All dog owners help me out!!!

RyleeLorr · January 2011

Hi, i,m getting a new puppy on the 6th of march.the puppy is a labrador cross greyhound and i have researched all i can about owning a puppy and all you dog owners out there please can you tell me all i need to now about first puppys (best food,toys and training ect) and some really good tips please thank you

iluvdogs111 · January 2011

Congrats on your new puppy! They are a lot of work, but they are worth it. I own two black lab mixes and would be happy to help you out. Just message me with any questions you have.

Mileysmybaby · January 2011

congrats! I just got a new puppy but Ive had them before as my dog had pups, you should house train VERY young and train them for a kennel also pretty young. My puppy and my sisters are house trained and partially kennel trained and their only 7 weeks old.

iluvdogs111 · January 2011

Mysterous Love wrote:

congrats! I just got a new puppy but Ive had them before as my dog had pups, you should house train VERY young and train them for a kennel also pretty young. My puppy and my sisters are house trained and partially kennel trained and their only 7 weeks old.

Yes, you should train young, but I don't recommend even getting a puppy until they are at least 8 weeks old. It gives them lots of socialization time with the other puppies.

Latara_Elric · January 2011

i love puppies

id love another min pin =] my dixie, is getting old... hubby wont let me have anymore XD but congrats.. Ive had many puppies over the years, and can help you with just about anything =D feel free to pm me

Mileysmybaby · January 2011

iluvdogs111 wrote:

Mysterous Love wrote:

congrats! I just got a new puppy but Ive had them before as my dog had pups, you should house train VERY young and train them for a kennel also pretty young. My puppy and my sisters are house trained and partially kennel trained and their only 7 weeks old.

 Yes, you should train young, but I don't recommend even getting a puppy until they are at least 8 weeks old. It gives them lots of socialization time with the other puppies.

I just got mine at 7 weeks cause they would go to the pound this weekend if I didnt.

Kazuko · January 2011

Socialize socialize socialize. I cannot stress that enough. Take the puppy everywhere. To the pet store, even if you have nothing to buy. To the park. Find some pet expos. Bring it to outdoor parties. Take it. everywhere, Even if the puppy seems frightened. It may sound mean, but it's very important. Introduce it to babies and kids of varying ages. Adults of different heights, weights, genders, skin tones, everything. Introduce it to lots of other dogs (I'd recommend finding a dog park that has a small-dog area for the first couple of times, then you can let it play with the big dogs if they're not too rough). Introduce it to cats, birds, cars, bikes, rollar skates, anything you can possibly think of. Leash train it young too. Puppies tend to have this bad habit of not walking to go anywhere on a leash the first few times. We had to drag Kira around like a sack of flour for the longest time, despite her whining and balking and generally throwing a fit. Made me sad, and I hated to do it, but she learned to heel really nicely really quickly. Now, at 8 months old, she rarely pulls on the leash and doesn't go after dogs, cars, people, or cats. Potty training, yeah, it's important. Obedience training? Also important. But in my opinion, socialization is the MOST vital part to having a puppy. An unsocialized dog poses a danger for you, your family, your friends, and complete strangers. It's just not good.

Beaglepaw · February 2011

Firstly, helpful websites for information that you need to know (I will stress this, I got a beagle pup for Christmas, hes' about 18-19 weeks old now) Training: <a href="http://www.CesarsWay.com"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">www.CesarsWay.com</a> (Cesar Millan talks about how to have a balanced, calm-submissive dog) All I can think of will post more later. Info: <a href="http://www.PetPlace.com"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">www.PetPlace.com</a> (15,000+ vet approved stuff) <a href="http://www.ASPCA.com"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">www.ASPCA.com</a> <a href="http://www.humanesociety.com"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">www.humanesociety.com</a> My tips: Food: Avoid anything with stuff like corn gleuten meal, or by products, or anything you wouldn't want your dog to eat. Brands to avoid: Absoloutely NO beneful. Though the commercials are ownderful, look at the ingredients. Brands to get: My (and my vets) tops are: PurinaONE, IAMS, PurinaONE Beyond, Purina Dog chow/puppy chow, ScienceDiet (My vets top) and Chef Michaels. Before buying any food, look at the ingredients. They need to have little to no by products, or gluten meals, stuff like that. Meat and veggies and vitamins should be the top stuff. GTG might post later.

ImportsandLines · February 2011

Going off of Beagle's note, Iam's and Science Diet are generally terrible for your dogs. Science Diet claims to be so great and everything and its advertised all over your veterinary clinic, but Science Diets producer funds animal health research, so they have to tell you its good. Purnina is a great brand that my 3 dogs use and it's great for them. Just look up some brands you like and check out the ingredients, corn or grain or any types of corn and grain are definitely not good for your pets if they are labeled as number one. They are just fillers and the majority of the food is made up of that one ingredient. Also any meat-by-products are not good, they are all parts of the animal, and not just one thing(stay clear of it). If you have a larger budget you could perhaps go for better brands like Blue Wilderness and just about anything else from them. If you are on a lower budget then Purina One is a great brand of dog food for the price. Hope this helps!

