Raising Maple - A Murray River Curly Coated Retriever

Maple & Rufus are going to have puppies!!!!

2011-12-29T02:11:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have visited us in the past sorry for our lack of input. We do have good news. Maple 2 1/2 and Rufus 1 1/2 have done what they do on the Discovery Channel and we are expecting a litter of Puppies in late Jan / early Feb 12.

Maple was in to see the Vet yesterday and confirmed that she is expecting. The kids are excited as you can imagine. We will be up dating the blog in the weeks to come with the preparations for the pups to welp and onwards from there.

www.mrccr.org

Maple and Rufus Swim

2010-11-08T01:41:00.000-08:00

Maple & Rufus went for a swim in the weir. It was Rufus's first time trying his paw at swimming. Not a bad swimmer.

Introducing Rufus

2010-07-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Well we liked maple so much we got another Murray. Rufus is a cute little boy with a white chest blaze. Maple is in heaven having a young dog around the dog and Gromit has been busy ensuring young Rufus is in his place and keeps trying to herd the Murrays.

This Pic he is 10 weeks old He is 13 weeks now. The expression is "Whot you talkin bout Willis" The is fairly polite for puppy. He likes to be outside.

The Murray River Curly Coated Retriever Association

2010-07-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

Well the Murrays finally have an association it only took over 100 years. It is www.mrccr.org

great to see it up and running.

training update.

2010-06-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

Maple and I have been to obedience training since we got past the basic course. We are getting there. She is a very smart dog who wants to please yet she hates dropping and breaks after a short period of time. I need to work on that with her.

New Association

2010-06-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

The meeting on 13 June 10 established the association. it is good to see it off the ground. now the hard work starts.

Training update.

2010-06-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

This week at training we had a new trainer who does working dogs. The dogs seemed to realize that they were not going to get away with anything. Maple was pooped when she got home.

With the house cooling off in the evening we are giving Maple a blanket on her in her crate. but both dogs are up just before 6 am.

MRCCR founding Meeting 13 June 10 - Seymour Vic

2010-06-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

There are a few of us who are trying to form an MRCCR Association for the preservation of the Murray River Curly Coated Retreiver.

It is mainly to, initially, form a commitee and get official recognition for our beloved dogs. We would like to build up a register of breeders, minimising unintentional in-breeding, and also to build a reliable network for the rescue of any MRCCR's that end up in pounds or other untenable circumstances.

The association's founding meeting is this Sunday in Seymour, Victoria. We would love to see as many people there as we can to help with establishing the ideals/rules the club should be adopting.
location Goulburn Park Seymour, there is a caravan park right there for those wanting to stay over

Meeting starts 12 noon

Thanks,

Poor Dr Grumpy

2010-05-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

Dr Grumpy is one of the blogs that I follow on a daily basis. Today he wrote a post featuring his 3 dogs. Blackdog and Cooper sound very much like Gromit and Maple. Go and read the post and have a good chuckle.

Basic Obedience training finshed

2010-05-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight Maple finished training me at the basic Obedience class. She is a lot better now than she was before we did the class.

Can Maple be the Top Dog in Our Area?

2010-04-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Our local newspaper is running a Hot Dog contest. Recently there was a Paws in the Park event in town and the newspaper took pics of approx 230 dogs. From those 230 they selected the top 100 to appear in the paper and are asking people to vote for the top dog.

Maple is #087 on the voting page here

Maple is the only Murray River Curly Coated Retriever in the top 100.

Here is the actual webpage of her newspaper portrait.

Maple would be very happy if you voted for her as it will help raise awareness of the breed in our area.

If she were to win, Maple will donate the prize money to the founding of a formal MRCCR Club with an open register and stud book to help ensure the health of future MRCCR generations.

All voters are in the running to win $200.00 - so what are you waiting for? VOTE NOW! for dog # 087 !!!

Bird Dog & Obedience training & other stuff.

2010-04-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

Maple today was discovered munching on a small bird. We did not see her nab it. It could have been dead when she found it.

I have been taking Maple to obedience training. She is learning to walk on the lead without pulling and listens to me when she feels like it. Bored mum is the one she listens to I guess it has to do with her being around more than me. The pup is almost a year old now.

