Needles & Grooves

Consistency is key. Puppy energy is hard to wrangle, but they do learn.

Make sure she gets comfortable with you getting in her space while she's eating. Or taking toys from her/ getting her to release them. So as to guard against any territorial aggression.

Agreed, that has been a consistent thing regarding her meals, great point. Thankfully she isn’t super food motivated, as our 10 year old Corgi-mix is primarily food focused. We went to breakfast today and we ate in the car while she sat next to me, not begging at all .

She probably hasn't made the association from your food to her mouth just yet, but I'm sure it'll come. Research up on how to handle the puppy blues. A very real thing that affects many new puppy owners and mostly related to a feeling of hopelessness when training doesn't go as planned and the play biting/mouthing seemingly never ends.

Be patient, be positive, have fun. And don't let them use your Needles & Grooves t-shirt as a chew toy.

And congrats! We've got an 8 month pup. I forgot how much joy they bring to a house.

Good luck. Consistency is probably the biggest thing. Begging is a learned behavior. If you don't give them food scraps, then they don't learn to beg. Our corgi mix got people food, so she begs. Our 1+ year old Golden Retriever doesn't, as we just don't give either of them people food anymore.

They both beg for ice when we open up the freezer. That shit is like crack to them.

Bite inhibition. Act like any time they nip you it really hurts so they thinks humans are real fragile.

I’ve raised a husky mix and a Rottweiler mix both from puppies over the past 3 years and it has been the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve ever done lol. Consistency and patience, notice that when you get frazzled and agitated your state is only going to further frazzle your pup. Don’t cut corners and you’ll have a lovely little family member, eventually

If you have questions on anything in particular feel free to shoot me a message. My pups aren’t perfect but they’ve integrated very well into society and the trust between us is as strong as I could’ve hoped.

Get her groomed often/early. Get them used to humans touching and holding their paws. The time I had a dog from a pup, cutting her nails was so easy because she was used to me touching them. My rescue dogs have been a handful, lol.

Wow, thank you everyone for your tips and words of encouragement! Definitely feeling aware of how much sleep I am losing and how much of a little demon she can be sometimes, but she has her moments that make me very hopeful for our next few months!

She has been learning so much in the past week, and already going to the bathroom outside, but I will need to be consistent to keep that up through adolescence. I got her from someone who had puppies in my area, and was selling them for $400. I was HIGHLY skeptical, but her pictures were too sweet, and we wanted a puppy for our older dog as well.

We took her to the vet and had her checked out and she is very healthy, albeit with a couple parasites that we are already on our way on treating (Giardia and Coccidia). Her vaccines are up to date and she is on her schedule for the second round in a couple weeks, for which I am looking forward to walking her. Her dad was a Shiba Inu, and her mom was half Sheltie, half Aussie, and she is so adorable.

Here’s some pictures!

One more to show her ears perking up in one week!