dry food. I've bought some of the Dr B's BARF frozen patties but really I was hoping to put her onto something like Eagle Pack Holistic for Large/Giant breed puppies or maybe a mix of the two. What are you feeding? Any idea whether its best to gradually change diet or just do it straight away? I'm just worried about over/under feeding. Plus in the morning when I go out to do school drop off & aerobics I'm out for 2 hours so thought maybe dry food in a treat ball would be a good way to give her, her first meal of the day to occupy her while I'm out? We've got a puppy pen and I'm preparing myself for some hard work! You should really only feed what the Breeder has been feeding the dog, because it'll save up tummy upsets when settling in as well as the Breeder knows best as to what diet the dogs develop the best on. If the diet is crap that they've given you, then doing some research on what is a suitable diet for your breed as different breeds require different protein % etc.

Na, the Vet doesn't give a report, but if you want to check to make sure the dogs been checked you can call them. Copies of Hip/Elbow/Eye results, I'm guessing you mean of the parents? These don't usually get given to you as you don't actually need them, but if the Breeder has stated that these tests have been done you can ask to see them and perhaps ask for a copy. If the Breeder didn't mention about the tests, they may not have done them, not all Breeders do. Registration Papers: Sometimes these haven't come back from the controling body by the time you pick up your puppy, if they haven't, you'll get sent them. The Breeder should give you the Vaccination certificates that will have the mircochip number sticker on them, they should also give you a puppy pack containing feed information and sometimes training information etc.

Yep, Dante's Father was like that and he's a very big dog...

I wouldn't be concerned too much as long as the Vet has given a clear bill of health. Dante was the smallest in his litter. This is Dante with his litter mates (Spotty dog): He has been slow growing compared to his litter mates and is now only an inch or so behind them in height, he's actually looking somewhat better than some of his litter mates due to growing more slowly: At nearly 14 months: No health problems at this stage, he has some minor allergy issues, however that is a genetic issue not a being smallest issue.

Did you puppy come from a petshop? Why I ask is that pet shop puppies can have a terrible time with house breaking because they have been forced to toilet, feed and sleep in the one area. In addition if your puppy came from a breeder that didn't keep the whelping area clean as well as the kennels then the pup is in the same situation as if it came from a petshop inregards to toileting.

I say a big NO for Calcium supplements for giant dogs, from what I know first hand, it either ads addition height to them which you don't really want or it creates structural problems. Having seen a Dane before who was supplemented with calcium supplements, heavily too would be my guess was the saddest thing.

I believe they are not solely carnivores. Dante is on 50% meat & 50% veggies, I haven't seen him in better condition since the diet change, he has no problem with his diet and chomps it down without a thought. I don't feed any grains or other fillers.

To start with I personaly feel that the crate needs to be in the room with you so you can hear if the puppy cries to let you know they need to toilet. When I say cries, I mean the cries that come after they've settled and been asleep for a while not the howling, crying and screaming that you may get from in the first week as the puppy is away from its' litter. Over time you can move the crate step by step further away from the room to where you want the crate to be. My personal preference is to have the dogs in my room so I know what's going on and if they're ok. From time to time dogs can get upset tummies and I'd rather not have to clean out a crate from that mess because I couldn't hear that the dog needed to toilet.

When Dante was a puppy I had a 2 x 2 metre run set up on my wooden balcony, I put down puppy pee pads in the corner which was the furtherest away from his bed and food/water and he used them without being trained to do so. The general thought is that a dog will go as far away from their bedding and food to eliminate so where we popped the pee pads was going to be his desired place to toilet anyhow. They were scented pads but I can't tell you if that attributed to him using them.

I'd pop her in a crate but in your bedroom to start with and then over a period of time you slowly move the crate to where you would prefer it to be. I prefer my dogs in the bedroom but that of course is just my personal preference. Dante was sleeping through the night at 11 weeks, mind you he's a giant dog.

How old is your dog and what behavioural changes did you see?

With Bloat we can only guess what causes it and can only guess what preventatives to take, it's tricky everyone has different methods from either raising food and water to keeping it on the ground. A university study consisting of 50 dogs found that the higher you elevate the higher the risk, so who knows eh. I know there is a clinical trial happening at the moment to Bloat so it will be interesting to see the final results. My girl is fed from the ground and my boy is fed elevated. My girl is into the years (5+) where bloat seems to take our breed and she's still going strong. My girl is fed a BARF pattie and a cup of kibble (no water). My boy is fed Mince and Mashed Veggies (It's a sloppy mix) Our main thing is no exercise an hour before or after food. Some people feel that the bigger the piece of Kibble the more danger of it expanding in the dogs stomach. Some people dont' touch raw hyde either due to concerns about it expanding, we give the dogs raw hyde from time to time.

Hiya, It would depend what the plants are as Dante has possible allergies to some plants.

When I first got my girl she was a shocker on the lead through pure excitment, loves everyone & everything.