New Puppy Mummies Part 2

[SallyBear]

Just thought I'd start the new thread!

Toby (foxy coloured yellow Labrador) is now 13 weeks old. Long, lean and lanky. Still wonderfully tempered and is sleeping through and no longer messing in the house.

Ah ok thanks Picnic, will try putting her in her bed and ignoring her then!!!

I've let Nala off the lead from the beginning too but only when there's no people around, people with dogs are fine as she's more interested in the dog but she will chase after anyone to say hello, she is so friendly but as it's not always reciprocated I tend to put her on the lead if I see anyone about.

Got woken up out of a deep sleep at 3.30am this morning by her crying, when I got down too late poo in crate but then today she's had 4 runny poos including one really mucousy. She's never had the runs before will keep a close eye on her.

Working on her biting she's getting better with DP and I but not with the DC especially DS who is 3, he is awful with her and I can't leave them alone as he will squeeze her head, lie on her, pull her legs etc so if I have to leave the room either he comes with me or she's crated find it very stressful at times TBH I'm training her and training him how to behave around her. I think all I say just now is "leave the dog"

Where we walk there are very few people without dogs but I do put him on the lead if a dog comes into view who is on the lead. I'm also very aware that even other dog owners don't always want a muddy puppy jumping up and he's not 100% reliable at keeping all four feet on the floor yet.

Met a lovely Springer today and Finn did all the right things approaching respectfully and then rolled over at the other dogs feet! He is now fast asleep, one very tired pooch.

Thank you MooseM for the link to the book- DH downloaded it last night, I am arranging help from a behaviourist (who doesn't believe in dominance). Since these dramatic actions not a nibble from Meg...

But we are taking everyone's very helpful advice anyway, better safe than sorry.

Diet has also been a problem- Meg cannot digest puppy kibble- goes straight through. Vet suggested too rich. Half kibble half tinned Chappie is working much better, just in case that helps anyone.

Barb. I took my Toby off his Burns Puppy. Have him dreadful trots. He's on a home cooked diet now with some mixer. Much better for him poo wise.

Puppies are such a worry.

After me saying Nala was fine poo wise, another night of poos, took her out for last pee at 10.30pm, at 12 she woke us yelping as she'd pooed, same at 1.30pm I had ran out of blankets so I slept on the sofa with her, she asked for the toilet at 3 and then DP let her out at 6. She's done 6 runny poos in the garden too.

She's still eating well and is fine apart from the runny poos, I'm not giving her any tripe today just her kibble.

Another eventful walk today, we met a lovely woman with 2 golden retrievers, one played with her, so we were chatting and a couple went past with a Scottie on a lead who was barking his head off, the big dogs were looking at it, the man then hoicked it off it's 4 legs by the harness poor thing. We then chatted about these smaller dogs that are never allowed off lead and bark at everything or are carried. Not all small dogs I hasten to add. I think when you have a large breed you have to work harder a you don't have that option of lifting them out the way. We then met a GSD who got down on all fours before running at Nala, she started yelping and running she's never done that before, turned out the GSD is terrified of small dogs, once they had a sniff they were fine.

Who would have thought walking a dog would be so eventful and the number of people who stop to ask me about her. And I've got to stop her jumping on them.

Exactly sweetkitty, who would think a simple walk could be so eventful! I have a bad stress headache after today, what a nightmare! I had to be out of the house all day as we had builders in. Luckily the weather was great and so we went to a National Trust to do a Halloween trail. We arrived early and to start with it was ok, but then it got suddenly very crowded and I had people coming at legend from all directions to pat him on the head. To start with he was ok, but then he growled at this poor little girl. I tried to tell her mum but the girl toddled over again and tried to stroke him and he growled very loudly. It was awful. We were only half way around the trail at this point and nowhere near the car, so I tried to walk him out of everyones way off the path, but people still left the path to come over. I told everyone to look but do not touch! One man completely ignored me and he had these big gloves on too, and he just reached over, with me saying no, and Legend growled and barked at him. The man was very taken aback, but I had warned him. Eventually we got back to the reception area but it was full of people and he would not go through. I gave him loads of time, treats etc but in the end I had to pick him up and carry him back to the car. He is so heavy now, I cannot keep doing that.
I feel so deflated:( On the way back home, we had a picnic at a local quiet park and Legend had lots of fun playing with DD and DS. I hope this all hasn't set him back too much with his fear of strangers. He is fine with people with dogs, its the ones without that are causing the problems. I will email the behaviourist and go over it with her. we are working on 'targeting' with him atm, so I'm hoping this will help his confidence around people.
Sorry to moan! I've got a splitting headache from the stress. I was so looking forward to taking the kids to the Halloween trail, and they did enjoy it but I didn't at all, I was awful. A really bad puppy day today:(

it was awful

Oh dear, I can't believe we're all struggling. Maybe it's half term that's making things harder than usual. Puppies out of routine?

Sounds really hard work picnic and you too Sweetkitty. Well everyone's had an eventful time!

