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 :)

We had a good day yesterday.Puppy was behaving although dh kept him mostly in the utility while we were out for hours at a party.Though did try nick someones sarnies in the national trust park down our lane[apparently the dad was getting agitated saying shoo shoo as our dog jumped up with muddy paws onto his son].This morning he pooped in the toilet!.Dh said 'well at least he knows he's not meant to poop in the house now and he's trying to hide it [though i think he goes for the smell myself!]'

Well we've have had a busy weekend with family picnics! Pup was great, coped well with other dogs (although none at the first picnic were going to play) and lots of new people. The next day there was a cockapoo who played really nicely with her which was great as all other dog encounters have been a sniff and go!

It's so hot though that today she has flaked out -I'm feeding ice cubes and damping her down with a wet towel to keep her cool and hydrated.

Hope all new pups are settling in and all doing OK!

Well we had an interesting day.... Me and daughter have been away all weekend on a camping trip. Hubby and Maggie stayed at home and he has given her the run of the house but closed to rooms he is not in so if he is upstairs in office she has access to outside and he has not had one single accident. Today I gave her said access instead of keeping her down with me in the kitchen/diner and taking her out every few hours and she has been great. Was just about to come on here and post a gloating thead about how she appears to be housetrained but just popped upstairs to close all the doors and as I was closing bathroom door I noticed her weeing on the spare room carpet!!!! Gah but never mind they are very few and far between we are nearly nearly there

Went out for a walk tonight, forgot treats but had squeaky toy. Walked a walk we do often and Maggie is bouncing and bounding in the bracken, had daughter and one of her friends with me. Both children were picking up rocks and I took my eye off Maggie to chivvy them along and carried on up the path and suddenly Maggie wasn't with us. Called and called for her and nothing - very very unlike her. I started panicking, retraced steps, called - nothing. I didn't even know at what point she had gone into the deep bracken so I waded in and started looking. Eventually I caught sight of a white bottom but couldn't see why she wasn't coming to me but when I got closer I realised she was down a rabbit hole. She reversed up a couple of times but kept going back in the minute I tried to grab here and was completely hidden she was so deep. I could hear her whimpering and whuffling in there but was panicking that she couldn't get out. Children started crying and hugging each other, I was shouting at them to please stop crying as it wasn't helping, phoned husband and yelled at him to get here now with a spade, frankfurters and some cheese!! Eventually a lovely guy walked along with the biggest softest rottweilers imaginable and calmed us all down and made the hole bigger he called for Maggie who saw him and the two dogs and suddenly saw there was something more interesting to look at. She growled at him and wouldn't come out for him, by then I could see she had managed to turn round and was now face forward so I got down next to the bloke and told him to sit aside whilst I encouraged her out and when half way out grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her out. Children wouldn't let her off lead for the rest of the walk, I tried reasoning with them but both were hysterical and kept crying and the mere mention of letting her off. I hope this hasn't caused to much angst as the puppy has never been on her lead apart from to the car and from and is allways a pleasure with recall and staying with us. Daughter will never go on that walk again, story has been told to every person they have met since the incident!!!

So is this what I can expect with a terrier?

Oh my goodness!!!!! I cant think of anything else to say! I am in shock - I would have been a mess!

What an end to the day!

Wow spam!!!! Wish I could send you one of my valium!!!!!!

Just need to vent a little ... When is this bloody dog going the chill out??!? the kids DO NOTHING to provoke him now and he still goes chasing after them. I tell the kids to be a tree ... Well, to him, that just means they are an easier target ... Jumping up, biting their clothes. then I get in between them and he backs up, gets in pounce position and either air nips me or flat out barks. Then I put him in time out ... He lays down, puts his head between his front paws as if acknowledging his transgression. but then it's back to his same antics ... Seriously the kids know not to provoke him, but I think it's utter crap that my kids can't relax in our home! I don't know why people think this stage is so cute ... I hate it. all he does is zoom around the house as if possessed by Satan ... Jumps the kids, jumps on the furniture and then looks at me like I have 3 heads when I stop him. These so called puppy zoomies disgust me.

my god, will this ever STOP????? he's putting on a pound a day! he's over 20 pounds at 13 weeks. I understand, he's a puppy and he's immature. he's wonderful about going wee/poo outside and again, 75% of the time, he's an angel. but he's an angel when he's laying down. he's also an angel at night. I know others have it worse than me. How much of this BS behavior will change with age? We have him in puppy school, but of course he's adorable for the trainer ... Argh!!!!!! I feel like I'm doing things right ... But I feel like this dog has taken over every facet of my life, my kid's lives ... I can't make any decision without thinking about the dog first. I mean, my kids are being put second!

