Monday, December 9, 2013
A Puppy's Progress
In just the three months we've had him, Zeus has definitely come a long way. He's grown from about a ten pound baby to the almost fifty pound dog he is today. His height has more than tripled since we got him. Not to sound sappy, but watching a puppy grow up before your eyes is something incredible. He hasn't just grown physically though. You can tell he has matured mentally. He understands the world around him much better. He knows what he can play with and what not to touch. He knows his basic commands and he has his potty-training down too. And the best part is that he's still so young. He literally has his whole life ahead of him and it feels so good to be the one who gets to spend the next fifteen years with him. He has brought nothing but happiness to our house. We even mentioned after the first month that even though he can be a handful sometimes, the house just would not feel the same without him.
A Puppy Has a Problem
As awesome as Zeus is, he has one problem that even now continues to be a giant pain in the butt, literally. He's a biter.
When we first brought him home, it was cute. He would nibble on your hands after petting him and we thought it was just something he'd grow out of. We were wrong. At about five months old, he still bites a lot, the only problem is that now it actually hurts. Those puppy teeth are sharp, and now that his jaw muscles are stronger, he can break skin quite easily. My strategy so far has been to grab him by the collar and hold his mouth shut for about 10 seconds every time he bites me. It has been pretty effective and he definitely bites me a lot less than he did before. He still bites other people a lot though and it really gets annoying. It gets to the point where I have to go put him in his crate when people come over to avoid him hurting them or ripping their clothes. I've talked to the vet and varies workers at pet stores, but nobody seems to have an effective way to help me stop his mouthy behavior. I guess I'll just have to hope he grows out of it after his teething phase.
When we first brought him home, it was cute. He would nibble on your hands after petting him and we thought it was just something he'd grow out of. We were wrong. At about five months old, he still bites a lot, the only problem is that now it actually hurts. Those puppy teeth are sharp, and now that his jaw muscles are stronger, he can break skin quite easily. My strategy so far has been to grab him by the collar and hold his mouth shut for about 10 seconds every time he bites me. It has been pretty effective and he definitely bites me a lot less than he did before. He still bites other people a lot though and it really gets annoying. It gets to the point where I have to go put him in his crate when people come over to avoid him hurting them or ripping their clothes. I've talked to the vet and varies workers at pet stores, but nobody seems to have an effective way to help me stop his mouthy behavior. I guess I'll just have to hope he grows out of it after his teething phase.
A Puppy Learns a Thing or Two
After having Zeus in our house for about three weeks, I decided it was time to give him a lesson in some basic commands. My goal when I got him was to make this puppy into an outstanding, obedient, overall perfect dog when he grows up and for that to happen, he needed to start at square one. I wanted to teach him how to sit, stay, come, and lay down. I researched online for the proper way to teach a dog commands but every piece of advice I saw offered a different method for accomplishing this task. I decided to just get it done my own way and I'm not sure if I'm a great teacher, or if he's just a really intelligent dog (far more likely), but he seemed to pick up on things very quickly.
In order to teach Zeus how to sit I simply held a treat right above his head and slowly moved my hand forward. This caused his head to slightly tilt back and forced him to go down into a sitting position to get the treat that was right near the back of his head. As this happened I would be saying, "Sit" repeatedly. He had that pretty much down at the end of two 10-minute training sessions which I personally think is very impressive.
To teach him how to stay and come, I started by telling him to sit. Once he sat, I would hold my hand straight out in front of me with the treat inside it and repeat, "Stay" while slowly backing up. At first, he naturally didn't understand what I was asking of him and he would just run after the treat. Every time he did that, I would put the treat behind my back and say, "No" in a firm voice. Then I would start over from the beginning. After about five minutes, he started to understand that I wanted him to stay put. It took about four 10-minute training sessions for him to fully understand "stay". Once he began to get a hold of "stay", "come" came almost instinctively. All I had to do was lower my hand and cup it facing up with the treat inside it, and shout, "Come". To my surprise, there was virtually no training required. From the very first time I tried it, he seemed to know to come to me.
