Week 9: Dog Park

After the second round of shots, we took the puppies to a dog park and they were basically the hit of the place.

Dogs were sniffing them, especially Lizzie (who seems to be more interested in other dogs), while Charlie is only slightly interested.

Lizzie got so attached to one dog that the dog had to turn a corner before she would turn around and walk away.

I wonder if this strong attachment to other dogs is a good or bad thing

Week 9: Growing Ears and Tails

Its crazy how fast their ears are growing...Now they flop around and hang down low.

Charlie's tail is now twice as fat as Lizzie's.

Sunflower Stalks as a chew toy

I mentioned before how the sunflower stalk is a toy the pups love playing with.

I thought I'd show you how funny this looks:

In the corner is the chair that I flip upside down (made by my father in law) and stick two together to make an impromptu agility training ladder.

Raising two dogs together

I'll have to hand it to my wife...
I had some serious reservations about getting two puppies.  I thought about how expensive it would be...Whether we would be able to take care of two dogs...all the normal reservations.

But now, seeing them play together, and learn from each other, I don't think I'd ever do it differently.

They amuse themselves constantly.  Play with each other constantly.
Sleep together.  Eat together.

They pant together.

In short, they bond together.

They learn from each other.  For instance, when we're teaching one a trick, the other will see what its being rewarded for and mimic the reward-inducing behavior.  And I can't stress enough how dried cherries will make these dogs do anything.

Originally, I only planned on getting Charlie.  But when we went to go pick out a puppy, Kelly grew attached to Lizzie.  The price was right and, loving my wife and listening to her pleas, I agreed with her to get two.

And I don't regret it at all.

They're the same amount of work.  The feed cost and vet cost is only what doubled.  But since we mostly make our own dog food,  we just double the ingredients and make it in two pots.

We do have the added benefit of either myself or my wife always being home and playing with them. 
But when they're gone, they have each other to amuse themselves.

I'd only recommend it for someone who had the time and energy.  It is a lot of work.  But it puts a smile on my face.

I'm not and have never been a night person, but I get up twice or even three times a night to let them out when they start whimpering.  I wake up an hour early to make them food and take them out to  play.  And I've never NEVER never been a morning person.

It just goes to show what two puppies will make you do.

Their favorite butterfly toy

I referenced this toy in an earlier post about dog toys.

This is by far one of their favorite toys, partially because of the squeaking.  My wife loves butterflies, so that was the real reason we bought it, but they took to it immediately.  They play tug-o-war with the thing constantly and will chase after it.

When you throw it, the wings spread apart and it flutters around, and best of all, it was only a few bucks.

I found a link to the one we got:

Vaccine

Luckily, my wife is a nurse, so we can save on some vet costs by having her give them shots.

We found a product called Solo Jec by Durvet that, save for the Heartworm medication (that I need a vet's rx for), we can give them the majority of shots they need.  Watch out, because, depending on age and location, they may need either the solo jec 5 or solo jec 7. You really should check with your vet before you decide to go the self-vaccine route.

Every 2 weeks, starting between 6 and 8 weeks, the puppies need shots at three to four week intervals until they hit 16 weeks.  The product protects against the five majors:
Canine Distemper - Adenovirus Type - 2, Parainfluenza - Parvovirus Vaccine modified live virus Leptospira Canicola - Icterohaemorrhagiae Bacterin

We'll need to get a lyme disease shot (since we will take them to northern wisconsin - aka deer tick country) when they get older.

Doing it this way, we can save about $20 per shot!

Making Our own dog food

We made a conscious effort to only feed store bought dog food as a supplement after seeing both the costs and ingredients in the garbage that was in the stores.

Most have corn and corn meal, which dogs really shouldn't be eating.

So what we've been doing is going to the local Mexican food store and buying all of the nutrient, vitamin, and mineral rich body parts that we can't get at the local grocery store. I'm talking chicken livers, hearts, gizzards, and all the stuff I never thought were used for anything. But these are highly nutritious parts of the dog.

My plan is to also shoot an extra deer or two this hunting season to get some venison for them. Since I was going anyways, an extra deer tag will only cost me two dollars for over 50 pounds of food. And the deer are well fed on a very nutritious diet and range wherever they want - unlike the meat you'll get from the store.

