The day after we picked up Anna, I saw some little red spots around her lady bits. I thought maybe they were just a little rash, so I carefully cleaned her with warm water and put some Penaten creme on the red and slightly swollen spots. The next day the spots looked less red and I assumed the creme was helping. Another day later, I wanted to clean her again and realized that there is a green-yellow discharge coming out of her.
I immediately called the vet and took Anna down the same day. The vet said the discharge is caused by a vaginitis. This is common in female dogs and it’s supposed to disappear with the first heat. Since she is only 8 weeks old, waiting until her first heat seems to be awfully long but the vet said, there is nothing much she can do. She gave her an antibiotic injection just in case.
The red spots are not actually just a rash but caused by (autumn) mites! Adult dogs usually don’t react to these mites but since Anna’s skin is still very thin, it get’s very itchy and uncomfortable. The vet gave us a shampoo to get rid of parasites and a spray to calm down the itching.
Back at home I did some research on natural remedies to help stop the vaginitis and found that calendula (marigold) tincture has helped other dogs to heal the infection.
Mum and I thoroughly washed her with the shampoo and warm water in a little bathing tub the same night.

The next day I got the calendula tincture from the chemist. We mixed 20 drops in 150ml water (boil and let cool down first) and flushed out her private bits carefully. There is also some alcohol in the tincture which should help to disinfect any irritated areas. Finally some Penaten Creme and we are done.

Not that being sick is worrying enough, Anna has started to wee on the carpet quite frequently now. While I’m making sure she get’s out often enough (once every hour/2 hours) and she also does wee outside and I reward her for it, we walk back inside the house and within a minute, she wees again. Yesterday she even weed on her blanket, which shocked me quite a bit.
Another time she weed outside, then weed on the carpet 5min later and within 10 seconds did another wee a meter away from the other wee.
I’m not sure whether this toilet problem is caused by her infection or whether I did something wrong.
Unfortunately I had to decide that she’ll only be allowed inside the crate when in the house until she is housebroken. This is a huge problem as she has extreme separation anxiety and throws tantrums inside her crate that won’t stop! The maximum time I tried to lock her in there with me being in the room were four hours and she didn’t stop screaming once. Yesterday, after a long day out, I had her in the crate for an hour (the crying did not stop) then outside in the garden for 15min and back inside for an hour. Again the crying did not stop. She will only stop crying when we are nearby her crate. She will not settle at all if we are out of her sight.
Last night she worked herself up once again that when we went outside, she simply dropped to the floor and lay flat in the grass, not moving. She had to cool herself down for quite a while but even then she didn’t like to walk through the garden with me. I had to put her on her leash and animate her to follow me but she wouldn’t go to the toilet. When I had her back in the crate, she worked herself up again so much, that when I came back 15min later, she was panting like crazy (while whining still) and I noticed the right side of her face was swollen up a lot. She must have hurt herself in the crate badly.

About her crate: I did everything I was told: I reduced the space in her crate so she can’t run around in it anymore, I put a clock inside, my socks, a kong toy, I tried to play with her in and around her crate etc. It’s not that she doesn’t like the crate itself, she only panics once I move away more than a meter.

I have a strong schedule for today: I’ll take her outside and do some whistle training, maybe try some retrieving. Then I’ll walk her along the forest a few hundred meters. Once she is tired, I’ll bring her back, clean her with calendula and finally bring her back to her crate. When she is in there, for today, I will stay in the room.
I hope there will be some improvement by tonight; I hope she will accept being in the crate when I’m in the room without throwing tantrums anymore.