Puppy survival thread *September!*

[JuiceyBetty]

Can't believe we're in September now, our babies are growing up!

Newbies always welcome especially if they come bearing photos....

[OohMrDarcy]

Thanks for the new thread Juicey!

Don't think I've actually posted a pic of Darcypup so here he is

[grannycake]

Thanks for the new thread. Grannypup is now allowed out so working on recall training at the moment. She actually is quite good on lead walking

[Whatiswrongwithmykid]

Are you allowing your unvaccinated puppies into the garden? Our vet said not to as we sometimes get foxes. I’ve rigged up a guinea pig pen for toilet training but Puppy can now escape. Earlier I let her explore a bit as she was really enjoying it and I’m was too tired to chase her back.

[OohMrDarcy]

I've got an old guinea pig pen set up too - mostly because I'm following Absolute Dogs who advise no playtime in garden before they are fully toilet trained. If he isn't in there he is by my side on lead (which takes longer!

I've never seen foxes in my garden though so wouldn't be worried about that.

[Worriesandwobbles]

Thanks for the new thread. Puppy goes in our back garden but its enclosed. Not let him down anywhere else yet. 2nd vaccinations today so counting down to going out.

[pupstersdream]

We let ours out before second vaccination. We have a large garden with lots of foxes and vet wasn’t worried. We also took him to places where there hadn’t been other unvaccinated dogs (friends gardens etc) Our puppy trainer supports early socialisation (before 2nd vaccination ) but we were cautious about that

[puppygalore]

Thanks for the heads up for this thread, I was keeping an eye out for September after following all your previous threads! Even reading all your experiences on those didn't prepare me for the hard work of a puppy, it really is like when I had my colicky refluxy newborns - on duty 24/7 and cramming everything into naptime! At least ddog seems to do a reliable 1-2 hours sleep each time unlike my dc who were both catnappers

We've had 2 wee accidents in the house this morning, I'm using an enzyme spray but it's the same spots as yesterday's accident so I assume I need a better one or to let the spray soak longer. She's also done wees and poos outside so hopefully is getting it, fingers crossed.

[Bunglemom]

Happy September all!

A step closer to Autumn walks with the pups!

Well bunglepup is sleeping a bit better... just need to get the house training sorted.... we're figuring out a pattern at the moment so wish me luck!

Good luck to all the new pups!

[OohMrDarcy]

Darcypup is being super clingy to me today, kids at their dads so no break...not happy in his pen / crate at all really today, certainly not if I'm in the room but he can't get to me! Any suggestions? He doesn't even want his food in there really 🙄

He has had treats and his fav toys in there and is still scrabbling to get to me!

Currently fast asleep on my lap and ill try again this afternoon!

[muckandnettles]

@JuiceyBetty thank you for the new thread - it's amazing how we have got through them. They chart pup's progress for me. I've gone from sleepless nights and sometimes even crying on the stairs, to pup just being a part of the family and fitting in with us most of the time. He is forgetting any recall he had before and only comes to us when there is nothing else of interest going on - he actually sometimes looks around him to check before he comes to us now, rude little bugger!

[Riverhousepuppy]

@muckandnettles that post is exactly why I am on here. To know it will all change and that this is just a phase and it will work out.
Riverpup has been a good girl today, carried her to a farm for in arms socialisation.
Thanks for new thread @JuiceyBetty

[muckandnettles]

@Riverhousepuppy someone said near the start of the first thread that you don't see a fully grown dog biting someone's arm nonstop, or waking in the night constantly - that comment was quite a help at the time!

[OwlInAnOakTree]

Thanks for the new thread JuiceyBetty. I don't post as much now which is great because it's a sign things are getting easier! OwlPup is a week away from 5 months old. Sleeping, toileting, leaving at home in crate for up to 3 hours if needed, all fab. Lead walking rubbish still. Recall getting there. Still far too interested in other people/dogs! Lunges at every passer by and every dog desperate to make friends. But, considering I felt pretty close to the edge many times in the first 8 weeks, the difference now is stark.

[GazingAndGrazing]

Thank you for the new thread. Pups are 12 weeks old today.

Their raw feeding is going well and the order from DragonFly came today bull pizzles, horns and yak bars plus dried rabbit for training.

We took them to the garden centre for more food supplies yesterday and on the way home we found a puppy on its own on the main road!

Managed to catch the poor thing as it nearly ran under a bus and they all spent a crazy 10 minutes playing in our garden whilst I posted on FB and found the owner, luckily it hadn’t got very far and the boys slept the rest of the day.

Poo’s outside not so great with wee’s and they sleep on their crate 11ish to 6.30am when it all starts again!

I’m walking them separately and training separately with lots of time apart so all going ok, for now...

