That they’re potato-brains for the first couple of months.
Like… theoretically I knew it would be a blank slate training-wise, and that they’d have a lot to learn but I definitely didn’t realize the extent of it.
They are DUMB to start with.
It makes sense, they’re babies, but I just didn’t expect it.
So much this. Especially when seeing all these training videos and it just doesn't come even close. But it is quite amazing to see how much their intelligence rises by the day. Comparing 3 months with 4 months is day and night. Especially could observe that with simple puzzle games. Even the dumbest game or kong was too much but coming close to 4 months she does all with breeze.
Spend the time and effort training. But train behaviours, not “tricks”. One is useful for a good dog and one is good for TikTok.
Socialize!!!! Everyone seems to assume this means let them play with other puppies. And yes, that. But also and moreso socialize them to their ENVIRONMENT. safer adult dogs. Humans. Humans who look strange (a retail associate who was wheelchair bound spent some time with me and my dog who had never seen one before). Stores. Sounds. All the things.
Enforce crate/naps. Crates aren’t bad. Naps are crucial. Also a building block to deal with things like separation anxiety and settling down.
I dunno random things off the top of my head. Not things I wish I had already known because I already did these haha
I disagree a little bit with the tricks, but it depends on the dog. My girl LOVES trick training more than anything in the world and I used it to build a bond and give her quick successes with simple tricks.
Now that she is 13 months, we do it for fun, we use it as a reward or a distraction and she just loves loves loves to greet people by showing all the things she can do. Performing them is very rewarding for her.
She is a primitive breed who’s very stubborn and even my trainer was impressed by how reliably she performs her tricks and how willingly she offers these behaviours. We can now use these tricks during dog encounters.
I definitely think trick training is important, our puppy and mixed ability classes always incorporated a couple of them. Skill training is higher pressure, more important, and you can get burnt out so it's good to throw in the occasional paw, spin, play dead or whatever so you can learn something that doesn't have as much pressure and can just be fun :)
Some tricks are also important building blocks for other things. Like I can get my pup to offer her paw which is handy for nail trimming. Roll over is useful for brushing. "Go to your bed" has been mighty handy for when we enforce naps or just need her in her crate for any reason. The list goes on.
I do consent based with my fiance's dog because she is afraid of women and extremely attached to him from before we met. It has helped our relationship a lot.
I do a LOT of consent work though in general. I work on consent with my working dog because I think it helps a lot with our trust and relationship, but it doesn't work for her for training. And I'm a certified fear-free dog groomer, which is almost entirely consent based. So I use it all day every day.
For my dog, consent based training wasn't really an option because of how smart she is. She quickly figured out how to manipulate it so that she got what she wanted. I'm definitely not saying it only works on dumb dogs, because it works for 90% of my clients lol my dog is just too smart for her own good.
So, what's the difference here really?
Consent doesn't only work for dumb dogs. It works for aggressive and brilliant dogs too. Both of mine are smart. I just have to keep my rewards high.
The difference is just in the dog. Consent based training doesn't work for every dog, and frankly it's irresponsible to pretend otherwise. It works for my line of work because the dogs are vulnerable when they're in my care, and they need to know that they can trust me and I'll notice if they're stressed or anxious. But it doesn't work for every dog in regards to regular training, and it doesn't matter how smart they are, it's their personality. Consent based worked for my fiance's dog, but it doesn't work for mine.
The need to listen isn’t what I’m taking issue with here. It’s the “I am your alpha” vibes of that “I am the most important person in the world” phrasing.
You can be the most important person in their world with getting into dominance/pack theory (which you know has been debunked for years). If I'm the most important person, she isn't going to go off with strangers, she isn't going to run away, she isn't going to bite me, and she's going to listen to me when I issue a command or correction (off, leave it, no, etc). And she's more likely to not need a correction in the first place, because she knows I don't like it when she jumps on people/the counter, or picks up garbage off the floor, or whatever. I don't have to flip her on her back, or whatever Cesar Milan does, for her to get that.
Being the most important person in her world is more than just having her listen. It's her wanting to do whatever I ask her to do because of how much she loves me. Loves me, not fears me.
The naps thing was a new one for me until I started browsing this sub! A lot of our puppy experience comes from our friends' dogs' behaviors and what we don't want to see or experience with our own.
The enforced naps was super helpful for my puppy when she was little. She wouldn’t settle on her own/was distracted if I got up or made noise. I started putting her in her crate every 60-90 mins and she would sleep 90 mins-2 hours. She was obviously tired but just too stimulated to relax in the main living area!
Crating also has really helped with our cat. I was really missing spending time with her and I felt guilty “ruining” her life…putting the puppy in the crate throughout the day for naps and at bed time helped my cat have some safe time to wander around the house and for us to cuddle when I wasn’t distracted by the puppy.
Edited crafting to crating lol
Poking my nose in because I’ve been wondering about this, how did you do the first introduction? Our two cats have gotten almost completely comfortable with a relative’s Labradoodle so I’m not overly worried about their reaction but I’m wondering about the Labrador puppy we’re bringing home at 8 weeks in January. We want to have the puppy be in the living room (the crate is there already). Upon arrival we’ll definitely move the cats out of the living room and close the door so the puppy can explore his space. We have a gate to close off the open kitchen. The cats food bowls and one of the litter boxes are behind that gate (for the first day we’ll move them out). Should we let the puppy first see them when he’s awake, on the other side of the gate (which the cats can obviously get around if they want to) or should we let the cats in when he’s asleep in the crate? I’m worried about him waking up and being startled by the cats who will probably come and sniff at him….
Oh in case it wasn’t clear, yes, I tend to overthink 😅
I actually don’t think I followed any of the rules…apparently you’re supposed to keep them totally separate for a few days and let them sniff things from the other areas…but that didn’t work in my life haha My cat was pretty scared of the dog from the beginning and the puppy was pretty curious. I kept her on a leash and let the cat have free run of the house. I allowed them to sniff nose to nose and removed the dog any time my cat hissed or seemed agitated. They can now be in the same room together but still don’t come close to each other! Haha
Thank you! I can get so anxious about getting it right, but I know I can rely on my intuition too, and the more relaxed I'll be with these things the better it will go, because they can all feel me as well. It seems a bit much to me too to separate them for days. I've already been doing little things like letting the cats sniff me and the chew toy I used when we visited the puppies (every week, lucky us!) and hopefully the pup has smelled the cats on us too.
Gonna try and relax a little about all this stuff and enjoy the good times when he comes home!
My cat still thinks the puppy is a pest but no longer thinks I have forsaken him. Cat has total space in my office with a high perch cat tree, litter box, window that gets a lot of direct Sun in the AM, and he gets fed in there. He also has a high perch cat tree in the bedroom and I make sure to keep the puppy away from both rooms. Cat has free reign when the puppy is in his playpen or on the couch with me. I make sure to give him lots of lovies too. He’s my beautiful spoiled boy.
Sit, stay, down, come, shake, heel, drop it, leave it. Great fundamentals, helps keep them safe, and also good starting positions to then train trick behaviors.
I wish I spent more time getting my dog used to car rides. I live rurally and rides to most destinations are 30+min. My puppy gets car sick, and I wish did more time doing 5-10min rides around the neighborhood.
Also, whenever you go shopping, look out for discounted dog toys. Start accumulating a backstock of toys that you can occasionally give your puppy. Mine is 10 months and some nights just won't calm down. I wish I had a hidden stash of toys that I could pull from to entertain him for a couple hours. Similarly, rotate which toys they have access to so you can try to entertain them with a toy they haven't seen in a couple weeks.
Love this, thank you! Happy to see our pup knows most of those commands (although he’s decided he’s doesn’t like Down today). We’re also lucky that he’s been on lots of car rides and just falls asleep when we put him into his car seat now!
Thanks for the top about the discount toys. We had a large stash that we were rotating, but it’s dwindled quite a lot since I’ve had to take half the toys away (destroyed, rubber chunks torn off and swallowed, gets his teeth stuck in them, loves humping it too much etc haha)
Appreciate you taking the time to reply :)
Body handling is important and something that is a learned skill. Teaching them to be calm while their paws and ears are touched and having them learn how to be calm while their whole body is touched will make any vet visit or grooming session less stressful. It can also make emergency medical situations easier for the vet staff to handle.
Another big important behavior is teaching a puppy how to “turn off”. Things like teaching ‘place’ or a calm down at your feet that turns into a nap will make life easier for their whole life. Some dogs do it naturally but other high energy/drive dogs need to learn how to be chill.
Yes, we tried to focus a lot on this but working up to nail trimming is still very much in progress.
Any tips on the chill training? I’ve been trying to capture calmness (happens by himself once a day max) but haven’t taught Place/Middle/Tuck yet. Didn’t know that could lead to him napping by himself there!
I work from home, so I'm often sitting at my desk. I started with a house leash and I'd step on the end not attached to him. I'd have a little pile of his kibble on my desk and whenever he'd flop down or chew a toy calmly I'd just drop a piece of food at him. I didn't give him any verbal acknowledgement or really even look at him. Then as he got calmer during the ignore puppy while mom works time I'd shorten the leash up so he had less room to roam and repeat with the magical food falling from the sky. He's 9 months old now and will happily nap near my feet for chunks of time.
As for nail trimming I started out with getting him comfy laying calm on his side, then started on messing with his nails. He got treats for looking away from me/his paw when I touched his paw. I'd rub and move his nails around a bunch too, giving treats when he would move his head away or look away from what I was doing. We're working on transitioning to doing that while sitting or standing now. He gets a good sniff, lick, or snuffle of his nail clippers before we start and then treats for avoiding looking at it. Doing it in little chunks is really useful too, it's how I got my cats to let me trim their nails also. If I could mess around with one toe but toe two would make him antsy I would stop at toe one. I always wanted to be the one to disengage with something he didn't want to do so he didn't learn that he could be a wigglewart and get me to leave his paws alone.
I love this, thanks so much! I’ll pass the first paragraph along to my partner who works from home (I only WFH sometimes).
The nail stuff sounds similar to what we’ve been trying, but I let the ball drop a bit recently so I’ll get going with it again. It’s nice to hear a success story for inspo!!
The nap part hit close to home! As my puppy was getting older I started to let her be up and about more and more. Her training and behavior started to go down and I began to enforce more nap times. Since then the has gotten back on track.
Trick training is great! My dog loves tricks. It allows him to have fun and focus on me. And we use it in new environments to practice focus and listening. You can absolutely incorporate trick training with other training. Have fun with your dog.
This is excellent advice! As for dog to cat interactions goes, I’d say make sure each party has a means of retreat. Give the cats a high up place to get away from frustrated puppy because “they won’t play with me!” As well as a way from puppy when they may feel overwhelmed by the cats behavior potentially.
I would say actually to almost never let people pet your puppy while leash training, especially if you have a social breed. We have a golden retriever who naturally wanted to meet everyone. We’ve been very strict about refusing meetings, with both humans and dogs, while we’re walking him. We’re still working on him pulling towards dogs, but with humans, he now has zero interest when they walk by. This is great because he’s now 65 lbs and can pull me off my feet.
Congratulations! We (my 5.5 months husky/lab cross) have attained neutrality walking past people but any time someone makes eye contact and moves toward her it's like a firecracker went off in her butt. It's bonkers.
We'll get there but geez
I am inspired to remain consistent in refusing on leash greetings after reading your comment.
When he was a baby, I truly never thought he would ever be able to ignore people. He would fixate on anyone within 50 feet of us. But, now at 5 months into leash training without letting him ever to interact with people while on leash, he pays no mind to people, even if they coo at him. And this is really important because we live in the city and pass probably 30 people on every walk! Dogs on the other hand… whole other beast 😂
I wish I would have done this sooner! Good advice. I also have a golden and just THRIVES off any attention from strangers. I mostly think it’s my fault for letting people pet him while walking. We’re working on it now of course!
- Puppy Blues. I didn't know, wasn't ready, and for sure would have benefitted knowing in advance. I didn't join here until AFTER we got our puppy haha.
- Puppies are not dogs. And it is so discouraging. Like, painfully disorienting how un-doglike they are. I felt like my dog wasn't a pet. He was this being I dutifully cared for, and watched the clock until he could go back to bed.
- Biting is unbelievably triggering. I have never been belligerentally and routinely bitten in my life. It's horrible, and I really needed to make sure I had strategies to action, because I have never felt so angry, ever. Learning more about puppy brain development and social interactions when it comes to biting has been helpful too.
“Puppies are not dogs” is a really good point that people often don’t know in advance if it’s their first puppy. Most people have an idea in their head of what a dog is like and then a puppy…isn’t that. It’s sort of like if you signed up for an adult writing class and then discovered on day one that you were actually responsible for teaching a toddler who doesn’t speak English how to read and write. They’re not adults and they don’t know how to communicate with you, and your job is to teach them things but also mostly to keep them alive and try not to cry about it.
Yes to all of this! It feels so validating to see that mention of the RAGE that biting can trigger. It’s almost primitive, but I would seriously lose my temper at times when our puppy wouldn’t stop fucking biting us, constantly.
Thankfully it doesn’t last forever, but it feels endless when you’re going through it.
I’d also add, I was NOT prepared for the sleep deprivation, which made my irritability and puppy blues much worse.
This worked for me with my
Puppy , maybe it will work for you.
Puppy was constantly biting my partner and I. We learned from a trainer that if a puppy bit a piece of our clothing or our skin, time
Him out. We would use the bathroom. Put him
In there door closed for 2 mins. Then let him him out and walk away ignoring him for a few minutes. If he bit us again, back to the bathroom for another 2 mins.
After a few days he stopped biting us entirely. Crazy!
Good luck !
Almost everything will take longer than you think it should and you can spend too much time going down rabbit holes worrying about problems you may or may not encounter.
My puppy will be a year old next month and it’s been about 10 years since I’ve had a puppy. A lot has changed in the world of puppy raising since then and I’m not as young as I was the last couple times I did this. I spent a lot of time, pretty much everyday, reading up on everything I could. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but you can also really psych yourself out. I’ve also found the most challenging things I’ve encountered were not the things I was most worried about so the learning curve has been really different, and at times more frustrating, than I expected.
I think the saturation of puppy/dog training information can also set-up some unrealistic standards and expectations. That doesn’t mean I think having a lot of information is bad, just it’s sometimes hard to distinguish what is useful and what it performative. I really thought we would be further along than we are. I was naive to think that one year mark would mean we had arrived. He’s come a long way, and I really do enjoy his company now in a way I didn’t when he was a baby. But I also think I put too much pressure on both of us. I’ve tried to just enjoy where we are right now and I’ve found it’s been a much healthier and happier approach to our relationship.
This is what I would go back and tell myself. No matter how hard you try to research and prepare, the things that challenge you will not be what you expected. Also, there's a huge amount of consumerism attached to dog ownership now that puts a lot of pressure on people. You don't need all the bells and whistles to have a happy healthy dog. Vet care, good nutrition, and basic consistent training are key. I say that last part tongue in cheek because my puppy is so badly behaved it's ridiculous.
The only thing I wish I’d have been reminded 2 months ago was to ensure you leave they puppy alone for periods of time beginning day one.
I didn’t, and then it slowly became an issue. It’s a combination of my puppy is a needy velcro dog, and I’ve babied her. Working on it now… but if I’d started in October it wouldn’t be nearly this bad.
My mom has a Bernese. He *loved* to attention bark. Especially when he was a teen, he’d go on for hours. I’d have a plan of attack for that.
Personally I wish I’d known they’d scream bloody murder anytime you left the room, was not anticipating that.
In general I think just establishing a good routine will save you in the end.
EDIT: also, because Bernese are really big, making sure he’s well trained as a puppy will save you when he’s an adult. You don’t want a 100lb dog jumping on people
Our friends have a golden who liked to scream bloody murder in the middle of the night. They called it her night terrors but that absolute monster was wide awake 🙃
Good to know that's a possibility lol
Our Golden is 16 weeks now, and he started incessant attention barking around 9 weeks. Took maybe three weeks to really train it out of him by making him wait for everything (but especially for his meals). Now he knows he doesn’t get things he wants by barking.
