What do you wish you knew about your puppy the first time you got him/her home.

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Don't Blame the dog, He's a dog
www.thackervilleretrievers.com
thackertrainer@aol.com

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

That he wouldn't stay cute and little longer! LOL Seriously, though I found this site before Tucker came home, so my questions were answered pretty much before hand.....

That a dog knows nothing until you teach it to him. It's a foreign exchange student raised by wolves in a barn and must learn everything about your way of life.

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That I would need every ounce of patience that I possessed at one time or another.

That as the owner/handler/alpha/ I ALWAYS have to be "on" or my dog will take advantage of me. LOL

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Judi and The Three Bears



Never argue with idiots, they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Those like buggers chew on EVERYTHING.

Don't expect them to be house trained overnight, accidents will happen, stick with a potty routine religously.

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Erin
Sally's mom

If you think you want a puppy set your alarm for 2 a.m. and go stand in the middle of your yard saying, "go potty, go potty, go potty," for 10 minutes. Go back to bed. Get up at 5 a.m. and do it again. If you think that's fun, then you're ready for a puppy.

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Don't forget that they really aren't puppies at all. To borrow Donna's phrase, they're really fur with fangs. Don't plan on with short sleeves or no sleeves until puppy has grown up a little.

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Judi and The Three Bears



Never argue with idiots, they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I tell everybody it's worse than having a baby! Absolutely hated getting up in the middle of the night for potty time. Like Julie said "go potty."

Terri

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Just how early you can actually start training them and expect to see real results. Not just house breaking, I waited way too long and expected way too little (I really under estimated her abilities)! Also how important it is to get them socialized with people at a young age.

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Sadie

No Rain.....No Rainbows

I wish I'd known we were going to get a puppy BEFORE we put in new carpeting. I definitely would have gone with hardwood floors or Pergo.

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*How important a schedule is for them.

Like babies, puppies thrive on a schedule and it made house breaking go 100 times faster once I figured that out.

*Just HOW MUCH they like to chew.

*Beacause of the above...how BAD OF AN IDEA it is to leave them unsupervised for more than 20 seconds.

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Amanda
Mom to Hershey and Reese

That my hand was not an acceptable chew toy.

Also, leash training at an early age to curb jumping and general walking habits. It's easier to do this when they don't realize that one day they will be stronger than you. We didn't get the memo on this till she was 6 months and 55lbs in training classes. I'm small and boy did she toss me around. I felt abused! I will never let that happen again with any other dog we have. So goes it for first time parents. You live and learn.

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Raising Miss Charlie Since 2006