I want to get a dog but I have to work, how does everyone on broadway market do it ?

Adorable... We're back in the market for a furry friend, we've been arguing about which breed for months... OH tries to trick me into saying yes to getting a Staffie at least once a week... Blue Italian Greyhound is winning right now, I'd be very happy with that...

Absolute beauty

You've got it the wrong way round. Always knew she was far brighter than you...

I'm in! Reckon I'll be a perfect fit...

cheers mark. yeah all fine. we have been eating a few things we have grown ourselves and have plans for the house submitted for the scrutiny of the local council. right direction.

glad to hear aunt hanging in there. hope you and the clan down there likewise.

would love to be in a (dog friendly) boozer with you for that final game of the season. but will take that to the appropriate thread

Yeah, all good thanks.

Ok, you're on keyboards in a lime green mankini.

A small lurcher would be perfect. They need one good run a day and then sleep, mostly. You will pick up a network very quickly by talking to other dog owners. They are fantastic for mental well-being

A small lurcher would be perfect.

Very cuddly too in my experience.

Anyone have any tips for housetraining a puppy when you don't have a garden?

Particularly how you get past the "doesn't go no matter how often or long you go out, saves it for when you get home" phase?

I've tried starting every walk with the same stretch of road, which worked for a bit but has now worn off.

(puppy also doesn't seem to be into treats or verbal cues...)

We trained our chap in a block of flats.

Not saying our way is the best way but we just sucked it up and went up and down two flights of stairs over one thousand times in the first few months.

Initially we took him out every thirty minutes from morning to night, extending to every 60 as he progressed. In the crate inbetween, unless he was playing. Basically just followed what the puppy book we bought said about crate/toilet training.

He only pissed inside twice. Of course, our cat pissed inside about 50 times because we introduced a predator to the home so we hardly got away with it entirely.

Same technique. Trips down the stairs every hour and lots of praise when he got it right. No telling off when he got it wrong but he could definitely pick up in our disappointment when he had a couple of outlying accidents once he was getting the hang of it

We have a garden but not one you could loose a pup in (at the time) so I spent a lot of time standing there at all hours while he sniffed around his caged area. Inside we just used puppy pads. He did a lot of wees on the carpet but only a few of the other. Enzyme spray is your friend if you have carpets.

We found we need really high value treats to train him- dried liver and bacon or chicken or somesuch - to get his attention. Some dogs just aren't very food driven.

Looks like we’re getting a puppy! Highly likely that a beautiful little (for now) 9 week old GSD/Dutch malinois cross is jointing the family unit. I’ve never had a puppy before and because of the breed/size And the fact I have young kids, want to nail the training and socialising.

Can anyone recommend me good books for puppy training? Either general or breed/type specific.

PM me your address and I'll post you the puppy book we used.

Be aware that most of the breed specific books are general puppy books that have been branded as breed specific with some word replacements to part people from their money.

Malinois are very trainable. Lovely alert and intelligent dogs, bags of energy and very athletic, would love one if I had space for another. Great choice and good luck

Amazing - have PMed

I’m pretty excited. I’ve dogsat dogs before but never owned one. My wife grew up with GSDs.

@Markyboy yeah I’ve read they make great family dogs if trained well. The mum is a black GSD and this pup is all black too. Proper cute little guy. Probably won’t be little for long :-)

Don’t forget the obligatory photos

Ha, yeah. I have photos of him from the current owner but I’ll wait till we have him. It’s still not 100% yet (it’s a complicated situation) but looking more and more of a done deal. Will be spamming all channels with photos once he’s in the family obvs :-)

My wife and I really want a dog and although I'd like to take a rescue (been on the battersea list for ages) we've got a baby and a cat which seems to make it impossible to rehome a dog, also our cat is pretty particular so I think the only way to integrate a dog would be as a puppy.

We both love whippets and even though they're sighthounds they seem to be fine with cats they grow up with? We're not actually tied to a particular breed though, I only had mongrels when I was growing up and would probably prefer a mixed breed from a health standpoint.

Does anyone have any advice on where to look? Online ads just seem to be a nightmare, is it just a case of trawling though the kennel club? But what about mixed breeds is there a way to know you're buying from a reputable source?

Sorry for the all of the questions , just a bit clueless.

We both love whippets and even though they're sighthounds they seem to be fine with cats they grow up with?

I can only relay my experience. Our cat is leader of our pack. Our whippet is super respectful of our cat, even scared of it if the cat so much as raises a paw in his direction. If we put food on the floor, the whippet will let the cat eat first and wait patiently for his turn.

However, our whippet will also try to kill any other cat he might encounter away from the home.

One other thing to mention is that by introducing a dog to our cat's home we triggered about a year of him pissing on our bed, territory marking and other cat piss related issues. We must have been through about a dozen duvets and waterproof mattress covers. Plus all the dog beds the cat pissed in. It was frustrating and expensive. Totally worth it though. We actually reckon our cat is happier with a dog in the house now he's used to it. Proper companionship.

Cheers that's really helpful information, I'd read about the hunting of other cats and tbh our cat is pretty small and routinely attacked by all the cats in the area so I wouldn't mind her having a bit of back up in the garden!

With the marking of territory, do you live in a flat or a house? Our thinking was to keep upstairs as a cat only sanctuary which would only have her smell but I guess if they're stressed then it might not make a difference?

Did you get yours from a breeder and would you be able to recommend them?

The cat will be fine, mine used to studiously ignore/sit on/batter three bloody great labradors (all of which were pups when I got them). Dogs have no idea of scale and live in the absolute certainty that 'their' cat is bigger and tougher than they are.

Keeping upstairs dog-free is the only way to go, farting pooches on your bed is the immediate consequence of letting the bastards upstairs. We have a child gate at the bottom of the stairs.

We're a large flat all on one floor. Baby gate in the middle so half is cat only. Didnt do anything to stop the pissing.

We got ours from a breeder but they don't breed any more because of the new rules about maximum number of litters for small breeders. Basically new rules designed to protect dogs but actually has driven a lot of breeding underground to puppy farms. Text book shit legislation.

Reggie met and played with a podenco this morning. New to me but a very nice dog