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i asked about vaccinations and worming etc and she was all up to date with these. the vet agreed and said she was in good health i havent yet gone down the DNA testing path and while i certianly appreciate the advice and can see its merits, i have no intention of breeding the puppy and my vet is well aware of the situation and did not suggest we need any further testing done. at present im happy to leave it at that and just have fun with my happy healthy puppy.

well we picked up our gorgeous puppy on the weekend and despite the fact the breeder certainly wasnt the most professional around, the puppy has been given a clean bill of health from our vet and is off the weetbix and absolutely loving her pro plan. the first two nights she has been as quiet as a mouse too with only a few minutes of whimpering before settling down to sleep all through the night (or remaining quiet at least!) so all in al we are very happy with our puppy.. her name is Sweep;. now im going to have to start reading the training and discipline threads so i can make sure she grows into a wel behaved dog! pics will be posted shortly!

hey guy thanks again for all the advice. i plan on having a thorough discussion with the breeder tomorrow to get all these issues cleared up the puppy is not blue which i suppose is good news. heres hoping all goes well tomorrow and i will have some cute pictures to show you all on monday! thanks again for the advice and suggestions. its been a great help! hopefully my next thread here is in a happier note!!

how does one go about a health test?

thanks for the great reply SoL and i dont take your comments in anyway harsh or upsetting. in fact i really appreciate all the advice and assistance everyone here offers i did actually see the mother when we visited the puppies. she looked in fine health and was happy and i couldnt really say a bad thing about her. i guess thats one thing to take out of it i know that the pups are all being vaccinated and chipped and i will ask about L2-HGA and HC however i have no idea what these are?? weve already booked in to see our local vet during our first week and so i will be seeking their advice on all those type of things too im hunter valley based too SoL, nice to meet you!

yep i was thinking along the same lines cut out the weetbix and ill feed some soaked pro plan as a substitute ill start with the puppy pal and slowly swap that for chicken wings and necks too its a bit disappointing that our breeder clearly isnt as knowledgable as they should be however once i get the puppy eating well there will be no looking back!

thanks so much for all the replies guys i have a bad feeling this wont go down well here but i have been advised by the breeder that they have been feeding the puppy weetbix and milk in the mornings and puppy pal for other meals during the day! ive read here that this is a big no no and loooked down upon however im committed to this puppy now so i need to make do i guess would you guys recommend starting with this food to keep the 'shock' to a minimum but weaning over to better food asap?

so raw mince is a no no? gee its hard to get a definitive answer on these things! lol.. so much conflicting information out there the pup will only be 8 weeks old when we pick her up on the weekend so i think bones might be a bit too big for her at that stage? what is the typical puppy diet for a little 8 week old pup?

thanks for all the great replies guys! i will certainly take the advice and find out what the breeder has been feeding her before slowly converting to the pro plan and raw meat as far as crate training, im still a bit 50/50 on that. i can certainly see the merits if it means my bathroom wont get trashed like the one above! and dont you worry, we are picking her on this weekend so i will be sure to post pics then! getting pretty excited now!

thanks for the replies guys! i think i will try to phase her in with the pro plan and ask the breeder what thhey have been feeding the pups the girls i spoke too at the vet store said we might want to wait a while before feeding chicken wings as the pups can choke? is this a myth? i can see the benefits of crate training however my dog will be purely a family pet with minimal car travel so i think ill just see how things go at this stage do you all just buy your chicken wings and necks etc from the local butchers / coles etc?

Hi Guys Im new to the forum and have been reading plenty of the great info here to learn how best to look after my new staffy puppy. we pick her up this weekend. i had a couple of questions im hoping you might be able to help me with: firstly, we bought a bag of pro plan puppy food and were planning on feeding the puppy a combo of this and raw mince. is pro plan decent dry food? is there a better option at comparable price? and is raw mince ok for an 8 week old puppy? in terms of crate training., ive had a few dogs growing up with the family and we never used the crate method and generally found the simple method of taking them outside regularly and praising when they do their business to be quite effective. im a little torn as to what to do here. any advice? looking forward to learning plenty more from you guys! thanks!