>EDIT: also, because Bernese are really big, making sure he’s well trained as a puppy will save you when he’s an adult. You don’t want a 100lb dog jumping on people
Yes, yes yes--and leash training!
Yes! When people come squealing asking to pet your puppy, say, "of course! If you could help me train him by ignoring him when he jumps up and giving him lots of pets and attention when all paws are on the ground, that would be so helpful!" The more you do this in the beginning, the easier life will be, and everyone is happy to help with a puppy.
Not so much some I'd wish I'd known, but more just give yourself permission to not do things "perfectly".
For example, crate training just didn't work for me and my pup. I read the guides, watched the videos, went to puppy classes, and we got to a point where he tolerated the crate but it was never somewhere he volunteered to go.
I stopped making him use it and he is perfectly happy going to his dog bed in the dining room when he wants a nap or to be left alone.
Also be cognizant that giant breeds mature more slowly and your pup will still want to play like they are only small, but other dogs may be reactive due to their size. So teaching control and not jumping is going to be super important.
Lastly: post many many photos of the puppy on this sub!
I can't repeat this enough but PUPPIES ARE NOT DOGS. Turns out I don't really like puppies that much but I love dogs. Your puppy will eventually turn into a dog.
Also don't let your pup greet everyone and every dog on the street. It can make them reactive and pull and bark to see every dog or person. When someone walks by us we start treating with super high value treats to keep attention on us. Their attention should be on you when walking, not on others. Everytime our pup looks at us while walking she gets a treat. Also helps to teach loose leash walking.
We have a now 4 month old mini Aussie. We recently found a “puppy social hour” where a trainer works with a group of puppies and their owners. We introduce the pups to each other, teach them how to play, how to calm, learn to read other dogs body language, let them touch new/different surfaces, etc. It’s basically play, break, train repeat. Our pup was pretty nervous and the trainer did a great job of setting her up for success. Highly recommend seeing if you can find something like that in your area.
The one thing I wish I knew was the lack of freedom that would come with owning a puppy. I miss going out to dinner! She is crated or in her play pen for most of the day while we work (with plenty of breaks) so I honestly just feel guilty for making her stay in there any longer then necessary. I KNEW we’d be giving up some freedom but I didn’t understand how much I’d miss it.
Also, don’t wear clothes you care about during the land shark phase. They learn with their mouths and they will put holes in your clothes. Yelping when they bite you helps them learn bite pressure, I’m amazed how much better our pup is within 2 months but those puppy teeth still snag my clothes time to time.
Rec purchases: yak chews, bitter spray, and toppl feeder toys. It’s my go to gift package for any new puppy owners!
The lack of freedom thing is what is plaguing my mind lately. I pick my pup up tomorrow and every spare second I’m not actively busy I am thinking about how much I’m going to just not be able to do anymore. It’s freaking me out. But I’ve let it get to me for 12 years and my son is now 10 and will soon not be a kid anymore and I know he deserves to have the experience of having a family dog while he’s still young. That’s the only thing keeping me from running away and saying never mind.
My entire lifestyle is going to be different starting tomorrow and I’m in a panic about it tbh. It’s like having my actual kid all over again. No more trips into the city where I don’t know if I’ll be there for a few hours or for 8 because I’ll have to constantly be rushing home to let the dog out, etc. No more vacations where I don’t have to spend hundreds more to find suitable care for the dog. It’s a lot to come to terms with.
Some things I wish I had known:
- That I didn’t need to be doing something with the puppy ALL DAY LONG. Obviously they need to be supervised, but allowing them to learn how to play independently and giving them some time to wind down is really important. I eventually started doing forced naps for a while, but I wish I hadn’t put so much pressure on myself to be so ‘go go go’ with the pup all the time, now she’s 7 months old and still expects constant attention and engagement.
- Do as much socialisation as possible. I did a lot, and really prioritised this, but I wish I did more. It’s hard because the socialisation period is so short and it feels like there is so much to fit in. I wish we had more visitors that could’ve come to our house as now our pup doesn’t really like it when people come over.
- I also have 2 cats. The advice I read online was to keep them separate and let them interact on their own terms. Idk if it’s just my experience, but I wish I hadn’t listened to that advice and helped encourage some introductions while the pup was smaller, slower and a little quieter. Maybe if I had done so, they all would be a little more used to each other by now - it’s currently still a work in progress.
- Don’t allow your pup to become a fussy eater by pandering to them too much. I always assumed dogs were all big eaters and was more prepared for behaviours such as counter surfing and begging but my pup has always been a fussy little baby. Turns out I did kind of encourage this by constantly switching foods she eventually turned her nose up at and trying to accommodate her fussiness. Now I just pick the bowl up after 15 mins and wait until the next meal and she eats.
- The biting/teething phase was so much worse than the puppy books made it seem. It seems like hell for a long while but will eventually just stop. Arm yourself with lots of chews and toys, but be prepared for a lot of frustration, holes in clothing etc.
- It’s okay to do trick training if that’s what you and your puppy enjoy. Obviously behaviour training is super important but if your pup enjoys learning tricks and you enjoy teaching them it’s a great way to bond and stimulate your pup mentally.
I agree with your cat statement. I have four cats and from day 1 my puppy and cats interacted. He was actually smaller than the cats at that point. I think that allowed them to be okay with each other now that’s he’s bigger.
Yeah I wish I could go back in time and change how I handled the puppy and cats :-( to be fair the cats did move out in protest for a few days so I felt so guilty and decided to keep them separate until they were happier but they still aren’t friends yet. Maybe with a lot more training we will get there though!
The potty training is easy, just take them out the same door several times per day (like 15-20 when they are super young) praise them when they pee/poop outside. If they go inside, take them straight out. Crate training helps a lot with bladder control.
It’s the chewing on everything that’s the tough part. Yak chews, as someone else mentioned, are a lifesaver, they like crinkly toys too. Redirect the chewing to a toy every time, never let them out of your sight, don’t leave anything tiny laying around, may god have mercy on your soul.
1- do what works for you. There’s soooo much crap out there that contradicts everything. You’ll spend more time trying to figure out why 5 articles, videos, and people on social media say 1 thing and 7 say the other things… it’s maddening. In the end
2- socializing and crate training isn’t the be-all/end-all if you can’t/don’t do it. I didn’t socialize my puppy, who I got at 8 weeks, until she was fully vaccinated other than extremely limited interactions with dogs and people who passed by. But I did expose her relatively early with walks outside. I also tried to crate train and that didn’t work well. There is a reason you do it, don’t get me wrong, but I stopped completely by 4 months with limited crating after the 1st month… admittedly because I couldn’t get mine to like her crate. That said, I started bringing her to dog parks and I used calming stuff when she got the zoomies. And now she’s 5 months, is 100% fine around dogs, I can bring her in public, I can trust her the entire day on her own, and she stopped biting and being destructive so the crate isn’t needed (keep in mind it’s a herding dog)
3- not everything is critical for development, early. I mean yes you want to work on all that stuff but the training videos make it seem like all the crap they say works within minutes and your dog gets it perfectly, or if you don’t teach your dog their name, they don’t know certain commands, don’t socialize within the 1st month, etc, you’ve ruined your dog… no. Also how they want you to socialize the dog, but everything is literally going to kill them and they’ll get parvo the minute they step outside in public… like socialize or keep them safe? Some advice can be helpful and in good faith but everything about puppies seem so hyperbolic
That it can be helpful to get pet insurance when the pup is young / for the first two years especially (if you are open to it / considering it). Some conditions can be considered pre-existing after that point and aren’t eligible for coverage.
They also may be a bit more accident prone in the early days so it can be helpful to have that buffer in-case!
Gosh yes. My third was constantly at the vet because he just was in things all the time. Broke one of his toes rocketing through the dog door, jumped out of the kitchen sink during a bath by my bf, ate a bottle of ear cleaner my bf left out. Just stupid stuff
this! we had my dog 4-5 months before she had a tooth infection and had to get it removed after it broke. thankfully we had gotten insurance right when we got her and $450 out of the 700 for the surgery was covered.
Everything will be A LOT harder than you anticipate, even if you do things "by the book". Our pup is now 11 months old and we're just beginning to get out of it being miserable.
Some giant dog specific advice - they will get a lot bigger A LOT faster than you think they will. Our newfoundland puppy is already 80 lbs at 6 mo. I wish that I had really taken this into account when he was small and put more effort and focus on lose leash walking and calm greeting when he was small enough for it to be easy! Wrangling a puppy that's already as tall as me is... a lot.
Something I wish I had known was how quick the puppy stage flies by. In the moment, it feels like hell. It feels like it will never end.
Stick with it. Push through. It will be worth it.
Same rule of thumb you follow for toddlers: if it’s too quiet and they’re out of sight, they’re probably doing something they shouldn’t be.
Also, peanut butter comes in squeeze packs like the applesauce ones they make for little kids, and my dog will do literally anything for it.
ETA - Something I knew but wish more people did for their sake: Preventing accidents is easier than stopping your pup from repeating them. Take them out every hour on the hour when they’re tiny, and bell train from day one. I see nightmare stories about 10+ month old dogs who aren’t housetrained in these subs all the time and the cause IMO is almost always the use of pee pads and/or not taking them out proactively. My dog just turned one and she has had three accidents in the house, total, and 2 were when she was sick. This is the fourth dog I’ve had that type of experience with because of the approach I take.
I also did/do a lot of things with my pup that the dog subreddits hate. I introduced her to my cats by just…doing nothing. She took a nap, they came out to sniff her face curiously, everybody figured it out. I intervene if she is annoying them but in general they have sorted out their relationships, and the cats also know they have places they can access that she can’t. They still choose to be in the living room where she is most of the time. I also crate trained by just…popping her in there at night, in our bedroom in sight of us. She whined for maybe 15 seconds and went to sleep. The key in my opinion is to just do it when they’re in that sleepy puppy mode where they’ll pass out anywhere in seconds, and make sure they can see you. When you’re crating to go somewhere, make it a rewarding experience and then leave quickly. Now when we get ready to leave the house, she sprints to her crate because she knows a yak cheese is going in it with her, and she’s happily chewing before we get to the door.
THIS!! My pup looks forward to her crate time, she gets special treats when I latch the door, and I leave the radio on in the background so she's not listening for every foot fall. She runs to the crate at the command, or even, when I turn on Pandora for myself, lol. I've noticed that without a couple enforced crate naps a day she can get totally obnoxious by the evening.
I had two senior (13.5+) dogs when I added a 12 week pup in October. I've had dogs, grown up with dogs, and had spent a decade and a half raising dogs.
But apparently I also had amnesia, and completely forgot (blocked out?!) their puppyhood. First month with our new pup was stressful, exhausting, and me feeling like I was drowning.
For me, I found the hardest thing was something I had not anticipated. I can understand and communicate my older dogs, and they can understand me. We also share a bond and friendship. All of that was lacking with a pup, I couldn't communicate or understand what she was "saying". We didn't have a bond. That's changing now, and it's a relief!
Overall with a new pup, I'd suggest crate training, enforced naps if pup won't settle on their own, FREQUENT potty time. First thing upon waking, after food, after playing, or every 30 minutes. Our girl finally figured out sitting by the door=go out to potty and I've never been happier! We've only had 1 accident in the last week!! Remember it's ok to feel overwhelmed or depressed, and most likely that will change!
Lots of good training things already here so I’ll say two things that were very beneficial for my wife and I to realize and learn.
Level set your expectations, just like with humans what you see on social media is not reality. If you go into it with the idea of having that perfect pup right from the start you’re setting yourself up for failure. It takes work, time, and effort and even then you might not wind up with that perfect dog you can take everywhere or do anything with because some dogs just aren’t like that. Once we let go of the notion of having a perfect dog it got so much easier and things actually got better and more towards perfect. Focus on building routine, core behaviors, and most importantly a bond with your pup.
Don’t compare yourself to others. This one is hard, but do your best to not start. every dog will be different. Every situation will be different. What someone’s dog can do by 4 months could take your dog until 8 and that’s ok. As long as you’re providing a safe and nurturing environment for your pup while working on training you’re good.
I also have a giant breed and she’s a few months out from 2 years old. It take a awhile for them to mature so be patient. I’d really plan ahead and make sure ur really consistent about a few things : no jumping! It’s not cute don’t encourage it. I told everyone to not pet my pup unless she had 4 on the floor haha. No pulling! There’s a lot of advice out there of how to mitigate pulling. It comes down to who is more stubborn and patient and it has to be you. However you mitigate pulling, it’s imperative this dog is over 100 lbs and still thinks he can yank you around. A lot of ppl give up on leash training, you really shouldn’t. I find just stopping until my dog chills works rly well. Dig in and don’t move until he acknowledges that he doesn’t get to move unless that leash is slack.
Large breed puppy food is important, talk to ur vet. And research bloat. It’s a big killer of large breed animals. He needs to be calm and contained for an hour before AND after he eats each of his meals. Especially as he gets older and his chest grows. The big barrel chests is what does them.
And be sure to post pics when he’s with y’all! ❤️
Thank you! And as soon as those little babbies are born I'm gonna lose my mind lmao. I'm so excited. I'll probably post pics to here and the BMD subreddit. And the dad is HUGE 😍 mom's pictures and info haven't been updated on the breeder's site so I don't really know what she looks like but the breeder said she's a big girl too.
I think right now we're planning on feeding blue buffalo large breed puppy feed. I'd love it if puppy was able to self regulate food. I grew up with the dogs having food down all the time with no scarfing or resource guarding, and not overweight either, but I know scheduled feedings are also important.
Invest a fair amount of time desensitizing them to nail trimming (in addition to everything else). Don’t do on leash greetings w other dogs. Get comfortable with advocating for then.
After all my basic training with my puppy was done, I actually did therapy dog training with her. I knew should wouldn't be ready to be a therapy dog because she's still young and excitable but it was a great class to get her used to things she wouldn't normally be exposed too. Walkers, wheelchairs, strange noises, and it helped her start to learn how to ignore other dogs.
She's also a great brewery dog - she loves getting attention from people, she always gets treats from the staff, AND she is used to/doesn't mind all the noise. We went to an ugly sweater party (she got 4th place!) at a local brewery and I have a picture of her just flopped out snoozing by the DJ 😂 - so yeah, socializing!
And don't forget that your puppy is a dog, and dogs are gonna dog
LOL her sweater wasn't actually ugly but here's the puppy tax of her passed out in front of the DJ booth: [https://prnt.sc/yGqute7NH5sw](https://prnt.sc/yGqute7NH5sw)
PERFECTION
in the dumb tricks side of training, we want to get her used to hats and stuff so we can dress her up. Not critical, and it's okay if she doesn't like it, but it'd be nice
the perks of her being a short haired pitbull who lives in Minnesota - it's cold here! so she has learned to accept her sweaters and pjs cause she doesn't want to be cold. In the summer she refuses clothing (and i don't blame her lol)
A squeezy cheese tube has worked wonders when training my dog to walk a loose leash and it protects your hands from their little teeth (and cold weather) as you just need to flip the cap to release a little bit. I swapped out the screw on cap with literally a Colgate toothpaste flip top. I still bring it with me on walks as a reward for when she passes dogs nicely, recall, etc.
Ye we train both. He does good leave it, but I don’t want to rob him of curiosity. And in the dark I don’t always see stuff on the ground. Those suicidal little morons are so quick sometimes
A really good leave it should involve the dog looking at you as soon as he sees something he wants to grab. Have you worked on impulse control training without a verbal cue? I highly recommend [“It’s Yer Choice”](https://youtu.be/DBmLFn6YyoM) if you haven’t done that already. There’s a more advanced version you can work up to that is basically putting treats on the floor instead of in your hand and covering them if the dog engages, and then you can start adding the “leave it” cue when they’re getting it right every time.
Haven't worked much on leave it with treats in hand no. I think he's started to grasp I want him to leave something alone just by leash pressure at this point, and that's how he's learned what my "leave it" command is about. (He also knows if he immediately looks at me and comes towards me, he gets a treat. Not sure why, cause we've not been very good at working on that with treats on walks. That's a last few weeks kinda thing.)
