# Advice on new puppy



## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

We're finally collecting our labrador puppy this weekend, he'll be 8 weeks, 3 days old. There's so much mixed and conflicting advice being given both on the internet and face to face by people. The main issue I want to get clear in my head is how best to toilet train him in the day and night. Some people seem to swear by puppy pads and others say they make things more difficult. Also some people say let them out 2 - 3 times in the night and others say let them out before bed around 11pm and then leave them till about 6am.

At the moment the puppies do use a puppy pad if they're not let out into the garden in time, so they're used to both going on the pad and outdoors.

Someone we spoke to in passing today swears by the spray that tells the puppy where to go to the toilet as well. I hadn't even looked into that so don't know what the deal with the spray is.

What should I be looking at doing with our puppy?

I should add that this isn't a spur of the moment lets get a puppy decision. We started looking into it months ago and went to meet the breeder a few weeks ago to choose one. I'm just finding it difficult to work out what advice to follow!


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

Apart from a few mistakes, our 9 week old Bullmastiff has been as good as gold? 

After waking she gets taken out and rewarded after a pee/ poop. We've noted she does 2 of each in the mornings so not to hasty when calling her back in.

After playing she goes out

After eating she goes out.

Before bed she goes out.

Basically regular toiletting and after certain activities.

Learning body language has helped loads.


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## BMo1979 (Feb 13, 2012)

Every puppy is different and we were probably spoiled with Trigger being very easy to toilet train. We treated it a bit like having a new born baby in the house (getting up every couple of hours at night, taking turns). We never used any aids like pads, sprays and co just kept and eye on the usually very clear signs (sniffing around in circles, tail slowly curling up) and took him out after feeding, sleeping playing, exciting situations. 
If the odd accident occurred (and they always do, but that's what carpet cleaner's for), we never said anything or acted displeased just quietly removed it without making a fuss.
Whenever he had a toilet outside however, we made a big fuss with lots of excited praising. 

P.S.: Trigger learned pretty fast (only after 2 weeks or so, to "hold it in" at night time.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks, we'll give the pads and sprays a miss then and see how we get on.


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## Sponge (Jun 18, 2012)

Take puppy out every hour, and after waking up, playing, eating or drinking etc. 

Huge praise and food treats for doing anything outside " yay clever doggy well done have some cheese" etc etc

Accidents in the house - ignore (no praise but no telling off either) and just clean well. 

Soon get the hang of it


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Whosthedaddy said:


> Apart from a few mistakes, our 9 week old Bullmastiff has been as good as gold?
> 
> After waking she gets taken out and rewarded after a pee/ poop. We've noted she does 2 of each in the mornings so not to hasty when calling her back in.
> 
> ...


All great advice except you missed the "after sleeping she goes out" bit! :2thumb:


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## Flukey (Jul 10, 2012)

Good advice from Sponge...exactly what we did with our two labs... a couple of weeks and they get the idea 

The hardest bit is the no telling off after an accident, also its very hard to ignore a puppy!


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks everyone


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

feorag said:


> All great advice except you missed the "after sleeping she goes out" bit! :2thumb:


Of course, only makes it worse when a puppy crashes countless times a day.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

I am one who has no idea why people use the pads. Just an invention someone made up and somehow convinced the world they needed.

A crate is a good tool of toilet training when you can not be watching the dog as long as it is a fairly small one. The dog will not pee near their bed so their bed in a small crate means they will hold it as long as they can. Just a small thing, but stops them learning to find somewhere when you are not around.

Just make sure you slowly decrease night-time tolieting. I was shocked the other month to find my sister in law still lets their dog out to poop in the middle of the night, every night!!

I am not sure on the where to go spray, dogs will wee where other urine is, so have to admit I would likely get my hubbie to pee in the garden to mark a spot rather than pay for a spray :whistling2:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

We have a crate and I've lined the bottom with vet bed. What are people's thoughts on beds? At the moment we have a hard plastic one with some more vet bed on the bottom but I can't help feel it won't be very comfortable. I've read about puppies destroying their beds fairly quickly though so I don't know whether it's worth buying a more expensive super comfy one?


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

_simon_ said:


> We have a crate and I've lined the bottom with vet bed. What are people's thoughts on beds? At the moment we have a hard plastic one with some more vet bed on the bottom but I can't help feel it won't be very comfortable. I've read about puppies destroying their beds fairly quickly though so I don't know whether it's worth buying a more expensive super comfy one?