As you can see from the pic she loves water. But she still lets the other dog go and retrieve when they are together. Her swimming has gotten much better over the sumer.

Hello, Hello, is There Anybody Still Out There?

2010-04-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. A very long while. Lost passwords can be quite difficult to retrieve.

But keep watching this space as there will be more Maple blogging very soon.

Finally, help for Maple's Car Sickness Problem

2009-11-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

Pfizer sent out a press release in the USA recently advising people that they can now happily bring their car sick prone dogs along on family holiday trips.

CERENIA is a drug only available through your dog's veterinarian, but it can quell those nasty problems that car sick dogs have, such as excessive drooling and vomiting.

Good news, right?

But wait, according to Pfizer, "the common side effects seen with CERENIA are excessive drooling, lethargy and vomiting not due to motion sickness." (italics my own)

Fantastic! Now Maple can travel in the car and we won't have to worry about her drooling excessively and vomiting due to car sickness. It will be such a relief to know that her drooling and vomiting are due to the preventative meds instead.

A Very Discerning Palate

2009-11-18T01:10:00.000-08:00

Maple has a very discerning palate.

She loves crayons. Regular wax crayons. So delicious are they that as soon as she gets a chance to go into The Boy's room, or into the play room she head straight for the arts and craft box. Once there, if the lid is open she will gleefully sort through the detritus in the box until she finds a crayon, then she will quickly run away somewhere less obvious and munch away on her treat. If the lid is closed she will work diligently to open it.

So while poop patrol is not always fun, at least it is colourful.

Sabi

2009-11-12T01:10:00.000-08:00

This is one of those incredible, yet feel good stories that happen occasionally.

Sabi is a bomb detection dog for the Australian Army. In September 2008 she was working in Afghanistan when her unit came under heavy attack by the Taliban. This was a particularly fierce attack 9 soldiers were wounded, and the soldiers had to get out quickly. Sabi was lost and reported as missing in action.

The fighting was actually so fierce that one solider was awared the Victoria Cross. The VC is the highest medal for heroism that can be awarded to Australian soldiers. There have only ever been 97 of them awarded, and this is the first, and so far only one, since the Vietnam War.

But back to Sabi.... After the battle there had been repeated, unsuccessful efforts to find Sabi.

Fast forward 14 months. Last week an American soldier in north-eastern Uruzgan spotted a black lab that seemed special. He spent a bit of time with Sabi and realized that she was the missing Australian dog. Sabi was flown to Tarin Kowt to be reunited with one of trainers, and will most likely soon return back to Australia.

Video of Sabi

Resource news report here

A Very Much Over-due Pup-Date

2009-10-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Maple is growing like a weed. She is now approximately 14kg (30lbs), tall, slim and leggy. Because she is so long she can reach up well onto the kitchen counter and steal anything and everything that might be up there.

She now also loves playing in the water. Unfortunately she gets car sick, and the river is a 10 minute car ride away along the highway. It is not far enough that she actually vomits, but far enough that she feels nauseated and miserable. So even though she loves all the places that we take her in the car she now avoids the car and does anything she can to avoid a car ride because she knows that the car makes her sick. However, we keep persevering with these short rides to very fun places in the hope that she will outgrow it.

Sorry for the video footage, but we forgot the good camera and just used the phone to take the following video of Maple and Gromit playing in the Murray River 2 weeks ago.

Perfect Day for Water Play

2009-08-27T20:49:00.001-07:00

Today is a gorgeous spring-like day. Bright, sunny, 17 degrees celcius - in other words, the perfect day to skip out on the housework and take the dogs out to the river. It only takes about 10 minutes to drive to my favourite spot to take the dogs out for a good walk and a swim in the Murray River.

Even though it is a friday I was surprised that I didn't meet anyone else walking their dog. There is a paved walking/bike track along side the river which is normally quite popular as it is nowhere near any houses nor roads.

Gromit must be part retriever. He was happy when we got to the part of the river that he could swim and splash around in. If I threw a rock into the water, he would run out to that spot, look around for the rock, and even stick his head fully underwater in the search for the rock.