I told DH that there are times I want to only let him out of his crate to potty or eat ... Today is one of those days. of course that turns into a big conflict ... I'm in a no win.

Stressed - I have/have had days like this too. My puppy is now 17 weeks and still goes a bit mad and still jumps up at my daughter sometimes - mostly if she has food in her hand/is holding one of his toys/has just appeared in the morning. It's normal puppy stuff but it feels like he will never get the message! Everyone I meet with dogs says cut him some slack (obv though telling him not to jump up etc), he's still a tiny baby (although not physically tiny!) and he will learn. And calm down. If my daughter just stands still he still jumps up at her. I think being consistent is key but sometimes it does feel like it isn't sinking in. He knows he doesn't get attention from us though if jumping up etc. He gets it after about 3 seconds when we come in the door and sits in front of us with tail wagging like a lunatic, you can tell he's trying so hard not to jump!

He is in his playpen quite a bit too. Do you have one of those? A baby playpen. We bought it for the puppy (but obv will use it with subsequent kids etc) and it is a god send. I only put him in crate and shut the door when I go out but if he is just in the house and going mad or my daughter needs to be able to play with her toys then I put him in the pen. it's down one wall, with crate in it and access to garden. I would really recommend it - it makes a massive difference. Puppy has to then learn to be on his own and ours does whine/bark sometimes but that's life - I ignore him.

He also gets down on the floor sometimes if I tell him "no" and goes into a play bow and barks. Think he's just trying to get you to play in dog language.

Honestly consider a playpen or sectioning off some of the room - it will make it a lot easier...

it is crap sometimes and it does take a while for them to calm down. Annoying having to wait!

spam - oh my god - how scary - I would have been petrified. Well done for keeping calm and sorting it out. Yes I think terriers can often get down rabbit holes - my friend's Jack Russell went missing for 3 days. What's worrying is if they get stuck

Unfortunately, our house is an open foor plan ... One big room with bedrooms and bathrooms around the exterior ... We can't cordon off rooms .. At this point, with his size, he would jump over or knock down a baby pen.

Sigh ...I need to be patient and get through this terrible puppy phase.

Ours is all open plan on the ground floor too. But have the play pen opened out straight and have tied one end to the crate (against wall to create one end) and is goes straight down and makes a rectangle and is blocked by the door. We have wedged it in against the end of the dining table. Annoying that he might be too big for you to do that

What about getting one of the dog stakes/corkscrews and putting him in the garden for a bit of self-amusement? or permanently attaching a lead to him and holding it or tying it to dining table or something? We have been doing that too - then he is with you but not able to destroy things? If he barks, so be it. Just worried that the puppy phase doesn't pass terribly quickly and trying to think of something that will make your life a bit easier. It's bloody rubbish and hard to deal with when one is feeling a bit down or fed up wit them. Relentless too...

I have to say ... During the afternoons ... After 11am, he becomes a whole different dog. From 5am to 11am, I call him Osama Bin Golden .... But in the afternoons, he's such a sweet pup and I tell him he can stay for one more day.

Un fortunately, where we live in the states, we are in week 3 of 100+ heat indexes. pup goes outside to wee/poo and then it's straight back inside!

We are open plan too but do have a utility room where we pop pup with a stairgate over the door.

We have had a few good days. The weekend if picnics etc where pup was in lead most of day has put her lead walking back a bit and is pulling much more that she was. I did lose my temper with DD when she was walking pup but it seems it isn't DDs fault as pup walks better for me.

Currently sprawled out on floor snoozing.....

