Slurpie Week 1

Day 1 (22nd Feb)

Slurpie came home with me after I braved 40mins of peak hour traffic, heavy rain and armed only with a cut trashbin box. He remained stiff throughout the journey in the box at the front passenger foot area. The moment we reached home and I placed him in his playpen, he morphed into an ostrich:

Luckily before i started to call the cops for being conned into buying an ostrich looking like a dog, he managed to move a little. The little fellow was quiet throughout that night and he walked cautiously with a hunched back showing how uncertain he was. The man came back early to meet his new baby whom we fear may be a dumb and inactive pup.

Day 2

We bought him to the vet to ensure he was in good health. He sat quietly between us, making no noise even when the other dogs at the vet barked at him. He liked to look at the road and the cars though. Vet ensure us he is one healthy boy and pretty big size too for his age. Weight: 2.2kg, 25cm by 26cm (withers and length). He started to warm up to us but was still timid....we were sighing that we have to accept his timidness and dumb nature.

Day 3

We discovered Slurpie's fox tail. He started to hop around, whined to be let out when we leave him alone in the playpen and was interested in everything. He was also able to pee and poo at the paper area. He did pee in the living room when we let him out as he did not dare to return to the playpen for fear of being locked in again.

In the next couple of days we realise Slurpie was also a mini sumo. He managed to shift his playpen into all sorts of shapes and one morning, we found him standing OUTSIDE the playpen barking at the people downstairs! Lil sumo managed to push his way out of his playpen! However he underestimated his mummy's creative mind. I filled the laundry box with water and used it to keep the playpen in place. Lil sumo now cannot push what is prob almost 15kg of water. =P

Slurpie also learnt the sit command. Smart pup! He also started chewing his make-shift DHL house. We wonder how much he has eaten though. Poor pup however started coughing, we suspect he caught it at the vet. It broke our hearts to hear him wheezing and coughing like he was out of breath. Vet issued antibiotics and the no shower order. To clean his ears we resorted to doing it at the lift lobby as only when he is out of the house does he stay still, afraid to move. So from dumb/inactive to sumo/smartass chewer, we have now one smelly pup.

Update: Smelly pup can now play the STAY game. This lil guy really is a smart dog. From refusing to budge once we clip on the leash (plus a real frowning look that cracks us up) to now trotting with the lease while attempting to bite it, he picks things up so fast. He also understand the word NO and while he cunningly tries to pretend and get on the carpet or into the rooms thinking we are not watching, the moment he hears NO, he backs off. Sometimes he would let us know how displeased he is by giving us a snobbish bark but he would than lie and wait outside the room. We are proud of lil smelly

Our new baby - Slurpie

Born: 24/12/2007
Breed: Full Black Schnauzer
Markings: White patch on chest area
Cost: S$1380


Introducing the newest member to our home. Slurpie born on Christmas Eve =)

After all the research online and visiting so many pets shop we finally found our best friend. To summarise the posts earlier, The man wanted big dogs, I like them too but given all that he shortlisted were shedders, I had to refuse as housework as it is now for 2 of us is taking up so much time. Then he wanted a Standard Schnauzer. However this is not available locally and to ship one of the flurry from NZ or Aus will cost a bomb. We got a little distracted by the gentle giant Black Russian Terrier pup which Ericsson Pet was selling at S$8,888. haha we are not that rich but the BRT is really a great pup although I wonder how can we both squeeze into the corridor at home and all the doorways seeing that he likes following his owner =P

The common schnauzer in Sg is the Salt & Pepper. There are also quite a few Black and Silver. Being the difficult persons we both are, we again wanted something not easily available. Full black. So we left our names on a waiting list and that also explains the price of Slurpie as there was only 1 F and 1 M pup making the demand/suppy curve pretty skewed.

Selection

Gan Cheong Spider (aka the man) wanted to be the first to select from the litter so we went asap on 17th Feb, Sunday. The female pup was very yappy, barking and howling and she was also smaller in size and her fur not as black (slightly brownish). We picked the male after much observation and deliberation (read this) as he was bigger in size and his fur were black and dense although he was not really full black as he has a white patch on his chest and a few white blotches on 2 of his paws. We figured the white patch made him special too. So we placed the deposit and went to buy the necessities to prepare for him. (he had to stay for 2nd Vaccination and we could only go bring him back the following week)

Preparations

this is the fun part, we happily went directly to the various pet shops to get ready for our best friend's home coming. we bought chew toys, fetch toys, teething toys, leash, collar, shampoo, playpen fence etc etc.

