New Puppy

So I pulled the trigger on a puppy. In about two weeks this rad little guy will be mine, but I have a few questions/concerns that I was hoping the collective could provide some insight toward.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Ruger4w12.jpg

Some background, my best friend owns this guys older half brother (same sire) named Bucket. I lived with him when he got Bucket and helped raise Bucket for the first 3 years of his live. However, Bucket was 4 months old when we got him, so I don't have any experience raising a puppy from the beginning.

The new guy will be 9 weeks old when I get him and will have his first round of shots but not second.

I read all these books and articles saying you should never let the puppy walk where other dogs have walked until his second round of shots. Cesar Millan even goes on to say one of his crewmates sprayed his sidewalk with bleach. Really?? Is this a bunch of BS? I mean I'm thinking I just have to keep him from eating other dogs poop. Am I off base here?

Also - my housemate has a 6 year old pug. This dog was raised with no structure whatsoever. He urinates and occasionally shits in the house out of spite, his owner lets him go out and mark his territory (seriously the dog obsessively sniffs every tree/street lamp/fire hydrant/blade of grass that is more than 0.5" higher than the rest to make sure his scent is still there) and he has lunged at a pitbull and german shepherd. He also has attacked Bucket over food.

I have serious concerns as to how to introduce my new puppy to the house. I don't want any fights and I definitely don't want my puppy to take after this spiteful little prick (I understand it's not the dog's fault, he was raised this way).

I have been working on making the pug realize he is not the alpha but I am still very concerned.

Last, any name ideas?

Thanks!

Call him Yoda

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Originally Posted by sidewall

Call him Yoda

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I second that !

I'm no expert but I have raised pups with other dogs and never had a problem but that was years ago.
Call a Vet or SPCA/Human Society and find out. Good luck and enjoy the bonding....its awesome !
Dogs rock !!!!!!!!!

crate train him
run him (play, actually) hard in the morning and at night
take him with you everywhere
plan on training with him weekly until he's 2 for a good off leash dogger
you will be happy

cute pupper!

Do not let him out and about until after his second set of shots and some time for them to kick in. Lots of nasty stuff can be passed through huffing dog turds. Just consider what happened to Jer.

The pug will likely be alpha, you shouldn't try and change that. But, you must firmly intercede if he gets too snarly. Eventually, they'll work it out (or not).

House training will be difficult. as puppy will imitate the pug. Regular trips outside, to a specific area w/ lots of praise will work. You'll want to take him out during middle of the night for awhile. puppy bladders are small.

Crate train!!!!!!

Once he has second shots, take to alot of different places, w/ people, noises, elevators, stairs, car rides. Socialize him w/ other dogs as you can. Puppy training classes are pretty fun and good for that, but watch out for those that are too food oriennted.

Training starts slowly, until he is 6 mos or so, keep it in short, frequent bursts, 3 minutes or so.

What kind of pup?

Thanks for the insight guys! I'm definitely going to crate train him.

He's a Brittany Spaniel. I'm super stoked. I know two dogs from the same father and they are both amazing.

How long do you guys think before I can take him for short jogs? 6/8 months?

He will require a ton of excercise- My Britt is going on 18 months now, he is a gem but has neverending energy.

Brittanys love to please, and are incredibly receptive to training. Good Luck!

First step is to get a new roommate.

I do not recommend taking pup out in public places until after he finish the puppy vaccines usually around 16 weeks of age. The big concern these days is Parvo viral enteritis. A potentially life threatening, and costly disease easily prevented with proper vaccinations and avoidance while young. Some pups are well vaccinated by 12 weeks of age, but without doing titers (which are not fool proof), it is impossible to tell if he is fully protected. by 16 weeks 99% are well protected.

Crate train as noted, and get your roommate to do the same with the pug. As far as fights go, let the dogs work it out with some supervision. Get him around other dogs as much as possible that you know are healthy and well vaccinate.

Neuter everybody in the house.

Feed a good quality puppy, not a food for all life stages (cough, not candidae, cough cough)

Do an obedience class as soon as possible after finishing pup vax, and again at about a year old.

