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.

I hope all the puppies slept well last night. Whilst you have been sleeping (hopefully), Autumn has had a good day down under, seeming more confident to wander further off when we are outside instead of sticking to me like glue. She seems less anxious each day, and does not always need to have me or someone else in sight all the time. At least for today. Have added up to date pictures to my profile.

It sounds like Autumn is settling in well, and she's gorgeous!

Stanley slept from 11:00 last night until 6 this morning, with only a tiny whimper when we went to bed. Mind you we took him to a village show yesterday - I swear if Kate and William had turned up with baby George they'd have got less attention than we did carrying Stanley

All the new sights and sounds and smells must have exhausted him because he was comatose all afternoon

It sounds like Autumn is settling in well, and she's gorgeous!

Stanley slept from 11:00 last night until 6 this morning, with only a tiny whimper when we went to bed. Mind you we took him to a village show yesterday - I swear if Kate and William had turned up with baby George they'd have got less attention than we did carrying Stanley

All the new sights and sounds and smells must have exhausted him because he was comatose all afternoon

In five hours time, we are getting Toby!! (Does a happy dance!). Honestly, we have had such a tough week with DD, that we all need this to make us smile again.

DD has been an absolute trooper and has had chronic pain from the bone graft site and the wounds. She's eating a little bit, and as her face is very swollen can't smile or talk particularly. A small round puppy careering about the house and garden will make a huge difference I hope to her spirits. He will also make a mess, but that's a small thing in comparison.

hi, can I join? I am an experienced dog mum. have had labs, GSDs and various in betweeners ALL my life. Got a gorgeous cocker spaniel bred by my niece and her DH. They have working dogs...

he is lovely, quite chilled a lot of the time, but I agree - pooing machines. 9 weeks old tomorrow and house training has been a breeze, with the exception of peeing in his crate overnight! It is driving me crazy. I know he can go 6 hours without peeing - he did it on the drive from Scotland back to England. No pooing though - he does outside 95% of the time for pees and 100% for poos.

He knows his name, sit, wave (just a silly thing) and follows me everywhere!

This too shall pass is my mantra. He plays nicely with my huge GSD and is perfect in every way, with exception of weeing on his bed... oh and slight separation anxiety - from ME!

Sallybear - so excited and jealous glad your DD is ok, I haven't seen your other thread, what was she having an op for? What age is she? A puppy will lift her spirits for sure.

Our breeder has told us to leave her from day one so hopefully she doesn't get separation anxiety. We're a busy house and I'm out and in quite a lot of the day so hopefully she will just get used to it. I was looking at a 10 week old RR last night thinking "how will I be able to carry her?".

Anyway going to see her today haven't seen her since she was 2 weeks old sobbing difference, the DC don't know which one we are getting so will be lovely surprise

Hello and welcome Jax aww he sounds lovely

Jax does sound lovely and Sally how exciting, can't wait to hear about your first day!

We had a good night again, Jarvis slept from 11pm until 6am when dh got up and let him out for another runny pooh which was yellowy today, probably due to chicken/rice mixture. But he had been clean overnight so he's a star.

is there an order that you train them, ie do you do sit first, then come, then fetch etc or doesnt it really matter?

Well done Stanley. Pip went from Midnight to 6.00 as well, although dh was still sleeping in the same room as him.

Dh let me have a lie in until 10.00 am and Pip was really good for him, has played nicely, toiletted outside and is currently curled up sleeping in Lurcherboy's bed with him. So ridiculously cute!

Sally, your dd is an inspiration, I would be a pathetic moaner in her situation. Hope Toby is just the tonic she needs. Really excited for you all today.

Jax, your boy sounds lovely and really clever.

Awks, yep the yellow is from the chicken, Pip's were the same at first, although are healthy and brown now after almost a week of probiotics.

Have you checked out Kikopup's videos on Youtube or her website Dogmantics? I think she suggests a good order, although you don't need to do it one at a time, short, sweet sessions here and there throughout the day, working on things that seem appropriate at the time are best. So for example, you can do sit, wait and come with feeds; encourage walking near your left leg offlead when you are in the garden, handling and grooming when he's on your knee, settle when he's in his crate and 'four paws on the floor' whenever he meets someone new.

Personally - and this is just my own opinion - I've always found the three most important/useful things to teach a pup are leave, come and instant down. With those three you can stop them get into 'almost' any trouble, from eating things they shouldn't to running off after every interesting thing they see. 'Leave' is really useful for saving you having to constantly retrieve sticks, leaves, stones and everything else they find really tempting from their mouths.

Obviously it will be a while before they are solid with them, but if you do lots and lots of short, positive sessions with lovely rewards now, you will be laying the foundations for a really well behaved dog in the future. The other one that's really useful is one that Kikopup has a video of them, which is 'don't mug for treats'.

Forgot what I came on here for.

Do you think we can come up with a list of good suggestions for places to take them for socialisation.

Dh and I were trying to decide where to go today and couldn't make up our minds. I'm also struggling in the week, as I don't drive, so all we can do during the weekdays, with 3 dcs at home is carry him for Lurcherboy's walks, so park, round the block and the village (which is basically just a cross-roads with a few shops). Mum takes us all out in her car once a week though and if dh is home early enough we can do an evening jaunt.

We decided on a trip to PAH - don't really need to go, but can pick up some poo bags and it will be a totally new experience for him. Then to a nearby touristy village for a walk to the monument (popular dog walk, especially on Sundays) followed by a trip to the ice-cream parlour, where we can sit outside and he can see traffic, people etc.

