Do you free feed, have mealtimes, or something else?
Have set meal times. You do not want the children or the cats to have access to the dog food. If the dog can free feed, you don't know how much she is eating, and that is what leads to weight gain PLUS you won't notice as easily when there is a health issue and the dog is NOT eating.
For training purposes do you use a clicker, vocal praises, treats, or a combination??
I don't use a clicker, as I want my dogs to pay attention to a command any time, and I won't always have a clicker available. Use voice commands consistently and ONLY for that one thing.
Rewards: usually, you start training by using treats as rewards. With a young pup running around, you don't need to worry too much about weight gain just now, but keep the treat small. Give verbal praise, pets or chest rubs, right after the treat. Over time, you can 'wean' the dog off treats as rewards and just use verbal praise, pets and chest rubs.
Does your pup spend a lot of time outside, or does she just go out to potty and play for a while?
Some of this depends on the breed and on your situation. My dogs are lap dogs, don't have much interest in being outdoors, so they go out to potty and come back in. Plus we don't have children who would be out playing and running around for the dog to be with. In the summer, we do keep the dog out with us while we are gardening or just sitting enjoying the fresh air. Mostly, they STILL try to get in our laps.![]()
The dog should not be outside alone. Just like a young child, they need to be supervised. And people DO walk into back yards, through gates, and steal dogs. It is just not safe leaving the dog alone outdoors.
Do you agree with attaching your puppy to a cable on one of those yard stakes when she is outside? Once we have a fence (a couple weeks at most) will a stake be necessary?
Tying a dog will make it aggressive, over time. We got Sugar before our fence was complete. We just took her out on leash 4 times per day.
Your job when getting the fence in is to make sure it is secure. No escape routes. This means UNDER or OVER, or between the boards. The fence should be check regularly, especially if you discover your dog digs! Once the fence is in, you should not need to tie the dog.
What kind of treats do you use?
The easiest thing for me has been to cut up a chicken breast in small bits.
During the process of crate training, how often should we put her in the crate and close the door when we are home?
As I don't believe in crate training and have never done it, I can't respond otherwise.
How do you keep your pups out of the cat's food bowl?
The cat food AND LITTER BOX must be kept out of dog reach. dogs LOVE cat poops.I have gates across the bedrooms where I keep the cat bowls and boxes. I have heard some people say they put the cat stuff up where the dog can't jump but, with 8 bowls, 8 litter boxes, that is not practical for me.





I have gates across the bedrooms where I keep the cat bowls and boxes. I have heard some people say they put the cat stuff up where the dog can't jump but, with 8 bowls, 8 litter boxes, that is not practical for me.

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