New Cavalier owner (almost!)

I just wanted to post a quick introduction since I've found the site to be quite invaluable over the past few weeks. My name is Kelly, and I'm from Australia and tomorrow I am picking up my first dog (as opposed to a family dog)! We had a Cavalier when I was younger, that we adopted from my Grandmother who was unable to care for her. She was a wonderful dog, so my first (and really only) choice was Cavalier.

I'll update with photos tomorrow when I bring her home!

Welcome, this is a wondefrul site to meet other Cavalier lovers. Looking forward to seeing pictures.

Congrats on your new little one! Cant wait to see pictures!

Welcome Kelly....!
Excited for you *!
Oh can't wait to see pictures !! What kind is she?...Blenheim, Tri, Ruby?..and how old?

Welcome I KNOW how exciting it is.


Melissa

I can't believe I forgot to write more details about her. She's a little Blenheim girl, and is 8 weeks old. Only a few hours left now, I'm running around frantically, triple checking everything is puppy proofed!

I could have sworn I updated this morning with a few more details about her, but in any case, she's an 8 week old Blenheim girl. Today has been amazing, she had a great car trip back to our house and has settled in great. She's currently sleeping on her bed with a massive stuffed dog my Mum bought her after a big play outside - I have learnt I need to keep my camera on me at all times after seeing her dragging along a stick bigger than her! I can't believe how fast she can move already! She didn't eat much tonight, but I'm hoping that's rather normal?

Just a few quick photos, she's rather hard to keep in focus!

Wow she is adorable!!!! I also keep my camera nearby at all times. They are constantly doing something cute or mischievous!

Yeah right now Fletcher is doing his bird impression sleeping on my shoulder. Why do all cavalier's seem to love the back of sofas? She is so cute!!!!! Does she have a name yet because I have a few suggestions?

Yes, the not eating the first day freaked me out too but she'll come around.

And yes camera around is a must, Fletcher has been here a month and he's already changed, his coat is darker and he's growing.

Melissa

hi
what a beautiful face she has
good luck with her
sending kisses and cuddles to her from louie and his mum

Oh my goodness .. she is soooo cute!! I remember puppyhood and how hard it was to a get a shot that wasn't blurry. You got a couple great shots there.

Can't wait to hear all about her antics.

Her name is Mabel, and wonderfully, she slept through the night last night (apart from toilet breaks) which was a relief after her "I want to play" at 4am the morning before. Just a few questions though, she snores a lot. I think it's normal for Cavaliers, but just wanted to check it's normal for puppies. The other thing is she doesn't seem to like sleeping in her bed. I'm guessing this is due to how she slept with her litter mates before, especially since when you hold her she tries to snuggle into the smallest area possible and loves putting her head in you neck, elbow etc. But I don't want to spoil her too much, so any suggestions? I've been getting her to fall asleep with me, then putting her on her bed to sleep with her teddy bear, blankets and toys - but last night she found out she can climb up from her bed into mine if she does a little running jump.

Just another little photo from yesterday:

I would suggest you try a crate. My Tess adores hers. She would be in there all day if possible. It mimics a den and most dogs like them if theyre not put into them for punishment. Also makes potty training easier.

She's adorable and very sweet! Enjoy! I have a decent camera on my phone and sometimes I just shoot pictures for 10 or more minutes. Most of them aren't so good but there are usually one or two that are great action shots.

Welcome Kelly,

She is so cute, enjoy her puppiness they grow quickly. Where abouts in Australia are you from?

I think a crate might be a good idea. I'm always worried about her exploring a bit too much. We've never used a crate with a puppy before though (growing up, we always seem to have a grown up and a puppy). What size should I look at getting her? Do I shut the door at night?

Paula, I live in Sydney =)

hi i think thats about the cutest face ive seen in a long while! beautiful! congrats & welcome to you & Mabel

We got a crate that comes with a divider, so it could grow with our puppy. The size we got was 24 x 18 x 21. I thought that we were going to have to get a bigger one after Sonny was full grown, but he is now almost a year and about 20 pounds and this crate is plenty big for him. It is also a great size because it is small enough to easily move to different rooms and take in the car. Sonny goes in his crate at night and during the day if I am gone. He LOVES his crate. Sometimes during the day he will put himself in it for a nap and he runs to his crate at night when everyone is getting ready for bed. He knows he gets a treat when it's time for bed. I highly recommend giving her a special treat when she goes into her crate that way she starts to look forward to crate time. I always close the door mostly because when he was a baby I didn't want him to get out and get into trouble; however I don't think I would have to close the door anymore since he kind of puts himself to bed now and stays in there until we get up in the morning. He goes to a dog sitter when we are out of town and she doesn't crate her dogs. She told me that she left his crate open in case he wanted to jump into the bed with the other dogs; however she was shocked that at night he put himself to bed without her leading him in there and would stay there all night.

This is the crate we got and I have been really happy with it. I bought a crate pad and then a cozy blanket that I put on top of the pad. I also got a water bowl that easily attaches to the crate.

P.S. Sonny also snores pretty loudly and it always melts my heart. So cute.

http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Life-...TF8&qid=1339424183&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+crates

Oh also, I wrapped a warm water bottle in a towel and put it in Sonny's crate when he was a baby. I think that emulates a warm body next to them. I only did this for a little while because I didn't want him to start chewing, but it worked really well for the first couple of weeks we had him.

There is also a heartbeat pillow that you can buy that that helps calm them down.

http://www.amazon.com/Petstages-110...652&sr=8-1&keywords=heartbeat+pillow+for+pets

OHMYGOSH!!...how did I miss this thread???
What an adorable little pup *!! Awe...."super cute " :l*v:
...enjoy every minute of that sweet little furr ball ....

Thanks for the advice everyone. I bought a crate online so hopefully it will be delivered tomorrow and I can get to work on getting her to sleep on her own. She's been going well, but I'm always worried I'm doing things the wrong way for her! She's started playing independently and is having fun chasing the cat around (who strangely enough seems to really enjoy being chased). We're still having a few toilet training accidents, but that's to be expected I guess/hope.