I'm getting my new puppy!!

I'm getting my new puppy in a week. He needs to get his shots and such before I can officially adopt him. I'm really excited because this is my first puppy in my own place.

When I visit him this weekend, I'll share pics! (hopefully I can upload them, been having problems with uploading photos from my camera)

His name is Tank and he is a French Bulldog. =)

Any tips on new pets, puppies, ect would greatly be appreciated!

I'm just so excited about it! I just can't sit still. Haha. I want him here now.

Congrats. hope you have fun with him. i really cant give any advice since its been years since i had a pet, and that was a cat.

RE: I'm getting my new puppy!!

Don't encourage anything or allow things to "slide" that you don't want him to do when he's an adult. Also, try to establish right away that you're the boss and keep your discipline consistent, otherwise you'll lose respect from him.

Just be sweet to him. Remember love and discipline can co-exist. XD Just make sure he knows things that are wrong but make sure to love him. Congratulations from me by the way! I have two doggies too.

Make sure to socialize him. Invite people over to your house and take him out to parks and to gatherings (if its a dog suitable environment). This may prevent barking fits when there's someone new over, plus they'll become more comfortable with other people and animals.

Kennel training if you believe in that. Some people don't, but at night, puppies and certain dogs can get destructive in ways you think you prevented. Keeping them in a kennel at night can help prevent this when they're young.

And like Roryn said... don't let things slide. This is hard to do when they're puppies because you see certain things as cute and precious, but it won't be as cute when they're older and doing destructive things because when they were a puppy, they were allowed to do it because it was cute. My boyfriend's mom has a bad habit of this -.- their "puppy" (I say that loosely because he's 9 months old and HUGE) jumps all over people, begs for food, jumps all over you when fixing his food, and bites because she thinks his behavior is just so cute.

In the end I believe it depends on you anyway. I do enjoy a puppy jumping for attention.

Minatei said:

In the end I believe it depends on you anyway. I do enjoy a puppy jumping for attention.

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It may still be a good idea to teach them down or a command or gesture for them to stop. If you have guests over or you take the dog out, you might find someone else who doesn't like it. I don't mind small dogs, but I really hate it when people's medium+ dogs jump all over me and the command "no" "down" or physical gestures doesn't stop them. I especially find it rude when they're like "Oh he's/she's just playing with you " when I've made it obvious I want the dog to stop. I'm short -.- and a lot of dogs overwhelm me. Dogs can easily knock me over. My boyfriends dog would knock me over every time I came over if it wasn't for the door behind me. He's taller than me when he stands up and jumps on me.

Bite its ear. You've probably heard this before, but it does establish that you're the alpha and the dog isn't. Trained my dog myself, never sent her to obedience school. Speak in a firm voice to the animal. Do not "baby talk" to it; it's not a child, regardless of how much you care for it. If the dog is smart, it will feel stupid being talked to like that anyway. I've always found animals respond better to stern, not mean or cruel, behavior.

As for commands, it's important to use as few words as possible. One word commands are best learned and best achieved. Reward the dog with pets, not treats, and only tell it no when it doesn't do the command correctly. For example, if it lays down instead of sits when you want it to sit. Get the dog up and try again. Push down on its rear end and state in a firm tone to "Sit!" or whatever the command may be, but don't yell.

Important house commands: sit, stay, down (laydown, but condensed), quiet.

Important walking commands: heel, slack, kick (this was my own command, doesn't actually mean to "kick," but if you run with your dog this would be a speed in pace).

Ms_Muffintops said:

Minatei said:

In the end I believe it depends on you anyway. I do enjoy a puppy jumping for attention.

Click to expand...

It may still be a good idea to teach them down or a command or gesture for them to stop. If you have guests over or you take the dog out, you might find someone else who doesn't like it. I don't mind small dogs, but I really hate it when people's medium+ dogs jump all over me and the command "no" "down" or physical gestures doesn't stop them. I especially find it rude when they're like "Oh he's/she's just playing with you " when I've made it obvious I want the dog to stop. I'm short -.- and a lot of dogs overwhelm me. Dogs can easily knock me over. My boyfriends dog would knock me over every time I came over if it wasn't for the door behind me. He's taller than me when he stands up and jumps on me.

Click to expand...

Oh. :O Well I'm short too but I guess not that much? My two dogs are small too anyway. But it's true it would be good to teach him a command to stop doing it. At least that's what I did, since like you said, not everyone likes it.