Raising a Puppy - Ninth week in his new home

Dog Breed Info Center(R) - Your One Stop Shop to Dog Information

Home > All Breeds > Purebreds > Hybrid Dogs > Find the Perfect Dog > Pets > All Creatures > Care Training+ > Photos > Submit a Picture > Free Desktop Wallpaper > Adopt a Rescue Dog > List Your Rescue > Puppies for Sale > Classifieds > Place An Ad > Place a Banner on DBI > About the Ads > Breeders vs. Rescues > Spike the Bulldog > Maguire Farm > Scam Warning > Rescue Login> Breeder Login > Site Updates

Custom Search

Raising a Puppy - Ninth week in his new home

A day and a life with Bruno the Boxer puppy. Bruno's ninth week - 15 weeks old, 32 pounds, 18 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers)

About 3 1/2 Months Old

Crate Training

Bruno's gone and done it again... he's outgrown his crate. Time to switch to a larger one.

Much Better, this little puppy is growing like a weed! I decided to teach Bruno a "get in your crate" command. It only took two days for him to understand the command. While leading him to his crate I started saying, "Bruno Cage! Bruno Cage!" After doing this only a few times I noticed Bruno understood what I was asking. I had just let Bruno inside the house. Bruno was heading back to his dog bed in the living room. I stated, '"Bruno Cage!" and he turned from the direction of his bed into the kitchen and walked into his crate. "Good Boy Bruno! Good Boy! Good Night Little Buddy." Bruno laid down and went to sleep. He's been sleeping threw the night since he was 12 weeks old.

Well at 15 weeks and 4 days old I realized Bruno had peed in his crate. Something he has not done in 3 weeks. It is not normal for a dog to pee where he sleeps. Something is not quite right with this. In Bruno's case I know what it is. Bruno's mother died giving birth to his litter and Bruno was raised solely by humans. Therefore there are certain things he never experienced and learned like other canine puppies do. This is going to take some time. So far so good in regards to going inside the house on the floor. That I caught him in the act of doing. I never caught him peeing in his crate.

Housebreaking

Still no accidents in the house or inside the crate since he was 12 weeks and 3 days old. When Bruno has to go to the bathroom he walks to the door and just looks at me. I still do not know what would happen if I was not right there to open the door. Part of me wants to get a bell and teach him to ring it, however I do not want to teach him to scratch the door. I need to figure out if there is a place to hang the bell where his big paw will not ruin anything and I need to decide if I always want a bell or if I want to teach him to bark or whine at the door. I may go with the barking or whining.

The Dog Whisperer

We recently discovered Cesar Millan and the Dog Whisperer. I hardly ever get a chance to watch TV, and have been meaning to catch his shows on the National Geographic Channel for quite some time now. I decided to go ahead and purchase his DVD's so I could watch them at my convenience and WOW! Cesar is good. The best I have seen yet. We have been applying his teachings to our dogs with excellent results. I had a good understanding of dogs before watching his DVD's, however I now have an even better understanding. I recommend every one who is going to get a puppy / dog or who already has one to check out Cesar Millan DVD's and or Cesar Millan Books. You can also catch him on the National Geographic Channel. An excellent guide to communicating with, understanding, and controlling your dog. Bruno is turning out to be such a good puppy. Thanks Cesar! :)

Not Feeding his Fear

Bruno was under the horse trailer. The pony and the horse were tied to the trailer so we could brush them. The pony pawed at the side of the trailer which made a loud bang. Bruno bolted out from under the trailer and came running towards me with obvious fear in his eyes. I happened to have been walking back towards the trailer at that time. He ran to me for protection. I totally ignored him, walking past him up to the horses. He turned and looked at me, sat back down in the driveway and calmly watched for a few seconds. Than he got up and went back to the trailer and laid back down. My human instinct was, I wanted to tell him it was ok and give him a hug and explain it was only the pony kicking the trailer and it would not hurt him. However, Bruno is not human, and he does not understand words and reasoning, he's a dog who lives in the moment. If I had reacted in such a way it would have fed Bruno's fear. Dogs live in the moment and at that moment he was startled and you do not reward startled with affection. By ignoring him, I allowed him to get over it in a matter of seconds. Had I fed his feelings with affection I would have been on my way to having a dog with some skittish tendencies. Something I recently learned from Cesar Millan.

Chasing Guineas

Yikes! I looked out the window and Bruno was chasing a flock of about 14 guinea fowl and boy did he look like he was having fun! I immediately went outside, quickly and calmly walked closer to him without saying a word. I wanted to get closer so I would have more control after my correction and since Bruno is still pretty slow and was not catching any of them, I knew I had time. I got as close as I thought I could get away with and still correct his behavior at the moment it was happening, "AAAttttt!!!!! Bruno NO!" Bruno stopped in his tracks. I walked closer to the guineas hoping Bruno would follow so I could correct his behavior again, however he sat down in the grass and just watched me. I called him to come and had him walk past the guineas knowing he would react to my "AAAtttt" if he proceeded to look like he "wanted them". Bruno was keeping his distance, so I decided it was time to go and get the leash.

