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)

It's taken me weeks to stop her chewing my hands when I get anywhere NEAR her feet. I can't hurt her. She would never trust me again.

Hi all, just dropping in to say hello and show you our soft coated wheaten terrier Harvey! He's 11 weeks old today and we picked him up last friday. He's a dream so far but we're having trouble getting him to focus on us when we say his name (he knows his name, he just isn't consistent!). Biting is terrible at the minute but we're working on it!

Ohhhh I love wheatens! Gorgeous pup!

I heard that about the secateur ones but when I bought some they just weren't strong enough so I went back to the other style. Wolfie near us one of the clubs has oversized agility equipment as the owner has Great Danes, so you never know, maybe one day!

Please can I join you? I need a bit of hand holding through this puppy phase!! My Dpup is 11 weeks tomorrow...we are utterly in love. All the usual puppy challenges but I'm so terrified of making a mistake. Main concern at the moment is how to build up to leaving her alone for short periods. She's only been with us for a week & so far someone has been here 24/7 & I've carried her out & about & lots of car trips too! I have young children, so we WILL have to leave the house at some point without her for a bit. Any advice/experience?

Hi all,

Awaiting birth of my puppy. Due this week. Will be my first dog as an adult so very excited.

I will be called when Mummy Dog goes into labour as my pal is too squeamish to help with the delivery. Pregnancy was unplanned.

Will watch this with interest.

Hoping all goes well monster.
But first. What a gorgeous face!
Skeleton oversized indeed! She's just a baby puppy. Shame but nowhere near has. Had a go at a show. They let us off the tunnel and she did the rest!
Perfectly. We crate trained. Have a look at Facebook site dog training advice and support. It's NOT just shoving them in a crate! A good start is have a stairgate. They can see but not reach you. Or even potter about in the same room but ignore pup. Then wander in and out. A couple of seconds to start with.

Thanks Wolfie, yes, doing all those things...so hopefully I'm on the right track? Little & often? So much conflicting advice out there, not least doggy friends irl insisting that if I don't 'just leave her' I will never be able to 😬

Laughs at oversized equipment. Wolfie surely everything is oversized for your big girl

Awww what a cute face ButFirstTea.

PerfectlyChaotic I know what you mean about worrying about making a mistake but try not to (worry) as you will get there. Yes to conflicting advice. I just researched different techniques, tried what I was comfortable with but also took a step back and tried other techniques if the first didn't work for us.

Monster what breed of puppy are you getting? Hope the birth goes well.

ButFirstTea I don't think BiteyDog particularly 'focused' on us when we said his name. He still doesn't unless he knows something good awaits him

Bitey how terribly sizist of you!
Tiny steps. But you can do it. The trick is not to leave pup for longer than they are comfortable with. That's called flooding and can lead to later and greater problems. We have gone from leaving her for a second or two to she's happy to nap all morning without us!

Talking of size mine is classed as a medium dog but his measurements tend to sit bang on the small/medium border. Very frustrating as small collars are slightly too small at their largest adjustment and medium is slightly too big at their smallest adjustment . Tend to be the case for everything and he won't get any bigger and whilst the vet says he will 'fill' out he tends to stay at the very skinny (I can almost see your ribs) size no matter what he eats.

Hi all, new to this thread.

my "puppy" is 8 months old. He's a weimaraner so is naturally needy/giddy (god help me...this one is 100% more needy and giddy than our first weim was)

Does anyone have any good games to play with them to keep them mentally stimulated (or to tire them out lol) in the house?

AND

Has anyone found any indestructible toys (or at least lasts longer than a week?) His last toy, a kong jumbler ball (i think it was called)...the squeak lasted 5 minutes, the ball was destroyed to pieces after a week!!!

Hi MrsClegane I am in a similar situation as I need to find some mental stimulation games when mine is neutered next month as he is used to bolting about for 2 hours at full speed off lead so a few on lead walks isn't going to cut it for 2 weeks.