My dogs have only last year, aged 4 and 8 started using beds, and even then often they opt to just sleep on the carpet elsewhere instead! Edenn often sleeps on the floor using her cushion bed as a pillow

Then again my sisters staffy loves her bed. but that is a hard one with just blankets at the bottom.

As labs are well insulated and have a good coat I would imagine that too thick a bed would be too hot for them to sleep on.


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## kingkelly (May 14, 2012)

Puppies will wee in their crate if they are desperate. I tried the spray with my Springer and all he did was lick it! Best thing to do is just keep taking them out like what has been said.

Saying that a friend of mine who works gun dogs swears by a piece of turf in their crate.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I'm another one who thinks it depends on the puppy/dog as to whether they want a bed or not. Skye has a bed which isn't a thick plush one, it's just a padded mat which we have on the kitchen floor because it's laid with lino and I thought it might be cold for him :blush:. Yet every night, even in the dead of winter when he goes to bed and every morning when I get up he's lying at the back door in the utility room, which has a cement floor with a thin waterproof carpet!


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

kingkelly said:


> Puppies will wee in their crate if they are desperate.


Stating the obvious, you will wee your own bed if desperate, but I am sure the rest of us all assume the OP will not leave a dog to get desperate whilst toilet training. That is not toilet training :whistling2:


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

I wouldn`t get up in the middle of the night because I think that you will causing yourself problems in the future.Go out late at night walk around and spend as long as necessary to encourage it to pee then do the same thing first thing in the morning after crating the puppy for the night.

I wouldn`t buy an expensive bed first off as it will probably get chewed.Wait until you have got through the puppy period and anxiety period before you do.A cheap washable bed will suffice for the moment,even an old blanket.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

Kare said:


> The dog will not pee near their bed


not met mine then? mine pees in her bed and rolls in it out of preference.



colinm said:


> I wouldn`t get up in the middle of the night because I think that you will causing yourself problems in the future.


this is so true. dont get up to "comfort" pup if it cries/witters in the night either.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

We weren't going to get up to comfort him in the night but the majority of people have told me we will need to get up throughout the night for the toilet, at least to begin with. So you think just toilet before bed and leave it till the morning?


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## Embo (Jun 7, 2012)

I've never got up in the middle of the night for any of mine. 

With ours, we just put some paper down (or pads if you prefer) by the back door if they needed to go in the night, which usually there is a few wees and maybe a poop or two. 

Eventually they learn to hold it all night. My Bullmastiff had this down in a couple of weeks. And not once did I get up in the middle of the night to let her out. I'm not sure how much this would affect the overall training time, however, if it makes any difference at all.

Just make sure you take them out first and last thing.

But one of the most important bits of advice I give to anyone when toilet training pups is not to take any accidents personally lol it's so hard not to get upset if something goes wrong, especially when you've been making progress. Just keep calm & carry on


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

I got up in the middle of the night for one of my dogs and regretted it.They are creatures of habit so will therefore in time expect it Then its hard to break the routine.

I know that it sounds hard but your puppy will get back to sleep much quicker than you in the middle of the night and to an extent they have to learn to fit around our habits.

If you make sure that it has a pee late at night it should make the night through as others have said.There will be accidents and some dogs take longer than others to house train.Its the only part of training that I dont like but as others say you have to be patient and not lose your temper.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks for all the advice. We brought Sam home at midday yesterday. He treated us to 40mins of noise last night when we put him in his crate for bed, we ignored him and he was fine the rest of the night. We tried as suggested not getting up in the night and by 6am he'd done 2 wees and a poo in the crate. Otherwise pooing he's doing outside but wee is hit and miss, he gives very little warning before going so we've had a number of those in the house. I've been getting him used to his crate as a good place this morning and it seems to be working as he's now fast asleep in there of his own accord at the moment.

I have to say, no matter how much you read about puppys being hard work it doesn't prepare you lol He's a terror for stones, I keep taking them off him and saying leave it. I think I need to destone the garden! 

I put some pictures up in the picture section of the forum yesterday if anyone wants to see him: http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/other-pets-exotics-pictures/870464-our-new-doggy-addition.html


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

They are very hard work,more so than any other animal that I have kept.But they are so much more rewarding than any other animal that I have ever kept ,it does pay off in the end.

