Wees, poos, sleepless night - anyone else got a new puppy?

[bella29]

Having kidnapped hatwoman's thread about boisterous young dogs I thought it was only fair that I set up my own! If anyone wants to share hints, tips or general crises with regard to their new puppy, please do so here! You are among friends who won't blanch at descriptions of bowel movements, chewed possessions or sleep deprivation...

Hello eemie if you decide to join us

Morning puppy fans. Hopefully we might get some sunshine today and those pups can frollick around the garden.

Pup had a good night last night but ate the rest of her bed this morning!!

Are those lamps fixed yet Bella?

Hello eemie, newpup, hatwoman & all!

Sorry to hear your pup's eaten all her bed Mine refuses to lie on anything except cold hard floors and even in his crate will scrunch up his vetbed till he's just lying on the plastic floor. Let's not talk about the lamps. It's Friday - I am trying to preserve marital harmony!

As for the recall, eemie, I'm probably repeating other people but it can take up to 2yrs to get it 100%, and even then every dog is capable of being distracted. The important thing is never to get cross and always give huge praise when they do (eventually) come back. I know some people use a long line to train dogs to recall but I've never used one - has anyone else?

Off to the vets later with cats for jabs & I need more wormer for my pup so will have to try & balance him on the bathroom scales with me. Last week he was about 12.5kg so I'm guessing nearly 14kg now - whew!

Anyway, have a good time at your parents, newpup: I'm sure your girl will have a great time with the other dogs.

Hi Bella.

Pup is bad!!! In the 5 minutes it took me to get in the washing she ate the back door!! Little madam

DH was mad!!

She dug a hole in the garden and ate all the roses too!

I think she is so ready to go for walks!

I am having a glass of wine while DH fumes. trouble is, he has never owned or lived with a puppy and does not seem to understand she will chew and be naughty until she knows better!

Off to parents tomorrow so hopefully pup will be good there. My parents are used to dogs but going to pil on Sunday so really hope she behaves!!

Hope the vet was not too expensive! have a good weekend. I promise not to mention the lamps again if you do not mention the back door, also in the interests of marital harmony

Oh dear, newpup - I do hope your parents' dogs have a quiet word with your pup about chewing etiquette. Won't mention it though, promise.

Good luck for the weekend - currently trying to wrestle a dead shrew off the pup - he loves the cats' leftovers

Made it! Took me a little while to find you all.

Thanks for the welcome and the kind advice.

Bella (sorry Bella29) has a crate as well and it's been fantastic - is the reason she could come on our caravan holiday with us. It will keep her safe when we move house in 10 days as well.

DH is coming with me to walk her today so I'm going later than usual.

Off to play in the garden with her - strangely not raining here, when did that last happen?

Well, it's chucking it down here, eemie, but welcome to the thread!

Lost track of the shrew my pup had been playing with, only to find it floating upside down in the dogs' water bowl later - nice! The cat was sitting next to the bowl looking very perplexed - is this shrew soup she's giving us now?!

Crates are just the best invention since chocolate, in my opinion (never was very fond of sliced bread)

Hello. Well, pup had a fab time at my parents. She hid for ages was really scared of grumpy old labs and huge bouncy golden retreiver but soon wanted to play. they chased for hours!! Now flaked out in her bed.

Car journey was okay going (takes about an hour and 15 mins) but she pooed all over the crate on the way back. Dds not impressed

Poor old shrew bella. What a way to go!

Bit better on the walk today. It was lunchtime so lots of people and dogs around. She came when called every time except once, when she couldn't resist some dogs ahead of us. Owners were friendly and tolerant. Stopped to chat and let me catch her. Bella came away easily after that.

Have taken to leaving car harness on as it makes her easier to catch if you have to. Also remembered to take toy and give her a game - though she could hardly pay attention because she was so thrilled by all the doggy smells.

In the garden she's been absolutely faultless and she has rung the bell to go out to do her business as well

Well as you can see I am up at the crack of dawn! Pup woke up at 5.30am howling the place down and I came down to find she had pooed all over her crate

She has not done this since the first night we had her! Let her out and cleaned up. Fed her and now she is howling and whining again!

Might just leave her at the vets later when we go for her vaccination!

Labrador puppy anyone?