Brittany's are schizo. Super fun dog, great hunting dog, but they need to be on the move- like sharks.
My friend in Houston has about 6 of them in their family. They run around the ranch and just get into shit all day long. They would literally run the property day and night if we let them. The property is at least 50-60 acres. I was there for 3 days, and never saw those dogs stop moving. Pretty sure they slept, but not sure when.

Oh, her dad's dog is named Godiva- but they call it GO. He is on his 3rd or 4th GO by now. Very funny when he calls the dog. An already crazy dog goes absolutely nuts when he calls- here, GO!!!, GO!!! Stop!!!, Come, GO!!!, etc. etc.

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Originally Posted by Dawn Patrol

So I pulled the trigger on a puppy.

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I would maybe avoid using this phrase, at least when talking to women and children.

Crate train your roommate. Pugs are cool dogs, too bad that one's been allowed to behave so badly.

Congrats on the new puppy! They are a LOT of work at first. He will need to go out in the middle of the night for the first month or two. He will wake up at the asscrack of dawn and want to play. House-breaking him will be made infinitely harder by the Pug being allowed to go in the house. Puppies, and even older dogs search out the scent of other dog's business when deciding where to do theirs.

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Originally Posted by warthog

An already crazy dog goes absolutely nuts when he calls- here, GO!!!, GO!!! Stop!!!, Come, GO!!!, etc. etc.

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Haha, I love it!

I am prepared for the energy level of Brittany's. Like I said before I lived with this little guys older brother for the first 3 years of his life. He goes on two runs per day, one in the am and one after work. Once the puppy is old enough to run with me, we'll be running together with Bucket and my buddy every morning.

I just got an update from the breeder. I'll have him a week from Friday, so he definitely won't be through his puppy vaccinations. I spoke to the breeder about the pug and she strongly recommended they don't meet each other for several weeks. Definitely not until the little guy is through his shots so there is going to be some interesting dog management in the house.

Arent pugs for women? Never seen a guy with a pug, unless he was walking his wife's

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Originally Posted by hutash

First step is to get a new roommate.

I do not recommend taking pup out in public places until after he finish the puppy vaccines usually around 16 weeks of age. The big concern these days is Parvo viral enteritis. A potentially life threatening, and costly disease easily prevented with proper vaccinations and avoidance while young. Some pups are well vaccinated by 12 weeks of age, but without doing titers (which are not fool proof), it is impossible to tell if he is fully protected. by 16 weeks 99% are well protected.

Crate train as noted, and get your roommate to do the same with the pug. As far as fights go, let the dogs work it out with some supervision. Get him around other dogs as much as possible that you know are healthy and well vaccinate.

Neuter everybody in the house.

Feed a good quality puppy, not a food for all life stages (cough, not candidae, cough cough)

Do an obedience class as soon as possible after finishing pup vax, and again at about a year old.

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I agree with all of the above. Most vets and breaders I've met recommend waiting until finishing the parvo series before introducing him to other dogs or taking him to places other dogs have been. It sems like a pain in the ass, but time goes by quickly, especially since he'll be nine weeks old already. The good news is that you don't need a lot of room to tire out the little guy and they sleep a ton.

One thing that worked well for us at night was getting up on a regular schedule to take him out, rather than waiting for him to whine. That way he doesn't learn that whining works. We set the alarm for three hours and every few nights would add 15 minutes. Before you know it he'll be sleeping through the night. Some white noise like a fan might help too. As others have said, get him used to a crate right away as well.

We found training classes to be incredibly helpful as well. We enrolled our pup in puppy kindergarten as quickly as we could and kept going from there. More than anything, it kept us on task.

One final thought, we were told not to run with our dog until he was a year old. That was for a lab, so it might vary a little with a Brittany since there a little smaller and their skeleton may mature a little more quickly. Don't jump the gun on this one.


Good luck! He looks like a cute pup.

