Fudge came to us as a 7 week puppy, we were at our first visit to the rescue and there she was. Had I then gone home and read up on puppies she would have gone to someone else. Sometimes circumstances dictate events.This is not to say that it was an ideal situation and I did lots of reading very quickly.

It is easy to hold up an ideal. I think however that we should support these people and give them the help they need. They are after all looking for help and advice much the same as I did when Fudge came into our lives. The fact that they are asking these questions shows that they may well go on to be good responsible owners. If they didn't care and want to learn they wouldn't ask the questions in the first place.

No.... my father was always right... My family and I moved to Australia in 1983... My mother didn't like animals at all, and my father thought he could train any animal... I admit he was good at training for hunting, but I wanted just a pet... I still don't know why they sent Lassie back to the breeder, if that's indeed what they did!

Cheers

Lene

My Dad is dead... He wasn't my Dad, but he was a very good person... I didn't know about this until I was 16 years old... My mother used it as an excuse for her abuse..

hear hear nicely expressed

My first dog was and is Red.
I got him at just under 7 wks old. I never intended to get a puppy as I wanted a rescue.
So it was all a bit rushed when I got him, however I got together as much info as I could before I bought him home.....and even after I had him home I continued reading up on puppies of his breed.
I was well prepared for him, as he's a poodle I already knew he was going to be a high matinence dog, and I was prepared for that.

I have never been a new owner really. We had a black Labrador before I was born, I grew up with him for the first 12yrs of my life. We also always had a Cat, up untill recently all were rescues, the first being a CPL rescue as it was then. Had a Canary too, and I won a Rabbit at the local show when I was 8, (hook a Duck ) have always had them since too. Never been without at least one Dog and One Cat, have a few more now though!!
Dawn.

Well I was born into a farming family, at the tender age of two, I was helping my grandmother fed her working BC's, Mom and Dad owned a BC and a X terrier. Gran had a blind Terrier on the farm (born blind) which was the most remarkable dog I have ever to this day met.
I worked for the RSPCA, trained as a veterinary nurse, worked at vets..........so I suppose I was one of the lucky ones.
But I love your post, because you are so right, infact it made me giggle abit, because I have spoken to people who say just those thing....the other day infact 3 month old male pup, the owner said ' we've made an appointment at the vet as he doesn't cock his leg and we're concerned he has a problem ...yea mate ...you. I did explain, I wasn't that spiteful, thought I'd save him some money

Oh dear - i'm glad you can see my point though. I know people should ask questions and at least by asking them will be able to care for their dogs better but i do feel that some of the questions asked really do show a lack of preparation which is unacceptable e.g how do i stop my 9 week old pup going to the toilet in the house. Surely it is common sense to know that this will happen when you have a puppy as they are very young and they don't wear nappies, so why don't people find out before hand how they are going to train them not to do this?

Maybe they just get carried away with the excitement of it all but i wonder if it is part of instant gratification (throw away when we don't want it any more) attitude.

Can't rememner who said it on here but i do think that the prepuppy classes sound like an excellent idea. My friend is setting up some puppy classes and i suggested she did something like this, or at least a home visit before the pups are old enough to start class to run through some of the basics and prevent problems before they appear. She researched nto it but it seems people would not really want to pay for this. I know when i used to teach classes people would leave after their 8 weeks of puppy class thinking that their dog was now trained, only to return later once adolesence arrived. I do think training is a for life thing, rather than just when they are babies.

Morning all. I had grown with a BC and then a JR when I lived on a farm but these weren't 'my' dogs. Before I got mine I did lots of research and read lots of books but more for the fact to find the right sort of breed for me and my life style. Eventually we had a short list and the Schnauzers stood out. We would have loved a Giant Schnauzer but knew it wasn't the right breed for us. We opted for the mini's and are spot on with our choice. The breed is everything and more we had hoped for and fits us like a glove. I am glad I did the research.

Have to agree......in my opinion the adolesence time is far worse than the puppy training. I personally have no probelems with house training etc., But get to those adolesence times and well it's like having a unruly demon in the house. If your experience as alot on this forum are, then coping is ok, but for those that have never owned a dog before it comes a quite a shock. Pity as you say, this can not be taight to people before owning a dog, some cute puppies turn into stroppy teenagers.........