Kirby
06/14/06
I haven’t written for a few days. That’s probably because Kirby the dog has been Kirby the great black beast. We’ve been dealing with terrible behavior! Nipping non-stop, hyper in the evenings, hungry all the time and just general naughtiness! A 10 week old ball of flesh and fur has driven me to tears and anger more than once in the past week. HOWEVER, I think I’ve found some solutions and his behavior has improved some. Actually, a lot.
First, food. I don’t remember if I mentioned that we began making his own food due to his bout of vomiting and recovery from roundworms. The vet had me give him brown rice, chicken and chicken broth. I also added in cooked carrots. It was the first food he really showed interest in and the diet had such a remarkable effect on his well-being and appearance that I decided to continue the diet. To make sure he got all his nutrients, I added back in some dog food. Well, then we were back at square one - he doesn’t like dog food. He was hungry all the time. He’d tolerate the dog food in his beloved rice and chicken, but still ended up hungry. This was not helping his already difficult puppy behavior. I did some research and decided to try NutriSource Large Breed Puppy, based on our vet’s recommendation to try a large breed puppy formula. I don’t know if it was happiness or pre-menopause, but I bawled when he chowed down that first bowl. What a stupid load of worry off my mind! I didn’t even follow the practice of gradually switching him to the new food. He had only very minor loose stools in the sudden switch. I do still add a little whole milk to his food, but will phase that out. Also, I changed up his feeding schedule. He eats at 6am, noon, and then I split up his supper into two parts 5pm and 7pm. He eats 1 1/2 cups of dog food with a little milk in it. Splitting the supper into two parts was the vet’s idea to keep him more satisfied in the evening.
Second, sleep. It amazes me how someone who reads as voraciously as me remained clueless into the daily expectations of puppy life. I have found very little in books and online about how much my puppy should sleep. Finally, though. We have a schedule. He goes to bed around 10pm and wakes up just once to go outside. The sun is coming up by 5am right now in Minnesota, so I’m doing good just to get him to stay quiet until 6am. He goes outside for a little bit and then is ready for breakfast! After breakfast, I try to get him to relax a little while his breakfast digests and I attempt to get a little computer time in. At 7am we head out for our walk, stopping at Starbucks for a small mocha latte (me, not him). By 7:45am we are back; he heads to the kennel and I get ready for work. He sleeps until noon, eats lunch, plays a little and then goes back to sleep until 4pm. He plays some more and I feed him when I get home. For the first couple of weeks, I felt like I had to keep him up from 5pm to 10pm to make sure he slept well at night. My mom, who has raised four labs, suggested that I lay him down again around 6pm and walk him again at 8pm. This new schedules really helps in keeping him from getting so wound up at night.
Lastly, biting! He is finally responding to “no bite!”. Good thing, cuz that wasn’t earning him any points with our family. Smart move on his part.
06/08/06
Gotta love a good stick!
Everyone in the family thinks it’s real cute how Kirby’s like to sleep on our bed. Only I seem to realize this is a bad idea. Babies in bed is one things, puppies in bed is another! Besides, today I tried to snuggle with him on the bed (thinking he’d settle down for a nap…yeah right) and he FELL OFF the bed. Poor little pony boy.
06/07/06 - Kirby had to get up every hour last night, which means we were up every hour. Ugh. Poor little guy had stomach cramps and diarrhea from the tasty dog treats we bought from Puppy Class. Must use smaller bits and much less! I’ve got to find the many spots in our front yard which contain the end result of these treats. How to pick up? Must investigate…
Since Kirby is obviously bored with us, I’ve been trying to think of ways to extend what he knows so far, which is come and sit. The great thing about learning any command is that he will stop whatever he is doing and respond to my command. So yesterday, when he was excitedly headed toward my neighbor’s kids, I just said, “Sit” and he came trotting back to me, sat and stared up into my face. I clicked and patted his head. Another idea I had is for him to do something with the shoes he finds left around our home. I’m teaching him to carry stray shoes to the shoe basket by the front door. I think he’ll get it soon. Will that keep him from chewing shoes? Probably not, but it keeps his little retriever brain busy for a while.
