Thinking about getting another dog..... *UPDATE post 19*

[mikensara]

we have a lab/husky who is headstrong shes a very loyal family pet but not good with other animals we cant trust her with the chickens. we will never find her another home we have had her for 4 years since she was a puppy. huskys are predatory animals as are labs its a no win situation if you plan to have them for herding they may be trainable but i think its a small minority that will actually be succesful

 

[Souperchicken]

So cute! And beautiful eyes!!

 

[Theeggboxtoo]

 

[aubreynoramarie]

SO CUTE!!!

Just keep in mind that because he was taken from mom so early he is missing out on a lot of valuable lessons from her on doggy behavior. We got our dog at six weeks and he had a lot of issues (but he also had something very traumatic happen to him as a puppy). Just love him and be firm with him! hes going to need a doggy mom for the next to weeks now that his doggy mom is gone.

otherwise holy crap that puppy is cute!!!!

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

That's a gorgeous puppy! I can't imagine a better dog than a Golden Retriever, but they are absolutely useless as guard dogs...at least mine is

 

[petchickenlover]

Quote:
Look at those EYES! what a cutie

 

[Lothiriel]

Quote:
What kind of problems might we run into? We haven't had a puppy this young for about 23 years -- my parents anyway -- I wasn't around then.

Their first dog was 2 weeks. Her mom had severe mastitis and several of her teats were surgically removed so she couldn't nurse. Ginger we got when she was 6 months.

As far as a doggy mom... Ginger won't even look at him. She did the same thing when we brought home Rascal last year and now they are BFFs, so we're all hoping she'll warm up to him soon.

Oh, and I think we've decided to name him Riley. It means "valiant." Some friends of ours said they were going to make a list of their ideas though, so maybe we'll like one of those better?

Yes.. His eyes... They really influenced our decision, I think. Leastways they did mine. I love them.....

 

[aubreynoramarie]

I love that name for him! That new pic is so cute!!!

I would say the biggest mistake was thy we coddled him too much. We weren't firm enough with him when he would try to push our boundaries (ie: maybe not correcting biting, not nipping but puppy biting- also like if we didn't want him crawling on us he would just keep coming back and climbing on us and we would laugh and push him away instead of being firm.) when we finally did decide to crack down and speak to him in a serious tone he started responding by growling at us. This behavior took a LONG time to correct. (then again he is a very headstrong breed of dog.) id say overall don't let your puppy push you around, mamma dog wouldn't, lol.

You sound like you're gonna be a good doggy mom though. So congrats!

 

[Lothiriel]

Thanks! We don't plan to coddle him too much. He's not going to be allowed on furniture either. That's a big no in this house. No animals on the furniture. Unless you're a cat...

So.. If he likes to chase bare toes and nip at them... Is that a bad thing? Do you think it could lead to actual biting? He loves to do that. So far I haven't let him really bite me -- can't say so much for my brother and sister (10 and 7). We keep telling them not to encourage it.

My dad went to TSC this morning and bought him a few toys -- all of which were too big -- and a pork femur for each dog. Ginger really likes the smell of hers (we haven't opened them yet). And my mom made a knot toy with an old bandana. He loves that. Having a puppy is so much fun! Ginger never really played, and didn't bark for the longest time (my parents got worried and called the folks we bought her from to make sure she was ok). But "Riley" is very playful and barks already! (Is it obvious I'm in love?

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