New Puppy Mummies Part 2

[SallyBear]

Just thought I'd start the new thread!

Toby (foxy coloured yellow Labrador) is now 13 weeks old. Long, lean and lanky. Still wonderfully tempered and is sleeping through and no longer messing in the house.

Fitz now weighs 7 kilos and I've still got to carry him for two more weeks - last jabs in a week and then we have to wait another week before he can go on the ground

He's 12 weeks tomorrow and I definitely feel like he sees us as his family now - the biting is getting better and he's sleeping from about 9:30 to about 6:45

He's delightfully chilled, which is good as when you look like a real live teddy bear you get a LOT of small children wanting to pat you, so far nothing's fazed him

If only the cats would decide that he isn't the spawn of satan ...

Stanley's gorgeous and he is so hairy! Is he a show cocker or a working one? Facially he looks like Jarvis only he hasn't got long hair yet.

Our dog loves digging, he can spend hours in the garden digging holes that go nowhere, he just loves it. Almost as much as he loves his big cuddly humpy boyfriend

7 kilos? Blardy hell he is massive! and moose, much love x

Fitz is so cute! My cat has got over her fear of Stanley, and now views him with utter contempt, along with shouting some choice swear words when he piles on top of her to play...at least I think he's trying to play with her...

Awks he's a show cocker, and a total fluff monster! OH wants to get him clipped, but he's so fluffy and cuddly and still a baby so I want to wait a bit longer. He also loves digging, and then trailing huge muddy paw prints through the house. Sigh.

His latest - and most annoying - discovery is the ability to climb stairs. Sadly he's scared of heights so just sits at the top whimpering until someone brings him down. Only for him to immediately leg it back upstairs, then sit whimpering...

Toby is also 15 weeks now and is leggy and has lost his puppy fur . He's getting his waterproofing on now in terms of adult fur. He weighs 12.3kgs and is doing beautifully. Very proud of my boy

I've made a lovely comfy bed for Finn in the sitting room but will he sleep on it? No, he prefers to curl up on the cold,hard tiled hearth. Goodness knows what he'll do when we start to light the fire.

I suppose that's border collies for you, my old one prefered to sleep with her back against the back door in a howling gale.

Lifeisontheup, Oldgirl was Belgian Shepherd x Border Collie and she always preferred lying on the quarry tiles in the kitchen instead of her lovely soft bed.

She actually preferred to lie in the middle of the back garden - regardless of weather conditions, in fact the colder the better. I have memories of just being able to see the tips of her pointy ears above the snow as she lay there one particularly snowy winter.

Conversely, both my Lurchers are total snuggle bunnies, the softer and warmer the better for them ... lightweights!

They really are designed well for what they do as working dogs. Both my collie and springer loved snow, rain and mud although they would curl up by the fire of an evening. We'll see what this one does when we get round to lighting the fire.

Ridgebacks are known for their dislike of water, Nala has the rain and dipped a toe in the pond and thought better of it.

The biting has calmed a little but she's still hyper in the morning. Of course this is my busiest time getting 4 DC ready so I can't interact with her and DP leaves for work at 6am so a morning walk isn't happening either :(

Nala loves her pigs ears, runs away as if we are going to steal it, no chance, she only gets them outside though.

So far we are two pairs of leggings, two socks, two school polo shirts down from her biting.

SweetKitty my ridgeback likes water in the summer. She stands and lets you hose her down with cool water when the sun is beaming and she absolutely loves it. In cold weather, shes a mardy bum lol. She goes in the sea at the beach etc though x

Teething has started in earnest here. Poor Pip is beside himself and desperate to sink his teeth into almost anything. I have raided the recycling and given him several tough cardboard boxes and tubes, he seems to favour biting down on tennis balls, so I've left a few of those out and he's also got his rope toy.

Just been reading some advice that said soak rope or fleece tuggers in low sodium chicken broth and then freeze them, so might try that. Apparently an alternative is soaking old teatowels then knotting them up and freezing them.

I've never had a pup that teethed this obviously/badly before. Lurcherboy didn't seem fussed at all (didn't nip either) and he was my last pup 8 years ago - although he didn't come to us till he was already 16 weeks old I suppose.

Gave Pip a small dose of Valeran Compound before the school run yesterday, to test if it will help him cope with the ferry crossing to Ireland. He stayed awake for an hour, long enough to empty two kongs, while I was on the school run, then slept like the dead for a couple of hours. Not sure what he weighs at the moment, so only a gave him a tiny dose, but need him to sleep and not be stressed for a four hour crossing, so need to take him to be weighed at the vets to make sure I get the dosage right.

Think I need to have him weighed for his next advocate dose anyway - he's grown so much in the last couple of weeks and if Toby's 12.3kg, he must be at least that if not more. He's still a skinny little muttley, but has incredibly long legs. A guy I met in the park (whose teeny daschie cross was terrorising poor old leggy Pip) wouldn't believe me that he's only 18 weeks old. He kept saying 'but he must be older than that - look at he size of him'. I had to point out that he's actually all legs and has a lot of growing still to do, but he wasn't having any of it.

Have given Toby a chunk of cheddar in his Kong y'day. No trots!!! Yay. So it was the Burns Puppy. Since we stopped it he's been doing proper poos. Just goes to show they're all individuals.

