Crag Puppy Basics?

There is some really good info on this thread... it is enjoyable to hear people talk about what you can/should do with their pets instead of 'leave them home!' With that said, i have a dog and he is close to a year and a half... i take him cragging when in the desert but no where else really... naturally he is really smart, training came easy, and over all he is really well behaved when he wants to be... he isn't too old to break the habits that keep me from taking him to other places is he? I would love to be able to take him everywhere, but socially, i don't want to be a bother to others...that, and safety... for example, when he is tired, his response to recall is good, but not when he is hyper... what are some practices that has worked for others dealing with recall?

M Sprague wrote:I think one thing is important; you don't want to be screaming at your dog at the crag.

OMFG, I remember a guy that used to scream his dog's name and NO! every three minutes. We would just pack up our bags and leave when he showed up with dog in tow. Honestly, that was way worse than anything the dog did.

Don't name your dog 'Rock'. True story. Sucks ducking whenever someone calls their dog.

David Sahalie wrote:Don't name your dog 'Rock'. True story. Sucks ducking whenever someone calls their dog.

I'm not necesarily calling you a liar. However.

Something along the lines of ten years ago, camhead and I were joking around about naming a dog "Rock". This was in jovial response to all the people out there naming their dogs Granite, (insert mountain here), or namaste or really any ultra contrived name bound to scream "I am a climber goddamit!!" whenever they called it.

Now I'm as well traveled as about anyone and I've run into all types of mutts and their names. I've never come across rock. You are the second person to mention the obvious rock joke that camhead made nearly years ago (he's not that funny, amirite?) as it were real.

The case could be made that someone picked up on his joke and went for it. There certainly has been enough time for that. The other would be a simple case of citation needed.

Speaking of citation needed, I was quoted in the Wide Boyz video about getting puppy kicked pissed to climb offwidths and never cited. I look at my little ball of fur sleeping and am glad I sold my big cams last year.

can't out the perps cuz they are friends that named the dog before they were really into climbing. They thought 'rock' was cool but didn't know the implications at the time.

at least they didn't call him Off Belay

David Sahalie wrote:can't out the perps cuz they are friends that named the dog before they were really into climbing. They thought 'rock' was cool but didn't know the implications at the time. at least they didn't call him Off Belay

It's funny any way you think about it. Take, off belay, slack, I'll rappel, I have naked pics of your mom, petzl and so on.

I LOVE crag puppies

She is about a pound above Golden Eagle range.

One thing that helped Teddy when he was first coming out was to keep my pack in "his area" while at the crag. I would let him sleep on it or us as a pillow, but not everyone is me - the pack definitely got dirty from being on the ground. Anyway - having he pack nearby, he understood he was "supposed to be where he was" and hadn't been forgotten when I climbed away. Previous to that, he would bark when I got about 20 feet off the ground. The "pack relocation" immediately stopped the behavior.

A first I also brought a bone for Teddy to chew on while I was climbing. He loved it! But....so didn't other dogs passing through. A dog could get in a fight wanting that treat or toy, so I realized better to not have that opportunity.

As said - at first, you're definitely going to need to be more dog-oriented than climbing oriented.

Bring a LOT of extra water, so you don't have to skimp on refreshing a bowl that has gotten dirt in it or refilling spilled or drinks taken from passing-by dogs(happens a lot in popular places - some people don't give their dogs available water at all times(which one should do),and the poor dog ends up so grateful to find that water!), and in between from one are to another when you dump the dish.

Also one thing people sometimes don't realize is that it DOES take time out of the day to attend to the doggy. Be sure your partners are cool with your having your dog along, and be sure to hustle when you can to "make up for" the time out of day taken for dog care so they don't feel as if they get shorted.

My Teddy passed away last August and I am getting ready to find my next pup, but to be honest, I would not do multipitch with a dog aged under a year left at the base. They are just too young to understand the ramifications of their behavior and can get in trouble in ways one cannot imagine. Each breed has it's own characteristics, and takes different lengths of time to mature, but until a doggy is past the "goofy" and "sometimes uncoordinated" stages, the outside environment of a cliff area poses too many opportunities for problems to have a doggy unattended(out of eyesight).

Terry, I wouldn't consider multipitch with her. I can't really imagine it for a dog of any age. Considering the type of trouble her momma and I can get ourselves into on so many long routes, I wouldn't feel comfortable with that. A crag parrot maybe.

I just read about parvo online. Now I'm scared to take her outside until her vaccination on Monday. Thank god for herd immunity. Still sounds really possible though.

