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?

Rory will try to snack on anything within reach. He has had sneaky tries at the coffee table, dining chair legs, drawer knobs, catch on tumble drier flap, etc., etc.. I know labs are reknown for eating anything and everything, but taking him round the garden at the moment is very wearing. He will pick up and chew anything he can - stone chips, twigs, leaves, flowers, and his particular favourite - rabbit poo! I think he is learning "Drop it", but only if a treat appears.....

When does this phase pass?

@ watsthestory

yes wonderbear marmaduke to give him his full title. ds wont let me shorten it any further than wonderbear although the vet did confirm today that his is indeed a bear, he reckons he is huge for his age and breed

for anyone having difficulty with howling puppies, crate training is the long term solution. your pup neds to think of the crate as his safe haven from the chaos of daily life rather than somewhere he is 'put' iyswim. also, i have a heat pack thing for mine, the one night i forgot to put it in he did whimper a bit and i realised after about 15 minutes that i had forgotten to do it. you can get them at pets at home and probably online as well. you heat them in the microwave like a rice bag for humans.

we are also having a bit of an issue with WB chewing the throws on the sofa, i have put dried pasta in a drinks bottle and i shake it but it only works some of the time. any suggestions? clapping hands and sharp loud noises only work occasionaly aswell.

also, ds1 (5) is a bit nervous about taking things from the pup that he shouldn't have, he gets a bit jumpy and hesitates, putting his hand back and forth which makes the puppy excited and he thinks it's a game. i have showed him how to just walk over confidently and take the thing away with no hesitation but he is still finding it difficult, can anybody help with that?

Good afternoon all

minimu has already dispensed some excellent advice for those struggling, so I will leave the round up for now.

wats puppies can be destructive anywhere in the span of 8 weeks to 2 years +, there are no hard and fast rules.

PurpleFrog just a thought, I don't really teach 'drop it' at this age with stolen items as it can become too much like fun for them, think toddlers and negative attention.

Anything they have that they shouldn't I just take away very calming and disinterestedly and then immedistely produce a toy proclaiming excitedly 'Oooh look, duckie, here's duckie' (or whatever the toy should be and proceed to have a short game.

This way they learn picking up other stuff = no attention, picking up their toys = fun.

In the same vein always praise a puppy and even stop and have a game if they are lying quietly chewing something of their own.

So many people just ignore their puppies/dogs when they are behaving well.

To all those with cryers/howlers, just wanted to point out that not all puppies sleep in their crates at night. Rudy sleeps next to our bed on a folded up duvet, he doesn#t move all night and sleeps until 7-8ish in the morning, he has never cried, he has never had an accident.

Profesional opinion seems fairly split on nightimes, lots of people belive a dog should be left downstairs to cry it out and will soon learn, others think it wrong to take a small puppy from everything it has know and leave it shut up somewhere alone on it's first few nights and that it should be in your room until it settles in and then moved elsewhere gradually.

Personally my dogs have always slept in my room with me.

Anyway, my news, Rudy has finally accepted his crate.

He was left for half an hour this morning and I came back to him fast asleep, no crying/digging/scratching he hadn't moved and inch.

Such a breakthrough, I am so pleased, all the hard work has been worth it. Though he is also wearing a DAP collar for a month and I expect that has something to do with it.

minimu if he wears the collar for a month and in that time gets very used to his crate, will he then be ok when the collar comes off? I presume I am not creating a lifetime of DAP dependency?

So after an unbelievably exhausting week, I now have a puppy that can be left in a crate and wees in the rain, if you had told me last week that he would habe come on this far I wouldn't have believed you.

I also brought him this today, he loves it, really brilliant idea, lets them play with crunchy water bottle s withouout risking them cutting their mouths.

i dont think it matters what age they are in comparison, or that the breeder used paper

they are all young enough to learn new ways and at some point you will have to ditch the paper, so why not sooner rather than later?

purplefrog Rory's eating habits sound very familiar, can I add wooden step, decking, chair bars, hessian, and today black polythene weed deterrent cover beneath pebbles in garden - ooh, pull hard and loads more emerges from soil... Feel we are forever saying, Ok let's go in...

