Kanae

awesome photos, man I really need to figure out how to get some good shots like you all, they look brilliant! Nala looks so pretty and Hank is growing to be very handsome, as is Nova. I love Nova's coat! I expanded Ezio's puppy pen to have access to half the lounge, the hall and the laundry with the door to outside. He has been behaving really well so I thought this will give him a bit more freedom and start teaching him to use the cat/dog door for toilet training. So far everything is going well, he uses the door flawlessly and is behaving nicely. We have only had to tell him off twice for biting the couch and each time he stopped and went to chew something appropriate :) It is a hell of a lot more room than he had before.

Hopefully Willow will eventually settle and get it down on pat :) Good luck Dory. Esky that is a little hilarious, silly puppy :)

Keep at it lisaCC, maybe Nova just needs his training times slowly increased at home to improve his focus? It sounds like he is doing great work though :) This morning at puppy school, we had a round the room regarding time-outs, since last week we were taught to time-out the puppy if they misbehaved, we were the only ones who didn't do it. I don't think the instructor believed us when we said we didn't need to do any time-outs. Honestly, Ezio is a bit of a goodie two shoes. And I tend to get redirect any misbehaviour the second I see it and haven't had any problems.. He is just a good puppy.. Really.. I swear.. We give him a verbal warning and he stops. He is by far the most uneventful puppy when it comes to daily stuff, maybe it is because we are sticking to a strict routine? Or maybe because we have 3 weeks off to focus on him? I don't know but he is doing extremely well.

great video lollipup what an amazing pup :) Esky your new pup is gorgeous! I had a situation today I took Ezio out the side of our house (we have a small walkway and a landstrip behind our house) for some leash training, just back and forth to teach loose lead walking and as I went onto the land strip the bogan neighbours who live 10 houses from us (we live in a townhouse complex) had left their two untrained and unsocialized dogs running around off-lead without supervision! Before I knew it I had one of them charging towards us barking it's head off making a bee line, the only thing I could do was pick up Ezio and walk away calmly and hope the dog didn't follow (thankfully it didn't). I felt Ezio stiffen in my arms and when I got into the walkway to my house where it was safe and put him down he was visibly anxious and trying to run away, I had to coax him back to me, pat him and treat him for staying close to me to get him to calm down. I really tried to stay calm and reassuring in the situation, but I think I might have handled it wrong by picking him up and walking away, I really didn't want to risk him getting a negative experience with other dogs. I am very angry at myself and the idiot neighbour who didn't contain his dogs. I didn't even know they were there as they were behind the tree/bush feature and while I was focusing on Ezio they must have come out and seen us. Now Ezio is showing fear signs, I hit the shed by accident, a noise I previously desensitized him to and he jumped away, I had to re-introduce him to banging on the shed I hope I haven't destroyed his confidence from this situation.

BLAH! Trying to be on-top of potty training is difficult with a lowrider puppy, the only signal we get is he stands still. I went to brush my hair and thought my bf had taken him out of his pen to potty, come out and he was just giving him cuddles and had put him in, just as I say "he needs to pee" he begins to pee on the towel in the pen. Not angry, but a little frustrated as I really want to be sure he doesn't have accidents in the house. This is the third accident in a week. I guess that is still good?

Hank has grown so fast!

Ezio is settling in, he tries to act like a spoilt brat but is learning things don't go his way. It is difficult to train him to walk because he hates being in the sun too long and most times he walks for 5 seconds then flops onto the ground and just lays there - he gets hot too easy and even late afternoon is too warm for him. He is picking up the sit very well, I might start introducing a verbal soon for sit since he is responding well to the hand signal, his drop still needs a lure however, I think I might need to train him to follow my hands more. He seems to prefer outside, probably because he gets to sleep on cold tiles compared to a slightly warm house so I have allowed him to sleep outside when he does now and then, it is good because he will only be allowed access to the laundry and yard when we go to work and then free roam when we get home (not for a long time, he won't be allowed out of his puppy pen inside until way past his chewing phase!) so he gets used to being alone for a little bit.

Ezio (previously Waffles, but the name didn't suit) is settling in well. He has had only 2 accidents so far, the first my bf didn't catch him and the second I didn't know, he is so short that when he pees it looks like he is just standing and looking around! It is even harder because he is fluffy so you don't see anything until there is a puddle lol. We took him to puppy school Saturday, he was pretty great, didn't bark once. We went to a puppy orientation class Sunday for Urban dogs to enrol him into puppy play group and had the pleasure of meeting someone who owns Ezio's brother who was going to attend the play groups too! What are the chances! So we are pretty excited for next Sunday so Ezio can play with his brother at play group My bf has taken part in helping raise Ezio so it is awesome, we can take turns on things and my bf is coming to puppy school and play group with me so he can learn more :) anyway here is some pictures of the fluffy

We decided to go with the name Ezio instead :) since he didn't look like a waffles

