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So Nyx made a complete 180 overnight from cute puppy to well behaved dog. I was shocked and thought something was wrong. We decided to leave her out finally for the night to see how she would react. She curled up on the couch and slept the entire night. Then at 7:30 when my alarm went off she jumps into bed to snuggle a bit. Throughout the day she is all relaxed and listens to every command the girlfriend asks of her, heels when we walk etc. So now I'm really freaking out because I'm so accustomed to the puppy insanity. I start checking for injuries, test her appetite and play with her for a bit to see if she's lethargic. Nothing. Eats her dinner, plays 30 minutes of frisbee and then just curls up on the couch after 10pm. She's only 11 months old and is acting like she's 2+. Amazing.
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Mar 25, 2014 14:42
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Thwomp posted:Don't sweat it. We're all nervous when leaving them alone. Even now that Linus is nearly two, I still occasionally have irrational fears. You'll get used/adapted to it. So this weekend we didn't have any plans, and I got to really observe the dogs in their 'natural habitat' during the day. We went on a few walks throughout the day, to the park later in the day, but we had a "lazy weekend" after recent insanity, so the dogs literally just slept on the bed with us most of the day. A few little bursts of energy, but v0v. Interesting thing that Artemis did, though, and I want to see what the hive mind thinks of this: She seemed to hold her pee/poop the whole time we would have been at work normally. I walked them every....2-2 1/2 hours? And even though she'd come outside, I never once between 7AM and 5PM saw her pee or poop. As soon as we would have "arrived home" she went normally, no issue. Is that normal? She's not having any issues, no health problems or anything. Is it just because she's in the routine? I've never experienced something like that before. We'll continue to crate when we're at work, but I'm really becoming more confident that she'll behave well (or at least not have accidents) if we don't crate her all the time!
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Mar 25, 2014 15:06
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My girlfriend's family just rescued a 4 month old male border collie mix last weekend. They also have a 10 month old female Aussie/GSD/boxer/etc mix who's been with the family since 6 weeks old (I've posted about her on here before). She's very active and plays well with other dogs when we take her to the dog park. When we let her meet the new puppy for the first time through a gate it was positive, tails wagging, no growling from either. However, when we removed the barrier and let them meet for real, all she wants to do is get the puppy to play with her and she plays rough. She stands over him, nibbles his ears and does the "pouncing" thing trying to get him riled up to play with her (Similar to this ->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSd5gYfRgoY). He just licks her and seems a lot calmer and not interested in playing with her (he might still be adjusting from his journey too) until she crosses a line with him and he growls and snaps at her. This just seems to rile her up more and we have to step in. Right now, she won't leave him alone and we have to constantly supervise her. Is this normal behavior? At what point should we step in to correct either of them (I'm assuming we should correct her for bothering him), or just let nature play out the dominance hierarchy? I realize that it is very early introducing them (It's been about 3 days) and that might be part of the problem. We do have her starting group obedience training this Saturday and I'm hoping the presence of lots of dogs will help her. Bonus picture of the two monsters  
lazerwolf fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 17:31
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This maybe falls outside of pure puppy/new owner question, but I could use an outside opinion on a dog I'm considering adopting. Me: I've had one dog I've cared for on my own (family had one as well), a ~7 year old beagle mix named Minnie that I adopted from SPCA about 2 years ago. She was very well behaved when I adopted her, needed little training, and I ended up giving Minnie to a friend who babysat her regularly as their 3 year old daughter had fallen in love with her (also I was moving from Dallas to Chicago and Minnie was not a fan of the little snow we got in Dallas). The Dog: Visited Chicago PAWS this weekend and met Shadow Cat, an 11 month old retreiver mix with special needs. I've spoken to ~4 different volunteers and I've gotten impressions ranging from "she just needs a fairly quiet home" to "she pretty much needs full time care/observation", and I'm frustrated from the lack of coherent picture. I'm supposed to meet with her trainer later this week, but I've been told:
What do I need to be asking/looking for to make the right decision here? I think I can provide a stable and quiet home (no kids, no other pets, no crazy parties/late nights), and if it helps in the short run I can probably get a walker for a few months, although I'd rather not plan on that long term. Also I don't expect to move out of Chicago any time soon. The short time I've spent with Shadow Cat, she's been a quiet sweetheart. She spends about a minute getting comfortable to a new person, but after that she's on her side looking for belly rubs and kisses.
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Mar 25, 2014 17:59
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It's just a shot in the dark, but it sounds like the dog probably has some aggression/reactivity issues exacerbated by anxiety. Has anyone been blunt with you about what "special needs" means? How eager are you to take on what may be a several year project? My mantra has always been to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Assuming this dog is the worst it can be, would you be willing and able to care for it?
