First week with Malcolm

 

Malcolm’s first week was an interesting week. I was concerned about many potential issues. First and foremast Parvo, I don’t really understand the disease however it’s an aggressive malady and can kill young pups. I’ve heard from dog owners, a lot of anecdotal evidence at how horribly puppies die from this virus. I had a lot of reservations, allowing allowing Malcolm to run free in the backyard. It had been a long time since any dog has been in the backyard and I know that Olly was vaccinated. I was fairly confident that Malcolm was safe. However there is always that little bit of doubt.

Additionally, I was completely unprepared regarding all of the equipment and supplies I needed. I was waiting on Malcolm’s crate, leash, and toys. However, he was good in the food department. I ordered most of the items pre-pickup date, so I knew it was going to be a matter of time before the orders were delivered. So, I improvised I used a large cardboard box in the interim. When the crate arrived the same box proved useful to reduce the size of the crate. According to a lot of the content providers on social media, you should provide a small enough crate to allow the puppy to stand up and turn around. However, I’m not made of money so I purchased full size crates and walled it off (with a card board box to reduce the living space). It worked in the short term.

I had forgotten what was required for the care of a living creature, however the one benefit was social media there is a lot of good (and bad) information. So, I researched and evaluated what would work and what didn’t. Ultimately, whatever decision I made both Malcolm and I would have to live with. In the food department he was good, ultimately I would like to transition both pups from kibble to raw, again you have to take all the information out there with a grain of salt. There is a lot of conflicting information out there, of course (in my opinion) the large pet food manufactures would dissuade on from considering raw (because) it would cut into their profit margins (but I digress). I have ten more months to research and make the decision. If anyone has any experience or knows a biologist and can provide me any information supporting or contradicting the raw diet I would love for you to leave something in the comments section.

Back to the boy. The primary difficulty at this point was waking up for Malcolm to go potty. There is a lot of content on the internet regarding this topic. Malcolm specifically chooses when and where he wants to evacuate is bladder. And one evening walking down the hallway in my home I noticed a dark object on the floor of my home. (I don’t believe I have to go into any details regarding what the was 🤦‍♂️). We quickly corrected that behavior, to date the peeing is still an issue. Angus, on the other hand has mastered the potty situation for both number 1 and number 2. With Malcolm, I’m beginning to have concerns, maybe I’m hyper vigilant with the my experience with Olly, automatically assuming its a birth defect. However, he doesn’t complain or whine when I physically examine him or gets belly rubs. Of course I’m not a vet, I would assume that if my poking doesn’t cause discomfort for him then I can rule out infections or inflammations. I’ve eliminated late water consumption, this behavior hasn’t revealed the answer. Further discussion will happen on his next vet visit.

I don’t get wrecked when he has an accident, no need to. I do watch him like a hawk and I have caught him in the act and carried him outside. I don’t see any use in some of the suggestions I’ve received regarding rubbing his nose in it or scolding him. When I attempted these tactics with Olly, (not knowing my head from a whole in the ground) Olly began licking up after he would have an accident in the attempt to hide from being scolded. I have a lot of regret for my behavior, total ignorance on my part. I refuse to shame, berate, or mistreat Malcolm. My philosophy this time around is since we are both creatures of the “Old man upstairs” eventually he’ll provide the answers we (I) need. In conclusion, consistency and patience has paid off, they are both getting there schooling down, the process is slow (that’s on me). At the time of this writing they both are responding to the “shake” command and now we were ratcheting up the stakes and combining commands.