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 :)

Daisy ... Thanks, but it's all good now. sad to admit but now that I take my happy tab at night, I'm sleeping and able to be more calm during the day. I don't know about setting my expectations too high ... I don't know what to expect ... This is my first dog. everything freaks me out. I'd rather have 10 screaming infants right now ... They don't bite, they eliminate in a diaper and they are much easier to predict. the kids were lectured by our trainer yesterday and that has made a difference. my doctor told me that it wasn't the dog stressing me into anxiety attacks, it was the kids ... I'm a human mama first and my inclination ... Natural inclination is to worry about my human babies than my canine ones. but again, now that I'm able to sleep, I'm more calm all the way around. Seriously, valium has saved my life.

And I'd like to add ... All 3 of my kids were potty trained in a week or less.

Stressed - I have Ds coming up for potty training in the next 6+ months or so - will you be able to help me with that

Daisys advice is so great and so perfectly suited! I have to agree about being more relaxed - When I (sometimes) shriek at the dog for jumping, nipping, walking across the coffee table she reacts by getting more hyped up. It is so incredibly hard when she has drawn blood on on the DCs.

We went to a local dog show today - but without our dog! I was going on my own with the Dcs and I thought I wouldn't be able to cope with an over excited puppy and my DS who doesnt ever walk in the right direction! DD is fine as she is 8 but its not fair to leave her in charge of one or the other!

It was a lovely show - all the dogs were really calm! and it wasn't so busy so I could have coped but i didn't know what to expect. DD won't forgive me (yet) as she is convinced pup would have won waggiest tail and best puppy!

I just think that someone saying "calm down" is easier said than done. yea, I know I need to calm down, and my rantings on here are vents ... Riffs ... Getting it out of my system ... That helps me somewhat but the happy tabs is what really helps me calm down. I know the dog will grow out of this cluster freak called puppyhood. I wish the kids would learn how to act, they will, they have no choice.

puppies are terrible. there I said it. Young kids around a puppy is even worse. dogs are awesome and that is what I am eager to experience. my calmness, until then will be pharmaceutical driven.

The one thing I love about that PITA puppy are our three to four daily walks. I love it. I also love it when he's laying down like a sweet pup and I can pet him without the nipping. That gives me hope.

Stressed - 3-4 daily walks? How long are the walks? Sounds like too much to me....if you read back a few pages we talked a lot about over stimulating our puppies by doing too much and maybe your puppy is doing too much therefore making him more stressy during the day. If the children are winding him up you need to separate him, have you got a playpen and a crate? Do you have a room where you can put him with a baby gate so the kids can leave him alone?

I know it is hard to just tell people to calm down, but this really does help. And even if you don't have a calm househould, if you can give the pup some time and space away from it all so he can just be that might help. We have a very calm househould and my terrier pup is so laid back it's unbelievable - she spends most of the day asleep either in her bed or on a lap! She is 21 weeks tomorrow and since I have had her I have made sure she has plenty of time out and space to herself, it has really helped with everything, means she knows how to entertain herself, she doesn't get anxious when left, she sleeps well through the night etc etc.

Anyway back to my pup she had a sleepover at my friends this weekend with her gorgeous bulldog - they have become very good friends! My friend also took Maggie to meet a Patterdale Terrier, and she went to the pub where she played with a tiny parson russell puppy, a labradoodle, a 4 month old lab, the bulldog and a huge collie/pointer cross. Also went on a walk off lead and my friend complimented me on her recall (proud!!). I then took her to meet my sisters new basset puppy who she was very gentle with. She also travelled in the back of the car in a crate and was fantastic, normally she is on lap or in the footwell but that is not really practical.

Still a nightmare on the lead, going to measure her and see if I can find a harness on line to fit her, all the ones in the shops don't fit.

Daisy - don't ever leave us!

Stressed - hope you're okay. It IS stressful - we know - honestly we do! I think 2 accidents in 2 days at that age (12/13 weeks?) is very good in my opinion. We got our puppy at just under 8 weeks and it took about 4 weeks for him to stop having accidents mainly (although most were the first 2 weeks), and he did still have the ocassional one - think once a week rather than once a day. Most of the accidents were my fault - not letting him out enough or forgetting to after food/exercise/play time/training//sleeping etc. He is now 16 weeks tomorrow and has been taking himself outside for a while now. He can happily go 3 hours in the day and even then isn't desperate for a wee. So in my experience 2 accidents in 2 days is 1 a day which for us was coming out of the accident stage and getting more reliable... You have hard floors? We only have hard floors downstairs and accidents on a carpet would stress me out more! Hope you have hard floors - much easier to clean up etc.

