The Martin family grows...

Blk03SVTCobra

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Kelly and I welcomed a wonderful little bundle of joy into the family this Sunday. He's about 15.7lbs and has quite a bit of hair...

Ok, that's enough. We got a German Shepherd puppy. He's going on 9 weeks old (born 23-Feb-2008) and he's a handful. Between Sunday night and this morning, we've probably gotten a miniscule 5 hours of sleep. On the positive side, 'Sitz' (sit), 'Platz' (down) and 'Hier' (here) seem to already be a part of his vernacular, he hasn't had any accidents since the first day home, and he's getting *slightly* better about being in his crate at night.

Here's a few pics:
Blitz1r.JPG


Blitz2r.JPG


Blitz3r.JPG


Blitz4r.JPG


If anyone has any tips on how to get the whinning while in the crate at night to stop, PLEASE feel free to share.

Hope you enjoy the pics! :beer:
 

MaCaNs

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Cute pup! Stay with the crate training....its worth it, for you and the dog. Got a 110lb, 4 year old Rottie, and she loves her crate. Its HER place.

Good luck!
 

TRBO VNM

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Sean,

great looking dog you have. wish they would all stay that small. lol

on the crate thing, I hate to say it, but you just have to ignore them and just like a baby, let them cry themselves to sleep. he is testing you and seeing what he has to do to get his way. you have to let him know who's boss and be the master.

right now with my dogs, they know not to mess with me and know I am in control when around, but once they are with Audrey, they know they can do whatever they want because she never took control when they were younger and still doesn't.

right now you may feel bad or feel like it is mean, but it is something that needs to be done and later on it will be well worth it.
 

TDoh

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I had to check this thread, just in case the family addition had four wheels and SVT badges. Anyway, shepherds are cool too!
 

lRageATMl

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Sean,

great looking dog you have. wish they would all stay that small. lol

on the crate thing, I hate to say it, but you just have to ignore them and just like a baby, let them cry themselves to sleep. he is testing you and seeing what he has to do to get his way. you have to let him know who's boss and be the master.

right now with my dogs, they know not to mess with me and know I am in control when around, but once they are with Audrey, they know they can do whatever they want because she never took control when they were younger and still doesn't.

right now you may feel bad or feel like it is mean, but it is something that needs to be done and later on it will be well worth it.

QFT! Make sure you don't give in to the whining, don't let him out!

For my pup it took about 2 weeks before he stopped whining completely. I used to turn on my dish washer or washer/dryer to try to drown out the whining. I also kept his crate in a different room then where I slept.

Shawn, your pup is as big as my dog full grown, lol (Norfolk Terrier). Cute looking puppy!
 

Rick James

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Awesome dog Sean! Are you going to continue training in German? My Bro-in-law is a former trainer and is currently training his 6mnth old Belgian Malinois and is constantly yelling at that dog in german. PLATZ, SETZ, FUSS!!!! Trips me out. If it works that well, I may start using it on my wife...........
 

Blk03SVTCobra

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damn good looking dog! Gunna get BIG! I can't wait to move so I have a yard for a dog. We are thinking about getting a doberman.

Ha. Actually, we live in a townhouse. We do not have a 'yard', per-se. We considered the yard thing before we got him, but then we realized that there are plenty of well-adjusted dogs that are even BIGGER than German Shepherds living in apartments, not even townhomes. Regardless, he has a nice wooded area where we walk him, and there's plenty of parks within walking distance.

We will have a house with a fenced yard at some point in the forsee-able future, but for now, this will have to do.

Cute pup! Stay with the crate training....its worth it, for you and the dog. Got a 110lb, 4 year old Rottie, and she loves her crate. Its HER place.

Good luck!

Yea, I know that I'm doing what's right. It's just tough when you hear him crying.

My mother has 2 German Shepherds and they love their crates. It will just take time for him to adjust. He lived on a farm with his mom, brothers, sisters, cats, horses, cattle, sheep and chickens. Now he lives in a townhouse with 2 humans and 2 cats. There are also some dogs in the community, so he sees them with relative frequency, but that's still a big change, environment-wise.

Congrads on the addition!

Thanks! :beer:

congrats sean... he's a good lookin dog man! I'd invest in some lint rollers hes got ALOT of fur

Hahaha... We have PLENTY of them already. The cats are awful when it comes to lint on suits and dresses.

