BAUER!!!I got a puppy last Friday and he is SO MUCH fun!!! I had been thinking about getting a dog for quite some time now and I know once he is potty trained I will be so glad I did :) And when I bought my house, there was already a doggie door installed so that's a plus!!
There was a total of 5 puppies in his litter, 3 boys and 2 girls and he was the biggest pup. He is an 11 week old male Yorkie Poo and he was the only male in his litter that was black and tan :)
I got the name "Bauer" after special agent Jack Bauer on the popular TV series 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland. I LOVE that show and have watched it from day one when the series first broke and I've had a secret crush on Mr. Sutherland himself ever since. So there ya have it! Make fun of me all you want, the name is cool!! The day after I got Bauer, my Dad wrote something really funny on my Facebook wall that said, "The name is funny. You'll have to get BAUER and Uncle Aaron's dog JACK together for 24 hours and see what happens!!hahaha" Touche.
The best part is, no one knew I was getting a dog except for Cassie, Jenny, and a few people at work. So on Friday night, after I picked up Bauer I went over to Jenny's to show him off and then she came with me to Petsmart so I could buy the essentials. The plan was to stop by my parents on our way back from Petsmart so I called my Mom ahead of time and asked if I could stop by. Jenny was my moral support because I already knew what my Dad's reaction would be. What's funny is, he was the one that opened the door to let us in and he took one look at me and Bauer and closed the door on us! BAHAHAHA!! And then he proceeded to lock the door! Jenny and I just laughed. When the door was finally re opened Kelly was there to greet us and she was all excited.Bauer has already had a "few" accidents inside the house which was totally expected but he is learning quickly and I hope he is trained within the next week or two. He just started using the doggie door yesterday, I was so happy! Now I just need to get him to realize the reason for the doggie door is to not only go outside, but to go potty too!
OH MAN, does Bauer follow me EVERYWHERE! If I walk in to the kitchen to grab something, he's trotting right behind me and he sits at the base of my feet when I get ready in the morning. If I'm sitting down, he plops himself on my lap. And when I put him in the car, I set him on the passenger seat and he crawls right over the console and sits on my lap the entire time. I've tried putting him back on the passenger seat, and he just crawls right back over. It really is cute.
I took him to the vet this morning for the first time to get his second shot and that was a whole new experience. Did you know there is something called pet insurance? HOLY COW I felt overwhelmed and even thought at one point 'What did I get myself into??' Ha ha! You just have to remember there were no animals allowed at my house growing up so this is my first experience with having an animal that needs more attention than just pouring bird seed in good 'ole Zazu's food container or sprinkling fish food in an aquarium.Bauer was shaking when I put him on the "patient table", which was just above my waistline, and I had to stand by him the whole time or he would have jumped off and come to me. He weighed 5 lbs 2 oz. He did not like getting his temperature checked, then again neither would I if someone stuck a thermometer up my anus!! He squirmed but did not bark or whine. When they were ready to give him his shot, they gave him a treat to chew on, I stood in front of him to get his attention, the assistant tech held him down, and the vet administered the shot. Bauer did not even flinch! No yelping, barking, squirming, nada! I was proud of him, really.
He's a porker and I love him already!PS Any tips??
10 comments:
I WANT TO MEET HIM!!!! Of course you go get the dog the weekend I go out of town and I was one of the only ones who knew! He is precious.
Actually what was funnier was your dad texting me the next day . . . "have you called to check on our grand-dog." I cracked up. I think he's very, very cute and I'm happy for you.
Your puppy is so dang cute! One piece of advice...don't get caught up in all the vets advice...they will have you spending thousands before you know it! I love dogs and think this was a very smart move!
Congratulations Mama!!! He is so stinkin cute, I love him!! We will have to get Marley and Bauer together for play dates, haha! We always call Marley a "bear" (when she has all of her hair of course) and he could be her little bear cub!