Now, you know you don't mean that, newpup! Perhaps she was overtired after the weekend?

Am most impressed at this bell malarkey, eemie - I thought you were winding us up at first! Is it like a ding dong metal bell or is it an electric doorbell? Either way, think you've got a Mensa candidate there. And tonight on Mastermind, it's Bella. Her specialist subject will be : bones On second thoughts, maybe University Challenge would be better - paws on buzzers now...

No such cerebral pleasures for my boy: he continues instead to sample all sorts of dead things. After the shrew he found a totally flattened toad to chew (whipped it off him & spent next few hours worrying about toad poisoning), then more shrews, birds etc. Took both dogs for an idyllic walk down a quiet lane to a ford yesterday, only to encounter a totally flattened rabbit which the puppy was in raptures over. Still, at least he's getting a varied diet!

Have a good day, everyone

hello all, it's been pet chaos at the hat house. the cat, after several weeks of discontented tolerance has taken complete umbridge. she's an indoorsy cat who comes in at night and never goes out of the garden or even up onto the garden wall. until now. she spent friday night on the garage roof refusing to budge and saturday night up a tree. poor thing. she was "rescued" on sunday by dh armed with cat basket.

yesterday the pup got quite badly turned on by a jack russell - there was also a bigger dog - a mutt with some bull-like look about him, as well as 3 other canine on-lookers - so lots of barking, growling, yelling, and human shouting...it was horrid and from a distance (not that far - only about 10 metres but it felt far) I really did think there were going to be some nasty injuries and some full-on human intervention required. A got away and seems fine.

then he excelled himself today. in the 30 seconds I had turned my back leaving the garage door open he went into the garage and dunked his nose in a can of paint! black lab with a Jasmine White muzzle . must call vet...

Ahhhh. Good to see all the little devils are getting into as much trouble as mine

Did the paint come off, Hatwoman?
Is that a joke about the bell? Surely no dog can do that!

Off to vets for last jab in half an hour, finally!
In the mood pup is in, it could be eventful!

Poor A, hatwoman, that must have been really scary for both of you. Hope he's okay & that you got the paint off.
My pup vomited copiously as we settled down for a bit of TV this evening. Otherwise, all okay!
Hope the vets wasn't too stressful, newpup.
Night all!

Good Morning all!

How is A Hatwoman? Hope he is ok.

Bella That will be the toad then (copious vomiting) At least you know he is getting rid of the poison. One of my parents labs (no longer with us) did not vomit after licking a toad and cost hundreds in vets bills after she got toad poisoning!
Hope the little man is feeling better today.

The vets went well, pup was as good as gold and no waiting. The vet said we could take her out at the weekend, hooray
It has been tipping it down here for the last two days and consequently pup has got a bit naughty about weeing in the laundry room. She hates the wet grass. She weed yesterday and dragged a cardboard box over it she then hid in a corner looking sheepish!

On the plus side, she sits for her food and waits until I tell her to go before starting. Not very good on coming to her name though!

Hope you all have a good day. Hatwoman let us know if A is okay.

Hope the paint didn't cause too many problems.

Had a lovely walk this morning, puppy played with two other dogs then came away when called, walked beautifully on lead. Watch it all fall apart at puppy class tonight when she's exploding with excitement at the proximity of other dogs.

The bell hangs from the terrace door handle - it's a jingle that dd had as a toy. Before I take puppy out to the piddling place I smear a little cheese or vegemite on the bell and let her lick it off, so she hears the jingle just before she goes. She's now starting to ring it when she wants to go. It really works.

Also teaching her 'drop it' - a dog walker dropped a packet of biscuits on the common this morning and Bella was off with it before she could blink! She did drop it when asked though.

She doesn't seem to take the hint when other dogs growl and even snap at her. Still thinks they want to play and comes back for more. Is this just a matter of time too? I'm worried that she'll let herself get hurt.

Hope everyone else is healthy and had a dry walk this morning

hello everyone. A is fine - thanks for asking. I rang the vets and they said if he had swallowed any paint he would most likely have been immediately sick. Also it was emulsion - ie water based so not as bad as anything oily. they said the usual, just keep an eye on him. it came straight off. He did look funny - he emerged from the garage with his white muzzle with a look on his face that just said "I don't know what's going on but I think I need your help..."