Sean,

great looking dog you have. wish they would all stay that small. lol

on the crate thing, I hate to say it, but you just have to ignore them and just like a baby, let them cry themselves to sleep. he is testing you and seeing what he has to do to get his way. you have to let him know who's boss and be the master.

right now with my dogs, they know not to mess with me and know I am in control when around, but once they are with Audrey, they know they can do whatever they want because she never took control when they were younger and still doesn't.

right now you may feel bad or feel like it is mean, but it is something that needs to be done and later on it will be well worth it.

Yea, I know. It's just tought when you hear them crying, that's all. You feel a little bad. But then I just remind myself that it's for the best and that he'll soon grow to love his crate.

Neither Kelly or I have been anything but alpha-like thus far. He definitely seems to have just slid into 'the pack' just fine. He hasn't displayed any challenging or dominant behavior towards Kelly or I because we've kept placing ourselves in what, to dogs, is the dominant role.

My mother is an assitant to a local trainer and her German Shepherds are excellent examples to follow. She also has them both trained for protection work as well. If anyone's familiar with the term, both of my mother's dogs are at or near what would be considered Schutzhund Level 1 (SchH1). This took a lot of time and effort, but they are excellent pets now because they're well trained and they have a 'job' (which almost ANY shepherd breed LOVES).

We will be doing obedience, protection and tracking work with our puppy. He has already shown EXCELLENT drive for the work. At some point, we may seek SchH1 accreditation as well, since the sport interests my wife and I both.

He'll get there with consistency and patience on our part.

I had to check this thread, just in case the family addition had four wheels and SVT badges. Anyway, shepherds are cool too!

Yea, I know. That's still something that I'm working on. I've been searching for a better job and things seem to be starting to pan out. If I finally land the one I'm after, it will make a Cobra a significant possibility in the not-so-distant future.

QFT! Make sure you don't give in to the whining, don't let him out!

For my pup it took about 2 weeks before he stopped whining completely. I used to turn on my dish washer or washer/dryer to try to drown out the whining. I also kept his crate in a different room then where I slept.

Shawn, your pup is as big as my dog full grown, lol (Norfolk Terrier). Cute looking puppy!

We do not even approach the crate if he's whining. If we need to take him out and he's quiet, we approach the crate, ask him to 'Sitz', then open the crate slowly. If he charges the door, we slam the door shut (making sure no puppy appendages are in the way), and ask him to 'Sitz' again. He gets the idea after 1 or 2 tries, but he still does that every time. We only interact with him when he's quiet though.

With regards to the sound levels of whining we're talking about at night though, let me put it into perspective: I was wearing my shooting range earmuffs last night and STILL heard him loud and clear every now and then. If I had neighbors on either side of me, they would NOT be happy with me. That being said, the first night was DEFINITELY the worst. Last night was better and he is staying quiet for longer periods.

We keep his crate where he can see us (foot of the bed).

Awesome dog Sean! Are you going to continue training in German? My Bro-in-law is a former trainer and is currently training his 6mnth old Belgian Malinois and is constantly yelling at that dog in german. PLATZ, SETZ, FUSS!!!! Trips me out. If it works that well, I may start using it on my wife...........

Yes, we will always use German commands with Blitz. English is no better/easier/different for a dog to learn than German or any other language. With dogs, it's just association and inflection.

There are a number of reasons that using German commands is a good idea, in the case of a dog who will do protection work at some point in its life (like Blitz): 1) We will have less of a chance of someone accidentally saying our 'alert' word, 'bite' word, etc and setting the dog off, and 2) It decreases the opportunity for someone else to control our dog (e.g. if a dog-savy burglar/etc says 'stay' when they try to break in our house, Blitz would have no idea what he's talking about and probably be even more angry). Plus, I'll be honest: I think it's

German is not the only language that would work though. Another frequently-used language in the U.S. is Japanese.

Awesome addition to the family!!! Congrats!!! :beer:

Thank you :beer:
 

sunburned

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Good lookin' pup Sean, you scared me there for a minute when you said the bundle of joy was 15 lbs lol! I was like HOLY CRAP thats a big baby! Good luck with the training, this is the 2nd time I've heard someone talk about training their shepard in German, and I find it pretty funny.

