Does anyone fancy a "puppy survival" thread part 2

[Soubriquet]

Here we are again

Just jump in and join us

[bluetongue]

Hope the training session is useful totally. I'm pretty new to this whole puppy thing so can't really give any pointers. Hopefully some puppy veterans will be along to help soon.

Bluepuppy continues to bust whippet stereotypes. At puppy class the other night the vet nurse said she had never seen a whippet so full of zest for life. The while getting his needles at the vet my vet asked me if I wanted to be there while he was injected as whippets are such drama queens. I stayed and Bluepuppy didn't flinch at anything. The vet also gave him a clean bill of health and told him he was super handsome

So proud

The only thing I'm not completely happy with is that his colour has changed and he's not exactly what I wanted look wise in a whippet. I hate that I feel this way and most people that see him are won over by both his looks and personality. Hopefully I'll get past this and learn not to focus on such a superficial issue

[BiteyShark]

blue I expect you will feel different soon about his looks. My DH wanted a different coloured dog initially and he often commented on it. Now our dog is bigger and has his own personality and look about him he only ever mentions how pretty our dog looks

totally hope the trainer helps. Things I wish I had paid more attention to when young are jumping up, getting the dog to settle when there are distractions and recall/come. Although I did those things looking back it could have been better. Things I am glad I paid strict attention to are biting (zero tolerance with removing play), teaching sit and stay and getting him used to being left alone for short periods.

[totallyliterally]

After the first night fluke of 6 hours sleep. We now have had 2 nights of 1 1/2 hour max stretches. Then out for a wee/poo.

Realised she has been allowed to graze on her food last two days as not eating much at a time.

So will leave it out for a hour and a half and then take away. She will be hungry but that good I guess for next meal. And knock on will be that she does more regular poo.

What time should 'dinner' be?

She so wants to play with the cats too!

[bluetongue]

Hang in there totally if you persist this stage won't last too long.

I tried not to feed Bluepuppy past 8pm at that stage but it might be something you have to work out depending on everyone's schedules.

Thanks for not thinking I'm a terrible dog owner for being unsure about pup's looks bitey. To be fair even the prettiest whippets can go through some fairly awkward stages. it's also difficult to know how White markings will end up. My previous pet (a cat) went through a stage of looking all ears and legs but was stunning as an adult (plus a beautiful nature as well.)

I was very tempted to ship a puppy to me sight unseen as I'd seen a couple online that really caught my eyebut I really value meeting the breeder and the puppy. Plus I've heard some horror stories of puppies arriving in terrible condition.

I'm still hoping to add whippet number two at this stage. Probably a girl. I really should wait at least 12 months before even thinking about it shouldn't I?

[BiteyShark]

I decided to have ours whilst I have the energy which if he lives a good long life will bring me to early retirement age. I think he will be the only dog I will own but that might be influenced by him being in his teenager mode which is hard work

I think the general advise is wait until they are older so you have all the training under your belt and they can be a good influence on a younger puppy

[aliasjoey]

blue yes I know what you mean about disappointment over superficial things - ours has nearly doubled in size since we got him, and I do feel sad that he's not so cute anymore

[CornflakeHomunculus]

bluetongue you really won't care about colour for long, it pales into insignificance when you've got a lovely adult dog who has well and truly settled in to the family. Brindle has always been my least favourite colour pattern and sod's law when I found a fantastic whippet breeder the whole litter was brindle. I got an amazing puppy who has thoroughly changed my mind about brindle and by the time DWhippet2 came along I wasn't even thinking about colour. Typically the most suitable puppy from that litter was exactly the sort of colour I'd have wanted first time round

Whippets can change quite drastically in colour as premature greying is very common in the breed, all mine have it to some degree. DWhippet1 had a very striking black mask as a puppy and now, at only 6 years old, his face and front legs are almost completely white.

I was very tempted to ship a puppy to me sight unseen as I'd seen a couple online that really caught my eye but I really value meeting the breeder and the puppy.

Honestly, no remotely reputable breeder would ship you a puppy with you not even having seen it.

I'm still hoping to add whippet number two at this stage. Probably a girl. I really should wait at least 12 months before even thinking about it shouldn't I?

Speaking from experience I'd say wait until your first is at least 18 months but preferably over 2 years before adding another. My youngest two have only 12 months between them and it's been incredibly hard work at times, much more so than the previous gaps between puppies which were 18 months and 3 years. In future it'll be gaps of 2-3 years and over for me!!

[ActualMermaid]

Hi everyone, this is my pride and joy! She's a lhasa apso and is 4 months old today. Her biting and toilet training is coming on leaps and bounds, and we're currently working on her commands. She can sit, jump, lie down, roll over, but we're working on come and stay - she doesn't seem to get these ones at all. Any tips? I would love to walk her off the lead, but don't feel ready until she can at least follow these instructions!

[BiteyShark]

Actual don't leave it too late to walk off lead. Mine was around 4 months when we did it and looking back we should have done it sooner.
We actually went to a trainer who said that if we didn't do it when young by the time he is 6 months old he will be too independent and will bolt (and I can tell you thank god we did it because he is in his teenager mode and recall is bad but would have been horrendous if we hadn't done the basics beforehand).
We went to a small secure-ish woody area and walked about and used a whistle and treats when we recalled him. We had practiced the whistle in the garden before so he understood what it meant. We used high value treats such as cheese and made sure we did lots of recall and not just when you put them back on the lead. If you are really worried use a long lead to give you the confidence that they stick to you like glue when they are at that age.