Most impressed by eemie's pup dropping the biscuits!
Hatwoman: pfp = precious first pup? LOL. Very good that one - took me a while but I worked it out eventually! No, he's not a pfp - had dogs all my life but he's my first lab & I know what devastating chewers they can be. Also, a friend recently lost a dog who ate something he shouldn't have so I am a bit obsessive about my toys. And my chart!
Glad to hear A's okay anyway, and newpup, bet you can't wait for the weekend!
My boy's fine today, and hasn't found any more dead things thankfully. He has, however, taught my other dog what a wheeze it is to eat my plants!
Are we all watching the pedigree dog thing tonight? It's nothing new, anyway - these problems due to inbreeding have been around for ages. I can also sit completely on the fence as my other dog is a Heinz 57 varieties - I don't think even her mother knew who the father was!

I'm undecided about watching it - it could have various impacts on me - it might make me completely paranoid about A going blind or having defective hips or elbows; it might make me want to throw things at the tv if it's badly informed/manipulative/shows a complete lack of understanding of risk and stats(dh v. likely to get cross on this as he makes a living out of risk analysis and knows his stuff. apparently very few people, especially including journalists, do...), or, I suppose, I might learn something useful. or just get to look at some nice dogs. or some ill/distressed dogs...really can;t decide...

Well, I watched it and it made me feel sick! Those poor spaniels how awful! That Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder should be shot!

My poor pup has just been sick everywhere and would not touch her food at tea time. I am wondering if she has eaten something she should not have done. Any advice, puppy people?

I'd starve her until tomorrow & as long as she's okay in herself, drinking etc., I wouldn't worry too much. Dogs have a well developed vomiting reflex to get rid of nasty things they scavenge. If she got diarrhoea as well then I'd give her plain boiled rice & chicken or fish for a further 24 hours before introducing her normal food again.

Hope she's okay, newpup & let us know how she is tomorrow. Agree wholeheartedly re the documentary

Hi Bella. Thanks for the advice

She has not been sick again and she is drinking plenty. No diarrhoea, thank goodness. She had breakfast this morning but I gave her a smaller portion just in case.

I think she must have eaten something in the garden yesterday afternoon. She is full of energy now though!

The weather for the weekend looks good. I am really looking forward to taking pup out Not sure how she will react to the lead though. When I put it on in the garden she just sits down and refuses to move!

How did you get on with this?

Good to hear she's okay!

As far as walking on the lead, I just use lots of coaxing (& maybe a few treats!). She should be excited enough by all the new things outside to keep moving, anyway, although perhaps not always in the right direction

Okay another question!

What puppy food do you use? Pup came with a big bag of 'Gusto' from the breeder. As we are nearly at the end I need to start mixing it with the new food. Gusto is only available wholesale.

I went to Pets at home this am and there was just so much!! I bought 3kg bag of their own premium complete food. No idea it was £10 a bag! I will start to mix it from tomorrow.

But, I wandered what food do you use. Should I have gone for pedigree chum or another brand?

Not much difference in the price although pets at home own brand is slightly cheaper.

Okay another question!

What puppy food do you use? Pup came with a big bag of 'Gusto' from the breeder. As we are nearly at the end I need to start mixing it with the new food. Gusto is only available wholesale.

I went to Pets at home this am and there was just so much!! I bought 3kg bag of their own premium complete food. No idea it was £10 a bag! I will start to mix it from tomorrow.

But, I wandered what food do you use. Should I have gone for pedigree chum or another brand?

Not much difference in the price although pets at home own brand is slightly cheaper.

Hallo newpup

I use either Hills or James Wellbeloved, but I've recently started using Royal Canin.
The small bags are hideously expensive but if you buy a 15kg bag (for about £40 - I know!) they do work out a lot cheaper, even than using pedigree chum. For instance, my pup has 400g a day - in a 15kg bag that works out at 37 days worth or £1.08 a day. my older dog is lab size and she only costs 80p a day. Dry food also works out cheaper because canned food is up to 80% water, and the important thing is it's nutritionally balanced, as most nutritional problems are actually caused by an excess of vitamins or minerals. Do tell me to shut up now, please