Be careful what your puppy eats!

As your puppy becomes reliably potty trained and has greater freedom to roam the house and yard, it becomes increasingly important that you keep your puppies environment puppy proof.  This is especially difficult when you have a family with kids.   At least in our house, we have suffered the loss of shoes and books that were left on the floor and were chewed by the puppy. My vacuum cleaner is currently in the repair shop because someone (who shall go nameless!) left the cord unraveled, and our 9 mth puppy chewed the cord.  Thank goodness, the vacuum was not plugged in! 

Training a Biting Puppy to stop Biting

A young puppy has to learn that biting is not acceptable.

Next to potty training the issue that causes the greatest concern for new puppy owners is puppy biting.   If your puppy is growling and biting at 3 months of age...DO NOT freak out.  This is normal behavior for all puppies.  It does not mean you have a dominant or aggressive puppy.    The puppy is playing and teething at this early age.  But you do need to teach your puppy that you are the leader and that biting is acceptable on chew toys only.  Patience is required.    Puppy biting does require a level of maturity to resolve itself in your puppy.

1) Begin establishing yourself as a leader to your puppy as soon as you bring your puppy home.  Do this by beginning training your puppy.  Teach your puppy simple commands and reward with treats.

Handy Dog Training Chart to Print! Free!

Follow this link to find a handy chart to help you remember to train your puppy.

This AKC Training Chart has lots of great ideas!   Put the chart on your fridge and you won't run out of ideas for new commands to teach. (at least not this year!)  By working on these command ...a few at a time,.... and a few minutes throughout the day....your dog will have a great vocabulary, before you know it!

Charlie is named Jackson

So long to the last puppy to go to his forever home.   Charlie (now Jackson) went home with his family on Monday.   It was very fun to see the excitement and joy of the family who came to get him.

Jackson is now living in Manhattan, NY, not too far from Sammy.   Who knows, they may be able to have a puppy play date.    But we do know that Jackson is going to be given tons of love and kisses!   We miss you Jackson....but we know you are very happy, so we are happy too!

Cheetos is named Sammy

Cheetos went home about a week ago today.  I am so late putting up this post!   I was hoping to have a few photos to share.  But the camera was full of condensation as it was super humid that afternoon.  Sorry about that.   If I can find some more photos to share, I will add them later.

Sammy was on his way to his Grandmas house, when he left here with his Mom.  He was going to meet up with cousin/ sister Maya, from last years litter.   Then he was going to his new home in Manhattan, NY.   We know he will be very happy with his new Mom.  Best wishes to you both!

Charlie....waiting for his family!

Dreaming of my family who will come to take me home!

The last puppy to go home is Charlie!   He is waiting for his family, who is still on vacation...and we are giving him lots of love as he waits.   We know his family is very excited to bring him home.  So these pictures are for you!

Dante is named Louie!

What a sweet puppy Louie (Dante) is!  Love him!

Mary,

Both Remy and Louie are adjusting well!   Also Louie has been awesome at potty training!  No accidents and goes on a dime in the yard.  Thank you so much for such awesome pets!!  You're the best!

Bob and Kit

Biscuit is named Liam

Here is our first update from Liam's new Mom after he arrived at his new home....


It was wonderful to see you and Vince again today!   And what a treat to meet Dante and his parents!   Our puppy is officially named Liam :)  We played outside in the dog park at Richmond airport for an hour after you left.  He would follow me and come to me, if I walked too far away.  I gave him some water (I brought an empty tupperware dish and a water bottle:)  and a half handful of kibble because he had lost his breakfast earlier.  He also peed once in the dog park.  Everyone we met fell in love with him and couldn't believe how cute and well behaved he was   Once in teh airport, I did have to check the UGODOG, because I had my purse, the

Blaze is named Pukah

Hi Mary,

I thought I would give you a little update on Pukah now that he's settling in. He was a little stressed out on the trip home and didn't sleep so we tried to keep things low key for the day. The big excitement was meeting the teenage cats; the are still trying to decide what to do with him. The first night he fussed in his crate quite a bit but he's starting to figure out the schedule (we're keeping a pretty strict one, it's even printed out and taped above his pen) and the past two nights he slept through to 6:30 which is still too early for mom but it's hard to complain.

We've discovered that the key to a stress-free puppy who is spending the majority of his day crated is to run him ragged at his 10:00 and 5:00 outings. He's having a good time playing chase and fetch out in the yard and once he's good and worn out he is now settling right in to the crate for a nap. The only problem is that I need one too!

I'll keep you posted on his progress, we'll be starting puppy class in two weeks so that should be fun.

Julie

Thank you Julie, for your lovely letter!   I sure enjoyed hearing all your news!   ---Mary

Puppies going home!

Over the last several days I have been sending puppies to their forever home.  Biscuit, Dante, Lucky and Blaze have all gone to their homes.   As of today I have two puppies, Cheetos and Charlie, still here.   I took photos of our puppies who were leaving with their people....but I am having some trouble transferring those photos to this computer.   I will get them up at some point, though.

In the mean time, please enjoy the updates and photos that our new families have sent to me!