Sean,

great looking dog you have. wish they would all stay that small. lol

on the crate thing, I hate to say it, but you just have to ignore them and just like a baby, let them cry themselves to sleep. he is testing you and seeing what he has to do to get his way. you have to let him know who's boss and be the master.

right now with my dogs, they know not to mess with me and know I am in control when around, but once they are with Audrey, they know they can do whatever they want because she never took control when they were younger and still doesn't.

right now you may feel bad or feel like it is mean, but it is something that needs to be done and later on it will be well worth it.


I wish my gf would have taken this advice. She refused to do anything to the dog that she thought was mean, including scolding him and crating him, which meant he pretty much had a run of the house and did whatever he wanted all the time. Many things got chewed up and ruined, thank God she finally gave him up to a family who could take care of him better.

Anyway, don't back down and don't let the wifey give in either. Like Jason said, be strict now and he'll respect you and listen more when he grows up.
 

Blk03SVTCobra

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Good lookin' pup Sean, you scared me there for a minute when you said the bundle of joy was 15 lbs lol! I was like HOLY CRAP thats a big baby! Good luck with the training, this is the 2nd time I've heard someone talk about training their shepard in German, and I find it pretty funny.

I wish my gf would have taken this advice. She refused to do anything to the dog that she thought was mean, including scolding him and crating him, which meant he pretty much had a run of the house and did whatever he wanted all the time. Many things got chewed up and ruined, thank God she finally gave him up to a family who could take care of him better.

Anyway, don't back down and don't let the wifey give in either. Like Jason said, be strict now and he'll respect you and listen more when he grows up.

Hahaha, that was by intent, Dale. 15lbs would be a gigantic baby, haha.

What we humans sometimes forget, or, especially in the case of some women, can not get past is that they are NOT human. They do not understand our social structure or behaviors or concepts (such as 'mean').

They understand, by instinct, 'the pack' and the hierarchy/behavior/social-structure that comes with it. If you act in a manner that they understand, they will react instinctively. If you treat the dog as if it were a pack member, it will know what to do, what its boundaries are and who's the boss. It's really that simple, but (as I'm finding out also), it's tough to do something like let a puppy howl and cry all night in a crate.

Nice looking dog! :)

Thanks, Marlon :beer:
 

PSUCOBRA96

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you got the exact dog I wanna get as soon as I get my own house, the city is no place for a dog right now....it will be fine in the town house, my brother had his Rottweiler for years when they lived in a town house and she was fine
 

sunburned

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That was the only good thing about my gf's dog: he never whined or barked, so even when we locked him in the laundry room at night, he was perfectly silent.

Sean, you are right about treating them like dogs and not humans. I've had an outside dog all my life and the only problem we ever had with him was howling when he was a puppy. Adapting from an outside beagle to an inside bullmastiff was a huge change for me, and my gf would tell me that I was insensitive and she always treated her dogs like family. The way I saw it, the dog was running her life completely, and as a result, mine as well, all because she didn't take an authoritative role with the dog. I tried to whip him into shape a bit, but only so much you can do 2 days a week.
 

Blk03SVTCobra

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you got the exact dog I wanna get as soon as I get my own house, the city is no place for a dog right now....it will be fine in the town house, my brother had his Rottweiler for years when they lived in a town house and she was fine

That was the only good thing about my gf's dog: he never whined or barked, so even when we locked him in the laundry room at night, he was perfectly silent.

Sean, you are right about treating them like dogs and not humans. I've had an outside dog all my life and the only problem we ever had with him was howling when he was a puppy. Adapting from an outside beagle to an inside bullmastiff was a huge change for me, and my gf would tell me that I was insensitive and she always treated her dogs like family. The way I saw it, the dog was running her life completely, and as a result, mine as well, all because she didn't take an authoritative role with the dog. I tried to whip him into shape a bit, but only so much you can do 2 days a week.

you can treat a dog like family and still have them respect you and know you are their master.

Jason pre-empted my response. I'm not saying don't treat them like family members (the pack is always protective of its members). All I'm saying is that they do not understand things the same way humans do. You have to achieve their respect from how dogs expect each other to act, not how humans expect other humans to act. That's all.

This puppy is VERY MUCH a member of the pack, err... family. And he is treated with love and affection when he earns it. :beer:

Wow.. this is great news.. Gratz!

Thanks a bunch :beer:
 

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