So here is what we used for the last batch...
17 lbs chicken parts
2 lbs pumpkin
1 package frozen peas
1 package frozen beans
3 pounds carrots
1 squash
1 zucchini
1 package quinoa
1 package barley
a cup of hemp or flax oil

Mix in a pot and cook it up. Stir constantly. When fully cooked (3 - 5 hours later), put in freezer safe bags and stick it in the chest freeer.

We figure this is enough to last us 2 to 3 weeks, and at a price point near store bought food. Sure it may take more time, and we're not really saving money, but we are feeding high quality ingredients to our dogs. We supplement with dog vitamins and glucosamine/chondroitin.

Our plan is to switch up meat sources whenever a batch runs out, so that we cycle chicken, venison, pork, fish etc. throughout the month so they have variety and as meat goes on sale.

There are times in our busy and hectic lives where we either can't heat up their food (because its frozen) or we don't have the time to. In those cases, we bought some ultra high quality dog food for growing dogs from a manufacturer called Wysong, who had the highest quality ingredients we could find.

We did find one that met our stringent requirements from a manufacturer called Wysong. Their dog food has the highest quality ingredients. It may be a little more expensive, but I figure in the long run it will pay off because we'll have healthier dogs that will live longer with less (costly) health issues.  I highly recommend going to their website and comparing the ingredients to the mass produced crap...You'll see its worth the extra money.

When they were younger...The first non milk meal

Here are some pictures of the pups that my coworker shared with me of one of the litter mates...

This was their first meal that didn't consist of the mothers milk, a mixture of rice milk and dry food, I've been told...

Week 9: PlayTime

I’ve found that Charlie, our male pup, loves to taunt his sister with a stick.  He’ll pick one up and then rush up to his sister to tempt her, then when she starts chasing after him, he’ll use his body size to block her.  Eventually she gets bored and he runs away in triumph to chase on the stick.

Its quite hilarious

I’ve got these sunflower stalks leftover from the sunflowers I grew that they love to chew on…but we’ve noticed they sometimes swallow them and try to poop them out, straining.  So we’ve had to monitor their pooping.

My wife has taught them now to turn around (using treats of course).  They basically follow the treat with her command to ‘turn around’. 

Before, she taught them to back up by putting her hand up to their chests and saying “back” when they are seated.  They then, still sitting, push themselves back with their front legs, sort of like a moonwalk move, and then get rewarded for it with dried cherries.

Week 9: Desire to Please

Lizzie, my female pup, is starting to develop an intense desire to please us.  I’m not sure if its because she isn’t the dominant one (shes smaller than our male pup) or if its because of her sex, but we’ve found that we can get her to do tricks and she looks to us for cues on how to behave.

Its actually quite cute.

She does seem to have problems holding her urine in too, and when I wake up at night to take them out she always seems to be soaked in urine.  So either Charlie is peeing on her, which I doubt, or she is having trouble controlling her urine.

We’ve had luck having them pee where we want them to and immediately giving them treats. 

Week 8: First vet trip

Kelly took both puppies to the vet.  Charlie weighed in at 18 pounds and Lizzie was 15 pounds.

The vet approved of our home made food project.  Kelly went to El Rey, the local Mexican Grocery Store,  to procure a nutrient rich supply of chicken gizzards, hearts, and livers.  She made two big pots of food, throwing in barley, quinoa, carrots, and beans.  We supplement with vitamins and add a little oil we have on hand, usually flax or hemp or vegetable oil.

They started panting now…

Still having problems potty training at night time

Now they seem to be launching themselves up off their hind legs when they’re excited

Still love dried cherries and are willing to do anything for them

Week 7: Growth

Puppies are definitely getting bigger…I can see muscle mass developing in Charlie’s hind legs, and Lizzie looks to be increasing weight as well.  The food we’re making definitely looks to be helping.

We’ve been supplementing the chicken gizzard/liver/heart meal Kelly made with pumpkins from our garden.  On top of two types  beans, peas, squash, and zucchini from our garden, they’re getting the majority of vitamins and minerals their little body needs to develop.  However, we are giving them vitamin/mineral supplements in order to round out their diet.

