[AngelaMR]

A warm, heartfelt hello to all of you GSD owner's! I am, of course, new to this site, however, I grew up with GSD's and now I am finally a proud owner of my first one (my parents owned and raised them when I was a youngster). Jake was a birthday present from my husband, bless his heart, because he knew I had been wanting a GSD for quite some time now. For some reason, GSD's are a bit difficult to find in my area of the United States.

Jake is just a few days over 8 weeks old and we are having a wonderful time together. The only issues we are having so far are his chewing habits, which we hope to break with ongoing patience and training.

Jake is going to be a huge boy when he is fully grown--the Vet estimates he will weigh between 100-110 pounds. He is black and tan and is so handsome. I just love him to pieces already.

If any of you veteran GSD owner's have any tips or tricks for helping us to deal with Jake's chewing and to get it under control we would appreciate all the help we can get. At this time, we use a very stern "NO," and then we give him a chew toy or chew treat and once he begins chewing on this we then tell him he is a good boy.

I am surprised at how well he is potty training. Again, he is just barely over 8 weeks old and he lets us know when he needs to go outside by whining. We have not had to crate him for this training. He certainly gets much praise every time he goes outside to potty. He sleeps in our room, under our bed right now, as he is still small enough, and when he needs to go out in the middle of the night he will begin to whine until he wakes up me or my husband--he is doing so well, I am so proud of him. The face he is doing so well with his potty training almost makes the chewing bearable--I am lying, it does not make the chewing bearable. He is going to have to learn quickly he is not allowed to chew on anything besides HIS toys and chew treats. He has one heck of a bit on him already and his baby teeth are like razors. we are not only working on trying to get him to stop chewing on items he should not be, but also to not chew on people.

Jake is very playful and I understand this, however, he does not seem to know how to play without implementing the chewing. Again, any information, tips, tricks or otherwise concerning his chewing habits would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, I have told you about Jake, now I will endeavor to tell you about myself without putting you to sleep. I just cele-hated my 47th birthday, I am a wife of 21 yrs, a mother of 5 and a grandmother of 6. I enjoy all of the roles in my life. I love to read and to write and I am a freelance writer with several articles and other types of writing published on the Internet and in print. I have a very full life and I am very happy how my life has turned out. I do hope most of you can say the same thing. I would be saddened to know any of you are not where you want to be in your life yet, especially if you fall into my age group or older.

I think this is enough about Jake and me for now. I hope each of you had a wonderful weekend and I hope your week will turn out just as wonderful if not better! Take care of yourselves!

Sincerely,
Angela M Ricketts
of Columbia, MO