A few questions

[katchambers]

Question 1: Our vet and puppy trainer both told us that we can only take Cali out for 40mins a day while she is this young (13 weeks) but what we failed to ask is how often and how much can we increase it, for example 5 mins per week, or another 20 mins in 6 months time? I have no idea and we don't want her little bones or feet to get hurt by taking her too far, but we really want to take her out with us places, but 40 mins is not long enough to do that yet. Any ideas anyone?

 

Question 2: Cali isn't very loving, is that a puppy or BC thing? Will it improve in time? I am a very loving person and I need her to be (at least one day). When I give her hugs, cuddles or stroke her she doesn't like it and squirms to get away unless I have just come home or she is tired. Any thoughts or experiences on that?

 

Question 3: She gets extremely over excited when she meets a stranger, like super hyperactive, and she totally runs off towards them and will not return to me, no matter how much I call her, is bad enough, but the worst thing is she jumps up too much which scares some people but especially children. We are socialising her more and more with other people, dogs and puppies and so we want people to like her and not be afraid or get muddy paws on their clothing, will she calm the jumping and overexcitement with more exposure to people or do we need to teach her to stop being excited and stop jumping up? If so how do we teach both of those?

 

Question 4: What is the best way of teaching her to walk beside me when she is off or on the lead when we go for walks?

 

Thanks alot!!

 

Kat x

[juliepoudrier]

For Question 2: When you get a puppy, there's no predicting whether they'll have a cuddly personality or not. Some dogs are, some dogs aren't. One thing is for sure: you can't force a dog who's not inclined toward cuddliness to become cuddly, at least in my experience. That said, they do go through changes as they mature, and even though she's not terribly affectionate now doesn't mean she won't be later. Just don't be disappointed if she's not. The only way to guarantee a cuddly personality is to adopt a dog with a known temperament. You just never know with a pup. I do hope that you won't hold it against her if she turns out to be the non-cuddly type. You might be able to fulfill that need in some other way.

 

Oh, as for question 1, I'd ask the vet. He gave you the rule of thumb and ought to be able to tell you how and how quickly to increase the distances/times. He has seen Cali and knows your local climate/terrain and so would be the best person to advise you there.

 

If she doesn't have a good recall (question 3), then she needs to be on leash so she can't just run off toward other people or things. That could be dangerous behavior (imagine if the thing that excited her was a car). It's up to you to keep her safe and that means keeping her leashed at this point. Do you have a correction word for her (something like "No!" or "Ahht!"). If so, when she starts to jump up you can use the correction word to get her attention and then redirect her to an alternate behavior (like sit) if you wish. I'm sure others here will describe the process in greater detail for you. And if she's on leash then you'll have a much greater ability to control the jumping up anyway. Just remember that any behavior you allow her to repeat will become ingrained and harder to change the longer she's allowed to do it. You need to teach her to stop jumping up now. It might not be so bad when she's little, but a muddy-pawed full-grown dog jumping up on people will generally not be appreciated. It's up to you to set the boundaries and teach her right from wrong.

 

J.

[sweet_ceana]

Puppies are either go-go-go or sleeping. Ceana became much more snuggly with age. You want your pup to be excited to see people, but you can teach the dog not to jump by ignoring them when they jump and only giving them attention when they sit. A good recall will take a lot of time and practice... I have learned this the hard way. Our foster is 11 weeks and "here" and "sit" are the first two things she is learning. It is much easier to teach a puppy to come to you before they figure out they don't have to.

 

LOL. I have come to think of puppies like the whole elephant w/ a chain on its leg senario. Baby elephants learn that the little chain is too strong and they cannont break it. When they become older they don't try and break the chain because they learned the couldn't when they were small. (By the way I am not condoning chaining up elephants lol.) Get them in the good habits early and they may never learn the bad ones exist.

