Jason closes his journal... Thanks!! I love you!!

[lorihadams]

We kept our labs in crates for 6 months-2 yrs before we let them go unsupervised in the house for any length of time. Maggie (our youngest) has been our best, by far! She was able to go out of the crate at 6 months and we never had any problems with her chewing. Our other two, now......not so much.

I think 6 weeks is too early too but it will help having other animals around. If she chews on stuff she is not supposed to grab her by the nape of the neck and hold her down firmly and tell her NO. Mama dogs do that with their babies and it worked wonders with our dogs, except Charlie and nothing worked with him.

Good luck! Glad peanut is doing better!

 

[TanksHill]

So Lori, do yo think this method of holding their head down would work on an older dog. Geesh I wish you would have taught me this earlier in the year. My rottie is almost 1 and he is still eating everything.

You can't leave him alone at all.

hummm I wonder where he is now????

gina

 

[Wolf-Kim]

So Lori, do yo think this method of holding their head down would work on an older dog. Geesh I wish you would have taught me this earlier in the year. My rottie is almost 1 and he is still eating everything.

You can't leave him alone at all.

hummm I wonder where he is now????

gina

Just be careful when grabbing the scruff on an older/larger dog. It is a very dominating move and may elicit a violent reaction. Especially if the dog is not used to people doing it.

A safer way of using this method is using the collar versus grabbing the scruff. Grabbing mimicks biting, some dogs will cower, but others will react more aggressively.

Don't want to scare anyone, most dogs submit with the use of these dominant gestures, but some dogs can and will react as though it was a direct threat to 'their' dominant status and feel they need to reprimand you. Safety first!

Glad to hear everyone is okay. Your new pup is such a cutey pie. While 6 weeks is early; I'm sure she'll be fine, especially with an experienced dog owner and other animals.

 

[lorihadams]

Yeah, I wouldn't do it on an older dog. My husband did it one time to Tonka when he was a puppy and we caught him chewing the leg on the coffee table. He wasn't overly aggressive about it but he kind of held him down by the scruff of the neck and said NO really loudly. Did the same thing when Maggie was a pup and never had any problems out of her either. I wouldn't try it with an older dog. When they are puppies they still remember how mama disciplined them so you become that mother figure and the dominant or alpha in the pack.

We also crate trained and always gave them plenty of appropriate things to chew. With our other dog Charlie we had to use bitter apple spray, he would curl his lips up if he even saw the bottle! It was really funny....

So, MP, you're killing me? Did you all like your gift?

 

[modern_pioneer]

So, MP, you're killing me? Did you all like your gift?

Lori, yes I liked it very much, super thanks!! Its very beautiful and is on DS tree house bed in use already. It gets cold back where the kids rooms are, so the quilt was a really useful item to make and give.

Maybe next year I will make and send out some of my goods that I make here in my copper shop.

Wow.... There is a lot of info about how to or not how to crate train puppys. So much that I was almost confused on whether to keep crate training up or not. I decided to keep up the crate training, but only during the night, work, and when we are away. Having a puppy is much like having a baby in the house all over again.

Sarah, being separated from her mother at four weeks was due to the sharpness on the puppys teeth. Which if you asked me I can understand. However, I still think pulling it away from its litter mates at 6 weeks was not correct. I have been playing Alpha male as well as mom at times.

If I were to get a puppy again, it wouldn't be in the winter season as it is now. Six inches of snow have kept us around the house, which Sarah hasn't had time to burn off enough energy during the day. Peanut, my older dog, well she just thinks the puppy is full of herself and needs to relax and calm down. I did expect before I got the puppy that Peanut would just take to the puppy as a mother. I now know that she takes to the puppy like a grandparent. I hope they will work on building a relationship soon. I think they will as Peanut isn't snappy or biting at Sarah, rather a few low level growls and snarls for warning. I will keep a close eye on this as I don't want Sarah to learn to snarl at dogs when she greets them for the first time.

I have Sarah set up for her first class already. This is a social puppy class, so that she can learn to be around other dogs as well as strange people.

My holiday was very nice, and I hope yours was too.

To be honest, it was nice to get a few days off after the big rush before xmas. With all that going on, new puppy, shopping (DW was ill for almost 3 weeks) she did some on-line ordering and I did the rest of the foot work, cooking several meals a day for weeks on in, taking care of work issues and so on..... It just seemed so much was on my plate at once. Mom was born on Dec 25th as well as Scotty was killed on 21 Dec 1989, so the ill feelings of missing them both were around from time to time.

But, like all things, those feelings too passed and I remand focused on the joy of season and time with my family.

