MEET OUR NEW PUPPY NAMED PENNY

We just welcomed a new puppy named Penny into our house. She is a Boxer and we based the name on how her fur's fawn coloring resembled the shading of pennies.  Penny had been living with the family who owns her mom and dad until the puppies in her litter were old enough to be separated from their parents and had received their first check up and shots from a vet.  My kids had been counting down the days until it was time to bring her home and they are so excited to have their very first pet dog.

Penny is a very affectionate dog who loves attention and being played with.  She's an inquisitive and friendly puppy who has been adapting well to her new surroundings. My son and daughter of course have been having a lot of fun with her. 

Owning a dog isn't all fun and games though.  We have to get her house trained so she isn't pooping and peeing inside.  She actually hadn't gone potty outside before until we brought her home so training her to want to go outside is a big priority.  We have a few more veterinarian visits over the next few weeks as well to get all her medical requirements done properly. I'm also looking at signing up for a puppy obedience class to help get us off to a good start with this new addition to our family.  Hmmm....why don't they have obedience classes for toddlers? That sounds like it might have come in handy when my twins were the equivalent of being puppy aged!

Not familiar with Boxers? Here is some trivia on the breed from the American Kennel Club:

• Boxers emerged from a massive sized dog known as Bullenbeisser that were used across Europe for hunting bear, deer, and wild boar. Bullenbeisser eventually became extinct through cross-breeding but the Boxer emerged as a result.  Boxers are a mix of Bullenbeisser, British Bulldog and Great Dane and originated from breeders in Germany.

• Boxers were used by the German military during World War 1 as attack and guard dogs.  American soldiers discovered the breed while fighting overseas and brought the dogs back home with them.  Boxers didn't began to grow in popularity though as pets across the United States until the 1930s and '40s when the dogs began winning dog shows.  Boxers won Best in Show at Westminster in 1947, 1949, 1951 and 1970. Now they are consistently ranked as one of America's Top 10 favorite dogs.

• Despite being cross bred from dogs that were known for hunting and fighting, Boxers are very social animals with an intense attachment to people.  They are protective and patient with children making them an ideal family pets.  These dogs also are energetic, clownish and love to sit on people's laps.  In fact, Penny is sitting on my lap as I'm typing this. 

Stay tuned for more updates and stories about my family's experiences as we delve into life with a pet dog.

Boxer Puppy Update

We picked out a Boxer puppy from a litter a few weeks ago for a family pet.  It was recommended that the dog stay with her mother until it is eight weeks old so we haven't brought it home yet.  The people who own the puppy's mom and dad live near the Lake Michigan shoreline on the other side of the state from us, but despite the distance we've gone out a few times to visit this future addition to our family.

A Boxer was the breed we decided to get because they are known to be protective of children as well as very playful.  They also are short-haired dogs that don't require much grooming which also was a nice selling point for me in picking out a Boxer. It is supposed to be the "kids' dog" ... though we'll see how much I end up cleaning up after her once we actually bring it home.

There are two boys and two girls in the litter. We choose one of the girls because the males can grow to be 80 to 100+ pounds while the females tend to be around 40 to 50 pounds.  This way the dog is intimidating enough to serve as a watch dog but yet small enough for my wife and kids to handle and be comfortable around.  Of the two girls to choose from, we decided to go with the one that had the most white coloring mixed in with her fawn fur.

Though she's currently living a 3 three hour drive away from us, we've gone out a few times to visit her.  We wanted to make sure the puppy was familiarized with us before just pulling her away from the surrounding she has been accustomed to since being born.  In fact, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) recommends making an effort to socialize puppies with people as much as possible within the first three months of their lives. 

This is a time when sociability outweighs fear, and dogs' brains are most inclined to be comfortable with adjusting to new people and places.  Getting a puppy comfortable with the family they are living with during this early stage of life can have long-term benefits when it comes to shaping the dogs temperament.

Some tips on socializing puppies from the AVSAB include:

• Engage your puppy's senses through exposure to different sights, sounds, and smells as part of its day-to-day life;
• Gently handle and pet the animal so that it learns to accept the touching of all its body parts;
• Expose the dog to as many people, animals, places and situations as possible;
• Encourage your pet to explore and investigate the environment around it;
• and allow it to experience a variety of toys, surfaces and other stimuli.

The kids have been having a lot of fun playing with the puppy ... and the puppy seems to be enjoying getting to know them.  I'm glad we've made the extra effort to introduce her to our family's scents, sounds, and personalities instead of just suddenly bringing her home one day.  It looks like she is going to fit in just fine with our family.

We'll be bringing the Boxer puppy home in two more weeks when she turns 2 months old.  Stay tuned for more updates as we add this new addition to A Geek Daddy's family.

A New Addition To The Family

It was an exciting weekend as we added a new addition to the family.  We bought a 2-week old Boxer puppy.  It will still be awhile until we bring her home though.  The puppy will be staying with her mom until she is 8 weeks old before coming to live with us as part of our family.

