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I laughed and said I have been looking for a puppy or a dog since my birthday, but haven't found the right one. I needed one who was going to be small even as an adult, who had a docile personality and would be good to my cats and not scare them (since Sidney is such a chicken) or attack them, and would be rather mild in temperment, that could grow with my kids, but not be too overwhelming for me. I told Spunky about it and we went over there today. I got a puppy!!!! It's Spunky's puppy!!!! It is part Australian Husky (mom has a medium length coat and weighs approx 25 lbs.) and part Trucker Mutt (Dad used to ride around the country in the truck with the guy we got him from and is a small grey run of the mill mutt about 20 lbs max with short grey hair). They were all girls, in two different colors. We got the last brown one with black markings. She's the one that the other puppies beat up on and is the docile meek one, so sweet, sleeping on our laps. She is a puppy and plays some, but isn't hyper energetic, just playful and cuddly which I totally love. We have named her Mia (my name, it just suits her). Though other names are still up for discussion I think we will end up sticking with Mia. We are finding a home for one of her sisters now (all black and we call her Anubis). Maybe have her a home. We will see in a couple of days. |
The black puppy now has a new home, too!!!! She is going to get a new name, but our neighbor Jesse took her home with him today. He was so excited. The puppy sat in his sons lap and just cuddled with baby Aaron. He said he was nervous cuz she is so young and he has never had a 6 week old puppy before, but he loves it to death. We said "Happy Father's Day" and you couldn't wipe the shit eating grin off of his face. It was so cool. So now both of these babies have homes, and are doing well. I love Mia's personality and hope that I can get her potty trained. Hayley is being a big help in that one, but I wonder how much of it is because she is feeling guilty cuz her hamster got out last night and we can't find her. Ugh, missing hamster. Anyways, it is raining outside, and the puppy is curled up in Daddy's lap right now and it couldn't be any cuter. |
heh Post pics of the puppy Trace. |
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Can you believe it? In a house with 3 cats and a puppy that hamster survived 2 days alone and lost outside the cage. Turns out we need to find a home for Mia's sister again. Anyone want a puppy? |
Although we've been having a problem with our Sarah lately. She's been developing separation anxiety, and has started chewing/destroying everything in sight -- magazines, phone books, pillows from the couch, the carpet, rugs, etc. I travel a lot, and my wife's gone for 12 hours/day at work, so she's home with our 2 kitties for long stretches. We do have a dog walker come in the middle of the day, but she seems to do the damage before the dog walker gets there. We do have a cage, but I hate the thought of leaving her caged for 12 hours a day. My wife bought this Kava kava extract for her, and it seemed to work for a couple of days, but I hate the thought of sedating her with it every day before we leave, and lately, even with the Kava, she's still chewing stuff. Anybody got any ideas? I'm thinking of putting up gates in our kitchen (tile floors and not much she can chew), but the cats need to get in the kitchen too, and she'd probably intimidate them from coming in. I love this dog to death, and she's very sweet -- she's just naughty as hell, and this chewing thing is fairly new and I want to break it soon. Thanks for reading. |
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Had two cats in the house and a puppy that acted like she had separation anxiety when we were right there with her. She would dig at the carpet, but she was the only one to cause damage. I still think that hardwood or one of those laminate floors wouldn't be a bad idea, but I haven't tried them myself so don't know for sure. |
some dogs are just prone to anxiety in general, so you'll want to try and eliminate stress from her day my suggestion is : come and go VERY quietly, don't make a big deal of it when you come home, don't get her overexcited, don't play, just let her out quietly and after about half an hour you can start to play, or go for a walk, or do the things you might normally do - have your dog walker do the same, make coming and going a very subdued event if you put her in the kitchen with a gate, "practice" being with her with the gate up when you're home (ie- while you're cooking or cleaning) both in and out of the kitchen- make the gate part of her normal routine. on weekends, occaisionally "practice" leaving go out for 5 minutes at a time, then come back, stay for an hour and leave again VERY QUIETLY, do this several times a day- because the dog is afraid that you are not coming back, you want to show her that you ARE coming home, make coming and going a normal part of her life if she's chewing- no punishing her for it,just clean it up -punishing her will only heighten her anxiety (there's also no use in punishing her for something she did 6 hours ago she won't associate the action with the punishment- she will only associate being punished with your arrival, heightening her anxiety and making everything worse- the only time you can correct her is if you CATCH her i, personally love crates- but you have to make it part of her routine just like the kitchen gate you can give her a benadryl as well, it has no lasting effects, no risk of drug interraction, and really relaxes them, just make sure it doesn't have any additives |
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try leaving the radio or tv on when you leave (whatever you normally watch or listen to) |
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Eri - don't you live in an apartment? |
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Sorry its just really hard to fathom. Here, apartments mean no pets - except maybe fish. |
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hide yer shoes. |
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Also, I'll say it again- Crate Training, baybee. |
If you get on her about biting or chewing she gets the hint. My biggest problem is that she now refuses to eat puppy food. She will only eat table scraps or cat food, and it drives me nuts! I don't know if there is going to be a nutritional problem with her eating cat food. She has pretty much learned if you leave the cats alone they will leave you alone, but occasionally she will get a wild puppy hair up her ass and try to play with the cats and they will smack the shit out of her (they don't have front claws, so they don't hurt her, just get the message across). So, so far she has done pretty damned well for a little puppy. I am looking forward to when she is old enough for obedience training cuz I think she will do really well. Now if I could just get the kids to stop playing with her so that she's wild. She's usually such a well behaved puppy. |
limit table scraps eri. you don't want a fat puppy. and if you're teaching her early on that table scraps are a given, she'll come to expect it anytime some one sits at the table. if thats ok with you....so be it, but you know...just keep puppy chow available. eventually she'll eat. |
I want a puppy. |
So, I figure eventually dog ownership is in the future for me, but it will probably be part of getting hitched and home ownership. |