a stray puppy...help

shamaelabbas

Hi all...
iv found a stray puppy, and have brought him home...he seems not older than a month old..seems a cross breed of a stray and a bull dog..looks nice and healthy..but the problem is that he seems to be too lethargic and also is not eating properly..he licks the milk and lies down, and continues this whenever i push the milk bowl to him..i live alone in delhi, and my work hours are erratic..moreover my house is not a big one and also on the first floor..i reely reely want to keep the puppy but feel skeptical bout leaving it alone in a bolted house for too long..is he sick..or its the way he is..cant figure out..please help asap

lmanley9330

I would take your puppy to a vet. Puppies generally are very energetic for short periods of time and then sleep it off. It is quite common for a puppy to sleep for most of the day, but not without episodes of energy.

Kangaroo1

shamaelabbas

thanx man...
ill do that tomorrow..as its night here...
but do you thimk that a puppy as small as that dhould be left alone in a house for an entire day???

lmanley9330

The choice is yours, be forewarned that puppies have accidents, no puppy comes housebroken. Puppies also chew. It sounds like for now this puppy is not feeling well. In the U.S. people do something called crate train. They leave their puppy in a cage while they are at work and let them out when they are at home. The people who do it, and dog trainers, claim that dogs like tight spaces and actually don't mind being in the crate. Puppies are a lot of work, but the rewards of a good dog are immeasurable.

Kangaroo1

shamaelabbas

very true...the rewards certainly are there...iv had cats as pets..but never a dog...and this one especially, is too small..im skeptical..yet hopeful...have taken an off from work tomorrow, especially for him to be taken to a vet...lets hope hes doin fine...thanx again

birds

Hi,

If your pup is a stray there is a good chance that it is anemic and lacks calcium. These two issues are easy to solve. First of all buy minced meat (some butchers sell special dog mince which is only about Rs.10 for 500 grs). Feed it morning and evening.

Secondly go to the pharmacist and buy a bottle of Ostopet and a bottle of Dexorange . Both are easy to get an not expensive (about Rs.60 per bottle). Feed your pup every morning and evening mince and a tea spoon of each of the bottles. That normally gets them back on their feet in no time .

Leaving a pup a whole day alone is not a good plan but it beats leaving it on the street or at a shelter where is almost sure that it will die.

I am completely against the crating business some Americans promote. Dogs are pack animals and in their natural life are never alone. Leaving a pup alone will almost always lead to anxiety.

If you have the possibility to have another dog (or even a cat) I would suggest you get an older dog from a shelter. If the two are left together alone, they will be fine. (Of course you have to spend a few days with them together before leaving them alone completely. Ideally you build up the periods they stay alone). A pup will chew less, learn toilet habits, etc. much quicker if there is an older dog around.

If this is not possible, try to get somebody come in or look after the pup while you are way.

If that is not possible leave the radio or classic music on when you leave. It is not ideal but constant sound can put a dog at ease.

If you need good vetinary advice, advice how to keep the pup or even an adoption home, you may want to contact Friendicoes in Defence Colony Flyover (http://friendicoes.org/).

Please do not put your pup on the street again.

Thanks for taking care! .

lmanley9330

Although I am an American I have never personally crate trained. My dog is 9 and we just lived through her puppy stage. I forgot to mention that crate training is only used until puppy is housebroken and has been taught to not chew on things. It may have sounded like the dog stays even when it reaches adulthood.I can understand why people are against it. Myself, a huge dog lover am skeptical, but it seems to work for other people.

Kangaroo1

birds

Hi again,

Have you dewormed the puppy? I did not mention this earlier because it is such standard thing to do but I realise that not everybody does.

If the puppy has worms it can suck literally all its energy and make it very tired and listless.

Deworming is easy. At any pharmacy you can buy deworming tablets, the best is Plozin. It is a little expensive Rs.30 per tablet but you need only 1 tablet. Break the tablet is small pieces and mix these with a little minced meat.

If the puppy has lots of worms it will come out about 6 to 12 hours after you gave the tablet and look like thin spaghetti .

