If you’ve been following the blog for a while then you probably already know a little bit about my background.  My first dog, Linus was rescued from the Carson Animal Shelter as a puppy.  After Linus I volunteered at a local animal rescue and fostered over a dozen puppies of various breeds.  Finally, after fostering for over a year I began raising guide dog puppies for Guide Dogs of America and I’m currently raising my fourth puppy, Apache – a Golden Retriever.

So those are my credentials as of today and after much experience in the puppy world here’s what I would do and consider when confronted with the question “How To Find A Puppy”

How To Find A Puppy

Yep, that's our first puppy, Linus

The journey started for me over 7 years ago.  I had always wanted a puppy of my own, but I never really felt like I had the time to take care of one.  That all changed on my 32nd birthday.  That was the day that my girlfriend stopped by the house and took me to several local dog breeders and told me that she wanted to get me a puppy for my birthday.  I didn’t actually find a puppy that day, but it put  the idea in my head and made me actually think long and hard about the process of finding and taking care of a puppy.   After much reading, research, and thought, approximately 1 month later I was able to find me a puppy through PetFinder.com, an Australian Shepherd mix we named Linus.

The story doesn’t just end there.  As I mentioned I’ve gone through the process of raising a puppy many times over since I brought home Linus.  I’d like to share with you the different ways I’ve learned you can go about finding a puppy that is perfect for you.

Adopt A Puppy

This is what I did with my first puppy Linus.  At the time I was contemplating buying a puppy from a local breeder, but for some reason it didn’t sit right with me and I felt like I should adopt a puppy instead.  If you live in the United States probably the best way to find a puppy for adoption is to check out the Petfinder.com website.  Petfinder.com has a great search engine with many filters that makes it easy to find a puppy near you.  Many animal rescues and animal shelters list their available puppies on Petfinder.com with pictures and detailed information about the puppies.  In fact, I found Linus through the Petfinder.com search engine.

I found Linus at one of our local animal shelters.  However, if I were to adopt a puppy tomorrow I believe I would try and go through a local rescue versus a shelter.  What’s the difference and why would you go to a rescue versus a shelter?

• Animal Shelter – an animal shelter is government funded like the Riverside Animal County Services or the Irvine Animal Care Center.  Here’s a good definition from the Recycled Dog:

Shelters are typically buildings that contain multiple kennels or dog runs as well as catteries that can house many unhomed animals at a time. Some municipalities operate their own shelters but many shelters operate as 501c3 non-profit organizations and are subsidized by contracts with local municipalities. These contracts provide for incoming animals picked up by local municipal animal control officers to be housed and managed by the shelter. Shelters typically offer pet lost and found services, adoption services, low cost veterinary care services, and animal surrender intake services for the communities in which they are located.

• Animal Rescue – animal rescues take on the expenses and receive most of their funding through charitable donations.  A good example of an animal rescue is the Cuddly Canines Rescue I volunteered with a few years back  Here’s a good definition from the Recycled Dog:

Rescue groups were created by necessity with the intention of pulling animals targeted for euthanization from shelters in order to give them substantially more time to find a new home. Rescue groups typically operate as 501c3 non-profit organizations staffed primarily by volunteers.

Now to answer the question of why animal rescue versus shelter?  This is merely personal choice.  I rescued Linus from the Carson Animal Shelter and rescued several puppies from Riverside Animal County Services as a volunteer foster.  I then adopted out those puppies to loving families.  After those experiences here’s what I found:

• Rescuing from an animal shelter is much cheaper…initially…it cost me $37 to rescue Linus from the Carson Animal Shelter.  However, he was infested with fleas, worms, and mites.  He was anemic.  He had a stomach infection.  The total for his first vet bill was well over $300.  As well as a follow up vet bill hovering around $200.  Finally to get him neutered was another $300.  Finally there were follow up vaccinations that probably ran somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 The total first months cost were close to $1,000!
• Rescuing from an animal rescue can be cheaper even though the initial expense is higher.  At Cuddly Canines I had to keep each puppy for at least 14 days to screen them for health issues.  I gave all the pups in my care flea and worm medication and checked for mites.  I started them on their vaccination series and had them spayed/neutered before they went home with their new families.  The initial adoption fee from the Cuddly Canines Rescue was $300.   After adoption you have to complete the vaccination series which might cost an additional $100.  All in all the total first months cost should be under $500 from a rescue.

After experiencing both Rescues and Shelters I’ve found that the rescue with an initial adoption fee of around $300 can still be less expensive then going with an animal shelter’s $37 adoption fee in the long run.  The other advantage is that you do not have to deal with the gross parasites like fleas, ticks, mites, and worms.  And if the rescue is similar to Cuddly Canines then any other diseases have been identified during the 14 day period in foster care.   Believe me when I tell you these are huge advantages after going through all the early medical issues with Linus.

