So far... General Chat

@6JRT's - most people here use plastic-covered cable washing lines, which are not easy to keep straight unless strung up very tightly, the advantage of being strug up tightly being that they do not sag. Definitely not suitable for a puppy. The cord Avner will be getting me comes in various thicknesses from very thin, to like a strong regular washing line, right up to the soft but strong thickish rope I used for Pereg. All are sold by the metre.

@CaroleC - oh yes, Tikva is definitely very much a Hoouuund. The first time I heard that almightly howl and realised it was coming from a very tiny puppy I wondered where on earth she got the breath from! She has a wide, deep chest though, although she is really quite skinny [I can see all her ribs and she has a very well-defined waist, but she is definitely not underweight and being half Doxie I want to keep as much weight, ie fat, off her as possible]. Luckily it is only one particular ice-cream van that she reacts to whereas both LO and Pereg used to "sing" with all of them - and believe me we get loads of them all day long during the summer.

As for rain - we probably will not get any for months yet, our rainy season being mainly December - February, and hopefully Tikva will be house-trained by then. There is no way I could put her crate outside as there is no shelter, but as long as she will use a puppy pad I am not over-bothered. Both LO and Pereg hated rain - and when it does rain here oh boy does it rain. But both would hold it until desperation time - or I put leashes on them and dragged them out. Tikva does not seem to be bothered by water though, probably due to having her feet and face under the tap in the sink once she was weaned on baby cereal and her milk supplement as she used to paddle in it. She will also get under my shower chair when I shower, and being so very short-coated a quick roll in a towel dries her.

I am keeping Tikva's "journal" into one thread, otherwise I would be posting non-stop about the little mini booga.

So - having not pee'd in her crate for a couple of nights I left things as they were. Folded soft clean floor cloth at one end as a sort of mattress, with her crate toys on it, and one pee pad which nearly covered the whole floor of the crate - which is not particularly small, just the smallest the Pension store had and which I originally bought for poor Baby Ziva.

This morning the pee pad was not only soaked but had been screwed up in a corner, the "mattress" was soaked, and so was she because she had been sleeping on the plastic floor wotsit which was rather wet. So under the sink she went..

Back to my original idea which is no "mattress" but two pee pads although one is only a few centimetres shorter than the length of the crate floor. And there are now two pee pads in the salon, one each side of her bed - so far this morning she has pee'd on one and poo'd on the other, so she does know what they are for. She is just a very stubborn little mini booga and if she is not near them she will just do what she needs wherever she is.

Luckily very small booga does very small p&ps and being mostly raw fed her poo's are tiny, fairly dry, and easy to pick up with a tissue and flush down the bog. The problem is that being so small and on mottled stone floor tiles, I do not always see what she has done. WHOOPS

Working out dates, I first saw her on 2 June when they said she was 3 weeks old which would have meant her DOB was 12 May, but when Michal came to give her her first worm pill and puppy shot she reckoned that 15 May was her DOB and that is what they have registered at the surgery. Not that it matters as she is, so far, very healthy, extremely lively, and she got through pet formula milk food, then some mixed with human baby food, and is now an experienced frozen raw bone chewer!

As my feet, legs, arms, chin and nose are well aware of!

@Malka It is still early days, as a normally reared puppy would have only just have left the breeder by this stage. Though I have had Cavalier litters clean by 10 weeks, they were by no means the norm. We had no puppy pads in those days - my horrors would have probably played tug with them anyway - but I used to put newspapers by the door, and always kept a slightly soiled page back, to put on the top as a reminder.

Merry came to us on the 13th. May, after almost 6 years of living in an indoor kennel block. Tim and Steve were not sure whether she was clean or not, due to her sharing a pen with other bitches, (she wasn't!). Although she is older (so greater muscle control than your babe?), she has only been 100% clean at night for about 10 days now - and I suppose it is possible that we might have an occasional lapse to come.

Eddie learned house cleanliness quickly, (I have always found the boys quicker to train), but both Mia and Tweed were very stubborn and had to have a bunch of 3 cat bells on their collars. Every time I heard those darned bells tinkle - out they went, rain or shine, and BIG rewards when they obliged. Forgive the pun, but I'm sure the penny will drop soon.

As for the biting, that could take a little longer - have you tried giving her beef ribs to gnaw on?

@CaroleC - Tikva is only just able to chomble ends of Pereg's chews until they are soft enough to break off. She is fine with chicken necks and part of chicken backs, but there is no way I can get hold of beef ribs for her. And with tiny baby teeth I do not think ribs would be good for her.

She is still so very young and being half Doxie has the Doxie stubborn traits. But she is happy, she is healthy, so what more can I ask?

