Willie Training!

Since the day we brought Willie home I started training him. He learned sit, and down with no problems whatsoever! I make him sit before receiving meals, going outside, getting treats (as a reward), leashing, and playing fetch. I have found the word "sit" does not even need to be used..he knows that he has to sit before doing any of the aforementioned times! The same to be said with down; which I have used to give treats, and when attempting to practice stay...(I will admit I haven't spent hours on this training....we have gotten up to about 10 seconds of Willie staying in one spot without moving), and I've also used down when I come home from work as a way to calm him down...this never works, but I will keep trying! Training Willie to "come" on command has also been a real treat...sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't. I like to call it selective hearing. When we are outside, and Willie is on his tie-out "come" only works when there is a treat (cheese) dangling from my fingers. Inside "come" works 95% of the time...it usually does not work when he is concentrating on a kitty that is laying on the other side of the puppy gate.

The play biting has gotten mildly better, but I still haven't found a way to nix it all together. It seems that we have gone through all of the suggested methods:

Trading your hand with a toy (Never worked)

Stopping play all together (which in some circumstances is very difficult)

Spray bottle (Willie finds this as a game!)

Growling at him (Only excites him more, but seemed to work for about 20 seconds)

Ignoring him all together (again hard especially when the play biting occurs when on the couch)

Time Outs (We've used the excersice pen as his time-out spot...this seems to diffuse the situation for at least 10 minutes after his time-out has ended. Note: Time-outs last between 5 and 10 minutes)

Play biting (snappy alligator syndrome) can become very frusturating at times, and it takes all the patience in the world to keep calm, cool and collected. Play biting seems to escalate during the teething stage; which thankfully isn't forever!

I have recently started to work on "leave it" I started this after Willie became obsessed with anything resembling a paper towel, and once he would get ahold of said "paper towel" he would refuse to let go, and would put up an immense fight; which I have always won, but it was very concerning when he would growl and snap during these altercations. Now this has only happened 3 times, and they all occured outside. People in our neighborhood find that our tree lawn looks like the perfect spot to dump their used tissues, paper towels, and napkins. I have now made it a point to make sure the area is clear before we venture out. But I definitely need to put a stop to Willie agressively guarding anything paper. Thankfully he doesn't react to me grabbing anything else out of his jaws! If anyone has any suggestions on how to get Willie to stop this behavior....I am all ears! :)

I will be signing Willie up for Puppy Kindergarten in July, and I hope this will help train Willie, and myself :)

With a puppy you must have patience, perserverence, and constistency! When you have two full time workers in your family training may take a little longer than you would like, but be rest assured you will get there....we haven't mastered it yet, but I know we will!

Puppy Play Time!

Willie is now 5 months old (as of today!), and he is still full of energy, and spunk. I quickly learned that Willie needs at least 3 walks per day! Now I'm sure every puppy is different, but Willie is far from being an A+ walker. Somedays are better than others! First thing to do is get that pesky leash on! Willie still fights me when I try to put on the leash, and the only thing that works is giving him a treat first, and then putting on the leash. I don't know when this will change, but I'm sure in due time :) On this mornings walk we left the house at 6:30. I make sure to always walk the same route otherwise I have a feeling we will be gone for hours, and unfortunately I do have to get to work! The walk started out great, Willie picked up his stick (he will carry it for most of the walk!), and off we went. Now our route isn't very long...If I were to walk it by myself it would probably take 8 minutes or so with Willie it can take up to 1/2 hour! We got about halfway, and Willie started the sniffin....he lost all interest in the stick he had been carrying, and began to sniff almost every leaf that was laying on the sidewalk. This lasted the rest of our walk. We finally got back home at 7:09, and that was only because there was a thunderstorm coming. I personally do not know how to change this behavior. A treat will work temporarily, but I do not just want to give him 10 treats to get him to walk around the block! I try to act excited, and say "Come On Boy!", throwing the stick works, but it only gets Willie to where the stick lands, and then he's back to sniffing the leaves. I will admit that I have let him just sniff around on the weekends, hoping this will curb his interest a little, and that short walk took us 1 hour. I am not sure what else to do, and switching up the route has not helped at all! I'm sure this will change with age, but for now I am just trying to be patient!