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Mar 25, 2014 18:19
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I have an anxious and reactively loud (but not aggressive) dog. I wouldn't take on an anxious dog again - he took years to housebreak, years to partially crate train (knows to go in and lie down, but stays in work mode the entire time). I still have to walk him with a pocket of treats and play LAT to get us past the neighborhood dogs.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:33
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a life less posted:It's just a shot in the dark, but it sounds like the dog probably has some aggression/reactivity issues exacerbated by anxiety. Has anyone been blunt with you about what "special needs" means? How eager are you to take on what may be a several year project? Well I guess that's where I'm at. I don't think I have the capacity to deal with the absolute worst case situation- I couldn't provide someone who would be home most of the day during the work week (I can probably afford a walker for 30 minutes 3-4 days a week), If she has some real anger issues I'd be worried that I'm up to the task given how little training Minnie needed, etc etc. I'll talk to the Trainer and I guess ask what the need to see from me to determine if it's really going to work.  I feel bad too as she's clearly a sweetheart.
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Mar 25, 2014 19:02
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I don't know if any of y'all were like emotionally invested or whatever but we were able to keep our GSD/beagle puppy named Maia in the apartment thanks in large part to advice & training methods offered by this thread & the training thread. You guys, no bullshit, were instrumental in saving my dog. Have some pictures:    She's much better with other dogs now. I can't remember if I mentioned it in here or the other thread or at all but I took her to my buddy's house who has a 140 pound Labradane and a 100 pound lab/mastiff mix--she chased both of them out of their own backyard, the big bully. I don't know what changed but she has a blast at dog parks and on dog trails several times a week and is rarely aggressive. She seems much more timid now than when we got her which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. She sits, comes when called even when playing with other dogs, is totally housetrained, doesn't pull on the leash when walking and apparently no longer barks while we're gone. Her recovery is coming along nicely--she still guards the leg and will limp after prolonged use but some Ibuprofen mashed into some Pupperoni quickly takes care of that. At this point I have few complaints. She occasionally dives into the trash while we're gone and chewed up a hat of mine last week but it's just little stuff and I wouldn't trade her for anything.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:13
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Sharzak posted:At this point I have few complaints. She occasionally dives into the trash while we're gone and chewed up a hat of mine last week but it's just little stuff and I wouldn't trade her for anything. This is easier to fix than you think-is there a reason to you don't crate or pin her up while you're out of the house? Most people do this for the safety of the dog as well as their stuff. Garbage especially has a lot of stuff very dumb dogs can choke on or eat.
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Mar 26, 2014 05:10
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She doesn't take well to being confined. If I leave her with me in my bedroom with the door shut she will whine at the door until I open it, walk out into the living hallway, and come lie back down exactly where she was just fine. We got her a crate and tried crate training her but her incessant barking got us a notice from the landlord to shut the dog up or leave. Now that we let her have the run of the house there's no more noise. We hide the garbage can behind closed doors if we are going to be gone for longer than an hour.
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Mar 26, 2014 05:28
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Sharzak posted:She doesn't take well to being confined. If I leave her with me in my bedroom with the door shut she will whine at the door until I open it, walk out into the living hallway, and come lie back down exactly where she was just fine. Putting the trash can away is perfectly fine as a management technique. If you want to go low-pressure for long-term crate training, take the door off the crate (or tie it open) and leave it in her normal chilling-out spot. Toss treats in there occasionally. Train 'go to your crate' as a trick. Basically take the scary confinement part of it out of the picture until she thinks it's an awesome place to be.
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Mar 26, 2014 06:28
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We tried that for quite some time. Left treats in there for her to discover, etc., she just straight up does not like feeling cramped. We did what was recommended on the ASPCA website and a few other places but she just doesn't like the crate. Our favorite thing I've trained and what I'm most proud of is "bring it to me!" Basically I point at a thing, say bring it to me, and she grabs it and brings it. Far from groundbreaking but I thought it was pretty cool. She also is really good about dropping the ball when we are playing fetch-- I grew up with dogs who would chase the ball then hoard it.
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Mar 26, 2014 07:51
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So related to my earlier question, and feel free to send me to the cat thread for this, but is there any way that we can work with the cat to do better with the dog, rather than making it a one way street? The puppy is doing really, really well and continues to improve with her every day, but our cat is a runner, not a fighter, and I'm worried that we're going to have far more trouble getting her comfortable around him than him around her.