Waffles is home, though we might change his name as it might not suit him as I thought. Will see though, it is pretty late so he is in his crate in our room sleeping, he of course had a tantrum before he did but settled after a little bit, stubborn little chubby bum :)

Figgus Fargo Fairfield Farquad Fay Fitter Fando Flayer Frisco Frodo Fade Fiasco

3 more days! Food all bought, I began cutting up and freezing a variety of treats over the weekend, looking forward to seeing how much Waffles has grown! Not long now :D

Aww puppies are so cute and chubby when that young, congratulations on your soon to be husky :) the waiting is the hardest! Only 8 more days until we pick up Waffles! I am staring at the calendar now, pretty excited now!!

omg he is adorable littleduck! Good luck Luvsdogs with your puppy tomorrow, look forward to the photos

12 more days until Waffles comes home :D Everything is organised except for his food which I will get next week. I even have his puppy school lessons booked!

Nala is gorgeous, will be great to see how she develops. :)

I had been reading a lot about chimerism lately, it is found in many animals :) I guess I got too excited at the idea and jumped the gun. Here is a budgie with chimerism http://data1.whicdn.com/images/59897664/large.jpg

Maybe it is just a brindle thing? I realized after taking pics the light tan is on both sides on his ribs and the deep red is only on the back/ shoulders. I am not familiar with coat variations with brindle :)

I will try to get some today, he is a real fidget so I will see if I can

My dads stafford appears to have a very distinct split on his body, on one side he is brindle with light tan (almost sunbleach like but it isn't) fur and on the other he is brindle with deep red. The line is much more prominant on his belly and it looks clear cut all the way down his chest, belly and up under his tail. There appears to be some mixing on the head and back where the split should be of both colours merging with the brindle red covering part of his opposite shoulder but then it goes back to the light tan. I am curious to know if he might have chimerism? It is very obvious there is a difference in marking colour when you look at him. what is everyones thoughts? pics

aww shes so pretty!

This is a great idea I look forward to reading about how all breeds behave with people and dogs, it gives a great understanding of which dogs might be better to play with if you are looking for a breed that matches your own dogs playstyle :) maebey- while your post is very informative, I think you may have missed the point of this thread? Your posts seem more suited to be placed in the breeds 101, I assumed this thread was made to gain a familiarisation of how certain breeds behave with people, dogs and what playstyles or behaviours they do and don't like in a public situation so others could figure out what breeds will match their breeds play style. Not about the breed in particular :)

LisaCC - sorry missed your post. I am not an expert on corgi breeding but fluffies are not too common, but they can pop up in any litter as many corgis have the fluffy gene in them. I believe that both parents need to have the gene present for a fluffy to be born, but I could be wrong? They are not specifically bred as it is considered a breed fault, but I do not believe there is any aim to prevent the gene from passing on, I am uncertain the reasons for this so maybe someone with more experience and knowledge could explain? :)

What Nekhbet said as well, my observation was focused at the base of the neck where normal collars would sit, but having a collar specifically placed near the base of the skull is a different story :) Of course the area closest to the jaw is the most exposed, as with all animals there is much thinner muscles and protection near the lower jaw as the muscle (Sternocephalicus) that covers the lower part of the neck splits to connect to the skull behind the ears, due to the length of a dogs neck compared to a humans the vulnerable area is therefore much shorter, but every warm blooded animal has this vulnerable spot. This is all getting really in-depth but if anyone is curious, a clearer view of just how many muscles protect the canine trachea can be viewed here (Warning: Dissection images, not for faint of heart)

Ok I had a bit of a better look at the blog now I am home, and one of my peeves (I love kikopups videos btw) is about the neck anatomy. This is a surprise to me as Kikopup is a proclaimed artist, and yet she did not provide relevant anatomical comparisons for this argument. If she had, the argument would have been rendered invalid regarding the neck density and strength being similar to a humans. I went ahead and pulled out some reference pictures I have of dog and human anatomy, as you can see in the images the human Trachea is exposed (we do have a very thin muscular veil that rests over this but that muscle is mostly for the skin to rest on), as we are a vertical species we have evolved with no real need for any muscle to be around this part of our neck, we do not lower or extend our head to require such muscles, we do not use our neck to eat or grab something to rip at. The dog however does and as such in the below pictures you can see much more layering of muscles that cover the Trachea giving the throat and neck more strength and durability to withstand daily life events. While our dna and some aspects of our body may relate to the dog, the argument that our anatomy matches is completely untrue and is not a relevant argument. If enough force was placed suddenly on the neck of a dog with a collar to cause a whiplash effect then yeah it will cause some type of damage, the extent however would depend on the breed of dog and how the muscles in said breed are developed, every breed of dog differs in muscle density and strength, as with bones. I think more studies and scientific analysis would be required before you could verify if it is cruel to use a collar, but if studies are being made I would prefer to see results of ALL current restraint methods used for dogs.