Hello all! Got the new pup. His name's Carbon and he's WONDERFUL. I am absolutely in love with this puppy. I'll give you all an update about him, but first I have sleep deprivation to deal with (did NOT sleep well last night...bark, whine, bark bark, whine, yelp).

I do have a quick question though...this guy pants pretty hard when he's sleeping or relaxing next to me. Is this normal? He acts like it's 100 degrees. Other than that he seems fine, and he doesn't do it at any time other than nap time.

I just live to be paranoid, huh? But better safe than sorry.

I know a decent amount about dog training but almost nothing about puppy health, despite the mountain of research I've done

I expect I'll be asking a lot of questions of all you wise folk soon.

So what do you think? Is this pant-fest normal?

Congratulations! We want pic's

Sounds strange that he's panting when he sleeps. Maybe it's just the stress from being taken from his litter-mates? Have you taken him to the vet yet?

My female GSD had us worried with this when she was a pup too. She would pant like she had just ran a marathon and then pass out. It's actually something she still does when she is downright exhausted...

Certainly you can ask your vet about it, but just wanted you to know that I experienced the same thing

Congrats on your new pup!

same here, re the experience. one of my females did it when we first got her. after no activity whatsoever, she'd lay down and start breathing really heavy. she doesn't do it any more, i actually forgot about it and just remembered when i read this thread - i have no idea when she stopped.

i agree that it could be stress, while my opinion isn't in the least bit qualified, my dog didn't enjoy the car trip home very much (puked everywhere), and seemed to have nightmares the first few weeks, every couple of nights, in addition to the random panting. she's over it now, and a complete sweetheart.

a checkup from the vet would probably ease your mind though.

I'm taking Carbon to the vet tomorrow for his initial check-up. Hopefully it's nothing except a winter coat in a warm home. He certainly doesn't have any problems with energy---

<PULLING HAIR OUT> My Lord, can this boy scream. Last night we tried keeping the crate in the bedroom...nothin' doin'. Every time I started to fall asleep...whimper, whimper, whimper, whine. Not screaming like he does if left in the crate downstairs (which, by the way, continues for the ENTIRE night....honestly, no stopping) but enough to keep me from sleeping. By 4 am I was willing to take this dog that I have been wanting for YEARS and give him away to charity just to get 20 minutes of uninterrupted sleep.

So, tonight he's going back downstairs. I feel bad because he screams so much and for so long if not with me, but I will not enjoy this dog if I'm near death with sleep deprivation. Anyone remember how long it took for their dogs to stop flipping out in the crate at night?

Pretty soon I'm going to be the one panting!!

Here's some pics of the 8 week old little bugger:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p194/carbon_copy/Carbon075.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p194/carbon_copy/DSCN0814.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p194/carbon_copy/Carbon043.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p194/carbon_copy/Carbon069.jpg

Whhhhoe-very incredibly cute dog. Congrats again.

As for sleep, as far as I know, you will not die from sleep deprivation, so that's good, but those around you might...

Perhaps some white noise or soft music could help soothe him when crated? I think each pup prolly has their own time frame as to when they will get comfortable alone, just like a human infant is my guess.

Amber,
My dog Max did the very same thing the frist few nights he was at home with us, here is what I did on about night 3, I got on the floor with his create and put my hand just inside of the create so he could both touch and smell my hand. Yes I know my sleeping on the floor was not a great place for me to be but Max surely did like it. I did that for a few nights and by the end of week one he was sleeping in his create at night with no problems and not whinning and barking all night long. Hang in there the first few weeks are the hardest on both you and your puppy.
Jay

Wow, Jay, you are devoted! I don't think I'll be sleeping on the floor anytime soon, though. I have dust allergies and I'd be more miserable than anything you've ever seen!

My plan is to just stick it out. I'm impressed with how tenacious he is! He's quite a singer and seems to have an amazing supply of breath!

I'm still trying to weed through the forum to find out exercise requirements (or allowable amounts) for a GSD 8 week old pup. I know he needs to be worn out but I don't want to risk his joints. If anyone happens to know off hand, feel free to send me an answer or link. I think I need to be more creative in my search fields because I know this topic was discussed before but I can't seem to locate it. The search feature hates me.

 Quote: amber morgan

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p194/carbon_copy/Carbon075.jpg

aww, he didn't see that truck comin'!

to be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if it's not even the winter coat thing. our dog just quit, all of a sudden, for no reason. she's not particularly fond of the heaters or the fireplace, and doesn't seem to feel the cold in the slightest... but even when she's in front of the fire for too long (it never occurs to her to move away from it, sometimes i have to move her away myself) she'll just whine and sniff the "hot areas" - no panting at all.

and RE: the exercise, i'm sad to say that my puppies' first few weeks here must have been miserable because i didn't find this website for some time... but in my limited experience, might i offer a suggestion of trying to "mentally" tire out your puppy in some way? no ideas how, just thinking out loud.

Well, he's obviously craving the exercise. I think I'll start with going around the block and see if that is enough/too much.

It's so funny, I must have trained dozens and dozens of GSDs, but none of them were babies! I'm clueless but for what I've read....but no matter how much you read something comes up in real life that hasn't been addressed in your reading.

Good thing I like the learning curve, eh?