The new family pet

[bgeno]

I'm not much of a pet person, but I know there a lot of dog lovers on OS, so I wanted to share the new puppy we got yesterday.

He is 2 or 3 months old. We're not sure of the breed or how big he is going to get, but he is very well-behaved for a puppy and seems like he will be a very good dog and a great companion both for me and my 8 year old nephew who lives at home with me and my parents.

His name is Bradley. We got him from a friend of a friend. It was an old man whose daughter gave him the dog as a pet thinking he needed a companion, but the man couldn't care for him. We were looking to adopt from animal shelters and pet adoption leagues, but this situation fell into our laps, so it was the best idea.

We were going to change his name but couldn't come up with one that the whole family liked before we brought him home, so we just called him by the name the old man gave him, so it just stuck... lol


I'd appreciate any information on raising puppies that you guys might have. I've been researching ways to limit the playful biting and chewing and such. He doesn't chew on much aside from his toys, which is great, but we're trying to rid him of the biting thing now.

[Indian Joe]

Re: The new family pet

I have a kick-*** dog named Gandalf.

[Blzer]

Re: The new family pet

Pretty soon he'll go from a "family pet" to a "family member". Congratulations!

I haven't owned a dog since I was two years old so I don't know what advice I can offer.

[jeremym480]

Re: The new family pet

Congrats Bgeno.

You also reminded me of something.... Is there anyway we can get the Supporter's Pups thread from the Supporters forum moved up here and renamed? Or should we just start a new thread?

[42]

Re: The new family pet

Congrats Bgeno!


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You also reminded me of something.... Is there anyway we can get the Supporter's Pups thread from the Supporters forum moved up here and renamed? Or should we just start a new thread?

I'm on it...

[roadman]

Re: The new family pet

He's going through the biting stage because he teeth are hurting coming in. You can try spray bottles with water, listerine, etc..

[snepp]

Re: The new family pet

Only one bit of advice, do not underestimate the benefits of proper training, the earlier the better.

[av7]

Re: The new family pet

Like Snepp said, start early and be consistent with the training and it'll be good. Puppies are going to want to chew for their teething for awhile, chew toys with flavors help distract them from shoes, corner of the desk, etc

The cool thing with adopting a mutt from a shelter, they do DNA tests to tell you what mix a dog is

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: The new family pet

Better call the Dog Whisperer.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: The new family pet

Congrats. Be consistent with the training, but realize he is just a puppy and will make some mistakes. Try not to spoil him TOO much. (easier said than done lol)

[bgeno]

Re: The new family pet

This dog seems really smart or was really well-trained in the few weeks that his previous owner had him. He was in the house for less than a day and was already standing by the door when he needed to go pee... he did it twice. We're still taking him out often (every hour or so) to avoid accidents and to get him used to going outside to go pee.

Also, he is going to be sleeping in my 8-year-old nephew's room at night, so my step-father put down a soft little rug for him to sleep on. He already knows it's his place to sleep. It's crazy. Maybe it was just coincidence and he really just wanted to chill next to my nephew while he was laying in bed, but it was nice to see.



What do you guys suggest in terms of socialization with other dogs?

We've got a few friends and neighbor's who have dogs. My nephew's friend lives up the street and brought their little 9-month-old dog over, but it didn't seem to like Bradley as Bradley wanted to play and the other dog just wanted to chill out and ended up hiding under furniture that Bradley couldn't fit under... lol. Today, my mother's friend brought her dog over. It's a small-to-medium sized dog that isn't any older than 2 years. I was sleeping when it came over, but apparently they played really well together. Our next door neighbor's have 8 medium-sized dogs, all of which are older than 2 years and scared the crap out of Bradley when he saw them on the other side of the fence for the first time... lol. I took him out to pee today, though, and all 8 dogs started barking at little Bradley. Bradley was a little frightened at first, but he calmed down. He actually just sat down and stared at the dogs from about 25 feet away from the fence for a few minutes. He didn't bark or anything. He just stared. I thought it was good to let Bradley see the other dogs and get used to them instead of pulling him in as soon as the other ones started barking.

My neighbor has suggested letting Bradley socialize with her dogs, but only one at a time, which seems like a great idea. I'm just a little worried because Bradley is still so young (3 months) and all her dogs are at least at the adolescent age. Is it best just to let her bring one of the dogs over and see how the new puppy and her dog interact or would you suggest waiting til Bradley is a bit older? I know it's very important for dogs to socialize with other dogs.

[bgeno]

Re: The new family pet

He's going through the biting stage because he teeth are hurting coming in. You can try spray bottles with water, listerine, etc..

What would that do? How would you do it?

[BurghFan]

Re: The new family pet

What would that do? How would you do it?

Dogs probably wouldn't like being sprayed in the face with water. I used a slightly more direct approach with breaking my family's first Newf of his biting habit. When he was a pup he would give you his paw then bite your hand as soon as you took it. So when he gave me his paw I would take it but very quickly move my hand under his paw so that he ended up biting his own paw instead. He learned pretty quickly to stop playing that game. It's funny to though, for the rest of his life, if he gave you his paw he would lick your hand as if apoligizing for that game he played when he was a pup.

[roadman]

Re: The new family pet

What would that do? How would you do it?

Yeah, Burg is correct, dogs or puppies don't like being sprayed in the face. We started using lime or lemon juice. Also, not a bad idea to tell the dog, no.

This lasted with our dog until about 8 or 9 months old. We crated our dog and she never had a mess because she knew when she came out of the crate, it was potty time. They learn at a very young age to not make a mess around the area they sleep.

Now, (she's 2 yrs old) she sleeps either with us or on the couch or in her crate. Her crate sometimes is where she's had enough of us and needs her "quiet time."

There might be some puppy training courses in your area. This way, your puppy will meet other puppies. Our leader would close the door and let the puppies play for about 5 minutes. I'll never forget one time a black Lab had to sit out a few minutes because he was too rough.

[WWF80sKid]

Re: The new family pet

I can't wait until my wife and I can get our own house so we can get a dog. We're going to get a bulldog and name him Schembechler.