Raising a Puppy

[Sonor]

Well we just got a new family member, a Belgian Tervuren puppy. She is our forth of this breed as we really have grown fond of their traits.  However, it has been 3 years since our last dog died and well, we have forgotten how much work it takes to raise a puppy of any breed. She did not come crate trained or house broken. I can live with the razor puppy teeth but my wife is having issues with cut up hands. So, anyone got ideas on how to crate train, house break, or stop being a chew toy for this little monster would be appreciated. (As my wife says, "It's hard to stay mad at her when she's so darn cute.")

[TEWKS]

Cute for sure!  
 

The teething (on your hands) can be stopped pretty quickly by folding her Jowls onto her own teeth. She’ll find out really fast that it hurts when she bites down. 
 

Housebreaking is just bringing her outside way more often than you think you should, and praising her when she goes.

 

Crate training is just time, during the day a blanket to darken it down might help. Maybe a treat when she’s put in the crate. It will come a time where she puts herself in when she’s sleepy.

 

A thousand different ways to do it, mine are probably wrong 999 times out of the 1000. 
 

It’s work for sure, everyone can agree on that! 
 

Good luck! 

[Hosstage]

I would lie by the crate with our dogs, play with them there, pet them, talk gently, give them small treats, put a treat in the crate, let them come back out and have another, put a treat back in, close the gate but not locked, let them back out, then just move away and do something else with them, do it again and lock them in, walk away. Leave them there for a while then let them out, do this often over a few days, get them comfortable with it. And of course never use the crate for punishment, it should always be a safe place for them.

God makes puppies cute so you don't murder them! Good luck with that pup, he's a cutie. We also haven't had a dog in three years, and no puppies for probably 20 years. We're looking for an older dog to live the life of Reilly with us. It will find us, soon I think.

[Dave Glen]

Check out Will Atherton utube videos, best I've seen.

Dave Glen

Australia 

 

 

[Sonor]

Thanks all - it's been a number of years since our last puppy, so it is like learning all over again.

[Hosstage]

5 hours ago, Sonor said:

Thanks all - it's been a number of years since our last puppy, so it is like learning all over again.

It sure is! That's why you get a new puppy every 5 years, then you have the puppy, the 5 year old to help teach it, and the old dog that gives both of them the stink eye!

[Rougarou]

House break:  When it eats, bring it outside, when it drinks, bring it outside, when it plays, bring it outside, when you wake up, bring it outside, before you go to sleep, bring it outside,.....and wait, soon as number one or number two is done, treat and praise, should take just a few days for the dog to figure it out,.....and, if you really want to go the additional step, take it to the exact same spot, that way, you don't have land mines all over the yard,....dog will associate that one spot with doing the do.

 

Chewing,.....well, if it chews something it's not supposed to, immediately remove what it's chewing and put what it is allowed to chew in its mouth.  No smacking the dog,...but loud guttural corrections from you should work......'specially if your hand is the chew toy........do what the dog parents would do.

 

Crate training:  If it's for the night only, put the dog in and semi-ignore,....it'll yelp to get out.  My Rottie did for a bit until she understood that the crate was her home for the evening and it was nite-nite time.  'Bout six-eight months later, she no longer needed to be in the crate at night or while we were away for the day.  She could hold her bladder and number two nine+ hours, and the chewing was corrected.  For comfort, place a shirt that you have worn in there with the dog,...it's that familiar smell that will relax it a bit.

 

Time and patience and repetition and dominance.  The dog should know where it stands on the pecking order of life and it ain't at the top.  When we got the Rottie, the oldest grandboy was just some months old.  I'd have the Rottie lay down, and put the grandboy on top the dog, to establish that the little one was "above" her. 

 

Also, all of the commands that I taught the Rottie included my own hand signals.  Most of the time, I didn't have to tell her to sit or stay, I just held a finger up or held a fist, if I wanted her to lay down, I pointed down.

 

Good luck with it all.

 

   

 

 

[TEWKS]

That’s a great trick, I never could get any of our dogs to do that. 
 

So, while I was at START this year our little rat chaser got sick and had to be put down.  She was 14 and we had to start sticking her with needles twice a day (insulin) and she was doing ok but crashed hard and the vet couldn’t help her.

 

Anyway, the plan was to phase out the dogs for a little more freedom but try to tell that to a twelve year old with a broken heart.

 

Long story short, a momma Yorkie up in NH is about to pop and Kiley has her name on one of them.

 

[Rougarou]

Ya, we're not getting anymore pets.  The cat we had, which was toilet trained, got wrapped up by a black snake last year.  The Rottie, I had to put down, and I aint'a gonna do that/go through that again.

 

Here's the cat doing numba one,.....we ended up getting an automatic flusher so we didn't have to keep checking.  Wife said she didn't want a litterbox in the house, so, toilet training it was.

 

[MikeB60]

Just realized I was surrounded as I read this post.  We've had at least two dogs and as many as five since 1990.  Can't imagine not having a mutt around the house.  We had the cat for 10 years, I've grown to like her but she is the last cat for us.

[Rinkydink]

Hell, We’ve got four dogs and a cat. All housebroken but we have a doggie door and the older dog taught the other three and cat to go outside. No litter box needed. Still a slip up here and there during thunderstorms. No crate. I sleep with the wife AND four dogs. Some breeds are harder to housebreak than others. Good luck!!
 

[szurszewski]

I really wanted a dog as a kid but neither household (parents divorced when I was very young) would go for it. I got my first dog in college and have had somewhere between one and four at any time since. 
 

