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  #1  
Old 09-02-2005, 05:55 PM
Bipa
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Question Babysitting a puppy - advice?

As the title says, I'm babysitting a 2 month old puppy for my neighbour. Got her today, and have her until next weekend. Not sure of the breed, but looks like a very small Rat Terrier with perhaps a little beagle mixed in. Real nice quirky personality already. Just wish she didn't have to pee every hour or so! She makes these cute whining noises, at which point you have maybe 30 seconds to grab her and get her out the door. Otherwise, you have a little puddle to mop up. Luckily so far, all accidents have been on linoleum or tile, but I'm a little concerned about my bedroom wall-to-wall carpeting.

Question: would I be considered a horrible person if I left the puppy overnight in the kitchen with the door closed? I have made a "bed" for her out of a cut open box and laid a large soft cloth folded over several times in it. She seems to like it, and is already going there on her own for naps. She can easily get in and out by herself. So she would have a comfy bed to sleep in, food and water, a totally safe environment with no electrical cords to chew, and I'd have peace of mind. The window would be tilted open for fresh air (double hung and above the counter so she can't get out). I realise she probably will whine at first being left alone, but hopefully she would settle down after a while. But I'm really not sure. See, I'm a cat person and don't have much experience with puppies. Not to say I don't like dogs, just that they are higher maintenance than cats so Mom always said no. Don't have any pets at the moment, unless husbands count

Any opinions?
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  #2  
Old 09-02-2005, 06:21 PM
SVXtra
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If you have an old fashion wind up alarm clock that "ticks". Place it close to the box so the puppy can hear it but not see it. The sound of the ticking will resemble the mothers heart beat and help calm the puppy and perhaps even help it to sleep longer. And keep a dim light on in the kitchen so the puppy is not in total darkness. Everything else your doing sounds perfect.

Last edited by SVXtra; 09-02-2005 at 06:32 PM.
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  #3  
Old 09-02-2005, 06:34 PM
Bipa
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Thanks, guess I just needed some reassurance
Will look around for an old alarm clock - neat idea.
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  #4  
Old 09-02-2005, 06:54 PM
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SVXyGirl SVXyGirl is offline
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As a dog owner I know that it is perfectly fine to leave a puppy in the kitchen. You have made sure that it is "puppy-proof", so I am sure he or she will be alright. Just make sure that this puppy has something to chew on (like a bone or toy) otherwise it could find something like the furniture or worse to chew on. Needless to say, I have a coffee table and lounge chair which the dogs have chewed on.
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  #5  
Old 09-03-2005, 05:16 AM
Bipa
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I'm a wimp... I admit it. The puppy was fine in the kitchen for a few hours, but then I got woken up by not only the puppy whining very loudly but also another neighbour's young dog barking directly below my kitchen window. The dog plays very nicely with the puppy (closely supervised though, just in case) and I guess thought it was in distress. I didn't want the whole neighbourhood to get angry with me, so I finally gave in. Didn't take very long.

I ended up dozing the rest of the night on the couch watching CNN with the puppy cuddled on my shoulder next to my neck.

I didn't realize that puppies could snore THAT loudly!
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  #6  
Old 09-03-2005, 06:31 AM
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Ricochet Ricochet is offline
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don't eat it
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  #7  
Old 09-10-2005, 05:37 AM
Bipa
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Well, Kaya the puppy will be going home either today or tomorrow. I took a few pics to remember, and here's one I thought you might enjoy. Can't post all of them... this is a car site after all. But I figure I can get away with one.

I call this one "Puppy finds a new chew toy". That's Leo, the neighbour's dog who barked under my window the first night when the puppy was whining. They've become great buddies, and Leo lets the puppy do just about anything while he just occasionally pushes her away with his nose when she gets too rambunctious.

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  #8  
Old 09-10-2005, 07:42 AM
94svxred 94svxred is offline
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Darn cute dog I might not let it go !! Vera what's the news on your car?
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  #9  
Old 09-10-2005, 08:05 AM
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Looks like a beagle
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  #10  
Old 09-11-2005, 04:32 AM
Bipa
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The owners got back yesterday and took Kaya away.
Darn, I really miss her


Looks like my trip to Canada will get delayed. Will call about my car on Monday for a status update and then let you know
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  #11  
Old 10-03-2005, 04:20 PM
Bipa
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Well.... to make a long story short, the puppy is now ours!

Warning: long version follows....

My neighbour originally intended the puppy as a surprise gift for our landlord. She felt his dog needed a friend. (yeah... she didn't really think this one through and you should never give a live animal as a surprise present - stupid!)

Understandably, our landlord said no. He already has a dog, a mixed black labrador type. He said no mainly on principle, and I understand and can respect his decision. But that's when the real problems began. At first, the gal said she would keep the puppy. After having the pup just a day and a night, she was back knocking on my door, saying that she couldn't handle the puppy just now with school starting and her being a single mom with two young kids. So puppy came back to me "temporarily" while she started looking for a new owner. That was about a month ago. Of course I tried to stay detached, but I'm a real sucker for cats and dogs. Only reason we didn't have any pets is because we travel so much. But we got very attached very quickly and started figuring out how we could swing it. Hubby grew up with dogs, and I grew up with cats, so we aren't total newbies.

