New Dog in Northern Virginia

[GoingMyWay]

I thought I'd give everyone an update on Parker.  Parker is now about 7 1/2 months old and probably close to 30lbs (we haven't weighed him for a while).  His growth seems to have slowed down and we don't think he is going to get much bigger. For a while he looked rather tall and lanky, but he's filled in nicely.  He still likes to bite me, but it's usually not that hard - more like just a play bite.  He is still a monster!  He tears up and destroys just about all of his toys.  He loves to find and pull out the plastic squeaker inside.  He devoured the Elk antler that he's had since we first got him.  That antler seemed so hard like it was going to be impossible to chew through, but just recently he really went to town on it and has become quite the power chewer.

He's just about 100% potty trained now - he rings the potty bells on the doggie gate to let us know when he wants to go outside. Sometimes we get some false rings, but he's really good about ringing the bell when he really has to go out.  This is very much to the delight of my wife who thought he was never going to be potty trained. I kinda secretly felt the same way. I normally work from home, but had to take a business trip for a week in May so we needed to hire a dog walking service to take him out during the day. That seemed to really help get him "on a schedule" for his potty breaks.

For the last 5 weeks we have been taking Parker to a "doggie swimming pool." At first we had no clue how he would react to the water. He definitely didn't like the few times we tried to bathe him.  Turns out he loves swimming.  He started out with a life jacket on but very quickly progressed to being able to swim on his own.  We thought the swimming would help tire him out,  but it really only made him stronger!  This past weekend was our last weekend swimming.  It was kinda expensive at $40/week so we decided to scale back.  Maybe we'll go once a month or something.

Parker has his own Instagram if anyone is interested:https://www.instagram.com/parkerhouserules/.

Here are some recent pictures of Parker:

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[RKA]

What a face!  Love the video of him trying so hard to stay out of the pool until he just can’t help himself! Too funny! 

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]
Here is Chili after a long day at the office. By that I mean, wake up, go out, eat breakfast, sleep for a few hours, wait for the dog walker, go out again, eat lunch, play, and now he’s exhausted and napping while his mamma works. An afternoon at the pool and he would collapse for the rest of the day (except meal times - those are not optional if you are a golden or lab).

 

[GoingMyWay]

Here's the video of Parker trying to wait in the pool:  I shared it on another post, but forgot to include it here.

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]
Here is Chili after a long day at the office. By that I mean, wake up, go out, eat breakfast, sleep for a few hours, wait for the dog walker, go out again, eat lunch, play, and now he’s exhausted and napping while his mamma works. An afternoon at the pool and he would collapse for the rest of the day (except meal times - those are not optional if you are a golden or lab).

Good looking dog!!! How old is Chili, he looks fairly young.  He also has "winter nose".  [huh]

We've had a couple of herding dogs and they NEVER sleep...there's always a job to do.

We've had several Goldens and they ALWAYS sleep...their only next job is to eat.

 

[Tinker]

All of our dogs loved to go swimming except our second Golden. she was not afraid of the water, but she would only go wading as far into the water as she could go and still have her feet on the bottom and her chin at water level. As she would get to that point, she would just stand and blow bubbles. As she would make the bubbles, she would attempt to catch them before they would disappear. I finally got her to swim by taking advantage of her retrieving habit. While blowing her bubbles, I would find a stick, throw it out just beyond her reach. At first, she  paid no attention, but her retrieving instinct was too much for her to ignore.  Eventually, she enjoyed the retrieving from the water, but, always, the first thing she would do, I guess to warm up, was to wade until deep enough to blow her bubbles.

 

[Tinker]

The first dog we had within a month of our marriage was the try, undersized English Setter.  She loved to run in the woods. Unfortunately, to run in our woods required that she first had to run and wade thru the swamp. Since I was allowing the activity, every time she waned to come into the house, I had to clean her off with the garden hose. Of course, once soaking wet from her cleanup, she still had to wait outside until reasonably dry. (Reasonably according to my wife was somewhat dryer than from my inspection) After dinner, was playtime, or more likely, tear the sleeves off my master's shirt.  Once the tearing up project was complete, I was exausted from my long working day and then from warding off my "gentle" pet. I would sack out on the lingroom sofa.  Soon, Buzzy would creep oto the couch between the sofa back and me.  She would go to sleep snuggled deep.  AND THEN, she  would start to stretch and PUSH. The became a battle that never ended.

