Never fear, this’ll probably be my last ‘daily’ puppy post. Tomorrow I’m back at work and we need to settle into a routine. I’m still working on that balance thing… I haven’t found time to touch a game all weekend. The horror!
Anyway, last night was a good night. Lola got into her crate without too much fuss, whined once at lights-out but then slept through until morning. I got up before she did, in fact (at about 6:45).
Her big challenge today was the guinea pigs. Today was cage-cleaning day. When we do cages the girls, Mimi and Mona, get to romp around in their ‘playpen’ — an open topped temporary cage that we put on the floor. It gets them out of the way and they love their floor time as they chase each other back and forth.
Today Lola was in the room. We’d taken her for a good long walk ahead of time so she was tuckered out and she was just lounging on her bed chewing on one of those vile bully sticks. Angela sat next to her holding her leash just in case (we keep a short leash on her most of the time so she’s used to it). She gave the girls a stare once or twice but a quick correction broke her focus. After a few minutes she totally ignored the girls, and they her. So it was a big Win for everyone.
We’re getting the bathroom stuff down pretty well. I went out to do some shopping and while I was gone Angela was in the bedroom with Lola with a baby gate up so she couldn’t go wreak havoc in case Angela fell asleep (we’re both semi-sleep deprived). Lola started fussing at her. Angela would correct her and she’d stop for a few minutes then come get Angela’s attention again. Finally Angela got the message and took her outside where it was clear she needed to do her business. So that was good news; Lola knew that she had to go out and let Angela know about it.
Food is a problem still. She’s eating but not as much as I’d like. We feed her three times a day and when we first put the food down she’ll gulp a few mouthfuls and then either distract herself with a toy, or flop down and go to sleep. She’s slept a LOT today; I think her big few days are catching up to her. I know they’re catching up to us!
Tomorrow I’m back to work and Angela starts the hard job of teaching Lola to be alone without fussing. I’m not sure how she’s going to do it… how do you correct a dog that wants you back in the apartment without giving her what she wants?
Things are good though..anxiety is dropping for everyone, Lola is a total sweetheart who’s part of our ‘pack’ and the guinea pigs are no longer freaked out with her being around. I think we’re on the right track, at least!
Puppy training is a tough one, and those first few weeks are murder! We have a one year old pup and when we first got him at 8 weeks we lived on the fifth floor of an apartment building, which meant taking him out was a five minute one way trip. Don’t worry, after about three weeks things get much better, especially if you continue to be disciplined with your training and correcting. Its totally worth it, a well trained puppy is the greatest thing short of a kid 🙂
One piece of advice, you mentioned training Lola to not fuss when you guys are gone, the absolute best way to do that is to be very calm and neutral to her when you first get home. If you’re really excited to see her and give her lots of attention, you’re rewarding all the fussing she’s done while you were away, and she’ll think the fussing is what brings you home! Hard as it is, just ignore her for a bit and once she’s calm as well, then you give her the love she’s been craving. Good luck!
Oh! That’s good advice and advice we haven’t been following.. the getting home stuff. We’ll keep that in mind and be much calmer coming home, whether it’s one of us or both of us…
If you don’t think she’s eating enough in one sitting and she actually needs to gain some weight (like our husky did when we first brought here home), 2 ideas:
1) Feed her more frequently for a few months — most puppies feed often when they’re small but still manage to adapt to less frequent mealtimes later on, so you’re probably not causing unbreakable lifetime habits. It’ll make it easier for her to gain weight especially if she doesn’t have much of a one-sitting appetite.
2) Get a tube of nutritional boost — I can’t remember any names and there’s a ton of brands to choose from. If you have a vet already you might want to ask them. This is really only if weight is a big (or small) issue, not for normal “could stand to gain a bit” stuff. From the pix I’ve seen she’s skinny but not on the verge of starvation.
That said, those nutri-boost tubes make a mega-useful training aid if you ever plan to train with food rewards. Doesn’t mess up a pocket and all my pets (cats included) go nuts for the stuff. YMMV.
She does seem okay weight-wise from the pics on your site. Depending on the breed (or breeds in her) you want to be careful as many breeds can develop weight issues if fed too much. This can lead to joint issues. We only feed our dogs (a lab and husky) twice a day and that seems to be more than enough. I’d talk to a vet about this as they would likely have a good idea of the weight they should be at that age.
And I did the same thing as Anderoth for training not to jump or go nuts when you get home. When I get home, I completely ignore them until I have any items put away, then I pet them and do what I need to with them. They don’t jump on me anymore and I can move freely. It’s hard to do with a puppy, but it will be for the best.
As for training, I went to Petsmart for mine, but I found that different breeds learn differently. The things that correct our husky were encouragement to our lab.
Having a few more days under our belts, I think we just have a wrong idea of how much a puppy eats. She’s been going along at about the same rate, but this morning we had to let her collar out one notch (already)!
We still need to get her to a vet, to establish a connection with him/her, to get her a new dose of heartworm/hookworm/flea stuff, and because our apartment complex needs some kind of vet document on file. I spent yesterday collecting vet recommendations from people who live in the same town we do, and today Angela will call around and make an appt for later this week (hopefully).