dog owners --how do you do it?

[airtwardo 6]

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As I volunteer at the local humane society here I made the mistake of foster homing an eight year old white labrador that arrived from another shelter. Of course I fell head over heels for her, but had many of the same concerns you have. The good news is that my parents (who only live 3 miles away) fell in love with her as well. Needless to say she is now adopted and every morning on the way to work I drop her off at my parents where she is spoiled rotten!

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THAT'S how ya get a Happy Doggie!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[skydemon2 0]

we do it doggy style of course!!

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone!

I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!!

[RandomLemming 0]

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I had a Rhodesian Ridgeback female while I was in law school.

I had the most awesome Rhodesian Ridgeback named Induna for years - he was great, until we moved. For some reason, once we moved he went mental and tried to eat me.

After the second trip to the doctor to get me stitched up, my parents made me give him up.

But he was the coolest dog a small boy could have :)

[Dougiefresh 0]

Exercise, exercise, exercise! A tired dog is a happy dog, and a happy dog is a happy owner. I have an almost 5 year old lab, 50 lbs of pure concentrated energy. And she was worse when she was a puppy. Basically we got into a routine -- 6 am, breakfast, 6:30 go to the dog park and run around for an hour, then a chew toy to distract her and out the door I go. SHe finishes her chew toy and goes to sleep all day. First thing I do when I get home is go take her for more exercise. It works out, because she's tired enough to just sleep and snuggle, and is happy because she gets attention and play time. I'm happy because I don't have a spazzy pooch jumping all over me. And you can totally tell when she's bored. I was sick the last few days and she didn't get enough exercise, so she raided the trash and kept bugging me.

The yappy spazz dogs are the ones that don't get enough attention or love. Yeah, they require a lot of time and energy, but they'll give it back tenfold.

If you aren't sure you can give your all to a dog, don't get one until you're sure you're ready. It's not fair to either of you, and you'll both be unhappy.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[MakeItHappen 15]

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any input greatly appreciated

As everyone else says, dog ownership is a BIG responsibility, especially if you do it right.

If this is your first dog, I would recommend a medium size dog (20-60 lbs full grown) vs either the miniatures are large breeds. The miniatures are somewhat neurotic. The large ones need a lot of space and their stools are MASSIVE. Of course, that depends upon what you feed it. The large ones may out weigh you when fully grown. Combine that with an aggressive dog and you have trouble.

If you get a puppy, make sure for know before you adopt how it is on the passive-aggressive continuum. There is a good test in 'The Art of Raising a Puppy'. Both the overly aggressive and very submissive will be harder to train than dogs in the middle. The overly aggressive have behavior problems around other dogs, people and kids. The very submissive have fear problems that lead to behavior problems of separation anxiety, fear of thunderstorms, etc. You cannot go by breed alone to determine passiveness/aggressiveness. You have to put a puppy to a test BEFORE you adopt.

Other lifestyle things to consider:
- Housing the dog when you go away for several days to several weeks. I've used my yard with neighbors playing with them & feeding them, friends that take in a dog and dog sitters that visit once per day. One dog is easier to place with a friend. Two dogs seem ok with visitors feeding them once a day in their usual home. It also depends on the length of the trip.
- Finding a new home. Only ~20% of rental places will allow dogs. It will take you longer to find a new place to live if you move. Are you willing and able to do longer housing searches when you move? Your first question will be 'Do you allow dogs?' and you will get very frustrated. It will take weeks to find a new home as opposed to days.
- If you leave the dog in the yard while your are away at work, does the dog have shelter from rain/snow/sun/etc? Doggie doors are better for adult dogs, but not puppies. You don't want a puppy to have free reign inside your house. It's too expensive. You also have to dog-proof the fence line. I had to use an electric fence for one of my dogs. Some dogs are diggers, some are not.
- Inside the house is quiet time, no romping around playing tag or fetch. You can teach sit, sit-stay, down, down-stay, come in the house.

Training:

Nowadays, there are 3 broad groups of training philosophies. They all say the are predicated on you being the pack leader.
1. give food treats to reward proper behavior
2. give lavish praise to reward proper behavior
3. make the puppy/dog watch you and respond to your voice commands to realize YOU are the pack leader to reward proper behavior.

IMHO, pack leaders of wolf packs do not give out treats or lavish praise to teach new pups the way things work. I still use Koehler's methods. The best trained dogs watch you, listen to your verbal commands and behave accordingly. You have to be able to stare down a dog's gaze in a non-aggressive manner, ignore a whining puppy, give clear and concise commands and respect your dog's good behavior.

I suggest you read books from all of these areas and decide for yourself. Get with some neighbor with a new pup or an adult dog. Try these techniques. Do this all before you adopt a dog.

I have a new pup since Monday (April 3). She is 5 weeks old. She knows how to sit, almost the down, how to be quiet inside the house and is house-broken. She is being told mouthing is wrong and almost has that down. She only licks now, no biting.
A rain storm prevented some initial leash training yesterday. She follows me or RePete around the yard. She knows her bowl is the square one, not the round one.

