new pet owner needs help

i just got a 2 month old peek-a-poo...its the cutest thing....i never owned a dog in the past...he isnt eating much from what ive noticed(not sure how much he should eat)....i leave his food out @ all times....what is the best bethod to house breaking him(potty training)....he keeps biting my hands/arms/feet it dont hurt much but should i stop him from doing this so when he gets bigger and his teeth are stronger it dont hurt?......hes pretty active......chases peoples feet/sneakers then will fall right to sleep.....it crys allllllllllllllllllll night long....waking me up constatly...please help

 

Hi,
First things fiirst. congratulations on your new pup.
Hasyour pup had afull puppy exam with a vet, fecal tests etc? always a good place to start with a new pet, pretty much regardless of where the pup came from. Houstetraining problems will be hindered if the pup has intestinal parasites. You dont say where you got the pup from but experience has taught me that while many original owners of the pup say they have dewormed, vaccinated etc....unless you know the person (a close friend or relative)...have your own vet check everything out.

Have you thought about crate training the pup? heres some good info on that.
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/cratetraining.htm

and great info on housetraining.

http://www.poochschool.com/house.htm

As for the biting, you need to stop this before it gets out of hand, you already know where this will lead, at this age usually a stern "NO" and withdraw attention for a couple of minutes whenever the pup bites your hand, feet, clothes. Then give the puppy something to chew on, a toy, keep in mind your pup will be teething so they need to chew something. The main reasons pups chew on hands is either because people allow them to in playing or they can smell food on your hands....or they think your hands are the food!!!!
Theres is something available at most pet stores called Bitter Apple, its safe to use, cause a little hypersalivation with some dogs but that passes after a few minutes, spray it on your hands and a little squirt in the pups mouth if you cant get the biting under control.
I would also recommend getting a good book on 'new puppies'. The larger pet stores usually have a good selection.

 

Forgot about the food. Its usually better to continue with the same food the pup has been eating, if your not happy with that food then gradually switch to one you prefer for your pup, mix about 3/4 original to 1/4 new for a few days, then half and half then 3/4 new, 1/4 original then just the new food, theis'll help prevent the risk of diarrhea due to diet change. The pup should be eating about 3-5 times a day (depending on size and theresusually a guide on the food containers to tell you how much they should be eating depending on weight) I wouldnt leave the food down for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, if the pup doesnt eat it pick it upand wait about half an hour then offer it again, its hard to know the pups real appetite if he can just pick at a few peices through the day. He's going through a stressful time, coming into his new home so lack of appetite is not uncommon but he is young and I imagine small so he needs to eat something, without any food theyre blood glucose levels can drop fast or they can become dehydrated in a short period of time. If he is eating dry food you could add some warm water to it, it'll make the food smell more appealing and soften up the hard food or add a little canned food, even baby food (chicken or turkey) just to encourage the pup to eat.

 

i added some of the ceasars wet food in it to increase him to eat...hes eating a little more now...about 3/4 bowl a day...its a pretty small sized bowl....im not sure how much he should be eating...he is def under 10 lbs..i was leaving his bowl in there all day so he would eat..........i will start a new schedule tomorow for him feeding him 3-4 time a day.............he sleeps alot so this is hard...............i make him play put him in by his wee wee pad........then he crys a lil to come out and trys getting out.......then falls asleep...........i pretty much boxed off an area in my leaving room for him.....his crate is in there........and i put a bed in the corner for him...........the whole floor in his area is newspapered and i put 1 wee wee pad in there also..............

i purchased the dog from a pet store (puppy city in brooklyn ny) - the papers that came with him say he was wormed for 3 days.

also says temp injection "pro guard 5 7/18/05 "

last date wormed "panacur 7/3, 7/4, 7/5

the following guarantee is made " albon/glagyl 7/11 thru 7/18/05

i have not yet taken him to the vet yet - the salesman said to wait 2 weeks so they can check him out and also give him the injections so that he can be allowed to go outside.

please update me thanks

 

As a general guide, my 5# chihauha mix would eat about 1/2 a small cup of dry food twice a day. It will depend on the food itself though, some foods seem to fill them up quicker. Just make sure its a good food, everyone has their preferences oon different foods, personally I like Breeders Choice APD, Ive also used Pedigree for over 20 years and more recently Purina, if you look around these threads you'll find some great information on different foods.

The sleeping is normal, hes still a young pup and just like human babies they sleep a lot, 15 minutes of play can wipe them out for a couple of hours, as long as hes active, not lethargic in any way when hes awake then he should be fine.

As far as the pee wee pads and the paper, what you could do is as long as he is going on the pad gradually start removing some of the paper around it so you will end up with just the pad down....sometimes with the paper it kind of gives them the go ahead to use any part of it as a bathroom. Do you have a garden or yard area you can take him to when he needs the bathroom?

His vaccine (pro gaurd) was on the 18th so he will be due for another one 3 weeks after that (3-4 weeks is okay) so August 8th should be the next date for a shot. I would take in a fresh stool sample when you go to the vet so they can re-check it for parasites, they should also check for coccidia, albon is given to get rid of that but its an intermittent shedder and sometimes needs a follow up cousre of meds. That doesnt mean your pup has had coccidia, some places will give it 'just in case'....nothing wrong with having everything checked out though, make sure you take all the paperwork with this information on it to the vet, it helps if they know the exact dates and meds etc given.

