Got a puppy

[KyMama]

Well, we didn't go too long without a dog.  I wasn't sure if it was too soon after losing Little, but it seems to be a good thing for all of us.  Except for the cats, the cats are very unhappy with us.  lol   We adopted her from a shelter and they said she is a boxer/lab mix, but I think she is more boxer/shepherd because of her coloring.  I guess we won't know for sure until she gets a little older.  She definitely has a boxer personality.  

We are still working on a name because I just can't call her Blanche which is what the shelter had named her.  She's not a Blanche.  She reminds me of a bat, more specifically a flying fox so I'm leaning towards Luna.  That description sounds really weird, but if you could see her in person you'd understand.  

We haven't had a puppy in forever and even then they were outside dogs so I'm new to crate training.  I've been taking her out every hour or hour and half until I figure out how long she can wait.  She's only about 8 weeks so I figure better safe than sorry.  So far she is doing really good and she made it all night without any accidents.  She is the quietest puppy ever!  We were starting to get worried because she hadn't made any noise at all, not even when she was playing.  She finally whined a little when I put her in the crate last night and she gave me one little bark when I was getting her out this morning.   She's also really calm for a puppy.  She only gets really excited when we go outside or play with her with her toys.  Then she's perfectly content to lay back down on my feet and take a nap.  

Feel free to give me any puppy tips you have.  

Now for the fun part - pictures!


   

[aoconnor]

Oh my goodness, Puppy Love!!! She is a really pretty little girl:-). No puppy advice here, I haven't had a puppy in years now. But I wish you the best:-)

[shellymay]

KyMama, She is beautiful

[dodgesmammaw]

What a beautiful pup!

[motdaugrnds]

Oh she's adorable; and yes, I can see lab in her. Also, those eyes are so alert that "Luna" is a perfect name for her.

A tip about house training: A dog's digestive system is reliable; so watch her for about half an hour "after" you feed her to see how long after she eats that she uses the bathroom. After that, you will know when to let her out.

Another tip: Start "grooming" her, i.e. running your fingers all over her body, especially between her toes; and look inside her mouth and ears. That will teach her it is safe to be touched, which is quite helpful should she ever get hurt.

Another tip: Stay "calm" yet "assertive" around her so she will have no doubt you are the boss. It won't be long before that puppy becomes a dog and will definately have some muscle/weight on her.

[KyMama]

Thanks y'all.  I think we are doing pretty good with getting her settled and the house training.  She's had a couple of accidents, but both of those were because she got excited when my husband and oldest son came in from work.  Since then I've been taking her out when I know they are on the way home so she can be excited as she wants to be to see them.   We've started a feeding schedule so it makes everything a little more predictable with her and that has helped a lot.  

My oldest son said I took the fun out of having a puppy because I have so many rules.  The main rule is no rough playing by grabbing her face.  She's a puppy so she nips a little, but I don't want that encouraged.  And I've also set the words that we are using for her so it's not confusing with everyone saying something different for the same action.   I mean a simple no is sufficient.  I don't think she cares if you are saying no biting or no jumping right now.  She's actually really polite for a puppy with very little jumping.  Thankfully she sits quietly while waiting for her leash and she waits until we go out the door or up and down the steps before she moves.   I'm really trying to encourage this behavior because I know she'll be big enough to knock us down as she gets older.  

motdaugrnds, thanks for the tip about "grooming".  I'd already been rubbing around her face and ears, but I hadn't even thought about her toes.  I mean she seems okay when I've given her a "bath" with the wipes, but I'll make sure I rub them just because now.  I can't wait until she can have a real bath because I'm quite tired of the wipes already.  She has a vet visit this Friday for another round of vaccinations and they'll check her stitches so I'll know if she can get wet.  

The cats are still mad at us for bringing a dog in, but at least one of them is willing to call a truce in the evenings.  The rest of the day is spent with them working out who is in charge.   Thankfully, this cat was declawed when we adopted him so I don't have to worry about scratches.  



And just because there's nothing cuter than her with her pacifier chew toy.  


 

[nyhunter]

Nice pup.

