New family member on the way

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
That cannot fly.

He is a male from an alpha breed. This means that, irrespective of his " love" for you guys, he will always try fo be the leader of the pack. And that you cannot allow, for that is where the problems begin.

Dogs do not belong on the couch. He gets used to it, he feels entitled to it and one day you will want him out of the couch , he will growl and then he is a " mean" dog, when the mistake has been the owners.
 
Please tell me to shut up if I sound patronizing ( and it may be that you know more about dogs than I ), but, on another note, I seem to remember you have a young girl, right?

If so, get her used to play with the dog always standing up, never on her knees. The dog needs to look up to her nd not consider her a sibling.

I base all my " knowledge" on experience, and with breeds more complicated than yours ( yours still has the inbred tendency to obey and be conducted, like the german shepperd ) and, with seven children and a load of Mastiffs ( neo's, cane corsos and Bx Dogues ) i have seen, and made, a lot of mistakes.

One of my boys has 30 stitches up his nose....

Anyway, sorry if i sound out of line. Enjoy that maervel!
 
We dont let him on the couch, I tend to sit on the floor and lean up on the couch, dang bad back, and he moved to where I was sitting on the floor. That was also our first day with him. Since then, I do think I have seen the signs of him understanding that we are the boss. He still has a bad habit of chewing on us, he is a puppy after all, but he has learned that as soon as we say "no" he stops. The first day or so he would just keep going.

This is out first family dog, I know not the best choice but we felt that between the year of research and the plan to go through several different obedience classes, we can handle him.

I do have a five year old girl. So far we are having a problem with her "being the boss" and as much as we have to teach him, we have to teach her. She doesnt want to be "mean" to him by not letting him on the couch and things like that.

They are a head strong breed but I dont feel that they are anywhere on the level of Mastiffs and the such. No personal experience, just from what I have read though.

I think he sees me as the Alpha so far, debatable according to the wife, but he follows me around every where and listens to me immediately. The girls, especially my daughter, not as well. We are less than a week in so no big concerns as of yet.

Oh, and you arent patronizing at all, I welcome all insight, especially not only from a guy that has far more experience with dogs, but as a family man, that through the years being on MFK, I have always respected.
 
Great! As away whenever you want.

You will do everything right,because uou have the correct insight.

Just do not "humanise " the dog, be his boss and everything will be allright.

With that dog around once grown no one will come near your family.

Another thing, get him used to the car ( at the beginning on an empty stomach ) .

A girl friend of mine always drives around with her G Schnauzer. She could drive to hell and back, with that beast as wing.
 
He is great in the car. Saturday before last he spent over four hours in the car when my mom picked him up from the breeder. The breeder was four hours from her and over fifteen hours from us. She kept him for a week and then drove six hours last Friday to meet us in another city. We stayed the night there and then drove five hours home with us.

So, in a week he spent over fifteen hours in the car. He did great, pretty much slept the entire time. Ive had him in the car with me every day since too, just once today though for a few minutes to pick up my daughter from school and then the pet shop to get a mouse for the snake.

Funny story. It was raining today and I had my daughter stay in the car with him while I ran into the store.

I came out and saw her laughing. I opened the door and holy cow the smell of puppy gas about knocked me out. My poor daughter couldnt roll down the windows because I had left them up as it was raining and I turned the car off and took the keys with me. The poor girl had to roast in his stank for a couple of minutes. He, meanwhile, was asleep and never batted an eye. That little Rascal.
 
Haha.

What is the rascal's name, by the way?

What is he eating?
 
His name is Hobbes, like Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes. I wanted Pilsner or Hoppes as they were used to guard brew houses and such in Bavaria.

We are feeding him Blue Buffalo large breed puppy. May give Orijen a shot, but so far so good with this food.
 
I do not know these brands, being in europe. Main thing, imho feed him the best you can afford untill he is at least 2 years old.

What was the brewders advice? Constant food availanility or 10 minutes to eat and whatever is left removed?

I personnally think this latter way is best for large breeds
 
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