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!

It seems to bring mixed opinions bitey, I haven't had a puppy for ten years and have just had older rescue dogs.

Been on training forums and there is a split of opinion on it, I am getting my puppy tomorrow and just lurking for advice.

Everyone has an opinion and some stronger with it than others when it comes to dog ownership, especially puppies

I did lots of research and generally went with what works best for our dog and realised that actually lots of advice which is black and white isn't necessarily the best.

If I drink lots at night I wake up and pee more and think my dog is the same. To avoid him tanking up on water just before bed I do encourage more drinking earlier on in the evening which works well for us but my dog even now can't hold his pee for much more than 7-8 hours at night whereas other dogs can go longer.

After a few weeks I think you will get a feel on whether removing access to water is the right way to go or not for your puppy.

I am actually dreading it a bit after reading this thread. I love my sleep, it seems to be like childbirth, you forget the bad bits and go and have another one.

This is a child replacement as mine are leaving home, I have a full on nursery set up here

Confession time, DDog is going on his hols for a few days whilst we stay at home and rest. The puppy months have been tiring so we are having a little break from our bitey monster but I do feel guilty even though he loves the person he is going to.

Floweringjasmine try not to stress too much and remember it's meant to be fun

You can see from all the posts here that there's no one perfect way to raise a puppy and going with the flow is the best plan.

When do you get puppy and what sort is it?

Biteyshark that sound great! I actually think it's good to get them used to staying somewhere else and I don't want to be one of those owners that never goes on holidays unless they can take their dog.

bluetongue thank you, we have just moved, all new furniture and freshly painted .

It's a KCS, I have a rescue dog and cat too.

He comes tomorrow

Oh, I moved two years ago and never got around to redecorating

Keep us updated. It's always good to hear new puppy stories.

Here's a couple of pics of Bluepuppy with some of his favourite toys. I bought him a stuffed pig from IKEA today that's nearly as big as he is. He Loooves it

I know, stupid of me, I got over excited as we had been renting for years.

He is gorgeous blue, those eyes...

How many beds does he have blue?!

Dogs should always have access to water 24/7, regardless of age. Withholding it to help with house training is very outdated advice, isn't fair on the puppy and can lead to poor drinking habits on the dog's part because they know it's going to be removed.

I've never withheld water from mine and although they don't drink during the night every night they still do it often enough that it would clearly not be appropriate to deny them access.

Withholding water as part of house training (and why it's a bad idea) is touched upon at the end of this house training guide which was written by an extremely well respected professional who uses modern, science based training methods.

If you're worried about water getting up-ended or splashed about in the crate then there are lots of options for bowls which stop the puppy doing this.

Three beds if you include mine

Hi all, thought I'd check in and update on where we are in puppy world!! Hi Justme I have a Frenchie too! They are apparently notoriously difficult to toilet train, which I am just discovering

Pablo is 20 weeks old today! We are still getting accidents but 9 times out of 10 he will go outside and he now asks to go out which is brilliant - the accidents tend to be when he and Benny are on their own in the house, or when DH doesn't see him asking to go out (I of course am hyper vigilant )

The thing that's driving me crazy though is that he has appointed himself as official guard dog for the house - never mind that we have six stone of mastiff/staffy cross who normally fulfils that function! He barks at every tiny noise, and apparently forgets that there are four people living in the house - anyone who walks up the hall gets confronted and shouted at. It's okay during the day but gets tiresome when teenage kids come in late at night and I get woken up - anyone got any tips?

furry can't really advise on the barking much as we had the opposite problem in that it took him months to find his voice and bark. However, I do know someone who taught their dog to bark on command and apparently once you have done that you can then teach them to stop barking. Think they followed something on YouTube so might be worth a google.

Could you teach him an alternative behaviour when he hears something? It might take a while be worth sticking to, perhaps every time he here's a noise, take him to his bed and reward him there? And he gets a really great treat for being in his bed? And then eventually he hears a noise he will go to his bed, or you could do the same with lie down.

My pup has developed a tennis ball obsession! He's very good and brings it back, dropping it for you to throw again. Useful way to tire him out too!!

