I'm looking for a dog

[Benny]

Getting the dog house broken will be the MOST important issue in the whole deal.

I have no idea what this means...Please elaborate.

 

[Que]

I have no idea what this means...Please elaborate.

If the dog lays turds on my wife's floor, she will have a fit and things may go down hill from there. Isn't house broken a common dog term?

 

[Benny]

If the dog lays turds on my wife's floor, she will have a fit and things may go down hill from there. Isn't house broken a common dog term?

Wow, I read that differently for some reason...That wasn't a brain fart on my part, that was a brain .

Just crate train and if the dog isn't retarded(like I just was), he/she will be potty trained in no time. I've only trained two dogs in my lifetime(one when I was 15ish and I got my last one at 6 weeks about a year and a half ago) and both of them were fully broken in less than 2 months, maybe less. No crate needed after that...They only went in their crate while everyone was gone, just until they were broke of their chewing phase.

 

[hornadylnl]

 

[lovemachine]

We got our dog 3 months after we got married 3 years ago. My wife came from an anti-dog in the house family.

At first, she was FURIOUS with my suggestion on getting an indoor dog. "HELL NO!"
I tried talking her into it. We even had a fight once. I told her to grow up.

After awhile,'she began to soften. Was even making suggestions. We came to am agreement. As much training as possible. And no dogs on the furniture. "OK, deal"

We got our lil puppy, started taking him to obedience training in Avon, at Specks.
He's well trained now. AND has his own couch. But he still lays on our couch, WITH my wife. They even take naps together.

My mother in law has fits about it when she comes over. Oh well.

Que, don't give in. You'll be able to get your dog. Just start looking into classes now, so you can take one immediately. They really help. And house training is VERY easy. I never crate trained, I always liked my Rotty having roam of the living, dining room and kitchen when I'm asleep and gone.

 

[HighStrung]

We got our dog 3 months after we got married 3 years ago. My wife came from an anti-dog in the house family.

At first, she was FURIOUS with my suggestion on getting an indoor dog. "HELL NO!"
I tried talking her into it. We even had a fight once. I told her to grow up.

After awhile,'she began to soften. Was even making suggestions. We came to am agreement. As much training as possible. And no dogs on the furniture. "OK, deal"

We got our lil puppy, started taking him to obedience training in Avon, at Specks.
He's well trained now. AND has his own couch. But he still lays on our couch, WITH my wife. They even take naps together.

My mother in law has fits about it when she comes over. Oh well.

Que, don't give in. You'll be able to get your dog. Just start looking into classes now, so you can take one immediately. They really help. And house training is VERY easy. I never crate trained, I always liked my Rotty having roam of the living, dining room and kitchen when I'm asleep and gone.

Very same situation with us, even the M-I-L part. Now the wife is a bigger pushover for the dog than I am. We didn't crate train either, but we were very slow to expand our pups available area. We started with one room when we were away, as she continued to do good with her kingdom we would give her another room to rule. It wasn't long before she had the whole downstairs, then the whole house. When we gave her too much freedom too quickly, she would get a little mischevious which would be followed by a restriction of roaming ability. That was a few years ago and she's been an amazing dog since. Just like kids, dogs need boundaries too.

 

[iChokePeople]

I won't jump into the breed recommendations thing as I don't know you well enough to do that (well... other than assuming from your choices in hats that something like a Bichon or a Pekingese might be perfect for you), but on your idea about the benefits of a dog -- I've seen good science on the benefits of animals for all kinds of groups of people, including active kids. A good pet WILL calm you, soothe you, etc. There's even good science out there on health (both physical and mental) benefits of pets.

 

[jeremy]

Getting the dog house broken will be the MOST important issue in the whole deal.

Que,
In my opinion the hardest part of House Breaking (training) is learning your dogs tells for when he wants/needs to be taken out.

One of my Dogs has the Super Bladder Option, he can literally go 24 plus hours without an issue depending on the weather he is a Lab/Pit Mix. The other 2 are GSDs one is a 6 year old ***** and will go lay next to the back door until you let her out, the other is an 8 month old pup and just stares at you until you wake up, if it is an EMERGENCY he may lick you to wake you up....

 

[lovemachine]

Que,
In my opinion the hardest part of House Breaking (training) is learning your dogs tells for when he wants/needs to be taken out.

One of my Dogs has the Super Bladder Option, he can literally go 24 plus hours without an issue depending on the weather he is a Lab/Pit Mix. The other 2 are GSDs one is a 6 year old ***** and will go lay next to the back door until you let her out, the other is an 8 month old pup and just stares at you until you wake up, if it is an EMERGENCY he may lick you to wake you up....

That's funny. Staring at you til you wake up.

Sometimes mine will get right in your face if you're watching tv and just growl and bark. Annoying as hell, but you get the message quick.

 

[jeremy]

That's funny. Staring at you til you wake up.