[Root Beer]

Question 3: She gets extremely over excited when she meets a stranger, like super hyperactive, and she totally runs off towards them and will not return to me, no matter how much I call her, is bad enough, but the worst thing is she jumps up too much which scares some people but especially children. We are socialising her more and more with other people, dogs and puppies and so we want people to like her and not be afraid or get muddy paws on their clothing, will she calm the jumping and overexcitement with more exposure to people or do we need to teach her to stop being excited and stop jumping up? If so how do we teach both of those?

 

What I would do in this case is to keep her leashed for now. While trying to avoid yanging her around (which can be challenging), I would use the leash to control her access to people. It can be good to stand still and have people approach her instead of you approaching them. If she jumps up, they can back away and then can come forward to pet her when she has four paws on the ground.

 

In the meantime, I would teach her to nose touch to a hand on cue. Eventually you can make that her greeting behavior. I like that, instead of a sit, because the dog still gets to actively "say hello", but it is a very controlled behavior. Once she can touch your hand on cue, you can have friends approach, extend a hand and invite her to "say hello". This can then replace jumping up as a greeting behavior.

[hoku's mum]

For the jumping, try turning your back and ignoring her when ever she jumps on you. When she stops and has all four paws on the ground, or whatever you want as your greeting behavior, (even for a moment) praise and greet. If she jumps up again, repeat. Tell your guests and anyone who will interact with her to please do this. Don't say anything, just ignore. It does not take long for the pup to figure out that jumping up gets them no attention, which is what they want, they think even negative attention is better then none ;-). It also works great at the door. Enlist some friends to help in her training. Have them come to your door and knock. When you answer with your pup, if she jumps, the guests just turn and leave. Repeat untill she greets calmly. You may all feel silly having your guests come in and out 5-10 times, but I bet they will think it is worth the effort now, to have a lifetime of coming to your house and being greeted calmly! This worked great for our pup, and he is such a gentleman about greeting folks now.

 

As for the cuddles factor, Hoku was a squirmy non cuddler as a pup, now he'll come and ask for lovin', hangout for awhile getting scritches and rubs and being sooo sweet. But he has a limit, is not at all a pest, but will only cuddle for so long. Then he's off to something else, even if it's just flopping on the floor near by. So she could get more cuddly as she matures. One of the many puppy mysteries!

[fotobridget]

Puppies are either go-go-go or sleeping. Ceana became much more snuggly with age. You want your pup to be excited to see people, but you can teach the dog not to jump by ignoring them when they jump and only giving them attention when they sit. A good recall will take a lot of time and practice... I have learned this the hard way. Our foster is 11 weeks and "here" and "sit" are the first two things she is learning. It is much easier to teach a puppy to come to you before they figure out they don't have to.

 

LOL. I have come to think of puppies like the whole elephant w/ a chain on its leg senario. Baby elephants learn that the little chain is too strong and they cannont break it. When they become older they don't try and break the chain because they learned the couldn't when they were small. (By the way I am not condoning chaining up elephants lol.) Get them in the good habits early and they may never learn the bad ones exist.

 

 

You're exactly right that a good recall will take a lot of time and practice...Liberty just turned 18mths (yesterday) and it's only in the last two weeks that she has 'seemed' to master the come/recall idea.

 

Also, Libby has become more cuddly with age--especially once she'd gone through the whole 'puberty' thing.

 

We made sure to socialize her with as many people/pets/places as possible, so that she would be as calm around every different situation as possible. It took me some time to convince her 'daddy' that this was necessary--his labrenard had never been fully socialized, until I came along--but now we can 'almost' completely trust Liberty in any situation.

 

But as to the OP--at thirteen weeks I never would have trusted miss Liberty off lead. In fact, I had her in a fenced in backyard at around that age, and the minute my back was turned she was gone--climbed over the fence. It was the scariest five minutes of my life--until I found her under my car. And until this past week--she hadn't been outside off-leash since.

 

Better to be safe than sorry!