Before I had dogs I used to belittle people that referred dogs as to their babies.Whilst I still wouldn`t go that far they are the only animal that I know who really do treat you are part of their family.

Good luck .


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

No poo in the crate last night but 2 wees again. One accident in the crate this morning after he'd had a drink, I need to be quicker on my feet and take him out straight after a drink I think. Not sure why he is associating the crate with a wee? I swapped the vet bed out this morning so it was a fresh piece and didn't smell of wee.

Got him used to the crate yesterday and now he's happily in and out just need to work on having the door shut on it.


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

You could try covering the crate.This makes the puupy feel more at home.,like a den.

It just takes perseverance with house training,my current dog took four or five months.Then all of a sudden it clicked.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yes it is definitely perseverence. Basically at this age you need to think that as soon as something goes in the mouth end, something is going to come out the rear end! :lol: So get him out in the garden quick, wait patiently until he does something and then lots of praise. Same thing with sleeping, cos all they do is sleep, eat, play and poop at this age.


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## RubyRoo12 (Jun 20, 2012)

with our now 20week old pup, we were taking her out every 20 mins - half hour and when she did either a wee or a poop outside we gave her a treat. if she had an accident in the house (she never did poop inside) we just put her out while we cleaned up so she had no treat/fuss etc. it took a few weeks of being extremely vigilant with her every move but shes trained really easily. we didnt use pads, she was trained by her breeder to use pads but their pups used to follow the parent dogs out into the garden so the pads were for if they were shut inside. we tried a pad but she ate it :gasp: so we decided not to bother and just clean up if she did anything in her crate but she never did.

she now goes 8+ hours through the night with no accidents (and we have to lift her out of bed in the morning to make her go out for a pee!) and can be left for several hours if we need to go out during the day. shes certainly been an easy one to train though so we have been so lucky. i hope your new little one is as easy on you :2thumb:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks for the advice  Sam settled down within 5 minutes last night in his crate, we were both amazed. On the downside he wouldn't poo outside last night so we took the risk but he pood in the crate. Another positive though is that he just gave me clear indication by whining at the door that he wanted to go out for a wee


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

They usually are very quick learners - that sounds great! :2thumb:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Took him to the vets today for his booster and a checkup. All ok and his current weight is 6.1KG. They also gave us Drontal and Advocate. We asked for the Advocate specially as our garden has been covered in slugs with all this wet weather and despite collecting them every night they just keep on coming.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

2 days of no accidents, not even over night  Also no noise last night, not even a little whimper. I am absolutely knackered though with going to bed late and getting up early I'm getting 4 - 5 hours sleep.


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

That will be it.Puppies are the nearest thing to having a baby : victory:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Had a fantastic day today. I was googling how to get your puppy to follow you as Sam hasn't been and read some advice from Ceaser Milan (the dog whisperer) which I tried. We'd been taking Sam in the garden on his lead as we'd been advised to. Ceasers advice was that a lead wasn't needed yet and that a puppy will want to follow you around if you get too far away from him. So I tried that first and it worked! His other advice was to call his name and tell him to come and offer a treat when he does, so I've been doing that all day long and the difference is amazing. 

We've had such a great day in the sun. I haven't been dragged around the garden and when I've wanted him for any reason e.g. to go in the house with me, he's come straight away. I can tell he's enjoyed the freedom of not being on the lead the way he was racing around and playing. We've just put him to bed and he went outside for the toilet with no issue and came straight back in when called.

This has been the easiest, least tiring and least stressful day so far!


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Just thought I'd update. Touch wood nights are going smoothly now. I take him out to the toilet between 10 and 11pm, he has his 4th poo of the day and a wee and then sleeps through without any noise until 5pm when I get up and take him out for his morning wee. He then comes in for breakfast and then straight back out for his morning poo. We're into a routine now which makes things much easier.

Unfortunately he has a thing for the kids socks and we're struggling to correct that behaviour. It's not all the time but when he feels like it he'll go for them and try to pull them off. Any suggestions on how to prevent him? 

He's also taken to digging in one of the borders in the same spot. Something else we could do with stopping, my last resort on that is to fence it off but I'd rather not spend money doing that if there's another way?

