Hi everyone, My normal kind of forums involve Classic Cars and Motorbikes (see my Avatar). I found this one through the Labrador Handbook and I am amazed at the amount of good content and advice. My name is Jason, I am a Brit living in the beautiful Eifel region of Germany with my wife Tina and 9 week old yellow Lab called Pippa. We have had her at home for a week now and she is a little heartbreaker. She goes through around 3 types of mood swings during an average day but we are learning how to recognize these. In the morning, before food she is in the most concentrated mood of the whole day and she is very easy to train and she is keen to learn. Straight after food she then gets into her stubborn and naughty mood and struggles with concentration a bit because everything else is far more interesting. The last mood of the cycle is usually the "I'm sorry" one and "l'm soooooo tired". She will then sleep for a couple of hours whilst snoring loudly. This first week has felt like a month, but we are loving almost every minute of it. Pippa will sleep through the night in her crate without a whisper, so we are at least sleeping fairly well. Luckily, my wife has 4 weeks off work, so I guess she will be the pack leader (don't tell her I admitted that). We have both had dogs before but this feels like this first time. It's a big learning curve for all 3 of us but we are confident that we can raise a loving, healthy and obedient Dog. I am really grateful to have found a good forum like this and I hope to be able to share some of this journey with you all.........oh, and obviously ask for help and advice on a daily basis. Cheers, Tina, Pippa and Jason (in that order)
Guten Tag! I live near Frankfurt with Poppy (5 years) and Merlin (5 months old). We have spent some lovely weekends in the Eiffel, it is truly gorgeous, especially the volcanic lakes! Welcome to the forum.
Hi and welcome to you all from me and 4 year old girl, Harley. I look forward to hearing about how Pippa grows and learns. Can I just say about the 'pack leader' that it has been debunked and proven that this theory is rubbish.
Hello & welcome Tina, Pippa & Jason - from 3 year Coco & me on the Isle of Man. It won't be long before Pippa is "ruling the roost" and has you both wrapped around her finger (or toe). We have a bi-lingual dog at training sometimes - German "mum" and English "dad". Coco understands "sit" in both Manx and English - that's as far as he goes!
A warm welcome from me, Hattie 9 years and rescue boy Charlie 6 years. Hope you enjoy your lovely little puppy Pippa x
Welcome from me and Lilly up in Scotland. Puppy frolics are but a distant memory for us, Lilly is 7 year old now jac
Thanks very much for the warm welcome. It's nice to see such a large active community on this forum. It was hard having to leave the house this morning to come into the office. I can smell Pippa on my shirt and I have a couple of treats and a 'poo' bag in my pocket!
Welcome, so right how that first weeks feels like months and then five years later it feels like yesterday they were just a little fur bundle. Just interested will you be teaching commands in both English and German?
Hi Jes, The commands will be in German as it makes sense when other people interact with her, plus, it will also help me with mastering this language. Every little helps. Just heard from home that Pippa has found a way around some of our makeshift garden boundaries. She's already been in the pond and tried to explore next door's garden. Looks like the weekend will be spent installing a proper fence. :-/
Just make sure you don't try to use the poo bag to blow your nose, particularly in front of colleagues! Welcome, by the way, from me, Wispa (5) and Tuppence (3).
My pockets are always stuffed with poo bags! Although ours are not specifically dog poo bags, but rather ordinary plastic bags that you buy on a roll. They come in handy so often - in fact I now pack a few when I travel, transformed our lives!!! We call them "Snowie bags". Snowie understands English and Xhosa, and probably any other language that involves roast chicken! Curious... where did the name Pippa come from? Have you seen the Happy Puppy Handbook?!
MF, Not seen that book yet. I guess it will be ordered though. We were initially expecting a boy from the litter but there were only two boys from 8. We had lots of names suitable for a boy but not very many for a girl. We came up with Pippa whilst on holiday when we heard that she had been born. My wife wasn't that convinced but now she agrees that it suits her perfectly. I then noticed that the brilliant author and Labrador expert was also called Pippa and thought it was quite appropriate. We will do our best to not tarnish the name.
