No more raw for now.

The raw feeding thing hasn’t gone as well as I hoped it would. After a spectacular start the first night, it gradually went downhill and ended with a bout of explosive diarrhoea this morning. Poor Bryan. We thought he was just whining for attention last night in his crate; it turned out he really had to go. And go he did. The first order of business (pun fully intended) this morning was to give him a bath and to clean and disinfect the crate, which looked like a bomb had gone off inside. K had taken him downstairs twice between 3am and 5am (he was working late) and Bryan refused to poop, and then the next thing we know, we wake up to a crateful of crap. Sigh.

His last dump was at 11 this morning and he hasn’t had to go since then. I don’t know why his stomach can’t seem to take to raw. By all accounts, as a carnivore he should be eating and digesting raw meat like a pro. I don’t think he has a chicken allergy per se, since his kibble contains chicken meal, but there’s something in it that doesn’t sit right with his tummy. Perhaps adjusting to raw and coping with the after-effects of vaccination (he got his final puppy shots last Friday) is just too much for his little system to manage at the same time.

So no more raw for now. I’ll let him recover and then very slowly transition him to a better quality kibble. He deserves to eat better food than ANF Puppy. And then maybe, just maybe, we’ll dip a toe into raw feeding again.

A new puppy?

SGDogMart delivered Bryan’s new Varikennel crate last night. I have to give them a big shout-out, because they provided fantastic service. Not only did they do same-day delivery when their usual delivery schedule is Fridays to Sundays, they also waived the delivery fee of $10 AND they gave us a small discount. Props to them. Do check them out if you need stuff for your dogs. They’re still a very young website, but I’m sure their product range will grow in time.

Woof!

I came home to find photographic evidence that a new puppy had moved into the new crate. Alison thought it would be fun to play in the crate since it was brand new and sparkling clean. I told her that if she was naughty, I’d put her in the old crate for a time-out!

Bryan was amused at Alison's antics.

Bryan’s settled nicely into the new crate, which is much more suitable for his size right now than the large one. There is just enough room for him to lie down, stand up and turn around, and we’ve put in a towel, his rope bone and a tennis ball filled with some Jerhigh sticks to entertain him while he’s in there. So far, so good.

Bryan after one week.

Bryan’s been with us a week now, and a lot of stuff has happened. For us, it’s like having a puppy for the first time, since Pepe and Megan were puppies a long, long time ago, and whatever worked for them doesn’t work for Bryan.

I’m talking about housebreaking, mainly. Bryan thinks newspaper is a toy and he just loves to shred it, which means paper training is out. We crated him for most of last week with a pee tray and the large Varikennel that we used to transport Peps and Megs, and while he did do his business on the tray, he also had quite a few accidents in the crate, which is too large for him. As you can imagine, the last week has mostly been taken up with cleaning and more cleaning, which K gallantly offered to do but not without a lot of angst.

All this housebreaking frustration hasn’t really been helped by the fact that he’s been having pudding diarrhoea for the last three days as a side effect of receiving his final puppy shot last Friday. We’re giving him Ark Naturals Gentle Digest capsules to settle his tummy, and it appears to be working.

After a frustrating day yesterday of him being in the study and peeing everywhere else but on the tray except for two successes, I’ve decided that we just have do to it the proper way – crate him in the Varikennel, and take him downstairs to the grass to pee and poo, since the pee tray doesn’t seem to be working.

K has been doing that with him this morning, and so far he’s only peed once and not pooped. I’ve also placed an order for a medium Varikennel, which will suit him better and reduce the risk of him designating one corner of the crate as a toilet. At five months, he should be able to hold it in for five hours, so I’m thinking to slowly work him up to going once in five hours, and then eventually having him only go downstairs to eliminate twice a day. Hope this works out! 

Apart from housebreaking, he has also been introduced to collars. He now has a collection of three collars – two martingale and one choke – and there were violent objections when we put one on him at first. Now he appears to have settled down so we have introduced another irritant – the leash. When we clip it on him, he tries to chew on the metal lobster claw. Guess he’ll learn soon enough to associate the leash with going out…and also with obedience training, which won’t come a moment too soon. 

His first grass experience.

Out at the park.

I took the day off work today because it was Zoe’s school concert – and incidentally, today is also her third birthday! But we celebrate tomorrow, so no party photos to share today. In fact, apart from a short visit to the mall, and a trip to the vet to get Bryan his final vaccination and a check-up, we didn’t do much today except go to the park in the evening because Alison wanted to scoot. Here are some photos:

We bought Zoe the Mini Micro scooter last week as her birthday present. With two wheels in front instead of at the back, it's more stable for little ones. You can buy one at The Better Toy Store.

Alison is already a pro on the scooter - she can even do bunny hops.

Family photo.

Why dogs need proper obedience training.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore has released statistics showing that the number of reported ‘dog bites man’ incidents is on the rise. According to a Straits Times report, the figures go like this –  28 in 2004, 67 in 2005, 50 in 2006 and 65 this year, to date.

Frankly, I’m not surprised. There are too many permissive dog owners these days. From people who let their dogs sleep on their bed to people who think letting their dogs eat at the table with them and play around children unsupervised is a good idea, there’s no lack of people who think dogs should be on the same level as humans. These are all huge no-nos, whether you have a mastiff or chihuahua. These practices show a lack of regard for control of the animal and a lack of awareness of the animal’s propensities.

In our house, dogs are not allowed in bedrooms, let alone on beds. They are not allowed to jump on sofas and they are most certainly not permitted to jump on people. Any attempt to do any of these things is always met with instant correction.

What you let your dog get away with in the house extends to what he thinks he can get away with outside. If you let your dog jump on you, he’ll think it’s perfectly OK to jump on other people. He doesn’t have the mental capacity to distinguish between familiars and strangers, or situational differences.

As for training, well, some owners don’t believe in it - or if they do, subscribe to the positive reinforcement school of thought which has the dog doing what you want him to do only because he expects a reward from it, and not because he respects your authority.

I will say though, any obedience training is better than none. At the very least, a dog should know and obey five basic commands to be a good canine citizen – sit, down, stay, heel and come. If he doesn’t, he’s a liability.

I’m glad some advocacy groups in Singapore are calling for compulsory obedience training. I hope what will happen in future is that obedience courses for dogs become audited by a regulatory authority to improve service delivery and to weed out quacks.

I’ve signed myself and Bryan up for obedience classes after Christmas with Patrick Wong of Waggie. Patrick’s techniques are grounded in the Koehler method which Pepe and Megan were trained in and which I believe, after researching other methods out there, to still be the best way to train dogs. I’m looking forward to going with Bryan.