Do you remember my previous blog bomb? All about my pomeranian puppy called Poochy? I posted her pics on Instagram and garnered more comments and like compared to my own camho shots. But that's ok cause she can be so cute sometimes. Ya, sometimes!!
When I bought her back for the first time, she was a tiny fur ball weighting at just 1kg and in a short 2 months time, she had grown to double that weight. During that short period of time, she had gone through a week of tummy upset, diarrhea and vomiting. Then she had rebounded full of energy and curiosity.
It was week 2-3 when I started potty training her and it was such a long process. Puppies have small bladder and it is estimated that they can only hold their pee 1 hour for each month. So, if she is 2 months old, she could probably hold her pee for 2 hours and so forth. And they might need to pee every time after a meal and upon waking up. So, I had to set a stopwatch for every hour. If she peed before the time is up, then I need to wait for the next. If she haven't, then I would have to bring her outside and wait till she pees. Since she also doesn't know she has to poo outside, I have to wake up early morning to make sure she was brought outside to perform her pooping ceremony ( which includes bounding up and down, biting random sticks and stones she found in the garden, chewing on my shoes, and eventually poop). As per the instructions online and guidance by the instructors during puppy school, I bring her in immediately after she pee/poo. Maybe that was the reason why she decided to hold 'em in till the very last minute (sometimes for an hour!!) before doing her business because that way she can play outside longer!
Then the next step was house breaking her... before she break my house!! Before this, my friend did warned me to be careful with my furniture so I took an inventory and thought 'hmm... nothing to bite here' but boy was I wrong! She bite my wall cabinets, the edges of my sofa bed and even the floor skirting I am just grateful that it all were old and probably time for a change soon anyway.
As if not bad enough, she also took to biting me. At first it was the toe, she seemed to have a love/hate relationship with it, poking small holes around my pinky toe. Then when I sat on the sofa bed and she'd learnt to climbed on top of the sofa bed, she took to biting my hair! ('So you think your hair is better than mine, bitch! Take that! and that and that!') She was crazy! So each time she began her erratic behavior, off to the dungeon room she goes. But she wasn't repentant. No... She was a quick learner so when I say 'no' and bent down to pick her up, she scuttled under the sofa bed way beyond my reach. Her look was all 'Can't touch me! Nyeh Nyeh~!'. I did a lot of tactic like saying 'no' with a growl or spraying water to flicking her nose, lightly hitting her snout and feeding her ice (to soothe teething) but it all seems very temporal solution.
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| My worst wound so far: A deep gash along the length of my thumb's nail |
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| My feet was born not pretty, now it only gets hideous |
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| I bite everything I see |
I asked some fellow pet owners I met during puppy class whether they had the same experience, most told me that their puppy would bite stuff but seldom bite people. And she was lovely in front of everyone she met outside but a devil at home so I got worried that somehow some time I must have trained her wrongly that my puppy hates me.
Not only is she biting, but she is also barking at full force too. One of my earliest memory of our family dog was that we got worried that our puppy would not know how to bark as it is removed from its mother at a young age so we always bark at the puppy so it will learn? Thinking back, it sounds ridiculous. But I have no problem with this one. She was quick to bark and whenever she got surprised or frightened, she barked. Which turns out to be quite often. She also knows how to howl and emit a low growl (especially when she saw her own reflection, talk about self image issues!). I remember one early morning (around 2-3am), I awoke to her barking and I got worried because my neighbors are seniors and it would probably affect their sleep. So I force myself out of my cozy bed to appease her. But she kept barking even when I was in her room, so I found some soothing music for dogs (yes, they are available. Especially for dogs. Amazing) on youtube to try and relax her but she still continued barking. Then I tried coodling her, still she barked. In the end, I got impatient and I threw her a pork bone which she chowed down so happily and remained silent till sunrise. So, I guess she was hungry after all? lol...
And speaking of eating, this one is one picky eater! During her tummy upset period, the vet recommended a canned food that contained rice and chicken meat and she liked it so much. Soon after she got well, I stopped feeding that canned food and continued with eukanuba's dried food for puppies but she didn't want it at all. She would pick a few and choose to go hungry. Hungry means cranky and cranky means she could be such a bitch at times (pun intended). So I had to resort to canned food but this time I chose a cheaper version but she likes it, good enough. So, I consulted the vet and he said small breed dogs can be very picky eater sometimes (as compared to my old mutts, they eat everything except their shit). So I told him it is not like she has impeccable taste or something, she doesn't want eukanuba's dried food but she sometimes eat her own dried shit (which also explains why I DO NOT kiss her). He assured me that it is alright, as long as she is regularly dewormed and vaccinated, she can stomach it.
All in all, I was a nervous pet owner. Partly because there are strict regulations for dog owners in Australia and also she was the first puppy I ever bought. I never met a pomeranian pup owner in the puppy classes so far, so I was comparing my puppy with other breeds (german shepherd, staffy, jack russell, poodles, etc). I got worried when she can't control her bladder when she gets excited; I got worried when she doesn't finish her food; I got worried when she plays with her own shit; I got worried when she forget everything I trained her when she sees other strangers/dogs. I also got worried that cross breeding of a pomeranian and a papillon has resulted in a much unpredictable temperamental puppy. So worrying~!
But after reading Bubz's take on her own pomeranian, I have to accept that different breeds have different characteristic and we have to work around it. This is the first pup that I spent so much money and effort in understanding and providing for her, like how she communicates and how to train her. And most importantly, I did it alone so it gets quite overwhelming especially since puppy have a short attention span anyway. I can play fetch with her one moment and then she will be alright and then after the fourth or fifth throw, she would scuttle somewhere else, distracted by some foreign sound or object. Or she would be alright playing with her own toys by herself one moment and the next moment biting my exposed toe under my study table.
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| In the middle of a game of fetch, she went to investigate something else |
But I guess there are times when I would feel like all the effort and time are worth it; those rare moments when she does something so endearing that you forgave all the wrong she had done and just enjoy her company. Like when I sat in front of my tv and she climbed up the couch with her toy and proceeded to push herself real close to me while chewing her toy. Or the time when I go outside to potty train her but she runs around to look for new stuff and when she found it she bought it back and then sat on my toes while chewing her new found toy. Or the countless time she just rubs herself against me like a cat! wtf!
It is sometimes hard to accept who they are in exchange for who you expect them to be and equally or even harder to be patient. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that she is only 16 weeks old and had just finish her vac shot and that she already knows how to come, sit, down, stay (a bit) and still learning. I have to remind myself that although she bites my furniture, she did not bite my shoes even though I just simply placed them on the floor. Although she bites me, she doesn't seem to bite anyone else which makes me look good on the outside. People are sure to say ...
'Aw... your pet is so adorable! So sweet!'
But most importantly, I love her and sometimes that is all that matters. Take one small step one day at a time.
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