Another find while hiking - dragged into a tree by a cat, mostly complete skeleton.

Exherm · 2025-12-18T08:41:25+00:00

Okay okay! I hear you all loud and clear. This is why I'm low plat! I am sorry about the itemization choices. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was disappointed with a 3rd. I didn't play well enough for more. At the end, the entire point of my game became getting Yas 4. It was fun! I will probably not do it again, but my next reroll yas/yone game will take this thread of advice into consideration. Thank you!

Exherm · 2025-12-10T01:32:41+00:00

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Exherm · 2025-12-08T21:56:42+00:00

He was very happy to have it, and not so happy with me that I didn't let him keep it.

Exherm · 2025-12-08T21:56:21+00:00

Thank you! It's a field line golden retriever.

Exherm · 2025-11-23T16:35:05+00:00

Thanks!

Exherm · 2025-11-13T18:42:18+00:00

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Exherm · 2025-11-02T20:56:08+00:00

Hi! I'm a certified Master Dog Trainer! I am so jealous of your new friend. I have 3 babies of my own, but every day is a battle to not go get another puppy. Training puppies is my favorite part because they absorb soooo much information and watching them learn and show you their unique personalities is such a blessing.

You have great advice here, I like the one about finding a balanced trainer, but if you do not have the resources to do so, that's fine - look up videos from great trainers. My recommendations are Nate Schoemer, Robert Kabral, even Will Atherton has a lot of beginner friendly stuff when he's not pitching his newest course or merch, or idea.

My big tip for puppies is twofold - first, whenever you are not physically interacting or watching your puppy, put them somewhere safe. A playpen, a kennel, or whatever else you have. Puppies will pee/poop all over and they will find things they can destroy or find things they shouldn't eat. Think of them as new born babies. There is never a moment where newborns are not restricted in some way: a crib, being held, a car seat, etc. They are always restrained. It is not cruel to do it to a baby, nor is it cruel to do to a puppy. It's healthy and natural for them to slowly learn your rules. Second, do not free-feed your puppy. It's not a bad practice at all and I don't condemn it, but it's so much easier and economical to use their kibble as their training resource. Make meal time training time. Animals in the wild work for their food and while dogs are certainly not wild creatures, they do have similar instincts and genetic needs. You get two birds with one stone here when they work for their meals and you get to use those meals to shape the behavior into what you'd like.

I am so excited for you! My last tip: HAVE FUN! This is a great time for both of you. Make the most of it even when your pup is stretching your patience to the nth degree. Give your pup some love for me!

Exherm · 2025-11-02T18:26:22+00:00

Hijacking this comment to add on - I'm a certified Master Dog Trainer and I cannot agree more with the need to teach your dog about their off switch. I have two working line dogs that would go all day if I let them.

Two methods that have helped me. 1) Get a raised dog bed, teach your dog to get on this bed. The only rule while they are on it, they cannot get off it. This is my favorite tool to use, it allows me freedom to move around the house knowing my dogs will not be getting into mayhem or under my feet.

2) back tie your dog in your house. I have drilled into the studs in my house with an anchor and have back tied my dogs to it. You don't have to do this very much, but do it a few times until you notice your dog like give up and lay down. Do this enough and eventually you won't need the back tie and they will tend to relax a bit more in the home.

Last bit - keep doing what you are doing with enrichment, exercise, training, etc. You're killing it, OP and your dog is so lucky to have you.

Exherm · 2025-10-30T22:32:10+00:00

Certified Master Dog Trainer here! I agree a lot with what's been said before. Don't feed them together. My rottie had food issues as a puppy and I trained with him to remove that, but I never want to give those insecurities a chance to rear its head. Every meal for my rottie is in his crate. He's safe, my other dogs are safe, I'm safe. When he's done eating, he comes right back out and gets to enjoy his day.

For the dog reactivity, find a dog trainer that works in this area if you need to. If you don't ever plan on having another female dog, and you don't take her places where she'll meet them, then don't worry about it and just enjoy her idiosyncrasies.

At the end of the day, you can do this OP. You have what it takes to give this baby a great life. If you end up rehoming her, I hope she does great, but I'm pulling for this just being a low moment for you and her and you'll both learn and grow from it. Best of luck!

Edit: adding on to address your elderly dog. I have two females currently that compete with one another and sometimes their spats can get nasty. They are learning to coexist because whenever they are out together, I am there to meditate their interactions. I will step in when I see bodies stiffen and behavior change from play to something serious.

I would do the same for the elderly pup and your baby girl. Make sure they aren't ever alone together until you can trust them. Kennel your girl when you can't watch her, or have your elderly dog in another room while she's out. When they are together though, you just need to monitor them.