More photo of the wonderful cute adorable little Tikva (sleep will do) bet she's winning everyone's hearts over there xx

I cannot send any photographs as I keep losing Breedia. Sorry.

Strange puppy. She will pee in her crate but will not poo in it, so wakes me to tell me she needs a poo because she will not poo in her crate.

I usually remove wet pee pad from crate, leave the doors open, and go back to bed and leave her to her own wicked devices..

What she does I have no idea, after I have followed her and picked up the thin poo and dumped it in the loo, but then she goes to sleep somewhere until she hears me surface, and she is either back in her crate [after I have removed the wet pee pad] or she is in her bed in the salon, with all her toys scattered through the bungalow. Not really ideal for me but as long as she is happy...

Strange thing though. LO adored my neighbour. So did Pereg. And so did Baby Ziva for the very few days I had her.

Now? Tikva goes "look who is here, I love her, got to cuddle her legs..."

I spoke to Michal, Ram's new assistant vet, yesterday. Tikva is due for her second puppy shot on 31 July but Michal wants me to leave it until the following Monday, when she should be due for another worm pill. Apparently puppy shots are now just two instead of the previous three. Then I will have to wait another four weeks for Vadim to come and give her her rabies shot and chip her.

They do not want me to take her to the surgery, presumably because having had a bad case of Parvo there recently, so Michal will come here. No problem as it will be easier for me although I would like Ram to see her. But it looks like Michal is going to be Tikva's primary vet and she is a lovely young woman, so I will go by whatever she wants. Ram always looked after Pereg because of her epilepsy.

TBH the difference between taking taxis to and from the surgery and Michal coming here and paying for a house call, is not enough to worry about. And Vadim, the LA Authority Vet, never usually charges me for the mandatory rabies shots or for chipping.

I like Michal - if Ram employed her she must be OK. And she is great with Tikva and coming here.

Nir has just been here to measure up what I need to keep Tikva out of the kitchen while I prepare food so that I can still get through to the back room from the kitchen as dried/tinned food is kept there - the same length of whatever will slot to keep her in the kitchen so she cannot get anywhere else while she has her raw. Needing a bungalow with no interior doors, Tikva means that I need various things to keep her out of or into rooms at times.

But oh do I love that little mini booga.

Tikva is going to be a very strong willed little dog & your going to enjoy tidying up after her lol by 7 months old you should have some idea what 2 breeds she is or could be xxx

Oh I know what half of her is as I saw her dam with all 8 puppies. She was/is a very large standard Doxie. Daddy was probably "that small dog from across the road", ie one of the zillions of "minpins" that are everywhere.

When I say her poo is thin I mean it is like a thin pencil - firm but not squidgy thin, and easy to pick up with a tissue.. So whatever I am feeding her on suits her.

Nir has fitted up a hinged half "door" across the space under the handbasin in the hallway, so Tikva can no longer pull down the curtain I had across it - it is where bottles of liquid washing "soap", soft-rinse, and other stuff is kept. So that is one thing done. He is now on the hunt for a piece of ??? which will slot either to keep her out but me in the kitchen and the rest of the house when preparing/cooking food - the same piece same size can be moved and slotted to keep her in the kitchen itself when she has her bone meal without her being able to take it anywhere else.

Nir is a bit like me in why buy when you can pick up a piece of whatever from wherever it has been dumped - old cupboard doors and shelves being ideal for most things, and use them for whatever is needed, why buy special pieces of whatever if you can get them for free?

Honestly, seeing a 50-something guy sitting on the floor playing with tiny Tikva and going all gaga over her, was just so cute! I mean she is definitely not a "man's" dog and yet Nir adores her. He loved Pereg but understood that Pereg's epilepsy made her very wary of people - except my neighbour who she saw regularly. Pereg so desperately wanted to go up to Nir but she would get so far and then hide behind my legs.

As I keep saying, Tikva is a strange puppy. But I guess I am used to her by now.

Tikva has another "man" friend. Rafaël, Shulamit's husband, brought over Shulamit's Friday chicken/vegetables/couscous offering and Tikva was outside, Avner having brought round about 50m of cord so she can now get a lot further in the yard. Still not on the pavement though and I only used part of it, jjust sort of measured how much would get her so far but no further. Enough to last for ages, I reckon. No idea when he brought it but hey, who cares?

Anyhow, I did not see Rafaël, coming as he comes down the path, not the ramp, and the path is not visible from my table, but the next thing I knew was him appearing, with a dish in one hand and Tikva snuggled up under his chin with his other hand! He said that she just jumped into his arms!

