Puppy Update: Training the Trainers
Our puppy Ivy just celebrated her 6-month “bark”day, standing proud with yet another sock in her mouth. While we’re still feeling our way around dog ownership, I think it’s safe to say she’s ours for good and we’re doing…okay…with it.
I knew getting a puppy would be a lot of work, but I didn’t quite realize that it would be like having a toddler in the house again. We were happily well past that stage after Molly outgrew the diapers–years and years ago. But we’re back at having to be careful about where we leave things, for fear they’ll go straight into Ivy’s mouth.
Which they do.
Ivy has fully ingested three socks now. And quite a few paper towels. Maybe a (fully intact) ketchup packet too. How do I know this? Well, from the bodily functions that also come from having a “toddler” in the house.
The difference between a human toddler and a puppy, however, is that the puppy can actually chew and swallow some of these “goodies” where a toddler will only ingest things smaller than a toilet paper roll (or so we were told). That can cause quite a mess in Ivy’s belly, causing her to get sick.
Now the ketchup packet and paper towels were able to pass, so to speak, just fine. But the socks are another matter. After the first sock, we took her to the vet to induce vomiting. While it was a pricey $150 vet visit, it sure beat her having surgery to remove the sock.
Since then, she’s eaten two more socks. It was easy to pinpoint what made her stomach upset the last time. We’d had people over and they took their shoes and socks off. One shoe was mysteriously missing the sock the owner had stuck inside. Ivy!
A few days later, she was acting funny again and not going to the bathroom. After watching her for a few days, we determined she was the sock bandit again and took her to the vet to induce vomiting. Sigh.
But that wasn’t the end of it. She continued to act a little off, not eating or drinking. I had left town for Summit so Jeff took her into the vet. Again. Sure enough, there was another, much larger sock in her stomach–discovered after exploratory surgery. Our amazing vet kept her overnight (at his own house!) to make sure she was okay afterward. Someday we’ll all learn.
Because, let’s face it. When you’re trying to train a dog, it’s really about training the humans to say and do the right things. With six us us at home, we need to all be on the same page with commands and expectations. Otherwise poor Ivy gets confused.
While I’m no expert in raising a dog, I have learned some key things over the last few months:
- Always have chew toys available. Always.
- Know where there’s an emergency vet clinic that’s open 24 hours a day.
- Get on a first-name basis with your regular vet. Make the office staff your new BFF. Cookies help!
- Make sure all members of your family attend human (I mean dog) training classes.
- Learn what is fatal for dogs (like grapes and dark chocolate) and keep those things far away from your dog. You’d be surprised what they can get into!
We’re still learning over here and we’re still figuring out the patience and consistency we need to raise a great dog. Don’t get me wrong, Ivy is so smart and has a great demeanor. But we still have a long way to go to get out of the doggy-toddler stage!