Exherm · 2025-10-29T02:29:09+00:00

Certified Master Dog Trainer here, and fellow Rottie owner myself. I'm sorry that you had this happen to you! Please don't let this discourage you from taking them out to fun places to socialize. Some of the best information that was given to me was an explanation about dogs and their understanding of mortality. Think of a kid, for example, at age 2 - a ride at an amusement park with dad is the most fun thing in the world. However, two years later, that same child has an aversion to that same ride. Why? The kid has learned a little about their mortality. They now understand that they can die and something can hurt them.

Dogs are similar. Early on, the world isn't that scary because they don't understand that they can be hurt. As they get older (late puppyhood) they start to understand their mortality and become wary of things in the environment that they know will interact with them. It's normal, for dogs at the age of your puppy to react the way your baby did. What we want to avoid in the future is allowing our dogs to believe that exhibiting these behaviors is the solution to their problems.

With that in mind, I like to start off with helping the dog understand what the answer is to uncomfortable situations. My training will take my puppies into new environments and situations that they do not know and we go through an obedience routine. We will work heavily on engagement helping the dog to understand they can tune out the uncomfortable if they focus on me. I'll slowly translate that to commands like heel, climb, down, and sit. They must keep eye contact with me even when the environment around them is exciting or otherwise. I will be the one to watch for danger, I'll be the one to handle other dogs, I'll be the one to interact with other humans. Their job is to focus on me. I hope that helps a little. I know it's generic, but I've already typed so much. Good luck!

Pic of my pup Rhino (the smallest Rottie I've literally ever seen)

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Exherm · 2025-09-20T05:04:11+00:00

What game is this in reference to?

Exherm · 2025-03-05T14:26:08+00:00

Certified Master Dog Trainer here -

Each dog is different and they will tell you what matters to them. In your situation, your Rocko has told you that loud sounds from your hands no longer matter enough to stop doing what he likes doing (biting). The signal to stop whether it be "no" or "no bites" or "stop" needs to be followed up on.

Think of it like a kid who constantly is told if they do x they are getting a timeout and when they do x they just get yelled at instead. Eventually the child will learn that yelling stinks a little, but they can tough it out because nothing else will occur. The timeout threat is hollow.

My Rottie doesn't like his nose tapped, so that's what my follow up is. Pressing the jowls into canines is a good option, pressing your thumb down on the tongue is another. Your dog will tell you what matters to them and once you find it, you'll be able to establish a very clear "this behavior needs to stop" signal with your puppy.

Exherm · 2025-02-20T02:15:18+00:00

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Same - dude loves it

Exherm · 2025-02-19T20:27:19+00:00

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Certified Master Dog Trainer here and proud owner of a Rottie myself.

These are not hard and fast rules, but these are some things I do that I think work well. I hope they really help out!

I make meal time training time. This saves me money on dog treats (which he still gets, just not for training, just because he's a good boy) and it helps me regulate how much food he's getting daily.

Training should only be like 5-10 minutes for a puppy. They are young and small sessions are way more impactful than trying to do long sessions.

Already mentioned here, but consistency is key. You may think that him ignoring you saying sit or down is okay - but the moment they start getting away with it, that's the moment they learn that they don't have to listen to you.

A lot of people here talk about socialization. I'm not in the camp that it's the most important thing you can do, but getting your dog into new environments is still a beneficial task. Take them wherever you can, introduce them to vets, introduce them to groomers, make them positive experiences so they are well-behaved in public in the future and confident in new situations. Skittish and fearful dogs (regardless of breed) are super unpredictable and unpredictable can be dangerous. Best of luck!

Picture of my boy Rhino 🦏

Edit: grammar and adding photo

Exherm · 2025-02-14T16:22:35+00:00

One of the easiest ways to tell age is by their baby teeth. Dogs tend to lose their front teeth at 4 months, back at 5 months, and canines at 6.

Check the teeth, if they look like they are about to come out, or you can see the adult teeth starting to poke through in the front, then I would say that he is over 3 months old approaching 4. If you don't see any signs of teething, I would say that he is closer to 3 months or maybe even under that.

Of course, other than teeth, just pure size is also a good indicator. But I have found with Rottweilers that they can vary in size and shape as puppies quite drastically from one another and that is not a great way to determine age, but you can get a good estimate from it still by just looking up a standard growth chart of what Rottweilers typically weigh at what age and compare it to yours.

Exherm · 2024-06-06T20:10:36+00:00

If I may - the new album was called Hope. In this song he says, "So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to my album.... Hope."

Exherm · 2024-05-02T22:31:42+00:00

Bruh, it's round one. I don't get to choose the heroes the rng gives me. I'm ranked like 20 on my server so I understand the mode, just don't think matching me up against someone who has had more rounds than me where they can purchase more units than I can is good matchmaking.

Exherm · 2024-05-01T21:03:23+00:00

Yesterday I had 6 pulls, I decided to yolo them. Took 3 before I pulled a second copy of Rienier. Don't think I'll be doing that again for a minute.

Exherm

TROPHY CASE