[manygoatsnmore]

Luna is a sweet pup - it looks like you've hit the jackpot with a mellow, smart little girl. It's going to be a good match - you know what to do to prevent turning a good pup into a bad dog, and you have an easy pup to work with. Not to mention, she sure is pretty. Congratulations!

[countrymom22]

She's adorable! Sounds like you've got a good start on raising an awesome dog. Enjoy her and keep the pictures coming!

[aoconnor]

How is your pup doing now? I'd love to see updated pics!

[KyMama]

She's growing! We already had to go from a small to medium collar, and she weighed 13.6 lbs at the vet Friday.  Her legs look so long right now compared to when we brought her home. She's doing well with her manners and potty training, she's even started letting me know when she needs to go out by sitting in front of me and gently touching me with her paw.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how much to feed her.  The puppy food package tells me how much to feed her based on her grown up weight. How am I supposed to know what she's gonna weigh, we still haven't figured out what kind of mutt she is. lol   Although she may be part goat.  She loves to eat dandelions and actually pulls grass up by the root to eat.  Not that I'm intentionally letting her eat everything, she's just quicker than me first thing in the morning.  And rocks!  I have to keep the leash pulled up whenever we're near rocks because she wants to chew on them too.  

She looks like two different dogs in these pictures, they were both taken this morning.  I can't get a picture that shows her little underbite.  It's small, but makes her look like she's pouting.  You should see how many pictures I had to take just to get these two because she's either going nonstop or passed out sleeping.  lol  

 

[KyMama]

And back to sleeping already.  

[shellymay]

Not sure how she can getting any cuter? but she has and is growing well  I have a puppy on order (Brindle Anatolian) and still have 2 more weeks to go before I can pick her up, it is killing me (the wait) but seeing your girl makes it so much harder  

[aoconnor]

She is adorable!!! I love her color, it will be really interesting to see what she colors out as when she is older!

Depending on the feed you are using, I would just go by what YOU see when looking at her. Is she gaining weight well, but not getting heavy? Then feed her the amount you have been feeding. Is she looking a might bit thin? Then add a little kibble to each meal. If she is too big, decrease the amount a bit in each meal. Ideally, for a young puppy, I would feed smaller amounts several times a day rather than larger amounts twice daily. I wean mine back to twice a day at about 6-8 months of age.

Good luck with her, she sure is a cutie girl!

[KyMama]

shellymay, I couldn't imagine having to wait to get a puppy. Once we decided to get another puppy I wanted to get it right then. I only had to wait a few days until DH had a day off work and we found her. You could forget about me waiting weeks! lol

aoconnor, I think the surprise of what a mixed puppy turns out to be is a lot of fun! Who knows what breeds she has in her so we don't even really know how big she will be or anything. We had a free bag of puppy food from Petsmart that had her eating 2 cups a day and the new food is at most 1-1/4 cup a day and that's if she even gets over 50 pounds. If I go with 21-50 pounds it's 2/3 to 1-1/3 cups. It just seems like a big drop in the amount, but it is a better food so I'm sure that's the difference. I'm gonna do 1 cup a day when we get done transitioning and see how she does. I've got her on a schedule of 3 times a day right now so I'll stick with that for a few more months at least.

[KyMama]

We went back to the vet this morning for her 2nd round of vaccinations. She's definitely growing - she weighed 16.1 pounds! That's almost 3 pounds in a week. If she keeps that up she won't be sitting in my lap in the waiting area anymore. lol

[KyMama]

Luna went with me to pick up my son from work this evening.  The first picture is her waiting for me to get going and the second picture is how she rides.  She always lays down and props her head up on the console.  I love her harness because it hooks into the seat belt so she can't fall off the seat or go crazy in the car.  She did really good riding in the back seat by herself.  Normally I put her up front with me, but I didn't think my son would appreciate having to sit in the back.  lol  (She's not connected to the purple leash she just kept pulling it down to her.)

I think I might take more pictures of her than I do my kids.  

 

[manygoatsnmore]

She is just adorable...I love that face. She's really growing like a weed, isn't she? Is she always this mellow? She just looks like such a sweet, smart pup. You must be so pleased with her.

