csmamma
Member
We're getting a puppy in a couple weeks and want to get started with training right away. Do you have any book suggestions for kid-friendly dog training? Any puppy recommendations or advice? My husband and I had a puppy when we first got married, almost 17 years ago now......so its been awhile. That dog passed away a couple years ago and we're all ready for another - at least I think we are 
.
Thanks ~ Heather
We are great dog lovers here. I have studied the habits of dogs for many years because I love them so much. I highly recommend that you check out videos and books by Cesar Millan, better known as the Dog Whisperer. You can usually find his books at the library. His materials will help you understand how dogs act/react to your leadership and how you can project being the one in control. I know that there are some who don't like Cesar's methods but his knowledge of what makes dogs tick is in line with what has been observed in packs of dogs and wolves.
As for training basic commands look for Dog Training for Kids by Carol Lea Benjamin. We came across this little gem a few years ago at a used book sale. It is gentle and very readable. Unfortunately, it is out of print but it is available used and you may find it at the library. Basic training classes are readily available if you need someone to help you teach your dog sit, stay, down, come, and heel.
It would be hard to give you a puppy recommendation without knowing your family better. I recommend instead that you research the breeds you are interested in and determine which one is a good fit for your family. The American Kennel Club has a Web site with a wealth of information on all things dog. They have descriptions and photos of most purebred dogs, some videos, and tips on finding a good breeder. Even if you don't plan to get a purebred dog it is helpful to know about the different breeds.
If you don't care if the dog you get is a purebred, consider getting one from an area shelter. Dogs from shelters usually come spayed/neutered and are up-to-date on their shots. The cost is usually less than a purebred, too. I have owned several mixed breed dogs from shelters. They have all been wonderful dogs.
I hope that helps. Have fun with your dog adopting adventure!
missceegee
Member
How exciting! After years of my oldest daughter asking for a dog, she finally resorted to writing very sweet requests on notepaper and leaving them for us, everywhere - top of the stairs, on the floor, night stand, bathroom counter - everywhere. They were usually along the lines of, "Mama, Daddy, Can we please get a dog? I will take great care of it. I like Jack Russells, Golden Retrievers, etc. or even a mutt from the pound. Please think about it. Love Hope."
Finally, we decided that we'd get a dog. My husband, while he loves dogs had some requirements - 20 lb. or less, non-shedding (or little shedding), well trained, house broken. We knew we wanted an older dog to meet those last 2 requirements.
I contacted a top dog trainer in our area and we went to the pound. We found an adorable little wire haired terrier mutt that was around 5 years old. I filled out the paperwork, named her Scruffy and sent her home with the trainer for "doggy boot camp". He would train her and in 3 weeks, a perfectly trained dog would come to live at our house.
Well, at the end of 3 weeks we brought Scruffy home and adored her. She obeyed everything perfectly and loved to be petted and walked. She wasn't as playful as we'd hoped, but that was ok. DD had her dog and that was what mattered. The trouble started about 3 weeks after we got her. She began to have SEVERE separation anxiety. She would shake when I left the room, but the worst was that if we left her at home for any reason, she would poop in her kennel and then roll in it. The trainer was not very hopeful that we would ever correct this behavior as he had tried and said it was a severe case, but still we tried EVERYTHING to help train her in this, but after a few weeks of bathing her at least every other day or so, we threw in the towel and called the shelter. They were understanding and said to bring her back. So after a long, tearful good-bye, I took Scruffy back to the shelter. Apparently, this was one of the reasons the previous owner gave her up, but I didn't know that when I adopted her, nor did the trainer until about 2 weeks into her training.
So, the search was on again. A few months later, I was searching shelters on Petfinder.com and looking at different dogs up for adoption. My trainer assured me that he would transfer his services to any new dog free of charge as it had been very expensive with the doggy boot camp for Scruffy. This time, my husband let me up the weight limit to 35 pounds to allow us to broaden our search. We looked for several weeks online and in person and never found the right one. Then one night while searching small dogs on Petfinder, I gave up and closed the computer for the night. A half an hour later, I decided to look a little bit more and went back to Petfinder. Why I clicked onto a German Shepherd Rescue link, I don't know as I've never seen a German Shepherd under 35 pounds, but anyway... As I was reading about these adorable dogs, I saw a black dog named Sophia Loren, who was BEAUTIFUL!