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Mar 26, 2014 17:31
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Lots of vertical space and other areas where the dog can't enter. You could also implement classical conditioning to have the cat associate good things with the dog too.
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Mar 26, 2014 17:34
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Eegah posted:Just curious, what do dogs get out of a 'dog run' that a more traditional play area doesn't satisfy? I only know of one or two dog runs (instead of dog parks or on-leash parks) and don't really know the concept. Mainly I am worried about them getting into trouble when they're home during the day. They're both smart and while they are reasonable in their crates, I personally feel bad leaving them in a crate for more than five or six hours other than at night to sleep. The biggest issue is most days I can come walk them for half an hour at lunch, but my job doesn't always accommodate this. I'd feel better knowing they had some room to run around and not get into trouble and not be accidentally stuck in a crate for ten hours. That's why I was curious- would a smaller enclosure be more ideal if they'd generally be in for a couple five or six hour stretches which are occasionally ten if their morning and evening routines were the same? Speaking of, with the newer puppy (Lizzie) we've gotten her routine down but she always looks at me like the biggest rear end in a top hat on earth when I take her out in the morning. I usually take her out for the last time about midnight and then at 5am I wake her up. She's three months old, should I be letting her sleep longer uninterrupted?
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Mar 27, 2014 07:47
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Eegah posted:Just curious, what do dogs get out of a 'dog run' that a more traditional play area doesn't satisfy? I only know of one or two dog runs (instead of dog parks or on-leash parks) and don't really know the concept. Dog runs are basically just rectangular enclosures people usually put in their yards, that way their dog can have some space but is also blocking off the full yard(so the dog cant get into as much trouble by getting into stuff it isn't supposed to, generally, like the garbage, or eating the deck). This is a pretty good example. Some people will build them attached to the side of their house for easy entry/exit. Mulloy posted:Mainly I am worried about them getting into trouble when they're home during the day. They're both smart and while they are reasonable in their crates, I personally feel bad leaving them in a crate for more than five or six hours other than at night to sleep. From what I've heard, dogs mostly just sleep if there isn't much to do, but as long as it has plenty of spots of shade you might as well. At least if they're in an outdoor run they can eliminate somewhere not in their crate. Also I don't know the laws where you live, but here there has to be some kind of enclosure if a dog is outside in a run or the yard(see the dog houses in the example above). As far as the puppy sleeping, IMO, if they're still sleeping let them sleep and praise your lucky stars. All puppies are different, some you have to do the "waking up every 2-3 hours" thing, some are like my shiba puppy, who has held it 8 hours through the night since she was 6 weeks. Just check in with her periodically to make sure she isn't staring at you like a hawk, and/or whining. Otherwise enjoy your sleep.
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Mar 27, 2014 10:14
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Ooooh okay, so kindof a gigantic outdoor crate then. That's cool; had it in my mind it was some sort of dog-parkish supervised activity. Thanks.
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Mar 27, 2014 16:22
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Well the Girlfriend just got a regular 9-5 job now so Nyx will be left unattended for 8 hours at a time now. She has done it before so I know she can manage but is there anything I should be worried about? Separation anxiety or the likes? She is 11 months old now, can hold her bladder like a champ and we are now letting her sleep outside of the crate at night.
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Mar 27, 2014 16:40
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I'm just going to quote myself from the last page.Thwomp posted:Most dogs can handle being left alone outside a crate all day but you've got to build up to it slowly. We first had Linus alone in his crate for a few hours and I'd run home to let him out. That turned into just lunchtime visits but still crated.
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Mar 27, 2014 18:22
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Yeah, Tater had the place to himself for 9 hours a day by eight months or so and frankly he's better behaved when I'm gone than when I'm there. He just sleeps all day. Obviously it varies quite a bit from dog to dog.
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Mar 27, 2014 20:20
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Eegah posted:Yeah, Tater had the place to himself for 9 hours a day by eight months or so and frankly he's better behaved when I'm gone than when I'm there. He just sleeps all day. I think she'll be fine. Might be a rough week or two but she's a quick learner.
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Mar 27, 2014 20:29
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How much barking should I be expecting if I have cats and the crate is uncovered? At night I put a cover on the crate, but during the day I leave it off. She stops barking after a few minutes but generally continues to bark. (It's not whining or anything, and the cats aren't doing anything beyond existing in her line of sight.) I live in a house so it's not a problem for neighbors if she barks, but this morning she's been going strong and being far more vocal than the first couple days in the house.
