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THE POPPY DIARIES by Corinne Lay |
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Day 1
A very
exciting day as we are due to pick up our puppy girl ÔPoppyÕ. I must confess
that as she is my first dog I am somewhat apprehensive however we came totally
prepared. We came with our Crate for the journey home along with a water bowl
clipped to the crate, training pads, extra towels and blankets and a number of
toys. We had of course prepared at home many weeks earlier by preparing her
home by sectioning off a room with a baby gate and making it and the garden
puppy safe. We also read extensively online about the breed and already read a
book dedicated to the Cotons as well as talking to Hazel and Gordon at
Cotonkiss.
Anyway
having arrived the night before to stay locally so we did not have to rush home
(living in Hampshire 3 ½ hours away) I felt ready and hopefully all will
be well.
Hazel and
Gordon have Poppy ready and after a chat about feeding etc we were ready to
depart on our long journey home.
Well for
the first few miles she cried and cried and I thought, oh dear, how on earth
are we going to get home but with the crate door open (resisting the temptation
to get her out and cuddle her) I just laid my hands on her and with soothing
words she quietened down. After that she did absolutely wonderful and we
arrived back home in one piece. We then took her straight to the garden to
stretch her legs and explore. At bedtime we placed her in our utility room in
her crate with the door open, plenty of pee pads on the floor. She did have a
little grumble but after a few minutes she settled. What a little star as we
were prepared for the worst!
Day 2
ItÕs a big
day today, PoppyÕs first trip to meet the Vet. Again we used her crate with
plenty of toys to keep her busy for the short journey to the surgery. This trip
was no problem so using the crate even for this short a time seems to be
working. We had a bit of a wait when we got there which upset Poppy a bit, but
again her laid back nature kicked in and she settled. The Vet was very
impressed with her and she was cleared as being fit and well and had her first
injection. We also needed to pick up some worming treatment which was actually
both flea and worming treatment for puppies which you just apply to the skin,
so this will make it easy to deal with the first few treatments at home. Again
I was really impressed with the way she handled all these new experiences,
which I am sure is due to all the hard work Hazel and Gordon put in to breeding
well balanced dogs. She has also met lots of new people today and has been
really good so she seems to be settling in nicely.
Day 3
After a
reasonably good night, although we did see her twice to comfort her Poppy did
not seem very interested in breakfast. We monitored her for a few hours and she
definitely seemed listless and not herself so we gave into to panic and tried
to seek advice. Unfortunately Hazel was at the London dog show (Discover Dogs)
so we could not get through straight away so we rang the Vet just in case it
was a problem; however they thought it was probably a reaction to the first jab
she had and to keep an eye on her. In fact provided she was drinking water ok
then there was probably nothing to worry about and so it ended up by the
afternoon she had perked up a bit and had some food, played in the garden and
had a pee! Hazel phoned early evening to how we were getting on and confirmed
it was most likely due to the injection which was a great relief! My son played
with her later that afternoon and evening so hopefully she will be suitably
tired and sleep well tonight.
Day 4
Last night
was PoppyÕs most restless night so far! We were just beginning to think this
was easy but no, she cried an awful lot, until in the end I gave in and laid on
the couch with her crate by my side. This probably wasnÕt what I wanted to do
so I think I will have to be stronger and ignore her crying as I do not want to
encourage this and cause separation anxiety.
We try and
do everything she needs prior to bedtime so we make sure she has had an
opportunity to relieve herself just before going to bed, we also remove her
food and water about 8 pm so that she wonÕt have to go during the night. Also
we put on a radio have a clock in the room and put something in the room from
us (usually DanÕs shoes) so she really has everything except us of course!
On a more
positive note today she has been wonderful, with plenty of play sessions
outside and she has peed in our chosen spot in the garden consistently. Also
she was much better with her food which we now mix in a small bit of chicken
with her normal dried food. We used to wet her food a bit but we found she just
prefers it as is. Her crate training is also moving forward as well and she is
becoming less stressed when the door is closed. So we can now put her in and
close the door and leave her alone for a bit each day.
Day 5
Last night
was wonderful, we put Poppy to bed at just before midnight, in her crate but
this time we thought we would also put a hot water bottle in with her. We were
careful not to make it too hot and she really loved snuggling up to it so it
seemed to do the trick and she slept until about 5am without a peep. We are now
getting into a very consistent routine where she gets her food at more or less
the same time each day (6am, 12pm and 5pm) and she is much more predictable
with her toilet breaks as we all know what goes in comes out as usually 20-40
minutes after a meal she definitely wants to go so we donÕt have many accidents
now (still have some but she is really good). Also the crate training is
definitely working and she uses this often now as a retreat so we really feel
confident in taking her anywhere in the crate. I am sure that with a consistent
routine the house training process will go much faster and although we will
have mistakes we need to persist with this as it will pay off in the end.
Day 6
Remarkably
we had another good night with no pees or poos to clean up. Today Poppy has had
two new people to come to visit and she behaved beautifully as her natural
playful personality and of course her super cute looks endear her to everyone
that meets her. We have also been trying to teach her to sit and with plenty of
praise she seems to have almost mastered it, what a clever girl! So after day 6
all in all Poppy really seems to have settled in nicely, and it feels like she
has always been here. As a family we are so looking forward to being able to
take her to training classes and to be able to walk her out and about but this
will have to wait another week when she will get her second jab.