Quote Originally Posted by wolf_Q View Post
He's so cute! I taught all of my dogs their commands with voice and hand signals (not ASL I just made up my own hand gestures for stuff) and let me tell you the dogs respond better to the hand signals. Other people will be telling them to sit or lay or whatever and they just look at them (even though I know they know the words too) I have to show them my signals then they respond right away. I have a hand signal command for "come" and you can tell Nebo come in every voice/way you want and he will just look at you....do the command and he comes running (brat).

This is probably something you already thought about I just thought I'd mention it. Since you will be home with him a lot make sure you get him used to being alone too. I just know a few people who have brought their dogs everywhere with them/always been home with them thinking that was the best thing....and now those dogs can't be left home alone at all or they freak out, they have separation anxiety. My old boss has to bring her husky to my work and leave her there if she goes somewhere (even just for an hour or less) and can't take the dog, kinda ridiculous to have a dog that can't be home alone at all. She brought her to work with her every day as a puppy and never got her used to being home alone.
Great advice, Amy. I do have two questions. At what age do you allow for socialization? Also, when should I start working on Ryder on being used to home alone, etc.? It has been so long since I've really had a puppy, since Rosie. Hank doesn't count, I was in college when my parents raised him.