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?

Please stop him eating any kind of stones you are likely to end up with a very large vets bill or worse. I know people who have lost their dogs from stone eating.

It's up to you regarding wetting the food, he is more than old enough to have it dry. Personally I would change the Eukanuba though, it's not a very good food and may well be the reason for his unhappy tummy not to mention the fact that it is owned by Proctor and Gamble.

We do try and stop the stone eating whenever we can. The problem is he does it when we take him out for the toilet - as he sniffs around the garden borders a sniff can turn into a rock hoovering incredibly quickly.

Tips for stopping it would be great - removing the source of the problem not possible as we have a very pebbly garden. Constantly having him on the lead in the garden seems a real shame but I guess we can do it if needs be - do dogs grow out of the rock eating habit? I guess I want to know WHY he's doing it?

His tummy is absolutely fine when he's just eating his Eukanuba, it's when he's been at the apples etc he gets a dodgy tum. Breath and coat smell surprisingly pleasant for a dog (apart from when he's been rolling, obviously)!

We also have problems with Rory eating the stone chips in the garden. He will drop them in return for a treat, but I really don't want him to get in the habit of picking up stones in order to get treats. So any ideas gratefully received..... by the way he is already on a lead in the garden.

If you can't remove the stones can you fence a small area off? If not you might have to consider a plastic box type muzzle that won't allow him to eat the stones. Only let him out in the garden in his muzzle for long enough to do his wees and poos and never unsupervised.

Stone chewing can become a bad habit and he is young enough to distract and get onto another more interesting plaything. In the house get him 'fixated' on one particular toy which he must love so much it completely distracts him from wanting to play with anything else. Use this toy in supervised periods of play say 5 minutes at a time and then take the toy away. When you have him sufficiently interested in this one toy to want to play with, rag and carry it round, use it as a reward.

Every time you let him out to wee and poo (without muzzle now), as soon as he has done his business give him his special toy to play with for the remainder of his exercise time running loose. Dogs, especially puppies get bored very easily and will make their own entertainment if left alone. By being with him, encouraging him to 'relate' to you and not the stones and giving much more interesting items to play with hopefully you'll get him out of the habit which in all seriousness could kill him.

Teddy was also into the habit of eating stones from
my garden. He seems have grown out of it though now. Maybe it was because I kept forcing him
to drop them? I'd restrain him and not him go until he had dropped it. He might have realised that eating the stone meant he couldn't 't go and play?

We were shown how to teach him to
give his paw and how to roll over at puppy class tonight. He was the only pup that managed to roll over

we also did some lead walking work
and the little rat was perfectly behaved. Nothing like the pup I walk everyday lol

morning. Been up most of the night with Lola, she hates her crate... well she doesnt like being shut in. Last night she was fine for 2 hours, then cried for the loo, DH took her out and when he put her back in she screeched and howled for almost 40 minutes, woke up the children; so I went downstairs, waited until she was quiet, opened the crate and she slept by my feet for the rest of the night, kept putting her back in her crate with door open.

This morning I am shattered.

Must be getting old.

WTWTW - we have to cross the stone chips to get to the grass. A muzzle might be the only answer. He is getting sneaky. He can easily hold things in his mouth without me knowing they are there, and I can only tell once we get back inside and he tries to dive under the kitchen table to have a chew in peace.

Oh my good god.

So, we are now only using the garden as a toilet, and only on lead. Cue one very hyperactive dog who now chews and tugs the lead more than he's ever done. He's had chew toys and grooming session and naps and his 20 minute walk and we're off to dog school in a mo, but he's clearly bored without the extra play time off lead in the garden. So I guess that is why we have today's new trick... dry humping his bed. He's only 15 weeks, surely he's a bit young for that?! Ignore? Try and stop? Why do no books ever tell you this stuff?!

Dogs will always give us something else to stress about, especially when we crack one of their bad habits!

Teddy was biting on his lead and the dog trainer said I should have my hand at the top of the lead (one hand through the lead handle, the other at the end of the lead) and if he went to bite it, I had to move my hand quickly down the lead towards his face.
The idea is, Teddy would be scared of my hand flying towards him. In reality, Teddy thought it was a game so would bite my hand instead. Or, he was quicker than my hand and still bit the lead anyway.

His latest trick here is to dig my rug or turn the end over and bite it. Even though he has lost 2 teeth tonight, he is still attempting to bite the carpet and he keeps getting blood on things. He lost one of those really nasty, long pointy canine teeth that rip through my skin. I know the new one is nice and rounded and soft lol (As if that will happen)

Hello everyone. I have been reading this thread and I am up to 28th August. Thank you to wtwta. You have answered a lot of my questions. I really feel much better reading about your early trying experiences. Gemma is a Cairn Terrier, 9 weeks old but the vet said she looks younger. Weighs 700g. She has worms, apparently and the vet gave us a tablet. I know this sounds stupid but can we catch (?) worms from her? She has wandered towards the back door and gone out to do a few poos and wees (the poos are the triumph.

One thing that she does quite consistently is to wee as soon as she wanders off the paper BUT I am going to stop paper training now and just get her to go outside. Need lighting outside. Very pleased to hear that advice. Thanks.

Also thanks for the food recommendation. Gemma is on Pedigree but the breeder said she feeds hers Hills but I am pleased to have picked your brain on that one. I need to be told things like that. As far as worming etc goes I am just going to do what the Vet says.

Considering she was taken away from mum, dad and sibs a week ago I think she is doing very well. She is so tiny that I am a bit misty and anxious but I think that will be better when she is a bit physically bigger.

I am so pleased to have read about dangers of over walking too.

I have dog obedience/training classes near me so I will pick up some doggy acquaintances there I hope.