Maple, on the other hand, is not so fond of water. She did brave the river up to about her elbows but then would run back to the shore and run along the shore waiting for Gromit to come back out of the water. The longer we were there, the slightly braver she got, but Maple never got to the point of wetting more than just the lowest part of her undersides.

I had my first suspicions that Maple might not be a water loving dog when I had to give her bath at approx 10 weeks of age, and she fought it like a cat - and repeated the exact same behaviour the next time she had a bath.

Both dogs had a great time playing along side the river and running around the river flats. They are both sound asleep outside right now.

Since the walking track seemed to be deserted, I decided to try walking Maple off leash. She was very good and mostly kept very close to Gromit. I did practice lots of recall with Maple, and she was fairly good at it, but she still needs a lot more practice before I would be comfortable allowing her off leash with anyone else around.

I didn't take the camera with me, so no pics or videos - hopefully next time.

Maple and Her Sister Musings

2009-08-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Maple had a great time visiting with her sister. They were together for just over 24 hours. It was amazing to see how different the two girls were.

When we arrived at Bella's house, Maple was outgoing and curious whereas Bella was very nervous and frightened. Bella kept escaping to the bedroom to hide under the bed. Even after Bella was carried outside to play with Maple, she kept on hiding under her human mum's chair and growling at the kids and Maple if she got too close.

After about 5 minutes Bella's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to venture forth to see what Maple was all about. And then they started playing. Bella seemed to thoroughly enjoy playing with Maple, but she kept an eye out for what the kids were doing and would once again become skittish and hide under the chair if one of the kids tried to play with the pups or come near them.

Bella and Maple not only have different personalities, but they look quite different too. Bella is much stockier than Maple. Maple is definitely leggier, but Bella's feet were larger. Bella was ever so slightly darker in colour and her fur was a bit longer than Maple's. It is probably difficult to see these differences in the video in the post below, but in person they were quite obvious.

It was not surprising that Maple slept the whole 3 hour car ride home from Bella's house.

Littermate Reunion

2009-08-21T01:38:00.000-07:00

Maple and Bella are sisters from the same litter. They were separated at 8.5 weeks of age, and met again earlier this week at age 16 weeks.

Vote For Maple

2009-08-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

For Maple

MEMBER OF THE Dog PARTY

Click here to vote for Maple at VoteMyPet.com.au

If you're already registered, then go and vote for Maple now! If you're not registered, then we would be very happy if you would like to register so you can vote for Maple!

http://www.votemypet.com.au/Profile.aspx?category=1&element=83&PetID=11708

Maple at 13 Weeks Old

2009-08-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

Now that Maple is 13 weeks old, so is getting quite large, and is starting to look a bit more like an adult Murray River Curly Coated Retriever.

The fur on her legs has grown long enough to look feathered, and her ears are getting quite long and curly. Her eyes are not as dark as they were when we got her 5 weeks ago, but it looks as if they will probably not be the bright golden yellow of some MRCCRs, but rather a deeper, browner gold.

Puppy Preschool: Week 2

2009-08-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended the 2nd session of puppy preschool (PPS) with Maple. It went better than last week, although Maple was still a bit of a bully.

It would seem that Maple does not like other female dogs very much. When she was off lead with 2 of the girls, she was somewhat aggressive, but when we picked her up and then put her down with a couple of the males to play with, she was much happier. They didn't play with each other very much, but at least Maple wasn't trying to dominate them.

We were sitting next to one of the female pups - the boxer. Maple was interested in her, but often growled aggressively when they got too close together. However, by the end of the evening, Maple and the boxer were starting to play together a bit and enjoy one another.

So we are happy as it seems that the socialization that Maple is getting a PPS is helping her to be somewhat habituated to other dogs. We are not really learning any new training hints however, but that is more than likely due to all our research into training that we have done on our own. Maple is so clever and picks up new things quite easily, so it has been fairly easy to train her at home without the input from an expert.

Dog Essentails on a Budget - The Outdoor Bed

2009-08-04T17:53:00.003-07:00

Gromit has a very nice outdoor bed. See the first picture above. It is a welded frame with a hessian sack that is pulled across the frame to form a hammock of sorts. He has had it for the past 10 years. A year or so ago he was having a huge problem with fleas, so I added a vinyl covered foam pad on top to give him a flea resistant place to lay. Although Gromit would sometimes allow Maple to lay with him on his bed outside, the bed is definitely not large enough for 2 dogs adult dogs.

