Good morning friends. I'm a first-time dog owner and I could use some advice:
My wife and I recently adopted a 6-month old Malamute puppy this week. We picked him up on Tuesday afternoon and it's now Friday morning. He had no command training or leash training when we got him. He's very smart though and I've already taught him to sit and lay down (which felt like a big accomplishment for me). Anyway; on to these questions:
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After my wife and I get home in the afternoon from work, the puppy is obviously really eager to go outside. We all spend a good hour out running and playing and it's great. Before we run and play though I have him on his leash in order for him to do his business and get used to the leash in general. Periodically through the rest of the day he goes in and out with me both on and off a leash (we have 11 acres and a huge yard so he's able to run free to a degree if he has supervision during the day). As soon as it turns dark though, he refuses to go outdoors willingly. He'll plant his feet at the door and pull away. This is an issue as he has to go out 3 times in the dark currently: once before bed, once during the night when he whines and needs to pee, and once at 4:30 am when we get up to leave for work. Once I can pull/carry (something that can't continue!) him to the yard he's better. But then he's dying to get back inside. I'm not sure what I can do to coax him into willingly going out after dark like he does during the day. This morning he even went so far as to growl and bark at the door. I'm not sure if maybe he sees his reflection in the glass door and it's scaring him, or what the issue is or how to fix it!
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Chasing the cat. We have a small female cat that's lived in the house as queen of the castle for about 2 years now. She's terrified of the new puppy. We tried to introduce them correctly as we'd researched but mistakes were made by other parties and the cat ran the puppy gave chase. It should be noted the pup's never caught her. Anyway, she's refusing to go anywhere near him on her own. We keep the pup off the furniture at all times so she has a spot to get away. She has gotten better about sitting on the back of a chair or the couch and looking down at him though. And last night we did have a moment where they were both on the stairs together, him with his nose to her; she hissed and he sort of just turned his head and walked around her and she never did run. I thought we'd had a big breakthrough but then this morning he chased her again. So I'm not sure what my best course of action is here. It's affecting her ability to get to her food and water during the day (I have noticed she eats at night when he's in our bedroom) even though he's crated during the day and can't get her. I don't expect them to be best buds or anything, but is there any way I can help to promote at least a civil living condition?
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Lastly, he seems only listen to me. He adores my wife and will run to her for loves, belly rubs, and play time, but when it comes to obeying like "come here", "sit", "no", or "down", he'll only listen to me. I'm teaching my wife every technique I'm learning through tutorials, but he seems to only obey me regularly. Is this normal or is there something we can work on to help my wife have some command as well?
But that's about it. I understand we've only had him 3 days and that's a short time to expect him to learn or understand anything. I'm just curious what I can do in order to help him on the right track. I'm trying to learn myself as well. Like I said I'm a first-timer here when it comes to dogs.
Thank you so very much for any and all help friends!
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/dd7plm/could_use_some_help_my_new_6month_malamute_seems/
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