New dog owner needs help

Even that I like to take care cute little animals and I had cats for many years I never had a dog. Never until now. So as a new and inexperienced dog owner I have some questions and I seek for your experience and knowledge to help me.

1. First of all I am wondering in what breed my dog belongs. I have attached some pictures of him that may help you.



2. Although he seems like a little harmless puppy he is a bite-maniac. He wants to bite everything. Branches, trees, grass, walls, door, bones, garbage, cats even me I am in his menu. For the most things that I had refer above I don’t really care if he bites them or not. My only concern is me and the cats. I can repel him but the cats don’t. He isn’t aggressive against the cats instead they sleep together and eat together but they can’t play together. When the dog is in playful mood he chase the cats to bite them. Many times grabs them from the neck and he don’t leave them even if they shout painfully. I am afraid that he will accidentally struggle them. What I could do to stop this behavior?

Petros, your little puppy looks suspiciously like a Great Pyrenees pup. They're a herding breed, beautiful, intelligent, dominant, loyal, brave, loving, affectionate, protective, sometimes quite stubborn, and very hairy.

He's probably trying to herd the cats. While he's still a pup and doesn't know his own strength, it's a good idea to supervise him when he's with the cats. It would be a good idea to have a room that the cats can get into but he can't; maybe put a cat door in one of the doors to the room with the litterbox. That will also keep you from having to deal with him finding out the litterbox is also known as a dog's candy box. UGH!

You might want to read about Great Pyrenees. A good place to start is a www.molosserdogs.com .

I'd write more, but I need to get off the computer as we're getting ready to have a thunderstorm! In December!

I was going to guess Great Pyrenees also at first glance of pictures. Friend of a friend bred them. Gorgeous animals, but like Renee said, herding dogs. Like I've said before, people need to research and understand the natural instincts in the breed of dog before even trying to attempt to adapt as humans to them. I think once you do this, you'll understand why the dog is behaving in a certain way.

For example, I've read in my research of Westies, that someone actually set up sort of like a sandbox where the owner would bury certain things each day and let their Westie go and find them. BTW Westie's were bred to hunt varmits. I've been trying to conjure up a contraption for my own.

Anyhow Back on subject. I would definately supervise the interaction with the pup and cats. But, I think at first they don't seem to get along, animals are great at adapting to eachother after a while. They do learn to respect eachother's spaces. Some yelps and snarls in the meantime may be expected.

Brady looked very similar to that when he was a puppy. Very very similar. You can go to my pics and see what he looks like now as a big boy. He did a LOT of biting too. My woodwork around my doorway outside, vinyl on the house, knobs on the grill, his doghouse, titles to cars, bills, papers, he has an odd obsession with paper towels too (weirdo). Brady still tortures my cat but he does not hurt her, but she lets him. she has all her claws and if she wanted she could use them but she does not. He will be a mess for a while, believe me. Mine is over a year old and he is still a mess. But I was told he was a lab/golden retreiver mix. His tail and ears and paws don't look like either so I am not sure what he is. I honestly think his mother was a lab mix (I saw her and she was about 45 pounds) who got together with a Great Pyr mix and he is at around 75 pounds now.

Oh to me he/she looks like a retreiver puppy!!!!And they bite as much as the Lab does i should no ive got two!!!One puppy one 8 years old!!And my puppy lab always bites everything he sees!!lol
Anyway good luck of finding out what breed!!!
Oh cute pics!!!

The coat seems to thick to be a lab. That's why I thought of Great Pyrenees. Could be the puppy (baby fat) fur. But I'm going to stick with my first assuption.

Would love to know myself now !

No i didnt say lab i said Retrevier!!

No i did'nt say lab i said Retrevier!!

I'm no help on the breed...but he is a cutie! Some puppies really get into chewing and biting. Just give him good chew toys of his own. Tell him 'no bite!' or whatever your choice when he bites you. As for the cat....sadly, my Addie still just does not get along with the cat...she never has. As previously stated..you just have to make sure there is a safe place for the cat to be. Both my dogs do know what the heck I mean when I yell 'stay away from that kitty!!!', but I'm always watching to protect her. Your puppy looks like a stuffed animal...OH, HE IS SWEET!!!! My whole point...they may never be pals. Your puppy probably thinks the cat is a playmate..like his old littermates. The cat will learn to stay away.

When my Corgi, Chloe was a puppy, she liked to bite all of the time, and would bite really hard. Fortunately, they do grow out of it. When she would bite my hand, or try to attack the cats, I would very firmly say "NO BITE" and offer her one of her chew toys instead. After much repetition, she finally got the drift. Now, she still bites on my hand, but very gently. They just don't realize this at first. I would also say to have a peaceful room available for the cat to be able to get to. My cats also had to go through this when I had two puppies at one time. Now they are the best of friends and play great together.

I hope this helps a little.

Thank you all

Thank you all for the quick and delightful response to my questions. I search the web for Golden Retrevier and Great Pyrenees pictures. I don’t now if the pictures that I have attached below are representative for each breed but comparing them with my dogs pictures I think that is more similar with the Great Pyrenees. So I probably have a shepherd outside my house. I only hope he don’t believe that I am a sheep. If you can spare little more time for me I want to ask you some more things.


