New puppy thread, where new puppy owners can come for help and advice and hopefully clever people like minimu, midori et al will check regularly (please) to help us...

[Happymm]

Exactly what it says on the tin really. Kings idea, that we have a thread where we can all come and ask for help, advice, support or just to vent and that the much more experienced people will come and help us out :)

Our pup peed on the floor twice when back door has been open all day and we'd just been in the garden! Why!!!

Mine has done this too - well the wee! First time was the weekend, my mum was looking after her and didn't take her outside just put her outside, pup came back in and weed on the carpet. And then for the last two days on the trot when I have been upstairs sorting out daughter I have left her down in the dining room/kitchen with back door open and she has peed on the carpet. Usually I pop her back in her crate but I thought she would know by now as hasn't had an indoors accident for weeks but no - seems she still doesn't get that she has to go outside unless she is taken! They will get there eventually, bless em

Mine wee's inside too unless i specifically take him outside and say 'wee wee'.What i've noticed is that he often does a short wee when asked but 1 minute later yesterday i caught him doing a 'standing-up' wee.Whats that all about.Is it a boy dog characteristic?.He does look embarassed though if i catch him mid-wee inside the house .

if I wasn't on happy tabs during this time, I'd be a certifiable looney! he's had 2 wee accidents in2 days. it upsets my DH to a point where I think he needs happy tabs. I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but we are in day 5 of 110 to 115 degree F heat ... Pup DOES NOT want to go out and wee at all!!!! We're going to puppy training again tomorrow as a family ... Hope we all do ok .. Well,I'll be fine ... I'm medicated!!!!!

Ok, here's a question ... My dear pup still DOES NOT give me a potty signal!!!

Mine doesn't give me a signal either, stressedpuppymom, and she will be 16 weeks in a few days.

However, we haven't had any indoor accidents for ages because she just seems to hold on until I let her outside - every 2 hours or so now.

Occasionally she will go to the back door and look out and then back at me, until I let her out, which I like to think might be the beginnings of a signal (but this could be wishful thinking entirely).

Does your pup do a particular thing when she's about to wee/poo? Ours circles around, sniffing the ground in specific way (hard to describe) and this often reminds me that I haven't let her out for ages, and that it's time to do so ASAP

Mine is a golden retriever ... ALL HE DOES IS SNIFF!!!! ugh!!!!

Stressed mine is 20 weeks and still does not really give me the signal....I have had three accidents in three days after weeks of no accidents. The door is open but she chooses to go indoors if I am not there. If I am there I can tell immediately as the minute she gets up and sniffs we are out the door! Occasionally she will run to the door and tell me but usually it is still me thinking oh I haven't seen her go for a few hours better take her outside. She is far more reliable though I will give her that, can hold it a lot lot longer and never does it when I am with her so that's a good sign, however I still have to go out with her and make sure she has gone otherwise she will come back in and go on the floor - a la saturday night when my mum just chucked her out assuming she would go!

spam keep trying to tell DH and DCs that - that they must actually GO OUTSIDE WITH HIM to get him to do a wee/poo. And WATCH. They tend to open the back door and leave him to it. So when I ask has he done one recently they look vague and say, well probably because he was out there for a while and he was in the bushes for a bit!

Hello - New to this so please help! Collected our 10 week old rescue puppy two days ago and he is doing well except that he growls when we get close when he's eating. We are really keen to nip this in the bud but some websites advise taking the food away, others advise hand feeding. Can anyone let me know what's most likely to work with a pup of this age, please?

Mine is actually pretty good at going to the loo outside. (something he is good at - at last!) I leave him in his pen sometimes if playing with my daughter and he has access to the garden from there - he always takes himself outside. He had a wee accident the other night when he had been sleeping on the sofa for about 3 hours in the evening and I forgot to open then door when I went into the kitchen with him - so not his fault! He does quite often go the door if I have it shut and I usually notice. So that must be his signal. I wonder how long he'd hold on if I didn't notice....

Btw have internet back at last! Am terribly hungover but wanted to report I left him for 3 hours on Thursday in his crate (which I have now made full size so he can move around a bit and play with toys). He was totally fine - delighted to see me and didn't even seem that desperate for the loo!

How is everyone doing? Happy?! Holiday soon? It might be just the break you need from the pup...

MotherofGirls - I am certainly no expert but I had a growling situation with my puppy and a bone. Obv bone is v highly prized and I tried to take it away. I posted a thread on here and everyone said: don't try and take it away! The dog is guarding as he thinks you will take his food. So I would say def don't try and take it away (old dominance theories etc) as he will only learn to guard more. I now walk past my dog very closely when he has bones and do it several times, just walking past and going to do something else - ie showing the dog he doesn't need to guard as I am not interested in his food or taking it away. Obv be v careful about kids approaching with food or trying to touch the dog. I never let mine near the dog when he is eating (he gulps food down in about 10 seconds flat though no not much chance anyway!).

He is still in a new environment and probably feels he needs to protect his food. So maybe try the above and he might calm down about it and stop feeling he needs to guard when he settles in more.

Hope that helps and am no expert - someone else with more experience will probably come along soon!

Well, that's one thing ours hasnt ever done - not territorial about food at all, but I did read that you can make approaching him whilst eating a positive thing by adding a treat to his bowl as he's mid-scoff.
Ditto, no expert. See above!!

