A SOMEWHAT SERIOUS USERS GUIDE:What not to expect from your new NAID Puppy.
Caution:Your puppy will not behave like the many puppies you have seen in the warm and fuzzy Subaru commercials.
“Hello, my name is Melva, and welcome to my Ted Talk (just kidding)!
After many years of admiring this breed, we started doing some serious research. We decided that we wanted our questions truthfully answered by several reputable breeders. We were warned by the few NAID owners we’d met about the “shady” breeders in and around our state. We wanted to be extra careful and needed reassurance before selecting. We became aware of the Preservation project that Corn Moon Kennels was a part of and decided that this was something we wanted to support.
We love the outdoors! Our family activities include hiking, snowshoeing, riding dirt bikes and RZRs, and wake surfing. We live in the mountains and have regular visitors consisting of moose, deer, porcupines, bobcats, bunnies, and occasional bears. That is why we thought a NAID would be an excellent fit for our family. We’ve had four different breeds and raised a total of seven puppies. I’ll briefly highlight what, in my own experience, makes a NAID puppy so different.
IMPORTANT SAFETY:
- Their baby teeth are sharp as razors. We all learned quickly to wear thicker clothing, long-sleeved sweatshirts, and sweatpants, preferably with cuffed ribbing, to stay in place while holding our wiggly pup. The thicker the clothing, the better. It’s important to remember that you are bringing home a puppy that’s just been separated from its pack. They’ve been wrestling with each other for 8 weeks for everything from food to attention. They’ve been play-biting to navigate their new surroundings, and it’s unrealistic to expect them to be magically transformed into perfectly well-behaved, trained, and socialized dogs. The day you pick them up and first let them out of their crate…they will most likely cry, whine, scratch, and bite.
- NAIDS really like anything that moves, fingers, toes, arms, legs, hair, clothing, electrical cords, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and anything that blows in the wind. It should be no big surprise that they will want to taste and eat it. Within weeks of bringing home our Koke, she turned the corner of a snowbank with a freshly killed bunny hanging from her mouth. A bobcat had killed it, but she claimed it. My point is that even though she was on a leash, she was quick. A lot is going on in their little jaws for the first six months as the adult teeth move in and replace the baby teeth, so consider yourself warned that nothing is off-limits.
- They like to run off with anything you may have of value. Cell phones, TV remotes, reading glasses, and shoes of any kind. My puppy also loves to hide her treasures in creases or corners of our leather furniture, and mind you… she’s not allowed up on any of it. We made the grand mistake of giving her treats for getting “off,” only to have her go around to the other side of the couch and promptly jump back up, expecting to get another treat when we’d give her the command “off.”
- Their athleticism is very mature for puppies. They are high energy, wicked fast, strong, determined, and brilliant. We were scammed by our puppy into letting her go out nonstop during the day to go potty. It was confusing because she slept the whole night thru with no accidents. We spent good money thinking there was something wrong with her urinary tract. After numerous and expensive testing, we were told by a specialist that there was nothing wrong. It’s normal for females to have a slight discharge as their bodies develop. We were reminded that puppies have tiny bladders. Housebreaking might be a little frustrating, depending on altitude, diet, and access to open water(needed for proper growth). It’s common for ours to tinkle twice and potty, especially in the morning. Good thing we had pet health insurance to offset some of the expense.
- You will feel like you are looking at a puppy for only a short time; your NAID will look more like full-grown dogs in miniature form at 4 months. Their immaturity makes them so unpredictable.
OPERATING:
My favorite saying became “Never have I ever.” I’d never experienced how quickly an 8-week-old puppy could learn. On the first day home, she began learning sit and down commands.
She was very vocal in letting me know what she didn’t like. For example, I said “down,” so I quickly added commands like bang-bang, rollover, and bear crawl to make it more fun for her. She was learning tricks so much faster, and I was totally unprepared for the need of mental stimulation that she required. Because of the record-breaking snowfall outside, we relied on chew toys, fetching balls, puzzles, and nesting stuffed animals. We still do them daily, over and over.
Although our family is allergic to animal dander, our puppy sheds. Yet, none of us has had any issues whatsoever. I picked up a Dyson pet attachment brush and I vacuum her weekly.
Our vet was adamant that until she was fully vaccinated, she should not be outside except to potty. However, after being vaccinated, walks should be limited to 5 minutes, multiplied by how many months old they are. 4 months = 20 min., 5 months = 25 min., 6 months = 30 min., etc., and can be done twice a day. Due to the double coat, consider a cooling vest if you live in warmer climates, and use caution when walking your dog. If the air temperature is even 77 degrees, asphalt can be up to 125 degrees, burning your dog’s paws within 1 minute.
Due to the rapid growth of NAIDs, please update your puppy food guidelines and water consumption and follow your vet’s recommendations for local concerns, like ticks and noxious weeds. Keep your puppy’s potty area clean to avoid diseases like E. coli, salmonella, parvo, and parasites that can spread to humans.
MAINTENANCE:
We finally decided to hire Tracy from Three Little Pits as our dog trainer because of her 20+ years of experience. She rescued and worked with one of Michael Vick’s physically abused pit bulls. By the judge’s orders, only positive training could be used on those dogs, which was the best reason for us to choose her.
In our first lesson, I learned that these dogs are problem solvers. They need a job; they love to work for everything, including their food, so go ahead and put a meal in a puzzle bowl.
They are runners and love prey, so they are best on a leash as puppies. One of the few restraint harnesses she recommends using is a gentle lead by K9 Bridle. She was surprised I was already using it because I do value my life walking outside in the snow and ice.
I’m glad we were already using click training because that is also what Tracy recommended. She also uses healthy freeze-dried raw treats. She says, “A treat is a paycheck for a job well done.” For us, it’s been working. Read as much as possible regarding puppy and crate training while waiting to bring home your pup.
WARRANTY:
A NAID’s love is 100% guaranteed to be pure, trusting, and dedicated to its owners. With guidance, the powerful exchange of friendship will leave us in awe at the gift they bring into our lives. They are, indeed, stunning creatures to behold. Therein lies the fascination behind our desire to have one and fully grasp the saying that it’s a man’s best friend.”