So if I were to adopt a puppy today I would try and find a nice animal rescue and work with them to find a puppy.  Make sure you do your research and find a good reputable Animal Rescue like Cuddly Canines before adopting a puppy.

Foster A Puppy

As I mentioned before I was a guide dog puppy raiser I fostered puppies for a local animal rescue called Cuddly Canines.  If you ever have a chance I highly recommend fostering for a local animal rescue.

Now you might be wondering, but why is fostering a puppy listed in this article about “how to find a puppy“?

Simple, fostering a puppy is a great way to find a puppy.  As volunteers at the local animal rescue I fostered dozens of puppies.  As a foster I got to see all the different personalities.  This would have been a perfect chance to match the perfect puppy personality with my lifestyle if I so chose.  In the end I never adopted any of the puppies I fostered, but as I mentioned it is a perfect opportunity to test drive a puppy without committing to keeping him for his lifetime.

One of Our Adorable Foster Puppies, Blondie!

Raise A Puppy

I’m currently a guide dog puppy raiser for the organization Guide Dogs of America.  Raising a guide dog puppy is a huge commitment.  As a puppy raiser I receive a puppy from the guide dog  school when the pup is 7 weeks of age.  I then raise, train, and socialize the puppy until he is 18 months of age.  At that time I return him to the school where he starts formal training for 6 months.  Finally at around 2 1/2 years of age he is matched with a visually impaired person and together they become a guide dog team.

That’s how it works when everything is perfect.  However, everything is not always perfect.  My first guide dog puppy in training, Stetson went all the way through the first 2 months of formal training and then he was dropped from the program when he was just under 2 years of age.  Once a puppy is dropped from the program he is considered a career changed puppy and the original puppy raiser is given the first option to adopt him.  In Stetson’s case I adopted him after he was career changed.  If the puppy raiser does not adopt the puppy then he enters the guide dog adoption program.  There is currently a 6 year wait list for these puppies and our school is not currently accepting new applications.

If I were to consider adopting another puppy I would probably just adopt one of my career changed guide dog puppies like I did with Stetson.  After all, I already took him through all the training and socialization.

Puppy raising is something your may never consider when you’re trying to find a puppy.  However, long ago I decided puppy raising was something I wanted to do to give back to the community and it resulted in me finding a wonderful black Labrador Retriever puppy named Stetson!

My first guide dog puppy, Stetson!

Buy A Puppy

Way back in the early days, when I first started looking for a puppy I considered buying a puppy from a local breeder (I never considered buying a puppy from the pet store mainly because of all the horror stories I had heard about pet stores and puppy mills).  However, I soon decided it was a much better idea to rescue a puppy from my local animal shelter.  However, this is not for everyone and some may still want to purchase a puppy from a breeder.  By the way, there are breed specific rescues that often times have puppies so please check for a breed specific rescue in you’re area at Petfinder.com.

If you do decide to buy a puppy from a breeder make sure you find a reputable dog breeder.  While I am not very experienced in this area I did receive some pointers when I was trying to find my first puppy.

• As I mentioned check for breed specific rescues at Petfinder.com and see if they have any puppies available.
• Ask your veterinarian if he can recommend a good breeder.
• Ask your local dog trainer if he can recommend a good breeder.
• Email the American Kennel Club and ask for the parent club of the breed your interested in.  Ask that club about good breeders in your area.
• Talk to friends and family and see if they have any information.
• If your in Southern California try visiting the Orange County Pet Expo and talk to the different breed specific exhibitors at the show.
• Attend a dog show and talk to some of the dog breeders.

Of course once you find a few breeders that you think are reputable your job is not done.  You now have to evaluate all of these dog breeders with questions, observations, document inspections, and more.  However, I’m going to save dog breeder evaluation for another post.

Wow!  That was kind of a long post!  I guess in 7 years time I gathered quite a bit of information on how to find a puppy.  Hopefully this helps you out a little bit when the time comes for you to find a puppy.

So how about you?  What did you do the first time you tried to find a puppy?  Did you adopt a puppy, foster a puppy, raise a puppy, buy a puppy, all of the above, or none of the above?  I’d love to hear what you did when it came time to find the perfect puppy.  Tell us about it in the comment section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

How To Find A Puppy

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Welcome to the first episode of Puppy In Training TV – Picking Up Your Puppy.  You’ll notice at the end of the episode we thank our sponsors.  If you’d like to sponsor an episode then please visit our Puppy In Training TV Sponsorship page.

Enjoy this weeks puppy training video!

Picking Up Your Puppy Transcription

The transcription is not nearly as riveting as the video, but we thought it would be a good idea to transcribe our puppy training videos.

Hey Everyone, my name’s Colby.  Welcome the the first episode of Puppy In Training starring this little guy right here: Dublin…Good Boy Dublin.

(Titles Roll): Puppy In Training TV Starring Dublin.  With Linus Aussie Mix Rescue.  Also Colby The Human.  And Stetson Career Changed Guide Dog.  Episode 1 – Picking Up Your Puppy.

