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24K views 54 replies 50 participants last post by  Daughters1stp1tbull 
#1 · (Edited)
Ian Dunbar - permission to cross post

UNWANTED DOGS
Ian Dunbar PhD, MRCVS

At eight weeks of age, many puppies already have incipient or existing behavior and temperament problems. Most puppies are severely under-socialized, even though the Critical Period of Socialization is already nearly two thirds over. Few puppies are housetrained or chewtoy-trained and hardly any have been taught to come, sit and lie down. By the time they enter puppy class at 12-18 weeks of age, most puppies have already developed significant behavior and temperament problems that are already beginning to strain the puppy/owner relationship. Pro blems increase and rapidly worsen as the puppy collides with adolescence, whereupon many dogs are surrendered to shelters for rehoming.

The Problems
The developmental course of behavior, temperament and training problems is all too common and usually starts with two simple problems - housesoiling and destructive chewing -two utterly predictable and easily preventable problems.

Puppies leave their original (breeder's) homes at eight weeks of age - when the Critical Period of Socialization is nearly two thirds completed. Certainly, many breeders do a brilliant job socializing, handling and training the young pups. However, some do not. Indeed, far too many eight-week-old puppies are un-socialized, un-housetrained, un-chewtoy-trained and haven't even been taught to sit or lie down. For many of these puppies, their future already looks bleak.

If not immediately trained in their new homes, the puppies will eliminate anywhere and everywhere and chew anything and everything (as they have become accustomed to doing in their previous home). Un-housetrained and destructive puppies are often relegated to the backyard by the time they are four to five months old. The puppies continue to eliminate and chew indiscriminately, and soon learn to learn to dig, bark and escape in their quest for some form of occupational therapy to pass the time of day when left in the yard alone. The lonely puppies become stressed and bored. When occasionally invited indoors, they are overcome with excitement and express their joy by enthusiastically circling, barking and jumping-up and so, they are invited indoors less frequently. When neighbors complain of the excessive barking, the dog, now a six-month-old adolescent, is further confined to the basement or garage. With nothing to do in solitary confinement, the dog destroys the basement. Living in social isolation, the dog begins to de-socialize and is now less inclined to want to greet his owners during their brief and increasingly infrequent visits. The dog becomes wary and harder to catch and may become agitated and snap and lunge if approached. By eight-months of age, the dog is abandoned or surrendered to a shelter to be re-homed.

Rehoming unwanted adult dogs is an extremely expensive, time consuming and labor intensive business. Also, rehoming is not always easy or successful. Many shelter dogs carry significant behavioral baggage from the lack of training in their previous home(s). Whereas most behavior problems may be resolved fairly quickly and easily with appropriate shelter training, dogs with temperament problems, such as anxiety, aggression, and universal fearfulness, often take months, or years, to rehabilitate.

For many unwanted shelter dogs, rehoming is simply not an option.

The Solution
The time to rescue unwanted adult dogs is during puppyhood. All unwanted shelter dogs were once perfectly normal puppies. Friendly and mannerly (socialized and well-trained) puppies stay in their original homes and don't require rehoming.

When choosing a puppy at eight weeks of age: owners must realize that all puppies are different. They may carefully choose one that is well-socialized and well trained, or they might select a "lemon" - a puppy that is already so developmentally retarded that they will be playing catch up for the rest of the dog's life.

At eight weeks of age, all puppies should be: well-socialized, especially to children, men and strangers; eager to approach; easily handled; housetrained and chewtoy-trained; and at the very least trained to come, sit, lie down, stand and rollover.

Having chosen a puppy at eight weeks of age: owners must appreciate the enormous urgency for the puppy's socialization and training over the next few weeks and months. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. The most pressing items on the puppy's educational agenda are: Socialization, socialization and socialization - especially with children, men and strangers; and errorless housetraining and chewtoy -training to prevent excessive barking and separation anxiety.

Regardless of breed or breeding, owners will make or break their puppy during his first couple of weeks and months at home. With timely and appropriate education and training, the puppy will survive, and thrive, to thoroughly enjoy spending his sunset years with his wonderful owners.

Obviously, some puppy owners will require much more guidance than that offered on dogSTARdaily. com, but at least access to dogSTARdaily will keep the puppy on the right track until the owners come under the expert tutelage of a trainer in puppy class.

Early socialization and education will not save every puppy but it will save most, keeping them in their original homes. And certainly, preventing problems during puppyhood is considerably easier and quicker and a whole lot more fun than the prospect of trying to rehabilitate and rehome an unwanted two-year-old dog that is universally fearful and snaps at strangers.

Please forward this email to every prospective and new puppy owner that you know.
Thank you.

Ian Dunbar
www.dogSTARdaily.com
 
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#30 ·
Obedience Training/ SIT,COME,STAY,ROLLOVER...ADVICE??

Hello......My dog needs to be trained....and in a hurry!! He is nearly 2 and he doesn't understand any commands. With that said, I'm not familiar with training dogs to obey commands.....any advice would be much appreciated!!!!
 
