Snip and Tuck

Nero turned 7 months a couple of days ago and today he went for his much debated snip and tuck aka neutering operation. While we had decided earlier on that we would go in for the operation (based on the glowing pictures painted by the vet and well wishers - neutering=healthier dog happier dog happier family etc. etc.), when the recommended 6 months arrived, immense emotional debates raged through us. The vet assured us it was a short procedure, less than an hour. We bring him in, and in less than an hour he is castrated (ouch!!) under general anaesthesia and could even walk back home, maybe a little tipsy. It was best for the dog and around 6 months was the best time to do it. Financially, it wasnt too much of a stretch either, just a one time Rs 2500, considering we spend at least Rs 1000/month on him on bones, toys and stuff anyway.

Practically, it was all cut and dried (pun unintended). Emotionally, we were wrecks! The tearing emotional struggle! The responsibility for making such a big decision with such final consequences that would stay with us for the rest of all our lives! We knew that we had made the decision, but God, it was so difficult to actually act on it! We second guessed and third guessed our decision, looked up wiki and google, spoke to people, read articles. The internet even had entire surgeries online, in full pictorial detail. Umm...too much information!!
Almost all third party sources were 'for' the operation. But the biggest 'for' for us as it turned out, was as the hubby put it..since he isn't going to get any, why torture him with the urge! The biggest 'against' of course was our baby would no longer be intact. It was an operation for heaven's sake, not a natural progression as nature intended it. We had faith in the vet that the operation would be quick, largely painless and safe. But it was so final. Did we really want to erase a whole aspect of our baby? Was it fair to him? Would it really benefit him in the long run? And what about having pups? Even if we thought we didnt want his pups, would we always feel this way? What if we wanted to change our mind? After all dogs, sadly, have notoriously short lifespans with respect to humans. Would we not like to keep the association of the genes alive? But then again, he's not a pure breed, so breeding him would just be wishful thinking anyway. Wouldnt it?

In the midst of all these doubts, self recriminations, raging internal debates and an underlying current of the sadness of finality, we met the vet to fix a date. The first date was fixed for 12th dec. However, a new snag appeared. Pets have an Elizabethan Collar, a funnel like device tied around their necks, to prevent them from licking and reopening their wounds in case of operations and other deeps cuts or wounds. This collar was not available in Nero's size anywhere! We spoke with our usual Pet shop owner but he not only declined having any, he went so far as to tell us that it had not been available for the last 6 months and there was only 1 distributor in these parts who imported it. We asked him to check with him but to no avail. Only a smaller size was available, but it wouldn't cover his snout and thus prevent him from licking and messing up the dressing, the stitches and possibly his recovery.

Surely we could not have an operation without the collar. Knowing our baby, he would surely do exactly what he's not supposed to. How could we go ahead? Maybe he was destined not to be neutered!

We got back to the vet with the sad news. The vet said he would try something and bring him in at 12:30pm on Sunday and lets see. The path of destiny just did a u-turn.
So at 12:30pm on a winter Sunday morning we landed up at the vet place. He didnt have a collar either but said he would tell us how to convert a plastic dustbin into a collar (as people used to do for ages and ages before this new fangled collar arrived) and we would go ahead. The moment had arrived and I wasnt sure how we reached there so fast!

Things started to fall into place far to quickly. Nero was injected a preanaesthetic, and we were sent off for a 10 min walk. In a lapse of communication, we had not realised he was not supposed to eat before the operation and he had had his breakfast at 8am in the morning. However, post that he had been for 2 walks, had evacuated both his bowel (once) and his bladder (a few times) so we hoped it would all be ok. Back after 10 mins, he was on the table and a bit of hair snipped off his right forelimb elbow. And then the anaesthetic got injected in. Before we knew it, our baby was relaxing in our arms. I was holding his face, his dear little face...his pupils had dilated to almost the full size of his eyes. His breath was calming down and his pupils were so large I didnt know if he could focus on my face. I could barely focus on his through a misty veil of tears that just materialised from nowhere as I looked into my baby's eyes. He was ready for the operation and we were supposed to come back in 30-45 minutes. Frankly, I was in a bit of a daze, leaving him on the operation table, with no clear thought except that the faster we leave, the faster we can get him back. As I came out of the clinic, my biggest regret was not having a single damn tissue on me. The rest I didnt want to think about.

