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 :)

Well my puppy is doing really well! She still is frightened of the lead though but she no longer yelps and cries. She just lays down....I made her walk a little while ago and she wasn't happy about it but no yelps. She didn't want her treat though and went straight into her crate to sulk sleep!

Our lab is 9 1/2 weeks. And is definitely a cheeky one. Nicking socks/shoes/kids toys,

And nipping. Ugh the nipping.

My pup is doing the shoe nicking thing to! Whenever he hears the shoe cupboard being opened he is straight there waiting for his chance

Took pup to the beach today for the first time! She paddled in the sea and had great fun digging a big hole. She is also getting braver with other dogs and now will sniff noses- we were on the dog side of the beach so there were lots of other dogs around.

Eventually she tired of digging, thrust her head in a towel and fell fast asleep!

Are only prob at the moment is that she thinks crawling babies are puppies and then barks at them and wants to play - we've had one staying this weekend which has been a bit tricky.

Mine fell in the canal this afternoon. Thankfully managed to fish him out, whereupon he rolled in a large muddy puddle!

I'm dreading winter.

Puppy came to work with me today. I work with children and she was so well behaved, only jumping up a few times but she does know 'no' and 'down' and is responsive to both. She is a very lovely puppy! I hope everyone is enjoying their puppy too

Hi all, just wanted to give an update on my pup who is unbelievably 25 weeks old tomorrow - where has the time gone???

Went to the beach also today and she was great, a little overenthusiastic with other dogs but she is like that on walks anyway, however she did stay with me most of the time and had an absolute ball - very tired now.

We went to a barbecue on Saturday and she came - there was about 40 people there and she took it in her stride, she got a lot of admirers without sounding boastful we met of a lot of terrier owners and all commented on how good she was for a terrier - a lot of them couldn't believe how laid back she is and how well behaved she was so I am pleased about that - have heard some horror stories about terriers!

We had another rabbit hole incident last week which was terrifying and completely my fault. Since the last incident a few weeks ago I am very very aware where she is at all times but for some reason I let my daughter go deep into the woods with her - we used to do this to train her to come between us and my daughter and I just didn't think not to do it. Maggie caught wind of rabbit and she disappeared for about 20 - 25 mins. It was late in the evening and husband and I truly believed this was it, she had either got stuck or a badger/fox had got her, she had her harness on and we both thought she might have got caught on a tree root. Problem was we had no clue which hole she had gone down and there was a massive network of holes, she wasn't appearing out of any of them. Eventually after about 25 mins she popped up and came over to my husband, she was absolutely filthy and had either gone down one hole and popped up quite a way later or had just been down one hole for a long time. I am still not sure what to do, I really don't want to put her on a long line but think I am going to have to or just carry on doing what I am doing but being really really vigilant in rabbity areas and put her on her lead for those bits of our walks. You can tell where the holes are more likely to be and I am getting much better at thinking oooh this bit is rabbity....

I was reading back through the thread and I realised she hasn't had an accident in the house for 2 weeks solid now, don't know if we have finally cracked it as she would go for 10 days or so without having an accident and then have a little one and then nothing for a week or so - we shall see!

All in all she is an absolute pleasure and a poppet to have around so to all those who are still struggling a bit please rest assured that it definately does get better.

We've just passed the 20 week mark, so I'm not sure I qualify for this thread anymore. As spam says, it creeps up on you that most of the awful stuff has gradually disappeared. Ours has finally got the message that he's to pee outside and on walks, and he sleeps through until about 7.30am. No longer summons us in the morning by barking, but waits patiently for one of us to stumble down and let him out.
He's an absolute poppet - lovely nature, biddable and friendly. Have lost count of the number of people who have stopped us while out to ask what "sort" he is. Unless he's been in the sea or canal, or a puddle, he is a very cute scruffy teddy bear.
Keep your eye on the end game, ladies. It's worth the wait!

Thats fab to hear I am still in the very early days, as our pup has been with us only 5 days, but he has slotted in so well I cannot imagine being without him
Please dont disapper from the thread though, we are relying on using your experience to stop us messing up

Maybe we should have a teenager puppy thread now!:o
Kings, where are you?

Won't desert newbies, but maybe won't clutter up with juvenile problems!

Major plus for me though-this is THE longest thread I have ever started :o

High 5 to happymm. Well done.

happymm - this is the best thread ever for new puppy owners and I can't thank you (and Kings) enough for starting it. I had tried and tried to get my darling sister to come on here but she won't [stamps foot].

It has been so so useful and so re-assuring knowing others have gone through the same thing, I think a few of us would have given up if it wasn't for the sanity and "all in the same boat" aspect of the thread. I hope it continues and I am sure it will - it is so nice to see all the newbies [grins].

