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.

In sure floyd is bored too! Can't wait to take him out. Don't worry Dharmalovesdraco, sure this will pass! :)

SallyBear - hope Toby is feeling better! Will take you're advice and be strong with the puppy training outside!!!

He started humping my ugg boot today :/ only 9 1/3 weeks, thought he was too young for that behaviour!!! Plus he got a bit snappy and actually drew blood on my hand (not a lot, just got spiked by a puppy needle tooth!) but was not a good feeling! I'm terrifies he is going to turn into some aggressive dog that pees inside when it's raining and humps everything he finds! Paranoia has set in!

I was chatting to a friend who said that the weeks where they aren't vaccinated are definitely the hardest as they're getting bigger, more confident, boisterous but yet you can't run off their energy or tire them mentally with new pastures/smells etc.

We have three more weeks of this and I'm not sure my back will hold up as our puppy is getting big!

Hope all the puppies sleep well tonight - we've really struggled to do all the garden toilet trips today with the weather so fear a disturbed night ahead.

Pip looks like Caroline Flack He's sooooo cute

Jarvis doesnt like the rain either, he hides. He's not massively liking actual walks either - sort of hides until we get going but then is fine. We watched him for ages tonight with some min cheddars, he couldnt understand how they could roll AND be edible. It was so funny.

First weekend with Fitz coming to an end - and did it have to rain quite so much?? At some points it felt like I was spending an eternity cheerfully saying 'wee,wee' in the garden ...

Plus points - he is ridiculously cute and very bright and his breeder was training him to wee on grass so that is pretty good (poos on the other hand ... ) he's not very predictable timewise so we spend the hour after he's eaten watching him like a hawk for any signs - sometimes we're quick enough but not always We started clicker training this morning and he got it straight away - is sitting and targetting beautifully - down is more of a flop than a graceful controlled movement but we're getting there, and we discovered that he's motivated much more by toys than food

Minus points - I'm so tired (have got ratty with everyone tonight), and as both Fitz and I got more and more tired the nipping started (from F not me ...) and at one point at his hyper peak he started humping dd's leg :(

He's really not bothered with kongs which is a bit of a worry as I will need to leave him for an hour or two most days and I'd been relying on them getting me through .... any tips?

BB what are you filling the Kongs with? Toby still has some pâté left in his after an hour of being left in the crate while I did the school run.

Tomorrow I am out for three hours for a hospital appointment an hour away. Timing is dreadful as DH is abroad again this week. Not really sure what to do about that.

I've tried kibble mixed with kong paste - he loves the paste but can't be bothered with the kibble, I've tried treats/broken up dog biscuits mixed with the paste - ditto, I've tried peanut butter mixed with treats etc and same result :(

I'm on 'puppy leave' for the next couple of weeks so am working from home (during naps) but will have to go in for a meeting on Friday so am desperately hoping to have got this sorted by then

dh cooked a huge chicken yesterday and Fitz had some of the leftovers this morning and loved that so will see what he makes of chicken in the kong

today's mission is to make him happy in the travel crate and then the car - wish me luck!

Pip has roast chicken in his kongs. Usually gets halfway down a well stuffed one before giving up and whining at me to help him.

He drove us all potty this morning while we were getting everyone sorted and ready for school and dh out on time for his job interview this morning. He wanted his breakfast - we wanted to stuff it in a kong and busy buddy for when we were out - he got louder and louder until I came to the conclusion the neighbours might actually prefer him yelling at 8.50 am as opposed to 7.30 am. Dh put him outside with Lurcherboy and he yodelled at full volume on the back doorstep, so no improvement there. I'm really not feeling great and still have the stinky virus, which is accompanied by the headache from hell, so was not terribly patient.

After the school run I grabbed him and carried him up to the park to sit on a bench and hopefully meet some of Lurcherboy's mates. Nope, for some reason not one of them was in the park at their usual time this morning, despite it being really sunny.

We did see a gorgeous Springer Spaniel from a distance though and worryingly, as soon as Pip clocked it he started shaking uncontrollably. I'm seriously hoping it was excitement, because we've been really careful to positively reinforce all dog sightings with tasty treats and he didn't try to escape, but am slightly concerned it was fear. His, ahem, bits are dropping and he's prime for a fear period, so I'm desperate not to reinforce any fears he may develop around this time. He has his second vax on Wednesday, then two more weeks before he's allowed out properly and his puppy classes don't start for another month. Dh thinks he's identified a friendly dog (a chocolate pug owned by one of his friends) he could play with, so we may see if we can go and visit them this weekend. They have cats too - so that should be interesting.

