Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own Poor Ollie. My Jax went through worms at 8week old and I was in bits. So glad Ollie is on the mend. We have an open crate for Jax and I have left him for a couple of hours at a time. I leave him with some toys and water and tell him bye bye and give him a kiss. So far touch wood, he has been fine and we have come back to a very happy Jax.
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own Glad he's settled down Katie and you can see he's feeling better,I haven't had any worm experience,praise be .....but everything I've read is yuck x
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own I've not had experience with worms, been lucky in the respect I guess! It would make sense to me though that if he was so wormy you noticed his tummy was swollen that he was a bit uncomfortable! Hopefully the wormer has done the trick and he might settle down now. Keep sticking at it and you'll get there I promise! I felt like Penny was never going to sleep through the night but we got there and actually, looking back it didn't take as long as it felt it did!
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own Thanks for all of you comments, Ollie is much better now. Looking back he was wormed a couple of days before we picked him up, so must have picked them up soon after. I hadn't really understood how it worked so with hindsight we probably should have wormed him as soon as we had him rather than waiting until the two week mark. No permanent damage done though (I hope) and we'll know the signs to look out for next time. He was quiet until 4:30 this morning which is an improvement on the night before. We ignored him and he soon settled so think this is just an attention thing that we need to break. He was crying again at 6am when ideally we would like his routine to be up at 6:30am and then fed soon afterwards. I was just wondering what the rest of your routines are like with feeding? Do you think it's hunger that's waking him at this hour (he has his last meal of the day at around 6:30pm)? If anyone has any advice or experience then suggestions are welcomed! There's probably another thread with similar information but it's nice to get a general discussion going with a few people rather than jumping between threads (and users). Penny+Me I'm beginning to see what you mean. Last week was really hard for me (I was off work all week just me and Ollie) and it was a big responsibility - one that I'm happy to have, it's just quite a change! This week he seems a lot more settled and slightly more independent, he'll go and play with his toys quietly without necessarily needing us to interact with them and he goes between the rooms downstairs on his own without having to be glued to one of us. But last week I felt so exhausted at the thought that it might always be that intense! It's finding that balance between wanting him to develop and get into a routine without wishing away his puppyhood as he'll only be this small for a short amount of time. At the moment we're struggling with the delay in taking him out. We've got another week until his second injection and then another two weeks before he can go out freely (as recommended by the vet) and we're all getting a bit stir crazy in the house! My parents live in Pembrokeshire (I'm in Cardiff) so I'm taking him down there for the weekend next weekend to give him (and me!) a change of scenery while still keeping him out of harms way! It does feel like he's going to be inside forever but I'm sure the time will fly by! Katie x
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own The puppy days definitely fly by! Take the opportunity to work on basic obedience stuff in short bursts. My advice would be work on early recall stuff ;D Also another tip might be not to feed too early after you get up in the morning otherwise you will find you have built yourself a little alarm clock that keeps going off too early ;D ;D Lilly seems to tbink the moment I stir in bed is a signal for her getting her breakfast. Aye right, doggy dear 5.30 am? "BACK TO BED"!!!
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own Hi Katie, Don't forget that Ollie can go out... just not on the ground. You need to avoid the ground anywhere that an unvaccinated dog might have been, but you do not have to stay within your own house and garden. It can really help with that all important socialisation too if he sees things now, as well as helping combat that cabin fever!! I tucked our pup inside my coat and took her out when I took our older dog out for short walks - it got her used to some of the sights and smells of the big wide world. I also used to get my daughters (they're teenagers and trustworthy!) to stand holding her outside the supermarket for 5 minutes when I shot in to grab something - pups are such people magnets and seeing new faces from a range of age groups is really good for them. If you have friends with dogs that you know are vaccinated, it is also okay for Ollie to meet them. These activities can also help to tire him out too! Enjoy it all. Before long you'll be looking at a great big dog and wondering where that little puppy went! Clare
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own Thanks everyone for the advice. Jacqui we've just started to work on a little bit of training, starting with sit and recall with tips from the main site. Clare, that's a really good idea with the supermarket, they're bound to come into contact with lots of different people in that situation. Think we're going to give it a try this weekend. Taking him back to my parents and the in-laws in Pembrokeshire really helps, I don't feel as bad if he has a little accident in their house as I would do with some of my friends in Cardiff. My dad's partner also has a dog (Sealyham terrier, 5 months) who's not too big or intimidating for Ollie so they enjoyed quite a bit of play when we were down last weekend (very successful). Two of my friends in Pembs also have small dogs that I'm planning to introduce Ollie to next weekend, but at the moment we only know two dogs in Cardiff, both of which we're not too keen on Ollie playing with too freely just yet due to their size and energies (19 week springer spaniel and 11 month mad black lab!). So we're doing our best to keep things interesting in the circumstances. We have also started letting Ollie out in our back garden, but it's gotten really boggy in the bad weather we've had recently so we're not doing it as freely as we would have liked while he's still small. He's enjoyed having an explore though! After several nights of being quiet right though, the crying has started. I was really pulling out my hair this morning, it was the worst night yet. 12 midnight, 4am and 6am and it seemed to go on for ages. When he cried his first few nights it was for about 2 minutes and then he settled but now it seems to just go on and on. We have a good relationship with our neighbours (we're in a semi) and I went to speak to them after a few days of having Ollie to warn them that it might be a bit noisy for the next few weeks and they reported that they hadn't heard anything thus far but I'm starting to worry that it may become a bother as the frequency, length and sound level of Ollie's crying increases. I'm going to call over tonight to see how they're doing with it and I've got some industrial strength ear plugs for them from work as a peace offering and a bit of a joke! I just re-read Penny+Me's response to my first post which seems to be encouraging: [quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=3413.msg43625#msg43625 date=1388428838] We only had issues with Penny crying at night. We did absolutely everything imaginable for when she was left alone - ticking clock (to simulate mothers heartbeat), hot water bottle, large soft toy, clothing smelling of us, covering the crate, classical music left on. In the end the best thing we did was just to let her cry it out. It was heartbreaking but after 5 days she was fine and we now have no issues with her being left at all. [/quote] When he cries for extended periods of time I start to worry that something is seriously wrong, I suppose this is a natural instinct though. Does anyone have any experience or advice to offer in addition to Penny+Me's? I know it comes with the territory of having a youngster and he's only a baby but if someone could please tell me that it will ease off soon then I will love them forever! Katie x
Re: Help with leaving puppy on his own I think we tend to worry more about leaving our pups than they do. Dogs, in my experience, are naturally indolent and deprived of stimulus will just settle down and sleep Crating them from the very start is the best answer, several times a day wether you need to or not. It becomes a sanctuary and second home to them. Molly happily trots into her crate whenever I tell her to. Experimented by moving her crate into a different room. Hubby predicted disaster. Dog happily accepted the change of scene. We girls rock
