Finn's thread!! Puppy is GROWING!!!

[berryncherry]

View attachment 2603826
A still from a video of him

So cute! Have you decided whether or not to neuter him? I've been debating whether or not myself. Some say that it will shorten a dog's lifespan, but others say that it prevents certain diseases.

 

[black_cat]

So cute! Have you decided whether or not to neuter him? I've been debating whether or not myself. Some say that it will shorten a dog's lifespan, but others say that it prevents certain diseases.

We are going to. I've never heard about it hurting a dog's lifespan, and none of us wants to accidentally contribute to the homeless puppy population. We've neutered all of our dogs in the past.

 

[chickentrains]

So cute! Have you decided whether or not to neuter him? I've been debating whether or not myself. Some say that it will shorten a dog's lifespan, but others say that it prevents certain diseases.

I say wait until a year. Spaying and neutering early causes serious problems, but fixing at maturity does more good than harm

 

[Cecisflock]

I say wait until a year. Spaying and neutering early causes serious problems, but fixing at maturity does more good than harm

yeah we had to spay our girl at 15 weeks and she is really small now...

 

[Cecisflock]

yeah we had to spay our girl at 15 weeks and she is really small now...

like 50 pounds and is supposed to be 80

 

[chickentrains]

yeah we had to spay our girl at 15 weeks and she is really small now...

yeah yikes.

 

[Cecisflock]

yeah yikes.

But she had a REALLY bad hernia so they were going in there anyway..

 

[NatJ]

Is there anything else that I need to do before I can just work on whatever with him?

I would start from the very first day: "wait" at doors and stairs, rather than rushing through and maybe knocking people down.

For the door, just say "wait" and block the dog with your hand, then "OK" when you let them go. Similar for stairs. I might say "OK" and let the dog run up the stairs ahead of me, but the dog still had to wait until I gave permission. And sometimes (as the dog gets older), I make it wait so I go up or down the stairs first. And if the dog will not be allowed out the door, they can still "wait" until I close the door.

I would not devote special training time to this, just every time you actually go through a door or up/down stairs. My main idea is to prevent the bad habit of rushing ahead when you do not want him to. By using the same word each time ("wait"), you eventually get the bonus of having an adult dog that waits when you say so.

 

[Geena]

We wouldn't leave a dog alone with anything that he could potentially swallow, don't worry. Tennis balls aren't considered chew toys here, they're for chasing, picking up, and dropping.

I believe it most often happens while playing catch. I'm talking about the whole ball getting lodged in the dog's throat and cutting off their wind. Most dogs can play with tennis balls all day long and never have a problem, but if this happens to a dog it will most likely choke to death before you can do anything, because there is nothing to grab a hold of to get the damn thing out. I've heard that you can try to push it up from the outside of a dog's neck, but I don't know how successful that is.

 

[Folly's place]

The only dog I saw with the tennis ball jammed in his throat did live to get to the emergency clinic, and with sedation and a long reach, it came out. A German Shepard, who lived.
Eating tennis balls, whole or in sections, not rare.
Mary