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?

Teddy is now 23 weeks old and is a delight, most of the time.
He sleeps like a baby during the night and isn't waking me up and stupid times anymore. If he does wake up, I ignore him and he gets the message and goes back to sleep until its time for me to get up.

He is 100% housetrained but has started chewing the skirting boards. He hasn't done too much damage, just taken a layer of paint off. It could be a lot worse but I am hoping to put a stop to it before it gets really bad.

Walking on the lead has got so much better too, but he seems to need reminding at the start of every single walk. As soon as he pulls me, I turn back in the direction we came from and walk for about 5 steps. I then turn back and continue walking the way we were meant to be going. It usually takes 2 or 3 of these moves before he remembers how to walk on lead.

I am getting more and more afraid of letting him off lead on my own. He seems to be scared of any new dogs. They fur on his back between his front paws stands on end (his heckles?) I am so scared he will freak out and run off. When DH is with me, I feel braver which is silly as Teddy only listens to me anyway!

I have managed to teach him to rollover which is so cute. He doesn't quite do it to a verbal command, but if you hold the treat in the right place, he will flip himself over. I am now teaching to turn in a circle for a treat. He is like my little toy full of tricks!

So nice to hear everyone's progress. I haven't seen any teeth yet, but seeing as he swallows everything else, he's probably just swallowing them... ouch!

Off to our 8th week of puppy class tonight, cant believe he's had 2 months of training already! Am not convinced he is substantially better than he was after 3 weeks, but I'm sure he is really.

My puppy is eating mud, digging and eating concrete/sand, once she has scraped it loose. I stop her each time, but she immediately goes back to eat. She vomited two HUGE piles of black mixture yesterday afternoon, but is back rooting again today. She is also finding old bones from next doors dog in our back garden and trying to eat those. What do I do?

I have also posted in error on another thread, but all advice is welcome. Thanks.

assumpta we've been there! Only with us it was small pebbles and rocks, which was scary.

All I can say is patience... and a lead. We now just use the garden for toileting, mostly on a lead, or very supervised/engaged play. As soon as he starts rooting around we distract, distract, and go back indoors otherwise.

Teaching a 'Drop it' and 'Leave it' (no you're not having that!) is important. Being militant about fishing things out his mouth if you don't want him to swallow it seems to work as well - ours has now decided that it's not worth the hassle of having his mouth opened and will sometimes drop it as i approach instead.

It does seem to be a phase that goes away once you break the habit, although we haven't gone back to allowing total freedom yet so I wouldn't promise we've cracked it yet!

Some people recommend box muzzles, and we were thinking about it, but my Vet said best not to as you can end up with a 'time bomb' dog that will just ingest everything when it gets a chance, which seems to fit with our behaviour patterns here so far.

Teddy is into digging garden and eating everything. He ate my umbrella the other day!
But, from my experience with moby, it does pass. Just hang in there for acwhile longer.

Any more updates or issues anyone?

I wondered what I am meant to do when Teddy is being mounted by another over friendly dog! Its my sister's dog and we are pleased they appear to be friends, but we were hoping her dog wouldn't be quite as friendly as he was being

We didn't know whether to pull her dog off, tell him off or just let Teddy tell him off. In the end, we did a mixture of all 3!

Hi kid and everyone!

Well, issue-wise ours seems to be becoming a right stroppy teenager and is now starting to wilfully disobey/ignore a bit more than previously. As I posted elsewhere his recall in the park has gone to shit pot, and I'm trying to re-establish it (with chicken and a whistle!) but would really apprecaite any one else's advice or experience. He was sooo good, and now he utterly ignores me when he's on familiar ground.

THe other new development is food stealing! We gave him cheese for the first ime the other day and he was obviously so enamoured with it that he got his paws up on the kitchen side and knocked the grater everywhere the next day! He also swiped a nan bread off the coffee table, having completely ignored our chicken curry... extra vigilance is required I feel!

Can't hel;p you on the humping - ours is the humper rather than the humpee! but fortunately it seems to be mostly directed at cushions, and we always tell him off so it's not too frequent.

Ongoing tummy troubles here too - have just taken poo samples from 3 days to the vets, kind of like the worst delivery ever , but he's bright and bouncy, and fine 80% of the time, so I'm not too worried.

Teddy is also proving to be a bit dificult to recall so I am going back to the 50ft training line. I don't want to risk him running away, I'd be terrified of never seeing him again.

Teddy also steals food at any opportunity. The dog trainer advised giving him something else to eat while we are eating. As he gulps food down pretty quickly, I put it in a ball that I got from PAH, it takes him ages to get all the food out and he doesn't get bored of it.

He is doing great in the house, not much chewing, some but not much. No accidents toilet wise which I am pleased about as it means we can go ahead and order some carpets. We are off to dorset on friday for a weekend away with the dog. No kids, just me, DH and the furball Just hoping the weather holds out long enough for us to get there.

