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I got a puppy!
noir_blood
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Some might remember that I made a threat a few weeks ago about getting a dog. I didn't get a chance to update it, but before I get to my questions, I thought I would put some stuff out there that was brought up;
The GF and I have been together for almost five years, have lived togehter for four. She's really more of a fiancee, I just haven't gotten a ring yet.
While do both work eight hour days, we don't both go in/go out at the same time. My schedule is from 7-4, her's is from 10-7. We both also work about ten minutes away from home and have hour lunches, so we're definately going to be dropping by then.
If necessary, we're willing to put him in a doggie day care. To be honest, I would prefer that to be an alternative if at all possible.
We're fully aware of the cost, and time that having any type of pet entails.
So with that said, we ended picking up a Papillon/Shit Tzu mix. His name's Malone
Cute right? He's three months old.
What I'm looking for here is hopefully people's input on what to do and what not to do, as well as what to expect.
Crate Training- What's the best way to do it? Right now, we're putting him in the crate and living him there for an hour at a time, and then taking him out to play/hope he pees or poops.
The GF and I have been together for almost five years, have lived togehter for four. She's really more of a fiancee, I just haven't gotten a ring yet.
While do both work eight hour days, we don't both go in/go out at the same time. My schedule is from 7-4, her's is from 10-7. We both also work about ten minutes away from home and have hour lunches, so we're definately going to be dropping by then.
If necessary, we're willing to put him in a doggie day care. To be honest, I would prefer that to be an alternative if at all possible.
We're fully aware of the cost, and time that having any type of pet entails.
So with that said, we ended picking up a Papillon/Shit Tzu mix. His name's Malone
Cute right? He's three months old.
What I'm looking for here is hopefully people's input on what to do and what not to do, as well as what to expect.
Crate Training- What's the best way to do it? Right now, we're putting him in the crate and living him there for an hour at a time, and then taking him out to play/hope he pees or poops.
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Also, d'aaaaawwwwwwwwww.
That is a seriously cute dog. And with the way your schedules are set-up I wouldn't worry about having to put him in daycare. 6 hours alone with you guys popping in to walk him in the middle of that is not big deal at all.
To be honest, we never crate trained our small dog (a Pomeranian). We potty trained her to go outside and we kept her confined to the kitchen while she was still getting the hang of it. I'm not really sure why we would have kept her crated, she traveled on the floor in the car and never needed to be put in a crate to travel or for any other reason.
I'm glad you guys found a puppy, I hope everything works out great.
I think crate training is really useful and it speeds up potty training. My dogs are crated for long car trips (car harnesses for short trips) and it makes family holidays much easier as there are times it is just easier to have them safe and happy somewhere away from the commotion (like christmas morning, so much food that is poisonous to dogs and paper being thrown into the fireplace and ribbon and people walking around with big boxes in their hands and likely to step on or trip over dogs). Plus if they ever get sick and have to stay overnight at a vet or get injured and are put on crate rest if they aren't used to a crate that will just be added stress.
This is how I taught my dogs to eagerly go to their crates:
http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20dogs/Levels/LevelBehaviours/TL3Crate.html
If you are looking for more general information, you might want to read Ian Dunbar's Before you get your puppy and After you get your puppy. Both can be downloaded for free here (2nd and 3rd items):
http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads
Right now, and for the next month, the most important thing you can be doing with your dog is socializing it to people and other dogs. Try to find old people and young people and people wearing bathing suits and sunglasses (with summer puppies you have to seek out coats and hats) and using canes and wheel chairs. Try to find big dogs and little dogs and dogs with floppy ears and dogs with upright ears. Your dog doesn't actually have to interact with all these people and dogs, just get a chance to get a good look at them and have a positive experience near them (ie food). You don't want to let him walk around places where there are lots of dogs until he has finished her shots, but you can carry him and let her see all the other dogs and there wont be any risk of him getting sick that way.
After that, when you want to start working on more than just general life skills, I highly recommend this website:
http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Levels/LevelBehaviours/LevelsBook.html
She actually starts at the beginning and breaks it down into really manageable pieces. And it is free, so you can try it out and you aren't out anything if it isn't your thing.
Oh, and as a more general note, if you want your family to like your dog, you should know that once your pup is housetrained at home, you should still assume he has no idea he isn't supposed to potty in other people's houses. It took probably 4 or 5 houses for my dog to generalize and barns and stuff are still confusing for him. Especially going from a condo with one door to my parent's house which has 5 different doors, that was a bad assumption on my part that first visit.
Does your pup have a name yet?
EDIT: I thought of one more thing. Most puppies have puppy coats that really don't need to be brushed. Get him used to being brushed now anyways because he will need to be brushed as an adult and it will be much easier to get him used to being brushed as a puppy.
Miscellaneous advice that you probably already know: Stay on track with his vaccinations, de-worming, and flea control. Heartworm control too if you live in a region that has a heartworm problem (northeast, midwest, south). Parasite infestation is really gross and many are zoonotic.
Make sure you are proactive about socializing him with both other people, other dogs, and animals of other species. This will make him a nice calm member of society rather than one who freaks out when he encounters strangers.
Always reward him when he goes into his crate as it should be a happy place, not a punishment.
Don't let him nip or bite you even in play. Discourage jumping, even though he's not going to get very big it's a pain to have a dog jump on your leg when they get older and can lead to disc injury in the spine.
Keep training sessions short and positive. Reward with very small treats. Toy breed dogs get overweight rather easily so watch his intake. People food is bad and feeding it to him just leads to annoying begging.
Giving him plenty of his own toys will discourage him from turning your possessions into toys.