So I started shopping around for a 2nd outdoor dog bed. The welded frame / hessian sack bed retails from around $55.00 for the medium size (same size as Gromit's). There is also what many people call a trampoline bed which is a bed frame with shade sail cloth stretched over it. This retails from around $50.00+ depending on size.

Not happy about paying that much for another dog bed, I decided to wait until I found them on sale or found a 2nd hand one at a garage sale.

About 4 years ago I bought a mini jogging trampoline for the kids from the local op shop for $10.00. I noticed that Maple enjoyed jumping up onto it out in the backyard everytime she was outside. Things that make you go hmmm......

So I dragged the mini trampoline over to the patio and threw Gromit's old kennel blanket on it. Voila, an outside dog bed that both dogs are happy to use that didn't cost me anything. As you can see, both Maple and Gromit like the "new" outdoor dog bed, and it is getting a lot of use.

Mini trampolines are much easier to find at garage sales than old outdoor dog beds, so this could very well be a budget outdoor dog bed idea for anyone else looking to save some $$$.

She's Not a Stupid Dog

2009-08-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Maple has decided that the sofas are much more comfortable than dog beds. Hence we are having a hard time keeping her off the sofas.

She does seem to understand the word "off" and will, on occasion, actually get off the sofa when we tell her to.

When she is being goofy she jumps up and hangs over the back of the red sofa looking at us.

But when she is being covert, she snuggles down on the brown sofa. The sofa is the same colour as her fur, so she camouflages in with it and can have a nap in peace and quiet.

Definitely NOT a Dog Essential!

2009-07-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

Over the past little while, I've come across a few odd, weird, strange, and/or 'interesting' items for dogs. Here definitely the oddest by far:

Dog Sex Doll

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25857046-401,00.html

Puppy Preschool

2009-07-28T19:18:00.001-07:00

Although Maple was a bit of a bully (see post below) at the puppy preschool (pps) last night, I thought that it was actually fairly well run.

We went to the pps at the local vet clinic. Amy, (the instructor) was one of the vet nurses who is also a certified animal behaviouralist and dog trainer. Because I had done a lot of research prior to getting Maple, and because we have had her for 3.5 weeks prior to starting pps, there wasn't very much information that was new to me last night. I thought that Amy presented the information quite well, and it was good for my kids to hear the information from an expert rather than mum.

When we got to the pps, chairs were set around in a large open ended oval, with a small dish of treats and a stuffed kong at each pair of chairs. Amy even had a kong stuffed with chicken only for Maple. (Maple had been to the vet earlier in the day to get clearance to attend pps due to loose stools).

While Amy was presenting the info she was watching each of the pups carefully. She explained some dog psychology regarding obedience such as look, come, sit, down, drop etc and then demonstrated how to teach the dog how to do it. She also introduced the class to clicker training, and was pleased when I pulled out my clicker and said that we had already been doing that with Maple. During about 3/4 of the time we were at pps there was a background tape playing to help desensitize the pups to various noises such as drums, fireworks, thunder etc.

When it was time for the pups to have a play Amy asked that everyone put their pups up on their laps, and only the pups that she selected were to be let off their leashes. Maple was in the first group, and was paired up with the jack russell, who was very placid. It was a good pairing and Maple did not show any aggression to him at all. Amy then asked the lab puppy to join Maple and the jack russell. All the groupings of pups playing went well, except when Maple tried to dominate the lab puppy. When it was Maple's turn to sit on our lap she wasn't too happy and wanted down to play. The kids wanted to hold Maple on their laps during this time and were not happy when we said no, as I was having a hard enough time holding the determined, wriggly pup that I couldn't imagine that a 9 or 6 year old would be able to hold and control her.

Towards the end of the pps session Maple was calmer and happy to lay on her blanket, so we did end on a good note.

Class Bully

2009-07-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

Maple was the class bully at puppy preschool tonight.

