New Puppy Mommies in here *blerk*

[Awks]

Got our new puppy on Saturday. I was in tears this morning and I'm a pretty experienced dog owner. Its just so hard moaning cow that I am He is a 9 week old cocker and is a beautiful, cuddly boy but is a massive shitting machine. And not in the garden either.

So any new puppy owners want to weep in here then please do.

moose that dog jumper is epic. I might have to get one for my friends little dog, she has the personality to match it for sure.

Yay sweetkitty, it's a bit like having a new baby, you keep looking and thinking, wow, is that mine.

moose you have to get that jumper!

I have indeed bought Pip a Dennis the Menace dog jumper! I wasn't going to, but both dses and dh were nagging me, so I ordered one.

It's not exactly what I had in mind, but if it keeps him warm and stops him waking us up at silly o'clock every night it doesn't really matter.

They're all big Beano fans in my house - ds2 in particular collects vintage Beano annuals and comics.

Fabulous moose mama you don't think of dogs getting cold in the night

Sorry her name is Nala after the female lion in the lion king and her African hound roots DCs choice.

Moose I lurk on this thread and just wanted to jump in to say that a friend of mine used to have an ex racer greyhound who really felt the cold and she used to make him loads of indoor coats from fleece. It was so easy.
Get fleece and cut to vague shape required. Fleece doesn't frey so doesn't need hemmed. Cut a long step for the strap under tummy. A couple of stitches or fabric glue and a couple of nice big buttons. Ta da!
Cheap and doesn't need to stand up to outside use. Hugs for chilly Pip.

Sweetkitty, it hadn't crossed my mind. Lurcherboy is a scruffy Lurcher and has quite a thick coat, but I'd completely forgotten that even he had an outdoor coat as a pup, before his thicker adult coat came through.

Pip is so skinny still and has a very fine wispy coat, so I knew we'd need coats for winter, but wasn't prepared for him getting cold so soon.

We gave him his old hot water bottle and tucked his softest fleece blanket in around him last night and he went from 10.45 to 6.10 when ds1 woke him up this morning! Yay - a whole night's sleep!

Hoggle, thank you. Don't lurk - chat with us, the more the merrier.

Great minds think alike. I was checking out ebay for nice fleece fabrics last night and have Googled and found a no-sew pattern I could use, so am going to attempt to make him a couple of house-coats for the time being. I will want something decent for taking him about and about eventually though - not sure my diy coat making skills would stand up to scrutiny, although my Mum is good at dressmaking, so I could ask her to help me make him a couple of decent ones using one of the online patterns, I suppose. They're very simple really, but sewing has never been one of my strengths.

Thanks moose I can't chat though. I was Crannog and took on a 13 week old puppy a month ago but she died after 6 days. Very not sure as we opted for no autopsy. Possibly bloat. Very traumatic.

In a happy coincidence we were asked to adopt a one year old dog and have had her for 8 days. She is a joy and is part of the family already. I lurk here to torture myself about the puppy.

Thanks moose I can't chat though. I was Crannog and took on a 13 week old puppy a month ago but she died after 6 days. Very not sure as we opted for no autopsy. Possibly bloat. Very traumatic.

In a happy coincidence we were asked to adopt a one year old dog and have had her for 8 days. She is a joy and is part of the family already. I lurk here to torture myself about the puppy.

Oops.

Oh I'm so sorry Hoggle, that must have been such a horrible thing to go through.

It's understandable that you don't want to chat here under the circumstances. How about joining us on the new rescue dog thread instead, them you can just focus on your new dog?

Thanks moose I was going to join that thread but she is practically perfect so not much to say. I just like to read about all the puppies and how they are getting on.

That's so sad Hoggle. They really are vulnerable as puppies.

Zebo slept much better in the kitchen last night, than the previous 4 nights in the crate so we are going to ditch the crate and leave him to settle in the kitchen. I suppose puppies are all different and we're just muddling through as this is our first puppy.