Here's a couple names that might fit:

Kynleigh
Kynleigh, as a girl’s name, is a variant of the name Leigh, Lynn and every other female name starting with the letter K. Girls named Kynleigh can often be found in a public restroom reapplying their lip gloss and/or eyeliner and simultaneously itching their butts* while texting their father’s weekend fishing buddies.
(*)scratching in or around their rear end area.

Janeice
Girls named Janeice are often defensive and hyper-critical yet sensitive and complicated in nature. A girl named Janeice will often times shock you as their personalities can seem split e.g. one minute they’re sharing religious motivational quotes on facebook and the next minute, they’re posting half naked bathroom selfies from their local Starbucks on instagram.

Parvo is no joke, it's horrible. That said don't let it stop you from enjoying your pup. Get out there to socialize with dog's you know are vaccinated and have lot's of fun.

As far as crag dogs go, if you are going to be in areas with stagnant water or where there are grazing pastures, make sure you tell your vet and they will let you know the appropriate vaccines to combat giardia and the like.

Also it did well for Toby to trail a long leash (30') while he was a pup, that way he could run around like he was free but all I had to do was step on the leash to keep him from getting in trouble.

jeb

First beach trip @ 3 months

As long as you dog gets along with people and other dogs, I think that everything else is a secondary concern. My girlfriend and I brought our two boxers to the Creek a couple weeks ago, and it was an awful experience. We've had Our older boxer since he was a puppy, but our younger boxer was a rescue from an abusive household. We spent a long time getting him to chill out around others enough to take him climbing with us. And we finally felt comfortable enough for him to come along this last trip. Things were going great, until a friend of mine's dog showed up. His dog was fine around people, but INCREDIBLY aggressive towards other dogs. My younger boxer felt incredibly threatened and was even bitten by my friend's dog. So needless to say, he wasn't very chill for the rest of the day. And it really ruined our climbing. As long as you raise your pup to be chilled out, even when threatened by another dog, you're not not gong to have much trouble.

May I suggest to name your puppy Hottie, or Dirtbag? It will bring positive vibe to your cragging experience with her.
If ever in an altercation, the police report would be very entertaining to read too.

Mountain lions aside I'd suggest you watch out for this fella

U wanna dog chow yuk?

Congrats on your pup, nicelegs. I can't really answer the training questions, but as a vet I can probably help with these:

"Some questions

Dewclaws, stay or go?

Additional vaccines/boosters because she'll be outside more?"

Dewclaws - it depends on how big and floppy they are - there's no inherent problems with dewclaws themselves but if they're big and floppy then she'll be more likely to catch them on something and rip them off. I generally let owners make the decision about me removing dewclaws and I'd only really push for it if the dog was big, active and the dewclaws were huge and floppy.

Vaccinations - At the risk of sounding like a dick (please don't take it that way) I wouldn't take recommendations on vaccinations from the lay community. Talk to your local vet. There are certainly different things we vaccinate for (outside of the core vaccinations - that's distemper/parvo etc... usually a 5 diseases-in-1 vaccine, and rabies since you're in america) depending on what sort of environment the dog is likely to be in. What is prevalent in one area may not be in another.

Something you didn't ask about was getting her spayed. Do it. Nothing will make you less popular than bringing a bitch on heat to the crag.

Worm her regularly and frequently while she's young. Feed decent quality puppy food.

I'm happy to answer (or try to answer) any general vetty questions you might have.

Have fun with your pup

What kind of dog is she? That might be a good place to start understanding her behavior and what kind of attention she needs. Then forget everything anyone said and watch the dog whisperer, dogs reflect human energy. Then start researching dog food and find a brand that isn't made of ground up anesthetized dogs that didn't get rescued from the pound. Just like human food, most dogs foods kill animals prematurely and cause disease. Don't forget there's no such thing as voice control over an animal.

Graham Johnson wrote: I'm happy to answer (or try to answer) any general vetty questions you might have. Have fun with your pup

Graham, Is my GSP going to mellow out at all after we get him neutered or is my SO just saying that because she's tired of looking at his junk? He's about to turn 1 but wanders a little and can get distracted and/or whiny. Hoping he'll grow out of that because otherwise he's got a great personality and gets along with everyone and everything. Hoping to get him solid on recall so we can hike off leash and take him to crags but right now he'd see a deer and be gone.

MC Poopypants wrote:Just like human food, most dogs foods kill animals prematurely and cause disease.

What do you mean by this sentence?

Here is a good website that has analysis on many of the US sold dog foods

A lot of people just have no idea bad the grocery store foods are.