Raising Puppy Working Full Time

both of my dogs are from a breeder…there’s a lot of good dogs in the shelter, but not knowing who the parents are or the dog’s entire past is a hurdle I don’t think I’m ready to push through…I don’t want to be rehabilitating a dog’s past trauma or dealing with ingrained unwanted behaviors

 

That's a hard sell for people who are in to animals and have never had kids.

 

Yeah and I'm not trying to be callous, though my post did kinda come off that way. Lay out some pee pads, walk the dog often, and show it love. Have patience. Do that and OP will be golden.

Lastly, something I learned recently (and this is still debated among some, but I have come down firmly on one side): do NOT give your dog grain free food. The heart problems that will probably take my dog within the next couple months were either created by or exacerbated by grain free dog food.

 

Not related to the main topic. If you get the dog, I don't suppose you can add some wholesomeness to Hangout and post a pic or two of the doggy?

 

I don't know how the "real" food impacts it. I just know there are some studies that indicate the grain free dog food is bad for dog's hearts. Again, not everyone is on board with that, but it's worth looking into, IMO.

I actually wholly endorse giving "real" food. That's what I switched to once I learned about the problems with the dog foods I had been giving. My dog's meal tonight will be ground beef (seasoned, of course), rice, and peas. Making this switch improved her health significantly. Of course, my dog is very, very old and on death's door, so the situation is different.

 

do yourself a favor, feed a puppy regular puppy food from a reputable producer. we've had good luck with Purina Pro Plan for quite a while. Supplement with raw meat if you'd like. Raw meat by itself can be done with some rice added and supplements, but then you have to put more thought into it.

 

I hear you. I'm not a big fan of little dogs either and will not have a litter box in my home.

There are some little dogs that are at least affectionate though and a few even that don't have Napoleon complexes, or so I am told.

 

The case nowadays at shelters is people just abandoning their dogs because they don’t have the means to take care of them. I don’t know which shelter you ran and nothing against pits but yea pit mixes etc maybe with behavioral issues but majority of shelter dogs are amazing and just want another human for a forever home.


Adopt OP!!

 

Have small and big dogs, you’ll be surprised to note that when **** hits the fan the smaller breeds are more likely to put them selves and face the danger for you

dogs in general are loyal to a fault

 

Adopt an old dog. They don’t have to go out nearly as much as a puppy.


* just monitor Facebook groups and you can find a dog that needs a new home. Don’t have to go the shelter route. If you’re in Houston talk of bacliff or talk of texas city ALWAYS has dumbasses that took in dogs they had no intention of keeping once it stopped being a puppy.

 

I don't have a problem with small dogs, although I've never had one. Back in 1972, I got a black Standard Poodle/Black Lab (what was later called a Labradoodle) puppy from the Houston dog pound for $10, a good sized dog and turned out to be the best one I've owned. He never bit anyone, at least around me, but was very protective. I'd walk around Montrose late at night with him and feel perfectly safe. More than once, he made a big suspicious looking guy coming towards us cross the street with a low growl and a flash of his large white teeth.

Your comment about smaller breeds being "more likely to put themselves and face the danger for you" brought him to mind. I have to disagree. It depends on the dog. A good dog will just naturally be protective to those he considers family, in my opinion, and put him or herself between them and perceived danger. I don't think size makes much of a difference, except to that "perceived danger," I guess. I've had other dogs since him, the one we have now being my 2nd Labradoodle, a 75 lb. female, and while she's a sweetheart, she's also protective. We leave her in the house when we go out for a few hours and never worry about someone breaking in. It's a good feeling.

 

Yeah, I had a schnauzer once that would not back down from anything. It was wicked smart and easily trainable. But I wasn't around much and she kept herself entertained by destroying stuff. She couldn't be taught not to try and bite bicycle rims while they were rolling either. Oh, and ****... she loved to roll in **** piles.

When it came to protection though and having my back, the german shepherd I had as a kid was pretty hard to top. Unlike the schnauzer, who was very protective in her own right, she would not run off and do her own thing; I was her thing. I think she was either right under my feet or parked a few feet from me most of her life. She was super sweet too. Loved all kids.

 

I was bitten about a dozen times when I was a door to door salesman when I was in my early 20s. Every time it was by a little dog.

I came to realize that small dogs aren’t obedience trained and tend to be spoiled and way less disciplined than large dogs. They’re assholes, not tough guys.

When I took my Mastiff to obedience training this belief was ratified. There were maybe two small dogs and the rest were medium to large.

 

some of the training issues are also related to a breed's heritage and original purpose. Larger breeds were used for hunting or other working purposes (eg. herding) where some level of teamwork with the human was needed. This put a premium on breeding dogs that were "biddable," i.e., easily trained and eager to please. Smaller breeds were mostly terrier-like animals designed to hunt rats and other vermin, and working for the most part independently from the human. This resulted in breeds that are not as amenable to obedience training as some of the larger hunting breeds, just by virtue of their breed disposition. And labradors are perhaps the most easily trained breed of all (again, generally speaking). Labs will make any pet owner look like a dog training whiz, in large part because obedience was what they were originally bred for.

 

Another dog lover here..
I couldn't raise a puppy alone. The first few months are miserable. My sister got a goldendoodle and week 9, we had to go home every 2-3 hours to let him potty.
if you can't follow this schedule, you are going to have a tough time potty training the dog. notice it gets easier by 4-5 months (i.e. you can come home from work once to let him during lunch or ask someone else to).

then until about year 3, prepare to watch it like a hawk or they will destroy everything.

and oh, Australian shepherds are wayyy too energized. You can walk them 5 hours a day and they wont get tired.

I don't want to come off the wrong way but work on yourself also man! Workout, take care of yourself, book some trips. get out of the house.

 

I can't emphasize this enough - let go of the desire for a puppy. You aren't set up for it and there are already too many dogs without homes. If you want to have a dog for 13 years, get a dog that's a year or two old and the two of you will bond just as strongly as you would if the dog was a puppy. It's simply a matter of walking the shelters and seeing which dogs respond positively to you.

Yes there's the risk that a rescue dog may have behavioral issues but that can also be the case with purebreds. In either case, this can be avoided by spending time with the dog prior to adoption. If you need a little more long-term info on a dog, go through a reputable rescue group who is honest about their dogs in their descriptions (if you're not sure, just look at all the dogs they have and you'll find groups that are very honest about their dogs that need the "perfect" home).

All of my dogs have been one year or older and a mix of different breeds. All have had excellent temperaments and I have have successfully done obedience training with all of them. It's just a matter of repetition - for example, make them sit and wait every time you feed them. That being said, my previous dog (GSD/ACD mix) learned considerably more commands than my current American Staffordshire/Collie mix and my Heinz 57 (13 breeds per her genetic test, most of which she doesn't resemble physically at all). The GSD/ACD was just smarter but unless you're planning on doing obedience shows, it doesn't really affect your relationship with the dog.

There is no reason - other than to have a show or working dog - to have a purebred. Most of them have been irresponsibly bred, and even the ones that weren't are more prone to genetic issues (for example, I don't even think it's possible to adopt a purebred Golden that won't get cancer eventually).

 

The whole behavioral issue thing is soooooo overplayed in this thread. A good owner can train their dog (almost every dog out there) with good effort. It depends on if you’re willing to put it in.

get a dog 1-3 yrs old