I have actually noticed that the puppy has started to calm down in the past week. He obv still jumps up at my daughter ocassionally, but the nipping has almost stopped with her and he does sometimes nip us sometimes but I make sure I make a massive fuss and pretend to cry etc and he stps what is doing immediately and goes into a sit and looks up and me looking worried and wagging his tail (anthropomorphising him? Me? ). So he def gets the message.

He has learnt to sit under my daughter's high chair and has started jumping up to get food but I am trying to nip that in the bud. He still tries to chew her toys when out of the playpen but I think he is doing it less. And there have been several occasions when he has just settled down at my feet (without having been out for a walk) which is great!

My mother did worry me slightly yesterday - she spent the day with us and said that he was a lot of work and she didn't quite realise how much, no wonder I was so tired and had been a bit fed up and no wonder my husband was stressed and grumpy at the weekend (causing us to fight). She just said she thinks it's an extra stress we could have done without. . I do see what she means and I do have the occaional - oh god, maybe we made a mistake and I am making my life a lot harder for myself and my husband and we're arguing more as a result. But then I know he will get easier - daisy - he will, won't he?! and I am already seeing it. And I am sure the first year is the hardest. Do they calm down a little once neutered? So now is hard but hopefully the rewards will be there a little down the line. And I love him to bits - I couldn't give him back - would feel so guilty and it's pretty irresponsible I feel unless he is miserable and so are you! And mostly I am not....And he def loves us all to bits. We are also going to do more training classes when they start up again in September and possibly some gundog stuff too.

Anyway there's my big splurge for the day . How is everyone?

Well, we are picking up our puppy in just over an hour so have been busy getting the crate nice & comfy and finding all the toys and bits we have bought for her over the last couple of weeks.

She is a 9week black cocker spaniel and is the first dog we've had as adults so bit nervous about what we've let ourselves in for having been reading this thread for the last couple of weeks (although we've both grown up around dogs and everyone has to start somewhere right?)

Still unsure of a name yet - although Bella is a strong contender.

This pup is high energy ... We take him for at least 3 walks a day ... The walks aren 't long ... 10 minutes maybe. We are teaching our kids how to properly walk him so the pup will see them as pack leaders ... There's a method in place here told to us by our trainer.

One of the walks, the evening one, is longer .... 20-30 minutes.

Oh if it were just as simple as being calm ... What a Perfect world it would be.

Maybe give the valium to the dog, stressed?

DH had a major scare this morning while out walking him. He was off-lead in the park, as is normal, and he sat as usual near the swings to have his lead put back on to come home. However, a larger dog approached him and for some reason, Monty freaked and legged it - straight across the main-ish road. Fortunately nothing was coming!!! DH ran after him (as fast as he could in flipflops and with a seriously dodgy knee) and eventually found him being petted by a neighbour near the house.

So, now what? Does this mean the end of off-lead play? Unless we take him in the car to the woods where there are no roads at all.

I think the general rule of thumb is 5mins per month of life. Our Vet said we were overdoing ours, and she has calmed down a lot and stopped being so demanding. She's a very high energy lab from working gun dog strain. He said that by walking her so much we were just getting her fitter, and fitter and that although they were nice little walks at the moment, fast forward a year with a big fit lab needing 3x 3hours walks a day...which I don't have time for! So I cut back, and she has been better.

It is hard hard hard work. Have been so stressed and tearful about it at times. Have really relied on people on here for support though -thanks again all, :)

Having pulled back, devil pup has not been so bad. She's much better when I calmly tell her NO biting in my firm voice, rather than pulling her off and shouting. I don't even have to pull her now, she just stops.

