Taking care of a dog

Question
QUESTION: Im thinking about getting a German Sheppard, and ive never owned a dog before, so my question is how exactly do i kno if i can really take good care of this dog?

ANSWER: Hi Jehu;
Could you take care of a human baby?
Besides being able to leave a puppy along while you leave the house for short periods, they are just about the same.
A puppy needs to be fer 4 times a day until they are about 6 months old, then 3 times a day until almost a year old, then twice a day after that.
They have to be trained, or they do not know what you want them to do, and how you want them to behave, so they will jump up, destroy furniture, chew shoes etc.
You have to teach them, just like children have to be taught.
You don't have to buy clothes fior them, but you have to buy the SAFE toys, watch their diet, give them a lot of love and attention, and a good healthy diet and regular health care from a good Vetewrinarian.
They can become very well behaved additions to the household, and can enev be taught to wipe their feet before tracjking in mud. But just like human children, they are born an untrained animal, and if they are not trained, they will make your life miserable.LOL
The biggest advantage over human children is they don't spoend hours on the phone, and they never ask to borrow the car, but also like human children, they can add a measure of joy to your life that nothing else can.
If you like to party a lot, stay out all hours, don't like to be bothered when you are at home, don't like to change your routine, then you would not be a good dad to a dog.
Cats require a little less personal attention in the way of companionship.
Charlotte

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Charlotte,
Thanks alot for that info, it really helped me to understand the type of care and attention my dog would need, but what r some things i can do so that i can train my puppy to know what i want him to do and not do?
Jehu


Answer
Hi Jehu;
You start the training as soon as you pick the little critter up to take it home with you.
Puppies naturally bite to play. when they bite, and they pinch hard enough to need correction, say, "NO! don't bite. Be a nica baby ( puppy etc), be gentle"
He/she won't know what you are saying, but they will respond to the tone of voice. When they have heard the same words when they do the one behavior, they will associate it with what you don't want them to do.
You want to sound a little firm, but not really harsh.
As the puppy gets older, and has been corrected for a behaviuor, and you know it knows it is not supposed to do that ( puppies sometimes misbahave on purpose too.LOL)
Then you use a harsher, more STERN and deffinate voice.
when it eats it will have to have a bowel movement shortly afterward, so when you feed it, take it near where you want to train it to go. Outside or on a paper, pee pad etc.
Let it move around, and when you see it start to go, keep it where it is supposed to go. If it is papers or pee pads, you will have to keep putting it on them.
Ouitside, you can train it to go in one particular area of the yard, and then you have to nly scoop that area, and don't step in placesand get it on your shoes.
When it goes potty where it is supposed to, really praise it and make a big deal of what a good puppy it is.
Use a really sweet and pleasant voice.
They quickly learn what it is that makes you happy and what makes you cross, so they know what they are supposed to do.
After they have lived with you and heard you speak a lot it will learn to understand your language, just like you would if you moved to another country, and picked up the language by hearing others speak it.
They won't ever be able to verbalize, but you will come to understand what they want.
I sleep with my dogs, and especially when they are new to the house.
When they wake in the night and have to pee, they start moving around looking for a place to go. I have my inner ear set to wake me at the slightest puppy movement. I get up and take them out.
If you don't, you will get peed on, so there is motivation to wake up.LOL
Remember they will have to empty their bladder as soon as they wake, even if just from a short nap, and they will have to move their bowels shortly after they eat, usually within 5 to 30 minutes.
Feed a good food. Some brands look cheaper, because they are in a bigger bag, but they have non nutritional fillers that do nothing but make it look like you get more for your money.
You feed less of the better foods because there are no fillers. So the cost isn't that much different.
Start on a puppy formula.
The scares about the food being contaminated seems to be taken care of, so I would go with Iams, Science Diet, Waltham's, or Nutro. Dry foods are better for thn than the canned foods, because the kibble helps keep tartar off their teeth.
Until they are about 5 or 6 months old, they need to be fed 4 times per day. Early in the morning, and about every 4 to 5 hours. the last feeding as late at night as possible, and taken out until they go until they are finished. A very young one should not go more that 6 to 8 hours without food. They can get run down very fast. their little stomachs don't hold enough to last them longer than that.  They should have fresh water available at all times.
Don't feed!!!!!
Pork, Pork has an enzyme that if present, will kil a dog and cannot be killed by cooking or freezing, so NO pork EVER!!
bones, contrary to faitry tales etc, dogs do NOT eat bones in the wild. The gnaw all the meat off the bones and crack them open to fish the marrow out, but if they eat the bones ( which they will do without their mother's teaching them not to) they can swallow little pieces and choke or the chards can cut inside their digestive tract, and require very serious surgery, or they can bleed to death.
onions,
garlic,
raw meat ( they can get all the types of food poisoning we can get)
Milk. After puppies and kittens are weaned from their mother's milk, giving them milk can give them either Diarreah or constipate them.
Keep them away from tulip bulbs etc. they are poisonous.
You can search for and find a list of  plants poisonous to animals
That is about all I can think of right now.
Think of questions you wonder about, and write, and I will address those.
Charlotte