The stupidity of people with puppies still astounds me!

[sweetkitty]

Yesterday am walking the hound and there's a teeny springer puppy in one of the gardens, adorable little thing, desperate to play with the hound who was ignoring it, quite late too and it's about -1 here just now at least.

Anyway today sees the same pup at the school gates with one of the mums, turns out her mother bought it for her father even though he's not well and he can't cope with it (after a day) so the daughter now has it and she's like it's mental I don't know how I'll cope with it, it's biting the kids

Same walk yesterday meets a 16 week old border collie puppy, going mad because it's on a lead and all its owner did was moan about it being hyper/biting/pooing in the house.

Both these breeds are working dogs bred to work a full day you cannot tire them out. Why do people still buy them and expect a lap dog?

I have a large hound but one 1 1/2- 2 hour walk a day and she's on the sofa snoozing for the rest of the day. Before we got her we researched like mad, husky, no, Dalmatian no etc. puppies for the first year are such hard work.

I don't know where this thread got derailed but I was only talking about people who buy puppies them deem them to be too hard work.

Met someone with a gorgeous JRT this morning 5 months old. She said he's hyper and she cannot walk him enough, she was thinking of getting him a girlfriend to play with. We kind of reassured her that all puppies are a bit crazy and they do calm down eventually.

Everyone surely has moments when they feel their puppy is a bit more than they bargained for? Especially when it's first dog.

sweetkitty, fwiw, jrts don't always calm down eventually they nearly always will need a lot of physical exercise! (Although not as a pup, obviously. Over-exercising is just not good for their joints).

I suppose I've never had a first dog, Alpha and that is definitely why I get a bit baffled and when people find it tough going. It's second nature to me and I forget to allow for that, which is a massive but unintentional oversight in my part. The other thing is that there is so much info out there, that I struggle to see how anyone can be shocked by the reality - until I compare it to having a first baby! There's so much info available about that too but no-one can tell you how you will find it (...and I was a bit shocked by babies myself!).

I couldn't have told her that
She'll probably get another dog as a girlfriend and end up with two mad puppies

Worst idea ever

My puppy had perfect recall off lead. Then the hormones/ confidence kicked in at 5.5 months.

To be fair, I think there's a huge difference between moaning on here or to friends and family that your puppy is harder than you expected and complaining to random people while out walking that your puppy is behaving like a puppy...

Recall depends on the breed. For something like a boxer who are not that good with recall it is imperative that this is done correctly with a long line, so they never get the opportunity to not come back. A full grown boxer with poor recall is a disaster. A cocker spaniel or collie can get away with training recall in a safe place off lead straight away.

I'm sorry why it is irresponsible to let a pup off lead? I can understand if you were near roads but I'm assuming OP meant in a safe place eg. A park. And other dogs savaging the pup? I think in the majority of cases dogs who aren't sociable are the ones on leads to prevent them savaging puppies and the likes. It's so so important to train your dog off lead if you plan to allow it in future. To do this you have to practice! And IMO and experience the sooner the better. A puppy relies on us as owners and will tend to stay very close. Only during adolescence I've ever had an issue when the dog has become more confident and less obedient and will venture further. Not once has my dogs been approached by a dog who has wanted to attack and if I am out and spot a dog on a lead and plan to pass them I will put ours on a lead too incase there is an issue.
What I do find is so many people not understanding puppy behaviour correctly or putting the effort into training, seeing mouthing as biting or shouting when a pup barks etc. too many people don't think about the full story before getting a dog. Pisses me right off.
Also people who don't understand how tragic and detrimental not allowing puppies and dogs to socialise and play together is to their future character...so sad! I've been scolded before for allowing my dog to play with a 6 month old desperate to play lab but because the owner didn't feel confident

Of course you have to practise, but personally I would use a long line and then free when dog is reliable.
Because even in a safe place, if you call once and pup doesn't come back and is too far for you to grab he is already learning recall can be optional.

I would also say that while aggressive dogs should be leashed and muzzled, they aren't always.
When my dog was set upon, it was by off lead dogs.
I also leash my dog when I see leashed dogs.

Regarding play, in my opinion it's better for puppies to spend time with calm adult dogs.
When puppies are together they can be very rough and inappropriate (because they know no better) and bolder puppies tend to get bolder, rougher and rider while the more sensitive pups become withdrawn and fearful.
Poorly ran 'puppy parties' have ruined many a shy puppy.

** ruder.

ps. The idea that young puppies won't venture far from their owners may be true in most cases, but not all.
At 10 weeks my little pup was very bold and daring indeed. Given the opportunity she would have been off out of sight without a second thought then probably start panicking when lost!

Another one here who let puppy offlead from day one - in a safe enclosed space. For me the fact that a young puppy is inclined to stick with owner during the early days made it easy for me to teach recall.

Teenage dogs are harder to teach recall - they're more confident and likely to push boundaries and if they've never had good recall, then its going to be an uphill struggle...and this is why some dogs do not have good recall.

Recall is inherent in some breeds so is pretty easy, in other breeds you may never get reliable recall. As I said in breeds where this might be an issue as Butthole says you don't want the dog to not recall even once as this can cause future problems.