And she's white with brown spots and fuzzy and cyute.. and kinda... odd situation
Ok, my aunt and uncle had some puppies and my sister was getting her kid one, well we went to see the puppies and well mom wound up taking one home. Well I was showing it to my husband to try and convince him to get one, but he wanted the one mom got. But since my dad wasn't too thrilled about the idea, she decided to let us have it. The problem really is, mom wanted the white one and i wanted the brown one. And I was expecting to go back thursday and get it.
Now I have a dog I'm unprepared for and I feel bad for taking the puppy mom picked out.
What should i do? : /
Also, They claim the puppies are 4 weeks, but I don't think so. The puppies are already eating moist foods, but the momma refuses to nurse them. Their eyes and ears are fully opened and their teeth are reasonably developed.
A problem also lies int he fact that my sister's kid is only 4 and she is not grasping the concept that the puppy is a living thing not a toy and cannot be carried all the time. she screams hysterically when they tell her to put it down so it can potty. So.. ugh
Anyway, we are not even remotely sure what the dad is to this dog, and the momma comes knee high so we're a little worried about future size, however it has little paws and a tiny head, but markings like a st. bernard. The one my sister got looks like a beagle, and the other puppies were solid brown.
Well, he slept 90% of the day yesterday so he was up half the night howling. BAD on my part >< I know better than that. An exhausted puppy is a sleepy puppy.
Well he potties properly outside the first time, but the second time we were asleep, so he sat by it and howled until I cleaned it up. Then... after he realized that it wasn't play time he howled half the night. Because our house hasn't been properly puppy proofed I had to lock him in the ferret room. (they were in their cage, and it's on stilts anyway so his head barely goes to the base)
Right now I'm looking up vets to call so I can schedule him a check up. I don't get paid til thursday but we got him enough food for the moment, though we don't have adequate other stuff and especially don't have a crate.
Unfortunately my family doesn't believe in vets and the poor thing was sleeping under a car this whole time, so the vet is going to be a little scarey for her.
Her name is apparently Nickie and my husband won't give her up (even though i still want the brown one more and the white one was supposed to be mom's)
we're already having difficulty agreeing on how to train her.
He thinks you're supposed to smack a dog when it potties in the floor REGARDLESS of age. He STILL believes in the rubbing it's face in the poop.
*facepalm
Well he agrued with me that that is how is brother trained his dog and I said "uh no, that makes the situation worse because the dog doesn't grasp why you'rre stuffing it's face in poo and hitting it. You'll make them worse. And THEN he says "well... maybe that's why joe's dog still poops in the floor"
*eyeroll
I will train HIM yet, and the puppy in the process lol.
Ahhh at least he doesn't think like his parents and think the poor thing should be confined to a cage in the yard.
I'm so glad that you got a doggie!!!! But it sounds like your situation is getting a little out of hand with your husband and mother. You're doing the right thing, however, by making sure it gets to the vets ASAP. I am wondering, though, how come your family doesn't believe in veternarians?? Is it against their religion or something?? I guess people have their own beliefs and such about certain issues. I know what you mean about disciplining dogs. My dog wet in the floor yesterday and I made the mistake of rubbing her nose in it and popping her. I guess that's why she keeps on doing it cause she doesn't know any better. I usually keep her outside most of the time cause she's very difficult to handle in the house. She constantly chases after our three cats and becomes a little dominant with her chewbone. So I have to take it away from her. I hate doing that, but she's very difficult to handle in the house and I can't keep up with her 24/7! So I understand your situation. I have finally begun changing Katie's food over to Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, and I have to say that it's the best quality dog food I have ever bought!!! And the greatest thing was that it was only $7 at the pet shop! Anyway, you're doing the right thing. It's a huge responsibility when you have a dog, isn't it? I have now two dogs and three cats and they are all handfuls!! One cat bangs on the door constantly in the mornings to be fed @ 5am(which wakes me up and I don't feed him til 6am) cause Dad has started to get up @ 5am to head off to work. I feel like we have a zoo in the house! :lol: But anyway, good luck on your new pet!!!!
Take the leadership in the role of the pack. Take the puppy to training class (this will help you with your establishment as a leader in the pack and will also establish a closer bond with your dog and learn commands) and do you take your dog on a walk? For a puppy, three walks a day are the best, more tired they are they better they will be.
I'm glad for your puppy, congrats. That's good that you are taking her/him to the vet asap. I also don't know why your fmaily doesn't believe in veternarians? I understand they can be expensive, but what if your puppy gets injured but can get to the vet and will get surgery and be a lot better the next couple of days?
I don't like the sound that your husband is treating your puppy, I have seen that happen before and the puppy is thinking "Hm.. okay I can do again there?" They don't understand our langauge, they only know our commands and hand-taught signals.
Yes, it is a huge / life commentment responsbility that you are taking on, but it's good thing that you are doing it.
I hope this helps, I wish you the best in the future to come with you and your dog as well as the rest of the family.
let me "try" to explain my family. It's more out of ignorance than any form of malice or religious preference. They just don't think vets are nesecary unless the animal is either extremely sick or injured beyond their own capacity to handle.
Things like shots and regular treatments are unnecessary because in their minds, an animal can survive in the woods without the help of a vet, so why does a domestic animal need it, when they're so well taken care of else wise.
Taken care of means: fed, shelter, paid attention to, the ocassional bath.
So long as they make sure an animal LOOKS healthy, then it is. That's how they work. To them a vet is basically only needed in emergencies.