She likes being outside although has yet to learn to p&p out there, Earlier a couple of young children called out to ask if they could please cuddle the puppy and I said oh no, she bites. I actually do not want children touching her because she will bite, and in any case she is far too small for a child to pick up without hurting her, so the sooner they al know that she is not to be touched, the better.. She was fine with Nir because he has a [fully vaccinated] dog of his own so knows how to treat a tiny puppy, and she has seen Rafaël before so knows him. But I am on strict puppy watch when she is outside - I just did not see Rafaël but was expecting either him or Shulamit so was not on such strict puppy watch. And with both Nir and Rafaël being grandfathers, Tikva seems to know that "older" men are OK.

All that aggro from the mid-teens who used to annoy Pereg and then get me out and doing a fishwife imitation, every Friday afternoon and most of Shabbat. They obviously knew that Pereg had gone and never came back. Nobody knew Baby Ziva long - I certainly did not and no way am I doing to risk losing Tikva. So they are keeping well away. B"H

She might be a baby monster but she is my baby monster.

The teeny meeny Tikva who weighd far more than you would believe from her size, is due for second [and last] baby shot tomorrow. They still do not want me to take her to the surgery, probably because they had a bad case of Parvo, so Michal will be coming either before she opens the surgery at 9am or after she closes it at 2pm. In an case the carrying container has not yet arrived. The problem is weighing Tikva. It is almost impossible for me to weigh myself as I cannot stand unsupported, so I have to move the scales where I can get hold of the bar on the wall one side of the throne, and the rail between the throne and the shower. Get on and let go of my crutches, and pray!

So to weigh the teeny bugga is to hold her [ignoring her teeth] - weigh the two of us, note what it says, drop her [gently] down and see the result. I think she weighs somewhere in the region of 2.75kg, maybe a bit more, but whatever - she is definitely heavy for her size.

She has no fat on her. Has a glorious waist [I should be so lucky], and just looks perfect. Just a very solid very small puppy, who still only wants three meals a day. Looking at the diagrams of dog sizes, she is just about perfect. Maybe a bit on the thin size of perfect but she is rock solid so I am not worried.

Question. How do I keep Tikva's teeth in her mouth and not round Michal's ankles tomorrow? Believe me, Tikva is EVIL. Except when she is asleep in which case she is the angel of all living angels!

I used to start weighing my Cavalier puppies on a large kitchen scale. When they got bigger, I popped them into a light tea towel, and hung the four corners from a fisherman's scale. I use the combined weight method for the Beagles - plays heck with your back though! The vet scale is much easier (when you can get there).

Glad she's doing so well, Malka.

@CaroleC - Tikva is, well, Tikva. Somehow I cannot see her staying on a vet scale though - she moves like lightening so it is going to be difficult as to what she really weighs.

But according to the sketch scale she is in between thin and normal, and yet weighs so much?

Oh well, wait and see what Michal thinks of her, Michal presumably being her primary vet. I have warned that Tikva bites and Michal just laughed. Tikva needs her claws clipping andi t will take us both. One to hold tight and not scream when bitten, and one to do the clip clip clip.

Oh, did I say I love this daft little puppy?

The "THING" had hat its second puppy shot and not does nor need another one for a year, and Michal has left me enough worm pills for hopefully until then. Apparently every three months? She will need her rabies shot in about 4 week's time.

And yes, Tikva screamed and Michal had needle teeth in her.when she clipped her nails, and Michal just laughed - well I was going to get some scissors and Michal found some clippers and wrapped up the mini Monster in the couch wotsit - but Tikva decided to scream all the same. Well she would because that is why I call her a mini Monster.

Actually the mini Monster was outside so Michal had a good look at her doing her run around and reckons she is strong and healthy - but I had warned her that she bites...

..oh well, I did warn her.

Yes, Tikva is heavy for her size but she is very according to the charts. She has no fat on her so I am obviously doing something right.

And Michal thinks she is totally adorable. Well, of course she is. And Michal adores her.

So what have I to complain about?

[appart from teeth]

and

[scrtitch scratchy claws]

What I meant to say is that according to the charts, Tikva is just under-weight but not too much. She just looks thin for her weight. Or maybe feels heavy for her size?

What is important is that Michal has seen her rushing around outside and she looked good.

There is no guarantee in life. Pereg developed epilepsy from nowhere, and with Tikva being helf Doxie - a breed known to have epilepsy,who knows what will happen.

I jut pray it does not.

Oh my wotsit.

The teeny meeny mini Monster has managed to not only get on the couch but on the recliner. Will someone please tell she is too small?

Message to Tikva from Chico: Do not take notice of what anyone else says. You are NEVER too small to do anything!

Message from Chico to Tikva - That uman is not going to keep me off the couch.

End of,,,

Hear, hear! Little dogs of the world unite!

Shall we start a union of small dogs wot duz things dey should not be able to do?