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Mar 28, 2014 17:18
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So, last Xmas I asked loads of questions about (great dane) breeders here and sensibly got steered away from a backyard breeder. A couple of months ago, we then visited our Johnnie Danes, who had some amazing Danes and it was a no brainer to go with them. They had a breeding planned, which also timed in much better with our schedule and I just got a phonecall from them after the ultrasound and they confirmed that there was atleast 5 puppies, of which one of them would be ours. It'll look something inbetween these two:   Wont be able to take it home until end of June, but I'm stoked!.
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Mar 29, 2014 03:07
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I've grown up with dogs my entire life but this is the first time I'm raising a puppy. He's coming tomorrow and I'm looking for ways to introduce him to his new home and help him adjust. Edit: I did read the OP but I didn't see anything on this. I might have accidentally skipped it. ThatPazuzu fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Mar 30, 2014 |
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Mar 30, 2014 04:47
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Your best bets are: a) The OP, b) Ian Dunbar's Before and After You Get Your Puppy, and c) a camera.
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Mar 30, 2014 06:13
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Eegah posted:Your best bets are: Well, turns out they had trouble scheduling vaccinations so I won't get him until Wednesday. But they brought him along for a home inspection. He explored and sniffed and peed a little but was otherwise a friendly and well behaved pup. I think he'll be semi-acclimated when I pick him up. He also loves cuddles. 
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Mar 30, 2014 23:25
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so the puppy coming home this Friday. I'm getting pretty nervous/excited already. still need to go grab a kong and other small stuff, but otherwise i'm good! never had a dog before.
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Mar 31, 2014 12:02
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Emushka posted:so the puppy coming home this Friday. I'm getting pretty nervous/excited already. still need to go grab a kong and other small stuff, but otherwise i'm good! First time dog owner here. They will test your wits for the first few months but the payoff is completely worth it. At 11 months old our lab/retriever is just a giant suck who loves to play frisbee and give kisses. Just stay calm, never get angry with it and spend a little time training it daily and you're golden.
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Mar 31, 2014 14:38
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My new 8 week old cocker spaniel (english show type) puppy is super cute and really sweet but I am exausted!! He screams and cries and stress poops when left alone Last night he was doing this until 3.30 am!! I visited him 3 times (when he was relatively quiet) in this time and ignored him and just cleaned him up, dragged him outside to poop and plonked him back on his bed until he stayed and slept. He is shut in my tiny kitchen at night with his crate, an alternative bed and a puppy pad. I hoped to crate train him but he hates the crate, I can get him to reluctantly enter to eat dinner or high value treats but he wont stay in there. I have two types of Kong but he isnt particularly toy motivated. I know it is only early days, he came home friday night, and he is tiny but I need to be able to leave him for a couple of hours here and there, I also NEED sleep. Any tips /reassurance welcome!
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Mar 31, 2014 17:01
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For the first few nights I slept in front of the crate and stuck my fingers in when my pup fussed. I also kept her crate in my room for the first few months. Then, it got moved downstairs once she was more comfortable with it. YMMV.
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Mar 31, 2014 17:05
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My wife and I slept next to Linus' crate for the first few nights, taking turns letting him out. What may help (in addition to keeping a strict schedule/routine) is some white noise and a warm water bottle. We used a ticking clock and we wrapped the water bottle in one of my shirts I wore all day. It helped Linus with being away from his litter mates and feel like he was close to us, even when we started sleeping away from him.
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Mar 31, 2014 17:11
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Not calling anyone out or anything but this page has a lot of people talking about their new or soon-to-be-new puppies without accompanying pics 
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Apr 1, 2014 02:05
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m.hache posted:First time dog owner here. They will test your wits for the first few months but the payoff is completely worth it. At 11 months old our lab/retriever is just a giant suck who loves to play frisbee and give kisses. thanks! It's a pinser btw. here's a pic! Emushka fucked around with this message at 12:41 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 10:56
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So we're trying to get Oliver used to "his" room, which is a spare bedroom in our house that we want to turn into my office/his den for times when we're gone until we trust him to range about the house on his own. He doesn't seem to have separation anxiety in the sense that he's never had an accident while we've been gone, or destroyed anything. That said, he has worked out pretty quickly what going into this room means: we're going somewhere without him, and he doesn't like to go into it. What I've been doing to work on it is sleeping in there with him in the mornings. I go to bed fairly late, and then wake up quite early so I can take care of him while my wife is getting ready in the morning, so instead of going back to bed in our bedroom when she leaves, I'e just been going into the spare bedroom, and letting him up on that bed with me. We usually sack out for an hour and a half to two hours. I guess I'm just wondering if I'm going to totally ruin this dog by sleeping in the same bed with him like this. He seems to get the difference between "our" bed and "his" bed in the spare room, so I'm not worried about him getting up on furniture so much as I am him getting overly territorial about me or dependent on someone sleeping near him. For the moment we still have him sleeping in his crate at night in a separate room, which he does fine with, despite not wanting to actually go INTO the crate.