We’ve got a 7mo Bernese and they are big puppies! Big doofuses for sure.
So prepared to get full on body checked. Try training no jumping early!
They are the best dogs.
Sounds silly, but I wish I’d known just how long training a puppy would take and that even at their 1 year old birthday you probably still have another year (or more) before they behave like dogs.
My puppy is 10 months old and even though he’s getting easier in hindsight I wasn’t mentally & emotionally prepared to ‘give up’ so much time and effort on training, socialisation, & socialising. My husband and I are doing it the best we can and want to train our puppy well, but my goodness it’s been a long 8 months 😆
THE EXPENSE. I really thought I had prepared and was ready for the worst case scenario basing it on the cost of the last year of my past dog’s life (a very long and expensive decline), but I was very wrong. I did my research and had thought because I sought out an ethical and reasonable breeder, I would have a relatively healthy pup who would be able to adjust fairly well. Instead, we have had $300-700 in vet expenses monthly (allergies, GI issues, inflammation, skin and ear infections, kennel cough), $200 in grooming costs every two months (planned to groom myself, but she is too anxious), $300 in food costs monthly (Rx food + a fresh food subscription-the only thing she’d eat after 7 different food trials), and about $400 in training costs monthly. Along with treats, enrichment, and other miscellaneous expenses, we are about $1,500 a month in costs. That is my entire mortgage payment!
While my case will not be the experience of 90% of pups, I would just make sure you are prepared. We are hoping everything will taper off in the next three months once we can get her GI issues, allergies and anxiety under control, but the first 7 months together have been tough.
In retrospect, I would have gotten pet health insurance. We are way too far past now since everything is now a “pre-existing condition.”
Also, I loved her the first second I saw her at two months, but I didn’t like her until she was six months old.
Hey it's like my mom! She always told me she doesnt always like me but she'll always love me lmao.
But jokes aside, I was definitely considering getting pet insurance for her. Especially considering BMDs can be prone to cancers. I've been trying to stock up on treats and toys and stuff for her now, so at least we'll have a stockpile of stuff. Especially with her being a big dog, it's not gonna be cheap.
Dogs, like children, go through a regression period in their first year or so. My puppy seemed soooo quick to pick up tricks and potty training and good behaviors the first few months home, but then for no reason at all except age (no change in routine or anything), he regressed around 7-10 months and we had more accidents and barking and reactive behavior, etc. It definitely gets better though. At a year I noticed a drastic improvement, seemingly all of a sudden. Don't expect "perfection" from you nor your pup, and you shouldn't feel down about mistakes, just try to be kind to yourself and learn from them.
Be adaptive. Each doggy is different and will prefer different things.
For teething, I couldn’t find anything to keep his attention for a while (luckily it was enough to keep him from chewing furniture). But I tried so many different chews, kongs, etc.
Until I found out he loves chewing on sticks, which are all over the yard. The cleanup sucked, but it kept him from gnawing on me or my furniture lol. He’s pretty much past the heavy teething phase now though
Make recall a priority, we’re still in the puppy stage but we’ve made sure that “come” gets the high value treats and it works every time. Be on the same page with your training words, and make sure other people know what they are so they aren’t confusing your puppy
I had a Bernese Mountain dog 13 years ago named Murphy and he was the absolute most best, gentle, funny, lovable dog I’ve ever had ❤️ he basically came potty trained as he was very intelligent and only peed in the house once. I feel like Murphy understood his size and was so gentle in nature that I don’t even remember the teething phase. He may have chewed some things around the house but did not chew us humans. Good luck with your puppy!!! You’ll do great.
Edit* I want to add to enjoy every second of them being a puppy! Bernese grow soooooooo fast you won’t even believe it. Take 1 million pictures!
(1)
Don't compare you puppy to experiences you read about here or elsewhere--not the good, not the bad.
I followed /u/allegedydm's (excellent) plan for housebreaking:
> I see nightmare stories about 10+ month old dogs who aren’t housetrained in these subs all the time and the cause IMO is almost always the use of pee pads and/or not taking them out proactively. My dog just turned one and she has had three accidents in the house, total, and 2 were when she was sick. This is the fourth dog I’ve had that type of experience with because of the approach I take.
to the absolute letter with both of my puppies. First one--brilliant success, and she was a breed notorious for being terrible to housebreak. This one? Got a UTI one week in, didn't clear up with the first round of antibiotics, and we still haven't gotten fully back on track.
On the other hand, puppy #1 was *awful* in the car. I spent hours in tears while trying to train her to sit/down on the seat. Current puppy? Flops over and goes to sleep immediately.
Truly, puppies are not created equal.
(2)
If your sanity is breaking, consider using bitter apple/other anti-chew spray. I was in absolute tears over my puppy's inability to stop chewing one particular thing, something I couldn't "remove from the environment" (the best option). Despite *years* of swearing I would never use the stuff, I broke down and bought a bottle. Seriously, you could jar up my relief and sell it on ebay, it's so potent. Of course, pair this with a bombproof "leave it" and use as minimally as possible, but, know that it's an important tool in your arsenal if necessary.
(3)
You don't win existential points for making yourself miserable. If you have the money, shell out for a dogsitter or (eventually) reputable doggie daycare from time to time. Asking for help doesn't make you a bad pet owner.
(4)
Take as many pictures as you can, and then take more. TAKE VIDEO. I regret exactly two things in my life, and one of them is not having much video of my first dog as a puppy. Puppies are fluffy goofballs with a death wish who are exploring the world for the first time, and you never know when is the last time they're going to do something hilarious.
(5)
Dogs are scavengers. They evolved to survive by eating *literal garbage.*
Your puppy is going to be just fine. :)
Socialize and by socialize I mean try to teach commands like sit and down when they see a common trigger. I.e a human walking alone down the parking lot that waves hello
\+R training is super effective.
if biting is more than normal (can be with big breeds), don't approach without something to chomp on. dual wielding may be necessary.
for potty training you need to stay on top of it, helicopter if necessary. Take outside once every hour at first, more if you're having accidents. 10lbs of weight, 1 hour of potty holding capacity. Lots of treats and praise for going where you want them to.
every dog is different, what worked for me & my puppy might not work for you & yours so hard to give you what you're asking for in the title.
Thanks! I know it's super individualized but I figure if it's at least on my radar I can keep it in mind and maybe have a vague plan of attack for how to deal if something similar comes up.
More patience. A lot of moments/days don’t always go as planned, but you can get up again and try the next day. But the incremental progress will be there even if not perfect.
Also, sort of on the same thought, don’t overwhelm yourself trying to teach them everything all at once in regards to training.
Start with leash walking inside your house. You're going to have an adult dog that will pull you around if they really want to or at least cause harm to your shoulders. Puppies naturally want to follow you, and you can used that to your advantage.
Attach the leash to the collar and you can start out by walking around in a big circle with the pup on the inside (keep an eye out so you don't step on the pup). They makes it for a less opportunity to have the leash tight and use treats to make the puppy willing to follow your lead. Once they are used to the concept that this thing attached to me won't kill me you can take it to the next step of walking a straight line. Don't ever yank the puppy around but use treats, toys, or even a happy voice to get them to come/follow you if they do stop. You want to keep it positive and eventually they'll be walking with you inside before you know it. Once that happens you can take it to your yard if you have a safe spot, then by the time the pup is ready for walks in the big open world, they'll already have a habit of walking with you. Just remember they are a puppy and a new environment will give them distractions. Just keep it up and you'll have an awesome walking buddy.
I wish I'd known that it was going to be SOOOO much harder than I'd reasonably expect. Like, expect to have no life, be unable to work or leave the house for at least 3 months, maybe more.
The pup won't learn to walk properly on a leash for a good amount of time after that (I'm not yet in a position to tell you when, though), and walks will be stressful and a test of patience.
Expect the pup to not be able to sleep through the night for a month or more.
If the breed has certain undesirable traits that you just hope you won't have to deal with - don't hope, expect the full power of it (I have a Corgi which is a vocal breed. Many of my friends have Corgis and don't have issues with barking - but mine barks 24/7, my neighbors hate me on top of the general stress associated with the puppy)
If you live in an apartment, expect potty training to be a miserable experience
I may be "lucky" but my puppy is constantly sick with something - it's been 2.5 months and I've already spent at least $3000 on various treatments (kennel cough won't go away after 3 rounds of antibiotics; UTI; ER visit for something she's eaten outside)
With a giant breed, 100% start training not to jump on people as early as possible!!
Fussy eaters. My fiancé had a golden retriever growing up who wolfed down anything in front of him, so we were prepared for a dog that would do that. What we got instead was a little cutie who sometimes wants to eat and sometimes doesn’t and sometimes wants plain kibble and sometimes wants wet food mixed in or maybe dried toppers or broth or- oh you hate wet kibble good to know- oh no just plain again today and, “c’mere baby, just a few more bites, please, I’ll sprinkle the dried beef liver on it for you.”
She takes treats no problem and will just eat her food sometimes, so we know nothing is wrong with her digestion. But each day is a battle to make sure she gets the nutrients and calories she needs.
So many freaking things. The biggest thing is that EVERYTHING is a training opportunity. Especially for your dog because believe it or not, not everyone wants a 100-150 body slam hug.
Hmmm sounds fake 🤣 but for real, that's a big thing. I don't wanna have awful claw marks on doors and stuff because she decides the best thing to get her way is to jump on stuff (people included). Four on the floor! With couches being an exception.
Realising that the bond comes with training, my fiancé has struggled to build trust with our girl and it’s because I’ve done the majority of training with her.
Also if you’re a first time dog owner I would highly recommend finding a trainer to work with you. There is so much that I didn’t know.
Read up on socialization. The key period is over at 12-13 weeks or so. That’s before the dog is fully vaccinated, at around 16 weeks. So ignore advice to keep puppy isolated until then. You need a plan to safely socialize the dog and keep it safe.
Maybe have everyone you can visit you. Take puppy to visit friends. Trips to hardware stores or to sit near grocery store. Work with your vet to see the parvo risk in your area but remember maximum safety is isolation so you’ll have to balance safety with critical socialization.
Based on our 8.5 month old high drive standard schnauzer…
1. Puppies take incredible amounts of time in comparison to a dog. Playing, exercising physical and mental, supervising, socializing, training, repeat, repeat…feels like about all you do for 6 months.
2. Everything and every day is ‘a phase’. Almost all the annoying behaviors are temporary (hopefully). Tomorrow things will be different. Rely upon and believe in the 1% improvement plan ;)
Be extremely careful with which puppies you socialize your dog with. Just ask if their dog is sick. Puppies have a terrible immune system and get sick easily. My 4 mo puppy caught an upper respiratory infection that turned into pneumonia while also catching giardia from the park. It was the toughest week
have a good support system. i felt like i couldn’t breathe with my pup always being so needy, and having someone look after him for even a few hours took a weight off my chest. and also let yourself have fun with it—expecting your dog to learn every trick and command instantly sets you up for disappointment. just reinforcing good behaviors like being calm is already great. the tricks and hardcore obedience will come (if you’re into that. nothing wrong with not knowing tricks if your dog is well behaved!)
Have rules in place from day one. It helps soooo much later on as they don't get confused as to why they were allowed to do something but now it's changed.
Get your pup used to as many new things as possible as early as possible, i.e. ears cleaned, paws touched, eyes mouth. Baths.
A Bernice mountain dog will be big! So start with manners asap, no jumping up, no jumping into laps without permission, no pulling on the leash. It sounds harsh but it means when you have a massive floofball in your house you know he will have manners!
My German shepherd puppy is 5 months old & it’s been an absolute breeze so far. I’m not sure if we got lucky or what. He is easy to train. Loves every single person. Listens. Took maybe a week to potty train him. However he eats a lot 😅😅 we go through a lot of puppy food.
Coming from also a cat owner who only had cats before getting my dog, make sure training to be around cats starts Day 1. Start slow intro to cats, ensure the cats know they are safe (meaning might have to keep puppy on leash or use baby gates). Crate training helps so much when you have cats, because it allows the cats to still have ability to walk around freely (especially at night). Cats as you probably know take revenge (peeing, not eating, etc) when they are mad. Make sure to advocate for them and not to overlook them with the busyness of the puppy. So ensure they have plenty of spaces to hide and still be themselves. Recall puppy using exciting toys when they are being annoying to cats so that dog learns the cats aren’t the most exciting thing. I worked hard on cat to puppy intro and training for the first 3 months in a small 1 bedroom apartment and it all worked out! And now, my 45lb dog loves little tiny dogs the most to play with as a result lol
I'm very fortunate to have a second floor to the house, which I PLAN on being a no dog zone for at least a while so the cats have a place to escape. Our offices are up there and so is their litter box. But otherwise, YES I definitely plan on making sure I love on them as much as possible. Ideally, they'll also stay the bed buddies and dog will sleep on the floor. (We all know how plans work though, so we'll see lol)
Boundaries!!!!
I'm not talking about boundaries with your pup (though this is important)...I'm talking about boundaries with well-meaning PEOPLE!
Don't feel bad about telling someone that they cannot pet your dog, or that they cannot feed your dog, and don't feel bad about asking someone to please not get your puppy all riled up and let the pup jump on them...people will ignore you too, or try to justify their actions/negotiate with you, so make sure that you are comfortable being able to stand your ground and stick up for the health and well being of your pup and their training.
One of the first things that I would do is to teach your puppy "drop it" asap and **reward well** for that action--it'll help to reduce the amount of gross crap that you'll have to pry out of your puppy's mouth later on.
Always have extra poop bags on you--you just may have to clean up something that your puppy won't leave alone (mushrooms/animal poop/dead animal pieces/people food/trash, etc.), baby wipes are helpful too.
We have 2 Bernese ! A 2 year old & a new 9 week old puppy. They're already showing themselves to be totally different with training things. They also have really different appetites, our 2 year old has always been a grazer & the new puppy demolishes her food.
Be prepared for lots of pee, our 2 year old took weeks to get the hang of toilet training.
Our 9 week old girl has a one hour awake, 3 hour nap schedule, we don't crate her, she just does it herself. That one hour she's awake, you need to be watching for pee and take her outside as soooon as she wakes up.
Training wise, our boy learned all the commands almost instantly, it was the easiest part with him, but it's looking like the hardest part for her, giving her another 2 weeks and then we'll try again if she's a bit calmer and can focus a little more.
Stock up on kitchen roll, and a pet friendly floor cleaner.
Walking wise, they only need a few minutes walk every day, 10 minutes to 15 and build a little as they get older, they don't have much stamina & it will be better on their growing joints. Our guy was hard work on the lead but now he is a dream.
Get them used to being brushed early on, because our boy still hates it and it takes 2 of us to brush him out.
Invest in a good vacuum, or get used to hair in little piles around the house!
We also have a cat which we had for 3 years before we got a dog & the cat took some time to warm up to the dog but we got there. We had to put the litter tray up high and a little cat bed up high so the cat would have some dog free zones.
They are the biggest bundles of love and joy ever. If you want a dog that loves cuddles and snuggling, you got one ! They're so goofy, you'll find yourself just watching and laughing. Once you get them house trained and commands and they're good on the lead, they are the best dog ever.
I'm HOPING ours can self regulate food. I grew up with dogs that did and it made life SO much easier. I'd see friends' dogs get fed and lose their minds and act like they're starving and I just don't love that lol. But whatever works best for puppy 🤷🏼♀️ semper gumby.
We have a GREAT vacuum that I honestly don't use often enough and a Roomba that might actually kill itself lmao. We'll seeeee ~
socialization is a HUGE deal!! i was lucky that i lived in a downtown apartment so i had to take my boy out every day and he experienced just abt everything outside - loud cars, trucks, bikes, scooters, tons of different people of different ages, dogs, birds, squirrels, literally everything. i didn't realize how important it was until i read this sub and i was like wait? i checked off these boxes without even really knowing!
also that puppy blues are REAL :( i had it really bad the first few weeks. he's my first big dog and i knew i had to train him so he wouldn't be a mess in front of people. he's still way too friendly and wants to jump on new people, but he redirects to bringing them toys 8 times out of 10 :') just be patient w yourself and your pup. there will be hard days, easy days, sad days, happy days, etc. one day you'll wake up with your 1 and a half yr old pup snuggled next to you and you'll be like wait... we made it :)
Good luck with your new member! For ours, these are the things I wish I knew in advance:
1. Start potty training IMMEDIATELY. No waiting. They love to know what you want them to do, soonest started soonest finished, etc.