"Down" was definitely the trickiest command to teach him. My strategy was to get him to sit, and then move the treat down towards the floor while repeating, "Down". However, every time I tried this, he seemed to just stand up and put his head down towards the treat. I would then put the treat behind my back and say, "No". Zeus and I went through this dance countless times until once when he got so frustrated that he laid down on the ground. I immediately gave him the treat and praised him. After that incident, I switched my teaching strategy to just simply trying to get him tired so he'd lay on the ground and I could give him the treat. This new strategy worked shockingly well and he understood "down" about ten minutes later.
In order to teach Zeus how to sit I simply held a treat right above his head and slowly moved my hand forward. This caused his head to slightly tilt back and forced him to go down into a sitting position to get the treat that was right near the back of his head. As this happened I would be saying, "Sit" repeatedly. He had that pretty much down at the end of two 10-minute training sessions which I personally think is very impressive.
To teach him how to stay and come, I started by telling him to sit. Once he sat, I would hold my hand straight out in front of me with the treat inside it and repeat, "Stay" while slowly backing up. At first, he naturally didn't understand what I was asking of him and he would just run after the treat. Every time he did that, I would put the treat behind my back and say, "No" in a firm voice. Then I would start over from the beginning. After about five minutes, he started to understand that I wanted him to stay put. It took about four 10-minute training sessions for him to fully understand "stay". Once he began to get a hold of "stay", "come" came almost instinctively. All I had to do was lower my hand and cup it facing up with the treat inside it, and shout, "Come". To my surprise, there was virtually no training required. From the very first time I tried it, he seemed to know to come to me.
"Down" was definitely the trickiest command to teach him. My strategy was to get him to sit, and then move the treat down towards the floor while repeating, "Down". However, every time I tried this, he seemed to just stand up and put his head down towards the treat. I would then put the treat behind my back and say, "No". Zeus and I went through this dance countless times until once when he got so frustrated that he laid down on the ground. I immediately gave him the treat and praised him. After that incident, I switched my teaching strategy to just simply trying to get him tired so he'd lay on the ground and I could give him the treat. This new strategy worked shockingly well and he understood "down" about ten minutes later.
A Puppy Finds His Place
As the first couple days with our new puppy passed, we knew we needed to make a final decision on what his name should be. We weren't able to come up with many that we liked. I wanted his name to be something sort of unique, and something that fits him well. After putting some thought into it, I came up with the name Zeus. I thought it was short, easy, and a cool name for a dog. It also fit the puppy quite well. He had grayish-white fur like the god Zeus' beard and piecing blue eyes that resembled lightning. My roommate liked it too so I went to PetSmart and got him his first engraved dog tag. He was officially named Zeus.
While at PetSmart, I decided to splurge and upgrade almost all of his doggy gear. I bought him a better collar, a nice retractable leash, metal food and water bowls, treats, and toys. I also made a major upgrade to his diet. After reading online about how Purina Puppy Chow is the "McDonald's of dog food", I bought Zeus some top of the line Blue Buffalo Wilderness puppy food. For the next week or so, I mixed the two foods in the puppy's bowl just like you're supposed to when introducing a dog to a new diet. He seemed to love the taste of the Blue Buffalo, but unfortunately, the food was too rich for him and didn't agree wig his stomach. He kept getting episodes of vomiting and diarrhea which made me feel terrible because I spent a lot of money on that food wanting him to get something tasty with excellent nutritional value. After seeing him so sick, I switched him over to Nutro Healthy Choice puppy food which is not as highly regarded as Blue Buffalo, but is still a pretty good dog food. He seemed to do well on that and he is still eating it today.
While at PetSmart, I decided to splurge and upgrade almost all of his doggy gear. I bought him a better collar, a nice retractable leash, metal food and water bowls, treats, and toys. I also made a major upgrade to his diet. After reading online about how Purina Puppy Chow is the "McDonald's of dog food", I bought Zeus some top of the line Blue Buffalo Wilderness puppy food. For the next week or so, I mixed the two foods in the puppy's bowl just like you're supposed to when introducing a dog to a new diet. He seemed to love the taste of the Blue Buffalo, but unfortunately, the food was too rich for him and didn't agree wig his stomach. He kept getting episodes of vomiting and diarrhea which made me feel terrible because I spent a lot of money on that food wanting him to get something tasty with excellent nutritional value. After seeing him so sick, I switched him over to Nutro Healthy Choice puppy food which is not as highly regarded as Blue Buffalo, but is still a pretty good dog food. He seemed to do well on that and he is still eating it today.
