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?

Eddie finally got through a whole night in his crate without howling last night. Hoorah!

He knows to stop doing something when he is told off now. But he still likes leaving the odd poo or wee in the house for us.

He has his second jab on tues when he will be 10 weeks old.

Kid wrt worming, Eddie has been done every two weeks since he was 2 weeks old. He is due again at 11 weeks

Mine follows me every where as well and howls at nigth when we put him to bed- although things are improving - certianity haven;t got any worse then the first night.

Haven't been outproperly since we brougt her home at the weekend but if we do need to pop out then I put her in a crate in the car and she comes with us and one of the boys stays in the car with her . But she still has a whimper .

last night also left a radio on for her - might have helped last night who knows.

We have waited to get a puppy for years , the time has neer been right but we knew it would be difficult but didn't think the night issue would be so much.

Toileting is good and she is taken out into the garden often and I say 'toilet ' sorry not much imagingation there !

Still wee in the untilty room in the morning but first two nights we also had poo but that is now stopped .

How do you stop the weeing in night ordo we just have to wait for her to get better bladder coontrol - I never remove her water and personally dont think you should.

Watsthestory - stick with it - early days for many of us - it is like someone just plonking a toddler in your house when you have never had children before !

Why not contact your vets and speak with vet or vet nurse to get some advice if you feel low?

Puppy jumps up at my boys but we are trying a firm NO and then stuffing a toy in her mouth ! Ithink they see the children as another puppy to play with but this is obviously not the case - puppy needs to be taught that it is at the bottom of the pack -although not taught from fear .

Also everyone in the house need to be educated - my DH was on way back from work and I told him that when he came in to grett me and the boys first then pupy last - what des he do - walk in the door and is all over the puppy !

keep at it and at least you know that others are going through it on here.

Good morning all, very brief one today as I am having a bit of a busy day .

Rudy has both wee'd and Poo'd in the rain, I am overjoyed.

Wats bless you, you have the puppy blues, it is really hard in the beginning especially if you haven't done it before, you will get there, you will love him, give it lots of time and patience and expect to be disrupted for a good long while, a dog is a huge commitment and responsibility.

Avantia don't worry about the greeting thing, pack theory is completely outdated now, sounds like you are doing a brilliant job though.

Lou33 big yay for Eddie and the sleeping.

Pinkanimal welcome and congratulations on your very new puppy keep posting.

kid so sorry about the bite, even though he is ok, that must of been horrible. Did Teddy enjoy his trip to P@H? I took Rudy the other day, he thought is was great, all those smells and loads of fuss.

I am going to make a list as it is hard as we grow, please can you add yourself if you are new or any missing information and corrections if I have got it wrong (appologies if I have )

me (wtwtw) whippet -Rudy - 12 weeks

kid - springer spaniel- Teddy - 11 weeks

iloverhubarb crumble -springer spaniel - Lola - 10 weeks

Purplefrog - Labrador - Rory - 10 weeks

musicposy - ? - Poppy - 4 months

Avantia - Labrador - ? - 9 weeks

Lou33 - ? - Eddie - 9 weeks

Watsthestory -

assumpta - cockerpoo - yet to bring home

booyhoo - ? - Wonderbear - ?

pinkanimal - Siberian husky - Storm - 7 weeks

Minimu1 - resident expert .

Have a great day everyone.

Wtwtw - what a great list, well done.

Wats - I know exactly how you feel. My last puppy was a menace. He was also my first puppy so
I had no idea what I was in for. I questioned myself if we were right to get him. I really did love hom but everything was so hard. Puppy classes helped as I saw and heard from others going through exactly the same problems. It does get easier. You make the rules and consistently teach the dog. It will work out, just takes time. Plus, we are all here to help and support eachother.