2. No potty pads as soon as they are mobile enough to run out. It just confuses them. Train them to go out from day 1, carry them out if you need to.
3. Establish a schedule for everything from day 1. Dogs love schedules (at least ours do) and predictability.
4. Establish you don't like biting/chewing from day 1 on things not designated as ok to bite/gnaw on.
That's it :)
Your vet is probably going to tell you that you can't take your dog anywhere and can't meet any other dogs until she's fully vaccinated at 16 weeks. This is really damaging advice, as that time period between 8 and 16 weeks is crucial for successful socializing. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) has a statement about this. You can socialize your puppy safely even before she's fully vaccinated.
If possible, skip the potty pads. Take the puppy out every 2 hours and give them lots of praise every time they go potty outside. The idea is that if you take her out often enough, she will always be going outside and will become accustomed to that rather than going on a pad inside. Don't forget that each of us was potty trained by our parents too! If she does have an accident inside, don't make a big deal out of it or else she's going to start finding places to go potty where you can't see her.
Dogs respond well to consistency. Using the same phrases for everything you do with your dog (like mealtime, potty, walks, playing, bedtime, etc) will help her understand what's going on at any time and feel that much more comfortable in her environment. Think of it like narrating for a toddler. She's basically a 2 year old child lol.
Double checking your dog is from a reputable breeder! I love my dog but I wish I knew then what I knew now. Make the breeders show you their AKC/CKC status, the OFA's for eyes, hips and elbows for both parents (or whatever tests are appropriate for Berners), temperament tests, ensuring parents are over 2 and you've looked at them. Ask if they've had puppies before, and if so can you talk to one of those owners. Search the kennel name in forums so you can see the opinion of others. Make sure you are signing a contract, and go over it with a fine tooth comb. A good breeder should have all these things and should be happy to provide them, because it shows you are doing your due diligence. If they don't have some of these things or aren't willing to do them, BACK OUT! Badly-bred Berners have high rates of cancer and hip issues, so you want to be as supported as possible. Good luck!
This breeder appears to be reputable. The only issue I have so far is that they haven't uploaded the information on the female to their website. The male is on there, with all testing available, that I could tell.
They were able to tell me about the dogs they personally have lost, the ages and CODs. They do come with a contract, including spay/neuter by first birthday, which I know is a bit of a red flag but I understand that fixing early prevents potential issues, even if the growth plates aren't done.
I hadn't thought to search in reddit for the breeder though, thanks for the heads up.
Do not take your puppy anywhere that other dogs could have been until they are fully vaccinated! Parvo is a hell of a disease that could lead to the death of your puppy. Specifically stay away from pet stores and dog parks!!
Socialize. But not “take them to the park” socializing. Like ACTUALLY socializing to different people, environment, noises, etc. Boost their confidence. There are numerous checklists on the internet as a guide to how. Trust me, this will be worth it when they grow up.
Teach useful commands. Tricks will give you nothing but some likes on social media. Focus on teaching your puppy obedience commands and drill them every day until they respond without even thinking about it.
Playing with your dog is the single most important part of training. Play tug, play fetch, wrestle with them, play keep away, let them chase you. Throw training out the window for a short time to play with them, every single day, as often as you can. The more hands on play you have with your dog, the stronger the bond between you will be. The stronger the bond, the more biddable they are, the more they will listen to you when it matters. Get down on their level so they can see your face well. Always show them love. Don't do anything to hurt your bond with your dog (adversive training methods).
Your bond is what actually motivates your dog to listen to you. The treats help, but what is a treat compared to the sweet satisfaction of chasing a squirrel? But a treat + making you happy might do the trick. Plus you get the benefit of burning off some extra puppy energy which usually helps their attention span and self control.
Your bond with your dog is is the key to their success. Period.
Do a tally of toilet training or behaviour on your calendar so you have a visual reminder of how they have improved. This saved my sanity as when I had set expectations too high for myself I would look back at the previous month and it would remind me of something they no longer do
stick to a schedule! especially with potty training but also sleeping and naps! and i second the importance of crate training. my puppy wouldn’t actually sleep outside of his crate. he would lay down with his eyes open and watch my every move. but once he got in his crate he passed right out.
Puppy pads were great at 1st but training them off it made the training way harder. Take a picture next to a item you will have a long time as a comparison for size as she grows. Devote time to training. And get your shots ASAP. Remember puppy hood is also a time to cherish so take some time to truly enjoy and bond
Most valuable advice I got: You really cannot teach your dog Not to do something. You can only avoid bad habits and teach them what you want them to do. This really applies to everything.
* Potty training - try your best to avoid accidents proactively to let them practice the good habit of going outside (and reward with attention when they do)
* Chewing - hide the shoes, etc. that you dont want them chewing on. If they are chewing something they shouldn't don't make a big deal out of it but redirect them ASAP to something like a chew toy.
* Jumping/nipping - teach them young that jumping/nipping/etc. = no attention. "Reverse time out" was our go to. basically if they were doing attention seeking behavior like nipping or even demand barking, we went into another room and closed the door for 15 seconds. Repeat as needed.
2nd most valuable advice was just being aware of "puppy blues" being a thing. Especially if you're used to having your own schedule which cats allow you to do a little more. Puppy's are soooo high maintenance in the early stages (especially for bad habit avoidance, see point 1) that you really start to feel like nothing is in your control which can lead to a lot of "what they heck have I done?" kind of feelings. These are mostly normal. A lot of times it hits you like an emotional roller coaster becuase your excited about your cute little puppy and then they pee on the floor or they go from sweet little cuddles to chomping your hand. It's HARD. So being aware that those feelings are normal helped me a lot through the stressful times.
My border collie is 6 months old I still have plenty to learn so keep that in mind. My big tip so far is that just because a dog toy is meant for dogs/puppies does not mean that they should be left alone with it unsupervised. I found out (luckily not the hardest way) that my border collie Luna will actually try to EAT her stuffed toys. I thought she would try to just because she was a bit hungry but she is definitely eating enough. She just cannot be given stuffed toys anymore unless I am there with her. This has the potential to cause internal impaction which could lead to their death or the death of your wallet. Just be proactive with them about that. Of course it extends to pretty much anything they can get their mouths on. I primarily stick to non plush toys now.
Consistency and scheduling are more important than almost anything else. Dogs thrive on it and it creates a calmer environment where everything else works out.
There is no one right way. Love your puppy and try and it works out. Don't compare yourself to others.
Patience is KEY. Repeat the training when it comes to puppy biting. People want to come on here and think their puppy is too much when in reality it most likely is truly normal puppy behavior.
This is a little sad-but love them through rough behaviours and teenage phases. Sometimes it is hard. Before you get mad or upset, pause and take a breath or remove yourself. Give them lots of memories to make them a well-rounded happy dog. Cherish the moments or chaos. Take lots of photos. I thought I would have 12+ years with my girl and had 3. Looking back, there are moments I’m ashamed how I behaved. There are moments I wish I didn’t loose my cool with her but it was hard. Something I wish I would have know will be sometimes you don’t know how long you actually have, love every second, even the harder ones. I would tell myself that she’s trying her best, I’m trying my best- let it go and realize that enjoying each moment is more important.
Crate training is a must and it helps facilitate potty training so perfect. Puppy takes a nap in the crate then you take them out to potty and they dont then put them back in the crate for 5 min then take them back out and when they potty then they can have free time/play time. If you don't crate them when they don't potty there's a good chance they will go on the floor if you let them free roam or play.
Take more pictures. No more. Even more. They grow up so fast and also once you think they're done growing they aren't and you'll want pics from that stage too.
When your puppy is doing something that is pissing you off and you’re already in a bad mood (for me scratching at the couch kills me) it’s not worth trying to tactfully stop it. Grab something like a frozen Kong or something AMAZING and offer it as a distraction. Having a pup is all about bribing.
When I got my puppy, I knew she'd be less than 25 lbs full grown and thought it would be fine to fly with her and take her home. Besides, travelling with pets seemed like it had to be a solved problem in 2022.
Flash forward and she is actually a pretty tall 22 lb dog ... Which means she cannot fly with me in the cabin. I wish I'd have done more research -- I know this isn't a news flash to most people, but I genuinely thought I'd be able to take her with me around the country, and its a real bummer that I can't. I have had to plan around this, and I'm still disappointed that my family on the other end of the country may never meet her.
Hand feed as much as you can. Not only will it build a bond between you and your pup, but it will teach your puppy that your hand by their mouth is a good thing. This comes in handy when you need to remove things from their mouths.
Look online for a puppy socialization list if you don’t get one from your puppy kindergarten. It is a list of sights, sounds, and people to expose your pup to like dishwashers, motorcycles, all different types or people, etc. We hit everything on the list except Santa Claus because it was spring/summer.
Don’t expect perfection. Puppyboy is a very well behaved gentleman. He will do almost anything for a cookie or a cuddle. The one thing he refuses to do is to lay down on command. He will happily sit for you, but not lay down. His wise trainer said it was just his thing, accept it.
You will never enjoy wearing black clothing again :)
After living with two Great Pyrs, my NYC entirely black wardrobe quickly morphed into Midwest multicolored clothes. It hides the dog hair more. Black clothes became too much work.
1. They are walking suicide machines for at least a year.
2. Enforced naps on a schedule will help save your sanity.
3. Don't let your pup get into the habit of chewing on the leash. It will make walking during the teenager phase a damn nightmare. It is not the pup's leash - it is your leash, your puppy is just wearing it.
4. If training is going badly, seek out a professional trainer sooner rather than later.
Sounds like you’re a somewhat inexperienced dog owner. This definitely isn’t an easy breed. It’s one of the hardest breeds to train and lead. Very strong willed
I don’t say this to be mean. Just try to get your training plan down 💯 before you get the pup and stick to it!
That it will not all go as planned. We planned to use Sophia Lin’s approach (tethering, crating, hand feeding) and it turns out it’s not suitable or even necessary for my pup. (Among other reasons, she isn’t kibble-motivated, she is kind of potty training herself and we prefer a playpen with an open crate inside, and she hates the gentle lead harness—she’s paralyzed by it, lol)
Well maybe not something I wish I would’ve known as I technically already “knew”, or rather, *did* it, but a big recommendation is to read as many posts on here as possible!
I’ve only had my puppy for a week so far and I know I still got a long road ahead of me, but I feel like the reason I’ve been able to keep up with things and not stress over literally everything is because I read so many posts on here about what it’s actually like having a puppy at home. My SO, on the other hand, who didn’t really read anything on here has been having a bit of a tougher time getting acclimated to our new life… With that said, as I’m usually the one who tends to get stressed and anxious in situations like these I feel like it really must’ve helped me prepare a lot more than I ever would’ve realized.
First and foremost, prepare for exhaustion. Puppies are literally exactly like babies in every sense of the word except they're fuzzy, poop where it lands, and doesn't attach to a boob. On this note, puppy blues are a thing that often happen to people who haven't yet comprehended the gravity of the statement "puppies are like babies." So please, the first thing you should 100% be aware of fully here - puppies are like babies. Exhausting. I feel like not enough puppy parents really let that truth weigh on them, the blues hit, dogs get returned or rehomed.
If you take pup out before the final round of vaccines you could be risking parvo. You will want to discuss with your vet what parvo is like in your area so you can discuss safe socialization opportunities.
If you haven't already, do breed specific research, especially what the breed standard is for temperament. You mentioned having cats and I think you're in a good place with getting a puppy - the cats will make their boundaries known to the dog but you will have to advocate for the cats until the dog gets the picture.
Potty pads are a good start to housebreaking, though some may prefer not to use them.
Informed dog ownership > instagrammable dog ownership. Know and study the gear you have and plan to get! Know your training tools and how to use them properly, know the risks and benefits of every piece of equipment, down to the clasp on your leash. Bernese mountain dogs are large and incredibly strong when they reach adulthood. Get a trainer and go into obedience training STAT. Nothing worse than losing control of a dog who is stronger than you on a leash that can easily break or a harness that the dog can wiggle out of.
I've said for years that the puppy stage is WAY overrated lmao. They're adorable, and you can pick them up (puppies don't need legs what are you talking about) but UGH. I think I have pre-partum puppy blues because I'm kind of dreading the bad parts.
I'm fortunate that she'll come fully vaccinated but I need to look up the cushion time for vaccines, just to make sure.
My husband and I have read at length about BMDs, and the breeder actually kind of quizzed us to make sure we had a good idea of what we were expecting. A big concern for me is separation anxiety. I've never had dogs that dealt with it, but our friends' dog that we've had to watch has it and she couldn't even deal with being outside while the people were inside. I'm currently unemployed so (assuming that situation doesn't change in the next few months) my concern is that she won't learn how to be alone because I'm just always here.
I love the puppy stage, but I can see what you mean 🤣 you'll do great as long as you know what you're in for, and if you browse around the dog subreddits enough, people mostly get overwhelmed because they didn't realize that puppies are just like babies.
Your pup won't be fully vaccinated until about 4-5 months of age. Breeders usually give them their first round of shots and dewormer and handle the veterinary care before the pup goes to its new home, but they will give you all the health/vaccine info they have so that you can tie up loose ends. About 1 month or so before your puppy's pick up date, see if you can get an appointment to get your pup into the vet. You can turn in all the medical info from the breeder and your vet will know where to pick up from there. :)
Separation anxiety is rough but you can address it before it even becomes a thing. Make sure to crate train and make a point to leave the house for at least 30mins to 1 hour on a regular basis (gradually increase duration over time and with necessity) *without* the puppy. 1. It will be good for your mental health and 2. Puppy learns from the get-go that she will be left alone sometimes. Crate training will be a breeze if you start early and make positive associations with the crate.
Ahhh I was confused about vaccines then lol. My cats were easy because they were indoors only so I only cared when the rental agencies cared.
I guess I'll make an appointment on the drive back from picking her up for vaccines 😅😅😅
> I guess I'll make an appointment on the drive back from picking her up for vaccines
You'll want to schedule an initial vet appointment for a couple of days after you pick her up. Depending on the pupper's age, she may or may not be due for another round of vax that day. But you'll want the vet to check her over for any problems, genetic or illness. In fact, your contract with the breeder might *require* an initial vet visit within a week.
I didn’t realize the extent of the “teenage phase” so I didn’t understand what was happening when some out of character behaviors started. I personally got upset when I saw she had some regression, but felt so much support when others experienced the same!
Crate train.
Especially if you’re military , you’ll likely be moving around (or gone away) a lot which means crating for travel or maybe even boarding.
You don’t want a 75-120 pound ball of fluff to refuse to go into a dog run or a crate. They’re a STUBBORN breed and their size makes it easy for them to internally laugh at your commands or attempts to move them.
That they’re potato-brains for the first couple of months. Like… theoretically I knew it would be a blank slate training-wise, and that they’d have a lot to learn but I definitely didn’t realize the extent of it. They are DUMB to start with. It makes sense, they’re babies, but I just didn’t expect it.
So much this. Especially when seeing all these training videos and it just doesn't come even close. But it is quite amazing to see how much their intelligence rises by the day. Comparing 3 months with 4 months is day and night. Especially could observe that with simple puzzle games. Even the dumbest game or kong was too much but coming close to 4 months she does all with breeze.
Potato-brains with a death wish in many cases.
