PUPPY!!!!!!!

Can my dog be a mascot? He was born to do it.

http://i28.tinypic.com/1dztj4.jpg

You can squirt milk out of your fingers? Cool.

that's not my hand, just a pic I encountered online

it's ok stanm we accept yr puppy-fingers disability

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/227/488778776_917a551906.jpg?v=0

^^^ this guy is my homey

he is a hundred pounds heavier now, tho (just turned one!)

my mom's puppy just had her first dog show:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/IMG_6797.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/IMG_6812.jpg

cute!
how'd she do?

mom says she won best opposite sex (?!) and best of winners.

haw!

gimme a puppy

xp "best of winners" lol

Good timing for the revive. Mrs. Hurting and I think we want to adopt a dog from a shelter, preferably a puppy or young dog. She has dog experience, I have almost none. She's kind of partial to Jack Russells (we've seen a few available at shelters), but I'm concerned about the energy thing (they're especially spunky). I'd be fine with an ugly mutt - my only concern is that you don't always know how big a mutt will get.

Advice on how to proceed? What to look for? How to prepare? I think we've thought over the decision pretty well. We're not heavy travelers and her work schedule is going to be easy enough that she can do extra walks when I'm busy with school. We have a decent-sized apartment so smallish dog is probably better. I feel ready to deal with the commitment even if it means scaling back some social activities (we're home a lot anyway). Maybe there's a thread on this already but searching "dog" is not highly effective.

gr8080, what kind of dog is that?

hurting, do you own furniture, or nice things? if so, are they all kept in a remote storage facility, or in the apartment? if the answers are "yes" and "the apartment," I would advise against a jack russell.

you can get a decent gauge of a mutt puppy's eventual size by looking at their paws. a female will generally provide for less wear and tear around the house than a male. being a smartypants, I recommend desmond morris' "dogwatching" for a decent education on the bastards.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GycIQZ93iOc

> best opposite sex (?!)

If the best of breed is a boy-dog, the judges also choose the best bitch and verse-visa.

i would also advise against a jack russell. they're small, sure, but they require an incredible amount of exercise. you're right to be concerned about their energy levels. i'm far from being an expert but i've walked a few at our local shelter, and it's like having a 15lb rocket on a lead. also, they're not necessarily the most easy-going breed. read the "temperament" section on this page:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/jackrussellterrier.htm

i don't mean to be down on them, because they're supercute and peppy, but you should be aware of possible problems as a first-time dog owner.

fiancee has got a jack russell who is probably an anomaly cos he's not a total bastard. they have a lot of energy, but because they're so small, they wear out fast, too, if they're doing some high energy shit like running laps around your living room (maybe that's just him, he will seriously run in loop until (a) he gets tired or (b) someone is quick enough to snatch him up). but otherwise he's pretty even-keeled and can actually catch things in his mouth as opposed to letting toys hit him in the face and then looking at you sideways like wtf i can't eat this shit??

her mother's two jack russells are less nice, tho. one of which is just the loudest dog i've heard, srsly, cannot even sleep in that house, 6 am barking at nothing sessions. think the other one is too fat to be annoying. so based on my super scientific sample, 1 out of 3 jack russells are awes.

gr8080, what kind of dog is that?

-- Melissa W, Sunday, March 23, 2008 11:43 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

http://www.glens.org/

so adorable.

All small dogs like to run loopers until they drop.

Yeah, I helped my wife dogsit a jack russell once. It was a great dog but it didn't seem to have an off switch. I swear I must have thrown the chew toy to it over and over again for an hour straight before I just gave up.

My wife claims its not that different from any other dog, but I think that's just because she grew up with another really difficult dog that needed tons of exercise and play.

