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.

When did Finn have his second lot of jabs? Isn't the incubation period for parvo 3-7 days

Re boxes, yes they do get ripped up and you have to clear up soggy bits but they do give a lot of pleasure!

If you leave toys out all the time they get boring v quickly so then you have to get more!

The only meal Fitz has in his bowl is tea which is wet food - all the rest is in his kongs, busy buddy, hand fed or hidden inside kitchen roll tubes, egg boxes etc - makes meals last much longer!

He had his injections last Wednesday, the vet said to wait until Monday to take him out, I'm just worried as the garden seems to have the highest risk He hasn't been sick at all and just one runny poo, not watery, bloody or with any mucus. He could just have eaten something in the garden as he seems to like to try most things. Will ring the vet this am.

I've booked a vets appointment for this morning, I never used to be this worried with my children!

Re toys, I have divided them up into different bags and I rotate them. He gets so excited when I swap the toys in the morning, its very sweet!

Im up to 4 bags atm, but my plan is to have one per day of the week because he gets bored of them fast. Each bag has about 4-5 things in which are different. His favourite are old clothes which I put lots of knots in. Remember to take things like buttons off though. I do have to supervise him with the clothes ones though because he eats them! So each bag will have a knotted cloth toy or rope toy, a harder chewy toy, maybe something that makes a noise, a cuddly toy. I get lots from charity shops because he destroys them so fast. His favourite is the clothes toys I make:) If I don't give him one of those he soon starts to steal all my washing!

NCISaddict - Legend definitely has 'active' days and 'quiet' days. He also has runny poo's quite often tbh. I think they just end up eating all kinds of stuff, little bits and bobs that upset tummys are inevitable. Hope he's ok, you are the best judge of what is 'normal' for him.

Oh yes, someone told me to put some of his kibble in an old sock and then tie lots of knots in it. Apparently it would keep him busy for ages. Well I did this and stupidly left him with it whilst we popped out briefly, and when I came back there was no sign of the sock! The next day he pooed out the entire sock! So that is why I now have to supervise closely when it comes to clothing items, and I certainly will not be tying food into them again!

That's hilarious Picnic! I imagine the knots had been too hard to undo so he'd had to eat the whole thing instead! How funny.

I need to be way more inventive and creative with mintys playtime and tea time. Right DS2 and I have our job for the day today! I find it all a lot to keep on top of with clicker training and whistle training as well. Full-time job!

NCIS - hope all ok at vets. Yes really worrying when you sense they're not right.

Morning. I have tried to read back and catch up, but am hopelessly behind, so apologies to anyone I miss.

Vicar, Pip used to go for the stones in the border outside our back door. Drove me to distraction. We did lots of 'leave it' exercises with him and eventually he got bored of them.

NCIS, he would have gone down very quickly if it was anything as serious as Parvo and the diarrhoea would be bloody and smell truly awful. Good idea to check it out, but he has probably just eaten something he shouldn't. Good luck at the vets.

Basil, Pip towers over all the puppies at his puppy classes as well. He's 22" to his shoulder now and was 21 weeks old on Saturday. He was weighed at the vets on Monday and is still only 13.28 kg though - he's all lanky legs and resembles a sightly bonkers Bambi!

Toys, we have two cardboard boxes of toys that we rotate the toys in and leave out for him to take things out of. He loves his split antler, rope toys and crunchy bottles best, but also enjoys chomping down on a nice bit of cardboard. I keep the boxes of everything now and use them to seal treats into to keep him occupied. Similar to the cardboard tube thing, we've found toothpaste boxes work really well. Kibble inside a small water bottle with no lid on is fun as well.

We went to Nottingham the other day to take Pip to meet our oldest and best friend the other day. Went for a long walk in a country park and Pip was really good. Met a few different breeds of dogs, avoided a few he wasn't sure of and had lots of off-lead charging around through very soggy, muddy fields with Lurcherboy. We went over there in our VW camper, which was a first for Pip. He wasn't sure at first and was a bit whingy, but soon decided he liked it when he realised he could see both me and out of the front of the van whilst still in his crate.

Puppy classes went well yesterday, I think. Pip was terrified when we arrived, really shaking badly and my heart sank, but he seemed to remember it was ok last time and settle more quickly. He even joined in the lesson and did some training out in front of me. Then after the lesson he said hello to the trainer's Toller andthe most gorgeous tiny Border Terrier girl. (He'd decided she was ok, because she was asleep on her owners lap for most of the lesson, so he'd already snuck up for a sniff. )

I've started to be much more confident letting him off and allowing him to meet other dogs off-lead now I've road tested his whistle recall. I've noticed that he seems to put a bit of distance between him and the other dog, then watch Lurcherboy say hi, then come back and say hello himself. He's still a long way from confident, but he's choosing to interact on his own terms and so far (fingers crossed) it's all gone ok. Yesterday he met a couple of Labradors, a GSD, a Norwich Terrier and an OES and got on fine with all of them.

Off to visit my sister and introduce Pip to my nephew this afternoon.

We've had such a busy week after two weeks of being stuck in the house due to various viruses. He's exhausted, but seems to be enjoying himself.

Think we're going to have a pj day tomorrow. The dcs are all worn out as well and I think we could do with some down-time.

Just got back from the vets, he has a mild temp but vet can find nothing else wrong, he's had an injection of antibiotics and something to bring his temp down so should start to feel better soon, fingers crossed. Like you Moose the vet said he would be a lot more poorly if it was anything really serious and probably is just him being an indiscriminate gannet!
Glad I got him checked out though as I'm on nights tonight and do not trust anyone else to look after him be as paranoid as well as me.

That's a relief NCIS that the vet doesn't think it's serious. You were right about him not being well so you're obviously tuned into him really closely. Hope he improves now you got him treated.