Thanks for joining us for our first episode…Picking Up Your Puppy.  Since I first started raising Guide Dog Puppies I’ve been keeping a blog at PuppyInTraining.com.

However, this time I wanted to do a little more and share with my family some of the things I do with my guide dog puppies by shooting some video and starting a Puppy YouTube Channel.  So lets get started with our first episode – Picking Up Your Puppy.

There are a few things I like to do before puppy pickup day.

1. First just stop by the pet supply store pickup some puppy toys, some Bitter Apple spray, Nature’s Miracle just in case my puppy has an accident.
2. The second thing I like to do is puppy proof my house by getting down on my hands and knees and getting my puppy’s point of view – looking for any dangers he might see.

Puppy Pickup Day is one of those great times and I like to keep a list of things to do just so I don’t forget during the excitement.

1. The first thing I like to do is make sure I bring a friend along to document the moment with pictures and video and help me with any problems I have.
2. The second thing I like to do is just bring along a stuffed toy and rub it all over my puppy’s litter mates.  I like to do this because on my puppy’s first night home alone in his kennel he’ll have his little stuffed toy with the scent of his litter mates on it which will make him feel more comfortable.
3. The final thing I like to do is bring lots of paper towels and rags just in case my puppy has an accident on the car ride home.

Lucky for us Guide Dogs of America sends us home with a nice little puppy care package to get us started on those first few days.  Some of the things we got were our puppy’s first bag of food, a nice blanket for his kennel, some fliers with training information on it, our puppy’s first guide dog vest, a brush, his leash and collar, some toys, we were also lucky enough to get a nice blanket and picture of litter mates from Dublin’s grandma.

Dublin’s first night at home wasn’t too bad.  He did whine for a little bit as you can see here in the video, but I put his toy in there with him with the scent of his litter mates and he fell asleep after maybe five minutes and slept almost through the entire night.

Thanks for joining us for our first episode of Puppy In Training.  Puppy Pickup Day is one of those very exciting times and whether you’re a guide dog puppy raiser or picking up your first puppy we’d love to hear your story so leave us a comment in the comment sections below and don’t forget to please subscribe to our YouTube Channel.  Thanks again and we’ll see you next time.

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A Special Thanks To This Episodes Sponsor:
Colby Morita
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For more information on how you can sponsor an episode visit PuppyInTraining.com.

Post from: Puppy Training

Puppy In Training TV – Ep1 – Picking Up Your Puppy

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1. Things To Remember When You Go To Pickup Your Puppy
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Things To Remember When You Go To Pickup Your Puppy

1. Bring A Friend – life is much easier if you have a friend or family member to help you on puppy pickup day.  It shouldn’t be too hard to get someone to join you to pickup up an adorable fuzzy little puppy.  Plus this will help when you get to item #3.
2. Bring A Kennel - if you brought a friend you may not need a kennel (we get a head start and let our puppy ride at our feet on the passenger side floor boards).  However, if you’re going solo like I did with Stetson then you definitely need a kennel during your drive home (you don’t want your puppy squirming and trying to jump up on your lap while you’re driving).
3. Take Lots of Pictures/Video – it’s definitely a special day and you want to make sure you document as much as possible by having your friend take pictures and/or shoot video to capture the moment you’ll be happy you did.  Once again, if you’re going solo then bring along a camera and ask some of the other puppy raisers to take a few shots of you and your new pup.
4. Bring Rags and Paper Towels – I’ve raised three puppies for Guide Dogs of America and two out of three have had accidents during the car ride.  Stetson had a pee accident during his kennel ride and Derby vomited on the passenger floor.  Lucky for us we lined the kennel and the passenger floor with old rags and cleaned up with paper towels.
5. Bring Along A Stuffed Toy and/or Blanket - If you’re raising a puppy for Guide Dogs of America then you’ll most likely get a plush stuffed toy and a blanket in your bag.  However, every year we make sure to bring a stuffed toy of our own rub on our puppy’s litter mates.  This gets the scent of the litter and helps when it comes time for puppy’s first night home in his kennel.  We wrote a short article on getting the scent of the litter a couple years ago after we brought home Stetson.

One final tip for Guide Dogs of America puppy raisers:  Make sure you try and listen to every word Louise says right before you head down to the nursery.  She has some great points that will help you raise your puppy.  I know it’s difficult to listen it being so close to having your cuddly puppy in your hands, but it will definitely benefit you and your new Guide Dog Puppy In Training.

Have you guys been following us on Facebook or Twitter?  If not, check out our pages at http://www.facebook.com/PuppyInTraining and http://www.twitter.com/PuppyInTraining.  We’ve been adding short updates on our latest Guide Dog Puppy In Training, Dublin’s progress including “Status” Updates, Updated Picture Albums, and links to some of our other GDA friends.

