New Puppy Owners

[kid]

I know there are a few of us that have recently picked up new pups.
Were your puppies lovely and calm when you first got them or were they mental straight away?

I can't believe how calm Teddy is being so far. He has slept a lot but even when he is awake, he just nibbles gently on your fingers or rolls his ball with his feet.

He has not had any accidents in the house yet which is a miracle.

I am wondering if this is the calm before the storm?

Same for me. I was desperate for help yesterday, so had to try another thread. Glad it's back. Had a nice dry crate this morning, hope the rest of the day is okay.

4 poo free nights! yay

Watsthestory - belle wouldn't eat from her bowl, so when I asked at the pet shop what I should do as she missed two meals, they basically told me that I had to ignore it like a toddler. I persevered by putting a little food, dry, on the floor and the rest in her bowl, after a couple of days she had it all out of the bowl. She was completely healthy though!

they are like kids, they will eat eventually when they are hungry enough

i took eddie to get ds2 from school today and bumped into the woman i got him from, with her son

they were delighted to see him, and i think he remembered them, as they got a better hello than everyone else who fussed over him :)

she said she took his brother in yesterday (she kept one of the puppies herself), and will probably bring him in again on monday, so i said i would take eddie along too for a family reunion

he was v v good at coping with so many strangers giving him attention, hates the lead though, but so did dora initially

it wont take long before he gets as excited as she does when the lead comes out, i am sure

i mostly kept him in my arms when we were in the school reception, because i thought he may pee himself with all the excitement, but the caretaker is a lovely dog mad bloke too, and when he was having a cuddle he said it didnt matter if she did, so i let him down for a few mins, but luckily there were no accidents!

took me ages to get away though, i was 20 mins late collecting ds1

We have had teddy for 3 weeks today. I can't believe that's all it's been. I don't really remember life without him tbh!
I think it's because he needs constant attention and watching even though he is a very laid back pup.

Do others stick to the 5 minute per month rule?
We are but I wish we didn't have to!

Hope eddie enjoys his family reunion. I've often wondered if pups would remember their litter mates or if they are just as happy to see any pup/dog.

Their is no chance of teddy meeting his litter mates as they are well and truely spread out all over the country.

We start puppy classes on Monday night, quite looking forward to itveven though I know teddy can be ignorant and stubborn! Let's hope he is on best behaviour lol

The five minute rule is each walk should be for 5 minutes per month. So a 3 month old pup can be walked for 15 minutes.

hi kid, we find it very hard to stick to 15 mins (that's twice a day right?) at 3 months for Lola. Springer like Teddy, hyper to say the least, NEEDS to run. Garden small and full of edges and walls for her to bang into (which she does). Park open, safe, feel abit of free running there is better..

So that's what we do, maybe 5 mins running off lead, 10 min walking on lead. Plus alot of dog meeting, sniffing. And just abit more walking. Twice a day.

I KNOW we are supposed to stimulate mentally to wear her out tire her rather than over exercise. Have you got any good games/tips we could try - or anyone? We're doing puppy class, some clicker training, lots of kongs. What else?

So know what you mean about the constant attention and watching. We sneaked out to the pub at 8pm last night, once she'd zonked out in her crate. Bliss!! Felt like escape from Colditz

Poor little Ted, I just bathed him But, worse than that, I used the hair dryer on him too lol
I did give him lots of treats while I was doing it as I don't want him traumatised.

We took him park this morning for a run around off lead. The little sod got all excited and jumped up at me. He managed to catch my top with his razor sharp teeth and made a hole in it. I wasn't happy to say the least. Nevermind though as I bought myself a new top while we were out.

There is a dog show on the next street tomorrow. I don't think we will bother entering him, but I'd like to go along to see some cute dogs!

Try a food that is gluten free, no cereal no wheat. Feed the lower amount when you start to change over.

Sorry to hear ringo is poorly. I'm no expert but I have always been advised to give my dogs boiled chicken and rice when they had a dodgy tummy.

Teddy has never really had solid poo. It's always a bit moist but as it's always been like that, I've never bothered to do anything about it. I want to change his food as I found out the one he is on is not the best quality. But, I have 2 big bags of it so I want to use that first and also introduce the new food gradually.

We did go along to the dog show, it was being run at the local church. We decided to enter and teddy came 2nd in the most obdient dog! What a laugh, he isn't obdient, he was tired lol

Watsthestory I don't know what type of dog you have but I find lots of useful info on labrador forum. Everything to do with poo consistency to different types of food. We have Lucy on CSJ food, never heard of it before until I went on LF, as she was on Skinners and before that Beta. Found Skinners ok but her poo's were quite loose but now on CSJ we have firmer poos and a lot less smelly too. Have heard if they have delicate tums, there's a food with salmon and potato which seems to agree with a lot of dogs, well again this is what I read on that forum I mentioned.

Curly - just a quick update for you -Belle, cockapoo 9.5 weeks

I think that the exercise is 5 mins per month ONCE a day, is this right?

I don't know how we are ever going to get her to walk with her lead, she just lies on it and chews! Plus she runs round the garden like a mad thing in the evening, so hopefully she will be well worn out in a couple of weeks time and sleep like a baby while we are watching evening tv, instead of having to follow her around in case of a puddle!

Watsthestory - we were advised to cut back her food when she had a funny tummy. It worked fairly quickly.

Kid - belle had her first bath yesterday, but I had to towel dry her as she was scared of the hair dryer. How did you do it?

with great difficulty!
To begin with, I put the hair dryer off next to him and did nothing. When he laid down and ignored it, I gave a treat.
Then, I turned it on but not pointing at him (and held his collar). Again when he ignored it/looked away, I gave a treat.

Finally, I held him between my knees and moved the hair dryer on to him. He wasn't very happy to begin with, but then as soon as he stopped struggling, he got a treat.
He will soon get the idea of it. I need to make a point of turning the hair dryer on while he is in the room just to get him used to the idea!

I think the exercise is twice a day, but don't quote me on that!

Hi, either Orijen puppy, don't over feed! or Acana.

They have a nutrition line which my friend found good

I buy online from Pet Planer, not sure if I'm allowed to say name:)

I am looking at changing Teddys food but I just don't know what to change it to.
While I know dogs are expensive, I don't want to have to pay for the most expensive option of food out there. I would much prefer to get a mid price range if possible.

I currently feed him a rotten complete food that people have advised against, but I am going to change it so I don't feel too bad about it!

Puppy class tonight was brilliant. Teddy was very good and did exactly what he was meant to do. He played nicely with the other dogs, even with the huge pointer x grey hound! I really enjoyed it and it was lovely seeing the dog trainer again (she did Mobys class too) It has been a long day, but what a lovely ending after a long, eventful day at work.

This web site is good, make a list of all the foods you like and then review here,

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

remember to check the feeding guides as some food look cheaper but you have to feed more so they aren't always a better deal.

It's amazing what goes into some foods!

Also get a small bag to begin with at least 5 days feeding.

Another good food review site here kid, totally agree to check the feeding guides.

I read an article the other day (wish I could remember where) saying that it generally costs just 10p a day more to feed the very most expensive complete compared to the very cheapest as often the feeding guide for the cheapest was over twice the amount of the expensive ones.

This is because they are full of fillers and crap that your dog doesn't need and the meat is such poor quality that there has to be a lot of it.

If you are thinking of a mid-range that means it would only cost 5p a day extra to feed something of top quality.

When you remember that nutrition is key for dogs really and will help to prevent a myriad of disease it really is worth it.

There is a good discussion about feeding on page 6 that you might want to refer back to.