When we aren't walking Willie is in constant play, and i've tried the time out in the pen hoping he may fall asleep; which he never does, but the pen has come in handy, and Willie doesn't make a fuss when we put him in it! The pen is actually an excersise pen that Kevin and I picked up at Pet Supplies Plus for like $30. It's approx 4x6, and can be folded down to any size that you want. It has been perfect for when Willie starts to Nip hard we can give him a quick time out..(no longer than 5-10 minutes), and it does stop the nipping for about an hour, but I am sure in time it will help stop the nipping all together! Willie has also put himself in there for timeout! hehe! The pen can also be used as a gate! It was just a great buy! I would recommed every puppy owner have one :)

When it's nice out I love to let Willie play outside....the down fall was our backyard is not fenced, so the next best thing is a tie-out! Kevin actually made one out of rope, and some clips! One end ties around a tree and the other end clips onto Willies harness, and voila...Willie loves it! He loves to run after the frisbee, roll around on the ball, and chew on sticks, and the greatest thing is that I am not constantly holding onto his leash! And unlike going on a walk Willie seems to get more tuckered out and is usually ready to come back in after about 15 minutes or so! We haven't had any temper tantrums after playing outside on the tie-out, but we have had many temper tantrums when it's time to go back inside after a walk!

Just keep in mind that a puppy requires lots of attention and play time....I'm sure you know this, but be sure to have chewies, bones, and lots of toys to keep your puppy pre-occupied! Most of your free time is spent walking, playing, and training! You will have me time when your puppy takes a 20 minute nap! Don't just stick your puppy in his crate because you want some time to yourself! Kevin has been awesome we do take turns taking Willie out, and he will even play with him in the evenings when I have to get the coffee ready, and the dishes done! But if you are single then you will have to work out a schedule! Just know what time each day your pup naps, and be ready to get those everyday tasks done while the pup is napping! Willie tends to nap (based on Sat. and Sun), at 10:30, 1:30, 4:00, and then again at 7, and he will then go to sleep around 11pm. The naps last anywhere from a 1/2 hour to 2 hours! And on the weekends that is the time to get cleaning done, and catch up on our shows that we DVR'd! Puppies will not be puppies forever, and I can already tell that I will probably miss these puppy days, but I know that I still have quite some time left to enjoy it! :)

Socialize, Socialize, Socialize!

From the day we brought him home we started to take Willie out so that he could meet other people and animals. It is so important to socialize your puppy! So far we haven't come across anyone/animal that he didn't like. He seems to get along best with male dogs that are bigger than he is. He doesn't seem to be afraid of their massive size. He definitely thinks he's bigger than he really is :) He is very active, and so far we have only found one other dog that has just as much energy as he does...unfortunately the other pup lives all the way out in Northfield. Hopefully we can find Willie a closer playmate that has just as much energy and spunk that he does!

Willie loves to take walks, or should I say walk halfway around the block and then just plop down in some random persons tree lawn looking around, and hoping a stranger will come up to pet him. If he sees people walking down the sidewalk he will sit and wait till they come up to him...(and of course they have to pet him!) I let people approach Willie to pet him however I do advise them to not act too excited, because he is a puppy, and if they get him too excited he will probably pee on their feet..(Which he has done to the girls across the street numerous times....hehehe!) I believe that getting your puppy out into the neighborhood to meet other people and their dogs is so important. We've only come across one friendly dog in the neighborhood. All the rest will bark, and be obnoxious as we walk by. I've even noticed a couple of people that when they are out walking their dogs (Usually without a leash...) if they see me out in the yard with Willie they will grab their dog by the collar and take him across the street, and will continue to hold their collar until they have passed the house. (Note: Willie hasn't barked at another person or dog since the day we brought him home..this is highly unusual for a puppy, and we count our blessings every day!!)

