New Puppy Owners

[kid]

I know there are a few of us that have recently picked up new pups.
Were your puppies lovely and calm when you first got them or were they mental straight away?

I can't believe how calm Teddy is being so far. He has slept a lot but even when he is awake, he just nibbles gently on your fingers or rolls his ball with his feet.

He has not had any accidents in the house yet which is a miracle.

I am wondering if this is the calm before the storm?

he sounds perfect and v happy kid

i am so pleased for you

Covering it is a god idea to draw him back to the right place, but is there a reason why you are not just training him to go outside?

Don't panic, a new puppy is like a newborn, even if you have done it many times before, each new one is so different and the first few weeks can feel very overwhelming.

I assume he did a poo on the floor. Make a note of what time he is fed, goes out and poos. By writing it down, you should be able to time it well.
Good luck.

My pup is having a mad half hour. I'm taking him out for a run as he is nipping us, really hard!

Hello i am due to get a new puppy Saturday week. Just a quick few questions please. What if they eat slugs, snails or ants, which we have quite a few of. What commands should you teach them and in what order? What key words do you for wees and poos? Do you say the same for both? What do I do if she has started To wee indoors? Do i pick her up and let her piddle on me and the floor while carrying her outside to where want her to wee and what about poos? What time in the evening do we give her last drink of water as we will crate train her? Aall advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I was so lucky with my crate, my sister found it on freecycle and picked it up for me while I was on holiday.

I have got a problem with teddy. He keeps chewing/eating stones from the garden. Trouble is, the garden us covered in shingles (I think that's what they are called). He also got hold of a slug tonight and I had to get the nasty squishy remains from his mouth!
I am working on the 'leave it' command in the hope I can make him leave the stones.

No accidents in the house today, even though he was left alone for 2 1/2 hours and 1 hour. I am very proud of my baby.

Dh was talking about the day moby died and the circumstances of his death. I burst into tears
I can talk about moby but I can't talk about the day he died.

Good morning everyone

I am feeling quite perky as Rudy is starting to fall into shape

Right we seem to have a lot of questions-

First of all wats and assumpta, do you have a basic puppy book? You will need something have a look on Amazon if not.

wats is this your first dog? New puppies are a nightmare, but so worth it in the end. Toilet training takes endless patience you must take him to where you want him to go, every time he wakes up, every time he has played, everytime he has eaten, every hour or so for good measure and always straight away if you see him sniffing or circling.

It will be hard with the kids initially, clicker training would help, have you considered that?

assumpta basic comands, you really need a book or classes to make sure you are teaching coreectly if you haven't done it before. Make sure it is a method that teaches positive reinforcement rather than old-fashioned compulsion. For weeing and pooing I say 'go wee' and 'go poo' lots of others use 'be quick' or 'get busy', the dog has no idea what you are saying so choose any command you like. try not to use something the puppy will hear in other situations, I am forever saying the the dc's 'go on then, be quick', this would obviously be disatarous.

Ants arn't a problem though slugs and snails are, kid I'm not sure if you are aware of this? They carry lungworm which if untreated is very dangerous and dogs must be prevented from eating them. Make sure the wormer you are using protects against lung worm as not all do.

I am aware of lungworm which is the only reason I wrestled the nasty slimy thing from his mouth, YUK

I don't know when I'm meant to worm him, I'd better contact the breeder. I guess pups are wormed at set intervals. I know teddy has been wormed twice.

The little rat had me up at 5 this morning, then 6 and then slept till 8. He is still being very good though, only had accidents in the house on that one day when he went 5 times!

I'm leaving him alone again today for an hour or so. We will go for a little run first to wear him out a bit.

Hope everyone is having fun with their pups

watsthestory - sounds like you are getting there!

We had already bought a crate before we brought our pup home, but since he arrived just over two weeks ago we have also bought 2 stair gates, 1 puppy pen and a metal car crate (as DP now agrees with me that the fabric one we had already purchased does not look compatible with our crocodile lab pup ).

I took teddy over the park and he got bit by another dog he really cried and ran away yelling (he was on a 50ft training lead)
he us absolutely fine though. The owner was so apologetic but it's fine. The other dog was eating some bread and teddy got too close. When the dog had finished eating, it came over to teddy and they were fine together.