One final thing to note: We also plan on putting together a YouTube Channel and keep a Guide Dog Puppy Training Video Journal starring Dublin.  We plan on getting our first episode posted this week so make sure to subscribe to our channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/PuppyInTraining.

Post from: Puppy Training

Things To Remember When You Go To Pickup Your Puppy

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This thought crosses our mind each time we bring home a new puppy.  Whether it’s your first or fiftieth puppy it’s a good idea to think about a few basic things before bringing home that next puppy.  Here are a few things that crossed my mind this time around:

What Should We Do Before We Bring Home A Puppy?

1. Read or Re-read Your Guide Dog  Puppy Manual – If this is your first Guide Dog puppy then reading your Guide Dog Puppy Manual is a must.  We like to re-read and review our puppy manual before bringing home a new puppy.  If you are not a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser then we recommend Puppies For Dummies.  We read Puppies For Dummies before picking up Linus and found it very helpful.
2. Get Puppy Supplies (Or replenish your supplies if it’s your second…third puppy) – A while back we wrote a list of Must Have Puppy Products.  Here’s a short recap:
   • Dog Crate – We prefer the wire crates for two reasons.  It provides more ventilation then the plastic crates.  Second, it comes with a metal divider that allows your crate to grow as your puppy does.
     
   • Nature’s Miracle Stain & Odor Remover – Inevitably there will be some accidents around the house.  Nature’s Miracle is great at removing odors.
     
   • Bitter Apple Spray – We haven’t raised a puppy yet that does not chew in his leash.  We just spray a little bitter apple on the leash and our puppies stop chewing.
     
   • Puppy Toys – This is a link to the large plush Mallard one of  our puppy’s all time favorites.  However, we recommend getting all different texture toys to give your puppy some variety including other favorites like the Kong and Nylabone.
     
3. Puppy Proof The House – We like getting down on our hands and knees to get our puppies view point.  You might notice that outlets and wires are right at puppy eye level.  Make sure to block these areas off to make your home is a safe environment for your puppy.

Puppy pickup day is an exciting one.  However, make sure you at the very least think about the three things we mention above before bringing home that shiny new puppy.

Have you guys been following us on Facebook or Twitter?  If not, check out our pages at http://www.facebook.com/PuppyInTraining and http://www.twitter.com/PuppyInTraining.  We’ve been adding short updates on our latest Guide Dog Puppy In Training, Dublin’s progress including “Status” Updates, Updated Picture Albums, and links to some of our other GDA friends.

One final thing to note: We also plan on putting together a YouTube Channel and keep a Guide Dog Puppy Training Video Journal starring Dublin.  We plan on getting our first episode posted this week so make sure to subscribe to our channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/PuppyInTraining.

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What Should We Do Before We Bring Home A Puppy?

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When I first picked up Linus from the animal shelter in Carson I never really thought about the question: “What Are Good Dog Names?” or even “What should I name my dog?“…

I remember driving home with my girlfriend brainstorming good dog names including front runners like Max which by the way is the most popular dog name according to some polls.  Another name I really liked was Fiver (I just finished reading Watership Down and Fiver was the one of the rabbits in the book).  It actually took us a couple days before we settled in on Linus.

On the other hand sometimes a good name will just pop in your head the moment you see a new puppy.  For instance, when we brought home and fostered litter of 7 puppies one stood out and I immediately said he looks like a George (this name breaks one of my rules for naming puppies).  However for some reason I did not have a name pop into my head for the other six puppies, but the one was definitely a George (my brother and his wife ended up adopting George and he still goes by that name today).

What Are Good Dog Names?

A while back we wrote a short article on how to name a puppy and received some excellent feedback from our readers.  I wanted to point out one comment that stood out in particular from one of our fellow puppy raisers:

We were going over names one day while having lunch at Farmer’s Market in L.A. and after our second glass of wine, we came up with DUDE…And after “Sit Dude” and “Dude, Come”, and “BAD DUDE!!”, we were laughing hysterically.

I don’t think GDA would approve, but, ya never know….

Seriously, a strong 2 syllable name works best when you are issuing commands. That’s why we’ve had Boomer, Buster, Trooper and now Dexter.
If your dog wanders away, what will bring him/her back? “Here Decartes!!”??”Come DAEDALUS!!”??? Don’t think so. Not that those aren’t great names. I wanted to name a dog Zampano, after a famous Italian Strongman, but Janet gave me the “Are you CRAZY??” look. These are WORKING dogs that need working names.

A strong two syllable name is a good rule to try and follow when choosing a good dog name.

Another thing you might consider is to avoid common human names.  My name, Colby is not too common, but anytime I hear someone say “Colby” or even “Kobe” I immediately turn my head.    If your dog has a common human name he may start hearing it all the time when out in public.  I can think of two things a dog might do when hearing his name constantly out in public.  First, he might at the minimum turn his head, but also may want to head towards the person calling his name.  On the other extreme, if he hears his name all the time he may just start ignoring his name in all situations.