Sophia wasn't a pure bred German Shepherd, but listed as a Shepherd/Black Lab mix. She was the personal pet of the rescue owner, who just happened to also be a dog trainer. She was adopted by the rescue owner at a few weeks old and had been in training to become a service dog! Well, her affinity for squirrels derailed her service career, but she was trained to open cabinets and retrieve items, sense anxiety attacks and was used as a therapy dog at nursing homes and with autistic children. I loved her already and knew she was the one, but she was 50 pounds! Bigger than my husband wanted inside of the house
. Reluctantly, I showed him the photo and pointed out that she was already trained and he agreed that we could meet her.
That weekend, we met the owner and Sophie at a local dog park where dd ran her through the agility course and we talked with the owner asking very detailed questions as to why she was re-homing her. It turned out that she had taken in a new Shepherd that she felt would make the service dog cut (for herself) and felt she was being unfair to Sophia and wanted what was best for her. Sophia was perfectly house broken, trained to sit, stay, come, heel, shake hands, give kisses, go to bed, fetch things, you name it. We were in love!!!
Even my husband was convinced that she was the dog for us.
However, we still had to pass the home inspection (the rescue owner was very thorough, too) and we had a negative in our column in that our yard isn't fenced and we live on the water. The owner was concerned that Sophie would run after wildlife and possibly be hurt. However, after the inspection, she agreed to let us adopt Sophie - wahoo!!!!
The day I brought her home was fabulous. The kids just adored her and she loved them, too. She LOVES to run, play, climb to the treehouse, work on her training, play hide and seek, have her belly rubbed, growl hello to everyone and frighten the living daylights out of them because it sounds very ominous, esp. considering she is solid black w/ huge shepherd ears, giant canine teeth and often wears a silver pinch collar (that squirrel thing).
She is precious and is a terrific judge of character, too. Last month while we were reading on the couch in the late morning a strange man knocked very loudly and persistently on the front door. I could see the man and he could see us - me nursing the baby and reading to the 2, 6, and 9 year-olds. He could tell we weren't coming to the door (double doors - solid glass) and began to knock more angrily. About that time, Sophie answered his knock with the most ferocious barking and snarling I have ever heard from any dog. Her ears were pinned back and all of her hair stood up on her back. He hightailed it out of here on foot like his life depended on it! Later, I learned that a neighbor's house a few streets over had been burglarized that morning by a man matching this man's general description. Sophia had scared the dangerous intruder away. In reporting the incident to the police, the officer pointed out that the dog had saved our family from a robbery or perhaps much worse and that the man didn't care that we were home and would have kicked in the door, were it not for the dog. He also said that dogs are the best home protection available! Well, needless to say, Sophia was given even more loving attention and fresh grilled chicken for dinner!
We love our dog and are thankful that we found the right one for us. I know this is not helpful in determining what kind of dog to get, but hopefully it will encourage you that the right one is out there! I think I'll go pet my dog now.
Best wishes on your search!
~ Christie
my3boys
Member
I second the Cesar Millan training techniques.
I can't say that I'm an animal lover, but my husband is and truly believes that we should have animals for our children's benefit. Okay. So, we have had in the past a Rotweiller/Shephard mix and she was an excellent dog, but passed away from complications from Diabetes. Second and third dogs did not work out and we found them great homes. Fast forward and now we have the best dog on the planet:) She's an American Bulldog. I was very anxious concerning the breed, especially because we had a 7, 4 and 1 yo at the time, but with the training my husband has implemented and just her natural disposition, I couldn't have chosen a better dog. Oh, wait, I did choose her:) I made sure that if I was going to be a part of this process then I was going to pick her out! She's just wonderful.
Now, we also have a little yapping lapdog that my husband found in a ditch and brought home (he thinks he a cross between Dr. Doolittle and Cesar Millan, no joke). She's just a pup. At this stage in the game, I'm more relaxed about the amount of animals we have and the boys help out much more than when they were little. We have a turtle (with fish), 3 cats and two dogs. Yes, it's mayhem in our little house when they all want attention, food, whatever, but to see our kids with them is all worth the $cost$ and time they need. Well, maybe not the last kitten/cat we got, but we love him anyway.
BTW, if we had property we would have lots more. My husband has a soft spot for all animals (especially domestic) and would bring home every stray he could. He is protective over his children so he is very cautious and would never allow something to happen to them due to an untrained/wild animal so of course we would have to have limits:) But, just like our kids, our animals love their daddy and are super attached to him.
Good luck on whatever you choose.
