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Pet Talk
Managing the new puppy
By Joan B. Guertin
Special to The Monitor
CEDAR CREEK LAKE AREA—The addition of a new puppy has
long been associated with Christmas.
There’s more likely to be people around the house to help get the pup
settled in to its new home.
To make things easier, consider the following suggestions:
• When you’ve made your selection of the new puppy, ask the breeder to
hold it for a day or two after Christmas.
This way the puppy can join the family when things have settled down a
bit during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
If the children don’t know a puppy is coming, spring the surprise by
giving “dog” items as part of the gifts. The anticipation is there, and
Christmas lasts longer for them.
Of course, once the puppy comes home there will be issues to deal with.
Involve all family members in the care of the puppy, and the puppy is
more likely to consider each family member as its new family. If only
one adult or child is involved in the training process, the puppy is
likely to bond more with that individual.
• To avoid accidents in the house, don’t let the new pup have too much
freedom.
Cordon a portion of the room with either a baby gate or a portable
exercise pen, so the puppy will consider it home.
Most pups regard the place they eat, sleep and play as home and won’t
want to soil it.
By four months of age, most puppies will have a good sense of going
outside to eliminate.
• Put plain old newspapers down in the puppy area for accidents when you
aren’t home or can’t watch the pup, and it will help condition the puppy
not to soil the floor.
Teach the puppy from the very beginning that it goes outside to “potty”
through only one door.
• Talk to the puppy! Make a big deal of naming the reason to go outside
and reward the puppy with good praise when it comes to the door and goes
out.
Go with the pup so you can encourage it to relieve itself.
Give a name to the reason the pup is outside: “Let’s go potty,” or “do
your business,” etc.
Keep the puppy moving. The activity will stimulate the function in the
beginning.
Praise by naming what the pup has accomplished, and reward with a really
good treat, such as a piece of dog jerky or a biscuit. Pups work best
for tangible rewards.
• When the puppy is playing with the family, take outside potty breaks
often, so the puppy doesn’t have accidents.
•When not supervised, make sure puppy is in his own play area.
• Feed the last meal of the day by 6 p.m. and withhold water at least
two hours before bedtime. Do a final “potty” run just before putting the
pup up for the night.
• At night, the safest place for a puppy is in its own den.
I sleep pups up to 4 months in my bedroom in their crates, so I can hear
if they are restless and need to go out.
However, they are in their crates so they can have a good bone to chew
on to help with teething and so they can’t chew inappropriate objects.
• One word of advice regarding allowing the pups to share the bed of an
adult or child. A very dominant dog will consider itself an equal if it
shares your resting space.
In the pack, the “pack leader” has the choice sleeping place. This is
the primary reason for keeping the pups in their own beds, not the bed
of the human pack leader.
• I also recommend attending puppy training for those inexperienced in
raising dogs and unaware of behavior differences between different
breeds.
When the puppy is 10 – 12 weeks old, its ready for a puppy class or work
with a trainer.
• Behavior problems are easier to correct the younger the pup.
The new puppy can become a great lifelong family pet, if started out
right.
Consistantly work on behavior and training.
Happy holidays, and if there is a new dog or puppy in your life, train
it for a lifetime of joy.
DAR hears Christmas carols
and their history
Special to The Monitor
MABANK–Bob and Carl Culley entertained the Sarah Maples Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution with Christmas carols and their
history at its recent meeting.
The Culleys enjoy gospel music as their interest and hobby. Bob began
playing the guitar as a boy and Carol is a vocalist.
For the last 10 years they have been singing and playing together,
traveling around East Texas, where their musical ministry includes lots
of gospel.
They primarily entertain in nursing homes and assisted living
facilities. Bob and Carol have now retired and live on five acres near
Mineola.
George Godson, who is married to Sarah Maple’s regent Geneice Morris,
met the Culleys through a music interest group in Canton.
An ancient and lovely custom is the singing of Christmas carols in the
streets of our towns and cities and in our homes, churches and schools.
It harkens back to the days of old, when carols were sung in the streets
by waifs and minstrels, when the Yule Log burned on the hearth, holly
and mistletoe gleamed among the Christmas candles, the boar’s head was
paraded in grand procession, and wassail songs made glad the festive and
joyful Christmastide.
Preserved to us are original Christmas carols, composed in almost every
tongue.
