Last minute puppy tips

Sit Stay

Not a Border Collie
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#1
So Ned will be flying home on the 3rd! We are very excited and a little nervous - we've never imported a puppy before.

Does anyone have any puppy-related recommendations or advice? Product recommendations, training tips, book recommendations, things not to do, things you wish you had taught earlier, anything :) For instance - I remember someone saying on here that for their next puppy they were going to start them on a harness and only attach to the collar when attentively training a LLW, and then clip back on to the harness for those times when you maybe just have to keep walking. Seems so simple now but what an AWESOME idea - one that I've filed away in my mind!

Thanks so much in advance!
 

BostonBanker

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#2
Does anyone have any puppy-related recommendations or advice?
Run away! Run away! :yikes:

Just kidding, of course ;) Honestly, my advice is "don't sweat it". A nice dog is going to be a nice dog unless you really, actively screw up, and you aren't going to do that. You'll find some things that you've learned since having puppy-Quinn that will benefit Ned, and you'll find some whole new things with him that you'll think "boy I'm going to do this better with my next dog!".

And at the end of the day, you are going to have an adorable, sweet, darling little dog and it will all work out.

Play with him, relax, bond over fun stuff, and don't sweat the rest.

And pictures. So many pictures.
 

Fran101

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#3
- Covering the crate! that's something I would do earlier. Merlin right now is on the issue of "I want to see whats going on/if you are around/I'm not SURE if I can sleep here in this spot" and it would be so much easier if I could stick a covered crate anywhere and he would assume it was fine to just sleep lol

- Controlled unleashed puppy is really good for performance pups. I found no use for it.. I gave it someone on chaz lol

- Don't start on the bully sticks/fun stuff START WITH KONGS AND BORING STUFF. A puppy that is used to bully sticks and meaty goodness (merlin) is no longer gonna give a crap about kong with peanut butter or filled with kibble.

- Looking back, knowing that I walk with my dog TO PLACES and not just going on walks for training sake. I would start with a front clip harness DAY ONE. So he would learn that pulling=spinning around from the start. I thought I would have the patience for the click/LLW thing and I did but SO MUCH of us walking was to get somewhere/be on time so there just wasn't time all of the time.

- Finding weird mascots/large furries kind of people. One of the few things Merlin didn't see as a pup and now he is like 0.o we've got a few "furries" in boston (/people who dress up like animals in big mascot costumes..) and Merlin is scared of them.

- Soak that leash/harness/pant legs in bitter apple. HE WILL NEVER KNOW THESE THINGS TASTE GOOD!

- Take video (and lots of pictures of course) but videos will really make you go "AWWWW" one day

- Take a picture every day of your dog next to something so you can track his growth. I so wish I had done this with Merlin

- We are going to stand here and we aren't going anywhere fun on this walk until you go to the bathroom. It was one of the first things Merlin learned and I appreciate it everyday.

- Start hoarding empty peanut butter jars/water bottles now

- Work on "calm from a short distance" tie your pup to a tree and sit down and read a book 7-8 feet away. This is SO IMPORTANT for city dogs who have to kind of chill tied up on restaurant patios or wait outside for something.. it's just handy to have a dog that can relax and not try to get to you even though they can see you

- Silicone earplugs

- Frozen carrots for teething

that's all I can think of right now! :D
 

Beanie

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#4
- Take video (and lots of pictures of course) but videos will really make you go "AWWWW" one day

- Take a picture every day of your dog next to something so you can track his growth. I so wish I had done this with Merlin
Both of these!! I don't have much video of baby Auggie so I made sure to take baby Payton videos. Ohhhh gosh I love to watch them. Video of baby Payton playing in the leaves in the fall... fffffffff

Also I did the 365 of Payton. It got kind of boring once he was done growing and was in a "this is how I'm going to look for the next six months or so" phase, but I loved doing it and trying to come up with cute ideas for photos most days LOL.

I use a harness on my puppies but it's mostly because they are SO tiny I don't want to start using a martingale on them. However I work on LLW with a martingale once they are old enough. In the meantime, play the reinforcement zone game. Lots of cookies for being in heel at your side (BOTH sides if you want to do sports or anything.) It makes heeling pretty easy later because they have already learned being in heel means good things happen!


Tell your mom that above all else enjoy your puppy.
 

FG167

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#5
- Looking back, knowing that I walk with my dog TO PLACES and not just going on walks for training sake. I would start with a front clip harness DAY ONE. So he would learn that pulling=spinning around from the start. I thought I would have the patience for the click/LLW thing and I did but SO MUCH of us walking was to get somewhere/be on time so there just wasn't time all of the time.

