More Puppy Owner Advice and A Link Up Announcement!

Today I have Katie guest posting! She's SO GREAT. If she didn't live in Michigan I would have already showed up at her house. I'm excited to have her and her pup visiting and she's agreed to give y'all more puppy advice. You met her breifly on my post about puppy advice but she had so much good stuff I wanted everyone to hear, I asked for a whole post! PLUS after her post we have an annoucement!! Here she is!

Beautiful readers of Dog Hair is an Accessory, Adriana sent me here to give you some tips on how to raise the perfect puppy/dog.

Don’t get one.

I kid!

First and foremost, I’m Katie over at Understated Whimsy. I’m a self-proclaimed crazy cat lady, so the weekend I got the pupsqueak I spent most of it crying and trying to return him.

Not kidding this time.

Meet Scoobert Doo Cunningham III aka Pupsqueak von Perfect Pants aka Scoobs.

I'm sorry, WTF. He is so cute. He’s a rescue mutt, a priss, a baby and he’s perfect. After surviving my first 30 days with this hellion, here are some points of advice for if and when you decide to adopt a devil dog!

1. Wine. You are going to need a lot. Cab, chard, it doesn’t matter. You are going to need it in stock before you get this dog.

2. Puppy proof the house and stock up on everything you’ll need for the weekend BEFORE you get the pupsqueak. Ideally you’re getting this dog on a weekend (in fact, I think this is a must because you’re going to need some time to adjust), so beforehand, dog proof! Set up its crate, food, and toy box. Set up a baby gate in a kitchen or bathroom or hardwood area to put the dog when you just need a moment to not watch it but you don’t want to use the crate (i.e. bathroom, shower). Put up anything you don’t want it to chew. Stock up your house with groceries, snacks, movies and yummies (dictionary word, true story) so that you won’t have to keep running in and out of the house. Also wine. WINE.

3. CRATE TRAIN. I do not care if that dog screams for 7 hours straight the first couple nights. Crate train that mofo. Some tips to help the crying: try a white noise app on your phone or one of those toys with a heartbeat simulated in the crate to sooth the dog. If anything start with the crate in your bedroom at night and then slowly move it to where you want it to be. But do NOT get that puppy out if it cries! To get the dog to love its crate, try giving it an awesomesauce treat that he only gets in his crate. My go to is a kong filled with peanut butter or a kong filled with wet dog food and frozen. Dog LOVES that crap. Trust me, the crate is a lifesaver and will eventually become its happy little enclosed cage of shame den.

4. Routine and consistency. If you get the little squeak on a routine, housebreaking will be much easier. Get up at the same time, feed at the same time; take out at the same time. I used bells for training my dog. Ring the bell, say outside, then go right outside and use your command word. I really effing wish I didn’t make my word “go potty”. Wtf. Now I’m sitting out there chanting “go potty!” like an idiot. Oh well. But you could use anything, “hurry up” or “go faster”. After you say it and the dog goes, treat and praise and reward and then go right back in! That way the puppy knows when I ring these bells I go out and I go to the bathroom. If you ring the bells, go outside, go to the bathroom and then play or go for a walk, the pupsqueak is going to start ringing them because it wants to go outside and play. You want to train it to know bells = bathroom. With routine my pup only had 3 accidents in the house and 34 days later he successfully rings the bells every time he needs to go out. SUCCESS.

5. KILL IT. With kindness, you freaks. Don’t really kill the thing. Dogs are going to react to positive praise way more than negative. So have a sound you make (mind sounds like “nuh uh”) when you are trying to tell the pup you don’t like what its doing, and then when he does something else or heads the other way or stops chewing (etc.) immediately praise and treat and reward. You could be sitting there saying NO for hours or you could train the dog that when it hears your sound it means he is doing something that he won’t get a treat for. Trust me, that pup is immediately going to redirect and try to do something he knows he will get a treat for (playing with the right toys, leaving your cats alone and not trying to maul them to death) you get the picture.

6. SOCIALIZE. After you get the pup used to you and your rules (somewhat) take it places (after it has had all of its shots!) and let it do new things. Pet friendly restaurants, Petsmart, small trail walks, etc. You don’t want the thing to be an emo weirdo. You want it to get used to cars and people and walks etc. My dog will sit on a restaurant patio now happily looking at passersby while me and the manfriend booze away for hours. He loves it! And it means we get to get out of the house without feeling bad we are locking him up. And wine! Win, Win.

Getting the pup was probably one of the harder things I’ve ever done to date. My routine changed, my focus changed, my priorities changed, sleeping off a hangover until noon and then brunching for three hours every weekend changed. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. There is no love like the pupsqueak’s love. What is your best tip for surviving the first month with your new pup? Wine?

I gotcha, mine too.

All incredible advice! Wine is really the best remedy for puppy misbehavior. So go visit Katie now because she's fucking awesome.

Also- just as an add on, one of  the things that may help is this socialization check list. Get as many of these checked off as possible! If you didn't notice, that was a big point in both this post from Katie AND the post I did last week. Dr. Sohia Yin's site is a really great resource for any puppy or dog owner. Check her out!

AND NOW FOR OUR ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Katie and I have come up with this link up for all the fur and feather (and scale?) mommas out there! We both talk about our animals a LOT on our blogs and we know y'all are super into your pets too! So here is an opportunity to link up on a biweekly basis to talk about them and meet other bloggers who are pet-obsessed! The only requirements for the Tall Tails Link Up, are that you talk about your pets and that you visit some other blogs that are linked up! Maybe you will meet you pups new best friend! The first link up will be on Tuesday, July 2nd and of course we'll remind y'all again! Hope to see you all there!

<div align="center"> <a href="http://doghairaccessory.blogspot.com" title="Tall Tails Link Up"><img src="http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj587/acosta0097/talltails.jpg" alt="Tall Tails Link Up" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

and now, because it's appropriate, #backthatazzup with Whitney:

Who Let The Dogs Out - Baja Men

  also linked up with Rebecca           did you enter our Boozy Bloggers Giveaway?