New Puppy Coming Home Tomorrow. Supplies, equipment, accessories?

Pesqueeb · May 4, 2012

Gentle Leaders are nice. I guess they've been around some time but when we got our last Lab as a youngster about 8 years ago, they were new to me. IMHO better than a choker or similar type lead, both in ease of use and in the less cruel manner.

dante · May 4, 2012

Don't forget your roof-crate!

bean · May 4, 2012

I meant to put together a list of things that were most useful when we got out dog last September.

* Puppy pads - We were told that these slow house training, so we never used them.
* Bathrobe - Great for the late night and early morning trips outside, which you will be making.
* Multiple leashes - We had one for walks. Then a couple more that we used for around the house if we needed him to stay somewhere. I made the extras with some old webbing and carabiners. Loops in each end of the webbing with a carabiner at the end to clip to the dog's collar. It's easy to put them around a table leg or stand on one end.
* Webbing - This also makes a good cheap toy for tugging.
* Sticks - They're free and our dog loved chewing them.
* Harness - We used this one. http://www.wiggleswagswhiskers.com/newsite/freedom-no-pull-harness.htm It was not cheap, and it worked well. However, over time it made him start limping. This led to about $700 worth of vet visits and x-rays before we figured out that the front loop on the harness was the problem.
* Bitter apple spray - sometimes it takes a couple applications, but it works. After a couple weeks he learned what the bottle looked like and he would just stop chewing whatever he was chewing when he saw it come out. Cayenne pepper also works in a pinch.

General observations:
- Lots of puppies can't make it through the night without peeing. So for the first few weeks I took Odin out at 9:00 pm, just before bed, again at 3:30 am, and then at 6:30 am when he got up. In retrospect he may have been able to do it, but we really did not want any messes on the carpet.
- For sleeping, the best solution we found was to leash him to the nightstand next to the bed. He cried a bit the first night, so every time he stopped, I counted to fifteen. If he got to fifteen I'd reach over and give him a rub and tell him good boy. If he didn't make it to fifteen we ignored him. Ignoring them can be difficult, but the word no has no meaning to a puppy, so positive reinforcement for good things is much, much more effective.
- We decided before we got him not to use any sort of physical correction. We never have. He's currently better trained that the dogs of most people we know.
- We pulled up all of our carpets so that the areas that he spent time in, were just hard wood. Makes cleaning up messes easy. We put them back back down when he was 4-5 months old. By that point he was completely house trained. Since then he has made a mess of them by chewing greasy bones on them.
- I work from home and didn't get anything done for the first two weeks. It was terrible.
- Puppy socials were life savers. Basically you take your puppy some place and it runs around with a bunch of other puppies for an hour or so. They were offered at a few places in town and were about ten dollars each. We took him two or three days a week and he'd be completely worn out for the rest of that evening and the following day. They learn to socialize with other dogs and about bite control.
- We were told to make sure he met at least one hundred different people and fifty dogs by the time he was four months old. He did, and he loves every person and dog he meets. It may not have anything to do with this, but I can't imagine it hurt.
- We spent a bit of time sitting outside coffee shops downtown. He met lots of people and learned to relax in what might otherwise be a stressful environment.

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

spoke80 · May 4, 2012

PM sent

Jeremy R · May 4, 2012

Two bottles of scotch and 30 xanax.

Colonel Angus · May 4, 2012

Jeremy R said:
Two bottles of scotch and 30 xanax.

that's a normal weekend for me...

kickstand · May 4, 2012

bean said:
I meant to put together a list of things that were most useful when we got out dog last September.

* Puppy pads - We were told that these slow house training, so we never used them.
* Bathrobe - Great for the late night and early morning trips outside, which you will be making.
* Multiple leashes - We had one for walks. Then a couple more that we used for around the house if we needed him to stay somewhere. I made the extras with some old webbing and carabiners. Loops in each end of the webbing with a carabiner at the end to clip to the dog's collar. It's easy to put them around a table leg or stand on one end.
* Webbing - This also makes a good cheap toy for tugging.
* Sticks - They're free and our dog loved chewing them.
* Harness - We used this one. http://www.wiggleswagswhiskers.com/newsite/freedom-no-pull-harness.htm It was not cheap, and it worked well. However, over time it made him start limping. This led to about $700 worth of vet visits and x-rays before we figured out that the front loop on the harness was the problem.
* Bitter apple spray - sometimes it takes a couple applications, but it works. After a couple weeks he learned what the bottle looked like and he would just stop chewing whatever he was chewing when he saw it come out. Cayenne pepper also works in a pinch.

General observations:
- Lots of puppies can't make it through the night without peeing. So for the first few weeks I took Odin out at 9:00 pm, just before bed, again at 3:30 am, and then at 6:30 am when he got up. In retrospect he may have been able to do it, but we really did not want any messes on the carpet.
- For sleeping, the best solution we found was to leash him to the nightstand next to the bed. He cried a bit the first night, so every time he stopped, I counted to fifteen. If he got to fifteen I'd reach over and give him a rub and tell him good boy. If he didn't make it to fifteen we ignored him. Ignoring them can be difficult, but the word no has no meaning to a puppy, so positive reinforcement for good things is much, much more effective.
- We decided before we got him not to use any sort of physical correction. We never have. He's currently better trained that the dogs of most people we know.
- We pulled up all of our carpets so that the areas that he spent time in, were just hard wood. Makes cleaning up messes easy. We put them back back down when he was 4-5 months old. By that point he was completely house trained. Since then he has made a mess of them by chewing greasy bones on them.
- I work from home and didn't get anything done for the first two weeks. It was terrible.
- Puppy socials were life savers. Basically you take your puppy some place and it runs around with a bunch of other puppies for an hour or so. They were offered at a few places in town and were about ten dollars each. We took him two or three days a week and he'd be completely worn out for the rest of that evening and the following day. They learn to socialize with other dogs and about bite control.
- We were told to make sure he met at least one hundred different people and fifty dogs by the time he was four months old. He did, and he loves every person and dog he meets. It may not have anything to do with this, but I can't imagine it hurt.
- We spent a bit of time sitting outside coffee shops downtown. He met lots of people and learned to relax in what might otherwise be a stressful environment.

