Breeds of Dogs

[mmichaelson]

Ugh. Yah, the last time I took one of my mother's hundred pound labs to the park here to run, he started munching on something. . .I had to pry open his jaws and pull it out of the roof of his mouth, only to find out that it was a mostly decomposed bird (at least I think that's what it was - it had feathers, sort of). ICK. I'm prepared for that sort of thing now - I'm not sure there's anything worse than that (not even poop).

[mmichaelson]

I'm so excited! We're picking up our new 'baby' tomorrow morning!

Here's to the next few nights being sleepless!

Cheers!

[tan]

Hi, what is your new baby? what kind?
and yes you will have a bit of a mess, but the hardest thing will be keeping the little fellow out of your bed....
i always was a cat person, until i got into british bulldogs, now i am sharing my bed with two of them, i love them dearly, they are great, but i will need a bigger bed...
good luck with your new family member!
tan

[mmichaelson]

Our new baby is a boxer pup. He'll be six weeks old when we pick him tomorrow.

We already have two cats who are currently the 'babies'. I think our male cat will like teh dog once he gets over his initial fear - he gets in trouble a lot for beating up his smaller sister. So I think he'll recognize that the dog is a more robust playmate than she is.

We are planning on crate training the puppy for sleeping at night and while we're away during the day. Each of us will eat lunch at home at different times to let him out and play with him and then we'll come home after work to take him running.

Thanks -this weekend should be lots of fun!

[mmichaelson]

Sean FINALLY picked out a name for our puppy. He wants to call him Sam.

You know, it's funny - our first boy will be named after Sean (Sean Alex M. II) and now our dog is named after his initials. . hardly seems fair - shouldn't I get a namesake too??



Must be a man thing - naming children and pets after yourself.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Saxy, don't do that!! Don't count, name, prescript the lives of chicks yet unhatched! You're gonna jinx yourself, girl.

Minds me of a friend of mine; planned out the names and careers of her daughters. Had nine boys.

[mmichaelson]

ROFLMAO!

No, no, we're not planning for how many boys or girls. . .just the one if we DO have a boy - Sean wants a boy named after him. . .go figure.

IS that a guy thing???

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

<sigh> Yes, it's a guy thing. Gil wanted to name the boy after himself; we compromised on using a new first name and Gilbert as the baby's middle name. I find it confusing to have two people in the same house answering to the same name.

Get two boy names and two girl names ready before you actually have available babies; this pretty well covers the usual circumstances. It's nice if there are identical names on both sides of the family; when I used a middle name of "Irene", both Gil's sister and my grandmother were flattered.

[tan]

Hi sax how's sam??
don' t worry about the cats, the poor fellow ( sam) won' t stand a chance against them: i had many times in my life dogs and cats, and as long as the human, their human so to speak does not teach them that they are ' natural enemies' they won' t be, some sibbling rivalry, no more,never had a cat or dog that did not get along..
wellcome Sam! you are going to have a graet life! tan

[mmichaelson]

Sam is great! Is is such a cutie, but man, does he hate that friggin' crate!

[Nicole Marie]

Hi Saxy-

Good luck with the crate training. It is the best way to go but it took our youngest one month before she stopped with the crying. It was horrible... every night the crying and banging the crate around. But once she was used to it, it was the best!

Now that she's older we don't crate her any more. She and our oldest Pit sleep on the couch all day while we are gone. But the crate gave her the lessons on how not to poop in the house while we are gone!

You cats will adjust too. They take a little longer but they will be fine. I block the upstairs bedrooms from the dogs. So when my cats need a break then can go upstairs where there is a place to get away. Try setting up a "cats only" area of the house. It may help calm their nerves.

[analog]

I agree with Haggis- go to the local pound. Pound Puppies are eternally grateful.
Who could forget that scene from "Lady and the Tramp"?

My old Dad gave me a pointer about housebreaking that really worked well with my kids' pound-puppy, "Whiskers":
They're smell-oriented. When I cleaned up the very first time, took the paper towel outside and placed it under a bush. In an hour or so took the puppy out to it - he'd sniff at the familiar scent, so I patted his head and praised even though he didn't go. Soon it was after dark. Our yard was private enough I could lead by example and he caught on immediately - that is he too wet on that paper under the bush. Never an accident in the eleven years since.
My wife still swears it was a guy thing.

Hope it helps.

<small>[ 07-05-2005, 11:32 PM: Message edited by: analog ]</small>

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Wow. I never tried that, being unequipped. Your wife is no doubt right, it's a guy thing.

Saxy, NM is right. As long as the cats have a puppy-free high spot they can retreat to, they'll feel better. Pet the cats a little extra, they'll adjust.

There's new stuff on the market, some kind of a device that emits mother-dog pheromones to calm and reassure dogs. I'll bet one of those right next to the puppy-crate would make the whole crate-adjustment easier on everyone. The dirty-laundry trick also helps.

Anyway, good luck.

[mmichaelson]

Well, we've survived four nights, and each night it gets a little better. He still pitches a fit immediately, but once he calms down, he goes to sleep in the crate. Any further fits I think have to do with the bladder and not the attitude more than anything, but we still don't give in, so as to not create a bad habit. And he's already growing like a weed! I had to loosen up his collar already and it's just been four days!

Cats are doing ok - Chloe hasn't barfed in a couple days now (which I think is great) and Ty is playing with him in a mentor way. The puppy (right now) is limited to the living room, kitchen, and our bed and bath area. There are two other rooms that he doesn't go in that belong to the cats only, so I think they'll be all right.

He's such a cutie! I've already taken a complete roll of pictures and had them developed, since I have no website capability, you can email me at mmichaelson@cvm.tamu.edu and I'll send a pic or two for you!

[mmichaelson]

Ok - we're doing well here. He's getting more used to his crate (still doesn't like it) and knows a few basic commands. He'll be nine weeks old on Saturday!

[BigJon@Work]

And where are the pics?

[mmichaelson]

ARGH! I don't have a site that will support me posting pics on BR. Someone has to post for me, or direct me to a site where I can post them.



He IS adorable though.

[BigJon@Work]

Nothing to see here . . . move along, move along.

<small>[ 07-22-2005, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: BigJon@Work ]</small>

[BigJon@Work]

I use http://photobucket.com/ to host my pictures. Its free and easy to use. They even provide a link to each picture that you can cut-'n-paste into your post.

BigJon

[mmichaelson]

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mmichaelson/992b842b.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mmichaelson/77108167.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mmichaelson/8d67ac89.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mmichaelson/41a9dc35.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mmichaelson/ec2d380c.jpg