Theres a lot of diseases around that are contagious, I dont know what your area is like but Parvo, Distemper are rampant in a lot of places which is why your pup should stay inside until fully protected with vaccines, the puppy series is a vaccine ever 3-4 weeks until 4 months of age were they then usually get a Rabies vaccine. The vaccines often make the pups a little lethargic and can cause a fever that can last about a day, sometimes, more so with the smaller breeds the vet may want to seperate the vaccines....i.e. give a combo vaccine (like Pro Gaurd) one week then return for the Rabies vaccien the following week, or give a parvo vaccine seperate from the others, depends on each vet, they all have their own ways of how they like to do things.

Whats your pups name?

 

his name is JR......yea i have a big backyard and i also have a screen house.....am i allowed to let him back there with none of his shots or just be safe and keep him inside?

i want to put him in my pool also..is that abd for him sicne hes such a small dog?

 

Cute name
I really cant tell you if your back yard is safe, cats can carry parvo on their feet and come into your yard, you could even carry it in on your shoes....however if there is an area that is just concrete you could give it a good hose down with some bleach water....wont work as well on grass or dirt though.

I actually recommend that if people have a pool that they get their dogs used to it....the best thing to do is teach them were the steps are, that way if they fall in while playing or just walking around they have a better chance of getting out...its not 100% safe though because some dogs will panic. Right now its probably a little too soon to put him in although you could play it by ear, see if hes interested in going in the water with you if its a hot day. I would let him settle in for a few weeks first, that said though if you are in the pool and he is showing interest it wouldnt hurt to let him get his feet wet....just see how he responds....I would definitely make sure that he does not have access to the pool though unless someone is with him....its just not worth the risk, even if he likes it.

 

Hi Rudy, welcome to the (unofficial!) pekepoo club. When we brought Toby home at about the same age as your JR, he didn't eat much. He still doesn't. We have found a good technique to get him to eat is to use his regular dog food as a "reward" when he does something right (goes potty outside, drops something he isn't supposed to have, etc.). He'll actually do tricks to get a single piece of the same dry food that sitting in a bowl on the floor all day long that he ignores. Go figure! Anyway, at 7 months he's a healthy boisterous 12 pounds so evidently he's getting enough.

Do watch the biting though--my husband thought it was cute and let him chew on him as a puppy. Now that the baby teeth are out and the permanent teeth are in, it's a hard habit to break and it HURTS!

Enjoy!

 

please help guys.........JR started like wheezing and sneezing as if he cant breathe...should i take him to the vet. what should i do?

 

If he cant breathe when you posted this....I hope you took him to a vet.

If hes still having difficulty breathing....take him to a vet!!!!!

 

Assuming the immediate problem has resolved and you have checked with your vet, for what it's worth, Toby has long protracted "wheezy"-sounding spells that used to really frighten us until we realized he was just "clearing his throat"--he has a tendency to eat leaves in the garden and when a tickly piece gets stuck in his throat, he makes quite a production out of it. It doesn't occur to him to go drink water, but if we bring him his bowl he will and it usually solves the problem.

It is very important to make sure nothing in your yard is toxic to dogs--we had to pull out a lot of plants and put up chicken wire to keep Toby out of anything that could hurt him. Do a google search--there's lots of information available on-line about this.

 

the vet said he has kennel cough and might have upper respiratory infections and gave me soem drops to give him 2X a day.....


whats the best food for my pup? seems like hes haven a hard time chewing the purina beneful puppy........ive heard Eukanuba or Science diet.....

hes so cuteeeeeeeeeee

 

Thanks for the update, kennel cough can be miserable for them and stressful for you too but after your last post Im relieved thats all it is....
Personally Id stick with the Purina, try adding some warm water to soften the food up for him, let it coold down a little then see if that work.

 

hes doing good...besides the biting....i even got him doing #1 and 2 on the wee wee pads....

every once in a while when hes out or in the cage he gets like an attack......he starts runnen in cicrles and back and forth really fast..growling and barking...out of no where

what can this be?

 

also any ideas on where to buy the wee wee pads that stick down to the floor or something to hold them down? JR love ripping them up when im not watching

 

I don't know what the "attacks" are--I've read some people think it's a hypoglycemic reaction, but Toby has them regularly and his seem to be more just a venting of energy in his case. They're actually pretty funny--we just try not to get in his way.

As far as piddle pads that stick to the floor, check out www.pishpads.com.

 

Puppies or dogs suffering from hypoglycemia usually exhibit pronounced lethergy and sleepiness. Attacks of wheezing, especially if the dog has a short nose and it sounds like he's "...clearing his throat...", and drinking or swallowing makes the attack stop, sounds more like reverse sneezing or, more correctly, paroxysmal respiration.

That's a scary sounding name for a scary sounding wheeze, but it's usually nothing to worry about. If swallowing doesn't make the spasm stop you can often stop it by putting your fingers over the dogs nostrils, so he has to breath through his mouth.

 

Your clarification of hypoglycemia makes a lot more sense--I read of the "hyper attacks" meaning hypoglycemia on another board but it didn't seem right.

The wheezing and the hyperness are two different things--what you described as paroxysmal respiration sounds EXACTLY like my dog. Thanks for the information!