I've found that Petco has a free puppy social every other week.....you can take your puppy out for a couple hours and it is supervised by a trainer. She seems to be willing to answer any questions you may have about training your puppy, and again it's free! I took Willie a couple of times, and he loved it.

I've heard that dog parks are fun! Willie isn't neutered yet, so we haven't tried them out, but be assured that once he is snipped and clipped we will be heading out to the dog park! What a great way to have your puppy burn off some energy and also meet other doggies!

I firmly believe if you start to take your puppy out to meet other people the day he comes home you will have a pup who loves everyone!

Willie has been pretty easy to socialize, we have had a couple of issues, and they only occur at home. When we've had visitors Willie just gets way to excited he will jump up on our visitors (which is very annoying), and demands constant attention from one of them...usually the female! So far removing him from the room seems to be the only way to get him to calm down, but even after repetedly doing so he still is so excited to have people over at the house. (Thankfully he doesn't piddle on them in the house...lol ) It will usually take at least an hour to get him to relax. If you watch any of those Dog Whisperer shows it will seem like it takes Ceaser 10 minutes to get the pup to calm down around visitors...I don't think so! Other than that Willie has been easy to socialize he loves going for rides, and when we go to visit with friends and family he really is an angel while we are at their home. And again he doesn't bark...(except at the broom and the vacuum cleaner!)

Puppy Woes...Never Trust The Shop Owner

As I had mentioned in my previous Blog never trust the shop owner...

The day we picked Willie up the shop owner assured us that Willie was as healthy as can be. I even mentioned that we had two cats at home, so I wanted to be sure that we could just go ahead and let Willie wander around for a little bit when we got home.....again the shop owner (Best in Pets, Elyria) said Willie was really healthy. The next day after Willie had fallen asleep for a nap I noticed something on his belly; which to my horror happened to be a flea. I then took Willie out into the kitchen to assess the situation, and found fleas (live ones) all over we immediately gave Willie a bath (He hated it), after his bath Kevin ran out to get some Frontline, and I began defleaing the house....ugh. After all the commotion Willie was really tuckered out, and layed down for a nap. After his nap he ate, and then went #2, and that was when I saw the worms in his poo. Big long worms in his poo. Fully grown round worms! It was obvious that he had never been dewormed. Thankfully his vet appt was set for Saturday.

Off to the vet we go...(Petmed Clinic, Lorain. A Nightmare!)

We found on the way to the Vet that Willie loves car rides!! He kept trying to get up and stick his head out the window...eventually he just layed down and took a nap!

The vet had Willie come in almost immediately, and he said that it was obvious Willie had roundworms...other than that he was healthy (3lbs), and sent us on our way with meds.

The Saturday after his vet visit Willie woke up, and wouldn't eat, would not even take a treat, and seemed very lathargic, and off balance. I decided to wait a couple of hours to see if his condition would change (he was peeing and pooing, so I wasn't too concerned), but a few hours later he still wouldn't take any food, or water, and he still seemed sluggish, so I called the vet and they said bring him on in. It turned out Willie had become dehydrated. Why you may ask? They didn't know (The Parvo test came out Negative...*sigh*), so they put him on fluids to re-hydrate him, and sent us on our way.

*I had mentioned to the Woman Vet that Willie still seemed to have live worms coming out in his stool, and he had started the Meds over a week ago, and she said "That's normal."

Willie's condition did seem to get better, but he still had the worms. Finally I said we really need to get him back in, and I was able to speak to the vet that we had saw the first time we went, and he said bring him in on Saturday. The Vet immediately apologized, and said "We never gave him the medicine for the Round Worms, we had only given you the meds for the Coccidia." (thanks for telling us about the Coccidia) No wonder why Willie had not been feeling well...he had a belly full of worms for at least 3 weeks! So the Vet admitted that he had made a mistake, and gave us a credit for the amount that we had spent on re-hydrating our little pup. Thankfully we have finally blown through the credit at the Clinic, and will now be taking Willie to the same Vet that we take the Kitties too!

