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?

Good luck at the vets assumpta. Keep pushing your concerns until you get an answer.

Keep us posted, I'll have my fingers crossed for you and Belle.

10.30pm till 7am, in crate, quiet, DRY, for TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. Whoop! Whoop!

Good luck with the vest assumpta, that must be really stressful for you.

Vets... not vest

assumpta - I hope you get an answer soon.

There was a new dog at our puppy training last night - a little cockerpoo called Belle!

I did wonder if it might be you - but thought that would be too much of a coincidence. So, just to be sure, which part of the country are you in?

Thanks everyone, I am waiting to hear back to get an appointment for today. I just hope that someone guides me in the right direction, with our best interests at heart, not in the want of lining their pockets. I know that is being quite cynical, but....

purple no, that was not me, I am at the other end of the country.

Thing is she is as good as gold again this morning. She had her little crazy bit after her breakfast, but just playing with her toys. She then sleeps for quite a while. We will head out for a walk soon for about 15 mins, then she will go mad in the garden for another 15, but just amusing herself mostly, then me playing with her for bits of it, throwing her rope etc. Then she will come in and laze around, she will have her lunch at 1, then roam around for a while, go get dd from school with her lying like an angel in the back with her seat belt harness on. A really quick round the small block walk 5.30ish, mad dash in garden for 5 or 10mins and tea at 7. She is allowed in and out all day as much as she likes in a smaller area at the side of our house. Is this enough, or too much?

The lady asked if she barked when getting her food, she does now and again, but only when I start putting the food into her bowl, not cross, I would say more excited. Does she mouth the grooming brush, again every mow and then depending on how relaxed she is, but again, I thought excitement. And she does sometimes get mouthy when I am putting on her harness for walks or the car, but is that normal?

What about yours? Do they never make a sound and stand really quietly for everything you do?

I shall be joining this thread properly on Saturday. Chose our new puppy last night, boy was it hard to narrow it down. We had 2nd pick of the litter we narrowed it down to 2, then took them to the kitchen, played, watched, played, and finally chose a sable bitch.

She is a chunky, gorgeous girl and very into people.

Sooooooo excited.

Am going with the breeder (who is also a friend) tomorrow to the Vet to get her checked over and then first injections.

Hey assumpta, just wanted to answer your queries about barking. Ours is 14 weeks today and often barks like crazy when we're getting his food ready - we try and do the 'be a tree' thing and ignore him if he's leaping around, or get him to sit (although he has just worked out he can bark while sitting down.... ) or feed him when he's still a bit sleepy before he gets too worked up, but essentially I think he's just a dog and he likes his dinner! He shows no possessiveness over food - will let me take his bone (with encouragement/bribery), and doesn't even glance at me if I go into his bowl while he's eating and take bits out/put bits in.
Otherwise he barks with excitement at puppy class, but not when meeting other dogs out and about. And sometimes he barks at us if we're playing with him or sitting right in front of him in his space - but only in a 'Look at me!' way. The couple of times he's had any growl in his voice he's either looked very surprised afterwards, or I've got him to back down straight away. Playing tug of war games he'll growl in a sort of half hearted way, but again, will give the toy up (we're teaching 'Drop it' with treats).
I only tell you that so you can see what a very bouncy, friendly, quite vocal dog does but one who has shown absolutely no aggression whatsoever. The one time he almost growled at me we were having a bit of a battle of wills and I think it was pure frustration, not directed aggression IYSWIM. I got him to sit down, and be calm and nice, and then we had some cuddles, and it was all fine.
He will mouth but is doing it less and less - when excited, when mis-aiming for a toy etc. The other day I picked him up to move him away from something he wouldn't leave and he was mouthing my hands to try and get me to put him down, but I kept squealing to let him know he hurt me, didn't put him down, and he got the message. He's never broken the skin or even got close - even when I quite stupidly got my hand between his teeth and a piece of wood he was very keen on chewing, he clamped down hard on my thumb, but didn't 'bite' once he knew I was there (didn't let go for a minute, but I think that was my fault for not giving a clear instruction as my eyes were watering too much!).

