Puppy Update

We have great news!  Odin does not have neoplasia, just an immune reaction most likely due to his first set of antibiotics.  He is also negative for intestinal parasites including giardia.  He's gained 2lbs and is much more active, although his stool is still too soft he is showing overall improvement.  Next week he's going to get his last DHPP vaccine.

House training is still a work in progress although with his GI problems that have yet to resolve there is only so much that can be done.  He's making it through the night and keeping his crate clean for short periods.  He also will go by the back door if he needs to go out.  Only 1-2 accidents in the house this past week, both owner mistakes for letting him get out of sight.

We have continued with some clicker training and also puppy bite work.  Although a double doodle he has a lot of drive.  Even if he doesn't do any protection work he will definitely have some toy and ball drive for obedience work.

Excited that he is doing so much better.  We will be able to get a video up and posted on Saturday to talk about clicker training.  We'll definitely use Odin to show the development from the clicker to hand signals to verbal cues.  Following along with the development of obedience we will also discuss and post videos on leash and collar work and eventually how to move to off leash obedience.

First Vet Visit

Tuesday 2/19/2013

We went to the vet today but weren't able to get Odin up to date on his vaccinations because he has some other issues going on.  We did a fecal test, skin scraping, CBC, and DTM test (we won't get the results of this test until Friday.

His fecal test for parasites was negative and so was his skin scraping for mites.  The DTM tests for ringworm.  He has a spot on his front right toe and a spot on each of his back legs.  The CBC or completed blood count showed a few abnormalities as well.  He has a low hemoglobin (8.8), low hematocrit (25), and a white blood cell count of 15.8.  He also has three enlarged lymph nodes.
Overall we are hoping that his lymph nodes go down, and his hemoglobin goes up.  We're going to feed him some chicken livers, cooked, to help boost his iron.  Hopefully the anemia was caused by intestinal parasites that he finished his treatment with today (he was on pyrantel and febendazole) and the lymph node enlargement is due to his previous vaccinations, stress, and not anything serious. On Monday we'll take him back to the vet to check his lymph nodes, run another CBC, and hopefully if he is doing better we won't need to do a fine needle aspirate of his lymph nodes.

On other news we are feeding him Diamond Large Breed Puppy, clicker training with Bil-Jac, and supplementing chicken, chicken livers, egg, and fish (canned mackerel and salmon).  He is going on shorter walks every day (something Lucy is also thankful for) and we'll keep him mainly tucked safely in the house until we can get his vaccines up to date.  Bought a few toys to help keep him busy in the meantime.

House training is a work in progress.  Even when left for short periods he has accidents in his crate, most likely this is due to being on a wired floor crate (one where the poop/pee falls through the holes onto the floor below), it makes cleaning easier but house training much more difficult.  We are rewarding him for going outside but it is a slow progression.

He is responding well to clicker training but is not as food motivated as most puppies his age.  Hopefully the continued clicker training will increase his motivation and drive so that he picks it up quickly and has fun with training.

I will get a video posted in the next 1-2 days to cover his beginning stages of clicker training.

The First 48 Hours

Welcome Home Odin!

We got out new puppy Saturday night (2/16/2013)
After we picked him out we took him to Rural King for some socializing!
He was dewormed with Pyrantel and started feeding Diamond Large Breed Puppy

Sunday
He had an accident in his crate overnight and needed a bath because it was so bad!
After that we started clicker training using some Bil-Jac.  We went for a nice long walk with Odin and our two other dogs Lucy and Tucker.  He slept most of the time our in-laws visited and got a nice full meal including de-worming Febendazole.

Today
2:30am - puppy woke me up by barking and howling. He had another accident in his crate needing another bath and 30 minutes worth of cleaning.
6:15am - up for the day, let Odin and our other two dogs out.  Did some clicker training, another potty break before leaving for work.
1:00pm - came home on my lunch break to let the pups out.  Another accident but this time he didn't smear it all over his crate and only needed his paws washed!
6:00pm - got home from work and guess what?  Odin held his bladder!  Let all three dogs out and then went for another long walk.
7:45pm - the dogs all got fed and Odin got his second dose of Febendazole de-worming medication.
8:30pm - all the puppies are full, tired, and finally I get to relax a little before the hubby gets home