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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

New Puppy Mummies, Part 3

999 replies

DharmaLovesDraco · 09/11/2013 21:30

New thread, because quite frankly I can't do without you all :)

OP posts:
Beaverfeaver · 27/12/2013 19:57

yourcall he sounds an absolute delight too

I am in Oxfordshire.

Looking forward to when I can start taking him out for little walks.

He will be joining us by the end of next year in either the lakes or Cornwall and will be doing long long hikes :)

mintchocchick · 27/12/2013 21:39

Picnic - thanks it has been a bit worrying. Both me and DH woke in night imagining he was crying downstairs. We checked - he was happily fast asleep so must have been the wind or a fox! Like having a newborn.

Wow about Legend! That is amazing progress. You would never have imagined he would be that good and calm in such a challenging situation a few weeks ago. You have worked so hard with him and by putting in that effort, you've got a lovely friendly dog. Well done, could have been a very different outcome if you hadn't been prepared to put in all that work.

basildonbond · 27/12/2013 21:55

yay for Legend, picnic! that's brilliant news

mint - I hope you get some answers about minty, poor boy, sounds horrid

Fitz met his first Toller since leaving his littermates today - completely by chance in the field near my mum's house, and even more coincidentally it was one of his relatives!! He definitely recognised him as a bigger version of himself and was so excited. The other Toller's owner said she couldn't get over what a fabulous dog he was (he was 3 and a bit so well past puppy stage).

Lovely vizla puppy pictures yourcall and beaver :)

SallyBear · 28/12/2013 09:44

Hi everyone. Lovely puppy pictures of Beaver's Vizsler.

Sorry Moose about Ireland. The weather has been so crappy over the Christmas period.

Toby has had a fabulous Christmas. Enjoying leftovers and playing with his new toys and football. My Bil (Arsenal fan), feels that Toby should try out for them as they need someone with four legs at the front Wink

Just starting to wonder when its safe to start letting the twins (14) start to walk Toby on their own. Not sure I trust them really.....

picnicinthewoods · 28/12/2013 10:42

Thanks mint & Basildon:) I am really pleased with his progress. It's not perfect, we still have work to do, but the change in him since we got help has been significant. We have a follow up appointment with the behaviourist in January.

Sallybear, gosh I don't know when you would let your twins walk Toby on his own. Which parts of it worry you? Do you have a park that's very near by? Could they start with just walking him on the lead? Could they take him somewhere quiet with you say watching from a distance to start with? How old is Toby now?

GhostsInSnow · 28/12/2013 18:56

Beaver, he is gorgeous! Such beautiful eyes!

I took Murph to the local shopping village today where he was petted and preened over by all sorts of people. Finally nipped into The Works with DD and there he was, on his back in my arms, flat out asleep with his eyes shut tight. The girls in the shop thought it was hilarious Hmm

He 'met' a miniature pinscher who was the tiniest thing in the world and wearing both a Santa suit and booties. To say Murphy was confused by this is an understatement. Even though he was in my arms he was utterly transfixed with this dog Grin, we walked past dozens of others that didn't even register with him but this one did.

He currently appears to be leaving home as he's dragging his bed towards the front door. Maybe I'm not feeding him enough puppy markies....

mintchocchick · 28/12/2013 23:59

Hi Sally - I had this dilemma with DS1 who is 13. Several of his friends who are also Y8 and sensible types, walk their dogs round the block. We decided to start from early on with really short walks, up to a neighbour to drop a message off and back or to top of road and back. To be honest the getting ready for the walk took longer than the actual walk!

I don't ask DS1 much as he hates the poo bag business and always rushes in to wash his hands in an overly dramatic way and he hates the pulling on lead. But I think he needs to be given that responsibility so insist he does a walk every now and then. I wouldn't ask him to do an off lead walk as that's just too much responsibility (and I'm too much of a control freak!). I even struggle to let DH go and find myself issuing reminders about sausage & putting lead back on for horses/toddlers/dogs on lead!

Are you thinking of on or off lead walks?

GhostsInSnow · 29/12/2013 14:27

Bought Murphy a Kong Binkie earlier and some puppy filler, he loves it! He's been gnawing away trying to get the paste out all afternoon. Seems to be a good way of wasting some energy until we can get him out for walks.