Ollie doesn't quite get the kong bless him, he can smell the chicken and he knows its there somewhere but that's about it . Nor is he overly fond of the rain, but will happily sit in a puddle as long as its not falling from the sky!!
Basildon, our retriever is stereotypical, if we just reward with praise or offer a toy he looks at you as if to say 'but where's the treat?' all confused bless him :)

Just back from the vet, he has given antibiotics and food for a poorly tummy (poos are formed but soft and bright yellow today) I said to him that one of my main concerns is that he wasn't getting the right nutrition to help him grow and develop. He was a lovely vet though, much nicer than the others I've seen.

I do have another 'is this normal' question though, Ollie has stages of going utterly mental, tearing around the house, pouncing on you then biting and just being an utter loon. There seems to be no stopping him either! We try to ignore, sit away and not engage etc but this doesn't even seem to register with him, he just carries on regardless!!

Thanks to everyone here, the advise has been brilliant and it just helps knowing I'm not alone in the madness

When Ollie's scared moose he literally clings on to me for dear life or tries to hide in my hair, so maybe it was excitement if he was shaking but not trying to move back into you.
Hope you're feeling better soon.

Hello all trying to keep up with you all. Nala loves her Kong I don't think I'm packing it tight enough as she can demolish it in about 5 mins. She gets excited when she sees it coming out. She now knows her name and dinner. She is not food aggressive at all, she's so gentle attacking food from you and will happily let you take her bowl away, touch her whilst she's eating.

Toilet training is going ok, she'll happily go outside but if I don't remember she'll have an accident. How long roughly does it take for them to "ask" to go stop having accidents suppose its far too early and she's so young it will be a good few weeks yet.

She will happily go sleep in her crate during the day but hates being locked in, at night she howls, I find it hard at 5am once she's been outside she's up for the day tearing about, how do. I stretch it so either she calms down and goes back to sleep or gets up at a decent time?

dharma - puppies have what's called a mad 5 minutes when they go berserk, best just to ignore I if it's unwanted behaviour and reward once he's calmed down.

We're trying to stop the play biting just now

Dharma, sounds like typical puppy zoomies to me. Most pups do it to burn of a bit of excess energy and well, just because it's fun!

Pip winds Lurcherboy up when he gets going, so now I've taught him 'out' means go and run it off in the garden with yer big brother! He had his morning zoomie session before lazy Lurcherboy was up this morning though, so decided to try and play with ds2 in the same way instead. Ds2 was highly unimpressed, as he's absolutely in love with Pip and they've really bonded, but Pip wouldn't listen to him at all. I had to explain that he wasn't being nasty, just a typical loopy pup and would be back to normal once he'd calmed down.

Maybe the shivering/shaking was excitement then, just not sure. He didn't have a happy vibe when he was doing it iykwim.

He's slept most of today. Had another mad-one when dh got back from his interview, although thankfully this time only with his own toys and the big Amazon delivery box I've given him to trash, the collapsed into an upside-down heap in his crate, which is where he's been ever since. I am eternally grateful, as I really need some peace before the after-school onslaught.

Pip is poorly.

He started retching as if he was going to throw up, I tried to usher him out of the living room at least onto the tiled kitchen floor, but he threw up an unfeasible amount of what looked like pure undigested kibble all the way across the room. It looked fine, just like he'd perhaps overloaded his stomach (we've been increasing his kibble to chicken ratio and he went onto just kibble today) so I didn't stop him clearing it up, as I know that's pretty normal for disgusterhounds. (Obviously I then disinfected the carpet anyway.)

Unfortunately, he then started to whine frantically and ran to the back door - shot up the garden like his life depended on it and literally fired diarrhoea across the lawn with incredible force. Followed by a major case of the zoomies - I think in panic at what just happened.

Checked it out, not sign of blood or mucus, but I've had to bleach the lawn, so that's going to be an interesting stripe.

He the curled up in his bed whingeing for a while, but has just been charging around the garden jumping on Lurcherboy's head, so can't be feeling that bad.

Have given him some probiotic paste and will go back to just chicken for a couple of days. He's due at the vets for his second vax on Wednesday - praying they don't cancel it again now.