I put the leash on backwards so it acted like a collar and a leash but higher up on the neck where you have more control. I walked Bruno past the guineas over and over. Every time he got the, "I want to get'em!" look I gave him a short sideways tug on the leash without saying a word. In the picture above he had walked slightly ahead of me and was just starting to give the look and pull tight on the lead. I gave him a sideways tug to distract his mind back to me.

This is what I allowed him to do, sit beside me watching but relaxed. Notice there is no tension on the lead. He's curious, but he does not have "the look" that says I want to eat those birds. If he was just looking at them with a normal relaxed expression I didn't do anything, but the moment he would get that look or stance, I would give a tug.

He would stop and sit down, often looking up at me. It got to the point where Bruno just wanted to sit and watch quietly. I then led him to the driveway to practice mastering the walk...

Mastering The Walk

"The Walk", is something I recently learned from watching Cesar Millan. In the past, my walks with Bruno were him pulling in front of me, and me trying to pull him back and slow him down. I was getting a bit discouraged because I wanted him to stop pulling. He was just a puppy and not pulling very hard, however I knew he was growing like a weed and soon would be very strong. As it turns out, my pulling him back was putting tension on the lead and was only intensifying his urge to pull. What I now do different.

1. I shortened the lead.

2. I put the lead on backwards so it acts as a collar and a leash.

3. I raised the leash-collar up higher on the neck so I would have more control.

4. He must now walk beside me or behind me, not in front of me.

5. I hold the leash loosely with no tension between he and I. If he pulls to where a quick tug will not work I stop and I make him sit.

6. If he pulls front or to the side and or tries to sniff the ground I give a tug, but do not say anything. I do not allow him to sniff the ground when he wants to, I only let him do it when I tell him he can, I make the decision because I am his pack leader.

7. I force him to focus on me and not his surroundings. I am taking him for a walk, he must concentrate on following me. This force of focus helps a dog use his mental energy. Its like giving him a job and reinforcing that I am his pack leader and making him more secure with himself because he knows his place in the world. That's what dogs want, is to clearly know their place in the pack and they will be happy.

8. Another important factor in mastering "The Walk" is to remain calm and assertive with good posture. I am usually pretty calm as a rule and was already assertive, however my posture could be better. You want to walk as if you proudly own the world. Your dog will pick up on this energy.

After we came back inside Bruno was mentally and physically beat. He plopped down on his bed for a long nap.

More on Chasing Guineas

Later on the same day... Bruno awoke from his nap and I had let him outside. All of the guineas had flown back into his reach once again. I looked out the window and saw Bruno sitting on the porch, relaxed but watching them with curiosity in his expression. A few minutes later I looked out again. Bruno was no longer sitting there. I quietly walked outside to check on him. He was further up the driveway. A guinea quickly ran by him. Bruno stood up. I was too far away to read his expression so I waited just a second. I didn't want to correct good behavior. I am glad I waited... Bruno sat back down and calmly watched. I still do not completely trust him around the birds and maybe I never will be able to, however I can make the situation a lot better by staying on top of him.

Beware of Those Kisses

I was outside throwing some bird seed to the birds. I turned back towards the house and there he was. Bruno was calmly sitting on the porch, by the steps watching me with that adorable wrinkled face. I went over to him and bent down for a hug. Bruno began to lick my neck. That's when I smelled it. "Yuck! Bruno, you were eating poop!" Time to go and wash up!

That's Not a Toy

Bruno was inside the house all into playing with his toys. I looked over and saw him on top of one corner of his dog bed while he proceeded to pull the other corner of his bed up into the air. He was apparently mistaking his dog bed for a giant stuffed toy. It took one assertive, but not angry word to stop him, "Hey!" Bruno stopped and stared at me. I didn't say anything else, I concentrated on holding in my laughter. That was all it took, he stopped acting like a nut case an decided to take a nap. The fact that Bruno responded so well shows signs that he considers me his pack leader. If he were to have ignored me, I would have to reevaluate my human to canine leadership skills.

I left both dogs inside the house for only 15 minutes while I went to the school bus stop. When I returned Bruno was happily sitting on top of his dog crate blanket in the middle of the living room chewing one of his toys. That would have been a sight to see, Bruno removing that large blanket from his dog crate and dragging it into the living room. Not something I want him doing, however I didn't catch him in the act so I cannot yell at him. Had I yelled at him he would think chewing his toy and or laying on the blanket was a bad thing because that is what he was doing at the moment I found him, laying on the blanket and chewing his squeaky hamburger toy. To teach him not to remove the blanket I need to correct him while he is in the act of beginning to remove it. Most effectively, right in the beginning when he is about to start dragging it.

Raising a Puppy Main

We strongly suggest Cesar Millan DVD's and or Cesar Millan Books to every dog owner, from Chihuahua to Pit Bull. An excellent guide to communicating with, understanding, and controlling your dog.