New Puppy Mommies in here *blerk*

[Awks]

Got our new puppy on Saturday. I was in tears this morning and I'm a pretty experienced dog owner. Its just so hard moaning cow that I am He is a 9 week old cocker and is a beautiful, cuddly boy but is a massive shitting machine. And not in the garden either.

So any new puppy owners want to weep in here then please do.

Hi and welcome VV.

Had a peek at your photos. He's very cute - I love his ears!

Sweetkitty, you can introduce lots of commands concurrently, as long as you make sure she knows which one you're working on and make it absolutely clear what you're reinforcing. There's a kikopup video somewhere where she talks about not only training one behaviour at a time. I'll see if I can find it later.

Down is often a bit slower than sit, as they tend to have a habit of sitting naturally all the time, just to be able to look up at our faces, whereas lying down when they're trying to interact doesn't come as naturally. It also involves a more complicated body movement than sit - so more for them to think about in terms of exactly what you were clicking.

I do lots and lots of very short clicker sessions every day with Pip, working on a variety of different things to keep him interested. So I might do some recall work, then a bit later some sit or down (although you can work on those together and even add in a stand as well) then perhaps some leave or quiet training and so on.

I'll see if I can find that video for you. Back soon ....

I was wrong, it was an article not a video - here.

Welcome VV. it's good to share experiences. I've learned loads since this thread has been running.

Please can I join? Meg and I have been lurking for a week. Meg is a 12 week old border collie. This is week three with her. I am worried about feeding (she was smallest in litter and has gone from just under 2kg to 3.2kg in the time we have had her- is she making up for a thin start, or is that too much?)
Also her needle sharp teeth- especially with dd.
Also the cat- who turned tiger and swiped her last night (she is smaller than the cat).
But on the whole she is lovely.

I get my border collie, Finn, tomorrow. So excited, have been shopping for him, managed to steer DD away from the sheepskin lined leather dog beds. They did look comfy though, perhaps I should buy one for me to curl up in.
I also said a firm no to the sparkly black jumper, no border collie of mine is going to be wearing clothes.

DD is 21 and was still besotted with the hamsters, rabbits etc in the shop. I was worried we were going to end up with more than one little furry thing.

Hello barbarian and viking - looking forward to hearing all about your pups (and seeing photos)

Wow that is small for a collie - Fitz will be about collie size when he's fully grown (a little shorter and stockier) and he's already 5.5 kilos at 10 weeks! At least it will make it easier on your arms when you're doing all your socialisation trips ...

I think we're all struggling with biting - their teeth are needle sharp - I've told dd she always needs a toy ready when she's playing with him so she can redirect immediately and if it carries on then the game stops

Dd was off school yesterday (stinking cold and headache) and she was listlessly hanging round the kitchen and Fitz was being very naughty so I whisked both of them out for a quick trip to the park to look at the ducks - they both cheered up enormously when we got home

Shall we have a new roll call?

Basildonbond, Fitz, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, 10 weeks today

Please can I join too? Forgot to put that in my post. He doesn't arrive until tomorrow though. Finn will be 8 weeks old. Picture on my profile.

Can we also put together a list of must-do socialisation trips

So far Fitz has been to the park, school, farm, vet, pet shop and has seen horses, sheep, geese, ducks, other dogs, lots of people of different ages, nationalities, bicycles, cars, vans, the hoover

He's going to visit my parents today - my dad is b frail and walks with a frame and we'll be driving through Richmond park so hope we will see some deer

What are we missing so far?

Hello to you too life and good luck for tomorrow :)

Good luck Life

BB the pub - you forgot that essential! And motorbikes and people in bike helmets. And boats if you live hear a river?

I just let Jarvis off his lead in the park (practiced in an enclosed derilict graveyard before this) and he was brilliant though he knew I had ham in my pocket

VV I cant see him, just cakes

Oh everlong, poor little Enzo.

The only thing that worked to get weight onto Pip was increasing the amount of chicken he was getting by increasing the frequency of his feeds. He was on 8 feeds a day to begin with, so feeding every two hours. We also bought chicken with the skin on to add extra calories and saved all the juices and fat to add to his meals as well.

He dropped a load of weight after his recent explosive episode, so he's on 6 meals a day now, with extra chicken on top of his kibble.

Morning! I've been lurking since this thread started but thought I'd say "hello" too!
I've got Blu who is a 13 week old Dalmatian and an older grumpy rescue shitzu.

I've found this thread very encouraging! The amount of times I've said " why have we got this damn pup"
I've mostly been an emotional wreck. Forgot how difficult a puppy is but feel like we've turned a corner this weekend. Shes finally completely house trained and amazingly no mess all night!

Training going well too, I'm amazed how quick she's learning.

Will continue to lurk if that's ok with you all!

He gained really well after the campylobacter, although was still skinny, the vet said Lurcher skinny rather than emaciated, iyswim. He was still skinny, rather than thin though and he dropped a lot very quickly with last week's explosive episode - I suppose because he doesn't have a lot of reserves to call on.

He still looks like skin and bone compared to other pups, you can see his ribs and his hip pins are clearly visible, but we are starting to wonder whether that's due to him having strong Saluki heritage - so hard to tell when we don't know his breeding.

I do worry when I take him out that someone will call the RSPCA on us and tend to put his coat or jumper on if I can so it's not so obvious.

Daft thing is, he eats like a blooming horse and has a clean bill of health from the vets.

Welcome nurseneedshelp Blu sounds lovely. We need pictures though!

We're up to 994 posts, so going to need a new thread imminently folks and I'm hopeless at coming up with thread titles, so someone else will have to do it.

Hiya all, I'll put another photo up (the one I had yesterday I put on my Facebook page and didn't want to be accidentally outed, so I'll get another picture just for MN!)

I think we're calling him Heisenberg. First night was ok, he was in a travel box next to our bed, he whimpered a few times during the night and I took him out for a pee just in case, but he didn't do anything . This morning I took him out at my usual rising hour (6:30), he did a pee on the garden, came in for some breakfast and promptly did a poo on the kitchen floor, so I know for tomorrow morning to put him out as soon as he's eaten.

We'd all went out to work/school at 8 and I got back at 12, he seems to have left the kitchen in tact. He'd done a pee and a poo on the newspaper I'd left for him, so that was fine and still had food and water in his bowls so over all a reasonable morning. Right now he's bouncing round the garden with an ice lolly stick in his mouth.

Right, back to studying the puppy training book for me!

You're brave leaving your puppy in the house on his own, Jarvis is in his crate as I like my chairs unchewed

There, photo added.

Not much to chew in the brand new kitchen. DD has suddenly realised the importance of tidying her toys away though

Hi everlong, my shitzu is VERY grumpy and is tolerating the dalmatian!

They're mostly ok together but I think he's generally fed up of her bouncing all over him.

I haven't ever had a crate, its not something I've ever thought about.

How do you add photos???