Rotti Advice before I buy/adopt

[Zumie05]

I was able to pull off raising a puppy while working full time only because I had a lot of options when it came to taking puppy out to potty all the time and feeding him in the afternoon.

My room mates here all work at different hours, so during the baby stages of his life my pup was taken out every hour on the hour even if I wasn't home. How lucky is that? He is turning out fine though and no longer needs help during the day. He goes a full day now without any potty breaks when I am out at work. Good boy!

You're situation sounds like it would really be tough to raise a puppy, only because of the potty issue. If you really wanted a puppy, I don't think it would be impossible. You could train him to use potty pads and keep him in a pen in the kitchen or something with his crate in there and everything. People have done it before. You just would have some extra work to do once he gained more bladder/bowel control in teaching him to start holding everything inside and weaning him off the potty pads.

All in all, I think you may have the right idea in rescuing an adult rottie It would be a lot easier, and hey you won't have to go through the nippy annoying stage either lol!

[poohbearsmom]

I concur pretty much with what everyone else has stated, except that a young puppy is not impossible if one uses one's imagination. An older puppy or a young adult might be a better bet and less of a hassle.

I also do not agree with using pee pads. It only teaches a pup to evacuate indoors, rather than outdoors, which is kind of the general idea of house breaking a puppy. Better to come home at lunchtime, or encorporate a friend or family memeber in the house breaking process.

Thank you for asking questions prior to getting a dog. You give me hope.

Welcome to the forums.

[Zumie05]

Originally Posted by poohbearsmom

I also do not agree with using pee pads. It only teaches a pup to evacuate indoors, rather than outdoors, which is kind of the general idea of house breaking a puppy.

A few people in my family plus one of my friends have trained their puppies using potty pads and have successfully switched them off and moved to 100% outdoors. It doesn't teach them that they can just go ANYWHERE indoors, they have to target the pad and only go on that spot. These people though all have small dogs who at first would not go outside in the rain and actually needed the option of having a spot indoors that is okay for them to go.

I do think it is best to avoid using pads if possible (especially in dogs who don't care about weather conditions) because in the long run it takes a long time to wean the dog off of using the pads. They don't learn to hold it while inside because they always have the option of using the pad. I only suggested it as an option to the OP in case he realllllyyy wanted a puppy but just had no one to help take his puppy out every hour.

If done right, using a pad will not teach the dog that it is okay to just go in the house where ever he wants. But it is hard to train them off...so I really don't like them just because of that.

[moondog]

Another option for a puppy is if you are able to bring the puppy to work with you. Chili came to work with me until she was 8 months old and had zero problem transitioning to staying at home during the day.

She also had a flaming UTI that was a bear to clear up (took 3 months!), so as much as I hated to, I did have to resort to pee pads, both at the office and upstairs at home because the door was way too far away for her in both locations with the frequent need to go (as in a squat every 15 seconds at one point in time ). Once the UTI cleared up, I had no problem eliminating the pee pads, but I had been "trying" not to use them all along, so that likely helped with the transition.

[hokisteph5]

One of the reasons I got my male, Samson, was because I had cats and wanted a dog that got along with cats. I was researching different dog breeds, based on what was available at my local shelters, and came across a female rottweiler.

I was pleasantly surprised by what my research turned up about rottweilers and cats. Unfortunately, the female was no longer available when I went to look at her, but a different shelter/humane society soon had Samson's posting up.

At the time he was about 4 months old. The first line of his description said his best friend had been a cat. I have a couple of black cats, one male and one female, that joined my household after Samson and my female, Gretchen, did.

The cats are different ages by about a month. I have pictures of the cats curled up with one of "their" dogs. One even sleeps with Samson every night on his dog bed. She's been doing it for months now. She's about 6 lbs, he's about 95.

[skigod377]

Hey Roc! Welcome to the forums. First, dogs can be taught to get along with cats. I have two rotties (Got two for the same reason you are contemplating getting two) and they both get along with my cat and my rabbit. I didnt get the cat or the rabbit till my dogs were 7 and they had no problems adjusting.

I am not one to leave a dog in a crate for hours, though many people do it and many dogs are fine with it. I leave mine in the house while im at work. (Im in the Army, so we work long hours, too. ) As long as they get plenty of exercise and socialization, they should be fine. Every dog is different, though.

If you choose to get rescue rotts, I would be careful leaving them alone with a cat at first. If they grew up together, that is one thing, but my gf adopted a golden mix who was fine while she was there. She went out to eat about a week after adopting the golden, and came home to a nightmare. The golden had killed her old mixed dog. There was no indication that this would happen. I would just be leary of leaving a grown dog or two unsupervised in my house with anything.

I wish you luck. There are plenty of rescue dogs out there that get along with cats. Most dog lovers have cats, too.

Good luck!

[Rocmistro]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the great advice you all gave. I now have an update to this story. My girlfrind and brother conspired to get me a Rotti for my birthday, and yesterday, 8 week old female Chloe became part of my family. 'Twas a little earlier than I had expected and would have liked, but...as Gandalf said "Generous deed should not be checked by cold counsel"

So anyway...I love her. She looks like a fat little german sausage with black fur. She's very cuddly and loves being picked up.

So now I have a few more questions since I've had her all of...16 hours.

1. She's a strong-willed little thing, as I anticipated from all the advice and info I read. Any suggestions for when she resists walking when I put her on a leash? To be sure, i'm not trying to take her on a marathon....just trying to get her to walk for a few minutes outside. She's plopping herself on the ground and to try to get her to "walk" involves pretty much dragging her. I don't want to hurt her of course, but also want her to realize she's not the boss. Any recommendations?

2. How long typically take to potty-train.

3. We introduced her to my girlfriend's 2 cats, and the results were pretty good. It kind of looked like a standoff in a Western.

4. How many times a day should they eat? I have the total daily volume listed on my Eukanuba bag, but not sure how many times to divide that up throughout the day.

I guess that's it for now. Wish me luck :-)

[Zumie05]

Bring treats and toys with you on walks and get SUPER excited and make her think you are just outside to play. If she moves forward while on the leash, give her a toy or treat and keep it that way. She is 8 weeks old, I wouldn't try to do walking right now for anything longer than 5 minutes. She is wearing a leash and collar, something she has NEVER done before and it is weird! So also try leaving the leash on her while inside to let her get used to dragging it around the house. That will help out a ton. Spray bitter apple on the leash too to make sure she doesn't get into the habit of biting her leash.

OMG potty training for my guy took forever. I think I just had a puppy who took a while to catch on. My first dog who was a female potty trained in a week though, but we got her at 4 months old. By 4 months old a dog recently developed a better ability to control her bladder/bowel. They are more aware of themselves by this age. So during the baby dog stages, yes there will be accidents. The best thing you can do is prevent them by controlling her food and water intake and taking her outside every hour AND after she eats, drinks, plays with you or something, and wakes up from a nap. Keep an eye on her like a hawk, always with you 24/7. Otherwise if you're not watching, you will miss it when she has an accident and won't be able to get her to the right place.

While she is still small let her get used to the cats. My guy really liked to sniff my cat when he was little, and now he doesn't care about the cat at all.

Young puppies should have 3 - 4 meals a day. Change to 2 meals a day around 5 months old.