Journey Through Puppyhood

[Blondielovesfish]

Not long now.
 
Your eyes are amazing.....such a bright blue.

 

[Bluesand1313]

I know, I'm now counting down the days as one-day-closer-to-getting-Piper. xD
 
The flash just made everything much brighter. (Like, i'm not THAT pale, lol) My eyes are pretty bright though, I don't like it. Cause then everything about me is really bright. Bright skin, bright hair, bright eyes... yea.
But thanks

 

[Bluesand1313]

 
Updated my profile picture on Facebook xD
I love my puppy and she loves me right back~
Though my mom was a little grossed out lol.
Sorry for the largeness of the photo.

 

[attibones]

That's very sweet! How old are you, by the way?

 

[Bluesand1313]

Thanks :3
I'm 15, 16 in three months! Lol.

 

[attibones]

Okay, I see. That's a good age for a dog. When I was your age, I was never at home, but neither was my golden, Sunny. She and I were always at the park or out getting ice cream.

 

[Bluesand1313]

I agree, it is a good age for a dog ^^
I don't think I'll ever be home, either. After she gets her shots, it'll be out to the park for three hours, or doing agility, or going to petsmart or something. Or learning to dance, or teaching tricks...

 

[Bluesand1313]

Went to the dog park today to check things out. There were THREE goldens there! This one lady, we were talking and walking with her and her golden, Scooby. Scooby came to say hi to me and jumped up, I was expecting it though because right as she said 'Don't jump, Scooby!' he jumped. xD I got all wet though, cause his paws were all wet. He then leaned against me, and I almost fell over, lol. Anyways, the lady gave us good advice on stuff, like what dog parks were good, where to take Piper swimming, etc. And I learned the other goldens names; the other golden was called Sherlock, and he really liked water. This other dog stole Sherlock's ball and they were trying to get him to get it back but he just let the other dog have it xD​

Then there was Maggie. I didn't get to meet Maggie, cause she was just running around the whole time, but I learned her name cause her owner was like 'MAGGIE!' and she came running so, yup! c: That was fun. More fun then the blood test I had to get before that >.>​

 

[Mamashack]

Sounds like Piper is going to have some ready-made friends!
We've found something similar near here - organised by our vet's receptionist. It's to help dogs to socialise with other dogs and people. And boy does Ginger need it - she barks at anything and everything!

 

[RCA]

@RCA: I'm planning on sleeping with her in my bed. I know, it's discouraged, but I'll make sure that she doesn't get jealous if anybody comes over.
Last visit I brought a stuffed animal that will get the scent of her brothers and sisters on it, as well as it has the scent of my other animals on it so they can sniff it. We will be bringing that back with us when we take her, so that'll be her reminder of her mother and siblings.
 
I came to it online, I was searching, searching, coming up with bad results, and then somebody said; "How about Piper" and it just kinda stuck with me and my mother.
 
I used to have it on my profile... I might have deleted in by accident. I live in British Columbia, Canada.
 
 
@Mamashack: Thanks you!
Thanks for the tip, and I will!

You're puppy sounds cute too. 

Re: Sleeping in your bed, I would not advise this as as well as what you have stated it can cause separation anxiety whereby the pup destroys things when left alone.  She needs to learn to spend time alone early on or you could find you are in trouble.  Separation anxiety is very sad and can be difficult to manage depending on the severity.  So personally, I would not have her with you in bed, as then she will learn to spend time alone i.e. sleeping.  It will also make her more manageable to take to places, as if she only knows to sleep with you this becomes an issue for you when visiting friends or hotels who do not want the dog in the room.  As you will hopefully have her for 15 years+ you will not know at this stage where you may be in the future and require her to be adaptable.

Excellent idea re: the stuffed toy this should work well at soothing her.
 
Funnily I am thinking of Piper for my latest boy, it keeps coming to mind for some reason! 
 
