Subtitles

I have so much to write about from this last week I am going to have to subtitle this blog entry!

Oscar
Oscar is just gorgeous. He really is. As I keep saying to S in a rather pathetic voice “I love him”. He’s such a little character already and has something of the feeling of an old soul about him. He’s just a very chilled out little lad, we’ve been so surprised by his laid back attitude to most things he’s encountered.

I wasn’t expecting to love him this much, this quickly. I was still struggling with the death of my old dog, Molli, up until just before we got Oscar. It’s been two years but I don’t think I ever grieved properly, you know – really let it go. But the imminent arrival of the puppy kind of brought it all out of me and I think I’ve finally found some peace with the fact that she’s gone and enough space opened up in my heart for little Oscar. His cheeky little face and splodgey paws helped on the loving front as well.

We have been so busy with him this week. I’ve also been finishing off an essay which has been annoying, but also helped with managing not to play with him ALL the time! But it’s definitely true that a puppy shouldn’t be taken on lightly, he’s needed a lot of time and attention and even more worrying about and figuring out. Toilet training alone seems to involve a long time stood outside staring at trees and willing another creature to do a poo. Slightly strange.

So what has Oscar done and learned about this week?

The Car
After his first good experience in the car on the way home from the breeder he has continued to go out in the car every day this week apart from today. He seems totally fine with it. He just falls asleep. He’s been on S’s knee, my knee, the foot-well of The Shed AND inside a cat-sized pet carrier when he’s been alone in the car with me. In all situation he sleeps! He did whine a bit in the pet carrier but I just praised him every time he went quiet and let him sniff my hand through the side of it when and sang to him, which he obviously love as he went to sleep not long after I started. He did join in with a bit of whining for a bit though. Insulting pup. So the first part of the mission to make him a take anywhere, running dog is on the way to success. Just got to keep up the practice.

Vets
His first car journey on Monday was to the vets for his puppy health check. S went in to wait for our appointment and then came out to get me and Oscar from the car. I carried him into the consulting room and popped him on the table. He was sleepy and didn’t really seem phased, not really happy but just kind of like “what’s going on here then?”. The vet admired him (of course!) and then got down so that her face was level with him, to have a look at his eyes, and he just walked right up to her face and thought about eating her chin. He was assessed as a “very confident puppy”. She felt him all over and weighed him (hoofter pup – 3.5kg ish). And we asked about vaccination and things (8 weeks and 10 weeks), she asked how old he was and she was really, really shocked when we said 6 weeks! She said she was expecting us to say 8.5-9 weeks!! Just shows what a big lad he is really. I somehow don’t think we are going to end up with a slightly smaller Springer that we thought a Springer x Working Cocker would be.

We mentioned he’d bee scratching a bit and the vet put a couple of drops of a magic potion on the back of his neck that gets rid of fleas AND worms in one shot. Excellent.

Fleas
Unfortunately he did turn out to have fleas and when the chemicals started seeping out of his skin making his coat not the most habitable place for them anymore, they hopped off him and started biting us. Woop. I think they pretty much die when they’ve had a snack on human flesh though so hopefully, after washing all the bedding and all the clothes that have been out of cupboards at all since Monday on a hot wash, the buggers’ll be gone soon enough. If not it’ll be chemicals around the skirting boards. The whole flea situation was not helped by the puppy being in our room... more on that later.

Pooing
Ah, poo. I have new appreciation of a steaming pile of puppy poo. Sometimes you’ve been waiting for a while. Sometimes in the rain. And when it finally appears it is a glorious sight. Yes really. I’ve never been as excited about poo. We had one day where he didn’t go for a complete age. He had three meals in him by the time he did go. S spent nearly two hours in the garden at one point (I was essay writing else I would have relieved (haha) him). We made up a song;

"What do you do when a puppy won't poo, in an English Country Garden? (rpt) Pick him up and shake him, squeeze him out and make him, stay up all night 'til the bugger has a shite. That's what you do when a puppy won't poo, in an English Country Garden."