Big devil pup action this morning though-whilst was upstairs supervising DC and getting washing together, she got the rabbit out of her hutch and mauled her a bit . She has taught herself how to undo the hutch door-up till now, just so that she could eat the rabbit's food, and litter tray contents. Today she got the rabbit out and tried to make her play! Licked her all over, and bruised her ears :( one emergency trip to vet, and £20 later....She's OK now, just stressed. Has drugs on board though, so should be alright. Thank god had spent lots of time with rabbit on lap holding pup's collar to socialise them though as could have been v different.

Stressed, hope you're Ok,x

Wow! DD has managed to get our new pup to go to sleep in her crate whilst I had my lunch. Ok -the door to the crate is open and DD is sitting outside it but its a good start surely for day 1 of puppy at home!

Pup is supposedly kind of paper trained but not seen much evidence of that yet! Have set up her crate, water and some paper in the porch/utility room were we have slate flooring so should be easy to clean.

Was surprised how much she had grown since I went to se her a couple of weeks back.

Now the fun begins! :)

Got earplugs at the ready for tonight??
Seriously, congratulations.
Re: name. Have you decided yet? Bella is lovely - just be aware though, that it is so lovely that everyone else is choosing it too! It's the number one girl dog's name at the moment. So when you call yours in the park, everyone else's dog will cme running!

Yep - she doesn't much like being left by herself. Not sure what to do about that as can't be with her constantly! (Although the kids want to be)

I've been only going back to her though when she is quiet and ignoring whining.

Am thinking about just ignoring her tonight? Our bedroom is the other side of the house and whilst the house isn't that big it does have solid stone walls so can't hear much from bed. We'd leave her in the porch with the crate open so she could toilet herself in the night.

Would definitely go with ignoring her at night. We just shut the crate door, she had a hot pad, and the lovely posh radio 4 lady to listen to. Howled at 4,let her out to do business put her straight back with no fuss. She fussed! Howled till 6when went down. Second night went through till 6, every night since, goes till we want her to-which yesterday was 8.30! She's only 15 wks now, so they are quite capable. From what I've read on here, can cause rod for own back if keep going down...

Congrats by the way, and welcome to your new home too :o

Pisky congratulations! We must have pictures

We shut crate door and left her she got me up between 5-6.00am for a week or two but the minute I made her crate completely dark she has slept through from 10.00 - 7.00am and she never went to the toilet in her crate.

My sister got a pup on Friday and I think she was expecting a bit too much from her regarding being left alone. The pup has only been with you/her for a few hours so of course is going to want company, although you are doing the right thing by only going to her when she is quiet I would be careful of distressing her.

With ours we left her in crate at night but the rest of the time she was with us we used to move the crate around the house and she could sleep in there if she chose or sleep on one of our laps, we didn't start leaving her on her own until about a week after she had arrived, then we left her in crate for short periods on her own building up everyday. She is now left for 3.5 hours maximum and is happy with that.

Just came in to get camera for pics and she fell asleep on DDs lap outside.

Photos in profile (hopefully if I've done it right!)

Cute, cute, cute pisky :)

Still pondering names - Bella is nice but don't want to be shouting the same as half the group in puppy classes if it is that popular!

Her kennel club name is Elwy Eboni - but is Eboni too long?

Currently sleeping on her bed next to me in the kitchen :-)

How about Dahlia - as in black dahlia?

Poppy? There are only two of those in our puppy class!
Holly?
Betsy?
Biddy?

Great day so far. had a stern stern stern lecture with the kids about their behaviour around puppy. that is what was stressing me into panic attacks. things are much better. I think it's finally sinking in that this dog isn't a stuffed toy. my oldest DD is having reconstructive elbow surgery on Thursday, si it will be DH with the kids and the dog on Thursday ... I may give him some Valium! I'm going to go cold turkey after tonight.

Stressed I'm glad you're feeling more on top of things - it always helps. I'm only offering advice though - sharing the experience I've gathered over many years of dog ownership. Feel absolutely free to ignore me. And don't for a minute think I'm criticising - I'm trying to help. You're really clearly finding it very tough.

I agree with Clam though - 3 or 4 20 minute walks a day is far too much for a 12/13 week old golden. He needs no more than a 20 minute a day walk. The amount of exercise you're giving him will make him wildly over-tired and he'll therefore exhibit awful undesirable behaviour - jumping up, nipping, yapping etc. He'll be totally unable to calm himself down. It is also too much for his rapidly developing joints. He's a baby still.