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

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Good god, you make it sound like owning a dog is harder than it should be.

Buy a crate, a food bowl, a water bowl, some chew toys, and a leash. Teach dog not to pee and poop in the house, teach dog not to bite people or chew things, put dog in crate to sleep at night or while you are not home, build outdoor kennel if you have the space/ability, carry on with your life and enjoy your dog.

aixelsyd · May 4, 2012

You mentioned the crate which to me is the most important and useful item to have if you own a dog. Remember as a puppy he will need to go at least every two or three hours for the first few weeks. I hope you bought a crate big enough for him as an adult. Partition the crate so he has just enough room to lay down in. This is to utilize the instinct to not go where he sleeps. When its time to come out of the crate (after having been in it for an hour or more) bring him right outside to do his business. This will aid in the house training, he will still have accidents but pretty soon will be at the door whining letting you know he needs to go.
Chew toys are great, just watch the ones with stuffing. Puppy teeth are sharp and they can tear into soft toys pretty easily. The suggestion of the bitters spray will save your furniture. It worked for us.
Get the Gentle Leader Harness. It works great to control all that puppy energy and makes our 96lb Lab go where we want him to not the other way around.

IH8Rice · May 4, 2012

aixelsyd said:
Partition the crate so he has just enough room to lay down in. This is to utilize the instinct to not go where he sleeps. When its time to come out of the crate (after having been in it for an hour or more) bring him right outside to do his business. This will aid in the house training, he will still have accidents but pretty soon will be at the door whining letting you know he needs to go.

this is important as most people dont do this with a puppy

DirtMcGirk · May 4, 2012

I'm sticking with the xanax idea.

My girlfriend brought home a "Georgia Crack Hound" from Macon as a rescue after our greyhound passed away.

Xanax would be really welcomed right now.

bean · May 4, 2012

kickstand said:
Good god, you make it sound like owning a dog is harder than it should be.

Buy a crate, a food bowl, a water bowl, some chew toys, and a leash. Teach dog not to pee and poop in the house, teach dog not to bite people or chew things, put dog in crate to sleep at night or while you are not home, build outdoor kennel if you have the space/ability, carry on with your life and enjoy your dog.

Eh, in our experience it wasnt that easy. Most other people we've talked to since then agreed. Some friends who just had a baby said that was much easier than their dog.

in the trees · May 6, 2012

These are good reference books for dog training -

http://www.newskete.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=26&cat=Dog+Books

bean · May 7, 2012

There's a lot of opinions out there.You just have to read what's out there and then decide what you think makes the most sense for you and your situation.

We like having him in the bedroom with us so that it's easy for him to let us know if he needs to go out at night. He never makes much noise about going out, he nudges me with his nose. My wife also likes the security of having him in there when I'm out of town, even though he'd be more likely to lick an intruder to death than do anything else.

Jeremy R · May 7, 2012

bean said:
Some friends who just had a baby said that was much easier than their dog.

Don't be friends with these people anymore, because they cannot be trusted.

bizutch · May 7, 2012

Jeremy R said:
Don't be friends with these people anymore, because they cannot be trusted.

My daughters were a piece of cake compared to Drexel. You've met my daughters and my dog. Sure you don't want to re-think that statement?

motobutane · May 7, 2012

bean said:
There's a lot of opinions out there.You just have to read what's out there and then decide what you think makes the most sense for you and your situation.

We like having him in the bedroom with us so that it's easy for him to let us know if he needs to go out at night. He never makes much noise about going out, he nudges me with his nose. My wife also likes the security of having him in there when I'm out of town, even though he'd be more likely to lick an intruder to death than do anything else.

^^^You'd be surprised!^^^ Most dogs can sense a stranger/strange smelling person-a person emitting "Fear"

4130biker · May 8, 2012

I did the same thing- crate by the bed for the first week or two. Eventually moved her crate out to her area where she hangs out during the day. The whimpering came back, but subsided quickly. We actually had her crate all over the place and we'd use it to make her chill when hanging out in the living room with us. I liked the theory that she is supposed to entertain herself when we're in the house- and it worked out pretty well.

After researching different dog training authors, my wife and I found that we like Ian Dunbar "Before and after getting your puppy" the best-apparently he was one of the first proponents of lure-reward training now used for police dogs and such. Should be easy to find at your public library.

For instance, I learned about "gentling" from the book- basically allows you to manhandle/snuggle your dog with no "bad" results. I thought it would be nice for when we have kids.
Also learned to let the puppy off leash, then hide from it, teaching her not to stray too far when off leash. That one worked has well for biking

Here's a snippet from the wiki about him:

"...emphasizes the importance of teaching bite inhibition, early socialization, temperament training, and simple solutions for common and predictable behavior problems, as well as basic household manners, to dogs under six months of age."

Talking about this is making me miss doing all this puppy stuff- but at the same time I'm glad it's over! Have fun!

PS- all of our hard work payed off- I officially have a dog that isn't a giant pain in the ass, and she's only 13mo's old.

New Puppy Coming Home Tomorrow. Supplies, equipment, accessories?

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