NEW PUP

[Rinaldo]

I picked up Bella this sunday in Orlando and immediately fell in love with her. She's almost 9 weeks old. She looks healthy to me.
I have a couple concerns and I wanted to know if they were normal. She's a talkative pup, she groans and moans even in her sleep. While sleeping (By the way she sleeps almost 16 hours a day!) She shakes. Is this a dream or could it be epilepsy?

She is deathly afraid of her crate. She actually scratched at the wiring so fiercly that she lost a nail and started bleeding really badly. I sleep with her at night and she wakes me up by howling when she has to use the restroom. Is there a way to break her from this? I mean I don't mind sleeping with the dog, but it's probably not what I'm supposed to be doing right?

She is eating a lot, i only feed her the recommended amounts but she's finding the cat's food and eating that and will eat all the grass in the yard if I would let her.

Let me know what you think of her. She has 35 champions in her line, all hunt and field trials. I think she's going to make an excellent scent hound, Prob is she is too friendly with other animals and tries to lick my cats rather than eat them like my father's Ridgebacks always tried to do.

[GSPinROCH]

Theres no need to worry right now at this age everything is new! (the crate) every time you put bella into the crate for now anyways give a treat and make it fun and short for her soon she will learn to love the crate and will seek it for her alone time, you could also feed her in the crate which the dog will associate the crate as being good b/c done at meal time again reinforcing the crate or kennel command. The dog knows your cats inside the house now and probably associates them as littermates 9 week old dogs dont know better, give her a few months and I bet any cat outside the house will be fair game, also ridgebacks were originally bred to hunt lions (I think) so that mean streak your dads ridgeback had is probably congenintal, keep the cat food in a seperate place where she cant get to it and she wont be able to eat it, sometimes puppies need more or less then the recommended amounts so try that for a little or give more if she puts on weight its ok shes a puppy, so just let her be one and let the first year be fun, with training and socialization.
Congrats,
Chris

[GSP4619]

awwww she is cute.

[Rinaldo]

Theres no need to worry right now at this age everything is new! (the crate) every time you put bella into the crate for now anyways give a treat and make it fun and short for her soon she will learn to love the crate and will seek it for her alone time, you could also feed her in the crate which the dog will associate the crate as being good b/c done at meal time again reinforcing the crate or kennel command. The dog knows your cats inside the house now and probably associates them as littermates 9 week old dogs dont know better, give her a few months and I bet any cat outside the house will be fair game, also ridgebacks were originally bred to hunt lions (I think) so that mean streak your dads ridgeback had is probably congenintal, keep the cat food in a seperate place where she cant get to it and she wont be able to eat it, sometimes puppies need more or less then the recommended amounts so try that for a little or give more if she puts on weight its ok shes a puppy, so just let her be one and let the first year be fun, with training and socialization.
Congrats,
Chris

Thank you Chris.
I'm going to start feeding her in her crate, I hadn't thought of that. She's a joy to play with, she hates her leash, she tried to bite it every 10 steps, every 15 steps she falls over and then scratches at her collar. she's not liking all this stuff all at once. But I'm sure she'll get used to it soon.
Does her crate have to be in my room when I sleep? Or can I stick it in the living room so I can get some sleep without hearing her scream and howl?

[EWSIV]

The crate does not need to be in your room. Though if she is waking you up for bathroom duties I would honor her request. You can try no water or food after 6:00 pm to help her make it through the night.

Try covering the crate with a blanket or a sheet to shut of the distracting world outside the sheet. You can also play music to her as this sometimes calms puppies in the crate. Avoid chew toys and other playthings in the crate. If she has to be around you all the time, try taking a towel with your sent on it and letting her sleep with it.

Will

[GSPinROCH]

The crate does not need to be in your room. Though if she is waking you up for bathroom duties I would honor her request. You can try no water or food after 6:00 pm to help her make it through the night.

Try covering the crate with a blanket or a sheet to shut of the distracting world outside the sheet. You can also play music to her as this sometimes calms puppies in the crate. Avoid chew toys and other playthings in the crate. If she has to be around you all the time, try taking a towel with your sent on it and letting her sleep with it.

Will

The towel thing works great, you can also fill a sock with dry rice and tie of the end, then microwave the sock so its warm and put the sock with pup (simulates littermates) I would also leave the leash on pup while you are around for supervision reasons and let her just drag it around then in about a couple of days or a week pick up the leash and just stand there, then do that for awhile then you just let her walk while you hold the leash so u are the follower then, you can work on heal and all that later. As for biting on the leash just have a few extra around to replace worn out ones, but let her get used to it first then u can start saying no when she bites on the leash.
Hope it helps,
Chris

[ccavacini]

Gosh darn it....there is nothing cuter than a Brittany pup.....

....except for a beagle pup.

[ccavacini]

Oh....my Brittany pup (3 1/2 months old) eats like a demon...when I feed the other two dogs, I have to kennel her, or we have a big problem.

She, along with my 7 year old Brittany, sleeps in our bedroom, the pup, Kate, in her kennel, and Megs on her bed. I want to be around when the pup starts wimpering to go out....therefore, few messes in the house.

Haven't gotten a good night's sleep in 7 years. Wouldn't trade them for anything.

[Trapper]

Great looking pup. My 12 year old Brittany always shakes when she slept and sometimes when she's awake.

[Vizsla Vince]

Those beagle pups are so d@mn cute! ALMOST as cute as a Vizsla pup!

Sounds like you're on the right track. I had so many questions & concerns when Zoomie came home, my wife teases that I was more worried about the pup than our daughter when we brought her home!