We spent the time in a nearby supermarket, shopping for general household stuff. Back to the clinic, as we entered, they had finished. Our baby was awake! He even wagged his tail a bit on seeing me. Surely its not possible for a heart to explode from too much emotion, but mine was doing a highly credible attempt. The doc then started speaking of making dustbins to collars and post operative medicines (antibiotics and anti-inflammatory), helping focus on the situation and preventing a full emotional meltdown. He was awake but groggy. He managed to get up on his own and walk a bit. We carried him down the stairs into the car park and put him into the car. Then we decided, what the heck, lets try again looking for that damn collar.

We went to 5 different shops looking for the collar, and parallely though about various alternatives, plastic dustbin, plastic buckets, cardboards, lampshades, plastic electrical wire holders (my mom's suggestion), moulded plastic stationary folders (my hubby's idea). Finally we decided to buy a couple of the real stuff, albeit in the smaller size. After all if we were indeed to cut, paste, tape and otherwise modify materials, why not do it with the real stuff!!
So we went back to our pet shop, got 3 collars at size 3 and finally went back home. Nero managed to walk a bit and walked from the lift back to the door at our floor. Once in we settled him onto his mattress covered him with his blanket and after a bit of shuffling around he went to sleep.

We've hovered around him since then with oodles of love and cuddles. Making a place for him on the bed with a thick sheet when he wanted to come up, covering him with his blanket as he slept on the ground. I even held up his bowl to make him take a few sips, his mouth was soo dry! Once he had slept a while, he kept whining and trying to reach his stitches. So we tried to make him walk around a little using his favourite biscuits. He wouldnt walk much, sitting down after a couple of steps and refusing to move. With a combination of biscuits of lots of encouragment, we made him walk up and down his normal fetch route - dining room to drawing room, and then took him out to the balcony to see if he wanted to pee. Did he ever! He went reluctantly, but once there peed a river! Later, he hungrily ate a bowl of liquidy khichdi (rice and pulses cooked together into a watery consistence) and is now sleeping again, having somehow manouvered his bulky collar under the low bed.

Now that the operation is through, all I'm focussed on is ensuring he recovers as fast as possible and that he's as comfortable as he can be. I have no regrets on the operation. Maybe someday I'll look back to today with different eyes. Maybe never. But for now, my baby is well, is home and healthy, and thats enough for me for now.

Nero's first winter

Its been a while since my last post. In the meantime, Nero has turned 6 months old, moved from puppyhood to doggy teenagerdom, torn a bean bag, made a girlfriend (Sujjain - female black lab 3.5 months old at a neighbouring high rise) and got his first winter jacket. Life is never dull!

Nero - tall enough to investigate the top shelves

Nero - in his brand new jacket, being sidetracket by biscuits and bones so that he does not chew or pull off his jacket.

Nero goes to School...

...or rather the school comes to Nero. Our baby is now 4.5 months old and has got his own personal trainer! October 4 was the day Nero started school. He is starting on basic commands. He already knows Sit, Down and Come...the key is he has to do it on command, NOT only when he feels like it! Currently, his trainer comes on alternate days and he is on basic obedience training for 4 months. And its needed!! He's growing so big, he already reaches my shoulders when he jumps!

So far he's had 2 classes with his trainer. The trainers are a brother duo - Gopal & Mohan. Gopal, the elder one, who started the first day told us Nero is quite an energetic dog, more than most labs (well he is a mix!). As if we needed further reinforcement of that!!!!!!

Growing Up

Its been more than a month since my last posts, and I have a LOT of catching up with Nero's antics to do! So without further ado, here's what kiddo's been upto..

Firstly, he nicely recovered from his ticks and fever. Got a couple of no-shampoo baths with tick powder rubbed into his fur after his bath. Makes him look mangy till it settles down, but hey! its for his own good :) Luckily, havent seen any recurrence of sickness yet.

This last week of September, he also had his last set of vaccinations and is now a fully armed doggy! 14kgs at 4 months and growing well! His monthly deworming tablets continue for now along with his daily vitamin and calcium tonics. He also got the okay for shampoo baths! Hubby couldn't resist that for long.

Armed with a special moisturising shampoo (that will clean him but not dry his skin), man and dog lathered up a fine Sunday morning culminating in a glowing dog and a satisfied man. Nero was tied at the corner of one of our verandahs to dry in the sun, then well brushed. Then, horrors of horrors, yours truly insisted that glowy dog be made mangy with tick powder!! Both man and dog turned petulant eyes to me, but I stood firm! He can look ugly but he will NOT be parasited!! His hair's grown longer so after a while, the powder settled in well enough and he looked nice and sleek again.

