Thank you all so very much for all of your great comments. We really love him, but OMG, what have we gotten ourselves into? We both got up this morning shaking our heads, and wondering if we could go through with this. He had pooped all over his cage, and piddled where there was a spot left. He also pooped all over the floor, every time we let him out, he would go right to some area and soil it. Well, me being who I am, I cleaned, sprayed and decided the best course of action would be to go online and read everything I could read about bringing puppies home. The first thing I learned was that we were feeding him way too much. No wonder he was pooping everywhere. His poor little tummy was emptying out, so he could put more in. I need to explain, at this time, that the only puppy we have had before was Cujo, our big Red Siberian Husky. I guess he ruined us, he was so good. We put him in his crate at night and never heard another peep out of him till in the morning. He never soiled his crate, and held it all night from day one. He was an outside dog also, but never once, while we had him, did he soil his own area. This puppy does not feel this way at all, so today we are giving him puppy sized meals, then we walk him right away. He is still piddling a little bit in his crate, but it has been cut way down. We are also dividing his time between playing out in the RV and being in his crate. We talked to the lady at the Humane Society, and she suggested we do this. She says, just like our babies, they need to sleep a lot, and they begin to see the crate as their den. So far it is working really well, so we will see. I want to share another picture of this big boy out walking.
If any of you have more tips for us, please share. We want what is best for him, and as you can probably tell, he is already securely in our hearts.
I discovered Hulu this week. It is a program that came with my new laptop that allows you to go back and watch TV programs that you may have missed. They don’t offer a lot of different ones, but enough that you could catch up or watch things you haven’t seen before. Like the Green Channel. I never had watched it before, but my sister, Dottie told me she really liked it, so I gave it a shot, and I like it too.
I have 2 new followers. The first is Hembree. He writes his blog mostly for his children, but it is a very interesting blog, so if you get a chance, check it out. The second new member is Pepper. I couldn’t find a site for them, so if you have one, please let me know, and I will share it with my readers. Hope you both enjoy the ride.
I am going to make this a short post. I didn’t get any sleep last night for some strange reason. Just seems to happen once in a while. So, I think I will try to grab a nap before I have to begin on supper. I will catch you all later… :)
13 comments:
Poor lil RUSTY, his owners are feeding him too much. I would much rather hear that then hear about a pup being starved!!
Travel Safe
Dawn & Denise
You, Donnie, and Rusty are all busy learning about each other. Glad you enjoyed using Hulu--it's a great invention!
Hank in there with Rusty things will get better.
Thank goodness puppyhood doesn't last forever! Unless your name is Emma! Don't have any soiling issues, but the exuberance hasn't lessened one bit in three years. :)
With Sadie we took her out as soon as she woke up from a nap, within 10-15 minutes after eating and every two hours otherwise.
She screamed in her crate for the first 2-3 weeks (possibly longer...LOL!). She eventually tired and would sleep. She needed out at 1:30-3:30 every night for weeks, then it was 3:30-5:30 for a couple more weeks. Now she FINALLY is sleeping until 7:30-8:30 every morning.
One thing is to be sure her crate isn't too big. If it is, she won't mind soiling it. You can insert a partition to divide it and make it smaller.
Sadie also started sleeping better with a softer, fluffier sleeping pad rather than the towels we used initially.
Keep the faith, you can survive the first couple of months...it's like having a baby. There seems to be no end in sight...then suddenly you realize it's better!
As for the chewing, we got her the big flat rawhide as well as plenty of toys. She tried to get my leather slippers a couple of times but that has been it.
Good luck with Rusty, I'm sure once the stomach settles down, he will be o.k.
What a gorgeous puppy! You lucky devils!
The best advice I found for house training my pooch, was to walk him every hour, then Praise him lavishly when he pees or poops. Do not end the walk when he has done his business, but continue on for awhile. Otherwise they will learn to hold it in, just to have longer walks. I live in my little Class C motorhome and there isn't room for a doggy crate.
So from sun up, until bed time, every hour, I took my little bundle of trouble for a little walk, varying our route, praising him every time he piddled or pooed, showering him with love. If your puppy likes treats, reward him with that too. By day three, he was looking pretty embarrassed about me fussing and loving on him every time he did his thing. So now I was able to regain my life back, and only walk him a few times a day.
I also told him a stern NO whenever he attempted to bother my stuff, then I would pick up one of his toys and play with him. He learned rather quickly, to leave my things alone and how happy it made me for him to play with his toys. Dogs want you to be happy! They aim to please.
Once in a great while he did have a booboo, like he was overserved at a BBQ party by well meaning friends and late that night he left me a surprise on the throw rug. I never punished him, just cleaned it all up and used Pet Oxygen cleaner to make sure the smell was gone. I try to use positive training, except for the NO. I can go out with friends to dinner, leaving him all alone in the motorhome, I come back to toys scattered everywhere, and an enthusiastic puppy, who hasn't bothered my stuff, including my shoes which are often scattered around.
It's also good to rotate his toys. Like have half of them out for him to play with, and half hidden away. Then next week, switch a few around. This helps keep him from getting bored.
Since there was no room for a crate, I got him a nice little cozy (washable) bed, that I can move around the motorhome. At first he always wanted to be near me, so the bed sat next to me, where ever I was, so he had a cozy place to feel comfy. It also doubles as his car seat when we are driving. I use the seat belt to hold the back of the bed in, then tether him, so he can sit in his bed or on the floor. Mostly he just curls up and sleeps when I drive. The bed keeps him from sliding off the seat if I stop suddenly. The tether keeps him safe, should I be forced to stand up on the brakes for an emergency, he hopefully won't fly through the windshield.
