Bringing A New Pup Home - Page 2

No problem, I don't know where you are, but if you are close by you are welcome to come out and watch my guys, get some hands on tips.

Thanks. :) I'm really excited for it - if it works out. I've been looking for 'the perfect one' for too long to just settle for any old pup.

I'd definantly like to see what you have, Alboe, thanks. Puppy will be going everywhere with me, everywhere she can, anyway. My main reason for getting her (IF I get her... trying not to get my hopes up, if thats even possible) is to be a detterant on my paper routes.... not that she will be much help in the beginning, but she can get used to what is expected in the car and what not. Plus she'll come to my moms, as I know my half sister is going to want to help teach her (fun with the recall games and whatnot) and play. And we have a lake a few miles from our house that we can walk around.

That is kind of you to offer, Donnerstorm. :) I'm in Omaha, NE.

And do you guys have any suggestions about the screaming puppy phase? That is my least favorite thing about pups is when they scream in their kennels all night. Lucky for everyone else in the house, I work overnights and sleep during the day.

 Well depends on the pups, I had one bitch that the only thing that calmed her down was AC/DC played softly in the room I had her puppy crate in.  Ussually some sort of noise helps, also crate her for short periods in the room you are going to be in durring the day or evening.  When she makes noise in the crate you can ignore it or for the more persistant ones a small correction like the "aah aah " sound.  The key is short periods and DO NOT let her out of the crate while she is making noise, as soon as she lays down and is quiet then let her out of the crate.  You can do it for short periods gradually making them longer.  You may find she likes playing in the lake more so than walking around it! :) Esp if this is your first gsd wl, the one command I start very early is "make a friend".  When they are little I say it very excited when they are approached by a new person, when we start the bitework phase of training, as soon as the session is over I say make a friend and make them walk up to the person they just bit and be friendly.  That combined with alot of socialization helps ensure a social dog that is not just aggressive all the time.  They are a lot of fun so ENJOY!!!!!

She's screaming/whining for you........ I'll send some info ASAP.

Thanks, Alboe. :)

This will be my first Working Line, that I know of anyway. I'm not really sure what my last girl was, as I got her for $25 as a 6 week old puppy from a farm - yes, 6 weeks, and whats sad is that it was only her and her sister left. :\

I'm trying to remember how it went with her. I know for the first few days I had a big box in my room for her instead of a kennel. The only time she really cried was when she had to go potty, so I'd take her out and then she'd be OK for the rest of the night. After we got her a kennel we kept her downstairs with the other dog and she'd just cry and cry for a couple of days and then she was OK.

This pup, if it does work out and I bring her home, will be staying in my room, kennel and all. I'm in the process of cleaning/rearranging my room so I can figure out where exactly, but right now its looking like she'll be at the foot of my bed. So, I guess if it works out like it did with Dallas, I might not have to worry about a screamer. :)

Not sure how well my cat willl like sharing "her" room though, heh.

Think I needed an e-mail to send the ifo. Didn't see one for you. Can't on a PM so I'll try this way.

Would it be OK if I PMed you my e-mail address and you sent em to me that way? The site must have tiny-ified them, heh.

From two great trainers on here, teaching focus on you is very important and overlooked.  Have food in your pocket and reward when the pup looks at you (around the house, in the yard, etc.)  It will become a habit.  You can do the windmill with your hands out (food in each) and every time the pup looks at your eyes (not the food) you reward with random hands.  I wish someone had told me to teach this from the get go 30 years ago.

As for puppy crying..lol, I am a horrible one for that because all four of mine, including my three intact working line males sleep with me (not on the bed) so there was never any crying or screaming.  Housebreaking also never took more than one day and far less in three of the cases.  

Bite work, make sure you get a small tug you can put on a line and get a flirt pole.  Later you can pat and reward a solid bite, calm bite, and let the pup posses the toy after any counter. Then eventually you can put a bite wedge and puppy sleeve on the line so they know it is prey.  For puppy bite work Leerburg has a good video and for obedience, I have never seen a better video than Balabanov's series of Obedience Without Conflict.  He is a world champion winner who really teaches well.

Oh, I always take the puppy out first so it can poo and pee outside and I reward with "good outside pee" so they can later know that if I say no if they squat in the house and take them out (and then praise for the pee/poo outside) they get the concept that going outside is good.  Otherwise you risk them thinking that you are telling them no inside because peeing is bad and then they will try not to pee in front of you but might hide and do so in the house.  Less confusing to catch them in the act of "being good" and reward that.  I have never used corrections other than a no and never had a dog that was not housebroken in less than 24 hours with this method.