How To Name A Guide Dog Puppy?

As I said before we discussed how to name a puppy in a previous post, but I still wanted to highlight a few main points from that article.

1. We (Puppy Raisers) are given the opportunity to name our puppies.
2. Guide Dogs of America assigns a letter to each litter.  Each puppy’s name from that litter starts with that letter.  For instance Stetson was from the “S” litter and Derby was from the “D” litter.
3. The name can’t be the same as a current Puppy In Training, current Guide Dog, or current Breeder.
4. It also can’t be a funny type name. For instance, our puppy manual says please no guide dogs by the name of “Popcorn”. Guide Dogs of America are usually pretty lenient. Before getting Stetson I submitted a list to Louise our puppy program manager, and she let me know what names were available/appropriate.

If you’re still having trouble coming up with a list of  good dog names or puppy names then check out our page of puppy names sorted alphabetically.

It’s been a couple years, but once again you may already have guessed why I’m talking about puppy names again…

That’s right!  We’ve decided to raise another puppy for Guide Dogs of America!

What Should I Name My Guide Dog Puppy?

Do you want to help us name our next Guide Dog Puppy?  Here’s  what you need to do:

1. Visit the Puppy In Training Fan Page
2. Click the “Like” button on our fan page.
3. We will announce the letter assigned to our litter in the next few days.
4. In the comments section in Facebook or in the comments section below let us know what you think we should name our new puppy.

That’s it!  Be sure to visit our Fan Page and click the “Like” button so you can be the among the first to find out what letter is assigned to our litter.  Do you know of any good dog names that start with the letter “D”?

Post from: Puppy Training

What Are Good Dog Names?

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A couple months after Stetson started his formal guide dog training we were asked to raise a second guide dog puppy in training.  We accepted and so began the chronicles of our next guide dog, Derby and his puppy training.

If you’ve been following along then you know Derby the little yellow puppy in the picture below was career changed the middle of last year.

As time passed this blog has evolved and we enjoyed not only sharing our experiences with guide dog puppy training, but also just about everything that came across our desk regarding dogs and puppies.

It’s been over three years since we first started our guide dog puppy training journey and as many of you know today I am without a guide dog puppy.  However, after writing over 300 articles to this blog I wanted to share some of my favorite and most popular puppy training articles.

Puppy Training

While not all totally about puppy training I’m sure you’ll enjoy these articles and some of the adorable puppy pictures.

• Top 10 Dogs Good With Children – If you’re looking to get a new puppy I’d suggest checking out your local shelter or rescue.  There are many adorable purebred and mixed breed puppies and dogs at your local rescues and shelters.  If you’re looking for a dog good with kids then check out this first part about dogs good with children.  You can also find the second article in this series here: Dogs Good With Children Part II
• Can A Litter Of Puppies Have More Than One Father? – When I first started volunteering with the Cuddly Canines rescue I picked up 7 little German Shepherd puppies and they all looked very different.  The owner of Cuddly Canines told me that it was possible that their were multiple father’s of this litter.  I found this very interesting and threw together a short article about litters having more than one father.
• How Much Should I Feed My Puppy – After raising several puppies over the past few years I noticed some (Stetson) got a bit chunky while eating the same amount as others (Derby) who got very skinny.  I put together a short article about what your bag of kibble recommends versus what we feed our guide dogs.
• How To Handle Your Puppy’s First Night At Home – We always crate train our puppies.  Some like Derby are easy and sleep straight through the night from day 1.  Others like Stetson and Linus cry, bark, howl, scratch, scream…you name it from sun down to sun up.  This article lists a few hints on how you might be able to make your puppies first night at home a little easier on you and him.
• Crate Training Puppies – This was a direct response to one of my readers having issues with her puppy and crate training.  I gave 14 tips on how to crate train your puppy.
• What’s The Life Expectancy Of Your Dog? – I love my dogs and often wonder about their mortality.  I hope they will live between 15-20 years.  However, I wanted to see what average life expectancy was for different dog breeds.
• The Cutest Puppy Ever – I wanted to put together a series of articles on all the puppies I had raised over the past few years and post a few pictures.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have photos of all the litters, but I did take a lot of Derby, Stetson, Linus, and the litter of seven German Shepherd mixes.  This is the first article in that series.  I already closed the voting poll, but you can still check out the adorable images of puppies.
• Dachshund Acts As Mom To Baby Piglet – The beginning of February 2008 a story came across my desk about a piglet adopted by a Dachshund and her litter of puppies.  I wrote a short article and posted some pictures.  Little did I know that the story would become and internet phenomenon for Johanna Kerby, Pink, and Tink.
• Black And Tan Labrador Retrievers – It’s been controversial, but when I first started training Stetson as a guide dog I heard about Black and tan Labrador Retrievers and wrote an article about what I heard at Guide Dog group and read on the internet.

How’s My Puppy Training Going?

