I've been using a car seat in mine but she will not settle in it at all, she will perch, stand inside, stand outside (even though she's anchored to it) and do every other combination aside from sit or lie down nicely. I've been through 3 different seats and they've all had the same effect. When she was smaller I got one which was like a box which was raised and that was probably the most successful one but she grew too big for it quickly.
When Safi was crated at night I just put paper sheets in the crate and nothing soft as that encourages them to pee on furniture. Take her out last thing to go and make sure the crate doesn't have a lot of space, I gave her enough space to turn around comfortably using a divider which I moved as she grew. I also made sure the crate was covered at night. They don't like to toilet where they sleep or sleep in it but if there's enough space for them to have zones they happily will. At the start I used to take her out in the night regularly but I couldn't keep it up and she wouldn't go outside but then would go when we got back in! She used to fake pee too just to get me to shut up pleading with her to go
@abonnard Pee pads got me through in the end, she would pee every 20 mins for the first months, then 40 mins, then she suddenly went to being able to hold it for many hours. One of the best purchases I got before she arrived was a small carpet washer, saved my sanity. The cleanup is so key otherwise they go back to the same spot.
Safi was crated for the first 6 months overnight but she appealed to me to let her sleep out and I allowed it, she was restricted to the hallway and one room but got on really well. She has not been destructive except in the first couple of months when she didn't know better. I kinda mitigated it by teaching her that she had her chew toys and everything else was mine. So if I caught her nibbling something I gave her a toy of similar texture instead.
We've been together a year now and I've only just left the baby gate to the final room open, I'll take it out at the weekend, so she has the run of the house now except my bedroom which is the dog-free zone. She had quite bad separation anxiety until she realised that she was the puppy and I was the adult, adults are allowed to go hunt and leave the pups alone, whereas I think she thought she was responsible for me so when she couldn't get to me she got frantic.
I can leave her for 3 hours or so now and she's fine, I just make sure she's had a good long walk beforehand and she sleeps.
I also thought I made the biggest mistake getting her at the start as it was complete disruption to my life, which hasn't returned back completely but it's now something a bit different a happy medium. I have a very good daycare nearby who love her and she goes roughly once a week.
The first 4 months were hell for me as Safi couldn't control her bladder and would pee really frequently. In fact, a year on we still haven't established a way for her to tell me she needs to go out, I think because I take her out often enough to cover it (3 times per day). It is totally overwhelming to begin with but gets easier as you get to know each other and also as you obsess less. Bs are cheeky, funny and smart (sometimes too smart) as you know. Drill the recall relentlessly, stop training her before she gets bored,, end on a high. I trained whistle recall too as a back up and it's helped a lot when she's ignored me or can't hear me. She has a good 90%+ recall now and only ignores me if there is too much of a temptation but I'm happy with that as she's not a robot. As Elbrant says, one of the best things is to train the separation and independence but she'll eventually find that on her own. It becomes liberating when you can leave them alone with no repercussions. Don't let her think that she's in charge though, woe betide you!
She's a real cutie and I know exactly what you mean about the yawn!
@elbrant said in Bordatella and Canine Influenza Vaccines:
@Saving said in Bordatella and Canine Influenza Vaccines:
divisive
I guess I'm a dreamer.... but I believe that adults can have discussions and opinions without resorting to name calling and rude remarks. Your input is valuable.
Thanks, because it's become a religion as soon as you speak against it people get so offended. The last 3 years has shown that quite clearly
@Saving said in Bordatella and Canine Influenza Vaccines:
Another friend's dog has a swollen leg at the vaccination site of his booster which is not resolving
I"m sorry to hear about your friend's loss and understand the concern about the other friend's swollen leg. I had a similar experience, one of my dog's (not doodle) had a grossly swollen leg following a vet visit. The Vet told me it was cancer and I opted to let her go. Month's later I read online that it could have been the result of an allergic reaction. Please advise your friend to research possible answers before she makes a decision.
Will do, a lot of the medication/vaccines cause inflammatory responses so it could just be that, it's still not nice for the dog to have that experience
@Saving said in Bordatella and Canine Influenza Vaccines:
dry food ... suffering from malnutrition
omgosh! That is so scary!! I doubt the big manufacturers would ever allow a real study to see the light of day, but I would love to see one done. Just the thought makes me want to keep feeding my girl human grade foods.
Yeah the same here, her research indicated that raw chicken wings were the optimal food and contain pretty much everything needed. I guess if you think of some of the processed crap they have in supermarkets trading as food for humans you can imagine how low the bar can go for pet food.
This is a divisive topic of course but as you've asked:
I know someone whose puppy died 2 days after the 2nd puppy vaccination. Another friend's dog has a swollen leg at the vaccination site of his booster which is not resolving, they're now proposing surgery.
Vaccination has become a religion and assumes that the divine body and natural immunity is inferior to manmade synthetic poisons. I say that because part of how they work is to include toxic substances such as Thimerosal (mercury) or aluminium as a form of transport/preservative. How on earth do all of the animals in the wild survive without our intervention?
The other question which has puzzled me regarding vaccines is dosage, how can a teacup poodle get the same dose as a great dane or a child the same as an adult?
I've not completed the book yet but essentially it talks about lack of informed consent as the dog vaccines can cause cancer, auto-immune diseases, inflammation, death amongst other things, these are generally not mentioned by the vet and the vets are trained (by big pharma) to disregard anything which occurs more than 14 days after the injection. When she started investigating why she lost her dog after it's jab she uncovered a lot of money-driven corruption in the industry. In a lot of cases the risk of the disease is much less than the risk of the side-effects.
The other area which she has mentioned in the book is that of dry food, it seems that a lot of dogs eating standard brands are suffering from malnutrition as it's not really food. She's not an expert rather someone who has done a great deal of research into the topic, it's amazing how little research the so-called experts actually do.
Maybe take a look at this book if you can before deciding:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tip-Needle-Catherine-ODriscoll-ebook/dp/B07JJC7FJ6/
Eek no power for 8 days, what a nightmare! Well done for coping with that.
Yeah pumpkin is great. I've cut Safi's food right back, I was actually following a guide the whole time and she would be quite fussy on the food, leaving most of it sometimes, I realise now that it was because it was too much. Since I've cut back she is much less fussy and will clear it. Her scavenging on walks has increased though and that's quite annoying.
@elbrant Why did you switch to kibble out of interest, is it a weight loss attempt?
Yeah, it's so hard to shift that weight but I'll need to be stricter.
@elbrant She's going to have to start the new year on a diet 
The birthday girl.
Time has flown but I'm only just getting into the swing of it tbh!
Nice looking dog! I'm tempted to get another too once Safi is a bit older.
This was her Saturday night while I was assembling some furniture, she was fast asleep!
She's cuddly but was literally under me, it was unusual but now I know why.
Ha, no way, she's not wanting for walks! She's generally really good in the house, all of her nibbling except that one were when she was much younger. I've managed to get away with minimal damage.
@elbrant Thanks. I really think she looks like a Shiba Inu in that picture! If I go to the front door, she'll normally be looking down (upstairs flat). The third pic I'd caught her nibbling the banister, so a bit of guilt in her eyes!
So, Safi's just gone into an unexpected 2nd season this year, last one was mid-July.
She's been very sweet and a bit clingy but being so clean I barely noticed the real reason!
Here are some recent pics, she's 11 months tomorrow.
I can only say what worked for me really, it's something the o.p. can try, if it works, great!