Oh, and that's a point, Lamp.

Get the new carpet after you've trained him not to claw it up or poo on it? ;)

Then get some nice carpet the older wiser Carrot can lay around on. :)

Can't risk it, Lamp. The carpets wouldn't survive cleaning, which is the only other way to ensure the area is safe for a pup who is still going through vaccinations. 8 weeks old is slap bang in the danger zone for parvo virus and and a few other things.

Even fully vaccinated adult dogs can carry parvo, and it can live in any fabrics that the dog has had contact with for almost a year. It survives against most disinfectants. There is no known cure for a dog who contracts parvo. You just have to ride it out and hope theys urvive, deal with the worst of the symptoms etc. Very dangerous for pups and old dogs.

Pilau was intermittently vomiting and, especially towards the end, there were many accidents and a few explosions. Without putting him through gruelling tests there was no real way to know for sure what was going on at the end. We think we know. But he could easily have been floored by a viral infection. The house is simply not safe for a puppy of 8 weeks.


Nice thought Infi, but the carpet is baggy and frayed, with exposed grip strips and raised creases. Grip strips would tear a pup's paw open if he digs in the wrong place. Frayed edges are an invitation for pulling and chewing: a habit I really don't want him starting with.

I'm not house proud. If the carpet ends up with a few clean patches where I've had to clean up an accident, or he turns out tobe a digger and fucks it up within a year...well I can live with that. But the start point is a carpet that isn't potentially carrying something awful, and doesn't have easily pulled at and chewed places which could invite a puppy's attention.

That "something" can energize the kid inside each of us our whole lives.

Of course. D'uh. That makes sense, Dana.

(You can see I've never had a dog to train)

:)

*smiles*

Sometimes it's a little counter intuitive.

Posted in the Pet thread already, but I'm very happy for you and Carrot.

I look forward to reading about the dog-tired puppy passed out after a long days romp through the hills all curled up in mommy's lap.

I also had the thought of WTF? New carpet just before a new puppy? are you NUTS?

But, seing your discussion, okay, you're in fact very wise and compassionate. Carry on.

Dana, carrot looks so soft and sqeezable!

Oh God! I want a beardie!!!!!

Yeah....they have that effect :P

You can see how J ended up with one when all he was originally doing was accompanying me to see Carrot.

Here Limey, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CarrotAndMerlot/videos

He is so cute!

The video that shows them feeding is adorable. Their mum, Ellie, is such a sweetheart. A really good and attentive mum, but puppy teeth are starting to get sharp by now :p

She's about ready to cut them off. :) Will the brown guy gray out over time like the black and white ones?

They all fade aye. But the browns tend to go either a sandy colour, or a kind of cappucino colour like Pil. Their mum is a brown. So, she'd have looked very similar to carrot when she was a pup. She's quite unusual in that she's kept a strong brown tone to her fur when you see her close up. It's like beneath the top layer of pale fur there's a layer of mahogany.

Pilau was a very deep chocolate brown when we got him :P

The mum's a real cracker! My mum was very partial to the dark brown adults, but you could never tell which brown pup would end up like that!