Hello all, I'm new to this thread, but having been reading it with great interest from the start! There are some brilliant tips, so thanks for your help already, as we're first time puppy parents, so were quite nervous to start with. My DH and I have a new border terrier puppy called Tess who we brought home last week. She's got a lovely happy home, cosy bed and cage, lots of toys, JWB food which she was brought up on, lots of love as I currently don't work and my hubby is a teacher so there's good routines being set up. She was little at 7 weeks when we got her, so is now just over 8 weeks and is gorgeous in nearly all ways EXCEPT for the biting and nipping ankles and feet. I've read tons of stuff about this and how to yell ouch like I'm wounded, direct her chewing somewhere else, turn into a tree and ignore her or shake a plastic bottle full of pebbles. This works most of the time and she is getting better, but she still attacks my husband's face and ankles more than me and it HURTS ( I have lots of little scratches and nips on my feet)! This morning he bellowed like a wounded elephant which really made her sit back and look at him. He then ignored her and she was quite subdued as a result. We're trying to give her some space and time out and don't put her in her crate as don't want to use it as a punishment. I don't want her to start favouring me for all things, as DH is very good too at looking after her, but don't want him to either starting being scared her (tiny puppy can growl and snap) or lose interest because she's a bore. When will she grow out of this stage? The other BIG thing is that we live in school and we definitely don't want a nippy terrier around kids. Sorry for long post, but want to nip this in the bud (no pun intended!) asap. She does have lots of things to amuse her and gets lots of sleep like a baby!
Thanks in advance for thoughts....

This sounds about right! Our pup is now 16 weeks and we can now safely wear short sleeved tops and skirts/shorts!

It seems you are doing the best thing. If you are worried about the kids at school then perhaps get a long line lead or a puppy lead where she is always with you?

Don't panic too much - I thought I had a savage beast of a dog! It does get better!

I agree that you are doing all the right things Claire...our pup was a little terror and even bit the groomer (definitely not play biting or nipping!) but it does get better gradually and at 17.5 weeks we recently realised that it is several days, maybe as long as a week, since she nipped anyone. I think that you just need to keep doing what you are doing, consistently, and he will get the message!

Just to add that the standing still thing didn't work for us, and yelping with pain seemed to make her more excited. In the end we found that a growly 'no' followed by the withdrawal of any attention - even leaving the room if necessary - was the most effective strategy for us. On some occasions I also put my hand gently around her muzzle for a second or two while I said 'no biting' in order to reinforce the message.

Grand, thanks. She is a cutie most of the time, but v keen to get her to be a nice dog and not a furry crocodile. I worry that she especially likes to attack DH and growls more at him than at me. Not sure if she's a bit intimidated by him and is somwhow trying to assert herself, or if she sees him as a giant puppy and is wanting to play. Feel bit bad for DH as she does tend to launch her doggy self at face and trousers. Yes, will start to use the long line (have a red one from Pets at Home where I've spent about a £million on stuff for her) once she's properly wearing her collar and not trying to rip it off! This string is fab!

What is her tail doing when she's growling ay DH???? our 13 week old barks and jumps and nips when DH comes home but the tail is screaming YEA!!!!!!!! PLAY PLAY PLAY!!!!!!!

It appears our heatwave has subsided .. I've had that dog playing like a freak a buch of times this morning!!

Good question. I've not paid much attention but you could be right! I think she sees DH as a big fun plaything......will report back next time (there will be a next time). Currently, she's in Turbo Terrier mode and is RACING around the room. It's hilarious!

Claire welcome to the thread you are doing all the right things. My dear sister is going through this at the moment with her basset hound who at 10 weeks old and having been with my sister for 2 weeks has finally settled in and is now up for play!! Gave my sis a real fright the other day as puppy launched herself in from the garden went straight for my sister's foot and bit her drawing blood. It was only play, she then lay down and was growling which my sister thought was aggression but it is really not, tail was wagging the whole time she just wanted to play bless her. I also spoke to my sis about what had happend in the day was it any different and sis said yes she had given her outside access all afternoon instead of managing her sleep better - puppy was therefore over stimulated. We have mentioned it so much on this thread and it is really worth noting. My pup stopped biting us at about 11 weeks with a very very overexaggerated loud yelp and the realisation from me that I was overstimulating her since then I only give her half an hour of play in the garden plus a 30-40 minute walk a day - she is 22 weeks.

Well my day has been fun! Took Maggie to a friend of mine who has an acre for a garden, two labs one 9 months and one 3 years, chickens, swimming pool, fields next door, rabbit holes, rabbits, you name it. I have taken her before when she was about 12 weeks and I was so nervous as her dogs are really boisterous and I wouldn't let her off lead and eventually I asked her to put her dogs away. This time Maggie is so much older so she was off!!! It got a bit overwhelming for her at times particularly with the 3 year old joining in but playing with the 9 month old was hilarious, Maggie chased and chased and chased and the lab is gorgeous, really knew that she was so much bigger than Maggie and was very gentle.