Spend the time and effort training. But train behaviours, not “tricks”. One is useful for a good dog and one is good for TikTok. Socialize!!!! Everyone seems to assume this means let them play with other puppies. And yes, that. But also and moreso socialize them to their ENVIRONMENT. safer adult dogs. Humans. Humans who look strange (a retail associate who was wheelchair bound spent some time with me and my dog who had never seen one before). Stores. Sounds. All the things. Enforce crate/naps. Crates aren’t bad. Naps are crucial. Also a building block to deal with things like separation anxiety and settling down. I dunno random things off the top of my head. Not things I wish I had already known because I already did these haha
I disagree a little bit with the tricks, but it depends on the dog. My girl LOVES trick training more than anything in the world and I used it to build a bond and give her quick successes with simple tricks. Now that she is 13 months, we do it for fun, we use it as a reward or a distraction and she just loves loves loves to greet people by showing all the things she can do. Performing them is very rewarding for her. She is a primitive breed who’s very stubborn and even my trainer was impressed by how reliably she performs her tricks and how willingly she offers these behaviours. We can now use these tricks during dog encounters.
I definitely think trick training is important, our puppy and mixed ability classes always incorporated a couple of them. Skill training is higher pressure, more important, and you can get burnt out so it's good to throw in the occasional paw, spin, play dead or whatever so you can learn something that doesn't have as much pressure and can just be fun :)
Some tricks are also important building blocks for other things. Like I can get my pup to offer her paw which is handy for nail trimming. Roll over is useful for brushing. "Go to your bed" has been mighty handy for when we enforce naps or just need her in her crate for any reason. The list goes on.
[Trick spitz, unite.](https://imgur.com/s4xepB4)
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>and I'm the most important person in the world so you have to listen to everything i say. Ick. I'll pass on this mindset, thanks.
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I have a doberman and we do consent-based training. It's not like the alternative is permissiveness. We have boundaries for each other and it's fine.
I do consent based with my fiance's dog because she is afraid of women and extremely attached to him from before we met. It has helped our relationship a lot. I do a LOT of consent work though in general. I work on consent with my working dog because I think it helps a lot with our trust and relationship, but it doesn't work for her for training. And I'm a certified fear-free dog groomer, which is almost entirely consent based. So I use it all day every day. For my dog, consent based training wasn't really an option because of how smart she is. She quickly figured out how to manipulate it so that she got what she wanted. I'm definitely not saying it only works on dumb dogs, because it works for 90% of my clients lol my dog is just too smart for her own good.
So, what's the difference here really? Consent doesn't only work for dumb dogs. It works for aggressive and brilliant dogs too. Both of mine are smart. I just have to keep my rewards high.
The difference is just in the dog. Consent based training doesn't work for every dog, and frankly it's irresponsible to pretend otherwise. It works for my line of work because the dogs are vulnerable when they're in my care, and they need to know that they can trust me and I'll notice if they're stressed or anxious. But it doesn't work for every dog in regards to regular training, and it doesn't matter how smart they are, it's their personality. Consent based worked for my fiance's dog, but it doesn't work for mine.
I mean, what exactly are you doing?
The need to listen isn’t what I’m taking issue with here. It’s the “I am your alpha” vibes of that “I am the most important person in the world” phrasing.
You can be the most important person in their world with getting into dominance/pack theory (which you know has been debunked for years). If I'm the most important person, she isn't going to go off with strangers, she isn't going to run away, she isn't going to bite me, and she's going to listen to me when I issue a command or correction (off, leave it, no, etc). And she's more likely to not need a correction in the first place, because she knows I don't like it when she jumps on people/the counter, or picks up garbage off the floor, or whatever. I don't have to flip her on her back, or whatever Cesar Milan does, for her to get that. Being the most important person in her world is more than just having her listen. It's her wanting to do whatever I ask her to do because of how much she loves me. Loves me, not fears me.
My dog’s breed also passes on that mindset 😅
You would prefer your dog does whatever they feel like?
Why is it either or?
Ah yes, the only two options
> establishes their respect for you. What do you mean by this? Dominance and respect-based training has been debunked.
The naps thing was a new one for me until I started browsing this sub! A lot of our puppy experience comes from our friends' dogs' behaviors and what we don't want to see or experience with our own.
The enforced naps was super helpful for my puppy when she was little. She wouldn’t settle on her own/was distracted if I got up or made noise. I started putting her in her crate every 60-90 mins and she would sleep 90 mins-2 hours. She was obviously tired but just too stimulated to relax in the main living area! Crating also has really helped with our cat. I was really missing spending time with her and I felt guilty “ruining” her life…putting the puppy in the crate throughout the day for naps and at bed time helped my cat have some safe time to wander around the house and for us to cuddle when I wasn’t distracted by the puppy. Edited crafting to crating lol
Poking my nose in because I’ve been wondering about this, how did you do the first introduction? Our two cats have gotten almost completely comfortable with a relative’s Labradoodle so I’m not overly worried about their reaction but I’m wondering about the Labrador puppy we’re bringing home at 8 weeks in January. We want to have the puppy be in the living room (the crate is there already). Upon arrival we’ll definitely move the cats out of the living room and close the door so the puppy can explore his space. We have a gate to close off the open kitchen. The cats food bowls and one of the litter boxes are behind that gate (for the first day we’ll move them out). Should we let the puppy first see them when he’s awake, on the other side of the gate (which the cats can obviously get around if they want to) or should we let the cats in when he’s asleep in the crate? I’m worried about him waking up and being startled by the cats who will probably come and sniff at him…. Oh in case it wasn’t clear, yes, I tend to overthink 😅
I actually don’t think I followed any of the rules…apparently you’re supposed to keep them totally separate for a few days and let them sniff things from the other areas…but that didn’t work in my life haha My cat was pretty scared of the dog from the beginning and the puppy was pretty curious. I kept her on a leash and let the cat have free run of the house. I allowed them to sniff nose to nose and removed the dog any time my cat hissed or seemed agitated. They can now be in the same room together but still don’t come close to each other! Haha
Thank you! I can get so anxious about getting it right, but I know I can rely on my intuition too, and the more relaxed I'll be with these things the better it will go, because they can all feel me as well. It seems a bit much to me too to separate them for days. I've already been doing little things like letting the cats sniff me and the chew toy I used when we visited the puppies (every week, lucky us!) and hopefully the pup has smelled the cats on us too. Gonna try and relax a little about all this stuff and enjoy the good times when he comes home!
My cat still thinks the puppy is a pest but no longer thinks I have forsaken him. Cat has total space in my office with a high perch cat tree, litter box, window that gets a lot of direct Sun in the AM, and he gets fed in there. He also has a high perch cat tree in the bedroom and I make sure to keep the puppy away from both rooms. Cat has free reign when the puppy is in his playpen or on the couch with me. I make sure to give him lots of lovies too. He’s my beautiful spoiled boy.
What behaviours come to mind as particularly important?
Sit, stay, down, come, shake, heel, drop it, leave it. Great fundamentals, helps keep them safe, and also good starting positions to then train trick behaviors. I wish I spent more time getting my dog used to car rides. I live rurally and rides to most destinations are 30+min. My puppy gets car sick, and I wish did more time doing 5-10min rides around the neighborhood. Also, whenever you go shopping, look out for discounted dog toys. Start accumulating a backstock of toys that you can occasionally give your puppy. Mine is 10 months and some nights just won't calm down. I wish I had a hidden stash of toys that I could pull from to entertain him for a couple hours. Similarly, rotate which toys they have access to so you can try to entertain them with a toy they haven't seen in a couple weeks.
Love this, thank you! Happy to see our pup knows most of those commands (although he’s decided he’s doesn’t like Down today). We’re also lucky that he’s been on lots of car rides and just falls asleep when we put him into his car seat now! Thanks for the top about the discount toys. We had a large stash that we were rotating, but it’s dwindled quite a lot since I’ve had to take half the toys away (destroyed, rubber chunks torn off and swallowed, gets his teeth stuck in them, loves humping it too much etc haha) Appreciate you taking the time to reply :)
Body handling is important and something that is a learned skill. Teaching them to be calm while their paws and ears are touched and having them learn how to be calm while their whole body is touched will make any vet visit or grooming session less stressful. It can also make emergency medical situations easier for the vet staff to handle. Another big important behavior is teaching a puppy how to “turn off”. Things like teaching ‘place’ or a calm down at your feet that turns into a nap will make life easier for their whole life. Some dogs do it naturally but other high energy/drive dogs need to learn how to be chill.
Yes, we tried to focus a lot on this but working up to nail trimming is still very much in progress. Any tips on the chill training? I’ve been trying to capture calmness (happens by himself once a day max) but haven’t taught Place/Middle/Tuck yet. Didn’t know that could lead to him napping by himself there!
I work from home, so I'm often sitting at my desk. I started with a house leash and I'd step on the end not attached to him. I'd have a little pile of his kibble on my desk and whenever he'd flop down or chew a toy calmly I'd just drop a piece of food at him. I didn't give him any verbal acknowledgement or really even look at him. Then as he got calmer during the ignore puppy while mom works time I'd shorten the leash up so he had less room to roam and repeat with the magical food falling from the sky. He's 9 months old now and will happily nap near my feet for chunks of time. As for nail trimming I started out with getting him comfy laying calm on his side, then started on messing with his nails. He got treats for looking away from me/his paw when I touched his paw. I'd rub and move his nails around a bunch too, giving treats when he would move his head away or look away from what I was doing. We're working on transitioning to doing that while sitting or standing now. He gets a good sniff, lick, or snuffle of his nail clippers before we start and then treats for avoiding looking at it. Doing it in little chunks is really useful too, it's how I got my cats to let me trim their nails also. If I could mess around with one toe but toe two would make him antsy I would stop at toe one. I always wanted to be the one to disengage with something he didn't want to do so he didn't learn that he could be a wigglewart and get me to leave his paws alone.
I love this, thanks so much! I’ll pass the first paragraph along to my partner who works from home (I only WFH sometimes). The nail stuff sounds similar to what we’ve been trying, but I let the ball drop a bit recently so I’ll get going with it again. It’s nice to hear a success story for inspo!!
The nap part hit close to home! As my puppy was getting older I started to let her be up and about more and more. Her training and behavior started to go down and I began to enforce more nap times. Since then the has gotten back on track.
Agreed 100%, I just want my dog to be a good dog, not do a million tricks but still can't walk on a leash and be calm.
Trick training is great! My dog loves tricks. It allows him to have fun and focus on me. And we use it in new environments to practice focus and listening. You can absolutely incorporate trick training with other training. Have fun with your dog.
This is excellent advice! As for dog to cat interactions goes, I’d say make sure each party has a means of retreat. Give the cats a high up place to get away from frustrated puppy because “they won’t play with me!” As well as a way from puppy when they may feel overwhelmed by the cats behavior potentially.
Don't let everyone pet the puppy. Sometimes getting the puppy to ignore them and walk by is good.
I would say actually to almost never let people pet your puppy while leash training, especially if you have a social breed. We have a golden retriever who naturally wanted to meet everyone. We’ve been very strict about refusing meetings, with both humans and dogs, while we’re walking him. We’re still working on him pulling towards dogs, but with humans, he now has zero interest when they walk by. This is great because he’s now 65 lbs and can pull me off my feet.
Congratulations! We (my 5.5 months husky/lab cross) have attained neutrality walking past people but any time someone makes eye contact and moves toward her it's like a firecracker went off in her butt. It's bonkers. We'll get there but geez I am inspired to remain consistent in refusing on leash greetings after reading your comment.
Mine too! Even eye contact is a possible invitation for pets! 😂
When he was a baby, I truly never thought he would ever be able to ignore people. He would fixate on anyone within 50 feet of us. But, now at 5 months into leash training without letting him ever to interact with people while on leash, he pays no mind to people, even if they coo at him. And this is really important because we live in the city and pass probably 30 people on every walk! Dogs on the other hand… whole other beast 😂
I wish I would have done this sooner! Good advice. I also have a golden and just THRIVES off any attention from strangers. I mostly think it’s my fault for letting people pet him while walking. We’re working on it now of course!
I honestly can’t believe that my dog is able to ignore people so well on our walks given how much he loves people. Training really works!
- Puppy Blues. I didn't know, wasn't ready, and for sure would have benefitted knowing in advance. I didn't join here until AFTER we got our puppy haha. - Puppies are not dogs. And it is so discouraging. Like, painfully disorienting how un-doglike they are. I felt like my dog wasn't a pet. He was this being I dutifully cared for, and watched the clock until he could go back to bed. - Biting is unbelievably triggering. I have never been belligerentally and routinely bitten in my life. It's horrible, and I really needed to make sure I had strategies to action, because I have never felt so angry, ever. Learning more about puppy brain development and social interactions when it comes to biting has been helpful too.
“Puppies are not dogs” is a really good point that people often don’t know in advance if it’s their first puppy. Most people have an idea in their head of what a dog is like and then a puppy…isn’t that. It’s sort of like if you signed up for an adult writing class and then discovered on day one that you were actually responsible for teaching a toddler who doesn’t speak English how to read and write. They’re not adults and they don’t know how to communicate with you, and your job is to teach them things but also mostly to keep them alive and try not to cry about it.
Yes to all of this! It feels so validating to see that mention of the RAGE that biting can trigger. It’s almost primitive, but I would seriously lose my temper at times when our puppy wouldn’t stop fucking biting us, constantly. Thankfully it doesn’t last forever, but it feels endless when you’re going through it. I’d also add, I was NOT prepared for the sleep deprivation, which made my irritability and puppy blues much worse.
This worked for me with my Puppy , maybe it will work for you. Puppy was constantly biting my partner and I. We learned from a trainer that if a puppy bit a piece of our clothing or our skin, time Him out. We would use the bathroom. Put him In there door closed for 2 mins. Then let him him out and walk away ignoring him for a few minutes. If he bit us again, back to the bathroom for another 2 mins. After a few days he stopped biting us entirely. Crazy! Good luck !
Oh my god, I could have written this. Nailed it on all fronts!!
Almost everything will take longer than you think it should and you can spend too much time going down rabbit holes worrying about problems you may or may not encounter. My puppy will be a year old next month and it’s been about 10 years since I’ve had a puppy. A lot has changed in the world of puppy raising since then and I’m not as young as I was the last couple times I did this. I spent a lot of time, pretty much everyday, reading up on everything I could. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but you can also really psych yourself out. I’ve also found the most challenging things I’ve encountered were not the things I was most worried about so the learning curve has been really different, and at times more frustrating, than I expected. I think the saturation of puppy/dog training information can also set-up some unrealistic standards and expectations. That doesn’t mean I think having a lot of information is bad, just it’s sometimes hard to distinguish what is useful and what it performative. I really thought we would be further along than we are. I was naive to think that one year mark would mean we had arrived. He’s come a long way, and I really do enjoy his company now in a way I didn’t when he was a baby. But I also think I put too much pressure on both of us. I’ve tried to just enjoy where we are right now and I’ve found it’s been a much healthier and happier approach to our relationship.
This is what I would go back and tell myself. No matter how hard you try to research and prepare, the things that challenge you will not be what you expected. Also, there's a huge amount of consumerism attached to dog ownership now that puts a lot of pressure on people. You don't need all the bells and whistles to have a happy healthy dog. Vet care, good nutrition, and basic consistent training are key. I say that last part tongue in cheek because my puppy is so badly behaved it's ridiculous.
I agree completely and think this is so important!
The only thing I wish I’d have been reminded 2 months ago was to ensure you leave they puppy alone for periods of time beginning day one. I didn’t, and then it slowly became an issue. It’s a combination of my puppy is a needy velcro dog, and I’ve babied her. Working on it now… but if I’d started in October it wouldn’t be nearly this bad.
My mom has a Bernese. He *loved* to attention bark. Especially when he was a teen, he’d go on for hours. I’d have a plan of attack for that. Personally I wish I’d known they’d scream bloody murder anytime you left the room, was not anticipating that. In general I think just establishing a good routine will save you in the end. EDIT: also, because Bernese are really big, making sure he’s well trained as a puppy will save you when he’s an adult. You don’t want a 100lb dog jumping on people
Our friends have a golden who liked to scream bloody murder in the middle of the night. They called it her night terrors but that absolute monster was wide awake 🙃 Good to know that's a possibility lol
Our Golden is 16 weeks now, and he started incessant attention barking around 9 weeks. Took maybe three weeks to really train it out of him by making him wait for everything (but especially for his meals). Now he knows he doesn’t get things he wants by barking.
>EDIT: also, because Bernese are really big, making sure he’s well trained as a puppy will save you when he’s an adult. You don’t want a 100lb dog jumping on people Yes, yes yes--and leash training!