The class consisted of 2 blue heelers, a rough jack russell, a black lab, a smooth coat koolie, a boxer, and a catahoulan cross. So most of the dogs, except the jack russell, were a similar size to Maple.

Maple growled and snapped at the boxer and one of the heelers, and tried to dominate the boxer by standing over her and pushing her down.

I guess we need to work harder at socializing her with other dogs.

Hopefully next week will go better.

A Rather Overdue Update

2009-07-27T02:34:00.001-07:00

Now that Maple is 12 weeks old she is no longer the wonderful, adorable, well behaved puppy.

Yes, she is still wonderful, and adorable, and yes, even well behaved, it is just that she is no longer all three things concurrently, unless she is sleeping.

She has a new nickname - Ninja Puppy. This is from the way she lurks, then runs a convoluted course, then jumps up and attacks Gromit and then immediately runs off again. Gromit takes it all in stride. He is really good with her and will allow her to tackle him down to the ground occasionally in order to humour her. I no longer hear Gromit yelp in pain when Maple bites his ears, so I think that Maple has learned how to either bite softly or just mouth Gromit as she still does like to bite not just his ears, but any part of him, including tail, legs, mouth, cheeks, collar etc. I think Gromit is glad that he is allowed into parts of the house that Maple is not so he can have some peace and quiet.

Today Maple discovered that if she really stretches, and someone leaves something overhanging the kitchen counter, that she can pull it down. So now the dining table and kitchen counter are no longer safe places to leave things out of Maple's reach. Like most puppies, Maple sees anything that is left within her reach as a new toy, so we are being kept on our toes.

Last week she discovered that she can easily jump up onto the sofa. So now our 2 sofas have dining room chairs laying sideways on them when they are vacant of people.

Maple is no longer a quiet puppy. Whether it is because she has learned from Gromit, or whether it is because she has matured slightly, she now play growls when she plays with Gromit. And she has also started, on rare occasions, to bark at him. It is a very odd bark for a puppy as it seems to be rather deep. Of course, she whines, yips, yodels and howls when she is in her crate against her wishes. Thankfully this is not too often. As soon as I say "kennel up!" to her, she happily trots into her crate.

Maple starts puppy pre-school tomorrow night. We are a bit late getting Maple into the class, as unfortunately we had just missed out on one class when Maple arrived home and had to wait for the next class to start. The class is being held at the vet's clinic, so I will weight her when we go in as I am sure that she has grown considerably since she was last there 2 weeks ago.

Recent MRCCR meet

2009-07-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi We were lucky enough to get Maple and Gromit to a gathering of MRCCRs in NE Vic. As you can see from the footage a great time was had by all.

A Few More Small Updates

2009-07-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

1. Maple now sits reliably. She knows to sit before coming into the house, before she gets her food, and when I call her to me.

2. She is starting to get the hang of toileting outside. Last night she had a poop, and then looked at me all expectantly waiting for me to click the clicker and tell her she was a good girl.

3. She finally understands the hand signal for drop and I no longer need to lead her down into position with a treat.

4. She is starting to be happy being outside when I am inside. She will happily play with Gromit outside, but usually once she realizes that I have snuck into the house, she is at the door whining to come in. But yesterday and today she will give a quick whine, and then run back out to play with Gromit for a while. Right now she is very happy outside and has not asked to come in at all yet - probably because Gromit has deigned to allow Maple to lay on his sack bed with him, albeit at his backside and facing the opposite direction.

5. The 9 yo daughter took Maple to school for news this morning. She was a huge hit with the class and played up her cuteness by squiggling in daughter's lap to get in a position to be able to lick daughter's face and nibble on her ear. Next week sometime 6yo son will probably get to take Maple to school for his classroom news.

6. Pictures to be uploaded later this afternoon or evening.

She Definitely Likes Her Food

2009-07-13T03:49:00.001-07:00

I took Maple into the vet today for her vaccination. She weighed 7.5 kg, so in about 10 days she has gained 1.5kg. The vet is not concerned and said that Maple is in good condition.

Unfortunately, Maple will need a 3rd vaccination, which will be done in a months time. So that means that we have another 5 weeks minimum before we can start taking Maple out for walks etc.

