A Follow On Thread For Those Who Now Have Their Puppy

[Rebanne]

Well I'm pissed off about the Drontal Puppy suspension, it should have prevented this! Vets confirmed, no fleas, but I have to flea treat him anyway incase he's just eaten some off another dog or something. We got some stronger wormer, and I now have to go back to early puppy schedule of every two weeks.

He's due for his next injection on Friday but he couldn't have it 4 days early! So back to the vets on Friday morning.

He's now sitting in the rain loving life.

I had an adopted adult greyhound who despite 3 wormings and no fleas still shocked the life out of me when he tried to pass a tapeworm. It happens.

[Lollipup]

Thanks Aliwake - how old is Nixon now? Unfortunately we don't know very many people with kids (all our nephews/nieces live overseas!) I can tell he loves kids though, I've introduced him to the kids in my neighbourhood and the breeder also sent lots of photos of the puppies interacting with her grandkids so I know he's good around them but I'd just like to continue this. LisaCC a sports oval is a great idea, there are a few around here so I might give that a go.

Taking him to work is a great idea except for the fact that I work for myself so there are no co-workers to meet! :laugh: Same with my husband - he runs a family business so most of the people working there Hank has already met :laugh: starting to realise that we are the most boring 20-something year olds on the planet!

Great list Lollipup thank you - I've done a fair few of those already (vacuumed around his puppy pen and rewarded him for lying down/staying calm, had him sit and watch from the deck while my husband used the lawnmower/whipper snipper). The beach down where I live is a good place to go because there are lots of different people of all ages there. We've been aiming to take him out at least once a day somewhere new - short 20-30 minute trips where I usually sit with him and reward him for looking at me and carry him through the environment calmly. Do you think this is enough or should we be taking him out more?

Sounds like you're doing great :) Does he take it all in his stride? I would say it's probably enough if he is confident and doing well. Great that you are doing all that focus training.

I do similar things with Envy. We go as many new places as we can and work on focus there and do some obedience.

If you need him to get used to livestock or anything like that, expose him to those things lots now too. :) We go and see the horses, cows, chooks and ducks :)

[Guest hankodie]

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and reassurance - I'm just overly worried about doing the right thing this time around, Odie spent a lot of her puppyhood quite ill and as a result I spent more time fretting over her health than working on her training and focus hence her awful leash reactivity. Its an ongoing battle with her too, she's food motivated but I can't give her any food during walks due to her very strict diet, it's frustrating and makes me a little sad but as my trainer told me we can only work with what we have.

Lollipup thanks again - Hank seems to take it all in stride, I watch for any signs of distress and for the most part he just seems very curious/alert :) Really going to try to enforce focus especially around other dogs. Can't wait until he's ready to be on the ground though as it's much easier than carrying him!

[Lollipup]

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and reassurance - I'm just overly worried about doing the right thing this time around, Odie spent a lot of her puppyhood quite ill and as a result I spent more time fretting over her health than working on her training and focus hence her awful leash reactivity. Its an ongoing battle with her too, she's food motivated but I can't give her any food during walks due to her very strict diet, it's frustrating and makes me a little sad but as my trainer told me we can only work with what we have.

Lollipup thanks again - Hank seems to take it all in stride, I watch for any signs of distress and for the most part he just seems very curious/alert :) Really going to try to enforce focus especially around other dogs. Can't wait until he's ready to be on the ground though as it's much easier than carrying him!

I let Envy go on the ground from day one, and just avoided places that are highly trafficked by other dogs. But as long as you are getting out and about that is the main thing :)

We just went for a short stroll the the beach. Lovely weather here lately, just a bit windy today. Here is Envy just 20 minutes or so ago

[Lollipup]

And we now have signage to go out and about with and hopefully stop at least the majority of the people who pat without asking

[aliwake]

Thought I should upload a pic of Nixon too, since it's been so long...

I took it at lunch - he looks so concerned because he just finished eating his last ice cube... I keep telling him he'll get wrinkles!

It was also the first time I haven't given him his lunchtime kong when I left, and he looked so bereft, like "mum, you've forgotten to feed me - I might starve! I can't believe you're leaving me like this!!"

Arghhh, it has to be done!!

[Steph M]

He is so damn cute!

[rangermad]

Hi everyone. My first post :). I have stalked the 'waiting thread' and more recently this thread, on and off for a few months now - not in a creepy way though, I promise ;).

I thought I'd finally post in here now we have our little man, Griffin. Griffin is a Vizsla and he's a beautiful boy of nearly 10wks (tomorrow) and he has settled into our family nicely. He has been home with us for 1.5wks now.