He's mostly very well behaved, he does have his mad moments. He went for an accidental swim in my turtle pond yesterday which he did not like one bit! I'll be erecting a fence around it today to prevent any future dips and more importantly keep my turtles safe. I naively thought we could train him to stay away from the pond.


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## PPVallhunds (May 23, 2010)

My pup as a cattle herding breed would nip and bite our feet and ancles when we brought her home (which i allready knew would mostlylikley happen) We tryed a few diffrent things but My girl hates getting wet so we have a water squirty bottle for her, everytime she went for the ancles/feet she got a squirt. She got better then eventualy stopped. We also use it if she misbehaves doing other stuff, like climbing on the tables, stealing and chewing thigs she shouldnt ect. I never aim at her face just her boddy and prefurably her bum. Dont often have to use it anymore, just telling her no now is normaly enough. I like the water bottle as it doent hurt her and she isnt scaired of it either she just doesnt like it.

You could also work on teaching him 'leave it', so that when he goes for the socks you can tell him ot leave and reward if he does. It took my girl a while to lurn leave it, during out training sessions she was good but normaly wouldnt do it, still not perfet now, if she has something she realy wants to keep she aint going to leave it.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Thank you, we'll give the water bottle a try. We are trying the leave it approach but some reinforcement with a water spray might be what is needed.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

I find NOT getting a dog to do something much harder than teaching them to do something. So I would suggest a quick sharp noise like "UTT" having him lay down when ever naughty, either bring him to you and make him lay down in front of you or even better have a spot to send him to away from you and away from the area where he was being naughty (not his crate, that should not be given negative connections) even just a £1 fleece from the cheap shops could work and be carried with you anywhere. Giving him as little attention as possible, take him to the blanket and teach him to stay there for say 10 secs to start with.

Not a punishment, just a distraction, when his brain is working on having to follow an instruction it is not working on having to dig through flower beds.:lol2:

Other distractions such as asking him to fetch a toy can also work, but sometimes their little brains work too well and he may work out every time he does that he gets to fetch a toy and perhaps get a quick game...the having to lie down for a minute or two is the least enjoyable non punishment other distractions are really rewards in the form of giving him your attention.

If you do go with spraying, try and spray and remove him from the area, spraying him and then leaving him too close so he goes back and gets another spray is kinda setting him up to fail.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Kare said:


> I find NOT getting a dog to do something much harder than teaching them to do something. So I would suggest a quick sharp noise like "UTT" having him lay down when ever naughty, either bring him to you and make him lay down in front of you or even better have a spot to send him to away from you and away from the area where he was being naughty (not his crate, that should not be given negative connections) even just a £1 fleece from the cheap shops could work and be carried with you anywhere. Giving him as little attention as possible, take him to the blanket and teach him to stay there for say 10 secs to start with.


Have to say I agree with this. We used this approach with Skye, even though he was 11 months old when we got him. A time out is the best approach for him as he is so excitable distracting him with attention just makes him worse.

Intelligent working dogs quickly pick up what is expected of them.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

The spraying did nothing unfortunately, didn't bother him one bit. We tried a naughty spot with a blanket but he kept running off with it! 

He's stopped digging of his own accord for the moment at least. He's also stopped bothering with socks but still ends up biting the kids. He's attracted to my step daughter the most, biting at her clothes and hair. She's 13 next month but trying to get her to understand that she needs to be more firm with her no's and leave it etc is proving hard. She's so used to having our cat snuggled up asleep on her lap and wants Sam to do the same.

Otherwise things are going well. Usually a dry crate in the morning and no poo accidents at all. No more noisy nights and almost no noise when he's in the crate during the day. I usually give him a kong when we need to put him in the crate in the day and then he'll often fall asleep. 

So it's just the biting that's the only real issue at the moment. We bought him a few more different types of toys so have plenty to distract him with. He's never bitten me yet or pulled at my clothes like he has the rest of the family. I'm sure we'll get there in the end. Things are definitely much easier now, it's amazing how fast things change we only brought him home on the 14th. He's 10 weeks and 1 day old now. 2nd jab and chipping on Thursday.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

Need new PICTURES!!!


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)




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## Skarlet (Nov 8, 2009)

_simon_ said:


> image
> 
> image
> 
> ...


Soooo pretty!