Murray River Curly Coated Retriever circa 1893

2009-07-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

This was posted on an Australian dog breeders forum on this page.

A Few Observations

2009-07-09T00:43:00.001-07:00

Murray River Curly Coated Retrievers have the softest fur I have ever felt on a dog. There is no undercoat, and Maple's fur is still quite short given that she is only 9 weeks old, so I can't bury my hands into her coat, but it feels so nice to pet her.

Maple seems to have dry skin or something similar. She scratches quite frequently, yet she does not have fleas. We are trying to feed her some more oily type foods like sardines occassionally and mixing a teaspoon of cooking oil into her food so hopefully she has some relief soon.

MRCCRs seems to be a very intelligent breed. Training Maple is going extremely well. She knows sit, come, stay, drop, and is learning give. Of course, she only can do these commands as long as there are no distractions which are more interesting. She knows she needs to sit for her food, and automatically sits down in front of me when I call her to come to me. She tries very hard to please us.

Maple loves to chew on rocks. We have lots of driveway size stone in our yard, so we need to contantly supervise. She also likes to chew on the corner of the brick walls on the outside of the house.

She has fantastic eyesight and can find anything new on the floor or in the yard that shouldn't be there and will pick it up in her mouth.

Maple is growing quickly. I weighed her on the bathroom scale yesterday and she was up to 16lbs (approx 7.27 kg), but I am not sure how accurate that is compared to the vet's scale from last friday. She is defnitely taller and longer than she was a week ago.

She Slept the Whole Night Through

2009-07-09T00:39:00.000-07:00

We took Maple to bed last night at around 10:30pm. She went happily into her crate and went straight to sleep without a whimper.

This morning when we got up at 6:15 we had to encourage Maple to get up to go out for a pee - she was too snug and warm in her crate to want to go out in the cold frosty dark early morning.

The crate was dry, so we didn't sleep through her needing a middle of the night pee. Yea!

Some Pics

2009-07-08T02:44:00.001-07:00

We've Had a Few Breakthroughs!

2009-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and this morning things have suddenly started to click with both Maple and Gromit.

Maple is starting to go to the door to indicate when she needs to pee and poop.

Last night she slept through from 10:00pm to 5:00am. At 5:00am I took her out for toileting. It took a half hour to convince her to do her business on the cold, frosty grass, but finally she did. When she came back into the house, she happily crawled back into her crate and went back to sleep without a whimper. And she didn't want to get up until 7:00am when Gromit was agitating to go out. I think the training we did just before bed time helped to tire her out.

She can now come and sit on command. She can nearly drop on command, but still needs the encouragement of following the treat down to the floor from sit.

Maple is doing quite well with learning bite inhibition. She is not a nippy dog so this makes teaching bite inhibition quite easy.

Gromit is allowing Maple to play and even rough house with him.

Gromit allowed Maple to share his bed for a couple of minutes this morning.

More pictures to follow soon.

Day 3 at Home with Maple

2009-07-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

So far, Maple is doing well. We took her to the vet on friday for a quick check up and to be microchipped. She weighed in at 6.0 kg (13.2 lbs), so she is not a small girl, but she is a very healthy one! It is very hard to take a good picture of Maple. Either she is moving, so the pic is blurry, or the light is not right, and with her dark colouring the picture turns out not very good. We'll keep working on it though.

Maple and Gromit have sorted out all their dominance issues. Maple is having a hard time understanding that a 12 year old male dog is not a maternal sort, nor one that wants to rough house with a puppy. But Gromit has accepted Maple into the pack fairly well. He does allow her to jump on him occassionally when they are outside, and several times when Gromit has been playing with us and one of his rubber bones, he has purposely given the bone to Maple to play with for a few minutes, before very gently taking it away from her again. He has even allowed her to scavenge in his food bowl once he has finished eating.

She is starting to learn that peeing is something that should be done outside. Last night she awoke at 4:00am needing a pee. I took her outside, but Maple did not like the cold, wet grass and constantly ran back to the door. I knew that if I let her back in she would run to the newspapers for a pee, so I persevered by taking her back out to the grass. I even went and got some newspapers and put them out on the grass, and then patio, but to no avail, she just wanted in again. So, after 1/2 an hour I woke up the Bored Dad and asked him to come outside and have a pee to show Maple what to do. She was quite interested, and after watching and then sniffing the area where Bored Dad peed, Maple immediately began sniffing around for a good spot, and went pee herself. We rewarded her with a treat, lots of praise, and of course the main prize for having a pee was being allowed back into the nice, warm, dry house!