It’s actually really difficult this toilet training thing. Definitely the frustrating side of puppy-ownership. He’s too young to really give much warning and even with extreme vigilance we haven’t managed to figure out what’s pre-poo/wee sniffing and what’s investigating the world sniffing. So we’ve had a few accidents. But we are looking at accidents as our fault and don’t get angry at him, in fact even if he goes on the carpet right in front of us, unless we stop him just before he squats and get him outside, we are doing our best to just ignore it. If you tell them off they don’t understand that it’s because it’s inside they just get reluctant to go in front of you at all and start sneaking off and leaving little presents in hidden places. I’d much rather know where I need to clean up.
But I actually think that for 5 days in we really aren’t doing too badly. He has started being quite good about going quicker once we get outside. We’ve started using a puppy pen to put him in while we wait for the magic to happen so that he doesn’t get distracted by stones and dry leaves and snail shells and plants and remembers what he’s there for. Then when he’s done he can come out and run around the garden a bit. We are going to start using food rewards for when he goes as well to reinforce that that is what we want when we go out. Patience, patience, patience. The puppy book says they are 2-3 months old before they really get it 95% of the time (and have the physical control to do that) and to expect the occasional accident up to 6 months. Right oh, we shall simply remain armed with kitchen roll and deodoriser spray until then!

Gardening
Aside from the pooing in the garden he’s really started to enjoy playing out there as well. For the first couple of days he was unco-ordinated and a bit baffled, especially by the rain, and much preferred the idea of staying inside thank you very much. But he’s gradually started to get into it. His co-ordination has improved so dramatically, he can run at a speed and bounce off the steps now. And he’s found a bit of the “flower bed” (optimistic description alert!) that he can climb up into to dig the soil and pull up weeds. He discovered this while S was weeding – he climbed up to join in. See what I mean about a character?

As well as trimming the plants he likes to clean up snail shells by eating them, carry dry holly leaves around in his mouth (it looks painful but he keeps doing it!) and rearrange the gravel, having a good old chomp on the bits of stone as he goes. Basically he picks up everything he sees in his mouth, I think to figure out what it is. We are going to have to watch out for poisonous stuff and I’ll be watching out for any of those holly leaves actually getting eaten because they aren’t good for puppies, oh no.

He still doesn’t like to go out in the wet though. Which is a bit wussy for a spaniel if you ask me. We’ll convince him he likes the rain soon enough I’m sure. Ham will help.

Socialising
He’s been meeting people! We’ve taken him shopping, I’ve stood outside the shop while S goes in for stuff and basically if you stand still for more than half a minute holding a cute puppy you attract a flock of people. He’s been stroked and talked to by children and old people, mostly women. I think we’ll leave S stood outside the shop next time to see if men are more likely to come up to him than me, but it’s more likely blokes just aren’t that bothered about saying hello to a puppy!
He has however met two men who’ve come round to measure the garage door. And he just loved them. He wiggled up to them all submissive and proceeded to sit on their shoes and generally gaze adoringly at them while they chatted. I think it helps that his breeder was a 6ft+ and broad with it farmer type. He’s going to love big guys in big boots for his whole life I think.

He’s also met the postman, watched the lady on the sit on mower mow the village green and watched horses and bikes go past the front gate.

He even met his first Other Dogs this week, a Springer and Jack Russel girlies. He sniffed them and then did a wee on S’s lap. Oops. We’ll have to do a bit of work with dogs, but actually the weeing is probably normal puppy submission rather than anything to particularly worry about. There also an old Golden Retriever in the village, she’s a bit of a mad old lady and can often be found standing in the river staring into space after being left to make her own way home by owners who have given up trying to tempt her out of there before she’s ready. I was out in the garden with Oscar and she popped by to see who the newbie is. Just stood at the gate and had a sniff in his direction. I didn’t let Oscar say hello in case she isn’t vaccinated but it was funny, like the old matriarch popping round to see the new baby.

Hopefully we can sort out meeting some other dogs soon.

