New puppy thread, where new puppy owners can come for help and advice and hopefully clever people like minimu, midori et al will check regularly (please) to help us...

[Happymm]

Exactly what it says on the tin really. Kings idea, that we have a thread where we can all come and ask for help, advice, support or just to vent and that the much more experienced people will come and help us out :)

Nospringflower - female border collie 101/2 weeks.

Hi, our puppy is a great sleeper and good at pooing outside but does occasionally pee inside. Think its only us taking her outside that stops there being more though as she never 'tells' us she wants out. She does bark to get back in the house though so I am hoping this will help her learn that she can bark to get outside.

She also 'nips' my youngest son (small 6 year old) who says 'no' and stops playing with her but she is still doing it. On the whole she is ok with my 10 year old and 7 year old. Our vet said to hit her nose but so far we havent done that.

We are planning puppy classes for after the school holidays when she will be about 18 weeks - hope thats not leaving it a bit late but its hard to commit to going to classes when we will be away quite a lot over the holidays.

Good to have this thread for advice.

God see the food thing is just full of pitfalls - I have no idea which to choose as some people say high protein is best and some say that orijen etc have too high a protein content for a non-working dog and it's harder to digest. And some say that modern bred dogs don't bear much resemblance anymore to their wild ancestors so don't need as much protein etc. On the other hand I can see that rice wouldn't be a naturally eaten food for dogs really although I suppose they would eat some veg and also the contents of anything they killed's stomachs - ie corn, wheat, rice. Argh I just cannot make my mind up!

The trainer asked which food he was on as I mentioned the weeing in the crate (for no apparent reason - size fine etc) and he said it was v unusual. So he asked about food re salt content and therefore puppy taking on lots of water during the day and not being able to hold it as a result at night (although think he wees around 6ish, he just doesn't bark to let us know). Honestly I love salt, add it to everything, people always comment on how much, and I couldn't believe how salty the fish4dogs tasted.

Ps - I the salt-content in fish4dogs isn't because it is added, it is just the naturally occurring salts in fish. (I found online something that said sodium was .86% as opposed to for eg Burns in which it it .52% which doesn't seem massively different but I could certainly taste a massive difference.

Yes I think tonight I will go to her at 6am and see if that helps. It was only out 2nd night with pup so we are still learning!

We've taken her to the vets for 1st jabs and she slept through the whole thing!

They gave us a bag of Hills food which as we were getting low of her food from the breeder have given her as her lunch (mixed together) I hope this is OK. She ate it all up!

Right school run!

Dog-food taster!

Signed up for puppy classes. There's a "step-on-step-off" class here where you don't have to wait for a new course to start.
Introductory talk this evening! No puppies go for this one, which gives me a chance to establish myself as sane "together" adult, before puppy blows it all sky-high!

Yes of course alp - it's such a massive learning curve! I would maybe try that (first few nights our was awake at 1am and 3 am etc needing the loo / comfort) - so it may be that getting up at 6 helps - am amazed she sleeps til then already - super puppy!

Am still bogged down with all the food decisions - his poo def v firm on fish4dogs, more so than Burns. As I have said, perhaps JWB is a middle ground so we will see - everyone's dogs seem to thrive on different food!

She does seem to have runs since we've bought her back ( far too much TMI I know!) I think that might be as the breeders had been mixing a milk powder in with te food and we haven't got the ratio:water right. Now we are moving on to something else we can see how that goes (so to speak)

Day has been good so far. Need to keep her away from the toys and I want to make sure she doesn't see DS as 'fair game' to jump on etc so I am constantly bellowing NO or OFF at her. It seems to have an effect though!

Forgot to add:

Springer Spaniel 10 weeks Berkshire

Twojues - 8 1/2 week old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

He has been very good so far with wees. He whines to go outside and has only had one accident during the day and that was my fault.

He is fed on Skinners at the momentvwhich is what I got from the breeder. I have also justvreceived some trays of NaturalInstinct food so will see if he likes them

twojues, I am extremely envious of your Toller!!! If I ever want another breed apart from Goldens, they are it. Have you got any plans for him? (Showing/working/agility etc?)

I'd like to try agility with him. Need to do some research to see if there's anywhere to do it near me.

He seems to be quite a quick learner. We've only had him since Saturday and he knows sit and can nearly do down.

tollers, border collie (ok very soft spot for them) spaniels

:o minimu

Keep saying it minimu. You might be able to convince yourself!!! :)

And twojues, had never heard of tollers, but googled and they are gorgeous!

Kings, can I send you some pro plan to taste? You can let me know what you think :o

Please do Happy. You know I'll have to charge you for it though if I am going to start up my business
Do you know what the salt content is btw? Can't seem to find salt content of JWB online but it tastes a lot less salty than fish4dogs and acana (which was a bit saltier than Burns but a lot less than f4d). Oh god this is awful - I am eating dog food! I only nibble a tiny bit whereas my husband prefers to taste a few pieces so get the full impact...

