Long-Dangerous Tails

Here are some of the puppy questions, feel free to jump in and add your thoughts.

Could you brush Kira and give me a bag of her fur so I’ll be able to add her scent to his bed?

What I normally do is send a toy home with the puppy that I have rubbed on their mother or one of the other older dogs they have spent time with.  Also if your puppy is being shipped I have you send the crate early and I set it up in their area so they can get use to it.  Another common thing is to send a blanket that I put in the puppy area, it then goes home, unwashed, with the puppy.

Should I bring his crate into our bedroom at night, so I’ll know if he needs to go out? (I’m going to keep him tethered to me all day.)

Tethering your puppy to you is the thing to do, you will have great success with housebreaking by doing this.  I always have the puppy crate in my bedroom next to my bed.  If it is possible elevate the crate so the puppy can look out and see you in bed.  Before we used dog crates we use to go to bed with the puppy on a leash and fall asleep holding onto the leash. I love dog crates.

Can he sleep in our bed the first night?

I am not a proponent of letting dogs sleep in bed with you.  However, the first night away from their litter-mates is a shock, they are used to sleeping with their litter-mates and from birth they have slept touching each other and often cuddled tightly together.  The first night I do let the pup cuddle with me until they fall asleep, then I gently set them into their crate which is right next to my bed and let them finish sleeping.  The first week, expect the pup to wake up around 2 am to go potty and then 6 am.  After about a week they will start sleeping through the 2 am potty call.

How often should we give him a bath, and what type of shampoo is recommended?  Baby shampoo?

The secret to bathing your puppy/dog is rinsing them completely and thoroughly.  There are many nice shampoos available the premium ones must be diluted or you will end up with an itchy puppy.  When they go through a coat change a nice warm bath helps loosen the hair, and using a conditioner really helps get the dead coat out.

Some of the shampoos I like are:

Cloud Star Buddy Wash

Crown Royale Biovite  formula 3 for GSD

Chris Christensen Grooming products  they have several shampoos I like.  they also have color “correcting” shampoos for black coats, red coats, etc.  On my black and red dogs I use the white-on-white shampoo…yep it doesn’t change their color but it makes them look really good. I also like their Spectrum One for coarse rough coats.

When should we take him to visit our vet?

You want to take them  to your vet the next day or two after you bring your puppy home.  When you leave here with your puppy, they have been: vaccinated, microchipped and /or tattoo’d, given heartworm preventive, and wormed; the first visit to your DVM will be a basic exam and a meet-and-greet.

Hey everyone.  I wanted to drop in and say how happy I am with my little black/red from R litter.  Since December I’ve been looking for the right breeder for a GSD, starting the search with the local breeders out here in Southern California.   These breeders serving the rich and famous, recommended by Cesar Milan and the like – however I was getting negative vibes from them.   It all seemed to be a dollar and cents game – plus I was finding negative customer reviews online about Hips and Heart problems.  So in January I gave up and told my brother (a GSD owner) to find me the best breeder in the country with the highest peer reviews (which is really how I do all my “shopping”.) He found Julie.

Julie and I have been in communication since late January and it’s been a very positive experience for me.  Status updates, pictures and the like.  I described to Julie what I wanted in my pup – mainly a medium energy companion and she helped to pick the pup which would me most appropriate for me.

A week ago I went to the airport to pick up my little guy after his brave journey across the country on his own.  He was crying in his crate when I got him but who can blame him!?  After I filled out the paperwork we found a nice little grass patch near the airport and I cleaned him up a bit and we played for like an hour, letting him stretch his legs before rush hour journey back home.
Since then its been lots of fun!  I have been taking it easy on work since I got him and we’ve been getting to be good buds.  He’s had a healthy appetite – we train with little bits of carrots and he couldn’t be happier.  He got a positive check up at the vet and he played a little bit with the staff getting some nice treats.

On Monday the Vet gave us the ok to join a puppy manners class and Pickett did pretty well.  He even got asked to stay after class to help work with this miniature chihuahua and they played for about 30 minutes.

So thats it, off to a meeting now (of course bringing the puppy).  The great thing about being in show business is everyone has their pets in the studio, and people take really good care of them!  Thanks again!

I was given permission by the photographer to share his picture with you:

Hey Julie,

I just read a great book that I know that you will love. I loved it and I know as a dog lover that you will love it as well. It is One Good Dog by Susan Wilson. It is about the reclaiming of the life of a man that has lost everything and the reclaiming of the life of a dog, a pit bull that is rescued from the illegal dog fighting ring. It has lots of heart and I think you will really like it- a must read.

Jon R.

An article on the Time/CNN website challenging some of Cesar Millan’s techniques.  Worth reading.