Hello from Obie!

[ObietheWan]

Hello everyone!
So I have finally decided to hop on the bulldog train. This Thursday the 30th, I will be picking up my beautiful brindle bulldog, who I have named Obie, from my breeder.
I've spent several months researching the dog, the possible health issues, the stubbornness and all of the joy they can possibly bring to me, my family, and my friends.
A bit about me. I am a swing shift industrial mechanic at a fiberglass insulation plant, which means my schedule changes on a weekly basis, but also get five days off every month. (I'll be picking Obie up during the start of my long days off, to help him settle into the house.) I also live with two other room mates, one of which works a flex schedule like me, and the other works a standard 9 to 5.
I think I've got the schedule lined up right for everyone and we're all on the same page, but I do have a few questions if anyone wants to help right off the bat!

I want to try to put Obie on Orijen Medium dog puppy food, but how long should I wait after getting him, and how much should I portion into his meals when I do start to make the transition?

I have bought 5 Kong classics, and also a puzzle feeder bowl, but am curious as to if I should mix his meals between the both? For example, in the mornings he is bowl fed, and then for his afternoon meal fed by hand during his training sessions, and then a frozen kibble Kong at night?

I have already prepared a crate for him, and have a den sectioned off with baby gates.

Because puppies are notorious for bite playing, I have bought tons of toys/ropes for him to play with, but is there anything else I should know of to use to help him learn?

Also, I have bought a clicker trainer and a treat bag to help train him, but I'm not too sure on how to get started, or how long to wait before I start trying to train him.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read all of that

 

[ObietheWan]

 

[helsonwheels]

You have a beautiful baby there. Im a big fan of orijen as most knows in here. You just cant go wrong with this product. Orijen puppy has everything you need as a kibble. Needs to be fed 3x a day. Most of the time that kibble you wont feed them till one yr old as suggested as it's extremely rich in calories. All my dogs especially my GS had to get him off at 6 months (weighed 60lbs)old but the continue with the adult blue bag. Start with puppy not medium. Also, im not sure I understand your hand fed n frozen fed. Why? "NEVER" hand feed a dog all you're going to create is a spoil dog. Yes I know we want to but thats a no no. Put it this way, raising a dog is like raising a toddler. Always keep on hand cut marrow bones. No knuckles just the marrow part. Have them cut like 2" thick. You can freeze them too. It will save your furniture and hands lol. Keeps them busy for hours. Iuse to train dobermans and clickers are great. It's completely different but if you know how to use it, go for it. I would suggest you take a crash course with your clicker or just get a good book on clickers. Most important is start Obie on his potty training, basic sit, down, stay etc. But walk him!!!! Get him use to a collar/harness. He's very small so just walk him up the corner street and back. (Not a mile corner street lol) I got Nyala at 3 months old. She was already very active and still is to this day. I keep her active. She can walk 4KM easily. So if you start with baby steps you'll always have an active dog. We are here to help you so ask whatever you want. And keep them photos coming!

 

[2BullyMama]

WOW!! You ate rick star prepared fir this handsome baby!

to EBN


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[ObietheWan]

Oh I don't mean purely hand feeding, I meant using his food as a treat during training instead of feeding him a lunch, so he is more meal driven to learn. That's what all the YouTube videos and articles have said about training a puppy. Obie will be three months when I go to get him. Everyone in the house will be carrying him to his potty spot every couple of hours or 30 minute after a meal and propper praise and maybe a treat for his house training. I'm sure it will take upwards of a year to get him fully trained to where he can have free roam of the house.
So you say the purple bag of orijen puppy is not good? Boy that sucks I already bought a 25 lb bag of it. Oops!

 

[2BullyMama]

Oh I don't mean purely hand feeding, I meant using his food as a treat during training instead of feeding him a lunch, so he is more meal driven to learn. That's what all the YouTube videos and articles have said about training a puppy. Obie will be three months when I go to get him. Everyone in the house will be carrying him to his potty spot every couple of hours or 30 minute after a meal and propper praise and maybe a treat for his house training. I'm sure it will take upwards of a year to get him fully trained to where he can have free roam of the house.
So you say the purple bag of orijen puppy is not good? Boy that sucks I already bought a 25 lb bag of it. Oops!

You need to feed 3x a day till at least 6 months... kibble for training is great, but will not cover a meal.

Take bag if food back store will let you exchange


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[ObietheWan]

You need to feed 3x a day till at least 6 months... kibble for training is great, but will not cover a meal.

Take bag if food back store will let you exchange


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I ordered it off of Amazon. I guess I will check the label to see if it will stay good until I can use it. Or are you saying use the puppy kibble until 6 months then switch to the blue adult bag? A bit confused.

So at 3 months, three times a day, any idea on portions? And I know he won't be coming from eating orijen, I think she told me she had him on royal canine, which I've heard very bad things about. He will come with a bag of it, but how and when should I start trying to make the switch?