As mentioned above, I’m not ready to go through the end of life adventure again and have decided no more dogs after the current one is done with us (he’s 16ish) - I think my wife is in agreement, but you never know. 
 

I’m also too lazy for puppies…but, my dad (who, if you recall, would not let me have a dog, but miraculously changed his position shortly after I got my first and has since had a string of slightly overlapping shelties) and stepmom are currently on vacation and we are hosting their kind of old and very young pair of pups for a bit.

 

The old dog is the easiest thing in the world to take care of (though she might eat your shoelaces…if they’re leather…and you’re a woman), but the puppy? Well, like kids, I’ll just say it’s a good thing puppies are so cute. 
 

[Red]

Roug describes puppy training the way we did it.  There are a few others like using noise to distract a dog from unwanted behaviors then quickly substituting some activity that you'd rather see.

We've had 6 border collies over the past 40 years, all from pups.  Always had two dogs at a time as it makes puppy rearing easier with a trained dog as a role model.  When our female gave it up two years ago we looked at each other and said never again a puppy.  Currently looking for a non psychotic middle aged border female that needs new home.  We are beginning to believe that is an impossible ask.  There is an organization called Border Collie Rescue that I check once in a while.  There's a reason they are rescue dogs and I'm not sure some of the behaviors are reversible. 

[Hosstage]

We e also been looking for an adult dog to replace the last, tough to find a decent one. Often a stipulation is that the household needs another dog first to help with the new damaged dog, and a fenced yard is necessary, no invisible fence, which we have.

Our last dog was about 7 years old when we got her, not a rescue but was a family dog that lost her family, a perfect match for us. Going to be hard to repeat that find.

 

[TEWKS]

I re-home more than just motorcycles ya know! 
 

Cute

 

[Sonor]

Just thought I would post an updated picture. This is 17 weeks old. She is very smart and generally good. There comes that time between 4:00 and 8:00 pm where she turns into devil dog. But we are learning to cope.

[Hosstage]

1 hour ago, TEWKS said:

I re-home more than just motorcycles ya know! 
 

Cute

 

Definitely cute, but I can't have Collies or Shepherds, too smart for me. And no hounds, don't need that intensity.

Dumb old retrievers for this house.

Sonor, Devil Dog is definitely a thing!

[MikeB60]

3 hours ago, TEWKS said:

I re-home more than just motorcycles ya know! 

You suck !  Glad I'm not closer!

[TEWKS]

The bonding time would be priceless. 

[Hosstage]

2 hours ago, MikeB60 said:

You suck !  Glad I'm not closer!

Tewks found that knucklehead not far from my home, I'm sure he can locate a chewer near yours too.

[TEWKS]

So, I mentioned my daughter’s little buddy Cloe passing. She’s known the little mutt all of her life so it wasn’t an easy one.

 

This is chapter two in the little dog saga. Now I don’t know if all things happen for a reason and or maybe fate is real…  But…

 

Cloe’s breeder was an older woman that loved Yorkshire Terriers and it showed when we got her. After she (Cloe) passed, someone (sounds cold) (guilt) (I know) mentioned another breeder. And again, this lady happens to be an older woman also which sounds very similar to Cloe’s breeder as far as the dogs are part of her family.

 

Long story to get here but, meet little Miss “Zoe”! She was born last night at about six o’clock.
 

Here we go again! 

 

[Rougarou]

Nope, no more dogs or cats, Ill settle for a free roaming friend  Its a small one thats made its home in the basement garage. Bring that pup down , I think my friend is hungry. 

 

[TEWKS]

Oh I think you need a couple of these little varmint killers! 

 

 

[Scott9999]

1 hour ago, TEWKS said:

Oh I think you need a couple of these little varmint killers! 

 

 

Ok, boys, now here's the advanced test.  THIS, is called a "rattle snake".   Let's go!  🙃😁

[TEWKS]

 

 

[MikeB60]

5 hours ago, TEWKS said:

 

 

No more dogs, no more dogs, no more dogs!

 

But....

 

Hey DyAnne, don't you think LuLu and Ginger need a friend!

[TEWKS]

My last shepherd was named Ginger. 

 

I will say, it’s been a couple of weeks without Cloe (Yorkie) and I hate to admit it but she was some heavy maintenance for a little six pound dog.  If it wasn’t for a certain someone I could get use to a one pet household.

 

 

[TEWKS]

Here’s the mom of what’s coming in about seven weeks. 

 

Now, my daughter wanted a female in traditional colors which is tan and black. The litter has one female in the traditional colors. The others are “parti” colored. Now I never heard of that before but I looked them up. I don’t dare show her this pic because I believe they’re already taken but holy shit, this is one cute mutt! 

[Hosstage]

Stoopid dogs

[KevinH]

It’s hard being a puppy.

 

Met ours last year at 4 weeks old. Went back at 8 weeks to Gravel Switch KY to get her. She’s doing really well. Somehow she survived being a puppy with us!

 

Sofee

 

 

 

[Hosstage]

That is one cute little shi., er, puppy!

But stop posting cute dog pics, it only makes me want to work a little harder on finding one!

[TEWKS]

My daughter got her first dog sitting job while she waits for her new pup to be ready to leave her mom.

Meet Buddy, we were told he’s a Yorkie but he’s 12 pounds which puts him in Silky or Australian Terrier territory. 

 

Zoe at three weeks.