Bichi Puppy Diary.....

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Name: Bichi (Bee-Sheee)
DOB: February 04, 2008. Purchased April 27, 2008.
Breed: Bichon Freese / Poodle Mix (Bichon Poo).
Sex: Female.
Weight: 4lb 8 oz on 04-28-08

04-27-08: Sunday:

Today is Bichi’s first day in her new home. We haven’t really decided what to call her yet but for now I just like calling her Bichi. She did great on the 30 minute car ride home, even though I thought she may get sick as it was her first car trip. We got her home with just the bit of food and a couple of toys from the kennel. Actually, we didn’t know if we were going to buy a puppy today, but she really picked me out and I just fell in love with her.

My hubby and I have been talking about getting a puppy for a very long time, but given my severe allergies and constant moving throughout the years, the time and conditions never seemed quite right. I did a lot of research into various “best breeds” for allergy suffers and came to the conclusion/decision that the Bichon Poo was the best choice. Fortunately, for us we found a breeder reasonably close by; they turned out to be wonderful people, with the best possible environment one could expect for puppy breeders.

Bichi spent the night close to my bed in the small travel kennel that we have for our two cockatiels, Katana and Takata. It’s perfect for her, just the right size! She whimpered a bit but I kept talking soothingly to her until she fell asleep about 2am. She woke me up about 5 am with a bit louder whimpering/mock barking and immediately it was out to go potty, which she did/does just fine.

I feel exhausted with only three hours sleep, but must find a vet to get Bichi to today.

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04-28-08: Monday

Today Bichi visited her new Vet. She had all ready gotten her shots/worming meds from the breeder, so the Vet wound up pulling out most of her inner ear fur, and cleaning out her ears. Next she had her eye area trimmed up, as well as her privates and paws. We spent two hours at the vets, talking about everything puppy!
Bichi whimpered a bit before bed time, she slept (in her crate again), an amazing 8 hours solid with no potty breaks until we woke up on Tuesday, then she went immediately outside to potty.

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04-29-08 Tuesday:

Today is our first regular day were we are establishing a routine of sorts. Foxy went to work as usual leaving Bichi and I at home to do our thing. The day consisted of regular two-three (2-3) hour intervals of going outside to potty/play followed by indoor play/explore, then a nap usually fallows (on my lap). I'm keeping a ever diligent watchful eye on Bichi for several reasons. One to prevent potty accidents and chewing on things not ok, the other to make sure she is safe, confident, and secure in her new environment. Bichi is starting to trust us, you can see in her eyes the affection building and the ever present intelligence.

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04-30-08 Wednesday:
Zero accidents in house.
Responds to NO command spoken in firm voice, and/or the aught aught sound I make!
Mostly comes when called, she needs quite a bit more work. Same with leash training.
She eats 3-5 small pieces of puppy food after each potty/play session. Water is cut off at 10pm.

Bichi is doing great! She is still going on regular potty/play breaks outside fallowed by play and/or nappy time inside. She has been introduced to the collar & leash with regular intervals of indoor/outdoor training with it. Bichi also was crated for the time I took a shower today, she was very upset to be in the crate during the day, so I brought her into the bathroom- in the crate- and talked to her softly while in the shower, peeking out here and their so she could see me, within 10 minutes she was asleep! Soooo dang cute this little rag a muffin! We are also practicing coming when called which goes ok depending on her level of awareness and/or if that clump of grass etc. is more interesting.  Not much sleep for me in the last few days as I tend to wake up at the slightest sound so I'm still getting use to having her in the crate next to my bed but feel confident that this is the best place for her, establishing security and comfort.

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05-01-08 Thursday:

No indoor house potty accidents due to consistent potty breaks/routine.
Bichi gets redirection when it comes to chewing things. For example if she starts to chew a no-no I tell her a firm NO and/or make the aught aught sound then fallow by praise for doing the command and redirection with alternative chew toy.