Simple folk songs, charming in their quaintness and naivete, with a
reverent gaiety, which only suggests the religious.
For a carol, in its true meaning, is a song in which a religious theme
is treated in a familiar and festive manner.
A hymn is essentially devotional. “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “It Came
Upon the Midnight Clear” and others which we commonly designate as
carols, are not in the true sense Christmas carols, but rather Christmas
hymns.
Not until the 13th century do we find the beginning of the true
Christmas carol, and Italy is its birthplace.
Here the friars, gathered around St. Francis of Assisi, tried to
humanize the story of the gospel and composed songs about the birth of
Christ, which they sang, depicting the surroundings of the holy manger.
A Franciscan, Jacopone da Todi, was the first writer of carols.
From Italy the carols spread to Spain, France, England and Germany.
During the Reformation, the true carols with their spontaneity and
festive element disappeared, to be replaced later by more sedate and
devotional hymns.
We like to think that the first carol ever sung was by the Angel Chorus
on that first Christmas Eve, nearly 2,000 years ago, when “Glory be to
God on high, and on earth peace, good will to men” was caroled over the
fields of Bethlehem.
Thus, Christmas carols have lived through the centuries.
On Christmas Eve, as the candles burn in our windows in remembrance of
the Star of Bethlehem, and we hear youthful voices caroling these old
familiar songs, let us rejoice that we are preserving ideals and
traditions which will be forever the heritage of every Christian nation.
Rebekah
Lodge donates phones, toys to Crisis Center
Monitor Staff Reports
EUSTACE–The Beatrice Rebekah Lodge No. 44 of Eustace hosted a luncheon
for the East Texas Crisis Center of Athens Dec. 13 at the First United
Methodist Church of Eustace.
 Monitor
Photo/Kerry Yancey
Special guests “Baby Ruth” (Travona Peterson, left), “Bojangles”
(Pauline Moore, center) and “Memaw” (Alice Peterson, right) help Rebekah
Lodge District Deputy President Jonelle Lewellen (second from left)
present items collected by the Beatrice Rebekah Lodge No. 44 of Eustace
to the East Texas Crisis Center Dec. 13. Representing the ETCC are Gwen
Cox and Donna Johnson (third and second from right).
A number of gift items, including used cell phones,
dolls and toys, were presented to ETCC representatives Gwen Cox and
Donna Johnson.
The Rebekahs have collected used cell phones all year. The phones allow
families in danger to call 911 in an emergency.
Rebekah Lodge District Deputy President Sister Jonelle Lewellen of the
Athens lodge, her husband Jacob, and Athens lodge members Barbara Reed
and Linda Carroll also attended the luncheon.
The Beatrice Lodge extends heartfelt thanks to all who donated items to
benefit the ETCC, who helps families caught up in traumatic situations.
Special recognition was paid to the Family Dollar Store of Gun Barrel
City and the “Spaceship Man.”
Beatrice Lodge members meet at 1 p.m. each second and fourth Thursday of
the month at Eustace First Methodist, located at the corner of Cockrill
and Church streets; for more information, call (903) 451-2082.
Come Adopt
Us At
The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake |
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We are five beautiful Heeler mix
pups. We were brought here by animal control, so we have no
history. We are sweet little pups starting out in a new world.
We’ve been wormed and given our first shots. We are sweet babies
looking for our new forever homes. |
My name is Chloe. I am a
beautiful female kitten. I was brought to the Shelter by my
owners who were not able to keep me. I am a very playful kid
looking for my new forever home. |
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My name is Rebel. I am a
beautiful male Pit Bull mix pup. I am somewhere around four
months old. I am a sweet and playful puppy. I am such a
wonderful kid in need of a new wonderful home. |
My name is Chris. I am a male
Retriever mix pup. I was brought to the shelter by animal
control, so I have no history. I am a very sweet young man with
lots of energy. I have been given my first shots. I am a sweet
kid looking for my home. |
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Pictured are just a few
animals at the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake in Seven
Points in dire need of a good home. Please call or stop by the
Humane Society today and rescue one of these forgotten animals.
The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake is located on 10220
County Road 2403 in
Seven Points. For more information, please call (903) 432-3422
after 11 a.m.
We are closed on Wednesday and Sunday.
For further information
visit our website at
petfinder.com |
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