Also familiar with streak of lightening approach to moving about. Best to stand very still and wait for hurtling object to pass.

Exciting step forward today with first two walks in the outside world. On lead, mainly forwards! Lola v excited, interested and bounding with energy - get the impression she's ready for a hike, not a diddy little saunter up the road. She's recovered completely from last night thank goodness.

Wildthings Great news on the crate and weeing in the rain!

Dh looked after teddy this evening while I visited my parents. He said that teddy kept wanting to go innrgw garden so he let him out. Teddy just laud on the floor! He did this 3 or 4 times lol

when I got home, he signalled to go in the garden so I let him out. He did a wee and poo. I told him. 'in' and he came straight in!

We left him alone again today while we went cinema and he was great. I took him park for a run first, I even jogged with him around the park once. He walks better off lead than he does on lead.

Our puppy 10 week , is being feed 3 times a day. 8am 12 & 5ppm or thereabouts .

perhaps spread puppys daily allopwnave of food over three meals - they can't hold much in their stomcah in one go .

Better night last night although Mally was completely knackered - put to bed at 9.30pm , 15 mins of noise then nothing until 5.30am this morning . Let her out when she was quiet - no wee inside last night - straight outside for wee and poo .

DH turn to get up tomorrow with her !

Good morning all

Feeling very relaxed this morning, dh took the kids downstairs this morning and Rudy came into bed with me for a cuddle we both slept until nine! Whippets are admirably lazy, even as puppies.

Avantia congrats on a peaceful night.

wats am I reading that correctly that he is only on two meals a day? And that is what the breeder was giving him? That seems very odd if it is true, puppies should stay on four meals a day until around 12 weeks when they can drop to three until the age of 6 months when they go onto 2 a day. Small breeds such as yours sometimes need to stay on four meals a day for longer as their tummies are so small.

Out of interest what is he eating? I am assuming it is some kind of dry complete, do you know what? Also are you still in touch with his breeder for advice on feeding etc?

Well done on a 'dry' night!

booyhoo wrt the chewing, noise distraction will only work if he has been sensitized to the sound first. Can you just move the throws for now?

Puppies have no idea what they can and can't chew on and it is not enough to just stop them chewing the wrong thing you need to distract them with one of their toys and then have a really good time with them. Read what I posted to Purplefrog above.

For those with a first puppy who are hitting the age of outside walks I thought it was worth mentioning that the general guide is no more than 5 minutes for each month of life, no more than twice a day.

So a twelve week old puppy can have 15-20 minutes twice a day, of that 3/4 should be lead walking with just 1/4 free running.

Any more than this risks irreperable dammage to growing joints and possibly many problems in later life.

It is so tempting to 'tire out' a puppy at this age to get some peace at home, but the best stimulation is mental.

In addition to walking you can continue 'carried' socialization too, more exposure to heavy traffic, farm animals, cats, rabbits, and all the unusal people situations, esp. with summer puppies remember to do umbrellas! Don't forget things like trips on buses and trains all must be completed before the magical 18 weeks.

Lecture over have a fun Saturday with your pups.

I sorted out insurance for teddy. I did choose Argos and it's £20.44 a month for platinum cover. Glad that's sorted out.

Teddy's mum has not recovered yet, she was operated on and they thought she would be fine but she has been rushed back again and it's not looking good. The poor thing is such a sweet dog, I really hope she pulls through. It's through having the pups that this problem occured.

Teddy is being great. He is pulling me on his lead and nothing I try works. I need to be consistent but I want him walking nicely now! I know that's not how it works but it would be nice.

We are off to the park today but I'm now worried about letting him get too much excercise. He doesn't run constantly, he lays down when he has had enough. We are going to meet one of the pups from moby's puppy class, a beautiful little cockerpoo. We'll have to make it a short visit.

Teddy is on 3 meals a day at the moment. I thought it could be reduced to 2 meals at 4 months. I was going to check before reducing it.