I agree, leave is used continually at the moment.

Pup is on fish4dogs puppy food - same brand as big GSD. He also loves those flat hide chews. Im happy so long as he leaves my furniture alone...

Ive just moved his crate to the dining room, next to GSD bed so hoping he wont wee. I KNOW he can hold pee for a while, going to lift water this evening to see if that helps. Also going to re read my puppy books.

In the past week or so we have gone to Vet, Pets at Home, Costa coffee (sat outside) took him to the pub yesterday while we had lunch and then costa. He loves being snuggled in and fussed over.

I have also taken him in the car when we've gone out. But to be fair, he had to travel from Edinburgh to Ayrshire, then to SE England when we got him and he was a superstar in the car in his little crate.

Sounds similar to us then Jax, in terms of socialisation. He's been out several times in both dh's and Mum's cars and still screams like a banshee every time, but tends to fall asleep after about 20 minutes.

I'm worrying about not doing enough, as he came home at 10 weeks and was 11 weeks yesterday.

Unfortunately, the vet has delayed his second jab as a precaution because of him being underweight and having a bad stomach (he's a rescue who has a very bad start in life) so he's not going to be able to go down outside until at least the first week in September and that's if she agrees to do it this week. I really hope she does, because his puppy classes start on 4th September.

Mine had a 6 hour car journey, punctuated by a couple of stops when we brought him home. He yelled for the first 20 minutes, but then slept the rest of the way home.

Thanks everlong. The problem is we lead a pretty quiet life, as ds1 has AS and doesn't like a lot of change or too many visitors, so any trips etc have to planned in advance.

The only dogs we know aren't ones I would want to socialise with either. My sil's cocker wasn't socialised, is elderly and extremely short tempered and the other people we know with dogs are all away on holiday at the moment. We have doggie acquaintances that we see regularly in the park, but don't really know the owners to invite round, iyswim.

He has seen lots of other dogs out and about, but obviously I can't let him interact with them due to unknown vax status.

I used to attend two dog clubs and know literally hundreds of people with dogs last time I had a pup and since our lives have changed so much, this seems like much harder work in terms of socialisation.

Walk to the monument has been cancelled, as it's decided to get really hot outside, so now we're doing ice-cream parlour, PAH and I'll carry him under the canopy while dh pops into a couple of shops at the the retail park to do a few errands.

Realised we should take him out in VW camper once it's back from the garage later today - it would be a disaster if he developed a fear of that!

We took Stanley to the village show yesterday, so a whole host of new sights and sounds. I swear if Kate and William had turned up with baby George they'd have got less attention than Stanley!

He loved meeting people and being fussed, he met some donkeys too, then he fell asleep in dds arms halfway round. As soon as we got home he took himself off to bed and slept for 3 hours - obviously very tiring for a baby spaniel!

There was a Guinea pig sanctuary there where you could cuddle the piggies - one of the workers chased after dd thinking she was walking off with one of the pigs in her arms as they had one with the same markings as Stanley

We are home!
Gorgeous boy snuggled into me down the M1 and has spent two hours tearing about before flopping in a heap once I'd evicted the kids. He napped for 20 minutes, and you guessed it they woke him up

Sallybear

At least we got cuddles with our little girl today to tide us over.

Enjoy your first night with him

Sally

My three always decide to come thundering through the room just as Pip starts napping as well. Brings back memories of when dd was a baby.

Fingers crossed for a nice quiet night.

Pip is currently spark out in his crate after a trip to PAH, where he got lots of fuss and was fascinated by the fish, a walk (well carry) around a touristy village and ice-creams outside a cafe (us not him - although he did his best to try and eat dh's ).

Then we popped to Boots to get ds1 some allergy eye drops. I sat in the boot with the lid up with the dogs, like I did at Tesco on our way home from picking him up and this time he was relaxed enough to have a nibble on his nylabone while he watched all the comings and goings as we waited for dh.

Then finally, we popped into the ILs to drop off a birthday card and he met their visitor and had fun haring round the garden with Lurcherboy.

He yelled most of the way there, on and off, but by the time we got home was quiet and I assume, asleep.

He tried to get up when Lurcherboy went in the garden, but ended up falling asleep halfway out of the crate door, which doesn't look at all comfortable.

Funniest moment of the day was as we headed off to PAH with Pip screaming away in the boot. I plugged in my MP3 on random play and as the first song started, Elvis Presley started singing 'You 'aint nothing but a hound dog - crying all the time', cue much hilarity from the dcs.

Hello all ok if I can join you .... I got our little pup a few days ago. She has been quite good. Sleeping at night next to my bed waking up around 3 ish then goes back off to sleep. Starting to get the idea of peeing in the garden ect. She won't be left alone though for any length of time. She screams like mad. Any ideas how to help her chill abit?

HI happygolucky0

What sort of puppy to you have? We love photos to coo over y'know - hint, hint.

Sounds like you and I have similar issues. I have being doing something very similar to except we don't have room for a pen, so I've been dropping the treats in his crate instead.

Today, now he's dry and clean in the house, we've removed the divider in his crate to give him room to run around and play in there and he seems to like it even more than he did before.

At the moment I only need him to be able to settle for around 20 minutes during the day, while I drop and pick up ds2 and dd from school (which is across the road so nice and quick). So, I'm focussing on that as a goal at the moment and hoping to work up to it from there.

Pip still isn't quiet at night unless there's someone in the room with him and my neighbours are due back this week. We're getting there by making sure he's extra tired before we go to bed and teaching the cue 'settle', but I think we still have a way to go.