What Would You Have Done Differently?

[Edenishy]

Getting my first puppy as an adult, ive been reading, researching....getting consumed by the world of canine companions..

never has time gone so slowly while I await the arrival of my puppy in 7ish weeks time.

Anyway, I was thinking, while I prepare..

What would be the one thing you would have done differently upon bringing a puppy (or dog for that matter) into the home?

[tlc]

Welcome to DOL, what sort of puppy are you getting?

I have had 4 puppies in the last 4 years and there is nothing I would do differently if I had the time over again. I am extremely happy with how they have all grown up, the baby of the pack is now 2 and 1/2.

[Brennan's Mum]

Ooh very exciting time. My girl is 15months now. I don't think I would change anything that I did or did not do. The last year has been the best year of my life, I have learnt so much.

[ash&elar]

How exciting for you! ummm im not sure i would of done anything much different actually im pretty happy with the way things are going with my puppy FEZ who is a toy poodle who is 18 weeks old.... actually because i would love to show him i would of liked to of learnt more about the show ring and gone to more shows before i got him and now have more time so that i could go to shows and to be more involved with some ppl who do show their dogs

[lovemesideways]

Welcome to DOL, what sort of puppy are you getting?

I have had 4 puppies in the last 4 years and there is nothing I would do differently if I had the time over again. I am extremely happy with how they have all grown up, the baby of the pack is now 2 and 1/2.

Sounds like the perfect time for a new puppy ;)!

[tlc]

Welcome to DOL, what sort of puppy are you getting?

I have had 4 puppies in the last 4 years and there is nothing I would do differently if I had the time over again. I am extremely happy with how they have all grown up, the baby of the pack is now 2 and 1/2.

Sounds like the perfect time for a new puppy !

;) I'd have another one in a heartbeat........but I also have a husband who has been very tolerant of my doggy passion and he says 4 is enough!

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I wished I'd seen Susan Garrett's DVDs before I got my puppy.

Especially the Crate Games one, and the one I still don't have - Greg Derrett Foundation Handling skills or something.

And Lesley Nelson's "really reliable recall".

And I wished I knew more about training in drive before I got my puppy too.

When I first got her - she wouldn't take food treats, she is still intermittant about fetch/retrieve, and tug games, and a whole bunch of other things that can actually be taught or improved with the right training.

I got the toilet training down. I was a bit stupid when it came to what's allowed to be chewed. And it would have been good if I'd trained TOT with tie out from the beginning, in summer when being outside is pleasant not freezing.

[cornell]

Great question ;)

I have owned dogs all my life and we are 5 weeks in to having our new puppy yet we are always still learning new things.

First of all do your research into the dangers of collars and also look up the safer alternative of breakaway collars.

Remember to take a photo every week to capture their progress. It is amazing how much they grow from week to week.

Set aside some kibble for the hyper times - I found that this was a good time for obedience training. It gave him something constructive to focus on.

While you have the time, do your research for the 3 year vaccine for later on in life.

Buy some Eucalyptus oil to deter them from chewing your furniture (Thanks to the DOL forumite who passed this on!)

I remember the anticipation of waiting for a new pup to be developmentally ready and feeling so impatient, in the meantime watch some You Tube videos of your breed and enjoy some great belly laughs

Good luck with your new best friend :p

[dandybrush]

the only thing i would have done differently is crate trained him as soon as i got him home, im taking him to agility he is not really crate trained but has his time outs and dinners etc in one but at agility he just whinges when he is in his crate...if he was trained i think he would be alot calmer/quiter in it

[Stitch]

What breed are you getting?

I ask that because temperaments vary with breeds, even though they are all dogs they do learn differently and all have their own personalities within a breed.

Some are 'naturals' and very quick learners and some are 'special' and have to be taught differently to others.

The basics of dog training are much the same but the methods of teaching sometimes have to be adapted.

I have one line of dogs that as pups will not take a treat from my hand - whilst another line of dogs will be more vocal, etc. etc.

All require adaptablility on my part.

IMO the biggest thing overall to teach a dog is how to relax and that starts with you and your methods.

[Genabee]

When I bought my puppy home, my husband was away on business (and was still away for another four weeks!). For the sake of my sanity, I would never do that again. Next time, I would always make sure both of us was going to be home for the first few weeks. I found the first few weeks to be very trying and not having the support of the 'other parent' was frustrating. It was also hard when he did come home, as I had to teach him how to teach her! We had completed puppy school while he was away.

One thing I did do that I do not regret, was putting her into puppy school straight away. She was 8 weeks on the day when we started. It was great for me also, as it was an opportunity for me to vent and ask questions, especially as I was by myself at the time (and hadn't discovered DOL at that point). I also found it was a great way to wear her out, and she learnt things very quickly. In hiensight, I should have done two rounds. It would have been good for her.

[Teebs]

Not feed Atlas as i went to work each day He is food aggressive... I didnt do the same mistake with Kaos, who loves to share her bones and food with me or the cats

And most importantly, i will never again think others know my dogs better than me just because they are 'trainers' if i feel a situation is getting out of hand, and I do not think my dog is happy, i will remove them, not keep them there because someone else thinks everything is ok.

Sorry Atlas

[Red Fox]

Ok, mine are perhaps a bit unconventional but I guess it really depends on what you want out of your dog. Do you want a pet, a show dog, a companion, a sporting dog? The breed of your dog is also important too

With my 22 month old Ridgie, if I could turn back the clock..

