# New puppy Petunia



## TShot (Jan 16, 2009)

Hi, Back in March of last year our 14 year old German Shepherd dog passed.. She was wonderful and I miss her dearly. Just recently my wife and I were tossing around the idea of bringing a new puppy into our family. Ten days ago we bought a new little Havanese puppy, Petunia. I didn't know a whole lot about the breed, but the little research that I did do I figured that a Havanese pup would be a good breed for us. A drastic change from a German Shepherd, but we were looking for a smaller dog that would be easy to evacuate with and the fact that havanese don't shed was a major plus.

Anyway, This is my first post on this forum, but, I want you to know that the knowledge that I learned by visiting and reading the post here has been very helpful during the past week. This forum is a wealth of information. Thanks to all!

Petunia will be 10 weeks old next Saturday, she is adapting very well and has already caught on to the pee-pad thing. She even sleeps next to our bed in her crate with the crate door open, she sleeps, wakes, uses the pad and returns to her crate all by herself. Amazing.


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## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

Hello and :welcome: to the forum! Petunia is so cute. Love her eyebrows!!!


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## Judy A (Jan 13, 2007)

Welcome..she looks like a sweetheart and she must be very smart!!


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## TShot (Jan 16, 2009)

Lina, Thanks!

How do you put a picture in a post?


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Welcome! Petunia is a cutie! I'll have to let someone else tell you how to post pictures. It is still a matter of trial and error for me....


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## mckennasedona (Feb 20, 2007)

She's adorable. Welcome to the forum.
If you click on "Go Advanced" instead of Quick Reply and scroll down to "Manage Attachments" you can post photos.


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## trueblue (Jan 22, 2008)

Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to seeing more of Petunia's sweet little face


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## pjewel (Apr 11, 2007)

Welcome to the group. Petunia is not only absolutely adorable, but she's obviously brilliant as well. How lucky you are that she's doing the things she is already. I look forward to seeing more photos and hearing all about her.

For the photos, when you go to manage attachments and upload, just make sure the file sizes aren't too big. I usually resize everything to 600-700x whatever. If you have a pc, Irfanview or PhotoScape (thanks to Jerome) are wonderful for resizing and myriad other things.


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## karlabythec (Nov 9, 2008)

Hi and welcome...so sorry about the loss of your shepherd.  
I have two German Shepherds (Maggie and Jonah) and a Havanese (Gracie). You will love the breed and this board!


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Welcome to the Forum. You will find it is addictive, and a great source of info. I love the name Petunia, she looks like a doll.


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## The Fussy Puppy Gang (May 21, 2007)

:welcome:! Petunia is adorable - and so is her name. Sorry about your GSD. We had a handsome male named Max (what else) who passed away in 2003 at the age of 13. GSD's are a fantastic breed - and so are Havanese!

Looking forward to more pics of your precious pup :thumb:


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## CinnCinn (Mar 30, 2007)

Welcome. Your little girl is adorable!


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## TShot (Jan 16, 2009)

Thanks to all that responded. Petunia will appreciate all the compliments, between my wife, my three daughters and everyone who sees Petunia you'd think she is the most lovable dog ever.

I am amazed at how quickly she is learning at such an early age. I was prepared to have a long ordeal with potty training and separation anxiety , but so far potty training is going near perfect and she has been very good about being left alone for short periods of time. 

The biggest problem is her very sharp teeth and she sometimes gets a little too snappy when you play with her. Most of the time she is very gentle, but she does get a little wild at times 

Lets see if I learned how to place a picture in this post.


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## Lilly's mom (Aug 10, 2007)

*Welcome and Petunia is precious.*


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Welcome! I love the eyebrows they give her such a old wise look!


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## Jill in Mich (Feb 24, 2008)

:welcome: Petunia is a real cutie! Glad you found us!


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## Jane (Jun 2, 2007)

Welcome to the forum! Petunia is absolutely adorable - who can resist that face?


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*Couldn't wait to see the puppy named Petunia*

I saw your post on the new posts list, and had to see your little girl. What a wonderful name for an adorable little gal. Love those eyebrows!

I had a GSD as my best friend growing up. Havanese are very different, but just as dedicated to you!


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## Amy R. (Jul 1, 2007)

Welcome to the Forum!!! Petunia is precious, and so smart a little girl. Very impressive that she pottys herself in the night! Wow, have never heard of a puppy that young doing that. Sounds like you're doing everything right!


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## Evye's Mom (Dec 16, 2008)

Petunia is absolutely adorable. Congratulations !!! Sounds like she is doing wonderful. Welcome to the forum.


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## Evye's Mom (Dec 16, 2008)

The sharp teeth thing...I can relate. Evye is perfect in everyway IF she only didn't have teeth !!! I'm working on it with "gentle" (not going so well) and now I'm trying OUCH, no bite, fold my arms and and walking away. No avail, she follows me biting my feet the whole way. Now I'm trying "no bite" with a treat if she doesn't bite...works only if I have a treat. Hopefully we can learn together and share "no bite" ideas.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, she is a cutie! I love the eyebrows also! 