On the way over we stopped at a pet store as I was completely out of food. They had harnesses in there and I was convinced we would have the same problem as before i.e. XSmall is too small and Small is too big, but no we found a harness to fit her which I am really pleased about as hopefully this will help with the lead work. Problem with it seems to be that she is now pulling but it makes her stand on her back legs instead of pulling and choking - she looks like a meerkat!!

I also took her swimming yesterday, we have a shallow stream near us that all the children play in during the summer. We took her in and she can walk a lot of it but had to swim some of it and she swam!! She didn't like it particularly as it was cold, she was shivering!

Following the biting and over excited advice with great interest! Our 12 week old pup seems to be having longer and longer periods of this and I wonder whether, in an attempt to tire him, we are overstimulating him. He goes out for 20 minutes or so twice a day, although we have also been taking him in the car into town for half an hour or so to get used to sights and smells. We also live on a regular dog walk so he often gets to play with dogs of friends if we see them walking by, in the hope he will be a sociable dog.

Doing the yelping thing but it isn't working for my 13 yrs old DD, who can't manage to sound angry! (She adores him!) Haven't tried the plastic bottle idea but he plays with empty plastic bottles so I suspect this wouldn't work for him.

Like lots of your pups, he is 75% fabulous and 25% devil dog!

Shaky plastic bottle with pebbles in really makes her stop and look (but make sure she can't see where it is when shaking if possible). Also we've tried leaving the room for a minute last night to calm her down when she's Turbo Terrier and biting everything she comes across and that also works well which also was good. More chilled when we come back and ready to play nicely again. Currently snuggled into me with her new smart starry collar on. Bless!

The ow ow ow thing doesn't work at all he just sees it as confirmation that he needs to keep going. ignoring ... Ha!!!!!! Yea ... That just means jump more and bite harder. he's well over 20lbs now ...

I know I shouldn't do this, but this is working for us. we have the kitchen crate and when he acts like a devil pup, he goes into the crate with nothing but his thoughts. I say "time to chill". he immediately goes into submission and looks up at me as if he knows he messed up. I give him 5-10 minutes to chill ... I open the door and he must sit and wait until I say, ok, come out. then I have him sit again and I give him praise and he's chilled. again, I know this goes against everything I've read, but I was in a bind and my kids were getting scared.

Conversely, when I use the kitchen crate as a place for him to be when I'm doing chores, I give him a frozen peanut butter kong to have fun with.

Our pup was/is the same when it came to a yelp - made her lunge for more! I think having a time out area is a good idea. It gives everyone a chance to chill and start again. It certainly helps us as we are open plan so getting up and leaving room is not really possible also we would just have pup attached to us by her teeth so would take her with us any way!

Our pup usually nips when she wants to play which I find hard to do when she's bitten as I don't want her to think that's the way to get our attention.

We went to the pet shop and then to a different park today and she was great - bought a long line so she can trot about but I still have the end of it - too many picnics happening for a free run. Also as my DS doesn't walk anywhere close to in the right direction thought it could come in handy! More money ......

Another day another rabbit hole, this one was bigger and she kept coming out, came out for a piece of frankfurter and wasn't too manic about being taken away from it. I was a whole lot calmer as I could see she had space in there and I didn't have two hysterical 8 year olds with me!

The harness is BLOODY brilliant, what a godsend... a quick check on it and she heeled the whole way back to the car which I have never ever seen her do on this walk.

Good days

Hello, I'm back from me hols!
This is the trip I had serious doubts about a few weeks back. Can honestly say it was an absolute dream! He adapted brilliantly to the new setup - the cottage's living space was over two floors so we had to teach him how to go up and down the stairs, which he's not allowed to do at home. He was very unsure at first, and never really mastered it without checking us out first for permission. Back home and he stays at the bottom again.
He only had one wee indoors - on the bathroom floor - but then we were outside for most of the time so not sure I can claim that as a victory. He went through each night beautifully without barking for us at 7am, which he does at home. Am hoping this continues now we're back.
He seems to have developed a criminal streak - kept running into other people's cottages and nicking their shoes. Fortunately they thought it was funny.
He's scared of the sea - gave it a very wide berth, but took a running jump into the pond and came out stinking.
There was another puppy of a similar age there too, a golden retriever, which made me think of poor Rollo (how's he doing, anyone know?) and they had great fun rolling around the gardens in a headlock.

So, verdict on holidaying in England with a dog: great.