Friday night, Chris took the kids camping with a bunch of guys from church. On Saturday morning, I left to go meet up with them & camp the next night. After a fun afternoon of swimming & play, we went into town to have pizza w/Chris' brothers. While we waited for the pizza to finish cooking, I asked Chris if we could peek into a pet shop which was right next to the pizza place, thinking maybe if he saw how cute the kittens were, he might let me have one. Along the way, I did my best to talk chris into getting this adorable cocker spaniel:
But he really liked the more manly bull-dog, which cost...
about $2,000!!! (if i remember correctly)
We spent lots of time holding all the puppies & playing with the kitties. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday morning, we came home with....
AN ADORABLE ROTTWEILER PUPPY!!!
So fun!!! she's just precious & the kids ADORE her!!! i'll be taking & posting pictures soon. :)
But he really liked the more manly bull-dog, which cost...
about $2,000!!! (if i remember correctly)
12 comments:
Oh boy..... ;)
I can't wait to see the pictures :)
Oh BTW, male of female?
female. They had a boy there w/the fluffiest, softest fur. --he was twice the size of the girl!! but i told chris there was no way i was getting a boy. plus, we thought it might be fun to breed once or twice. :)
LOL, we have a lot to talk about ;)
I'm actually surprised they are still allowed to sell rotties out there, they are at the top of the breed ban laws that cities are trying to pass, (second to pitts).
Oh, and where's my pictures...?
really!? yikes! yah... now that we already got the dog, i've heard a lot of not-so-good stuff about rotties. Before now, tho, i've only heard good things. always heard how great they were.. good family dogs, mellow personalities, etc. Remember Bruno?? Now, i just figure, we'll have to be sure to train her well & she'll be fine.
They really can be great dogs, just a bit on the dominat side. Start early with the training and do your homework on the breed in general and you'll probably be fine. Early tips.....for nipping, (it's what pups do), stick your fingers down her throat to make her gag a bit the second she does it. If you an make her think that putting her mouth on someone makes her uncomfortable, she won't do it. For jumping, I know it's cute now, but she's gonna be 60-70 pounds before you know it, I'd stop it now by shoving her off you with a stern "off" everytime. Since she is a dominate breed, have the kids help with training while she's small, she'll be more out to listen to them when she's big. I'd also have them help feed her and tell her when she can eat. Have one of the kids hold her back some, (tell them to say "wait" or "stay", the dog won't understand yet, but in a few days you'll have taught her a command), while another one puts the food down. Once the food is down and the kid is out of the way, have the one holding her let go with a release command of some sort, we use "alright" but you can use anything, (two commands for the price of one). Dogs don't think like people and food can be a big source of control with a dog, (ever heard of dogs fighting over food?) so teaching the dog that you and the kids control the food is a real good start in training. make sense?
Maybe I should change my name to "dog nut" instead of "dog snob"...hum... ;)
great advice, thanks! :) we've been telling her "no" every time she nips, but i like the gagging thing. & i've been letting chloe pet & play w/her while she eats, just for the reason you said. bu ti like the idea of teaching the command like that. :)
what else can you tell me?
Let's see, letting the kids pet her or be near her while she is eating is fine, and something she needs to be used to, but don't let them mess with her food while she's eating, that can make her have food issues, (kids by food becomes a bad thing instead of a normal thing). Also, you can start working on all basic commands with food and the kids can do it too, (because she is so small and willing to accept them as leaders at this age, and that's what you want for when she's older). Have them put her in a sit position and say "sit" as they do, say good the second her tush hits the ground and give her a treat. Have them call her name, when she gets to them, she gets a treat, (for coming when called), if she doesn't come right away, have them call her in a more excited fun tone with clapping and patting their legs or anything else that will get her to come. Laying down is the same as sit, except they say "down" and give her the treat when they get her to lay down. Everything will be doing it for her until she figures out what she's supposed to do when a word is said, (so work on them one at a time). In other words, she has to learn how to learn, (dogs don't know English). Really though, the more you can involve them in training at this point, the better. Training is one way she learns that you guys are in charge and not her and that will go a long way. Keep in mind that you guys control everything. You play when you want to, she eats when you're ready to feed her, and you pet her when you want to, not because shes nudging your hand, (she'll learn real quick the way to get attention is to bug you into it if you're not careful), etc, etc. Another good idea is if you have a friend with a well adjusted and behaved, female, adult dog that is good with puppies to get them together. Dogs sorta have a "language" of their own, (it's body language though, how they stand and suble things we don't always catch), and an adult dog can help her learn it and teach her other things, (like watching where she's going which will help her not run into the kids and stuff like that). Honestly, I could go on forever, but I'm on the verge of writting a book on here already ;)
you should have called me first so I could warn you about how much work they are! Yikes! I'll start praying for you and the dog. I have a nice black lab mix that you can have if life gets boring again!
Dawn
really, dawn? i thought your doggy was wonderful & perfect?
Oh my goodness. If you only knew how much training has gone into Dawn's dog to make her wonderful. And she really is now. But she tried to bite a couple of my kids the first time we met her. She is soooo sweet now, but at first - a little questionable. Erik took her to plenty of obedience classes and they have worked a ton with her.
yah.... that was kind of the condition if we got a dog... we *must* do obedience training! :)
Post a Comment