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Prepared for the Worst, Providing the Best |
Same here, maybe even less. I give him all of his shots except for rabies myself, as well as doing his baths and toenails. The vet is pretty much just for the rabies shot (legal requirement), heartworm prescription, and general checkup. Our dogs have always been very healthy. As to the original question in the OP: They don't live long enough. And it's a lot harder than you think when they go. But it's absolutely worth it. Enjoy every minute! | |||
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| Member |
I have a Shepard/Australian/Husky mix. I have never been a fan of crate training and have never used it. What you get with a mix is a lottery. Depends on what genes dominate. Mine was a rescue, we brought him to a professional trainer to speed up the process to get him trained. Consistency is the key. Trainers train the owner and the dog. The Australian part in mine wants to instinctively heard things, including people. They should get exercised one to two hours a day. | |||
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| Member |
I found out from our first Shepherd, that you can potty train them. Not just to pee/poo out in the back yard- We have a run in the back corner of the yard, brick border with pea gravel (about 4” deep). We trained our dogs to go potty there. Female dogs urine kills grass. This way, we don’t have a bunch of brown/burnt spores in the grass, and Im not looking for “land mines” every day. Cheap poop scooper and the pea gravel falls through. Every month- 6 weeks, Ill spray it down with simple green just to keep it clean! Oh, when a German Shepherd Pup howls at a passing fire truck/police car siren, it’s kinda cute. When a 3 year old German Shepherd howls at a passing siren at 4am, it’s irritating. ______________________________________________________________________ "When its time to shoot, shoot. Dont talk!" “What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.” —Author Tom Clancy | |||
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| Member |
Most dogs, especially working breeds, require physical AND mental activity. We have Australian Shepherds that get no free rides. For example, they wait until told to eat, go outside and get into vehicles. If they get a treat, they are told down or sit; sometimes turn left or turn right and sit. I play "hide and seek" with our dogs by making them sit and stay in the kitchen while I go into another room at which time I call out "RELEASE, come find me". Nothing too complicated but it works their minds while reinforcing basic commands. Be consistent with your commands. To avoid confusing the dog, choose words that EVERYONE in the family can be consistent in using. I'm in the camp of crate training. Our dogs sleep at night in their crates and travel in crates. Reason is, if an accident occurs, the last thing I want is one of my dogs loose on a road or freeway where they might get struck by a car. Also, if we travel, most motels will accept a dog that's crate trained knowing the owner will control their bathroom habits and not allow "accidents" in the room. Figure out a method for flea control. Several options out there, talk to your vet and see what they prefer. Also, I am not a fan of tennis balls for dogs. While the outer coating seems harmless, it is very abrasive and can wear a dogs teeth, especially the canines. Best of luck with your new pup, they can be the greatest addition to a family. ____________________________________________________________ Money may not buy happiness...but it will certainly buy a better brand of misery A man should acknowledge his losses just as gracefully as he celebrates his victories Remember, in politics it's not who you know...it's what you know about who you know | |||
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semi-reformed sailor |
Someone else said it, but you should play with their ears, mouth, feet, tails to desensitize them from being pulled by someone down the road. We sent ours to school and she’s crate trained like Rock was. It’s super nice to just look at her and say “crate” and she goes in and will chill so I can run an errand w/o her tearing something up. "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
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| Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated  |
Congratulations. I recently lost my bird dog after 15 years. I miss her every single day. If this is a new puppy, they will chew and need to chew when teeth come in. They can destroy anything they find to chew on. Electric cords included. They can also eat many things that can kill them. Don't leave them unattended. Try and have everyone onboard with using the same commands. Simple ones. Here..for come etc. Not 15 different commands that are supposed to mean the same thing. Patience and firm gentleness. No swatting with a newspaper etc. did I mention patience? "Someday I hope to be half the man my bird-dog thinks I am." looking forward to 4 years of TRUMP! | |||
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| Not your average kind of girl  |
Sounds like you are very prepared! The only things I would consider are more of a raw diet vs all kibble and getting titers for vaccines vs just getting the vet scheduled ones. Pets are being over vaccinated when antibodies are still at adequate levels. This leads to cancer and other autoimmune compromises. Labs are especially susceptible to cancer. Doing this from the get go may help decrease chances of it. Most of all congrats! And, post pics when you get your new pup! If it won't matter in 5 years don't give it more than 5 minutes. | |||
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thin skin can't win |
Good advice above. I'd add getting a Gentle Leader when you start to leash train. Which, BTW, should be damn early..... Incredibly effective without the harshness we had used at times. We had a lab as our kids grew up up who was a joy to have around and a constant pleaser, aka easy to train. However even with her being part of the family we had strict boundaries about what she could/couldn't do and everybody, EVERYBODY, had to adhere to those for the success we had over her 14 years. Agree on this up front if at all possible. Best advice we got from her "parents" was to remember that she was here for our enjoyment and control/direction, not the other way around. You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02 | |||
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| bigger government = smaller citizen  |
Sorry for the lack of updates! Spring is insane with kids sports-instruments-extracurriculars. We're down to 3 weeks to go, with a take-home date of June 4. The kids are pretty excited, and I have 4 days off to get started on all the stuff related to walking, bathroom, etc. Here's the litter, with their temporary names. We don't exactly know which one yet, because this place matches based on temperament and what our lives are like. (We don't necessarily want a coiled spring since we're not aggressively outdoorsy etc.) I love this breeder. Their "pupdates" that they send every week are just great. Here's an excerpt from the latest one:
It's been really enjoyable reading these aloud to the two younger boys. They're all in. “The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”—H.L. Mencken | |||
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Age Quod Agis |
Learn how to train humanely and properly BEFORE the dog gets there, and you make mistakes based on lack of knowledge or frustration. "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | |||
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Member |
Veeper good you took off work. What I do when I first get a pup is set a timer. Every 2-3 hours the first few weeks, I wake up to the timer, take the pup out to potty. After 1-2 months, every 4 hours. It sucks, but man does it speed up the potty training big time. Every time when you do it, put a lead on their collar, and calmly walk them out. After a few months, you’ll be able to sleep the normal night’s sleep without interruption. Every time they do #1 or #2, man act like the k9 just found a cure for cancer. Tons of praise, good job, whatever language you want to use. It reinforces the behavior. And if it’s coming out of a litter, it may lose its’ mind the first couple of nights. I imported a GSD from Germany in 2008. She made the flight from Frankfurt OK. Was great in the vehicle, in the crate OK. Got her to eat, potty, went to bed that first night. And she started screaming her lights out and wouldn’t stop. I put a sheet on the crate, didn’t do anything. I turned on some classical music, didn’t do anything. Eventually so I could get a few hours sleep and not go insane, I just picked up the crate and put it in the garage (was winter so no temp issues), shut the door to my garage, and the door to my master bedroom. Turned on some white noise and went to sleep. You have to teach them that screaming, howling, making racket, you are completely unaffected. No matter how bad it sounds you have to ignore it. You start responding to it and they’ll know they have you and can just whine their way to getting whatever they want. You are the law, so enforce it. If you get a jumper where they jump on you or on furniture, take one of their front paws and pinch it from both sides. They get it real fast and cut it out. Good luck again. What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone | |||
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