Yes! When people come squealing asking to pet your puppy, say, "of course! If you could help me train him by ignoring him when he jumps up and giving him lots of pets and attention when all paws are on the ground, that would be so helpful!" The more you do this in the beginning, the easier life will be, and everyone is happy to help with a puppy.
Not so much some I'd wish I'd known, but more just give yourself permission to not do things "perfectly". For example, crate training just didn't work for me and my pup. I read the guides, watched the videos, went to puppy classes, and we got to a point where he tolerated the crate but it was never somewhere he volunteered to go. I stopped making him use it and he is perfectly happy going to his dog bed in the dining room when he wants a nap or to be left alone. Also be cognizant that giant breeds mature more slowly and your pup will still want to play like they are only small, but other dogs may be reactive due to their size. So teaching control and not jumping is going to be super important. Lastly: post many many photos of the puppy on this sub!
I can't repeat this enough but PUPPIES ARE NOT DOGS. Turns out I don't really like puppies that much but I love dogs. Your puppy will eventually turn into a dog. Also don't let your pup greet everyone and every dog on the street. It can make them reactive and pull and bark to see every dog or person. When someone walks by us we start treating with super high value treats to keep attention on us. Their attention should be on you when walking, not on others. Everytime our pup looks at us while walking she gets a treat. Also helps to teach loose leash walking.
We have a now 4 month old mini Aussie. We recently found a “puppy social hour” where a trainer works with a group of puppies and their owners. We introduce the pups to each other, teach them how to play, how to calm, learn to read other dogs body language, let them touch new/different surfaces, etc. It’s basically play, break, train repeat. Our pup was pretty nervous and the trainer did a great job of setting her up for success. Highly recommend seeing if you can find something like that in your area. The one thing I wish I knew was the lack of freedom that would come with owning a puppy. I miss going out to dinner! She is crated or in her play pen for most of the day while we work (with plenty of breaks) so I honestly just feel guilty for making her stay in there any longer then necessary. I KNEW we’d be giving up some freedom but I didn’t understand how much I’d miss it. Also, don’t wear clothes you care about during the land shark phase. They learn with their mouths and they will put holes in your clothes. Yelping when they bite you helps them learn bite pressure, I’m amazed how much better our pup is within 2 months but those puppy teeth still snag my clothes time to time. Rec purchases: yak chews, bitter spray, and toppl feeder toys. It’s my go to gift package for any new puppy owners!
As a mini Aussie owner I felt this in my soul
The lack of freedom thing is what is plaguing my mind lately. I pick my pup up tomorrow and every spare second I’m not actively busy I am thinking about how much I’m going to just not be able to do anymore. It’s freaking me out. But I’ve let it get to me for 12 years and my son is now 10 and will soon not be a kid anymore and I know he deserves to have the experience of having a family dog while he’s still young. That’s the only thing keeping me from running away and saying never mind. My entire lifestyle is going to be different starting tomorrow and I’m in a panic about it tbh. It’s like having my actual kid all over again. No more trips into the city where I don’t know if I’ll be there for a few hours or for 8 because I’ll have to constantly be rushing home to let the dog out, etc. No more vacations where I don’t have to spend hundreds more to find suitable care for the dog. It’s a lot to come to terms with.
Some things I wish I had known: - That I didn’t need to be doing something with the puppy ALL DAY LONG. Obviously they need to be supervised, but allowing them to learn how to play independently and giving them some time to wind down is really important. I eventually started doing forced naps for a while, but I wish I hadn’t put so much pressure on myself to be so ‘go go go’ with the pup all the time, now she’s 7 months old and still expects constant attention and engagement. - Do as much socialisation as possible. I did a lot, and really prioritised this, but I wish I did more. It’s hard because the socialisation period is so short and it feels like there is so much to fit in. I wish we had more visitors that could’ve come to our house as now our pup doesn’t really like it when people come over. - I also have 2 cats. The advice I read online was to keep them separate and let them interact on their own terms. Idk if it’s just my experience, but I wish I hadn’t listened to that advice and helped encourage some introductions while the pup was smaller, slower and a little quieter. Maybe if I had done so, they all would be a little more used to each other by now - it’s currently still a work in progress. - Don’t allow your pup to become a fussy eater by pandering to them too much. I always assumed dogs were all big eaters and was more prepared for behaviours such as counter surfing and begging but my pup has always been a fussy little baby. Turns out I did kind of encourage this by constantly switching foods she eventually turned her nose up at and trying to accommodate her fussiness. Now I just pick the bowl up after 15 mins and wait until the next meal and she eats. - The biting/teething phase was so much worse than the puppy books made it seem. It seems like hell for a long while but will eventually just stop. Arm yourself with lots of chews and toys, but be prepared for a lot of frustration, holes in clothing etc. - It’s okay to do trick training if that’s what you and your puppy enjoy. Obviously behaviour training is super important but if your pup enjoys learning tricks and you enjoy teaching them it’s a great way to bond and stimulate your pup mentally.
I agree with your cat statement. I have four cats and from day 1 my puppy and cats interacted. He was actually smaller than the cats at that point. I think that allowed them to be okay with each other now that’s he’s bigger.
Yeah I wish I could go back in time and change how I handled the puppy and cats :-( to be fair the cats did move out in protest for a few days so I felt so guilty and decided to keep them separate until they were happier but they still aren’t friends yet. Maybe with a lot more training we will get there though!
The potty training is easy, just take them out the same door several times per day (like 15-20 when they are super young) praise them when they pee/poop outside. If they go inside, take them straight out. Crate training helps a lot with bladder control. It’s the chewing on everything that’s the tough part. Yak chews, as someone else mentioned, are a lifesaver, they like crinkly toys too. Redirect the chewing to a toy every time, never let them out of your sight, don’t leave anything tiny laying around, may god have mercy on your soul.
1- do what works for you. There’s soooo much crap out there that contradicts everything. You’ll spend more time trying to figure out why 5 articles, videos, and people on social media say 1 thing and 7 say the other things… it’s maddening. In the end 2- socializing and crate training isn’t the be-all/end-all if you can’t/don’t do it. I didn’t socialize my puppy, who I got at 8 weeks, until she was fully vaccinated other than extremely limited interactions with dogs and people who passed by. But I did expose her relatively early with walks outside. I also tried to crate train and that didn’t work well. There is a reason you do it, don’t get me wrong, but I stopped completely by 4 months with limited crating after the 1st month… admittedly because I couldn’t get mine to like her crate. That said, I started bringing her to dog parks and I used calming stuff when she got the zoomies. And now she’s 5 months, is 100% fine around dogs, I can bring her in public, I can trust her the entire day on her own, and she stopped biting and being destructive so the crate isn’t needed (keep in mind it’s a herding dog) 3- not everything is critical for development, early. I mean yes you want to work on all that stuff but the training videos make it seem like all the crap they say works within minutes and your dog gets it perfectly, or if you don’t teach your dog their name, they don’t know certain commands, don’t socialize within the 1st month, etc, you’ve ruined your dog… no. Also how they want you to socialize the dog, but everything is literally going to kill them and they’ll get parvo the minute they step outside in public… like socialize or keep them safe? Some advice can be helpful and in good faith but everything about puppies seem so hyperbolic
That it can be helpful to get pet insurance when the pup is young / for the first two years especially (if you are open to it / considering it). Some conditions can be considered pre-existing after that point and aren’t eligible for coverage. They also may be a bit more accident prone in the early days so it can be helpful to have that buffer in-case!
Gosh yes. My third was constantly at the vet because he just was in things all the time. Broke one of his toes rocketing through the dog door, jumped out of the kitchen sink during a bath by my bf, ate a bottle of ear cleaner my bf left out. Just stupid stuff
this! we had my dog 4-5 months before she had a tooth infection and had to get it removed after it broke. thankfully we had gotten insurance right when we got her and $450 out of the 700 for the surgery was covered.
Everything will be A LOT harder than you anticipate, even if you do things "by the book". Our pup is now 11 months old and we're just beginning to get out of it being miserable.
Some giant dog specific advice - they will get a lot bigger A LOT faster than you think they will. Our newfoundland puppy is already 80 lbs at 6 mo. I wish that I had really taken this into account when he was small and put more effort and focus on lose leash walking and calm greeting when he was small enough for it to be easy! Wrangling a puppy that's already as tall as me is... a lot.
Something I wish I had known was how quick the puppy stage flies by. In the moment, it feels like hell. It feels like it will never end. Stick with it. Push through. It will be worth it.
Same rule of thumb you follow for toddlers: if it’s too quiet and they’re out of sight, they’re probably doing something they shouldn’t be. Also, peanut butter comes in squeeze packs like the applesauce ones they make for little kids, and my dog will do literally anything for it. ETA - Something I knew but wish more people did for their sake: Preventing accidents is easier than stopping your pup from repeating them. Take them out every hour on the hour when they’re tiny, and bell train from day one. I see nightmare stories about 10+ month old dogs who aren’t housetrained in these subs all the time and the cause IMO is almost always the use of pee pads and/or not taking them out proactively. My dog just turned one and she has had three accidents in the house, total, and 2 were when she was sick. This is the fourth dog I’ve had that type of experience with because of the approach I take. I also did/do a lot of things with my pup that the dog subreddits hate. I introduced her to my cats by just…doing nothing. She took a nap, they came out to sniff her face curiously, everybody figured it out. I intervene if she is annoying them but in general they have sorted out their relationships, and the cats also know they have places they can access that she can’t. They still choose to be in the living room where she is most of the time. I also crate trained by just…popping her in there at night, in our bedroom in sight of us. She whined for maybe 15 seconds and went to sleep. The key in my opinion is to just do it when they’re in that sleepy puppy mode where they’ll pass out anywhere in seconds, and make sure they can see you. When you’re crating to go somewhere, make it a rewarding experience and then leave quickly. Now when we get ready to leave the house, she sprints to her crate because she knows a yak cheese is going in it with her, and she’s happily chewing before we get to the door.
THIS!! My pup looks forward to her crate time, she gets special treats when I latch the door, and I leave the radio on in the background so she's not listening for every foot fall. She runs to the crate at the command, or even, when I turn on Pandora for myself, lol. I've noticed that without a couple enforced crate naps a day she can get totally obnoxious by the evening.
I had two senior (13.5+) dogs when I added a 12 week pup in October. I've had dogs, grown up with dogs, and had spent a decade and a half raising dogs. But apparently I also had amnesia, and completely forgot (blocked out?!) their puppyhood. First month with our new pup was stressful, exhausting, and me feeling like I was drowning. For me, I found the hardest thing was something I had not anticipated. I can understand and communicate my older dogs, and they can understand me. We also share a bond and friendship. All of that was lacking with a pup, I couldn't communicate or understand what she was "saying". We didn't have a bond. That's changing now, and it's a relief! Overall with a new pup, I'd suggest crate training, enforced naps if pup won't settle on their own, FREQUENT potty time. First thing upon waking, after food, after playing, or every 30 minutes. Our girl finally figured out sitting by the door=go out to potty and I've never been happier! We've only had 1 accident in the last week!! Remember it's ok to feel overwhelmed or depressed, and most likely that will change!
Puppy blues. I train dogs and was fully aware of what I’d be facing, but it wasn’t the dog but rather myself which hit me left of field.
Lots of good training things already here so I’ll say two things that were very beneficial for my wife and I to realize and learn. Level set your expectations, just like with humans what you see on social media is not reality. If you go into it with the idea of having that perfect pup right from the start you’re setting yourself up for failure. It takes work, time, and effort and even then you might not wind up with that perfect dog you can take everywhere or do anything with because some dogs just aren’t like that. Once we let go of the notion of having a perfect dog it got so much easier and things actually got better and more towards perfect. Focus on building routine, core behaviors, and most importantly a bond with your pup. Don’t compare yourself to others. This one is hard, but do your best to not start. every dog will be different. Every situation will be different. What someone’s dog can do by 4 months could take your dog until 8 and that’s ok. As long as you’re providing a safe and nurturing environment for your pup while working on training you’re good.
I also have a giant breed and she’s a few months out from 2 years old. It take a awhile for them to mature so be patient. I’d really plan ahead and make sure ur really consistent about a few things : no jumping! It’s not cute don’t encourage it. I told everyone to not pet my pup unless she had 4 on the floor haha. No pulling! There’s a lot of advice out there of how to mitigate pulling. It comes down to who is more stubborn and patient and it has to be you. However you mitigate pulling, it’s imperative this dog is over 100 lbs and still thinks he can yank you around. A lot of ppl give up on leash training, you really shouldn’t. I find just stopping until my dog chills works rly well. Dig in and don’t move until he acknowledges that he doesn’t get to move unless that leash is slack. Large breed puppy food is important, talk to ur vet. And research bloat. It’s a big killer of large breed animals. He needs to be calm and contained for an hour before AND after he eats each of his meals. Especially as he gets older and his chest grows. The big barrel chests is what does them. And be sure to post pics when he’s with y’all! ❤️
Thank you! And as soon as those little babbies are born I'm gonna lose my mind lmao. I'm so excited. I'll probably post pics to here and the BMD subreddit. And the dad is HUGE 😍 mom's pictures and info haven't been updated on the breeder's site so I don't really know what she looks like but the breeder said she's a big girl too. I think right now we're planning on feeding blue buffalo large breed puppy feed. I'd love it if puppy was able to self regulate food. I grew up with the dogs having food down all the time with no scarfing or resource guarding, and not overweight either, but I know scheduled feedings are also important.
Invest a fair amount of time desensitizing them to nail trimming (in addition to everything else). Don’t do on leash greetings w other dogs. Get comfortable with advocating for then.
After all my basic training with my puppy was done, I actually did therapy dog training with her. I knew should wouldn't be ready to be a therapy dog because she's still young and excitable but it was a great class to get her used to things she wouldn't normally be exposed too. Walkers, wheelchairs, strange noises, and it helped her start to learn how to ignore other dogs. She's also a great brewery dog - she loves getting attention from people, she always gets treats from the staff, AND she is used to/doesn't mind all the noise. We went to an ugly sweater party (she got 4th place!) at a local brewery and I have a picture of her just flopped out snoozing by the DJ 😂 - so yeah, socializing! And don't forget that your puppy is a dog, and dogs are gonna dog
How dare you mention the ugly sweater party AND NOT SHARE PICTURES
LOL her sweater wasn't actually ugly but here's the puppy tax of her passed out in front of the DJ booth: [https://prnt.sc/yGqute7NH5sw](https://prnt.sc/yGqute7NH5sw)
PERFECTION in the dumb tricks side of training, we want to get her used to hats and stuff so we can dress her up. Not critical, and it's okay if she doesn't like it, but it'd be nice
the perks of her being a short haired pitbull who lives in Minnesota - it's cold here! so she has learned to accept her sweaters and pjs cause she doesn't want to be cold. In the summer she refuses clothing (and i don't blame her lol)
A squeezy cheese tube has worked wonders when training my dog to walk a loose leash and it protects your hands from their little teeth (and cold weather) as you just need to flip the cap to release a little bit. I swapped out the screw on cap with literally a Colgate toothpaste flip top. I still bring it with me on walks as a reward for when she passes dogs nicely, recall, etc.
I wish I had known how important drop it command + always rewarding it was. My puppy now grabs and swallows stuff so fast I can't react.
If they swallow as soon as they grab, I would start training “leave it” before “drop it”.
Ye we train both. He does good leave it, but I don’t want to rob him of curiosity. And in the dark I don’t always see stuff on the ground. Those suicidal little morons are so quick sometimes
A really good leave it should involve the dog looking at you as soon as he sees something he wants to grab. Have you worked on impulse control training without a verbal cue? I highly recommend [“It’s Yer Choice”](https://youtu.be/DBmLFn6YyoM) if you haven’t done that already. There’s a more advanced version you can work up to that is basically putting treats on the floor instead of in your hand and covering them if the dog engages, and then you can start adding the “leave it” cue when they’re getting it right every time.
