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.

Stanley's currently playing with an empty coke bottle with a few bits of dry pasta in it, it's the most exciting toy ever!

Moosemama I'm panicking a bit about leaving Stanley on his own, and Pip's not exactly filling me with confidence! In a few weeks when DD is back at school we'll need to leave him on his own for a while, I've got visions of him howling constantly.

I've given up trying to leave Autumn on her own. She comes shopping with me in the car (and I race round the shop as quick as I can as she is flattened against the window when I leave and still there when I get back). She follows me all round the house and watches me go to the toilet. She goes back to her mum's 3 days a week when I'm at work and is never left alone there. She doesn't even like being in her puppy play pen when we're all in the same room (whimpers). In the car she tries to crawl onto my lap, but I've drawn the line at that.

She also loves empty plastic bottles, but they have to be kiddy water bottles because her mouth is a bit tiny. She is currently sat on DD1's lap, licking her fingers lovingly with one ear inside out.

Buttons. Start working on it now. Just tell him in a casual voice "off to xyz. See you later". Shut the front door and wait a minute or two then walk back in and say "hello" in a low key way put your bags down etc. gradually increase it and then he won't be stressed about you leaving. What I would say though is that if you have an answer machine, your voice on it will drive him mad so turn it off and get 152. My old dog Monty used to howl at the answer machine. He hated it.

Thanks Sally, I'll try that. I think I'm going to get him a puppy play pen so he's got somewhere safe to be left. I'd shut him in the kitchen but it's brand new, only been fitted last week so I'm not entirely keen on coming back to find a door chewed .

Buttons, he will be fine I'm sure, but as Sally said you need to start getting him used to short periods on his own and gradually build it up between now and the end of the holidays.

I'm over-sensitive to it, because I recently had to do some intensive behavioural work with Lurcherboy when he developed Separation Anxiety after Oldgirl died and started full-on howling whenever we left him. We started off with him howling after just 3 minutes, but he can be left an hour and a half without starting to whinge now. It was very hard work, really intensive and I pretty much had to put my life on hold and be trapped in the house other than school runs for almost 8 weeks. My neighbours were lovely about it, but I'm sure they won't be impressed if they get back off holiday and we have another howler in the house. The idea, based on research re his SA type and advice from knowledgeable sighthound owners, was that getting another dog would be company for Lurcherboy. I think I'll start howling myself if I just end up with double trouble!

Fortunately, we've had a bit of a breakthrough with it today. I dropped a few pieces of cooked chicken into his puppy kong, put it in his crate with him and he didn't even notice me leave the room. Kept him quiet for 10 minutes while I played ball with Lurcherboy in the garden, until he had a bigger piece stuck in the kong and got frustrated. So I chopped that up, put it back in and got another 5 minutes peace. Feeling less worried about it now, as I'm sure by September the little piggy will be happy to nosh down on a well stuffed kong or playing with a treat dispenser when I have to pop across to the school. I wasn't sure it would work, because Lurcherboy doesn't do kongs. He's such a lazy boy and will eat treats dropped out of a ball toy, but won't bother with a well stuff kong, because it's too much like hard work.

Pip's crate is massive, but I think - judging by how much he's grown in just a week with us - that he's going to need it. We currently have a divider in it and he's just using half, but I'm thinking I'll gradually move it back until he has room to play with a treat dispensing toy in there as well as a kong. He could easily run around in it currently, if we took the divider out.

TMB I've left Jarvis now for up to 2 hours, in his crate in the kitchen with the radio on. I did it by gradually increasing the time, ie every hour at first I popped him in his crate and said bye bye then came back for 2 minutes. it seems to be working as now he goes into his crate on his own.

He's playing with the plastic coke bottle too while the £6 Kong sits there ignored

Again I am very Awks.

Pip happily goes into his crate for sleep or play all throughout the day. He even sleeps happily in there with me in the same room or - if I'm quiet - I can leave the room while he's sleeping, but if he's in there with the door closed and I so much as step out of the room he's full on screaming before I can even turn around and sometimes he'll even do it with me in the same room.

He's happy enough for me to leave the room and move around the house if he's not in his crate, just not while he's in there with the door shut. Yet he doesn't appear to have any negative associations with the crate itself, as it's his choice to go in there 99.9% of the time. In fact, he's asleep in there right now - with the door open. He's also happy to go outside or into another room on his own, so it's not really over-attachment.

The clicker training is helping, but I have spent several sessions today wearing a treat pouch, with a clicker in my back pocket going in and out of the room via either door, waiting for him to draw breath, so he's quiet enough to click treat. It's very time consuming, but will hopefully be worth it in the long run.

Sounds as if our boys have very different personalities.