Bath
He sat down in a puddle of wee, delightful pup that he is, so we decided now was as good a tikme as any to introduce bathtime. Again he was very good about it if a bit unsure. He’s not keen on getting his paws wet at the moment. But he paddled about in the bath, was fine with the shower running (we didn’t use it on him yet!), he enjoyed being shampooed and he loved being towel dried by both of us – sooooo much attention.

Hopefully we’ll work up to being able to hair-dryer him! I deliberately dried my hair downstairs the other day to get him used to the noise.

Night times
Night times have been interesting!! After the first night, he was amazing on the second night if up a little early, the night after he was up three times which was a bit draining and then last night he was only up once, although he took a while to settle back down. We have moved the box to be right next to the bed at the top end so that he can see we are there and get woken up by him a bit easier. He’s been making a racket scrobbling about in the cardboard though, which is fine as he’s not crying but keeping himself entertained BUT it keeps us awake as well! I think we are going to try to see how he does in the crate tonight. He’s started liking to go and sleep in there in the living room during the day so I think we’ll try him in it upstairs tonight. He’ll have to try a bit harder to wake us up if he needs the loo in there though! I’m quite amazed that he has been waking us up and getting through the night clean actually – that whole thing about dogs not wanting to soil the “nest” is actually true!

Ears and other growings
I said his co-ordination had come together. He’s also grown loads. 3.5kg to 4kg in 5 days. His legs have got longer and he can get his paws on the edge of the sofa which he didn’t have a hope of doing on Sunday. His fur is growing loads as well, the hair round his back legs is growing into fringing and his tail hair is much longer. His ear hair is longer and lusher, with a proper curl growing into it. And speaking of ears... OMG, they have grown at an INSANE rate... 9.5cm on Tuesday, 11cm yesterday. We worked out a growth rate of 6.7mm a day! That’s just mad, if he sat still long enough we’d be able to see them grow!


Collar
He’s had his collar on the past few days and very smart and grown up he looks with it on too! He has been having a bit of a scritch at it but that could equally be at those ears which must itch a bit growing like that. He took a few hours to get used to it yesterday and kept running a bit sideways, but today he hardly seems to have noticed it. Have to teach him to accept being restrained by it next and then introduce a lead and walking on the lead. Another frustrating one I predict.

Training
He’s done a bit of training already. His come when called has started without even really trying. He just loves cuddles so much he’s learned to come running on command just for a “good boy” and massive fuss. He even waits for me to call him with this cheeky look on his face out in the garden and then when I do, comes bombing at full bouncy pelt straight at me. Happy days. I taught him sit today. It took two 3 minute training sessions and he was responding to a hand signal for sit. That’s fast! That might even be faster than Molli learned it and she was a clever dog. I’m also teaching him to make eye-contact with me when I say his name. Again that’s coming in amazingly quick! Repeat, repeat, repeat and timing, timing, timing.

Training class
We’ve got an application form for getting into a really smart, positive method training school. He can go for a first meeting session after his first jabs and then after his second he can go to puppy pre-school for 4 weeks before joining the main class. It sounds really smart and is the only KC accredited training school in the area so we are going to go for it, although it feels a bit like sending him to private school... Only the best for Oscar!

This blog entry is almost as long as the essay I just handed in. Ooops.

xxx

He's Here!

He's here and I'm shattered already! Yesterday was a long day and last night was a very long night. He's worth it though, he's even more gorgeous than he was at 5 weeks old.

We went to pick him up at 10am, we took my car (Wobb) because S's car (The Shed) decided Saturday was a good day to break down. This meant I had to drive which was a touch difficult when you are so excited you feel like you might wee yourself. We were very pleased to be immediately handed some official documents about his tail-docking and micro-chipping. Since he's not pure-bred, KC registered etcetera it was reasuring to get some paper to show everything was above board. Then we saw the puppies. Oh my hadn't they grown? And our pup is the biggest of the lot. He was full of breakfast so his belly was round, and he looked massive.

After playing with all the pups for a bit and a final photo of all the pups together for the breeder we picked him up and took him away. There was some crying, which was quite heart-breaking but we took him anyway cos he are cruel like that. At least his littermates will be able to get some food now, I think Oscar was nabbing it all.

