Hi! I'm a newbie, and I hope this post goes through, just testing.

Hi! I found this thread sometime ago and thought it useful to discuss with other owners of this beautiful breed. Meet my bebe! He's my pride and joy and I love him so much. He's on Addiction Salmon bleu for puppies, and he's supposed to be a tiny toy, but he's close to 3kg and 7months old now, and certified sound and healthy by the vet. When I first got him, he was so weak and couldn't even stand up for more than 10 secs. He was slighter longer than the size of my palm. I had to feed him soaked kibbles given by the breeder one by one, gloucose water and powdered milk. I even had to hold his head up to feed him. It was such a huge comittment at the beginning. Well, I chose him, and like when we have a human child, if the baby is weak, we don't send him to the nearest rumah anak yatim, do we. So, I had very little sleep and rest for the first month.

On his 3rd month he was already running, jumping and later only I realised he barks and whines ALOT! It was no longer separation anxiety and leaning towards behavioral problem then. He was so attached to me because I gave him non-stop attention at first due to him being weak. The next step was to discipline him. At 3 months, my bebe was already toilet-trained. Disciplining him took longer, close to 2 months. It started with letting him know what Hush, Quiet, Sit, Down, No bitting, Sleep, Cage mean.

I am happy to announce that by now at 7 months, he will walk to his playpan adjoined to his cage by himself when I tell him so. He stays quiet and plays with his pile of toys in his playpan whenever I work at home or clean the house. He goes to his 'toilet' by himself whenever he has to but when he sleeps in my room and the door is closed, he scratches the door to let me know he has to pee/poo. He loves it when I teach him new tricks and esp when I groom him. He LOVES being groomed and looking at his own reflection, sometimes he licks the mirror, sigh! Very vain dog! He loves wearing clothes and jumps up and down when I get accessories for him like scarf, bow, shirt etc. He likes almost everything, people, dogs, basically a perfect angel now and complains very little. There is one thing which he absolutely hates no matter what and I do not know why. He will bark non-stop and at an alarming sound whenever he sees a silky terrier. I've tried bringing him closer to different silkies and all the same response. He's even friendly to Rotts, giant Schnauzer and Chihuahua but never a silky.

Well, that's just my story on him. Thanks for reading!

Thanks yeowa! It's very addictive isn't it? It just shows how much we love our dogs and if not on looking for poodle thread, it'd be googling about poodle health, medication, accessories, latest products etc. etc. I'm considering and reading alot about giving my bebe power balance collagen. Has anybody tried it? My friend's beautiful mini poodle is thriving on it. Beautiful skin & coat, supremely intelligent (well she's a show dog), healthy and is 7yrs old. It's a black poodle with full black pigment intact, most at her age would fade to grey. My doubt is perhaps not all dogs would respond similarly. Some may thrive, some may get weak

Debbieyss, is Dorian the photo that you have in your lower caption? He's super adorable and not fat at all. That photo of bebe previously, was taken just a few days after grooming. His body had a close clip. The photo above is taken last weekend at his favourite park, where he gets to run around like a cuckoo doggie, LOL! I intentionally let his hair grow long so I could snip off all of his puppy coat. His adult coat is nicer, curlier, darker and easier to take care off.

Since we are on this topic... does anyone here do your own anal gland expressing on your poodles? Just that smaller breeds need expressing when it looks "full" to avoid scooting, infection etc. I perform it on my own after having the vet shown it to me on how it's done and watching lots of video on youtube. I told my other friends about this and she says it's very gross and would ask the groomers to do it for them, haha! I just thought, I send bebe for grooming once in 2 months and sometimes his anus area looks full after a month of grooming, what happens then?

And once, I had a very bad experience at this petshop/grooming place. I asked one very young groomer if she could just do the anal expressing for me. She charged me RM10, and after that when I looked at bebe's anal area, it was VERY bruised!!! It looks like, pardon the description, like when someone gives a very bad 'love bite', and the scar stays red and scraped for the first few hours. Even his tail is bruised! She covered it up by saying, his anal gland is very infected and wanted me to buy some products with an unknown name to treat the area. I told her it doesn't look infected, it looks like someone scraped it with a knife! After that, I only send my precious bebe to groomers that I trust and are gentle to him.

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Added on August 25, 2011, 2:41 pmSorry, my friend's 7 year old black poodle WAS a show dog.... heehe.

This post has been edited by Cinnamon Chan: Aug 25 2011, 02:41 PM

@Kerry1136 Hahaha! That’s a good one!
@CyaNide27 Oh dear!
Dog anal glands are two little sacks on the dog’s rectal opening. Expressing anal glands is by gently but firmly squeezing them at the right position until it oozes gooey smelly substance…well, not the right definition coz I’m no expert! Esp in smaller breeds, it needs to be expressed when it’s full. When the sacks are full and unexpressed, it could lead to many complications like infection, extremely smelly butt syndrome, scooting which is truly gross or worse impacted glands that lead to tumor. Usually in bigger dogs, it’d expressed itself but still recommended to have it expressed only exteriorly; more complicated methods are left to the vets. One of the major causes of impacted glands can be caused by bad food with a lot of fillers and the stool becomes mushy and soft. With firm solid stools, they can usually express itself, but not emptied sufficiently. I’ve attached a youtube link to give you a clearer idea, it’s disgusting but necessary, and please wear gloves when doing it, haha, and get your vet/experienced owners to give proper guide and advice, as it can hurt your dogs when performed wrongly. You don’t have to put heavy pressure when squeezing, as what happened to bebe at that godforsaken petshop! I only express bebe’s anal glands when it looks full.

http://youtu.be/zB3dXCR0-wI

Thanks for the tip zest168, I guess my vet told me differently, still looking for a permanent vet in Malaysia since we shifted. Bebe has been going to his fav Dr in Singapore before then. But then, I wonder reputable grooming centres will always include anal expressing the doggies when sent for grooming. What happens then?

Hi members, apologies for not participating in the thread for quite sometime. I have a question, is strong dog urine scent dangerous to pregnant women and babies? My bebe is on Addiction Salmon Bleu, and he works well with it. Zero skin problem, poops twice a day, very little solid easy to pick up poo, poo has very slight smell too, no bad breath, no tear stain, healthy shiny coat etc etc. The ONLY problem is, his pee stinks! Bebe doesn't suffer from uti or bladder problems, as checked by vet. A friends' poodle has the same stinky pee problem too but other dogs don't have the same issue. It really depends on the dog, I guess. I have no intention of changing his food. Perhaps someone can advise on a supplement that can reduce the urine odor? My bebe has his own bedroom and bathroom in the house but I clean his pee tray almost 3times a day now because I can't stand the smell since pregnancy. Is this harmful to me and baby?

Yeezai, try using malaseb medicated shampoo on your pup. Hopefully this helps!