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!

Thanks Bitey, I forgot how hard it is. I don't think it is for toileting, he is not being put in the crate until about midnight, after I take him outside, I am still doing two/three hourly trips outside through the night. As soon as I bring him in with me, he falls asleep.

He is very clingy, cannot bear to be anywhere without me,

jasmine I am not sure I would go through the puppy stage again although I love him to bits it was hard work

I did the ignore bit with crying but that can be hard if there are others in the house that it affects. Maybe have your pup in with you until after exams? I found in the day it took up to 30 mins for mine to settle himself when he was very young.

I think I will have to have him with me, luckily he is too cute for me to be cross with.

Jasmine I'm the worst person to ask about crate training as I now have Bluepuppy and his pointy noise snuggling in bed with me every night

Bluepuppy went to a morning of dog day care this morning. I was very excited to find out that most of the people working there are sigthound owners. There was a Borzoi in another group which was absolutely gorgeous. Puppy was nervous at first but was starting to initiate play with other dogs by the end of the session. One of the workers was able to just sit with him in her lap until he felt more comfortable.

I've also decided to take him to a second puppy pre school. As much as I'm tempted to start walking him on the footpath I'd feel more comfortable taking him to safer places for socialisation until he has all his needles.

I don't mind that Blue, the other dog sleeps upstairs, I just was hoping to wait until he is a bit older.

I am such a pushover.

Has Bluepuppy not had both lots of jabs? I am debating this with mine as read lots about lack of early socialisation outweighing the risks.

Bluepuppy is only 10 weeks. This daycare takes puppies from 10 weeks so I decided it was worth the risk. It's very difficult, especially as a first time owner to know what the best approach is. It has been suggested to me that dog friendly cafes might be okay to take him to but I'm not sure.

My Vet practice suggests waiting two weeks after his final shots at 12 weeks to take him out. I think I'll wait a week and get him out.

I've read of plenty of owners that take puppies out straight away at 8 or 9 weeks. Hopefully with two puppy classes a week and daycare once a week it will be enough.

Hi all. Can relate to being in tears with crate training. We are about ten nights in now and she cries less when put in there now. It was hard to ignore but for me it's working.our latest thing is that she bloody stinks! She smelt nice doggy until a few days ago. I have changed from puppy sachets to same brand tins. Gradually going to change to burns dried. What is everyone feeding?

I feed Millies Wolfheart kibble as you can feed from puppy to adult after searching for food on allaboutdogfood.co.uk.

I have a spaniel so used up my dog smelling ;)

up=to

My Whippet smells lovely

We are on Lily's kitchen puppy kibble plus proper meat, chicken livers today, yuck.

We still have the lovely new baby puppy smell here.

blue mine is 9 weeks, we are doing a similar thing to you, benefits of socialisation outweigh the risks I think.
It seems the advice has changed since I last had a puppy 11 years ago.

I think the general advice is as long as they don't go on the ground in an area where dogs frequent then they are fine before injections are complete. So outside being carried, out in the car, introduced to children and other dogs that you know are vaccinated can all happen straight away leaving normal walks to a week after vacs.

funky First Dog goes in the footwell of the passenger side. Not quite sure how that's going to work with two dogs though...

jasmine we only lasted 2 weeks with puppy downstairs at night. He's still a baby, and dogs are pack animals and he missed us so much... and all the other excuses I could think of! 😀

He sleeps on a blanket next to the bed (First Dog sleeps up on the bed, but we ruined a duvet with puppy) I can put my hand down to reassure him, plus First Dog gets to feel superior from his lofty position on the bed.

Downside is he usually wakes me about 3am to go out for a wee.

aliasjoey you are so right, I had a moment of clearheaded thinking tonight and I am not going to force the issue, it's making everyone miserable,
I actually love his snuggling and chewing on my ear.

I am going to stick to the sofa as it's near the back door but hopefully he can come up to our room in a couple of weeks, we are on the third floor so it's a bit of a trek for the loo.

We are still doing midnight about 3am and then 6am. I sound like one of the baby bores at the NCT meetups

Nelson arrived today! We're all head-over-heels with him, but bloody hell he's manic 😀

Oh my Nelson is beautiful :)

Love the new cute puppy photos

Bluepuppy does not like not being able to get past the baby gate when I'm on the other side. If I have a shower I can hear him crying and barking over the shower noise . Any ideas?

Aww nelson looks cute.

blue I just ignored any crying with the baby gate and just came and went without really any fuss etc and after a while it just subsided. We still use ours at times (he could very easily jump over it but never does as he just accepts it is there) and if he thinks he is missing something might have a moan but generally just puts his paws on top now and waits until he is let out or we come back in

So Bluepuppy has gone from shy pup to Mr social butterfly. At puppy pre school number two I had to hold him tight because he just wanted to go and play with the other puppies. It was a VERY different lot of puppies. A staffy, a number of collies and a doodle of some kind.

The problem today was that the little girl of the family sitting next to me decided she like Bluepuppy better than her dog and sat down at eye height with Bluepuppy and dangled a toy in his face. Naturally my pup started snapping at the toy that the little girl had near her face. I nearly had a heart attack and was really worried that the little girl would end up bitten. The mother wasn't watching the girl properly at all. I ended up having to tell her to move and supervise her own child!

Oh wow Nelson is absolutely gorgeous!!! Has that glint in his eye though, good luck to your shoes!!

blue we ignored it too, or tried leaving him with something he'd really enjoy eg a carrot or a chew. Kept him occupied for a while at least.

Puppy classes can be a mine field can't they - I actually watched a little boy chasing a very frightened pup and the mother did nothing! Luckily the trainer quickly intervened but bizarre what people think is acceptable.

I found that my puppy is very very social at puppy classes because puppies are FUN. They're all wiggly and want to play. I try and balance this by doing lots of walks with calm adult dogs, so my pup doesn't expect every dog to play like another puppy. Also I don't let him play too much at puppy class and treat him just for looking at me.

Ps don't be surprised if he becomes shy again - my boy went through really clear fear periods and several of them! I got worried it was for good but he's great with other dogs now

Hey everyone.
We took Eddie up to visit the mother in law early in (she has a year old poodle) and had aunty with her dog (6 month old poodle) round to visit early on too. Started going for walks round the block a week after last jabs. He is now almost 15 weeks. Getting pretty good with house training. If I go out to work for the morning he doesn't do any accidents, mostly ok overnight every now and then we come down to a wee or poo (three poos this morning! Think different food is not agreeing with him so have mixed with a bit more old food). Going for a walk every morning for about 40-45 mins. Meet a few regular dogs now who are happy to stop and say hello to him. A few more who don't. Doesn't always get a walk in the evening but most days we go for a walk round the block for 20-30 mins. Depends how long he sniffs at grass verges for. Working up the courage to take him to the field up the road and let him off lead (enclosed field a few dog walker friends have told me about) may wait till after puppy class this week

Hope you are all getting some sunshine to enjoy like we are. I'm sat in the garden with a beer after mowing the grass, can't tell a dog lives here can you 😂

So i guess I'm checking in here too now

This is Lexa. She's 10 weeks

We have a great new game of chase the smelly sock round the garden!!! Not quite sure what pup thinks it is but he's determined to kill it!!!