My husband and I just adopted this beautiful new puppy.
From what we can gather, he’s a mixture of lab, shar pei and something else… we can’t be sure. He’s all play time, love, and excitement. He loves to eat and play. The husband and I are beside ourselves with happiness. Not much sleep (or internet, eating, reading, going out) is happening. But we couldn’t be happier. Our little guy is helping remind us every day how beautiful every moment is. He definitely helps us stay in the moment!
It may be quiet around here at Food Woolf for a week or so while we get our little guy used to this big, beautiful world. In the meantime, feel free to share with me any great puppy training hints in the comments section…I’m all ears!
Congrats you two! Your new pup is adorable! I have two giant and lovable doggies who aren’t so well trained…so my advice to you is: listen to everyone else’s advice 🙂
Aww. He is so cute!! Congrats on the new addition to your family.
What’s he eating? Can I get the recipe? 🙂
Soooo cute! May I recommend crate training, it works great!
Be calm all the time, even when you’re mad. I don’t mean pretend to be calm, I mean actual calm, deep breaths, deep deep breaths–zen. They pick up on that. Nervous people have nervous dogs. Not that you’re a nervous person, but enjoy the puppy years for the destructive, noisy, and frustrating years they are.
Plus, train him to be a lap dog! It’s fun when they are fully grown!
Congratulations! I love dogs.
Congratulations on the new baby! He’s just beautiful. Wish I had some tips to share, but we’re cat people around here (though I do appreciate cute puppy photos!).
I just stumbled upon your inspiring blog in search of roast chicken. . and saw your beautiful puppy. The Monks of New Skete in upstate New York have written the most wonderful books on befriending and training your dog; clearly you are starting right with a lot of time together! this worked for our family. By the way, the New Skete Nuns bake the most delectable cheesecake, which they sell. . Dense and intense.
Hi Brooke,
It’s Ellen of Ellen and Conrad who eat at Mozza all the time.
The best training advise I got from my wonderful trainer is socialize, socialize, socialize.
He said to make sure to take them out ALOT and make sure they see everything (buses, bicycles, skateboards, you get the idea) when they are young so that these things don’t surprise and scare them later.
He also said to bring them to outdoor cafes as often as possible and to let anyone who wants pet them so they get used to lots of different kinds of people.
Your new guy is completely lovable. I know you and Hans are going to have so much fun with him.
Take care,
Ellen
You may be all ears, but your pup is all cute! My dog-training advice probably wouldn’t be helpful–I’m mostly used to teaching my sister’s deaf pitt bull tricks with sign language, though that might be worth a shot once you get verbal commands down 🙂
Hi Brooke,
It was lovely to see you today. We so enjoyed Sycamore Kitchen. The food was delicious! They were very smart to hire you because despite the massive crowd the service was top notch.
Here is a link to information about the Canine Good Citizen certification of which we spoke.
http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/
Take care,
Ellen
Thanks Ellen! Great to see you too! Thanks for the information!
Brooke
Hi Brooke!
Congrats! He is SO cute. They grow so fast. Daisy is now five months and such a joy. The first couple weeks were a trial though. Besides crate training (essential!) the best thing we have done is not be excited in the house… we ask people to ignore her when they come in, let her smell them, then greet her, only if she is sitting down. We have an extremely well behaved five month old Golden at present. I’m hoping we continue to not screw her up!
Oh my goodness!! LOOK AT THAT FACE!! I just want to schnoogle it!! 🙂
hi Brooke-
what a little sweetie. looks smart 🙂 you’ll have to be quick 🙂
just saw this post after a long absence from reading your lovely blog—
hmm-
i’m late on the draw here,
however i’m an animal trainer and a veterinarian and i thought maybe some general info might be better late than never. (no need to read if you’re perfectly happy with your pup at this point!!)
some quick thoughts:
1) it’s never to late to pursue what a previous commenter said: “The Monks of New Skete Books”-all of them-are great. the only caveat, is if you are going to start that training method, do ALL of the instructions for basic training, no matter how silly they seem. missing things means potentially not having a good foundation for your pup to learn more on. it’s all well thought out and based on DECADES of experience, with ALL personality types and breeds of dogs. the thing is, the structure and reliability/self-responsibility that program sets up requires that you follow through on your side of the relationship (always makes for better partnership for ALL beings anyway IMO), and the dog knows it if you don’t–that can be a let down for your pup as well as for you. however, listening and doing a la Monks of New Skete will ensure you end up with a seriously deep and fabulous relationship with your buddy. it is difficult to describe this in words. it can only be experienced. if you feel insecure about training that way you can always google trainers in your area that do that method to help you out! it makes things super clear and super easy and super secure 🙂
2) yes, socialize, lots, and/but never lose the learning/training opportunity that these situations can offer. puppies need to know what your rules are/what you DON’T want as well as what you DO want. (most people only communicate partially what they DO want and ineffectively what they don’t want.) Your pup knowing clearly what you expect and want makes them feel A LOT more secure in their world.
2.5) related is teaching your pup what’s yours and what’s theirs as soon as they come into your house–or better late than never. how? too long to explain here-lots of books on it–including the New Skete ones, but also i’m happy to email with you about it.
3) DO crate train. dogs are den animals and also like to have their own space to go to. also can travel in their ‘house’ that way. anyway, many good reasons, long explanation, but see Monks of New Skete Puppy book for a good discussion.
4) i do recommend perusing esp early Cesar Millan DVD’s. he knows A LOT about basic behavior, setting limits, what ‘love’ means to a dog, etc. my only reservation here is that if you’ve never had a dog, what Cesar does is quite advanced and subtle and cannot be learned simply by watching. however, one can see that so many things one may not have believed possible with one’s dog ARE possible and this can be a source of persistence and belief in your process of learning about your wonderful new pup..:)
5) if you run into problems and all efforts fail to produce the pup you are hoping for, email me if you’d like for a resource of great trainers. i am also happy to answer questions if you need some answers about training and /or puppy health stuff.
best regards,
johanna