[Deleted]

OMGosh she's sooooooooo cute!! I love her fat little puppy belly and that face! How lucky - a calm puppy?! I've never met one of those. It's so sad, how fast they grow. We got a puppy about a year ago and I wish she would have stayed little longer. Has she chewed any of your shoes yet?

[Deleted]

Apr 10, 2016 3:30:13 GMT motdaugrnds said:

A tip about house training: A dog's digestive system is reliable; so watch her for about half an hour "after" you feed her to see how long after she eats that she uses the bathroom. After that, you will know when to let her out.   ADD:  First thing to do after waking up in the morning is to pick the puppy up and take them outside for their morning constitutional.  Never let their feet hit the ground.  They may not make it outside before peeing.

Another tip: Start "grooming" her, i.e. running your fingers all over her body, especially between her toes; and look inside her mouth and ears. That will teach her it is safe to be touched, which is quite helpful should she ever get hurt.  ADD:  I actually used a spoon to play with and run between their toes.  It gets them accustomed to metal around their toes and makes it easier when you start cutting their nails.

Puppy's brains are seemingly in permanent "Look, a butterfly!" mode.  Use that.  When the puppy is not paying attention to you and walking or running away, make a loud kissing noise like you would trying to imitate a bird.   Just purse your lips and suck in quickly, two or three times to get the puppy's attention and then call the puppy to you.  If you do this, you become the new, interesting butterfly and the puppy comes to you.  If you do this often enough it becomes a command and three years down the road you do not have to say "Fido, come!".  All you have to do is make the kissing noise and your dog will come to you.

Try not to constantly say "No!" all of the time when she is doing something that you do not want her to do.  You will usually be screaming it and after a while "No!" and screaming will lose their effect on the dog because they have heard it so often and the sky never fell.  Save "No!" for those really bad things that are life threatening and say it loudly.  

When a puppy was doing something that I really did not want them to do, but it was not life threatening, I usually just made the noise, "Ah!, Ah!" and they generally stop what they are doing.  You then call them to you and make it more fun to not do the bad thing that they were previously doing.  Do it enough and it also becomes a command for them to stop whatever it is that they were doing.

Teach her the command, "Easy."  I usually taught puppies this command when giving them a treat.  They always want to grab and gulp and sometimes they almost take a finger or two (I had Rotties and Akitas).  If they see the treat in your hand and try to grab for it, pull the treat away and say softly, calmly and slowly, "Eeeeeasy..." If they calm down and gently take the treat, praise them.  Use the "Easy..." command frequently enough and eventually when you use it you will immediately see the dog calm down.  It is a good to use when the dog gets bigger and is amongst little kids and the elderly or jumping into your bed.

The last command in this episode of "How to train your dog" is the command "Out!"  Eventually this command will mean for the dog to spit out whatever it is that the dog has in its mouth, be it your shoe, the neighbor's cat, the three week old roadkill from the side of the road or someone's arm (a very important command for Rotties and Akitas).  Some people use the command "Drop", but I have always used that for something else.  Use what you like.

It is best to start with this command as soon as possible as you may already know.  Again, you can start training the puppy using treats, but it is probably best to do it with a chew toy or bone or something.  It is imperative that you do not say "Out!" and expect the dog to know what you mean.  You have to show them.  So, give the command and then gently take whatever it is from their mouth.  If you do this when they are playing with a chew toy make sure that you praise them after they release the toy and then give it back.  Make it a game. 

Just remember to praise them when they do what you want them to do and try to keep from yelling commands at them.  Save the yelling for when it really matters and it scares the bejeebies out of them.

ETA:  She is a cute little bugger...

