New Puppy Mummies, Part 3

[DharmaLovesDraco]

New thread, because quite frankly I can't do without you all :)

what is Kong training?
and a dry dog bag?
all these things to discover!

He can now sporadically wee and poo outside - hooray! Still more inside than out, but it's progress. I will try meat again as a big incentive, Need. We have already tried turkey and ham and he was distinctly "meh" about them. Perhaps this warrants me sourcing some liver as per your suggestion! I am still thanking the powers that be that we have hard flooring throughout our ground floor.....

I will be so glad when Murphy can go out, he has so much energy to burn and nowhere to burn it. DD and I have sat in the kitchen and by the front door calling him to and fro to try and wear him out, plus a good game of fetch works well along through the rooms.

Toilet training is sporadic, but DD and DH are still off so I think until it's just the two of us and I can get 100% concentration from him he will be a bit hit and miss.

I've ordered his new tag this morning, it has this image on one side and his details on the other, though not his full name which is Murphy Moriarty McManus. If you have seen The Boondock Saints movies you'll realise why he has that picture on his tag, the Moriarty bit is self explanatory

Evening all - long story, but basically we did get to go on holiday. Went late due to severe weather warnings and cancelled ferry and came back early due to the same in reverse! Despite attempting to avoid said severe weather, we had two horrendous crossings, the second of which was this morning.

Ds1 spent the first couple of days throwing up and dd came down with chicken-pox yesterday - oh and the beaches were packed, much busier than they are in the summer, so the dogs hardly got to go off lead. All in all an unmitigated disaster.

Still, Pip met a St Bernard puppy who was bigger than him and just as wussy and met the sea for the first time - which was funny when he ran in after a seagull whilst wearing his coat and got absolutely soaked - the look on his face was priceless! Maybe he'll think twice about chasing the birds in the park now?

Anyhoo - just wanted to say Happy New Year to you all!

Bloody hell moose, sounds like a cracking few days.

Here's to 2014, may it bring us all better luck than 2013

Here, here! Cheers!

Poor moose! Hope you have a restful new year.

Happy new year to everyone. My smelly puppy is spread eagled next to me on sofa. Saving his strength for a 5 am start no doubt.

Sorry your holiday didn't go as planned moose - hope you're all feeling better soon

Happy new year to all the pups and their families :)

HNY puppy mummies!

Moose I wrote a small essay to you on the G&C x

Moose, that does not sound so relaxing! talk about a holiday that you need to go on holiday again to recover from!

Happy New Year all

Hi, can I join you? We collect Riley on Saturday, we're all very excited. Can I ask a few questions please?

We've got a cage, but I'm not sure whether to put it in the kitchen where he might get disturbed by dh in the night or in the bathroom off the kitchen where it's colder.

We get badgers, muntjac and cats in our garden, is ok for him to be outside before his jabs are complete?

Last one, for the moment, is there a good book that I can buy that will give me lots of info about feeding, training etc

Thanks

Hi all HNY!
In need of some advice. We are now at day 5. Luna cried the first couple of nights in her crate but the subsequent two nights she has settled within ten mins or so and only woken and cried out if someone has gotten up to go to the loo ect. She has a big crate with a bed and a litter tray in it and so far has only weed on the paper she has waited to be let out each morning to poo. Progress is slow on the weeing front ATM but is moving on the right direction.

The real issue is the crate during the day. She won't settle on there at all during the day. She's had kongs and raw bones but the only keep her happy for around ten mins or so. I go back to work on Friday for 3 hrs and the plan was to leave her in the crate with some kongs ect and check on on her halfway through. I share a house with 3 others so there is constantly someone coming and going, she can't be left loose in the kitchen as my landlords dog isn't being over friendly just yet growling and snapping at her so I would not be happy to leave them unattended. Not sure what to do to make her feel more secure so she will settle. Any advice would be very gratefully received!

Hi all

Moose - what a nightmare holiday, I really feel for you. We lived in Cork for a few years and travelled back to the UK several times a year using all the different ferry crossings - I hated them all becuase of the frequency of rough crossings - seemed there was never a guaranteed calm time of year. We want to take the dog to visit family in 2014, especially hoping to go to Barleycove (d'you know it?) but I'm not sure I can cope with it!

I really hope you and the kids have recovered from the ordeal and enjoy your last few days at home before school starts.

Sorry to have not caught up on thread. Minty has giardia which is a horrid bug resulting in revolting smelly runs - it is highly contagious to humans so I'm constantly washing hands bedding etc!

Shall we have a teenager mummies thread? I feel I am facing a new phase with minty being a bit how shall I say - arsey!!

Hello to new puppy mummies!

Perfect Puppy is the book I found useful for early days / prep stuff and Total Recall for later on when training recall which is really vital to get right so they can go off lead.

For crate in nighttime we found if one of us has to come into the kitchen in the night where our puppy sleeps, he is so sleepy he isn't bothered. We talk quietly to him but to be honest, I just think he wants to get back to sleep so stays lying still! Maybe crate in kitchen will be fine especially if warmer.

I can't help with settling in crate as we tried and gave up after a few days as our puppy was so dreadfully unhappy in there. We could have persevered but have an easy puppyproof kitchen so didn't. Sounds like you might have to increase the kongs - maybe give all his feed in several pre-prepared kongs so they take him a long time to chew then he might be knackered enough to sleep!