Just seen that yours is a rescue puppy. Might be that he's had to compete for food before? Or had some sort of issue whereby food was hard to come by??
Whatever, it still needs dealing with, as you say. Mine will let me prise open his mouth to get his bone out (not something I'd do often, but I wasn't sure what it was he had in his mouth, so was checking it was OK)

Thanks Kingsroadie and Clam. Yes, I do wonder if he has had to fight for his food previously - he is so laid back about everything except food. Difficult to add treats as he's eating, as he is a ten seconds flat eater too. Will try the walking past and possibly have a go at hand feeding.......

I just put a little food in his bowl, then let him eat some from my cupped hand, then the bowl, then my hand. No growling and happy for me to sit on the floor next to him while he ate from his bowl. Not a long term solution but maybe it if I continue for a few days we'll kick the growling habit. If not, I'll be back!

Well done mother! I started off adding extra food or treats into our pup's bowl. Now she doesn't care, has never growled or got stressy over food. Even with a bone can sit by her and stroke her and she'll be fine. Doesn't chew me if she has a bone

some slightly better days. As ever, Summer seems to have realised i was on the edge and has pulled back a bit. Am using my deep voice for no biting. Trying to be calmer with it rather than shouting at her. Still can't trust her alone with the DC though as she just gets so excited that she can't help herself.

Kings, am OK. On countdown though! Holiday next week, so only 6days to go before she's back with the breeder for a while. Am so hoping her wings are truly clipped there! She'll really learn to be bottom of the heap with mum, brother and another lab there!

She has definitely entered the fear stage though. Beginning to bark at strangers and other dogs. Even barked at DH today-he had the strimmer :o

HELP!!! He's just polished off half a slice of chocolate cake one of DD's friends left on the coffee table! DH had shut him in the kitchen, not realising that both the kitchen backdoor and sitting room French windows were open, so he nipped round when we were saying goodbye to people at the front door!
What shall I do?

Hi Clam - I would say keep an eye but have read that they actually need to eat a fair amount for it to be poisonous..Also given it was chocolate cake and not actual chocolate the theobromine levels shouldn't be too high.

www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml

However, do you have an emergency vet? Worth a call I would think as ours said if the puppy ever eats anything he shouldn't then to call immediately and bring him in ad they can make them sick so that they don't absorb many of the dangerous chemicals.

He seems perfectly normal. No idea how much he may have eaten - maximum 2 x 50p sizes. Best-case scenario is that one of the girls ate it herself and he just hoovered up the crumbs. even so, I can't imagine there's that much cocoa or bromo whatsit in there. Probably only flavouring. There's no ingredient panel on the box.
Have googled all the potential symptoms and he's not exhibiting any of them. Snoozing on the sofa at the moment, quite contentedly.

I shouldn't worry too much, when I was small I remember my lab/GSD x finding ALL my Easter eggs and polishing the lot off with no I'll effects :o

Mother ignore the growling. Jolly him out of it. Approach in a sing song, happy voice - 'who's a silly silly billy then - I'm only coming to say hello' sort of thing. Don't shout to counteract the growl or confront it.

You have a baby, baby dog who has only just arrived home and is probably a bit frightened and is certainly unsure of himself. He's communicating the same way as he will have done with his siblings. At that age, it means nothing in terms of temperament.

Take him a treat when you go over to him while he's eating. Offer with the silly, happy voice and I expect it will pass very quickly. You are aiming for him to associate you with happy, confident, consistent actions and treats. Positive stuff which makes him feel safe. Made sure you're not threatening in any way - don't tower over him for example. Bend down, or kneel by him.

HTH.

stressed. In the nicest possible way, you've got to calm down. Both you and your DH. There are likely to be many more weeks of accidental wees and poos on the floor. It doesn't mean you or your dog are unusual or doing anything wrong. Only 2 accidents over 2 days is good going.

And more importantly, your puppy will be picking up on the anxiety and stress from both of you - he really, really will. All the time. And not understanding it. It will confuse him, alter his behaviour and make him far more difficult to handle.

From what I can work out your puppy is a very, very young dog. 12 ish weeks? I fear your expectations are too high. They do wee and poo wherever they like when they're young. They don't just know that we expect them to go outside for it - we have to teach them and to get it perfect takes time. Children usually take a while to get potty training perfect - puppies are the same.

Ignore the inside wees completely (unless you catch him actually doing it, then a firm no, pick up and put outside) and go mad with the outside ones. Work out what his most favourite treat is - squirty cheese, frankfurter sausage, whatever and offer that when he gets it right. Along with masses and masses of over the top praise.

I hope I haven't offended - you're clearly struggling - but until you lower your expectation of him and take everything down a notch or ten, it's not going to get any better.

Clam you probably already know this, but he'll be fine. You'd only be in trouble if he'd snaffled masses of really high quality chocolate. Cake. No worries. He's a pig :)

I think I love you Daisy :o

Agree. Daisy you talk SO much sense.

Talking of pups eating what they shouldn't.... our 13 week old pup snarfed my dh's pack of statins.... and was fine!

I have been so confident in his lack of accidents at home (he hasn't had one for about a month), but we took him to friends' last night and he did a massive wee on her carpet