I've followed many of you waiting for and then getting your puppies and now that we have our own pup, all the information I've read is even more meaningful. The experiences you have all been through make good learning for those of us with pups slightly younger in age.

Griffin starts puppy preschool later this week and we have been doing our best to socialise Griffin with family, friends, children other than our own and family/ friend's 'approved' dogs. He's been in the car a few times now and is snoozing peacefully on those trips now which is nice. He's great with most noises and I've been taking him out the front on the lead when the postman goes by in the hope of making the postie-bike an indifferent sound to him. If the lawn was longer I'd get the mower out. We may just have to start it to get him used to it in these early weeks. It's incredibly windy here today and we have been impressed that he is not bothered by it - our cats freak out in the wind. I've just read some good ideas for other methods of socialising in here too - we can give them a go over the coming weeks. Thanks for the ideas :)

[aliwake]

He is so damn cute!

Thanks Steph :) I got completely sidetracked earlier and forgot to say how gorgeous and grown up Gus is looking!

And welcome Rangermad! If you've been stalking then you're off to a great start :) I was unlucky enough to find this forum after the worst of all my baby dramas were past, but it's still reassuring to have other puppy people to talk to.

It sounds like Griffin is going really well! I love Vizsla's - was very keen but my hubby wasn't too interested unfortunately - I think we need to see some pics asap!

[Guest hankodie]

Agreed, would love to see some photos of Griffin rangermad!

Aliwake Nixon is gorgeous looks like he's at that puppy stage where he's all limbs, too adorable!

[LisaCC]

Thanks Lollipop, after a bit of a tummy ache around midday/early afternoon, he is now back to his normal self :)

Envy is so gorgeous! She almost looks elegant in that last picture with her signage and long legs

Nixon is such a cutie too, he makes me want to try and find old puppy pictures of my Sam, labs are such beautiful souls.

Welcome Rangermad! Don't forget some pictures of your boy!

[rangermad]

Thanks for the welcomes :)

I will upload some pics - I've just got to work out if I can upload pics from the iPad or if I have to turn on the pc to do it. Anyone know? I can do it through Flickr on the pc, correct?

We have found Griffin to be quite a frequent wee'er in the daytimes. He doesn't stretch out to every hour or two when he's awake. When he's asleep he does and overnight he's awesome but in the days, sometimes he will need to go just 15 min or so later and if we take our eye off him, he will pee in the house. He's maybe had one pee accident a day for 7/10 days we've had him inside. Do you think that's normal? I had dogs as a kid but this is our first family dog and my first puppy as an adult. I can't get over how much it is like having another baby!!

[Guest hankodie]

Rangermad, where do you usually keep Griffin during the day? It's still early days so accidents are bound to happen :) The key is to watch him at all times, if he's doing the frantic puppy sniffing thing then you know he needs to go out!

There are a million and one methods and no right/wrong way but I'll share what I've been doing with Hank (and my other dog who is wonderfully toilet trained!)

I'm currently in the process of crate training Hank (here's a handy link if you don't know what crate training is). He sleeps in the crate during the night but I also put him in there with a treat/kong a couple of times during the day after play time so he learns to enjoy his time in there. The first week he whined a couple of times during the night to be let out, but after only a week he's been sleeping through the night until 5.30 which is fantastic (it might take longer for some pups, it did for my other dog!)

During the day if I can't be around to supervise him he is in a puppy pen with his toys and water bowl. He has learned to tell me that he needs to go out by sitting up quietly in front of his bed or he whines. I take him out very frequently, every hour if he's awake as well as right after he's woken up from a nap and 5-10 minutes after he's had a meal. I take him outside and I use the command "do business". I repeat this until he does a poo/wee, then I give him lots of praise and a treat. This is also handy as the puppy learns to wee/poo on command and it drives home the idea that outside = toilet time!

I work from home so my set up might be a bit different from those who go out during the day, I know a lot of people set up a pen and leave a puppy wee pad on one end, others section off the laundry with outdoor access, etc etc. Like I said there are a million ways to do it but that's just my method and it's working great so far!

The key is keeping an eye out and preventing accidents before they happen :) and also giving lots of praise when they do go outside!

[rangermad]

Thanks hankodie. I saw the pics of Hank in the previous pages - he's adorable!

We are crate training Griffin. He's absolutely fantastic at night - sleeps in it from about 2200h and wakes for a wee/poo around 0530h and i take him outside. Then back in the crate till the kids get up around 0630. We take him out upon waking and after meals. If we're home and its nice out, we spend a lot of time in the backyard with him. The times we're in the house, I've started keeping him on the lead if he's not in his crate. It's the frequency that catches me out. Just when I think I have 5min to do something cause he's just gone...