Welcome tvstand - tell us a bit about your pup and we love a good puppy pictures too if you can get one onto your profile.

Sounds like we have a similar set up to you with the bathroom off the kitchen. We have Pip's crate in the kitchen and yes, he does get disturbed sometimes, as we have to go through to get to the toilet (separate from the bathroom) but he learned to resettle himself fairly quickly.

Re your garden question. The only one I would question is badgers, as I don't know enough to know whether or not they can carry things like parvo - so I'd ask your vet to be on the safe side.

Books - Lots of people use Gwen Bailey's puppy book when they are starting out, as it's quite comprehensive - although some people find it makes them feel a bit pressurised into trying to do everything right immediately. It's a good place to start, as long as you don't get too hung up on having to do everything to the letter, iyswim.

I highly recommend Life-Skills for Puppies for learning about the most important aspect of training - early socialisation. It's very reader/user friendly and easy to follow.

For training, I'd recommend watching some Kikopup videos either on YouTube or on her website. She is a clicker training and uses only non-forceful and positive methods.

Thinkingabout, I think it's going to be a bumpy ride to be honest. How old is Luna now? 3 hours on her own in a crate during the day is a long time for a young pup, not only in terms of being left, but it's also going to have a big impact on toilet training. Unfortunately,having lots of people coming and going is also going to make things hard for her.

Can you ask someone specific to take responsibility for her while you're not there? I think that's likely to be the only way forward.

Hi Mint - giardia - poor Minty and poor you! So you're going through what we went through with Pip's campylobacter - I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. and/or

Thanks for the kind thoughts re our holiday. I have just about calmed down now, but we're all still totally exhausted and poor dd has a really nasty case of chickenpox - she's covered from head to foot, but being so good, bless her. Dreading her brothers both coming down with it in a week or so though, as neither have had it before and they were stuck in a ferry cabin and car with her for the best part of 24 hours on Tuesday.

Haven't heard of Barleycove, but I do know the old Cork sleeper ferry was notorious for being rough. The Fishguard or Pembroke/Rosslare crossings are usually fine in the summer. We've only ever had a couple of rough crossings on that route since I've been going with dh and that's over 20 odd years now. We used to always go in May/June, but more recently it's been either early or late August. I can highly recommend the Stugeron anti-sickness pills, as we all took them and were ok despite it being really rough - although we did have a cabin (albeit a 2 berth for 5 of us ) and slept for most of the journey. We usually use Kwells or JoyRides, but I think the Stugeron held the nausea at bay better - they can only be used for children over the age of 5 though.

Thanks Moose - yes it is horrid. My brother and GF left early on Xmas day as the smell was so bad.

Poor minty has lost 1.2 kilos - infact perhaps more but he is skinny and wretched looking. No longer fluffy. I remember Pip being ill at the start - did she take long to put on weight.

It took a while for him to gain weight, but then again he was emaciated from the get-go and his digestive system had probably never worked properly. The Canikur probiotic really helped to stop the diarrhoea - we've been through stacks of the stuff and I keep a large syringe of it in now, just in case, so I can get him on it at the first sign of any stomach problems.

He was on 4 meals a day until last week, when we decided he finally looked Lurcher-thin, rather than half-starved-puppy thin and he's still on the intake for a giant-breed though, eating 100g a day more than Lurcherboy. Some of that is down to his breeding though - Saluki's are naturally very bony and lightweight.

Pip just made us laugh.

I managed to tip up a plate of biscuits and drop two on the floor, right by his head. Lurcherboy would have had them in a split second, before we could say 'leave', but Pip looked at them, then at me, then got up and backed away from them with a distinctly worried look on his face!

It was only after we'd told him he was a good boy and offered him one - only for him to refuse it - that we realised he's never been fed any 'human food' at all, he's only ever been told to 'leave it'.

It took calling Lurcherboy in, breaking the biscuit in two and giving Lurcherboy his half first for Pip to be convinced it was ok.

What makes it even funnier is that, whilst biscuits on the floor are obviously a huge no no to him, snaffling a cheese sandwich right out of dd's hand as she gesticulated at the kitchen table last week was somehow completely acceptable. Dogs - they defy logic sometimes!

He is a good boy Moose!

I think minty will take a while to gain weight and we will all take a while to recover from the smell!

How are all the new puppies doing?

Any advice on when to neuter? Vet said Meg (6 months) should be done anytime now to avoid cancer risks and he would if she was his. But it seems very young to me.

I had my first border collie done at six months and then had my Springer done at the same time with no problems at all. I would always neuter bitches at that age although I'll wait a little longer for Finn but that's probably more for my convenience rather than any other reason.

I'm not sure if we will get Toby done. He's six months now, and his head needs to broaden do we've been advised not to get him done until this has happened. Tbh, I can't imagine getting him done as he seems a lovely temperament with them still attached!

I understand that Sallybear, and we wondered too about our male BCs years ago, but one in particular took to running off so long and so far it had to be done. He was a gorgeous gentle dog before and after though, no change at all.
Spaying they say reduces cancer risks very much, as well as no seasons. Meg has a lovely little broad head and vet says she is ready and they recover quicker if done early because of size of blood vessels. But I cannot understand about all the hormones she will be missing. Surely she will go from puppy to menopause? This is first bitch in the family and I am really worrying.

Sally (Labrador) had about three seasons, but hers were so blinking random that after the third one she had the op. She was about 3 when it was done. She lived to nearly 15 and certainly died of old age.