# We've got our hands full!



## alexdo (Oct 26, 2013)

We have had Chilli for a week now. For the first 2 days she was very quiet, just learning the ropes and getting to know us.
Now she is totally at home and a bit of a handful to be honest!
She sleeps through the night and wakes us up at around 6 a.m. - is this normal? She sleeps in her crate in the kitchen with the crate door open and we hear her charging at the door and crying around 6.
Her toiletting is pretty good. She rarely misses the pad if she is in and I take her out every hour for a wee during the day.
She is very nippy, especially first thing in the morning, how do we stop her biting clothes etc.
And finally she was fed raw meat at her breeders which they sourced from the butcher and prepared themselves, they had 6 dogs so this made sense but we have tried to gradually wean her onto orijen - she does not seem to like it though! any suggestions! we have tried the PAH packs of meat and she loves those but we were hoping to feed her dry food eventually.
I have booked her into puppy school, she has a place for January - she is only 9 weeks old now and due her 2nd injection tomorrow...


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## Lottierachel (Mar 3, 2013)

Waking up early. Lots of biting. Tons of energy. Being fussy with food - sounds just like my puppy was! It's really hard work, harder than I anticipated, but it get a million times easier eventually! If you do a search on biting or 'gremlin pups' you will find loads of helpful information.

Is there any reason why you don't want chilli to have wet food? I mix some nature diet in with Tilly's dry barking heads and she really enjoys it - wet and dry together. It doesn't cost any more and it means she loves her food!


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## alexdo (Oct 26, 2013)

Thank you for a quick reply! She has gone back to sleep now, 1 hour 30 minutes after waking us all up and going on a rampage! She does this every morning!

I will keep her on a semi raw food diet for now, maybe it helps to mix the dry food pellets in the raw stuff? but she seemed a bit constipated when we first got her, and my OH read some good reviews of orijen...


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

It does get better 

I am a novice raw feeder so I'm sure that you'll get better advice from others.
When they are raw fed then there is very little waste that they pass - so their poos do appear hard and small, as long as it is not causing her pain to poop she is fine.
I'm sure someone has posted something about not mixing dry and raw food together becuase it is digested differently... but I may be wrong.
Could you try using the origen as treats during the day - I use barking heads for Dot and she loves it as a treat - she probably has a 1/2 of one meal through the day as treats. The aim is that eventually I can use either it or raw food. Once she gets to six months I plan on feeding one meal a day as dry... but we'll wait and see how that pans out. My other dogs eat dry food, love it and wolf it down happily meal after meal after meal. They also have chicken wing dinners a couple of times a week. And the occasional tail, neck, rib or carcass... you will find what works for you and Chilli.
It is early days yet, don't be in too much of a rush.

Re biting - puppies do. Dot loved the chick fob I have on my key ring and I got her one (about the size of a small ball, soft and fluffy with a pressure activated cheep) and we used to give it to her to hold- that way her teeth were occupied with chick. Now she often finds a toy and carries it around when she is excited to greet us.
6.00am will be lovely in the summer -you'll be able to go out for a lovely early walk - best time fo the day! Not so good now as it is still dark. Pop her out to do her business and then leave her and go back to bed - or take her with you to bed for a bit of snuggle time, if you really can't face the earliness - I've learnt to love it. 7.30 feels like a lie in these days and it is usually me that wakes the dogs up


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## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

We did the same for willows biting. She is very mouthy when excited. We would put a toy in her mouth. Now they both run to grab a toy whenever someone comes to the door! 

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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Yup, it sounds exactly like puppyhood to me too!  Before you know it you'll be through it and on to a different set of problems. In the meantime plenty of teething toys and distraction got us through the biting. And very short timeouts in the bathroom when he got fiendishly terrible. (toilet seat down and paper removed).


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

Molly was the same she would get up at 7am and go crazy...she would nip and bite and hook on my pants It was a bit overwhelming sometimes but be patient they grow so fast and change so much and are full of love Last year on December 8th we got Molly made for an interesting Christmas  This year she is so grown up and different I just love her


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## alexdo (Oct 26, 2013)

Great! it's nice to know that everything is normal  - not sure I will ever get used to the 6 a.m. wake up call though, especially on a Sunday morning!
She sleeps a lot too so I get things done!
She has loads of toys, her favourites are ropey dangly things like the tuffy squid!


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## Datun Walnut (Oct 15, 2013)

'A bit of a handful' is nicely understated. Our dog Poppy is now nearly 8 months old. When she arrived in our lives this summer, I don't mind admitting I was very depressed. Nothing (and I mean NOTHING) prepares you for getting a puppy. I couldn't look at her and see a cute pup, all I could see was a monster spinning on a lead. We never had a moments peace. Our house was messed up, things were chewed, clambering over baby gates, wee......I could go on. 

The only thing that really helped was this forum. Marion, my other half joined first and read about other people's experiences. I can't remember who said it but somebody on the forum said (I'm paraphrasing): 'You won't believe it now but it will get better, bit by bit and day by day. Until in the end, you'll forget the bad times.' And it's true, it does get better.

I won't pretend a 8 month pup is an angel but we are starting to finally see the dog we hope we'll have for a long time. We've also realized that a lot of naughty things she did were just phases she eventually got through. Stay consistent and keep the treats handy.