The first shampoo bath...a clean dog...almost brand spanking new...well doesn't he deserve something new? Well of course!! Nero has outgrown his old plain red collar and leash, so he got a spanking new set! Red of course...with small puppies and bones and doggy stuff drawn on it!! A stronger leash as well...now when he pulls on his walks...you follow!!

Another sign of growing up (old??)...Nero lost his first tooth on 28th Sep! We went into shock! We didnt expect his baby teeth to fall out so soon (6 months was what we were assuming). That evening I saw his lower left canine (fang) bleeding...I just thought it was from a too vigorous game of tug-o-war. A few minutes later...it wasn't there!! Just a gaping hole in its place! Looked red and raw too...so I got some dettol out and cotton padded it onto the gap as best as I could. Nero insisted on putting his tongue in the way...and didnt like the taste of dettol at all! We hunted for the tooth everywhere but it was nowhere to be found. Still we didnt think much about it. The next day, his other fang went horizontal...and then in a few minutes (despite NOT playing tug-o-war) it was gone! without trace! We checked with the Vet and he said it was normal...they start falling from about now and by 6 months he should get his full set of adult teeth. Whew! But he does have trouble keeping small food morsels in his mouth...aww Nero...many a slip between the mouth and the lip?

And that brings me to today...when our normally quiet and falling asleep in car dog decided to get car sick! Well partly it was our fault, we fed him before taking him out in the car. We were going to mum's for lunch, so decided to pack dog and maid along. Both of them were to eat first and we would be going out with mum for lunch. All was according to plan, when we decided to take a slightly different (and shorter) route. The route was a bit windy with twists and turns...poor Nero's full stomach wasnt up to it. Despite our usual precaution of making him sit on a towel and spreading that towel all over the back seat...he did puke...all over the towel, the seat, his leash and the strap of his bag. At least he turned away from the maid! And then we realised that uncharacteristically, and complacently...we had neglected to bring a bottle of water along. Luckily we had old newspapers. So we pulled over, cleaned the best we could, and Nero spent the rest of the trip on my lap in the front passenger seat. At my mum's, a hose pipe and clothes brush was put into action to get the worst out of the car and other stuff. The car is still a bit stinky, the other stuff is soaking overnight in soapy water for a good washing tomorrow! Doggy is back to normal, had a whale of a time peeing in mum's garden, smelling new smells and getting a fuss made off. He was as good as gold on the way back and slept most of the way. We took a longer, straighter route home and fed him after reaching home. We can take a hint Nero! Incidentally, and in a slightly ewwy way, discovered he swallows some of his food and his biscuits whole!! Chew silly dog, Chew!!!

Sick Puppy

Our baby puppy is sick :(

We've been taking him on long walks, so the first sign was when he flatly started refusing to go beyond a certain distance. That happened a couple of days. Then yesterday his appetite went down. His jumps had a lesser spring in them. Today, he hardly ate his breakfast. His nose was dry and ears hot. He'd also been eating dirt a couple of days and had been passing black stools. So, we planned to watch him for the day, talk to the vet and maybe take him along in the evening.

Then midmorning, we (my maid and I) noticed..ticks on him! The first one was a flat grey-greenish bloated bug lying on the floor beside his den. We sqashed it on a newspaper to see if it was full of blood. It was! So we took him out to the balcony to look for ticks. Immediately, I could see a small red spidery one attached on his face, on the left side just below the ear. But taking it out was an impossible task. Nero would NOT sit still. We tempted him with biscuits. He ate all of them in a jumpy manner and just too fast that we could even get a hold on that tick. Trying to brush him was an exercise in futility as he just wanted to keep biting and chewing it...and the hand that held it. My maid and I tried to hold him down, but he just would not subside. We figured he might be finally feeling hungry. So we got him a bowl full of curd to eat. While he ate the bowl, we had just enough time to take out that tick and another one in his left ear. I even saw a bit of ear wax I wanted to clean out but the food bowl was already empty.

I was feeling really upset both at Nero and for him. Covered in scratches and bites, with a feverish, tick-ridden dog which was generally lethargic, but hyperactive if you touched him. Plus, my husband was in a training program, so couldnt even drop stuff and come back home early. It was time to call in the big guns. I phoned the vet and he suggested I bring him in. Before we went, we soaked his bed stuff in boiling water and put the lot into the washing machine.

