Adrienne,
Thank you so much for your detailed response! I really appreciate you taking so much time to answer my questions! I appreciate your kindness and understanding even more.
I was very upset with my Vet for shaming me. I had thought I was doing almost everything within my power to ensure I socialized him because I didn't want people to fear him when he's fully grown. I take him everywhere I go unless it's to a place they will not allow him to enter (most grocery stores, clothing stores, etc.). I take him with me to any store that will allow him to enter. He's been doing so well in his training that he doesn't pull on the leash anymore, he matches his stride perfectly to mine and walks directly on my right side. Even if I need my hands and attach his leash to the cart, he matches me stride for stride in stores.
He's going to be a very large dog and I have a 3-year-old at home with me; therefore, she's going to have other little people here eventually. It's important to me that her friends or the parents of her friends do not fear him or think badly of him. This is why I've been so diligent in my efforts to socialize him in any way I can during the pandemic. I tried explaining to them that he doesn't act scared for anyone else, even complete strangers. Whenever we're walking or in stores, people are simply drawn to him due to his adorableness. I see them begin to approach him, I ask them to stop and wait a few feet away. I give him the command to sit and reward with a treat from my bag, and then inform them they are able to approach him. If he remains calm and in the sitting position for them to fully approach, I give him another treat from my bag. I was doing this in an attempt to train him to sit and remain calm while people approach him because once he's fully grown, his excitement can appear scary to strangers. The breeder stated his dad was 110 pounds and his mom was 125 pounds, so they're assuming he's going to be somewhere in between those weights.
I want him to be an everyday companion for me as I work from home most days. I'd like to be able to take him everywhere I go which means I'm extremely diligent and strict on the way I train him. It drives my family members crazy because they think I'm depriving him of having a care-free and fun puppyhood, but I keep stressing to them how important it is to train them when they're young because it will be much harder to train him later on. Our German Shepherd is very well-trained and follows every command of mine. She's not as obedient when it comes to other family members, but I think she simply knows I'm the head of the household for her and our other pets.
I will make sure to try those techniques with his nails! Perhaps I can simply keep him walking twice a day to avoid them getting too long.
A few things I've noticed and need some guidance on are included below:
1. Barking and whining. He has recently developed the desire to whine in the crate. He isn't in the crate very often, though. He never really has been in the crate very often since I'm home almost all day every day. He sleeps in the crate at night to ensure he doesn't chew anything or have an accident somewhere in our home, but his crate is in our Master Bedroom. We've always kept it in our Master Bedroom because we didn't want him to be fearful on his own elsewhere in the house. This also ensures our daughter isn't sneaking out of her room to go play with him during the night. We also have a crate for him in my home office to ensure he has somewhere safe and comfortable to lay down while I'm working at my desk. This crate door usually remains open unless I have to prepare meals or do an activity that requires my attention to be off of him for more than a minute. He's a chewer, so if I can't have my eyes on him, I have to put him in the crate to ensure he doesn't eat something that could harm him. He has also began to bark, but the barking isn't constant. He barks if I leave the room and he's alone in his crate. And he barks when he hears the doors open. Is this normal? He just started doing this, so I wanted to make sure this is normal and wanted to know if there is something I can do to get him to not bark when the doors open. His bark is cute and innocent now, but I don't want strangers to walk into our home someday and his bark scare the living daylights out of them. I just wasn't sure if there is something I can do to train his barking to ensure people aren't scared of him. He barks sometimes on walks now, too, when he sees strangers approaching. I simply want to be able to train him early on since it will be easier for me to do it now than it will be to do it later in his life.
2. Dogwalkers. Within the next month or two, I will be taking a position that will require me to leave the home for 7-8 hours a day. He's never been alone for that long since I've worked from home since he joined our family. He eats 3 meals a day (6:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM). I let him out of the crate in the morning to go potty, he immediately goes back to his crate on his own because he knows it's breakfast time and this is where he eats his meals, he eats breakfast, and 15 minutes later I take him on his morning walk around the block. He pees, poops, and we walk for about 20 minutes and then I take him back inside to his crate where he waits for me to finish breakfast for my daughter, shower, and get ready for the day. During the day he spends most of his time out of the crates with me either doing housework or working in my office. At 11:55 AM, I left him out again to keep the routine for each meal the same, and he immediately returns to his crate to eat his lunch. 15 minutes later, I let him into our backyard where he pees, poops, and has 30 minutes of yard time to play, run around, etc. while I prepare lunch for my daughter. He spends most of his time out of the crates with me either doing housework or working in my office, again. At 4:30 PM, I have to return him to his crate to prepare dinner. My family and I sit down at about 5:15-5:20 to eat. At 5:55 PM, I let him out to go potty and he immediately waits in his crate for me to put his dinner in there for him. 15 minutes later, I take him for his second walk of the day, he pees and poops, and we walk for another 20 minutes. When we get home, my husband usually keeps an eye on him while I get my daughter ready for bed. At 7:45 PM, it's story time and he's so conditioned in his schedule now that as soon as I announce it's story time, he pushes the door to my daughter's room open with his nose and lays down next to Ava while I read a story or two to my daughter in the rocking chair. Both dogs wait for me to finish and then I sit next to my daughter's bed until she falls asleep. Ava sleeps in my daughters room with her, and Gibson sleeps in the crate in our Master Bedroom. I let both dogs out, again, around 8:15 PM - 8:20 PM. Gibson doesn't return to his crate until 9:00 PM for bedtime. As you can see, he's used to a very set schedule. I guess my question would be, do you recommend dogwalkers or caretakers for pets to assist in their transition? If so, would you recommend I have them come twice a day (morning routine and lunch routine)? Our morning routine would change drastically because I will have to get up earlier, get ready for the day earlier, get my daughter ready for daycare, etc. to make it to my job by 7:30 AM each morning. If I hired someone, they would come around 5:45 AM to make sure his morning routine remains the same, and come back again for his lunch routine. Or do you recommend I begin changing his routine now and simply have them come once a day for his lunch routine?
3. Training. Gibson mainly gets trained by me. We've noticed he doesn't seem to want to listen to the other people in our home. Do I simply have them train him as well? Or should I be the only one training him to avoid confusing him? He's very well-behaved with me, but he tends to ignore his training whenever I'm not home or if I'm not in the room.
Kylie