We had a good time at P@H. Teddy wasted no time tracking down a bag of food that had been split open, oops! We bought him some puppy food, treats and 6 toys lol. Two of them of food dispensing toys which I love. He figured out how to get the food out of the busy buddy already (and it was reduced to £3)

he didn't like his crate in the car. He was being bashed against the bars as I went round corners or over bumps. So I took him out of the crate and left him on his bed in the boot (7seater) and he was amazing. Just slept most of the time. Took us 25 minutes eachway.

He has a husky alsation cross coming round shortly to meet him. She is about 10 months old, hope they get on okay.

I've been following this thread, although my hound is coming up to 3 years old, my brother and his gf have recently got 2 new pups.And I'm puppy/dog mad

I'm posting now because I've noticed a lot of you mentioning that your pups are howling alot at night.

My brother asked me to go with them to pick up their pups, so I could help with getting them home.The pups were in an enclosure with a slightly older (2 weeks) litter and both their mums and also at times their father and a couple of more mature puppies, in all there were at least 25 pups/dogs around most of the time. The breeder does this so the pups get used to having bigger dogs around them, and she owns a large group of dogs that live like a 'pack'.

As my brother and his gf got 2 pups they haven't had the howling at night as they have each other to snuggle and comfort, but, while we was there, other owners were coming to pick up their pups and I felt so sad knowing that those pups, although well loved and adored by their owners were going to feel a 'wrench' from that 'pack' situation.

So spare a thought for your pups when they cry at night, although most of them won't have come from a 'pack' situation like that it made me realise that it must take the pups quite a bit of time to get used to being alone at night.

I haven't posted this as a " poor pups..uncaring owners" post. My pup was a rescue pup and when we picked him up there were only 2 pups left, so I never thought " aww poor pups being seperated" , I just knew and accepted he wa sgoing to cry for a while at night on his own.

Collecting my brother's pups made me understand it more from a pups view thats all.

The thing is late the books etc say ' expect your pup to cry ' they never ever mention howling for 1.5 hours !

I must say that I was nearly in tears when we picked up our pup to think it was leaving it's siblings and mother .

Anyway just taken her for a ride in the car , had some errands to do - in crate . A couple of days ago when I did this she howled and wimpered - however today alot better. We saw some friends and they made a big fuss of her in the crate - on the way back not a sound and she fell asleep !

Right, crate training can be hard, I am having an ongoing nightmare with mine, are you clicker training at all?

You need to make the crate a really great place, don't shut him in yet.

Get back to me on the clicker and I will have more advice.

Oh and does he have a name? You missed it off.

Another thing I'd like to know is what area people live in. I love teddy meeting other dogs, he has lots of friends!

I'm in east London

Ringo is a fab name.

Right read up on clicker training here it is a wonderful way to train and communicate with your dog.

If you want to go ahead I would suggest you buy a book first, try Amazon.

For now sit next to the crate with some treats, (chicken, cheese, hot dog) throw a bit near to the door, (but not indside) when he eats it say 'yay, good boy Ringo' I tend to think of the correct tone as over enthusiastic American twat.

Keep throwing treats gradually into the cage then progressively nearer the back.

That will be enough for today, do it a few times if you can but no longer than 5 minute sessions.

Repost back this evening, good luck .

For all the new owners, here is the ultimate training treat recipe, your puppy is guaranteed to sell their soul for it and a very desirable treat makes training so much easier.

Not easy to make without feeling slightly queasy, but soooooooo worth it, plus it makes loads and freezes so you can just take out a small portion each day.

Liver cake

8oz lambs (or any other) liver
4oz self raising flour
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic or 2 tsps garlic puree

Put all ingredients in a blender and whizz until mixture is smooth, pink and runny. Pour into a greased swiss roll tin (I line it with baking parchment) and bake in oven at gas mk 4, 180C. for 30-40 minutes.

Leave to cool and cut into bite size pieces.

I'd love to make it but I struggle to touch liver let alone blend it! I may give it a try though, surely I won't actually vomit?

Do it, Teddy will worship you.

