11 March 2010

Puppy Poopy

We're about to start our second week with our new Malti-poo "Yogi".
I think his diarrhea problem is almost gone... I say "I think" because I'm having difficulty remembering how solid most puppy's poopy is. Isn't it normally kinda semi-solid anyway? If so, we're back to normalcy with Yogi... his poop now comes out in a long, semi-solid string. I'd fill you in on all the details, but this post is gonna be scatalogical enough as it is.
(Blogger thinks "scatalogical" is misspelled!)

Having more than one dog in the house complicates training.
This morning we found "number two" remains beneath the dining room table. We "Dog-sat" a friend's Schnauzer yesterday, so for a few hours we had three dogs in the house. (Yogi's antics made the Schnauzer glad when time to leave rolled around.) This Schnauzer is sneaky. She can find a hiding spot and take a quick poopy faster than Sara Jean can make me feel guilty about being a "MAN"!
So if you don't catch 'em in the act, it's not fair to punish 'em. Whoever left this deposit gets a "get outta jail free" card.

Yogi is doing much, much better. His appetite is good. He sleeps on his back with his legs splayed out... and I've heard this is an indication of total security. Still, we're watching him in shifts...
I keep an eye out most of the daylight hours, Sara Jean watches him at night. It works.

He's a good little traveler... both he and Lucy went shopping with us last night, and after each of our three stops we snuck up on the car to find Yogi asleep in the driver's seat.
Attached to him you ask?
Nah, not me!
I sent the "Milk Bone Free Dog Tag" offer off in the mail today. [Free, with two proofs of purchase and $1.95 for shipping and handling.]
Now there can be no further discussion... "Yogi" it is!
Stay tuned for the next installment in "The Mis-Adventures(?) of Yogi"
(And I promise not to go into my choice of colors for this post!)

6 comments:

CJ said...

Been awhile but it sounds like things are normal to me.

Do you crate him at night? It can be a comfort thing for nervous dogs.

And yes, exposing their throat and bellies is definitely a sign of trust.

Good job!

cjh

Jack L. Poller said...

2 suggestions

1 - get your dog's chipped. It's actually the law here in the nanny state of California. Being the law sucks, but getting chipped is well worth the effort

2 - crate train your dogs. http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html

It really does work. Dogs won't poop or pee in their den. Once your dog gets accustom to his new home, you can use it to instantly contain your dog when a guest comes buy.

Whenever a delivery man or repair person stops buy, I just say "go to your crate" and each of my wiemaraners runs to their own crate. I shut the doors to the crate, and the dogs almost always go to sleep. Then I can answer the door without having to worry about escape attempts or scaring the visitor.

My newest weim was a rescue adoption and she's still having problems peeing in the house - mostly due to abandonment issues. But she sleeps the whole night in her crate with no accidents.

The Old Man said...

Glad to see he stayed Yogi.
Stewie was crate-trained when he arrived (both of ours are rescues - they rescued US) and loves his "cooler". A raised-voice "What?" sends him scampering, and he often naps in there for no apparent reason. I was not in favor of it originally, but I think it's a good thing for all concerned.
Stewie, like Yogi, sleeps like a shameless hussy-that-snores-loudly. Keep us informed of the adventures of Yogi...

Greybeard said...

Jack, I'm unfamiliar with the term "chipped". Is that another term for neutered? We intend to have him neutered, and I was surprised at the research I'm reading that indicates we might want to do that sooner than I expected... like tomorrow, even.
We'll coordinate that at our next Vet visit.

To all:
We do have a nice crate for him and I know "crating", done properly, reduces nervousness. I've seen some folks even put the dog's food in the crate and leave the door open during the day so he/she eats and naps in there at their leisure. Yogi has no apprehension of the crate, but we've already started him eating and drinking from the same dual dish as Lucy and he's comfortable with that... he's a grazer... eats a little bit every few minutes when he's awake.

This pup IS NOT NERVOUS. I'm on the laptop right now, and he's right alongside sleeping. As I've previously indicated, he frequently shows how secure he is by rolling over on his back and exposing his entire underside. That brings a smile to the face of anyone who knows dog behavior.
He's gonna be a good 'un.

Last night I took him out at about 10 P.M., then retired to watch an old movie on TCM. All four of us fell asleep and I woke at about 2 A.M. and took him outside. He knew why we were outside and immediately squatted, then ran for the door. I put him in his crate and he didn't utter a sound the rest of the night.

He's still making mistakes but I think those may be because we're not watching him closely enough. Sara Jean noticed him at the front door yesterday and ignored him, only to find about a 10 inch long string of puppy-poop green feces under the coffee table a few minutes later. Again, we didn't catch him in the act and since we might have ignored his "Outside, go potty!" request, we didn't punish him. It looks like dog training is going well...
Human training? Maybe needs some work!

Anonymous said...

Chipped is having a "chip" inserted in their ear with information in case they get picked up away from home. YOU HAVE TO STOP RUBBING HIS NOSE IN HIS POOP. After that, EVERYTHING smells like where he has already gone.

Beau got potty trained in one day. I was lucky enough to see it happen: said "EH" (my "no") and took him outside. We STAYED outside for 9 days (it seemed) until he HAD to poop. Then, JOY JOY JOY coming out of mom's mouth.

After that, he only wanted to hear more JOY and less "EH!".

My 18 years of love was given to a Bichon, so I was adapted to that breed. Now that I have a Maltese, I'd never have anything else.

The tail going 110 miles an hour trying to keep up with his tongue on my chin.

Lucky had us doing things for HIM.

Beau does things for US. Big difference. I crated Beau, but Beau SCREAMED all night. I thought he was trying to control us.....(damn dog whisperer) but they told me that he was in TERROR due to the puppy mill.

His first night in bed was spent with a huge smile on his face and much thankfulness.

He saved me from SEVERE depression after putting Lucky down. And since we also saved HIM, he seems to live in a perpetual state of thankfulness.

Milepost 154 said...

We just got a new rescue Rat/Fox Terrier from a shelter. 5 years old. No puppy in him. Darn, I lucked out.

BZ