Yesterday we found our normal routine hectic, to say the least, as we are use to doing all the get going for the day/work etc. in the late morning early afternoons, but now we have this new bundle of joy to keep a constant watch on. I'm not comfy leaving her in the crate whilst I do the mundane tasks of my day, so we invested in a puppy pen!
Today I placed her in the new pen with her toys after her normal potty/play and food/water, then got busy with my work while my hubby got ready to go to work.
She is not really liking it so much! After a few days of being in constant company with me/hubby, she was rather upset with the new confinement, even though she can easily see us walking about! She will not play with her toys alone at this point and whimpers when I leave the room, she'd much rather fallow me about or have me carrying her. Obviously she needs to learn to entertain herself, so lets see how she does when boredom kicks in!
The crate training is going very well. Bichi now hardly whimpers, etc. when placed in the crate. I actually got a mid day nap at one point with her napping too in the crate! Keep in mind she still needs reassurance i.e. gentle talk/sounds but has gotten to the point where she does not get whimpering/barking when we wake up/go to sleep and/or go potty and she looses sight of us. I think she's began to understand? trust? that we are their and/or coming back, and she is safe and ok.
All this attention and work takes all my time, but in the end I know we will have a well adjusted dog, who is well trained and a joy to have in the family! I've never done this before! Raising puppy has been a real rewarding experience. I just love her sooooo much!

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05-03-08 Saturday:

7:30 am, wake up Mom I have to go pee! Well at 7am anyway. Bichi goes potty outside about every 2-3 hours except at night when it can stretch from 4-8 hours. She is still sleeping in her crate close to my bed, which means when she wakes, I wake and vise-a-versa. Our odd late night hours makes for unusual sleep patterns. Bichi and I tend to fall asleep after dinner between 8:pm and 9:pm, then wake when "Daddy", my hubby, gets home sometime between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am. When he gets home its everybody up and outside to pee, then play for a bit then pee/poo more. Then sometime around 3:am its back to sleep, at least for Bichi and Foxy, I on the other hand, I have a really hard time falling asleep and usually wind up dozing off about 5am (the time I'm normally awake working on my Art) which means I'm getting a total of about 4 hours of broken sleep a day! No wonder I feel so exhausted! When Bichi wakes around 7:am I'm up for good, knowing I/we won't be able to fall back to sleep, Bichi is wound up, ready to go and I am a zombie, drinking coffee, and writing in this diary, lol.
 

Currently I am getting Bichi use to being in her pen above, though it now has a carpet. She does not like the confinement and whimpers even with me sitting right across from her at my lap top. She would rather come dose off in my lap or play some more, but she needs to start being on her own, entertaining herself, etc. She has had her pee/poo, food/water and play/learn time. I keep encouraging her to play in the pen but she won't have it. She wants her mommy to play with or dose with! Humm?
We now are on her sixth day in our home. Yesterday I placed her in her pen then went and took a shower, she wined and howled the entire time. I came out and told her the Aught Aught/ NO & redirected to the toys, and she stopped for a bit. I got dressed, she started up again. I came out and repeated the command Aught Aught/NO and redirected to the toys, then sat down here at my kitchen table with the lap top. After a bit of silence I praise her for good behavior then walk away. She stayed quiet for a whole 10 minutes, I then lavish her with praise (a reward for good behavior).
 

05-07-08 Wednesday:

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Bichi has successfully/and reliably mastered ringing the bell on the back French doors when she needs to go out “Go Potty” command, pretty amazing really as she is only 3 months old, and still we’ve had zero accidents in the house/den ;) We still go out about every three hours or so now except at night when I crate her or if I get her all excited with play she’ll need to go out more often.

She has reliably mastered the "Sit" command and has mostly mastered the "Stay" command. She still is a tad shy on the Lead, mostly because I don’t and/or haven’t used it as much as the other training, but in the last couple of days we’ve started using the lead first thing in the morning to establish leader of the pack. Also she has mastered the "Come" command, even with all the birds/dogs, sounds etc. that she hears outside, including our two cockatiels, Katana and Takata, who she likes to bark at, so I’m teaching her the "Speak" command when she barks.

