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.
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.