Puppy Advice

[Tractor]

Any tips on things to do/not to do ?
We are a first time dog owner family, picked up Bella on Saturday, been going pretty well so far.
At night we put her in the utility room, first couple of nights were sleepless but she has been getting better through the week
Anyway, im sure there was a thread on here but search did not find anything.\
Also re: feeding we have mixed advice some say leave a bowl down all the time other say we should have feeding times???

Any advice most welcome.

Cheers

[DaveShoelace]

Its good she is getting better every night, the first two weeks are hell but they soon learn.

Feeding - I personally like to give them a certain amount of time to eat then pick it up again (tho I do cave in), I like to only give him dinner after we have eaten, so he understands his role in our pack.

Biggest single advice I can give that worked wonders for us is to socialise her in every way possible as soon as possible. As soon as you can take her for walks, take her up to as many people and dogs as possible, take her near busy roads (on her lead obv) and anywhere else loud.

Personally I think you should let her off the lead in parks and stuff right away, while you can still catch her. I hear people say the opposite and you should practice recall first, but I know loads of people who went that route and really struggle with their dogs off the lead.

Pictures please

[Tractor]

Its good she is getting better every night, the first two weeks are hell but they soon learn.

Feeding - I personally like to give them a certain amount of time to eat then pick it up again (tho I do cave in), I like to only give him dinner after we have eaten, so he understands his role in our pack.

Biggest single advice I can give that worked wonders for us is to socialise her in every way possible as soon as possible. As soon as you can take her for walks, take her up to as many people and dogs as possible, take her near busy roads (on her lead obv) and anywhere else loud.

Personally I think you should let her off the lead in parks and stuff right away, while you can still catch her. I hear people say the opposite and you should practice recall first, but I know loads of people who went that route and really struggle with their dogs off the lead.

Pictures please

Thanks for that Dave,
I may try her off the lead in the garden first as its quite large and secure, at the moment we have been keeping her on the lead.
@Eating - Sounds like a  good idea.

Cheers

[DaveShoelace]

What sort of exercise do you plan on giving her once she is fully grown? How often, how close are you to good parks etc?

The biggest single mistake I think any dog owners make relates to how much exercise they give them. I have a ton of mates who have what they call a 'naughty dog' who is in fact just a frustrated dog (I have two particular fuck wit mates who think that two walks a week is fine for a boxer, which makes me angry).

Obv it depends on the type of dog how much they need, but also I think a real key is what sort of walk they get. If you can get other dogs involved thats the best, 5 minutes playing with another dog is probably worth 30 minutes of me just walking Charlie. Likewise playing find and fetch games is a good way of giving what they need. More than anything, I think dogs crave activity and challenge in their walks, so vary the walks, socialise with other dogs and give them challenges - mentally and physically. The most knackered I've seen my dog is not when we run him raggered but when we hide things in the park or throw balls into long grass and he has to go and find them.

A nicley knackered dog is the most satisfying image a dog owner can have imo

[Longines]

We're a couple of weeks ahead of you Tractor, picked him up late September.

We've gone with fixed meal times but the bowl stays down and empty most of the time. A small treat when he goes outside to crap/wee seems to be working well in reinforcing good habits. I'd also echo the points about getting him to meet as many people and dogs as possible in these early days.

[EvilPie]

Best advice I could give is to hand feed instead of using a bowl. It's a great way to build a relationship with your dog.

If you combine it with training you're on a winner.

Start recall training now combined with hand feeding. Sit in a chair with the dog's meal and throw out a little bit of food. 99% guaranteed the dog will come back. When it comes back give it more food and praise. Praise should come first btw. You praise to tell it it's done the right thing then provide a reward. Repeat loads of times and start using your recall command as the dog is returning.

Recall will become automatic because they'll associate it with meal time and always want to come back to you.

Let it off lead as much as possible while it's a pup and work on the recall. They don't stray too far while they're nervous little babies but when they hit 5 - 6 months they're off. If you get recall sorted now you won't go far wrong.

Never use your recall command if you know the dog won't come back. You're destroying it's effectiveness. If a dog is chasing something or playing with another dog it is unlikely to come back unless your recall is brilliant. If you shout it to come and it ignores you you're teaching it to ignore you. The more you shout the more it learns it doesn't have to come back.

Practice recall 40 times a day when the dog has no reason to not come back then it will become automatic. The biggest mistake people make with recall is not recalling until the dog is doing something it shouldn't be doing. The problem is that the something is usually fun so it won't come back.

One more thing. Go to puppy classes. It doesn't matter what they cost they're worth it. You'll learn loads.

Good luck!!

[weller001]

ah , my family had west highlands when I was young , beautiful dogs.

When we first got ours , anyone who came into the house left with their socks in tatters.....she would stalk them from afar like a lioness and then launch herself at the feet - great fun.

[EvilPie]

whenever i see a puppy i just want to leave an imprint of my shoe on its face

Would you like me to introduce you to my puppy?

[outragous76]

whenever i see a puppy i just want to leave an imprint of my shoe on its face

Is that because you would run a mile from a full grown dog?

Meeting with Ronnie def required!

[DaveShoelace]

People who are cruel to animals have small penises, fact.

[GreekStein]

just so you all know, Lundy gets blaped (abit like fraped but for blonde) by his housemate a lot.

Though I really like the idea of a meeting with Ronnie for anyone who wants to stamp on dogs.

[TightEnd]

Jon Lundy has already been banned for a week recently, until we discovered that it was someone on his machine.

Be careful Jon, we don't have the time to fk around wondering if its you posting or not

If your frapper oversteps the mark, the next ban will be longer.

Change your password, and log off blonde before you leave your computer please

[jonlundy]

Jon Lundy has already been banned for a week recently, until we discovered that it was someone on his machine.

Be careful Jon, we don't have the time to fk around wondering if its you posting or not

If your frapper oversteps the mark, the next ban will be longer.

Change your password, and log off blonde before you leave your computer please

yeh was milo, sorry and will do.

[Bongo]

Windows Key + L will lock your computer and stop such things happening. Faster and more convenient than logging out of everything every time you want a drink or something.

[gatso]

Also re: feeding we have mixed advice some say leave a bowl down all the time other say we should have feeding times???

leaving a bowl down all the time with food in is probably the worst bit of advice you could've got