Puppy Madness

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Comment by Jenny and Cooper on March 17, 2015 at 1:29pm

BTW, I learned something new today.  A friend of mine came over to visit and I had Cooper outside in the yard.  I knew his pooping time was coming up because I keep track of all his potty times.  I noticed he was sniffing around too.  She asked me if his poopinghole (butt) lol is normally that open and kind of pink.  I said I never noticed that.  She said with her dog, when she needs to go poop, her poopinghole would open up just a bit and pinkish in color.  So we rushed Cooper over to his potty area and sure enough he pooped! 

So for anyone that are new with a puppy, maybe you can try to notice that.  I surely will from now on! lol.  Sometimes it's too late when you notice them sniffing like mad.  It just comes out before you know it.  Anyways, after Cooper did his thing, I couldn't see his poopinghole.  Very interesting!

Comment by Jenny and Cooper on March 17, 2015 at 1:18pm

Thank you Lyndy, Laura, Sosa, and Diane for your response and support.

Today was one of my emotional rollercoaster day.  I guess it'll take time for me to get used to things.  My huby says I need to relax and stop being a helicopter mom to the puppy.  lol  I just don't want an accident in the house again!  Cooper woke up at 4:10 a.m. today with a few loud barks.  He never did that before, usually just his whine and cry.  Hubby took him out for potty then he went back to sleep til 5:30 a.m.

Diane, Cooper likes to sleep on our wood floor.  When I open up his cage after he wakes up, he continues his nap on the wood floor. lol.  It's been hot here in CA, so I guess it cools him off.

Hopefully soon I'll get to where all of you are!  Thanks again for the comforting words.

Comment by Diane, Hurley and Sidney on March 17, 2015 at 12:29pm

What I found with Hurley is as soon as I let him sleep on the bed with us he was no longer restless at night and slept through.  

He did not jump off the bed because he could not figure out how to do that.  By the time he figured it out he was okay to be left on his own at night in the house.  He gets to warm at night to stay on the bed any more and likes to sleep on the tile.

So the routine was my saying "BED" along with pointing to the bed at 8:45.  He would jump up, curl up and go to sleep.   Now he just lays down and goes to sleep wherever he wants to go.   

Comment by Laura and Angus on March 17, 2015 at 11:52am

Man, I am so jealous of all you guys who mentioned their puppies slept through the night right away. We were not so lucky..and I definitely thought I was gonna lose my mind after about a month! Luckily we're pretty much at that point, although Angus is a very restless sleeper and is moving around a lot throughout the night. Ah!

Comment by Diane, Hurley and Sidney on March 17, 2015 at 11:43am

Hurley was relatively easy.   He started sleeping through the night at least 9-5 by 2 months.  But Hurley is not an early riser.  He collapses about 8:45 and has never been in a rush to get up.

  I am up at 5 or earlier, depending on the weather, for a morning run. Sometimes Hurley just watches me go and when I get back he is still dozing.  Sometimes he wants to go along.  But early riser he is not!!!

We have a special morning routine.   When I get up in the morning I go lay on the rug or floor by Hurley and pet him and talk to him   He loves that time and grunts and groan and sighs.    If I am in a hurry and don't take that time he is so hurt and will ignore me for most of the day.   

Comment by SoSa on March 17, 2015 at 6:24am

Hi Jenny, welcome. You are not alone. The first few weeks for us, wow, we thought, what the heck did we get ourselves into. And to be honest, Ace has been with us for 6 weeks ( he's now 13 weeks old) and we still at times feel overwhelmed. The good news is that it does get better as time goes on, but it's a process for sure. What helps for me is to know that I am not alone and the challenges are not specific to me. You can search practically any issue you're having here on this site, and you'll find discussions between other folks who have dealt with the same issue.

