Well I have been a bit absent the past couple of weeks, I have the lurg! Someone has contaminated me with germs which I have now passed on to all around me so my apologies to those that now have it.
Ehren is continuing to grow and thrive and learn. She has had her second vaccinations and the blood results from then have shown an increase in the WBC & TP which were so low in the outset. The vets are monitoring this and she will have another set of bloods in 3 weeks to check her ability to build immunity to the likes of parvo, lepto and distemper, etc. Because she has had a compromised immune system from the get go, it is possible that she will be unable to build an immunity but I think given how well she has done so far, she will continue to prove that she is a tough little critter and thrive.
Now as you know from previous blogs, Ehren is a biter - hands, feet, arms, legs, anything she can get her teeth in to she will. I feel that in the beginning some of the biting was because of pain she was suffering, not just puppy biting but we still could not let it go unchecked.
So, with loads of toys around we used these as a distraction to get her to put her teeth on these rather than us and if her teeth came in contact with our skin we have used a short corrective sound to interrupt her and given her either a sit command or a toy to chase so that she focuses on to something else. I am pleased to report that biting is now minimal and I can walk through the lounge without a puppy attached to my foot or taking of my shoes, slippers or socks to get her to let go.
Ehrens repertoire of basic commands is growing day by day and she loves to work out what we are asking of her. The one thing I am still having issues with is getting her to stand still for handling, she becomes a mass of paws and legs and turns to jelly in an instant, I have to admit to not helping matters here as I just laugh, not very productive but she is just too cute and I know that in time she will master this the same as anything else.
After the last blog post someone commented that I was blanketing all KC breeders as a no-go for puppy buying and that is not my intention at all. I have always owned pedigree dogs and have bred litters before which were KC registered.
What I want to impress on anyone looking for a puppy is that you need to exercise more caution than I did. If you don't feel under scrutiny from the breeder (be that of a pedigree dog or a cross) then maybe they aren't in it for the right reasons. The person I got Ehren from was interested in nothing more than the financial side of things, she never asked me any questions about my lifestyle or my knowledge of living with a dog. When I acquired puppies in the past I felt that I had to impress the breeder so they would allow me the care of one of their pups and that is how you should feel when getting a puppy.
