A new home

Nero got a new home today. His extra-large size crate has arrived. The vet told us tht 45 days old was a good time to start. We went to our nearest bookstore but couldnt find any books on crate training. So its learning from the internet for now. Nero was indifferent at first. A couple of biscuity treats got him inside at least! We threw in one of his toys, and he took in a couple himself! Was is acceptance?? Well he's sleeping outside right now. I guess the jury is both in and out!

Nero's first vet visit

Nero had his first vet visit today and I'm proud to say that he was as good as gold! The vet gave him a doggy biscuit (his new love) and he didnt even realise when he got the shot!! He has to go back weekly for more shots. Time to stock up on those biscuits!

As a reward for good behavior and success of his first vet visit, we bought him lots of doggy toys, his first collar & leash and of course a big pack of doggy biscuits. The vet also gave us some tonics for him, but he didnt like them a bit. He wouldnt eat his food except for a few token laps till I sat with him and started mixing bits of curd into it. He looooooves curd and the bowl was clean in minutes! Then, well fed, he pooped in one balcony, raced across and peed in another, ran about for a bit, and then dropped off with a full belly for a well deserved rest.

Sit Nero Sit & other stories

Nero learnt to 'Sit' today. He picked it up with so much ease that I'm beginning to think that all the times he acts dumb, he does it deliberately! One treat and one slight push on his hind was all that was required! Lets see if he remembers it tomorrow :)

He's got his first vet visit tomorrow. Its vaccination time, a big day for him. Once his vaccinations are through, he will not longer be confined to the house...lots of walky walks!!

His potty training progress is erratic though. Most of the time he poops outside. Peeing is still an all over affair. He realises we want him to pee when we take him out, and knows he wont be let in unless he does. So he usually pees a token bit and then a little later lets loose a river inside >.< His preferred poop/pee area near the couch has been cordoned off with 2 big bean bags wedged on he side board so he cant get through. He's tried quite a few times, whining, clambering, scratching..but the bags have held firm. He seems to be giving up. Sadly he's turned his attention to the kitchen and 'accidents' are happening closer to it now.

The other area of attention is clothes. We're all sporting a lot of holey house clothes these days!

He found his first baby lizard yesterday. It was chaos as we tried to rescue it, and him. The lizard was no slouch at running away either, but our man was at his hunting best. Luckily for the lizard, it was small enough, Nero's paws are still baby soft and the floor was tiled so it could escape getting squashed by getting into the joint areas. We finally managed to get Nero inside and the lizard outside, all a little shaken, and our little boy very stirred!

Little Miss Muffet

Nero was introduced to curd today. After an indifferent meal of dalia, vegetables, complan and cerelac; he had to be dragged to the dish. Once he found curd though, his entire view of the world changed. The world was white, cool and in his dish! He fell upon the curd with gusto, licking his plate clean in a matter of seconds and restlessly looking for more. Since he had already had lunch, and I wasnt sure if he would like curd, I had only given him a couple of teaspoons, so I relented and gave him a bit more....then a bit more...he cleaned the dish everytime! After the third helping, I stopped. His stomach had already ballooned and I figured he was running on pure greed. He was on such a high that indeed he would have wiped the entire tub of curd clean if we let him!!

Post lunch, he waddled a bit towards a nearby mat, and then when he though no one was looking sneaked off to his favourite place by the couch. I dashed, picked him up and deposited him on the verandah. He knew the game was up, no more sneaking...now it was all dashing about. After a couple more tos and fros he finally gave up and pooped in the verandah. Post his toilette, he slowly waddled off the the cooler bedroom regions. He went to his canopy bed for a cursory chew at his blanket, but I knew his heart wasnt in it. He was too well fed to bother with anything except a nap, and hey presto, next we saw him, he was fast asleep. Not on his well prepared bed, but on the cool cool floor next to bed.

Even an irritating flash couldnt keep him up for long. He was in dreamland, everything else could wait. :)

Fine Dining

We started Nero with a Cerelac (baby food) with warm water mixture. 3-4 days into the week and we felt he was looking thin. So we called the Vet and she recommended Complan, though she did say it makes them put on weight fast. Nero's previous owner also called up to check what he was doing and suggested we start him on vegetables as soon as possible along with dalia (porridge). We also discovered that he likes Marie biscuits, we used to soak them first, but he's started eating them solid too!

