Hello, newbie here

[NelleS]

Hello, everyone:

My husband and I are on a waiting list for a new CKCS puppy, for a pet only, not for show. We're both excited and more than a little nervous. I'm not sure when we'll get the dog, because the breeder already has 4 people ahead of us, and I'm not sure if any of her dogs are even pregnant. What's the gestation period?

We're recently retired, so we're home full-time now. Since we both worked outside the home, we've never had a dog together. Both of us had dogs as children.

Neither one of us know the first thing about housebreaking a dog, or properly training a dog. Can you recommend some books or videos?

I think once the dog is older, we might go for some obedience training, too.

Thanks in advance,
Ellen

[Maxwell&me]

Greetings Ellen~

I cant answer your breeding question, nor can I reccomend books on house training...we had no issues with Maxwell...We just took him out every hour on the hour for the first 2 months and gradually started making the time longer and by jove he got it by 6 months. ( We had him crate trained at night for the first 9 months~ but that all went to heck in a handbasket and he sleeps in our room at night now that hes trustworthy)

I understand how fustrating it is to wait for a new puppy...we waited two years. Please, hang in there and only purchase from a good breeder. Its worth every second of a long wait when you have a beautiful, happy and healthy puppy. CONGRATS!

[Moviedust]

Oh, you are a puppy's dream home! Both Mom and Dad home ALL DAY!! Lucky little puppy.

You should talk to your breeder about the different questions you have about the litter. Your breeder probably has plans to breed different litters well in advance, so talking to the breeder will give you a much better idea of when your pup's litter will arrive and what possible coloration it might have.

There are tons of threads already on the boards about house training. Crate training goes hand-in hand with house training. If you click on Search at the top of the page and enter those terms in the search field, you will have a lot of information to read through.

Good luck!! Keep us informed about when you hear more about your pup!

[molly]

Isn't retirement the BEST job ever! both my DH and I are at home with our crew. We did obedience training with our 2 oldest (positive/clicker style) and it was terrific. I hope you go when you get your dog.

Our 2 youngest were started at home as soon as we got them. Now I do therapy with our oldest (work with a reading tutor and disabled kids). The dog and I get more out of it than the kids do! Very rewarding work. Welcome aboard.

[Karlin]

Hi Ellen and welcome to the board!

If you go to the Library section of the board, you'll find some recommended books -- for housetraining, I always recommend Shirlee Kalstone's book. We were also just discussing dog books we wlike for training and started a thread on this so I can move it to the library -- I'll try and do that over the weekend. I think it is in the Training section or the General section at the moment -- maybe one in each.

The best thing for training is to sign up for a class that uses motivational/reward methods, not correction-based training (the former is using praise and small treats to motivate dogs; the latter uses choke chains and/or the old style jerk method to get them to obey by making them fearful of consequences if they don't respond to a command). It's good to ask if you can go watch quietly from the sidelines to get an idea of whether a class and trainer will suit you. Any good trainer will welcome someone to do an observation of a class, even if just for the first half, say. The dogs benefit so much from leanring in a group environment and the socialising with dogs and people is also very beneficial for them. Many trainers do special puppy basic training for pups from 4 months on; most pups can jopin any basic class by the time they are 6 months or so.

It's a great idea to work with your new pup on your own to, from the very beginning. Not to get perfect responses -- they are just babies -- but to set some groundwork and have fun and help the pup bond with you. Just little sessions of 5 minutes say, a few times a day, are fine. You can teach sit and down, and begin to walk on a loose leash. All this can be done inside or in the garden.

There's lots of great articles for all sorts of training using positive methods here:

http://www.deesdogs.com/templates/training.htm

[Claire]

Welcome to the group Ellen and hubby - if you are in the UK the kennel club has a section of registered puppies and the area section....

[NelleS]

Thank you all for your welcome! I'll be honest, my DH and I were very excited at the prospect of getting a CKCS. Then I got an email from the local breeder, and YIKES! She charges $2000+ for a puppy! OMG, we had NO IDEA CKCS were so expensive! So, we'll see how this works out.

The breeder doesn't even have any pregnant girls, so who knows what our financial situation will be when, or if, a puppy becomes available.

I'll keep you posted,
Ellen