With all that play, she was an exceptionally gentle dog with everyone else. She was especially gentle with the children. I think she saved all of her agressions for me. But in the end, it was me who she would listen to when called or ordered.
Tinker

 

[Tinker]

My brother and his wife got their first puppy at about a year or two after we got our first dog.  They had  an awful time housebreaking the puppy. We hated to visit. After they had the puppy for a year, they wanted to go on a trip and asked if we could take care of their dog. My wife's first reaction was, when I asked, a very emphatic, "NO!!!"

I told my wife that I would clean up any messes, but I was certain the dog could, and would, be trained. I am a light sleeper after the first couple of hours. I slept on the couch with dog in the kitchen close to the door.  When I realized the dog was moving around, restlessly, I would get up, take him outside and praise him when he did what he had to do. It only took two nites of this and he was totally housebroken. I was able to go to sleeep in our bed with my wife.  The dog found out he could go thru the nite with no accidents. At the end of the week, we were able to give a completely housebroken puppy back to my brother & SIL. Within a week, that puppy was back to his old habits. I told my brother that the dog should be training them.
Tinker

 

[RKA]

LOL Tinker!  Your brother and his wife were doing something wrong.  I suspect that dog was letting them know in his own way, they just couldn't speak his language well enough to figure it out!  Poor dog.    Great stories though!  They each have their own personalities, habits and quirks.

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]
Yeah, he started with a black nose, but by the second spring, the black nose never returned.  He's 8 this month, so he's got his AARP card now.  His eyes and muzzle are starting to go white, but in his heart he's all puppy.  He can barely contain himself when he gets to meet a human on his daily walks.  "Humans...OMG OMG OMG!!"  My neighbor asked me 2 years ago, "when is he going to calm down?".  My reply..."this is it!". 

 

[peter halle]

Every time we have brought a new dog into our home - now up to 6 over the years - I have had to housebreak them.  Yes, as Tinker says, it can be done in a matter of days if you devote yourself to the task at hand.  Harder to deal with the excited puppy piddle, but I was never really bothered by a puppy who was saying "I was so happy to see you that I accidentally peed."  I have yet to run across a human who had those same emotions.

Peter

 

[Tinker]

Our daughter had a Cairn Terrier. He was a wanderer and very time she brought him to our house (she lived in D.C. area) she would spend a lot of time searching the neighborhood to find him.  The fun part of her visits was when Murphy would play soccer on our driveway.  He would spend hours pushing a soccer ball to the top of our driveway, run full speed back to the bottom to trap the ball before it would get to the road. push the ball back up the driveway to run back down to the bottom and do it all over again.  We would throw sticks or balls for him, but he would never bring them back to us. His thing was soccer.  Somehow, he never let the ball get to the road. He never ran into the road when playing his solitary soccer game. nobody taught him. He just figured the whole thing out all by himself. He was a fiesty but fun little dog. He had a perpetual smile.
Tinker

 

[GoingMyWay]

Yeah, he started with a black nose, but by the second spring, the black nose never returned. 

I hope Parker doesn't lose his black nose!  His is just sooooo cute, I love it!!

Every time we have brought a new dog into our home - now up to 6 over the years - I have had to housebreak them.  Yes, as Tinker says, it can be done in a matter of days if you devote yourself to the task at hand.

Matter of days??  It really seemed hopeless for us for the first 6 months, but finally it seems like he's housebroken.

