New Member ...

[tracy]

hi there everyone !! i am new to this site and i m so glad i can post my questions and queiries here . well my story goes ... i am currently living in Brasil as my husband works here and i ve been here for 3 months now. as soon as we got here i was looking around for some voluntary work to do and i found this doggy aminal rescue home.
I went to see if they need any help .. ( with my little portugese language skills ) and found out that someone has brought 6 puppies of 2 weeks old to that home, the night before. They were found on the street left outside in the rain!
I fell in love with them and i decided to adopt one, well there was the big decision of chooinng one, and i picked up the most quite one, as in her eyes it showed pity ! Her name is Tracy
I went straight away to the 'vet' in town ( which by te way works part time as a soldier ) and he had her checked out.
As she was only 2 weeks old i had to fed her with a bottle every 2 hours! She has been dewormed too . oh that was such a messy time :s
I did all the reaserches my self through the internet.Now she is 8 weeks old and through some reaserch i found out that she is a lab/boxer breed.
She is very playful and learns quickly.She already knows her name, how to sit down and stay while i give her the go ahead to go.
We noticed some agression in her, she attempts to bite when she is pissed off or told to stop biting , which is a bad habit of her.
I am positively sure that by time she will grow out of it, as she is very young.
My concern is that she may become more agressive due to the fact that she has not learnt any social skills from her mother or siblings and i am the only one around her all day.
She has plently of toys to play around and i give her attention and time to play, all day long!
I cannot socialise her with any other puppies yet , as she just got her first shot 2 weeks ago.
Unfortunately the part of brasil that i am currently living in , do not have the option for dog trainers or dog parks either.
Any suggestions how to handle her better?!
Thanks to all

 

[southerngirl]

I wouldn't call her biting aggression she is a puppy and she will bite. When she does bite you should say ouch in kinda an high pitch voice, siblings will yelp when another sibling gets to ruff since your puppy does not have this you must teach it to her. Also get her lots of chew toys and if you don't want her destroying your stuff keep her with you were ever you are in the house so that you can keep an eye on her. Here is two threads that may be helpful to you.
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forums/threads/vaccination.4388/#post-42727 and
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forums/threads/getting-started-with-a-clicker-for-newbies.5023/#post-42983
I hope this helps if you have any more questions feel free to ask. Oh and Welcome to DTA!!

 

[tracy]

hi there. thanks for your quick reply back .. i know , maybe i was a little bit exagerating using the word agressive however, she also makes angry noises while attacking my hands all the time !1 Believe me she has a lot of toys and i have tried the yelling also , she will stop for a minute, licks my hand and do it again.
At the moment i am putting her on the leash for 5 minutes after i correct her , so she will realise that she s done something wrong and calms down , is that good to do so ?
i am very worried about the non social life, what can i do?

 

[Anneke]

I just replied in the other topic
But again, Hi and welcome!!!
My answer is much the same as Southerngirl.
The angry noises she makes and attacking your hands, that's called play-fighting. She is practising her doggie skills on you It is not meant to do harm, it is simply what puppies do with eachother. It is important to their development, it is how they get to know how to use all their bodyparts, muscles, brain, how they learn bite inhibition.
Licking your hand after biting it, it a sign of submission(I do hate that word) just saying: i still like you, but I will get you again!!!
You can go with her play, by "attacking" her back in a playfull way. But when she hurts you, yelp and ignore her.
Putting her on leash, I think, is not the way to go, as she has no idea of what she did wrong. And she might start to hate the leash and this is not what you want.
Just get up and ignore her. If she starts "attacking" your legs, you can leave the room for a few seconds. You will have to be persistent with this, but I'm sure it will work.
I don't know if you have a crate for her, but it might be a good idea to give her a little area, where you can put her, when she is tired or rambunctious.
You can also opt to put her out off the room as a punishment. That's called a time out.
Just for a few minutes, untill she calmed down, then let her in again, but still ignore her. If she does it again, just put her in the other room again.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[jackienmutts]

Hi Tracy and welcome to DTA - there are loads of fabulous people here who might come up with some great suggestions. Do you know anyone with a really nice, healthy dog you could get her around to socialize with a lot? If it were me, I'd be willing to risk it to have her learn some social skills. That window won't be open forever, and a nice adult dog can teach her wonderful things. If you do know of someone, and the dog is healthy and well-cared for, it may be well-worth considering. Your vet also may be able to suggest someone. The vet may also know of another puppy or two her age who you could meet up with to let them play. It would help her immensely. Her world right now is going to be very small and limited if she only has you - don't get me wrong, you've done a fabulous thing taking her in, and she's one lucky dog! But since she hasn't had siblings or a mother to help her learn 'the ways of the world', hopefully you'll be able to find her at least another dog or two.

Leashing her or withdrawing attention for a minute or two is a good way to show her that biting isn't acceptable. But again, biting is what little puppies do with each other, cuz at that young age, they're discovering the world with their mouths. And little puppies are good at telling each other when hey, that's too rough!!! Be patient and hang tough, cuz oh puppyhood - it's a good thing they're cute!!