I was saying to dh last night that the wind Pip was emitting smelled like raw chicken and I was worried it might be the campylobacter building up again - then this. Will keep a close eye on him this evening and if it happens again get him straight to the vets.

Oh no after all Pip has been through. Hope it settles down and he can get his jabs. You've had a busy time.

Oh no poor Pip, I really hope he's ok :(

How is he now Moose?

Not good Dharma. He's been sick again a couple of times. Brought back a chunk of my wicker basket then just bile, but he's slept on my knee for 2 hours straight until I had to put him down at 9.00 to eat something and is now curled up in his bed fast asleep again.

I think he seems a bit unsteady of his feet as well, but dh says he just looks generally poorly and sorry for himself.

I'm so worried about him, but he's not being sick or having diarrhoea repeatedly and there's been no sign of blood or anything else sinister, so I think it's ok to watch and wait until morning.

The only concern I have is that he hasn't drunk anything for quite while now. If he doesn't drink something soon I think I may try syringing some rehydration solution down his neck.

Going to sleep on the sofa tonight so I can keep a close eye on him.

Oh dear Moose that's worrying for you. Hope he picks up overnight and you both get some sleep

Poorpip! I do hope he takes a drink - good idea to be in the sofa tonight. Hope it's just a little bug and he's better soon.

I'm a bit worried about our little guy getting cold in his crate at night. He has a fleece blanket but had to pop it in the wash ax he had a bit of an accident earlier- my fault, was too slow getting him downstairs! How do I know if he's cold? X

Oh moose poor wee Pip hope he's back to normal tomorrow

Thanks.

I checked his gums and they were dry and sticky, so tried to syringe some water into his mouth and he got up, gave me a filthy look and had a good long drink from his water bowl. He's kept that down for about 3/4 hr now, so hoping that's a good sign. He also decamped from his crate to the big bed in the kitchen, stopping to bite Lurcherboy's ear on the way past and was nice and steady on his feet.

So, it's looking like the daft pup has just scoffed something he shouldn't in the garden - although still not 100% sure, as it was the most spectacular case of dog diarrhoea I've ever seen in 24 plus years of having dogs.

I'm forever following him around telling him to leave this, that or the other, but I may have missed one sometime with me being ill today. He loves to scrape up bits of mud to eat and enjoys chewing up any leaves he finds that have landed on the lawn, along with anything else - preferably as disgusting as possible - that he can get his chops around.

Ohalvo, he shouldn't be getting cold with his coat. Pip has a superfine coat and zero bodyfat, partly due to his breeding and partly as a result of the infection he had when he came to us, so he has nothing to keep him warm if the temperature drops. Most pups have a good coat, plus plenty of puppy fat to insulate them. My Wheaten girlie only got cold when she became geriatric and had a few health issues. We bought her a lovely thick sheepskin coat for outdoor wear, but she never needed any extra bedding at night.

How is Pip feeling this morning moose???

He's a lot better this morning thanks. Phew!

He's had some cooked chicken, drunk plenty of water and passed a normal poo, so it was either something he'd eaten or the piece of my basket was blocking his system and throwing that up sorted him out.

He's still a bit less lively than usual, but has managed to get up to plenty of mischief anyway. I'm so relieved.

On a less positive note, because I couldn't give him kibble in his busy buddy this morning, so he just had 2 kongs with only chicken and probiotic paste in, he started yelling 15 minutes after I went out to take ds2 and dd to school. It was full on screaming/howling and he didn't stop until I got back, so just under 8 minutes in all.

Both kongs were still full as well, barring the plug at the top that I'd filled with probiotic paste. I gave them a quick squeeze and gave them back to them and he then emptied them both in 10 minutes, so if he'd actually stuck with them he'd have been quiet the whole time I was out.

Glad to hear Pip's feeling better moose

Fitz is much keener on chicken in a kong - he's obviously a pup of expensive tastes .. However he still doesn't stick at it - this morning I gave him one which I hadn't packed tightly enough and he emptied it in about 5 mins - as he had to come with me for the school run and he's not keen on the car I gave him a much more tightly packed one but he's quite reluctant to persevere with it and he keeps giving up and whining for help - there's still chicken in it now and it's nearly lunchtime .,

Can you only feed kibble in the busy buddies? As he will only eat the bits of kibble he absolutely can't avoid ingesting I'm assuming that'll be a no go :(