It's great to hear Toby's digestion has settled down on your home cooked diet. I'm hearing more and more about dogs reacting to rice. Wonder if that was it?

We're gradually expanding what we give Pip too. He had a blob of peanut butter earlier and loved it, but did have a reaction to a small piece of cheddar he had last week, so obviously dairy is a no for him. Will have to see how he is after the peanut butter. Hoping he's ok as it's great for kongs, being so sticky.

Speaking of which, I haven't stuffed his school run kongs yet, so I'd better go and do it ...

Genius moosemama! I have a tub of chicken stock in the fridge as I didn't need all of it for curry on Sunday. Will report back.

Thank you DaftAda. Being veggie, I'm not too keen on cooking chicken stock unless it's going to work!

Moose I am convinced that his poorly tummy was solely down to the Burns Puppy. We feed him on home cooked food (roast chicken this week) and I put in Pedigree mixer biscuits for crunch. Perfect looking poo, and honestly no flatulence, beautiful shiny coat.

I agree Sally, but Burns puppy has a very high rice content (contains both brown and white rice) hence musing that rice could be the main suspect.

Actually, having just checked, their main protein source on the 'original puppy food' is also listed as Chicken 'meal' so probably poor quality protein as well, which is another big red flag.

The Lamb and Rice variety has rice as the first and second ingredients - ahead of Lamb 'meal' so a double whammy.

My pig of a pup has just scoffed a large sized red kong, a medium red kong, a medium puppy kong, a small puppy kong, a medium puppy busy buddy and small puppy busy buddy - all in less than 40 minutes!

Honestly, he is the skinniest scrap of a pooch, but eats like a horse. I wish I had his metabolism!

I'm not concerned about whether or not he's absorbing the nutrients etc, as he has a gorgeous glossy coat, bright clear eyes and is fully of vitality. I think it's just the Saluki/Supermodel in his mix!

Hi all hope all Mums and pups are keeping well.
Gosh Jess is 18 weeks now but still needing alot of attention and training. Very cute though so she is forgiven!
I have a question about raw bones. I got some chicken ones from the local butcher. I i have given her a few now over the last few weeks. However she wakes me in the night that evening. Other times she sleeps through. The first time I could see her tummy moving so may be she was in discomfort. The next week she woke at 1 am but was ok. The following morning she was slightly sick.
She didn't appear ill and was playing within a few minutes after. Any ideas? Is this normal? Am I giving too much. It was a about size of my hand (the smallest the butcher could cut it). She really loves eating them. It also seems to help with the teething so hoping she can continue . Any advice I would be grateful for. Thanks

I have a friend whose cousin is a vet. She has a horror of chicken bones (even raw ones). She advises beef bones. I haven't given Toby any bones yet. Just sticking so far to hide cigar rolls and the dreaded pigs ears.

Anyone else know about raw bones? We had a neighbour who would always give us their leftover cooked lamb bones for the dog - they went in the bin once the door was shut after I thanked them.

All of my dogs were fed raw until very recently - Lurcherboy still is mostly, but we're having to work on a relationship with a new vet at the moment, as we don't have room for a chest freezer, so he's getting Canagan too.

Oldgirl was weaned onto chicken wings at 6 weeks old and ate those and chicken racks from then until we lost her at 14 years old. I have always understood that most chicken carcasses consist of very soft bones, due to the chickens being so young when they go to slaughter in the UK. That said, I was also told you should never give cut chicken bones, as the ends can be very sharp when sliced with a knife, compared to the ripping and crushing they get from dogs' teeth. Conversely, beef bones tend to be harder and more likely to cause tooth fractures, particularly the weight bearing bones. I think there probably is a small risk for some dogs, but then there's the risk of bloat in kibble fed dogs and with my breed I feel that's more of a risk than bones.

Most vets advise against bones because that's what they're taught at vet school - by pet food manufacturers. I'm sure there must be some injuries due to raw bones, but a) realistically, who is going to admit they fed their dog cooked bones when they're faced with a vet telling them bones are bad for their dog and b) I have never met anyone whose dog it's happened to, despite attending two separate training classes full of raw feeders for many years - so it can't be that common.

I think it's another one of those things that you just have to do your research and go for what feels right for you and your dogs.

Thanks I have looked up quite abit about it on the net. I don't want to start a debate on if raw or kibble is best.
I haven't gone over from dry food to raw as having problems on once a week at the mo. I am more looking for advice on if I have done anything wrong as very inexperienced. Or if there is something that maybe easier for her to digest. Maybe it isn't going to be the right thing for her if it unsettles her at night. She isn't a great lover of dry food though. The tins going all over her and make her smelly!!! She is a shih tzu.

Could you maybe feed her a bit earlier, so she has time to digest it before bedtime?

I know on the odd occasion that Pip's eaten his last meal late he's been more restless at night.

Perhaps bones for an earlier meal then muscle meat in the afternoon and/or evening?

Sorry I just read that back and it sounds quite rude. That wasn't my intention. There just seems to be so much debate around the subject on the net already if you know what I mean.
Yes I will try giving her it in the morning moouse that may help.

I knew what you meant.

Feeding is a very personal/individual choice and has to be right for both the dog and owner - there is no one size fits all solution, so it's not worth arguing about.