Always have a chew toy in your hand when holding, those teeth can be very sharp.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Oh! As for walking and biting your pants/shoes.....I just stop and ignore and stand very still, no eye contact and Dexter walks away and then I start walking.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Petunia is so sweet, love her eyes! Welcome to the forum! You'll find tons of great advice here.


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## TShot (Jan 16, 2009)

The biting is really becoming a problem with Petunia. We can not play with her without her grabbing at every thing with her teeth. Sleeves, shoes, pants and fingers. My wife and daughter want badly to play with her but the play sessions just end up with my wife and daughter doing nothing but correcting her or they end up crying from Petunia's sharp bites. I try the ignoring thing and she does let go, but as soon as we resume play it starts all over again. Sometimes she grabs on to my pants leg or shoelace and wont let go. When I ignore her she lets go after some time but as soon as I start walking she grabs back on.
It's driving me crazy hearing my daughter yell / screech every few minutes from the bites of Petunia as she tries to love her. 
This behavior is really causing a problem.

She can be extremely lovable at times, especially when she is tired.


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

How wonderful for your family! She's beautiful.

Re: the biting
When she was with her littermates, she was taught what play was and probably learned from them what was acceptable and what was not. Same thing has to happen in your home.
When she gets too nippy or too excited, just put her in her crate til she's calm (usally about 30 to 60 seconds) then take her out. Petunia will soon learn what behavior will keep her with her pack! Good Luck! and kisses to that sweet girl.


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## TShot (Jan 16, 2009)

Thanks for the advice on the biting. I understand what your saying and it now makes perfect sense to me about pack learning behavior. 

I just finished searching this forum for more information on biting. I ran across a thread titled "nipping in the bud". They had many post with some good information and techniques on how to control the biting. Several people suggest to "yelp" and ignore when she bites to hard.

It seems like she is at her worst with the biting when she gets very excited or when we return from leaving her alone or when we take her in the yard to play after a nap. 

We will start using the Yelp and Ignore method and hopefully in time she will catch on and stop the bad biting behavior.


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## LuvCicero (Mar 31, 2008)

The "yelp" and ignore worked for me...but she is a puppy and that is part of it for now. She will get better. Keep plenty of toys out for her to chew or offer her a flossie when she starts to bite. She is adorable and sounds like she is going to be a smart little furkid.


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

Welcome! So glad you found us. Your Petunia is a doll and a smart one, at that! My Tori did exactly the same thing at night~ would wake, go use the pad, then go back to bed. As one who doesn't do well without sleep, this was a godsend! She wasn't much of a biter/nipper, however, but using the yelp would stop her immediately whenever she did bite. Good luck!


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## Maxmom (Jul 22, 2008)

She's a cutie, for sure! I love eyebrows!


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

TShot - you can always do the roll-over where you roll her on her back and kind of hold her there for 10 seconds or so.
I can not remember if this is done during rough play, or just in-general to teach her you are the pack leader.


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

Evye's Mom said:


> The sharp teeth thing...I can relate. Evye is perfect in everyway IF she only didn't have teeth !!! I'm working on it with "gentle" (not going so well) and now I'm trying OUCH, no bite, fold my arms and and walking away. No avail, she follows me biting my feet the whole way. Now I'm trying "no bite" with a treat if she doesn't bite...works only if I have a treat. Hopefully we can learn together and share "no bite" ideas.


Flossies worked wonderfully for me when Cuba would bite all the time. Now he only really bites my sister because he knows he can get away with it. (My sister is 25...:biggrin1


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## Evye's Mom (Dec 16, 2008)

I hate to sound dumb but what are flossies. I'm game for anything so direct me to these flossies!!! Please.


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## Evye's Mom (Dec 16, 2008)

Forgot to add, I ask this as I have a bite on the top of my foot that just now stopped bleeding. Talk about an "ouch." The other night DH got his ear pierced. I love her to pieces but this biting !!!!


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## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)




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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Flossies are tendons, or something like that, that are twisted. The dogs love them! They aren't cheap though. Try to find a few locally to see if Evye likes them and then you can order them online to save a little bit of $$$. Around here they're a special treat that he only gets about once a week or so due to the cost.

Scooter loves to bite my DH's ears too! ound:

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/dog_treats_tendons.php


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

If she likes flossies, dog.com often has them for $2.29 each if you buy more than two. And free shipping over $49.00.


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## TShot (Jan 16, 2009)

Petunia is doing a lot better with the nipping and biting. Actually, I think it is because of the way we now handle her when she starts biting. We've noticed that the biting would be most frequent when she was overly excited, such as when we first greet her after being in her kennel or ex-pen.
As soon as she starts biting we immediately yelp or squeal, then we ignore her until she settles down. After a few minutes of good behavior. I place a Flossie or a rope toy in her mouth. That seems to satisfy her chewing, then after a few minutes I take it back and the hold and play with her. If she starts the biting again, then we do our routine over until she stops.
I must say it's really been working. 
Petunia is very smart and a quick learner, it's amazing how a puppy this young seems to pay attention to everything. Just 10 weeks old and is already ringing a bell at the back door when she needs / wants to go outside.


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Ack! She's so cute. I really, really need a puppy. My DH won't bend whatsoever. Welcome to the board!


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

That Petunia is adorable on her Angel blankie.


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