Is there a new puppy thread?

[FiveHoursSleep]

If not, could this be one, please?
We have just agreed to offer a home to a 6 week old GSD x collie? pup whose mum was rescued from an Irish dog pound.
We pick him up in a couple of weeks. Time to drag out the crate and chew toys...
He's living in a kennel atm with his mum and siblings so we''l be starting from the top when it comes to toilet training too.
Who else has new puppies and what stage are you up to with them?

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

I have nicknamed ours Doggylonglegs as he looks like he is on stilts at the moment!

I am hopeful about house training now though a little scared to say out loud that yes, I think he has cracked it now. I no longer take him out hourly, he is reliably telling me he needs to go out now. He hasn't had an accident now for over 10 days.

He loves our trips to the park and positively laps up all the attention he gets, prancing round like he thinks he's some sort of canine superstar!

[FiveHoursSleep]

Ours has doubled in size and is lying at my feet twitching while I type. His coat is a lot lighter too so god knows what colour he'll turn out in the end. We haven't had a puddle indoors for a few days now, which is nice.
He's coming up 14 weeks and I've dropped his meal down to twice a day which does seem to reducing poos- always nice :)
Training is going well, he's not the worst dog in the class, that honour goes to a golden retriever pup who just lies there and barks for the whole class.
The kids love the puppy now he's stopped doing piranha impressions and brush him every day.

[tabulahrasa]

I'm still getting the odd accident, but it's about one every couple of days - and they're not his fault really.

He's still a piranha though better, but not completely stopped.

Puppy classes - aye, he's the snarly bitey one that other owners avoid, rofl, he's not like that when we meet other dogs on walks, but a room full of them gets him in a weird mix of nervous and excited that makes him horrendous. The good news is that he's already getting to the point where we (me and DD go) can get his attention for lead work there though, so hopefully he'll get used to it all quite quickly.(he's only been twice)

I need to get him better with small children fast because he's now at head height to toddlers when he jumps up on them, luckily I've got an obliging friend with small people I can borrow, so I'm going to do that over the next wee while. He likes small people, it's just that he likes them too much and gets too excited and so starts jumping at them, trying to lick them and the odd nibble on feet...not what you want from a big dog.

[ijustwant8hours]

I kind of feel like I need to start defending puppies as they seem to be getting a lot of negative press! Mine had a lovely play with the DCs this morning that didnt end in tears.... well there has to be a first time!

Fan, mine looks like he is on stilts too.

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

They are hard work but I wouldn't have it any other way. He has well and truly wormed his furry faced way into our hearts.

I can't belive how much we've changed to accomodate his needs but also how much we enjoy it too. It's no Andrex ad but I never expected it to be but it's worth every minute.

We start puppy class on saturday. Doggylonglegs will be beside himself with that many dogs in one place so not sure what to expect!

[tabulahrasa]

Ah, mine is sweet and funny - but honestly, I could do with him being a dog rather than a puppy... luckily he will be soon enough, lol.

[SelfRighteousPrissyPants]

Hello can I join you? Just chosed a little staffy X springer spaniel puppy we'll be bringing her home in 2 weeks time. Really excited though I know it will be hard work. Never had a puppy, our last dog was a 3 year old collie X rescue dog.

[SelfRighteousPrissyPants]

chosen not chosed

[FiveHoursSleep]

Aww thats an interesting mix. I love crossbreeds, you never know quite what you are getting!

[punter]

well our lab puppy is 12 weeks old and has had his two jabs so soon will be able to go out on walks and use up some of that energy. Garden has become quite boring I think. Still jumping up a bit and gets excited and does growling when we try to divert him to a chew toy so needs time out sometimes. Any ideas how to keep him busy (kong did not work) especially in the evenings when we want to sit down and relax and he does not!
Like children, he can be lovely but also can be horrid. Very leggy now as well.
Good luck to everyone.

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

Punter that is when I tend to throw cardboard boxes and tubes on the floor. It makes a mess but keeps him quiet.

[SelfRighteousPrissyPants]

Should be even more interesting as her Mum is laid back and Dad a bit barmy! I bet you can guess which breed is which

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

We had our first puppy class today. He has found himself a best buddy in the shape of a cocker spaniel to tear around with. There were lots of cringe worthy moments (he got more time outs than any other puppy with his over enthusiastic ways!) but it is hard not to laugh when he's streaking round the place with what I call his gremlin face on! Think terrier whos ears and legs are still too big for him, hairy face starting to sprout tearing round at full tilt complete with tongue trailing like he's grinning!

[poobum5]

hellllooo all.
We have finally brought home our very gorgeous border collie Puppy yesterday. He is 8 weeks old and obviously gorgeous! It has been going well so far. Managed about 5 or 6 hours sleep last night - better than anticipated! We are still getting him used to his crate, but have made good progress with that today. Our first dog was unsure initially, but seems to be getting used to him and they have just had a fab play in the garden.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he settles well tonight....
DC are all totally in love with him, and so far we haven't had too much nipping.
Off to the vets for first injections tomorrow.
Must say I am loving puppy owning! We got our first dog when she was 6 months old so never done the very little puppy bit before!
Glad to hear others are surviving puppyhood!

