He is gorgeous.

Puppies do require stamina, though. My son and his wife just adopted a second dog, 11 week old GSD mix. They're scrambling to put things away as she finds them and gnaws on them. She just chewed through a wire on a carpet cleaner....fortunately it wasn't plugged in.

Have any advice to share on how to train? It's been a while since I've had such a young pup.

He's getting so big! Still such a cutie!!!

BB - We are total rookies as this is our first dog.

My first 3 recommendations are to socialize, socialize, and socialize.

I thought we hit everything on the list and then he saw a propane tank and really woofed at it. Tonight, he saw it again and only had a minor woof. I expect, he won't react the next time.

Whole Dog Journal had a nice list if you don't have one.

We tried to have at least one socialization event each day - sometimes more but also gave him a break if he was tired

Work with your vet as to when to start puppy classes and meet other dogs.

We had a gated community (house). We had pet gates throughout the house.

We set up the front part of the house as his exercise pen. He was only allowed in other parts of the house with supervision after he did his business. We slowly expanded his den to include most of the house. We keep the spare bedrooms and bath blocked for guests.

Puppy proof your house to avoid the wires problem. You can purchase a bitter apple spray to use on objects to prevent chewing. I bought a bottle but only used it once on a corner of the house- we didn't crate while gone twice. The first time was fine but the second time-oops- he was teething and chewed a little bit of wood.

Always keep the puppy in visual when not crated or in a pen. Initially our puppy would snag any shoe or glove. He didn't chew them but loved the smells. We would substitute one of his chew toys for the shoe. Now, he mostly leaves them alone - but occasionally, we will hear a ruckus and know he is up to no good - He knows the shoes are not his. (Early on, we did not leave them out)

Definitely use a crate for sleeping and rest periods throughout the day. Puppies need lots of sleep. We would take the puppy outside, then bring him inside with us for 15-30 minutes for play time before returning to his "ex pen" area. We would crate for naps so he would not be disturbed.

Whelping pads are helpful to put on the floor if you have carpeting. And definitely purchase enzyme sprays to use to clean up accidents. We had the carpet in his ex pen covered with pads and would toss them into the washer if he had an accident. Fortunately, he was house-trained relatively quickly except for a couple submissive piddles when we would have dog guests. I think he is over this problem.

Again, work with your vet on when to start puppy kindergarten. We went to 2 different classes on round one. Both were helpful but didn't really give us the handling skills we needed for loose leash walking. We just started another class and the instructor had us walking perfectly in less than 15 minutes - so it is worth trying different classes if it fits the budget. We also do a drop in class for show dogs which has been very helpful as well. We don't know how much we will show him but for now it is good practice.

We kept a freezer full of treats for teething. Kong Classics stuffed with kibble and topped off with yogurt and then frozen were a hit and kept him happy for quite some time. I also froze ice cubes with either kibble, rice or quinoa. Some people think ice might be too hard but I kept the cubes small. If I had any leftover low sodium broth, I would use for the ice cubes. I also had frozen beans and broccoli from the garden as well as small meatscicles.

We had lots of training treats including home made puppy fudge - there are lots of recipes on the Internet using tuna, salmon, or liver.

We worked hard on soft mouth activities and feeding drills. We did some hand feeding, bowl feeding(and adding treats while he was eating to assure he wasn't bowl protective), toy feeding and free feeding. I had read about using toys to slow down feeding and to keep him occupied. That is probably fine for food-driven dogs but this breed tends to not overeat, so had to figure out how to get the pup to eat. You can try different kibbles to find out what the dog likes to eat. Your pup is part GSD, so slowing down the eating might be good to prevent bloat. Currently, Gatsby is now 99% bowl fed. He had issues with pudding poop, so we give him a probiotic pill each day and a scoop of raw pumpkin on top of his food. When he was teething, we would freeze the pumkin scoops on a tray(so they didn't stick together) and then store them frozen.

There are many good books and resources out there. We were fortunate to have several very experienced dog friends that we could use for resources. In the end, you have to make your own decisions as each book tells you something different.

