Ooouch!.....

Just when I thought I had my house puppy proof, another accident!

I have sliding doors which I have covered copiously with stickers at human and bird eye-level to prevent accidents. But I never thought to put stickers at floor level.
When I heard a loud bang and yelp, I realised Jamie had run into the glass door.
Again the panic in case he was injured. But he did not appear concussed and seemed to behave quite normally shortly afterwards with no outward sign of injury (Oh the stresses of being a mother to a puppy!).

I used two wide strips of brown sticky wrapping tape across the bottom of the doors and hopefully this incident won't be repeated.

Sorry Jamie!

Visiting the Vet...

Jamie is getting quite good at riding quietly in the back of the car. No jumping up trying to climb into the driver's seat and no sign of car sickness. Except after his 10 weeks vaccination shot. The vet warned me this might happen.

In the vet's waiting room, he met more dogs (some unfriendly), a cat and small children whom he loves having grown up with them. One has to be careful though because he still has not learnt to bite "gently". My lacerated hands bear testimony to that.

He has now met a total of 30 people. During his socialisation period he has to meet a least 100 people!

The Eukanuba puppy guide has some interesting tips about what to ask your vet: Nutrition, Weight, Basic Care, Lifestyle, Vaccinations and deworming, Tick and flea control, Neutering and spaying, Socialisation, Microchipping. A helpful reminder.

At 14 weeks he will have his final round of shots. He needs a rabies vaccine repeated within 12 months (after that it's an annual vaccination). If your dog is going to kennels, he will need a shot for that as well. Told you puppies were expensive! Wish there was a more competitive medical aid system for animals.

Going to the vet can be as costly as going to your doctor!

A is for Attitude, B is for Bark, C is for Come!

Jamie first had to check out the surrounds on his first day at school. He eyed the other school kids a bit warily at first. Most of them were bigger than him - a Rottweiler, a Staffi, a Labrador, a Collie and a Jack Russell terrier. But soon he was joining in the fun, cheer leading from the side lines. Jamie was the only one barking his enjoyment out loud.

Our ThinkingPets trainer, Wendy Wilson always starts the class with "pass the puppy" where the pups learn to be handled by other people. We apply a technique from an innovative new method called Tellington TTouch. You gently stroke the full length of the puppy's body, his legs and paws, massage his ears and touch his muzzle, even his tail. At the first class most of the pups were a bit over excited so it took a while to calm them down (except for the lazy Labrador who just acted daddy-cool).

We use the clicker as well as treats and voice tone to convey meaning to our words. The golden rule is never shout at your dog. Your tone has to be friedly and welcoming or firm and calm. Corporal punishment is an absolute no-no.

First the pups had to learn to make eye contact with us, then to come when called at short then longer distances.

Since the attention span of the average pup (and owner) is not very long there are constant off-the-lead play breaks. But even these are carefully monitored by our puppy school teacher. A puppy must have an equal share of being in a dominant or submissive situation. For some reason most of the dogs liked playing with the Jack Russell (maybe because he thinks he is the biggest kid on the block).

But the most valuable thing we were asked to do as homework was to investigate what our dogs are bred to do. This would give a lot of answers to why our dogs behave the way they do. A beagle was bred to hunt hares, rabbits and foxes. Nowadays they are used in beagling (a hunt on foot using a fake lure) and as sniffer dogs in narcotics. They are recognised for their persistence even when a trail has gone cold.

Tell me about it! When my beagle has his nose to the ground, all his other senses shut down! So recalling your pet becomes a major mission. "You have to be more interesting than what your dog is sniffing" says my teacher.

Easier in theory than in practice!

First day at Puppy School...

 

Tick-ing time bomb...

I have a phobia about ticks. I often go to the Eastern Cape and certain areas are infested with ticks. When I nearly lost one of my dogs to biliary, I became fanatical about covering them with Frontline, a very effective deterrent.

Imagine my horror when Jamie emerged after a wonderful time exploring the jungle of my garden with a small deadly red terrorist on his forehead, a ticking time bomb. I panicked because one infected bite could mean the end of my nine week old puppy!

I slathered him in Frontline (apparently it is nigh impossible to overdose dogs with this product). So every inch of him; top, bottom and between his toes was covered.

Ironically my sister and I had been admiring my luscious garden and saying what fun my pups would have exploring it. Now all of a sudden I felt surrounded by a deadly jungle in which tick terrorists skillfully hid themselves. I wanted to napalm the whole garden. Anything to protect my child... er, I mean my puppy!

I had never had a tick or flea problem before. Why now? Everyone pointed a finger at the hadedas and heavy rain as the culprits. So they are now the enemy too (poor things).

But what to do to eradicate the ticks from my garden? The problem said the nursery experts is that insect sprays today are much more environmentally friendly and repel insects instead of killing them. But I wanted to kill those damn ticks. It's called collateral damage. A necessary evil in order to save the life of one pup.
Well, you can use a spray said one vet, but the rain will just wash it off. Talk about a Catch-22 situation!

Any way the suspect areas, sword ferns (which are officially aliens) and the plumbago bushes have been severely dealt with and hopefully the problem has been reduced. As for the hadedas, I have learnt that there is not much that will deter them from coming back to roost in my trees.

Meanwhile Jamie gets inspected from top to bottom every day, including between his toes which is actually a very good thing. The puppy socialisation manual says pups need to get used to being handled all over, even their most private parts.

Apparently your vet will be very thankful when it comes to treating your dog.