Does anyone fancy a puppy survival thread part 3

[BiteyShark]

Continuation of the support thread.... anyone is welcome whether they have new or older puppies, just want a chat or are battling with ongoing puppy problems.

I thought I would start this thread off as I am hoping it might be the last one I need support from as BiteyPup is now 9.5 months old and we have survived the early puppy months and his teenage antics seem to be subsiding. Still working on our relationship and recall but it's getting better and can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel (fingers crossed)

Pizza - if it makes you feel better pup barked and barked last night in her crate. The kids had cousins over for a sleepover and I think she felt left out.

Dh had to spend the night on the sofa to get her to sleep in her crate.

We're waiting for her to be neutered and then going to ditch it I think and let her sleep in her bed downstairs.

I dont think we will. Plus we might breed from him possibly.

Mine too is also a mummy's boy. I get the best hugs

Think BiteyDog is now getting frustrated with no walks and no ball games. He is actually too bouncy for on lead walks so not risking it as ironically he is better off lead (no way) or staying at home. However, I am getting death stares especially as DH bought a hard collar that was too short and he managed to bite and tear the comfy collar as it has a flap inside so I have had to shout everytime he made a move to sniff anywhere near his wound. His poos are better but soft but we still have a few days left of medication.

I am so wishing the days away now until Thursday evening when praying we get the all clear.

blue hope bluepup is given the ok today.

Sounds like Bitey pup is feeling better Has the swelling gone down now? I know what you mean about tnem being too bouncy for on lead walks. Mine was getting very strong on the lead. He goes ack to day care tomorrow. Ican't wait

Bluepuppy got his stitches out today and he has healed up perfectly ( despite me being whit slack with restricting his activity). I also weighed him and he's now hit the 12 kilo mark.

Amazingly he was actually pretty focused during his training class on the weekend. Training was outside and it was very windy which normally sends him right off. I think it helped that they put big spaces in between the dogs so they weren't as distracted.

Arghh glad bluepup is fully healed. I also can't wait until BiteyDog is better and can go to day care. His swelling is certainly no worse and at times I think better but other times it looks the same. I have photos on my phone to try and compare his wound so god knows what anyone would think if I lost my phone and saw them . Conflicting comments from people online about how long the swelling lasts and I had so many things to ask the vet that was one thing I forgot :(

Hi everyone, joining in! Gaelpup is 5 months and I've been lucky enough to have been home with him since we got him at 14 weeks, but I'm back to work next week and he'll be alone for roughly 5 hours each day. Question is - should I pup down puppy pads when I'm out? We haven't been using them at all, just been taking him outside and he's really got the hang of it now, no accidents for 3 weeks now. I'm very conscious that he can't hold his pee in for that long yet but I know he will try his best. He does this heart wrenching wee bark when he's busting for a pee and the thought of him barking to be let out while I'm not there to do it is killing me. BUT I'm worried that introducing puppy pads now will confuse the house training or set him back? Any advice?

Welcome Gaelach.

I would be very reluctant putting pads down because it will undo all the good work you and pup have made. Any chance you could get someone to just pop in for 30 mins to let him out until he is old enough to hold it? Some dog walkers here do puppy visits and they don't cost a lot.

Agreed that I'd have someone pop in as it will undo all your hard work and unless you've trained to a puppy pad he'll have no clue what that's about anyway. Most dog walkers will do puppy visits so I'd do that as a temporary measure.

Welcome home SkeletonSkins. Did you get a lovely welcome from your dogs on your return?

Oh yes they were very pleased to see us! Buying a dog is definitely a way to buy love 😂

I'm going to collect our first puppy tomorrow (9wk old cockapoo) and I'm feeling really nervous and excited. It feels like having a newborn again; the advice is non stop (obvs v welcome too) and I've a vague if that our lives are about to be turned upside down.

One question I have is how quickly I can/should train him to spend time in his own. Or, in other words, will I feasibly get to a point in the next two weeks are I can pop out to the local shop without him (he won't have had his second vaccinations until the end of September)? I've got two weeks left of the summer holidays and am worried that the girls and I might start to feel under house arrest. Is that just a given?

PizzaPup settled last night and slept on her own until 3.30. Hooray!

I'm having a few issues with her but I think that's more to do with her being a rescue and I don't want to derail this thread. Just thought I'd explain why you may see other posts about her on the topic.

DeepfriedPizza don't worry about derailing the thread. We all have such different issues and god it's hard so feel free to off load here as well as on your own thread.

Glitter I would say you might manage at pop to the shops if you have somewhere to leave the puppy that is safe but equally it might be that your pup gets distressed so it's hard to say. You can take your puppy out with you in your arms though and I'd recommend that, as well as taking it to visit any friends at their houses too, especially if they have a vaccinated dog. Gets the pup to see the world too!

Glittermud how long is 'popping down to the local shop'?

I started leaving mine for a few mins and building up the time from the start but I didnt leave the house for over a month because I wanted to be close to hear how he reacted so I just hid nearby. Plus everytime I turned around he would pee or poo so didn't want to miss a toileting opportunity. However, all puppies are different and yours might be laid back with being left.