What are the state of my dogs?  Well just in case you haven’t been following along.  Over five years ago I adopted my first dog Linus from the Carson Animal Shelter.  About two years after adopting Linus I began fostering rescue dogs and puppies with the rescue organization Cuddly Canines.  About 6 months after working with foster puppies I began volunteering as a puppy raiser with Guide Dogs of America.   Stetson was my first guide dog puppy in training and was career changed (dropped) after two months of formal guide dog training.  Derby was my second guide dog puppy in training and was dropped several months before he had a chance to start his formal training.

So what have we been doing if we haven’t been training a puppy?  As many of you know, Derby was adopted by another loving family and unfortunately we haven’t heard much back from them, but hope that he’s living a wonderful life with plenty of room to run around.  After getting career changed Stetson moved back home with me and Linus my Australian Shepherd mix rescue dog.  Right now me and my two big black dogs are focusing on four main goals:

• Working on Linus and his behavior around other dogs and people on our neighborhood walks.
• Working with Stetson and Therapy Dog Training.  We talked about this a while back and have recently been sidetracked.
• Puppy sitting other guide dog puppies when needed.
• Taking video of guide dog puppy training and our group meetings.

We’ve also been tinkering with the idea of possibly raising another guide dog puppy, but we aren’t quite sure if we’re ready to take on that responsibility yet.  A secondary option we’ve been considering is possibly fostering rescue dogs and puppies from our local shelters.

It’s been nearly three years since I started writing to this blog and hopefully we’ll continue for another three more.  We’ll continue to do our best to keep you informed about the latest puppy training tips as we continue our journey with Stetson, Linus, and any other puppies or dogs that pass through our lives.

Have you recently raised or plan on raising a puppy?  Let us know if you have any puppy training questions in the comment section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

Puppy Training

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2. 10 Differences Between Guide Dog Puppy In Training And Your Pet
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How To Choose A Puppy?

As I mentioned earlier the first question I asked myself was “How to Choose a puppy?” or How should I choose a puppy?  Before I even considered bringing home a new member of the family I made sure I had three things:

1. Time - for the first time eight years I was not working a full time job.  In fact I was on winter break after attending my first semester back at college.  This was very important because a puppy requires a good portion of your time during those first few months.
2. Maturity - was I responsible enough to take care of this little guy.  I’ve given up a lot since adopting my first puppy.  Although I do still go out and have fun some night.  Many a night I stay home with my dog rather than bar hop with friends.  Also, during the puppy stage I spent practically 100% of my time taking care of the puppy.
3. Money - initial expenses aren’t the only thing involved when bringing home a puppy (a purebred puppy can cost as much as $2,000).  There are recurring monthly expenses, vet bills (these can be extensive depending on the health of your dog), toys, treats, grooming,  and the list goes on and on.

Does A Puppy Make A Good Gift?

It all started out on my birthday a little over five years ago.  My girlfriend new I loved dogs and thought that a new puppy would make a great gift.  By the way, you might think twice about getting someone a puppy as a gift.  Check out this article on whether or not a Christmas Puppy makes a good gift.  I digress…anyhow, lucky for me she went about it the smart way and made an appointment for us to meet with several Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever puppy litters.  I was very hesitant about getting a puppy for my birthday and thought I really needed to know more before choosing a puppy from a litter.  However, even though we did not choose a puppy on that first day of puppy shopping it was a lot of fun with much cooing and baby puppy talk.

Research Before You Choose A Puppy

After our fun day of puppy browsing I decided I should find all I needed to know before choosing the perfect puppy for me.  After all it’s a very personal decision and even though a puppy is cute and cuddly when it’s young it will most definitely grow up into a dog that may have habits or tendencies that you do not approve of.

What was my next step?  A trip to the bookstore, lots of research on the internet, and talking to friends and family about the different dogs they have had during their lives.  An absolutely invaluable tool for me at the time was picking up the Puppies For Dummies book and reading it from cover to cover.  If there’s one book you should get before choosing a puppy I highly recommend this one.

Some of the most important things I learned in this book:

• Choosing the correct breed for your lifestyle.  I was looking at three different breeds based on my previous background, but I also made sure to research each breed to make sure that breed suited my lifestyle.  The three breeds I chose were Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, and Australian Shepherd.  All of these breeds are highly intelligent, athletic, and need exercise to stay out of trouble.  Don’t choose a breed strictly on their nice looks.  This is a recipe for disaster.  If you don’t like exercising your dog then an athletic, high energy dog is probably not for you.
• Staying away from the pet stores.  Hopefully most of you already know that many pet stores get their puppies from puppy mills.  Puppy mills are horrible places where people churn out puppies like a factory.  The dogs and puppies are treated very poorly and often the breeding stock never have a chance to leave their tiny cages.  It’s a horrible scene.  If you want to learn more about puppy mills then check out the stop puppy mills website.
• Backyard Breeders – People who breed dogs just for the sake of it or to make a little money.  It’s not a good idea to pick up your puppy from a backyard breeder mainly because the backyard breeder does not consider possible faults, genetic defects, or whether their breeding stock are a good representative of the breed.