A Puppy Comes Home (The First Few Days)
We ended up paying the man the $300 and bringing the puppy home that day. We actually had to stop by Marsh on the way back to pick up essential puppy supplies (food, bowls, collar, leash, toy) for him. We honestly did not know we'd be getting a dog that quickly so we were, admittedly, a little under-prepared. I didn't know much about the quality of dog foods so I bought him a bag of Purina Puppy Chow to get him started. I bought him the only type of bowls, leash, and collar that the store had on its shelves. They looked a little cheaply constructed, but the dog needed them so I didn't exactly have much of a choice.
When the puppy walked in our front door, he was extremely curious about absolutely everything. He wandered aimlessly around our living room sniffing and biting at virtually anything his one foot high head could reach. He seemed really happy to be there though, and my roommate and I had a lot of fun watching him. When it came time for bed, we didn't exactly know what we were going to do with him. We hadn't bought him a crate yet, but we obviously didn't feel comfortable letting him have free-roam of the house. I tried to let him on the floor in my bedroom but he kept getting himself into trouble and I was worried he would relieve himself on my carpet. I decided to try putting him in our laundry room because there didn't seem to be much that could pose a threat to him, plus it is one of the only rooms we have with a hard floor. I moved his food and water bowls in the room with him, but I felt so bad leaving him in there alone that I ended up sitting on the floor in the dark with him for what must have been about a half hour. After I thought he looked settled down and ready to sleep, I slowly exited the room and went to lay in my bed. The puppy was quiet at first which felt like a relief, but after about 10 minutes, he started yapping his head off. Everything I had read while researching how to raise a puppy (which was actually quite a bit) said that when you put a puppy in his cage or in a room for bed, you should never let them out just because they're whining. This supposedly teaches the puppy that he can always get what he wants just by barking a lot. I tried to simply ignore the puppy's yapping, but about five minutes later, my roommate (who hadn't read any of my puppy raising articles) went in the laundry room to check on him. Thank God he didn't know we were supposed to ignore the barking, because as soon as he opened the door, he saw that the puppy had gotten his head stuck while exploring behind the dryer. I felt really bad for the dog and I decided to move him to the empty bedroom even though it had carpeting. I sat with the puppy in there for about another half hour and as soon as I felt confident that there was nothing that he could hurt himself on, I left and went to bed. The puppy didn't make a peep, and he actually ended up liking it in there. We made that extra bedroom into the official puppy room and that's where we left him when he slept and when me and my roommate were both out. Everything seemed to be working until one day when I got back from work, opened the door to the puppy room, and saw that he ripped up a good portion of the carpet by the door. That's when it became apparent that this puppy needed a crate.
When the puppy walked in our front door, he was extremely curious about absolutely everything. He wandered aimlessly around our living room sniffing and biting at virtually anything his one foot high head could reach. He seemed really happy to be there though, and my roommate and I had a lot of fun watching him. When it came time for bed, we didn't exactly know what we were going to do with him. We hadn't bought him a crate yet, but we obviously didn't feel comfortable letting him have free-roam of the house. I tried to let him on the floor in my bedroom but he kept getting himself into trouble and I was worried he would relieve himself on my carpet. I decided to try putting him in our laundry room because there didn't seem to be much that could pose a threat to him, plus it is one of the only rooms we have with a hard floor. I moved his food and water bowls in the room with him, but I felt so bad leaving him in there alone that I ended up sitting on the floor in the dark with him for what must have been about a half hour. After I thought he looked settled down and ready to sleep, I slowly exited the room and went to lay in my bed. The puppy was quiet at first which felt like a relief, but after about 10 minutes, he started yapping his head off. Everything I had read while researching how to raise a puppy (which was actually quite a bit) said that when you put a puppy in his cage or in a room for bed, you should never let them out just because they're whining. This supposedly teaches the puppy that he can always get what he wants just by barking a lot. I tried to simply ignore the puppy's yapping, but about five minutes later, my roommate (who hadn't read any of my puppy raising articles) went in the laundry room to check on him. Thank God he didn't know we were supposed to ignore the barking, because as soon as he opened the door, he saw that the puppy had gotten his head stuck while exploring behind the dryer. I felt really bad for the dog and I decided to move him to the empty bedroom even though it had carpeting. I sat with the puppy in there for about another half hour and as soon as I felt confident that there was nothing that he could hurt himself on, I left and went to bed. The puppy didn't make a peep, and he actually ended up liking it in there. We made that extra bedroom into the official puppy room and that's where we left him when he slept and when me and my roommate were both out. Everything seemed to be working until one day when I got back from work, opened the door to the puppy room, and saw that he ripped up a good portion of the carpet by the door. That's when it became apparent that this puppy needed a crate.