Good luck,


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

alexdo said:


> Great! it's nice to know that everything is normal  - not sure I will ever get used to the 6 a.m. wake up call though, especially on a Sunday morning!
> She sleeps a lot too so I get things done!
> She has loads of toys, her favourites are ropey dangly things like the tuffy squid!


Molly loves rope toys too unfortunately she can't tell the difference from a toy and my new hat that I bought on the weekend I was trying to take her sweater off and she kept jumping on my head to try and chew the tassels Made me laugh


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

Datun Walnut said:


> 'A bit of a handful' is nicely understated. Our dog Poppy is now nearly 8 months old. When she arrived in our lives this summer, I don't mind admitting I was very depressed. Nothing (and I mean NOTHING) prepares you for getting a puppy. I couldn't look at her and see a cute pup, all I could see was a monster spinning on a lead. We never had a moments peace. Our house was messed up, things were chewed, clambering over baby gates, wee......I could go on.
> 
> The only thing that really helped was this forum. Marion, my other half joined first and read about other people's experiences. I can't remember who said it but somebody on the forum said (I'm paraphrasing): 'You won't believe it now but it will get better, bit by bit and day by day. Until in the end, you'll forget the bad times.' And it's true, it does get better.
> 
> ...


Nicely said sounds like an episode in our house


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Yeah, take each day as it comes and don't dwell on the bad days or feel like a failure, concentrate on rewarding the desired behaviour and don't underestimate how much sleep they need. My Mum says puppy's are 'mindless' and I understand what she means, they're a bundle of instinct and hormones that need direction. I think I'd be more relaxed if we ever did it again though cos as Neil said, so many behaviours are just phases which will pass whatever you do (not that I'm in the market for poo number two, got to get a handle on the drinking problem caused by getting poo number one first...hic!). That's my other advice, large and frequent glasses of nice red wine. You'll be fine and soon having fun


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

dio.ren said:


> Molly loves rope toys too unfortunately she can't tell the difference from a toy and my new hat that I bought on the weekend I was trying to take her sweater off and she kept jumping on my head to try and chew the tassels Made me laugh


Ha ha, Renee we need a video! So I take it that tired little Molly is fully recovered now?


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

It's seems a pity not too stick with a raw diet if she has started on it. Chicken wings are so cheap and easy. I get Tescos value, Dexter has two for his tea Bonnie has one. There are plenty of ready made raw foods about. You could try natural instinct or prize choice, both are frozen, my local pet shop does them both. Origin gave my dogs terrible runs, Canagan is good if you want a dried food close to raw, then you could give one meal dried and one raw.


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

tessybear said:


> It's seems a pity not too stick with a raw diet if she has started on it. Chicken wings are so cheap and easy. I get Tescos value, Dexter has two for his tea Bonnie has one. There are plenty of ready made raw foods about. You could try natural instinct or prize choice, both are frozen, my local pet shop does them both. Origin gave my dogs terrible runs, Canagan is good if you want a dried food close to raw, then you could give one meal dried and one raw.


Tess, do you know if prize choice is what Clare and Colin changed their dogs to (missing them), I remember Clare posting that they had changed to something else from Natural instinct and kept meaning to look into it.
Alexdo - Yes the puppy nipping is very normal and common, put puppy biting into the search box and you can read lots of posts on the subject! (including mine).


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

I don't know where to start really.... 
Having a puppy to me feels so much like new motherhood apart from you don't beef to burp them and they can move  you are constantly watching them re toileting and tired a massive contributor to puppy blues. I think you can expect them to wake up at 6 even if it's not that they've had enough sleep then they'll probably want the loo. Even if they'll sleep later if you're up at 7 for your weekly routine then you'll find that they'll wake then at the weekend. 
Biting that's what they do... Everything goes in the mouth the same as human babies. Get 
toys that they can chew and use those to substitute your fingers, tuck flapping trousers in your socks , keep treats in your pocket and drop them behind you if your pup is going for your ankles, possibly use time out, reward the behaviour you want, make sure they get some quiet time and sleep ...phew.
Like Marzi said it's not advised to feed raw and dry in the same meal but you can feed both but at different Neal times. Orijen can be too rich but a chicken wing for tea will firm up the faeces. There are loads of stockists out there.
I think Colin used Berrywoods, Nutriment and then, I think, some food that was made by a butchers that I think he could get from a pet store but I can't remember it's name ...I've probably got that wrong lol xx


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Mine would wake me up at 4 when we first started. I just adjusted my sleep schedule. We now sleep in to a whopping 5:30 most mornings. After we do our poo/pee routine, I plop back to bed and they sometimes do or will chew on Himalayan dog chew or antler. Then when they need me to get up, two blurs of fluff jump on me and give me tons and tons of kisses. And we cuddle and belly rub and they go off to do their thing, then back to me. It's about two hours in the day where I get nothing done but it is totally devoted to my poos. I was never a morning person. I love my mornings now. 


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## alexdo (Oct 26, 2013)

Hi everyone, thanks for all the lovely replies! Just come up for air again!
Had another 6 a.m. start today. It was fine until in her excitement to see me she stepped into the poop she had produced during the night. Kitchen floor washed by 6.15 a.m.!
We will get there! The kids absolutely adore her and she is worth every second spent mopping floors!


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