Our daughter had a Cairn Terrier. He was a wanderer and very time she brought him to our house (she lived in D.C. area) she would spend a lot of time searching the neighborhood to find him.  The fun part of her visits was when Murphy would play soccer on our driveway.  He would spend hours pushing a soccer ball to the top of our driveway, run full speed back to the bottom to trap the ball before it would get to the road. push the ball back up the driveway to run back down to the bottom and do it all over again.  We would throw sticks or balls for him, but he would never bring them back to us. His thing was soccer.  Somehow, he never let the ball get to the road. He never ran into the road when playing his solitary soccer game. nobody taught him. He just figured the whole thing out all by himself. He was a fiesty but fun little dog. He had a perpetual smile.
Tinker

I had always thought that labs and golden retreivers would automatically fetch something that you threw, but then I learned that's not always the case.  Fortunately, Parker seems to like to retrieve pretty much anything we throw.  I just wish our house was longer or I could throw the ball farther in the dog park to really work him to the max.  He never seems to be tired!

 

[Cheese]

I hope Parker doesn't lose his black nose!  His is just sooooo cute, I love it!!

I just wish our house was longer or I could throw the ball farther in the dog park to really work him to the max.  He never seems to be tired!

The more sunshine he gets, the less his nose will lighten up.

Purchase a Chuckit, you'll be able to launch that tennis ball over 200 feet. They come in various lengths that will launch the ball various distances. A shorter one for city lots and a longer one for the parks.  [big grin]
https://www.chewy.com/chuckit-class...MIlJz2stbY3AIVFMRkCh2Q1w5AEAQYASABEgLFRPD_BwE

 

[GoingMyWay]

More sunshine is better - that's interesting.  I'd have thought the nose might "fade" from the sun.  We don't take him out that long - he doesn't really like walking on a leash that much.

Thanks for that suggestion.  We actually purchased the 26M Chuckit from a local pet store a while back.  We haven't had a chance to use it because it's been too hot outside and/or seemingly non-stop rain.  I hope to get out there and use it soon.

 

[Cheese]

More sunshine is better - that's interesting.  I'd have thought the nose might "fade" from the sun. 

That's the reason it's called "Winter Nose" because most dogs are kept inside more of the time in the winter and the days are shorter.

 

[RKA]

It's not a problem if his nose turns.  It's more important to give him the outlets he needs and for physical exercise it's hard to do that indoors without driving the entire family crazy. 

One thing you can add to his regime is adding exercises and activities that are mentally challenging.  You would be surprised how well that works to wear them out and it's great to have in the back pocket when the weather isn't cooperative.  That could be working on his training, puzzles (treats buried in a toy that he has to "figure out" to release the treat), "find it" games (you need to start simple so he gets the idea of using his nose to track something down). 

 

[GoingMyWay]

That's the reason it's called "Winter Nose" because most dogs are kept inside more of the time in the winter and the days are shorter.

That makes perfect sense now!

It's not a problem if his nose turns.  It's more important to give him the outlets he needs and for physical exercise it's hard to do that indoors without driving the entire family crazy. 

One thing you can add to his regime is adding exercises and activities that are mentally challenging.  You would be surprised how well that works to wear them out and it's great to have in the back pocket when the weather isn't cooperative.  That could be working on his training, puzzles (treats buried in a toy that he has to "figure out" to release the treat), "find it" games (you need to start simple so he gets the idea of using his nose to track something down). 

Not a problem, but his solid black nose looks so cute.  It looks like a plastic stuffed animal nose!

We got him this cheap MDF puzzle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038WP1YC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1.  It's starting to fall apart from being licked and it was kinda too easy for him.  I saw this plastic puzzle:https://www.amazon.com/Outward-Houn...ie=UTF8&qid=1533575540&sr=1-5&keywords=puzzle that looked more difficult, but my wife didn't really want to buy it.  Maybe I'll buy it anyway.

One of his tennis balls managed to partially split in half.  Yesterday I stuffed some doggie treats inside.  He did struggle but he eventually got them out.  I should do that again.

 

[Tinker]

Be careful with plastic toys (wood also). When the dog chews, they soon learn how to tear toys apart. Plastic and wood will splinter and cut their mouth, gullet and even their stomach and intestines. One of our Goldens would worry and chew on her soft toys seemingly forever. My wife would wash her toys. The dog would wear out her toys, not from chewing, but we always thought from loving. She saved the heavy chewing attacks for her meat bones and rubber doggy bones.