[Whatiswrongwithmykid]

When my cats were weeing in my house the behaviourist I saw advised me to use a solution of 10% biological washing liquid in water to clean the spot. Once dry I then had to spray with neat surgical spirit. This is to break down the fatty deposits that animals can still smell. It seemed to work and got rid of the lingering smell that I hadn’t been able to with commercial sprays.

[Yawningyawning]

Checking in, we survived the month 👋
Working on leaving him happy to be on his own for 5 /10 mins!

[GazingAndGrazing]

@Yawningyawning

Checking in, we survived the month 👋
Working on leaving him happy to be on his own for 5 /10 mins!

How do you plan to get pup used to being left? I can’t even go in the garden without pups yelling at me!

As French Bulldogs they “talk” it’s hard not to laugh and encourage it.

[Annasgirl]

Loving the information on here. Gosh life is hectic with a puppy!!! Here is our girl, Daisy, asleep in her new bed.

[puppygalore]

Thank you @Whatiswrongwithmykid I'll give that a try.

She's just done another wee in the same spot as previous accidents so the spray definitely isn't working. Her toileting is very random, I'm trying to be careful getting her outside regularly and watching like a hawk but can't always see any signs she's about to go. She was outside and did 3 weeks and a poo, came in for a 5 min play and did a wee in the accident spot. I'm amazed she had anything left in after the first wees!

[OohMrDarcy]

Morning all, got a bit more sleep last night. I feel like we might be creeping towards one nighttime wakeup- which would be nice! Number 2 was about 5.30 this morning so fingers crossed that one gets later!

Re the wee spot spray, my one says to spray a larger area than the wee went (I guess in case of droplets?) Could that be your issue? I also left mine quite a while to let it do its thing... hope it improves for you soon!

Annasgirl she is teeny! Enjoy

[AmigoDog]

Hello. Thanks for the new thread. AmigoPup has been on his first holiday and all went well. He was car sick on the way there and back, and he had a few wee accidents in the house (on tiled floor luckily) but nothing major. He saw the sea for the first time and wasn’t impressed getting caught by a wave. It was all much more relaxing than I thought it would be and we all had a good time. It was lovely getting our first taste of countryside walks with a dog too - which AmigoPup also seemed to love.

Other than that we are still muddling around at home. AmigoPup has little recall so has only been off lead in our own/family gardens. He has calmed down a bit with the biting which is wonderful! He has learnt to jump up on the sofa and is much more confident with stairs now since having loads of practice running up and down stairs in the garden where we were staying.

It was dds birthday yesterday and we had some guests over in the garden. Everyone commented on how much he has grown (although as a toy poodle he is still pretty tiny in the scheme of things).

I’m back at work tomorrow (teacher) and Dd is back at school too. DH will be in charge 3 days a week so hopefully not too big a change for pup. I’m hoping to get him in daycare 1 day a week from October.

[GazingAndGrazing]

I’m also off to work this morning leaving DD in charge for a couple of hours.

I’m trying to stay positive and not imagine returning to piles of wee and a chewed sofa with DD oblivious on her phone!!

[Chocolateandamaretto]

Hello everyone, thanks for the thread @JuiceyBetty it’s been a real godsend to me!

A couple of puppy pics for posterity. A special one of my kids and chocpup as when I joined the August thread I was panicking that my kids would never be able to play with him as he was such a land shark but we’re making so much progress!!

For the poster on the last thread who asked how his first walk went, it was good, just went around the block in the end but met lots of our school friends so he met lots of kids and wasn’t too overexcited!! Going to get him to the woods at the weekend but obviously can only take 10 minute walks atm so we’ll see how that goes!

In terms of peeing inside I spray this citrussy spray on accidents as apparently they don’t like the smell of citrus? He’s doing pretty well at the moment so I don’t know if it has helped but something to consider?

[Riverhousepuppy]

So lovely to see all these pupdates. Riverpup went to her first class last night but was a bit worried by the other puppies, had a little sleep and was happier after that.
She also went to bed in crate in our bedroom at 9.30 and slept til 5.10, yippee. But once she is awake she is full on.
My ds7 is not loving her at the moment and avoids her at all costs. We have made the lounge a pup free zone for him to chill but need to work on calm and building positive bond with them both.
How do we start leaving her alone? What's the training pattern?

[muckandnettles]

We haven't left Muckypup alone at all really and it's not a big thing as we are semi-retired and work from home, but it would be nice to occasionally be able to go out without him! Ds has just moved out and we had relied on him to dogsit up to now. Dh bought a little camera that shows us what Mucky is doing in the kitchen when we aren't there, so I've persuaded dh that we will go out for a coffee round the corner from the house and watch how Mucky gets on. If we time it right, he will just sleep so it's when he is awake and alone we really need to do it.