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Apr 1, 2014 14:15
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You need to build a positive association with the room and going into his crate. Make it seem like the coolest thing in the world- everytime he goes in there asked or unasked, throw a praise party and shower him with cookies. Do this just through out the day or randomly, and also when you get ready to leave. That way its not always "people are leaving, I have to go to this lovely room/ crate by myself" but rather "loving SWEET TREATS".
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Apr 1, 2014 14:28
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We're definitely doing that, it just isn't working quite as well as we'd hoped. I don't know if he's too smart or just not motivated enough by treats, or if we're doing something wrong with the treat training. I'm also just trying to find as many ways as possible for him to not associate ME with having to go in his room or his crate. Because of how our schedules work, I'm usually the one who has to crate him, while my wife is the one who ends up letting him out. I try to be the one to let him out as often as possible and she crates him whenever schedules work that way, but we just want to try and anticipate issues he might have, so I'm trying to find as many ways as I can to help him have positive experiences not just with the room/crate, but with me in them. Like I said, it's very odd. He does just fine once he's in. Hardly wines, immediately concentrates on the kong and treats that are in there for him, and settles down quickly. He just has trouble going in. Oddly enough, he has the same issue with getting into the car. Rides just fine, but we have yet to get him to go in on his own more than two paws to get a treat.
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Apr 1, 2014 15:28
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Eegah posted:Not calling anyone out or anything but this page has a lot of people talking about their new or soon-to-be-new puppies without accompanying pics  6 hours until I get to bring this pup home.
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Apr 1, 2014 15:32
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McCloud24 posted:We're definitely doing that, it just isn't working quite as well as we'd hoped. I don't know if he's too smart or just not motivated enough by treats, or if we're doing something wrong with the treat training. I'm also just trying to find as many ways as possible for him to not associate ME with having to go in his room or his crate. Because of how our schedules work, I'm usually the one who has to crate him, while my wife is the one who ends up letting him out. I try to be the one to let him out as often as possible and she crates him whenever schedules work that way, but we just want to try and anticipate issues he might have, so I'm trying to find as many ways as I can to help him have positive experiences not just with the room/crate, but with me in them. Artemis does something similar with her crate. She fully knows what time it is when we're about to leave for work and she's about to be crated, so she'll stand at the end of the hallway and stare at me, "I know what you want, and you can't have it!" style. Honestly, I just try to up the treat value for her (normally we use Zukes and for this purpose and new training we have these grain-free-god knows what treats that they go BANANA'S for) and she'll run face first into the crate's door just to get inside it for that sucker. Jada seems to not mind the crate nearly as much, and she'll just mozy on in and lay down until I get her a treat too. I'd say if he's fine once he's inside the room, whether or not you're in it, that you should work on getting in the room. Maybe train it as a trick, a la "go to your room!" and he gets mega rewards for going in that room in particular. You said he seems to see a difference between the bedroom/his room so maybe that wouldn't be a hard thing to pull of. Start from right outside the door, and then entice him into the room. The SECOND he puts a paw in, click and treat. Keep it up, once he is great at stepping into the room, now you want to go for full entrance. Once he walks through the threshold, CLICK AND TREAT, etc. You incorporate the "go to your room" cue, or whatever you want to use, and then once he is reliably able to go from outside the door to inside the door, you start increasing the distance. Go for a foot or two further from the door. Then once he's got that, go for 5 feet. Then 8. Then 10. Then from down the hall. Then from around the corner. Hell, maybe even do it from another room altogether, so he leaves through one door, and then goes in through another. If you trust him in that room with your furniture, maybe you can leave some toys in there for him, so that he's got stuff to do. Make that the playroom, where the toys stay. I'm sure more will chime in, but this is what comes to me when I put myself in your shoes. Hope it helps.
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Apr 1, 2014 15:38
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Thanks for the replies! He was a bit better last night, he took about 20mins to stop wimpering and just got noisy at 4am but I took him out then he settled down. Not sure how to post a pic from my phone but here is a link to a photo of him [url] https://www.flickr.com/photos/liz_tyler/13188921264/ /url]
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Apr 1, 2014 16:28
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Isn't it funny with dogs how the day you make a post mentioning how he isn't good at going into the car on his own, can sometimes be the day he decides he can do it? Ridiculous.
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Apr 1, 2014 18:14
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