Slurpie shall have a corner in the balcony. the balcony has bamboo blinds so he will be safe from the elements and our furniture will also be safe. Besides, it is the airest part of the house and so the stench of his pee and poo shall not be a problem. Tip: buy the playpen fence as opposed to a cage no matter how big it is as the fence gives more flexibility to rearrange the size as your puppy grows. this is what we are using, you can hook them together and form the shape and size that is ideal.
we set up the playpen is a simple square first, then took it apart and formed a "house" shape using part of the wall, then took it apart and tried all types of configurations. we also had the plants in the balcony shifted around just to find the best spot for Slurpie. Finally we decided that since he was still so tiny, it would be easier for us to toilet/paper train him in a contained area where eat, sleep and poo areas are distinct. A too big area initially may confuse him and give him a choice of where to do what. Thus it will be better to slowly increase the area later.

i was really tempted by the nice kennels/beds for doggies. however i am aware that not all dogs like to use them and they are really not cheap! creative juices flowed and i decided to make one for Slurpie using the DHL jumbo box we had first. After all puppies do not mind the looks as much as we do =P. Wanted to give him an option to hide is he feels like it or stay covered should he feel cold or scared. Did not take a good shot of how my DHL house looks like but here is a pic that shows the layout of Slurpies initial home for the 1st couple of days:

tiny tiny black fur ball

in the end we had to expand the paper part to the full lenght on the left of the picture as he did not know he has to do his biz on paper. by instinct he never did it in the house or in the quarter with the water bowl. however slowly we reduced the size of the paper area by placing him on it whenever we catch him about to poo or pee and then go crazy with lavishing praises to let him know that is a desired behavior. well more on that later....

Selecting your puppy

yeah now we have decided on the full black schnauzer we wanted to be able to get the "best" from a litter. of cos my best and your best may differ. some people prefer shy dainty dogs who are all nice and proper while others like us prefers robust active dogs who are well...a little mischievious.

thank God for the worldwide web! we read again all possible articles and here are some links that may be useful:

http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/buying/common/puppies.html
easy to read, easy to understand

http://www.dogbreedsfinder.com/dog-breeds/dog-breed/how-to-select-a-puppy-for-you.html
a little wordy but useful

generally the sentiment seems to be "Pick a puppy that is active, friendly, and inquisitive. Avoid the one that appears to be afraid of everything or snarls at people". the thing is most of the articles are based on overseas scenarios whereby there are professional puppy breeders who will show you the parents of the pup and allow you to observe their behaviors. In sg however, we were rejected by ALL of the pet shops and pet farms. Nobody allowed us to see the parent dogs. of cos there are also alot of imported dogs which also means it is impossible to view the parents.

the man actually printed a checklist of what to do and how to select the pup but when we got down to it, many did not work. 1stly the pups in available were 6-7 weeks old. Being so young, many are still very inactive and their characters are not apparent at all. We did try to do the following:

1. jiggle our keys or make some noise behind the pup and watch for response mainly to test that hearing is fine...

2. try to turn the pup over on his back and rub his tummy. if the pup is agressive or too fearful they may snare and struggle until you release him. a more ideal response would be for them to try and struggle then lay still when they realise you are not letting go. a pup that is too agressive or has problems submitting may mean training difficulties later. of cos if the pup does not try to break free at all, this pup is a tad too timid and may have confidence issues later. we had only 2 puppies to choose from, a female and a male and both passed this test.

3. let the puppies down and observe their behaviors when together and apart. We realise the female pup was yapping 90% of the time both alone and with company. She also tends to rome about more. The male pup seldom barked and sit quietly to observe walking around and sniffing occassionally.

as we only had 2 choices, the above honestly did not manage to help us make our decision. soooo we used the simplest approach, we chose the male for his slightly bigger built and unique marking on the chest. his face and body was also more square-ish inline with the standard appearance a schnauzer should have. we also like it he did not yap as much as his lil sis. if however you could have more puppies to choose from i believe you can run a few more tests to make a wiser decision.