What would you do better if you could start again? Great thread for new puppy owners!

[pandaparade]

Guys, let's make a big list of things we wish we could have done better when we had a puppy growing in our house. I feel this can benefit anyone about to get a new puppy! Let's leave out food, and focus only on training and observation skills.

1. I wish I knew more about dog to dog communication before continuously taking my dog to dog parks. I would never go to a dog park next time.

2. I wish I knew more about dog to human communication. I would have known a lot more of what upset, or worried, or what made my dog nervous.

3. I wish I would have been a big ol gripey B**** to people who would say "No it's ok!! I like when dogs jump!" or “My dog does it, its ok!!" or the person asks the dog to jump up on them. Next time, I am going to be rude and say do not pet my dog please, unless all feet are on the floor.

4. I wish I would have shortened the times I trained my puppy to create less frustration. I wish I kept a notebook and documented everything I did wrong/right.

5. I wish I never ever trained with compulsion as a puppy. I alpha rolled, growled in his face, pushed him around sometimes and yelled. Oh those horrible days, never again. Shout out to the friend who thought that was the way to train a dog... I should have still followed the Kikopup way but I felt helpless.

6. I wish I would have known that when puppies wake up at 4 AM to potty that it doesn't mean they have fully waken up and you have to stay awake with them.

More to come, but that is a start!!

See if you all can manage to not repeat what others have said so when people go back, nothing is said over and over perhaps.

[magicre]

it's a hard one, when we have gotten so many rescues....and they are what they are when we get them....

1. i would like to have a puppy who is not damaged before he comes to me.

[Celt]

1. I wished the I remembered that extendaleashes are evil.
2. I wished that I had followed my gut and searched for another orthosurgeon.

[Missy Mae]

1) Just because I don't have a bunch of letters after my name doesn't mean I am stupid or that the "professional" always knows best!

2) A value clinic is just that a clinic and not always the "best" when it comes to vet care, even simple things. Example I took Maverick for his neutur to a clinic and they told me to spay Missy Mae who is in a false pregnancy and gave Maverick razor burn that ended up infected.

3) Know your source (don't accept just "any" online source) because a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous not only for you but your dog/cat/ferret/bearded dragon!

4) Second, even third opinions are a good thing!

[Maxy24]

This time around I knew most of the things I needed...it was just difficult to follow through with 5 other people in the house who don't listen to you. If it had just been me and him it would have been SO much easier to train him his manners. Wouldn't have had to deal with people leaving pens and stuff where he could get them or allowing him to do things some times but yelling at him for it other times. It's difficult.

The one thing I do wish I had known was that you can't try to socialize a fearful puppy like you would a normal puppy. If you try to force people on him he'll go from avoidance and cowering to barking, growling and lunging. I was so stuck in the "puppies need to meet a buttload of people in their first few months with you" that I tried to make him interact when he was fearful and it didn't work. You just can't try to socialize them as you would a normal puppy, you have to treat them like you would a fearful adult dog.

I wish I would have shortened the times I trained my puppy to create less frustration.

That's a really good one too and I still struggle with it. I find Tucker learns best in really short sessions several times a day, like 5 minute sessions. I was so used to training Phoebe who I could work with for 20 minutes and she'd be begging for more, and would progress steadily throughout the session. With Tucker the longer the session the more stressful it gets because he just doesn't seem to be getting it. But Tucker is a master of latent learning, all the progress suddenly shows up in the next session. So if I keep the session short I eliminate the frustration and still see the latent learning in the next session.

[magicre]

2. i wish i had known about raw before.

3. i wish i had taken my dogs to obedience school rather than do it myself. that or brought in a trainer. i neither have the temperment nor the patience....although i never threw a dog against the wall or mistreated a puppy. but i wouldn't have lost my patience and yelled either, had i had help.

4. i wish i had researched vaccinations the way i research everything else. if i ever get another dog, it's puppy shots and that's that.

[Tobi]

I wouldn't have spayed and neutered as soon as i did, and wish i'd waited till 2 years.

[Sprocket]

I would have started with raw!

[Missy Mae]

"I wish I would have shortened the times I trained my puppy to create less frustration. I wish I kept a notebook and documented everything I did wrong/right."

I would have made sure that training sessions were not only short and tailored specifically for my pup but also fun. The amount that my dogs have learned when we were having fun is vastly different than what they learned when they were not!

[swolek]

1. I would have waited to spay (I did so at six months at the vet's recommendation). Sorry if this doesn't fit but it does have some behavioral consequences.
2. I would have done more socialization. Granted, I socialized Sophie a ton but didn't prepare her for every kind of situation. More socialization is always good, anyway!
3. I would have gotten her more used to the car at a young age. She's not afraid of the car or anything but gets very excited/anxious.

In general, I don't have many regrets. Sophie was the second puppy I raised so I had learned from a few previous mistakes (mostly related to house-training, dealing with possessive behavior, and exercise needs).