Glitter- we've had Molly for a week now, we built up leaving her, starting on day 2 by walking round the block, adding on an extra few minutes each day. I'm conscious that I'm a SAHM so she's going to get very used to me being around a lot, which may be ok but my parents had a dog when my Mum gave up work and he couldn't cope when he was left as it wasn't very often. They got to the point that he couldn't be left at all. I think the problem was that there was no routine.

I think Molly seems pretty chilled when she's left. I assumed she may take a while to settle down but for instance earlier I had to pop out to drop my DS at his friends - gone 5 mins- and came back to her snoozing on her blanket

Thanks all. Or local shop is two mins away so it wouldn't be long, maybe ten minutes. I'll be at home constantly until October so I'll have to start straight away for short periods then building up the time spent away.

I've also got my friends and neighbours nearby with vaccinated dogs so will take him out to visit them. I might get some company too then!

Have loved catching up on the thread. Hope puppies who have had ops are recovering nicely.

@blue I know exactly how you must have felt when it looked like puppy might run off, I wish I had a rugby tackler last week. Dh took puppy to buy paper at 5am last week, was a bit breezy and just as dh was unfastening puppy a newspaper board blew over and almost hit puppy, she's ran before dh could grab leash properly and bolted, she caught her leash on a metal plant pot which clattered and made her more frantic. Leash came off pot and puppy just hurtling off.

Dh was hoping she'd ran home as she was headed towards the house and it's a walk she's done daily since her second jabs but sadly not. We both looked for two hours and at 7am I posted on Facebook, within 15 mins my friends and family were out looking too. It's was shared so quickly that by the time I phoned local vets and kennels at 8.30 they already knew about puppy and had posted her details in their own sites etc. It got over 600 shares by lunchtime!!

To make it worse I'd taken her collar off the night before to loosen it and Dh didn't want to wake me to ask where it was and figured as she wouldn't be being let off it wasn't ok.

The support, advice and help I got from total strangers on FB was really touching, dozens of people from other towns drove here to help look on foot and search hedgebacks and bushes etc and people were planning on looking until it got dark. They were amazing.

As more hours passed I thought that she was gone for good, that she's got her leash caught in bushes and had been stuck without food and water, or run over and was laying injured somewhere. I pd rather someone had found her and decided to just keep her than have that happen.

13 hours after she went missing I got a phone call to say she had been found in a garden a few streets away. Went to pick her up and she ran straight past DH to me and licked my face off :) Saying thank you to everyone who helped doesn't feel like enough. We keep getting stopped when we walk her and asked if she's the puppy from Facebook.

My heart has only just settled, dh is still stiff as a board from walking for 13 hours non stop but puppy is like nothing's happened.

I've namechanged to post in case anyone where I live recognises the photos I posted of my puppy earlier in thread, i don't know if I've posted moany stuff about family in other threads haha.

Oh Bygum, how scary!

PizzaPup had her first trip in the car yesterday, hated getting in but was fine once in.
She slept from 10.30-5.30 no bother which I was surprised at as she slept a lot yetserday.
I've ordered a barking collar for wearing in the house, it's a humane one, yesterday it was out of control. I've watched billions of videos on how to train them not to bark and it's all about getting their attention but once PizzaPup starts you could dangle a whole chicken in front of her and she wouldn't look at you.

BiteyDog has made his protest clear today. He managed to get one of his teeth in the side plastic bit of the cone where it connects together and bit it off before I could get to him. Will have to watch him like a hawk today as I can use the medical suit at night when he sleeps but if I try in the day he will just rip it apart with his teeth

Poor BiteyDog. He's getting frustrated isn't he poor love . I left the cone on Blue pup when I went out during the day and surprisingly he didn't get it off. Only a few more days to go.

ByGum that sounds so scary and very similar to what happened with Bluepup (apart from the rugby tackle bit). It really only takes a couple of seconds. So glad pup is home safe but the risk of something happening to them is real once they run off.

Deepfried good about the car ride and sleeping. Hope you get some improvement with the barking. I can't remember if the rescue has a behaviourist available. Even if not it might be worth bringing one in yourself to work on the problem.

Deepfried how does this anti-barking collar work? Is it one of the ultrasonic or vibrating ones? Although an extremely high pitched sound or sudden vibration might not seem unpleasant to you those types of collars still work in the same way as ones that shock the dog or spray citronella in their face. They need to do something unpleasant or startling enough to either interrupt the barking or put the dog off doing it altogether.

Aside from it not being fair on the dog, the issue with using such tools to curb unwanted behaviour is that it doesn't deal with the root of the problem. It might result in a dog that barks but it won't reduced stress or fear and the dog will either shut down (learned helplessness) or just find another outlet.

This article explains it all very well.

blue yes he is terribly frustrated. Now we have no cone due to him destroying both of them I took him out for a quick on lead walk. He was so excited and a pain in the arse . The swelling is definitely better so really hoping he continues to ignore his wound.

We have a trainer/behaviourist starting next week who will help us stop the barking but in the meantime we'll give the collar a go. If she seems upset by it we won't use it.

Cornflake, I get your point. I'm really trying my best but if I can't distract her from the barking then what can I do? A lot of methods get you to pre empty the barking but she has no cue. I'm a bit lost