Shit, I have somehow acquired a puppy...

[Theoneandonlyitchymcitch]

Help!! She is a teeny tiny baby shitzu crossed with something equally obscure. She is slightly larger than my foot. I have zero experience with puppies. What do j need to do? I've made her up a bed with towels and puppy food in a dish near her. I got her a baby bottle to try and get her to drink milk (kitten milk!) from that. She is ignoring all my efforts and is snoring on my foot...

She is shut on as otherwise she would never eat, I am not just a horrible and cruel person!

Oh yay poogate is now well and truly over! It does get easier I promise, the first couple of weeks were tough but now he's fully settled (and resigned to us being his owners ) I couldn't imagine life without the little pain in the arse. He decided to do a massive wee in his bed earlier, I have no idea why but I suspect it was a protest against the cleaner hoovering. So another round of washing, lucky we bought 2 beds! We are taking him to the field near our house tomorrow for some recall training, hope he comes back! He's currently snuggled up on the sofa next to us watching gogglebox

My DC are poorly too Dixie, particularly my 15 month old. I unluckily don't have a dog needing to be taken out to toilet...

How did the recall training go yoo? We have been frolicking in the garden, keep taking her out for half an hour's worth of energy sapping activities, such as fetch the ball. When I say energy sapping, it is my energy that has been sapped. Had to come in for a sit down as I ended up chasing the bloody thing, whilst she looked at me like I needed my head examining. Nice big poo this morning, but I hashed up the task of picking it up neatly and smeared most of it into the grass... is there a knack to picking up poo????

It went well, he ran up and down the field lots and also chased another dog! I can never tell if the other owners are happy for our crazy pup to be chasing their dog in circles but they said it was ok when DH apologised. Is that something other dog owners will be upset about?! I just don't know the etiquette for owning a dog, maybe it's ok because he's a puppy!
Haha I have no idea, because I'm on crutches I haven't had to pick any up outside yet, that's DH's job but I just asked him and he said it's tricky to pick up on grass!

Some owners will be fine with a puppy zooming over. Some won't. Some dogs will be fine with a puppy zooming over. Some won't. Expect a mixed bag of reactions but really you need to start working on recall right away.

Puppies are cute and seem to be no big deal when they bugger off to meet another dog but imagine that puppy at 9/10mths (obv breed dependent on what size your pup will make) running hell for leather towards say an elderly lady walking her timid Jack Russell then that isn't going to be a very pleasant encounter for the timid JR. This is only an example. Also imagine if pup/adolescent bolts over to a miserable brute of a dog?

yoomoo, you don't want him bombing up to every dog...but generally if they're offlead they should be ok with it.

But, dogs on lead are usually on it for a reason.

Thanks for the comments re other dogs. We are doing recall training in the big field near our house, he does well when there's no distractions but when another dog appears off lead he just wants to play. From what I've seen only off lead dogs go on the field so I guess owners expect a certain amount of playing with other dogs. He is great on the lead at walking nicely and if we see another dog we always ask if it's ok for them to say hello, if it's not we walk on. We only let him off the lead within the fences of the field! Need to work on his listening and attention skills more, we have some techniques from puppy school so will use those and just keep on with the recall training, I do it at home with him every day so he's now great at coming when called indoors but I suppose that's a closed environment so need to get him over the field several times a week instead of taking his usual walk route. Will keep working on it. I definitely don't want a crazy adult dog who can't be trusted off lead!

theone how has your little one been this weekend?

Hi yoo! Another gorgeous day here. She has been great, bless her. She did loads of running about yesterday and we discovered a fun new game where she sits at the top of the slope in the garden and waits til I call her and then comes bounding down (she just wants the chicken doesn't she?!) before racing back up. Although because she is so tiny, her legs get tangled up and the resulting bundle of roly poly puppy is hilarious! We spent a nice evening watching crap films last night. I turned down an invitation to the pub to stay in and snuggle, what has become of me??? Bit worried about the weeing now: was so proud when she weed on command those few times, but she is having heaps of accidents in the house now... Using puppy pads at night though, which is one thing... How is yours, after his exciting day yesterday?

Oh no dixie. Ick. Actually that's rather convenient as C has got a bit of a shitty bum. Can I bathe her at her age? And if so, please send any helpful tips my way...

Ok cool thanks. I'll give it a go this afternoon. Do you use special dog shampoo?

It's such a lovely day! Haha love it she sounds like such fun. Oh dear naughty Alfie! We are off out for lunch so have left Coop dog with a Kong full of pate, he didn't even look up as we left! We've been bathing him, he hates it but think it's a good idea to do it young so they know it's a regular thing. I'm a bit pfbd so ordered some special shampoo and conditioner from a company called Herbal Pet Supplies, it's all natural ingredients with no nasty chemicals and comes in amazing flavours. We have the candy cane one and he does indeed smell like one after during the bath we give him lots of treats and reassurance. First time he tried to climb out of bath but next time he just stood still and munched the treats!

Awww, Cooper!! Just had a lovely time up at the stables with my horse. Just come back back and had a massive run around with puppy. Just got her some bog standards dog shampoo from waitrose... Going to attempt bath in about ten mins. Before I even bath myself!!!!! She is one spoilt fluff ball. Did you have a lovely lunch?

Good luck with the bath, let us know how it goes. Ahh Dixie that's cute look at them all, did he enjoy the skipping?
Had a lovely lunch thank you, nice to get out after 7 weeks being housebound after my op. Coop did well on his own apart from 2 incidents: 1) a poo on the kitchen floor but oddly no wee! Can forgive that though he is still a puppy so I know he can't hold it when he needs to go and 2) he pulled his puppy class bag off the kitchen chair and has eaten every single treat in the bag what a cheeky monkey!! Don't know where he's put them all and I bet he'll still eat his dinner in 20mins! Here's a picture of him earlier being naughty and not following me down the stairs, just sat there watching me trying to get him down

All so cute! Can I just say that I am so fucking proud of my puppy?!! Got her crate this afternoon and this is her now...

In an unrelated but topical matter, my beloved horse managed to chew her way through her grooming bag in order to find her treats when I left her for five minutes today!!!! Treats scattered everywhere. And I thought the puppy was bad, my horse is in her late 20's!!!! I am destined for naughty animals..... Sigh.

Seven weeks on Friday... She seems massive compared to how she was... Can't believe she literally walked into the crate and went to sleep!!! So proud! And waiting for a take away now... Your dc and Alfie are gorgeous! Must stop using !!!! The stuffed toy is poor old Mrs moo, who is slowly being ripped to shreds...