[SkeletonSkins]

Agreed that the earlier the better for letting off the lead. Take a huge pocketful of sausages, go somewhere fenced in and fairly quiet and go for it. If pup looks like she's about to go off run the other way calling her and give sausages when she comes- they can't help it! I avoided other dogs for a while so that I could develop recall without that extra distraction.

totallyliterally it's so overwhelming to start with, try not to worry as most things really do iron themselves out if you are persistent.

Pups having a quiet day today after a very busy day yesterday. Been trying to do some training on our walks and have been working on stay which has been going quite well. A friend nipped round yesterday and he barked at her a lot when she arrived but soon was won round with a few sausages! Something to keep working on I think.

[SkeletonSkins]

Oh and just to add, I did this with both our dogs when they were about 10 weeks old, and both have an excellent recall (although anticipating that the puppies could go to pieces with adolescence!)

[BiteyShark]

Mine barks at any strange banging noise at the moment. He doesn't care about a workman drilling in the wall but if he uses a hammer he goes off on one

My spaniel is a typical lead puller and wants to be everyone's friend [grrr] so yesterday we sat and had a drink outside a pub getting him to sit everytime he got up and then today we sat in a park watching everyone go by. Given that I also made him walk on lead and had to correct his pulling all the time he is now flaked out fast asleep with all the effort of trying to be good

[ActualMermaid]

Hi bitey and skeleton, thanks so much for the advice. I know I just need to go for it, but she is my whole world at the minute and I'm terrified she'll make a break for it. I will grab my SO and some sausages the next day off we have together and team up in case she bolts.

[tryandtryagain]

Hi there. This is Jessie our 10 week old shih tzu. We have had her for just over 2 weeks and she's a darling. She's really good at night in her crate. Wee's on her puppy pad and only poos outside. The only downside is that she eats her poop but we are working on it! Love looking at all your puppy pics and hearing your stories.

[BiteyShark]

Hi try what a bundle of cute fur. Fortunately mine doesn't eat his poo or other dogs poo. However, when we go into the forest where there is horse, deer, fox, badger and cow poo it's like an exquisite buffet to him

[tryandtryagain]

The vet changed her food from Royal canin to a prescription brand as he thinks it's too rich , hence the poop eating. She really didn't like it though so we are back to the original.

[BiteyShark]

try I used allaboutdogfood.co.uk to decide what to feed my dog.

[CornflakeHomunculus]

Some dogs are just poo eaters. DWhippet3 is terrible for it. Makes no difference what he (or other dogs, he's not picky when it comes to shit ) eat, he'll eat it.

The best thing you can do is prevent it as much as you possibly can, the less opportunity they have to do it the less of a habit it becomes. It's not uncommon for puppies to do this and sometimes if you're vigilant now they'll stop completely. Also working on a strong "leave it" command is a good idea, just in case they don't grow out of it!!

[totallyliterally]

Preferred poo here is Guinea pig.

She loves hunting the garden for those tasty little pellets.

Just wondering what everyone's evening / night time routine looks like for around the 8 week old puppy. If you don't mind sharing.

[bluetongue]

Cornflake I probably would have flown to seen a puppy then had it shipped. It's actually pretty common to have puppies flown interstate here in Australia due to the distances between states. Of course the costs start to add up once you factor in flights, accommodation and transport for puppy

I've ended up with a brindle for my first whippet too. I call him tabby What colour was your second whippet cornflake? I'd love a fawn and white parti girl for my next one.

Bluepuppy's latest trick is sneaking out the front door. Being a Whippet' he goes into sprint mode once in the front yard and so far I've managed to catch him before he gets too close to the road but it's going to give me grey hair or even worse end in disaster if I don't fix it soon

[CornflakeHomunculus]

What colour was your second whippet cornflake? I'd love a fawn and white parti girl for my next one.

Funnily enough he's a fawn and white parti

These are mine. DWhippet1 on the left, DWhippet2 is obviously the parti and DWhippet3 is up at the back.

[vikjul]

towelpintpeanuts, it was a huge relief for me as well to hear about a mini schnauzer puppy with similar issues :-). I agree that it's definitely partly about accepting that the breed comes with some barking (although I've met vikpup's father and he doesn't bark at all, so vikpup seems to have taken after his mother!). Looking forward to hearing about what your behaviourist suggests today!

We've actually had some improvements on lead over the past few days, simply by not allowing vikpup to greet other people and dogs when we are out (with some exceptions), and by turning his attention to us just before a dog passes. It's as though he is more relaxed now that he doesn't feel that he has to engage with everybody he meets, so walks on quite happily most of the time.

I took vikpup to the groomer this morning to have his coat stripped for the first time. A little sad to say goodbye to the cute shaggy puppy coat, he looks so thin now... :-(! DS came home from school earlier and was not impressed at all with vikpup's new look, he thought he looked like a different dog! I tried to convince him (and myself) that he will look just as cute to us as soon as we get used to the stripped coat, and once it has grown a little. He's asleep now, but will post photos later. Here are some pictures from the other day, with the puppy look still there!

[vikjul]

Vikpup minus puppy coat today. Feeling a bit sentimental that he's growing up so quickly.

[SkeletonSkins]

Oh vikipup looks so smart though!

totallyliterally we found that if puppy slept in the early evening, he'd be up at about 5am ready for the day which really wasn't ideal. So we'd feed him about 5.30, after which he'd go mental with zoomies and then crash out for an hour or so around 6-7. Then the challenge was to keep him awake from then until about 10ish through playing with him etc. This meant that he would be so ready to sleep and would sleep in that bit later.

We would play with him sat on the floor and take him for a week every half an hour or so or every time he seemed sniffy/ seemed to wander off.

[bluetongue]

I think Vikpup looks super handsome