Sometimes they will have diarea for 1 or 2 days after the deworming as the stomach needs to settle so it is good if you give your pup Ceralec (the baby food) for a few days.

It would be good if you deworm again after 3 months and than at least once a year, a week before the dog is due for vaccination.

Also if the pup is about 6 weeks you can give it the first 7in1, the second shot at 9 weeks and the third at the 12th week. A breed dog also gets the rabies vaccination in the 12th week but for strays it is advisable to also give it at 6 weeks.

birds

Happy to hear this! Sounds like your dog is very lucky.

By the way, I found that puppies chew much less if there another dog around to play with.

carlaeb

In an ideal world, crate training would be unnecessary, but in the real world we don't always get dogs under the best circumstances. I got a puppy before understanding what responsibilities it required to train and socialize it. I lived in an apartment and had a full time job. My choices were like yours- I could crate train the dog and leave her alone for 8 hours a day, I could get rid of her, or I could let her run around my apartment messing everywhere. Given the circumstances, crate training was the only acceptable choice.

Now in case you decide to go this route- leaving the puppy alone in a small place all day- let me tell you what I did so that my dog would not turn out full of anxiety. As Birds says, dogs are pack animals and they need socialization. You need to make sure that you spend a lot of time with your puppy when you come home- playing and training and LOTS of exercise. Likewise, as Birds says, a dog that young needs to play with other dogs. And you should introduce your dog to lots of people. If you simply leave him alone all day and then he meets no one but you, he will grow up scared of everything. You have to take him out a lot- make sure he meets children, dogs, other puppies and sees lots of different things. Handle him a lot, train him lots of tricks, and I can’t stress exercise enough. If you do all of this, then leaving him at home alone for a long period of time, even confined in a crate, is unlikely to have a long-term affect. It’s really about how much work you put into it.

One final word on crate training: after my dog became completely house broken (when she was about 5 months old), it was unnecessary to leave her in the crate anymore. She got lots of exercise and had chew toys, so she never destroyed any of my things. Still, I’ve kept her crate and she voluntarily puts herself in it any time she wants to rest or sleep. We have removed the door of the crate so that she can go in and out as she pleases, but still she gets in it every night. She takes her toys and chew bones to her crate to sit and chew. And this makes it very easy in situations when she must be kenneled- at the vet or flying to India, for example. So it is true what people say that the dogs don't mind being in their crates so long as they are used properly. Don’t leave them in there a long time, don’t use it as a punishment, make sure they are getting plenty of attention the rest of the time.

I’ve only raised one dog and Birds has raised many, so if she disagrees with what I’ve said, then she is probably correct. Perhaps I just got lucky!



******FORGOT SOMETHING:
Raising a puppy is really hard work, and in the middle of it you will feel like it is not worth it and just want to quit. This is why so many puppies get dumped. But here is a rule of thumb for all dogs. Do the work now, and it will be easier afterwards. They will outgrow being a puppy, but they will be a dog for a long time. An initial investment of lots of stress, patience, vet bills and training will pay off in having a well-behaved, loving dog for years and years.