Love at First Sight
I am a dog lover who comes from a family of dog lovers. I grew up with a Bichon Frise and a Wheaton-Terrier (not exactly the most masculine dogs, but I had no say in the matter; they were both my mom's choice). I loved both of those dogs a lot, but ever since I was a child, there was one specific breed that always caught my eye: the Siberian Husky. I thought they were the most beautiful, powerful, independent, cool animals I had ever seen. My fascination with Huskies began when I was very young and my family took a vacation to Alberta, Canada. One of the things we did up there was a dog sled ride and it was one of the most fun things I had ever done. I was so impressed at how the dogs could run so fast for so long. The mushers even introduced us to all of the dogs and let us pet them. There was one dog named Greyline that I bonded with almost immediately. From then on, every time I saw a Husky, it instantly brought me back to that incredible experience.
Fast forward to the beginning of this September. My roommate and I had recently moved into a townhouse in Hoosier Court. One of the things we talked about over the summer was how we both really wanted a dog in our new place. Almost as soon as we moved in, I started scouring the internet for adoptable puppies. Craigslist always seemed to have a surprisingly large section for people looking to sell their pets. One post that caught my eye was from a lady looking to sell her seven week old American-Staffordshire Terrier puppies. I contacted her, and on the next day my roommate and I went over to meet the dogs. They were very friendly, playful puppies, but despite how much I liked them, something just didn't feel right. I told the lady that we'd get back to her, and we went back home puppy-less. As soon as we walked back in our door, I picked up my iPad and checked Craigslist once again to see if anybody else had posted an interesting ad. What I found was a listing for a 9-week old male Siberian Husky. This was the exact type of dog I had been looking for all along. I contacted the poster who told me that he already had a lot of people interested, but he would be willing to sell the puppy to me for $300. For those of you who don't know, full-blooded Siberian Husky puppies generally sell for over $1000. So $300 for a puppy who already had his first round of shots (about $100 value) seemed like a complete steal. The poster lived near Indianapolis but offered to meet us halfway in Martinsville. My roommate and I drove over and we met the puppy. He was one of the cutest dogs I had ever seen in my life, he was very playful, and he came right up to meet me. I knew immediately that this was the right dog for me.
Fast forward to the beginning of this September. My roommate and I had recently moved into a townhouse in Hoosier Court. One of the things we talked about over the summer was how we both really wanted a dog in our new place. Almost as soon as we moved in, I started scouring the internet for adoptable puppies. Craigslist always seemed to have a surprisingly large section for people looking to sell their pets. One post that caught my eye was from a lady looking to sell her seven week old American-Staffordshire Terrier puppies. I contacted her, and on the next day my roommate and I went over to meet the dogs. They were very friendly, playful puppies, but despite how much I liked them, something just didn't feel right. I told the lady that we'd get back to her, and we went back home puppy-less. As soon as we walked back in our door, I picked up my iPad and checked Craigslist once again to see if anybody else had posted an interesting ad. What I found was a listing for a 9-week old male Siberian Husky. This was the exact type of dog I had been looking for all along. I contacted the poster who told me that he already had a lot of people interested, but he would be willing to sell the puppy to me for $300. For those of you who don't know, full-blooded Siberian Husky puppies generally sell for over $1000. So $300 for a puppy who already had his first round of shots (about $100 value) seemed like a complete steal. The poster lived near Indianapolis but offered to meet us halfway in Martinsville. My roommate and I drove over and we met the puppy. He was one of the cutest dogs I had ever seen in my life, he was very playful, and he came right up to meet me. I knew immediately that this was the right dog for me.
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