...if only somebody would have told me....
I have every finger crossed in the world as I am contending for a puppy right now. It's not for sure yet but just figured I would ask all of you while I don't have the puppy yet and I am just too excited and can't stop thinking about it.
What are the things you wish you had known or done while enjoying the puppy years? Anything is welcomed! Collar types, walking tips, balancing socialization before vaccinations, training, book recommendations, flea regiments recommended, NAME IT!
Throw your wisdom at me!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Grace on
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I'm in the same boat! I'm on a list and hopeful for a puppy on the spring sometime. I will be watching this thread!!
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Permalink Reply by Ludi on
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Have you read the FAQ at the top of the site? It covers a LOAD of bases that people usually miss when patching together information from the Internet. The best section, in my opinion, covers the mistakes we as humans tend to make when housetraining our new puppies. That one was an eye opener. :)
I think one thing everyone goes through is worrying if their puppy is "up to speed" with everyone else's. It's inevitable to make comparisons between what puppy X and puppy Y can do at similar ages. Don't worry about it! Everyone gets there eventually. Puppies are babies and should be regarded as such when it comes to training and correcting behaviours.
http://drsophiayin.com/images/uploads/ce/Socialization_Checklist.pdf - This checklist was a godsend when socialising my second dog, a Border Collie. They are a sound and light sensitive breed, so I wanted to be sure my dog would grow up being able to handle life in the city. I think it suits any dog of any breed to follow the list and be meticulous about it. Thanks to it, I have two dogs who do not care about hoovers, police sirens, jackhammers, or screaming crowds. :)
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Permalink Reply by Caitlin Randolph on
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I have read the FAQ a few months ago, will definitely refresh my memory, thanks for reminding me!
I remember their being a 'puppy' section in this forum and seems to be gone, did this used to be there? I was planning on re reading everything!
Thank you so so so much for the socialization check list! I live in a city as well so this is something I am very focused on. Having a dog in the city can be a pleasure if its well socialized, a nightmare if not.
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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
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Thanks! This is a great, systematic list. Definitely will refer to it when my new pup arrives on the scene.
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Stehl on
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A few things I wish I had bought early on in my first corgi's life... a FURminator, the FURminator shampoo/conditioner and a Dyson. It's a life send now! Be prepared to hardly ever wear black, have lint rollers everywhere and never escape the hair. :)
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Yes! Bought my mom a FURminator for her german shepard a while back. Is there a recommended brush for a puppy though? FURminator seems too industrial for a little one.
I did buy a vacuum this last month before I even know I was likely getting a puppy. Its one of those to-do's I could take care of while waiting. A hallway rug is on the list too, cut down on sliding and skittering....
It's been almost 2 years since we have had a fur friend in the house, surprisingly eager to get back to being that furry person.
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Here's one that I have heard - maybe from this forum actually -
Walks are for business. You never know when you ONLY have 15 minutes to exercise, potty, and get back inside. If they know they do all the business first, the last 30 minutes of a walk can be chill, sniffing, greeting other dogs type walk. But it is at first very serious. Pee, walk around the block, poop, back to walking.
I also have really really loved the book "How To Be Your Dog's Best Friend" it's not a corgi book but a really great dog book
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The breeder of my hoped-for upcoming Corgi pup invited me to join a group that meets weekly for obedience training and socializing. Now that's something I wish I'd had to access to when the late lamented German shepherd was a pup. She might have been less dog-aversive if she'd been around other dogs a great deal more when she was little. It's sounds like a good way to work on dog-to-dog and dog-to-human behavior, and also a neat opportunity to meet local corgi fanciers.
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Permalink Reply by Andrea on
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The biggest thing I can tell you is to a find a good trainer. Not just a trainer at say Petsmart where they see dogs come and go like water, a real personal dog trainer. It's so wonderful to have a good trainer to call on, email, have personal sit downs, ect when needed. We've gotten so lucky to have one of those and it's been wonderful! I can call or text her as needed, she spends lots of 1 on 1 time with me, she knows tons of different things from obedience to agility to rally. I love it. I've called on her for collar help, exercises to keep my pup busy, ect. Best investment ever. We're currently preparing for the CGC and Ein isn't even 1 year yet! Other than that I'd research a good food. I wish I had done more research before getting my pup. I didn't know about the no puppy food thing or the database for picking the best food. Your dogs diet is the foundation for a healthy life. It's so important to pick a high quality and more than likely grain free food and stick with it! Oh, and the best training treats is a high quality dog food different from what you regularly feed. This way they get a meal as you train and it keeps the value high!
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If you don't mind me asking - what do you expect for a dog trainer/classes. I like polling around so I know what range to expect.
We learned the hard way about the importance with food with our last pet. She became diabetic in older years, about a year and a half of insulin treatments and diet management and she eventually went of the insulin once she was on a regular high protein diet. Great idea of a different dog food for training! I'm hoping I can convince my dog carrots are the dream treat... low calorie, I hear its recommended!
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I expect them to help teach me the proper way to handle my dog, to help me with major dog related questions, any issues that may arise, and to help get to our goals. It's been so important to me to learn not only how to handle my dog humanely and properly in order to teach her the proper training techniques, but to have a person to ask questions on when issues arise. I've gone to my trainer for a number of issues. She's helped me get an easy walk harness fitted, she checks up on Ein when she gets groomed (the training center is in the same building), helped me with diet and exercise questions, and she's even opened up her home to me to help perfect some agility techniques. I never got this kind of treatment from Petsmart trainers. It's been great, truly great.
The food thing is important to me. Ein doesn't get "treats" other than a green bean or a little pupscicle (yogurt and banana frozen in a kong). She has 2 different foods though. She has her main food (Acana Regionals) that I adjust for the amount of training. The training treat we use is a high quality real meat food that looks like tiny pieces of jerky (so it still feels like a training treat). This is the food we use as trainers http://www.realmeatpet.com/food.htm . It's great. We adjust the calories of her normal food depending on how much training she does and exercise.
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Thanks so much!!
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