Rewards: I’m using Iams smart puppy biscuits, half of one at a time as reward treats, along with very tiny pea size pieces of plain jack cheese that she just loves, also her toys are rewards along with, of coarse, tons of affection. Her digestion is fine; the reward food offered occasionally and minimally hasn’t upset her system. She does however seem to have developed a taste for anything in the yard such as grass, weeds, blown in leaves, etc. which lead me to researching toxic plants for dogs! A good thing to know as I have a degree in horticulture and plan on doing a lot with the yard.

I've come to the conclusion that Sit, Stay, Come doesn't necessarily have to be in that order as I've taught her to come before the Sit/Stay, and to ring the bell for the "Go Potty" command.

I've also decided that establishing Leader of the Pack is the most important thing one can do for a dog. This requires discipline, consistency, and patience above all. With out knowing who the pack leader is how will a dog know to fallow and respect the house/outside rules? I find the Ceasar Millian "The Dog Wisperer" is by far the best dog trainer I've seen out there and recommend his DVD's. From Ceasar Millian and my research this is what I've learned to do for Discipline.

Discipline: I use the Aught Aught sound along with a Firm NO, then a touch to the neck, sometimes even holding by the scruff of the neck as a mother dog would do, but if you do this you must support the dogs weight and do not hurt/harm the animal. I don't want her to fear me and I do not want her to be hurt, but I do want her to understand what's ok and what's not. I firmly believe in Caesar's idea of Calm Confident Authority as pack leader. Keeping things calm is key to non-aggressive behavior and/or a stressed out neurotic animal. I also believe in Redirection to an activity that is ok, such as chewing on her toys instead of my couch for example. I am not loud when I correct a behavior, just firm. My hubby and other people often talk like a baby to her when disciplining, this lacks firmness and sounds like he's playing, consequently Bichi does not respond as well and that's not good, so I am also teaching my hubby to be more firm!

05-13-08 Tuesday:
Weight: 5lb 4oz
Emergency Vet visit for broken paw!

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This really has been a tough couple of days! Bichi and her Dad were outside playing yesterday morning when he accidentally stepped on her foot! I was in the bathroom and could here Bichi cry out even though the doors were closed. I dashed outside and she started to run to me but then fell flat on her face and screamed out again! Oh My God/Goddess! My sweet baby puppy was/is hurt and I was beside myself. Turns out Foxy just barely stepped on her foot with one big toe, no shoes thank goodness, and it was enough to give her a full hair line fracture and one partial fracture. You can see in the x-ray above sorta, its a bad shot, taken with a cell phone as I did not think to grab the camera obviously, I was more concerned about getting her to the emergency room vet! The Vet said that nothing can be done but to try to get her to be still (not sure how to get a active puppy to stay quiet for long?), they did not cast it or such and said it should be healed in about two weeks. The vet gave us some muscle relaxing meds to help with the pain and that's about all we can do physically for her, besides making her as comfy as possible. If Foxy had been wearing his work boots with the steal toe/shank, which weigh a ton, well lets just say I don't want to think about what would of happened to her little paw!
Gezzz, I cried so much and was so upset! Poor little baby puppy!
Today we are taking it easy, no running after balls and mama choo choo is giving her lifts were she needs to go. I'm sure this will go on for some time until it heals up. Bichi herself seems to be exhausted and weary. She forgets her foot hurts and will start to romp about as usual then abruptly stops and holds her paw up, dang it just breaks my heart! I am so thankful that our vet was both accommodating and professional taking Bichi ASAP yesterday!
Please, Please, be very careful around small puppies, you have to watch their every move, their unpredictable and can easily slip between your legs unnoticed and either you or your pup can/will get hurt!

