phoenix7232013
Member
Hello Mastiff Community
Phoenix's Dad is a Dogue de Bordeaux and we were told that her mother is a Presa Canario (although after seeing her I believe the she might have some Labrador mixed too ).
Before the criticism begins let me start by saying that yes I know Phoenix was still to young to be taken from her litter, and we are aware of the problems that may occur due to this.
We have a 7 year old English Bulldog and although she doesn't really play with Phoenix she is doing well teaching her a few of the things she would have learned for the dam, as Phoenix has already learned to drink water from her bowl.
We also visited our vet who gave us some advice and said Phoenix is doing really well at 3.8 lbs.
She was already eating a mixture of Alpo canned food and pedigree puppy chow when we got her last Friday, we are now on day 4 of slowly switching her to Wellness Core Puppy. She no longer gets the Alpo. I warm some water in her bowl add 1/3 cup of kibble so it softens and then drain the water before giving it to her. I make sure the food is not to hot or I add an ice cube to cool it down before giving it to her. Before she was drinking water from her bowl the vet said to leave some water with the food to make sure she gets water. She has been eating all 3 of her meals.
Phoenix is taken out constantly and is doing really well relieving her self in the grass, as long as we get her outside before she has an accident inside.
She already loves her crate where she always has a comfy pillow and blanket and is located in the living room. When puppy exhaustion kicks in she runs to the crate herself and goes straight to bed. When I am in the living room I try to always close the door over so she gets used to seeing it shut but when she wakes up she just pushes it open, and is taken outside.
The only big problem with the crate training is at night. I had read some where that being so young and alone for the first time we shouldn't let her cry and howl for very long. So the first night she was home when she started howling and crying every 2-3 hours we woke up and took her out. After that we tried to only get her if she cried more than 10 minutes which was also about every 3 hours. Although she is doing better, and we keep reading that only time and not getting her when she cries is best, any and all advice regarding how to calm her would be greatly appreciated.
Phoenix is also teething and has lots of toys. We are keeping our eye on her at all times so when she starts to chew on something she shouldn't we distract her with her toys. When she nibbles on us, we read to not yell at her instead make a "yee-tee" sound that would mimic her if she got hurt. This has been working with her. Obviously this won't work forever so we will start researching methods for when she is a few weeks older.
She is doing really well and growing at a great rate. She gets her first vaccines at the end of the week and will hopefully be able to play with some vaccinated puppies after that.
Hope to learn all about this great breed and gain some helpfully advice.
Thanks
Phoenix's Dad is a Dogue de Bordeaux and we were told that her mother is a Presa Canario (although after seeing her I believe the she might have some Labrador mixed too ).
Before the criticism begins let me start by saying that yes I know Phoenix was still to young to be taken from her litter, and we are aware of the problems that may occur due to this.
We have a 7 year old English Bulldog and although she doesn't really play with Phoenix she is doing well teaching her a few of the things she would have learned for the dam, as Phoenix has already learned to drink water from her bowl.
We also visited our vet who gave us some advice and said Phoenix is doing really well at 3.8 lbs.
She was already eating a mixture of Alpo canned food and pedigree puppy chow when we got her last Friday, we are now on day 4 of slowly switching her to Wellness Core Puppy. She no longer gets the Alpo. I warm some water in her bowl add 1/3 cup of kibble so it softens and then drain the water before giving it to her. I make sure the food is not to hot or I add an ice cube to cool it down before giving it to her. Before she was drinking water from her bowl the vet said to leave some water with the food to make sure she gets water. She has been eating all 3 of her meals.
Phoenix is taken out constantly and is doing really well relieving her self in the grass, as long as we get her outside before she has an accident inside.
She already loves her crate where she always has a comfy pillow and blanket and is located in the living room. When puppy exhaustion kicks in she runs to the crate herself and goes straight to bed. When I am in the living room I try to always close the door over so she gets used to seeing it shut but when she wakes up she just pushes it open, and is taken outside.
The only big problem with the crate training is at night. I had read some where that being so young and alone for the first time we shouldn't let her cry and howl for very long. So the first night she was home when she started howling and crying every 2-3 hours we woke up and took her out. After that we tried to only get her if she cried more than 10 minutes which was also about every 3 hours. Although she is doing better, and we keep reading that only time and not getting her when she cries is best, any and all advice regarding how to calm her would be greatly appreciated.
Phoenix is also teething and has lots of toys. We are keeping our eye on her at all times so when she starts to chew on something she shouldn't we distract her with her toys. When she nibbles on us, we read to not yell at her instead make a "yee-tee" sound that would mimic her if she got hurt. This has been working with her. Obviously this won't work forever so we will start researching methods for when she is a few weeks older.
She is doing really well and growing at a great rate. She gets her first vaccines at the end of the week and will hopefully be able to play with some vaccinated puppies after that.
Hope to learn all about this great breed and gain some helpfully advice.
Thanks