When I bred my pups I kept two, which you can see here.  What I did though, is walk all my dogs plus one of the pups, and leave one at home, then walk that on its own.  The next day it would be the opposite pup that went with the other dogs, and one left at home for a walk on its own.  This taught them that they would not always have other dogs and me around, plus I was able to concentrate on their individual training.
 
You did not delete your location, check this out.
 

I've got the Episode special of that Cesar Milan book, and I've watched it twice now, and it's still saved to our PVR.

There are a few things that I don't agree with (ex: the taps to the side, forcing the dog to lie down) but some of his things work wonders, like his putting a foot or stick out in front of a dog while walking to keep them from going in front of you. I've done it with the worst of pullers (I used to be a dog walker) and after a while, they all caught on and got it, both big and small dogs!
 
I'm going to train her myself. I really don't want to sound uh, what's the word? Obnoxious? But, I'm pretty smart when it comes to animals, and I always do my research (though anything helps!). So I've got all that ready to go

 
Yes, we have a vet, and for food, we are getting natural something. I want to get her Wilderness or Blue, but my moms says that while she's paying for it, it has to be the cheapest natural stuff out there. I think it's called Natural Selection? Idk, I can't remember

People I would take advice from re: training are Ian Dunbar, John Rogerson (his books maybe out of print now), John Fisher (he trained a GSD from the Police force with positive motivational training and wrote a book on it, sadly he died early from Cancer), Karen Pryor (a Dolphin Trainer originally, suggest you read "Don't Shoot the Dog"), Terry Ryan, Julie Bedford, Gwen Bailey, there are others but they are good for starters 

 
Ian Dunbar decided as he was aging to share his knowledge with the world for the benefit of dogs today.  This was to counteract the methods coming in that were "dominating" the dog and focusing on fear based approaches.  I personally prefer training to be a partnership with the dog with mutual respect, you can achieve a lot with a dog this way.  After all think of how they train Dolphins and Whales, there is no chain or stick, it is all positive reinforcement.  A good guy in this field is Bob Bailey, who has just been awarded an honorary PhD, sadly he has not written a book, but there will be articles by him on the internet I am sure.  He trained spy animals for the US Navy in the 1960's and is very knowledgeable in the field of positive reinforcement.
 
Here is the link to Ian Dunbar's knowledge.
 
Here is an example of training in the ways mentioned above, see how happy the dog is.  Sadly he has since passed, a huge loss for his owner.  I can however see you achieving this with Piper.  Another trainer to look out for is Tina Humphrey, who I first met doing a routine with her lovely dog Pepper.  She even taught Pepper to skip during the routine and the partnership between them bought the hall to tears.  At the time she was beaten into second place by a more well known trainer, and talked of giving up, yet I reassured her that the routine everyone would remember was her's and Pepper's.  As you will see the rest is history as she has gone on to achieve amazing things, I will leave you to discover the rest.  The reason I mention her to you is that she knew nothing and trained her dogs herself after reading the right books 

 

@Mamashack: When I read yours, I started crying! Your post made me realize that I can now count down the days on my fingers, and I guess I got really happy.. xD
I live in Canada, so I guess it's close to USA.. but I'm not American. I'm Canadian

And I'm usually up until 1-2 in the morning, cause I'm tired in the morning and a night owl at night, so I'm not tired unless I watch tv.
 
@attibones: A middle name? Never thought of that for any of my pets. Maybe if she gets a nickname... Sparkles, my cat, we call her Stinky Butt because once she butt-scootched across the carpet. My mom was freaking out but I was laughing really hard xD  So we call her Sparkles Stinky Butt.
I was going to say Perfect-Timing Pup (because she was born and will be ready to go home at exactly the time we need, hence Perfect-Timing Pup.) but that's too long for a nickname.
 
As I said for Mamashack, I'm from Canada. I've seen a couple of me look-alikes, even my best friend and I can pass for sisters, we look exactly alike. :3

Why not PTP for Perfect Timing Pup?  I knew someone who once had a cat called JT = Just Cat
 
May have missed it, what date does Piper actually come home?

