When does it get better? help please.

[miserablemoo]

Hello
I have had a couple of bad days with our puppy. He seemed to be improving and settling down but yesterday and today have been a nightmare and I have been in tears tonight and wondering what the hell have I done.

For those of you who have been there and done that could you please tell me when it got better. Feel so guilty. Feels like I must be doing everything wrong for him to be getting worse, not better.

Anyone else out there with a puppy and struggling feel free to join in!

Thank you.

Thanks wits it and plum

Yesterday was better in some respects. The walk was a bit better for picking up things and if you ask him to leave it he will eventually. Garden is a nightmare as you try to play with him but he eats the stones and wood bark. I'm torn between telling him off and removing stuff from his mouth but he thinks it's a big game chasing him. We go in as soon as he does this but it's not stopping him. Or should I just ignore and give it no attention? worried he will eat something and block his insides though.

Wotsit are you in a caravan? How are you finding it? Sounds like pup is doing well overall. Our pup also destroys one of his beds. It's got a zip on and he can't leave it alone! He is getting more time in crate as I'm busy getting ready for our hols. But never longer than 2 hours at min. Have a fab holiday!

Hi plum at 10 weeks pup went crate in kitchen but with door open and pads down. I would take him out for last toilet at 12 and up at 7. He would use the pads. After a couple of weeks I kept pads down and door open but got up at 3 (went to bed earlier) for toilet. After a week of this working I now shut crate door. And he does 11.30 to 7.30 now without a noise. In the day I practised shutting the door during the day.

Lab puppies I heard are very hard work. I love labs and our old girl was a lab cross and she was an amazing dog but I had her as an adult. I still miss her. But as a pup she chewed the house! I would of loved a labrador but wasn't quite brave to take on a pup. Hang on in there though as they are a fantastic breed!

Am i doing it wring then? I close the crate at night although the other door of it is open into a further penned area so she has a bit if room. Im worries if i leave the door open she will do god knows what in the room or cry at the door she still cries at night

Mine has just gone into her crate of her own accord for a nap for the first time - I'm ridiculously pleased about that!

I've been told by everyone to avoid puppy pads and newspapers as you're just teaching them that there are places indoors where they can do the toilet. We did use them with our older dog for a little while, but haven't with this one. Take her outside every time she wakes up, or after food/drink, and she wants to be outside anyway (even in the rain). So far, no accidents indoors at all.

Biggest problem we've had is that first dog doesn't like her very much at all - there was a fair bit of snapping at the weekend. Seems to have calmed down, but I wouldn't leave them alone for a second at the moment.

miserablemoo - stick him on a longline or a house line and work on his drop and leave commands in the garden...and then if he tries to turn it into a chasing game, he can't because you just have to reel him in.

I've got a lab too. He's four months now and getting better. My God he was nippy!

Now we have to work on not snatching toys out of the DC's hands and the barking. I have to separate him sometimes and when gated in the kitchen he barks horribly.

hi all, we just collected our puppy yesterday - she is doing very well I think. We have her in a crate some of the time as that is what she is used to, but am struggling to get DD1 (6) to leave her be to have a nap. She slept in her crate all night - woke and whined a couple of times but with a bit of reassurance went back to sleep. She is playful this morning, but I think getting tired now. She has done two poos in the garden and two wees. One wee on the floor in the house.

Our puppy is 10 months old now. She is crate trained which has been such a benefit - especially for when she goes for sleep overs at my parents!

As well as the crate we had a big play pen in the kitchen when she was smaller, as I have two young children and I needed somewhere to pop her when I needed to run upstairs to check on them or put the shopping away. It was also good to put her in there when she was overexcited and needed to calm down.

She is half Springer, half Cocker (so 100 per cent crazy ) and she was quite nippy and jumpy. We did the turn your back on her thing and the yelping as if she hurt you and she seemed to learn fairly quickly. We were very lucky as she was already house trained when we got her at 8 weeks. I think that would have broken me!!

When she was small I found cardboard boxes with a few treats in would keep her busy trying to get into them.

We also found Fish skin chews and bones made from fish skin really good as they keep her busy for up to 20 minutes! They are probably for older puppies though. You can get them from Ocado or Fish4Dogs.

The thing that I am still coming to terms with is the mess - dog hair, mud and worse. I have to hoover and mop everyday and even then I need to do it again ten minutes later. It's a good job I love her.

thanks - our ddog is quite good I think; she whines when you put her in her crate but settles in less than 10 minutes (she is in kitchen) - she just wants to play. Wees and poos outside, but you have to be on your game (e/g/ she yelped at the window while I was on the phone and I missed her cue). She is a bit nippy too, but will chew her own toys. My girls need more training than she does (but is leading to a more orderly household!)

Hi all. Wotsitpup is v happy at the caravan though he barked a lot just now when I left him for a bit. Hope he's nodded off now.

