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Hello Everyone,
I am a first time dog owner. I have always wanted one, but for one reason or another never get one. I got a puppy about a week ago. He is a Cavalier Spaniel. He is about 10 weeks old now. My friends don't have pets, as they lead busy city lives. I bought a book, plus I went shopping and went overboard and bought toys, beds, crate, perfume and so much more. I have also been reading articles online. I am a completely beginner to dogs, and I already love my puppy Max, and I am having to learn fast. So some good advice would be really welcome.
Here are some questions I have at the moment:
1) I have read small dogs or puppies like him only need half tea cups amount of food twice a day. Is this correct? I have been feeding him quite a bit more. He still seems a bit hungry! I don't want to make him fat and get him used to large amounts of food if he does not need it. He is tiny. Typically, I would feed him once in the morning, say around 7am is, and once around 4pm ish. And that would be it for the day. However, that seems like a long time for me! He does always have water. Any advice on this is welcome. My wife gave him a lot of food while I was out today. She always gives hime food if he barks too much and I am not at home. And today she overfed him and his belly now looks all bloated compared to how body, and he was very hyper today. Luckily I feed him 99% of the time.
2) I am getting him used to doing his business in the garden. My garden is one side payment slabs and the other we have a vegetable garden. I try and keep him away from the vegetable garden because of the fear that he may eat slugs and snails, plus the fact that he ends up eating the plants. I understand slugs are bad for dogs! However, the main issue I am having is, he sometimes finds odd bits of stone or brick, or sometimes even dried bird poop, and he ends up trying to eat them. I try to stop him, and I am wondering should I, or does he need to learn from trial and error and mistakes, like we all do!
3) I have a 7 year old daughter, and she loves him obviously. The crazy thing is he likes her more than me. Do dogs know that she is a child like him? Maybe the fact that she laughs and giggles with him all the time helps! Anyway, I want him to be very gentle with kids, as my daughter does have friends coming over quite often as she is an only child. So I am a little concerned about biting. Although he does not do that "properly" yet. I want to start on a good footing. He plays with us a lot. I have read that whenever the dogs teeth touches you or he bites, even if it does not hurt, you should whimper or make a pretend sound as if you are hurt, and then fold your hands, and ignore him for a few seconds. Apparently, when puppies play with each other thats how they learn what is play and what hurts. I have been doing this with him, and so far it has been working OK. Not sure if I am doing it right. Is this the right way?
4) I was told young puppies Max's age do a number one and a number two normally within 30 minutes or so of eating and drinking, and that at Max's age (about 10 weeks), they need to go every 2 hours or so! Is this right? Its so similar to human babies. As you can imagine he has been keeping me up at night. I have got it down to once or twice a night at the moment. Not bad for 1 week. He was very nervous in the first few days. Now he seems more settles, and he is becoming more demanding and less timid.
5) Lastly, I read that you should fit the dog around your lifestyle as opposed to the other way around. You should stop the dog controlling your life and routine and if you let him, he will. So apparently I need to sometimes ignore him when he barks a lot, so that he learns barking does not always work. I have been doing this, and its has helped. However, on some days like today, he seems to bark more than other days. My wife can't tolerate barking for too long. I know it doesn't last, and its part of his training.
Thats it I am done.
So sorry for all of these question. However, I needed some definitive answers.
Thank you.
I am a first time dog owner. I have always wanted one, but for one reason or another never get one. I got a puppy about a week ago. He is a Cavalier Spaniel. He is about 10 weeks old now. My friends don't have pets, as they lead busy city lives. I bought a book, plus I went shopping and went overboard and bought toys, beds, crate, perfume and so much more. I have also been reading articles online. I am a completely beginner to dogs, and I already love my puppy Max, and I am having to learn fast. So some good advice would be really welcome.
Here are some questions I have at the moment:
1) I have read small dogs or puppies like him only need half tea cups amount of food twice a day. Is this correct? I have been feeding him quite a bit more. He still seems a bit hungry! I don't want to make him fat and get him used to large amounts of food if he does not need it. He is tiny. Typically, I would feed him once in the morning, say around 7am is, and once around 4pm ish. And that would be it for the day. However, that seems like a long time for me! He does always have water. Any advice on this is welcome. My wife gave him a lot of food while I was out today. She always gives hime food if he barks too much and I am not at home. And today she overfed him and his belly now looks all bloated compared to how body, and he was very hyper today. Luckily I feed him 99% of the time.
2) I am getting him used to doing his business in the garden. My garden is one side payment slabs and the other we have a vegetable garden. I try and keep him away from the vegetable garden because of the fear that he may eat slugs and snails, plus the fact that he ends up eating the plants. I understand slugs are bad for dogs! However, the main issue I am having is, he sometimes finds odd bits of stone or brick, or sometimes even dried bird poop, and he ends up trying to eat them. I try to stop him, and I am wondering should I, or does he need to learn from trial and error and mistakes, like we all do!
3) I have a 7 year old daughter, and she loves him obviously. The crazy thing is he likes her more than me. Do dogs know that she is a child like him? Maybe the fact that she laughs and giggles with him all the time helps! Anyway, I want him to be very gentle with kids, as my daughter does have friends coming over quite often as she is an only child. So I am a little concerned about biting. Although he does not do that "properly" yet. I want to start on a good footing. He plays with us a lot. I have read that whenever the dogs teeth touches you or he bites, even if it does not hurt, you should whimper or make a pretend sound as if you are hurt, and then fold your hands, and ignore him for a few seconds. Apparently, when puppies play with each other thats how they learn what is play and what hurts. I have been doing this with him, and so far it has been working OK. Not sure if I am doing it right. Is this the right way?
4) I was told young puppies Max's age do a number one and a number two normally within 30 minutes or so of eating and drinking, and that at Max's age (about 10 weeks), they need to go every 2 hours or so! Is this right? Its so similar to human babies. As you can imagine he has been keeping me up at night. I have got it down to once or twice a night at the moment. Not bad for 1 week. He was very nervous in the first few days. Now he seems more settles, and he is becoming more demanding and less timid.
5) Lastly, I read that you should fit the dog around your lifestyle as opposed to the other way around. You should stop the dog controlling your life and routine and if you let him, he will. So apparently I need to sometimes ignore him when he barks a lot, so that he learns barking does not always work. I have been doing this, and its has helped. However, on some days like today, he seems to bark more than other days. My wife can't tolerate barking for too long. I know it doesn't last, and its part of his training.
Thats it I am done.
So sorry for all of these question. However, I needed some definitive answers.
Thank you.