- Take a picture every day of your dog next to something so you can track his growth. I so wish I had done this with Merlin

- We are going to stand here and we aren't going anywhere fun on this walk until you go to the bathroom. It was one of the first things Merlin learned and I appreciate it everyday.

- Work on "calm from a short distance" tie your pup to a tree and sit down and read a book 7-8 feet away. This is SO IMPORTANT for city dogs who have to kind of chill tied up on restaurant patios or wait outside for something.. it's just handy to have a dog that can relax and not try to get to you even though they can see you
It's early, so I'm not thinking the greatest. I'm just going to steal from Fran :)

If you walk a lot, puppy will learn LLW pretty quickly if you have some sort of training device at a young age (like a harness). Kastle has fantastic LLW skills, that I did not really teach, just because we went for SO MANY WALKS when he young. Limit's LLW sucks because we moved away from city and I mostly drive us to the park/training/whatever so he doesn't "get it".

I did not do every day, but I did every month. I have photos of Kastle stacked every month, and then sitting with me every month (I then converted them to videos so I could watch him grow...I'm a sap). It's so fun to see the changes!

Agree with the potty first rule, I also am a huge advocate of teaching a word command with it. My dogs all started on leash. Now I can pop them out anywhere off leash as well and they know they MUST potty first before fun times start. They will all at least squeeze a few drops out, even if they don't really have to go.

Fantastic advice on the last one too.

I want to meet Merlin.

Oh, a book I really love is Brenda Aloff's Puppy Problems? No Problem book. But, it's massive, and expensive. It has so much good stuff in it though!
 

SaraB

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#6
Pupppy!!!!!

My fav go to book for puppy stuff is Control Unleashed: The Puppy Program. Awesome stuff in there!

I'm another one for sticking a front clip harness on the puppies right away. Oh and get a long line so you can start working on "off leash" stuff right away!
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#7
I'm a huge fan of passive socialization. I don't seek anything out. We just go through life with an attachment method and expose as need be.

Lots of videos! Silly stuff. Don't rush! Spend at least two weeks just bonding without training or expectations.

Restrained recalls. Lots of praise and rewards for call offs.

Tons of parties for bringing things to you.

Socialization with dogs is less stressful done one on one, be your dogs advocate, don't coddle but don't let just any dog "put him in his place".

I show my dogs immediately how fun leashes are to tug on, it's an awesome reward and stress reliever when out and about. Once it's built, then we cap it with boundaries and the understanding of give and take.

Encourage bravery, even if its annoying. She says as she removes a shoe from the table climbing puppies mouth. :)
 

HayleyMarie

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#10
-Raw bones are your friend, seriously they have made my life easier when it comes to wanting to get a break from Panzer. No problem. Throw him in his X-Pen, Pop him a raw bone and all is good in the world.

-Bitter apple is amazing. Love that stuff. Especially when it came to crate training and Pan liked to bite on his bars and pull.

-Don't stress, take the time to get to know the puppy before diving into training. have fun, play games. I still have not started crazy training with Pan because he is such a good dog and has amazing manners. I just need to start trick training. I mostly have just been re-enforcing good manners and behaviors I like.

-If you have a good dog that is a great puppy raiser, aka Quinn. Let her do her job. Teagan has been a great teacher for Panzer. And Panzer has learned so much from her and just watching and following her lead. And he respects Teagan so much.
 

Sit Stay

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#11
Thank you so much, guys! I love all of these!

We live out in the country so our dogs learn how to be off leash reliable before they have a good LLW, LOL. I wish I had been more consistent with Quinn, so that's definitely a goal with the puppy.

LOVE the idea of getting them used to being tethered, too! And the covered crate. They're all so awesome, thanks guys!
 

Oko

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#13
Things I tell myself;

Yes, take zillions of pictures and videos.

Don't over analyze everything, let the puppy just be a baby and do silly stuff

By the same token, have fun training and don't dig yourself a hole letting naughty behavior repeatedly happen because it's cute

Nylabones before bully sticks, like Fran said. Dear god, Wesley tasted those darn bully sticks first and he just says no to nylabones.

Go with the puppy's learning style and personality and factor that into interactions, don't try to make a square peg fit in a round hole. And on that note, go with the flow. No hard and fast puppy MUST do x by y

Don't worry about what people think when it comes to not letting him/her play with dogs/say hi to people when puppy isn't comfortable, support your dog 1st

On that note, this is just personal preference, but my puppy will not have the option to say hi to other dogs while on leash. The fact that there is no hard and fast rule totally confused Wesley.
Same thing with cuing to go sniff on leash, wish that had been made clear when you can sniff and when to walk from the start.
 

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