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Rogue
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Hello Everyone!
We adopted Rogue 5 weeks ago. My husband and I have always wanted a dog but wanted to wait until we had a yard and the time. We met a Weimaraner a few years ago and after a lot of research and reading we decided we wanted a try with this breed. We love our puppy, even though she is busy and bitey at the moment 🙂
Rogue at 13 weeks
How adorable and what a great name! The biting will go away eventually, just be persistent with “NO” and she will get it. When she gets really riled up and bitey, try and distract her with a toy instead to redirect her attention. The puppy stage doesn’t last long, so cherish it even though it can bring it’s own challenges at times 🙂
-Steph & Jaeger
Welcome from Indiana. Enjoy the time while they are a puppy, they grow up way too fast.
What a cutie! Can’t wait for more pics. I did the puppy thing over 20 yrs ago with a rotti…don’t miss that! Have a good scar on my hand from razor sharp puppy teeth. But seniors also have to pee in the middle of the night…so maybe I’m in the same boat anyway.
Take MANY MANY pictures! As a photographer I was going through my pictures, wondering why I have so little puppy pics. Was I not paying attention for several weeks? Going through the dates, I just noticed how incredibly fast they grow.
Forever Weimanamanama
Thanks for the advice everyone! For those of you who have had puppies. What age (month) did you feel was the hardest? She is great now (11 weeks was a little rough we will admit), but I know we still have to get through the adolescent phase…
Define “rough”?
The first few months are hard because you simply can’t get a single full night sleep. Puppies live in phases, and those don’t exactly line up (at all) with out 8 hours of sleep. You’re going to have to get up to let them pee, or they decide to play in the middle of the night. There’s always something.
When they get more aware, the tantrums and exploring begin. They have to experiment, and touch -everything-. Considering they have no hands, that means that they will put everything in their mouth.
E V E R Y T H I N G
Then they start to socially place themselves. You will want to train them. They will want to be buggers.
Then the teething phase starts. Teething hurts. They will get upset. They will chew. They will bite.
We can do a full write-up later. But that’s a rough outline of the next few months 😉
Forever Weimanamanama
I found it rough when Athena was a few months old and just REFUSED to listen. She knew what I was asking but was just giving me the puppy finger.
Weimanamanama Weimaranermama
“Rough” was biting our hands and clothes constantly, and hard. She has done much better after playing with another dog for a week off and on. She was a dream puppy the night she came home and has been ever since at night, only whining quietly to go out then she runs back into her kennel herself. Right now we are having trouble with her biting clothing, though not as often, and she knocks my 1 year old over…deliberately. She will take off across the yard and knock her over as she runs by (its a huge yard, and it is totally on purpose).
Anyone have any tricks for getting her to stop counter surfing? (I know this is really common for Weims). She will get down if I tell her down, but how do you reward for not jumping up? Give her treats whenever she isn’t up? (the other 99% of the time)
Thanks!
I have a scar on my hand from puppy nipping. Those teeth are SHARP. That said, and this is a bit of a controversial topic, I believe you learn a puppy not to bite, by letting them bite. Bite-inhibition is a learned skill. Simply discouraging them to bite is great, but will make it more likely that accidents happen in unforeseen situations, or enthusiastic play.
I am very much pro-wrestle and rough play. That too, is a skill that must be honed. They need to learn boundaries and consequences. Unfortunately, our puppy was even a bit too rough for my liking, and during our sessions of rough play, I had to wear leather gloves and yelp OUCH! often. The result is a dog that has a fairly good bite restraint. Not as good as I was hoping, but considering how insane she can get, it is a vast improvement.
Playing with other dogs is even better. They’ll put puppy in its place when its being too rough, in a body language that we as humans simply can’t carry.
The recalcitrant a-hole behaviour unfortunately is a Weim trait. It’ll take some practice to get them to behave sometimes. Knocking a kid over on purpose? Play time is DONE. Leash puppy up immediately. She can go again when she has basically relaxed, and has sat down on her own. That’s when you know they’ve “switched modes” so to speak. Immediately reward the calm behaviour. Treats are fine. But rewarding with play is fine too.
Counter surfing is very easy to solve. Completely clean out the counters. Best advice I have. Sorry.
Forever Weimanamanama
I like BasG’s last piece of advice. As far as the counter surfing, yes…my kitchen counters are cleared other than appliances. No food is EVER stored on the counters. Unfortunately its a weim trait to counter-surf. Let us know if you find a way to break the habit! They think of themselves so much like a human that sometimes they think they have all the same rights 😉
-Steph & Jaeger
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