Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

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Sweetie's Human
Posts: 333
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:19 am

Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by Sweetie's Human »

Oh he's so lovely! They make me laugh.

Sounds to me like you're doing the right sort of things. I'd only say that he looks like he might be a touch stressed at the park and the station. But it could just be the photos. It must be hard in Tokyo (was it Tokyo?) to find quiet places to take him.

I've read conflicting things about how much exercise pugs need / can handle. Sweetie is 8 and was obese when we got her two years ago (puppy mill) but she's a decent weight now. At first she couldn't get to the end of our street three houses away and now she walks about 30-45min in the morning and 15 min after work. Sounds a lot but because she's a bit of a plonker and I let her sniff pretty much anything she wants, the 30-45 min only covers about 2km :roll: . But she's fairly old, so make of that what you will.

I'm glad to hear the kongs are helping and soaking the kibble so it holds is a good idea.

Also, you mention diet. Sweetie is fed completely raw. The two exceptions are tinned sardines which are obviously cooked, and I buy commercially produced liver treats, but they are liver only with nothing added. There's a good thread on here about raw feeding if you are interested in that, and you may find some info about feeding part raw part kibble. FWIW I can't see the harm in a sardine kong if it does the job, while feeding kibble, if it's good food and suits your lifestyle.

I hope you continue to see the improvements, but please don't be disheartened if he regresses a little at some point. It's bound to happen and is probably more of a sign that he's getting comfy in his new surroundings than anything else. Pugs are such wonderful creatures (says the lady who wanted a kelpie to run with :lol: - OH won that little battle and I'm now glad he did) and I'm sure you two will figure each other out eventually!
JudyN
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Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by JudyN »

The usual advice is that you shouldn't feed part raw & part kibble. Kibble digests more slowly than raw, and if it slows down the transit of raw food through the gut, there's time for bacteria to breed. Also, raw-fed dogs develop stronger stomach acid, which they need to digest bones, but kibble will inhibit this.

Having said that, plenty of people do combine raw and kibble, either feeding one in the morning and one in the evening, or even mixed together, and say they've never had a problem, so I'm not sure if this advice is based on observation/experience or just a theoretical assumption.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
ToriLia
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:48 am

Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by ToriLia »

@Sweetie's Human
Yea we're in Tokyo and it is a bit hard to find quiet places but I'm lucky to live in a residential area that is fairly quiet at night. I took him to the station on purpose cuz I wanted to help give him the chance to get used to having people around. He might have been a little tense cuz I was trying to take a pic of him and not fully focused on him. At the park he was running around (on leash) and seemed to be enjoying himself. Should keep a better eye on his state to make sure I don't put him in a stressful place though.

I didn't take him for a walk Monday night and he was a lot more anxious and barked a couple of times at night. Lesson learned... Last night I took him for a long walk (40 min to an hour covering around 3.5 km with water breaks and misc training sessions) and he had a good night but still appeared to have a fair amount of energy initially.

Rocky gave up on the partly frozen Kong yesterday partly because it might have been more frozen than usual. He also hasn't learned to chew on the Kong yet...not really sure how to teach him what is ok to chew and what isn't. There are a couple of rubber chew toys that he does chew sometimes, but he loses interest pretty quickly on those. Waiting for the stuffed animal chew toy to arrive so I can play tug o war with him. Still trying to find a non-food thing that he shows interest in.

I haven't had the chance to look too much into diet yet since I'm focusing on the anxiety and basic training first. I'll definately look at the other resources here for help :)

@JudyN
Thank you very much for pointing out raw + kibble shouldn't go together. I never even thought about digestion speed at all... I might go with home cooked instead of raw as well but I haven't looked too much into it yet. Based on the minimum research I did, the "best" natural brand they have available in Japan is probably Orijen or Activa but at a premium. There are some local shops that claim to make dog food with no additives and with natural ingredients that I might look into though...Diet/nutrition is another box that I don't think I'm ready to look into yet right now since I'm still trying to get grasps on the basics ...

Thank both of you again for all the info and help! Rocky and me both appreciate it! :D
Sweetie's Human
Posts: 333
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:19 am

Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by Sweetie's Human »

Aahh, there will be lots of 'lesson learned' thoughts along the way. Don't worry too much about it. You sound like you're making faster progress than we did.

