how much problem is "couldn't be housebroke"? - adopted, now pics!

[arabianequine]

Quote:
I am sure it was better than the horrible place he was before.

I am so glad you adopted him Pat you place is gonna be even better then the last 2. Very nice pictures he is really cute. I don't think you will have any problems with potty training he looks very smart and capable. He sure is focused on people.

Good luck!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

He is adorable! What a nice dog! He looks so happy with your family. What great pictures. He must think he made it to heaven at your house.

 

[EweSheep]

He is adorable looking! Still a pup! Looks like previous owners do not want to take the time to TRAIN a puppy!

 

[jbowyer01]

If I can housetrain three doxies (one who is partially blind and deaf, she's trained using ASL and one who is vision impaired) any dog can be housetrained! Your new family member is beautiful! Congrats.

 

[ducks4you]

Pyg and Rose send happy thoughts.

"Hope your heads will be stuck together, like ours are today!"

 

[Finn's Mom]

Aww, great photos. Lucky dog! I am so happy for you all.

 

[teach1rusl]

Congrats to your family on that sweet looking pup!

I'll bet that if he is treat/food motivated (chopped up weiner or cheese bits work wonders) that he will learn all the basics really quickly. Labs are generally big people pleasers. I think a name change would be really easy...say his new name in an excited tone of voice and give him a treat bit - all through the day - for several days. He'll learn his new name soon, and will LOVE his new name (because it's associated with yummy treats...lol).

 

[patandchickens]

His name is now Russell

I don't really knw why, it just is. We got tired of arguing about it <g> He may not recognize it as his name yet, per se, but he has definitely associated it with good things that you should look up or come over for

Everything is going well so far. He learns very fast, although of course as soon as there is a distraction it all goes right out of his head, but that's fine, it's a work in progress. Not many accidents in his crate as long as we take him outside to drain him frequently enough (and he is usually dry thru the night); in the pm and evening he gets to be loose in the house with us, well-supervised, and has not had an accident that way yet. Getting along pretty well with cats and chickens, although he is distressingly fixated on finding and eating all available chicken and sheep poop when he's out in the yard. Dogs!

Thanks very much everyone, I am convinced we made the right decision on this. It's not like we saved him from an awful fate or anything, I mean someone else would have adopted him in a heartbeat if we hadn't, but we needed a really gentle solid dog b/c of the kids and cats, and that's what we seem to have got

Pat

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
Way to go Pat!.

I'm starting my Katie (6m) from scratch. Taking her out every hour, when she gets up, after she eats, after she plays, yada yaday, yada. She's doing well, except for playing in the house. She runs and plays and forgets to tell us she needs to go out--general puppy excitment. Will go up to 12 hours over night. If I could get her to ring the bells on the door so we knew what she wanted, but I guess if she can't hear them, they don't mean anything to her

 

[patandchickens]

What about a button she could push that would turn on a light, as a going-out signal? Or get/rig something that *both* rings (for you) and lights up (for her)?

I am interested in trying to teach Russell to ring a bell to go out, but am leery of doing it until he is better established with "holding it", because I don't want to have any larger than necessary a problem with him ringing to go out "just to get outside", you know?

Russell is doing really well. The only times he has had any kind of accident in the house is *occasionally* a little when he's in his crate between his 5:30 a.m. post-breakfast walk and my getting up "for real" at 8 or 9; or if he gets super excited by my husband coming home or by cats chasing each other past him. Mind, he is never unsupervised when loose in the house, and I do take him outside every couple hours or if he looks like he needs it.

We really ended up with THE easiest-to-train dog in the world, with him. I don't get how anyone would ever want to get rid of him! He now sits very reliably (including about 75% automatically when we come to doors or gates and after we go through them), will reliably "come" from up to 100 ft away unless distraction is pretty significant, and the other basic skills (except heel) are doing well too. (I got bored yesterday afternoon and decided to teach "roll over" -- after about 45 minutes off and on working on it, he now rolls over real good

) He does require a good bit more practice at not having his brain fall out big-time when he meets new people or someone walks nearby in the park, but then he IS a puppy still. And he seems pretty happy here, and loves to snuggle with us

He does sit a little funny sometimes. I hope it is not the beginnings of hip problems. But, what can you do <shrug> He is a really, really, really good dog.

Pat