Hope that helps a little - mine is certainly a long way from perfect, but it gives you something to comapre too.

30 that's more or less what belle is like, except that she always sits before her food is given. Maybe I have blown it our of all proportion, but it's the out of the blue, no common denominator, barking in not a nice way, cross, manner. Does yours like to be handled/checked over? I have just felt everywhere on belle, and the only area she doesn't like me inspecting is her bum! Fair enough!

zatwhat breed are you getting? This really is a great thread so definitely join it.

Yes, we always insist on sitting before food is 'served', but while we're getting his bowl/measuring pot ready he can go a bit nuts if he's very hungry!
Ours loves being groomed and usually goes very calm whilst being brushed, only mouthing the brush out of curiosity when it's near his face - I think that love of brushing is partly because his breeder probably did it, or he certainly saw the adult dogs being groomed. But it's always very embarrassing at puppy class because he refuses to be checked over by me, running away and mouthing me and his lead, but that's definitely only because there are so many more exciting things to be doing in a room full of other puppies!
The one thing we have never had though is a 'bite' or the whites of the eyes growling, that would worry me too.

Phew - assumpta - I'm glad that wasn't your cockapoo Belle!

(Not that I wouldn't like to meet you, but I would like to maintain the illusion that we have a calm well-behaved dog who is the star of puppy class!)

purple frog my belle is calm and beautiful and clever, which is why this is so strange. She sits, she stays down in the car, she goes to heel, she goes on her mat, she walks when I ask her to after having a good sniff when we are out, she comes when called. She wees and poos outdoors. She is truly lovely.

Went to the vet yesterrday for a thorough check, thankfully she said after the way she was handling belle, and the reaction she was giving, she would not class her as an aggressive dog. She did feel that she may have a slight temp, that she had a lot of gas, and after information i gave her regarding her poos and pulling her bottom over the floor, she checked her anal glands and they were apparently full. She emptied these for her, and I brought a different dog home, she was so relaxed, not anxious or worried when she couldn't see me, and was so calm. We have decided to change her food from James well beloved to Hills, and to feed her from a feeder toy so she doesn't gobble down her food. We should have transferred over completely to the new food by the end of next week. We are hoping for less poos, but bigger and firmer poos which in turn will cause the anal glands to empty. If no change she will check poo for parasites. Let's hope the poos get bigger!

Great news!
Just on the way to the park with teddy. He is going to meet my parents dog who is not very friendly! Wish us luck x

Good luck, he may surprise you!

My parents dog wasn't impressed with teddy, she growled and snapped at him a few times but he kept going back to her.
She is 10years old and hasn't really been socialised. We will take them park together but I don't think they will ever be friends!

assumpta what great news, impacted anal glands can be very painful and make dogs very grumpy.

Personally I wouldn't be changing her on to Hills, vets constantly push it on people as some kind of wonder cure (most surgeries are on commission for either Hills or Royal Canin).

I it not a particually good food and horribly expensive for the content.

Have a look at Pet Food Review. I would be keeping her on the James Wellbeloved and maybe adding some wholemeal Pasta to up the fibre as a short term solution to see if it is effective.

Oh bug**r, I have already started, so I better continue. In fairness the vet recommended a few, eukanuba, hills and wainwrights. She also said that James well beloved was good, but that it just may not be agreeing with belle. I got hills because the shop didn't have any eukanuba. No other reason. I hope i have done the right thing.

Do any of your puppies not sit still for very long in the evening, I am up and down like a blue arsed fly checking that she isn't sitting at the back door needing to go out. A lot of the time she is just having a sniff about on the kitchen floor. I can't cordon off the kitchen, or believe me I would!

