Does anyone fancy a 'puppy survival' thread?

[SkeletonSkins]

Just wondering whether anyone else has got a puppy recently and in the same boat as us? Interested to hear how how others are getting on.

We've had our 8 week old puppy for a few days now and things are okay... he's a complete cross of lots of different breeds so enjoying trying to work out what in him!

House training seems to go great and then at night he just sits there in the middle of the grass not wanting to even walk around! Never mind wee!

Our older dog isn't particularly impressed but has been good with him so far. Just looking forward to him sleeping through the night without needing a wee. Completely forgot how having a puppy completely takes over your life for a little while!

I'm so pleased it's going well for you blue I'm glad your puppy is settling in so well.

Had another off lead walk this morning in the woods with his Labrador friend. He loved it and came back every time I called him. So far so good.

Thanks for The advice about length of walks. I was abit worried today as he had a slightly longer walk but it was off lead so should be okay.

Hi ladies! Reading all your posts and think I'm doing a crappy job! I'm a first time puppy owner!

I got my beautiful boy on Saturday. He is now 9 weeks. French bulldog.

I don't feel I'm getting anywhere really. I live on a second floor flat. So I know until he gets his second jab he needs to stay inside or be carried. So he is going pretty well on pads. I know he just has to be watched! Maybe a couple of wee's on the floor a day.

I'm really struggling with the nights. He has his last food at 6. And I take his water away by 8.

I try and tire him out (but he is quite snoozy and cuddly all day!) ready for his crate at about 22:30.

Then I am up every 2 hours at least to put him on the pads. Sometimes he is already awake and has peed. And sometimes he is asleep and I'm waking him. I just feel I'm letting him down and I am exhausted.

I have been recommended by lots of people to split the crate in half. So he can use one side to toilet. And one for his bed. What do you think? I need to sleep!

As for other training I haven't done much. We play fetch and he is very good. But sit lay stop etc. I haven't even started. I'm not convinced he knows his name!!

I am desperate to get him happy being in his crate and alone. Not for a long time. But even just so I can pop to the shop. Is cry it out really the best way? And what can I put in the crate how can I help him?

What else can I do. What do I need to do!?

Thanks again x

Hi justme I replied to your other thread but welcome to the puppy survival one. There are lots of people here that are going through the same thing and will give you lots of advice but it sounds like you are doing just fine so don't be too hard on yourself.

Toilet training in a flat will be really tough. Do you at least have access to a balcony? Puppy pads may be unavoidable given the situation but you'll have to train him twice, once for puppy pads and once for outside.

It's only been a few days and realistically toilet training takes a few weeks and, for some dogs, a few months. Are you rewarding him when he gets it right? Are you cleaning accidents really well (ideally with a specialist product that removes all traces of the smell)? His crate should only be large enough for him to be able to stand up, turn around and lie down comfortably, anything larger and he risks turning part of it into a toilet. I would never encourage a dog to use a crate for toilet.

If you are using food as a reward then it's well worth starting with the 'leave it' exercise. Also teach him his name, recalls and sits and are a good starting point.

Have you looked into puppy classes? Most accept puppies with first vaccinations.

Sorry, forgot to say about the crate. It takes a few weeks for a puppy to get used to the crate. If you shut the puppy in the crate when he is not comfortable then he risks associating it with a bad experience. Cry it out is not an acceptable method of crate training. Can you have shopping delivered, or take him with you or get a friend to help out?

justme honestly all the issues you mentioned I had!! It took my puppy a few days to understand the difference between day and night time - I think when they're with their litter mates, it can be playtime at any time of day so it takes them a while to get into the routine.

Where is your puppy sleeping? In the first few days I was up so much with the puppy - one memorable night I remember sitting up at 3am as he zoomed up and down the room wondering whether he'd ever sleep again! But by a week in, he was only waking up once in the night. Must admit this was helped by the fact I gave up on the crate for bedtimes by night 3 and had him on my bed. Not for anyone but as he couldn't jump down he woke me up when he woke up needing a wee.

Feed them lots in the crate and if you need to pop to the shops, try leaving him with a kong stuffed with goodies to keep him busy if you need to nip out to the shops. Our puppy cried constantly if you left the room to start with and can now be left for 3-4 hours using a combination of making him happy being alone with a favourite toy, kong etc but also gradually building up the time and leaving him to it. He settles really well now, even though he did cry a little at first.

Everything at this stage is temporary - start building up to what you want in little steps and gradually change will happen.

