adorable! Hope his tummy is feeling better quickly.

does he cry in his crate? I just got my little guy at 7 weeks and he cries like crazy in his crate. he'll sleep for a couple hours then howl for an hour.. it's a constant, aggravating cycle lol

It took a little while, but he's actually farly good in his crate. I had to figure out a few things via trial and error. Your mileage may vary, but here is what worked for me:

1. Kodi seems to hate the closed in feeling of a travel crate. I have a more open wire crate in my office -- which is where he spends any crate time during the day. I used a travel crate in my bedroom at night when we sleep. He hated the travel crate and cried pretty much only at night. When I switched it out for another wire crate, he immediately got better.

2. The first few nights with me was the first time he has ever been alone. He definitely suffered some seperation anxiety when crated, especialy at night. With a crate in my office, I was able to put him in there while I was still in the room. Leaving him in for short periods where he could still see me seemed to help. I would make a point to start getting up more often throughout the day and leaving the room for longer periods. After a few days, he got used to it.

At night, I slept on a mattress in front of his cage for a few days. When he woke up, I could let him know I was around and he would quickly settle down. After a few days, I was able to move up into the bed, but still close enough where he could hear/see me.

3. Positive reinforcement -- create a positive atmosphere in his crate. Feed him in there for a couple of days and make sure to leave treats throughout the day -- and especially when you leave. Also leave things to keep them busy when you're gone: chew toys, kong treats, etc. I foud that Kodi would wander in during the day and often sleep inside without me even having to ask or close the door.

4. Comfort - I have two larger crates that were divided down into "puppy size" with just enough room for the bed and a few chew toys. After he got better about housetraining, I removed the dividers so he could wander over to the hard plastic bottom, where is seems t stay cooler. He always prefers sleeping on the hardwood floors over carpet, blankets, or beds. In his crate, he will shift back & forth between the bed and plastic bottom.

Stick in there! The puppy days are a lot of work, but the hard work is already paying off.

Good luck!!!

Charsmom wrote:

adorable! Hope his tummy is feeling better quickly.

Thanks! His vet is also a very good family friend. He was surprised that Kodi was having stomach issues (both ends) from the shots. But from searching google, it seems to be somewhat common with the distemper shot.

We're still waiting on a normal stool -- fingers crossed. Funny what we root for when we have a new, furry family addition.

Stomach issues only lasted about 12-14 hours and all is back to normal. Here are both of my "little guys" posing this evening for the camera...

Nice pic of your two "boys."

Looking closer at Kodi's mouth with the angle of the picture it appears Kodi has a nice set of vampire fangs.

Here4thePics wrote:

Looking closer at Kodi's mouth with the angle of the picture it appears Kodi has a nice set of vampire fangs.

Hilarious! I didn't see that when I took the picture and posted it. That would make for a good Halloween costume if I can get him to wear a black Dracula cape with his fangs.

A couple of new pics... Kodi loves to hang out under the Christmas tree and chew on his Santa & Elf chew toys.


We also received his new skull tags from Etsy today. They're a lot smaller than I had thought, but still like them alot. They definitely reflect his personality.

the under the tree pics are priceless! get a good one to put in a pups first xmas ornament!

I NEED A HUGE BLOW UP PHOTO OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE PHOTO! AHHHH!!


Sorry. Sorry. I'm calm now.

omgosh he is the cutest darn thing ive ever seen! great pics (:

Great pics!! I need to get one of those skull tags for Nanook.. It fits his personality too (and mine lol)

Heather! wrote:

I NEED A HUGE BLOW UP PHOTO OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE PHOTO! AHHHH!!

Here's a link to the original: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/617940/DSC_1587.JPG

That's a great idea about the ornament! We have a ton of them from the kids growing up -- not sure why I never thought to do one for the furry one too.

yulia86 wrote:

He is so cute, makes me want another puppy to keep company to Maxi.

We're only 3 months in and I've already been making plans for our next one. He has been soooo good that I keep thinking a sibling wouldn't be that hard. But then I realize this just may be my version of winning the lottery. And I had better appreciate how lucky I have been.

Everyone (not on here, people in real life who met Koda and had dogs) told me my next dog would be terrible since Koda is so good. Haha, jokes on you suckers, I have two well-behaved huskies!

Jarod and I always regret not getting two pups at once. A lot of people say that can be an issue (littermates), but it'll always be something we wish we did.

And not even kidding that I am printing that out and hanging it up because I can't handle how cute it is.. lol. We haven't had a tree since we got Rogue since we haven't really celebrated since moving, and Koda was 8 months when Christmas rolled around.

Heather! wrote:

Everyone (not on here, people in real life who met Koda and had dogs) told me my next dog would be terrible since Koda is so good. Haha, jokes on you suckers, I have two well-behaved huskies!

Jarod and I always regret not getting two pups at once. A lot of people say that can be an issue (littermates), but it'll always be something we wish we did.

And not even kidding that I am printing that out and hanging it up because I can't handle how cute it is.. lol. We haven't had a tree since we got Rogue since we haven't really celebrated since moving, and Koda was 8 months when Christmas rolled around.

LOL!! Love it!!!!

I got so into the idea of having the pup, I called back a day after we picked him out (first pick) and all of his siblings were already taken. I took that as my sign that 1 was probably enough for me. And some days, I'm glad. But the pics sure do make me want another....

And Heather, just for the record... I LOVE your avatar & signature pics. One of these days, I'm going to get some of Kodi by a real photographer.

Oh man, he is BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for posting your crate training tips, VERY helpful.

There's much better quality photos of my avatar in "Member Photos" there's much cuter pictures there, I just didn't change my avatar photo yet- the quality of that one is merp because Rogue's face is so out of focus It was moreso someone who took photos with a DSLR and I editted them, lol, but they did a pretty good job! I prefer my photos of my dogs... I say just buy a DSLR and work on learning the ropes of photography yourself.

Oh my the new pictures are lovely, he's growing up so fast

We hit one of our early milestones today... last round of shots. Thought I would upload comparison pics to celebrate....

First trip to the vet (7 weeks), weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs.


Last round of shots (15 weeks), weighed in at 21.8 lbs. The pic is actually from last week, but close enough...

How adorable!!! We took Odin to the Vet today for the very first time. He weighed in at a whole 9.2 pounds lol. I cant believe he will be that big by 7 weeks. They grow so fast!

Yeah, they grow soooo fast! Kodi went from 6 lbs (7 weeks) to 10.4 (9 weeks) to 17.4 (12 weeks) to 21.8 (15 weeks). He had a massive spurt between 9 & 12 weeks. That's when he really transformed from a tiny puppy into a small dog.

It's even more amazing to see how much they really mature in that short of a time as well. He's gone from a clumsy "toddler" to a better-behaved "pre-teen." I'm just waiting for the "teenager" in the next several months.

He's getting so big!

I can't handle how cute he is!