How To Find The Perfect Puppy

After reading through Puppies For Dummies we decided even though there definitely are good breeders out there we’d rather rescue a puppy from a shelter or rescue.  At the time I didn’t really thing about it, but the first step in raising a green dog is to get a recycled dog or puppy from your local pet shelter or rescue and a good way to find your perfect match is to search for your new puppy on Petfinder.com.  By the way, if you’re interested in purebred dogs, approximately 25% of the dogs at the shelter are purebreds.

After searching for Australian Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden Retrievers in the Petfinder.com database I found a litter of three Australian Shepherd Labrador Retriever mixed breed puppies:

• A tri-colored female
• A black male
• A black male with a white spot on his chest

Now a new task was at hand…How to Choose A Puppy From A Litter?

We’d love to hear your experiences on how to choose a puppy? or how you chose your puppy?  Leave us a comment below.

We didn’t want to go to long with this article so check out part two at How to Choose A Puppy From A Litter.

Also if you want to check out one of my earlier recollections on picking up Linus from the shelter take a look at A Shelter Dog Named Linus.

Post from: Puppy Training

How To Choose A Puppy

No related posts.

We do our best here at Puppy In Training to promote our local shelters and rescues and also advertise upcoming adoption events including the aforementioned Home for the Holidays Pet Adoption, the Super Adoption, and the OC Pet Expo.

This year we were contacted to participate in a larger adoption event.  The IAMS Home 4 the Holidays and Hillary Swank aim to place 1.5 million pets in homes this holiday season.   This is a very admirable goal and we are all for people adopting homeless animals from our shelters and rescues.

IAMS Home 4 the Holidays

Here are some facts from the IAMS Home 4 the Holidays website:

• As many as 8 million animals are homeless in the U.S.
• Nearly 4 million orphaned dogs and cats will be euthanized this year due to shelter over-crowding and lack of awareness about the importance of pet adoption.
• More than 25 percent of all dogs in shelters are purebreds.
• IH4TH helped 1,202,751 pets find homes last year alone.
• In Oct. 2008 Hilary Swank adopted Rumi through IH4TH at a Los Angeles shelter.
• Over the past decade more than 3 million pets –1,638,515 dogs, 1,505,690 cats and 134,062 “other” animals – have been adopted through IH4TH.

Those numbers are staggering and for those of you looking for a purebred dog – “25% of all dogs in shelters are purebred.”

Even though we are advocates of pet adoption we would also like to point out that you should carefully plan and evaluate your own situation before you make the decision to adopt a new pet.  A new pet in your family is a tremendous responsibility and adopting a cat or dog is usually a 10+ year commitment.

One final thought…If your thinking about getting a dog, cat, puppy, kitten as a gift then please read my article on Christmas Puppies before you make that decision.  A pet as a gift is usually not a wise decision.

We’re happy be a part of the IAMS Home 4 the Holidays blogging program and hope to see them reach their goal of 1.5 million pets adopted this holiday season.

We did receive one update notifying us that 621,034 pets had been adopted since October 1st, 2009.  That’s great!  We’re well on our way to reaching the 1.5 million goal.

Please leave us a comment if you adopt a pet in the coming weeks.  We’d love to hear about your experience and see some pictures of your new pet.

Post from: Puppy Training

IAMS Home 4 The Holidays Aims To Place 1.5 Millions Pets

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2. Puppy Adoption – A Home for the Holidays
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Christmas Puppy?

Photo by Fauxen

While all sounds wonderful in the thoughts and images of a new puppy for Christmas I have to put my foot down and say “DON’T DO IT!”

I’m not going to look up the statistics right now, but I’m willing to wager that a number of these so-called Christmas Puppies end up in animal shelters anywhere from a few weeks to a few months later.

Why Not?

Let me start off by saying a puppy is a lot of a work…A LOT OF WORK…

I get tons of emails at this site saying

I just got a new puppy:

• How do I get him to stop crying/barking/howling?
• How do I get him to stop peeing/pooping in the house?
• How do I get him to stop biting/mouthing?
• How do I get him crate trained?
• How do I get him to stop chewing my valuables?
• How do I…

The list goes on and on.  I admit that puppies are very cute.  They seem like they would make a great Christmas gift, but just say NO!

Puppy As A Gift

Here’s how I’d go about getting a puppy as a gift.

• I like surprises so I’d just plan a day with my girlfriend and behind the scenes I’d set up an appointment(s) with a puppy rescue(s).  You can find local puppy rescues by searching through the Petfinder.com website.  We volunteer with a great puppy rescue called Cuddly Canines if you live in the Orange County, California area.
• Purchase a great puppy training book like the Puppies For Dummies book and wrap it.  On the way to your first puppy rescue you can give your girlfriend the book and explain what your going to be doing for the day.
• If your girlfriend is uninterested in a new puppy as a gift then you can just spend a nice day together looking at puppies (who can resist puppy watching?).  If she is interested then you can start the discussion of the responsibility of caring for a puppy as well as seeing some prospects during your day.

