Okay folks, I need some puppy help here

[Rajah]

I'm a cat person, not a dog person. LOL! While I do know some about dogs and how they behave and why they behave, and I love watching Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer, I've still got much room for improvement on how to handle and treat Scamp.

Scamp is the little Chiweenie (we think -- the Chihuahuah / Dachshund mix matches him the best and the vet's office thinks that's what he is) that I rescued on Wed. I'm still holding out hope that we'll find his family, after all it hasn't even been 5 days yet so they could easily be out on vacation somewhere. But, it's looking like he may be with us longer-term.

My current thinking is I'll give his family until the 22nd to claim him, then either he's ours or we find him another home.

In the meantime, I'm trying to find a balance between dealing with him and our cats.

Right now, he's staying in a pen pretty much most of the day and all night. The pen is NOT just a tiny crate... it's big enough to give him room to bounce around a bit and play with his ball or chewies, but not big enough for him to really RUN. And this is a 6-8 month old pup according to the vet's office.

Right now, he gets about 30 minutes free run out back, and if I have the energy, 30-45 minute's walk on the leash outside. If he behaves, he's given free run in the house for a bit as well, but not as much as he needs.

That's not enough for this pup long-term.

We're working on getting our back yard safe to let him just run free in the back yard when we're not home. Of course, if we're going to leave him out back, we need to set up something for him to get in out of the rain in case it rains unexpectedly while we're gone. Plus, it's not going to be long before it's too hot to leave him outside all day.

So...

How do we balance pen-time and play time when we're two working adults while still keeping the cats safe and him safe? If it exists, especially if it's ball-shaped, he puts it in his mouth. I'm uncomfortable with letting him run free when we're not home to supervise.

And what do you do to replace a walk when it gets too hot and humid to go walking outside?

 

[horsegirl]

I'm a cat person, not a dog person. LOL! While I do know some about dogs and how they behave and why they behave, and I love watching Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer, I've still got much room for improvement on how to handle and treat Scamp.

Scamp is the little Chiweenie (we think -- the Chihuahuah / Dachshund mix matches him the best and the vet's office thinks that's what he is) that I rescued on Wed. I'm still holding out hope that we'll find his family, after all it hasn't even been 5 days yet so they could easily be out on vacation somewhere. But, it's looking like he may be with us longer-term.

My current thinking is I'll give his family until the 22nd to claim him, then either he's ours or we find him another home.

In the meantime, I'm trying to find a balance between dealing with him and our cats.

Right now, he's staying in a pen pretty much most of the day and all night. The pen is NOT just a tiny crate... it's big enough to give him room to bounce around a bit and play with his ball or chewies, but not big enough for him to really RUN. And this is a 6-8 month old pup according to the vet's office.

Right now, he gets about 30 minutes free run out back, and if I have the energy, 30-45 minute's walk on the leash outside. If he behaves, he's given free run in the house for a bit as well, but not as much as he needs.

That's not enough for this pup long-term.

We're working on getting our back yard safe to let him just run free in the back yard when we're not home. Of course, if we're going to leave him out back, we need to set up something for him to get in out of the rain in case it rains unexpectedly while we're gone. Plus, it's not going to be long before it's too hot to leave him outside all day.

So...

How do we balance pen-time and play time when we're two working adults while still keeping the cats safe and him safe? If it exists, especially if it's ball-shaped, he puts it in his mouth. I'm uncomfortable with letting him run free when we're not home to supervise.

And what do you do to replace a walk when it gets too hot and humid to go walking outside?

hi Tammi-

I love Caesar too! He needs to come to my house! Your chiweenie sounds precious. Don't worry about your cats! They are fast and have an excellent defense system, teeth, hissing, claws and can run fast! If the little nipper wanting to play or is he attacking, trying to hurt. My guess is, if he's a wee one, you might need the cats to educate him, and they will! Trying to intervene will only delay the inevitable.

Exercise by throwing sticks, etc is great too. And walks during the cooler part of the day work, even when it is hot. hopefully, he'll be able to roam yor house soon, unless his little chompers are going after your furniture!

Good luck

 

[Rajah]

So far, his chompers have thankfully been limited to anything remotely ball shaped. I've taken half the cat's toys away from him because they're too small (ie: the mousies) and I'm afraid he'll choke on them. And he loooooves to get into the trash and tear at kleenex.

What we need is to get two baby gates or something and set one up leading into the laundry room (where the litterboxes are) and one leading upstairs...

 

[Rajah]

BTW, for anyone curious... raising a puppy even for just a few days has been more work than raising 3 kittens, or a household of 6 young cats. LOL!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well Rajah as a former "cat person" with 1yo puppies now, it is totally different. You know I thought that cats were curious...HA! Dogs are VERY curious, which lends them to more trouble.

First you have to stop your thinking that restricting him in the house is not OK. Dogs should have restrictions up to 3 years old.
They only get free roam when you can trust them. Some dogs are sooner than others, some never.

I am just going to say this, but it takes training daily, all day, everyday.
It doesn't stop. It is like having kids. You will have good days & bad days. It was a big adjustment for us.

Dogs have to walk/get out of the house, or they develop "cabin fever" behaviors. You can take them to PetsMart, a dogpark, shaded parks, etc...Try and Ball Train, perhaps? My collie mix loves her ball.
However...I have found with my pups, when it is hotter the walk is shorter. It gives them a bigger workout. So keep that in mind.

