This is my dog Arrow. Arrow showed up here Friday about 1:30 or so while my wife was home. Since then he's been slowly becoming more at home, as well as peeing on our stuff.
Arrow's life so far goes like this:1) wake up
2) pee / poop
3) play for 30 min to 1 hr
4) go to sleep for 2 hrs or so
(repeat)
So far I'm pleased the nocturnal third of that cycle has been stretched enough that I've only been haveing to get up once (generally around 4:30 am) to let him out. I stick Mel with taking him out when he gets up again at 7:00 am. I try to arrange it so the pee and poop happens outside, and have generally been batting around .800 at that.
"Play" seems to mean "Arrow bites hand." He's got sharp little puppy teeth, so when you come over to play with him consider using one of his toys in between your hand and his mouth. Not that Arrow won't still try to bite your hand, there'll just be a little something in the way. He's teething, so when he scrapes up your hand you're not allowed to be upset. We're working on 'ouch' as a command.Thanks to judicious application of bacon Arrow has learned that when we go outside it's not just for the scenery. Know why so many dog treats are bacon flavored? It's because bacon is doggie crack. Mel decided she didn't want hers Saturday morning and that's all it took to teach Arrow that when we go outside he shouldn't just stand there, he should get to work. Now he turns and starts looking at me about halfway through fertalizing the rasberries, and as soon as he finishes he tears at me full tilt, ready for that bacon.
Another one we're working on is not freaking out in the crate. We have a wire crate to train him, because I've seen how it goes down when it's dog vs. sofa, kitchen table, banister, shoe, glasses, TV remote, gloves, roll of toilette paper, garbage can, etc. It's my parents who had to suffer for this lesson, and they have my thanks. The crate is still a little traumatic for Arrow, however.
Vet appointment Tuesday at 3:00. Thanks to everyone who suggested places! I didn't listen to any of you. The appointment is for a place at 3131 Lyndale Ave. When I called around places checking prices the cash varied from $177 - $380 for the stuff puppies need (+ neutering, $150 - $250). Perhaps you can guess which end of the scale this joint was on. After the vet I'll be looking to set him up with some puppy socialization classes.I'll ask the vet about the lasers vs. bees debate. Weigh in for yourself in the comments...
7 comments:
He's absolutely cute!! Will he keep his blue eyes or will they change as he ages? My kitten started as blue and have now changed to yellow. :) Good luck kids!
Ummm, yeah, the blue eyes was the camera flash. :) He's got brown eyes.
He's working hard at becoming Arrow The Destroyer. It's an ongoing game of "Don't chew that, chew this!"
Do you feed Arrow in the cage/crate? Supposed to. Want him to associate crate with good stuff. Bart still runs into the cage when we give him a pig's ear to chew... Dad T.
Hey, Daddy Thorne. We have started feeding him in there, actually, and then we bought some treats that he actually likes to eat, and we give those to him in the crate, too. We also encourage him to sleep in there, when we move into that portion of his cycle. He took a nice long nap in there last night, and then of course, we let him sleep too long, so we had to stay up late and let he run around until he got tired again. :)
Had our vet trip. He got his first shot (4-way, distemper, parvo, dog-hepatitis, and... something else...). It was about $45. In a month we go back for the big visit: 2nd shot, fecal analysis (for worms), microchip, and the old snip-snip. That one should cost around $220. At 16 weeks we'll wrap it up with the 3rd parvo+ shot and the rabies shot, at which time we'll get the dog licence. Uh, I dunno how much that one will cost. $70-$100?
Today is my first day back at work, and his first day in the crate all day. Smochs said she'd go let him out around lunchtime. Hope he does ok with all that crate time! In the last couple of days he's taken to it really well.
Last night we went to bed and for the first time I didn't let him out until the alarm clock at 6:00! He only let me sleep until 5:30, but still - it's progress! Before bed last night he actually managed to play a few rounds of fetch. If he takes to fetch man oh man will that make exercising him way easier. Hope he loves the fetch.
Let's get the hand biting to a minimum before the 23rd, ok?
=) I'll let him know he's on a schedule...
Spoke with Jason "the Breeder" Cuff on the phone yesterday and talked about some strategies to deal with his mouthiness. Pinching his lower soft palate (is there a special term?) or pinching his ear is what Jason suggested. This was just yesterday afternoon, and I started trying it right away (his mouth is an easy target when he's got it wrapped around your hand). I quickly made much more progress with this than with just swatting the side of his head or grabbing his muzzle and holding it shut - it's too easy for him to take that as part of the chew-on-your-hand game.
Hopefully in a week we'll have him toned down some. We might need your help to provide a uniformity of response across humans though, so be ready. What I DO NOT need is someone who wants to come over and play rough with my dog. I'm looking in your direction, my masculine friend group...
If you are not interested in disciplining my dog then it isn't hard to avoid. He isn't tall enough to get on the sofa or chairs(yet). He can jump up but he only gets his mouth about thigh high. It's easy enough to stay out of his range. Just don't let yourself get drawn in by his puppy cuteness. Maintain a bit of altitute and you'll be fine.
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