There are a few reasons we chose a Boxer for our family's first dog.  First they have a reputation for being very loyal and loving as well as great with kids.  They're also short-haired dogs that don't require a lot of grooming making them ideal as a house pet.  The dogs are also very playful, patient and protective in nature.

While not overly aggressive as a breed, Boxers are very protective of their homes and the families they live with making them great watch dogs.  Male boxers can grow on average to be 65 to 85 pounds so we picked out a girl who should probably end up being somewhere between 40 and 50 pounds.  Small enough to be manageable by my kids but yet big enough to be intimidating to a home intruder.

Here are some facts about Boxers from the American Kennel Club:

• Boxers are descendants of the Bullenbeisser, massive big-game hunters bred by German nobles during medieval times to run down and catch bear, bison and boars on vast estates.
• Changes in the times and needs of these dogs led to the Bullenbeisser being bred down to what is now known as the modern-day Boxer in the 1800s.
• Since a Boxer named Bang Away won the Westminster Dog Show in the 1950's, Boxers have continually reigned as one of America's top ten dog breeds.
• They are highly intelligent and excellent problem solvers.
• Boxers excel in a wide range of canine sports including obedience, agility, and herding.  They also perform brilliantly as service, assistance and therapy dogs.
• A boxer tends to be a very clean dog and its short, shiny coat needs very little grooming

Our new Boxer puppy is supposed to be for the kids but my wife has warned them there is a good chance it will become daddy's dog.  That probably is a good possibility!

Nickelodeon is going to the dogs with premiere of new series Mutt & Stuff

Programming on Nickelodeon is going to the dogs, and I'm not talking about the Pups of PAW Patrol which my kids adore, with the addition of a brand new television series in which will feature Cesar Millan, star of Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911 and former star of Dog Whisperer, and his son Calvin interacting with a cast of real dogs and puppets at a canine school called Mutt & Stuff.  This series, also called Mutt & Stuff, will balance teaching puppies to behave and perform tricks with lessons for children to help with identifying and managing their emotions, building interpersonal awareness, and developing social skills.  Additionally the show will carry a message promoting pet adoptions and responsible pet ownership based upon Cesar Millan's philosophies.

Mutt & Stuff will premiere on Friday, July 10, 2015 at 10 am (ET/PT), joining Nickelodeon's regular weekly morning preschool lineup of content that includes the popular shows PAW Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines.  Sid and Marty Krofft, the creators of two of my favorite TV shows when I was a youngster H.R. Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost, are serving as executive producers along with Cesar Millan on bringing this show to life on Nickelodeon.

The focus of the show will be on following 16 year old Calvin Millan and his best friend Stuff, a larger-than-life dog with a personality to match as they take viewers inside the doors of Mutt & Stuff.  Each episode will feature fun tricks, training lessons, and some doggy humor with the help of 15 playful puppies and some charismatic puppets.  Cesar will join in on showing Calvin and Stuff how dogs should be guided and highlighting the benefits that the friendship and loyalty of puppies can bring to a family.

Calvin began working with his father at the age of eight when he appeared on the Dog Whisperer helping to train small dogs.  In 2012, he toured Asia and Canada with his dad appearing in the show CESAR MILLAN LIVE.  Cesar of course is well known for his time as the host of the Dog Whisperer television series and more recently as the star of Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911.  He is also a best-selling author, frequent public speaker, and a pet care product designer.

In addition to Mutt & Stuff being broadcast on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr cable networks, NickJr.com and the Nick Jr. App will feature Mutt & Stuff content and clips.  The series premiere episode will also be available to view via NickJr.com, the Nick Jr. App and on Nick Video On Demand beginning July 11.

CLICK HERE for more information about this new Nickelodeon television series.

Heroic Husky Joins the Puppies of Nickelodeon's "PAW Patrol" in Brand New Episode of the Animated TV Series

If you children enjoy the animated Nickelodeon television series PAW PATROL as much as mine do you'll absolutely want to make sure to watch or DVR a brand new episode being broadcast on Friday, November 14th at Noon. A new member of the team is introduced in this special half hour show called "The New Pup." In this snow adventure, Ryder, the human leader of the team of puppy rescuers surprises the pups with a new vehicle -- the PAW Patroller -- a supercharged snowmobile.  The team needs it to rescue their friend Jake who is lost at the South Pole.  While the PAW Patrol puppies race to rescue him, an arctic storm picks up and Jake is instead found and assisted by a brave mountain ranger Husky named Everest.  After Everest saves the day, she is invited to become the newest member of the PAW Patrol pack.

PAW Patrol starts a pack of heroic rescue pups-Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye, and now Everest, who are led by a tech savvy boy named Ryder.  Together they work hard to show the people of Adventure Bay that "no job is too big, no pup too small!"  In partnership with Spin Master Entertainment, the series features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills, and problem-solving.  PAW Patrol is the number-one preschool series on Nickelodeon and airs weekdays at 12pm (ET/PT)