Tuffgirl

I have a new addition! I wasn't intending on getting a puppy...found a 2 yr old lab mix at the pound and brought my daughter to meet him the next day with our older pit mix, and he had been adopted the evening before. There weren't any others that really met what I was looking for, so we headed out to the parking lot. On our way, we passed a man with a little puppy heading in. My daughter stopped to see the puppy and he said he was turning her in. They had her for a month and couldn't handle having a puppy. Something just clicked - ok ok puppies ARE cute and all - but everything just seemed right at that moment! She's 12 weeks old, a pit mix like my other two, with a calm and engaging personality. So far, so good! She's not housebroken but with the two older dogs, she has had few accidents. Seems she learns quickly by watching them. She does like our shoes which we'll have to watch closely. And she went for a walk off leash already with the big dogs and just had a blast, and then slept all night long! We are in loooooveee.....

Meet Lola. La la la Lola. L-O-L-A Lola! ; ) Been singing that song all weekend now!

dollydo

How sweet! Do you have ear plugs or do you want to borrow mine?

Tuffgirl

One more! **** and Lola

Pelican

Awesome!

Great timing too!

I am happy for your family (((hugs)))

Tuffgirl

So this is my first puppy in years and years. I am a older dog rescuer but I have never had the puppy experience with my girls so this is it...fingers crossed I don't regret it!

So what's a good way to leave her alone? Kennel train or pen her into a small area of the house (entry hall and kitchen are all vinyl)? Any good housebreaking tips? Do's and don'ts?

Load me up...I feel like a newbie to this puppy thing but dang it...she is so cute and my girls are so excited, I am glad I was so spontaneous and just went for it!

Tuffgirl

One does - I bought heavy duty marine grade canvas dog bed covers and use old blankets and fleece remnants which we go through at regular intervals. Amazing the old blankets one can find at garage sales! But I wonder now if the canvas can withstand puppy teeth. Hhhmmm...

Oh and my goodness the noise when she gets going...she has a bark that is so high pitched I think it can raise the dead!

catlovermi

Be careful.

That is deadly cute.

Congrats!

CLMI

Freedom1990

I'm a huge advocate of crate training. All of mine are crate trained. I can tell you that in the event of a very sick dog who requires hospitalization at the vet's, a crate trained dog does much better usually. I have 4 who are crated when I am gone and the other two get run of the living room/kitchen I use treats and they associate going into their crates with a treat and go quite willingly. My greyhound often goes into his crate during the day just for naps!

Linkmeister

Absolutely adorable, Tuffgirl! Like you, rescued or adopted older dogs but my guy was 6 months old-kinda like the terrible 2's in kid years....LOL.......I got a crate for mine, put in a toy and blanket and got him used to that right away, that did help with potty training and separation issues.

Mind you, he barked like crazy for the first little while but gradually settled down. As soon as I got home, I would let hm out of the break and take him outside and all was pretty good, still some accidents but he got into the routine. Plus, he realized the crate was his space - where he went to sleep, where he could go for a nap, things like that.......

Zube

LOLA!!!!!
Awesome rescue!

love it!
Zube

Tuffgirl

Thanks all! Ok, so I should crate her when I leave...and at night too for now as she is not house broken...one of us (probably me) can keep her in the room or close by in case she needs out in the middle of the night (like last night, 4am, yeesh).

Now, my other two are 6 & 7, they have free access to the house and sleep on their beds at night. I can't imagine crating them...how does that work?

And I did read about pits and no tugging so it has become a habit to not tug with the dogs at all. My husbands American Bulldog/Pit mix came to us as a tugger and it didn't take long to break her of that habit. Now she digs and tugs tree roots up in the back yard. Big ones.

We don't free food either. I've got her on a schedule of about (5) 1/3-1/2 cups a day of Iams Premium puppy food. The big dogs are on a lamb and rice formula because of one's food allergies. Are Yummy Chummies ok for puppies? We like to support our local businesses (and my BIL is the manager so we get lots of free stuff)

How about exercise at this age? I walk every night - probably no more than 3k or so. Is that ok for the little one?

Gosh I feel so ignorant. Been reading Cesar Milan's site, too. I really want to get this right the first time around.

dollydo

I am more of a confine to a small space mother. Of coarse all my babies have been tiny.

The other night, he, Rhett was a screaming at 3:00 am, up I went, picked him up and out the door we went...well...it was pouring...there I stood in my jamies while he pooped. I was soaked to the bone, dried him off and showered...it was one long night!

I think potty training is a science, I too forgot how much fun it could be, until my new buddy came into my life.

lillamy

Adorable!!!

wellnowwhat

crate training all the way for us. No accidents in the home to speak of.

Kept it for about 4 years and it turned in to her "get away from the kids" spot when the kids were little. They had been told that when she went in there she was invisible, no calling, poking etc. Funny thing: we called it her "bed" and when we were trying to shoo the kids to bed at night we would look over and see her in her crate. She was usually the only one listening and wondering "why the heck am I in here?"

Kept it for about 2 years with the 2nd one, but actually used it very little (kids were grown, dog didn't need to escape).

Wouldn't try any other way.

I love the dogwhisperer too!

Tuffgirl

I feel like I am spending more time training my teenagers on how to handle a puppy than training the actual puppy. Just got home from a 45 min errand to find the puppy had pooped on the floor... and I had said on my way out the door to let the dog out pronto because I just fed her. *SIGH*

Now I am leaving again to find a crate...nothing at garage sales this weekend, nothing on craigslist today, looks like I am buying new after all. Crate, chew toys, more food, guess there is no "free dog", huh?!

Fandy

i woule also recommend crate training...last year after being sober for 4 months i adopted a 5 year old Pom from a rescue group...he had not been neutered or house-trained, but spent a month in alocal kennel who fostered him until all the testoerone got out of his system....he's a big boy Pom 12 lbs, but did not understand until about amonth with the crate while i was at work....the crate sits in the doorway of my walk-in closet....he loves it and jumps off the bed around 11PM to go to a restful sleep with no cat drama all night. during the day i have him confined to a big room that lead out to my deck and a wooded view so he can walk around and still see critter action, but i won't come home to the TV broken on the floor between him and the cats having racing trials.

LifeRecovery

I love crate training!

I have two big dogs and was told walking two 15 mins a day was helpful until 6-8 mths and then running was okay (joint concerns before).

My older dogs did not have crates when a puppy did. I also have one who continues to use it as her time out still at 6.

The only additional thing I can contribute is that at first I could not crate her for more than 2-3 hrs w/out accidents...we pushed it too long a couple of times and regretted it.

She is super cute by the way. Almost makes me want another....

Tuffgirl

Wow thank you all for the crate info. I think I will take her to work with me for as long as my colleagues can stand it because with school starting...I am not sure I can be around at 2-3 hour intervals without having her in my office. This is going to be interesting! But at least I'll have an excuse to take her for a walk every hour...my building is right across the street from a little green belt area.

I wasn't expecting this to be so intense as it was today...the weekend was no problemo and we had a great time, but today it is all about scheduling. And tomorrow too. It's moments like these that I wish I was independently wealthy! ; )

Fandy

I have a neighbor come in if i'm going to be long at work...and Sammy will use the wee-wee pads if necessary..i put them on the opposite side of the room from his dog-bed....only once did he pee on the edge of the treadmill....i use the strong orange cleaner, he does not like it.

wister

SOOOOO cute!