New Puppy!

[LuvMyDoggies]

Hi all! I am brand new to this board, but wanted to become involved because I got a puppy yesterday! I already have a four year old fox terrier mix, but didn't raise him from a pup because he was a stray found on the side of the road 2 years ago. My puppy's name is Zander and he is an akita/chow mix. He is the cutest little stinker ever, he sorta of looks like a bear! Since I am new to raising a puppy, any tips of advice would be greatly appreciated! I am learning something new about the puppy every minute and I absolutley love it! Yesterday, when we received the puppy, he ate a little bit of puppy chow. I have a puppy formula that I tried to give him, first on a spoon, and then tried to have him lap it, but he was not interested in it. Then at 6am this morning, I ran down to the store and picked up a baby bottle, but, he's not interested in the formula at all. So, I knew he had to be very hungry so I took his puppy chow and crunched it up into little pieces(easier to chew) and put some gravy from a wet dog food pouch on the dry food. Is that okay to be using the gravy from the wet food? I only put a little bit on it, and he gobbled it right up and drank a whole ton of water. We have been working on the housetraining, and it's going alright, but he's had a few accidents, which is totally understandable and they are only little pees, so I walk around with paper towels and pet stain remover/deoderizer. He is also being crate trained. Last night, we put him in his crate to go to bed, and he slept for about 1/2 hour and then woke up crying, so i took him out and brought him into bed with me, he fell asleep in like 10 minutes, put him back in the crate and he slept for five hours!!!! But, when he woke up, he was crying and howling, so I realized he was crying and went out and got him and brought him in with me. All day today he's been sleeping and playing and going back to sleep, he ate breakfast, lunch, and I just gave him dinner. This is just so exciting and what a great learning experience. I just wanted to share my joy and news with everyone!!!! Again, I would love and appreciate any helpful advice anyone thinks is important! And when questions arise, I will be using this forum as a resource!!! Thank you all so much and I look forward to getting to know you!!! -propeller

[Spudnik]

Congratulations on your new puppy!

I'm not so sure that it is a good idea to get him out if he is crying, especially if you have put him down to sleep. Introduce him to the crate gradually, but he needs to learn that he won't get attention everytime he cries, or he will cry all of the time. They learn your weaknesses very quickly, the little devils ;)

[Fran27]

How old is he? If you have to give him small pieces of food or thinking formula he is probably very young and will likely suffer from separation aiety, so he might cry a lot in his crate or as soon as you leave him alone. Pups should not leave their mom before 6-8 weeks old. Where did you get him?

You should not get him used to sleeping with you either, at least if you don't want him to sleep with you all the time, or he will cry even more when left alone.

Anyway, you should go see this site, lots of good info there

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/topic1.html

[LuvMyDoggies]

The puppy is 6 weeks old and we got him from my boyfriend's brother's dog's litter. We are going to the vet on Tuesday to get a checkup and make sure he's healthy. I'm giving him the small pieces of food because he was having a hard time chewing them because they are little round circles. By crushing them up into smaller pieces he's having an easier time eating them and not spitting them out. He did really well sleeping in his crate last night alone, he went in, fell asleep, and slept for about five hours. This morning when he woke up, he was FULL of energy!! Running around, chasing my other dog, chasing the cat, playing with his little rope, chasing around the balls. It was so great to see him so active! I'm not letting him sleep with me all night, the first night that we had him, when he was crying I took him out of the crate until he fell asleep, put him back in the crate, and he slept through the rest of the night. Last night I put him in the crate and he slept through the night, all by himself!! I gave him a stuffed doggie to sleep with and put a ticking clock under his blanket and he slept cuddled up next to the dog with his head on the clock.

[Spudnik]

Yeah, the clock is a great idea. I have heard of people using hot water bottles under a cushion or something so they feel like they have the body heat from the rest of their litter.

[Shahoa]

he let you take it at six weeks? no wonder it cant chew the food whole. anyway welcome to the board, and congrats on the puppy!