I would not have let the vet push me into a C5 vaccinations at 12 and 16 weeks (which then caused a reaction) - I would have stuck to my guns and only allowed a C3 (thank God I never allowed her to give him a heartworm injection!)

I would have crate trained earlier - not slept with him on a mattress for the first 5 weeks (though that didn't seem to affect us too much in the long run. He's crate trained but I still let him sleep on the bed!)

I would NEVER have taken him to puppy preschool (long story, there are good ones but this one caused a lot of issues for me)

I would have spent time neutralising my pup to kids/dogs/new environment etc. rather than socialising the hell out of him

I would not have pushed him into obedience classes so early when they were obviously way too distracting for him and counter productive.

I would have taught LLW before he dragged me across several roads and caused me to do a full front flip landing on my bum in the middle of town!

I would have sought advice from a good, qualified trainer MUCH earlier (as in before the puppy arrived).

I would have begun drive work at 8 weeks - and not 15 months

I would have started my dog on probiotics MUCH earlier. It's really made a difference to his overall health.

Most importantly I would have stood up for my dog more. There were times when I let things go/did what I was told as to not upset people who I *thought* knew better than me

With my next dog I will know better - but I will still make mistakes

Edited July 21, 2010 by SecretKei

[Red Fox]

Not feed Atlas as i went to work each day He is food aggressive... I didnt do the same mistake with Kaos, who loves to share her bones and food with me or the cats

And most importantly, i will never again think others know my dogs better than me just because they are 'trainers' if i feel a situation is getting out of hand, and I do not think my dog is happy, i will remove them, not keep them there because someone else thinks everything is ok.

Sorry Atlas

Yep, I know exactly what you mean.

[W Sibs]

My 2 are so different from each other but always keeps me on my toes!! I keep learning new things about raising a puppy or dog every single day.

It's really important to me that my dogs learn the house rules, and both did pretty much straight away. Teaching them that, it let me know how different they are and what I need to do to get them to learn. I find different methods to help them become happy, secure and confident puppies. And, become great dogs.

I can't use the same method that works on Charlie with Emmy. Charlie has amazing focus and Emmy doesn't have much of an attention span and everything about her is fun and games, or else she gets bored.

What I did learn from Charlie and made sure I didn't pass to Emmy was his picky eating. He is better now since we got Emmy, because Emmy is a pig.. so he knows if he doesn't finish his food, Emmy will eat it... and I won't refill his bowl if it's empty.

[Edenishy]

Wow...

thanks for all the wonderful replies so far.

You certainly have given me a lot to think about!

My little one is a beagle. She was born almost 2 weeks ago yet it feels like it was last year! It's going to be

a long 7 weeks but i'm ok with that, gives me more time to get ready, research, research research.

My plan was to have a "pet" however I always wanted to show a little too. That depends however on how the little one

grows in the next couple of weeks. The breeder has 1 in mind that she thinks will meet the standards, we are just

waiting to see how she walks etc.

As good as it is to research the specifics of training and showing etc, its hard to get a good feel of peoples

real life experiences...hence my question above so all your replies I find very interesting. I will no doubt have a few questions

about some of the things mentioned...need to process all those great tips etc first tho.

One thing that did raise a flag however was the mention of neutralizing over socializing. Would someone mind explaining this a little

more. I have read over and over how I need to get onto socializing straight away so find this interesting.

I also like the idea of the oil to stop chewing of furniture too...how does this work exactly?

Anyway, I will leave it at that for now....process all this great information..

Im off to look for those DVDs mentioned above now!

[Edenishy]

PS - Thanks again for all your honest and interesting posts..

I know it can be tricky for some to admit "mistakes" but we do learn from such all the same!

I expect to make many small errors of judgement but I at least can try to minimize such and with your help,

thats making it more possible.

[Staranais]

One thing that did raise a flag however was the mention of neutralizing over socializing. Would someone mind explaining this a little

more. I have read over and over how I need to get onto socializing straight away so find this interesting.

The idea of neutralisation is that you're trying to raise a dog that is happy & comfortable in different situations & around different people, but doesn't go bananas anticipating attention or play whenever it sees another dog or a stranger. Basically, you still intro the pup to anything and everything, but if he is already confident with strangers & strange dogs, then you don't let him have too much fun with strange people or strange dogs - you try to only introduce him to boring dogs, and people that will pretty much ignore him. On the other hand, if the pup is a bit nervous around strange people or strange dogs, you want to give him good experiences with them until he gets more confident.

I tried it with my current girl, but she still ended up an attention hussy. Mind you, she may have been worse if I'd socialised conventionally.

[cornell]

I never realised how many 'feet' (floor level knobs) I have on my furniture legs until I got my puppy. When he is bored he will roll around and have a bit of a chew on these knobs. When I see him doing this I put a tiny bit of Eucalyptus oil on the spot and distract him with one of his toys.

Hey presto he will not go back to chew that piece of furniture. It is the distinct smell that puts him off then he goes and finds something more pleasant to do. It is also handy when he starts to scratch on the couch.

Have you decided on a name?

[huski]

Yay, a beagle puppy! I am so jealous any idea on names yet??

I agree with SecretKei and Staranaias