Planning on getting my first puppy next week (hopefully Wednesday). Getting a full blooded German Shepard. Any first time advice on things I'm gonna need and tips on how to train it.
Planning on getting my first puppy next week (hopefully Wednesday). Getting a full blooded German Shepard. Any first time advice on things I'm gonna need and tips on how to train it.
Stock up on water bottles.
Play with it, give it lots of love. THEN POST PICTURES IN PET THREAD!!!!
Exercise the fuck out of it and dont feed it garbage shit dog food. Taste of the Wild is a great brand or animal food.
Not sure on toys since it will depend if he likes to tear shit up or not. My dog does so we usually get him these really rough toys that take him awhile to tear apart. Anything that squeaks is usually great too, Petsmart has squeaking tennis balls that my dog goes crazy over. Not sure on a puppy version, but I would say yes.
prepare to have important things peed on
Is this your first dog? As in one you actually own not like your parents had a dog when you were little kind of thing.
I cannot stress enough that if this is your first time training, please, please, please, take it to a professional trainer. Even petco/petsmart have some basic training classes.
People too often underestimate the care needed in teaching a dog. It would be like assuming you could teach your kid physics because you slept through a physics class in hs 20 years ago.
I've never actually had a dog myself, although I did live with my ex who had a wennie dog for a couple years. The dog was 100% hers though and all I ever did was take it out when she was being lazy or out of the house. I know someone who trains the dogs for the local police department, although i'm not sure if she would be willing to help me or not.
not to be a prick, but it took me a few tries to read that, lol
lol, you're good, i was just saying it made my eyes hurt.
if you can get her to help train, that'd be great. Training can get pricey, depending on what all you want your dog to do.
For starters, you mentioned that you plan to run with them, but you can't do that when they're so little. Here's why:
http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-be...ogging-partner
Secondly, be prepared to strictly adhere to their shot schedule:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/conten...irst-year.html
Keep your house and yourself very clean (e.g., by having hand sanitizer around at all times) to avoid parvo while they're small:
http://www.pgaa.com/canine/health/parvovirus.html
Further, dogs operate on positive reinforcement. They are smart enough to understand that being rewarded for something means that they should do it again. They are, fortunately, not so wise as to be too manipulative beyond that (e.g., doing the good thing, being rewarded with a treat/positive attention, and then turning around and doing a bad thing regardless—that shouldn't happen). People will say that their dog is doing something because "they know it's bad," and that's not correct—dogs are incapable of malice. Applying adult, human-like thinking to their behaviors is one of the worst mistakes that you can make, and it's unfair to the dog.
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals...forcement.html
Crate training is absolutely essential if you want a balanced, behaved dog that can be put into a home of its own when you're leaving, are otherwise busy, and so on.
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals..._training.html
Know, too, what you should and shouldn't feed your dog, and why you shouldn't overfeed it (bloat). There are various things that humans consume, like onions, that can have grave consequences if dogs consume them. People will say "well, my dog ate this-and-that, and they're fine," but that's incorrect—when they did consume something that was toxic to them, it did have the effects, simply not on a scale severe enough to kill them.
Short list: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/top-10-dog-poisons
Comprehensive list: http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poisons/
Bloat information: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/gastric-v...ning-emergency
If you want to read much more about puppies in general, including articles on the aforementioned topics and more, this is a good site:
http://www.dailypuppy.com/
That's all I can think of for now. I've raised a good number of dogs, and I currently have a puppy that I adopted as soon as they were old enough to leave the shelter. She is nearing six months of age.
Awesome thank you for this, espically the running part. I had no idea they needed to wait so long. Will it be OK to take my puppy to places like pets mart AFTER he has had his first parvo shot? Any suggestions on toys to have for her when she comes home? I plan on getting a wire crate, clicker, collar leashe, and plastic peanut butter tube thingy, and probably a stuffed animal to sleep with.
If you have a membership to Costco I would highly suggest getting the Kirkland brand dog food they sell there. It is ridiculously cheap and is extremely highly rated by the dog food adviser. It's what I feed my pit bull. My boss feeds the same to her dogs. If you don't want to get that, avoid all dog foods that have an excess of corn meal in them(like Pedigree for example.) If you see dog food that's dirt cheap you can bet it's chock full of corn. One thing to remember, the more colorful the food is the worse it is for them.
You don't need a stuffed animal for it to sleep with. Take an old ratty ass blanket and take a nap on it. Put the blanket in the dog's crate. That way the dog smells you. You can take the dog anywhere you want, but it is smart to wait until after all the vaccinations are done. Be prepared, that shit is not cheap. Expect to pay 200+ to get all things taken care of. You may also want to consider a no pull harness rather than a collar. Germans are pretty strong and if they aren't trained well they will pull you along. The no pull harness causes them to turn back towards you whenever they pull. Again it's what I use with my pit bull. Best thing I've ever purchased. As for toys. A few stuffed animals is fine. You should definitely get the water bottle cover toy. It's cheap and reusable. It's a very thin fabric covering that goes over a water bottle. They crunch the shit out of it. Any type of squeaky toy is good as well. Make sure you buy a Kong. You won't regret it.
awesome thanks! I plan on putting a lot of time, effort, and money into this dog. I've wanted one since I was 12 but between my parents, ex having to many animals, apartments not suited/allowing, i've never been able to have one. I want to make sure I do it right. Unfortunately I live in a smaller population area and the closest costco is about a 2 hour drive. Any recommendations of good food I can find at walmart, petsmart, petco? Also can you provide a link to the "pull harness" to make sure I got the right thing? I was just planning on teaching it by taking it for walks by stopping when it tried to pull but if this is better then by all means I'll go this route. One of the reasons I picked the GSD breed is becuase of their intelligence. I am hoping it would make it easier to train them since it will be my first time. Also is this a good crate for them? http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Stages...rds=wire+crate or would you guys recommend something different?