I can't do this to my children....

[Solo2]

I can't do this anymore. We are due to go on hol for our only break of the yr tomorrow and Rollo - our golden retriever puppy - aged 5 months - has had me up since 2am - with diarrhoea yet again.

If you've followed my other threads, you'll know that he's had this on and off for 3 to 4 weeks - recovering and then getting it again.

He's now on an expensive vet diet for hypersensitive tummies. He's had several courses of antibiotics and various other meds for tummies. He's been totally, totally fine for a week now. His poo samples came back as fine and I've been happy to pay hundreds of pound on vet fees.

He is due to be picked up by his trainer at noon today and she was going to have him whilst we were away. I am happy to pay her £350 as she was going to have him in her home and I trust her to care for him well. She has been monitoring his health of course as she can't be expected to have him if he's ill. She has 2 dogs of her own and for the next 4 days is also looking after someone else's dog. Rollo is fine with all these dogs and we were on course for our holiday.

I REALLY need a break from Rollo. I REALLY need some sleep and I REALLY need my DCs to have a holiday. Now it looks like we may not be able to go.

How am I going to tell the DCs? They've been looking forward to this hol all yr although it's only a UK cottage hol. We've never been abroad and this one week a yr is everything for them.

What am I going to do? I know this is coming from a lack of sleep (never had more than 6 hrs a night on the best night since Rollo joined us in March and obviously virtually none at all for nights and days on end when Rollo has been ill). Bu tI keep getting drastic ideas in my mind about getting rid of Rollo and really cannot go on like this. If it were just me, I'd cope. But my first loyalty and responsibility has to - and does - lie with my DCs and it's not just about this holiday.

We have had no fun from the puppy, as a family. I am totally sleep deprived and desperate. I am juggling puppy and DCs and running a fulltime business singlehandedly (no relaitves or partner around, so I do it ALL alone).

Please help me to think straight. My only thought is that I'll have to get the vets to see Rollo this morning and although I don't want to tell the trainer about what's happened, I'll have to and then it's possible our holiday is cancelled.

Are there any other options? I am having rather crazy ideas right now about rehoming Rollo today or even worse. He is a lovely puppy and for those familiar with dogs, he is apparently fairly easy going and lovely natured. He needs someone who has no other committments and can stay up all night with him and love him and be there for him.

I don't think I can be that person for him.

Knowing of the breeder this pup came from, I would be very suprised if she wasn't prepared/didn't insist upon taking Rollo back in the event that Solo couldn't keep him any longer.

Solo, have you contacted the breeder to ask their advice on this? I would be inclined to. Goldens are prone to sensitive tummies, although my lot have cast iron guts (well, I assume, they don't get ill really and I've caught them munching on dead crabs and mumified rabbit legs before, gross!!!) but I tend to ignore the odd isolated incident of the runs or vomit. I think in your position I'd be tempted to try raw feeding, bone alone can help to firm up stools and a lot of the 'culprits' for upsetting tummies are actually in a lot of the prescription diets.

Great that you're still getting your holiday, hopefully the break will do you good.

Blimey - poor you, Solo!

Just skimming through the thread, your dog reminds me of my dog. He used to have diarrhea all the time.... and just like you say it was a yellowy colour. Every time I would take him to the vets they would say to give him chicken and rice for a few days and looking back, that's when his diarrhea would get really bad until I went back to normal feeding when his poo would improve a little.... so I used to think that it was the chicken and rice calming his stomach.

Nope. He was allergic to chicken. I cut it out of his diet completely and fed him Lamb and Rice Nature Diet with Lamb and rice Burns and for the first time in his life he had solid poos. I knew it was the chicken as my mum once fed him a bowlful thinking it would do no harm.... it did. I hope you will soon find out what is causing the diarrhea in your dog.

Hope you have a lovely holiday :)

Good. Hope you have a fab holiday :)

Oh Solo, poor you! I also think it might be a good idea to try raw feeding. My 8mos old BC puppy came with a huge sack of Royal Canin. Her poo was revolting - vast pools of yellow poo. I switched her to Orijen puppy and her poo was brown but still very, very loose. Her flatulence was unbelievable in such a young dog - much worse than my 13 yr old BC!