I'm just back from another off-lead walk. All great except as soon as minty realised I was putting him back on lead he went loopy, leaping around, barking and jumping up at me and DS2. His teeth got stuck in my coat and he's ripped the stitching .

Not sure how to get him back on lead easily, he's getting too big for me and when something like this happens I lose my confidence. Wondering now why I didn't go for a small dog I could pick up easily and tuck under my arm!

we encouraged Jarvis to chew boxes to find his food. Unfortunately yesterday he chewed a shoebox from Next directory which contained Vans that dh was going to send back. Serves him right for leaving them in reach, I said.

We had another night of diarrhoea twice in the crate last night she's so well in herself eating and playing though. I'll give it another day or so and take her to the vets if it doesn't clear up, bound to be something she's ate as well, she's a complete gannet too, have to pull her away from bird poo all the time.

Minty - I use the come command and if that doesn't work "what's this" which is her positive interrupter as she knows she'll get a treat, she recalls about 75% of the time, 100% if were alone but with another dog there it's iffy

Well school run and then Halloween

Minty we have got a perfect recall going for Meg (otherwise far from perfect) with a dog whistle and a tube of dairylea cheese which she only gets when sitting down with a hand on collar. We trained alone at first, and then alone but calling back when racing after a ball, and then alone (but rolling in delicious fox poo). It now brings her back from anything including dogs. Couldn't manage without it. It took about two weeks to get to present stage from start.

Fox poo - try tomato ketchup on it. I don't know why but it gets the smell out of their fur, though they do look like a Halloween dog!!

Oh no Awks - that an expensive mistake!

Thanks Sweetkitty and barbarian for ideas. I will try those and need to work on it a bit as it's so important.

That's awful Sweetkitty about the runs not great in a crate or anywhere. Hope clears up. Some of the treats I've tried have an immediate effect that way, could it be that type of thing?

NCIS, glad the vet doesn't think it's anything serious. Hope he's feeling better soon.

Mint, a couple of things to try. First of all, lots of on-off-on-off lead so he never knows when to expect it and also so it doesn't mean end of fun, as you keep letting him off to go again as soon as you've put it on, iyswim.

Also, try asking him to do something different - a trick perhaps, touch, paw or even a down then you can reward that and clip on the lead, making it a step away from the recall and therefore dissociating the two.

Another good idea is to call him to you regularly and make sure you take hold of his harness or collar, then treat, then release him to play. That way he doesn't see you taking hold of him as a precursor to end of freedom/fun.

Thanks Moose. I have made mental notes and will do those things tomorrow. I wonder if minty is so totally excited when off lead because it's so new and rare. Maybe if I try off lead every time we are out somewhere suitable it will be less overwhelming.

How have all the puppies done with trick or treaters calling tonight?

We had loads of rings at the bell and minty calmly sat by the stairgate in the kitchen watching it all with no barking. I was amazed so treated him loads but I'm not sure if he knew why he was getting treats! Not like him to be quiet when there's something going on involving little people!

Fitz was absolutely fine with trick or treaters - I kept the stairgate to the kitchen closed and he just sat there calmly watching

He had puppy class last night too so had to take him out in the dark with lots of people milling around and he was so calm, possibly because he'd had a play date with his whippet x friend in the morning and was absolutely shattered all afternoon

Toby woofed once and that was it really where TorT were concerned. Glad that's over with though. He doesn't seem remotely bothered by fireworks which is great as there were some last night. Somebody said yesterday "is he a Weimaraner?" No!!!! He's a Labrador - does anyone else get that?

We get all kinds of guesses with Fitz - most people think he's a golden retriever/collie x

I nearly fell over the other day when a couple of dog walkers came up and said "what a lovely Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever!" as that was the first time anyone had ever identified him correctly - it turned out their friend had one and they recognised Fitz as a baby version

No probs with trick or treaters here as we only had one! Oh well, looks like I'll have to eat all chocolate shaped brains by myself then:D

I have made another appointment with the behaviourist. The walk earlier this week has left me feeling very deflated, plus he was growling at DD again yesterday. It is really interfering with being able to bond with him.

We are going to take him to a new park today which is completely enclosed, so we can practise recall. I'm looking forward to seeing him bounding around, he does look so sweet when he's running:)

Haha BB!

No trick or treaters here as usual. Been here 10 years now and haven't had a single trick or treater in all that time. Dcs are pleased, as I always buy a bag of sweets just in case and now they get to share them instead.

Sally - Weimerarner! Honestly, he doesn't look remotely like a Weim, he's got a beautiful Lab face.

Basil, our trainer has a Toller girl and someone asked me if I thought she was a collie cross.

People rarely guessed my Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier's breed right. I had everything from Tibetan Terrier to Poodle with her. Saw a gorgeous Wheaten boy in the park on Wednesday. First time I've seen one since we lost our girl two years ago - brought lump to my throat.

We have a huge firework display at the secondary school at the end of our road on Saturday night. So far Pip has ignored the occasional firework that's gone off and was happily snoozing last night with a few going off in the distance, but a big professional display is a different matter. They're predicting heavy rain, but I think this one always goes ahead in spite of the weather.

Going to play the desensitisation CD quite a few times during the day today and tomorrow and I've had him on Scullcap and Valerian tablets since Tuesday as well, so hoping he'll be ok.

We have our primary school one next Friday and as we live literally across the road, that one is going to be even louder. I don't really like fireworks and ds2 isn't keen, so we're going to stay at home with the dogs, while dh takes ds1 and dd.

I like fireworks if I don't have to listen to the bangs or stand around somewhere freezing for hours. Since we had a loft conversion the other year, we get a fabulous view of the organised one in Campbell Park which is always spectacular but without Beethoven's Fifth over the PA system!