Quote: carol boche

Okay, I will divulge my deep dark secret. I have 4 dogs right now, 2 adult and 2 young dogs (15-17 mos) and I spend at least an hour each day with at least two of them doing various training and all of them get exercised daily. One goes to work with me every day. On the weekends, I work dogs. My own and also help my teammates.
On Monday (OMG it is here already) I am receiving two (from different dams but the same sire) Czech GSD pups. )

One is for a contract training and the other was given to me for part of the contract.
These two have been kept separate since they were 9 weeks and will be kept separate here.
Each will go to work with me along with my Dutch. One will go with me in the morning and one will go in the afternoon. They will be in crates in the house to be "potty trained" and taught house manners, and once I see they are doing well there, they will be moved outside into the puppy kennels. Separate of course.
......

Holy cow. I thought I had a life that was loaded with dog-training and dog-stuff and dogs, but compared to you I might as well be the crazy old cat-lady!

Connie,
I will keep you posted on A) if I am a glutton for punishment OR B) I am a glutton for punishment.......hee hee

But really, this is what I love to do and I love to watch dogs grow and learn right along with me...

Jason,
Well, it was nice to see you got so many responses. Most were much more detailed than mine and helpful, I hope. Good luck with the puppy and prioritizing how you spend the money is important! You can read/or listen to a lot for free on this website so you can save there! I also have 3 kids and TOO many pets some might say between my dogs and cats!
Lisa

Thanks all for your comments!

Much appreciated!

I found out at last nights Shutzhund(my 1st one) meeting(from the breeders) I should be getting my male by next Tuesday!

I also am new to the experience of having a puppy. Had mine for about 2 weeks now. Initially, me and my pup were having a hard time about the crate and I let him stay in and around the house. However, as I tried crating him, I realized that it is indeed good for him 'coz he's been getting a lot of the sleep he needs. I noticed that when he was in the house, he always wanted to be part of everything that I or my family was doing. That meant that there were a lot of reasons for him not to sleep and just play all day.

Now that I've been crating him, he'd whine for about 15 mins max then I'd go back and see him sleeping soundly for hours. I spend about 2-3 hours with my 9 week old GSD: 1 hour before breakfast, 1/2 hour after lunch then a half hour walk in the afternoon and finally, an hour of supervised playtime in the house or garden. He looks happy.

Exactly ... it is sometimes hard for them to settle down and get the rest that they need unless we help them do so.

I had to crate our pup as he was utterly exhausted but yet still kept asking to play. I had to tell him it was nap time. And crating him and then covering him up was my way to tell him.

Thats exactly what I do. I wish I knew how much sleep they need at different stages.

My female (ISIS) is now 14 weeks old, and I have extended her training from 5 min to 10 - 15min X 4 per day. I always end the day with basic OB, something she knows fairly well like watch, and put her in her crate in a postive way, so she can sleep on it .

She spends alot more time out of the crate and now Im teaching her to stay in the Living room and I let her have a rawhide to chew. She does really well for her age. I use the command "room" so later it will mean any room.

I crate her at least an hour before training so she is chompimg at the bit to get the rag! and eager to please with basic OB.

I am getting a male GSD pup this week. I recently turned the deck off my kitchen( 2nd story) (about 250' Sq. ft) into a playpen of sorts, I built a gate across the stairs and puppy proofed all potential escape routes. There is a water dish and some toys. She likes the fresh air and the bird song. I have dark shades on the french doors so my plan is to put her out there when Im busy with the pup so she cant see.