And for what it's worth - if he's getting an hour of exercise a day at only 3ish months old, what will he need when he's 2 years old? While I am in no way advocating an ill exercised dog, it is important at all times to bear in mind the adult dog you hope to achieve. Is it practical to keep ramping up the exercise? The more you give, the more they'll need and the less equipped they are to entertain themselves. The end result is a pacey, fretting dog who's always looking for the next exercise 'fix'.

I work my dogs; they're all (apart from our baby who's rapidly learning little bits) whistle-trained gundogs who will happily work all day if I ask them to. I'd hate to have a dog who demanded that level of stimulation though.

Puppies need managing. They don't know how to flip their own off switch and will keep on going. And going. And going. Until they're awful, snappy gremlin things and it's a nightmare to wind them down again.

Spam have you got her on a really short lead? Always held to the same side of you. Don't let her wander about on it - keep her trotting close to your side (usually the LHS) and tweak the lead all the time - every single time she starts to pull and say 'heel' - or whatever you choose.

If I have a rotten puller, I drive to a walk - because in the dogs mind, pulling = exciting walk and so reinforces, in the dogs mind, the behaviour. So, I avoid the association and don't try lead work until nearly the end of a walk. Any hint of pulling which tweaking doesn't solve, I do an immediate 180 turn and head off in the opposite direction. Your aiming to avoid the dog learning that pulling gets it where it wants to go faster.

Kings Of course it gets better! It already is. Remember 2 and a half months ago? He's come a very, very long way since then. Neutering won't happen for a while yet - he needs to fully mature before you whip off his furry plums . They do calm down rapidly as they age, and as they get a grip of what you do and don't expect.

Pisky - we've just met a fabulous cocker puppy called Doris. She is heavenly! How exciting for you though. My only advice to you is start as you mean to go on tonight. Take her for her last wee, pup her into her crate with cuddly toys (I always use a puppy sized one) and a hottie or a warm wheatie. Say goodnight and leave her alone. If you're using a closed crate, you'll have to get up when she cries to let her out. If you're using paper, ignore her.

And yes. She has learn to be happy being left by herself. Don't worry about her wailing, just carry on with whatever it is you're doing. Maybe plan the ignoring bit by a little play or cuddle, then give her a stuffed Kong or some other toy and let her get on with it. Learning to self settle is a very valuable skill for a puppy!

As long as you're gentle, calm, consistent and firm she'll learn very, very quickly how to fit in with you.

Clam - no! Not the end of off lead play - just very, very scary. Keep working on recall - regardless of the distraction. He has to learn that coming back to you whenever you ask is the only option he has. If you're worried about it, keep a long line on him while he is 'off lead' so you can stamp on it if he bolts again. The lead will be minging, but it will give you peace of mind - maybe take a carrier bag to take it home in and use a different lead when you're actually holding it! And it sounds as though a few play sessions with reliable odd big dogs will help his confidence around them.

Happy - you have a seriously bright working lab! Maybe it's time to learn the leave it command?! Your socialising has obviously been invaluable as clearly all she wanted was to play with her.

daisy You are a star!! I'm rapidly thinking of questions to get a reply

We have a long trailing lead on our pup for off lead time. It's really just a piece of cord/rope from the diy shop - it's great to be able to grab when needed and gives a bit if extra confidence. If a someone is passing and I am trying to get her to watch me I stand on it to give myself that extra control.

Pisky - ignore pup tonight. We had one night of total howling but after that mostly OK. Now she happily goes in her crate after last wee with no howling until I go down to her.

Good luck!!

Well - I did as you suggested - took her out for a wee (she didn't do one and I gave in when she started shivering) then put a warm wheatie in her bed and shut her into the porch (with access to paper the other side to her open crate.

She did whine a bit but then seemed to go to sleep and we didn't hear her till after DH got up this morning (about 6ish).

She'd done two wees on the paper overnight but I took her out anyway (still no outside wee) then brought her in for for breakfast thinking this may prompt her to need a wee. Still no luck! DD is now out with her as she had started sniffing round in circles which I've heard is a sign?

Still in a names dilemma - maybe Pip?

To get toilet training cracked fastest, puppies should be taken out every half hour.

I've never managed it - there's far too much other stuff to do . But if you can, it'll be cracked within a week.