formydog

two rules that have never failed me so far with dogs (and in no way do I profess to be an expert): 1) nothing in life is free 2) Dogs feet stay on he floor not on the furniture, dogs stay out of the bedrooms and kitchen with my current dog, the 2nd rule meant that for he first time ever I had to use a crate initially to train her (along the lines of she only spent time out of the crate under supervision so that the 2nd rule was enforced!) my previous dogs have not neded a crate to achieve this. and I make sure he crate is a 'good place to be' I have always loved and respected my dogs. The 2nd rule in my mind enforces the leadership you have in the relationship with your dog. Dog has has black and whie boundaries

A well dog will not starve itself. Agree with Nekhbet. Place the food down, give 15 minutes, then take away. No longer than 15 minutes and present the same food each time. Now is not the time to swap and change or add treats. Wait until a routine is in place. And importantly a treat is just that a treat, not a regular habit. have fun!

Interesting. We are transitioning from Purina Puppy chow to Advance (we have about 60kg of purina so doing 50/50). Pup seems calmer and less itchy on the advance. Ultimately I think we will aim for Nutro as an adult food if it suits her.

We mix a little garlic in with pups food every other day. This gives her lovely 'neutral' breath (not garlic breath!)

Yes have never used a crate before. But thinking back both GSD I have had in the past have had a confined area of sorts. The first had the top of the stairs with a child gate on. The second was spoilt and had a small bedroom of his own. Makes sense now. The whole house is less stressful now she has space of her own and we have somewhere to make her safe when we are bringing shopping in or getting kids ready for bed. Start the puppy pre-school next week, so looking forward to introducing her to more people and dogs.

For an update: We got her a crate and this is in the main 'family area'. Shes done much better using the crate, and goes in there of her own accord when shes had too much of he kids. We only close the door at night and when we go out she seems much more settled having an area all of her own

Tonight she laid without fuss outside while we ate She is starting to 'bed' on command but am keeping the 'stay out of our way while we eat' and 'bed' separate until she is 100% at both. I think she is much more food orientated than our last two GSD, which is proving an advantage for other things.

Thanks for the welcome. Yes Puppy pre-school is on the books for us. Should be starting next week. Especially has she has three weeks until her 3 vaccination, and I guess about 10 days after that before she can go out.

I'm now the proud owner of the third GSD in my lifetime. Both my last two dogs lived to ripe old ages before passing on and its been about 5 yrs since I last had a dog. The new house member is a 12 week old bitch. We have had her just over a week and she has laid out two novel challenges for me. First I've always insisted that the dogs stay in their bed (bed not crate) whilst we are eating, in the past this has been a simple task with some treats in the bed and the corner of an eye on their bed in case they move. Our new pup has none of this and jumps out continually. I've resided to fastening her outside whilst we eat. This means shes the other side of a glass door and visible both ways. She still protests, but I was worried about mixed signals going backwards and forwards from table to bed everytime she jumped out. Any suggested approaches? I'd love to get her to stay in bed, and hate fastening dogs outside even for a short while. Second she is occasionally barking at me when given commands (keep out of specific rooms or 'bed' as above). All seems playfull/frustration. Each time I'm pretty much standing tall to her, not speaking to her and she soon 'downs' and stops barking, at which point I'm giving her praise (i.e. when she has calmed). Any other suggestions/is the approach reasonable? She does not react this way to any other family member, and I'm the one who has been feeding/training/toileting and playing through the day with her. Other than that she is a smart and willing and calm (for a pup). I'm also wondering about some crating, she is pretty much toilet trained, but I want to use a crate in the car for safety when I take her out in it. Should I replace her bed with a crate or keep the bed and the crate as seperate things? Sorry for the essay!