danae11 · February 2011

This got a little long sorry but hope it helps. First off do not get younger than 8 weeks. They get a lot of training from mum and the litter in this time especially with bite inhibition. Preferably older but because 8-12 weeks is so essential for socialisation you are better getting at 8. Food: Look for food with meat as the first ingredient. Anything with rice or grains as a first ingredient is crap. Anything with additives or derivatives avoid. Not sure what american brands are good but I've heard good things about blue buffalo and orijen. Mine are on raw if you want to have a look at that Training: Avoid Cesar Milan and anyone claiming to train by dominance or spouting the must be alpha or your dog will take over the house and become dominant and aggressive crap. Find yourself a good positive trainer preferably one that doesn't use choke chains, prong collars or shock collars. None of these are needed my 160lb wolfhound walks perfectly fine on a martingale, not a choke chain designed to tighten just enough he can't slip out of it. You might need one of these for your dog if it's a greyhound mix. Clicker training is very good you should have a responsive dog there have a look at people like Karen Pryor. Download these PDFs and read they are wonderful guides for puppies and he has actual qualifications and experience unlike certain dog "rehabilitators" <a href="http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads</a> I would get a crate. Labs are notorious chewers especially when puppies. Putting him in the crate might save your house. Make it the best place to be give him treats for going in, feed him in there give him toys and he'll be happy to sleep in it. Do not crate all day however. It does make house training easier obviously but you can also use an umbilical line for when you're in the house to help with house training House training: Take him out every hour, when he wakes up, before bed and after every meal. Make a huge fuss when he goes outside but NEVER punish when he goes inside. He will make no association with the pee on the floor and him doing it. It will make him nervous to go to the toilet and that's never good. Clean up any accidents with a biological detergent that gets rid of the smell if they can smell it they're more likely to go there again. Socialisation: Can not stress this enough. Take him out as much as possible introduce him to as many sights, sounds and smells as possible. Reward him for being calm. Introduce him to baby strollers, people in wheelchairs, people of different races, cars, trucks everything you can especially before 6 months. He can also meet friendly vaccinated dogs before he gets all his shots. Take him to puppy class as soon as you can essential for socialisation

iluvdogs111 · February 2011

Personally, I would not train a lab puppy with Cesar Milan's tequniques. He is good with aggressive dogs, but I personally do not believe in his tequniques. I think they are a little too rough. Using positive reinforcment, rather than constatly correcting a dog is much better. I reccomend watching It's Me or the Dog with Victoria Stillwell for training tips. Don't want to start a fight, this is just my opinion. You really don't need to be rough with most labs, as long as they are trained right from the start. In fact using Cesar's methods would probably just scare and upset my labs.

KittKattize · February 2011

oreocakester wrote:

Going off of Beagle's note, Iam's and Science Diet are generally terrible for your dogs. Science Diet claims to be so great and everything and its advertised all over your veterinary clinic, but Science Diets producer funds animal health research, so they have to tell you its good. Purnina is a great brand that my 3 dogs use and it's great for them. Just look up some brands you like and check out the ingredients, corn or grain or any types of corn and grain are definitely not good for your pets if they are labeled as number one. They are just fillers and the majority of the food is made up of that one ingredient. Also any meat-by-products are not good, they are all parts of the animal, and not just one thing(stay clear of it). If you have a larger budget you could perhaps go for better brands like Blue Wilderness and just about anything else from them. If you are on a lower budget then Purina One is a great brand of dog food for the price. Hope this helps!

Clover lives off Purina Pro Plan. Chicken and Rice flavor is her favorite. Also, I would introduce the puppy to car rides as soon as possible. Considering the amount of travelling I do and Clover is always there with me. She never gets car sick and just goes in the back and falls asleep. Blue Buffalo is supposed to be the best. We had Clover on it for a while and gave her time to adjust to it. Unfortunately, she's allergic to something in the food and can't have any. It's always good to look at the ingredients. The more natural the ingredients, the more likely it is good for your dog. Our trainer, who went to university and specializes in dog behavior and nutrition told us to stay away from, Iams; Purina Dog Chow/Puppy Chow/; Pedigree is apparently the worst to give. It barely meets the regulations to be exported/imported. As well, the more pronounceable the words are, the more likely it is not good your dog and is just filler/flavor. Things like corn meal (filler); Chicken meal (Doesn't say what part of the chicken); and so on and so on. Make sure that salt is not near the top of the list of ingredients. If you're looking for something extremely healthy, look at the couple of first ingredients. The VERY FIRST ingredient should be... *Drum Roll* meat. Not meat meal, but meat. Not flour, salt, corn meal and such.

RyleeLorr · February 2011

thank you every one who posted i have thought very carful about that my dog is going to have food: raw training: i will be training her myself (no choke chains ,ect) and thank you all who helped

LaLa_Laru · February 2011

oreocakester wrote:

Going off of Beagle's note, Iam's and Science Diet are generally terrible for your dogs. Science Diet claims to be so great and everything and its advertised all over your veterinary clinic, but Science Diets producer funds animal health research, so they have to tell you its good. Purnina is a great brand that my 3 dogs use and it's great for them. Just look up some brands you like and check out the ingredients, corn or grain or any types of corn and grain are definitely not good for your pets if they are labeled as number one. They are just fillers and the majority of the food is made up of that one ingredient. Also any meat-by-products are not good, they are all parts of the animal, and not just one thing(stay clear of it). If you have a larger budget you could perhaps go for better brands like Blue Wilderness and just about anything else from them. If you are on a lower budget then Purina One is a great brand of dog food for the price. Hope this helps!

Science Diet is the only brand of food my dog can eat, it's basically what keeps him alive. My vet did recommend it, but I know that all she wanted was my dog to be in good health, and it's worked. But then again, he does have a weird disease...he's not like other dogs at all.

SC`s Stars II · February 2011

Collie 99 wrote:

thank you every one who posted i have thought very carful about that my dog is going to have food: raw training: i will be training her myself (no choke chains ,ect) and thank you all who helped

With the training, choker chains are not necessarily a bad idea

I don't consider them bad considering it just stops the dog from pulling so much. At work (Humane Society) we also use them for walking dogs in general, simply because it makes it nearly impossible for them to get the chain off, unlike a collar that could slip over their head, or unbuckle. If used correctly, they can be a good and effective training tool for a dog that needs leash training

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