We went food shopping earlier in the week and I agonised about what to do with him eventually deciding it was better to take him and leave him in the car for half an hour with all the windows open and water than leave him in the van for 2 hours as I was worried he would be too hot. He yapped a bit in the boot as we walked away. Before I had even put a single item in the trolley my car reg was read out o the tannoy because he was barking - I went straight back to the car and he was upside down snoring away! The shame!!
He swam in the sea yesterday I was v proud!

Glad wotsitpup is happy on his holiday. I have to pack today as we're off to Filey tomorrow but I have to do it in secret because once Eric sees the suitcase he is beside himself with joy and won't settle just in case we think of going without him

just checking in after a bad day of very nippy growly puppy. I really feel like I can't cope with her on top of the rest of my life :( to be fair she hasn't really done anything too terrible - other than getting me up at 5.30, a couple of wees in the house, and a bit of chewing. I'm tired and it feels like you never get a break.

It does get better I wanted to give mine back as was so tired

My boy is now 8 months and is so much better though hitting teens but it is so much worth it but don't underestimate the energy of them
Hd is a lab and s big boy bigger than most adults

I posted on here at 16 weeks saying he won't walk can't get out the street but now walks pretty good on a lead and enjoys his walks

Nipping I found best thing first time a warning sound.we used ah ah then if kept up put him into his crate no attention etc for just few mins he soon got it and can honestly say by 14 weeks had stopped that or just lucky maybe

Should add though still have crate it's never closed anymore he goes in and out when wants but often prefers sofa but won't use a normal dog bed so the crate stays

Chewing wise we was very careful with shoes ,soft toys was not allowed down

Well bar the wall where he had a good chew on the plaster scraping it of with teeth guess he felt it needed a doggy decor touch he is pretty good now

I hope things will soon be better for all of you with puppies. My lovely dog is exactly 2 yrs old and gorgeous but was very hard work as a puppy.
We got her at the beginning of October half term 2013 and it was a very wet and windy week. I seem to have spent all of it outside in the garden with an umbrella, while the rest of the family were inside in the warmth!
With regards nipping, I used to put something she could nip/chew in her mouth straight away. I got quite a few puppy toys. Our vet said that was a good thing to do but some puppies needed very firmly telling off too. Luckily the nipping stage didn't last too long.
She used to dig holes in the garden but no longer does that. She is a very loving, contented girl but I clearly remember crying thinking what have I taken on. I thought (and still do) that babies are easier than puppies!
However, it is really only a short stage of their lives (and yours!) and hopefully you will get back more happiness than you currently think possible. I never thought of myself as a dog person, but I really do love this little animal.

I think I started a thread about 5 or 6 weeks in asking for reassurance - if you search you may find it.....my golden is now 9 months old and definitely better, but I started enjoying it after about 5 months (I know that sounds forever but it really does go quickly!). She's hard work, smelly, sheds like a demon and her recall is rubbish as soon as there is a distraction/other dog/smell she likes, but I can't imagine being without her now.

Hang in there - it DOES get better - it's just really, really hard work at the beginning!!

I have just had to put puppy in crate - very over excited (lack of naps probably not helping), nipping, jumping, growling; DD1 and DD2 outside doing something with bubbles and detergent, I'm cooking dinner. DD2 has a fondness for flouncy, frilly dresses that drive the dog demented; got the sweeping brush out, dog went bananas. I think she is trying to play, but her bark sounds quite aggressive (e.g. she has her paws flat in that play pose, wagging tail like mad). Aaargh! Now DD2 needs me to cut her out a fucking crown

I recommend taking a puppy camping on a very weather-full trip! We took ours (13 weeks) away this week and he was so horrified by the driving rain and wind that he spent most of his day in his crate. My friend thought he was remarkably docile

When we came home this morning, he went back to his usual bonkers self. I think the poor thing was just relieved he wasn't going to spend the rest of his life living in a bit of nylon in a field! :o

so we are approaching the 13 week mark and our puppy is very bit-ey, especially with the children. I don't know if this is normal or cause for concern - she jumps up a lot, nips, has bitten DD2 a couple of times. I'm finding it hard to get the children to react correctly to dog growling and nipping. It's all rather stressful - she also barks at anything that she doesn't like - balloons, cats, etc. Hopefully we can train her to not bite things - at the moment the children are actually a bit scared of her.

The nipping is really normal and from what I remember with Eric it reached its peak at 14 weeks. Eric used to nip dd (the smallest and most excitable in a houseful of adults) and she was scared too. Making yelping noises just seemed to egg him on and so we gave Eric a time out for nipping dd. It worked quickly and made dd much happier to see him being punished too. So if he nipped dd I'd say "no!" and put him behind the stairgate in the kitchen and ignore him for a few minutes. He absolutely hated being banished and ignored and he learned quickly not to nip if only to avoid time out. Maybe you could try a time out if it gets too much too.