Ok - maybe, I should write a book on the Adventures of Dog Training for Rookies. I only hit the tip of the iceberg. Good luck.

PS - Feel free to PM me through FB - Gatsby Picard - just mention GW pets as Gatsby usually only friends other Picards.

Hey Cat-Mom - good to see you over in the pet forum. If we ever make it to Westminster (laugh), I will let you know.

I so enjoyed your pictures and report of what you have been doing. He's a wonderful dog, and you are putting your hearts into raising him. Thank you for posting. He has grown a lot, hasn't he, but obviously has more to go! I like his fur/hair. Reminds me of wiry terrier fur. Does he shed much?

Thank you! One of our friends who is a breeder of another breed said - if everyone did as much research and planning as we did, the shelters would be empty.

Socks - his coat will look like a Cairn terrier on steroids when he finishes growing. They have hair not fur. They shed less than most cats and smell better than most dogs. You never need to trim their rustic coat. The AKC recommends brushing once a month. We do it more frequently so he is used to being brushed.

Ann- He will gain a few inches and about 20 more pounds. Most males are 60-70 but I think he will be closer to 70 as he is a decent eater. I was hoping that he would be closer to 60. He has 6 brothers and he is 5.5 lbs lighter than the biggest boy His weight is following one of his FB buddies who wrote a book - Chester GiGolo - Diary of a Dog Star. Chester is a Picard who stars in several commercials but his adventures are amazing!

A2, it is totally amazing to me that this guy is your first dog! All your research and dedication have paid off handsomely, including your choice of breed. He is beautiful and the fact that he is becoming so well trained is such a testament to you. I've never known anyone to rise to this level of dog ownership before!! He's finally looking very Picard-ish now. He was such a cute scruffy pup that is turning into a very handsome young man!! Congratulations!

He's adorable! Glad you are enjoying working with him.

Pam - We think so as well. He was thrilled to win his Oscar (registered name Leonardo DiCaprio

Murray - Glad you recognize his Picard look. We had our first Winn-Dixie moment a couple weeks ago. Someone came up and asked if he was a Winn-Dixie dog. I guess he is growing up!

Most people are not familiar with the breed but we enjoy telling peeps about the dog and its history. Most resources don't recommend a herding dog for first timers but we knew this was the right one. We met 3 before making a decision. There are only about 500 in the US, so we were fortunate to have several in the area.

We had not planned on showing when we started looking, but the breeder had this show quality pup with an excellent temperament. My DH thought it might be fun. Winning Best In Show albeit novice puppy was quite amazing. I was hoping the teenage handler would win so we had no pressure - just a lot of fun.

One thing that sold us on the breed is the "off switch" when inside. Remember, he is a perimeter herder and he was protecting DH who was sound asleep watching TV. Gatsby just worked his way around the room. He is just an amazing pup!

He is just precious!

Thank you murraysmom.

I failed to give credit to the breeder for this amazing pup. The breeder has them professionally temperament tested. Gatsby scored mostly in the 3 range with one 4 and one 6 and was classified as "laid back". Early on, we joked that we would not want to see the hyper ones. Outside, he is agile, fast and very athletic. Inside, he relaxes if we are relaxed.

Today, he pretty much mastered "Take a Bow" and we started to work on an agility stand - Going from sit to a a two legged stand. Oh, he caught his first boomerang as well! (Tuffy toy) He continues to improve on his Come command when outside. Inside and on the deck, he is perfect.

I want to enhance his bow to tail up - which will come naturally as he associates take a bow to his natural play bow.

He seldom woofs- but with the warmer weather, there are a lot more walkers and dogs going by on the sidewalk(we have a corner lot) and we discovered that he can woof if he sees his favorite playmates or something new go by. We thank him for the alert and tell him "enough". When he settles-a big treat for the boy. During his 2 walks on leash, he did not woof at any other dog or critter. He thought about chasing one very close squirrel but I told him to sit and he followed the command. Several dogs woofed at him but he followed my directions to sit and down stay.

He never ceases to amaze us!

I love this post and also have a BP that enjoys fielding soccer balls!