Hi everyone.
Came across the forum as a result of a bit of googling on dry skin on puppies and liked the tone of the thread so I decided to register.
Fedor (named after Fedor Emelianenko) is an 8-week-old Boston Terrier, I've had him for four days now. He's my first dog (I'm a 32-year-old male, live alone in a large 2BR apartment except when my fiancee stays over, about 5 days a month as she works overseas). I had cats growing up but my fiancee is a dog person and I have always liked dogs and gotten along well with dogs so I figured it's time to try my hand at raising one
Did my research on breeds and although I like Beagles a lot, ended up getting a Boston Terrier since I wanted to have a dog I could let off the leash to run around the lawns at this compound I live in with the neighbors' jack russells and pugs (after doing a proper pack walk on a leash, of course!) and I figured a beagle might just run off when it picks up a scent.
The first four days have gone pretty well. He's getting the hang of housetraining - right from Day 2! There's still a few weewee accidents, which is to be expected with him having the bladder control of a 2-month-old, but he does #2 almost exclusively outside on the lawn by now. He's got the idea and I have learned to read his body language on when he needs to go. I live on the ground floor and there is a big lawn 10 metres from my door so that's definitely helped a lot with teaching him to eliminate outside.
He's pretty good about the leash as well, I'd be lying if I said he is walking perfectly next to me or behind me, he does try to pull a bit but I'm not too worried about that. I've left him home alone (for 2-4 hours at a time) four times now and the first three times I was able to time it well, him being tired, and he just stayed in the bathroom in his crate or bed (he has both) sleeping and was that way when I came back. The fourth time I was in a bit of a rush to leave again after being home for only an hour and a half, so I had to leave him in a less tired state and he was crying quite a bit after I closed the door. He was fine when I got back though.
The breeder had been feeding the puppies brown rice and boiled egg (put through a blender) after weaning and recommended I would do that too, but I decided to take a chance and just get him on dry dog food (rehydrated with warm water though) right away... First on Royal Canin Baby 30, but after I'd done my research I realised it's not exactly the best option so I got some Chicken Soup for the Puppy's Soul or whatever it's called, which I reckon is rather good with more meat and no corn. So he's on half-and-half of those two now until I run out of the Royal Canin and have him on Chicken Soup Etc exclusively. He eats great, the first two days almost too quickly, but has slowed down a bit since then.
So, we're off to a good start here. Reading Cesar Millan's "A Member of the Family" and trying to put all that stuff into practice. I don't have any pics right now because I haven't got the battery charger for my DSLR, but I will put some up in a couple of weeks.
That's my long and rambling introduction. Gotta feed him and take him out now. Look forward to interesting discussions!