Kelly was at the natural pet food store near our house looking at vitamin and mineral supplements.  She got excited to see that we can give flax, pumpkin seed, dandelions (leaves and root), burdock root and leaves, etc.  ots of stuff we can gather, and dry next year, even chickweed!  and we can give them human joint supplements in smaller doses to help their little joints get stronger.

And guess who loves tomatoes and cucumbers!!!!! Charlie! He destroyed a small tomato just now. And they were both gnawing on cucumbers for a while til they got distracted.

Week 7: Agility Training

Kelly’s dad made some awesome chairs that slide out and can come together to be put away, made out of wood slats.  He got the idea from the old timers at the Trapper’s Conventions he goes to.  They’re Handmade and of fine wood, he gave it to her a few years ago for her birthday I believe.  Well, I took them and flipped them upside down to form a little walkway, and Charlie took to it immediately.

When they were tossing and turning, tugging and pulling, and chasing each other, Charlie ran up the “agility ladder” aka the back of the chairs to get away from her and stood at the top like a little champion. 

Lizzie was a little less confident using it, but eventually got the hang of it after the second or third try. 

But its cool to see that at only seven weeks old, they’re already unafraid of

Week 6: Buying their enclosure

My wife convinced me to buy a dog kennel ($99 from Farm and Fleet - you can find it cheaper on Amazon), basically a large sturdy metal crate built for large dogs, after she saw the 2x4 and chicken wire “contraption” I built.  After college I couldn’t find work and worked as a finish carpenter over the summer, so I assumed I could save money and build a kennel, but the results were laughable. When they get older, I will probably either just leave it or buy another for both to have one big enough for them

She reasoned that when we went up north to visit her parents we could keep them in a safe place and it would be a lot easier to potty train them with a kennel.  I agree especially on this second point, as their peeing is rarely done inside the place where they sleep.   For anyone looking to get a puppy, I would expect potty training to be a lot easier and way less urine to cleanup if you go the crate training route. 

They’ve never pooped in their crate, and only rarely urinate inside, except when I sleep through the night for over a 4 hour stretch and they don’t get out.  I’ve read that as they get older, their muscles develop so they’re able to hold it in for longer stretches of time.  I’ve been pretty good about waking up every few hours and taking them outside, but as the days get colder here in Wisconsin and the weather becomes inclement, the nightly trips seem less productive.  Getting Lizzie to pee is a real chore because she seems to always want to go back inside, and when she does start sniffing the ground and begin pee and poop mode, Charlie seems to always run up and knock her over.   Lizzie know appears to be unfavorable to the rain and the

Charlie consistently pees and poops outside, but both will just start peeing on the floor (luckily we’ve got tile right by the front entrance) if I open the cage and the front door and screen door aren’t both open.  It seems like any single hindrance to going outside causes them to rush out and piss on the floor!  When I open the crate, I’ve got to rush to the door to open it so they dont run to a closed door and start peeing on the floor. I'll probably just leave the door open before I get in, but the cat likes to run outside and eat the cat nip path we've got on the side of the house.

Poop

We’ve been having a couple incidents of the puppies pooping in the house minutes after they came in from outside.

Now granted, the weather in Wisconsin right now sucks…rainy, cold, and windy these last few days of October.  I wouldn’t want to poop outside either…

I got a text from my wife when I was at work that she got pooped on by Lizzie.  I thought it was hilarious, and started to picture how that could’ve happened….

Was she asleep with the puppy on her stomach, and then she pooped on her?

Or maybe she was reading her book and the puppy pooped on her foot?

Oh the potential for different scenarios is endless and amused me on my 45 minute drive home from work that day.

But here’s what happened…the dog wandered over to the neighbors and started pooping…Kelly ran over and picked her and Charlie up at the same time, and when she put them down in our yard she had poop on herself and on Charlie. 

I’ve had some success picking up Lizzie and putting her down then pushing her face down so that she can smell the ground…this seems to (10% of the time) initiate some ground sniffing and pooping instinct.   The other 90% of the time she runs back to the front door where its slightly sheltered from the rain.

Ahh the joys of puppy ownership…I wonder how long pooping and peeing in the house will be something we have to be ever vigilant about.