I decided to try Raw feeding and the transformation has been remarkable. She now has small, firm, brown poos which I can actually pick up and, best of all, no more sulphur emissions! I was a bit nervous about getting the correct raw food ratios, so I decided to take the easy option of buying in prepared raw food from Natural Instinct. BC pup gets Natural Instinct puppy food in the morning and chicken wings in the evening. Once a week I give her fish fillets and sardines. She also gets a mixture of turkey mince and green tripe once a week. Occasionally, I add a raw egg (shell included) or a dollop of yoghurt to her meals.

I really hope you find a solution for Rolo. I'm sure he will be more settled once his insides have calmed down. He must be quite uncomfortable .

By the way, I'm in North London - not sure where you are in the south east, but if you ever need a break from Rolo, we would be very happy to help out. In the meantime, enjoy your well earned sleep and holiday!

glad you are able to go on holiday.

please do give the slippery elm bark powder a try - it really has been fantastic for keeping our staffie's colitis (explosive diarhoea, loads of blood, scary stuff) under control, it is cheap and totally safe. just have a google, there is loads of info on the net about it.

enjoy your holiday.

So glad you are getting to go on your holiday Solo! I had a weeks break from my puppy at about the same age as Rollo is now. I was also scared I would enjoy the break too much and not want to go back to having a puppy ruling my life again. When I went to collect him however, I welled up I was so pleased to see him! I think you need to go away and enjoy the time with your DCs and try not to obsess about Rollo (good luck!) When you get back you will probably know if you are able to be the right family for him. By the way, my puppy had the BEST time at our trainer's house with all the other dogs and being with other dogs (and obviously the trainer) changed so much of his behaviour. Once you know that there is somewhere he can go every now and then to give you a break lifts a huge amount of pressure off you, trust me

We're on holiday! I slept in till 6am this morning - which for me was a v v long lie in after months now of 4.30am up and into garden with Rollo! i am TOO happy and relaxed and fearing exactly what you feared Coco. I am getting lots of emails from the trainer and am gobsmacked at how different Rollo is being with her:

No more diarrhoea - which is great. Toileted at 9pm and didn't need to go and didn't wake her till 8am! 8am???!! This is the dog who has never ever yet NOT barked from 5.25am latest ever and is desperate to wee and poo by then?!

What am I doing wrong? He is being perfect for her - doing great lead walking too and has free run of her flat.

There are 3 other dogs there however and so he is having a great time especially with the other dog who's staying there temporarily like Rollo is. Also the trainer has a much smaller home so I guess Rollo never feels alone. But even so, how can he go happily for 11 hrs without weeing or pooing at hers but only go 7 to 8 hrs maximum at my place?

It maybe that as she has more time in the evenings, he gets more stimulation before bedtime and more time to do loads of wees whereas at mine, the worst time of day is from 4pm till 9pm when it's full on with my DCs and I'm shattered after a day of work and dog too. The trainer doesn't do other work than dog training and isn't working the hrs that I am and has no DCs or even a relationship that takes up her time. So she can be more or less 100% there for her dogs.

What will it be like when we see Rollo again? Will he be used to being with the trainer? Will he have forgotten us or even associate me with a less than ideal life and the trainer and her home with the perfect set up?

Will I be happy to see him again?

For now, I'm just revelling in not having to think about Rollo every second, whilst also looking after DCs and notice that every time I hear the dog next door barking - where we're staying - I get a panic reaction for a split second, like I need to rush to the dog immediately in case it's going to poo or wee on the floor. No wonder I've been so stressed!

Ok Solo I'm going to get really firm with you here...

STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP WOMAN

The dog is almost certainly behaving differently for the trainer because a) he knows she won't take any shit, b) it's a completely new routine so he hasn't had a chance to test any boundaries yet and c) the trainer is probably averaging more than 2 hours sleep or whatever insanity you've been getting recently.

It is not, I repeat NOT, your fault, you madwoman!

Enjoy the fact he is happy, healthy (for now) and settled, and that you are on bloody holiday.

When you come back, you can ask her about what techniques she used. If that includes ignoring him and crating him, then do that, and do NOT feel guilty. But don't for god's sake worry about it now.

