New Puppy questions...

I have a couple new puppy questions that I thought I would run by all of you.

1. Jude's first two days home he was very hyper and wild and didn't sleep a lot. It's his third day and he seems sluggish all day. Is this normal? Do you think he's just catching up on sleep after all of the excitement of driving 7 hours home from the breeder on Monday and the last few days? He's got me all worried..

2. Is it okay to keep Jude on a later schedule? I work from home so my usual work schedule is 11-4 or so and then I generally work again from 11-3 am or so. Jude has been going to bed around 11:30 and we've been getting up for the day at 10:30ish- after a brief waking up at 7:30 for potty. Is this okay? I would preferably like him to adapt to my lifestyle, but I did read in The Art of Raising a Puppy that they should get to 'smell the sweet morning air'. Any opinions on this? I haven't been working more than 2 hours a day this week to spend a lot of time with him. Today is good for us though because he's sleeping a lot and I can finally get work done.

3. I am super paranoid because despite tons of puppy research, I feel I still made mistakes. Jude's second day home he was getting bit by a lot of Central Texas misquitos so we went to petco to get him something for it. I let him walk around on the floor in there thinking it was all sanitized and fine. I then found out parvo can last for 9 months in pet store floors and I'm freaking out about this. Also, the first day he was going to the bathroom outside of my apartment in the designated dog area for that, and then I realized the next day how horrible this area was- people not cleaning up after their dogs. I have him using a new location now that is much better but I'm so scared between these two things I've given him parvo or something. It is probably first time pet owner fears and I'm probably just freaking out, but now I feel like I've already blown it. I've of course been much more careful since, but have this sinking feeling every time I look at him that I will lose him. He had his first round of shots on Friday, and he went to the pet store on Tuesday if that helps at all. He's going to the vet today but I know they can't test for parvo yet.

4. Finally, Jude has gotten a little feisty in the last day. When I hold him he growls just a tiny bit. Yesterday he had a play date with a vaccinated border collie who was 13 weeks old, and they wrestled and growled and had a ball. Do you think this just riled him up for some reason? How do I respond to his struggling when I'm holding him? I haven't been putting him down immediately because I don't want him to learn that that's okay.

Thanks so much everyone! Trying to get everything right is so hard.

Rule Number One: Stop trying to do everything just right. Not everything will go right and believe me, this took time for me to learn. I would get so frustrated anytime Finn had any sort of bad experience or anything that happened through fault of mine... I would wind up in tears over it a lot of the time! I finally learned to relax a little, because in the long run, I just can't do everything perfect!

Sluggishness for a day here and there isn't anything to worry about, with any breed. Sometimes they just overdo things. Finn sometimes goes crazy in the dogpark for two hours or so, and I can't rile his energy for the next day and a half. Only start to worry if it's accompanied with any other symptoms or if it persists over 2-3 days.

Finnegan is on a later schedule so I can spend more time with my guy. Usually I crate him for the night at midnight, and we're up at 10:00am. Finn gets fed when he wakes up, a small lunch and about three hours before bed and it suits us just fine!

While yes, the pet store was in retrospect not a good idea, try not to freak out. He will be fine, parvo is just a risk, and 90 times out of 100 nothing will happen. It's so hard to realize all the things not to do, it can be frustrating!

Hope this helps!

Don't worry so much, lol. I am the same way though, Mia had me so frustrated some on the first few days. I was over-analyzing things too much. Every time she'd growl at Summer I'd think 'Omg, I got an aggressive dog, she's going to hate summer'. Then I realized I wasn't doing the same with Summer when Summer growled at Mia. I didn't even notice.

You both need some time to get used to each other and start understanding each other. Lay down some rules and expectations. Get Jude used to following your routine.

My schedule is weird. Last night I was woken up at 4 am with Mia wanting to go poo outside. So there I am outside my apartment in my pajamas in the middle of the night. Usually I get up at 6 and let them out to pee then crawl back in bed. My girls are on what I call the 'college schedule'. We sleep till noon on the days I don't have class. My girls don't really getup until about 12. Then we do a lot up until past midnight. Just be consistent. He'll be able to adapt.

Parvo... it concerns me too. My past dog caught parvo as a pup but he was fine in the end. I'm so thankful Mia gets her last shots today. Just keep an eye on him. Any loose stool and get him in asap.

I wouldn't freak out too badly. At his age and the fact that he was with his mother for a good period of time, he's probably still got partial immunity from her, plus I'm assuming he's had his first round of puppy shots. As long as you don't make it a constant exposure and make sure to wipe off his feet with very diluted bleach (and then rinse off the bleach!!) after he comes in from a common area, you'll be fine.

Puppies get sassy, just like kids. They'll start to resist being held and cuddled because there's just TOO MUCH TO DO! You can persist in holding him and teaching him that being a limp dishrag is what gets him set down so he can go be crazy.

If dogs are allowed to set their own schedule, they tend to be morning creatures. But they can just as easily adapt to your personal schedule. When I first adopted Sawyer, he was up at freaking sunrise every morning. Now, he'll sleep in until 10am or so...unless we've gone camping recently. I get up with the sun when camping and Sawyer thinks it's a good routine. It takes a couple days to re-acclimate him to "city hours".

First, take a deep breath. Breathe in and out slowly, and remember that he's going to be okay!

I completely understand your concerns, and feeling over whelmed by it all. I did too. The first night at home, he cried ALL NIGHT LONG. I kept thinking 'Oh my gosh, what did I do?!" But after about the first week -after settling in, getting more used to me and my family/dogs- he was fine. He only cried all night once, and after that, he really didn't cry in his crate anymore.

Him growling at you when you hold him. I would, honestly, nip that in the bud quickly. It's not a behavior you want to continue. And even at this young of an age, he will remember. Simply don't let him down till he stops growling/quirmming around. Also, play a fun game by just easiley laying him down on his back and petting his stomach/chest.

The routine thing, I think whatever YOUR routine is, it should be fine for him. He's very young and will adapt quickly. The whole thing about letting them 'smell the fresh morning air' is simply not true IMO.

The Parvo. . .I guess I'm more of the believer of it's better to get them out earlier rather than later. You've probably done no harm by having him walk a bit in Petco. Blaze went in Petsmart when he was around 10-15 weeks. We also went and walking in the local park, walking in town, etc before he finished all his shots. I wasn't too worried, and IMO I want to get my dog out more while he's young that take the risk of having behavior problems later on (coming from someone who also has a dog that have behavior problems).

Thank you all so so much. I cannot tell you how much your insight and experience helps me in this. I am taking everything you are saying to heart and trying to relax and take all of your advice. I am so glad I have all of you here to ask these questions to. Thank you again! I will keep you updated to assure he's okay and healthy and how he does on his growling when being held issue.... I will definitely not feel guilty though not giving into him as I was feeling a few times.

Ps. Jude learned to target my hand today! That's three clicker training skills, its very exciting!

Thank you guys!

Omg, Mia screamed, I mean literally SCREAMED for the first week at night. My whole thoughts were 'Why did I do this? Why???'

And like I said we're getting her last shots today and she's been to the park and a lot of places since I've gotten her.

Yes, Blaze cried/screamed/howled/growled all at ONCE. All NIGHT.

I cried that night. :rofl1: Thinking holy crap. . .what in the WORLD did I just bring home?

Haha, I just shut Mia upstairs and let the poor chinchilla deal with it.

The first week is a big adjustment time- boy is it ever!!

Good luck and keep your chin up. Things will work out, I promise!