At the moment Nero eats,

• Breakfast (8-9am): Complan/Cerelac mixed in lukewarm water with soggy Marie biscuit pieces
• Lunch(1-2pm): Complan/Cerelac mix, boiled dalia with vegetables (small pieces of cabbage, carrots and tomatoes) all made into a stew-like mix at room temperature
• Tea(5:30-6:30pm): Same as breakfast with a little bit of boiled dalia with vegetables to get him used to the taste. Sometimes followed up with a solid Marie biscuit or two
• Dinner(8:30-9:30pm): Same as lunch

* We tried to add small pieces of soft home-made cottage cheese into the dalia-vegetable mix today. So far he hasnt complained.

We've discovered

• He is hungriest at breakfast and least hungry for dinner
• He doesnt really like dalia with vegetables unless he is hungry
• He tends to waste dalia and vegetable in tea and dinner

Thus, we're planning to shuffle things a bit and make breakfast a fuller meal and dinner a lighter meal. We've also been advised by his earlier owner to give him some curd for lunch. But no milk
as per the vet, as it would give him diarrhoea.

He surprised us by lapping on the very first day. We thought we would be feeding him! He's well on his way to solid foods but that will wait till the vet's go-ahead!

SIZE DOES MATTER!

We were so busy trying to be good parents, we never noticed that he's growing. And when we did, we gaped. He's shooting up! The easiest way to see this is in relation to his grey chew buddy puppy. When he came he was about 20% bigger...now he seems a head bigger!! Its just 8 days!!!





We weighed him (we had to wait till he was sleepy otherwise he would NOT sit still and tried to chew the weighing scale needle) and he weighs 4kgs! When we got him he weighed 2.63kgs!
He's going to be a biiigggg dog!!

Nero's Playmate

Very early on we realised that to inculcate good chewing habits, Nero needed a chew buddy. Sadly, he didnt seem very interested in the protein chew sticks and bone shaped chewies. However, a little grey stuffed toy puppy seemed to do the trick. He was a little smaller than Nero and we figured it would keep him good company. Its a pretty hardy thing too, for all the abuse its taken, its still intact if a bit dented. But it keeps him happy, and saves our sanity.

Digestion 101

Nero is a puppy of a fairly strict schedule. He started with 2 hour cycles of sleep, multiple pees, and chewing frenzies. Now its about 3 -4 hours. He sleeps a lot. It scared us for a bit, till we read in many places that puppies do most of the time. He is strict about his food. It must be on time.

The first couple of nights he was very restless, and tended to whine to let us get him on out bed. But once we didnt give in, he's settled down. Now if he wakes up at night, he remains in his bed chewing his toys till he goes back to sleep.

He doesnt have too much bladder control yet and he pees a lot. Not just a lot of pee, but a lot of times! Through trial and error, we've found he's fairly organised in this as well. Once immediately after his sleep, a couple of times in the next ten minutes with sometimes a poo thrown in for variety. Then he needs food. After food is another pee which may take from 0-10 mins from end of eating. Sometimes there maybe 2-3 more pees. The record is 6 times after lunch in a period of 15 mins. If its lunch and tea, he may poop too; but not after breakfast or dinner. After food is the hyperactive chewing time. This is the time when he chews everything in sight, toes, heels, clothes, slippers, cushions and sometimes (when forced) his designated chew toys. In this phase he may or may not pee once or twice (hey, he need some discretionary control!). Post this he normally goes to sleep. And then the cycle repeats again.

Currently, we're trying to train him to go to pee in the verandah. He's adopted 3 rooms as his own, each of which has a puppy-proofed verandah, ready at hand for immediate pee/poop dashes. So far its more miss than hit, but sometimes, some rare times, we do actually manage to get him out before he lets go. In this, there is absolutely no use expecting him to go on his own. If there is a slightest pee/poo pose, its a desperate dash to pick him up and deposit him in the verandah before the deed is done. I think he's getting the idea slowly. Today on one occasion he DID go the the verandah door and whine to go outside to pee. Of course, he also peed in the bedroom, the den, the corridor, and the drawing room (his favourite spot to pee and poo is near our couch)...BUT its progress!! He may yet get trained!!! Maybe there IS a potty training God! The good news was that he has more or less designated areas where he wants to pee and poo. The bad news is none of them are our designated areas, AND the list of his areas is growing everyday. One day maybe he'll discover the great outdoors!!!!!

Yesterday, the hubby's boss came to visit with his son who wanted to see Nero. But Nero was not impressed. He sat in his lap for a bit, then ran off to cooler inner regions of the house, his
adopted territory. When made to come out, he showed his displeasure by peeing all the way from the den to the drawing room. He then underscored his digestive dominance by peeing 5 mins later in the drawing room. Happily, he left pooping to more private times and places.

The First Night

The first night was a fraught one for me. What if he felt lonely? What if he needed to pee in the night? What if he got scared? What is he didnt like the dark? What if he didnt like his bed after a bit?

