I love this thread!
1. Keep dog still.. no running/moving/jumping a week after spay/neuter.
- First of all, Niko wasn't even that affected by his neuter, it was like he hadn't been neutered at all, he had so much energy the moment we got home. We left his little collar on but as far as him running around. I controlled it the best I could, but by the 2nd-3rd day? He was running and jumping and it was fine! I still think it is just mentioned as a precaution because of the potential of something going wrong, but it isn't a FACT that something WILL go wrong if you let your dog do what it wants
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2. Do not switch foods right away! You don't want to shock their stomachs.
- Well I was bad at first, I did one better and MIXED a bunch of different foods together because I had this amateur idea that the dog would enjoy the variety. So i mixed Evo, Fromm, Artemis, Blue Buffalo. Then I realized I shouldn't be doing it so now I have bags of each and I am slowly going through each bag and trying to be better about not doing a rapid switch, by mixing the last bit of the old bag with some of the new, etc.
3. Never lets your dog sleep on the bed with you/play tug/etc..
- Ha! Yeah right. He initially slept on the crate on the floor, then in his bed on the floor because we didn't want to crate him (dang they really play on your emotions don't they?!). Then we had incidents where he would pee and hop back in bed so I started putting his bed up on my bed. That way when he was smaller he would wimper because he couldn't jump off the bed when he wanted to go pee and I would wake up to take him out. Then he slowly jumped off the bed/started realizing to bark or get my attention if he wanted to be let out. He also started sleeping through night and now hes MOSTLY trained...but he STILL gets to sleep on my bed and NOW he hardly sleeps in his own bed but cuddles up right next to me, and I don't mind it, I like it!
4. Don't let your dog walk ahead of you on walks
- He mostly always walks ahead of me and occasionally pulls, gotta work on that!
5. Never use a flexi!
- I have one of these because he is isn't trained off leash nor do I have a fenced in yard. I want him to have as much freedom as I can afford him on our walks so we use a retractable, but my family knows how to use it pretty well to keep from pulling, we also use a harness so if we do tug on it from a rare time to time its not hurting his little neck.
6. Don't give your dog junk food
- This is one rule I do follow, no people food! If we do give him food it is a TINY bite and in his dish only and the only things weve ever given him is a small piece of mango. Although he will eat anything off the kitchen floor and just watches us cook in the kitchen, waiting for something to drop.
7. Do not BABY or spoil your dog!
- Negatory. How can you not?!
8. Let your dog adjust for a week before bringing people over to meet him/her as a puppy.
- Didn't do this, and he didn't care he LOVES new people and dogs.
9. Don't encourage [COLOR=green ! important][COLOR=green ! important]bad[/COLOR][/COLOR] behavior.. no matter what.
- Niko sometimes barks relentlessly and we have to give in and end up positively reinforcing his barking..it is a vicious cycle.
10. Do not leave your dog alone with kids/other dogs alone.
- Never will.
11. ALWAYS pick up your dogs poop.
- Nope. I hardly do, they are SO small and mostly always in my yard. If it isn't in my yard it is somewhere where no one is really going to walk over. Dogs in my neighborhood, and I mean BIG dogs always are pooping in MY yard (it isnt fenced) and their owners never pick up their GIANT poops. Me not picking up my dogs poop is my passive aggressive SCREW YOU to them. I know it probably isn't the right thing to do and it probably makes no difference to them because it is all happening in my own yard anyway....but yeah if he were to poop on someone else's lawn in plain site where people walk or kids might play, I do pick it up.