Soon to be dog owner! :)

1218 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by SchnauzerGirl8810, May 9, 2016

FluffyPuppy

Discussion Starter · Apr 2, 2016

Hi dog lovers! :wave:

Thought I might join this interesting looking forum :thumbsup:

I currently am not a dog owner yet, but I'm getting a Mini Schnauzer in a few months (yeah, I know, still a long wait)

Any tips for me?

onder:

I also have a hamster and it would be really helpful to know how I can keep my future dog from bothering him

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Mctoweliee

· #2 · Apr 3, 2016 (Edited)

Hello! good choice on starting a forum profile here. I feel you can get a lot of help from veteran dog owners/trainers on here. You know any behavior or health issues you can bring up here, it's always worth asking before heading over to a vet.

I'd say to try and get your puppy around other dogs early on, so it doesn't have any aggressive behavior towards other dogs/people in the future. Dog parks, training, etc., would be good places to start.

For your hamster id say introduce them early on, try not to have anxiety when you have the hamster out. Dogs can really pick up on vibes and it might freak out if you do. Although I feel most animals have their own personalities, so it's really up to the two to become friends. I'm sure they will though. --don't leave them together unsupervised for awhile!!

other than that just play and have fun with your dog! it's good to keep them active, well fed, and bathed often. Some chew toys like a little rope or squeaky ball would be a good start.

Good luck!

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FluffyPuppy

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 3, 2016

Mctoweliee said:
Hello! good choice on starting a forum profile here. I feel you can get a lot of help from veteran dog owners/trainers on here. You know any behavior or health issues you can bring up here, it's always worth asking before heading over to a vet.

I'd say to try and get your puppy around other dogs early on, so it doesn't have any aggressive behavior towards other dogs/people in the future. Dog parks, training, etc., would be good places to start.

For your hamster id say introduce them early on, try not to have anxiety when you have the hamster out. Dogs can really pick up on vibes and it might freak out if you do. Although I feel most animals have their own personalities, so it's really up to the two to become friends. I'm sure they will though. --don't leave them together unsupervised for awhile!!

other than that just play and have fun with your dog! it's good to keep them active, well fed, and bathed often. Some chew toys like a little rope or squeaky ball would be a good start.

Good luck!

Thanks! I'm considering adopting, but I dunno yet haha.

One question, would it be okay to keep him/her in the garage for a few months until he/she is potty trained? Where I live it's quite breezy so heat won't be a problem. The floor in our house is marble, so if it's peed on, it will absorb it so we want to wait until the dog is potty trained before he/she can go in the house. The car won't be parked there for a while - we'll keep it outside until the dog lives in the house so basically the garage is his/hers until he/she can go in. We don't really have any dangerous things (cables, sharp tools, oil, etc.) outside, it's all locked away. So would it be fine? We'll still provide him/her with the things he/she will have when in the house: a crate (with a doggy bed inside) and a food and a water bowl.

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Chas

· #4 · Apr 3, 2016

Does the garage have a cement floor? It is porous and will absorb smells/bacteria/parasites.

Also puppies need a lot of bonding time, I've found an ex pen works really well for keeping puppy out of mischief but in sight. I'd get a linoleum liner possibly with a tarp underneath and keep the puppy away from the bare marble.

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FluffyPuppy

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 4, 2016

Chas said:
Does the garage have a cement floor? It is porous and will absorb smells/bacteria/parasites.

Also puppies need a lot of bonding time, I've found an ex pen works really well for keeping puppy out of mischief but in sight. I'd get a linoleum liner possibly with a tarp underneath and keep the puppy away from the bare marble.

No, we have ceramic tiles.

Also the tarp idea is awesome :thumbsup: might think about it.

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FluffyPuppy

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 7, 2016

Chas said:
Does the garage have a cement floor? It is porous and will absorb smells/bacteria/parasites.

Also puppies need a lot of bonding time, I've found an ex pen works really well for keeping puppy out of mischief but in sight. I'd get a linoleum liner possibly with a tarp underneath and keep the puppy away from the bare marble.

Okay so we've now decided to keep the (future) pup in the house! We'll be keeping him/her in the crate when we are not supervising him/her and the crate will be in my room. Most of the time he/she'll be out though :thumbsup:

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tiffanyandteddy

· #7 · May 7, 2016

Congrats! I can only imagine how excited you are!

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FluffyPuppy

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 9, 2016

tiffanyandteddy said:
Congrats! I can only imagine how excited you are!

Thank you! I'm really really excited! Too bad I have to wait till September

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SchnauzerGirl8810

· #9 · May 9, 2016

I'm glad you have decided not to keep the dog in the garage. Schnauzers really love their people and will be very unhappy if they are not permitted to be with you, wherever you are.

As for your hamster, I would not trust them to become "friends." Schnauzers were breed to eliminate vermin and that instinct is still very strong. You should simply teach your schnauzer to leave the hamster's cage alone. Off limits. They can learn this, if you are consistent. If you let the hamster out occasionally, I would crate the dog. Even if the dog seems to "get along" with the hamster (like if you hold the hamster and let the dog sniff), instinct may suddenly kick in and things could change so fast you won't be able to react. Particularly if the dog ever sees the hamster run. I don't know a single schnauzer that wouldn't chase that thing down, grab it, and shake it to death.

When I was growing up, I had a schnauzer and my brother had a Guinea pig. My schnauzer was taught from a young age to never touch the Guinea pig hutch, so he left it alone. When we took the Guinea pig out, we put the dog away. So they can live in the same house without anyone getting hurt, it just requires management and supervision.

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