Puppy Parent Support Thread!

[MostAmused]

We've had our 10 week old GSDxSpringer for 2 weeks now. He lulled us into a false sense of security while he was finding his feet and we thought we had the gentlest, quietest and friendliest puppy ever.

Now he's a little more confident the problems are starting to show, mouthing, whining in his crate, jumping on the bed and sofa and sadly he also seems to get a bit anxious when we leave the room.

We're trying to work through all these but it would be great to hear about others in the same situation? I've seen a few new puppy threads here recently and I think it's be great if we could all help eachother through puppyhood and beyond!

Thanks MostAmused. The vet thinks it was the poo eating as well and has put Noodle on three different medicines to try to get rid of the diarrehea (huh, autocorrect seems to have more than one way to spell that word ) more quickly.

We have 3-4 days of chicken and rice only which is going to be a pain because we usually rely on a stuffed kong to entertain him while we eat our dinner!

Hope he has learned his lesson doubt it

Well Dpup has stayed dry in the house for the last 3 days...it doesn't sound like much but his breed is reputedly a bitch to housetrain...he still gets a bit nippy when overexcited but has calmed down a lot...our latest problem is going for walks...pup has to stop every time someone walks past us,cos obviously everyone wants to cuddle him

Please can I join in? We picked up our puppy on Sunday and she is a lovely girl. She is 8 weeks old and was already house-trained and sleeps through the night in her crate with no accidents ! I'm guessing that this is too good to last and we'll ruin it all.

She is very mouthy and jumpy but we are beginning to work on that.

She only ate half her breakfast this morning. Should I be worried? She has had some small treats as well during training and seems fine as far as I can tell. She sleeps every couple of hours in the day - is that normal? Can you tell I'm anxious?

Hi can I join?
I have a 14 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
She's had a rough start and has been very poorly, in & out of hospital (costing me a bloody fortune!) but she seems to be over it all now and is happy and healthy ATM, but this all means I haven't been training her! Atall!
Where is the best place to start?

Hope the meds work Taz. If you stirred the rice a lot while cooking it would it make it sticky enough to put in his Kong? We mostly rely on giving ours a carrot/dentastick/kong to occupy him during dinner too.

Well done NetHuns! The first dry day is such a proud achievement! Does he manage to communicate that he needs out effectively? Ozzy just wonders over to the door and if we don't follow him straight away he seems to think sod it then and goes in the dining room!

Hi AvonleaAnne and Minnie!

Avonsounds like you chose a puppy from a really good breeder. What breed is she? Ozzy was an angel to start with and then he found his feet and started jumping on all the furniture and mouthing when he wanted to play. We're working on both but it's a slow process. He gets worse at night, I wonder if he's part Gremlin!

Don't be worried about her. Ozzy didn't eat at every meal to start with and even now leaves half his breakfast for after his walk (I forget to take it away when the 20 min time limit is up). I think it's to do with feeling a bit overwhelmed and also not getting the idea that the food is only available at meal times and gets taken away when not finished. Are you using the same food she was on with the breeder?
Puppies sleep alot. You'll be very thankful of this soon!

Glad to hear your pup is healthy now Minnie. Are you going to take her to training classes? I think the best thing to start with is socialisation so get her out and about meeting lots of people and animals and new experiences. Dog trainers seem to say that their socialisation window closes at 16 weeks and then they find it harder to cope with new experiences. The first thing I taught Oz was to sit, then stay. I also tried to get him used to his leash ASAP but he still pulls a lot when we're out.

Sorry about this mammoth post!

Thank you MostAmused, I think I will be taking her to classes but it certainly won't be till after Christmas, because she's been poorly she's quite behind with her injections so won't be having her last one till Xmas Eve anyway
I have tried sit a few times but she just stands and looks at me, tilts her head like I've gone daft and toddles off, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right haha
She can fetch though, drops whateer it is at my feet and waits for me to throw it again bless her it's adorable

Oh and she won't entertain her collar atall, so not sure how a leash is going to go down!

That's a shame about her vaccs. You could try carrying her places it'll be different when she's on the ground but she'll hopefully learn that different isn't bad. I forgot that actually the very first thing i taught him was recall. two/three of us stood at different ends of the garden/room and one held him back while the other jee'd him up for a bit then called him in. It's now his strongest cue word :)

This is the method I used for .

Gosh, feel like I have just resurfaced!
Crate training has been AWFUL. He howled for 4 nights solid. Kids been up crying at noise etc, me and dh got no sleep.
Tried everything but he was getting worse, started pooing as soon as I put him in crate.
Sooooo, he now sleeps in a basket next to our bed!
Only woke me once last night for a quick wee trip then straight back to bed.

MostAmused - thanks so much for that video it was slightly different to how I was doig it originally and she's done really well with it this morning

Thanks for the reassurance MostAmused. It is the same food as the breeder used. I think she has a slightly off tummy but maybe just due to all the change and excitement.

She has been really good, still sleeping through the night. She is still really jumpy and mouthy but we have taught her to sit and so most of the time this distracts her and makes her stop. She is a bit crazy about my 5 year old and keeps putting her head up her skirt and nipping her. I'm trying to get my DD to stay calm and starting to put an indoor training lead on sometimes to try and help with the jumping.

We have her first vet visit this afternoon!

Dpup is a springer cocker cross - everyone tells me she is destined to be crazy.

I'm going to try the recall training you posted later!