Sally, my DD walked Bob when she was 14, though much dry heaving ensued when she had to pick up the poo Grin

SallyBear · 29/12/2013 14:41

Definitely going to get them to do it for me. Not always practical to walk him/cook tea/deal with youngest DS who is disabled all at the same time!

needastrongone · 29/12/2013 17:13

Vizsla's are the most beautiful looking dogs imho, the puppies melt my heart. One of our dogs best doggy mates is a Vizsla, she is mad loopy and full of energy, but has been very well trained, so is a delight.

Re walks, my thinking is that myself and DH must take responsibility for the dog as we chose/agreed to have him. So we do the vast majority of the training and walking. That being said, he is very much a family dog so yes, the kids have to walk him, off lead and on lead, short or long, poo or no poo Smile

DD has a pony, she is, in the main, responsible for his day to day care, I figure she can handle a dog Smile

DS comes in useful at tea time as he does a training session with the dog, which lets me potter around and do tea etc.

Our dog went to our friends house for the day on Friday (the ones with the Vizsla and another, small, rescue crossbreed), he was a dream, played and settled well, calm and well trained. I was really chuffed, he has only ever been left with our breeder before, good to know we can leave him on occasion.

mintchocchick · 29/12/2013 19:26

Does anyone give their puppies leftover meat bones? Just had a leg of lamb today and can't decide whether to give the bone to minty for a meaty chew?

NigellasGuest · 29/12/2013 21:00

Hi mint I am no expert at all and I'm sure others will come al0ong soon to offer advice, but when we took our puppy to the vet recently we were told to give him uncooked meat bones as they are less likely to splinter, and cause choking etc. Vet said to go to the butcher and get raw bones, and to give pup the bone for a few minutes at a time. I haven't done that yet, what with Christmas and all that! But she said it would be the best thing we could do for his teeth!

thinkingaboutfostering · 29/12/2013 21:47

Hi all. Picked up my adorable lab x puppy yesterday morning. All went as well as i could have expected. She slept in a cardboard box fastened into the passenger seat for the journey home (4&1/2hrs) with just a couple of whines when she woke hungry or needing the loo. Toilet training was going pretty well on the poo front with no poos in the house till this evening when she went out and met rain for the first time, panicked and darted past me back into the house and did a poo before I could get to her. On the wee front we've not done quite so well as it's difficult to work out when she wants to go. Have been taking her out regularly after meals, sleep, play time ect but not got hang of it just yet but she's only been here 24hrs! Have started clicker training her so will see how it goes!

mintchocchick · 29/12/2013 21:48

Thanks nigella, I used to get uncooked meat bones from butcher for our dog when I was a child and he loved them! I wasn't sure about cooked bones though.

Ends up that we made a mistake this evening with this. The bone had so many tiny scraps of tasty meat on, we decided to give it to our puppy. He was really enjoying it until DH walked near to him and he growled at DH. DH stayed there and he growled again. So we decided to take the bone away and not give him bones again. We obviously shouldn't have given it in the first place as he was too keen on it and we can't have him guarding something and learning that that is ok behaviour.

I'm not sure if an uncooked bone would be the same?

mintchocchick · 29/12/2013 21:50

Hi thinking - congratulations! Sounds like you're doing really well. We had quite a few weeks of indoor accidents but at 5 months it all seems a distant memory! No longer following puppy around with kitchen towel and simple solution!

Karbea · 29/12/2013 21:59

Picked new pup up today, I'm totally in love. Dreading tonight a bit... Will report back in the morning!

basildonbond · 29/12/2013 23:37

karbea - how exciting, I hope your first night goes well and you all get some sleep

thinking - welcome!

I felt incredibly guilty tonight as we went to the panto and ended up leaving Fitz for much longer than I'd planned. I was really anxious all the way home - he's never been left for longer than 2.5 hours and by the time we got back he'd been on his own for nearly 5 hours. However I needn't have worried as he was fast asleep when we got back (he'd been left with a couple of kongs and radio 4), no mess, nothing chewed. He had a bit of a stretch then out into the garden, was a bit bouncy for 30 mins or so then settled back down to sleep - phew...