[KyMama]

Believe me when I say I know how lucky we are that she is such a smart, calm puppy. She is unbelievably calm in the house, but outside she goes into what we call "full puppy mode". I keep her on short leash until after she goes potty then I let her run and play if she wants. I started out carrying her, but now she is walking out on her own in the mornings. Her crate is only about 2 feet from the door so I'm not asking too much of her. Realistically we are probably outside with her walking faster than it'd be if I had to pick up her wiggly butt. lol



She hasn't eaten any shoes yet. But if you could see how many toys she has then you'd probably understand why. My husband may take my debit card away if I can't stop buying her toys every time I stop at the store.    Although we've had to convert her over to all Kong toys because she's destroyed everything else we've bought.



@trellis, That's a lot of helpful puppy tips to take in, thank you. I've decided to use the dremel style file on her nails instead of the clippers. The clippers make me nervous and I know I'd transfer that to her. I haven't used it on her nails yet, but I have turned it on while holding her paws and she didn't seem too worried about it. She was concentrating more on licking me more than anything else.



I haven't tried to kissing noise, but she does respond to a tongue clicking noise or me snapping my fingers. I found that out by trial and error around the house. It also works for my youngest son because he can do the tongue clicking too.



The word No is only getting used now for when she bites. I'm not talking about nipping, but actual biting. I spend more time telling my youngest not to wave his fingers around her or jerking his hands a lot than I have to spend correcting her. She does hear a "Ah! Ah!" sound a lot because she curious and wants to stick her nose in places it shouldn't be, like the cat's food. Not life threatening unless one of the cats sees her do it. lol



She's pretty gentle about getting treats off our hands so I haven't had to use any commands for that, but I like the idea of "Easy" if I need to. I probably wouldn't have thought of that word, but now it's stuck in my head and makes perfect sense. I'll be sure to start using it whenever she gets a treat so that's it familiar to her and I can correct any problems before they start.
 


She also hears "Drop it" a lot because of her need to weed the lawn and chew on rocks. I've worked on it with her with her toys a little, but she likes to fetch so most of the time she either drops them at my feet or slings it towards my face. You got pay attention on her return trip. I can't tell you how many times I've had to catch the ball back from her. lol I don't say "Out" because I ask her if she wants to go out, that would confuse me so I can't imagine what she'd be thinking.



The main thing I need to work on is her leash training so that I can take her for walks in our neighborhood.  We were walking in the yard earlier today and she started lunging at the birds and anything else that moved.  She's got some strength in those lunges and I don't want a 50+ pound dog dragging me for walks when she's fully grown.  And I'm still trying to figure out how much food to give her.  The vet said to feed her based on a large breed weight, but she still acts like she's starving half the time.  I know that she's getting plenty of food, but it's hard not to give her more when she looks at me with those big ole brown eyes.  Oh and she's started barking when someone knocks on the door.  It's the cutest thing to see her posture up and bark at her size.  I'm sure some people would tell me not to encourage the behavior, but I want her to me an alarm/guard dog since she's gonna be in the house with us.  

Thanks for all the tips and compliments!

[Deleted]

Apr 24, 2016 4:45:25 GMT KyMama said:

Entire Post...

I stayed away from recommending crate training because many people are so dead-set against it, but it really is the best way to house break a dog.  Just try not to make the crate the "sin bin" for when they do something wrong.  They may go there by themselves if you are mad, but do not send them there.  That should be their safe place.  And never drag them out of the crate to correct them or they may never not want to ever go back in.

Dremel tools for grinding nails is great for you, but you most dogs have a fit when it is turned on.  Use the dremel tool in a somewhat similar manner to the  way that I suggested using a spoon and she may be alright with it.

It really does not matter what type of noise (clicking or kissing) you use as long as you use something to attract their attention and the same something continuously.  If someone was especially gaseous they could probably loudly fart every time they wanted to get their dog's attention.  I would not recommend it as it might not be socially acceptable and I can only imagine what would happen if the dog's owner passed gas in their sleep.  The important thing is to find some way to attract their attention to you and use that same method regularly.

There is a way to stop them from biting, but many people think it is a little cruel.  I, personally do not think that it is cruel, but I can see where someone may abuse the method and cause problems.  If she is really into biting, especially hands and fingers, I would just set her up and try this method.   If she is biting your hand, gently grab her by the muzzle and gently roll her tongue over her sharp baby teeth so that she is actually biting her own tongue just a bit and say "No!"  It is not horrible if she yelps a little.  You want to make her uncomfortable and you want an adverse reaction.  You do not want to cause a puncture wound nor draw blood.  You just want them to associate that their tongue will hurt if they bite you.

