To pee or not to pee

That is the question, well at least the question Tumnus has been having. Our Great Dane has been with us just over a week now, and things have been great. We still have a few accidents, but keep a close watch for the all telling doggy squat. Generally, he will go to the door and sniff around and during the night will wake up and make a ruckus around 4:00 to let him out. If we aren't watching he doesn't give us much time to catch him, so it has required a constant watchful eye and a good supply of paper towels and cleaner.

We have setup a webcam to watch Tumnus during the day and make emergency calls to our dog sitter before Tumnus is about to explode. We can hear him and talk to him if needed, though my co-workers look at me strange when I mysteriously talk to my computer screen. A couple of days ago, we couldn't get the dog sitter - my Father in-law who lives a block away - there in time. To our horror we watched helplessly as Tumnus deflated and spewed diarrhea all over the cage. He wasn't happy about his predicament either. Felt bad for the little guy.

Good news now though. His stool is firming up and it does seem to be related to the switching of his food. He wouldn't touch his old stuff from the breeder, but we have been persistent in trying to get him to eat some of it. It seems to be working. We also brought a sample of his pooh to the vet for analysis. We should get that report back this Saturday or Monday.

~2q

Carpet or Grass. Hmmmmm

So, this morning I am awakened by a little puppy sniffing in my ear. As cute as it was, too many rules were broken. First on the list is the puppy on the bed. Little Great Dane puppies are nice and warm and love to snuggle. Adult Great Dane's also are nice and warm and love to snuggle. Therein lies the problem. I do not want a massive dog snuggled between me and my wife on our already too small of a bed. Great Dane's are known to take over certain pieces of furniture if you allow them. We have also agreed to also keep Tumnus off of our new couch, which is also hard to do after a long days work and all you want to do is sit relax and play with your puppy. But I digress.

CC left early this morning so I plopped Tumnus on the carpeted floor while getting ready. He was playing around, sniffing in places, and wagging his tail contently. Then it happened. The poohnaumi stuck. At first I was stunned to see such a sight, but I quickly reacted with a "No no no. Noooooo." I was impressed how quick I flung my decaffeinated body across the room to scoop the crappy critter. We quickly made hast to the backyard where little Tumnus finished his business, but unfortunately the worst of it was on my new homes carpet. The situation was compounded by the fact that he has diarrhea. I couldn't get mad at the little guy nor was I incredibly upset, but more surprised than anything I guess. Generally Tumnus has been great with "his business." He will now go to the door and sit or when in his cage whine a little to let us know it is time to go. We have notice over the weekend that when in the basement, on carpeted floor, without warning he would start his squat of appending doom, but luckily we would grab him before he had a chance and bring him outside. This morning I was not so lucky.

It got me thinking on the way to work, why was he so great downstairs on the hardwood floors, but would pee freely on carpet? I think it's because he has been trained to go on grass. Now you and I can tell the difference between grass and carpet but little puppies feel the tickle of the nylon fibers -thank goodness we don't have shag carpet- on their paws and think it's grass. It also doesn't help that our basement carpet is green -please no comments on the colour. I guess we'll have to be more attentive an train him the difference, but hardwood floors are much easier to clean than the carpet.

A couple of questions for you. Have you had any accidents in training your dog? What command do you use to tell the puppy it's time go? How long did it take you to train your dog?

~2q

Naughty Potty

I'm not having a good time with house breaking tonight. It has been over 6 times, so far, that I have had to clean a mess from the floor, not including a messy poop. Mostly urine, not not much of it, but I can't seem to encourage him to do his business outside. I guess it doesn't help that it's not the warmest out there. Back to the books for suggestions. Do you have any?

~2q

Mister Tumnus

Mister Tumnus was born November 17, 2006, near Montreal Quebec. On Dec 30, 2006 Tumnus weighed in at a whopping 8.5lbs. Originally the breeder had named him Tiger, but our two sons wanted to call him Mister Tumnus, after their favourite character, the Fawn in Chronicles of Narnia. I guess it was appropiate since his coat colour is that of a Fawn. He may not pass as a show dog at any competition due to his extra markings on his chest, but he certainly is a show dog for us.
His first night on Jan 1, 2007, went considerably well for the first time away from his litter mates. He did whine briefly from 2:30 onward every hour or so, but promptly fell asleep in his crate. It didn't help me much for the first day back at work after the holidays, but it was well worth it. The joy he has already brought to our family has been unsurpassed.

He has had no trouble adjusting to the crate, which has been sectioned off. The crate is massive, standing at 45 inches high, 36 inches wide and 54 inches long. We didn't see the point in paying 45 dollars for an additional wall to section off the crate, so we use a piece of plywood. It won't take long for the puppy to grow into it.

We will keep you all posted of Mister Tumnus's progress and pass along any tips we learn on the way.

~2q