[Mercediz33]

Hello,

We just got our first dog/cockapoo just about 3 weeks ago. He is a 4 month old Cockapoo named Bruce Wayne. He is such a beautiful dog and we are so excited to welcome him to our family but we are sooooo lost...Any tips & advice would be awesome. (examples: good food/potty training tips/biting tips).

Thanks all and I am so excited to be a new memeber of this forum!

 

[kendal]

hey welcome, fab name does he get his full title lol or just bruce. why did you get him at 4 months old. what colour is he, would love to see photos of your boy.

i take it he is your first dog?

foods are different in the uk so one othe the other american members may be able to help.

was he not toilet trained when you got him?

if he bites yelt or screem and turn away, the idea is to scare him and he learns that if he does it the play stops.

 

[Dylansmum]

I found the easiest way to potty train was to take him out every hour and give a command eg go potty and keep repeating until he does it, then big fuss and a treat as reward. Dylan soon learned to go on command. Just ignore any done indoors. Nightime was harder, as I don't crate and he had free run of the downstairs (we are open plan) so it was easy to find a spot to go. In the end I moved him in to my bedroom to sleep and then he was clean at night as well. We still had an occasional accident if we forgot to let him out for a long time, but he was completely clean at about 5 months. Hope that helps.

 

[Marlene]

Hi Tina, congratulations and good luck with your puppy. We got Bailey when he was about 10 weeks old (July, 2010) He's now 7 months old and we just had him neutered 3 weeks ago and he's doing great.
We still crate Bailey at night and keep him confined to the kitchen area when we go out, as we can not trust Bailey to be on his own yet. He'll chew on anything that he can get his paws on, so we have to watch him very carefully around the house.

As for the potty training...we took Bailey out every 2 hours in the beginning and would reward him every time he would pee or poop outside. You will have your share of accidents in the house, but the more you take him outside and reward him for doing something "wonderful" - he'll catch on pretty quickly. At night we'd put him in the crate and occassionally he'd have an accident - just make sure that the crate is partioned off so he doesn't have too much room, puppies tend not to make where they sleep. I put a towel on the floor of the crate and a very soft, comfy bed for him to sleep in.

I was feeding Bailey Blue Buffalo Chicken for puppies (all natural ingredients), but unfortunately he developed an allergy and we had to switch him to Royal Canine Hypoallergenic HP. This was Rx by our vet. If Bruce has no problems that you are aware of I'd try the Blue Buffalo dry puppy food.
Hope this helps and good luck with your little friend..... Marlene

 

[H&B]

Hi Marlene,
Just seen on this thread that your dog was allergic and now your using a food recommended by your vet. What was the allergy symptoms!? I think my pup might have an allergy x

 

[wilfiboy]

Hi there a big welcome to you and Bruce Wayne .. glad you joined x

 

[parapluie]

Hi Marlene,
Just seen on this thread that your dog was allergic and now your using a food recommended by your vet. What was the allergy symptoms!? I think my pup might have an allergy x

I am curious about this as well

 

[Marlene]

Bailey has food allergies

Bailey was getting some bald spots on his body and also chewing on his paws more then normal. Before putting him through expensivie blood tests that would narrow down his allergies, our vet recommended changing his diet first. Bailey was put on Royal Canine Hypoallergenic HP dog food. He loved the taste, but was finding that there is not enough fiber in this food and he was having some constipation issues. Was giving him pumpkin for awhile which is high in fiber, then he stopped eating that, so tried giving him a little metamucil ( approx 1/4 tsp mixed with natural apple sauce (no sugar added). This was helping a lot. Then went to a local pet shop and started talking to the owner about Bailey's problems and she recommended trying Orijen Salmon - we've been doing this for about 2 weeks now and Bailey seems to be okay with that. We were told the most important ingredients to stay away from is WHEAT, CHICKEN, TURKEY AND SOY.
Bailey still chews on his paws, but not as aggressive as he was before, when he does we give him 1/2 tsp of Benadryl and that seems to sooth the itch and it calms him down. Our Vet told us that the Benadryl is totally safe for him and to give it as needed. Hope all of this information helps.
Let me know how you make out.

 

[parapluie]

Hi Marlene,

Is Bailey supposed to stay away from chicken and turkey because your vet thinks he is allergic to them or were you under the impression that they could cause allergies in all dogs?

 

[Mike2181]

Hi everyone- I see that two of your are from NJ. What parts of NJ are you from? We are from Toms River (Ocean County) Where did you all get your cockapoo's from?