I swear that I have never mentally screwed up any of my dogs and I cannot remember ever having to use this method more than a handful of times before the dog picked up on the fact that every time they bit my hand they would also bite their own tongue.  I would be careful about allowing young kids using this method though (in fact, I would not let them use it).  They might not do it right through misunderstanding and then all bets are off!!!

Again, it does not matter what word you use for a command as long as you consistently use the same command word for the same desired reaction each time.  I was visiting my parents once and had my Rottie bitch with me.  To make a long story short, my mother was eating in bed while reading, the dog was right there in bed with her inhaling whatever bits were offered and then my mother wanted to go to sleep.  I could hear my mother continuously saying "Down" and I knew exactly what happening.  After about two or three dozen "Down" commands without the desired result, my mother called out to me suggesting that my dog was not as smart as I claimed her to be.  I responded that the dog was smarter than my mother and doing exactly what she was commanded to do.  I also may have said something about the dog growing probably confused and questioning why this person kept giving her the same command over and over again when the dog was obviously following the command.  My mother finally asked what the command was to get my dog off of her bed and I told her the command was "Off!"  A moment or two later my mother sheepishly said "Off" and immediately after I heard the "Thump, Thump" of my dog jumping off of the bed and hitting the floor.

Which brings me to "Off!"  I used it to get my dog off of whatever it was that they were on that I did not want them to be on.  That usually meant furniture and people.  It is easiest to first teach them to get off of people because puppies usually like to jump up on people.  The easiest method that I have ever seen to break them of this habit is that when they jump up on you to grab them by their paws and hold them up away from your body like your are dancing with them.  Just hold the dog up by its paws until they feel uncomfortable and squirm.  When they start pulling away from you let go of their paws and say "Off!" and then praise the dog for having gotten off of you.  Do this religiously and within a week or two they will never again think about jumping up on you of their own free will. 

"Off" then becomes easily taught to the dog when trying to get them off of the couch.  Gently grab them by the collar and lead them off of the couch and say "Off!"  I cannot guarantee you that they will never get on the couch if you are not home, but what the master does not know, does not usually hurt them.

"Out" and "Outside"  To be honest, I have never given that a thought before and I have never noticed my dogs being confused before by it.  "Out" is a command normally given in a slightly to mostly stern tone of voice and sometimes yelled.  "Outside" is usually not said by itself.  It is almost always included in a question like, "You want to go outside?"  and the tone that you will use will be much different from the tone used to get them to spit out the kid's gerbil. 

The tone of your voice matters a lot, especially when they are puppies because they do not always understand the commands right away.  You can say to a dog, "Tomorrow I am going to get rid of your lazy, nasty butt and take you to the kind of shelter that will put you to sleep unless someone picks you up within 10 minutes," and depending on the tone of your voice they will either lick your face or hide under the bed.   They do not understand the words.  They only understand the tone of your voice.

Teaching the dog to walk calmly on a leash.  Unfortunately, the best way to do this is to suffer through an obedience class where there is a dozen or so other unruly puppies on leashes.  There is a lot going on and distractions galore, but it is best to do this when they are small and still manageable.  Also, the "Easy" command comes into play here and helps a lot if they know it already.  When they start pulling you give the "Easy" command and then the "Heel" command again.

Honestly, all of my dogs were trained off-lead before I ever really had to put them on a lead.  I would take them to a park where there were lots of distractions and after they lost track of me I would hide from their view and call them or make the kissing noise.  Once they noticed that I was nowhere to be seen they would spazz wondering where their human had gone to.  I would jump out of my hiding spot as they got close or were going somewhere I did not want them to go, calling them and they would always run right to me.  Do that to a puppy a few dozen times and I guarantee you that they will pay a lot more attention to where you are at all times and tend to stay closer to you.  After all, you are the source of their food, fun and a warm bed.  They do not want to lose that.