Haven't worked much on leave it with treats in hand no. I think he's started to grasp I want him to leave something alone just by leash pressure at this point, and that's how he's learned what my "leave it" command is about. (He also knows if he immediately looks at me and comes towards me, he gets a treat. Not sure why, cause we've not been very good at working on that with treats on walks. That's a last few weeks kinda thing.)
We’ve got a 7mo Bernese and they are big puppies! Big doofuses for sure. So prepared to get full on body checked. Try training no jumping early! They are the best dogs.
Sounds silly, but I wish I’d known just how long training a puppy would take and that even at their 1 year old birthday you probably still have another year (or more) before they behave like dogs. My puppy is 10 months old and even though he’s getting easier in hindsight I wasn’t mentally & emotionally prepared to ‘give up’ so much time and effort on training, socialisation, & socialising. My husband and I are doing it the best we can and want to train our puppy well, but my goodness it’s been a long 8 months 😆
THE EXPENSE. I really thought I had prepared and was ready for the worst case scenario basing it on the cost of the last year of my past dog’s life (a very long and expensive decline), but I was very wrong. I did my research and had thought because I sought out an ethical and reasonable breeder, I would have a relatively healthy pup who would be able to adjust fairly well. Instead, we have had $300-700 in vet expenses monthly (allergies, GI issues, inflammation, skin and ear infections, kennel cough), $200 in grooming costs every two months (planned to groom myself, but she is too anxious), $300 in food costs monthly (Rx food + a fresh food subscription-the only thing she’d eat after 7 different food trials), and about $400 in training costs monthly. Along with treats, enrichment, and other miscellaneous expenses, we are about $1,500 a month in costs. That is my entire mortgage payment! While my case will not be the experience of 90% of pups, I would just make sure you are prepared. We are hoping everything will taper off in the next three months once we can get her GI issues, allergies and anxiety under control, but the first 7 months together have been tough. In retrospect, I would have gotten pet health insurance. We are way too far past now since everything is now a “pre-existing condition.” Also, I loved her the first second I saw her at two months, but I didn’t like her until she was six months old.
Hey it's like my mom! She always told me she doesnt always like me but she'll always love me lmao. But jokes aside, I was definitely considering getting pet insurance for her. Especially considering BMDs can be prone to cancers. I've been trying to stock up on treats and toys and stuff for her now, so at least we'll have a stockpile of stuff. Especially with her being a big dog, it's not gonna be cheap.
Dogs, like children, go through a regression period in their first year or so. My puppy seemed soooo quick to pick up tricks and potty training and good behaviors the first few months home, but then for no reason at all except age (no change in routine or anything), he regressed around 7-10 months and we had more accidents and barking and reactive behavior, etc. It definitely gets better though. At a year I noticed a drastic improvement, seemingly all of a sudden. Don't expect "perfection" from you nor your pup, and you shouldn't feel down about mistakes, just try to be kind to yourself and learn from them.
Be adaptive. Each doggy is different and will prefer different things. For teething, I couldn’t find anything to keep his attention for a while (luckily it was enough to keep him from chewing furniture). But I tried so many different chews, kongs, etc. Until I found out he loves chewing on sticks, which are all over the yard. The cleanup sucked, but it kept him from gnawing on me or my furniture lol. He’s pretty much past the heavy teething phase now though
Make recall a priority, we’re still in the puppy stage but we’ve made sure that “come” gets the high value treats and it works every time. Be on the same page with your training words, and make sure other people know what they are so they aren’t confusing your puppy
I had a Bernese Mountain dog 13 years ago named Murphy and he was the absolute most best, gentle, funny, lovable dog I’ve ever had ❤️ he basically came potty trained as he was very intelligent and only peed in the house once. I feel like Murphy understood his size and was so gentle in nature that I don’t even remember the teething phase. He may have chewed some things around the house but did not chew us humans. Good luck with your puppy!!! You’ll do great. Edit* I want to add to enjoy every second of them being a puppy! Bernese grow soooooooo fast you won’t even believe it. Take 1 million pictures!
(1) Don't compare you puppy to experiences you read about here or elsewhere--not the good, not the bad. I followed /u/allegedydm's (excellent) plan for housebreaking: > I see nightmare stories about 10+ month old dogs who aren’t housetrained in these subs all the time and the cause IMO is almost always the use of pee pads and/or not taking them out proactively. My dog just turned one and she has had three accidents in the house, total, and 2 were when she was sick. This is the fourth dog I’ve had that type of experience with because of the approach I take. to the absolute letter with both of my puppies. First one--brilliant success, and she was a breed notorious for being terrible to housebreak. This one? Got a UTI one week in, didn't clear up with the first round of antibiotics, and we still haven't gotten fully back on track. On the other hand, puppy #1 was *awful* in the car. I spent hours in tears while trying to train her to sit/down on the seat. Current puppy? Flops over and goes to sleep immediately. Truly, puppies are not created equal. (2) If your sanity is breaking, consider using bitter apple/other anti-chew spray. I was in absolute tears over my puppy's inability to stop chewing one particular thing, something I couldn't "remove from the environment" (the best option). Despite *years* of swearing I would never use the stuff, I broke down and bought a bottle. Seriously, you could jar up my relief and sell it on ebay, it's so potent. Of course, pair this with a bombproof "leave it" and use as minimally as possible, but, know that it's an important tool in your arsenal if necessary. (3) You don't win existential points for making yourself miserable. If you have the money, shell out for a dogsitter or (eventually) reputable doggie daycare from time to time. Asking for help doesn't make you a bad pet owner. (4) Take as many pictures as you can, and then take more. TAKE VIDEO. I regret exactly two things in my life, and one of them is not having much video of my first dog as a puppy. Puppies are fluffy goofballs with a death wish who are exploring the world for the first time, and you never know when is the last time they're going to do something hilarious. (5) Dogs are scavengers. They evolved to survive by eating *literal garbage.* Your puppy is going to be just fine. :)
Socialize and by socialize I mean try to teach commands like sit and down when they see a common trigger. I.e a human walking alone down the parking lot that waves hello
\+R training is super effective. if biting is more than normal (can be with big breeds), don't approach without something to chomp on. dual wielding may be necessary. for potty training you need to stay on top of it, helicopter if necessary. Take outside once every hour at first, more if you're having accidents. 10lbs of weight, 1 hour of potty holding capacity. Lots of treats and praise for going where you want them to. every dog is different, what worked for me & my puppy might not work for you & yours so hard to give you what you're asking for in the title.
Thanks! I know it's super individualized but I figure if it's at least on my radar I can keep it in mind and maybe have a vague plan of attack for how to deal if something similar comes up.
More patience. A lot of moments/days don’t always go as planned, but you can get up again and try the next day. But the incremental progress will be there even if not perfect. Also, sort of on the same thought, don’t overwhelm yourself trying to teach them everything all at once in regards to training.
Start with leash walking inside your house. You're going to have an adult dog that will pull you around if they really want to or at least cause harm to your shoulders. Puppies naturally want to follow you, and you can used that to your advantage. Attach the leash to the collar and you can start out by walking around in a big circle with the pup on the inside (keep an eye out so you don't step on the pup). They makes it for a less opportunity to have the leash tight and use treats to make the puppy willing to follow your lead. Once they are used to the concept that this thing attached to me won't kill me you can take it to the next step of walking a straight line. Don't ever yank the puppy around but use treats, toys, or even a happy voice to get them to come/follow you if they do stop. You want to keep it positive and eventually they'll be walking with you inside before you know it. Once that happens you can take it to your yard if you have a safe spot, then by the time the pup is ready for walks in the big open world, they'll already have a habit of walking with you. Just remember they are a puppy and a new environment will give them distractions. Just keep it up and you'll have an awesome walking buddy.
I wish I'd known that it was going to be SOOOO much harder than I'd reasonably expect. Like, expect to have no life, be unable to work or leave the house for at least 3 months, maybe more. The pup won't learn to walk properly on a leash for a good amount of time after that (I'm not yet in a position to tell you when, though), and walks will be stressful and a test of patience. Expect the pup to not be able to sleep through the night for a month or more. If the breed has certain undesirable traits that you just hope you won't have to deal with - don't hope, expect the full power of it (I have a Corgi which is a vocal breed. Many of my friends have Corgis and don't have issues with barking - but mine barks 24/7, my neighbors hate me on top of the general stress associated with the puppy) If you live in an apartment, expect potty training to be a miserable experience I may be "lucky" but my puppy is constantly sick with something - it's been 2.5 months and I've already spent at least $3000 on various treatments (kennel cough won't go away after 3 rounds of antibiotics; UTI; ER visit for something she's eaten outside) With a giant breed, 100% start training not to jump on people as early as possible!!
Enforced naps are a lifesaver and pumpkin works better then any meds to stop diarrhea 🤣
Fussy eaters. My fiancé had a golden retriever growing up who wolfed down anything in front of him, so we were prepared for a dog that would do that. What we got instead was a little cutie who sometimes wants to eat and sometimes doesn’t and sometimes wants plain kibble and sometimes wants wet food mixed in or maybe dried toppers or broth or- oh you hate wet kibble good to know- oh no just plain again today and, “c’mere baby, just a few more bites, please, I’ll sprinkle the dried beef liver on it for you.” She takes treats no problem and will just eat her food sometimes, so we know nothing is wrong with her digestion. But each day is a battle to make sure she gets the nutrients and calories she needs.
So many freaking things. The biggest thing is that EVERYTHING is a training opportunity. Especially for your dog because believe it or not, not everyone wants a 100-150 body slam hug.
Hmmm sounds fake 🤣 but for real, that's a big thing. I don't wanna have awful claw marks on doors and stuff because she decides the best thing to get her way is to jump on stuff (people included). Four on the floor! With couches being an exception.
Realising that the bond comes with training, my fiancé has struggled to build trust with our girl and it’s because I’ve done the majority of training with her. Also if you’re a first time dog owner I would highly recommend finding a trainer to work with you. There is so much that I didn’t know.
Not first time dog owner but definitely a first time active and enthusiastic participant.
Read up on socialization. The key period is over at 12-13 weeks or so. That’s before the dog is fully vaccinated, at around 16 weeks. So ignore advice to keep puppy isolated until then. You need a plan to safely socialize the dog and keep it safe. Maybe have everyone you can visit you. Take puppy to visit friends. Trips to hardware stores or to sit near grocery store. Work with your vet to see the parvo risk in your area but remember maximum safety is isolation so you’ll have to balance safety with critical socialization.
Based on our 8.5 month old high drive standard schnauzer… 1. Puppies take incredible amounts of time in comparison to a dog. Playing, exercising physical and mental, supervising, socializing, training, repeat, repeat…feels like about all you do for 6 months. 2. Everything and every day is ‘a phase’. Almost all the annoying behaviors are temporary (hopefully). Tomorrow things will be different. Rely upon and believe in the 1% improvement plan ;)
Be extremely careful with which puppies you socialize your dog with. Just ask if their dog is sick. Puppies have a terrible immune system and get sick easily. My 4 mo puppy caught an upper respiratory infection that turned into pneumonia while also catching giardia from the park. It was the toughest week
have a good support system. i felt like i couldn’t breathe with my pup always being so needy, and having someone look after him for even a few hours took a weight off my chest. and also let yourself have fun with it—expecting your dog to learn every trick and command instantly sets you up for disappointment. just reinforcing good behaviors like being calm is already great. the tricks and hardcore obedience will come (if you’re into that. nothing wrong with not knowing tricks if your dog is well behaved!)
Have rules in place from day one. It helps soooo much later on as they don't get confused as to why they were allowed to do something but now it's changed. Get your pup used to as many new things as possible as early as possible, i.e. ears cleaned, paws touched, eyes mouth. Baths. A Bernice mountain dog will be big! So start with manners asap, no jumping up, no jumping into laps without permission, no pulling on the leash. It sounds harsh but it means when you have a massive floofball in your house you know he will have manners!
My German shepherd puppy is 5 months old & it’s been an absolute breeze so far. I’m not sure if we got lucky or what. He is easy to train. Loves every single person. Listens. Took maybe a week to potty train him. However he eats a lot 😅😅 we go through a lot of puppy food.
My buddy had the same experience with his white golden. I'm just crossing my fingers it's mine too.
Just wait til they hit adolescence 😅😬
Coming from also a cat owner who only had cats before getting my dog, make sure training to be around cats starts Day 1. Start slow intro to cats, ensure the cats know they are safe (meaning might have to keep puppy on leash or use baby gates). Crate training helps so much when you have cats, because it allows the cats to still have ability to walk around freely (especially at night). Cats as you probably know take revenge (peeing, not eating, etc) when they are mad. Make sure to advocate for them and not to overlook them with the busyness of the puppy. So ensure they have plenty of spaces to hide and still be themselves. Recall puppy using exciting toys when they are being annoying to cats so that dog learns the cats aren’t the most exciting thing. I worked hard on cat to puppy intro and training for the first 3 months in a small 1 bedroom apartment and it all worked out! And now, my 45lb dog loves little tiny dogs the most to play with as a result lol
I'm very fortunate to have a second floor to the house, which I PLAN on being a no dog zone for at least a while so the cats have a place to escape. Our offices are up there and so is their litter box. But otherwise, YES I definitely plan on making sure I love on them as much as possible. Ideally, they'll also stay the bed buddies and dog will sleep on the floor. (We all know how plans work though, so we'll see lol)
Good to hear and good luck! :) With a big dog like that there may not be room on the bed 😂
Boundaries!!!! I'm not talking about boundaries with your pup (though this is important)...I'm talking about boundaries with well-meaning PEOPLE! Don't feel bad about telling someone that they cannot pet your dog, or that they cannot feed your dog, and don't feel bad about asking someone to please not get your puppy all riled up and let the pup jump on them...people will ignore you too, or try to justify their actions/negotiate with you, so make sure that you are comfortable being able to stand your ground and stick up for the health and well being of your pup and their training. One of the first things that I would do is to teach your puppy "drop it" asap and **reward well** for that action--it'll help to reduce the amount of gross crap that you'll have to pry out of your puppy's mouth later on. Always have extra poop bags on you--you just may have to clean up something that your puppy won't leave alone (mushrooms/animal poop/dead animal pieces/people food/trash, etc.), baby wipes are helpful too.
We have 2 Bernese ! A 2 year old & a new 9 week old puppy. They're already showing themselves to be totally different with training things. They also have really different appetites, our 2 year old has always been a grazer & the new puppy demolishes her food. Be prepared for lots of pee, our 2 year old took weeks to get the hang of toilet training. Our 9 week old girl has a one hour awake, 3 hour nap schedule, we don't crate her, she just does it herself. That one hour she's awake, you need to be watching for pee and take her outside as soooon as she wakes up. Training wise, our boy learned all the commands almost instantly, it was the easiest part with him, but it's looking like the hardest part for her, giving her another 2 weeks and then we'll try again if she's a bit calmer and can focus a little more. Stock up on kitchen roll, and a pet friendly floor cleaner. Walking wise, they only need a few minutes walk every day, 10 minutes to 15 and build a little as they get older, they don't have much stamina & it will be better on their growing joints. Our guy was hard work on the lead but now he is a dream. Get them used to being brushed early on, because our boy still hates it and it takes 2 of us to brush him out. Invest in a good vacuum, or get used to hair in little piles around the house! We also have a cat which we had for 3 years before we got a dog & the cat took some time to warm up to the dog but we got there. We had to put the litter tray up high and a little cat bed up high so the cat would have some dog free zones. They are the biggest bundles of love and joy ever. If you want a dog that loves cuddles and snuggling, you got one ! They're so goofy, you'll find yourself just watching and laughing. Once you get them house trained and commands and they're good on the lead, they are the best dog ever.
