General Puppy Advice

Hi folks. I'm no stranger to dogs, my Mum was a veterinary nurse and in my 20 years at home we had a collie (lassie type), doberman, pekineses, standard poodles, flatcoat retrievers, old English sheepdog and a Staffordshire Bull terrier. That I had until I was 36. I've never had a puppy before.

On Halloween Rayne (working title) is 8 weeks old. Her mum is a half malamute, half labrador, her dad is half labrador half Collie (working dog type).

I like the name Winter to be honest but stil not settled.

I really want the kind of dog I can take anywhere off a lead, if I'm walking, running or culturing.

Any advixe, greatly appreciated

a reply to: djz3ro

Make sure she gets vacinated and microchipped.

a reply to: djz3ro

I am one of those people who put a lot of effort into finding the right name for my dogs.

There are plenty of resources available online that list names and there origin and meaning.

My current companion is named Delanea Agapita.

Delanea is a Germanic name meaning noble protector

Agapita is Greek and means beloved and wanted.

So ..My beloved and wanted noble protector.

Layna Bear for short..



Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: djz3ro

Not the answer you're looking for. But start early...

I get a sliver of bed now.

a reply to: djz3ro

I don't know about malamutes as much as I do Siberian huskies.....so you should check.
But, Huskies are known to run when the get the slightest chance.
Never leave a gate or door open for them. Never leave them off a lead.

And, they love to play, so chasing them is a game....and they can run further than you.

a reply to: Bigburgh

So true, Layna gives me about 6 inches on the edge of my recliner/rocker while she sprawls out behind me with her head on the armrest...

And she sleeps diagonally in my bed kicking me like she's doggy paddling when she hits REM state..I wake up every night and flip her over so her legs face the wall..


But, I love how affectionate she is.. it's give and take, the joy and warmth she brings to my life are well worth it.



Respectfully,
~meathead

If you are asking for titles for the pup, here is one:
Queen Rayne Ruler of her domain

i have a minpin mix rescue named: Sir Shadow Barker Bites A lot
And a weenie dog named: Prince Finny loves to lick

Spend as much time together as you can. I did some rough math, and from the day my buddy came home we have 90% of our time together. ....that's being conservative. We only have a leash because that's where we keep the poopbag. make sure he is your best friend and you can go anywhere. After all you're his BFF..

originally posted by: djz3ro
Hi folks. I'm no stranger to dogs, my Mum was a veterinary nurse and in my 20 years at home we had a collie (lassie type), doberman, pekineses, standard poodles, flatcoat retrievers, old English sheepdog and a Staffordshire Bull terrier. That I had until I was 36. I've never had a puppy before.

On Halloween Rayne (working title) is 8 weeks old. Her mum is a half malamute, half labrador, her dad is half labrador half Collie (working dog type).

I like the name Winter to be honest but stil not settled.

I really want the kind of dog I can take anywhere off a lead, if I'm walking, running or culturing.

Any advixe, greatly appreciated

I like both of the names you came up with.
Like you, I like Winter best, I think (at least for me) that two syllables roll off the tongue better when you're calling them. Yelling, "Ralph!" may work too, but, "Win-ter!" is easier to do. I could be crazy though. =)
I base this theory off of, "Kitty", or "Puppy", saying "Kitty" will always get a cat's attention, but calling it by a given name won't.
Calling out, "Puppy" (for instance) in a high pitched voice kind of works like the Kitty thing. If you yelled out, "Bob!" it just doesn't have the same effect... heh

Practice calling out the name you pick and see what I mean, it works for me, I always give my pet's a lot of thought when it comes to their names too.

Good luck with the puppy whatever it will be named, I know you know it's a love/hate relationship, they can be a real pain in the butt but more than not they will make you laugh a lot!

If you are wanting a dog to stay with you off the leash, start very young with the baby, taking her everywhere. My rescue has to be on a leash because we got him when he was about one year old. We had to teach him everything. He was still in the puppy biting phase, we had to guide him past that phase and many other issues. Even though he is a good boy now, he bolts when he is outside unleashed.
The weenie dog we have had since a puppy, he will follow us around unleashed wherever we go. Just spend time taking pup everywhere with you while she is young, sleeping with the pup concretes that bond as well.

a reply to: Onlyyouknow

Congrats on the pup! The advice I can offer is to be consistent. It's the same as with children, inconsistent behavior on the part of the trainer confuses the pup. Also, as with children, give lots of love and it will be returned a thousand-fold.

