Team-BHP - Advice needed for a newbie dog owner. The Enzo Diary...
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Lovely snaps ! Here's proof that the Enzo is a sleeper !
My lab, snuffles, is 5.5 yrs and can still sleep 16 hrs a day when she feels like it.

i see this thread is now 'the enzo diary' clap:from 'the bad dog's diary' :)

Enzo is so sweet Tejas! Enjoy his company! I coudnt have a dog for similar reasons untill a few years back. But Ive had all kinds of other creatures adopting me for years :D so cant really complain! I will always love Labs i guess. If you dint know already, they love it when you talk to them. :)

Enzo went on a chewing spree for 3hours till he's finally sleeping now.
Other than crating, tying or using a rolled paper, I don't know what to do. At my wits end. He doesn't like any of his toys to chew. My hand is scratched like mad. No amount of 'no', voice modulation or catching his muzzle is working. What to do? Suggestions?

Looks like we need to come and tune Enzo's engine and quick :) And Tejas while he's taking a nap you better take one too because once he wakes up you have to pay attention to his royal highness again.

I am assuming that you are a non vegetarian and cook non veg at home.

Cook the big beef bones which you get for 20 or 30 bucks. Tell the shopkeeper to leave a little bit of flesh on it and break the bone into half. The corners of the bone should be tender when cooked which the dog can scrape and nibble on. If the entirebone is hard he wil lose interest in it very soon. In local terms i call that kind of bone as Nalli bone. These bones are huge, nutritious (has lot of calcium in it and also cleans the dog's teeth) and safe for the dogs. A pup cannot break it open but will keep trying to break it. Hope you got what i said.

DO NOT FEED CHICKEN BONES.

This will end the chewing of furnitures etc problem. This also makes the dog learn to chew and eat the normal food also. Labs are greedy eaters and swallow most of their food than chewing it.

Also raise your voice while speaking to him if he has done something wrong. Let him know that you are angry. Correct him only if you have caught red handed. For example - if he has pooped in an incorrect place and you get to know about it after quite sometime and you try to correct him then, he will not get to know whats the reason for you to correct him.

Dogs understand actions better than verbal. So make sure every coomand of yours should be accompanied by a particular action. Let it be repetitive.

Hope this helps.

aww..he looks sooo cute! I miss playing with him everyday at ava's house.. Little CeeJay is the only one left now.. And she is still a sweetheart to play with!!

for everyones viewing pleasure.. Here are a few pics of Enzo when he was just a lil baby.. The day he and his sibblings took their first steps.

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Tejas@perioimpl : Enzo went on a chewing spree for 3hours till he's finally sleeping now.

My hand is scratched like mad. No amount of 'no', voice modulation or catching his muzzle is working. What to do? Suggestions?
@Tejas, he is tooo young to pick up any words you say. Patience is something you will need a lot. You will have to use non-verbal communication.. give an alternative to the chewed piece.

Also a soft cloth in it's crate can help - something like an old dhupatta will do. Atleast our experience is the pup bundles it & holds it in his mouth as he lies down.

More Pictures.

Ohh I soo wish i could have one of them!! But Mr Dhabhar Senior is **** SCARED of dogs!!

cyrus - those are some really cute pics!
tejas- any luck getting things in control?

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Sudipto-S-Team : They can even eat stone chips and kill themselves.
Pups chew on stones & hard items to break their baby teeth. Our Dobe is 5 months now, and has been going after stones & broken pots. I used to take these out from his mouth till I realised what he was upto. And man, the stregth in their jaws !

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jassi : How many nails does enzo have - 16, 18, or 20?
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Tejas@perioimpl : I think 20, need to check. Why? What is the significance of that?
Should be 18. 5+ 5 & 4+ 4.

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Tejas@perioimpl : how long does the teething phase last?
lot of websites suggest ice cubes or frozen carrots during teething. Are they ok? Someone had told me not to give any cold stuff.
Approx 6 months of age, I think. Going by the number of baby teeth our pup has broken so far.

Dont know & havent heard about the frozen stuff / ice cubes.
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laluks : Try talking to him, anything. They way reciprocate is really awesome.
My dashy was a rock through my ups and down. She can make out my mood, if I'm down I can see that pain in her eyes.
Loving, yet firm. The idea of teaching them discipline is that they dont hurt themselves.

Thats a very cute pup you got there Tejas.Take very good care of him.