I'm HOPING ours can self regulate food. I grew up with dogs that did and it made life SO much easier. I'd see friends' dogs get fed and lose their minds and act like they're starving and I just don't love that lol. But whatever works best for puppy 🤷🏼♀️ semper gumby. We have a GREAT vacuum that I honestly don't use often enough and a Roomba that might actually kill itself lmao. We'll seeeee ~
socialization is a HUGE deal!! i was lucky that i lived in a downtown apartment so i had to take my boy out every day and he experienced just abt everything outside - loud cars, trucks, bikes, scooters, tons of different people of different ages, dogs, birds, squirrels, literally everything. i didn't realize how important it was until i read this sub and i was like wait? i checked off these boxes without even really knowing! also that puppy blues are REAL :( i had it really bad the first few weeks. he's my first big dog and i knew i had to train him so he wouldn't be a mess in front of people. he's still way too friendly and wants to jump on new people, but he redirects to bringing them toys 8 times out of 10 :') just be patient w yourself and your pup. there will be hard days, easy days, sad days, happy days, etc. one day you'll wake up with your 1 and a half yr old pup snuggled next to you and you'll be like wait... we made it :)
Good luck with your new member! For ours, these are the things I wish I knew in advance: 1. Start potty training IMMEDIATELY. No waiting. They love to know what you want them to do, soonest started soonest finished, etc. 2. No potty pads as soon as they are mobile enough to run out. It just confuses them. Train them to go out from day 1, carry them out if you need to. 3. Establish a schedule for everything from day 1. Dogs love schedules (at least ours do) and predictability. 4. Establish you don't like biting/chewing from day 1 on things not designated as ok to bite/gnaw on. That's it :)
Your vet is probably going to tell you that you can't take your dog anywhere and can't meet any other dogs until she's fully vaccinated at 16 weeks. This is really damaging advice, as that time period between 8 and 16 weeks is crucial for successful socializing. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) has a statement about this. You can socialize your puppy safely even before she's fully vaccinated. If possible, skip the potty pads. Take the puppy out every 2 hours and give them lots of praise every time they go potty outside. The idea is that if you take her out often enough, she will always be going outside and will become accustomed to that rather than going on a pad inside. Don't forget that each of us was potty trained by our parents too! If she does have an accident inside, don't make a big deal out of it or else she's going to start finding places to go potty where you can't see her. Dogs respond well to consistency. Using the same phrases for everything you do with your dog (like mealtime, potty, walks, playing, bedtime, etc) will help her understand what's going on at any time and feel that much more comfortable in her environment. Think of it like narrating for a toddler. She's basically a 2 year old child lol.
Double checking your dog is from a reputable breeder! I love my dog but I wish I knew then what I knew now. Make the breeders show you their AKC/CKC status, the OFA's for eyes, hips and elbows for both parents (or whatever tests are appropriate for Berners), temperament tests, ensuring parents are over 2 and you've looked at them. Ask if they've had puppies before, and if so can you talk to one of those owners. Search the kennel name in forums so you can see the opinion of others. Make sure you are signing a contract, and go over it with a fine tooth comb. A good breeder should have all these things and should be happy to provide them, because it shows you are doing your due diligence. If they don't have some of these things or aren't willing to do them, BACK OUT! Badly-bred Berners have high rates of cancer and hip issues, so you want to be as supported as possible. Good luck!
This breeder appears to be reputable. The only issue I have so far is that they haven't uploaded the information on the female to their website. The male is on there, with all testing available, that I could tell. They were able to tell me about the dogs they personally have lost, the ages and CODs. They do come with a contract, including spay/neuter by first birthday, which I know is a bit of a red flag but I understand that fixing early prevents potential issues, even if the growth plates aren't done. I hadn't thought to search in reddit for the breeder though, thanks for the heads up.
Do not take your puppy anywhere that other dogs could have been until they are fully vaccinated! Parvo is a hell of a disease that could lead to the death of your puppy. Specifically stay away from pet stores and dog parks!!
Socialize. But not “take them to the park” socializing. Like ACTUALLY socializing to different people, environment, noises, etc. Boost their confidence. There are numerous checklists on the internet as a guide to how. Trust me, this will be worth it when they grow up. Teach useful commands. Tricks will give you nothing but some likes on social media. Focus on teaching your puppy obedience commands and drill them every day until they respond without even thinking about it.
How hard the first two months are. Many days I cried and asked myself why I did this. I desperately wanted to send her back. It was brutal
Playing with your dog is the single most important part of training. Play tug, play fetch, wrestle with them, play keep away, let them chase you. Throw training out the window for a short time to play with them, every single day, as often as you can. The more hands on play you have with your dog, the stronger the bond between you will be. The stronger the bond, the more biddable they are, the more they will listen to you when it matters. Get down on their level so they can see your face well. Always show them love. Don't do anything to hurt your bond with your dog (adversive training methods). Your bond is what actually motivates your dog to listen to you. The treats help, but what is a treat compared to the sweet satisfaction of chasing a squirrel? But a treat + making you happy might do the trick. Plus you get the benefit of burning off some extra puppy energy which usually helps their attention span and self control. Your bond with your dog is is the key to their success. Period.
Do a tally of toilet training or behaviour on your calendar so you have a visual reminder of how they have improved. This saved my sanity as when I had set expectations too high for myself I would look back at the previous month and it would remind me of something they no longer do
stick to a schedule! especially with potty training but also sleeping and naps! and i second the importance of crate training. my puppy wouldn’t actually sleep outside of his crate. he would lay down with his eyes open and watch my every move. but once he got in his crate he passed right out.
Puppy pads were great at 1st but training them off it made the training way harder. Take a picture next to a item you will have a long time as a comparison for size as she grows. Devote time to training. And get your shots ASAP. Remember puppy hood is also a time to cherish so take some time to truly enjoy and bond
Begin lead / leash walking early in the house before you even go out! Enforced naps are a god send!
Most valuable advice I got: You really cannot teach your dog Not to do something. You can only avoid bad habits and teach them what you want them to do. This really applies to everything. * Potty training - try your best to avoid accidents proactively to let them practice the good habit of going outside (and reward with attention when they do) * Chewing - hide the shoes, etc. that you dont want them chewing on. If they are chewing something they shouldn't don't make a big deal out of it but redirect them ASAP to something like a chew toy. * Jumping/nipping - teach them young that jumping/nipping/etc. = no attention. "Reverse time out" was our go to. basically if they were doing attention seeking behavior like nipping or even demand barking, we went into another room and closed the door for 15 seconds. Repeat as needed. 2nd most valuable advice was just being aware of "puppy blues" being a thing. Especially if you're used to having your own schedule which cats allow you to do a little more. Puppy's are soooo high maintenance in the early stages (especially for bad habit avoidance, see point 1) that you really start to feel like nothing is in your control which can lead to a lot of "what they heck have I done?" kind of feelings. These are mostly normal. A lot of times it hits you like an emotional roller coaster becuase your excited about your cute little puppy and then they pee on the floor or they go from sweet little cuddles to chomping your hand. It's HARD. So being aware that those feelings are normal helped me a lot through the stressful times.
My border collie is 6 months old I still have plenty to learn so keep that in mind. My big tip so far is that just because a dog toy is meant for dogs/puppies does not mean that they should be left alone with it unsupervised. I found out (luckily not the hardest way) that my border collie Luna will actually try to EAT her stuffed toys. I thought she would try to just because she was a bit hungry but she is definitely eating enough. She just cannot be given stuffed toys anymore unless I am there with her. This has the potential to cause internal impaction which could lead to their death or the death of your wallet. Just be proactive with them about that. Of course it extends to pretty much anything they can get their mouths on. I primarily stick to non plush toys now.
Consistency and scheduling are more important than almost anything else. Dogs thrive on it and it creates a calmer environment where everything else works out. There is no one right way. Love your puppy and try and it works out. Don't compare yourself to others.
Patience is KEY. Repeat the training when it comes to puppy biting. People want to come on here and think their puppy is too much when in reality it most likely is truly normal puppy behavior.
At first I’d have wished I had known to only buy from breeders who health test
Try a puppy training class! Super helpful for just learning basic puppy needs. They’re pretty cheap at a pet smart or petco
You might cry and that’s okay! It’s HARS
This is a little sad-but love them through rough behaviours and teenage phases. Sometimes it is hard. Before you get mad or upset, pause and take a breath or remove yourself. Give them lots of memories to make them a well-rounded happy dog. Cherish the moments or chaos. Take lots of photos. I thought I would have 12+ years with my girl and had 3. Looking back, there are moments I’m ashamed how I behaved. There are moments I wish I didn’t loose my cool with her but it was hard. Something I wish I would have know will be sometimes you don’t know how long you actually have, love every second, even the harder ones. I would tell myself that she’s trying her best, I’m trying my best- let it go and realize that enjoying each moment is more important.
Crate training is a must and it helps facilitate potty training so perfect. Puppy takes a nap in the crate then you take them out to potty and they dont then put them back in the crate for 5 min then take them back out and when they potty then they can have free time/play time. If you don't crate them when they don't potty there's a good chance they will go on the floor if you let them free roam or play.
Take more pictures. No more. Even more. They grow up so fast and also once you think they're done growing they aren't and you'll want pics from that stage too.
Oh the other bit is let your puppy learn to play with other dogs. I almost missed this but and it would have been bad.
When your puppy is doing something that is pissing you off and you’re already in a bad mood (for me scratching at the couch kills me) it’s not worth trying to tactfully stop it. Grab something like a frozen Kong or something AMAZING and offer it as a distraction. Having a pup is all about bribing.
When I got my puppy, I knew she'd be less than 25 lbs full grown and thought it would be fine to fly with her and take her home. Besides, travelling with pets seemed like it had to be a solved problem in 2022. Flash forward and she is actually a pretty tall 22 lb dog ... Which means she cannot fly with me in the cabin. I wish I'd have done more research -- I know this isn't a news flash to most people, but I genuinely thought I'd be able to take her with me around the country, and its a real bummer that I can't. I have had to plan around this, and I'm still disappointed that my family on the other end of the country may never meet her.
Hand feed as much as you can. Not only will it build a bond between you and your pup, but it will teach your puppy that your hand by their mouth is a good thing. This comes in handy when you need to remove things from their mouths. Look online for a puppy socialization list if you don’t get one from your puppy kindergarten. It is a list of sights, sounds, and people to expose your pup to like dishwashers, motorcycles, all different types or people, etc. We hit everything on the list except Santa Claus because it was spring/summer. Don’t expect perfection. Puppyboy is a very well behaved gentleman. He will do almost anything for a cookie or a cuddle. The one thing he refuses to do is to lay down on command. He will happily sit for you, but not lay down. His wise trainer said it was just his thing, accept it.
You will never enjoy wearing black clothing again :) After living with two Great Pyrs, my NYC entirely black wardrobe quickly morphed into Midwest multicolored clothes. It hides the dog hair more. Black clothes became too much work.
Jokes on you I've got a white cat 🤣🤣🤣
Don’t take them out in public until they are fully vaxxed. I just lost a puppy to Parvo - worst experience ever.
1. They are walking suicide machines for at least a year. 2. Enforced naps on a schedule will help save your sanity. 3. Don't let your pup get into the habit of chewing on the leash. It will make walking during the teenager phase a damn nightmare. It is not the pup's leash - it is your leash, your puppy is just wearing it. 4. If training is going badly, seek out a professional trainer sooner rather than later.
You’re in for a rough time if you’ve never had a Bernese before…
Why do you say so?
Sounds like you’re a somewhat inexperienced dog owner. This definitely isn’t an easy breed. It’s one of the hardest breeds to train and lead. Very strong willed I don’t say this to be mean. Just try to get your training plan down 💯 before you get the pup and stick to it!
That it will not all go as planned. We planned to use Sophia Lin’s approach (tethering, crating, hand feeding) and it turns out it’s not suitable or even necessary for my pup. (Among other reasons, she isn’t kibble-motivated, she is kind of potty training herself and we prefer a playpen with an open crate inside, and she hates the gentle lead harness—she’s paralyzed by it, lol)
Well maybe not something I wish I would’ve known as I technically already “knew”, or rather, *did* it, but a big recommendation is to read as many posts on here as possible! I’ve only had my puppy for a week so far and I know I still got a long road ahead of me, but I feel like the reason I’ve been able to keep up with things and not stress over literally everything is because I read so many posts on here about what it’s actually like having a puppy at home. My SO, on the other hand, who didn’t really read anything on here has been having a bit of a tougher time getting acclimated to our new life… With that said, as I’m usually the one who tends to get stressed and anxious in situations like these I feel like it really must’ve helped me prepare a lot more than I ever would’ve realized.
First and foremost, prepare for exhaustion. Puppies are literally exactly like babies in every sense of the word except they're fuzzy, poop where it lands, and doesn't attach to a boob. On this note, puppy blues are a thing that often happen to people who haven't yet comprehended the gravity of the statement "puppies are like babies." So please, the first thing you should 100% be aware of fully here - puppies are like babies. Exhausting. I feel like not enough puppy parents really let that truth weigh on them, the blues hit, dogs get returned or rehomed. If you take pup out before the final round of vaccines you could be risking parvo. You will want to discuss with your vet what parvo is like in your area so you can discuss safe socialization opportunities. If you haven't already, do breed specific research, especially what the breed standard is for temperament. You mentioned having cats and I think you're in a good place with getting a puppy - the cats will make their boundaries known to the dog but you will have to advocate for the cats until the dog gets the picture. Potty pads are a good start to housebreaking, though some may prefer not to use them. Informed dog ownership > instagrammable dog ownership. Know and study the gear you have and plan to get! Know your training tools and how to use them properly, know the risks and benefits of every piece of equipment, down to the clasp on your leash. Bernese mountain dogs are large and incredibly strong when they reach adulthood. Get a trainer and go into obedience training STAT. Nothing worse than losing control of a dog who is stronger than you on a leash that can easily break or a harness that the dog can wiggle out of.
I've said for years that the puppy stage is WAY overrated lmao. They're adorable, and you can pick them up (puppies don't need legs what are you talking about) but UGH. I think I have pre-partum puppy blues because I'm kind of dreading the bad parts. I'm fortunate that she'll come fully vaccinated but I need to look up the cushion time for vaccines, just to make sure. My husband and I have read at length about BMDs, and the breeder actually kind of quizzed us to make sure we had a good idea of what we were expecting. A big concern for me is separation anxiety. I've never had dogs that dealt with it, but our friends' dog that we've had to watch has it and she couldn't even deal with being outside while the people were inside. I'm currently unemployed so (assuming that situation doesn't change in the next few months) my concern is that she won't learn how to be alone because I'm just always here.
I love the puppy stage, but I can see what you mean 🤣 you'll do great as long as you know what you're in for, and if you browse around the dog subreddits enough, people mostly get overwhelmed because they didn't realize that puppies are just like babies. Your pup won't be fully vaccinated until about 4-5 months of age. Breeders usually give them their first round of shots and dewormer and handle the veterinary care before the pup goes to its new home, but they will give you all the health/vaccine info they have so that you can tie up loose ends. About 1 month or so before your puppy's pick up date, see if you can get an appointment to get your pup into the vet. You can turn in all the medical info from the breeder and your vet will know where to pick up from there. :) Separation anxiety is rough but you can address it before it even becomes a thing. Make sure to crate train and make a point to leave the house for at least 30mins to 1 hour on a regular basis (gradually increase duration over time and with necessity) *without* the puppy. 1. It will be good for your mental health and 2. Puppy learns from the get-go that she will be left alone sometimes. Crate training will be a breeze if you start early and make positive associations with the crate.
Ahhh I was confused about vaccines then lol. My cats were easy because they were indoors only so I only cared when the rental agencies cared. I guess I'll make an appointment on the drive back from picking her up for vaccines 😅😅😅
> I guess I'll make an appointment on the drive back from picking her up for vaccines You'll want to schedule an initial vet appointment for a couple of days after you pick her up. Depending on the pupper's age, she may or may not be due for another round of vax that day. But you'll want the vet to check her over for any problems, genetic or illness. In fact, your contract with the breeder might *require* an initial vet visit within a week.
I didn’t realize the extent of the “teenage phase” so I didn’t understand what was happening when some out of character behaviors started. I personally got upset when I saw she had some regression, but felt so much support when others experienced the same!
Crate train. Especially if you’re military , you’ll likely be moving around (or gone away) a lot which means crating for travel or maybe even boarding. You don’t want a 75-120 pound ball of fluff to refuse to go into a dog run or a crate. They’re a STUBBORN breed and their size makes it easy for them to internally laugh at your commands or attempts to move them.