Then, off we went to the vet. The vet too said he seemed warm, though his temperature came out normal. Nero had his first brush with rectal thermometer. He was a little fidgety, but with 3 people around him, 2 strangers, he was easily subdued. I asked about dirt eating and was told that dogs WILL eat what they're not supposed to...dirt, grass, insects, drain water. We just have to keep dissuading them! A deworming tablet went into the bag along with the prescription for crocin, for the fever. What about the ticks? Well, said the vet, thats going to happen too. Do you have a tick powder and shampoo? No, I said, since we dont really give him shampoo baths yet, just water baths a couple of times till now. A tick powder went into the shopping cart, along with instruction on how to use it. (Wet a towel/sponge and wet his fur. Then with your hand, brush his fur in the opposite to hair growth direction and put the powder. The wetness should make it sticky). Lastly, about his appetite. Well, he can now graduate to chapatis and curd. Plus, another tonic went into the bag! Umm...ok..what about his current tonics - Calcium and Vitamins? Those are ok, said he, except increase the calcium to thrice a day! And the walks? Well, he said, he should continue his walks..maybe not too long while he's not well but definitely go on walks!

With those intructions (and medicines), we made ready to leave. The vet's assistant thought Nero looked taller but thinner. The Vet said he looked thinner because he was growing taller. So we weighed him. Our baby is now 11 kgs!!

So back home, gave him the deworming tablet immediately. He wolfed it down with a biscuit. Will give his first crocin, appetite tonic and calcium with new diet of chapatis and curd for lunch. Tried cleaning his ears with a wet cotton ball, but kept trying to eat the cotton, and bite my hand...sigh! Will wait for hubby to come home to do the tick powder procedure and try and sneak in some ear cleaning then too. Wonder if I can get some bite proof armor somewhere!

Leaf Shredder and Plant Denuder

We brought 15 plant pots from my mum on our visit a couple of days back in an effort to green up our flat. Nero had already eaten two of them, behind our backs, despite best efforts to keep him in sight all the time! A trail of shredded leaves and an angelic looking Nero sitting quiety in either his crate or one of his favorite corners is a dead (plant) giveaway. Sadly, we've still not been able to catch him in the act, so he remains unpunished!

Neeeroo......!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a big big world...

August 11 was a big day for Nero. He got the first of his last shots (the rabies shot) and has got the vet go ahead for going out for walks!! The vet also announced he is no longer over-weight but just right! Nero is now down to 3 meals a day - morning, noon and night. He is up to 2 walks a day, morning and evening,with the odd afternoon walk thrown in if its not too hot. He has overcome his initial reluctance to leave the comfortable sanctuary of the flat and now eagerly runs out for his walks.

August 14, Nero turned 3 months old. To celebrate, he had his beloved boiled egg in his dalia dinner plus lots and lots of attention :)

August 15, the Indian Independence Day, Nero went for his first house visit. We visited my mum's place where Nero was as good as gold. Mom has a garden so Nero had a good time exploring...on leash though. Everyone took turns in walking him out and around a bit and he did his first poop outside the house! He has a fondness for doing his stuff in the middle of the road though. Needs to learn to move to the grass! He got a bit of boiled egg leftovers for dinner again! Two days in a row!! This pup has it made!!!

Zzzzz

Nero loves to sleep...but he wont rest unless you are in the room with him. However sleepy, he will follow me till I settle down, and then settle down for some sweet Zzzz.

His sleeping position is weird. Unlike any other self preservation respecting animal who would sleep on their stomach to protect the soft underside against harm, this pup insists on sleeping on his back with his paws in the air and splaying his limbs (specially hind limbs wide open) with no shame at the blatant display of his masculine puppy appendage!

Water Baby

The vet said no baths yet, but was Nero willing to listen?? No! He HAD to go get dirty enough to need a bath. (Luckily, the doc okayed only water, no shampoo baths)

At first he was very curious about the water. Ah! a new thing to play with. Slowly, as he got wetter, and started looking more drowned rat than dog, there was much more respect for this fluid phenomenon. He stood and enjoyed it like a good water baby. Of course he insisted on chewing and fighting with the towel later on..but hey, he can't be all angel now can he? :)

Classroom

Pre Kindergarten Prep :)

Indian Rope Trick

Nero has a new toy, and he just can't get enough of it. It is supposed to be a tug of war doggy rope, but he chews it, rolls in it, chases it, shakes it dead...in short, does everything except play tug of war with us! He does try to play tug of war with himself!!!