Overall he was a good as gold, though come morning the floor was a minefield of puddles and poops. It would take us some time to figure out his routine.

The Grand Entry

We first met Nero at the Vet's place which is a part of a dog rescue society - Care n Cure. The family giving the pup is a family of dog lovers and heavily involved in helping the society. Meeting with them was also to reassure them that we would take good care of the pup and he would get a good home with us. There was a proper adoption process through which we were to get Nero.

Nero arrived in his placid glory, with his hyperactive sibling in tow. It was an emotional parting from the family. Nero remained placid throughout. The only time he showed any emotion was a warning tumbling off of his brother when the latter insisted on climbing all over him, continuously. He never whined otherwise. The only other matter of consequence was being held down to be given his first deworming medicine. A few token struggles and he was done...nice and easy :). As soon as he got into the car, and the AC turned on, he promptly fell asleep like an angel. While all the humans around him filled forms, signed papers, bought dishes and food and said their goodbyes, he roamed with a tolerant, slight benevolent air, unruffled by all the frentic activity around him.

On our way home, we stopped by my mother's house to introduce her to Nero. My mother was against us taking a dog since they are high maintenance pets. At the end of our hour long visit, Nero was carried to his royal carriage by the matriarch along with lots of photo ops. The little prince was making conquests without even trying!

Once home, he ate the baby food mix recommended by the vet, sniffed around a bit to find the coolest spot in the house, accepted his royal box and settled in for the night.

The Preparations

My husband's colleague, to whom had been passingly mentioned that we were looking for a dog, told us of a family looking to place a black lab mix pup. Would we be interested? Wouldnt we ever! Of course we didnt realise what was to come ... this was after all the first ever dog we would keep (childhood dogs dont count..someone else always had to look after them!) We were thrilled!

The very first thing of course was the momentous - 'choosing of an appropriate dog name'. This became THE topic of discussion, breakfast, noon, evening; on phone, in person; with anyone and everyone unfortunate to be in the vicinity. Books were read, wiki consulted, google worn down. The criteria list itself started running into pages - the name must be short, easy to call, end in -y sound (coz somewhere we read dogs distinguish such names better), but not too common (so top 10 dog names were consulted but out of contention), and of course representative of the personality of the dog (of which all we knew was that he was 4 weeks old, male, completely black and fairly placid)...so on and so forth.

Then of course the actual probables. Blackie was out..(blackie, husband cringed...how unimaginative), so was Kalu (which essentially is Blackie in Hindi), Boy (a name we came across in the book A Dog's Life - Peter Myle) was interesting, but liable for miscommunication with humans. And so the judging process went on. Names were shouted to test for 'shoutability' where almost all the multi-syllabic probables perished. Through much enjoyable argument and counter argument, thoughts, second thoughts, third thoughts and fourth ones, a name was finally found! He would be Nero, which means black in latin and italian, and was the name of an italian king. But of course! A noble name for a noble dog of a noble breed (well breed mix, but we're not picky :) ).

Nero was born on May 14, 2007 to a big Black Labrador dad and a rescued mixed breed chocolate colored mother. He was born about 1:30pm and was the first in a litter of 4 (3 black pups and 1 chocolate colored one). We went to collect Nero on June 16, 2007, once he was old enough to be weaned away from his mother.

Ah the excitement! The entire night before was spent in preparation. Where would he sleep? What would he eat? What would he eat from? What will be the designated toilet area? Old clothes were cleaned and tested for soft comfort before becoming a part of his bedding. An old carton was redesigned to accomodate his bedding and furniture moved around to ensure it got the best place possible. A soft cotton pillow was carefully bubble wrapped, covered in soft cloths and fitted into his box. I'm happy to say that when he finally saw it, he approved whole heartedly. He's not given us any trouble with adapting to sleeping in his designed quarters (8 days and counting :). Of course, we've been told that he should be crate trained, so though we realised that the current system wouldnt last for long (since he was expected to grow fairly big) we figured it would be a good start. Plus the bedding was big enough to get into a bigger crate. We were so excited! Morning couldnt come soon enough for us =D

Puppy Love

My husband and I had been discussing about getting a puppy for a while. We wanted either a golden retriever or a labrador retriever. Their lovable dispositions made them our ideal choice. Though this had been under discussion for a long time but we really hadnt focussed on actively looking for a dog. And then, like most planned things that are left on simmer for a while, suddenly..we had a puppy!

Its been 8 days since we've had Nero - our bundle of joy, pee and poo; and he's already growing up so fast! Here are our experiences with him.