Wow, I was reading my posts at the top and I'd forgotten all those mad things that Poppy used to do! It's a bit like babies/ childbirth/ potty training etc - you quickly forget! It's when you look back you realise how far you've come!

Poppy is a JRT/ Spaniel cross. The Jack Russell in her made her more - ahem - challenging at times than our older sheepdog was as a pup, but yes, she's most definitely still with us! I couldn't even imagine life without her now.

We went to a good, reward based puppy class which I would highly recommend doing. I'm also encouraged that people constantly tell me how good, calm and well behaved she is "nowadays" and how much she's come on.

Bits have been hard work, bits have been challenging, but I'm glad we got her. We now have an only slightly puppyish dog who has pretty good recall, knows and obeys a whole raft of commands and gives us oodles of love and affection. She's enormous fun to have around with so many amusing little ways - like children are, I guess.

It will be hard work at the start. We had a bit of a " what have we done?" phase when we first got both our dogs! But put in the effort, get through any hard bits with encouragement and kindness and you will have an amazing dog at the end of the day.

Don't be terrified, it'll be fine! If you read through the behaviour boards before having children you'd probably never do that either!

My 'mad animal' Rory the labrador is now 8 months old. Musicposy is right - you do forget what things were like in the early days. Some phases soon pass - others are still a challenge!

Rory was neutered last week so is wearing a lampshade and is like a bull in a china shop at the moment - we have to go back to get the stitches out on Thursday. (Although I have a funny feeling that, despite the collar, Rory has already dealt with most of them!)

Toilet training is fine. I can recollect one random accident in the past 2 months, that is all. It is amazing how long he can now go between visits to the garden. Unfortunately, he still wants to get up around 6.00am most mornings, though. Yawn!

We are still doing dog training classes. (I think we will be for the forseeable future ). The trainer says he will be a lovely dog .... when he is around 2! Rory still gets very, very excited at seeing other people and other dogs. He can also be a nightmare walking on the lead and we have resorted to a harness for that at the moment.

He is lovely most of the time. He is so good in lots of ways that I didn't expect. For example, if he is to be shut in his crate during the day while we go out for a couple of hours he never makes a fuss - he just trots in and sits down quietly ready for his biscuit.

The early weeks were definitely a challenge, but it was all worth it!

I just hope we continue to stay sane until he matures and calms down. (I am keeping my fingers crossed that the trainer is exaggerating and it will be well before he is 2 years old!)

shine - our puppy is now 4 months on old and we still have the odd wobble but it lasts mere moments and is all taken away with those sad eyes and cuddles.

The first few weeks were really tough but just like a new baby it gets better with each passing day and you begin to see the rewards of your sleepless nights and hard work.

Doglet is currently going through a phase of waking us up at 4:30 having let himself out for a wee he just wants company

Despite all this we love him to pieces and can't imagine life without him now. Good Luck with your new charge when he/she arrives and may he bring you a lifetime of happiness

Teddy is just over 8 months old and is so lovely. There are still some issues with him, but considering he is still a pup, he is fantastic.

I was so lucky to get a free long consultation with a dog listener recently. She observed Teddy, asked me lots of questions and gave so much advice. I have started the training she suggested already and there has been an instant result with his jumping up when we come in. There was also a slightly reduced amount of feet biting this morning too

I was out of tricks to teach him and she told me to teach him to bow. Its so cute, even cuter than when I make him beg! Its basically making him lower the front of his body and keep his bum in the air. According to the dog listener, he is very trainable and I completely agree. He is still stubborn and thinks he can do what he wants to do, but thats all about to change with my new training method!

lol, its okay, I don't think you are stalking me. My story is thankfully quite rare so I guess people will remember it.

I ddin't actually name Teddy, the breeder had named him already and we decided to stick with it. His full name is St Moritz Teddy

Help!
Coco - chocolate working cocker 12 weeks today ... came almost housetrained. Then the weather took a turn. :(

She goes out and can be out for 10 minutes and more - I stand out in all winds and weathers encouraguing a pee and usually thats great but no matter how much encouragement I give usually theres nothing more. She comes in and even if the door is still open she cr*ps in the house! if someone is quick we catch her mid ... and put her out but I am the only adult home 6 days a week and have a toddler ......
what to do please

My puppyuhates me when I am pissed.

I cuddle him and he hates me.

I am no expert but I do have a 100% toilet trained pup.
The advice I received was to feed him and then take him outside within 30 minutes. If he didn't do anything after 5 minutes, we come back in. After 10 minutes, back outside again and repeat the process until he does go. As soon as he goes, its really important to give a treat and make a big fuss of your pup!

If you find that your pup does her toilet before the 30 minutes, then go out after 20 minutes or 10 minutes if thats how long it is before she goes.

She will be house trained, eventually so hang in there.
Be warned, if you tell her off for going to the toilet in the house, she might start picking up her own poop, by eating it and that is far harder to stop