Hoggle - that is so sad

Night one update - put her in her crate next to me at 11.30, she howled a bit but settled down, she got me up at 1am, took her out but she didn't do anything, then she wouldn't settle so ended up on the couch next to me I know, she was up for the day at 6, out for a pee & poo and she has started eating and drinking. When I put the Hoover on this morning she took herself off to her crate and fell asleep!

She's scared of the cat so leaves him well alone, he's is utterly bemused but he's been staying in the same too as her.

She's an utter delight though she loves the garden, tears about for 10 mins then comes in and sleeps.

Have has to put her in the crate for school/nursery runs, no more than 20 mins, I can hear her yelping when I leave but she's calm when we get back, will keep going with that.

I'm pleased to say that Toby is now ok to go in the crate during the day when I go out. I went out three times today for 60mins each time. I left him with a variety of filled kong toy. First one was ham hock, lunchtime one was chicken, school run was peanut butter. Seemed ok and was silent when I left and silent when I came back and wasn't doing cartwheels when I let him out. Phew!! I think I'll get a bigger crate at Christmas so that he's somewhere secure when I go out. DH doesn't agree with me, but frankly sod him! I'm home all day with Toby while he's abroad half the week!!

Sally, how on earth do you get him to make one kong last that long? Pip gives up after half an hour if they are too tightly packed and if they're loosely packed he's finishes too quickly.

I leave him with 2 medium sized adult kongs and 1 puppy kong stuffed with fresh chicken, kibble and fish4dog stars and 2 busy buddies full of kibble and he scoffs the lot inside 40 minutes, then immediately starts yelling to get out.

I have no clue how to get him to stay quiet long enough for me to actually venture farther than the school.

I had exactly the same problem with Lurcherboy. Too lazy to stick with a difficult kong and easy ones are emptied too quickly. Got around it by filling a really good sized treat dispensing ball for Lurcherboy, but there's really not enough room for a ball of that size in the crate.

Moose - Toby's is just stuffed with cooked chicken. It makes it difficult for him to get it all out at once as its just chicken. I think that putting in biscuit as well makes it easier to move the chicken about iyswim. Anyway. I'm sure it probably takes him 20 minutes to empty it, so he just lies down and waits for me to get back.
Ham hock is great. Sainsburys sell it in packets which does about two puppy kongs.

I tried that, just jammed in as much fresh cooked chicken as I could and he got about half and inch in and gave up.

I wish Pip would just like down and wait for me to come back. He is a noisy little so and so in general and there's no way he's going to do anything he doesn't want to without letting us know his opinion on the subject - very loudly!

Hi all,

Sorry not posted for ages, but have been reading:)

Glad to hear everyone seems to be getting on well, and helloooo to the new puppies!

Mabel is being a good girl, curled up on my feet as I type. She is doing most of her business outside, but we are still getting the odd accident, usually around the exact time that I think "must put Mabel out".... We have been going to puppy classes on a Saturday and she has been an angel. A few barks when she is a bit scared, but mostly behaving beautifully and doing everything that is asked of her, she is quite a clever little stick so I am convinced there is some collie in there somewhere!

We still have nipping and chewing. My youngest daughter is not far off three, and it is hard to teach Mabel not to chew and bite when she is rolling around on the floor with her acting just like a second puppy! It drives me nuts. I'm considering starting some clicker training to see if this helps at all, and think I will need to treat DD at the same time.

I can leave her in her crate in the day, generally for the school run and she is always quiet when we get back so I think she is fine. Have only done two hours max at the moment though. I leave her with a kong and a rawhide chew. Pate upset her tummy, and she had diarrhoea this week thanks to a vegetable chew so at the moment I stuff it with Royal Canin GI support which she loves. Also found a blue poo today, thanks to a crayon, and after cooking her scrambled egg on the second morning of diarrhoea she promptly went out and ate a mouse one of the cats had left on the lawn. Whole. LIW you are not alone! the vet gave her a drontal to keep the tapeworm at bay because of it, and she took the half she needed without hiding it in anything!

Had a vet check this week, she had one at the rescue and was good to go, but my vet has picked up an umbilical hernia (nothing pushed through, but a hole) and also a very tiny overbite. So she is a little bit duff, but not so bad . He recommended we get her spayed before her first season to avoid any potential problems with the hernia, and repair it at the same time.

