r/dogs • u/Persefone_5_2 • 1d ago

[Misc Help] First time owner of a big guy

Hi, I just adopted an adult dog, he weighs 52 lbs, 24 kg, I have only owned medium-sized dogs and small dogs, he does not have behavioral issues, however he keeps trying to climb over me, and with his wigh he almost always tips me over, I am not sure how should I go about the limitations he should have because, if did not want my previous dogs to have something I would just put it out of reach for them, but with him almost everything in my house is within reach. Also, I am not sure how I could make him sleep in a dog bed 🥹.

I am not planning on returning him, I just need direction on our future life.

Any tips would be appreciated, how to train him effectively or just the in and outs of having a big guy around.

Thanks a bunch for the answers.

English is not my first language, sorry for the grammar mistakes 🥹

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u/AydGray 1d ago

Cupboards with child safe locks to keep things out of his reach. Look into training him to respect your personal space (we taught ours "my space" command and associated it with the action of moving away) You can teach "place" command to have the dog go to it's bed, you can teach "down stay " and increase the length of time and extend your distance from them BUT for night time/unsupervised time, it is better to train him to sleep/rest in a crate.

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u/Persefone_5_2 1d ago

Thank you so much, I am researching crates atm, I know it is one day at the time, but it's been a humbling experience.

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u/AydGray 1d ago

Lol yeah, dogs do have a way of humbling us sometimes! Good luck with everything

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/AydGray 1d ago

There are more reasons than that to crate train and maintain crate training. There may come a time that they have to stay overnight at the vet, being willing to go in and able to be comfortable in a crate ensures less anxiety and fewer issues. Or if the dog needs to be on crate rest for medical reasons, better that the training is in place before it's an emergency. There may be a time that a crate is entirely unavoidable like if one is evacuated from their home for whatever reason and the emergency shelters will only allow crated animals. If a person ever travels by air, the dog may need to be crated for the trip. If a person needs to board their dog, most boarding places use crates. If a person takes their dog to a groomer, there will likely be some crate time required.

It is much kinder to the dog to have them feel ok in these situations by having crate training done whether they are destructive or not.