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Originally Posted by jerlane

One thing that worked well for us at night was getting up on a regular schedule to take him out, rather than waiting for him to whine. That way he doesn't learn that whining works. We set the alarm for three hours and every few nights would add 15 minutes. Before you know it he'll be sleeping through the night.

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This seems like a really good idea, thanks!

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Originally Posted by Brock Landers

Arent pugs for women? Never seen a guy with a pug, unless he was walking his wife's

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His ex bought the pug. I'm not a huge fan, but he seems like he could have been a good dog.

Put a worn T-shirt (as in, not washed yet) in his crate with him when you go to work - the most recently worn one you have. Very soothing for a pupster to smell their "Dad."

Great looking dog - my best friend had two Brittanys when I lived with him and I loved them. If you name him Yoda I will find you and hurt you, however.

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Originally Posted by Tippster

Put a worn T-shirt (as in, not washed yet) in his crate with him when you go to work - the most recently worn one you have. Very soothing for a pupster to smell their "Dad."

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Thanks!

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Great looking dog - my best friend had two Brittanys when I lived with him and I loved them. If you name him Yoda I will find you and hurt you, however.

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Haha, can't argue with that, right now Duke is winning. Eddie is also in the running, both after the Hawaiian surfing legends.

I brought a stuffed animal with me to the breeder and rubbed it all over the mom dog`s bed. Not sure if it soothed him or not, but my dog loved that toy. He actually sucked on it like he was nursing. Did that with every toy we ever got him.

blah blah blah... don't know what you all had to say but the puppy picture from OP made my day.

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Originally Posted by acinpdx

crate train him
run him (play, actually) hard in the morning and at night
take him with you everywhere
plan on training with him weekly until he's 2 for a good off leash dogger
you will be happy

cute pupper!

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I agree with all the above, I did all of this and my pup turns 4 tomorrow and is very well behaved due to these practices.

First congrats on the pup. He is handsome and gonna be tons of fun. But keep in mind he was bread to have tons of energy in the field so that he can hunt for multiple days at a time. In other words... He needs lots of exercise and play time. My German Shorthaired Pointer has more energy than I ever thought possible. Luckily he likes to go on tours with me in the bc.

As for training... I think you are gonna have to enlist the help of or at least the permission of your roomate to train his pug as well. Just a thought, but dogs are pack animals and your pups new pack is you, your roomate, and that misbehaving fu**er of a pug. If the pug won't follow the rules that you lay down for your pup, then your pup may get a little confused on what behavior is appropriate and what is not. This could make training more difficult than it should be. I'd train the pug and the pup on the same stuff. And also be cautious of dinner time if that pug has allready shown food aggression. I follow a strict rule when feeding my dog... He always sits next to the food after I put it down and he never gets to touch it until he makes eye contact with me and then I say "OK". This makes him realize that I am in controll of the food, not him. I would also stick my face in the bowl while he was eating as a pup as well as periodically take the food away and make him do an obidience command before I gave it back (same rule of don't touch until I say "OK" when giving back the food). Don't ever let that pug out of your site when food is around if he has a food agression issue.

Watch out for that pug. If you are consistant and structured in your training and dealing with your pup, eventually the pug will figure out who really is in charge... You. And once your pup grows bigger than the pug, the pug will leave him alone unless he wants an ass kicking.

My inlaws have the same crappy, misbehaving pug as your roomate. When they bring him over he leaves me and my dog alone (to the point of leaving rooms when we enter). I think he figured out pretty quickly that I don't take any shit and he is not welcome to be around me unless he adheres to my rules (which he doesn't), so he just avoids me.

Also... Start Brushing teeth from an early age. Clean teeth can help a dog's health a lot (as well as save you $$$ for teeth cleaning when he gets older).

Surfing legends?

Rick Kane
Lance Burkhart
Turtle

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Originally Posted by sidewall

Surfing legends?

Rick Kane
Lance Burkhart
Turtle

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Thank you for that.

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Originally Posted by sidewall

Surfing legends?

Rick Kane
Lance Burkhart
Turtle

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If you are going in that direction, there is only one logical answer-

Name him Roger.