2009 seemed to pass like a blur, and I wonder where the year went. I did get a lot done this year, but summer just never came around for us here. It was cool and or raining all summer, plus I wasn't able to harvest my maters or taters due to the blight this year.

I look forward to 2010 as to move forward with my plans of being at my goal of living SS as I choose to live. Where entering year four in a few more months in my 5 year plan. I am worried that some of my fruit trees might not make it, if not, I will replant new ones this year.

I will be able to report on my mushroom garden as well. I followed the directs to the T and so I should be harvesting more Morel mushrooms this year. Past years I have walked miles and the amount of time it takes for such a reward (small).

I almost shot a doe today while in my deer stand. I noticed she had a greenish/yellow gash on her side, if hadn't been on the side where I could see it, I would have harvested her. Being a good chance she has a blood infection the meat would have been wasted and not eaten.

Peanut seems to be herself again, and I have noticed she hasn't gone back up to the pond since she fell in. I think she has good sense and now has learned her lesson.

Mark wants to go hunting together again. Dale and Jody has invited us over for the coming of the new year, as with all the years past since we bought this place. Most folks that show up are just the local folks here and around the hollow. For some its the only time we see each other and talk. Not out of rudeness mind you, just working all the time. But we always wave and nod hello gestures at each other.

I plan to talk about year four in the next coming weeks, I have two big projects to address this summer. But for now I have to finish coppering my bathroom, and complete the trim work. I few good weekends should wrap that up, and I am looking to replace some windows.

On a green note, you would not believe the difference the new storm doors are making. My electric bill is also down below 100.00 last month. The wood heat has helped as well as the new storm doors.

 

[lorihadams]

I'm so glad you liked it! I knew it would be warm....I nearly roasted while I was quilting it! Chad wants me to make one for him in those colors too....he really liked it.

Sarah must be a little ball of energy! We had 2 litters of puppies with our dogs in the wintertime and it was crazy! The first litter we had 9 labs and the second litter was 7. It was insane! Talk about energy......whew, makes me tired just thinking about it

I would definitely keep up the crate training for a while. Our dogs have even gone in the crate on their own after a while when we were in the house just to get some alone time or to take a nap. If it works correctly they will see the crate as "their" space that is a safe and comfortable place to be. Now they are older and the couch is "their" space.........

 

[modern_pioneer]

Happy New Year may this year be one that is good and bring you closer to your goals.

I am sad to say that I have taken Sarah back to her breeders as per their request because she wasn't getting on well here. Sarah saw me as Alpha, herself next and the rest of the family below her. I think taking her away from her mother at 4 weeks has hurt her during what should have been her growing weeks (social). I could have gotten another dog from the same breeder, but again dealing with the same issues. I decided that I will seek out a different breeder for my hunting dog.

It was very hard for me personally as I spent the most amount of time with her, we became friends and she enjoyed playing and working together. In the middle of last week she was able to sit with direction and no food treat. She was working on potty training and doing #2 outside but still trying to figure out about #1...LOL... The fact she would display ownership qualities by peeing on peanuts bed said lots about her attitude towards peanut. I put a bell by the door and she would go to it, and only a few times did she ring it to go potty, but I think she was getting it.

I am sure in time the two dogs would have sorted their differences, but a couple things happened that I should have done differently.

1. Ask more questions of my breeder.
2. Study the dogs and look for calmness.
3. Introduce the dogs some place else outside of the home.

As with any good breeder, ours has found a home for her already. I don't think my breeders nor myself were/are educated to where we needed to be. I have decided to purchase Ceaser Millian series of dog whisper and other CDs to better educate myself on how to raise a puppy as well as choosing one.

I did fight to keep Sarah, but Danielle nor the kids could redirect her and she was going to do what she wanted. When I redirected her, she followed my instructions fine.

The snow is piling up now, the deer are setting down near my pond, and I have a few more days to get out in the woods and do some hunting.

I will be finishing up my how to smoke video in the next few weeks providing that nothing crazy happens.

 

[delia_peterson]

Sorry about Sarah.

 

[big brown horse]

Sorry MP

Are you going to stick with the German short hair breed?

 

[FarmerDenise]

Sorry about Sarah. I agree 4 weeks is way too early to seperate a pup from it's mother.
The Humane Society where I volunteer wouldn't have adopted a dog that young out, but would have fostered her out along with a sibling. She would also be bottle fed until about 6 to 8 weeks of age. They foster very young puppies and kittens two or three together in order for them to socialize. They also keep the babies with the mommas, if at all possible.
I'm sure your next pup will be the right one, now that you know more about it all.