Hope everyone is getting some decent sleep, I'd better go off on my round of the garden before Mabel goes to bed. Night!

Good morning all!

Floyd slept through the night again with a pee stop at around midnight - then up at 6.45 for toilet and brekkers. This morning we discovered he does not like the rain!! Haha...started whining and refused to pee, then peed as soon as we got back to the flat! He's asleep in his crate now! (He has been a lot recently - seems to love it in there with his monkey shaped hot water bottle!) yesterday I had some things to do so left him for almost three hours. He was very calm at beginning and end and had demolished a long in the meantime so all well so far!

He is still very nippy but the more people I speak to the more normal this seems to be. He is barking and whining at every mealtime - as soon as he hears the kibble being poured he's off! Trying to make him sit calmly before he gets it but usually just sits for a split second then is up again!

Puppy sitters in form of bf's mother coming over tonight so we can have a walk and go for a drink!

He seems to be oohing a bit but can't see fleas - dry skin? Will ask the vet on Monday!

Whoops - oohing = itching !

Glad he slept through again Ohalvo.

Pip is sleeping through again as well now we've reinstated his hotwater bottle and started tucking him in before we go up. Unfortunately dd had us up twice in the night with nightmares and feeling poorly.

Scratching can just be part of normal canine body language, often a sign that they are just a little discombobulated by something a need a second to collect themselves, but also a calming signal they give to other dogs and people to show they're feeling a bit stressed or worried.

Depends if he's doing it a lot and really going for it or it's just regular 'sit down, scratch a bit, have a look around, get up up and wander off' type of thing.

I still have ds2 and dd off school, but am thinking ds2 was well enough to go in as he and Pip have been rolling around the floor fighting and playing together with gusto! Ds2 has really bonded with Pip, so much more than my other two dcs. They are like two puppies together the way they play and Pip follows him everywhere. Ds is currently lying with his head on Pip's bed and Pip is asleep with his paw and chin on ds's head. Problem is, Pip is so bored when ds2 is at school. He wanders around looking mournful, emitting the odd pitiful moan.

We have finally got him up to full kibble feeds now and his digestion has been fine. We're still giving him probiotics once a day, plus extra roast chicken which we also use to stuff his kongs, as although he's gained a lot of weight, he could really do with putting on a bit more.

Bought myself some ankle wellies, as I keep getting wet socks taking him in the garden and the little so and so has fallen in love with them and decided they are the best thing in the house to test his teeth out on. I daren't put them anywhere on the floor because he sniffs them out (they do have a strong, rubbery, new-welly smell).

Your puppy and dog are both lovely moose. Must be great for them to have each other! Good that Pip is coming on so well.

Ankle wellies needed here too -something quick to put on for quick dashes into the garden!

Puppy and big dog have really bonded now, they are inseparable although every evening they have a mental half hour rushing around and play fighting each other, it is absolute chaos but I am leaving them to it as I presume it's their way of getting to know each other and forming a bond. I fell asleep on the sofa yesterday and when I woke up I was wearing the puppy like a hat with her muzzle resting on my nose and whippety boy was balanced on my side with his head on my tummy. If anyone had looked through the window I would have been the crazy dog lady!

Ankle wellies? What were you thinking moose, you might as well just smear them in pate and be done with it . Can I start using treats to train her to sit now? She is nearly 10 weeks old.

Thank you mintchock.

The wellies have been a godsend over the past 48 hours here. We've had so much rain that the lawn is waterlogged. I was borrowing the crocs dh uses as slippers, but of course they have holes all around the outside edge, hence the wet socks.

LIW, we are having the same with my two - only Lurcherboy is a tad bigger than your boy. It's mayhem when they decide to have a romp around together in the house. I have a great image in my head of your puppy hat!

You can get going with training at any time. Some breeders even start them off when they're as young as 6 weeks old. Actually, we rescued Oldgirl at 6 weeks, so I would have started training her in the basics then.