Think I'll take him out on the bus and tube this week. Moby never did get to go on either

kid is my favoutite vid on lead walking, she is a brilliant trainer, all her clips are worth watching.

I am so lucky with Rudy, whippets often seem to walk naturally to heel and he is no exception, I don;t even know he is there on walks, you could walk him on a ribbon.

Fingers crossed for Teddys mum is it pyometra?

I don't know what's wrong with teddys mum tbh. They thought she had a poisoned uterus and that it would need removing. When they operated, they wee able to save it. Not sure if she will now need it removing.

I'll have a look at that video and will search for more. I'm so sad but I love watching dog training, it's even better than eastenders lol

teddy walks better off lead than on lead but due to all the roads, he has to start walks on lead. He runs across me constantly and I just can't keep him on one side.

He is still totally adorable though and an amazing pup. Still working on 'leave it' but he still doesn't understand why he should leave anything!

Eddie is fed 3 times a day because he was not interested in 4 meals.

When dora was 10 weeks she was on 3x daily too. Vet was happy with that, esp as she didnt empty her bowl.

She is fed twice a day now as she stopped bothering withher mid day feed

i love watching dog training vids too kid. feel a bit more justified in watching them now i actually have a puppy to train

we have just had first vaccination so it will be 3 weeks before we can go for a real outside walk. in the meantime we are going to do it in the house to get him loose leash walking.

we have learnt 'sit' and are working on 'down' (as in lie down).

is anyone training using hand signals?

I'm using hand signals and my voice to train. For sit, I point to his bum and move my finger down.
For down, I point to the floor in front of him.

The little sod darling has had 3 accidents in the house today. Fancy me wanting to tidy up instead of watch the dog! Nevermind, cleaned it up easily so no harm done.

i have just been using my voice but my sister suggested adding hand signals aswell. i don't know what to do though.

also, does teh vaccination affect their bladder?

he got his yesterday at 2 oclock and had loads of accidents for the few hours afterwards. he is usually very good at letting me know he wants out but he didn't even try yesterday. i was taking him out loads aswell just incase but he wasn't going outside.

wats yes I would up his meals, also don't mean to be harsh but pedigree is terrible food full of additives and fillers, if you want to change I can give you some suggestions.

booyhoo I use a clicker initially then move on to voice and finally add a hand signal for distance work. 'Sit' is a closed fist, 'down' a lowered palm, 'stay' a raised palm (like a traffic signal 'stop'. Make sure they are sidnal that unambiguous when you are standing (as most puppy work is done with you sitting on the floor) and will be easy to read over a long distance, esp. down and stay).

kid kikopup also has an amazing clip, Rudy is getting it really quickly .

Sorry booyhoo, crossed posted, don't add hand signals until puppy is responding very well to your voice.

Yes, vac's can make them wee more, it shouldn't last long.

Well next fri i may as well move into the vet. I have to take Dora for her puppy check and worming at 11. Then Eddie at 2 for his 2nd jab and Boris is having his booster at 2.30!

Today we took Storm out to a bootsale, lots of people gushed over him and he was so relaxed he slept in Daddy's arms most of the time. He was fine with lots of people stroking him. On Monday we are taking him to a horse show at our local farm, which is also where I work. Don't worry I won't be putting him down.

Wees in the garden are going ok when we can deter him from chewing the grass and mud!
Last night was a bit better than the previous ones. Only an hour or so of crying. Wonder if it was due to the t-shirt I wore and put in for him?
Have to do another now though as he pooped on it!
Storm has four meals a day plus treats and he loves his food.

Has just discovered the joys of chewing the furniture!

thank you wherethewildthingswere.

i was pretty certain it was a result of teh vaccine but i hadn't heard of it before so wanted to check. he is absoloutely fine now.

we are still having trouble with ds being nervous with the puppy and sunsequently the puppy getting jumpy and nippy when ds tries to interact with him. any tips for helping ds?

pinkanimal to save all your t-shirts you could try sleeping with an old blanket each night so he has fresh one every night incase he soils it.