Welcome back Sinclair!
That's good you're getting sleep at last! Maybe he just needs time to get used to the crate. We fed Oz his meals in it for a few weeks and then got him used to going in and out for treats. He's fed in the kitchen and sleeps in his crate with no problems now and he's about 14 weeks. But if your spinone likes his basket and doesn't leap on the bed then I guess there's not much reason to change it :)

Glad it worked Minnie, I love the Victoria Stillwell videos. And it really makes him work things out so he gets mental excercise.

How did it go at the vets Avonlea?
Ozzy is a Springer x GSD so people always think it's an odd combo and that he'll be crazy but apart from the usual puppy zoomies when he's excited or over-tired he's absolutely fine :)

Comet was very good at the vets. She had her first injection and enjoyed eating the vet's hand . It seems like such a long time until we will be able to take her outside.

GSD and Springer sounds like she must be a gorgeous looking dog!

Yes she's been much calmer today, maybe coincidence but hopefully due to the mental exercise and will carry on
How long did you do sit for before adding in something new?

It'll fly by Avon!
He is gorgeous but I'm biased x)

Minnie I think I moved on quite quick to Stay and Take it/ Drop it. But I don't really remember now seems like ages ago but he's only 14 weeks on Thursday!
I started getting him to sit before I opened doors, before he got his dinner etc. I now get him to wait before he goes through doors so that I can go through first as it saves me tripping over. And he sits and stays until I say "OK!" and then he is allowed his dinner :)
Basically I would say go at her pace. Try to get as fail safe as possible before moving on to something else and teach the behaviour in a variety of locations and from different (your) body positions.

Ozzy is finally learning to drop it and get off the furniture on cue but it's taken ages compared to his other training so maybe we're not doing it right. Fingers crossed he continues to improve. Next thing is to stop him pulling on the lead!

Just wondering how all the puppies are?

Dpup has been mostly really well behaved but is still being very bitey. She is nearly ten weeks now. We are trying the approach of rewarding good behaviour and giving her timeouts in the playpen if she carries on biting. Other than the biting she is very good.

A mum on the school run told me to hold her mouth shut if she bites and the breeder told me to hit her on the head with a newspaper. I haven't done either of these things as they just felt not quite right but am I just being too soft?

At least since we changed her feed her tummy has improved and output has firmed up!

15 weeks and still bitey here. Although if she sees you have treats and you say "Sit" - she will stop. Except for her mad time of day (dusk) when she goes bananas.

Her last week at puppy training class this week. She has been one of the best in the class. She's done 'Sit'. 'Watch me'; 'What's this?' (recall); ''Leave it' and the start of loose lead walking.

Still hopeless at toilet training though. Will get all her wees outdoors in the daytime but only if I spot the signs and rush her out - she is happy to just squat and go wherever, otherwise. And poos with no warning - hates being watched but we have to watch her outside, so that may be the problem. At the moment I am concentrating on getting 90% of the wees outside but whenever she seems to be advancing a step she then goes back a step...

I have seen on a JRT forum they can be notoriously hard to toiler train (she is staffy/JRT cross). But my last staffy came to us at 8 weeks toilet trained!

Walking her twice a day roughly staying with the 5 mins per month of life rule. But the odd walk is longer. She is great offlead and has good but not yet bombproof recall.

Marking place - will read when I have time. Puppy asleep, so I have things to doooo.

Ozzy is currently tearing apart a big cardboard box that his bed came in. Will make it much easier to recycle and it's kept him quiet for at least 45 minutes so far :)
Toilet training seems all sorted here but we're trying to teach him to press a door bell when he wants out because otherwise we can't see if he's wandering to the kitchen for a hoover about or if he needs to go out.

Recall is about 85% just now so I'm worried it'll get worse. Sometimes he just pretends not to hear despite me jumping around like a loon!
Leash walking is a nightmare as he pulls like a train! Might try a canine bridle or something soon.

Ozzy can get mouthy still, glad to hear it's the same with you Joff. Sometimes I think he does it to get us to move away so we try to just stop moving but leave our hands on him then move away a bit after. His mouthing is less hard though which is good.
Avonlea I'm sure I've heard that those methods suggested to you make the dog learn not to trust you? That's what it says in the guide from our vet but it's self published so I can't reference I'm afraid. How's the other training coming along?

Hello, Scrummy!

Hello! Oh my goodness, you've done all that but are only a few days ahead us! I spent so much time researching breeds and coats that I haven't had time to read the other stuff. Have pups booked into puppy training the day she is able to meet other dogs, so hopefully we will be OK. She is very lovely and asleep on my legs having been a loon for the last half hour.

PS: how in the hell do you teach them to press a door bell?

im going to follow as we collect our labrador puppy end of january

Hi, Scrummy what breed and how old is your pup? It's great when they fall asleep, especially their little puppy dreams!

Well the door bell is a work in progress. We attached an extra bit on to it it's a bigger area for him to press. So far he seems to have learnt that hearing the noise gets him a treat but he isn't very accurate when pressing it. I now have quite scratched hands! He ran off with it in his mouth at the end so I decided to leave it for today hehe!

MostAmused we have a labradoodle.

Aw Labradoodles are so cute! :)

Anyone trying to get their puppy to chill out and sleep?
I just got back from a long walk and Ozzy was still running around like a madman. Then DP got up and he got all excited. We have a training class early afternoon so I want him to be rested up. I sent DP away and put on a bit of Debussy. He's out like a light!

How's everyones' pups now?

Ozzy is well into the teething, we found one on the floor yesterday and he's been a bit moany every now and then.
He's also getting obsessed with gnawing on stones. Quite difficult to discourage but we've found his antler chew very useful and he eats enough carrots he should have excellent night vision! haha!