Our Lucy (puppy classes?)

[Lucy & Ellie]

Since puppies are so fun to talk about, and this seems like the place to do it, here I go!

She's 9 weeks old and so smart!  She learned "sit" with hardly any effort at all.  And then "down" was just as easy!  I think she is getting to the point where she will actually "go potty" on command outside too.

I was really worried on day one on how she'd do in her crate because she was so barky but now she is just great.  And sam for in her pen.  And she won't have accidents in either place either.  

She sleeps basically all night long which is awesome!

She is sooooo mouthy.  And it doesn't hurt me or my husband but the kids don't love it at all.  (They are 7).  So even though it doesn't hurt me, I've been squealing and saying NO loudly and she seems to have learned that I don't want her teeth on me.  I had hoped that she would apply the no teeth rule to any human but seems like no... not yet anyway.  And it's been tough to train the kids on how to work and be consistent with her.  She love to chase them, nip their clothes, and pull their hair with her teeth!!

She hates being brushed... just doesn't like to sit still I guess, and she does not EVEN know what to do on a leash!  She just treats it like another chew toy!

I had planned on doing puppy classes with her asap but our vet was like no way, not until 6 months and she's fully vaccinated.  She is really worried about parvo and says it's not worth the risk.  What do most people do?

She is SO soft!  I wonder what her coat will be like when she's older....

I felt stressed yesterday because alllllll I do all day is watch a puppy.  I don't want her to have an accident.  Today was our first completely accident free day!  Hooray!  She still doesn't TELL us she needs to go out, but I know she's too young.  I can't wait for that though.

Anyway, just rambling :)  She sure is a lot of fun!

[Emily Lau]

OH your dog seems so wonderful! :) congratulations -

Nipping - it WILL stop. I know. It drove us crazy too. But with patience and very consistent instruction, she WILL get it.

With leash - put a leash on her in the house, and just pick up and drop off randomly. No tension on the leash. And when you put the leash on, give her a treat! :) If she walks on the leash without pulling (say COME~), she gets a treat! :) You get the idea~

About socializing and dog training - this really is a personal choice with. Your dog IS protected against

diseases with her current shots. The upside of not letting her go places until 6 months is that

she definitely won't get ill... the downside of it is that it is almost too late to learn basic good behavior 

around other dogs and humans... so it is kind of your call, and a tough one :/ My pup Earnest (now he is 15 months)

started going to daycare and dog parks and fun places (like the subway train in Boston) right 

after his 9-week round of shots. He is insanely well-adjusted around people, other dogs,

cats, and the city environment in general. He has seen it all, right from the start. No, I wouldn't

let him drink dirty water on the ground in an alley - but almost all puppy training class and 

doggy daycare requires all of the dogs to be fully vaccinated. Never seen a puppy get weird or die 

at the daycare he goes to frequently. And there is a good number of pups under 4 months there.

I wish you lots of luck and happy years ahead. (Earnest never learned to sit still and cuddle until he was around 6 months old)

xxxxxx

E

[Bonnie and Kona]

Love your stories about Lucy! She is a baby and doing much better than many tiny pups. Be soooo pleased! It sounds like you are doing a great job with her. Yes, all you do is watch her every second she isn't in her x-pen or crate. That's normal. That's why she isn't having accidents in the house. Be proud of your diligence. She will learn so much. I am surprised your vet said six months. I thought she would have all of her shots by four months. You certainly do not want her mixing with other dogs before she is fully vaccinated. Maybe you can teach your children to squeal when she nips them since it is working well for you. 

The leash and brushing take time and persistence. It will come. Have you tried treating her as you brush? Just a few minutes or at 9 weeks a minute at a time. ;o) Doodles need to enjoy being brushed eventually so keep working at it. 

So glad you have found this site. Yes, post often and share your photos! Lucy is adorable. 

[Julie and Max]

Max had his last and full set of shots at 14 weeks, so at that point was fully vaccinated. I thought that was the normal age for puppies? As soon as he had all of his shots I started taking him everywhere. I take him to the pet store, and to a doggy play day on saturdays and he goes to doggy daycare for two hours twice a week and he loves all this stuff. I am doing all my own training at least until he needs to go to an intermediate type class. He is very well socialized and very well behaved most of the time now and he'll be six months old on Febuary 8th. 

Another thing you can do to help with mouthing is teach bite inhibition. This helps them until they fully learn to not nip at all. Basically it's just teaching them to have a soft bite. There are a couple ways to do this but the way I found most helpful and it also helps them with any food aggression issues is to hand feed part of his meals. You put the food in your hand and initially just let him eat it out of open palm, then you close your hand a little so that she will try to bite on your hand, wait until she does it very softly before you give her the food. 

One of the other things I did for the mouthing was that if Max was getting mouthy while playing, the play stopped instantly. If he continued he got a small time out and I did this consistently. He is almost never mouthy now and it's a good  thing as he's 55lbs and I don't want him playing rough with us. 

Max loves to be brushed now and he did not like it at first. When I first started, I would wait until he was really tired after a lot of play or a long walk. I also used just a kitten brush which doesn't do much of a good job brushing him, but he did not seem to mind that like he did his big boy brush at first. Now he will sit and let me brush him for as long as I will brush him.

Lucy sounds like she is doing amazing and is a very smart little girl! 

Aww I just looked at her picture and she is soooooooo cute, it's going to be hard to resist those big beautiful eyes. 

[Alex]

Maybe this type of perspective would be useful for balancing the risks and benefits. A 6 month old dog seems to be of roughly equivalent development to a 5 year old child (http://foothillpethospital.com/agingchart.html). What level of risk would be necessary to keep a child isolated until they are 5 years old? As compared to the risk of parvo in your area?

[Jen W]

It certainly is stressful spending all day watching a puppy.  I lost 8 pounds in the first month I had my pup b/c I could never turn my back long enough to make dinner!  But it gets better.

When my puppy would nip me, I'd do like you do and make a yelping noise.  Sometimes I would yelp and get up and walk away.  She learned pretty quickly that nipping meant losing access to me altogether.

She also started puppy classes at 12 weeks.  I'd always heard that socializing them within the first 3 months was critical and she had all of her shots by then.  I have to say, without the puppy classes I would have been totally lost.  Not only did I learn a lot about how to work with my puppy, but it was reassuring to talk to other hapless puppy owners as well and know I wasn't alone.

Good luck!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

You are making great progress with Lucy.  Keep up the good work.  Most of this is cured by maturing and training.

[Debbie Daniels]

my labradoodle did the very same thing as far as being mouthy. I brought mine home at 6 weeks and if I had known better I would have had the breeders keep her until she was at least 9 weeks old . She missed out on her mother teaching her so much. Anyways for two months my hands look like a mess from teeth marks and I would take a treat put in in my hand and make a fist , she would lick and try to snip at it, I wouldn't say anything, when she would give up and just sit there , then I would hand her the treat. I did this for about a week, and one day she just stopped mouthing, don't give up she will stop and move on to other things :) 

[Pam Thomas]

I am curious about when to do puppy classes also.One article says pupy kindergarten as early as 8-10 weeks and one says not until fully vacinated-I want to plan early to find a good trainer, which is the best.