Great Pyrenees


Golden Retrevier


3. Can any estimate my dog’s age. I don’t have a clue about dogs growth so I can’t guess. Now has the size (but not the weight, he is heavier) of a full-grown adult cat. When I took him home, 1 month ago, he couldn’t run more than 5-6 meters without a fall although he could walk and stay on his feet still without a problem. Also when he run he used his rear legs together like a kangaroo. At this age (1 month ago) he couldn’t concentrate his eyes on something more than 2 seconds and he couldn’t lift his head to look at me. Now his “running performance” is better, he can concentrate his eyes on me, cats, or anything he wants and he can lift his head to look at me. But when I am at the balcony and make noise in order to draw his attention the cats instantly realize where I am and start to mew looking at me but the dog start to run here and there searching for me without having the ability to look straight up. I hope this information will help you to estimate my dog age. If any other information is needed I will gladly give it to you.

4. Except his chewing habit around the house he also has a chew-carrier habit. When he sees something that like it, he chews it for a while and then (in some cases not any time) carries it at his doghouse. He has a strange attraction to bones (even if there are several days old so it is a kind impossible to use them as lunch – after all he can chew only small bones but carries also big ones at home), leafs and small branches. Why is this happening?

5. Some days ago start to dig a hole and seemed really excited doing that. Why he is doing that? Is a game?

6. My dog is very friendly even when he meets completely strangers without having me at his side. That seemed to me very strange because living with cats for many years I have seen that they are calm only around known faces. When they see a stranger they disappear in no time without waiting to approach to see their intensions. On the other hand the dog is extremely friendly to all. When he sees a stranger he run toward him shaking his tail without any hesitation. So what is happening the intelligent dog don’t fear stranger but the less intelligent cats use extremely precaution when see one? I don’t want to be extremely protective with my dog but I want not to be so familiar with stranger. I don’t want to attack any stranger he sees but not to approach him. How could this happen? He will understand the dangers as he’s growing or I have to do something?

I hope that you don’t get tired with my many, and probably silly to you, questions.

Petros, you can't ask too many questions! And trust me, you're going to have lots and lots of questions with a herding breed. They are wonderful, almost frighteningly intelligent sometimes, obsessive and will never give you an opportunity to be bored!

First, don't worry about his behaviour with strangers right now. That's actually a very good sign. It shows that he's a very self-confident puppy. He will probably become less exuberantly friendly with strangers as he gets older; herding breeds are watchful by nature.

If you haven't done so already, you need to take him to the veterinarian for an overall check, including heartworm, his immunization shots and especially rabies shot. The vet can give you a pretty good idea of his age.

Your descriptions of his actions tell me that you are very observant - much more so than many experienced dog owners. From what you've described, it sounds like someone turned him loose from his mother a bit early, since the behaviours and size you describe now sound like an eight to ten week old puppy; the behaviours you describe when you first brought him home sound like those of a very young - five to six week old - pup.

Carrying "treasures" to his bed is a pretty typical trait of these molossoid herding breeds. My German Shepherds didn't do so much, but these Filas - especially Kharma, who's purely working stock - are notorious for it!

Sorry to cut off so abruptly. Kharma had to go out.

Digging holes is typically doggy fun. It goes back to hunting prey in the ground. Shiva takes spells where she does major excavations, generally in the front yard even though she's got sixty acres to dig on. I guess I should be glad she's not doing it where the cows will step in the holes and get hurt! I think a big part of it is hunting moles and voles. I keep finding dead ones on the front porch. Bimmer won't touch them, so I know they aren't his, and Kharma eats anything and everything she kills. Shiva only eats the groundhogs - so far she hasn't caught any rabbits or squirrels.

The cats aren't necessarily less intelligent because they hide from visitors. They know how vulnerable they are. Cats - according to available statistics - are the most abused domestic pet animals, and most aren't willing to take a chance until they've scoped out the strangers pretty thoroughly. They're also much less "domestic" than dogs.
If you haven't already, now's the time to start short training sessions with your pup. He needs to be learning basic commands, like sit and lay down, and how to walk politely on a leash. This also helps imprint on his mind that you are the leader of his family. The herding breeds can be very dominant dogs and it is important that he always see you as the leader.

I'd highly recommend that you get either the training books or videos (or both) by the Monks of New Skete. You can get them over the web, or find them at most book stores in the U.S., if you live in the U.S. They will help you a lot with understanding your dog and establishing a great relationship with him as well as giving you excellent guidance for training him.

Here's the link to the Monks dog training site: http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/

I know that I overdone it with my questions but when you have this gorgeous animal you always have more and more questions . Thank all for the great help which you provide me and I hope I manage to train my dog well.

You're very welcome, Petros, and we expect you'll have lots more questions - especially as your pup gets older. He'll be more rambunctious, more inquisitive, more full of mischief - and much, much larger.

Be sure to check out the threads on different feeds. Most are in the Health forum. Linda Arndt is a great source of information for nutrition and some of the physical things you have to watch out for, particularly in the large breeds. Her website is www.greatdanelady.com

Seems like a retriever to me too. But what do I know!!!

Anyway, on the biting topic. DON'T let him bite. Be very strict about it. He has to understand that it is wrong. When I just got my Amy, she was also biting all the time. I started by saying " NO BITING" to her whenever she even opened her mouth for a good bite, plus, if she managed to bite me still ( even if it is a game!!!!!!!!!!) I would leave her alone in the room and not play with her for several minutes... I wouldn't smile or be nice to her. ( the dogs can understand the facial expresions!)
Also a good method, in my point of view, is a CAN. Take an empty CAN fill it in with coins (half way). The CAN will make awful sound that dogs hate. Anytime the puppy bites, say very rudely " NO BITING" and shake the can in front of the puppy. It has to be quick and "mean" in a way. My puppy stopped biting completely. Just a view of the can freaks her out.

When my stepson's puppy tries to bite, all of us try to have a toy/bone on hand to give the puppy instead of our hands. So far this is working. It takes time, but after doing this over and over, the puppy seems to finally want the toy instead.