We have started clicker training with her. As soon as she hears us pick up the clicker she runs over. She is getting fairly reliable with sit and come when there are no distractions. We will start her in puppy pre-school very soon

We haven't yet started retriever training with her. She will chase after a toy, but does not yet bring it back to us, so this is something that we will work on soon. Her favourite toy is a stuffed mallard duck, so we will work on playing fetch with that for the start of training retrieving.

Here She Is!

2009-07-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

We picked Maple up this afternoon at the airport. She cried for about 2 minutes in her crate in the car, and then settled down and slept most of the way home.

Once we got home she was very timid and it took a bit of time to coax her out of her crate. She was sticking to us all very closely, and looking cuddles from everyone.

After about an hour she is now much more comfortable at home. She is trying to engage Gromit in play, and playing with some of her toys.

It is proving very hard to take a good picture of Maple, however, as she thinks that the camera is a toy and as soon as she sees it in my hand she runs over to try to play with it, grabbing the strap and trying to grab the actual camera itself.

Dog Essentials on a Budget, #2 - The Crate

2009-06-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here is the crate that we made for Maple. It is multipurpose and can be made to be smaller for short periods of confinement, and then nearly double the size for when we are out for longer periods of time and when Maple is older. The measurements of the smaller size is 70X90 cm (28X36 inches).

Large crates are very expensive here in Australia, well over $100.00. For a collapsible wire crate the same dimensions as the smaller size given above would be AU$159.00. Ours cost us just under AU$63.00.

Bunnings Warehouse (a large hardware / builders warehouse store) sells wire compost cages for $26.90 each. The consist of 4 wire panels. So we bought 2 of them. We used 6 panels for the 4 sides, a top and a bottom. Then we used the extra 2 panels attached to the door panel so that they could be accordianed together to the door for the smaller size crate, but also stretched out to double the length of the sides for the larger size crate. Then we bought a length of linoleum (also at Bunnings) for $10.00 that we used on top of the wire floor panel and to extend out of the crate to cover the floor of the extended size crate. We used cable ties rather than the metal coil fasteners to attach all the panels to each other, and it is very sturdy with no wobble.

Here is the crate in the small size configuration all ready for Maple and then in large size formation (with the door open).

* we did buy a plastic travel crate for use in the car and also to use in the bedroom at night whilst toilet training Maple. But even factoring in the cost of that crate, we still spent less total on the 2 crates than 1 metal collapsible crate would have cost us.

Dog Essentials on a Budget - The Bed

2009-06-08T00:42:00.000-07:00

Even though we have a few weeks to go, we are starting to prepare things ready for Maple. This is partly in anticipation and excitement, but also to help Gromit, our old dog to become accustomed to some new stuff around the house.

We have decided to try to save some $$$ where possible, but not where it will matter for health and happiness of our dogs.

The first thing was to make a dog bed rather than buy one. Gromit prefers to sleep up on 1 particular sofa in the house, and that is fine. But when Maple is here, until she is toilet trained she will not be permitted up on the sofa, nor into the carpeted kids playroom where the kid and dog sofa is located.

But I wasn't happy with the price tags on the dog beds in the various shops that I was in. When Gromit was younger he destroyed several beds and baskets etc. So the other day I took at trip to our local op shop. I was able to buy a single bed doona (polyester fill duvet) in fantastic condition for only $5.00 It was in such great shape that I actually considered keeping it for one of the guest beds! At the same time as buying the doona, I also bought a couple of blanket scraps for $1.00 each.

First I folded the doona into quarters. I tacked down each of the 4 corners of the folded size, and also tacked down in the middle of the short ends and 2X on the long sides. I thought that this would help the doona to keep the smaller size and not slip and shift around to become lumpy.