Well, dogs need exercise more than anything, without exercise, the dog will bark continuously and will be destructive because she or he will have so much pent up energy that needs to be released or the results are gonna get worse as it goes on.
As for the vet, it's not my pet that I'm talking about here, so it's your court now, I'm just trying to help you out to be the best owner that they could have. Dogs need; exercise, food, affection and shelter.
Is the puppy going to be yours or theirs? I would take the full on responsibility and not them if they think that, from what I read from what you wrote.
Take the leadership role, as the puppy is asking you for it, take the puppy to training class (there are also online videos and different methods to teach yourself so your can train your puppy). Commands and hand signals are essential for a good owner/leader. I use the clicker method(positive re-inforcement method), there are alot of different methods out there, depending on your dog needs or requirements that need to be met.
We however do believe in vets and regular shots and check up s as necessary. I have a vet I've already planned on going to because I've been there with other people's dogs and they've always been incredibly helpful.
As for excersize, where my house is located is on a circl road out in the middle of nowhere. i have a huge yard, and as soon as the baby is big enough I'll start on walks. I'll have to wait until she can make it to the mailbox without falling asleep though :P
She's going to be an inside dog, unless of course she gets too large for our house (oh I hope not the mom was relatively small) I have extensive history with dog training, the big problem I'm going to have is my husband's ignorance of how to properly train a dog. Even though she's only about 5 weeks (they tell me 4 but she acts 6) he assumes dogs just come potty trained. (as if HE was born potty trained or something *eyeroll)
The frustrating thing to me, was the fact I was going to wait until friday to get one so I could properly set up my house for a puppy, but she was kind of thrust on me sunday night instead. So I did make shift by closing off the ferret room for her to stay during the day.
I don't trust a puppy in my bathroom and the ferret room is the only other room I can close off with a linoleum floor.
Congrats on the new pup! I can't wait to see some pictures! Why can't the puppies stay with their mom until they're eight weeks old? They're really missing out on learning dog language. If the pups are already leaving at four weeks- your sister's family may have some problems with bite inhibition and the fact that without some intense socialization with other dogs, they won't learn much dog language- so they won't know how to warn you niece before she may bite. Anyways, good luck and enjoy those puppy days.
unfortuneatly, the mother completely rejected the puppies and will even go so far as to try to attack them if they try to nurse on her. my aunt and uncle have been hand raising the puppies.
Again it's more of an ignorance of the situation and the fact it was kind of thrust on me. I was told that if I did not take a puppy by friday afternoon they were taking them all to a shelter anyway.
Now I'm noticing a few things.
First she's having some weird issues with her back legs and often takes to just hopping around much like a rabbit. I'm hoping that just because of her age.
What makes me think she's older than they claim is the fact we're having little to no issue with potty training. I've only had her about 36 hours, but she hasn't pooped in the house at all. The first day I got her, she pooped before I picked her up at 2... she didn't poop again til near 9. Yesterday when i got home from work I was expecting to clean up about 3 piles... but nothing. She pooped as soon as I got her outside though. Good sign! I hope. However this morning I couldn't beg her to potty for me so I'm pretty sure I'll be facing a pile when I get home.
The main issues I'm having is the toe and clothe biting. The more I try to stop her the more she thinks it's a game. Which is driving me crazy. Coupled with the fact my husband lets her and even tries to make it a game saying "they can tell not to bite you but to bite me, they know the difference" and I keep trying to explain "consistency".
Yesterday, I did everything I could to get her exhausted. I ran around in the yard for a long time, then let her play in the ferret room while I puppy proofed the living room, and then let her play in the living room. I'm managed to get her to associate one stuffed toy with play and the other with sleep, but that could be my own imagination working there.
However, even though I throughly exhausted her and myself to the point she practicaly passed out while playing, she woke up at 3:00 am and started howling. We tried ignoring, we tried "barking" my husband got mad and popped her even though I tried to explain that's going to make the situaton worse (which it did) finally out of desperation I tried something. I scruffed her and took her to the little "den" she made herself. After the 3rd time of doing this she went back to sleep without a hitch. Of course it was about 4:45 and I have to get up at 5:30 every morning -.-;;;
Sooo what's a good way to stop that? The scruff thing I did? Any other suggestions?
With the biting; witha firm "NO!" will stop the biting.. even when she is probably just play biting, which is what my dog does. She needs to learn not to bite even hard when she's playing.
With the barking; dogs can see and hear 3x better than we can. So, she might be hearing a(n) animal in the yard or in a bush or a tree and is howling at that, unfortunately, that hasn't happened to my dog yet at night. But, I would probably ignore it or yet again, tell her with a firm "NO!".
As with the scruffing; what do you exactly mean by that? You actually might get bite when you do that.
Originally posted by chester_and_mandy: if dogs bite, shove your thumb into its mouth under its tounge and press tightly on lower jaw while saying sternly "NO BITE!"
How about not? There are WAY better ways to solve biting problems with a puppy than physical harm.
For sleeping at night, it's best to just ignore her. It's hard, but by giving her attention she learns that if she barks, you will come to her- escalating the problem. Do you keep her crate by your bed? That helps a lot, so that she can see you. It also helps to keep a worn t-shirt in there with her.
I usually keep her outside most of the time cause she's very difficult to handle in the house. She constantly chases after our three cats and becomes a little dominant with her chewbone. So I have to take it away from her. I hate doing that, but she's very difficult to handle in the house and I can't keep up with her 24/7! So I understand your situation.