You may need to adapt this for Christmas as I’m sure puppy rescues would not be showing their puppies on Christmas day.

A few more pointers:

• If indeed you decide that a puppy is in your future please avoid purchasing your puppy from the pet store.  The majority of these puppies come from puppy mills which are horrible places.  Read more about puppy mills here.
• Again if you do decide that a puppy is in your future then please consider adopting your puppy from a local animal rescue or shelter.  If you’re like us and you’re interested in becoming a more green eco-friendly family then one of the greenest things you can do is adopt your puppy from the shelter or animal rescue.
• Make sure you’re informed and know exactly what your getting into.  I’d suggest reading the entire Puppies For Dummies book before making any decisions on purchasing a puppy.  There are some great tips in the book on how to choose a puppy: puppy temperament tests, breed selection, and many more.

One final thought.  If you plan on getting a Christmas puppy then make sure your significant other is ready to take on the responsibility of a new puppy.  A puppy as a Christmas gift is usually a bad idea because people just simply aren’t ready for that kind of responsibility.

I think that pretty much sums it up.  If your truly bent on getting your loved one a  puppy for Christmas then please try following my “Puppy As A Gift” idea rather than taking the full plunge without the consent of your girlfriend or boyfriend.

This article contains affiliate links.  If you click the links on this page and make a purchase we will receive a small monetary commission that we will use to help cover the costs of running the Puppy In Training website.

Post from: Puppy Training

Christmas Puppy – Are They A Good Gift?

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Do you think I’m looking for a dog bowl as a piece of art or for it’s functional purposes?  That’s right when I look for a dog bowl I try to find one with a purpose.  Take a look at the bowls we’ve collected and reviewed below:

That’s Linus, Derby, and Stetson trying to figure out which bowl will hold their next meal.  Not all the dog bowls reviewed are in this picture.

Be sure to check our website every Tuesday for the latest in-depth dog bowl review.  We will continue reviewing dog food and water bowls every Tuesday for the next few months.

Dog Bowls With A Purpose

As a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser and a Labrador Retriever owner we run into two problems quite often.  First of all, as a puppy raiser I take my dog everywhere and often times need a nice traveling dog bowl for both feeding and giving my puppies water.

Second, I have Labrador Retrievers and if you know Labs you’ll know they don’t eat food they gulp down food.  Early on I noticed this was a problem with Stetson.  As a puppy he would eat so fast he’d either start choking on his food or he would vomit shortly after eating.  This happened probably about every other meal.

We tried several different dog bowl options and received many suggestions from our friends and family which led to our very first dog bowl review.  We picked up the Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl from Linus’s trainer and it helped slow down the eating frenzy.

However, shortly after using the Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl Stetson began breaking out all over his chin.  He had canine acne and our veterinarian told us the most likely cause was using a plastic bowl.  According to our vet the plastic bowls harbor more bacteria and end up causing canine acne in some dogs.  He suggested we switch back to a stainless steel dog bowl.

That’s where our dog bowl journey begins.  We didn’t totally rule out plastic bowls, but we did keep in mind that a plastic dog bowl might cause acne in our dogs.

Dog Bowls For Fast Eaters

• Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl – the first dog bowl we reviewed here on Puppy In Training – check out the article at  My Dog Eats So Fast He Vomits.

• Contech EatBetter Dog Bowl – Another dog food bowl with obstacles.  A slightly different configuration then the Brake-Fast Bowl.

• DogPause Dog Food Bowl – Another dog food bowl to help control the speed your dog eats his food.

• Metal Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl – The metal version of the original Brake-Fast Dog food bowl.

• DrinkBetter Medium Blue Bowl – This dog bowl was not made for slowing dog eating, but instead for fast dog drinkers.

Those are the contenders for dog bowls that will help slow down a fast eating dog.  I’m sure not everyone runs into the problems associated with a speed eater like my Labrador Retrievers.  We will continue our series on Dog Bowl Reviews over the next couple days.  Tomorrow we’ll cover Traveling Dog Bowls and Products and Friday we’ll check out the ever so popular category of Not Quite A Dog Bowl (most of these products are good for traveling with your dog).

This list may grow over time as I’ve already seen some other products I’m interested in reviewing so check back often to see if your favorite dog bowl is under review.

Are there any dog bowls you think I should add to this list?  What dog bowls have you used to slow down a fast eating dog?

Beginning next Tuesday (every Tuesday we will reveal a new dog bowl review) we will start releasing in-depth reviews of each dog bowl.  Some reviews will include exclusive video footage and all reviews will have great images and detailed reviews from our staff and our dogs.

Post from: Puppy Training

Dog Bowl Reviews

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