After our fantastic off lead hide and seek with DH and kids, I had a terrible one today. Repeated same place, time without DH though and with DS2 who is 8 and boisterous and his friend. The first hide and seek went wrong, they ran off into bush, minty ran after then instead of reappearing for praise and treats, there was this awful barking and screaming from the bush! DS2s friend had been found by minty and instead of both running back to me he stood screaming and minty stood barking at him. Awful.

Lead back on, child cuddled, everyone home for ice cream and me cup of tea, though I'd have preferred glass of wine but thought that bit unreasonable at 11am while minding another child!

We have lots of leaping, barking and snapping too. I've had enough and need reassurance that we are not inadvertently encouraging it. So we have our dog trainer coming to do a family/home visit. £40 but we need this extra support. I need to feel we have the knowledge to change things. I am sick of having no evening, no peace to watch TV whether we've done an evening walk or not, given chews or not, nothing seems to help for longer than 20mins.

Picnic sounds awful

I've always to remind my DC to ask the owner if the dog likes to be patted, have told them never to approach a dog without asking first.

With Nala it's the opposite she is so affectionate she chases after everyone, waggy tail, but jumping up, she would chase joggers and cyclists too, none of it is malicious she's just wanting to love everyone and every dog. She's been snarled at a good few times but I let it happen as it's all about her reading the other dogs signals, how is she going to learn otherwise?

She's actually really good in the evening once the DCs are in bed she's quite happy to snuggle with me. Until the cat appears then she chases and barks at him

It's really unbelievable that people would think it ok to approach a dog when the owner was clearly saying not to. In that situation I'd back right off. Not sure what people are thinking but it makes it so hard to deal with.

You're doing all you can to prevent your puppy getting into difficulties and someone comes along and makes life harder for them. It's upsetting when you hear your puppy growl, you know they're really stressed. But they're still learning and still very new to being outside with people, dogs etc.

When I see 3yr old sensible dogs walking calmly without needing constant instruction, I dream of being like that with minty one day!

I do think I'm finding it easier as I have no small children, teens and above can help and cope with nipping plus no child entertaining to fit in! I remember how difficult it was with my previous two pups.

We went out for a late afternoon walk and there were fireworks going off near the common which took me by surprise. I kept Finn on the lead although he didn't seem bothered just interested. Two very lively 6 month old dogs dragged their owner over and trod all over him, cue squealing from pup. I picked him up for a minute while they all calmed down and then he was desperate to get down and play so that was good.

Awaiting the invasion of collies at the weekend as we have my sisters 2 for three weeks. The 14 year old is unimpressed by Finn but the 3 year old is happy to play. He's also well trained so I hope he'll teach Finn some lessons.

Well certainly half term is harder because everywhere is so crowded I guess. Thanks for the words of support, it really does make me feel better. I know the puppies are young an still learning, I keep telling myself that......I just hope he gets more confident around people because obviously with kids we are going to be around other kids all the time, and him growling especially at a child really frightens me.
Mint, I know £40 is a lot but I think it's worth it, just for the peace of mind. Do let us know how you get on with that and what kind of help you get.
Legend has started this thing of jumping up at me and pulling on my clothes. He doesn't do it to the kids or DH. I give him a lot of attention through the day, but I'm figuring it is just an attention seeking thing.
NCSIaddict, yes I definitely think young children add to the stress!
sweetkitty, Nala sounds lovely. Remind me what kind of dog she is? A spaniel type?
Mint, I keep looking rather wistfully at all these older sensible dogs too:) Also I did actually ask one lady why people couldn't accept me saying not to touch my pup and she said 'oh it's cos he is so sweet and fluffy, he just looks very cute'. I have found that people just assume a Golden retriever must be friendly and that is in part why they don't easily accept me saying otherwise.

Finn seems really quiet today and I'm a bit worried, typically never satisfied, 2 days ago I was begging him to slow down. He's eating, weeing and pooing and seemed to enjoy his walk so am I worrying over nothing?
Is he just finding the first week of daily walks tiring? And needs a quiet day to catch up and grow.

Picnic I can't understand the stupidity of some people, I would never touch another dog without asking and always taught the children the same. To touch one when specifically asked not to beggars belief.

Picnic - she's a Ridgeback, she is very loving and friendly. She's great apart from this jumping and biting.

Picnic - that sounds v stressful - we went to a NT property this pm and it was heaving. Luckily Fitz is v chilled about small children (which is good when you look like a teddy bear!) but I am amazed by the number of parents who think it's ok to let their toddler come charging up to him and put their hands on the top of his head ...

Ncis - he's probably exhausted - we had a much longer wk yesterday than I'd planned (I got lost ) and Fitz has been out for the count most of the day. I had to wake him ul to go to puppy class and as soon as we got home he rushed straight back into his crate and conked out again ..

Mint - I hope your training session goes well

NCIS- I think they need a day off here and there as they still need to sleep/rest a lot. I think we underestimate how tiring new experiences are for them too.

