Exasperation!!!
 

I seriously need to puppy vent. Sorry this is so long.

Three days after switching Sam to the Simply Nourish food, he's stopped eating it. I was mixing a teaspoon of the canned chicken and rice puppy formula with 1/4 cup kibble in the morning. He ate about 1/2 or less of that. I've been leaving dry kibble down while I'm working. If he eats 2 or three kibble, I'd be surprised. In the evening, I've been wetting it with warm water, and then he'll eat it if I hand feed him. Maybe a tablespoon total. This morning, he wouldn't touch the wet/dry mix. He wouldn't eat the moistened. I even broke down and mixed a tablespoon of Cesar in it, which he usually loves. He ate maybe a half teaspoon. He's been drinking plenty of water, playing, peeing, and pooping. His gums are pink, coat is shiny. His eyes do seem really runny, like the top of his muzzle is soaking wet between his nose and eyes (see pic).

This is the second food change in 2 weeks. I don't have the time, energy, or inclination to continue playing food roullette with him! Sorry, I just don't. Not to mention the cost of the food and multiple trips to the store. I've been doing quite a bit of reading on other sites like PetMD that advocate 'tough love' feeding, or not offering him anything other than what I want him to eat. I am concerned about hypo, so I've given him Nutri Cal. He was eating dry food just fine before I brought him home. I think I spoiled him by home cooking and feeding him soft food. I just don't know what to do! I don't want to keep taking food back to PetSmart. I don't even know how many times they'll let me do that.

Grooming is another issue altogether. His coat is soooo thick! I try to brush/comb every day. But he fights me so bad when I try to do anything but his back. He clamps his jaws down on the comb or brush, wiggles and tries to push them away, nips at my hands. I stop when he starts vocally complaining. I've tried distracting him with treats, etc. It's just not working, and he's getting horrible knots on his sides. He pees on his belly hair, and it's a mess. If he won't let me clean or comb, he's sure not going to let me use clippers to trim the hair! So far the only grooming I can do is cutting his nails. He's a champ at that. I've just GOT to get him on the same page, or it's going to keep getting worse!

I feel like I've done everything wrong with this puppy since I started looking back in September. What's supposed to be a happy time has turned into anything but. I love my boy, but I'm so stressed all the time, I don't feel like I'm getting to enjoy the puppy time. All I do is worry about him. I get no help or understanding at home. Hubby says "he's just a dog; he'll be fine" and blows off my concerns. He fusses about accidents or whining or pretty much anything else.


*sigh*

Help!

WOW. You seem to be going through a lot. OK BREATH. Let me try and address each of your issues. When and where did you get your pup and how old is he now?

With the food... did you gradually change his diet? To have changed is food twice in 2 weeks seems pretty quick.

Grooming... When you begin it will probably be difficult to do so. The goal initially should be to build the pups tolerance. So, I wouldn't necessarily try and do a full groom all at once, but several sessions throughout the day until you can. I would also use praise and treats even if its only a short time while he is being cooperative. Being able to cut the nails is a big thing because many DO NOT take to that so easily.

I would relax a bit (I know it's tuff) because after all it is a puppy stage. One of the hardest stages until they get old. Your pup can pick up on your emotions. So try and stay calm and fake it until you make it. I hope I have helped at least a little.

Hang in there and maybe you need to revisit the basics, it's not too late. There is hope, so don't give up. Also, his coat may continue to change so his thick coat may turn silky or become manageable in time. Are you sure he is not sick with an eye infection or something? Since he is tearing so much.

He's 13 weeks 5 days old; I brought him home 2 weeks ago today. I got him from a breeder about 4 hours from me. She's not a byb or miller, but I've learned that she's not the best choice I could have made.

I've had him checked out by the vet, so no, no eye infection. It doesn't smell or anything. I clean his face with warm water and a washcloth every day. The pic is from this morning, before I brushed.

I did rush a bit with the food transition, just because he's pretty much refused anything dry I've tried to give him.

I was looking forward to a whole day at home to play and work with him today. So far he has refused to eat anything, played for a couple of hours, and has been laying in his bed for the last 2 hours or so. He stayed at my mom's for a few hours yesterday so I could run some errands. I'm hoping he's just tired from being out of his element.

Ruby too was such a turd when it came time for grooming. No matter what I tried and how slowly I went she would not let me groom her whole body when her puppy coat started changing. She started matting in spots and I knew that wasn't good for her so I ended up bringing her to the groomer...with her puppy coat more off then on she wasn't matting as easy so I could really take it slow...like 15 seconds or less on a leg area here and there through out the day for many days. She now let's me groom anywhere on her body!

