Worried-Took home 6 Week old puppy! Too early????

[TCoward]

My husband and I bought a 6 week old male boxer almost a week ago, and I am worried our puppy Boomer, was separated from his mother and remaining litermate too early.

I was unaware that 6 weeks was too soon until reading about it here. Boomer has been a great puppy so far. I have researched everything about boxer puppies on here to make sure I am as knowledgeable as I can be. I just want to do everything I possibly can to make Boomer a happy, healthy, smart companion.

My question is, is there anything else I should know or do differently in rearing him since he left the liter and his mother too early? I should mention that I've been crate training him, potty training, etc and he's doing quite well!

Any advice will help. Thanks!

Tara

 

[TCoward]

Update....

Since I originally posted this, I have been researching everything about puppies and boxers in any spare time I have. Boomer is now almost 8 weeks old and is doing terrific! He is learning basic commands (sit, stay, come, lay down) and is getting used to his leash I plan on socializing him as much as possible with many different people and putting him in Puppy kindergarten to socialize with other puppies. The only difficulties I've had is with the way my husband wants to train him and the way our roommate tries to correct him. My husband uses the Ceaser Millian claw "pinch" (not sure what it's called exactly) when he wants Boomer to stop biting him. Our roommate claps loudly in Boomers face to get him to stop. I don't think either one of these methods is effective nor good for training a puppy so young. I simply tell Boomer, "AAAATTTT, NO BITE" and he stops. Besides that all is great!

 

[Sansal]

Definitely educate your husband and roommate and have them stop immediately with the ceasar milan crap. It does not do anything to teach your puppy bite inhibition and will destroy the trust your puppy has in his humans and make him fearful. Do a search on BW, you will find tons of threads about bite inhibition, for example
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-training/159987-biting-problem.html

My husband also had a few funny ideas about training when we got our first dog and I really had to put my foot down. Those first month are wicked important and now is the time to start positive reward training and educate everyone who lives/works with the dog about it.

Puppy kindergarten is a great idea!

 

[EllieKem]

I too had gotten Emma at an early age (my first boxer was inherited and so I didn't see her till she was older) and learned quickly to feel guilty but to be proactive.

She seemed like she had been an alpha in her litter and was, and still is, headstrong and fiesty I got her into a good puppy class very early that trained with "postitive reinforcement" and she took to it like wild fire. I started keeping little tupperware bowls of treats everywhere in the house so I always had training rewards near and told everyone who visisted the rules.

I also just used the "hurt yip" noise when she would bite too hard, stopped playing with her and gave her a nyla bone. She grew up with very good bite inhibition and propper puppy manners with her socialization.

You can do it, keep calm and consistent, keep reading and learning and you'll be ok. I'm sure your DH and roomate may not be getting the results they want so if you show them how fast postitive training can work they'll catch on too.

 

[EllieKem]

This is a great blog post from a trainer I've used many times. I think it'll help your DH and roomate...

www.janetsmith-gooddogtraining.****...e 2012/03 article about dog training methods.