ADORABLE! Cooper would definitely give you a high five for the name;-) As for tips- we found with potty training that using treats when they went outside and basically freaking out with excitement/telling them good job was the best for both our dogs!They are so sweet and just want to please you so that will make them happy! (I read that in a book:-))
i don't really remember how to potty train a dog, sorry, kuma didn't take too long to potty train though. bauer is so cute, my kids would love a pet, but i don't see us buying one any time soon. kuma was so obedient and knew so many commands, but tim did most of the training so i don't have much advice..sorry. they have doggie training books, check amazon
Just love him and be consistent. I'm so glad you have a dog!
Congrats! When we potty trained Dozer we started by using potty mats and kept him only in the kitchen. It took a while for him but he was way younger when we got him. We just kept moving the mat closer and closer to the doggy door. I didn't like the mats and the occasional mess but we also would take him out and tell him "go pee" and then when he went we would freak out (like Shalyn said) and give him a treat. Oh, don't forget to walk him. Dozer loves walks and is so good when we take him! Make sure he has all of his shots first! Good luck! Let me know if you need anything.
Okay, here is my long, long answer:
My best advice is to crate train him. We are on our third dog and have crate trained them all with huge success! I know a lot of people think it is mean to crate dogs, but they have a natural instinct to den and we have found that now that the crate is more or less optional (once they are 100% potty trained we just put them away at night to sleep) they will often go into their crates on their own to nap or if they are feeling tense or intimidated (like when our rowdy nephews are around) they will go into their crates on their own for a little security.
When done right, crate training is a huge help, plus if your dog ever goes to a friend's or family member's home when you go out of town then they can take their familiar crate with them and it makes the stay much easier on both the dog and the babysitter.
When potty training, we:
1. crated the dogs for bed
2. First thing in the morning we take them out of the crate and we go right outside.
3. We tell them "go pee" or "go poo"
4. If they go to the bathroom within the first minute or two then they get praise and if they do not then they have to go back in the crate for another 5 minutes. This teaches them that first they go potty and THEN they get to play.
5. We take the dogs out after every meal and after any time they play hard (this one is super important!!) This is when they have the strongest natural urges to go to the bathroom. Repeat the "go pee" sequence and if they do not potty then they go in the crate for 5 minutes and then you try again.
6. The dogs also go out to potty before bed and then we crate them for the night.
The point is not to make the crate a place of punishment, but it is a tool to help with training. Dogs will not go to the bathroom in the same place that they sleep, so if you crate make sure that the crate is big enough for the animal to stand up, turn around and stretch, but NOT big enough for them to play in or take several steps in from one end to the other. Otherwise you run the risk of them using one corner to potty in and one corner to sleep in. Also important is to remember that if you are training a puppy that is less that a year old be mindful of the fact that they can only hold their bladders for one hour for every month old they are (ex: if your puppy is 4 months old, don't expect him to be able to hold his bladder for longer than 4 hours at the most!)
Phew! Sorry, I know that is a lot of information, but we swear by crating and after having tried other methods, this has been fastest and most effective way to train our dogs. Worth mentioning: we do have a smaller breed dog (smaller breeds are harder to housebreak) and with crating we never had to use those puppy pads (which I find are both expensive and a little gross.) He came from a home that was getting rid of him because he peed in the house all of the time and aside from a couple accidents when he first came home, he has become totally housebroken with the crate.
Holy cow, Holly wrote a novel on here! But I totally agree about the crate thing. Our first one was so hard to train, but then when we got the second one, she pretty much just followed what the first one did so it was much easier. They both hated the kennel at first but after a little while they learned to like it. I find them in there all the time now. Now they only have to go in when we are going to be gone for more than a few hours (to prevent them from doing anything naughty). Usually when I'm blow drying my hair they end up in it because they know I'm about to leave. They are so smart!
Anyway, he is super cute, name and everything!!! You are gonna love having a dog!
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