I would like to say one more thing. I don't know how everyone will feel about the subject, but we have kennel trained the dogs also. I have friends that are deathly afraid of dogs, no matter how trained, and since we have trained them to go in the kennels without any fussing, my friends can come over without fear of the dogs (especially the Bulldog). We use them only for the pup to sleep in at night (bed is all comfy) because she's still potty training some, in the back of the truck while going on long trips, or if the meter man has to come in the back yard. Since she's trained she goes right in and seems to enjoy her alone time. No fussing, whining, etc. Our dogs are way spoiled, but that was something that has helped tremendously when needed.
It's getting late and I can't think any longer:) Good luck.
Rebekahy
Member
If you decide that you'd like to be talked out of getting a dog - I've been keeping a list of reasons not to get one so that I can review it in my moments of weakness! 
It includes a myriad of Facebook posts from friends lamenting various dog capers/issues. I think that I'll be able to stand my ground... at least until I get the last child potty trained, for now we have a dog grandparent attitude - call us when you're going out of town, but be sure to pick them up when you return. Enjoy!
We also love our doggies!! We have two. Molly is a pure bred chocolate lab. She's so sweet and gentle. Loves the kids. Then we have Max (who was our first baby.. lol ) He's 10 now. He's also great with kids, although he's big. He's a lab/great dane mix. Our dogs are definately a big part of our family, basically two more children.
Training is a must, I second the kennel training. We didn't do that with Max and I wish we had. Molly loves loves her kennel. She sleeps in it every night and will go into during the day when she wants to. She really likes it when we wash all her blankets and make up her bed all fresh. She gets all excited and can't wait to get in there. It's so funny. Max would rather get on our bed.
We bred our two a few years ago and had a wonderful litter of pups. They were great, went to wonderful familes. Since then we've been asked if we would do another litter. Well we decided to go ahead. So Molly is going into heat now. So the time has come. Hopefully all will go as planned and we'll have a summer litter. The boys love having puppies. It's great for them, they get to learn how to take care of Molly while she's pregnant (she's get extra vitamins, food and special exercise. She's really gets spoiled). And then the birthing! Fun stuff!
I could go on and on!
Have a lot of fun on your puppy adventure!!
missingtheshire
Member
We lost our standard sized dachshund early in the year, and have just adopted our new 28 lb dachshund. He is four years old and adorable. He is crate trained and I agree that crate training is a huge bonus, he goes in whenever asked and there are a few times when this is important. We have a friend who is allergic to dog saliva and so when she visits the dog is happy in his crate. We love dogs and also recommend Cesar Milan for training methods.
So good look with the search, my one piece of advice would be don't treat the dog like a small human and remember don;t let him/her become pack leader of your home. You must be in charge from day one.
missceegee
Member
Yes, crate training is SO important! Sophia is no longer in a crate, but will go to her bed and stay just like when she was in a crate. Cesar Milan's methods are great, I just happened to find our own local dog whisperer or I would have checked out Cesar's materials, too!
Good advice, Linda, about making sure the dog knows his place and doesn't think he's the leader. That's one thing my trainer warns all of his clients about!
Thanks for sharing about your dogs. It's gives another dimension to your families as I read your posts.
Blessings,
Christie
my3boys
Member
I second the "Don't let them rule or be a mini-human". You'll totally regret it. We were watching a Dog Whisperer episode one time and Cesar said something that I sort of understood and I mentioned to my husband about the position God put man in as oppose to animals. He did say for them (Adam) to rule over them (animals) and it just made more sense to me the type of techniques Cesar uses. It is okay or even *right* to rule over them. I believe (with domestic animals, especially) that that means to train, love, respect, care for etc., but that also means to keep the chain of command in place. Cesar does expect the humans to be in charge and not allow certain behavior from their pets as it is disrecpectful to the animal to let it live with us like *animals*.
Does that make sense?? For instance, my in-laws have/had very unruly animals and instead of expecting different behavior they just let it go on forever. It was a always a disaster to go over to their house. The dogs wouldn't stop barking/yapping, jumping on you, etc., because they allowed them to be the *pack leaders*. It was miserable to go over there, impossible to sit down or even have a conversation. They love their animals but do not train/rehabilitate, like Cesar says, or have any expectation on their behavior. okay, I'm off my soap-box:)
csmamma
Member
Thanks so much for sharing - so many great stories and helpful suggestions!
Like I said, we had our puppy over 16 years ago, adopting a 6 week old Border Collie/Aussie mix from the humaine society. We crate trained him and took him to puppy school, etc. He was my husband and I's "first fur-baby". Then, when we startred to have children, as you can expect, they came before the dog and we backed off training techniques. He ended up being a great dog with the exception of being a bit over-protective. Sadly we had to put him down a couple years ago at the ripe old age of 15.
