New Puppy

[ento890]

My dog passed away in Feb or last year and my mom was finally ready for another dog. We adopted her from ARF (which is an amazing shelter) and she has been the best. We've fallen so in love with her :sweetheart:

Her name is Kuna, she's a 4 month old mix

 

[tlbowling]

Kuna is just adorable! How's she making out?

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Kuna is a Beautiful puppy. Congrats

 

[Dog Shrink]

Awww how adorable... I love red dogs Did you know that dogs that carry the Rufus gene (the gene responsible for red coats) also tends to make red dogs a bit more high strung than other colored dogs? Make sure Kuna gets a ton of outlets for her energy. Mental stimulation will tire her out a lot faster than physical stimulation will, and at this point she is in the "I'm a sponge" stage wanting to learn all she can so don't delay.

Good save... she looks like a real sweetie. I see some basset hound in those legs

 

[ento890]

Thank you everyone

Tara- she's doing really great. Learning very fast, sit, down, stay, no jump. Were still working on the potty training, but she's doing good, only had 3 accidents inside.

Kel- Thank you for that. She IS very high strung. I took her to the local dog park yesterday and let her run around for about 45 mins. I saw the difference in her as soon as we got home. She passed out and was calmer all night. I'm going to try to make that a daily habit.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Aw Ash I bet she was pooped! Just be careful taking her to too many high traffic areas until she's had her last boosters at least 2 weeks to make sure she's fully immne to anything she could be exposed to there. Also just an fyi food for thought... for every 10.5% of protein a dog eats they need an hours vigerous exercise or a half hour mental stimulation (hint, you'll tire a dog out a lot faster by working the mind than the body). Instructional play is an awesome technique for pups her age. Google brian Kilcommons, get his website address (can't recall it off hand sorry ) and read away. very informative, outside of the box kinda thinking with a positive reinforcement training system. I've used it for 17 years with great success.

Can't wait to see pix as she grows... the small stage never lasts long enough.

 

[ento890]

Thank you so much for all the helpful info. I'll check out his site right away.

 

[IslaReina]

She is so cute!! <3

 

[DragonBeards]

Aw, she is so darling! Congrats on the new addition

 

[Holly12]

Kuna is sweet as sugar she is so cute congrats on your new puppy.

 

[Hannibal]

Congrats, she's so adorable! Puppies are so much fun and frustrating at the same time. How's her chewing? Does she have to put everything in her mouth?

Our little Zulu (now 3 mos) has to chew on everything: rocks, grass, bark, leaves; can't turn your back on him for even a minute. In just 2 weeks he tore half the stuffing out of 1 of his doggy beds and shredded a large denta rope...baby teeth are sharp! You can walk him for over an hour and he still has hours of play left in him. We can't to take him to our dog park until he has had all his shots, another 4-5 weeks to go...counting the days.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Try Mentally stimulating games like intro to scent training... basically like playing hide the nut with 3 of those glad disposeable tupperware dishes. Poke 3-4 holes in the bottom of 3 of them, hide a treat under 1 slide them around and have the pup "guess" by knocking the top off the treat. It's a great way to work on your wait command, your stay command, find it, and self control elements. You can change the dynamic many ways to make it more difficult for your pup.

Example: Put your pup in a sit and tell them WAIT...First you want pup to knowk the carton over and get the treat, move to next element after mastering that one, now you just touch the one with your nose, then you move up, then you sit next to the right one, then you sit and touch with your paw or nose, then you sit and (hopefully) you can speak... you can increaset he difficulty by adding more cartons and different scent items. My lab is up to like 26 different cartons and 10 different items. Do this 2 times a day and your pup will be thrilled. You can also go out and get a bunch of those baby kong toys and stuff them with kibbles and hide them in various parts of the common areas of the house (like under the edge of the couch, a chair, edge of a china buffet or coffee table. Easy but yet dfficult enough to make him have to search) for him to ferrett out. It uses those natural instincts and that will also tire the dog out.

By asking the dog to be more reserved in their response is how you start teaching the self control elements. I'ts a nice low key game that will tire your dog out a lopt more than running 2 hours in the park or a 10 mile walk. Remember dogs are rangers by nature. They can range 100 miles 2-3 times a day in search of food or monitoring their "home turf" so you literally can never physically tire out your dog. He may get tired but given 5 minutes he's ready for another 10 miles. Tire the brain however and the body will follow. Lastly remember your protein rules. for every 10.5 % of protein eaten that's about an hours physical exercise of a half hours mental stimulation to burn off that protein intake. Diets higher in fats and lower in protein are better for all stages of life in dogs.

FYI... investing in Grannick's bitter apple will keep pups teeth off stuff you don't want him messing with. Spray him once or twice in the mouth (I know sounds cruel but it lays the tracks for the negative memory you're gonna need to bitter apple to work). Then spray everything you don't want him to touch... he'll smell it on the stuff you spray and be like "gah... don't want that again". Grannick's is the only one I endorse and it is non-staining, non-bleaching and can be used anywhere.

 

[ento890]

Thanks everyone.

She's cute and frustrating at the same time. Yes, she does chew everything outside, but inside she's been doing great. We saw her start on a chair leg, used a stern voice saying "NO" and she's never done it again. We also have a change jar ready to go if she finds the need to chew something else undesirable. Outside, she eats EVERYTHING and I'm trying to work with her with our chickens. She's a little too friendly with them.

Thanks for your help Kel. Are you a dog trainer?
I've tried the Grannick's bitter apple in the past with my old dog and she would enjoy it.....

 

[Dog Shrink]

Actually I'm a behavior specialist I've specialized in canine behavior (mostly aggression disorders, pack dynamics, and canine communication) for 17 years... The thing with the bitter apple is you really need to spray them in the mouth until they're a big drooly mess so that you set that negative impression. I know it sounds cruel and horrid but the arguements you'll save in the long run with your dog over no chew items is so worth it imo. A dog's strongest memories are related to scent and taste. Being able to gradually lick off bitter apple from something in small manageable doses can be tolerated but if you set that negative impression just about any dog will leave things alone.

As far as the chickens go... keep her on a long lead with you, let her have the lentch of the lead and bring her out a safe distance from teh chickens. If she rects, move her further back and treat her once she looks at you. Make sure she sees the chickens and giove her a food reward each time she looks at them and doesn't react. Then give her a treat every time she looks at them then at you (the looking at you is like asking "am I doin it right ma?). The treat will reinforce the calm self controlled part of the encounter. Timing has to be spot on so you don't accidentally reward her for getting up over the chickens. Gradually as she becomes less reactive you can move closer and closer to teh chickens. Fighting with her and using force and discipline to get her off the chickens is gonna make her bitter towards them... "Dam each time I'm around you guys mom gets upset... that's it y'all are done! You guys make momma mad"...

Also with the yard make sure she has some engaging toys out there to play with insted of grabbing yard debris. Praise her each time she picks up a toy and say "toy, good toy" to start charging the word for her... she'll catch on real fast what is right and wrong.

If you need any help don't hesitate to PM me. I also have a small dog forum on my web page. There's a link in my user profile.