[Pizdets]

Hello,

Hope it's not too late to post on here, I've been reading the last few pages and it's been so helpful to see how everyone else is getting on!

We have a little daschund x poodle who is coming up to 13 weeks old (Lynand, I don't suppose yours came from Cheam, did they???) who is adorable and is currently snuggled on the sofa next to me. He's generally very well behaved and I'm busy socialising him by taking him to bars and pubs as often as possible. He's a London dog so already used to going on the tube and bus, sirens, traffic etc.

I wondered if anyone had any experience on weight gain? When the breeder's vet weighed him on October 19th he was 1.16kg (so tiny!) and when our vet weighed him 2.5 weeks ago he was 1.5kg. I've been weighing him this week and he's still 1.5kg...surely he should have put on some weight in the last couple of weeks? He's eating well and full of beans but I'm worried I'm missing something. Will he have a growth spurt soon?

Hope everyone's puppies doing well and everyone's still doing OK with the housetraining in this awful weather!

Piz

[SixtyFootDoll]

Hello, another newbie puppy owner, we brought home our female border terrier on the weekend.
8 weeks old and very cute.
Trying to use the crate but not sure how it works at night.
She is using newspaper to toilet on which is outside the crate, so have been leaving the crate door open, but kitchen door closed.
She's crying at night on and off.
Not sure how to get her to 'go' outside.

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

Hi

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

Hi Sixtyfootdoll. My Border is 4 1/2 months now so the teeny 8 weeker already seems a long time ago.

There is no secret to outside toileting other than repeat trips freezing your backside off in the garden with her. Take her out every hour and also out if she goes inside and she will get the message. Be consistant all the time.

And hang on to the thought it will pay off when it is driving you nuts. Ours has been fully trained for over a month now and cries to go out. It is worth the hard work. And when she is a couple more weeks on take the leap of faith and take up the paper. Getting rid of it helped ours get things right.

[ijustwant8hours]

Hello!

My border is nearly 20 weeks now, my goodness time has flown! He is growing into a lovely dog - but we stll have a few arrrgh moments!

I didnt crate at night until he was about 11 weeks, mainly because I thought that I would rather clean the floor in the morning than have him cry in the night, i started coming down to what was obviously one gigantic wee he had just done and then put him in the crate at night. He was crated in the day for short spells from the beginning.

To get them to go outside you need a warm coat and patience.... Take her out and wait, when she goes praise and treat. I said "wee" while he was weeing. Take her out a lot! Mine will now wee on command, but if I dont take him out every hour or so he will wee on the floor! Poos have been easier for us, same theory though. Take her out after she has eaten, wait, then praise and treat.

Good luck! They get big quick!

[ijustwant8hours]

Cross post with Fan! Hi Fan, how are you doing?

[digerd]

8 weeks is still very young. As soon as they wake up, if you catch them, scoop them up in your arms as I never had one wee on me, quickly open the door put them down and I always said "do wee wee", and when they did i praised them, They soon got the message. I think that was probably a little older than 8 weeks.
I used to put newspaper right next to the door in the kitchen, where they would later go outside to do it, and always praise when they do it. At 8
weeks old, they wee and poo in the morning after waking, also wee after every sleep during the day, and poo after every meal
before doing a poo they go round in circles a bit and when ready arch their backs, drop their rear, lift their tail and go. So if you watch you will get warning. Not so with the wee, though, unfortunately.
After drinking, outside for a wee.

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

Hi 8hours! Doggylonglegs is coming on in leaps and bounds now. Hardly ever bites now though has manic half hours. He loves muddy off lead romps in the woods (and leaping into waterfilled ditches!).

Puppy class is hard work though as he is overly enthusiastic with other dogs and gets too excited. We are busy with the task of teaching ourselves clicker tricks ready for the 'party' at xmas! Trainer says he is every inch the confident outgoing terrier ( read sharp as a button but equally independent).

And it is a good job I am not vain, I would have been very disapointed lately that the men doing U turns and stopping their cars to chat are only interested in my dog! It would seem the men in my neck of the woods are suckers for a hairy terrier!

How is yours coming along?

[SixtyFootDoll]

Thanks all and hi fellow terrier owners.
Pleased with her so far, loves cuddles and very playful.
Vets tomorrow.

[tabulahrasa]

Monster puppy had his last puppy class today, he'll be old enough for the adult ones after christmas... How an that be I'm still counting his age in weeks? lol

There's a Border Terrier in my puppy class, he is lovely, his whole body waggles with excitement :)

[Lynand]

Hi Pidzets i see your Dachs/poodle is well behaved. My two are looking more like Dach/Chihauhas every day and are very naughty. They can get up the stairs but not down and sieze every chance to run up there and then cry. Basil got his tail stuck in the dog door. Pepper became wedged in the stairgate. They ate the squeaker from their toy duck. One of them may squeak if squeezed. If they don't leave the Xmas tree alone i may have them stuffed and hung on it. They use the 'puppy pad' and go out side but also leave plenty of 'presents' around as well. I could out-bend and stretch any gym class. Should have had Ferrets.