shamaelabbas

reading all you people have written, makes me a lot more confident...
ill tell u wat all i did til nw..
i kept awake all nite, out of anxiety, he slept alrite, but wud keep turning and twisting, makin all sorts of whining sounds..not much tho...at 2 oclock in the nite he decided to be playful and i joined in with all the things i culd find at home ...then i guess he became tired after fifteen mins, and decided to sip some milk and doze off..i lied down too..at around 6 o'clok he started to whine again and roam here n there, sniffing..i got the idea and took him for a walk outside..he ran after me, kept whining, but took a dump, which revealed he has an upset stomach..after 20 mins of walk around and a bit of jogging, i got him inside, he sipped some more milk and again lied down...at 7 o clok, i got some more milk and fed him, which he took quite scarcely..he kept whining all the time after that, and believe me i was paniky , and had tears in my eyes..i then decided that im done with him, and can no longer handle him..i called all my friends for help, and one of them agreed to take him along with me to Friendicos at noon..my brother called up and told me that one of his colleagues is ready to adopt it..but how wuld i manage till then, was the question ..i was having eggs in my breakfast and he started whining again..so i mixed an agg with some milk and gave him, which he delitefully ate(which i was told later was a bad idea, as it can be difficult to digest for him) ...but the whining didnt stop...but he settled down after a while, and i was quite relieved ...
at 12 when my friend saw the pup, she told me that the pup seems quite healthy and fine, and im unnecessarily paniking...so we decided not to take the pup to friendicos, instead take him for a drive...which we did...and believe it or not, he loved it..a stalled car didnt fascinate him, and he started whining, but the car in motion, made him happy , and he let his tongue droop out of his mouth for the first time...then we decided to consult one of our professors in college, who is a dog expert, and has raised many pups in the last 15 years...she saw the pup and fell in love with him...she too told me that its a perfectly healthy pup, and is too adorable to be left off at friendicos, or given away for adoption, and hence sugested that i keep him and feed him diluted milk, and some cerelac too...i even took him for a bike ride after that, which he enjoyed a lot too ...
i came bak home a lot more confident and that confidence increased even more when a helper boy living downstairs assured me that we can build a home for him on the terrace, and since its winters, he'll enjoy the sun too..he said that he'll take full care of him, feed him and play with him in my absence..i felt happier ..
i then locked GOLU in the house and went away for 2 hours...when i came back i found Golu sleeping in his cot, while all the things lying on the floor were chewed and played with, of course not to forget the two big patches of lakes on the map ...he saw me and started the good old whining ritual..i immediately took it down, where he got a huge audience, children played with him, adults stopped by to pat him..and after half an hour of gallopping on the street and sipping more milk..hes fast asleep near my feet...
and yes BIRDS, ill keep in mind your medical care tips, which are awesome..and IMANLEY, ill try a bit of crate training too, once his enclosure is built..thanx a lot guys..

carlaeb

It sounds like you are really dedicated to your puppy. You might want to be careful about responding each time your puppy whines. That teaches him that he can whine to get what he wants, and then when he is older he will bark to get what he wants. Ignore the whining. Puppies are master manipulators! Remember that you are the master, and you should reward good behavior and ignore bad behavior. When he whines, ignore him. It will be really annoying at first, but after two or three days, he will stop whining all the time.

One thing I did was clap my hands really loud each time my puppy whined unnecessarily (it's different if he really is scared). This scared her a little bit, but gave her a negative association with the whining. Then, when she was quiet, I made goofy noises and played with her to reward her being quiet.

Anyway, whatever works for you and your puppy is the right way, I just feel terrible that you aren't able to sleep! I couldn't sleep well the first few weeks I had my puppy either. It's so hard to raise a puppy in an apartment- I sympathize!! Sounds like you are doing great!

Google things like "how to house break a puppy" or "how to stop a puppy from whining" or anything you want help with. There are lots of websites that will give you great ideas and tips. You can even find videos that show you how to teach them things.

birds

I am very happy to hear that you found solutions to keep the puppy if you work with it they way Carla suggests the pup will surely become a really nice dog.

Carla did a great job nuacing my comments about crate training . Crate training beats putting the dog back on the street and if you do it the way Carla did I am sure your dog will be very fine.

Unfortunately I often see the other side. In fact just this week somebody wrote to me about a puppy which left confined and alone most of the time and the dog is now 18 months and aggressive (no wonder ).

Crate training is an option but please make sure to spend lots and lots of time socializing the dog, as Carla recommends.

Also Carla's other comments are very sensible. Lots of things that are cute from a puppy (including growling when it gets food) or easy to ignore, are a lot less funny from a grown up dog.

I believe most dogs can be re-trained at any time but a puppy can learn within a few days while an adult dog takes more time. So it makes more sense to work with the pup when she is small which is also great fun!

birds

One more thing GET THE RABIES SHOT immediately. I just had to deal with a rabid puppy which is no fun. Even now you keep the pup it makes sense to go to Friendicoes (or any other vet) to make sure you get all vaccinations and to give the pup a health check up. Rabies shots are cheap about Rs.50.