I left him alone again for almost 2 hours. On my return, he was sleeping in his crate and had no accidents in the house, yippeee! Lol

Thank you for that. No I have not got a puppy book, but will get one asap. I have booked socialisation classes for the beginning of her week 9, and obedience classes for when she is about 14 weeks old. I had wanted to do some basic commands before this if possible, but wasn't sure what I should teach.

Another question please, I am crate training, but hope to be able to get rid of the crate once she is house trained as the crate doesn't look great and is quite big. I have a nice spot for her to put a bed in, but the crate won't fit there. Is this an okay thing to do, if I say 'bed' to her every time she goes in her crate and then eventually say bed when she moves from crate to just a bed. When would be too soon after she is house trained?

Wrt the crate, whilst they do help with house breaking to me the main reason for using a crate is to prevent detructive behaviour when the dog is left home alone, so I would be using one for at least 18mo-2years, some dogs really won't give them up either.

They are useful for so many things-

Muddy dogs after a walk, when the phone is ringing or dc's need boots and coats disposing of first before you can deal with the dog.

Times when dig disliking children or friends visit.

Recuperating after vet treatment.

What kind of dog is she btw and does she have a name yet?

well so far wonderbear has been calm, however i notice his energy levels increasing daily.

he has been a bit quieter today though as he got stung by a wasp and had to have an anti-inflammatory and a painkiller. so he has just been cuddling round my feet today.

he is also chewing rocks from the garden.

does anyone use the puppy kong toy with the puppy paste? i have it but he just doesn't show any interest in it all.

Aaaaaaagh! Rhubarb family stressed today. Damn puppy hanging off DDs leg like no tomorrow, sinks teeth, besides itself with excitment, clicker entirely ignored. Me annoyed/irritated (excellent), why can't DD just bark more persuasively. I prise wired dog off DD, stay calm stay calm, DD leaves room in tears. What a good game. Right back to previous good advice from a few days ago.

Holding her on a lead sounds good next step WildThings if I can get lead on, at least she may attempt to eat lead not me.

It's not all the time, just at key moments (hungry or tired, dog not us).

Feeling pissed off today. Dog is growing by the minute, in confidence as well as size. Feel I have limited period to get this under control - classes booked from 6 sept, wish they were sooner... Relax.

OK, needed to sound off. Raining hard. Can't go out yet. Friday D Day for first outings. Maybe that'll wear her out.

I'm taking teddy to petsathome tomorrow :)

Wherethewildthingsare - it's a cockapoo. No name yet. Does the crate have to stay in the same place all the time? The only reason i ask is because my husband is mostly up at 5.30 for work and will wake her if she is in the kitchen, so I wondered if I could have her in the living room for night sleep and move her to the kitchen where I will be during the day. The only thing with this is that she would have to do her business in a different area for her first wee, and another area for the rest of the day, especially if she was mid way before I got to her? Would all this be too confusing. Thanks. By the way do they poo first thing after their sleep or just after breakfast?

ilove wonderbear has tried to do that aswell, when he opens his mouth to put it round something we do a high piched yelp and if it is a body part he is going for we remove it asap. he is definitely getting the hang of what the yelp means and he is even trying to mouth less. he had taking a liking to ds2 but now he knows to keep his distance and we have only had him 5 days.

iloverhubardcrumble when your pup starts to bite DD don't say anything but remove puppy and put in another room for time out. When the puppy is calm praise. I personally would then pop him in his crate for a nap. Nipping puppies often means they are overexcited and knackered.

my puppy has started nipping and it hurts!
He nips DS the most but thats because he gives the best reaction. When Teddy bits DS's ankle, DS literally flies through the air onto the settee.

I have told him to stand still and make a loud noise. Easier said than done as I have also felt those teeth.

Teddy seems to have a mental 1/2 hour at 8pm. Other than that, he is still a very calm, sweet, placid pup.

Hi everyone. I officially joined the puppy club last night when we picked up Storm, our Siberian Husky puppy. He's 7 weeks old. So far he has weed everywhere except for the garden. And so much for not weeing in his crate, 4 blankets we have gone through! He howled for about 20 mins then dropped off last night. Daddy had to sleep downstairs in the living room with the crate though. not sure if that was for Storm's benefit or daddy's. kids wont leave him alone though (9 and 3). wasnt going to paper train but he won't do anything outside and I'm not sure what to do for the best.