I am (a crap) vegetarian and I wouldn't touch red meat for anyone but my puppy, you will look like this -->, but only while blending which is really pretty quick, once it is cooked it is very inoffensive.

Plus it only costs about £1.50 to make and makes enough for about a month or two, so much cheaper than brought treats and no nasty additives, sugar or fillers.

Oh and I am in the Midlands.

me (wtwtw) whippet -Rudy - 12 weeks - midlands

kid - springer spaniel- Teddy - 11 weeks - east London

iloverhubarb crumble -springer spaniel - Lola - 10 weeks

Purplefrog - Labrador - Rory - 10 weeks

musicposy - ? - Poppy - 4 months

Avantia - Labrador - ? - 9 weeks

Lou33 - ? - Eddie - 9 weeks

Watsthestory - Shih Tzu _ 9 weeks

assumpta - cockerpoo - yet to bring home

booyhoo - ? - Wonderbear - ?

pinkanimal - Siberian husky - Storm - 7 weeks

Minimu1 - resident expert .

So much better today Minimu thanks for that sound advice, only had to use it once today, maybe we are over the worst. Main thing is how predictable it is, we are practicing NOT hyping up puppy and maintainng a calm atmosphere. A puppy certainly highlights existing faultlines in family rel'ships.

yes re puppy blues - yes. WTWTW you are great, good thoughts for all, so pleased about the outdoor pooing and weeing! Oh my god the liver cake. Not sure.. (not a vegetarian but). And thanks for the list too.

And all - I am not giving alot of advice as I am a novice myself, but I'm reading your posts and good vibes to everyone. A new puppy is a huge undertaking and also hard to appreciate what that actually means till you've got her/him.

wtwtw whippet -Rudy - 12 weeks - midlands

kid - springer spaniel- Teddy - 11 weeks - east London

iloverhubarb crumble -springer spaniel - Lola - 11 weeks now - SW London

Purplefrog - Labrador - Rory - 10 weeks

musicposy - ? - Poppy - 4 months

Avantia - Labrador - ? - 9 weeks

Lou33 - ? - Eddie - 9 weeks

Watsthestory - Shih Tzu _ 9 weeks

assumpta - cockerpoo - yet to bring home

booyhoo - ? - Wonderbear - ?

pinkanimal - Siberian husky - Storm - 7 weeks

Minimu1 - resident expert .

That's great that he has done everything outside, that's exactly what you would hope for. If you see him going, give it a command. I tell teddy 'go toilet' and he will do a wee.

We just got back from the park (in the rain)
I got a 50 ft training lead that I couldn't recommend enough. Teddy's recall is super, but only with me. He responded every single time. There were no other dogs there to distract him so that would be our next test.

wrt the crate, i found the only way to do it is to just grit your teeth and stick it out

the first night we put eddie in, he howled and cried on and off from 10.30 pm - 3 am

the second night it was from 10pm - 11.40 pm

last night it was for 15 mins

dora was similar, nowadays she is brilliant about sleeping on her own and

its a hideous noise i know, but he has definitely settled into being in his crate now (she is 8m now)

wtwtw whippet -Rudy - 12 weeks - midlands

kid - springer spaniel- Teddy - 11 weeks - east London

iloverhubarb crumble -springer spaniel - Lola - 11 weeks now - SW London

Purplefrog - Labrador - Rory - 10 weeks

musicposy - ? - Poppy - 4 months

Avantia - Labrador - ? - 9 weeks

Lou33 - Patterdale/jack russell cross- Eddie - 9 weeks, english springer spaniel - dora, 8m, and part time we have Boris - miniature sausage dog - 3.5 yrs

Watsthestory - Shih Tzu _ 9 weeks

assumpta - cockerpoo - yet to bring home

booyhoo - ? - Wonderbear - ?

pinkanimal - Siberian husky - Storm - 7 weeks

Minimu1 - resident expert .