Since then Willie has fully recovered, and at his last vet visit he weighed in at a whopping 10.2lbs :)

In our case not only did the shop owner make a mistake, but the Vet also made a mistake, and thankfully Willie came out unscathed, but he did have a few miserable weeks with worm belly. Today Willie is healthy and full of spunk. Hopefully our new vet will turn out to be more thorough when conducting her exams with Willie.

I guess the lesson we learned was ask the Vet if there is anything of concern...not once, but twice, and be firm about it!

Note: Please don't think that every pup you get from a Pet Shop will be ill, but there is a good chance that they will have some sort of ailment. Pet Shop puppies need homes too. Just remember before you go in and adopt that Pet Shop puppy in the window you may come across some minor, or even major illnesses. Thankfully Willie had a warranty with him, and the ShopOwner did cover the costs for the de-worming.

Bringing Home a New Puppy! (Day One)

Over the past year Kevin and I have been looking for a new puppy...online, at pet shops, in the local paper, and just could never decide on one. Did we want a small dog, a medium sized, long haired, short haired, Yorkie Poo, Chihuahua, Lab, Collie, Pomeranian, puppy, 2 year old, senior...etc. There just seemed to be so many choices, but thankfully with all the information on the web we finally came up with some criteria. We definitely wanted a puppy, who would grow to be no larger than our 22lb kitty, and hair length did not matter. So the search began...again! Finally on April 3, 2010 Kevin and I were out riding around, and decided to stop in at the local pet shop and look at the puppies, and I instantly fell in love with the first puppy I laid eyes on. (Corner Picture: Willie first day we had him home)

The sign said:

(2) Male LH Chihuahua Mix SALE: $250

DOB: 01/24/2010

I had the worker get him out for me...he was so tiny (3lb), but playful. Kevin and I took turns holding him and then we had the worker put him back in the tiny cage, and we left. Once home Kevin started rooting around in our vacation jar. And he comes out with cash, and says..."Lets go get him!" So we did! The shop owner assured us the puppy had a clean bill of health (wrong), would not get any bigger than 8-10lbs (wrong again), and gave us a free vet check with a local vet (nightmare), and we were on our way!

The next decision we had to make was coming up with a name...so of course we turned to facebook! After coming up with three name choices I posted the poll on my wall, and waited for the votes to come in! After about an hour the majority of our friends voted for Willie!

Finally we had a puppy (who was adorable), and life was full of sunshine and rainbows!

First thing we did was feed him...(he must have been starving, because he ate like he had never ate before), and then we gave him a quick wash..(he had been very dirty, and stinky).....(FYI..He hated being washed, and still does). After all the excitement the little guy was tuckered out, he crawled underneath the footstool (shown above), and fell asleep within minutes!

Just a few notes:

Being first time puppy owners Kevin and I really didn't know what to expect. Of course the shop owner assured us that Willie was healthy as can be (he was wrong), and where to let the puppy sleep that first night was also a struggle (even though every website says leave him in the crate all night by himself, I didn't), and Oh yeah....we both work full time jobs (where are we supposed to leave him all day (it wasn't really all day...it was like 4 hours by himself till I came home for lunch, and then another 4 hours until Kevin came home from work), also the advice that most websites give you on what to expect that first month with your new puppy is mostly wrong (at least in our case), and then...to free feed, or not! Just a few of the topics I will be touching on in some upcoming blogs, and hopefully there will be more to add in the coming months....(we are coming up on Neutering time!)

If there are any new puppy owners, or veteran puppy owners please leave me some comments, or words of advice. It's nice to hear other peoples stories of how their dog tore up the couch cushions when they were at work! (Willie has never done that...yet...)

Note:

Willie has now been with us for almost 3 months, and we still love him, and our cats still don't :)