Day 2 of puppy ownership, it snowed. I had been up all the previous night with a crying puppy. My husband was going away for a week leaving me with the puppy and 4 & 6 year old human children and I realised that I didn't have a meak puppy who was going to trot after me,but a bold one who was quite happy to try and escape through our less-secure-that-I-thought hedge. I stood in the garden in my pjs, wellies and coat crying about how I could'nt cope, saying 'get busy' through the tears! Another highlight was when my husband returned from his very hectic and stressful week away for work. I was sort of in the swing of things by then and got up to let the puppy out at 5am, only to find a giant Tom Cat ensnared in the kid's football goal I had rigged up to make the garden secure. I had to wake my husband to help me free it! So we were both out in pjs coats and wellies whilst the puppy barked at us. Our neighbours must love us!
Do you think there is some sort of train the other half training we could go on??? I wonder if I used enough treats (beer? Crisps??) I could get mine to walk her properly rather than moaning about her pulling ?
Croco pup stage was horrible. We are mostly out of that now as Jake is 5 months but the selective deafness is starting to creep in. He came in sopping wet from a walk with my daughter, launched himself all over me in delight I was home, then ripped a hole in one of my good work cardigans I was wearing (as only just in from work). I did shout at him rather a lot. He also went out this am and ate cat poo right after his breakfast, came back in on the carpet, sicked it up then re-ate it while husband and I were eating breakfast. Husband had to bail as it makes him feel sick! Oh, and the barking at our cats is really getting annoying. I keep telling him they live here too. And he keeps pulling up our new bits of turf so the garden is fenced off like a WWII area of combat. But when is asleep like now, he is lovely.
The sick incident reminds me of the evening I was relaxing with a g & t feeling smug that house training was going so well. Then to my horror the cat brings a mouse in, drops it. The terrified mouse scuttles behind a door. Just as I am trying pick up the poor mouse the puppy jumps over my shoulder and downs the live mouse in one. Then sicks it back up and eats it again. All the while the cat looks on with distainful amusement! Jessie is also STILL over excited by the cat, they've lived together 6 months now!
Moo has always been a strange dog but when she was a tiny pup I realised she was very different. I also realised she was a very hunty dog when at the age of 4m she found and ate gulp after gulp a nest of pinkies. In her youth she would catch birds out of the air and snack them down. She also looked at the cats as providers of small snacks she really misses the cats. Shes old now but still has that sparkle in her eyes she has always been and I think always will be mischief in dog form.
I know!!! She no longer barks or chases the cat, but she can't settle in a room with her. She gets excited and wanders around with her tail manically wagging, which the cat then has a swipe at! Or bows down in front of the cat, which I think is an invitation to play. The cat just looks at her with a look that says "in your dreams, looser".
When Axel was about 13 weeks old he wasn't house trained all that well yet. It was exhausting having to watch him constantly and take him out every 15 mins just incase. One day he was particularly bad. I was also getting to my wits end of exhaustion and not having a break since bringing him home. I had just got home from work, husband was still at work for a few more hours, so it was just me to deal with the pups. Axel had already had an accident the first half hour of me coming home. He was being a terror running around and nipping the backs of my legs and my arms and had made me bleed pretty good. I called my mom and was chatting with her while holding in tears. When he was out of sight for one second he peed. I was furious and ran over to him which spooked him so he ran through his massive accident and ran all over the house on my brand new laminate flooring like a hooligan. I had dropped my phone but my mom was still on the line. I was trying to clean up the mess with paper towel which Axel came running through his accident AGAIN and snagged the dirty paper towel and shredded it around the house. Well. I lost it. I just sat on the floor and cried and cried and cried. My mom stayed on the phone the whole time and heard my breakdown and then showed up at my house to basically pick me up off the floor and put me back together again! Lol That night was the first night since getting him that my husband and I went out for a date night for our sanity. Following week we started puppy classes! Now that the puppy phase is over we are in the teenager phase which so far is ok! Minus the constant stealing of tea towels and pillows. I do look back and laugh at the tough times now. I still have the scars on my arms and hands but that's ok. I wouldn't trade him for anything.
I don't think that course has been invented yet . If it had it would always be overbooked. My OH knows better to complain about any pulling as the response is that he knows what he should do as he's been on enough walks with me by now It's just as well our furry friends are easier to train as after 30+ years I've given up on training OH
About a week in I was cooking tea and sent the youngest up to the toilet. She started screaming as her bottom was stinging, Molly did a poo at the bottom of the stairs, the oldest came down and trod in it and ran off retching. After finally sorting out 2 distressed children, clearing up poo and dishing up a burnt meal I looked over to discover more poo on the dining room floor. None of us ate well that day....
I've just realised I bookmarked 'residential training for puppies ' at some point during the first few weeks! Poor Molly, I could never send her away now
Absolutely! Combined with Pippa's article on The Puppy Blues. I joked (but not really) with my husband that I felt like I had PPD - Post Puppy Depression - in the first few weeks. Then I read the article and felt such a wave of relief that it wasn't just me. You think you're prepared, but when it's your first puppy you soon realise that you're really not.
Millie ate some other dogs poop and ended up with worms when she was 15 weeks, she had diarrhea from the worms and pooped in the kitchen 4times during the night (couldn't hold it in until we got outside so it kinda sprayed all over). At least she whimpered from the crate to be let out but it was really not fun to either of us and it made me just want to stick my head in the sand.