He sat on S's knee on the way home and was really good for the whole half-hour drive. A bit of crying but no throwing up, which is quite impressive for a small puppy full of food on his first car journey. On arriving home he went down in the garden and did a massive wee. So far, so textbook.

It didn't carry on very textbook and over the rest of the day we had nearly as many wees in the house as outside. I think it might take him a while to get the hang of it but we're just going to keep taking him outside at least every hour and praising him for doing what he should do, where he shuld do. It's difficult and my patience was tried several times. Especially when you get him to the open doorway and he wees just inside the house!

He was learning an awful lot in one day though, so I don't blame him for being a bit confused. News family and new house. Carpets and slidey floors. Plants and gravel. Garden steps. Toys and blankets. Socks. Even visitors! An awful lots for a pup to take in. I think as we settle into a routine with him the housetraining will suddenly click into place.

He seems to have taken a liking to us though and is quite happy to follow us about and play and have cuddles. I thought he might be more shy but he has accepted his new "parents" really quickly. He's even started working on his recall with fabulous success. At the moment he's doing for just praise and strokes - I think we'll introduce ham into the equation quite quickly so that that recall is hot to trot before we take him out anywhere.

The first day passed, there was lots of sleeping and playing and a bit of eating and more sleeping and the pooing and weeing of course. I never thought I'd be quite so excited about another creature's poos and wees. It is very exciting when he goes outside though, it's like "YES!! Jackpot!".

Anyway. The First Night. So much conflicting advice in puppy books and on forums and old wives advice. We decided on a high-sided cardboard box at the end of our bed, with a smelly towel from his mother and littermates and a blanket and a hotwater bottle. A bit of reassurance when he cried and getting up in the night to take him out to the loo is he woke up and made a fuss. It kind of worked, he didn't have any accidents in his bed and roll around in it. We all got some sleep - ish. He did two wees outside during the night, one at 1am and one at 4:30am. So that's 2 hours, then 3 and a half hours. For some reason it was me, who normally sleeps like a log, that was waking up when he started mithering for the loo. S only woke up when I got up. I was sleeping really lightly - I've been so worried about getting things right I think I was basically half-awake the whole night.

We tried to get him to go back to sleep at 4:30am after his wee, but he was wide awake and made such a massive, hysterical fuss (including howling then snorting like a pig, which was just hilarious if I'm honest)that we decided to get up. Well S got up with him to play with him. He then decided that the wee he'd had wasn't enough and did a poo and a wee inside - damnit, not the best start to today's toilet training.

I tried to sleep again but couldn't settle so came downstairs. S has been playing with him and now they have both fallen asleep. I'm going to need some serious sleep payback at some point - I can't sleep now cos one of us has to be awake when Oscar wakes up.

I think we'll try the cardboard box again tonight and if it's just as bad again, we'll have a re-think. It might be newspaper down in the kitchen and some closed doors. Less puppy friendly, not as good for the house-training, but possibly better in the long run. I really don't know. We'll see.

He's a proper cutey though and has settled in really well already. Busy day ahead today for him. Vets for a health check. Some more traning. Possibly a brush. Definitely food, sleeping and playing. Maybe a collar on for a bit and a little bit of being carried about in the big wide world? And at some point I am going to have to get some sleep in!!



xxx

Preparations.

Getting ready for a new puppy to arrive requires a lot of thinking! Where's he going to sleep? What's he going to eat? What do we need to do to make the house safe? What about the garden? Can he actually fit through those gaps in the gate? What are the "house rules" going to be? Will he like this toy or that chew? How many chews and toys are too many? Is there such a thing? Do we need a crate? How small is his little neck going to be, will this collar be too big? How are we going to manage the first night? The first trip to the vets? When can people come and visit? When can we introduce him to his doggy step-siblings? What about training classes, vaccinations, microchipping, chopping his boy-bits off?