I look back at 15 weeks ago and see all my threads of woe that are now hidden pages and pages back and I am so glad that this one keeps bumping up to the top and helping us and all the new puppy owners.

Oh and Happy - I mean't to tell you about the barking. Ours barked constantly at about 16-20 weeks - she suddenly had a new fear which was really weird. Would bark and bark at people who had previously been in the house and it was all so random. She is still doing it a bit but is getting a lot better. I read something Minimu said that I had no clue about and that is they still get fear up until 14 months old, they have different fear periods apparently so this might explain why your pup has suddenly got a bit barky. Ours was really barky yesterday, a friend came in and she hadn't noticed her, suddenly five minutes later pup pulled out a full on barking session with hairs standing up on her back. Friend just ignored her and then picked her up for a cuddle and pup was licking her face and having a cuddle in within a 30 seconds!

Hello all

I come to you with eyes like pee holes in the snow, we've just been through the second night with our puppy who seemed to love his crate in his own home but now screams the place down when he's put in it despite being fed in there, given treats, toys, having two thirds covered up to make a safe den and a warm hot water bottle wrapped up.

Last night he yelled for an hour, went to sleep, woke up an hour later and yelled until we reached the time we'd set for taking him out for a pee/poo. He went back in his crate, yelled for 15 minutes (yay we thought) went to sleep for two hours screamed and yelled until the next time he was due to go out (about half an hour later, we discovered at his point he'd poo'd his bed), screamed for 45 minutes when he went back in (cleaned up obviously) and repeated the same performance two hours later until we all got up.

I waited until he was quiet before letting him out, took him straight outside for a toilet break, brought him back in for some freedom and put him back into the crate when he looked like dropping asleep as I was advised because unsurprisingly he is very tired.

He is screaming his head off. Plan is not to take him out until he calms down.

Now before someone shoots me for being horrible and mean, the crate is for his own safety, I work term time 2 x 2 hours and will have to leave the house without him occasionally, he needs to learn to deal with a certain amount of seperation in a safe way. Plus he was very happy in a crate in his own home, we know, we saw him, he was completely laid back and the breeder has a farm so she's outside a fair bit and left him there for far longer during the day than we have (up to now, he's having a longer patch in there awake at the mo because he's throwing a tantrum despite the fact he's tired and the one thing every article seems to agree on is you must not let them out when they are making a fuss).

There seem to be as many variations in advice for this as there are about babies and sleep. In fact I am feeling wibbly about this because my DC was a constant night time screamer until three months and not brilliant for the next two, I've done sleep deprevation, I'm not a fan and to be honest it's not helping that my husband can fall asleep regardless.

Suggestions gratefully recieved, sucsess stories in similar circumstances even more so. Yesterday he would nap in his crate so I got a short nap, today with the screaming I'm not so hopeful.

Hi WyrdMother. My puppy did the same the first few nights. We got him on Tuesday.
He spent the first night barking and howling pretty much all night, and the crate was a mess in the morning.
The second night, the noise was so bad I ended up sleeping on the floor next to the crate just to get some sleep
The third, I slept on the sofa in the same room. He still cried, but settled quite quickly.
The fourth night I made it to my own bed and he cried for about an hour on and off,
The fifth he took about 15 minutes of quiet whimpering with a bark or two, before going to sleep
Last night he put himself in his crate at about half past 9, and didn't make a sound when I shut the door and went to bed He woke me up at about 5.30 this morning, but has now gone back to his crate for a sleep on his own.

My pup had never slept on his own, or in a crate before, as he came from a rescue and had been with the rest of his litter, so yours may just be unsettled at the change of environment?
A few nights ago I felt exactly as you do, but it does seem to be sorting itself out.

I also had a baby who did not sleep well, (14 months old before she started sleeping through) and was not looking forwrd to sleepless nights. But puppies are just babies at the end of the day, so will need time to 'get it'. I think in the end, like with the baby you need to pick the method which makes most sense to you, and just be consistent.

Fingers crossed for a better night tonight

Tooearlytobeup Thank you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Hearing that someone else has survived is the medicine I needed.

On the plus side I have just realised that his crate was beind a sofa so he couldn't see anything but wall and sofa back. I've moved his crate so he can see me when I'm in the sitting room and he's gone to sleep!!!!!!!!

I shall now have a quick shower and get my DC ready for her day out. I'm on all day "isn't your crate a lovely place" duty at home and my chances of a snooze at some point during the day have just risen dramatically.

Fingers crossed for night time as well.

Thanks again.

Spoke too soon, went for a shower, up and howling again.

Oh well, we'll get there.