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

He's growing on lovely! :2thumb:

I see he's already perfected the "I need a lot of attention because I feel so sad and neglected" look! :whistling2:


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## Jaydan (Apr 30, 2012)

Sam looks like its never had a naughty moment in his little life :lol2:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Forgot to say he's perfected "sit" and "paw". I'm currently teaching him "lie down"


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

2nd jab and chipped today. Weighed at 8.3KG and no problems  Still working on "lie down", it's hit and miss at the moment but he's got much better with "leave it" and as long as it's said sternly enough he does as told.

We were told to wait a week before taking him out of the garden for his first walk. I suspect we won't get very far but any tips, things to watch out for or get him used to etc?


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

2nd walk today. Yesterday was literally out into the car park for a few minutes to see how he reacted and today we went for a longer walk which went well. I got a bit worried at one point, another family were walking their dog, saw us and immediately shouted to their kid who was walking the dog to keep it away from my dog. They were quite frantic about it and ended up walking back the way they came so we didn't pass them. Not sure what all that was about but it worried me!

On the way back Sam was scared by a dog barking behind a gate, I had to pick him up and carry him past.

He's growing like a weed. Here he is on the 22nd July









and today 10th August


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Maybe their dog was dog aggressive and so they chose avoidance rather than confrontation?


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

feorag said:


> Maybe their dog was dog aggressive and so they chose avoidance rather than confrontation?


Maybe, I recall Edenn around puppies as she is a little anxious of puppies. Where she came from they did have a number of litters over the year she was there. (Do not get me wrong, it was far from a puppy farm, just there are few places keeping the working lines retrievers so there is a fair amount of demand she did only have one litter at a time, but seemed to have them well timed to be due as soon as the last ones were fit to go, not sure how, whenever I have bitches they all come into season together!!) anyways, sure the breeder treated going near the pups in the same way as going near anything in the hands of children she was minding, ie with a smack. Edenn is a delicate little soul and she is a little scared of tiny pups now!!


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

Are you letting him off lead at all? A lot of people do not let young dogs off which IMO is a mistake, at such a tiny age most still have that strong desire to follow you and then you can walk away fast a few steps then call and treat them easily for effectively coming when you call and you could never end up with recall issues. :2thumb:

Well when I say never they will still have a teenage stage where anything you say is ignored, half done and then they stubbornly stop halfway or done unwillingly :whistling2:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

He's only off lead in the garden. We're surrounded by busy roads and I'm not confident he won't end up hurt.

I've taken a few tips from one of the dog whispers shows last night and applied them to a walk we've just had and the difference is amazing. He was an absolute joy to walk and I'm looking forward to his next one. I'll work on his recall this evening.

One thing I didn't expect was how differently complete strangers treat me now. Most people say hello or acknowledge me in some way. The other day a car even stopped and a woman started talking to me about Sam. Being a man this is something new for me, usually people passing won't even make eye contact.


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

Kare said:


> Are you letting him off lead at all? A lot of people do not let young dogs off which IMO is a mistake, at such a tiny age most still have that strong desire to follow you and then you can walk away fast a few steps then call and treat them easily for effectively coming when you call and you could never end up with recall issues. :2thumb:
> 
> Well when I say never they will still have a teenage stage where anything you say is ignored, half done and then they stubbornly stop halfway or done unwillingly :whistling2:


Our previous dog was a nightmare off the lead so didn't, however, bit the bullet with our new pup and she's been as good as gold. As you say they want to follow and having a couple of kids running around that she wants to play with helps no end.

Its a nerve racking experience but one that should be tried sooner rather than later IMO.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

Whosthedaddy said:


> Our previous dog was a nightmare off the lead so didn't, however, bit the bullet with our new pup and she's been as good as gold. As you say they want to follow and having a couple of kids running around that she wants to play with helps no end.
> 
> Its a nerve racking experience but one that should be tried sooner rather than later IMO.


With every rescue we had had, both those that were to be permanent and those long term foster dogs my husband has had to do it. 99% of dog training is from me, but that step of releasing the dog off a lead...too scary for me!!:gasp:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

22nd July









10th August









16th September


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## naz_pixie (Oct 6, 2008)

Aaah i love how the size scale!! Shes getting big! Gorgeous girl x x


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

She's a he  

I slid him across the floor in his sleep to get him in position for the latest pic lol


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

4 months 3 weeks this week. Had his check up and he's now 18KG, everything fine apart from an upset tum this week so he's on chicken and rice for a few days which he loves!


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