If I shut the sitting room door she sits and scratches it. If I ignore her I feel that it is not right in case she really does need to go, do you think a dog bed in the sitting room would help. She has access to her cosy crate, but opts to be up and down with us. Any ideas? I'm sure if I let her up on the couch with us, she would sleep all evening, but we have agreed that this is not for us, as fabric couches and wet dog don't go too well together for us.

assumpta - it's great that a physical cause was found. It must be a load off your mind.

Your Belle sounds perfect..... in comparison to my large, clumsy, excitable lump! Sigh!

Hah! Cross post! Not quite so perfect after all!

We have a dog bed in the sitting room which Rory uses in the evening ... when he is not stretched out on the floor that is. He very rarely uses his crate (which is in the hall) in the evening.

I do worry that the longer he sleeps for in the evening, the earlier he will get up in the morning. But it doesn't seem to work that way.

If he is not sleeping in the evening, he spends long periods chomping on a chew.

What kind of chew is the best. I have a Nyla bone thing that she can just chew, but not sure if she is fed up with it. I don't know if I should give her something that would actually be a food type chew, i.e. rawhide, or if that would upset her tum, or if indeed she is too young. She is a week off 4 months.

Hey assumpta. Mine has a puppy Nylabone too but he has absolutely no interest in it after a couple of days - especially after I gave him a rawhide. The vet said they need a lot of supervision with rawhide in case they can break bits off it - the first one ours just unravelled and licked, but he is now actually eating them so I'm more reluctant to give them. Also the first ones I gave had no recommended age so I was just hyper careful, but I've now seen ones that say not for use for under 4 months so assume that is the rule (ours is 10 days off).

My DH did find a weird algae-based chew in the shape of a hedgehog which was recommended by a local vets which seemed to go down very well. Annoyingly I've now lost it, but I think I'll try and get him some more of those.

Rory was getting through the puppy nylabones in about 48 hours, so we started him on rawhide and other edible chews about 3 weeks ago when he was 15 weeks old. He loves them! The advice is not to give rawhide before 4 months so I think you will be OK.

So far we have tried about 3 different sorts. Some last longer than others. Now I just have to remember where I bought the more successful ones from.......

30 yes, you have just reminded me that I got a rice bone thing recently and also a vegetable thing shaped like a toothbrush! Do you thing either of these would upset her tum? Could I give this in the evening after her last meal which she has at 7. We are changing her food slowly to hills to see if she can make bigger and firmer poos? Nice! Does it constitute as food or treat?

Same to you purple regarding the rawhide?

Ah - toothbrushes and hedgehogs - I know the sort you mean. I haven't bought any for our pup yet but we used to get the small ones for our pet rats! They went down very well.

Does it matter if the chews are food or treat? I assumed that all edible items should be counted against their daily food allowance. Although, I must admit, I am not sure about the nutritional content of twigs, leaves and oak galls!

We had one treat/chew from PAH that Rory loved but I think I will avoid in future. It was shaped as a chicken drumstick and was supposed to be a mixture of chicken breast and rawhide. It was very smelly, he drank more water than usual and he had a bit of an upset tummy. I have not been able to find one on their website to link to.

We also had problems with a rawhide one that had knots at the end - he cracked the ends off within about 10 minutes!

We have not had a problem yet with the plain rawhide ones affecting his tummy. Some of the longer lasting ones, the ones that become soggy then harden up again, we have chucked out after 5-6 days to avoid too many germs building up.

I don't think any of the chews have had an effect on ours' tum, but then he will eat absolutely anything (rotting apples off the lawn and ROCKs, yes actual rocks are a particular favourites at the moment). Unsurprisingly his poos vary from liquid squirty type to rock-hard - literally! - often within the same afternoon.

I'm wondering if the rocks are because he wants a 'crunch', and if it's time to stop wetting his food - he's on Eukanuba. The breeder told us to soak it or use hot water before feeding, but the packet says that only needs to happen for weaning. Anyone else know?