NOT ENOUGH PICTURES

2nd picture = PUPPYLOAF

aww puppyloaf

listen hurting if you want a lazy ass dog you might have to go big. people are always reject large dogs because they need a lot of room to run around in. its all lies. our great dane sleeps about 20 hours a day and english bull mastiff i had before that slept about that too.

also, when our great dane finishes eating at her bowl she carries back some biscuits to her bed. i suspect its so she doesnt have to go to all the trouble of standing up to eat if she feels hungry later. i mean, her food bowl is 10 whole feet away from her bed.

I love it when you rep for giant dogs.

dinah, the great dane my parents' friends had, basically would only get up when her lasagne pan-sized dish of kibble was put out for her.

i will rep hard for big dogs

I did live in a college house with a black lab once. It was awesome and mellow.

95% of me wants our next dog to be a small breed, but the other 5% really wants to adopt a greyhound.

best dog i ever knew was my cousin's half pit bull/half boxer, she wuz the cuetest

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v79/173/97/25406876/n25406876_32238458_1296.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v79/173/97/25406876/n25406876_32238404_7633.jpg

HI I SOUND LIKE ASTHMATIC DARF VADER WHEN I PANT

I just keep flipping open the thread to see the puppy at the top.

/duh

Anyone have experience with Australian Shepherds or English Pointers?

I might be moving into a house with a big fenced backyard so I can finally think about adopting.

puppy in action (with mom's other dog):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SRdecu84INc

<3

so cuet

oh man they had a neopolitan mastiff on our local morning show this morning. he looked a lot like this:

http://www.goswm.com/go_htm/southwest_michigan_guide/michigan_pets/neopolitan_mastiff_puppies/neapolitan_mastiffs_11.jpg

except he was 3 months old so about double that size. CUUUUET

i want one. they're so pretty!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! That puppy is ridiculous. Want.

The best thing about them is they have chocolate, vanilla and strawberry all at once!

....what?

http://www.colourlovers.com/images/badges/p/127/127925.png

pink tongue, white claws, brown fur?

hope you like drool

So, uh, here's waht a Cavapoo looks like. In our truck, on the way home, with his new owners.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/IMG_1849.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/IMG_2497.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/IMG_2498.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/IMG_2502.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/IMG_2491.jpg

I see Diamond Head!

god, those first few months with my puppy Bird were so hectic. she was afraid to go in the hallway, let alone down the elevator and down to the loud streets. so were on puppy pads in the corner by the front door for waaaaay too long

My two labs both housetrained rather quickly. I don't know if I got just lucky, or if its just something they pick up quickly when they have easy access to the outdoors (an apartment would understandably be different).

my favorite part was this one terrible night when Bird had diarrhea and had to go several times, every hour or so. each time, we had to press the button for the elevator and wait an excruciating minute as she whined loudly in the apartment building's hallways, then fight her fears to get outside, and then she'd immediately take a crazy messy dump all over the sidewalk right in front of this one guy who was always there, always smoking a cigarette, and always looking incredibly angry at me. i saw him like 3 times that night

He's been about 50/50 with the washroom so far. It's exasperating when I've got him outside for 20-30 minutes, then he decides to go the second we get in. He's been pretty good in the car for short trips, though (the aforementioned family dog could not handle the car), and I've even been able to leave him in there for a minute or two--no longer--while I run in to get something. When I've gotten back, he's still sitting calmly.

sometimes when your dog has got the squits it's as hard work as bringing up baby, as in getting awaken every couple of hours and dealing with lots of messy stuff. Only changing nappies is a hell of a lot easier than scooping up diarrhoea. Although a few times if there is no-one about I've carried on walking and say to myself in a Wenger accent: I did not get a clear view of zis incident so I cannot possibly comment on it!

god, those first few months

Months? Months? I've been thinking in terms of two-three weeks...profoundly off the mark, I take it.