 

[tracy]

thanks to all for your kind reply back. i am so glad that i found this site so i can share ideas and learn from you guys.
Yes it is a big problem to find someone who have a dog to play around with Tracy, i tried to talk to the vet about it , but honestly here they dont care much and they laughed at me when i said she nneds to socialise , one woman told me she s just a dog, she is suppose to eat,sleep, poo and guard your house house, that s all ! My dog i felt so frustrated with her mentality that i just left the room ( only because i dont know how to explain my self much in Portugese) We will be leaving Brasil next year and Tracy will be travelling with us to Europe, but they never heard about the chip here neither a clicker !!!
So you could have a clear idea of what i m feeling at the moment... i want to raise tracy to be the best dog ever, but i have no sources around me.. it s just me,my husband and her !
when should i give her the first bath? she s only 8 weeks next saturday.
What about training on the leash inside the house for now? as shes not fully vacinated yet.
Talk soon .. good day xxx

 

[dogcrazy]

Welcome!!!! A 8 week old puppy shouldn't need a bath. You can start by having her used to the fact of a bathtub/shower without any water in it. Put a few treats in the bathtub and get her used to being there. If you are going to use a hose you can pretend to give a bath a treating her when she is calm.
Also you can start leash training in the house. Get her used to the leash and treat her when she follows you without pulling or biting the leash. If she does bite the leash or pull the just ignore it. I hope that helped a bit.

 

[tracy]

hi there! thanks for your reply . your dog looks so sweet ;0) god bless!
yes i do give her a dry bath with puppies wipes for now and she likes it ! when is the ideal time for her first bath ?
ah yes .. biting the leash is her new habit ;0) i ll just ignore her then ..
Tracy is a follower .. she follows me everywhere (even when i m on the toliet) hehe shall i sent her away ? she also likes to talk in between my legs all the time when i m walking around around the house ...
is that a sign that she is insecure?!
Have a great day !
Mel

 

[tigerlily46514]

WELCOME!!
Love all the advice you have been given above, hope you read it all twice---that is good stuff to read there!!!
CONGRATULATIONS on the tricks, very good for such a baby dog! YAY!

Good on you for rescuing a dog!! Yes, at this tender age, it is puppy biting. All baby dogs do this. Pups who are removed from their siblings and their moms too soon, tend to be a little bit worse about knowing how hard to bite, cuz they missed out on all those "lessons" from their mom and siblings,
but, you can still help Tracy learn to stop biting.

Here is a very short video on this.

feel free to post all your questions!!

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"ah yes .. biting the leash is her new habit ;"//

Here is something you may want to try for that, while puppy is still small. If Tracy grows up to be a great big dog, it'll be harder to have leash biting going on.


when raising up a baby dog,
things that might not seem like a big deal when the dog weighs 10 lbs,
might be a very big deal when the dog weighs 70 lbs!!

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"Tracy will be travelling with us to Europe,"//


Just to save you some heartache,
start NOW learning up what the rules are for bringing dogs into Europe,
some of the countries have quarantine laws and they might require different vaccinations, etc,
so start now learning about it.

 

[Dogster]

WELCOME!!!! Glad that you rescued a dog in need!!! I see that everyone has given you FANTASTIC advice already, so I don't have much to add. Something you should definately start with Tracy would be recall/come. This is soooo important. Call her around the house first, since she llikes to follow you around you may find this easy for her. Make sure you have a perfect recall at home before you move outside. For baths I suggest have a mini-bath. Add a little water to the bottom of the tub, and gradually increase the amount of water in the tub each time. This will help her be more confident in water, and help her like bath time waaay more (which will also make it easier for you to bathe her)

 

[jackienmutts]

Aww, it sounds like you're really in a tough situation there. I'll tell you what - you stick with this forum, and with all the people here, we'll make sure you have all the info and videos you can possibly have, and we'll all try to give you and Tracy the best possible start. To heck with all those people who think she's just a dog! Please post a picture of her when you can - either in this thread or there's another one under "Off Topic and Chit-Chat" titled "Post a Pic" or something close to that, we'll be waiting.

 

[tracy]

hi everyone! Thanks a lot i feel blessed to fnd such people as you to turn to.
My profile picture is Tracy two days ago , but i do have loads more, i do take pictures of her every week to see the improvemnt and the difference between one wek and another.
I tried the biting technique with her today and i m positively sure that she will also learn that.
yes at a very ge, 7 weeks she already knows her name when we call her, how to sit down, to stay and then wait for my further instructions to tall her go (also with her food) and this week i started learning her how to jumo the hullahoop ;0)

this is tracy 2 weeks old, the first day we brought her home!

 

[tracy]

 

[tracy]

 

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[tracy]

 

[Dogster]

LOVE THE PICS!!!!! OMD She's ADORABLE!!!!! How cute is she?!?!?! Ypu're very good at photography!!!