Ace began sleeping through the night a few days after he came home. He usually goes down at 8-8:30pm. When my husband comes home at about 9:30pm, he'll take him out to potty, then he goes right back in his crate and falls asleep. During the week, I ho downstairs at 4am to leave for work. Sometimes Ace gets up, sometimes he doesn't. If he does, I'll take him out. He'll do his business then go right back to sleep until the rest of the family gets up. On the weekends, he sleeps in with everyone else (until 7 or 8 am).

As for eating. The first week or so, he did not eat much. We were worried, but when we took him to the vet for his wellness visit, he had gained weight, so he was fine. It was just being in a new place. However now he does have a "quirk" when it comes to eating. We put his food in his bowl and he's not interested. We'll transfer the food to his Kong and he'll eat every last bit and when the Kong is empty, he'll go to his howl looking for more. Why he'd rather work for his food is beyond me. I have no problem putting his food in his Kong. If he'd rather eat out of a Kong instead of his bowl, fine with me. It's just a different kind if bowl as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather do that than enticing him to eat by putting something tasty on his food.

:-)

Comment by Laura and Angus on March 17, 2015 at 5:49am

Jenny and Wasseem: we had a very tough go for the first 2 months with our puppy Angus. We were expecting one thing and the reality of having a puppy was quite different - exhausting, stressful, and crazy frustrating at times. That is why this group was so helpful for me!! I would read discussions people posted about their frustrations and people would comment with thoughts or say "hang in there it gets better!" and it does!! As long as you are consistent with training - esp working on building good habits and leadership training earlier then it will definitely pay off in the end. Another thing that helps is EXERCISE! And when they're younger it doesn't take much walking and running around before they're ready for a nap, so get out there and get puppy moving for 20 minutes and you're good to go. Angus has really come around with his behaviors, though we still work on manners and training every day...but he has really come around and he's even gotten to be snuggly! I think at almost 8 months we're finally at a point where we understand our pup and how to work on certain behaviors, so I promise you that putting the time in early will pay off as the puppy gets older. 

Comment by Gracie, Jade, & Barkley on March 16, 2015 at 6:11pm

Regarding sleep, Gracie sleeps from 10 pm to 6 am or whenever she hears someone gettig up. If we sleep in she sleeps in.

Comment by Gracie, Jade, & Barkley on March 16, 2015 at 6:07pm

Lol Waseem. I wasn't totally enamored with Gracie either. She's still a rascal at over 4 months, but she has a personality and we are enjoying her more and more each day!

Jenny, maybe try the leave it command. Look up Zak George on YouTube. He's got a lot of great advice. One thing is to practice a lot - especially with the things they really need to do. It will come in handy.
Gracie is still a work in progress. It does get better the older they get.

Comment by Jenny and Cooper on March 16, 2015 at 1:53pm

Thank you  Wasseem.  (Cooper is napping now so I can post!) I do feel a whole lot better reading your post.  Thanks for the laugh too.  We don’t feed him any table food.  As far as treats, I don’t give him too much since I don’t really know how to “teach” him tricks.  He goes crazy when he sees the treat and I can't seem to calm him down other than to sit.  He knows how to “sit” when ask but “come” is something I feel like he only wants to do when he feels like it! 

The vet said I can switch to twice a feeding later (forgot when he said).  Cooper is also a scavenger.  He’ll eat dried leaves and chew on sticks or anything he finds tasty that he finds in the backyard.  I have to watch him like a hawk too!

Cooper slept in our room the first three nights.  What prompted us to move him downstairs was the same issue you had.  I wanted to get up to use the restroom one night but didn’t because I was afraid to wake him up.  I ended up having a horrible night holding it!  So now Cooper sleeps downstairs which works very well for us.

I want to “fall in love” with Cooper, honestly.  I think I’m just overwhelmed right now.  I can’t wait until he gets all his shots so I can send him to obedience class and kindergarten academy class for dogs.  Lol.  I know he is a smart dog and I want him to have fun and be challenged mentally!

Thanks again.  I better get going!

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