Now, years later, as we're looking at another pup, I seem to have forgotten even how we crate trained him. Thanks so much for recommending Cesar Millan. Our library system has oodles of his books & DVD's so I put several on hold.
All the boys are begging for a puppy. We tried several times to adopt from our local shelter but there's always something that doesn't work out: puppy is sick or there is an age restriction - meaning if you have a child under a certain age they will not let you adopt to protect child & pup. We have a 2 yo so it doesn't seem to go over very well. After 3 times of leaving there sorely dissapointed, we decided to look elswhere.
So, we've done our researching of breeds the past few months, and have decided to look for a Goldendoodle, which is a Golden Retriever/ Poodle mix. They will be non-shedding and supposedly are great family dogs - gentle and easy to train. We found a litter of them at a lower-cost then most and puppies will be ready in 2 weeks. So, hense we're in the need of any puppy advice you can offer since I seem to have memory loss.
We're animal lovers too. We did have our beloved Border Collie, along with chickens (hatching them from eggs), pet-mice (which the boys bred to learn about genes, etc), and currently we have 4 Rabbits (the boys breed them every spring and show for 4H), 2 Parakeets, and our sweet kitty. I'm really hoping the puppy gets along with the cat. Any tips there?
My 9yo ds wants to learn how to train the puppy and do agility with 4H. The book Karen mentioned 'Dog Training for Kids' sounds like just the thing we might need along with Cesar's stuff.
I'm very nervous and excited about the new addition to our family. Thanks so much for your helpful advice. Big question hubby has, how are we going to keep pup out of our gardens? I'd love to continue this discussion!
Thanks a bunch & God Bless! ~ Heather
my3boys
Member
My husband just put in a small garden and put up a wire fence thing around it (I really don't know what to call it). It has worked so far. Of course, you may have much larger garden that would not be as easy to fence or may be more costly, so that is your call. We HAD to start small with our garden because this is our first go around with more than just tomatoes:) Going great, so far:) We had green onions for our salad that my 7yo son made!
csmamma
Member
We put in very large gardens - at least two 1/2 acre areas plowed. We do the local farmers market, etc. I guess we'll just have to train the puppy to "stay out". We're getting him (or her) at the beginning of planting season, so I'm sure it will be quite a challenge. Glad your tomatoes are going well - its so much fun for the family! We live in Michigan so we're waiting until it gets a bit warmer - wouldn't want the frost to kill all those lovely plants. Have fun!
missingtheshire
Member
Our new dachshund who is 4 years old, helped me plant my flowers the other day - he digs beautiful big holes at the speed of light!!! Only problem, when I put the plant in and cover it with soil then walk away, he goes over and digs it up........we have a slight challenge on our hands I think in our gardening pursuits. Good luck with yours Heather.
csmamma
Member
LOL! I can't imagine you were laughing at the time - but the picture I have in my mind is cracking me up! I'm sure your dachshund is a sweety! I did find this information from Cesar Millan on Digging.....
"Digging is a natural behavior for all dogs, but it doesn't have to be destructive if you channel it correctly. I suggest you section off an area in your garden or yard, appropriate for your dog's or puppy's size. You can also provide a sandbox, if it is deep enough. This will be the place where your dog can dig to her hearts content. Bury something interesting in the area, like a scented toy. Then bring your dog to the area, and let her sniff. If she doesn't begin digging, start moving the dirt yourself. Eventually she'll start to get excited and want to join you. After the exercise, replace the dirt, sanitize the object, and put the soil back the way it was before the dog began digging. Next, show your dog that your designated digging spot is the only place where she can practice this activity. Bring your dog to your garden, or any area that you want to be off-limits. Put something in the ground, but block your dog immediately if she even attempts to come near. Use your body language to claim the area as "yours". Then go back to the digging area and repeat the joyful digging exercise. Repeat this process a few time a week or, if your puppy has already lapsed into bad habits, every day, until it becomes clear to you that the puppy knows the rules."
Has anyone tried this?
Have a great day! ~ Heather
missingtheshire
Member
Hmmm I will give that some thought Heather, My garden is not very big, but I may be able to put a sandbox in if the problem persists. Oh he is a sweetie, and very clever, catches on fast, so maybe we can teach him to leave things alone without too much hassle. It was funny to watch though - if he would just dig the holes, it would be perfect makes planting very easy - we will see how it goes, I have a lot more to plant in the next couple weeks. Cesar Milan does give great advice, I love his techniques. Thanks again - Linda
You must log in to post.