All last week Bichi and I worked hard on her Anxiety over being left alone. I wound up putting the crate she sleeps in at night into the pen on our kitchen floor and was successful in getting her to settle down and not make a peep, in either the crate or the pen! I realized that separation anxiety was key to this issue and wound up leaving one of my slippers straight off the foot in with her to snuggle with. My smell with her seems to do the trick, and I think my cuckoo clock emulates a heart beating too.
She's completely relaxed now, as long as she has my slightly worn (stinky) slippers to curl up on and/or smell, she will hang out, sleep and even play a bit! No more crying/howling/barking for mom! She now sleeps in the kitchen, in her crate still, but with the crate door open, in the closed pen were she can't get out into the rest of the house and get into trouble with wires and such! What a smart sweet lil rag a muffin! She has even opted to go into her pen at will for her toy box, to play and nap and such!
I can take showers without concern now and have even started to go back to work in the mornings! Bichi does not chew on my slippers as I have taught her not to, once again with the Aught Aught/NO command with a touch to the neck, then praise when she complies, then redirection to a chew toy! Such a smart dog!
We also work/worked hard on the lead and she is really starting to get the hang of it! My commands are "Stop" where as she is required to remain on her feet, holding still and even with my body, and "Lets Walk" which she does with some coaxing and lots of laughter/smiles, after all work does not go over well if its not fun! The lead training will have to come to a halt as she is not suppose to be on her bum foot, though we can sorta hang out with it on.

05-17-08 Saturday:

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Things are going really well with Bichi, though a lot of the normal running and chasing toys/balls has pretty much come to a screaming halt until her paw is healed. I'm really taking it easy with her, trying not to get her to riled up so she does not go romping about too much and re-injure herself. Our routine has become very easy and predictable for the most part, which is really grounding and creates lots of security for Bichi. I've had a bit more time to do my normal thing, with Bichi becoming more and more independent of me and fully happy to play/entertain herself with me in the room or not!

05-19-08 Monday:
Second Vet Visit:
Weight: 5lb 8oz.

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Bichi has gained a whole pound sense we brought her home three weeks ago! I'm told she is growing normally and had a clean bill of health, except her paw was still hurting from the hair line fracture which is now ( on 05-27-08) healed and she is back to her normal play/running about, though I still watch her like a hawk because she will sometimes over do it and start to limp slightly!
We are back to her lead training which is going really well! there's been a couple of potty accidents in my hubbies office, for some reason she goes in their and just wants to squat immediately! I think she must have done it before, and we did not notice, so the smell is their, or was until I got a special organic enzyme smell plus remover that completely neutralizes her stench! The normal carpet cleaner just did not neutralize the smell.
It is such a joy to see her doing her normal playing! Gezz, that broken paw really tore me up!
I am also trying to figure out how to organically get the mosquito/fly population down in our yard. These bugs are driving me crazy, something like 23 mosquito bits on just my lower right leg alone, and I am allergic to these nasty pests! I have always used Neem and thus sprayed the entire yard with it, and am now rubbing Neem oil into my skin which when combined with Coconut Oil affords up to 12 hours of repellent so I've read! So far no new bites, a good thing as I love being with the pup outside in the evenings. I also hung a zippy bag up with cider vinegar (so honey bees won't go in) and sugar with water and a dab of dish soap, this has a few holes poked in it so they crawl in and get caught, this has been very effective in trapping the flies!

06-06-08 Friday:

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Bichi enjoyed a longer drive then our usual short jaunts around and about town and the local parks. The first leg of the trip lasted almost 2 hours in driving time. Bichi was in her kennel strapped into the back seat. She whined a lot and did not like being inside her kennel in the car! When we finely got to a stopping point she really made a fuss and as I was getting her out to go potty/poo and have a drink of water It became obvious somewhere along the route she had gotten sick! Poor baby, she tried to warn me but I was too busy with the maps and such! After this short break we climbed back in and she sat on my lap, seeing the road, and consequently did not get sick again! Whether the viewing of the road helped or not I can't say for sure as she has gotten sick in my lap before, so I think it was mostly because of the longer drive time? as she has gotten use to the shorter jaunts about town now!
After the initial car sickness Bichi was fine for the remainder of our trip, she loved the lake but it took some time to get use to the idea of a large body of water, lol, it was so cute! I think she would of been fine in the kennel again after we adjusted it better but I just wanted to hold her in my lap, as we usually do when we all go out for a drive. I realize this is not always an option thus the kennel. I'm hoping Bichi gets more and more use to road trips as we love to travel and tend to drive a lot!

