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Hello I am new to this area of mumsnet - welcome to the world of Maggie

2 replies

Spamspamspam · 11/05/2011 21:56

Hello all, I have been lurking on here for a few days/weeks and can honestly say some of the advice I have received from others threads has been amazing and for which I am eternally grateful :)

I am first and foremost a mum to one child and a horse owner. Horse has been a brood mare for a few years and work means I really don't have the time for a horse but my husband and I both work from home and have a lot of time for an animal and after a year of consideration we both decided to get a dog. Actually it took my husband a year to be convinced and there was no way on earth I was going to do it without him on board! We searched breeds, rescue and all avenues but eventually ended up with Maggie who is a Parson Russell Terrier, we got her yesterday on my daughters 8th birthday!

She has so far been an absolute popppet :) but I am well aware that things change and am well aware that she is probably completely overwhelmed at the moment. She has never been crated but we decided along with a lot of threads on here to crate her from day one. Last night she went in from 9.00pm and woke up when my husband went down at about 6.45am we didn't hear a peep from her, she didn't mess her crate and went out this morning and did her business. She has never been outside but on vet recommendation we took her out for wees and poos right from the outset, lots of praise when she gets it right and in the last 30 or so hours she has only had two accidents indoors both when my daughter wasn't being so dilligent!!!!

She has just gone in her crate for tonight and for the first five minutes I could have cried :( oh my god the noise is so upsetting :( but she has a hot water bottle, her blanket from home and some toys and I think she is finally settling - I take it we just ignore her? Assume she is safe and warm with water so should be fine????

There are puppy training classes over the road from us every Wednesday, I popped in tonight and enquired and they say she can start next week, she had her second jabs today and was a total star :) so if this is really the case we will take her.

I must admit I was a little bit annoyed when I went over to the puppy classes and enquired and explained that I was a first time owner and wanted some advice, one of the women raised her eyebrows and sighed at my admission that I was a first time owner - I don't think I look or sound stupid as a 41 year old professional woman but maybe I need a double check!!!

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silentcatastrophe · 11/05/2011 22:14

Good for you for finding a training class so quickly. I hope the woman who raised her eyebrows wasn't the trainer. Everyone has to start somewhere.

If your new pup keeps on crying, and keeps you awake, I have read that some people keep the crate quite close to them at the begining and gradually move it to where they want it to be.

There is a good training website, The Association of Pet Dog Trainers. There are a few good dog magazines if you like that sort of thing. It's not always straightforward finding a trainer who you can work with but you've done well in getting started.

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Spamspamspam · 12/05/2011 21:20

Thanks Silent :)

Maggie has gone into her crate tonight all on her own! I planned to keep her out with me until 10.00pm but she got in there about 10 minutes ago, I am not sure if she is asleep yet and not sure whether to get her up at my bedtime and try and encourage her to go outside for a last chance to wee and poo...think I will!

We took her out for a walk around the village tonight in our arms and she saw some new sights and met a few people and we have also started to teach her "off" which went really well.

I am having to train my daughter how to play with her and not be frightened and how to praise correctly - I didn't even consider this but we are all new to this and I realised tonight that things could go horribly wrong with daughter and Maggie if we didn't train the pair of them together! Daughter was getting frightened of Maggie's exuberant play and was nervous about taking a toy from Maggie to throw again. Maggie also comes running back with toy but then sits in front of you with it in her mouth so daughter very nervous about taking it, also Maggie then thinks theres a tug of war on offer which sometimes there is but can get a bit bitey in the play! So we taught her off and she got it amazingly quickly and was leaving her toys nicely after a short time.

Another thing we are teaching her is to leave all four feet on the floor in greeting, she is getting this very quickly as well :)

We missed one wee and one poo today indoors but the rest has been outside!

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