Totally Random Advice - 1 or 2 dogs?

Just some dog-thoughts, from people smarter than me...

When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.
- - - Edward Abbet

The dog was created especially for children. He is the god of frolic.
- - - Henry Ward Beecher "Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit"

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.
- - - Robert Benchley

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.
- - - Josh Billings

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.
- - - Samuel Butler

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- - - Dwight D. Eisenhower

The dog is mentioned in the Bible eighteen times -- the cat not even once.
- - - W. E. Farbstein

The silent dog is the first to bite.
- - - German Proverb

You call to a dog and a dog will break its neck to get to you. Dogs just want to please. Call to a cat and its attitude is, "What's in it for me?"
- - - Lewis Grizzard

In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.
- - - Edward Hoagland "Dogs and the Tug of Life"

To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
- - - Aldous Huxley

Pet a dog where he can't scratch and he'll always be your friend.
- - - Orville Mars

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
- - - Groucho Marx

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as a dog does.
- - - Christopher Morley

A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
- - - Ogden Nash

I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
- - - Alexander Pope

The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs.
- - - Jeanne-Marie Roland

If dogs could talk it would take a lot of fun out of owning one.
- - - Andy Rooney

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
- - - Andy Rooney

Thou callest me a dog before thou hast cause.
But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.
- - - William Shakespeare "The Merchant of Venice"

I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.
- - - August Strindberg

The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged a dog down to his.
- - - James Thurber

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.
- - - Harry S Truman

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between a dog and a man.
- - - Mark Twain
 
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Well...here's an update for all of you who were interested enough in this topic to let it run over for 15 pages.....


We finally decided on what to do....went shopping this weekend to prepare - here's a picture taken in my living room:

crates.jpg


We're picking them up in about an hour.
:thumbsup:
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Well...here's an update for all of you who were interested enough in this topic to let it run over for 15 pages.....


We finally decided on what to do....went shopping this weekend to prepare - here's a picture taken in my living room:

crates.jpg


We're picking them up in about an hour.
:thumbsup:
Click to expand...


Hey that's crate!
 
whew....

wow, not sure i knew what i was in for.
I guess you can count on me posting less in the coming months.
I'm sure that comes as good news to some of you.
:thumbsup:

Brought them back last night - played for a while, let them run around and get the feel of the place...then we took them in the backyard and quickly discovered that we have burrs from some plant or bush (or more likely a weed) that is in the yard - so then we spent a good chunk of time trying to get the burrs out of the fur of two very wriggly puppies....

There was a good deal of time then spent trying to teach them that they needn't be afaid of their crates...(not sure how much we convinced them)

Then we spent a night filled with puppy whining (in fact I can hear them whining as I type this)...

I woke up convinced I would have a hell of a nasty mess to clean up in their crates...but was pleasantly surprised to find them just fine and as we left them.

Woke up, let them out (on leashes this time to keep down on the burrs) - fed them, played for a while... let them wrestle with eachother ...and after about an hour of that it was back in the crates.

OH WOW - they just got quiet.... for a second....
whew.

The good thing is, i actually think this will help me get work done - surprisingly.
When I have nothing else to do all day, its very easy to say...hmmm..i'll do that in a minute...i'll do that in a minute. But now that I know I only have about 2 hours before letting them out again... I need to take adavantage of the time to make sure I get some work done.

So, we'll see....
Off to work.

(my wife took a bunch of pictures...I'm sure she'll put them up somewhere, and i'll add a link here)

:thumbsup:
 
Don't worry, you will all reach some kind of equilibrium soon. :beer:

One of the good things about crates ... they would relieve themselves there about as likely as we would do so in our pants, only if there is no other option, and not even then if they can help it, their natural instinct is not to go in their den. The trick is teaching them that the entire house is their den and by extension it's not OK to go anywhere indoors i.e., the pet store, your friend's apartment, etc.

Trick for curing the night time whining.

Adapted this from something I read that a vet did. It used to be a popular sentiment that any negative corrections shouldn't be associated with you. Not such a popular belief anymore because it goes against the way the mother corrects them. She nips their ears, pins them, gives neck corrections, but then immediately gives affection ... anyway this is from the "negative reinforcement, who me?" school but works.

I read that a vet with a kennel had a problem with a dog that barked all night. He and none of the other dozen dogs in his country kennel could sleep. So he placed a bucket of water over the dog's pen, and ran a rope from it to his bedroom window. When the dog barked at night he would yank the rope ... splash. After two or three nights the dog thought there was some meteorological phenomenon whereby nocturnal barking caused a rainstorm.

My adaptation ... I observed that a dalmation puppy I had in college was afraid of the vacuum cleaner. After 3 sleepless nights inspiration struck. I spent $10 or $20 bucks at Radio Shack and got a remote outlet control ... you know a little battery powered remote for turning a lamp off from across the room or turning your garden lights on or off from the inside, etc. I attached the receiver to an outlet near the dog crate and plugged the vacuum cleaner in.

When the dog started whining and howling the vacuum cleaner would mysteriously start. :evil: :)

A couple of days later and problem solved.

Also, put some of your dirty clothes in their crate, this can help too. Something with your smell on it can be a momma blanket and that can help as well.

Looking forward to pictures.
 
When our dog was a puppy she whined the first week, and then stopped.

I think your dogs will just get used to it.
 
ive never had a dog that liked sleeping in a crate when a young puppy, but they've all learned. We even have one that around 9 every night starts pawing at the dog room door (yes we have a dog room) so he can get in his crate and go to bed. The rest just go when they here "lets go night night". Anything you can do to make their schedule repeatable will help them get used to how things work and when to expect what. My dogs dont understand weekends though - still working on that.

JDS - awesome trick with the vacuum and the dalmatian! I may have to do that just to mess with my wife.

Oh yeah - also might want to look into clicker training if you havent already - its really effecive and pretty fun too when you can call them to dinner with just a click of your magic clicker.
 
You can leave the crate door open when they are not 'required' to be in it and leave their water and food (if you are doing the dry food self feeding thing) in there. That could help calm their anxiety about going in it if that is where there food is. Though the whining at night could still take some time.

Leashes are your friend. Even if just in your yard. Teaching them proper leash ettiquite now will help in so many ways. But, b/c you have two of them, it may be harder. Letting you handle one and your wife handle the other and taking them on long walks (after you tire them out with playing) will help alot...

Learn how to properly use the leash now, it will save you a lot of trouble in the future.

Jason
 
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