I've gotten Bichi two kids bouncy balls, (yes more toys, lol), the hard plastic air filled ones that are quite light, one is a huge beach ball type and the other medium (her favorite) but to Bichi they are both very large, lol. At first she was afraid of them but now she absolutely loves them! She can't bite them but has found a way to really control the balls, including when Mom and her pretend to play basket ball. OMG she is so cute, she blocks the ball and rolls it to our "goal". This has turned out to be so much fun and really helps to exercise her as the weather here in middle GA has gotten extremely hot and whilst outside she just lays their boiling up :) This play focuses her head up which is good as she is really small and tends to keep her nose to the ground, not looking around above her enough and with hawks and owls present we must stay focused upwards too!

Speaking of hawks, we had a huge one come down from the upper air drafts a few days ago and got within about 20 feet of Bichi! I don't think it was curious I think it was hungry! Be careful out there esp. around dusk/dawn! Small puppies are quite vulnerable!
 

06-09-08 Monday:
Weight: 7lb 2 oz.

Today Bichi had her third regular vet visit, she had two more shots including her rabies shot. She seemed fine until the next day. Bichi was extremely tired and lethargic, preferring to sleep in my arms all day with little food/water or pee/poo. Definitely not her normal puppy behavior. As the day progressed I called the vet and asked if this was normal? They suggested half of one children's aspirin for the pain associated with the shots, and reassured me it was normal behavior. She didn't have any swelling, vomiting or diarrhea, or any associated known allergy symptoms, just exhaustion. Shortly after the vet call, Bichi started to twitch and have mild convulsions, her breathing speeded up and her heart was pounding. I was getting ready for that emergency vet visit, when suddenly she woke up, sat up and started giving me "kisses", wagging her tail and wanted down to eat then play! It was like her tiny body finely accepted the meds and boom she was suddenly fine? This was rather alarming and quite scary! But she seemed to get through it and/or deal with these meds. The two shots were both new to her body and I think next time I will only allow one new type of shot in any one visit to avoid this apparent overtaxing of the system. She was just fine that night though a little wobbly when she walked. My hubby brought the aspirin home that evening after work, but I opted not to give it to her then as it was quite late (3am) and she was sleeping fine, my thought was if she is in evident pain tomorrow I'll give her the 40mg (half of one child's aspirin) and watch her closely for any allergic reaction. Consequently Bichi was just fine the next day, her usual self with no sign of sickness. Thank God-dess.

I will advise anybody with a puppy to be wary of these vaccinations! If you can stay home with your pet please do and watch them closely! Have the child's aspirin on hand as well as benadryl for allergic symptoms. Read up on pet meds on line, etc and generally be aware of what to expect!

06-16-08 Monday:
Bichi First Hair Cut:

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10-31-08
Sam Hain: What a great holiday, my personal favorite! Now I think it's Bichi's too! I got her this adorable Witch outfit which was a lot of fun and the kids loved seeing her in it!
11-04-08
Bichi is now 9 months old and is doing spectacular! Her bladder is just about fully grown and she can hold her potty time for up to 8 hours! She still sleeps in her pen/crate area at night, (see the pic below). I'm not quite comfy letting her roam about at night yet plus our bed is on the floor along with my painting supplies, that's trouble waiting to happen! Once we get a bed up off the floor etc. I'll start adjusting her to sleeping in a "big girl bed" of her own on the floor of the bedroom. Bichi is really very smart and has learned tons of "tricks" over the months, she continues to go to puppy class and is doing great! We had Bichi spayed, which went very well, and she is all up to date with all her shots! My little baby, such a joy to have her :)

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12-21-08:
Yule: So adorable, look at this progression of photos, see how Bichi is smiling? This was her Yule Tide look! Bichi has now gone from the crate/pen to having full roaming privileges of the house, she is 11 months old and quite ready for this, such a good girl, what a doll!

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