NigellasGuest · 30/12/2013 07:24

mint sounds like perhaps he would have been the same with an uncooked one, if it was a possession thing? hopefully someone else can give some insight - I'd be interested as well as our puppy has growled a little bit when playing with toys - we've managed to distract him etc and it wasn't at all serious but I wonder how to deal with it if it's worse? I would guess it's all about making sure he knows who's boss and removing the item like you did and ignoring/turning away etc? Basildon Fitz did so well didn't he! I can imagine how anxious you felt travelling home but he obviously heard a very interesting programme on radio 4. Our pup likes radio 5 live!

karbea how did last night go? Our pup is very good at going to bed in his crate - he usually just goes in there and goes to sleep. If not, we put him in there at around half past ten and theres no probs. He wakes up and howls at 5am at which point I leap into action! This morning I ignored him and he went quiet again, until 6am, when I did get up and take him out as usual. He weed and pood in the garden - he always does this first thing - but then reverted to doing it in the house as per usual. Dog owners in the family have suggested that once we start taking him out in public places he will smell other dogs and get the hang of doing it outside. I really hope they are right! He is just not getting it, the going outside part!! Despite huge rewards if he manages it!!

He doesn't seem very food motivated which makes rewarding a bit tricky but I do give him lots of praise and cuddles. Apart from toileting he is doing very well....

SallyBear · 30/12/2013 07:42

Karbea. How lovely to see you on this thread. How was your first night?? What did you get and what's their name? Pictures please if you get a minute!!!Smile

needastrongone · 30/12/2013 08:51

Bones - definitely give raw, uncooked. Cooked bones are too brittle and can cause splinters that can choke dogs.

Nigella - still early days, some just take longer than others, keep repeating 'this will pass, this will pass'! However, can your puppy smell any previous accidents? Is the indoor toileting in the same place? What treats have you tried? Ultimate high value for our Springer is cooked liver, I cook it until it's very hard and give very tiny pieces. Clicker training might work too to mark the behaviour outside.

Karbea - welcome!

Thinking - welcome too, sounds like all is going really well at this early stage.

mint - Moose will know more and explain better (!) but I think your DH needed to step out of the way. Your puppy was growling to tell him he was uncomfortable, which is a good thing strangely. Our puppy hasn't food guarded but I think you can do things like dropping high value treats near him as you walk past, put high value treats into his bowl while he's eating etc, hand feed etc. I haven't researched guarding a lot as I haven't needed to but I don't think you need to worry too much and I am sure you can counter condition them by teaching them better or more rewarding stuff happens/is given and the person is not a threat.

Sorry, that's a bit sketchy, as I haven't looked into this too much.

reup · 30/12/2013 17:35

I read something about guarding and growling over food and toys. You have to offer them something better then they leave it then you give them the better thing then the original thing back. Or something like it. It was a while since I read it! You can practise with the food bowl is they know you coming over doesn't mean it's taken away permanently.

My childhood dog was never growly except with a brand new marrow bone from the butchers. We just never went near him on the 1st day he had it and by day 3 it was buried in the garden!

reup · 30/12/2013 17:39

We've taken our new puppy out a couple of times for walks in our arms and he shakes nearly the whole time! Trying him in a shopping centre tomorrow where there is a dog friendly cafe.
Have been trying a bit of kong training but he's still a bit confused. Must try something a bit smellier for him to lick.

basildonbond · 30/12/2013 17:44

Argh I'm so fed up of mud, mud, mud ... Where we go for most of our walks is like a bog atm - I can't not go there as that's where all his puppy mates go and he has such a lovely time with them (even this morning when it was peeing down he had a lovely romp with two of the other puppies - funnily enough there wasn't a single child/teen out in the park, just parents - mostly mums - and their dogs ...)

I've ordered a dry dog bag for him which I hope will get the worst of it off on the way home ...

basildonbond · 30/12/2013 17:45

Reup - it took our pup quite a while to get the hang of his kong but it's invaluable now so just keep persevering with it

SallyBear · 30/12/2013 17:57

Reup try peanut butter or pate. Both work really well in kong toys.