Then I took one of the blanket scraps and make a slip case for the doona. There was a bit of a hole in the edge of the scrap, so I had to patch that up. The slip case is a little short on the underside. I am debating whether or not to leave it as it is, or to sew some of the other matching blanket scrap onto the slip case to totally encase the doona.

I also made a smaller size bed to go in the crate out of an old, flatish pillow that we had lying around the house. Just put the pillow in a water resistant pillow protector, then in an old pillow case, and wrapped the left over blanket scrap from Vinnies around it.

As you can see, Gromit enjoyed giving the new bed a test run.

A Few More Pics

2009-06-08T00:32:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of pics of Maple and littermates at approx 4 weeks of age.

Thanks Jenny :-)

4 More Weeks To Go...

2009-06-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

We have nearly a whole month to go before Maple is actually really our new puppy.

I think I might go broke during these next few weeks because I can't stop myself from going into pet shops etc whenever I am out and about and looking at all the puppy gear available. It is so hard to resist buying everything.

I am trying really hard to limit toy purchases though. But I did have to get a stuffed duck for Maple since she is a duck retrieving breed. The duck toy looks like a mallard, but in a dead rubber chicken sort of body posture, and actually makes a quacking kind of sound when squeezed. When I showed the duck to the Gromit - our kelpie X shepard dog, he was quite interested in it, and actually went into a partial pointer stance with one leg lifted and bent at the "wrist" while looking intently at the duck. Perhaps Gromit will enjoy learning some retrieving skils with Maple? Gromit certainly does love to play fetch, but is not quite so keen on swimming.

A Couple of Pics From the Breeder

2009-05-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Here is Maple at approx 2 weeks of age.

And here are some of the pups in the litter at approx 3 weeks of age

The Murray River Curly Coated Retriever is NOT a Designer Dog!

2009-05-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

The Murray River Curly Coated Retriever (MRCCR) is a working dog unique to south-east Australia. Although the breed is known to be over 100 years old, with photographic evidence from as early as 1880's, it is not a breed recognized by the Autralian National Kennel Council.

The MRCCR is quite different to the traditional Curly Coated Retriever (CCR). The MRCCR is always a liver brown colour, occasionally with a white patch on it's chest, whereas the CCR is either entirely black or brown. The MRCCR tends to be smaller than the traditional CCR. The MRCCR legs are usually shorter, and the average weight is around 25kgs (usually +/- 5 kgs). Their ears are also longer, and their fur has a much looser curl. Often in the summer the tips of the fur turn a golden colour when bleached by the sun. The MRCCR has distinct eyes as well, being a yellow or golden-yellow colour. The MRCCR always breeds true to type, with large litters of 10 or more pups not uncommon.

The heritage of the MRCCR is mostly unknown. It was bred originally as a duck hunting dog, with the early settlers seeking out the good of many different breeds to create the MRCCR. There is no known history of the breeds that went into the creation of the MRCCR, but there are a few theories. Some speculate that the Flat Coated Retriever was crossed with a spaniel, while others ponder whether the CCR was crossed with the Irish Water Spaniel. Yet others think that the MRCCR is a decendent of the early American Water Spaniels brought over with American paddle steamer captains. Retriever Man has speculated that the MRCCR may even be a decendent of the now extince Norfolk Retriever.

So as you can see, the MRCCR is not a designer dog, even though it is not a registered breed. There are other working dog breeds in Australia that are also old breeds that are not recognized by the ANKC, such as the Koolie. The Koolie has it's own breed club that is working towards the preservation of the breed as a working dog, not a show dog. Many owners of the MRCCR do not want the MRCCR to become a show dog that must conform to certain set standards. A small group of owners are working at founding a MRCCR breed club, with the purpose of preserving this wonderful breed. I hope that they are successful as it would be a shame for the breed to die out just because it isn't a registered breed with the ANKC, which really has no real authority, but yet thinks that it does when it comes to dogs in Australia.

Much of this information came from wikipedia.

Welcome to Our New Blog!

2009-05-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

This blog will be all about raising Maple, our new puppy, which is a Murray River Curly Coated Retriever.

We will not actually be able to adopt Maple until the beginning of July when she is old enough to leave her mum and litter-mates.

I'll post a little bit about the history of the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever in the next post.

Thanks for visiting!