Determining how much to correctly feed a mixed-breed dog, especially one where you are only guessing as to her lineage, has to be right up there with trying to give the correct answer to the meaning of life.  Ask 100 people and you will get 100 different answers.  I would let her eat the amount for a large breed dog, but if you notice that she is getting a little chunky, cut back on the amount.  And if she actually is a large breed dog I would keep the protein percentage of the dog food down a bit.  You do not want her getting too big, too fast.

I see nothing wrong with her posturing and barking a little when someone knocks at the door.  You might even want to praise her for being vigilant.  Going ballistic and uncontrollable would not be acceptable and would need to be corrected.  Let her announce herself.  I would make sure that she sees me checking who is at the door (by looking out a window or through the peep hole) and if everything is OK in my mind I would tell her, "It's OK" and open the door to your guest.  You might even want to throw in an "Easy" command to get her to relax a bit, but be prepared to use the "Off" command.   She will take her cues from your reaction to who is at the door be it through your actions and/or the tone of your voice.

[mamahen]

Her coloring reminds me of a Belgian malinios.

[KyMama]

My baby girl is getting bigger.  She finally managed to jump up on the couch, and she was real proud of herself.  

[shellymay]

Yep small steps, in a week it will be your bed

[aoconnor]

She is gorgeous! What a lovely girl:-)

[motdaugrnds]

I am enjoying this thread so much; and watching Luna grow. Thanks for sharing.

You're certainly getting a lot of great information & suggestions here; and you sound quite good at understanding how to deal with that pup.

She is still so beautiful and, yes, do get her trained to a leash before she gets much larger. (If you have a swimming pool, it is quite easy to teach her to follow the lead in the water...no weight. LOL )

[KyMama]

We weighed her last week and she's up to 20 lbs already.   She's eating 3 cups of large breed puppy food a day and I swear she's still hungry.  The vet said her weight is fine and keep feeding her the same.  

I wish I had a pool. When I was filling my watering can the other day she stuck her head in the hole with the water hose.  That turned into a game of "catch the water" so she ended up thoroughly soaked and loving it.  This is the same dog that doesn't like to get in the bath tub.  



And I definitely have to get her leashed trained.  My yard is not fenced and I'd really like to walk her through the neighborhood without her trying to eat everything on the side of the road.  She does decent when we are in the yard so I'm hoping that it will get better with practice.  

We are having one "problem" with her and that's her excitement when she meets new people.  She's a jumper.    I hate dogs that jump on people, it's just one of those things that really bugs me.   Unfortunately we don't meet a ton of new people so it's hard to practice.  We are currently working on the "off" command so I'm hoping it will transfer to new people too.  Luckily she's very food motivated so I think we'll get it as long as I don't run out of treats.  

[shellymay]

I know lots of labs that love water, so the shelter is probably right on having lab in her mix

[Maura]

To leash train, I start with a 20’ lead and do long line work. Clip the leash on (I prefer a harness) and start walking. When she comes to the end of the leash, change directions. Don’t drag her, just keep her moving with you. Keep moving. You can change directions before she starts pulling, do a triangle or star pattern, or even a square. The idea is that she has to pay attention to you: you are leading the hunt. It should not take long before you find that you are never pulling her. This means she is paying attention to you. This could take a few minutes, could take twenty minutes, if she is really stubborn it could take days.

Do long line work a few times in your own yard and all over, front, back, sides. After a few days take her to a park and repeat. She learns to stay close to you and pay attention to where you are. Use the park a few days, then go to a parking lot and repeat. Look for places you can walk her in.

Teach her sit and get actors. When she runs up to the actor, he holds out a treat and gets her to sit. Treat, pet. Once she catches on to sitting for the stranger’s treat, replace the treat with a nice rub, no pats.

When doing long line work, work in anything you’ve been teaching her: come, sit, down, wait,… She should sit when you tell her to sit whether it is right next to you or twenty feet from you. Teach her to heel by getting her to come to you, hold a treat at your knee, and keep treating while she walks beside you. Have her at the heel for longer and longer periods.