Winston Marshall Patterson

Big news! Here's the newest member of our family. After two years of Joseph wanting a dog, and me being tentative about what to get, and how much to spend, we finally have a dog. We're now dog people I guess, or will become... I don't know how it works exactly. Winston is a little Weimaraner puppy, born July 21st, and he's pretty cute. He's also pretty smart, and I'm glad for that. He's doing very well on his training, and I hope that he continues to pick up his new rules quickly.

In preparation for getting a dog, I recently read "Cesar's Way" by Cesar Milan (otherwise known as the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic channel). I've watched his show a few times, and I think it makes a lot of sense. His main mantra is to use calm-assertive energy with dogs, and to be the pack leader, and treat them like dogs, not people. He says that too many dogs in America have issues because their owners want to make them people, instead of recognizing they're dogs. So, I bought the book and read the whole thing. It's not really a how-to book for dog training, but more of a book explaining the psychology of dogs. Which I honestly have to chuckle about because who knew there was pychology to dogs... I guess there is, and I'm sure Cesar makes a good living off of it. So, as a test to see if his methods really work, we've been employing his techniques with Winston. So far, it's been very good, and I think it might be the way to go. A few of the more important points when introducing a new dog to your household is: 1) before bringing them into the house, take them for a long walk around your neighborhood to establish pack leadership 2) always enter the house, and the room first (do not let them enter first as that communicates that they are the pack leader and it's their domain) 3) always exercise first, discipline second, and show affection third (do not show affection after they have made a "mistake").

For example, the first night we brought him home, we took him on a walk first before bringing him inside. Then after dinner, we went on another short walk before bringing him in for the night. That night I fully expected to be up all night listening to him whine. However, I was very pleased when he only cried a few minutes, and calmed down quickly when Joe petted him for a little bit. He then slept until about 3:30 when he needed to go outside. Again, he calmed down right away when he came back in, and went back to sleep easily and slept/stayed quiet until morning. Everyone we know with a dog told us that he would definitely cry most of the night for the first two nights, and I'm happy to report that we just finished the second night quite similar to the first. The second night he had to go out more often, but overall not a bad experience. During the day, he stays on his pillow at my feet under the desk while I work - ideal. And as far as house-breaking him... only a few accidents, and nothing major. For the most part he's doing well to only go when we take him outside. We keep him in a crate at night so he'll learn to be crate-trained, and not pee in his environment, and wait for outside.

Ok, well that's probably more than any of you wanted to hear about training a dog. Since this is my first real dog committment, I'm just a little shocked that you really can train them. Hopefully kids will work that way too. :) Ha!