06/06/06 -
Sorry I kind of panicked yesterday. I’m better now…
Yes, it was VERY evident at puppy class last night that he (and labs) are very smart and learn very quickly. The trainer gave us two things to work on for next week: one regarding feeding that he already does (don’t let the dog leave and come back to finish later) and the sit command. He learned that last night. This morning, he’s still doing it, even without treat. I was able to have him come to me and sit when he was acting up - he’d stop right in the middle and walk over to me. AND when I went downstairs and didn’t want him to try to follow, I just told him sit and clicked…and he just sat there.
The class helped me to see him and his sometimes annoying behaviors differently. I don’t worry now when he tries to carry something around in his mouth…he’s a retriever after all! And I feel more comfortable that he is just playing around (puppy) as opposed to being aggressive. My daughter went to class with me last night. She is babysitting him for me while I’m at work, so she needs to know what to do to keep him busy and learning. I’ll bring my husband and my son next week or the week after.
I didn’t know, but my husband IS teaching him to fetch the paper. He did it this morning without my asking him to do it. Pretty funny! Puppy class was good last night. I now have hope! We use clickers and treat to train behaviors. He already learned everything from last night (only two things), so we has something more to do with him during the day. Can’t wait for next week. You should have seen the class - 20 different dogs of all kinds. All checking each other out and barking at each other. Pretty funny!
06/05/06 -
Right now, we’ve got a very naughty puppy; he’s doing some biting, barking, challenging, etc. and just general hyperactivity. I’ve been figuring out some things about him, like he really gets overstimulated easily. Also, my kids want Kirby to be one way (running, chasing, playing, etc), but Kirby can’t make the distinction yet between kids acting like puppies and real puppies. So, I’ve had to get tough and insist that everyone follow some basic puppy rules so that we don’t ruin him forever. Here’s my list (let me know what you think):
1. Don’t yell at the dog when he bites or barks or growls ( and don’t “spank” him if either). Just say no, pick him up and put him in the kennel for 5 minutes;
2. Don’t lay on the grass or floor and encourage him to lick or play rough with you. For now, don’t even sit next to him. Stand up only;
3. Do not play tug of war or encourage him to bite your hands;
4. Give him things to do - carry a big stick, go for walks, carry a sock filled with a heavy object, etc;
5. Keep all toys off the floor except for the one you are giving him;
6. Wait until dog calms down and is quiet before responding to him.
Uugghh, this is the part of dog ownership I wasn’t looking forward to! At least the work part of it. I know everything will turn out fine. I’ve also been working on coming back to me, rather than a bunch of commands. I guess I’m just a little scared right now. His behavior was very difficult this weekend. Kind of scary…
We are going to a puppy class tonight and that will probably reassure me that everything is just fine.
06/01/06
I have decided to make Kirby’s dog food. It is very easy, if I prepare it ahead of time. He loves it, its cheap and he is pooping less than on the dog food. So far, my recipe is rice, chicken, chicken broth and some cooked carrot. Of course, it’s all salt free and organic, but is affordable so far. I’ve been supplementing with Purina One dog food, but I need to get a real supplement for him. I also don’t want him to lose the taste of dog food, just in case we need to make a switch back.
05/31/06
Kirby has been throwing up all day long. He is dehydrated and sick. He just lays quietly. He might be having a reaction to the puppy shots or to the deworming. Off to the vet!
For only $105.00, the vet made my puppy all better. Ugh. This is one thing I worried about with pet ownership. One big vet bill and our summer plans are shot! Anyway, Kirby received a very thorough exam, some IV fluids (stop laughing!) and some nausea meds. No further tests unless he’s not better tomorrow.
05/30/06
I now understand why I didn’t have any more children! Kirby’s like a 13 month old toddler - doesn’t know what he wants, walks, chews on everything in sight, gets over excited, etc. I think that Kirby really misses his brother, Butch. That’s too bad they can’t visit. Kirby is lonely and I need to find him some dogs to play with, but first he needs his shots.
At least he sleeps for six hours at night and takes a couple of long naps during the day. Still, I’m exhausted. I have to go to work and I don’t know how I will keep my eyes open. Better head for an espresso at Starbucks!
First vet appointment today at 4:30pm!
Vet says Kirby will be big…100 pounds or more. We shouldn’t feed him any canned food because it has too much fat in it. Kirby doesn’t like dog food. We’ve tried two brands.
