tamapup

Thank you for the tips! Thankfully he has gotten much better in the past day, whereas I've gotten much worse now a new challenge - keeping up with him when all I want to do is be in bed all day

Hi everyone, This post is somewhat of a small rant - I hope that's okay. I'm really just looking for some words of encouragement. Tama and I both got sick at the same exact time, and I'm the only one taking care of him right now. He's almost 12 weeks now, and started having diarrhea on Sunday night. Yesterday night I was up with him every hour of the night taking him to the bathroom, while getting super sick myself. Today is a repeat of that, except I am more sick. Needless to say I am hardly getting any sleep and am getting so desperate for some time to rest and get well. We've been to the vet and thankfully she isn't worried. He's been on a bland food diet since yesterday and got some medication to help with the diarrhea today, but it isn't kicking in yet. Otherwise he's a happy boy, drinking water and huge appetite and super energetic. I, on the other hand, am beyond miserable... it's just the worst having to take care of a sick little thing all by yourself when you are so sick yourself

I am so sorry for your loss. “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

It looks like I have nothing to worry about...I took him to a puppy playtime session and he had a great time, was calm and confident with the other dogs

An update! I found puppy playgroups and will be taking Tama to his first one tomorrow. Excited to see how he does!

Thank you! I don't have a garden unfortunately. I decided to carry him around the neighborhood today and walked into a bookstore, where he walked around and played with the employees. I have a feeling this may become a daily occurrence for us We are also working on lots of training which he is good about, and I love the idea of feeding him his meals through stuffed Kongs. I'm a little worried about his socialization with other dogs. Today I met someone who was walking their small dog, extremely sweet and laid back. I asked if the dog had all of his vaccines up to date, and then knelt down and allowed Tama to sniff and say hello. He was very still in my arms, not rigid but not excited either, and then he began barking and growling. I noticed him do this once when he saw a dog walk by as well. Is this something I should be concerned about? I'm not sure what the fix is here. I've tried looking for puppy kindergarten classes but had no luck - will try to search some more.

Thank you all so much for your responses! Yes, I was shocked when I learned that I had to keep him indoors until 16 weeks of age. This was, and still is, one of biggest concerns - how on earth do I get my puppy to become well socialized if we're indoors all day long? I voiced this concern with the vet and she said that it was for his safety. I asked her if I could carry him outdoors in my arms and she said that I could do that, so long as his paws don't touch the ground. I do that almost every day, weather permitting, but he is getting heavy and I can't carry him for more than a few streets at a time (we live in a big city)there anything else that I can do to make this easier? I have people coming and meeting him almost every day, but he doesn't get much socialization with other dogs because I don't know where to find them. @KevTheDog Those are some awesome tips, thank you! Good to hear that it does get better I'll definitely start using a phrase for when I start working to give him "alone time" - he is somewhat okay at that now but we will keep working on it.

Hello everyone! I am new the forums and am joining as I just got my new border collie pup a few weeks ago His name is Tama and he is a wonderful 10 (almost 11) week old little boy. I am in love with him and I think things are going just about as smoothly as they can be, but those puppy blues hit hard sometimes. He is not allowed to go outside until he is 16 weeks old - until he gets all of his vaccines - and so for now we are cooped up at home. Luckily I have the month off to stay with him and devote most of time to him. I am doing my best to keep him busy and stimulated - he is rarely crated for more than two hours at a time and never for longer than 3, he gets multiple short training sessions a day and is learning loads, and we play fetch and tug-of-war all day when he isn't crated. He sleeps well, eats well, plays well, and is generally good about being in his crate. Starting from when we wake up, we will play for a few hours, then he is crated for a few hours, and this repeats until bedtime. He is far from being overly hyper but I am starting to wear thin. He takes a solid 6-7 hour chunk out of my day where I just watch him and play with him, with all of my attention focused entirely on him. If I don't watch him he begins to chew wires, chew furniture, and otherwise get himself into trouble. Just puppy things, I know - but man, when does it get easier? When will my day stop consisting of staring at him and making sure he is ok? I so look forward to the days where he gets a few hours of active exercise a day, and the rest of the day he can reliably chill out next to me while I work. But right now those days seem impossibly far away. Do they ever even come? He won't always require 100% of my attention all the time, right? I'm sure that a large part of the challenge is that he is not allowed outside for walks, and I expect it will get tremendously easier when he is. The other thing is that right now I am taking care of him completely on my own. For this month that I have off, my roommate and boyfriend are away. I am so looking forward to when they are back. It's wonderful to bond with him and get to have him for myself during his early weeks, but extremely overwhelming as he takes up so much of my time. I am trying to soak in these puppy days but I feel like I can't wait for him to get older. When does it get easier? Here's a picture of my little boy