#34 ·
would love some advice

I have recently got a colby puppy.. He is 15 weeks.. He is verry social and he is crate trained.. But we are having a prob. with him pottying in the house during the day.. He was kept outside before I got him.. Please tell me it is not to late..

I used to bread in the past.. But sence divorce and remarrage new hubby is just now comming arround after 7 years that i may just be right and it is not the bread in general it is the way they are raised and loved or (not loved).. I really want this to be a pos. relationship for my new puppy and my husband..
 
#35 ·
I have recently got a colby puppy.. He is 15 weeks.. He is verry social and he is crate trained.. But we are having a prob. with him pottying in the house during the day.. He was kept outside before I got him.. Please tell me it is not to late..

I used to bread in the past.. But sence divorce and remarrage new hubby is just now comming arround after 7 years that i may just be right and it is not the bread in general it is the way they are raised and loved or (not loved).. I really want this to be a pos. relationship for my new puppy and my husband..
When is he going potty in the house? It is probably lack of super vision. You have to let them out often like every half hour and watch them. If you can catch them in the act you can tell them no and put them outside. When they go out say you can give it a command like go potty then praise when they go potty outside. Pretty soon they understand what you want and you can just let them out and tell them to go and they do. If you do not catch them in the house in the act of peeing or pooping you cannot correct them. Also do not give them full access to your house to get into trouble. Use baby gates to keep them where you are at. This should really help you!

Also just so you know it is breed or bred not bread. Bread is what we eat and bred or breed is talking about breeding dogs or the type of breed.

If you have more questions please ask.
 
#37 ·
To the people worried about their dog being too old or not knowing anything....i got my first pit when she was 3 months old and teaching her was just a matter of diligence and LOTS of treats. I've read before that pits might not necessarily be the brightest, but food motivates everyone. "come" i found difficult at first, because she was always by me...so i used a ball to get her to go far away and treats with the command word to bring her back to me...she gets to play and learn.
 
#38 ·
i just got a pit he's 8 weeks now i taught him to sit at 7 weeks. the best way to start out is buy some dog treats. let him smell the dog treat, then wait til he settles down, if he sits as he sits say '' sit''. if he doesnt sit put your hand at his rear and make him sit and as you do say ''sit''. make sure he stays sitting or he wont understand the concept that you are teachin him. itll take a couple tries but since pits are so smart they catch on quick. good luck i wish the best.
 
#39 ·
Newbie with feeding question..

Just got Simba for Xmas from my wife. He's 8 weeks old and really strong. He goes outside but sometimes he does it inside too. I have pee pads but he doesn't used them. I even bought the spray to put on the pads but nothing. at first he had a hard time getting used to the leash but with repetition he got the point. Now we walk out every hour or so and he knows the drill. His first day here he slept in his little bed. But my wife started putting him in the bed with us and now he doen't want to sleep in his bed. he cries if we don't put him in the bed with us. Being a marine I know that discipline is highly important when structuring a dog but I slip up sometimes and let him get away with it. I know, it's wrong but I love the little guy.

Questions:
Whats better dry food or can food at his age?
In cups how much food should I give him?
What the best times to feed?
How many times a day should I feed him?
If he doesn't eat it all should I leave the bowl out?



 
#41 · (Edited)
Just got Simba for Xmas from my wife. He's 8 weeks old and really strong. He goes outside but sometimes he does it inside too. I have pee pads but he doesn't used them. I even bought the spray to put on the pads but nothing. at first he had a hard time getting used to the leash but with repetition he got the point. Now we walk out every hour or so and he knows the drill. His first day here he slept in his little bed. But my wife started putting him in the bed with us and now he doen't want to sleep in his bed. he cries if we don't put him in the bed with us. Being a marine I know that discipline is highly important when structuring a dog but I slip up sometimes and let him get away with it. I know, it's wrong but I love the little guy.

Questions:
Whats better dry food or can food at his age?
In cups how much food should I give him?
What the best times to feed?
How many times a day should I feed him?
If he doesn't eat it all should I leave the bowl out?



Hi and welcome ;) cute pup. Its up to you on what to feed. Just make sure its a quality kibble such as wellness, orijen, acana, blue buffalo, taste of the wild etc.but follow the amounts on the bag for his age and weight. I've always fed a mix of dry and can for added moisture. Dry food doesn't mimic the moisture that a dog would get eating a natural diet such as raw. I am just switching my girl over to raw now. As far as housebreaking a crate is your best tool and it will keep your pup safe when you can't watch him or have to leave the house for a bit. A pup as young as yours usually eats three times a day if you can't feed three times because of work then twice a day will suffice just make sure he is still getting the correct amount. Best of luck and I hope you stick around. Lots of great help and advice on here from some very educated and responsible pit bull owners ;)
 
