Topic: Calling all BIG dog owners. Questions.

[Shamb]

A ramp of some sort when getting out of the back of a truck or other tall places is a good idea

one of the first things i thought of "is he going to be able to jump in and out of my 4runner?"   i'll probably get a ramp/stairs or something to get him up into the rig.

we got home yesterday around 7pm, left the house at 6am... what a long ass drive that was!   but we got our pup.

his dad's probably pushing 200lbs and the mom's atleast 140 or so... he was mellow put also liked to play a little... which was why we picked him, kinda a "inbetween"  and the parents where very well behaved.

funny thing was the dad was scared of the pups, he would run from them if they came within a foot of him.. a 200 lb dog running from 8 week old puppies.. lol..

last night was a little rough, seperation from what he's known for his entire life... we ended up moving him into our bathroom along with all the toys/bed... i had to play with him for probably an hour to get him into "sleep mode"  then he crashed out... woke up at 2am to take him outside... ended up hanging for about 45 minutes to get his energy level down again.. then he crashed until 6am when my wife got up for work. we played for an hour and forty minutes this morning and he finally has laid down.

he'll be excited/playing then all of a suddon realize he's not "home" and get whiny... i'm sure that will subside over time...

dog literally needs to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes, again... puppy... he'll learn to hold it...  we've only had a few accidents but we'll get there..

today i'm going to buy a crate with a divider and some food/bowls ect... take him with us into town to socialize ect.

EDIT:  forgot, his name's Wilson after my pop's

[Rocksurfer]

or....

[Stocker]

Very cool! Can't wait to see pics when you are rested up enough to deal with it haha. Sounds like he's gonna be a big one when he grows up! It's quite a change for him, but he'll get used to his new home quickly enough. Our dog was terrified when we first brought him home at 8 weeks old..... refused to eat or drink anything for awhile. Bacon bits finally broke the ice.

[Shamb [OP]]

He's coming around, i've been spending alot of time with him... i've gotta remind him to go to the bathroom but he's already running to the door when I tell him to.. then he'll run out and take care of business.

Pictures of Wilson and his daddy Burton







Crazy side story from the other day, so I take him out in the front so we can walk around and the neighbors pitbull mix comes barreling outside without a leash or collar on heading full speed at my dog. Instinct kicks in and I yell at the dog as loud as I can (which made no difference) while holding my dogs leash back as he tried to run away. The dog gets about 1-2 feet from jumping on my dog at full speed and I snatch him by the back of the neck and smash him into the grass holding him in place. He froze and was just locked on to my dog until the neighbor comes out saying sorry and grabs him kinda sitting over him. I let the dog inch forward a little bit but was kinda way to excited.. didn't seem like he was nipping but just all up in my dogs grill which my dog didnt' care for.. so we decided to go inside... walking up to my front door she calls her dog, lets him go and he follows her to the mailbox.. no leash.. nothing... i'm thinking to myself "..hmm..odd..whatever"

Fast forward to the next day, wife, daughter and Wilson are walking across the street to get the mail when some other neighbors come around the corner and tell my wife she should go inside because there's a dog on the loose and it's already killed another dog. At this point my wife see's a sheriff drive by so she heads inside. 30 minutes later the neighbor comes knocking our door explaining that her dogs are loose asking if my wife knew where they where? so she explains that her pitbull mix may have killed another dog. My wife tells her she needs to call the sheriff department which she immediatly leaves home to make the call.

Come to find out, her pitbull mix and lab both got out, lab's still unable to be found and the pitbull mix killed a jack russell puppy that an 8 year old was walking 

I was thankful that I was able to react the way I did or else that could have easily been my dog. Odd thing is the people just moved here, military, are very friendly... when I met them for the first time the dogs where in the garage while the door was open.. I walked up they didnt even bark at me just wagged their tale and seemed fine. Apparently that's not the case with other dogs, I also mentioned to the husband that I was getting a dog and wondered how his where around other dogs so I could get them socialized with each other (thank god this never happened)  he mentioned they where good around other dogs...

Moral of the story, makes me more cautious around other peoples dogs even if they seem fine around me because it could be a different story around my dog.

[Stocker]

Cute pup! Sounds like you got lucky with that neighbor's dog... too bad about the jack russell pup, glad the 8-year-old kid is OK but poor thing's gotta be traumatized. Hope the pitbull mix was taken by animal control. Ya just never know, some dogs are OK with people but not other dogs, some are just the opposite.

[Rocksurfer]

Yeah my 1st Akita was very people friendly outside of his yard but just about wanted to destroy anything on 4 legs, except for my wife's cats and his Akita mate and she was the boss of that relationship. Don't know why he never tried to mess with my wifes's cats except that maybe it was because she fed him and dealt with his attitude using an iron fist. He was a big boy weighing in at 115 pds and no fat at all, another one my kids could ride on. Good hear your new buddy survived and sad to hear about the the other.  In fact the local cops used to let him ride in their cars when they found him loose he'd head straight for the station every time he'd get loose. I rescued him from the pound and have a feeling he had a police history based on his love for those police cars.

[COwheeler]

I used to love those hours, only having to go in 10 times a month was just awesome, here's some pics of my little pony this would have been very early 80's...

Wow,  your pooch looks just like mine!!  My dog (Boris the Bulldozer) is 160 lb Anatolian Shepard.  He just turned ten years old and starting to slow down a bit.  Just got another Pyrenees Collie mix, he's 6 months and gonna be a big boy!!  Thanks for sharing

[Shamb [OP]]

Doing good, went in to get his parvo shot today, he has 2 more within the next 6 weeks.. i took him over to my buddies house and he played with their 4 pitbulls.. had a great time and he's starting to open up to other dogs. He has gained nearly 5 lbs in a week.. lol.. almost weighs as much as my daughter at 10 weeks old. He loves people too which i'm stoked about!  Still working on the potty training part he has a few accidents every once in awhile... mainly at night.. i'll take him out to go to the bathroom.. he'll go.. then come back inside and go as well 

So i've started making him stay outside longer so he'll go a few times. Been also taking him for walks everynight after work... it's cold outside but doesn't seem to bother him that much. For his age he is doing very well on the leash... not pulling ect...

[Shamb [OP]]

 We've been good a few days now, he's actually going to the door when he needs to go to the bathroom. Success!
Here's a picture of my big baby...