(Looks about). We have a crate and a puppy pen. The puppy pen is quite tall so I've packed that away until he's a bit bigger. The rugs have been rolled up and we are clearing a space in DH's office for his bed/crate. Oh lord. We've done it now!

My ideal set up would be a smaller crate, surrounded by a puppy pen - but there's simply not enough room in my house for that.

I'm so excited for you Sally!

Saw on the other thread that dd is doing really well considering everything she's been through. So pleased she'll soon have her new best friend home to help her through her recovery.

Pip is asleep in his crate in the living room ... and I'm in the kitchen!

Come on Sally, you can do it we are holding your paw :)

Jarvis's poohs are still really runny - they have been about 80% of the time since we brought him home, there have been a couple of normal ones then it's back to runny. I've poked about in the last one to see if there were any signs of worms but there weren't - he's eating and drinking fine and appears quite well but I am anxious that there's something wrong with him. I think I will take him to the vets Monday with a sample but would you do the chicken water rice till then or just keep to his normal food?

moose shuuuusssh - brilliant news though, clever doggy

Make that, Pip is awake (but tired) in his crate in the living room and I am sitting at the kitchen table!

I don't think it could do any harm to just give him chicken until Monday Awks. Pip has been on cooked chicken (no rice) since Tuesday and is now producing healthy, if rare, poos (he's only pooing once a day). Apparently some dogs don't react well to rice, so just cooked chicken or white fish is a better option.

Our vet gave us Canikur probiotic paste to give to Pip twice a day as well and I've since been told it's often used to settle the digestive system of new pups.

Be warned though, our vet charged us nearly £19.00 for a 15ml syringe, then I found out you could buy a 30ml syringe off VetUK for just over £10.00, as it's non-prescription. I've bought a syringe full online now, so if the vet says she wants to keep him on it I'm prepared. Several people on the sighthound forum I'm on said they keep it in, in case their dogs ever get upset stomachs and it always sorts them within 48 hours.

Sally, forgot to say last night - ds1 loved the 'may the paw be with you' thing. Mind you, he wanted to call Pip Yoda.

What size of crate has everyone got? Looking online I should go for an XL one for a ridgeback but the XXL says GSD/Doberman size and a RR is about the size if a Doberman so I'm confused now. Have also been told just vet bed in the crate but if the crates huge and we've got this tiny pup won't she just pee in the other end?

Am loving all these tales of new puppies

woo go Pip that's a real result moose. Thanks for the advice - I'm boiling up some diced chicken now so will do this resting diet today and tomorrow and see how he is on Monday, if no change will take him to the vets. Good tip re the Cankur though, thanks also

Kitty I'd get the XXL one and partition one end off with a big cardboard box until he needs it

'Twas inspired I thought Moose! (Hums Star Wars theme, wonders if you can get a bone handle shaped light sabre)

Kitty, I agree with Awks, we got our crate from Doggie Solutions, as they were the cheapest at the time and went for the biggest we can fit in the house! Their crates come with a free partition, so he's just in one end at the moment and we'll move the partition back as he grows.

Well, he dozed of for about ten/fifteen minutes, then woke up and just did one tiny little whine, so I let him out and he went straight out for a wee. Things are looking up ...

Thanks for the advice will have a mooch on doggie solutions.

Well after last night's disastrous night wakenings, and my wibbles this morning over whether buying a dog was a silly idea, Aulay dog has been an absolute star all day. One tiny accident on his puppy pad at the back door I was distracted with DD but otherwise all toileting in the garden. Letting him out hourly seems to be doing the trick!

WRT crate sizes, my mum and dad gave us their old lab's one. Not a clue on size but it seems pretty big.

I think I have managed to upload a photo onto my profile.

Aw, he's really cute MissM. What a good boy with his housetraining as well.

Poor old Pip had an wee accident this afternoon. Dh's fault, he shut the backdoor without telling me and I was in the bathroom, so he couldn't ask to go out.

Oh poor pip moosemam

Aulay looks like a lab. He is lab x springador. But he walks/skips/springs like a springer spaniel! He has spaniel jowls and long ears too. And little white bits between his toes

Cute puppy MissMummy! Aww

I feel for those of you with runny puppy poo. We once had a puppy (a Westie) who did about 12 runny poos a day (and night) and it was terrible. He trod in them as soon as he did them too. Yuck.

I am going to work on leaving Autumn alone a bit more.

I know - poor boy, especially considering he hasn't gone inside once since Tuesday evening when DH came home from work and he got excited. Before then he hadn't gone indoors since Monday night.

I think you can really see the spaniel in him MissM. I love his spaniely ears.

I love dogs. Next time I hire someone I am going to ask if they like dogs too