sasa

Hi folks,

Caesar is 4 months and 13 days old now and is an amazing boy. I have not had any behavioral problems with him at all. There are a couple of things i need some advice in.

1. House breaking: I take him out for his calls after every meal, after every nap and once every 2 hrs. He still pees all around the house all the time. How can i stop this.

2. His play fighting is too rough for my wife to handle and she finds it very difficult to control him at times. Its fine with me and we do it all the time. How can he be made to understand that he needs to go easy with my wife.

3. He keeps getting these small boils on his body and a few with big ones with pus on his belly. I took him to the vet a couple of times and he said that its normal with young dogs..!! Is it really..??

4. The fourth point is not a worry at all - just an observation - Caesar is over friendly . The milkman, paperboy, mechanics all are his friends and he will not even once let out a bark. By the way in the four months i would have heard him bark about 4 times..!!! And his teething problem is also quite a bit... he chewed my new mobile phone yesterday.. any chewy that is given is discarded within minutes and he chews on everything that he is not supposed to.

Eagerly await your responses..

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Lexxsmom

1. with house training, the pup should never HAVE the chance to pee in the house. Keep him on a leash under constant supervision ALL the time and make sure that you let him out after eating, drinking, sleeping or playing. If he's still peeing around the house, take him out every 30 minutes instead of 2 hours. Leave him in a crate when you're not able to watch him with both eyes. and PRAISE for outside!

2.I'm not sure what you mean by "play fighting" but if its too rough for your wife, you shouldn't be doing it either. you can't expect a puppy to understand that they have to alter specific behaviours for every member of the house. it has to be consistent.

3. Lexx got some of these, use a antiseptic wipe on them if they get bad, but otherwise they will just go away on their own

4.Lexx didn't bark until he was around 8-9 months. He still starts the nubbin going when he sees a person at the end of the block. loves people

for teething, be consistent, replace bad items with chew toys and praise for good chewing. bitter apple can work and..*cough cough* not leaving your cell phone in reach?

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Leanne and Lexx


Dragon Slaying Dobermans Incorporated, member #001, President.
" I don't need to sit for the cookie, I hunt dragons all day dammit!"
Lexxington's blog: http://lexxslife.blogspot.com/

bec&dan

He's still quite young, with the toilet training are you giving him lots of rewards when he goes outside? We found it best to totally ignore any accidents in the house and treat and praise like mad when she went outside. Ellie used to have good and bad days with it until one day the whole toilet training thing seemed to click! Whenever she'd go outside we'd add a command (we used toilet) this teaches them that this is the place to go toilet and eventually you can use the cue to get them to go when you want.

With the play fighting i'd discourage any of it at this age, its hard for him to understand who he can play rough with and who not to, if you teach him its ok he'll think its ok with everyone!

Ellie is also over friendly, she loves everyone and this still hasn't changed (something were glad of except for the fact everyone gets jumped on with excitment!) however im sure the lack of barking will change, Ellie didnt bark for a few months after we got her but eventually found her voice and now barks at anything and everything! Although i know some people on here have said that dobes are either barkers or whiners!

As for the spots i've no idea but i'm sure you'll get lots more good advice from everyone here!

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reisende

1. housebreaking:
don't you find that frustrating?? I did. so it has to stop. plus, you simply cannot let another accident happen, otherwise he'd never learn and never make the association that pottying in the house is bad.

leash him up to you all the time in the house. watch him like a hawk. if you are watching telly, keep him in your line of vision. etc. the moment he starts to sniff, squat, etc, whisk him out immediately. if he pees before you could take him out, startle him with a loud NO!, or whack the floor with a rolled up magazine, to get him to stop peeing, and bring him out.

praise and throw a party whenever he potties outdoors. till you are embarrassed by that amount of praise/noise you make. lol.

2. just don't allow that to happen with your wife. if he starts to jump onto your wife, get her to stick her knee out suddenly. turn her back on him the moment he gets too rough and say NO!.

you might want to be careful.. when he gets older, the 'rough play' can get way more rough!

3. might be a case of staph (bacteria) - genetics play a part, or weak immune system, or a host of other reasons.. just keep the spots clean, give him good food (what are youfeeding him?) - with more omega 3. some people here supplement with fish salmon oil capsules. what I do is buy raw salmon belly which is on sale (and usually already cut into 1inch pieces to be cooked in soup), wash and then freeze them, and there, I have a bag full of these frozen salmon treats! still, Moonshine still has these spots (at almost 10months old).. some here take their dogs to the vet and are prescribed antibiotics like cephalexin.. but it's your call. as he's still so young, I'd rather not put him on medication unless the spots get out of hand.

Tess-a-boo

When Tess's playing gets too rough, I have an escalating scale depending on the severity of the infraction:

1. a loud, sudden "ow" and a VERY sad face (I'm talking overdramatic here folks);
2. turn my back to her and ignore her;
3. get up and walk away;
4. go to another room and close the door for a few seconds.

I would only do the latter for those extreme cases of nipping only! She got the idea pretty quickly that her favorite toy (me) would get taken away if she played too rough.

errica

Our pups are just about the same age, and I feel your pain, trust me! My suggestions:

1. House breaking - 2 hours is way too long...Apollo goes out every 30-45 minutes and I go NUTS when he goes potty outside. You dog has to look forward to the attention and rewards for going outside, that way when the need arises they will think, "I want to go outside and go potty, I always get praise/treats/special attention out there!" Also, our pups are still too young to be left unattended, even for a second.

2. Play fighting - you should tone down your fighting with him. What's cute now will SUCK when he's 90 pounds. I play tug with the pup, but no fighting. You don't ever want your dog to think that fighting with a person is acceptable. And you wife needs to command more authority over the dog. If he is behaving badly around her you should leave the room and let her assert herself. This is the age that the pups are really testing people, boundries, etc, and if the dog sees your wife as weak he is going to keep harassing her. Obedience classes with a professional trainer (not Petsmart training) sounds like a good idea. And you should both take him - a trainer can give your wife tips for working with him.

3. Boils - If your vet says he's fine, then I guess I'd just keep an eye on them. Maybe keep notes on the activities that he is involved in when he gets them? Could he be allergic to something?

4. Apollo has barked two times since I've had him. He loves everyone and that's the way I want it. A well socialized Dobe is a very good thing. Trust me when I tell you that if your dog ever sensed you were in danger, or sensed that you were uncomfortable with a person, he'd stop being friendly!

And on the teething...don't leave ANYTHING out that you don't want chewed. In a pain in the arse, I know, but if our pup ever chews on something he shouldn't, I know it's my fault! I got Apollo a rope toy, soaked it in water and threw it in the freezer. He LOVES this and you can really tell that it helps with his sore little gums.

Good luck with your dobermonster!

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Dragon Slaying Dobermans Incorporated, Member #016
"I don't need to sit for the cookie, I hunt dragons all day dammit!" - Lexxington