I think with regards to training, the most jmportant thing at this age is manners and socialisation. Get him out and about in your arms and used to lots of different sounds and environments. Don't let him jump up etc if you don't want that when he's an adult - habits are hard to break. I've found meal times a great time to do some training - if they are fed kibble you can use it to do some training rather than just give it to them in the bowl. If you start by throwing a little bit away from you, and then call their name and give them some more food when they come back to you, this starts them on the road to recall. Also, you can play 'find my face'. When you've got some of his tea in your hand, turn away from him and he will hopefully 'find your face' and move around to look at you. You can add his name to this, calling him, and rewarding when he moves round to see you.

Oh my God I loathe the puppy stage It's one of those what the hell made me ever think this was a good idea nights.

He is cute. He is adorable. He means so well. But he is hell on utter wheels in the evenings. He has a mountain of toys. He's had a walk. He's been played with. We've done training. He's still wrecking the place.

Biggest issue: I have three cats, all of whom got on fine with my previous dog. One cat will not leave the puppy alone. She follows him around and moans at the top of her lungs at him and if he chases her - which due to her relentless tarting at him he does - she goes straight back for more. She winds him up all evening, very loudly. If I distract him away and settle him somewhere else, she follows and tarts until he reacts. Until today I had a stairgate as he's 18 weeks, toilet training is pretty good and we hadn't had an accident in a few weeks, but I don't trust him upstairs on the carpets and I wanted the cats to be able to get away from him as they can easily jump the gate. However he's been working on chewing the stairgate to bits and I can say no and distract until I'm blue, he doesn't care. If I physically get in his way he stops for a minute or two and then goes straight back. Cat spends the evening sitting on the other side of the stair gate pulling faces at him until he goes insane, and after yet another few hours of trying to referee this and distract him I thought bugger this, I'm getting rid of the stairgate, the two of them can just figure this out.

Of course he has peed on the upstairs carpet. So I have to go back to finding some way to prevent this clever, persistent, never quitting little bugger from dismantling and eating whatever barrier I can put there, while the cat wails at the top of her lungs at him from behind it, and he goes into a frenzy, and they keep this up from about 7pm until I lose my mind. It's a tiny house, there isn't anywhere else I can stuff either of them - although seriously considering crating the cat the way she's going.

Anyone got any suggestions? Because I'm not sure I'm going to make it to 19 weeks. I'm seriously considering going back to keeping him tethered to me so I can stop him chasing the cat and wrecking the stair gate and peeing upstairs, but he is going to hate it and the cat is still going to do the conga around him going nyer nyer can't get meee....

Justme you need to relax. It's early days and every puppy is different. I'm lucky in that I live in a small bungalow with a garden so it's very easy for me to pop Bluepuppy out all the time. I have no experience of teaching a dog commands so I haven't started that yet either. I'm also not sure Bleuepuppy knows his name yet. I got my pup the same day as you and I'm concentrating on toilet training, bonding with him and making sure he bites toys not humans. Oh and I try and take him for a walk down the street every day in my arms but I really need to start taking him further afield.

Rumbling sounds like your pup is hard work. How old is he and what breed? I'm pretty much a beginner at all this so I have no suggestions but have some and .

He is very hard work Blue . Mostly, when I'm not too tired in the evenings to cope with it any more, he is worth it. He's a King Charles Cavalier - supposedly a sweet, easy little lap dog! I swear my high drive cocker was easier than this!

Thank you for the cake and wine/tea, that is much appreciated!

Justme one thing that's worked well for my previous dog and current maniac puppy, a small fabric collapsible crate for night and supervised naps. They're fairly cheap from Amazon and you want one just big enough for the puppy to stand up, turn around and comfortably lay in, so it's just his bed filled completely with his cushion/bedding.

I've always put my puppies in there to sleep at night from day 1 (although they sleep upstairs in my room), and because they won't soil their bed they'll wake you when they need to go out. When they do, you take them straight to their toileting area and then straight back to bed again. My first dog woke me once a night for about ten days and that was it, after that she slept through. My current puppy at 18 weeks woke me for two nights and that was it, he's slept through. During the day I've also put the puppies into the soft crate for naps wherever I am, zipped in, but carried on whatever I was doing as I work from home. So they were used to sleeping while I worked, went to make coffee, went upstairs to the loo, wandered out into the garden etc. It gets the idea that restriction to one space is ok and sometimes you come and go and that's no big deal.

With my current puppy I put him occasionally for naps in his big crate when I was downstairs with him, and did the same wandering around doing stuff while he got bored and slept. When I did leave the tv on and wandered right out to the shops for half an hour the first time he didn't really notice much, he was used to it.