OK several things:

I understand what you mean about getting him used to people, but I wonder if it might be a bit early for a Tokyo station yet while he's still getting used to you. So maybe wait until you've completely got his trust before exposing him to new stimulus. You'll be best placed to judge when that is, obviously. But keep in mind that you're still relatively new to him, and he's had a hard time previously.

Re food (and Judy will know more about this than I do), I thought a sardine kong would tick a few boxes in your situation: it's cooked so fewer digestion worries given his current food, it's stinky so will get his attention, and it's relatively easy for him. I got Sweetie the medium sized pink puppy kongs as they hold a decent amount and are made of softer rubber and therefore easier for her. I bought the super strength black one for my parents' jack russell when I had her here as they are harder-wearing and she has strong jaws and teeth. So maybe a softer one would make it easier for your Rocky, and a smellier stuffing would hold his interest longer.

As a side note on food - Sweetie loves nori sheets :lol: ! If I've made some sushi rolls and have a few sheets left over that will go stale, they get torn up for training treats. Might be something to consider given your location?

You mention toys that he'll show interest in. The only rubber or hard things that interest Sweetie are kongs and bones. I'm not sure if it's a breed thing, but she'll only 'play' with soft toys with a squeaker. In fact she had to learn to play when she got here, and her only games are either that we (or she) throw the toy and she runs after it to chew it and throw it around in her mouth, or she licks it :roll: . But she's happy doing these things, so away we go... Obviously nobody had ever played with her before, but we just indulge her idiosyncrasies.

And FWIW I think you're right to focus on basics and anxiety first. As long as you're not feeding him complete rubbish, there's no need to completely turn his world upside down by changing his food too if you think he's not ready for it.

One thing we do at night to settle Sweetie is turn out the lights where she sleeps and sit with her for 15 min or so. Once she's in a deep snoring mode, I give her a little pat so she knows I'm going, then quietly leave the room. Again, I know it's probably ridiculous to some people but she's had a hard time previously and I just allocate that 15 min or so each night to making sure she isn't stressed and we're not trying to go to sleep ourselves while she's barking up a storm. I take the ipad and a cup of tea and send a few emails while I'm out there (or respond to posts on here :lol: ). Obviously, we don't have children :lol: .

Some people on the forum give their dogs a night-time snack to signal bed-time and calm-down-time and that works well for them. Maybe try it if you need to, but given that pugs (generally speaking) are so food-motivated, it may have the opposite effect (as it does with my girl).

On another point - slightly jealous that you live in Tokyo. OH and I each went to Japan on exchange as teenagers (not together) and we're dying to get back there to see it together. Trying to work it around family-focused trips like weddings etc that keep coming up.

Anyway, it sounds like you and Rocky are getting along perfectly. It's nice to know that a little pug ended up in a home where someone cares enough to ask these questions. If that's the starting point, then it will certainly lead to contentment.
ToriLia
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:48 am

Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by ToriLia »

Sorry for going MIA for so long...lets blame it on the typhoons :P

Good point on not rushing things too quickly. I have the feeling that he might not know how to accept greetings from other dogs (especially considering a little more than half the dogs we meet on walks react first with barking/growling while Rocky just ignores them). Greeting people in the house or other ppl on the streets he does fine I think. I think the tenseness might come mainly from his expectations for the kibbles. He is SUPER motivated by food so when we are doing our training sessions he tends to be very excited almost like he's working hard to hold back to wait for the kibbles. I've been paying more attention to him and trying to avoid putting him in too high stress environments

As for the Sardine Kong...just to make sure but you're talking about the canned oil sardines right? I've been using hot dogs and his kibbles as the main stuffing for his Kongs and that's working well so far (occasionally i stick small bits of processed cheese too). Except sometimes the kibbles will get too wet and get stuck too much. Rocky hasn't tried to chew on the Kong to work the kibbles out and the normal red Kongs might be too hard for him too. If I cut the sardines into small pieces and freeze them before stuffing them thought that that might be a good thing to try. Thanks for the advice on the pink Kong...putting that on my wishlist :)

Nori...I JUST tossed out a small box that went stale...i should have kept it and tried it with Rocky. I wonder if the salted ones would be too salty for a pug...