 

[Mamashack]

I'll follow up some of those links too RCA - I think Blue said it's 15th when she gets Piper.

 

[attibones]

Be sure that when you do bring her home, you don't take her to all your friends' houses, or to any parks or anything. Just take her home and slowly introduce her to your home. Start with the areas she'll be in the most, such as the living room or your room, and then gradually show her everywhere else. After a couple of days, then would be a good time to have other people come over so she can meet people, but she is still home so she can continue to get used to the place. Does that make sense?

In regards to having her in the bed with you, I don't think it is much of a problem when she is older. I don't let my puppy in my bed unless I give her express permission, and only then for a few minutes. My older boy sleeps in the bed with me, though. If you just let Piper in the bed whenever she wants, then you are at risk for losing any control over any boundaries, which is why I suggest you only let her up with permission and only for a few minutes at a time. And then, when she's older, she can begin sleeping with you. As pack animals, dogs really do benefit from sleeping close enough to their pack members that they can touch.

 

[Mamashack]

I don't even allow my dogs in the bedroom let alone my bed! That's my space and they've got theirs and never the twain shall meet! lol

 

[Bluesand1313]

Eep, so many replies! Or maybe it was just the super long post xD
 
@RCA: Haha, Piper is a good name, isn't it? By the way, beautiful Betta!
 
Thanks for the readings on training. She's going to be learning all sorts of things like "Bang, Bang" (play dead), Roll on her back, "Dance", etc. She seems smart enough, we'll get there eventually!
 
Everybody keeps calling her Pied Piper or Peter Piper or Sandpiper. 

It's just Piper, guys. My family seems obsessed with calling her Piper Something or Something Piper. We even encouraged my Aunt and Uncle to get a puppy, they're thinking of getting a Labrador and naming it Sandy so we have Sandy and Piper, Sandpiper. I think Aurora is a better name that they chose than Sandy.
 
@Yea, makes sense. My mom wants to have 'open house' the day after where the family can come and see her, and my aunt and I were talking about it and I agree with her, it's not the best idea, I'd rather have her get accustomed. She also wants to go around and show everybody her when we get back. Our neighbor, let her play with her bosses dog at their house, a family friend, another family friend... I just want to go home and try introducing her to everything. Spending some time alone with my new puppy, you know?
 
As for the bed, I'll try. It'll be really hard though hearing her whining and stuff because she has to sleep alone. She'll be in my room, so I guess that means no sleep. Since we don't have a crate and we're not letting her sleep in the kitchen... Oh, I don't know. She might have an accident in my room or something if she's on the floor. We have to keep her in my room because the kitchen is too cold at night, and the cat'll attack her (I'm being serious) if she's not closed off somewhere.
 
@Mamashack: That's like my mom, when we had our other dog (well, it was my step dads, I don't know if I said this already on here or another forum, but he was dog aggressive and human aggressive so he wasn't much fun.) He would snap at my mom if she tried to go to sleep so she had to kick him out, I won't go into details though because that's part of the reason they broke up.
 
Piper'll be like my best friend, my sister, and (maybe not so much in a real emergency), but my protector as well. (At least I'll feel safer at night. I'm always on guard these days.) My cat sucks at giving protection, she'll growl if there's somebody she doesn't like outside our house and she'll stand on my bed to like, guard me, but other than that, she'll just run and hide under the chair or something. 

 Great cat I've got there.

 

[Mamashack]

It is hard those first nights when she'll be missing her littermates for snuggling into. I got a furry monkey with a wheat bag insert that I heated up at night to simulate another puppy. Someone also advised me to have a ticking clock close by too tho by the time I got the advice she was settled anyway, but might be worth a try. She's currently sleeping in Freddy's travel cage in the living room til I know how big she's going to get. If you can possibly get a crate it's definitely good for helping with toilet training and gives her a safe place to be when you can't be there.