05/28/06
We’ve spoiled Kirby already. He loves to lay next to the central air vent! He goes into his kennel really well and has a blankie, bed and three toys: a red tennis ball, a rope toy and a stuffed pheasant toy.
He’s doing better now. He was very lethargic yesterday, to the point of not standing up on his own. He finally woke up around midnight and has been much spunkier. We dewormed him and he’s had LOTS of roundworms coming out. We used the Heartgard Plus and it worked well. The worms were 6 inches long, so they’ve been in there a while.
He slept for about three hours at a time last night. He really whined and whimpered LOUDLY so we tried the car carrier in the bedroom trick and it really worked! I just had to talk to him and he’d fall back asleep. I’ve figured out that when he wakes up, we’ve got less than 60 seconds to get him outside before he goes to the bathroom.
He’s taking to the lead/leash pretty well. I keep reminding everyone that he will be 100 pounds in a year and we don’t want a 100 pound maniac in the house. He’s very submissive, which is good. Hopefully he’ll stay that way, but he’s just a pup so who knows…
05/27/06
Kirby today, at eight weeks old
Our family got our first dog on Friday. His name is Kirby Puckett. Why name a dog after a baseball legend? Well, during Mr. Puckett’s memorial service I heard one former teammate, Kent Hrbek perhaps, mention that there were many dogs in Minnesota named Kirby. For some reason that statement struck me. What an honor to have people name their pets after you! I made a little mental note to add Kirby to our list of names for the dog we were considering.
Kirby at one month old
My son and husband have been talking about getting a dog for a couple of years now. They even added Grandpa as a lobbyist for their cause. But without my support for the project, the bill always failed. I always had good reasons not to get a dog: I work, the kids are in school, it costs money, etc. However, as my son got older, I started to have regrets about not making room in my life for a dog.
When we visited my husband’s sister’s farm at Easter, we looked forward to seeing the week old puppies born to their pure bred golden lab mother and excellent hunting dog, Jade, and an unknown black lab father from a neighboring farm. She gave birth on Palm Sunday to a little of ten pups: five golden labs, three black labs and one pure white lab. The lone male black lab caught our attention right away.
Here are the Palm Sunday pups!
That day, we knew we would be returning to take home Kirby when he reached 8 weeks of age. That day was this past Friday. Actually, Grandpa was nice to meet us halfway with the dog, since the farm is a three hour drive for us. We’ve spoiled Kirby already. He has his own bedroom complete with the baseball memorabilia and decor from when it was my son’s old bedroom. The room is also our computer room and will eventually be an office/study when we can afford to buy new furniture for it. For now, is a perfect spot for a puppy named Kirby Puckett.
Kirby’s favorite things
What does the well-spoiled dog have, besides his own bedroom? He has his own central air vent, which he LOVES to lay next to. He has a kennel, which he likes so far, and he has a blankie, a sheepskin bed and three toys: a red tennis ball, a rope toy and a stuffed pheasant toy.
Kirby’s baseball bedroom
Kirby was very lethargic on his first day home, to the point of not standing up on his own. Turns out he had roundworms, like 75% of puppies. We dewormed him and he’s doing much better now. We used Heartgard Plus and it worked well. The worms were 6 inches long! Yuck! He has his first vet appointment on Tuesday and we’ll check again.
He slept for about three hours at a time the first night. He really whined and whimpered LOUDLY so we tried the car carrier in the bedroom trick and it really worked! I just had to talk to him and he’d fall back asleep. I’ve figured out that when he wakes up, we’ve got less than 60 seconds to get him outside before he goes to the bathroom. The second night, last night, he slept for close to six hours, went outside to go potty and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Since the weather is so very hot, he’s gets worn out being outside and naps better. He’s recovered from being so tired all day and is very energetic. Not wild, but very full of life. He pounces on things and plays fetch. His very favorite thing is to stretch out in the grass on his belly and nibble on some grass.
The first two days he took to the lead/leash pretty well, but today he threw a tantrum! Just like a toddler - whimpering, crying, squirming. Sheesh! I need to separate walking time from outdoor play time, so we will get outdoor area set up so he can just go out and play. I keep reminding everyone that he will be 100 pounds in a year and we don’t want a 100 pound maniac in the house. He’s very submissive, which is good. Hopefully he’ll stay that way, but he’s just a pup so who knows…
Hope you are having a good Memorial Day. It’s awfully hot here.