I had a day working at home with kids out the house and didn't walk minty at all in the day or evening. I felt guilty about my lack of a plan for a walk, so kept thinking I would do a quick 10 mins round block whenever he looked like he wanted to go further than the garden - but he never did. He slept happily all day except for frequent potters in garden so I didn't go for a walk.

well....i have pros and cons.
Barney is a breeze in many ways - he is just about housetrained - he chooses to go out rather than wee or poo in the house. he did this from day 1.
today he found his feet.....
he was exhausting this morning - like having a toddler again! he was into everything and anything he shouldnt be....we have some stones on the borders in the garden - he tries to eat them. he wanted to be in the cat litter tray. he chewed my dining chairs. he ripped wallpaper off the wall. he was full of beans for hours....i couldnt keep up.

he is lovely but such a mischief! he discovered his water bowl can be played with today too.....he splashed and sploshed and i got water EVERYWHERE! he has destroyed his cuddly toys.

i am exhausted.

im at work tomorrow.....he will have to be crated until dh comes home at lunch time.....i will feed and let him out first thing....im hoping he will cope with his energy levels - he is like a coiled spring! dh loves playing outside with him so he should manage to wear him out,.....

Glad to hear that other pups do have quiet days,I've prodded him and his tummy is soft and non tender and no visible signs of pain anywhere. As I said he's still inhaling his food, weeing and pooing as normal so I think we'll have a quiet day today. I'm working tonight so DD is taking him to puppy class, I've given her strict instructions to watch if he behaves as normal with the other pups and if he does I shall relax.

at Barney finding his feet Vicar it is like having a toddler again. Everything has to go up a level and then they grow overnight and can reach it again!

NCIS sounds normal puppy style - lots of flaking out here. Our usual walks are 20mins but if we go to the park it's longer, might be out for an hour with 30-40 walking and 20-30 sitting in cafe/standing chatting - but those park trips always exhaust minty and he needs the next day to recover!

Re: mad puppy behaviour - what toys do people find helpful in this situation? We have those mad times when minty chews at everything manically - slippers, feet, clothes, trainers, scarves, skirting boards, not had wallpaper yet but also chairs chewed! No toys seem of interest during those sessions - the antlers that Moose suggested do distract and will last 20mins but that it's. I'm wondering if we're missing a category of toys that might help - tried soft toys, rubber toy tyre, squeaky toys, rope toys.

Not tried one of those water bottles in a soft toy - anyone found a favourite toy?

Vicar - they lull you into a false sense of security just like babies and then just when your guard is down, wham!!

My kitchen now looks like an exercise in minimalism as everything chewable which I care about has been put away - we are definitely going to need a new sofa once he's got through the puppy stage though .. My parents wanted to get us some new dining chairs and I asked them to wait until next year!

Ncis - I wish Fitz was having a quiet day - I've got masses of work to do which would be a lot easier without a hyper puppy trying to 'help'

Fitz met the most enormous lurcher puppy at puppy class last night - only 5 months old but already coming up to mid-thigh and with ridiculously large feet! He took a shine to Fitz who at first was a bit worried cos he was sooo much bigger than him but by the end of the class they were getting on fabulously with Fitz bouncing back for more every time he got bowled over

Mint - Fitz's favourite toys are his skinny fox (he loves that), his half antler, a monkey with a crinkly bottle inside, a ball with bone and rawhide discs attached to it from pets at home (think it's made by busy buddy), he has a little grey soft toy (think it's supposed to be a puppy) which he likes licking when he's feeling sleepy, and cardboard boxes of various sizes - they are fab! He also likes his ball with a knotted rope attached but that needs someone else to play with so not something he can settle down with

He has a toy box which he goes to and takes things out of and we rotate toys so different ones are on top - I haven't managed to persuade him to tidy up though yet

Finn has now had one episode of diarrhoea, very small and no blood. He's still subdued so was wondering if I should go to the vet today or wait and see if he perks up.
Dreadfully worried about parvo virus as, although he didn't go out for walks until the correct time, our garden has loads of foxes passing through and I know it can be lurking in soil and passed on by foxes.

Oh you're organised BB - toy box is a good idea! We have toys just lying all around the house and garden so I suppose they're boring to minty as he sees them all the time. I was never very good at the early evening toy clear up with kids either - according to DH anyway!

So I need a toy box, that's easy and will maybe wash everything as the toys are really manky from being dragged around garden etc.

They're good ideas BB. I saw this great YouTube video from a dog trainer called Nando Brown - about making food interesting! Basically get the inside of a bog roll, put kibble in, tuck ends up and hide a few for dog to find and chew open! We taught minty with one last night in sitting room, it was really funny watching him tossing it around, but then soggy cardboard around the place afterwards was not so good! But I'll be doing that again, and using boxes - don't they also get soggy and need lots of clearing up?

NCIS - can you phone the vet to ask vet nurse for advice? I don't think I'd be assuming anything was wrong after 1 episode as minty has lots of runny poos and has been sick a few times, randomly, without it being anything.

But you sound worried about his general lethargy as well as this, so maybe you need to speak to someone.