Information – Paw & Order

You’re probably familiar with much of this, but hopefully you’ll find at least some of it useful. If these notes seem overwhelming simply start with the more important items that you can handle today (and what you can do will probably be enough!) and in time you’ll add more and more as you grow in the skills of dog ownership!

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Callie is so smart! She already knows sit, come, follow and her name. Is this just how German Shepherds are? Maybe I’ve just had difficult dog breeds in the past. Haha. Even the face that she had really never been outside on the ground before, much less in snow, and not much leash experience surprises me, because she took to those things like she had been doing them all along. She doesn’t mind the leash at all. She is doing great with the kids.

- Ashleigh, Indiana

“Dogs offer security, succor, esteem, understanding, forgiveness, fun and laughter and, most important, abundant and unconditional love. Furthermore, they make no judgements, and we can be ourselves with them. They also need our help and make us feel important.”

- Leo K. Bustad, "Compassion: Our Last Great Hope”, p50
Paw & Order

You decide on the rules to create the rules that will create the relationship with your dog. Rules enforced from day one usually go pretty well. But it’s harder to change the rules alter on. It’s easy to relax the rules later, but it’s much harder to tighten them. Below are a few suggestions, but you’ll need to work out the rules for your unique home and puppy.

 

* Where will your new puppy sleep? We suggest in its crate or on the floor rather than in your bed to emphasize the human/dog barrier. Besides, a 90# GSD in the bed might not leave room for anyone else!

* Is the sofa fair game?

* Is there a special potty area outside or is the entire back yard in play?

* How many times is it OK to bark at the mailman?

* What are the morning and evening routines, and what is the schedule for feeding, potty breaks, etc.

* Is it OK to jump on visitors, to chase or taste the cat, to try to sneak out of the front door? How about car doors? etc.

* Dogs aren’t people, and life is easier if everyone remembers that! G. K. Chesterton’s family-friendly murder mystery series, Father Brown, makes that point superbly in “The Oracle of the Dog“, toward the end mostly. Then it wraps up with a Chestertonian Christian Apologetics tour de force.

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