Raising a Puppy: Third week in his new home
A day in the life with Bruno the Boxer puppy. Bruno's third week—9 weeks old, 16 pounds, 12 ½ inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
A day in the life with Bruno the Boxer puppy. Bruno's third week—9 weeks old, 16 pounds, 12 ½ inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
2 months old
Bruno is now 9 weeks old and has grown considerably. He weighed 12 pounds on his first vet visit at 7 weeks old. Now at 9 weeks he weighs 17 pounds.
We seem to be going back and forth between normal and loose stool. I had been in the process of slowly adding a new puppy food to his old puppy food, however I do not necessarily think this is the culprit. Just in case, I have stopped the switch, feeding only the food the breeder was using until I can determine the cause.
At 8 weeks and 6 days, Bruno's stool was normal during the day (nice and firm). We took Bruno out and a meter maid gave Bruno a biscuit. That night Bruno had loose stool. I gave him Pet Pectillin (a diarrhea medication for dogs, cats and birds) which I bought at a pet store. By the next day his stool was once again normal.
9 weeks and 1 day old. This particular day Bruno attended a family reunion. Bruno had somewhat loose stool in the morning, and while we had already left for the reunion and I had forgotten his diarrhea medicine, his stool firmed up on its own in the afternoon. I was being careful not to let him get a hold of any people food, however he may have at one point in the day. By the time I got to him, whatever he was chewing on was gone. That night his stool was too loose. I could hardly get him outside fast enough. I once again gave him two doses of Pet Pectillin (four hours apart).
9 weeks and 2 days old. Bruno attended a friend's picnic. I was watching him 98% of the time myself. Bruno's stool was normal during the day. Near the end of the day someone else was watching him while I went in to do dishes. I don't know if he got any people food. At the time I didn't think so, and still am not sure. By the end of the night Bruno's stool was loose again. He pooped outside and stepped in it. I had to give him another bath. I gave him the Pet Pectillin again, twice, four hours apart as it recommends.
9 weeks and 3 days old. Bruno's stool seemed to be OK until late that night. That night I gave him the Pet Pectillin once again.
9 weeks and 4 days old. Bruno awoke at 12:00 a.m. and yipped in his crate. I happened to be still up so I immediately took him outside. He had loose stool. I gave him the diarrhea medicine before putting him back to bed. At 3:00 a.m. he woke once again, this time yipping up a storm in his crate. I ran down the steps to him as fast as I could, however I was too late.
Bruno was standing as far away as he could from the poop mess that he had made in his crate. I ran him outside and cleaned up the messy blankets, threw them in the wash, put new ones down for him and brought him back inside. Bruno was quite pleased with this new bedding. He quickly went back to sleep. At 6:00 a.m. he woke once again. This time I made it in the nick of time. He was crying in his crate and about to poop. When he saw me he stopped. I ran him out the door as fast as I could and put him in the grass. Bruno's stool was once again too loose. Not quite full diarrhea, but looser than it should be. Bruno had tested positive for roundworms at his last visit. He was given a dose of worm medicine and his second dose of worm medicine is not due until next week, however we gave the vet another stool sample to have it checked out.
Bruno doesn't chase cats as much as he used to. However this one particular cat seems to enjoy playing with Bruno. The cat could really take this puppy with one good smack in the face with his claws, a hard bite with his teeth and a loud hiss, however, Waffle the cat never hisses at the puppy and most of the time doesn't bother putting out his claws. He seems almost too gentle with Bruno, and I believe he rather likes the pup. He will, however, get tougher when the puppy starts getting too rough. When Waffle has had enough, he lets Bruno know it.
9 weeks and 4 days old. Bruno received a set of shots. The first set was while still at the breeders. The shots were given at 9:00 a.m. Later on that afternoon I noticed Bruno scratching as if he was itchy. At the time it had not occurred to me that itchiness could be connected to the shots. Later on that night we noticed raised bumps all over Bruno's body. His ears were swelling up and turning a purplish color and he was now extremely itchy. I realized he was having an allergic reaction and we called the vet. It was midnight and the vet told us to give him Benadryl and if we do not notice a change for the better take him into the emergency vet. We drove to the store to pick up the Benadryl and gave the dose to him in the parking lot. Bruno's mother had an allergic reaction to anesthesia and actually died giving birth to his litter, so we were not going to take any chances with Bruno. We decided to head toward the emergency vet just in case. We ended up taking him in for a checkup. Turned out the Benadryl did the trick. We gave him a second dose in the morning. Bruno is now exhausted from the late night (we got back home at 2:00 a.m.) and from the antihistamine. He's going in for another vet checkup tomorrow. He keeps trying to bite his rear end, then immediately sits down. I believe he may need his anal glands drained.
Update: It's 2:30 p.m. and Bruno is running around like a crazy, spastic Boxer puppy. Yep, he's back to his old self once again. Time for a walk.
Bruno understands what sit, stay and come mean for the most part. To reinforce this command outside a training session, without treats, several times a day we bend down and happily call the puppy over for praise and a short play session. This reinforces the command for the times you would need it most, when treats are not immediately available. His reward is positive attention.
I walked outside to discover Bruno chewing up a roll of toilet paper! Bruno, NO! Where did this 9-week-old Boxer puppy find a roll of toilet paper, you are wondering? The kids had camped in the woods and left some of the things they had taken with them on our golf cart. Bruno had helped himself to the toilet paper roll. This morning I also caught him eating dirt out of my potted plant in the living room. I told him, "NO, aaaaaahhhhtttttt, NO." He looked at me as if to say, "But mommy, the dirt tastes SO GOOD!" I told him "NO" one more time and he slinked away from the plant. Bruno also started to chew our stereo cabinet, however I was standing right there and immediately told him "Bruno NO! aaahhhtttttt." He got the message and walked away. He went and lay under the kitchen table and started chewing on the leg of the table. Once again he was corrected with a firm "NO" followed by a sharp "Aaaaaahhhhttt." Bruno responds very well to this tone. This little puppy has a lot of house etiquette he still needs to learn.
Bruno really likes Allie. I think a tad more than Allie likes Bruno ;-) At 9 ½ weeks old, I can clearly see Bruno mimicking Allie's behavior. For example: the dogs are not allowed past a certain gate that leads to our chicken coop. Allie always stops at this gate and never attempts to run in past us. Bruno watches Allie, and stops at the entrance to the gate as well. He follows Allie around and does what she does. Our dogs are not allowed upstairs or in the carpeted family room, but do have access to all other parts of the house. Bruno surprisingly enough has only wandered into the family room a handful of times. Allie does not go in there and Bruno tends to stick close to Allie.
Bruno has not had an accident in the house, outside of being locked in his crate (knock on wood), since the first week we brought him home three weeks ago. Granted, we do not allow him to wander around inside unsupervised, however he seems to be getting the idea that outside is for potty. After all, his older sister Allie never goes to the bathroom inside. She's always asking to go outside. I don't think Bruno totally has this concept down yet, however we are making good progress. If we lead him to the grass and say, "Go Pee" he usually pees.
