New Puppy Problems

[freddy]

Hi everyone,

We are new puppy owners, and have a few problems.

We got our puppy on Wednesday (it is now sunday), we think he is 14weeks old, however this is only a guess by the dogs home that we got him from, he is currently waiting for his 2nd set of jabs at the moment. He is a Collie/Beagle cross we beleive.

Although he is still settling in we have a few issues that are apparent.

He is chewing our arms and hands when playing, others have noted using water sprays either with or without vinegar (any opinions anyone?)
We have tried diversion tactics using chew toys, he has a peice of tough rope that he adores. We are not willing to use his basket as a punishment as that would just be a negative and that needs to be a safe place for him to go.

The other problem we are having is to do with our 2 cats, they are both 3 1/2, Baxter (puppy) has back garden and kitchen, the cats have the lounge, hall stairs, and upstairs areas, however we are using a baby gate between the kitchen and the lounge. The 2 cats are not warming to Baxter at all. They have ventured close to the baby gate, and one has happily walked through the kitchen and out through the catflap, although he did it quickly, the problem we are having is that Baxter keeps chasing whenever he see's them, he seems to chase out of excitement rather than aggresion. We do not want to make the cats leave and want them to at least tolerate each other.

Another issue we are coming up against is mud eating and stone chewing.
We are somewhat concerned about him doing this, we have been told that mud eating is usually a dietry imbalance of some sort, this might be due to a change in routine having left the dogs home. We are feeding him a mixture of puppy biscuits, puppy meat mixed with a little warm water.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with these 3 problems?
Many Thanks
Freddy n Dawn

[Mutt Manners]

Ok let's answer one at a time...

1. I would recommend the squirt bottle WITHOUT vingar. I would think that would sting the eyes and hurt the pup. Use your voice and tell him NO in a low and assertive tone. Or OUCH and redirect his chewing on your arm to a toy. The other tacktic I use when they bite on my hands or arms, I will put my hand under the chin and curl the dogs lips onto the teeth so that when they bite down it will hurt the lips of the dog rather then your skin.

2. The cats and the puppy will get used to each other in time. I have 2 dogs and have had up to 3 cats at one time. I only have one now, but they took time to get used to each other. Not to worry if the cats get cornered they have claws to defend themselves. The pup will learn one way or another not to mess with the cats. If they are declawed they watch them, but with a pup I really would not worry.

3. Stone Chewing and mud eating is concerning. My first question would be what brand of food are you feeding? As long as you are feeding a high quality food you should not have the problem of the mud eating. However, the stone eating can be hurtful to their health if swallowed. It can require surgery to remove rocks. You will need to keep the pup away from those when you are not around to supervise.

Enjoy your puppy! Congrats!

Julie

[freddy]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your reply...

On the cat front, the cats are quite shy and tend to run at the first sight of intimidation, they have been used to being the only animals in the house for the whole of their lives.

It has at least put my mind to rest about the biting, the stone chewing we are going to try the squirting method to try and put a stop to it.

We have had some success since wednesday, the first couple of days he did his toilet duties inside the house, then we put a cord mat down and he used that instead... and this weekend he has been going to toilet outside with no mishaps, although it is early to tell we think he might actually be starting to look after his toilet duties, will let you know how we are getting on.

Thanks
Freddy

[lovedoggies]

Great advice Mutt Manners!

My puppy is 6 months old and she has been chewing on mud and rocks since we got her at 9 weeks of age. I read that this is caused by a mineral deficiency, but i switched her food to purina and techni-cal, and she still does this. She hasn't swallowed any rocks or anything so it hasn't really concerned me, and I haven't really had any reason to be concerned before..

[JustJo]

Mutt Manners has great advice here. You really need to watch the stone eating as it can bcome a real habit apparently. On 3 separate ER Vets shows they had to operate for dogs that ate stones. 2 of these dogs were labs so I don't know the correlation there, or even if there is one. One of these labs had 8 river rocks in his belly and intestines!! Anyway, it is a very dangerous habit.

[Mutt Manners]

Great advice Mutt Manners!

My puppy is 6 months old and she has been chewing on mud and rocks since we got her at 9 weeks of age. I read that this is caused by a mineral deficiency, but i switched her food to purina and techni-cal, and she still does this. She hasn't swallowed any rocks or anything so it hasn't really concerned me, and I haven't really had any reason to be concerned before..

:p Thanks!

[Amazing Aqua]

Stone chewing is a serious problem. I believe they do it because they're teething and are breaking the skin to help the teeth come through. My American Bulldog preferred my keys for this purpose. Get the pups teething toys and keep them handy, when you see it pick up a rock, give it the toy instead. (You can give it to them in the house too, just be sure to bring one outside with you.)

Just like for children, they have ones that you freeze so they numb the gums a bit too. They seem to work.

[wolf2coyote]

i wanna take the 1 2 3 approach too lol can i?
1. The chewing on arms and other inapprotate things> i usually yell owwwwww or yelp like puppy so it knows that it hurt me. if that dont work i use some thing bad tasting on my arm or hand like bitter apple.
2. The cats = do they have thier claws? It should work out in time.
3. Sometimes Canine Red Cell helps with that if is a mineral problem. And plenty of chew toys.

[sdchampion]

My Bergie eats mud too. She reacts to mud as if it's a treat! LOL As soon as I come in from working in the yard she tries to grab my shoes and eat the mud...not the shoes. Weird... Anyway, she stops when I tell her too and she still eats and acts like a puppy. I suspect she does this because she was raised outside on a farm. Maybe that was the only "treat" they got as puppies? I don't know but will ask my vet just to be sure.