Tips of raising a puppy

[FlyMyKitty]

Does anyone have any tips on raising a dog? Have a moodle. He is beautiful, very white. Loves water, loves the cold, sits in front of the aircon and chews on ice cubes. Has heaps of toys and gets a LOT of attention. Take him for a long walk everyday. He is now down to two meals a day as requested by vet. He is very smart! Has learnt a lot of tricks including sit, stay, dance, roll over, and even play dead...but he is not toileting well. He goes where ever and whenever he likes. Each time he does this, we put him on the grass outside...sometimes he goes on the grass (yay!) other times he goes inside (boo) or on the pavement...we are running out of options...he is so smart, why isn't he getting this?

[Sharacska]

Hi,
it sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of raising him. As for the tolieting, about 10 mins after he finishes eating (or however long it takes him to go after a meal - suss it out but do it a bit before-hand and keep putting him back there every so often cos I'm sure he'll run off), put him on the area where you want him to go. What material did he have when in the pet shop? If that's where you got him from. Reason being for example if it was newspaper, it can help to put some newspaper (not heaps) on the area and gradually take it away as he gets used to the idea.

Also, make sure when you tell him off you always do the same thing, e.g. say NO! in a low growl type voice (this shows him you are the boss dog). So make sure you do this when he goes in the wrong spot.

Good luck with your smart puppy (how old is he?)

[FlyMyKitty]

Thank you so much for the advice! I will definitely try the newspaper idea. He did come from a pet shop where they were using shredded paper. He is slowly getting there. He has been going inside less and less. It seems that when he does have an 'accident' it is out of laziness...? Or because he doesn't like letting us out of his sight!

He is almost 6 months old and now...we are asking ourselves if we want to get him fixed. I don't know the ups and downs of fixing a boy dog. We are worried as some people have told us that it could change his personality?

[Sharacska]

You're welcome! Glad to hear the toliet training is going better. Um it is possible that these accidents are because he doesn't like to let you out of sight!

I'm not sure about it changing their personality so much. He's likely to put on weight and he'll be more prone to some kind of cancer I think, I can't remember which one though. We had a german shephard and he was desexed and his personality was still the same (just perhaps more placid). Personally, I wouldn't get it done until it seems to be the only choice. Is there any reason in particular as to why you're considering it? Because if he gets hard to handle, aggressive etc then that's when you may want to consider it.

[FlyMyKitty]

There are a few reasons we are thinking of getting him desexed. We don't want an incident with another dog. We don't let him out the yard without us watching him but i'm sure accidents happen!! The vet wanted us to do it but didn't explain anything. At first, we thought it might be nice if he were a little more 'placid' but have recently learnt that his biting was just a teething issue. He has lost his puppy teeth and has his adult teeth, he doesn't bite hard any more, just play bites. So i don't know what to do!! He is certainly becoming a little man. I found an old pink stuffed rabbit for him to play with...well...play turned to practice! He's was humping the thing all afternoon!

I wasn't aware of a weight issue after desexing. I think we will wait until it is our only choice, like you said. Thank you again for the help :)

[FlyMyKitty]

He's just been snipped! He is happy and healthy and doesn't seem to notice. His wound is healing nicely, barely visible. Took him in to the vet for a slight problem with his ear and vet asked if we wanted to have him stay over night (had to anyway) and be fixed next day. Was a bit of a shock but turned out for the best. He is still his cheeky self. He is no longer toileting in the house!! He has some naughty moments when he has too much energy to burn but otherwise he is a very smart and well behaved loving little dog :) and i am a happy owner