If you are not up for the challenge, then getting the pup adopted out is OK to do. I have found as they reach 1yo, the "teenager" kicks in. So if you want to keep the dog you need to be firm with rules now. Things that are "cute" but "bad", need to be corrected.

 

[Rajah]

So you're saying that it's actually okay for him to be penned up for most of the day while we're at work and all night while he learns the rules? Don't give him free roam in the house until he's learned what is and isn't appropriate, start with short amounts of time of free roam?

What do you mean by "Ball Train"? Training to fetch the ball? That was the first thing I got him along with food... a squeeky ball. And he loves the thing and will chase it for a good long while out back and a little inside. We've been working on "fetch", "release", and "sit". Actually, on the leash, he's learning "sit" pretty well.

All in all, he is a *wonderfully* well behaved dog for such a young pup. The only truely "bad but cute" behavior he does is jump in your face to give kisses when you're sitting down. And we're having a battle of wills over whether he's allowed to do that or not. LOL! So far, he's been sneaky enough to get me about 30% of the time.

 

[disneyaggie]

I have 3 full-grown, though little chihuahua fur babies that run the house. I have peedle pads laid out and am in the process of training 2 of the 3. They are all 3 rescues.

I see you are also from Texas. Please note: Here in the Dallas area we have hawks. They will pick up your little fur baby and carry him off to kill and feed to the baby hawks. I NEVER leave my dogs outside and let them only go out when I do. Just a loving warning. You also may have to watch out for owls at night for the very same reason.

 

[Rajah]

Good point. we don't see many hawks in our area, but it's not far to where we do see hawks.

 

[disneyaggie]

Good point. we don't see many hawks in our area, but it's not far to where we do see hawks.

The vet tech at the veterinarian's office told me that a lady not too far from here did not know this and one picked up her little Yorkie puppy and carried it off. I have seen hawks just a few doors down so I am definitely protective of my fur babies!

 

[Rajah]

I think of that around my mom's house when I take my mom's dog out back, but for some reason didn't think of it in our area. I guess because the trees in our neighborhood aren't big enough yet to really attract hawks.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I can't comment on the mischief that puppies get into since it's been a long time since I've had a puppy. I had one in high school, but our current dogs came to us full grown--one about 4-5 years old and the other one 1 1/2 years old--still young with a lot of energy, but not into chewing too much, etc.

But I can comment on the mixing of dogs and cats. That part has gone extremely well with us, even with our younger more energetic dog. Sheena will chase our cats and really had to prove herself when she came to live with us, but we kept her leashed to us or the table leg, etc until she proved herself. Then last fall we got 2 kittens. We started all over with Sheena, not knowing how she'd react to kittens. We got kittens that were half grown so they'd be a little older and more able to defend themselves, but we went back to really watching Sheena until she again proved herself, which she did.

At least your dog is a lot smaller--Sheena is big enough to easily cause harm if she had of wanted to, which thankfully she didn't. Had me a bit worried, though.

Good luck and I hope it all works out however you want!

 

[Rajah]

What's been amazing me is that Sienna keeps getting in the pen with this pup when he's calm! She's not really afraid of him at all and seems to enjoy keeping him company.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

What's been amazing me is that Sienna keeps getting in the pen with this pup when he's calm! She's not really afraid of him at all and seems to enjoy keeping him company.

Before we ever had a dog, one of our cats loved dogs. He would run after them at the vets office, and of course they would run from the cat. He truly loved dogs and must have been around them before he came to us (he was half grown when we got him. We didn't get our first dog until after he died, which was sad since he would have really liked one.

For some reason it's our 2 male cats that seem to enjoy getting mauled by Sheena. They walk away dripping wet and then expect up to pet them. Yuck, when we pet them without realizing that they are covered in dog spit.

 

[Rajah]

Silly animals!!

One concern I have is that Scamp's got very loose stool, and I need to find something to give him to help curb it. I'm betting it's because of a change in diet (which I probably need to change again from the adult food he's eating to a puppy food), but what can I give him besides time to help? I should have asked the vet yesterday.

 

[disneyaggie]

I think of that around my mom's house when I take my mom's dog out back, but for some reason didn't think of it in our area. I guess because the trees in our neighborhood aren't big enough yet to really attract hawks.

Actually, the trees don't have to be big. I saw a hawk's nest on the 4th floor window ledge (quite impressive) of a building just this week. She was there (and she was huge!), along with her two darling little babies and a dead animal to feed them. Eeww.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Silly animals!!

One concern I have is that Scamp's got very loose stool, and I need to find something to give him to help curb it. I'm betting it's because of a change in diet (which I probably need to change again from the adult food he's eating to a puppy food), but what can I give him besides time to help? I should have asked the vet yesterday.

Our vet recomends a rice and hamburg mixture. Cooked white rice and mix with coooked hamburger, drained. It should settle his stomach.

 

[Rajah]

Thanks Luvs -- I'll give that a try

 

[Rajah]

Bumping for the weekday crowd.

 

[Poohbear123]

Can I see a Pic of this "Chiweenie" I would love to compare him to my Mickey. Oh, and best of luck finding his owner, or I could fly over there and get him for me!

 

[Poohbear123]

Never mind, I saw the pics on the other thread, he looks much Bigger than my Mickey!