It is a LOT of effort to train a dog, but when you have a well-behaved dog, the rewards outweigh all the frustrations or inconveniences.

I've had one or two dogs since 1984. I made a lot of mistakes with Pete, my first dog. But the more you read about training and keep up the training regimen, the better off you and your dogs are.


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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[briguy 0]

if you're set on getting a dog, please consider getting one from the pound or a rescue group. there are so many good dogs people abandon or neglect.

shitty story:

i work with a rescue groups, one of our trainers is also an animal control officer. he responded to a call where some people just bought a house and were checking it out. when they got to the garage, they found a caged dog who had been there for at least three days without food or water. the dog turned out to be very friendly, some POS just left their dog behind. the cops are pursuing criminal charges.

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[livendive 8]

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I have a new pup since Monday (April 3). She is 5 weeks old. She knows how to sit, almost the down, how to be quiet inside the house and is house-broken. She is being told mouthing is wrong and almost has that down. She only licks now, no biting.
A rain storm prevented some initial leash training yesterday. She follows me or RePete around the yard. She knows her bowl is the square one, not the round one.

I hope this was some sort of rescue situation due to a problem with the mother, and that nobody intentionally removed a pup from it's mother and siblings at 5 weeks.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[WatchYourStep 0]

Good question and lots of good answers.

When I first got Roxton I crate trained him from the go and it was wonderful. After about 6 months I started working again. I put his crate in the kitchen with him, and gated the kitchen. Friends would come over 3 times a day to take him out.

The crate training was great. Now (2 year later) he get free run of the kitchen and eating area when I'm gone. I take him for a walk at 4:00am every morning. My roomie takes him out before he leaves for work. I then have one of my rowers come over and take him for a 30 minute walk around noon. When I get home we go for a walk or just play.

My roomie got a pup and they play like crazy in the evening. Leo is in the crate upstairs during the day so they don't see each other except around noon. Soon he'll have better control and will be able to hang with Roxton during the daytime.

Roxton goes on most of my rowing trips, but doesn't come to the DZ.

Left is Roxton
Right is Leo

"You start off your skydiving career with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience up before your bag of luck runs out."

[Chizazz 0]

Freeze it in carbonite. Then you can hang it on the wall and it will last virtually forever. And then when you retire, you can unthaw it.

[Spdoat 0]

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I hope this was some sort of rescue situation due to a problem with the mother, and that nobody intentionally removed a pup from it's mother and siblings at 5 weeks.

Blues,
Dave

There is some validity to that! Our rescue puppy was removed from her situation at around 4 weeks old. The mother and all but one sibling was canabalized from owner abandonment in a house. We have had a whole host of health problems ranging from skin infections to giardia to hip surgery in the past 10 months. We are lucky that my aunt and uncle are both vets and have been kind enough to help us out on the bills throughout all this. We'd do it all again to help out another dog in need but a proper weaning is more important that I ever realized health wise! I am actually in a program right now becoming an obedience trainer and I agree to go get a book and do some reading on training before getting your puppy. It will save some frustration when the dog begins to get bigger and stronger. Put a lot of consideration into what you are going to do with the dog when you go to the dz. Take it? Leave it in the yard? (not possible if a digger like ours) Leave it with a friend? It's what I'm thinking about for this Saturday even since the weather is getting warmer! Ours is probably going to go to daycare/boarding if I'm late to pick her up.

Chrstina

I love my husband!

[MakeItHappen 15]

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I hope this was some sort of rescue situation due to a problem with the mother, and that nobody intentionally removed a pup from it's mother and siblings at 5 weeks.

I would say yes and no to that.

I think there was some cultural influence on this.

The people that had her and the five other litter mates gave them all away. The one I took was the LAST of the litter.

They did say the dogs (mom)/pups were all outside dogs, they trained them for sit and not to go out of the yard. That was at least in place when RePete and I first met two of the pups a couple of weeks ago. Their gate was always open. I always shut it so the pups would not follow us. That was two, maybe 3, weeks ago. RePete and I went by there several times in the past couple of weeks.

The good news is that the new puppy did pretty well on the leash today. It was only a block and a half, but she did well. For a first time out on a leash, she gets A+++++.

Anyway, this puppy is on solid food and in good hands.

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[arai 0]

just wanted to say thanks for all the responses. I am aware of how much work a dog would be and I wont take that step until I am 100% sure I can meet the needs of that dog. I'll definatly have a look at the local shelters and maybe in time I'll even sign up for a fostering program.

I guess I was just looking for some stories from people who manage to work around a 9-5 job.

I had a black lab that I took care of when I was growing up, who is still with my parents. My brother currently lives with his girlfriend and they recently got a beautiful little lab. He's getting close to fullgrown now but this is him as a puppy.