Day 2: Soiler Warning!

Yesterday was a bad day for Dash's tummy, when we picked him up from the shelter he had yucky nasty doggy diarrhea - the woman there suggested it could be from the neutering operation or from the de-wormer they gave him, or the stress of not eating very much the past few days. Whatever the reason, it was really gross. If you've ever seen a poodle, you know how hairy they are.. and to make matters worse, due to his operation, we can't bathe him for a week. Shelter lady said, "Do your best to clean him up without bathing him..." Yeah.. good luck with that. Poor puppy was running scared every time he saw a washcloth in my hands.
This morning I called my vet to see about setting up a first visit, and they were able to fit us in today. When she saw his bottom, she decided to have one of the technicians shave the hair in that area so that it would be easier to clean up. She gave him a medication to take twice daily for the next week hopefully to clear up whatever was bothering his tummy, gave us some medicine, some advice and sent us on our way. Oh, yeah, she also said we really hit the jackpot at the animal shelter - apparently they don't get toy poodles there on a very regular basis.
Today started in the same way it does for many new pet owners - cleaning up the spot on the carpet where our new friend has soiled. We knew when we got Dash that one of the big challenges we were going to face was the housebreaking. He is nearly 9 months old but has not been fully trained. We're pretty sure this in one of the major reasons his original family gave him up.
"But," confident me says, "I have a little more than two weeks before I have to go back to work! I will use this time to teach Dash how dogs use the outside world as a great big toilet! It will be fun, fulfilling and make me feel as if I did something worthwhile with my summer vacation!" So, I spent a lot of the day encouraging Dash to go forth and fertilize. He loves, loves, loves going out on his leash but mostly he just wants to run around and explore the world. This might be a little harder than I think..