Life, Love & Death

Sometime in the last couple of weeks, we had raided our local bookstore for dog books. We were looking for training, obedience and crate training books. Instead we found AKC Dog guides, coffee table dog books, a smattering of breed specific books (but none on labs), couple of hard-to-understand training books and Marley & Me.

Marley & Me is a novel written by John Grogan about his canine buddy. The dog on the cover looked inviting, the review looked great. We bought it. Once home, I started reading it to find uncanny similarity to our own lives. "Hey", I thought, "this guy is talking about us!" The shift from singlehood to family, setting up home, kids, dog...this was absolutely where we are right now. Just got our own house, planning kids, brought in Nero to complete the ultimate family nest...it was so us, it was uncanny.

I read about Marley, the wild pup, and I thought...oh gosh this is whats going to come...am I really prepared...and I looked at Nero sitting next to me and told him he better be a good dog or else..! Halfway through the book, I stopped. Now I'm a person who can't set a book down without reading it cover to cover in one go, however long it takes. But, I couldnt go on...it was the terrible foreboding of not wanting to read about Marley growing old and dying. I wanted him to stay the eternal cute and cuddly pup and wild teenager. I want Nero to stay a pup forever.

Hubby picked up the book (he's a slow, few pages at a time reader) and started reading. He kept enticing me with tidbits from the book, till last night I finally picked it up again and reread it from start to finish. The book had me laughing and crying throughout, especially at the end. I forced myself to read it all. It is beautifully written. It touched each chord of love and every demon of mortality in me.

Why are canine life spans shorter than humans? I want Nero to grow with me, not leave me in 13 or 14 years after sharing my each and every waking moment; joys, tears and fears. He's only 2 months right now, and I know this is really silly; but I can't stop dreading losing him. 13 years doesnt seem so far away. As I read the book, I felt deeply on the loss, both the real loss of Marley and an imagined loss of Nero. For perhaps the first time, I understood my mother's pain on the loss of our first dog (who was put down when we were small) and her firm no stance on getting anymore dogs in the house (the fact that they need so much care, and she had 2 children and a career to juggle already probably also counted, but I digress.)

The author himself says, the journey is more important that the destination. A phrase heard many many times and yet so hard to actually follow.

He's growing so fast, every day he grows a bit taller, a bit heavier, a bit naughtier, a bit older. Soon I wont be able to pick him up and cuddle in my arms anymore. And as I write this, he has come and rested his little doggy head at my foot, reassuring me with his warmth. I wish time would stop.

And he keeps growing..

Nero keeps growing and growing! He got his corona shot this weekend, first manicure/pedicure and was weighed at 6kgs, 2kgs more than last weekend! He's getting heavy!!

He's quite a shy dog. My mother and sister came over a couple of days back and he spent most of the time sleeping. When he goes to the vet, he is quiet there too, another shot and no twitch yet. He was good in the car too except when we expected him to sit at the back without anybody, which is when he let us know his displeasure with a little puddle. Brought back in the front, he was at once the epitome of saintly car riding dogs. Luckily, we had newspapers spread out (Hail Newspapers!!) which saved the back seat from the downpour. At home, he's a tiger though...chewing bits of us and furniture being his favorite past time. The chewy toys sadly are fleeting comets in the universe of his attention.

He's slowly recognising the crate, or as we call it 'den', as his domain. Most nights, he goes into it himself without us having to entice him with treats anymore. He also likes biting the wires and chewing on the cardboard box we put in the den to restrict his movement area. We put a cloth as cover over his cage, and he takes great pleasure in pulling in into the den and chewing, fighting and rolling with it. We havent started locking him in it as yet as we feel he's still too young. But in a few weeks, we'll start with small confinements too.

Potty training continues its weary, meandering way. Most of the times now he [i]does[/i] reach the door. If we are vigilant, it happens outside, if we're not, the deed is done inside. But he still doesnt have much control, so its quite a jack in the box existence, with frequent leaps from somnabulent positions into a mad scramble to get the door open in time. Moreover, he has taken to scavenging and eating hair and such like objects, which traumatise him during pooping..and us too since he races all over the house with dangling toilette! Neeeerroooooooooo....... >.<

Baby Pics

Got some baby pics of Nero from his previous owner today. He is soooo cute!

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.