If there's something I do regret with current puppy its that this time I thought - my last puppy didn't get this until about 14 weeks, it was a maturity thing more than a learning thing, I'll use paper in the house until about 12-13 week when he's ready. Gah. Big mistake. He now pees on rugs in my house and family houses, because he learned to use pads on the floor in the house. We've had to strip all the rugs out of the house to get him to toilet outside, and its going to take a long time to wean him off it. Given the last three months again I'd do what I did with my first dog and take him outside from the start, and never teach that toileting indoors is what to do.

It seems there's trouble in puppy paradise. Firstly I'm getting conflicting advice on what to do re his fussiness about eating kibble. One school of thought is that I need to persist and stop giving him wet food until he realises the kibble is all he's getting and eats it. I'm not sure I'm happy with doing this. At 9-10 weeks old he's at such an important age for physical development and being a Whippet it wouldn't take much weight loss for him to start looking scrawny.

My second issue is car travel. He was upset when I drove him home from the breeder but Imthought he was just upset about leaving his family. I took him for a drive today and he was squealing, barking and generally looking and sounding miserable. At the moment he's in a pet carrier in the car. Unfortunately I don't have car where I can screen him off in the back somI'm wondering if getting a harness to attach him to a seatbelt might mean he feels less claustrophobic.

blue go with what you are happy about with the food, you know your puppy the best.

Mine cried initially in the car when he was in a pet carrier. He is fine now just in the boot so I would try the seat harness so he can see around.

So how do you train them off paper? Got pup at 12 weeks andbreeder had only used paper so now I need to retrain...

Petra I didn't use pads or paper but I presume it's just start again at the beginning so if you see them go to the spot where the paper used to be take them outside and do lots of praise etc. I think this is why they say the downside is that you have to toilet train them twice rather than once.

Thanks bitey my mum came around to see pup after not seeing him for a few days. She said he looks healthy and happy and bonded to me already. Oh and that he's grown

I can see why some people compare having a puppy to having a baby or toddler although I don't have children myself. Everyone has their ideas on the 'best' way to raise a healthy dog or child and if you're doing things a bit differently it's easy to feel like a bad parent / dog owner. At the end of the day, if they're happy and healthy that's all that matters.

Have you been to this thread before Petra? If not welcome

What sort of puppy do you have?

blue yes it can seem very black and white with lots of advice and I have definitely learnt to listen to it and then decide if I am happy with following it or not. I would say most people find their own way because like you say if the dog is happy and cared for then that is all that matters. Which is why I like this thread and try and direct people to it because it shows that all of us are raising good puppies but in different ways and you can get a feel of what things may or may not work for you.

Thanks! I have a Maltese...he's 12 weeks old and on his 3rd day with us. Not really eating much though..seems happy if sleepy!

Petra I would say just start getting puppy outside as much as possible and reward for going outside.

Blue tbh if it was me I would give him what he eats. Puppy teeth are sharp but small and I think it can be tough getting through biscuits at times!

Oh bless, look at that little face. What a cutie

Bluepuppy really is a doll. He had a meal and then took himself out the open backdoor for a wee all by himself. There's meant to be a dog door fitted next week (it was meant tobe fitted before he came home, long story) so he'll be able to go out when he needs to. Now he's curled up on my shoulder like a cat while I watch telly. Love, love, love Whippets

Someone mentioned that they take away their puppy's water all night- I have never heard of this, how is this a good idea? Surely they need access to water, especially when so small and needing tiny amounts to keep hydrated.

Morning all. I actually got some sleep last night. Decided to stick to the crate in the kitchen as we are now five nights in and sun dog didn't whine for so long last night. Have dd to thank for that as I was going to give up but dd said look we just have to persevere. Left cat in kitchen too a sun dog now seems to have learnt respect via hiss and claw. I have am illness which tires me out and wanted to say I get those feelings of why the fuck have I got us a dog quite Alot. But having this thread is making me think hey we are all doing our best. If I can work out how to share a pic I will. On Android app.

My dog does not have water in his crate at night and we close the crate door so technically I am taking the water away.

I do however give him a reasonable amount in the evening and if he hasn't been drinking I would encourage him and now he is 7 months old we play fetch with ice cubes which guarantees he gets enough water in him before bed time.

Sun dog doesn't have water in crate, seems well. I guess nighttime is for sleeping and go the wild they wouldn't go out from a den for a drink?not sure

sun glad you got a better night and oh yes I think a lot of us have those feelings on and off during the early puppy months.