First time poster here so hello everyone, I hope I'm posting in the right forum.
He's a beautiful dog but unfortunately we don't know any history. Should I expect to be able to crate train him when I bring him home? I'll give him plenty of exercise but I'm hoping putting him in a crate while I'm gone to work will be okay, I'll come home over lunch for awhile to make sure things are alright and to let him out. I've crate trained a dog from a young puppy but I don't know if this will be an issue for a 10 month old pup. When I brought him back in from a walk at the shelter he's at, he was terrified to go back into his pen....which is just barely larger that the crate I have.
Can't wait to bring him home. Any suggestions on this or anything else are more than welcome!
Great looking boy! Crate training is a good idea for while you aren't home. Will you have a couple of days with him to get him used to the crate before you actually crate him and go off to work?
Yes, absolutely crate him. Start with either throwing a few treats into the crate or giving him a few once he goes in. That will condition him to feel as if going into his crate makes good things happen.
Thanks for the quick replies... and yes, I'll have the weekend to get him used to it before back to work on Monday. I'll probably throw treats in and feed him in his crate as marylou mentioned, the crate is plenty big for that... Can't wait to get him home and settled in. He must be a mix of maybe Husky? I've never seen blue eyes like that on a GSD....
I heartily recommend obedience training classes for you and Baron. Almost all GSDs thrive in their lessons; also, practicing your lessons daily is a great way of bonding with Baron.
This will be yet another way of using all that puppy energy!
If you need help in finding a good trainer, you might want to start a thread in the "Finding a Trainer" section of the forum. As I'm sure you've noticed, we have members of this message board from all over the world. I'm sure someone will be able to give you a recommendation, based on experience!
Congratulations on welcoming Baron into your family!
Wonderful you have the time to spend with him this weekend. Start the training right away, as they remember the steps you show them.
When I got my girl home ( at 9 weeks - GS/lab) I walked her outside, gave her attention and put her in a crate for some alone time while I did some work to get her use to be by herself and liking it.
When I was ready to work with her, went outside and did some play & training -- back inside with leash on attached to my belt (which I put on
) I had her with me doing things I normally would do - so if something was a no no for her she was corrected on leash. Everything was done slowly with alot of praise for good deeds - anything from walking nicely to looking up at me when asked to -- great way to bond.
I would go at your's and his pace. The most important thing is having him feel the crate at your house is a nice place to sleep and for him to have a little down time.
Good Luck --- Another important thing no running about 2 hours before or 2 hours after eating ---- bloat is something to watch with big chested dogs -just in case you didn't know.
I also just toss treats and things they only get in the crate-that are really good-in when doing crate training. And also stick around while they get used to it-but casually-not hovering.
Thanks for the link... I'll check it out. I do have a question about his eye color... I know it's normal in other breeds to have one blue eye...one brown. But one of his eyes is split right in half... blue and brown, does this represent anything negative? Thanks again to all for the responses, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite forums...
I'm also thinking of a new name... the shelter gave him the name Baron and he doesn't respond to it..... I'm thinking Griffin. Weird, maybe.... I want something a little different...
With my last pound pup, I tried a couple of names before finding one that worked for both of us.
The classiest name does no good if the dog doesn't like it!
Originally Posted By: MoosepuckI'm also thinking of a new name... the shelter gave him the name Baron and he doesn't respond to it..... I'm thinking Griffin. Weird, maybe.... I want something a little different...
Did you decide on Griffin or come up with another name? We let our daughters choose Sean's name and a yr. later we were saying the name Freddy and he responded to it - go figure.
Well.. so far so good.. he's already asserting himself as alpha dog over our female golden retriever. Today we left him in his crate while we ran some quick errands for about an hour. We had the video camera on him and.....it could've been worse. He wore himself out after about 30 minutes, then some short outbursts until we returned. He does still feel comfortable in there as that's where he's fed.... He got fed up with us brushing him and retreated to his cage, so that's good. This poor guy had well over a hundred ticks on him. He's been sprayed, bathed and spotted....picked over and picked over again...and then some more. He's such a bright and sweet pup. Hopefully he'll gain some wait soon, he's a very skinny boy. We went for a lengthy walk this morning to work on the leash and he did pretty well for his first time out. Came a little unglued when other dogs passed by but we'll get there. I'm going to research a good dog food. We've been using pedigree but lately I've been thinking that it's not a good choice (just cheap)... Purina One looks to have good protein and fat content... as does IAM's, I'm sure there are better, but I really don't want to pay a premium if I can find a good one that's not 50 bucks for 40 pounds...
Anyhow, I'm relieved that it's working out so well so far. He only chased one cat today, but only because the cat ran... he's fine with the others if they don't run away, he'll lick them.... We're sticking with the name Griffin.... Grif or Griffie once he's used to it... It's not only a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle... it's the Saab logo (car), which my wife and I are both very fond of... So, it seems appropriate all around... Any advice on food is greatly appreciated.... I'll be doing some searching here right after I post this as I'm sure that question has been asked about 1000 times. Right now I'm basing my thoughts on some website vet recommendations of at least 30% protein and 10% fat... Thanks !!
There is no need for 30% protien and also no need to keep the fat as low as 10%, especially if he is thin. You will have a lot better luck finding kibble if you aren't suck with those percentages. Most kibble is in the mid to low 20's as far as protien percentage. (Except for most of the grain free kibbles, they are over 30% and some are as high as 42% protien.)
Thanks for the info... I'm very new to pet nutrition so ....this is a little greek to me, I'm weaning myself off of reading the front of the bag "complete nutrition"... "balanced"...whatever, looks like it's a lot of BS...... Kibble? I guess I just don't know how this differs from dog food..?..?? this isn't standard dog food? During my last few minutes of searching this website, I've learned a lot, mostly on the diet/nutrition forum so far. And like you said (BlackGSD)...I have not been able to find a food that has 30% protein in the GA... I found up to 26% protein and 12% fat... which sounded good..... I'm not stuck on any percentage, I just wants what's best for my new pup....(daddy's boy), and of course our other dog will benefit from it as well (mama's girl)... But, I'm also not rich, so I want the best of a moderately priced option Hey, I buy store brand stuff for myself sometimes too!...So don't get upset with that last comment!
Nutro seemed to look pretty good, I'll have to go and check that out this week.
I don't know how much it is in Columbia since I am on the other side of the country. (Even though I did live in Columbia for 3 years in the 80's.)
I pay $42.05 for a 40lb bag. Which is a little cheaper than Nutro here. AND I feed a LOT less of it, so a bag lasts longer. Even if a food is cheaper, it isn't necessarily a better value because generally the cheaper foods require you to feed the dog MORE, so a bag is cheaper, but you are buying MORE bags over time.
Originally Posted By: MoosepuckThanks for the quick replies... and yes, I'll have the weekend to get him used to it before back to work on Monday. I'll probably throw treats in and feed him in his crate as marylou mentioned, the crate is plenty big for that... Can't wait to get him home and settled in. He must be a mix of maybe Husky? I've never seen blue eyes like that on a GSD....
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