Persian Spitz

We adopted a Japanese Spitz last year as our first pup. We both work full time (7am-5pm) and had no major problems looking after him, except for the usual issues with raising a pup. But be sure to take a couple or few days off work to get them settled in. Ours was quite vocal the first few weeks but settled down after that. He does get along with other dogs and they're quite a playful breed that never seem to run out of energy. The two major reasons we were drawn to the breed is that they're very intelligent and their Samoyed-smile makes you want to cuddle them. If you can handle a breed that will rocket around the house/backyard; if you have time for their grooming needs (a lot of brushing required for their long hair) and if you have enough time to spend with them – this breed might be for you.

1. When my dog and I go for walks, other dogs behind fences go nuts barking at him. He doesn't seem to mind. I've always thought this was normal assuming that other dogs smell the scent of my dog who are intruding on their territory (the street). I just wanted to ask if everyone experiences the same thing. Other dogs seem to bang against fences, trying to get out when we pass by. 2. Does it matter where your dog walks in relation to you? I read somewhere (I don't remember the site at the moment) that the dog has to walk beside you or behind you. Because if they're walking ahead of you, they see themselves as the pack leader or something. I'm not too sure. I see lot of people walking with their dogs in front of them.

He's about 18 months old. Our normal route takes us about 2km but on that particular day we went for a shorter 1km walk and about 3/4 of the way, he sat down. When we got home, I played with him for a while to see if he displayed any other unusual behaviour – ran around the backyard and such, he seemed okay.

My boy and I were walking one afternoon, as we always do, not far about 1km or so, but in this one instance he just stopped and sat down. I gave a slight tug on the lead and called his name but he just sat there. I thought that was a bit strange because he hasn't stopped during walks before. I thought that he hurt one of his hind legs so I went to take a look but when I touched his back side he tried to bite me. An admittedly half hearted attempt at a bite anyway. We stood there for a bit. Then I carried him for about five metres then set him down, and we were on our merry way again. Is this normal behaviour or is he trying to communicate something?

We thought we'd keep the pup if it was too much for the old folks. Our boy could use a brother.

Are pups appropriate gifts? Whenever I walk my 18 month old to my parent's house, they fawn over him. My dad sometimes takes my dog for walks and such. They ask me all sorts of questions about him even when my boy isn't there. This is my first dog so I quickly learned how much work goes into raising one - feeding, grooming, cleaning up and mostly training. There were points throughout those 18 months that I almost gave up on the pup and told my parents "You want him?", half jokingly. They came up to me one day and asked "Are you still giving away your dog? We'll take him if you don't want him." I'm quite attached to my boy now. I said that maybe they should get one of the more lower-energy dogs that can lounge around the house with them. They said that they liked the look of my dog because he looked like a small wolf. My wife suggested that we should get my parents a pup. Now, I have a Japanese Spitz so they're little rockets with loads of energy. They also mentioned they liked the neighbour's Siberian Husky but I'm pretty sure Husky's are also very active/ My question is – is it a good idea to give a pup to two 65 year olds? If so, what kind of breeds look like wolves?

Is there any way to reverse this?

I keep the cat food and dog food in the same place. One morning I gave the puppy some dry food and went back into the house. As I put the pack down I realised the picture on the pack was a cat. The dog and cat eat Science Diet so the packaging is identical except for the pictures and some words. I ran out but my dog had already started eating the dry cat food. Will anything serious happen? What should I do?

My OH and I are planning on going away for four weeks. We're considering our options on what to do with our boy. Option 1 is to leave him with the breeder we adopted him from. The upside is that way he'll be surrounded with others of his kind and should be happy. My OH is thinking the downside of that is he might forget us or pick up habits from the other dogs there. Option 2 is to leave him at the vet because they have a pet boarding service. The upside of that is we can also leave our cat so a familiar face might be less stressful and the vet is right there. The downside is they might be caged most of the time or feel abandoned. Option 3 is to have someone come over to our place to walk, feed and clean up after him and his brother, the cat. The downside is that he'll be alone for maybe 95% of the time. Is there a fourth option that I haven't though of yet? What would be the best course of action?