We just moved, so given our history we should stay put here at least 3 years. Right now we actually live in a renovated old water mill that has stood here in one form or another for over a thousand years (documented!). Errrr... it was totally renovated in the 1990's so I even have a built-in dishwasher in my kitchen - really quite nice and modern. There's 5 rental apartments in the Mill. Across from us is the renovated pig barn < - I kid you not!> with another 4 or 5 apts, and another building attached to ours with some more, and where the landlord lives. The water wheels are now used to generate electricity and the excess is sold into the network. Meanwhile it is still a working farm, with milk cows and pigs, goats, rabbits etc. A real fun and original place to live. I found it on the internet. We're only 12 km from a bigger town, and there's a village only 1.5 km away with all the basics. But no bus service, and we're the end of the road so no through traffic. There's a second farm, and that's it. Maybe about 50 people max live here in the settlement. A great place for a dog!

But.... the general rule here is no pet dogs allowed. 2nd BUT.... somehow our rental agreement didn't include that clause, so we legally can have a dog. The landlord told me he actually has nothing against people here having dogs, just that he's had to deal with too many irresponsible owners so made the blanket rule about 10 years ago. But given that we have no kids, and I've proven myself to be willing and able and very responsible, he's finally just last Thursday given us the official okey-dokey and allowed us to keep Kaya. Meanwhile, I'm doing a crash course on puppy rearing and training online. I'm reading anything I can find and so far haven't run into any major difficulties. She's actually being a very typical Jack Russel terrier - sweet, stubborn, extremely loving, at times very frustrating, but always does something silly that makes me laugh and I find it impossible to stay mad longer than about 2 seconds max. And our collection of doggie toys is growing like crazy! Plus now she's got a huge wicker roofed bed from my sister-in-law that she loves, so no more cardboard box. Next on my list is a proper carrier for the car.

Some of the neighbours are a bit peeved, because they have asked in the past for permission to have a dog and were refused. They say it isn't fair that we are allowed and they aren't. Yet at the moment nobody willl admit that they actually want a dog. For example, there's one family with 6 kids, 5 cats, a snake, 2 or 3 Gekko lizards, a rabbit and some fish. The mother asked for a dog 2 years ago and was refused permission. The landlord told me he didn't believe she could handle a puppy in addition to the rest, so he stuck by their no-dog rental agreement. At first she was quite livid that I had Kaya, but when I asked her point blank if she wanted to take her, or get some other dog, she said she was too busy with her 2-year old daughter and the older kids, animals etc. Gosh... what would have happened if she'd also had a dog? Can't just stick it in an aquarium, or let it run half wild like her cats and kids.

Yet she kept repeating that it wasn't fair that I'd be allowed to do something that she wasn't. I finally got tough, told her that I have a different rental agreement and it isn't my fault that she signed away her doggie priviledges while I kept mine. I also pointed out that I have no kids and don't work so have ample time to take proper care of a puppy and train it up right. I haven't heard a peep from her since.

Most of the folks here are actually very nice and have nothing against Kaya. I let her play outside with the kids and Leo the black lab, and everyone is getting along great. Kaya seems about 12 weeks old now, and I've found out that her mother was a long-haired daschund and her father was a Jack Russel terrier.

I took her to the vet on Saturday, and found out she's got a bad case of worms. She seemed healthy and stupid me had assumed that she'd been de-wormed before she came here. Guess she wasn't. So we just completed the first 3-day course of treatment today, with two more 3-day treatments to follow at 2 week intervals. Then we can get her fully immunized and chipped etc. Other than the worms, she fine, weighs 3.3 kilo now and has no other apparent problems. I've been pretty fanatical about washing my hands with anti-bacterial soap all along, but hubby and I will probably get ourselves checked for parasites just to make sure we didn't get infected, too. Not likely, but it can happen and better safe than sorry.

Now, about the travel problem. Most of hubby's extended family has offered to babysit anytime we are away, but first dibs goes to the landlord's wife. She's also fallen in love with Kaya, and given that the two dogs get along so well, and since she very rarely is away because of the farm, she's offered to take care of Kaya whenever we're gone. I've decided that I won't be travelling anywhere until December, so I'll be with Kaya non-stop for the next 2 months.

Landlord's wife also said that if/when the time comes for us to move, she figures that we can at that point decide whether we can take Kaya with us or just leave her on the farm with Leo. So I think we've taken care of all possible potential problems. Even the landlord now gets a goofy look on his face when he stops to watch the dogs playing together, so I think he's hooked, too.


Kaya and Leo playing together

And that's the long version of how we ended up with a puppy.
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