 

[2BullyMama]

Yes, puppy kibble 3 times a day. There is a chart here-- I'll find and post for feeding guideline


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[ObietheWan]

You have a beautiful baby there. Im a big fan of orijen as most knows in here. You just cant go wrong with this product. Orijen puppy has everything you need as a kibble. Needs to be fed 3x a day. Most of the time that kibble you wont feed them till one yr old as suggested as it's extremely rich in calories. All my dogs especially my GS had to get him off at 6 months (weighed 60lbs)old but the continue with the adult blue bag. Start with puppy not medium. Also, im not sure I understand your hand fed n frozen fed. Why? "NEVER" hand feed a dog all you're going to create is a spoil dog. Yes I know we want to but thats a no no. Put it this way, raising a dog is like raising a toddler. Always keep on hand cut marrow bones. No knuckles just the marrow part. Have them cut like 2" thick. You can freeze them too. It will save your furniture and hands lol. Keeps them busy for hours. Iuse to train dobermans and clickers are great. It's completely different but if you know how to use it, go for it. I would suggest you take a crash course with your clicker or just get a good book on clickers. Most important is start Obie on his potty training, basic sit, down, stay etc. But walk him!!!! Get him use to a collar/harness. He's very small so just walk him up the corner street and back. (Not a mile corner street lol) I got Nyala at 3 months old. She was already very active and still is to this day. I keep her active. She can walk 4KM easily. So if you start with baby steps you'll always have an active dog. We are here to help you so ask whatever you want. And keep them photos coming!

Also, so cool you used to train Dobermans! That had been my favorite dog breed aesthetically since I can remember, I just have not been fortunate enough to ever live in a place I could properly house one. So the bulldog is now my closest second until I can buy a house of my own for a Dobie

 

[ObietheWan]

Yes, puppy kibble 3 times a day. There is a chart here-- I'll find and post for feeding guideline


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Okay thanks, that is much appreciated.

 

[Hankster]

he is gorgeous!!!

 

[2BullyMama]

Okay thanks, that is much appreciated.

The guidelines are in this article

English Bulldog News Forums - Why Does My Bulldog Puppy Have Diarrhea?


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[ObietheWan]

Yes, puppy kibble 3 times a day. There is a chart here-- I'll find and post for feeding guideline


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

he is gorgeous!!!

Thanks for this, answered all of my food questions!

 

[helsonwheels]

Oh I don't mean purely hand feeding, I meant using his food as a treat during training instead of feeding him a lunch, so he is more meal driven to learn. That's what all the YouTube videos and articles have said about training a puppy. Obie will be three months when I go to get him. Everyone in the house will be carrying him to his potty spot every couple of hours or 30 minute after a meal and propper praise and maybe a treat for his house training. I'm sure it will take upwards of a year to get him fully trained to where he can have free roam of the house.
So you say the purple bag of orijen puppy is not good? Boy that sucks I already bought a 25 lb bag of it. Oops!

No no its good! Nothing wrong with it lol. I think they are bigger bites right? Yellow bag is small to med size dogs as puppies and purple is for large breed puppy. Example like if you had a St Bernard puppy. Use it or see if they can exchange it. If not, geez use it for sure.

 

[KassyRN]

Also, I have bought a clicker trainer and a treat bag to help train him, but I'm not too sure on how to get started, or how long to wait before I start trying to train

A question I can actually answer!!! I used a clicker to train my German Shephard and it was amazing how fast he picked it up. Everything I taught him he had mastered in 10 min or less. Now, EB are a bit more......stubborn, so may not cooperate as well but it should still be an invaluable tool considering how treat driven they are.

First thing I do is spend a day teaching him to associate clicker with reward. Keep treats handy and randomly click then treat. Make sure you treat immediately after click, like within 3 sec so he will associate click with reward. You will know he has made the connection when he immediately looks at you with anticipation when you click (won't take very long!).

When it comes to training you give the command and the very instant he does what you want click and reward. The most important thing is to click and reward the second he does what you want so he will be able to identify what behavior resulted in the treat. Also, never ever click and treat for a behavior you didn't command. For example, you say "sit" and he lays down you may be tempted to click and treat cuz hey, it's close enough and he's so darn cute, but resist the temptation. It will only confuse him. The exception to this rule is when you have to do a staggered lesson. For example, when teaching my GS to shake I started with saying "shake" and he would look at me in confusion. I would repeat a couple more times and he was confused but raised his paw to paw at me and express his confusion and that's when I immediately clicked and treated. He recognized that lifing his paw was what I wanted. Then when I would say shake he would paw at me and I would click and reward each time. Once I was confident he had that down I graduated to only clicking when he put his paw in my hand. I would command "shake" and he would paw at my leg but I withheld the click and treat and repeated the command thrusting my hand towards him each time. After a couple times his paw accidentally hit my hand and I immediately clicked and treated so he made the connection that "shake" meant put paw in hand. So it was learned in steps.

I highly recommend clicker training and there are lot of videos on YouTube that can help. That was a very long response, I know but hope some of it can help!