My new addition - German Shepherd Puppy

[prettyinpink]

Here's my new addition...Sophia, a purebred German Shepherd. My dad got her for me as an early Christmas gift.

She's so full of energy and sure leaves me without any :main_rolleyes: I've never had a puppy before (just the full grown ones ), so this is my first experience and boy are they a lot of work. Waking up every two hours to pee :main_no: then when she decides to sleep through the night it's only a one deal, not a 'I'll do this from now on'.

On monday she will be 10 weeks old.

First pic she was 8 weeks old and the other two were taken today. -Very hard to take pics...she does not sit still. Hope you like them

 

[geckogirlxo]

so adorable!

 

[Dog Shrink]

Aww... I love shepherd pups I have worked with a few in my professional carreer and the best advice I can give you is START TRAINING NOW! They are sooo smart (this is the "I'm a sponge" phase till about 16 weeks when personality is set) and so into everything you really need to get your core elements installed as soon as possible. Sit. down, drop it, leave it, wait, and come. Come should be real easy (well imo they're all pretty easy if you know how to manipulate the dog )since at this stage you still have the laws of social attraction on your side and she shouldn't be brave enough to wander too far away. Also a GREAT time to start off lead training as well. All my pups are off lead trained by 5 mos old. If you don't start it before 4-5 months you might as well wait until their a year and a half and have a good grasp of the core elements.

Puppies can be a HUGE handful but a lot of it can be made a ton easier just by using good common sense. I was never one to get up every 2 hours and let the dog out. I paper trained all my dogs and they were all housebroken by 20 weeks. It's all about making the right choices at this age (for you and the pup) so giving her the choice of using paper versus getting up every 2 hours, I know what I'd be doing and paper training DOES NOT set back house training at all. Again it is all about giving her the choice to go in the right place.

If you'd like to discuss any issues you're having with her here is a link to my dog forum http://diogee.involveboards.com I'd be happpy to help, or you can just PM me or post up here in the dog section.

 

[prettyinpink]

Thank you, I love the help. I'm reading everything I can!

Of course I'm into putting her into training classes. This is what I wanted a shepherd for She will be getting into training classes the week after Christmas, too hectic around here to do it right now. She already has sit down, I have no idea how I acomplished that but people keep telling me I got the pick of the litter. As I dont' have experience with dogs even in general I don't have anything to compare her to. People said she's even good on the leash for her age.

As for potty training it only took me about a week and she already has it down (still has accidents every now and then). Again I don't know how I manged that lol. She is paper trained too, she'll go on the paper if I don't take her out. Or if she's left at home. She picks up things amazingly fast, if she wants to.

Again for training I'll be taking her to ********, I'm wondering if there's some where else I can take her for 'better' training, as I'm not too sure where to look. Some agility classes would be fantastic, as I'm sure any Shepherd would love. I've read every where they love a job to do so I'll be signing her up for a ton of things. We'll be busy alright

In a couple of days I'll probably look for some Shepherd fourm to join

 

[SnakeKeeper]

Awwwwwh, how precious!

 

[Dog Shrink]

Just a quick note before I head to bed, I'll add moee later is that you don't want to start any public clases until AFTER your pup has had her last series of shots plus at least 1-2 weeks for total immunity to kick in.

 

[tlbowling]

Sophia is adorable Erica

 

[prettyinpink]

Thank you! She's getting big so fast. I can't wait until she's full grown

 

[Desdemona]

Cute! Wait till you have a human baby... they will wear you out too! (mom of a toddler)

 

[tlbowling]

Thank you! She's getting big so fast. I can't wait until she's full grown

Dont rush it...she'll be big before you know it