Sometimes mine will get right in your face if you're watching tv and just growl and bark. Annoying as hell, but you get the message quick.

Depends, it is pretty funny now. I am used to it.

If you are not fast enough waking up he will climb on the bed and stare down at you and move closer until he is almost touching you and just breath real heavily on your face.

Ever awoken to a 100 pound GSD staring at you mere inches from your face?!
I think I yelled out twice so far...

 

[snowman46919]

My female just stands up on her back legs and spins in circles in front of the door like,"Dad I need to go outside LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME! ME! ME!" The male just sits and looks at me like come on now I never sit still what do you think I want.

 

[lovemachine]

Depends, it is pretty funny now. I am used to it.

If you are not fast enough waking up he will climb on the bed and stare down at you and move closer until he is almost touching you and just breath real heavily on your face.

Ever awoken to a 100 pound GSD staring at you mere inches from your face?!
I think I yelled out twice so far...

That's funny!

It doesnt matter if he has to go out or not. But my wife can't sit or lay down on the couch by herself. Once she gets comfortable, Barney, my Rott, will leap onto the couch and sit right on top of her. And once he gets situated, he literally falls over sideways, on purpose, and lays on top of her. Shes unable to move, and sometimes I have to get him off her. Other times, he'll just sit there and just look around.

Did I mention he weighs 130 pounds? That's a heavy turd to be laying on top of you!

 

[snowman46919]

That's funny!

It doesnt matter if he has to go out or not. But my wife can't sit or lay down on the couch by herself. Once she gets comfortable, Barney, my Rott, will leap onto the couch and sit right on top of her. And once he gets situated, he literally falls over sideways, on purpose, and lays on top of her. Shes unable to move, and sometimes I have to get him off her. Other times, he'll just sit there and just look around.

Did I mention he weighs 130 pounds? That's a heavy turd to be laying on top of you!

We had a big bone dobe that didn't produce the hormone to stop growing from his pituitary. He also thought he was a lap dog even though only about half of his rib cage or just his head would fit on your lap. Biggest sissy I have ever seen in my life.

 

[ATOMonkey]

We put a bell on the back door knob. Just a normal Christmas type jingle bell on a string. When the dog needs to go out, she rings the bell.

It works really well. When you're training them, the bell automatically rings every time to open the door to let them out.

They put 2 and 2 together really fast after that.

They will abuse the bell though. Our pit would ring it so he could go outside to play and wanted me to come with him.

Also, ALL dogs will take a dump on the floor in a new house. Or even when new people come over to the house. It definitely happens more often than it doesn't. Just make sure you let them out often when they're getting used to the new house.

 

[Kitty]

My big girl (110 - lost weight) is also my sissy. Now the little one (70lbs), is another matter.

I was laughing how everyone's dog had it's own way to get your attention. I used to experience the nose in the face thing every morning. Now my little one just takes your pillow and runs for the door. Quite effective.

 

[ATOMonkey]

We had a cat that would bite your face in the morning when she was hungry.

 

[Steve]

+1 for considering a rescue or pound dog. We did min pin and papillon rescue for years and I could swear those dogs KNEW you had saved them from the Green Mile. Everyone one of them turned out to be excellent dogs. Some required a bit more work and training than others, but they all knew they had been given a 2nd chance and were gratefull.

Rescue or pound --- the best way to go. Both of you win!

 

[goinggreyfast]

We put a bell on the back door knob. Just a normal Christmas type jingle bell on a string. When the dog needs to go out, she rings the bell.

It works really well. When you're training them, the bell automatically rings every time to open the door to let them out.

They put 2 and 2 together really fast after that.

They will abuse the bell though. Our pit would ring it so he could go outside to play and wanted me to come with him.

Also, ALL dogs will take a dump on the floor in a new house. Or even when new people come over to the house. It definitely happens more often than it doesn't. Just make sure you let them out often when they're getting used to the new house.

How Pavlovian of you. Just sayin...

 

[Benny]

Que,
In my opinion the hardest part of House Breaking (training) is learning your dogs tells for when he wants/needs to be taken out.

One of my Dogs has the Super Bladder Option, he can literally go 24 plus hours without an issue depending on the weather he is a Lab/Pit Mix. The other 2 are GSDs one is a 6 year old ***** and will go lay next to the back door until you let her out, the other is an 8 month old pup and just stares at you until you wake up, if it is an EMERGENCY he may lick you to wake you up....

Whining, panting or following me around the house has always gotten on my nerves, so I trained my GSD to bring me his leash when he needs to go out and that worked until he developed the "super bladder" that you mentioned. I just take him out when I think he needs to go, because he hasn't alerted me(except when he has diarrhea) that he needs to go in a long time.

Crate training works like a charm though, so if Que is at all worried about him going in the house, getting him in a crate and on a feeding schedule is a must IMO.

 

[snowman46919]

You know the only problem I have seen in this whole thread is the wife..