Mine does that too! He doesn't like it if I leave the room he is in, he will get up and follow me if he can, like a little shadow.
I don't tend to use the crate in the day really, if he goes in there, it is with the door open. We have left him in it once when we went out, and he did cry for a bit, but the neighbours said he calmed down then

We are at the beginning of the third week with our pup and he only cries for about five minutes at night now, in fact has done after the first few days. Right from the first night we have left him in his crate (door closed) all night, no going down to let him out. He had a poo or wee for the first few nights, but is now quiet and dry. I think if you can it might be worth resisting the urge to go down to him.

We've managed to get him to walk now on the lead, in the beginning he just wouldn't move not even for treats. However he still gets to a point about four or five minutes in where he just stops and won't move. I'm not convinced he's tired or just had enough, in fact I think he could do with a slightly longer walk. Not sure what to do.

tooearlytobeup Thanks again, he is happily sleeping in his crate with the door shut now, I'm going to see how that one goes because at least in the puppy stage I'll want to know he's secure for those few hours I'm out a week. I did strew his crate with tiny bits of cooked beef before he settled down and gave him lots of praise when he went to find in so that might have helped [evilgrin].

Dogmac This is interesting, the going down to let him out was based on advice on puppycentric websites that said a pup can't go that long, he's 8 weeks, I'll keep an eye on what he actually does poo or pee wise over the next couple of nights and take it from there and give it a go if we continue to have problems. Sorry I can't help with the lead issue, were only just starting to use one in preperation for walks when he's finished his jabs. Good luck.

Thank you both again.

We are gearing up for the lead challenge, as we will be able to take him out soon .
We have not been able to use treats at all as he has had a dodge tum all week, and so is only having rice and chicken.
However house training is going well .

I'm quite scared to take him out, as I think he will spend all his time trying to eat things he shouldn't

I know what you mean about eating everything .

Just wondering does everyone who uses a crate (ours is a wire one btw) take out food and water bowls at night and at what time?

We have a wire crate too. We don't keep the food and water in there, it is generally just outside the back door as I thought it would make it easier for him to do the eat-poop thing at first.
I did feed him inside the crate a few times, but he eats all his food immediately, so I pick the food bowl up when he's finished anyway.

We just had our first walk! He was better on the lead than I expected, but did lay down or refuse to move a few times. The kids were all desperate to take a turn holding the lead though, and my youngest threw a stop and insisted on being carried

He is exhaused now, and went straight to sleep

tooearlytobeup We're avoiding the back door at the moment as I'm hoping he doesn't really notice the cat flap until he's got a bit bigger and can't fit through it . So glad the walk went well, how are your kids coping with the puppy? My DC has been great but I think she's been a bit disillusioned with the reality, much as you tell a kid that a puppy will be more hard work than fun (at first) and will take up a great deal of mummys attention I don't think she believed me.

Just want to say to everyone on the thread that now I can see straight and have read a big chunk of the thread you are all such reassurance, tiredness was causing despondency this morning, I was sure that there would be months of this and that I would go completely loopy.

Can anyone offer me any advice on house training, I seem to be going round in circles. Puppy is only 10 weeks old. However, he has access to the back garden and spends a lot of time out there. My problem is, I take him out to the toilet and watch him do two or three wees and then he comes back indoors where two minutes later he can do another wee with no warning. This morning I took him outside for an hour after his breakfast he didn't do a poo so I brought him indoors, went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and he'd pooed on the dining room floor - literally less than five minutes later.

Today I have tried taking him out in the garden on the lead so no distractions, he does lots of wees gets lots of praise and I'm happy. Bring him in the house and there's a wee as soon as I turn my back.

What has been going through my mind is he doesn't mess in his crate, however he only goes in there at bedtime or when we go out. So I've put him in there for an hour now to see if I can get him to train his bladder muscles. After the hour I'll take him straight out and do massive amounts of praise for any wee. Do you think this could be an appropriate action?

I really can't think of anything else to do - I'm sure that once he's able to go for walks then the situation could change, but that's still a couple of weeks away and I don't want my house to smell like the urinals of a public toilet.

Glad you are feeling better WyrdMother
My older kids (11 & 9) are finding it great, and are a good help. My nearly 4 year old though is another kettle of fish. She did not want a dog at all, she is very wary of them generally and has a thing about poo on the floor she was Ok with him for the first day or two, but he has had an upset tummy and she saw him poo on the floor twice, plus be sick constantly on Sunday/Monday. She totally took against him then, and asked my mum earlier if she could sleep in her house because "Mammy has that horrible dog"

Have you had your pup long Alicia? Mine was doing the same as that for the first couple of days, and i thought it would never end. I was waiting in the garden for ages with him and nothing would happen. He has taken himself out though over the last two days, so it seems to be sinking in without me doing anything else. He is 10 weeks too. We had a pee on the floor yesterday, but nothing since. I am still expecting accidents for a good while though.

What toys are your pups liking? Mine is turning his nose up at everything, and chewing up all our shoes instead.