7/23    Dear fellow puppy parents. If you have those non-shedding fluffy
        hair type of pups, at what age are you suppose to shave your puppy
        completely so that it'll grow fuller hair as an adult? Also, what
        was your crate-training schedule like? Is it something like
        sleep sleep sleep->wake->poo outside->play->eat->poo outside->
        sleep sleep sleep->wake->poo outside->play->eat->poo outside->
        repeat 8 times a day? I'm thinking of taking an entire month
        off (plus maybe 1-2 more weeks) till he's maybe 4 months old.
        \_ ^parents^owners
        \_ "owners" -> "guardians" -> "parents"???  So now even "guardians"
           are not politically correct anymore?
        \_ DOG IS THE STANDARD TROLL!
        \_ Shaving won't affect hair later in life.
        \_ Crate training: the 'rule' is that a dog can spend no more than an
           hour or two at a time in a crate per month of life.  For our dogs,
           one absolutely refused to go in the crate at all but was really
           easy to train to knock to go outside around the corner to his spot.
           The other one loves her crate but we had a very hard time getting
           her to let us know when she needed to go out.  The carpet was just
           as good in her mind.  What we did was hang some bells from the back
           door handle, took her out a *lot*, like every 30-60 minutes all
           day, every day, rang the bells when we opened the door and gave her
           a treat when she came back in.  At night, one of us would stay up
           later and the other would get up early so she'd be crated as short
           a time as possible. After a short time she got the idea and started
           smacking the bells to go out all day to get her treat.  Over time
           we reduced the treat load and she stopped ringing for no reason and
           now she's old enough and has the bathroom concept down.  Repetition
           is the key.  One thing you *never* want to do is leave your dog in
           the crate for so long they can't wait and mess their crate.  Once a
           dog has broken their crate training like that you are hosed.  They
           won't mess their crate from the natural instinct to not mess their
           own bed area but if you leave them no choice they'll keep doing it.
           I've seen puppies rolling in their own filth at puppy mill places
           and pet stores.  Never take one of those home.  Oh yeah, most pups
           have to go sometime in the first 20 minutes after a play session,
           so be alert or just take them out if they've been romping around
           the living room.  Nature's Miracle for the errors.  Look up the
           Sirius method of pet training for an all positive reinforcement
           scheme that works with most dogs.
           \_ Most helpful post ever. Thanks. What's your login?
              \_ reiffin.  Feel free to send mail if you want to talk more dog
                 stuff.