6 month old puppy

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russki1313

Forums Novice
Hi guys,
I just want to say thanks a lot for helping thus far. This forum and the members are really great. But i do still have lots of questions.
If you can please answer all or some of them.
Thanks
1. My dog on walks doesn't pull in stead he sometimes just sits down and you can't move him. At least not until you give him a treat. That's how we got him from the breeder. Addicted to treats. What to do?
I ordered a training collar, the plastic one hopefully it will help. Any other ideas.
2. How much water should a 6 month old drink? Mine drinks about 4 cups a day. Too much or too little? Should his bowl be full all the time?
3. We just switched to Taste of the Wild High Prairie Dog food. It says to feed about 2.5 a day? too much or too little? I feel like it may be a little to much.
4. Now i know people have different approaches and lots of opinions about training commands. Should i use the clicker and treat approach or the dogfather approach with the collar and no treats?

I really appreciate all of your help
Thanks
 
Hi...how lucky are you...a puppy. Love to see pictures. As for your questions.

1. Make walking fun. You may need a treat to get started, but should soon be able to move out and he'll just follow you, because he sees you as the most fun person to be with. Puppies are pretty hard-wired to follow. Give your command, step out with confidence, not looking back to see if he's coming, little leash pops to get him up and moving and then move!! He'll get it.
2. 4 cups seems like a lot, but if he has no medical problems, I wouldn't worry.
3. Depends on how much he weighs, but 2.5 cups seems like too much. My girls get 1/4 cup of their kibble twice a day. He needs more than that, because he's still growing, but 2.5?? Others who feed TOTW will give you better info.
4. Clicker, treats and fun will work better for shelties than a strong arm approach.

Good luck and please...HAVE FUN!!!
 
Sca gets 1 1/4 cups and he is large though 2 years old now so the food sounds high.

Food obsessed is good. Makes training them easy. Think "So you want me to jump through the hoop of flame, open a door, spin to the right and tap my paw three times? Is this for a whole cookie or half?" :lol:

If you check my flyball treats one of the biggest mistakes I made the first time was forgetting my food pouch when going to the ring. Last time I remembered it AND did some treat/trick priming and it was a huge difference. Sca can be bribed :yes:
 
russki1313 said:
Hi guys,
I just want to say thanks a lot for helping thus far. This forum and the members are really great. But i do still have lots of questions.
If you can please answer all or some of them.
Thanks
1. My dog on walks doesn't pull in stead he sometimes just sits down and you can't move him. At least not until you give him a treat. That's how we got him from the breeder. Addicted to treats. What to do?

I would make the walk fun,use treats if he is food motivated.Or try what we did with Trapp,and a long handled wood spoon with peanut butter,to keep him moving forward and his head high. He was one to always to be putting his nose to the ground

I ordered a training collar, the plastic one hopefully it will help. Any other ideas.

Not sure what you mean by training collar,is it a martingale? I've never seen a plastic collar. We use martingales here.

2. How much water should a 6 month old drink? Mine drinks about 4 cups a day. Too much or too little? Should his bowl be full all the time?

4 cups seems like alot of water for a 6 month old. But then again,I have to admit I never measured water intake here. We keep dishes full with fresh water,and I never witheld water from them at night. Some folks do,if you have a pup that is pee crazy.


3. We just switched to Taste of the Wild High Prairie Dog food. It says to feed about 2.5 a day? too much or too little? I feel like it may be a little to much.

Ours get 1/2c morning~1/2c at night.Also a TOTW feeder here. Mia gets 1/4c morning~1/4 c at night. Same food.
Both Trapp & Jasper weigh 20#,Jasper may be a tad heavier,but no heavier than 21#. Mia is a hefty 16lbs. They do quite well on what they get,and I am not a treat feeder here on daily basis. Alot depends on activity levels,the structure of the dog,and how they are absorbing it. Poop size here is monitored,and it is fairly small. With 4 dogs,and one a lab,of course his is a bit more.


4 Should i use the clicker and treat approach or the dogfather approach with the collar and no treats?

We clicker here,and have since the pups came home at 9 weeks.Food motivated pups,always were. So I don't mess with what works.That includes food & the like.
Click to expand...
 
I just want to comment on the water intake...

We had to measure my puppy's water intake to rule out certain medical issues, and were told that anything over 45ml per lb for a day for a puppy is excessive.

So for example, if your puppy is 10lbs, that's 450ml of water per day. There are 230 ml in a cup, so unless your puppy is 20 pounds (or more), 4 cups of water is excessive.
 
If your pup sits down and won't budge start walking zig zag in different directions, no pulling on the leash but gently moving, once you get momentum going he will follow
if you give that much dry kibble then your puppy will drink a lot. Try eating dry toast and salami day after day...
Is your puppy fat? chubby? has nice hourglass with ribs felt like you will feel your hand knuckles? There are lots of differences and what is good for one dog too much or too little for others.
Forget about corrections, " play" is new rule of dog training!
 
We had similar walking problems with our 4 month old when we first got him. He was well socialized, but no obedience training at all.

For me, treats were essential to get him going on the leash and luckily he is very food motivated so it became easy.

We tried a couple of short walks to get him going, but after about 5 minutes, his butt was on the ground and he was digging in with his front paws. He was NOT going to move forward.

The method that worked great for us:

1.I put the leash on him in the house and let him run around with it - never touching the other end except to put it on or off. "See! It doesn't hurt you!" This helped so he wouldn't dread the time on the leash as too much work.

2.Put the leash on and holding the other end, take one or two steps. If he follows, TREATS - even if it is just for one or two steps.

3. More steps, more treats and lots of praise. The secret for us was when the pup feels the tug on the leash, he should move toward it, not away. If he moves forward then he is doing the right thing, and that means treats and praise. And if he does pull back, just keep even pressure, no tugging, until he takes a step toward you. Big praise for that first step! If he runs past you, stop, and make him step back toward you before moving forward again - emphasizing that you are setting the pace and direction. And every time he moved toward me, especially after a stop by me or a stop by him, he got treats and praise.

Eventually, he just realized it was easier to keep the leash loose and move forward then to stop and fight it.

Doolie is an excellent walker now, and it really didn't take much effort at all.

Hope that helps!
 
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