You have an active mix...really pursuit minded and active also smart and independant.....its going to be a real challenge....my advice is to really work on verbal understanding and hand/body signals.....redundancy is the key....it will give the dog mental bones to chew on.....we normally just cannot give enough input to an animal to keep them in their comfort zone.....so IMHO more is better......constant gardening......uber-connection between you and the dog so it always looking to you and excluding all peripheral distractions will really help because eventually the dog will habitually look to you for verbal and body signls ALL the time.

I isolated my puppies until I had socialised them to only me using verbals and hand and then body and then eye and then sound communication.....by the end of 3 months there were only 2 people in the world me and my dog......if you socialise any other way you surrender the chance to build this type of bond.....I used the same process with my current pet a cat,the cat is 3x smarter than even a Collie and learned incredibly quickly and it NEVER daydreams or loses focuses.....ever......spooky but my cat is the best companion animal I have ever seen...a 17lb silent perimeter guard and attack trained cat.......lol.

a reply to: Mike Stivic

i try
my beagles is names jaco. it fits but i wish i would have named him gravy or dongle

Get a cat.

a reply to: djz3ro

Don't have your mouth open when you are near your puppies face or you will have a happy puppy tongue experience.

a reply to: rickymouse

Get a Siberian cat because Siberians have the best cat personalities and they are somewhat hypoallergenic (3 equal 1 regular cat).

I have had Huskies... Malamutes are Huskies on steroids.

Don't get them wet.

Don't feed them after midnight.

Just sayin...

A dog's temperament is more related to the pack leader, you, than to genetics. They like structure and knowing their place in the world.

Be assertive but gentle and never hurt them physically. Socialize them early and often and know reactions to strangers is queued off you... if you are nervous, the doggie will be, too.

Hope you guys have an awesome life together... dogs are amazing.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: djz3ro

I don't know about malamutes as much as I do Siberian huskies.....so you should check.
But, Huskies are known to run when the get the slightest chance.
Never leave a gate or door open for them. Never leave them off a lead.

And, they love to play, so chasing them is a game....and they can run further than you.

You're spot on with that. Malamutes, Huskies and Akitas are all pretty closely related and have similar behaviors. One being that off a lead or leash, they will run and whejnyou try to get them they just think it's play time and run faster in my experience. Likewise, I've not owned a Malamute but have had several Huskies and even more Akitas including 2 currently. They're incredibly smart but fiercely independent and think that they're the ones running the house. We had a 3rd Akita as well but some POS decided to cut the chain off of my gate and all the dogs got out and poor Kenobi got hit by a train before I could get her back. I'll see if I can get a photo of my 2 remaining fur babies uploaded.


ETA- This is Phineas, he's an atypical Akita in that he's got long hair but he's a big boy, about 135-140 pounds.

This is Lila, she may as well be my shadow. She's only about 95 pounds but god save anyone that tries to put their hands on me or one of my kids because that hand will quickly become a snack. She's a giant baby and a huge sweetheart (they both are actually) but super protective and my distant early warning system. Her reaction to an intruder will give me enough time to open the gun safe and then all bets are off if someone tried to hurt one of these guys or the non furry children in the house.

Well.. at least you have a mix of some super low key breeds there.

There are a lot of tips that can be given, but one approach I really like was what I called "natural training." I'm sure there is some official name somewhere, but it works for me.

The idea is to first establish a positive and negative trigger. Very basic stuff there, something like "good" and "bad/no" can work.

Then during their natural behaviors, you can start associating verbal commands with actions they do on their own (like sitting, laying down, etc.). You just say "positive trigger + command," or "good sit."

This process hits a lot of different angles. One is that you don't need a dedicated training time (though those are good). It also helps build a foundation for further training, where they not only learn what behaviors are desired through the triggers, but also get in the habit of associating new words and commands with actions. Basically, you are building a language, which is pretty neat in my opinion.