The dog who adopted us was a chewer. The hardest bone would disappear within a day. We tried giving him toys to play with. Forget it. They were gone in minutes. The vet told us he was part german shepard and part malemute with probably a few other brews thrown in. He had exceptionally strong jaws but extremely gentle. He  loved to be outside.  When it snowed, he would lie out on our hillside and be covered with snow. you could see a mound with a black nose sticking out to the weather. Towards the end, he did want to come inside when it got down to 20ºF.
Tinker

 

[GoingMyWay]

Parker ate part of his chicken flavored teething toy.  I thought he was smart enough to not eat plastic/paper/wood - I thought he just liked tearing it up, but I guess he occasionally swallows some too.  I guess we should have thrown the teething toy away once his adult teeth came in, but he still enjoyed chewing on it so we let him keep it.  I think some of the plastic got stuck in his stomach because he had been trying to throw up the other day.  It looks like eventually a piece of plastic came up.

We were careful to throw away some of his other bones/antler when it got too small as we were afraid he might choke on it.  We got him this "jumbo" antler from Amazon.

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So far he's chewed away about 2 or 3 inches from the end of it.  We also had bought him a split antler, but he seems to like the whole one more.

 

[rst]

In the early 70s, I was raising Huskies at one point and was part time farming while working a 50 hour a week job.  So I had two money siphons going at the same time.  My first dog was a Alaskan Malamute that I bought from a Air Force airman that was being deployed overseas.  Kayak when full grown weighed in at 140 lbs and was the gentilest dog ever born.  I used to butcher a couple pigs every year as I was raising feeders at the same time so I would throw all the bones and waste into the pen with the dogs.  After a week or two at most the only thing left were the teeth.  I had made a large house from 3/4" ply...Kayak ate it and lived in a hole he had dug underneath.  I had chain link fence 8' high.  He would go into the corner and climb out by going up cati-corner, so I had fencing across the corners to keep him secured.  When he escaped I would chase him and he would run about 25 yards and sit there until I got close then he would run,stop, and wait for me to get close and repeat the process.  The only way I could catch him was to get my pickup and open the door.  He loved the toddler boy next door.  Kayak would grab his belt from behind and spin him in circles until the boy was dizzy and then stop and watch him stagger about.  The two of them would  play like this for and hour or so.

 

[Tinker]

The Malamue-Shepard-and other blends that adopted us would  destroy any bones we gave him. Wihin a day, there would be no trace. We first met him via our kids paper route. They would come home with the story that they would not go near this big dog who would bark at them. He was chained, but they were still afraid. They left the paper at the edge of the lawn. One afternoon, i had come home early (rained out) so I went to the house with the big dog with my  son. Sure enough, the dog was barking. I sensed he as not mean and walked right  up to him. I let him smell my hand (probably covered with cement and lime ---I was still a mason contractor). He  licked it. I realized his water container was empty, so found a faucet and filled same. He devoured the water. I told David that hereafter, whoever was delivering paper (the two switched per week) should check Barny's water dish.  within a week, Barney showed up on our hillside. We ook him back to his own house, found his collar broken, left a note for the owner that his dog was at our house. Somehow, every couple of days, Barney would break his collar or chain and appear on our hillside. He was waiting for our son.  David would leave a note for Barney's owner.  Owner would tie his dog and sooner  or later, Barny would show up again waiting for David. One Christmas Eve or NewYears Eve, it was supposed to get  down well below zero and as we were ready to leave to visit my brother and his family, there was Barney waiting, not on the hillside, but at our door. I told david to put Barney in the car. The dog needed no coaxing. He jumped right in. My wife and I both decided that we would not take Barney home that nite so took him with us. Barney never left us again. He would wait for David and follow him to the bus stop, come back home to "David's House" an wait in the yard until bus time and go wait for David at the bus stop. We never had to tie him up. His "owner" told us we might as well keep the dog. I don't think any of us had a choice. Barney just knew where he belonged. We kept him for mayby five or six years until we finally had to put him to sleep.
Tinker