He isn't spending a whole lot of time locked in his crate in the days if he's awake, we may need to step that up. He takes himself in there for snoozes in the day and sometimes i out him in there if he's in the way. I'm on holidays at the moment so I'm home most of the time but come Friday he will have an hour in the morning and again in the arvo locked up. We tried the kids old playpen on saturday, he squeezed out the bars of it, so we tried the other pet pen we and he climbed out via his crate lol.

[LisaCC]

Worm free butt and morning poop!

I know these things happen but it made me feel like a terrible owner, I've never had worms or fleas before! And the questions the vet was asking me (not my normal one), I had to keep saying, yes I've done that, I've done that, His breeder did that, etc etc. She then said in a quite shocked voice, 'Oh, you've done all the right things!'. Yea I know!!

Obviously they don't get many people in that do the right things, thats a bit sad.

[aliwake]

That's great Nova is all better Lisa! Definitely don't beat yourself up about it - so much of what puppies do is outside our control. You are a first class puppy mummy for sure :)

That is really sad about the vet though - I guess they get used to expecting the worst.

[aliwake]

Rangermad, I think those hellish days of puppy toilet training have already blurred in my mind, but I'm pretty sure you can expect anything at all for at least your first month. We had an inside toilet for when he was in his playpen, and he was fairly good about using it anytime. However, there were still almost constant accidents inside for many many weeks. Particularly after one of his vet visits - he came home and started peeing while walking... OMG! Give me a puddle any day over long zig zags of wee... He still does that now (though outside thankfully!). We had one of our kitchen sinks permanently full of a biozet mix ready to clean up wee.

Basically, their bladders are so small you can expect anything, so I doubt there's anything wrong with Griffin. I thought we would never get Nixon fully toilet trained, but it really doesn't take all that long for them to get bladder control, and for us, once Nixon started being left outside during the day, his toilet training sorted itself out really quickly. He now just stands near the door and stares outside when he needs to go :) Or bangs our blinds with his nose (that was great at 3am the other night...)

It sounds like you're doing the right things, so it's just time, patience and consistency now.

And you can be extremely grateful that he's sleeping so well at night!!! That makes up for so much :)

Edited August 13, 2013 by aliwake

[Guest hankodie]

Good to hear Lisa! Glad Nova is better today. I shudder to think about the type of people vets have to deal with on a daily basis, I'm sure it was refreshing for your vet to deal with a very responsible owner.

Rangermad, it sounds like you're doing a great job with Griffin! The lead is a good idea - as long as you can watch him for most of the time in the beginning he's bound to get the picture sooner or later :) unfortunately it is a bit like having a furry newborn in the beginning!

I picked Hank up to take him downstairs this morning and he is so heavy! It hasn't been long but I think he's growing like a weed. Odie keeps inspecting him all over and looking at me as if to say "seriously, is it just me or does he look bigger today?". I find it comical that she has no idea he's going to be x4 her size

He's such a confident happy puppy. He's entering the naughty stage, every time there is a prolonged period of silence in the house I get suspicious :laugh:

[Misteri]

Naww, look at Mr Hank, he's so cute! You take very nice photos, what camera do you use?

My older dog (JRT x) did the same thing to Tango... when he came home to us he was the same size as her, and then he continued to get a little bigger every day. She was probably thinking "okay, that's enough, stop growing now!".

It's been aaaages since I posted in this thread. Tango passed his level 2 obedience class last weekend (flawlessly!) so we are in the level 3 class now. My smart red boy continues to impress me every day! It's so hard to believe that he will be 8 months old next week. Time flies so fast, so enjoy your baby puppies while they're babies!

[Guest hankodie]

Naww, look at Mr Hank, he's so cute! You take very nice photos, what camera do you use?

My older dog (JRT x) did the same thing to Tango... when he came home to us he was the same size as her, and then he continued to get a little bigger every day. She was probably thinking "okay, that's enough, stop growing now!".

It's been aaaages since I posted in this thread. Tango passed his level 2 obedience class last weekend (flawlessly!) so we are in the level 3 class now. My smart red boy continues to impress me every day! It's so hard to believe that he will be 8 months old next week. Time flies so fast, so enjoy your baby puppies while they're babies!

Thanks Misteri! Congrats on Tango's obedience success sounds like a very clever boy!

I alternate between a few cameras but the ones above were taken with a canon 5d mkiii :)

Edited August 13, 2013 by hankodie