# First Night with 8week old and a few questions!



## FlyVizslasFly (Mar 1, 2015)

Hello Forum. We finally brought home our little guy Dawkins yesterday. He is 8 weeks old. Needless to say it was a roller coaster day of emotions for him and us. For the most part, I was pretty happy. He played with our sons (7 and 6 years old) most of the day and took a couple of naps. He went to potty 3 or 4 times outside and only had one accident inside. At around 8:30pm, when our kids went to sleep, Dawkins also decided he was tired and went to his bed. For the next 3 hours, he just slept. He seemed very comfortable. I was getting a little nervous, since this was going too smooth. We decided to wake him and take him outside to potty one more time before bed for the night. He went pee and came inside. Each time he went potty outside, we celebrated and made him know that he did right. 

Once inside, it was time for the crate! Well, he was not having it. We left some music on in the background and put a couple of toys in the crate, but he moaned for about 40 minutes. Finally we brought the crate up to our room. We had planned on keeping it downstairs in the family room. Once the crate was in our room he seemed to settle down when my wife laid on the floor next to him. Within 5 minutes he was asleep. This was around 12:30am. 

Around 3:45 am I heard him rustling around, so I took him out. I was all business. He tried to poo, but nothing came out and he just sat next to me outside. I took him back in and he moaned for a little while when put in the crate, but again, my wife laid next to him and within a couple of minutes, he was asleep. Today he woke up around 6:45am, we went out and went pee. My wife took him inside and about 15 minutes later he had his first poo accident. We are assuming now that it is best to keep him outside first thing in the am until he goes pee and poo? Overall, I am pretty happy. He is super happy. He loves to play and nap, and he seems to already be getting his name and the general idea of potty outside. He is so smart. Sorry for rambling on, but I figured some future owners would like to hear our experience. All of the ones that I read on hear really did help. 

So here are my questions. Please feel free to give any advice! We can use it all!

1) since he did not go potty in the middle of the night, is it necessary to take him out or is it possible for a 8week old puppy to hold it throughout the night? We took his food and water away at 5:30. 
2) should we take his water away with his food or just remove his food?
3) should we try to crate him in the family room again or continue to let him stay in our room. We really don't want him to sleep in our room long term. We were planning on letting him sleep in our kids room once he is housebroken. 
4) he loves to nipple on my kids ears when he is playing. We are assuming he is just doing what he did to his litter mates. We have been telling him no and giving him a toy instead. Will this pass over time or should we be concerned? I don't want my kids to be afraid of him. 

On a separate note:

1) our breeder wants us to give him NuVet plus supplements. They said they will guarantee his health for 2 years, if we continue to give him these. Does anyone have any experience with these or any other supplements/vitamins? Would you recommend using them or not?
2) the breeder has him on Royal Canin Medium Adult food. We want to change him to a puppy food? Do you recommend making this change? He seems to be eating OK and his stool seems normal?

Thanks again for the recommendations!


----------



## ajcoholic (Feb 11, 2015)

My God he is adorable!!


----------



## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

Fly - Welcome 2 the forum ! do a little searching & all the ?s will be answered ! when it comes 2 NuVet - it's a CON !!!!!!!!! your pups health is based on great breeding not a supplement !!!!!!!


----------



## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

This from the National Cuteness Service:

ALERT: there is an extremely high cuteness situation in the Puppies forum. Everyone should be aware of the possibility of developing an overwhelming desire to acquire a puppy. You should use extreme caution in acting on these feelings.


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

FlyVizslasFly... Welcome to the forums!!

I'll try to address your questions, but these are only my opinions.
1) No, I don't think it's possible for an 8-week-old to hold much of anything. Still too young,
2) I would never deprive him of access to water.
3) No advice on crate training. Sorry, I don't own a crate.
4) He will be doing a lot of nibbling before it's all over! Try to redirect his attention away from the kids' ears, as you are doing. The puppy biting will pass, but in the meantime, try to prepare your kids for it. It does hurt. If they scream and run, puppy will just get more excited. 

On a separate note: I would skip the supplements. Find a high quality food that he likes and stick with it. 

Dawkins is a really cute name, and he is a really cute puppy!! ;D


----------



## jeffgrene (Jan 6, 2015)

We have a 5 month old male. We live in a hi rise apartment which made things even harder. Ragnarly has slept in our bed from day one. Up to now we didn't think we could survive puppy hood. We thought we lived in his personal toilet and I had bloody ears, nose and arms. But, one day he woke up, stopped biting and rarely ever has an accident. I am proud to say we have an awesome little guy. My wife says I dreamed him up. So, be patient, it will be worth it. As for food, Acana is the best money can buy.


----------



## FlyVizslasFly (Mar 1, 2015)

Thanks for all of the advice. Dawkins is an awesome pup. He is pretty close to potty trained. We have had him for 2 weeks now and have only had 4 accidident. He goes to the door when he has to go, which is awesome. He has been sleeping from about 11pm to 7am to in his crate without even a whimper. 

We are finding out that the Velcro thing is for real. He constantly has to be near you or touching one of us. He sits right under my chair when I am on the computer and has to be touching my foot if I am sitting on the sofa. It is really cute and funny, but I can see it being a little overwhelming when he gets older. 

We do love him and are so happy we decided on a Vizsla.


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

> 1) our breeder wants us to give him NuVet plus supplements. They said they will guarantee his health for 2 years, if we continue to give him these. Does anyone have any experience with these or any other supplements/vitamins? Would you recommend using them or not?


Its up to you if you use the supplements, but dogs do not have their hips checked until 24 months, unless there is a problem that shows early. So you would be voiding any hip guarantee.
I don't care for that part of their contract, but if you have the pup, you already agreed to it. 

Dawkins is so dang cute..


----------



## IndyGirl (Jul 19, 2015)

We have 10 week Indy. She has never been up to pee during the night but perhaps we're just lucky. We get her to sleep in her crate about 10pm then leave her til she whines about 6am - I figure 'yep, fair enough... and outside for pee and poo. She always poos in the morning - you just gotta give her a couple more minutes outside to think about it! Please - unless you think something is wrong - don't let your pup out of the crate every time they whine. You're training pup to whine instead of settling. Indy can grizzle for up to 10 minutes then settles just fine. A warm wheat bag helps heaps too!


----------



## hcrowder (Dec 26, 2013)

He is adorable. 

Just because he did something one night doesn't mean he will continue to do it. I don't agree with taking water away but many people do it. I think dogs should always have access to clean water. He also probably can't hold his urine that long on a regular basis. 

I would start now with the system you want to continue with. If he is going to be crated in the kids room at night then I would do that now. Saves trying to retrain later. 

Search for shark attacks. The nipping can become a real problem and every attempt should be made to stop it now. They normally learn not to nip around 18-20 weeks.

I would skip the supplements as well in favor of high quality food. We feed Penny a raw diet and it has works well for us but it isn't for everyone. This website can give a good idea of what brands to buy: http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory

Enjoy him now as they are only this little once. However, mine still thinks she is a tiny puppy and insists on sitting on my lap. I am starting to think they never grow up. Good thing I love it.


----------