I have never washed my hands so often nor cleaned my kitchen floor so thoroughly as I have done this week.

Should I be aiming at a designated loo patch in the garden? I saw something in a pet shop that you stick in the ground (think it smells) to indicate where she should go.

You know that you have a general idea of what is dangerous in the home for children? Like ponds and bleach? What are the especial things that have harmed dogs? If she chewed through the electric computer table, would she be electricuted? Does this happen?

Does anyone have a dogflap?

How do dogs (not puppies) and chickens mix?

Dh has been talking about her diet (not happy with Pedigree), and I think that you have answered that with 2 suggestions (Barking Heads and Fish for Dogs). What about eggs (he got her to take the worm tablet with a raw egg) and meat from the butchers? I guess bones or meat from the butchers comes much later?

Oh, and I meant thanks to all of you, not just wtwta. Can't remember any other names except Ringo.

Gemma just woke up, trotted out of her basket and trotted like the manor born to her usual indoor poo spot just in front of the tv. I didn't try and stop her. Pleased that she was so confident to find her way (flags, not carpet). She did dire rear and she did a fart so enormous that is lifted both her back legs both off the ground. She then trotted to her (metallic) bowl, had a drink and popped herself back to bed. So I am now off to bed too.

yay! 3 nights of only getting up once means that my sleep deprivation is getting better.

We are almost house trained already which is fantastic.

Teddy is doing fantastically with house training. No wees for ages and no poops recently either.
He has been better with his sleeping too. 2 mornings this week, he has only woken up when my alarm went off. I am hoping he will continue to slep well next week as I don't have to get up for work.

One session at puppy class left, I'm really going to miss going.

I am going to whisper this to avoid tempting fate....

Last 3 mornings - ten minutes to 7, 7 on the dot and 5 minutes to 7. Yeah!

But I am still waking around 5.30am with heart pounding and ears straining for any sound. Luckily I managed to get back to sleep this morning though!

On the other hand ... toilet training seems to be regressing. He seems to have got fed up of this whining lark and decided that telepathy is the best way to communicate... Sigh!

hmmf spoke too soon, she just came back in from being out at the toilet, 5 minutes later she goes and starts to wee on Loofas bed! cheeky imp. she got taken straight back out again, told busy and off she went.

7:20 teddy got up this morning
much, much better than 5-6am

morning kid! I got up at 5.50am with Lola, she needed a wee and was hungry, made her wait until 7 for food, she was fine, lay snuggled into loofa. so sweet.

I gave teddy his food quite soon after he got up. Then took him for a short walk, actually, it was more he took me for a walk by the way he pulls! He went for a run around the park afterwards which he always loves.

I went PAH (again) and got him some more bits and pieces. I am switching his food again, purely because they didn't have the one we got last time (wainwrights) and we are running low on it.
I got another PAH one that is chicken and something or other. Still no added colourings, additives etc so hopefully okay for him.

I also got him some fish braids. They are pure fish skin twisted around eachother and he loved it. It stinks but if it makes him happy, I'm happy
I also got him a nylabone which will hopefully help him chew us less!

Ok, you lot are making me feel better about my barking/pooing inside/hyperactive/licky/jumping dog. One thing he does do quite well is sleep, 10.30-7ish is usually a given, unless he decides he needs a wee around 3am, but that's only about 1 night in every 4 (so I think he really really needs it ).

Anyone else's dog shagging the furniture/your legs yet? Mine is and it's one thing which seems to attract a lot of dominance theory bollocks on the internet. So, positive training solutions for it? Obviously I do not want him humping things so he gets a treat when he stops!!

He's only 15 weeks, it feels a bit premature. Maybe there should be a MN 'Let Puppies be Puppies' campaign ?!

Teddy hasn't started humping things yet, but I'm sure it will start sooner or later. I have no idea what I will when he starts it. I'll probably try distracting him (with my foot up his back side? )

Moby used to hump my DS which is why I chose to get Moby neutered. I believed that would remove the hormones and stop him wanting to do that. Moby died during his neutering operation and broke my heart . He may have died young anyway, we will never know. Strangely, I didn't feel guilty for being responsible for him being neutered. Maybe I was so traumatised by him dying I didn't have time for the guilt?

I have totally bonded with Teddy now so I am once again happy. I would love to have Moby back but would have to keep Teddy too!

I wish Teddy would sleep a bit later in the morning. He only slept till 7:20 this morning because I ignored him when he tried getting me up with his paw. If he hears me move, he is up instantly so I have to lay really still and hope he goes back to sleep lol
He still can't jump on my bed which is great!

Not so great this morning, teddy woke up at 5:50. I was going to ignore him but we went downstairs so I had to quickly get up. He had a long wee and poo in the garden so just as well I did get up. I went back to bed afterwards though.

I'm still in bed and dh is downstairs with teddy and I know ted is being naughty as dh keeps telling him off! He keeps getting hold of things he isn't meant to have!

ooh, kid 5.50, ouch! I was very lucky and got to lie in until 9 this morning as DH did the dog feed & walk before he left for training, and our lazy pup loves going back to bed after breakfast - I had to practically prise him out of his crate when I came down, bliss!

Took pup for a lovely play on the beach today which was fab, as it's one place I'm happy to let him off lead. Far too many distractions to worry about rock eating (fingers crossed, that little fixation seems on the way out), and I took lots of yummy chicken to practise his recall with. I'm sure he'll be a horror show later though.

Have actually been out in the evenings this weekend too which is quite revolutionary, but get awful guilts for crating him . How long would everyone be happy leaving a 15week old pup in the late-ish evening (he'd mostly be snoozing in front of the TV with us if we were here)?? After dinner and toilet, obviously.