I have noticed 2 very funny habits with Labs(Not sure if its noticed in other breeds too)
-When they get super excited,they start running around in very high speed.Its really funny to watch them do it.It takes some effort to control their excitement and bring them back to normal.
-They dream and run in the sleep.Run in the sense,while lying down,they move all 4 legs as if they are running.The first time I watched Pepsi do this,I was scared wondering something happened to her.But no,nothing to worry.

YouTube - Cheez our dreaming dog This is a random video I took from youtube to show what I mean :-)

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Originally Posted by jraj (Post 1374167)
-They dream and run in the sleep.Run in the sense,while lying down,they move all 4 legs as if they are running.The first time I watched Pepsi do this,I was scared wondering something happened to her.But no,nothing to worry.

i have seen this happen, but very very rarely with our spitz (schipperke/swedish lapphund)

Tejas, congrats on getting Enzo! In fact, I got my black lab puppy on the same day; i.e. Friday, the 3rd of July! We call him Duke. Unlike you, ours was not really a planned adoption. Duke is 2.5 months old and was living with a friend. Unfortunately, the friend's mom could not take to the puppy's antics and decided to give it away. Luckily, my family is all for animals and we already have a year old cat called Ginger who just delivered four kittens. Duke lives with me, while Ginger lives with my parents.

On Saturday, we took Duke to the vet who gave him his first shot of 1-in-7 vaccination. The vet also gave deworming medicine, which is to be added to his food once every 10 days.

Though I've had four cats in different periods over the last 10 years, I'm finding having a dog a whole different ball game! The expression and reciprocation is wonderful. With all that, my wife and I are facing (almost) the same problems that you are - having a pup at home!

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Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl (Post 1373280)
Enzo went on a chewing spree for 3hours till he's finally sleeping now.
Other than crating, tying or using a rolled paper, I don't know what to do. At my wits end. He doesn't like any of his toys to chew. My hand is scratched like mad. No amount of 'no', voice modulation or catching his muzzle is working. What to do? Suggestions?

Because we live in an apartment where Duke has a lot to chew, we got him to accept being tied up right from day one. He did bark for a while, and as suggested by my vet, we ignored him. Apparently, cuddling or 'trying to calm him down' sends a wrong message to them that you appreciate their barking behavior. Duke has now settled down with his leash and does not mind being tied up. We have also successfully trained him to 'sit', 'shake hand' and 'come' while walking him indoors. Though he obeys only when his attention is not diverted by other people/things!

He has successfully torn apart a thick door mat we put for him to sleep on and loves biting hands, legs, shoes, rags etc. To avert this, we try and divert his attention from the 'human item' to his chewy or dog ball. You could also try getting the puppy chewies and/or biting toys available at pet stores.

Last night, while bending over to play with him, he caught hold of my neck chain and kept pulling it. It took quiet some distractions by my wife to 'free' me! Both my wife and I have hands full of scratches from his sharp teeth. Again, to get him to not bite/chew our limbs, the doc suggested giving him his toy and ignoring him for a couple of moments when he does that. He should be allowed to bark and get annoyed to see his play mate (us) go away. That's how he associates biting/chewing to loss of a play mate.

Another habit we're trying to discourage is excitement over food. Duke gets on a barking frenzy when we're eating, even if he has just been fed. We ignore his barking and pretend we can't hear him. After doing this for three meals, he's much better. Now, he simply looks at us with the 'puppy face' as if begging for a morsel. We plan to never feed him human food.

How old is Enzo exactly? From your pics of Enzo, I concur Duke is about 10% larger. It would be fun to see the pups play each other!

Take a look at Effective Dog Training & Puppy Training Methods, Approaches & Tips and How To Train A Dog, dog training tips and techniques for home based dog trainers. I'm reading up tips on obedience and behavior training there. Hope it helps you too and have fun with Enzo. :)

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Originally Posted by jraj (Post 1374167)
I have noticed 2 very funny habits with Labs...

-They dream and run in the sleep.Run in the sense,while lying down,they move all 4 legs as if they are running.The first time I watched Pepsi do this,I was scared wondering something happened to her.But no,nothing to worry.

Duke eats/drinks in his sleep. I've seen him lap up the floor as if it were a bowl of food!

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Originally Posted by Cyrus43 (Post 1373357)
More Pictures.

Ohh I soo wish i could have one of them!! But Mr Dhabhar Senior is **** SCARED of dogs!!

One of the pups has extensive hair loss on the back. What happened?

Pics of Duke please Dueller - asap !

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Originally Posted by DueLLeR (Post 1374306)
With all that, my wife and I

You got married ? When ? Congratulations man !


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