Our goldie is 7 months now, we've had him 5 months and I don't know where that time has gone! He's completely gorgeous and totally spoilt rotten but we wouldn't be without him. He ate s couple of skirting boards and one of my husband's new shoes 😂 They were horrible anyway! My advice is don't leave stuff around that you'd prefer him not to eat - obvious I know! I tried him with a halti nose trainer - he hates it so we've gone back to just normal lead though it's one I put round my waist and this seems to make him walk much better, it's like he doesn't feel so constrained and would be great if you want to run with your dog.

Hi everyone I would love to join. I have read through all these messages and actually used an older puppy survival thread to help me when I got my first dog last year but never got around to joining!

We have had our Lhasa Apso puppy for nearly 2 weeks. Her name is Gypsy and she is 10 weeks old. We also have a 14 month old pug. They are getting on great although sometimes they rough play and get a bit overexcited which is hard work.

Gypsy's toilet training is going well. Usually just a wee accident a day when I get too confident and don't take her out enough. A couple of days we have had no accidents inside though. Mostly she goes to the back door to ask to go out and then sees or poos outside but sometimes just runs around playing in the garden instead! I am constantly up and down. Emotionally and physically! She sleeps all night in her crate which is a blessing.

The main thing I am having trouble with is that she cannot seem to rest. In the evenings she wanders around (living up to the meaning of her name) the living room laying down then walking around then laying down again in different places. If this happens for a while I put her in her crate and she falls asleep and will stay there all evening sleeping. But i would much rather she slept on me! I know she is so new so maybe she isn't settled yet, I guess I am used to having a pug who always has to be inside my skin even now.

Anyway better get back to it. The Kids are playing with the dogs outside which is how I have the time to even write this message! All the pics I have seen if your pups are beautiful by the way. I would share a picture of Gypsy but cannot seem to work out how to do that just yet.

I worked it out. Here is a couple of pictures of our Lhasa Apso Gypsy and I added one of Lola the pug too so she didn't feel let out.

Hi all, have finally finished rtft and thought I would join in with our gorgeous 9wk old Alaskan Malamute pup. We already have a 6yr old GSD and we decided our girly needed some company again (we had a Mal that unfortunately passed away last year due to bloat ).

We are on day 3 of her being home with us and so far so not too bad. Toilet training is a bit hit or miss just now but the whole house is on toilet signs alert. After the first night of whining and howling she settled great last night and only one tiny poo to greet me this morning so I'm calling that a win.

Loving all the gorgeous puppy pics, here are a couple of our gorgeous girlie.

Collected our pup today, he was very car sick and I travelled back with sick in my hair cleavage and all over our week old car .

He is such a sweetie, I am slightly worried about our rescue with him, she keeps pawing him and growling which scares him.
I am keeping them separate but so that they can see each other.

Gorgeous puppies! Mine is not having accidents- he's just not really peeing! He has water available but isn't interested! Slightly worrying - am just giving him very wet food!

Wet food does contain a lot of water which is probably why she isn't drinking 🙂 I wouldn't worry too much if there is water available. Gypsy went a day without drinking and I worried especially as she is on dried food but all of a sudden she drank loads and has been fine since. I think she was just too busy exploring and getting up to mischief!

Wet food contains a lot of water. I used to find when mine was little if I wet my fingers from his bowl and put them to his mouth a few times he would lick them and eventually go to the bowl and drink a little bit.

Gypsy and Smashie I can't cope with how gorgeous your dogs are!! Sooooooo sweet!

Gypsy I think all dogs are different in terms of how they like to sleep - our older dog likes to be sleeping near you but not on you, whereas the puppy has to sleep on top of you! I also don't think puppies are very good at knowing when they need to sleep and have to have it imposed on them through a crate etc for a while. As they get older they seem to get more chilled.

Petra mine went through a barely weeing phase, he was fine! Always something to be worrying about isn't there.

Flowering awww I think the car is tough for them at first! It took our puppy a while to get used to it. Could your rescue be trying to play?