Parpluie what state in the US do u live in?

I found this post very interesting...We have been trying to find a food for Stitch and Figment since they came home, the place where we got them from had them on a holistic brand of dog food that the our vet did not recommend, we then tried science diet since thats what our vet recommended, one of the pups, Stitch, lost complete interest in this food, and after looking up its ratings and seeing that it was rated a one star food we switched again....we then tried castor and pollux, seeing that it was rated excellently, Both our pups started getting bad gas and Stitch once again lost interest...last we tried Blue Buffalo, again bad gas, So we are on to Wellness Super Mix 5 for Puppies now. We are hoping the lower protein content will help with the gas. We always transition into new food, so we are not causing stomach problems from switching foods improperly.

I do wonder now if either of our pups have allergies, both lick their paws a lot, but Stitch way worse then figment, he is either licking his paws till he falls asleep or licking and kneading a blanket. I thought this was him just soothing himself, but now I am wondering....How much was Bailey licking his paws?

 

[parapluie]

Hi everyone- I see that two of your are from NJ. What parts of NJ are you from? We are from Toms River (Ocean County) Where did you all get your cockapoo's from?

Parpluie what state in the US do u live in?

I found this post very interesting...We have been trying to find a food for Stitch and Figment since they came home, the place where we got them from had them on a holistic brand of dog food that the our vet did not recommend, we then tried science diet since thats what our vet recommended, one of the pups, Stitch, lost complete interest in this food, and after looking up its ratings and seeing that it was rated a one star food we switched again....we then tried castor and pollux, seeing that it was rated excellently, Both our pups started getting bad gas and Stitch once again lost interest...last we tried Blue Buffalo, again bad gas, So we are on to Wellness Super Mix 5 for Puppies now. We are hoping the lower protein content will help with the gas. We always transition into new food, so we are not causing stomach problems from switching foods improperly.

I do wonder now if either of our pups have allergies, both lick their paws a lot, but Stitch way worse then figment, he is either licking his paws till he falls asleep or licking and kneading a blanket. I thought this was him just soothing himself, but now I am wondering....How much was Bailey licking his paws?

I live in MA. As for allergies to foods, I have not personally had my dogs on this but I have heard it is good for some dogs who have allergies... http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/dog-food/ it is like a raw diet but without the humans having to deal with raw meat all the time... so it is dehydrated and then you mix it with water and it becomes food again. Apparently it is FDA human-quality food. No idea if it would help your pups but it is worth a shot!

 

[Mercediz33]

I am in Burlington County...I used to actually live in Toms River! We got Bruce Wayne from the Puppy Barn on route 206 in Burlingotn County.

Thank you for all the helpful info. Bruce is doing OK with potty training. It's been hard since my husband & daughter are not as strict with it as I am and I know dogs need consistancy to learn. I have been crating him at night and when I leave the house so hes been good at that and not having any accidents. He is still only 4 months old so I know he's just a baby..

 

[Marlene]

Hi everyone,

To answer your question, we live in Colonia which is part of Woodbridge. We purchased Bailey from a breeder in West Orange.

Our vet feels that Bailey has allergies and the most common allergy for dogs is chicken and turkey. However, even though his coat is better (no new bald spots) he still continues to chew on his paws, I wouldn't care if he just licked them...but the chewing gets pretty intense sometimes. Not sure why he continues to do that. When we do give him a little benadryl it does seem to help.

As for the food he is now eating - he really likes both Royal Canine Hypoallergenic HP and Orijen Salmon. Right now I'm mixing the 2 - mainly because when he was eating the Royal Canine alone he was getting constipated .. there isn't enough fiber in that for him.

Hope this helps .... let me know how you all make out with your pups.
Our biggest problem with Bailey right now is that he chews on EVERYTHING - we have to watch him all the time.

 

[kendal]

i thought the most common allergy dogs had with dog food was the wheat or other grains.

i know a couple of dogs who had bad allergy's, they switched to a raw diet, and it cleared it up within a couple of days.

just an option, you can test it out with mince from the super market or local butcher, and chicken wings.

 

[Dylansmum]

It seems strange that a vet has suggested that chicken and turkey are common allergies?? Never heard that before. Most sensitive foods such as the ones they give you when your dog is sick seem to be based on chicken or turkey and it is the basis for a raw diet as well. I also thought that it was wheat and grains and additives generally causing problems.