In fact, go away and don't you dare come back on The Doghouse until you've managed a whole two days without stressing about Rollo!
xx

Don't worry about those issues while you're on holiday! Wait til you get back and then have a long chat with the trainer regarding the way forward with Rollo. She is bound to have gained much more insight into the way to deal with him after living with him. Her life sounds fab; I wouldn't mind a parallel life revolving around dogs!

Enjoy your holiday. Hope you do get settled with Rollo, we have a golden retriever and they really are gorgeous dogs.

X post, and I bet you get a few more telling you the same!

"Will he have forgotten us or even associate me with a less than ideal life and the trainer and her home with the perfect set up?"

You are bonkers - in a very sweet way!

If mine is anything to go by, he will be terribly over-excited to see you. And then instantly forget your existence and run off to the trainer. Thereby conveying love and total nonchalence in about the space of 3 seconds. He will not make a judgement call on which house he prefers!

He will be so excited to see you Solo! I agree you should impose a doghouse ban on yourself while you are holiday. Are you making a living training dogs? No? That's why he is acting differently around the DOG TRAINER
Before I left our puppy with the trainer for a week the crate was basically his dining room, we didn't even shut him in at night (I'm such a wuss) now he loves it and gets in it in a grump if dh and I stay up too late! The biggest thing I learnt from the trainer was that it was ok to ignore him, use a stern tone. Puppy not baby etc.

I haven't followed your story, nor even read this thread in detail (I need to get the kids in bed in a mo) but felt I needed to reply as it sounded very familiar. We have a golden retriever who has been very prone to upset stomach over the years. I had the whole having to let him out to poo in the middle of the night scenario. Then he'd seem to get better and then he'd get worse and the vets checked his poo and found nothing.

On the advice of a friend, who is a vet, I put him on Burns dog food. He has the lamb and brown rice. Since he's been on that he has been soooooooo much better than he was. He'll occasionally manage to get hold of something he shouldn't and give himself an upset tummy again but the difference, since being on Burns, is that he gets better again very quickly. Before he'd have been having the runs on and off for weeks after each incident. I did also start walking him on the lead a lot more to limit the amount of inappropriate stuff he could get hold of. I tried to let him off in places there was less likely to be stuff he shouldn't have. Round here people chuck all sorts out to feed birds on lakes and he'd keep getting hold of it and it would make him ill. I think drinking the lake water didn't help either.

I think if you stick with a combination of a good quality dog food, with no wheat, using probiotics, and keeping him away from unsuitable food, you'll find he gets a lot more stable. Once he is more stable the odd bit of something bad won't have nearly such a bad effect.

I did consider muzzling to stop him getting hold of stuff on walks but in the end it didn't seem necessary.

I hope that helps, and gives you some hope that things can turn around.

My dog had horrific tummy problems when we got her as a rescue - to the point where we thought she MUST have an internal blockage as we had thought of everything else.

Like the poster above, we tried burns. It was an expensive 6 months! We then slowly transitioned to chappie dry, and in 4 years have never looked back. I can't say its a miracle diet, it may have been a fluke or coincidence, but it certainly worked for us.

I hope you are enjoying your holiday Solo!

I got back from my hols a couple of days ago and was a bit worried not to see you on any of the recent posts in the Doghouse. I ended up searching for you and am really glad that the reason you are not around is that you managed to get away on holiday with the boys. I had assumed your school hols would have started at least 2 weeks later than ours in Scotland.

Fingers crossed that you manage to track down the cause of Rollo's tummy troubles soon.

Is it possible your dog is suffering from stress? You are absolutely stressed when with him and you see him as the cause. I have no doubt he is receiving a lot of negativity loud and clear, from you - even if you haven't said a word to him ;)

Dogs are often extremely empathic. What you feel, he is aware of. I think at this point you are probably, however unintentionally (on both parts) stressing each other right out.

It all sounds like an awful relationship. Where's the joy? ...and how are you going to break the cycle? He can't, you're in the lead on this.

(...from the clearer-upper-afterer of a rescue who got the shits as soon as we stepped into the vets, every time we stepped into the vets and only when we stepped into the vets!)

Hi See the other thread "SOLO" for an update. Getting Rollo back tomorrow and hoping for improvements all round.