It varies. Lucinda, my oldest lab, got comfortable with our schedule within a matter of weeks, in terms of sleeping when we did and things like that. Molly, who we got five years later, would regularly refuse to sleep through the night for maybe up to a month. I should note, perhaps encouragingly, that we were operating with a far more flexible work/life schedule when we got Lucinda, whereas with Molly we were both at work or school for long periods of time and thus had less time to spend on training and socializing. Given that, I'm assuming, your current situation affords you a lot of time to spend with Fredo, you might have an easier time with getting him adjusted.

This may not be an option at the moment, but have you considered signing up for puppy training at Petsmart or one of those places? It really helped with us in terms of housetraining, getting them to behave (somewhat) on walks, etc. It also helps them become more comfortable around other dogs.

I'm already enrolled for a session on July 10. One disadvantage I think I have that you and KM didn't is that I'm on my own. It really does become kind of an extended Whatever Happened to Baby Jane mind game...I'm over-dramatizing. Zillions of people have done this; anyone with any knowledge would look at my first day and say I had it pretty easy. The problem is me--I'm the one with the daunting adjustment.

xp ok maybe more like 2 months? maybe even 7 weeks or so...I'm not sure, i lost my mind somewhere back in those piled up puppy pads. so much of it was just dealing with her fear issues around the time - she was a shelter pup and pretty much any noise at all would scare the crap out of her, and we lived brooklyn, so.

My dogs both really only fully emerged from the naughtiness of puppyhood--including erratic sleep schedules--around 3 years old. And we're still sometimes woken at 5:45 with a paw slap to the face

yeah, Birdie just turned 7 and she still can't figure out a bunch of stuff. i love her more than anything

Widget is now eight months old and finds new and innovative ways to destroy things. Today’s fun was digging up two massive, newly planted herb pots on my balcony. His specialty is gnawing the corner of a throw pillow cover just enough that it can’t be repaired. Woe betide you if you resort to spraying apple cider vinegar on an object as whiplet repellent - he advances, barking, because he hates it. He can now reach the countertops in the kitchen so everything has to be put away (no bad thing). Whippet puppies have a reputation for being dickheads until they’re two, which he definitely can be, but he has been easy to housetrain, loves riding the Tube and bus, is well-mannered with people and other dogs and his default setting is asleep right next to me.

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780394800479-uk.jpg

The problem is me--I'm the one with the daunting adjustment.

It's tough to have dogs if you're a loner, because you either have to jump in at the deep end and get them socialized with other dogs and kids and all the things they could possibly have a negative reaction to, or you have to keep them away from those things FOREVER, which is then an absolute pain for anyone else who might ever have to look after them.

I used to know a guy who had a giant schnauzer. He never, ever spent a night away from this dog, in six years. He never let anyone else walk it. He never let the dog out of his sight. Then he slipped a disc and couldn't walk or move off the sofa for two weeks, and the poor dog nearly went crazy because it was too scared to let anyone else take it out or do anything with it.

That's exactly the situation I want to avoid; I want him socialized around other people and other dogs, and I want him to be comfortable with others watching him when need be.

I'm alone but definitely not (probably everyone says this) a loner. A bit more so since I moved out of the city in late 2019, but I'm always out and about. That's the adjustment: not being able to just head out. Pre-pandemic, I'd go see one-three movies a week. I constantly just head out to browse book or record or thrift stores. Going out to have coffee and read. Going back to the city to see friends (a two-hour drive). All of it breaks up the day, being retired. Right now, the day is 60 hours long, and I can't, till he's okay with alone time, do any of that. And then, come September, I'm supposed to go back to occasional substitute teaching, 50 days over the school year.

I know: "You didn't think of this ahead of time?" I did--I figured if I got it first day of the summer break, after a few weeks he'd be fine. I'm probably just prematurely over-worrying.

Sounds like you're doing the most important thing, which is getting him used to the car.

Have you heard of the magic blanket technique for getting dogs to settle? It seems to be the hot thing in dog training at the moment, and might be useful for you if you have to leave him in other places like a sitter's house, or if you take him with you to a cafe or restaurant and just want him to hang out and be happy without your constant attention.