Thanks for the reply. This is good to know, I was worried when I started reading about people not being away from their house for more than 9, 8, even 7 hours. I guess I'll leave him be for now and get him a few more toys to keep him occupied.

Is it better to have two dogs than one? We have one at the moment and because my OH and I both work during the day, he's alone most of the time. We fear that he may become more restless and get depressed as time goes on and he's alone. Will being on his own too much, around 12 hours a day, have a detrimental effect on a one year old? Would it be wise to get another?

Thanks for the replies. I've actually tried to get him to jump off the table. The coffee table is pretty low, about 25cm and he's about 45cm on all fours, so it's funny when an excited ball of fur is reluctant to jump down from that height even with the lure of a treat. Strangely though, I raised him in a puppy playpen around 35-40cm high and he learned to jump over that. When he's inside the house and I can't him give my full attention, I put him on the table and he gives an indication when he wants to do his business outside so I guess he's partially learned. But I haven't tried it at night yet. I'm concerned about the restrictive nature of the crate, it looks too confined being able to only take a 3-4 steps forward and back; and the dog behind bars looks quite sad. I have a couple more questions about the crate: 1. Normally, how do they give the signal on when they want to go outside? 2. When they give the signal, is there enough time to - unlock crate, get them out, put lead on them, run them out the door? 3. Should it be like a home to them (should it have their toys)? 4. Is it best to place the crate in the bedroom or another part of the house?

Those rubber Kong toys where you can put the treats inside are pretty tough. My boy has one and after three weeks it's still pretty much in its original condition. His normal stuffed toys, ropes, balls have a lifespan of about three days and they'd be destroyed. How many of these Kong toys should one dog have to keep him amused? Is there a cheaper alternative to Kong toys that are just as durable?

I was thinking of crate training my boy so he knows to go outside when he wants to wee. Having looked at several crates in a pet supply store and online, I've noticed that a crate is pretty much a cage. I just wanted to ask what the purpose of the crate is. Is it so the pup has a place where he feels secure? Is it so he doesn't run around the house? Is it so he's confined to one area and won't answer the call of nature in such a confined space? I was thinking that if it's only to limit his movement in he house, I could just place him on a coffee table (with a larger surface area than a crate) because he never jumps off. Would this be a legitimate alternate or is a crate necessary?

We let our one year old run around in the backyard. What's the best way to stop him from digging, pooping or hanging around in one particular area? There's a pebbled area that I'd like him to avoid. A fence isn't an option because we access the area quite often for the gardening. I've tried a couple of ways: - I've tried to train him consistently to stay away from the area by walking around with him in the backyard except for that patch, giving him treats when I call him and he runs around and avoids that area to get to me. It seemed like he was learning as he would stand on the perimeter and not set one paw on it, even if I was standing in it. However, after a few days he would forget and go back there or when we get back from work, it's obvious that he's been playing there - I've tried a couple of repellants from Bunnings and they work for about two days then he's back there - I read that if you put his poop in a hole that he's dug, he won't return there so I tried that but it didn't work - I try to be fast on the "No" when I'm in the house and hear pebbles being stepped on or played with; and I go out right away His toys, food, water and house are on the other side of the yard. Is there another way I could tackle this problem?

I recently bought my 1 year old Japanese Spitz a bed (one of those cushiony ones from the pet store) and placed it in his house. The morning after, it was pretty much destroyed with the stuffing strewn about. I'm going to get him another. Any tips on getting my dog to not destroy his bed?

A dog that runs away from you is scared. If you're intimidating him one minute and coaxing him out of his kennel the next, he's also confused. A dog adopts a submissive posture to stop unwanted behaviour from others. Is this really how you want your dog to react to you? He's not learning much from all of this - other than to fear you. What is the unwanted behaviour you're getting in the back yard? We have small kids over sometimes and he'd jump at them which almost knocks them over so I walk over to him in an "I'm about to get you" way so he runs away. Is there a way to teach him to not jump at the kids without scaring him?