Minimu - 5 dogs is enough...

alp - yes happy and I are having the jumping and nipping children problem...

So we haven't had a nipping incident today (but mainly because I seriously limited contact between them and if he started to jump or mouth I yelped v loudly and we walked away). And no accidents in the house for 2 days now (although just had a doggy play date and he weed three times in 2 hours in her house as he was so excited he forgot to wee here and then to go outside when there... good).

Hope everyone has had good days!

I havent even thought about food (never mind tasted it!)- is it safe to assume that if her poos are fine then the food is fine?

Kings - I am absolutely crying with laughter at you and your husband tasting the dog food, sorry probably shouldn't but I think I have heard it all now! how caring of both of you it is so sweet....

I keep my puppy and daughter separated a lot and daughter is 8 but unsupervised things go wrong and everybody ends up upset so I think it't the best thing to do whilst they are young. Yes they learn to socialise with the children but under your care, I really think this is the best way.

twojues - Wow what a lovely dog a toller is...I had never heard of them before but I think I am in love, please put some pictures on your profile.

In fact all of you please put some piccies up, pretty please

Took her for a walk in the shaded woods as it was so hot today. Problem with shaded woods is that a lot of people use it so it is allways a bit more challenging with off lead/on lead puppy going mental at everything she sees! we got to the lake and puppy was splashing and having fun and a chap walked past with his dog at heel but not on lead, he was also on phone. He appeared fairly quickly and I looked round just as Maggie looked round and absolutely legged it for the other dog. Good thing was she recalled as soon as she got to other dog but as soon as she got back to us she then pegged it off to the dog again - arggh, good thing was she came back again but we had to almost corrall her before she legged it off for the third time guy was not too impressed, neither was my husband but I kept looking at the positives and reminding him that at least she came back! She then spent the rest of the walk on lead but choking herself by trying to be off lead - we have mainly had her off lead when she is not on the road and she is used to her freedom. Up until now she has come back from absolutely everything so we have had no cause for concern.

We have miles and miles of different walks to take her, it is almost too tempting to take her to places where she can run free off lead all walk and not meet another soul BUT I want her to learn how to behave in more crowded areas and by crowded I am talking meeting two or three other people during these walks.

Not sure what to do, lead work is a nightmare when she is not on a pavement so in the free open spaces as soon as you put her on lead because you see another dog on lead or people with prams etc she is choking herself and causing concern - she just wants to meet everyone but other people don't necessarily want to meet her!

Mine isn't eating very much at all at the moment.

It is only his 4th day with us so I am putting it down to getting used to everything. He's supposed to be on 4 meals a day, but only just about eating 3 meals and even then he doesn't finish them.

He has been really lively tonight. I am just about to give him another meal and hopefully he will sleep all night again tonight.

Nospring - what food is the puppy having? If poos are firm then no immediate problem or anything but I believe some foods are better regarded in terms of ingredients etc. So it's of course totally up to you and if poos are firm that is a big bonus for you!

Spam - laugh away - we're glad to be of service and I laugh too - we're bloody idiots!

Gosh am already worrying about recall outside with distractions of other dogs/children etc as we will be in a london park with lots of both! Spam when did you let her off the lead for the first time? How long had you been going for walks?

twojues - don't worry - he'll probably just be getting used to it all and perhaps he isn't as food orientated as spaniel/lab types?!

twojues - mine has been with us for five weeks and feeding is still a bit hit and miss, she hardly ate anything for the first week and I was getting really anxious. In fact it has only been in the last week she has started eating regularly but it is not 3 meals a day, she is deciding for herself that she only wants to eat 2 times a day. I keep offering three and I split her food between four but she really only wants either breakfast and lunch plus a late night snack or lunch and dinner plus a late night snack.

Kings she was off lead the first day I took her out, she didn't go on lead until about 5 days in. But we drove to places where we could let her go, lead work was probably a bit late, however she is great on lead on the road as she knows that is when she is supposed to walk with me, however on the common, in the woods, in the fields etc she doesn't comprehend lead at all!

When they are this young they will stay with you believe me so better to start recall early when they want to be with you, makes life a lot easier than to keep them restrained early on and then when they get their confidence they are OFFF!!

Kings - He certainly isn't food orientated like the lab is.

So far tonight I have tried him on Natural Instinct, Wainwrights kibble which he refused both. He has now wolfed down some Wainwrights meat.
I think I'm just going to go and buy some more of this and change him over.

So now he's full up he had better sleep well tonight!!

Two - a good thing perhaps?

Oh good that he is eating something now and fingers crossed for a good night!