Its been a whole year since Ruby was that age but if I remember right....she was still doing a lot of sleeping at that age. Is his sleeping way more then it used to be?
Plus if you are out of the house a lot during the day he probably uses that time to sleep so he would still be in that routine of sleeping even if you are at home. I hope someone on here has better advice then I have to give! Good luck!!

Not sure if this is much of a consolation but a lot of these puos seem very difficult to feed. I remember when I first brought Wallee home at 12 weeks and him being a real challenge to feed. We would have to sit in the kitchen and laterally scramble his kibbke one at a time to get him to eat. We would do that 3 or 4 times a day. I then decided to get a treat ball and put his kibble in that..Bingo! He now still at almost 10 months will ONLY eat his kibble from there which really isn't a problem as I just keep it out where we are and he will roll it around when he is playing. I also broke down and started feeding him some canned Blue Buffalo late afternoon as we feed our cats canned food at that time. I warm it up in the microwave a little as my vet said it brings out the aroma better. He gobbles that down and looks for more. I don't let him have any more but it seems once he has eaten that he shows more interest in his kibble tge rest of the night. As for the brushing, he still gives me the same grief with trying to comb or brush so I just do a little at a time. I have a groomer come in once a month and do the trimming around his privates and make sure we have no oroblem mats. I use the tiny rounded scissors to remove any mats as well even if I have to have Dh hold him.Hang in and maybe try the treat ball.

I've heard that giving them baby water reduces tearing and tear stains.

The treat ball sounds like a great idea. I would try that. Other than that it seems like your puppy is just being a puppy. Hang in there.

He has a puppy Kong, but pretty much ignores it. I've tried a drop of peanut butter, Cheerios, and kibble. No dice. Can it be as simple as he's being stubborn and playing me?

I finally broke down and gave him two small spoonfuls of cottage cheese after he hadn't eaten for 16 hours. He gobbled down about 95% of it. Now he's running around and getting into everything that isn't nailed down.

I do wonder too if it could be that his gums are bothering him from teething. I gave him a crunchy treat for peeing on the pad. He usually inhales those. It's laying on the floor next to my foot. It still doesn't explain why he wouldn't eat the canned food, though. grrrrr...

Anybody got a chill pill, lol?

Why the two food changes in two weeks? Did the breeder not send you home with kibble he was weaned to? Can't you feed him the same kind of kibble he's used to? Even if you don't like the brand or want to change at a future date, I think it's important to keep changes to a minimum at the beginning. Moving to a new home with new people is stressful enough on a pup.

As to grooming, you might be getting a bit ahead of yourself. Puppies don't really require much grooming. Just concentrate on getting him used to being handled, his ears touched, his paws (which sounds already great as you said you can clip his nails no problem), his belly & but. You don't need to do it for a long time, just 20-30 seconds, a few times throughout the day so he gets used to it. This is important not only for grooming, but for future vet visits. ZoE's vet loves a dog that has been well handled as it's much easier for him to do a thorough examination.

Are you training him at all right now? Sit, stay, down, etc? Does he eat then? When I think back to when ZoE was young, it seemed like she consumed alot of her calories during training sessions.

Could the dog food pieces be to big? Have you tried maybe putting them in a ziplock bag then hitting it with a meat tenderizer? Callie my 5 year old yorkie is pretty food picky and I hand feed her twice a day or she just doesn't eat enough. She is way to stubborn for the tough love thing.

I still have a little of the kibble she sent home. I was so nervous about hypoglycemia that I was desperate to get him to eat, so I cooked chicken, rice and vegetables. After having that he wouldn't touch the kibble. I thought since he wouldn't eat it at all, I would go ahead and try another food. I tried it every day for a week and he wouldn't eat it either. So I tried another food. I don't want to change again.

Grooming - I don't have any problem handling him or touching ears, feet, etc. Unless it involves a comb, brush or the bathtub.

I haven't started any training besides pee pad yet other than teaching him his name and come. I didn't want to try too much at once.

Like I said in my first post, I feel like I've screwed up from the beginning and I'm constantly doing the wrong thing and don't know how to make it right.:confused:

They're a lot like children....I don't think you can screw them up in just two short weeks :D

It sounds like you know what to do. You've just got to be consistent in everything you do so you get a good routine established. How big of a pup is he? How many times a day are you feeding him.

He was 2.25 lbs at the vet visit. I've been feeding him 1/4 cup moistened dry + a tablespoon of canned in the morning, leaving dry out all day, and some type of extra at night, no more than a teaspoon. Today all he has eaten is about 2 teaspoons of cottage cheese, and has left the dry in his bowl untouched. He wouldn't even eat the canned this morning. He's peed several times and had 2 good poops.

I guess after 2 weeks I expected him to be at least moving toward a routine.

That certainly could be a possibility. Have you tried toppers on the food? Like salmon oil, castor oil, karo syrup, honey?