I don't have much experience with dogs but my first one is a Japanese Spitz, he's 11 months now. A good thing is that he's easy to train. The first two weeks he was in puppy pre-school he was the only one who could sit, drop and stay with any consistency. I didn't teach him to stand and hop but he does it anyway. He was very active when he was around the other puppies, not aggressive but he ran around a lot for no reason, probably too excited at seeing other dogs. A couple of dogs tried to bite him but he just ran away. He's a pretty good watchdog, in that he will bark when he hears a noise in the front yard (cars driving up the driveway, someone trying to get into the gate). In terms of feeding, he'll eat anything. Only negative thing I can say is that he has too much energy. He'd run inside the house and a couple of times he steamrolled over our cat. I'm not too sure about his agility, I'd sometimes put him on a coffee table about 40 cm high and he can't jump off.

Yeah we were taught the same thing in puppy pre-school so the puppy knows who's in charge. I did that for a while and it worked I think because when I get home he doesn't jump at me like he used to, he sits and waits or lies down, it's different with other people though, he'll still jump at them. However I don't really want to mistake one for the other when he rolls over. I wouldn't want him doing things he's not supposed to then he gets rewarded with a belly rub. On the flip side though, I wouldn't want to reprimand him more if he's saying sorry.

I have an 11 month old. When we're both in the backyard and he does something he's not supposed to I'll walk over to him in an intimidating fashion and he'll run into his dog house. I'll coax him out and then he'll roll over on his back. Does he want a tummy rub or is this some kind of submissive gesture?

I have a 10 month old Japanese Spitz. We keep him in the backyard when we're not home. Yesterday we came home and he was favoring his left hind leg; limping and couldn't run. We keep the backyard pretty clear. I don't think he can climb onto any high places and injure himself. There's some bricks and such lying around though. I was told by a couple of people that pups this age, especially with the bounciness of the Spitz, get into all sorts of mischief and shouldn't worry about it. I was thinking whether he pulled a muscle or something; or bruised it by running into the some of the larger bricks. Or maybe it's a tick paralysis of some sort (I watched Bondi Vet last week with the paralysed Samoyed looked a lot like ours). Is this normal?

For a while my 3-month old Japanese Spitz, Brian, and my 9-month old Persian, Stewie, were staying in a large room by themselves during the day. There were benches, chairs and tables around the room so the Persian had his territory up top and the Spitz was penned on the ground floor. Whenever Brian got out he would eat Stewie's food so the cat wasn't too happy about that. I had to move Stewie's food to a side table and his litter to a chair, he seemed to reach them just fine and didn't mind them being moved around. We keep them separated now because the Spitz plays a bit rough and almost bit Stewie's face. In puppy pre-school the trainer told us that the contents of a cat litter tray is like chocolate to a dog. Don't know why. They've only known each other for about 3 months so they're still getting used to each other. The Persian is still kind of snooty towards the Spitz. He has that look.

I've been house training my 6 month pup for a couple of weeks. He stays in a penned area in the house at night and I take him out when he needs to do his business. When he walks around the house I watch him like a hawk and keep in mind the time (an hour after drinking, after play) and take him out accordingly. I have a couple of questions: 1. He's had a couple of accidents, how often should I expect these? 2. He seems to lose control when there are house guests around and he's excited, is there any way to treat this? 3. He's managed to hold it in a couple of full nights (6hrs), is this normal / healthy?

My OH and I work business hours everyday. We try to spend as much time as possible with our 6-month old pup. We're in the process of toilet training him so he stays in the house with us when we're there and I take him outside to do his business. But when we have to go to work, where's the best place to leave a pup? We currently leave him outside in an penned area with toys, food, water, house... etc. Is this the best place to leave him? Will it detract from his toilet training when he can just do his business wherever he wants when he's by himself?

Ahh ok, thanks for the replies. I thought he was some kind of wizard dog. Amidst the chaos of puppy pre-school, dogs running around, when I told him to sit and lie down, he would do it for a couple of seconds. He wouldn't "stay" though because it's kind of difficult when another pup was biting at him. So I'll keep on training him. With regards to the toilet training, is it still possible to do it at his age (he's actually just 5 months old. When he was born I counted that as he was already our own. He's been with us for about 3 months). I've caught him in the middle of a wee, hoisted him up and ran him outside. Is this the right way to do it?