First few days had issues with being left along. Whinning and barking non-stop for maximum an hour or so before he’d give up.
20th Feb (day 1): Sumo gobbled down some canned dog food that made his stomach upset. Cleaned ears.
Cries at being left alone. Cries when finish playing. Cries all the time, except when playing. Cries at night. Cover pen with cloth. Sleeps soundly.
21st Night: Tried feeding with some pieces of chicken. Ate a little. Stomach still bad. Cries at night. Cover pen. Sleeps soundly.
22nd: Still refusing to eat. Decided to take him for walks, tire him out and he’d feel like eating. Took him for walks. Ran after me, tumbled down slopes. Full of energy. Panting away.
Doesn’t eat. Doesn’t drink much water. Cries at night. Cover pen.
23rd: Still taking him walking. Nibbles on some food but only if the other dogs are eating. Competition is a good thing.
He’s lost weight. Bones showing. In spite of this, he’s running around like crazy. No slowing down for this hungry chap. Clean ears again.
At night try not to cover pen. Cries, then stops. At 4am cries again. Cover pen. Sumo sleeps soundly.
24th Night: Decided to try and give him a soft egg. He gobbled that down. Took him for another walk. Returned, had diarrhoea. Feed him a charcoal pill. Cover pen at night. We sleep soundly.
25th: Took him for walk. Couldn’t wait to eat! Charcoal pill saves the day. Begged to be fed twice today.
He’s started to deal with being left alone. After playing with him and returning him to his pen, he doesn’t whine any more. He will sometimes whine when he sees me, looking for attention.
However, I ignore him, working around him and he stops quickly. He needs to learn I’ll give him attention when I want to, not when he demands it. Cut his nails.
25th Night: Seeing the improvement of whining in day time, I decide to try not to cover the pen. He cries at first, but this ends in about 10 minutes. Pretty good.
At 11pm, he whines a little. Stops soon after. 12:40 – 1am. Whines softly and stops. He’s getting it.
I’m having trouble paper training him. He runs so quickly, sniffing everything, I don’t even catch when he slows down, ready to pee. If I can’t catch him in the act, I can’t do corrective training. Frustrating.
26th (day 7): Sumo hardly eats again. Try with noodles. Eats fast. Hungry dog, but fussy. He’ll have to lose a little more weight to learn that in this household, you eat what you’re given.
To stop him jumping around so much, I put on a collar. He finds it itchy. Keeps having to stop and tug at the collar.