When I stop to shop,(I have no toad) I unhook his tether, so he can bounce around the motorhome with his toys while I am gone. When I come back, I take him for a brief walk, as there is usually some sort of grass patch in the parking lot he can water, then I tether him back in and off we go again.
When I park to set up camp, I have a 28 foot retractable leash on a big carabiner. I hook him up outside by using the carabiner to attach to the awning frame or the door step or the back ladder. Anywhere he can't get into traffic. I toss a few toys outside to let him know we have "arrived". He can then have some freedom while watching me do the utility hookups and stuff and sniff out our new spot.
Because he is so small (only 6 pounds) I use a harness rather than a collar. When we are "in" for the night, I remove his harness, so he knows we aren't going out until the morning.
One thing to keep in mind is that your puppy is only 2 months old, and it may take more time for his muscles to strengthen, so he can hold it in.
As for the runny stuff, he might just need deworming. They can get reinfected with parasites while they are in training. Also, maybe he needs to alternate between wet and dry food.
Well, I hope this might help, if not I just cured insomnia for you!
There are of course loads of pics of my canine kid on my blog.
Hembree is a she!!!...LOL...Hello!!!
Hi-I've only just started reading RV blogs and never comment but your puppy issues have caught my attention since I have 3 dogs that we travel with, show and breed occasionally plus do rescue and fostering-guess that makes me an "expert." Here's some thoughts that might help. My dad used to say "it takes 2 yrs before you can stand living with a dog" and sometimes I think he was right! You should get a couple of good books on raising and training a puppy. If he's a Chow mix, you want to make sure you're doing the basic training right while he's little. As far as the housebreaking: make sure his crate is just big enough for him to lie down in. Don't let him have any extra space in it so he can poop and get away from it. If need be, find a way to block off part of the crate until he grows and will fill it up. Dogs don't like to mess in their den and will try not to. Some dog's unfortunately don't mind especially if they've been forced to be in a crate for long periods of time and have no choice. If he's got diaherra he can't help it. Take him out immediately when he wakes up, immediately after he eats (eating causes the pooping reflex!), after playing with him for 10 min or so. Keep him with you unless he's in his crate or a playpen (exercise pen) outside. Some trainers recommend tethering him by tying his leash to your belt and when he looks like he's getting ready to pee/poop -- whisk him out! Like little babies, they can't hold it long and they also wake up in the middle of the night. Clean up mistakes with distilled vinegar/water or something like Resolve to take smell away otherwise he'll keep revisiting the spot.
All dog foods(even the quality ones) have way too much food recommended for the daily feeding. I usually feed less than 1/2 what they recommend. Switching foods too quickly can cause the poops. So can stress, change in water, worms and other parasites. If he still has loose stools by tomorrow he needs to see a vet so the proper diagnosis and meds can be determined. Some intestional parasites are hard to get rid of. Vets also have a canned food (called ID for intestional diet) that is great for helping the dog get thru this. Or you can feed a mixture of boiled ground beef or ground chicken and white rice, then slowly add back the "real" food. Never leave him with any toy or chewie thing when you're not there, unless it's something really tuff like a Kong toy. They can choke easily. Because you're on the move a lot, make sure he has proper I.D. We have our dogs wear a collar with a tag giving our cell phone # plus they are micro-chipped (vet can do this). The chips are a proven way to get dogs home. Also start teaching him his name and to come when called (books will tell you how). Yeah - you guys got yourself in for it, but he'll be so worth it. Keep him socialized by taking him places to meet new people and new animals (after he has his distemper/parvo shots and the vet says he can go out). I recommend not doing rabies shots at the same time as the other shots (but that's just me). Good Luck! Lynn, Amherst NY
What a cute puppy. Good luck on the potty training...it will be better soon!
Hang in there! I don't have any doggy tips, but I can say that hulu is great. It's pretty much out sole method of watching TV and we've been quite happy with it. Don't forget to check out the movies they host as well.
You can't really potty train a 2-month old dog, his bladder muscle is not strong enough to hold in for too long. I forgot the general rule, something like each month = 1 additional hour of "holding" time.
When we brought Kerry home (a Shih-Tsu), he was 10 weeks old. First we paper-trained him. Outside his crate was a small area with newspaper covering the floor, that area was fence-in when we were not home or at night, but his crate door was always left open so he could go potty on paper whenever he needed. We only only fed him twice, morning & evening, with puppy dry food, fresh water was always available. Even he didn't eat a lot, he still pooped many times per day, which was normal for young puppies. We let him out when we're home, but when he needed to go potty, he knew to go back to the paper area.
We waited until he was 10 months before we really crate-train him (close the crate door), for his bladder by then was able to hold for 8 hours straight.
Shih-Tse are very stubborn. The vet told us we needed to train them young. She taught us this discipline method: whenever he misbehaved we should hold him by the back of his neck, push his face down to the floor, look at him in his eyes and firmly saying "no no no", and hold him in that position for about a minute. It worked!
Whenever Puppy Kerry peed, we would keep repeating the words "Potty, good boy!" until he's done; when he pooped, we repeated "Poopy, good boy!". Once he was old enough to go outside for potty walks, he would do his business when we just said "potty" or "poopy".
I always told my kids if not because of them I would never have a dog. Raising a puppy was much harder than raising an infant. I won't do it again, even I love Kerry very much!
Hang in there, it'll get better.
He is a cutie. Good Luck
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