I bought a rope style toy with squeaky ends and he seems to like that. When he starts playing with it he gets pretty hyper (almost too hyper :P). There's also a squeaky giraffe and rubber bone thing that he's taken to fairly well. The bit about Sweety needing to learn how to play was a good reminder...it took Rocky a week or so before he started to chew on the toys. I have a feeling it's because of the mouth but he seems to like relatively thin and long-ish toys.

Re: going to sleep. I still sleep in the living room close enough to Rocky but I think this weekend I will try going back into the bedroom and see how he copes with that....beds are nice... Because of the typhoon last night we couldn't go for a walk but played with him for 5 - 10 minutes and he was all huffing and puffing already. Followed that up with another 10 minutes or so of semi-training (leaving the treat alone until i give it to him....he was able to wait even with the kibble sitting on his paw :D ) and he was out for most of the night so I think he should be able to handle it.

Giving Rocky food definitely would have the opposite effect :lol: I tried clicking him for being calm and that alone sets him off cuz he associates the click with reward so strongly. I kept it up and he's not reacting as strongly as he was previously so just need to give him more time I think.

Here are some recent photos of Rocky :)

Rocky doing his best sealion impression (he was just reacting to the wind blowing from the typhoon that just passed)
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Rocky's semi cafe debut...he can't keep the lay down for a long time mainly cuz he's in an excited state i think (FOOD!!!!!) but he was a very good boy and the shop owner was complimenting him and said he got so much better compared to the previous week when I brought him to introduce him to them
Image

A very brief break during one of Rocky's post walk zoomies
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Rocky and the cat (british shorthair) are still exploring each other but getting more and more comfortable with each other I think (especially the cat)
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Sweetie's Human
Posts: 333
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:19 am

Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by Sweetie's Human »

Oh he is just the cutest (well, second cutest, of course :lol: !) LOVE the sealion impression!

Yes, I mean sardines from a tin. I buy the sardines in springwater. I'm sure a tiny bit of oil won't hurt, but probably best to avoid them in brine. Bits of leftover meat are good too. Bits of cheese, hotdog, all good. His weight looks fine so I don't think any of those things would be an issue. Sweetie has a tiny little issue with her size so no cheese or hotdog for her!

It sounds like you're getting along famously and doing really well settling him in. I can't believe you got him to settle in a cafe! We took Sweetie a few times and it was all just too much for her smelling everyone's food :roll: .

Well done. And I'm glad to hear the typhoon has passed.

Pug hugs to Rocky in Japan from Sweetie in Australia
ToriLia
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:48 am

Re: Looking for advice on how to find a dog to adopt

Post by ToriLia »

No photos today (need to take more! :D ) but I called the rescue group yesterday and told them that I'd like to start the process to officially adopt Rocky and give him a forever home. They're sending me documents to sign and once that's done Rocky will really really be a member of my family!!!!! 8)

I tried looking for sardines in springwater both in local markets, import food shops and online but can't find any...there are some that's in brine but I couldn't find any that are unsalted :( Maybe I can try to find one that is low oil and drain it completely...

Last night Rocky was a bit more hyper than usual even after the long walk that usually poops him out but once he went to sleep he was out until the morning. To be fair, the cafe I took him to was my local coffee bean roaster and it was only for a short time while I was waiting for the beans to roast. My focus was on him the whole time and had to get his attention repeatedly to put him back into a sit or down. Rocky's stay and general impulse control needs more work...but then he's <2 years old so still half a puppy so I feel he's already a very good boy for where he is right now :D

While I was talking to the rescue group I double checked with them on Rocky's environment with his previous owner and they said he was kept in a small cage like the display cases they have at pet shops here (so around <1 meter x 60cm). He was kept in there until he was rescued and was never let out :( I suspected that since when Rocky goes poop indoors he tends to do it right next to his bed instead of on the toilet tray on the other side of his play area. To think the same owner had another dog (miniature dachshund) that was in a similar situation makes me sick....
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