We've been dog-sitting this puppy for two weeks now, and sometimes she aggravates the hell out of me and sometimes I think it might actually be a good idea to keep her. Her owner can't keep her, and is looking for someone to take her.
http://bbs.freetalklive.com/index.php?topic=25593.msg516704#msg516704
Problem: I've never raised a dog, and neither has my boyfriend. This dog is half husky, half wolf, so she's going to be big. She's already big, as far as I'm concerned. She knows what "sit" means, though she hasn't mastered "fetch" yet (doesn't want to return anything). She can amuse herself by chasing things around on the floor, reminding me of a cat. Boyfriend gave her a slice of carrot earlier, and she played hockey with it for about 20 minutes.
I just really don't know whether it would make sense to keep or, or whether it would turn out to be a terrible decision.
I would avoid the wolf moniker, even if you know. People remember stuff like that, and if the dog ever bites someone (FSM forbid) you could be liable in ways you never dreamed of.
Its best forgotten, anyway. Dogs are dogs. Little yappy things are like chaos that barely fit into the
canis familiaris family. Disregard those.
What you have appears to have potential. These animals think and comprehend. Bloodline has a small piece of the pie chart, but not enough to invalidate the larger aspect of intelligent humans interacting with intelligent beast. This dog can be trained, and you can train it. I absolutely guarantee it.
If you intend to keep this animal, I suggest you crate train it, and immediately identify yourself as the Alpha. Since its a puppy (semi-grown) the past few weeks can be waived as a get-to-know-ya period.
Dogs are den animals, and family pack-animals. The crate provides the den, you feed the dog in the den. Its his place. Leave it open, he will go in and out because of the food.
You need to establish the command "no" and live by it. As the Alpha, when he acts improperly, you firmly command him with NO and physically put him down, with his head pinned to the floor. Repeat the command NO. Then stand and walk away.
Repetition is the key, as he learns NO, he will eventually react to the command and not the action. When he goes in and out of the crate, you periodically lock him in it. When he barks, you say NO and walk away. As time goes on in the house, he will associate NO with being commanded down, your Alpha, and the cage locked will become NO without even saying it. He will simply lie down inside the cage. If you command him NO, he will probably go to the cage and lie down inside it.
People confuse dogs with too many words. They have to be monosyllabic and very few to start, thats why I use NO exclusively and build from there. Next comes CAGE, and he will go there as a command. This will replace NO when NO is not actually appropriate, and you're just telling him to fuck off for a while, CAGE is the word.
Outside, when the leash training begins, you add one word a week. Sit, stay, heel, and come. If you can train a dog with those six words
properly, he will be better behaved than 95% of all dogs.
Since you haven't begun yet, you could use the German words. This freaks people out. When people hear a dog being commanded in German they think he can do all sorts of shit, like he's been to attack training. Its totally intimidating to onlookers. But you have to stick to it. (sit should remain in English, though, because children use it when meeting dogs).
Thats a beautiful dog, Rillion. You should consider keeping it if you and Boyfriend are gonna be a permanent thing. Some dogs appear to have a little extra spark of something going on inside their head, he had that look in the photos. That dog is a keeper, I'm telling ya.
(also, I didn't note the gender when seeing the pix a few days ago, so I vacillated between he and it. I seem to want to recall it being a female, though. Whatever it is, have it neutered if you keep it. It mellows 'em out and prolongs their life. Thats one of the very few times I think its okay to fuck with nature.)