#40 ·
Simba read up on NILIF. It is sticky. This will help you. Most on here, you will find are scheduled feeders. I am not one of them, my dogs are older. However I make them sit and wait until I put the bowl down, then it is their choice when to eat. But they only get 2 1/2-3 cups a day (Mine are 8y/o and 3y/o). At such a small age I would put the food up if they don't eat it when offered after 20 minutes. Then it is offered at his next feeding. This will help with potty training. After they eat I would wait 10 minutes and take out to potty. I would use dry food with a little warm water. Make sure it is a good grade of food. Read the bag it will tell you the recommendations on how much to offer. Play with it, if you find he isn't eating all of it lower the amount, if he is very energetic add a little more or use the kibble as treats, food is usually a great motivator in training and subtract that amount from what you would give him so he doesn't over eat. Example. dispense 1/2 cup and use a portion of that as treats/training tools. I know other's will pipe in with their ideas/experiences too. BTW Simba is a cutie. Congratulations on your Christmas present.
 
#43 ·
Signed up yesterday, been reading through all the posts I can get my fingers on. Been reading things on here for like 3 weeks.

Simba Simper FI! Brother I highly suggest taking him to a vet to ask most of those questions, just to be safe.

I have a 8-9 month old Am Staff (at least I was told he is purebred and he is registered with the AKC) got him from a rescue. I have never got APBT or AST from a rescue only had one from a really good breeder in So Cal. So my question is I think he is in his second teething phase and "nips" at me and me only. I think this is cause when I got him, I pushed him hard (meaning i played rough and let him get really excited) to see if his temperament would lead him to bite my 5 year old daughter if she played with him. Good news he doesn't nip at anyone but me, but bad news he nips at me. I do not like prong collars or anything of the sort. So my question here is if I redirect with a chew toy, how do I get him calm down before giving him the toy, I don't want him thinking the toy is a reward for biting me?
 
#44 ·
I got mine to stop doing that to me by telling him very firmly NO and EASY he learned quickly that he needs to watch the teeth. My hubby wont be firm with him so Buster will draw blood for the reason that hubby is part of the pack and lesser then he is.So try the firm easy and he should learn it.
 
#45 ·
My beautiful Pit Bull

So I just got me a blue gotti and red nose mix. He is 10 weeks old. When we got him when he was with all of his siblings he was energetic. I have been thinking that just taking him away from them would do that. He is awesome we havent had any issues with him chewing on things he is not supposed to. Actually he doesnt chew on anything. I did not read that puppies do sleep a lot which I was not aware of. He shows a little burst of energy when he is done with nap. He loves to cuddle though lol. he is awesome with my 14 month old daughter. He comes to me sometimes when i tell him. That is about it what are some helpful tips to start teaching him. I know potty training. so anything elsr would be nice.
 

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#46 ·
Welcome! What's his name? How old is he now? Just as an FYI, Gotti is a bloodline (although I use that term loosely) while blue and red are colors. OFRN was a bloodline which produced re nosed dogs, but most red nosed dogs are not OFRN in lineage. Confused yet?:confused::thumbsup:
Did you get a ped on your pup? That will tell you what bloodlines he is from. The rest is just color mumbo jumbo many not so knowledgeable breeders will use to sell pups.
I would highly recommend getting him into a puppy training class:pup:
 
#47 ·
Ive had my pup about 2 weeks now. Am trying to teach him his name, wee wee pad training and the word 'NO'... he's not responsive to his name but only really to kissing sounds which I would really like to get him out of.... he's learning slowly where to use the bathroom although he is way better behaved with that when his sitter is around (I dont want to be leaving him so young for long hours while i work)... he has no grasp on the word no however.. if i point or try and use a hand gesture he thinks i'm trying to play and tries to run around and wrestle with my arm. since he's so small he tends not to look up to follow my voice so i'm bending down so that he can see AND hear me.
i'm leaving it up to the fact that he's only really young and with time this will get better... but any suggestions or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!
 
#50 ·
Lol its not about having an Albert Einstein dog its just about how much time the breeder really spends on training. I can honestly say every litter I have raise in the house all my pups by 8 weeks were puppy pad trained. when you make it fun for them and work with them all at once and treat the pup that is doing good all will eventually follow to get that treat. It is so much easier sometimes to train more then one at a time especially when you have a good example for the pups. I also had the best momma dog ever as she would take her pups to the pup pad if they went to squat somewhere they weren't supposed to LOL. now all the basic commands I haven't done but the chewing and potty training usually were nipped when the pups left me.

This vid is awesome btw this is when you know dogs are messed with constantly as pups.

 
#52 ·
That video is so cool... If only that would work on me too! :)
 
#55 ·
need help housetraining

hi there my daughter has adopted an 8 week old brundle pitbull puppy and were new to this . we take the dog outside to go sometimes she does but most times she don't go until she comes back inside . we have the pads placed inside where she has usually gone but it seems like she just goes somewhere else . honestly im getting frustrated and would love some advice, thanks
 
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