And in answer to all these questions there is a mass of conflicting information out there so you can't help but feel you are doing things "wrong". Even picking him up at 6 weeks old, which I thought was standard practise, seems to be frowned upon by a good section of people. I've decided not to worry about that though as, to me, him being socialised into his human family is more important than learning "bite inhibition" from his mother and siblings. This is my judgement of the situation. His mum seems to be interacting with the puppies very little and doesn't seem to be disciplining them except by moving away. So she isn't going to tell him off. Also he is the biggest pup in the litter and knows it, so I doubt he'll get much grief off his siblings either. He's better off with us, we can teach him bite inhibition ourselves as well. All you do is, if he nips during play, squeel like a hurt puppy would and stop play and ignore. Then praise when he "appologises" (which they do do, very cute!).

And another thing, he's been born on a farm in a barn. We need to get him used to a house and all the things that that involves including not weeing and pooing inside! And he needs to start seeing the rest of the world as soon as possible in my view.

Anyway, the preparations! We spent the whole day on Saturday basically shopping and tidying up. We bought a crate in the end, not sure if we are going to use it for house-training as a lot of people seem to do but it'll be really handy in the quest to make it so we can actually take him with us anywhere so I thought it would be a good plan to get it early so he gets used to the idea of it early. We bought a mop and bucket and special floor deoderiser! In case of "accidents". More toys and chews than should be allowed. Blankets and towels. Puppy food, both what he is being fed now and what we want to move him on to. Some mesh to put over the gate just in case he can get through those gaps. And several other things, including a towel to get his mum's smell on for him to bring home with him for his first few nights away from his mum and siblings.

So of course we had to go and visit him to hand that over didn't we?

:-D

He's grown so much! And is much more lively. He's definitely bold, which is really good news. Having experienced what it's like to take a more nervous pup from a litter I definitely prefer the idea of a bolder dog - anxiety causes all sorts of issues. Bold dogs just need consistant training which I can do. The door to the barn was open and he was the first pup to make a break for it - by next week he'll definitely be ready for the big, wide world.

He seemed to recognise us and kept running up to me to say hello. He even sat when I told him too, which I'm sure was a complete co-incidence but was very sweet. I just can't wait to bring him home. Even if he is going to be a complete handful and I'm going to worry so much about getting things right for him!

xxx

Setting the Scene.

I'm a little over-excited. In one week and one day me and my boyfriend, S, are going to be going and picking up our new puppy and bringing him home. It doesn't really get much more exciting than that does it? We went to see the litter last weekend and had the pick of the litter to choose our little lad... We seem to have picked the biggest boy puppy; he's going to be such a handful! He's a springer spaniel cross working cocker spaniel. Both his parents are working farm and hunting dogs so he's going to be very full of go and, I'm hoping, robust health-wise with some hybrid vigour as well.

At first glance it appears quite unwise for two people who work full-time to have decided on a dog from working lines as a pet. However, this was a deliberate pick because we need a dog that will have the trainability and stamina to come fell running with us (hence this blog being called what it's called) and hopefully we've found the basic raw material. Now we've got to try and train him well enough to turn him into a take-anywhere kind of hound. And that'll be the interesting bit.

I have decided to write this blog so that I can waffle on at length about puppy and how he's doing, how his training is going, how many poos he's done today (well maybe not but I'm bound to talk about poo at some point, it's a dog-owner thing and a runner thing - I'm doubley doomed) and all that good stuff without boring to death the lovely people who read my running and life blog (located elsewhere in the internetosphere).

I was going to do a bit of a roll call of characters you might come across starring in this blog but we'll do that as and when they appear, for now there's me, S and puppy (who will be called Oscar as soon as he is ours officially). And I best stop writing soon, we have a busy weekend ahead. We need to completely puppy-proof the house and garden, which is going to involve chicken wire, trellis, baby gates, puppy pens and a lot of tidying up. We are hoping to go visit the puppies again (apparently he's grown loads since we saw them just last week). And we'll probably try and get out on the bikes and we have a running road race tomorrow - eek!

So there you go. It has begun.

xxx