I am reluctant to buy anything expensive as I have made that mistake before when he turned his nose up at it so after lots of ideas that are fairly cheap.

Food feeders have lost their appeal like the kong wobbler but yours might like it. I have just ordered a cheap snuffle treat mat of eBay to try.

Training is always a good one to tire them out, sit, wait, recall, stop, tricks.

Mine likes to hunt out tennis balls so I have lots of kong squeaker tennis balls that I hide about the house and garden. However, there are only so many places to hide so I plan to buy some plastic cones and play find the ball under one of them.

Anyone else have any ideas how to mentally knacker them out?

We had a kong wubbler which he loved, it lasted about 3-4 months before he destroyed the ball inside it (but the outer fabric kept it all contained) but the tails did start fraying.

We've just been practising the "leave" command this morning, which I noticed he is completely ignoring at the moment. we walk through some fields in a morning and there's lots of sheep wool (there are no sheep, you can see the whole field as you walk through...I would never let him off around livestock)...so he is finding wool and running off with it to try to eat it....not to mention all the cow poo he likes to eat.
we finished and he went to get in his bed....until the cat jumped down from her bed and paraded herself in front of him....now he's awake trying to throw a kong on me and pounce on the cat (yet another need for leave)

I tried hiding treats under cups....he ran off with the cups!!! haha

Welcome Mrs!
There are a lot of books you can get about brain games for dogs.
Wolfie pup likes a frisbee or a nylabone toy. The ring is a good one for play. Kongs are good. We would wet dry food, stuff Kong and freeze!
All training and getting out to see the world is tiring too. Visit new places and meet new people. See new things.

We still use a longline round the cats at 10 months! It allows me to reinforce a leave! How are you teaching leave? We did a treat in a fist. Leave. When she does feed from
Other hand.
Treat for ignoring the cat or looking at you when the cat passes.
We are working hard on wait at the moment. And recall. It's um intermittent. Can only let her off at safe spaces. Have a Google. You can hire secure fields for a good play/training session. We also go to ringcraft. It is to learn to show but more socialisation and learning so tiring!

We're teaching leave in the exact same way.... treat in fist, when he leaves it he can have it.

The cat has half the house gated off, she seems to like winding the dog up and then wandering back to her gated area. There is a lot of "leave" and treats when he does.

recall is great when we're out walking, I shout his name and put my arm in the air.... he comes running for the treat that is (sometimes) in my hand. except for when he finds something he knows he's not supposed to have...such as dead bird, sheep wool, cow poo.... which is why we need to practice leave lol.

We have moors, fields, valleys close by which he runs around in, he loves the long grass and streams. And cos we've lived here quite a while we know which are fenced/gated so he can't go far even if he does get spooked/distracted (touch wood it hasn't happened yet)

Must remember after heavy downpours to put the wellies on and not the walking boots. My jeans are soaking and my boots aren't as waterproof as I had hoped

I'm rather jealous of your dog walking areas MrsClagane. Sounds lovely

I had rather a nasty scare with Bluepuppy today. Took him out for breakfast and a walk on the beach followed by a dog park. At the dog park he was playing with a dog that was larger than him but not huge. The other dog knocked Bluepuppy over and when he got back up he was on three legs, holding one of his front legs in front of him and whimpering Then a woman makes everything worse by saying to me 'I think your dog's broken it's leg'

Luckily, after a few minutes, he decided to be brave whippet again and was walking nearly normally. He seems absolutely fine now. They do like to worry us.

DONT BUY CLIPPERS. BLOOD HERS AND TEARS MINE.

You okay Wolfie?

blue it's horrible isn't it when they start limping. Glad he was ok but such a fright for you.

No. Waiting for vet callback. This is what I was afraid of

Oh no Wolfie
Is needed?

I think they are a bugger when they bleed in terms of lots of it. I know you can get things to put on them which help stop the bleeding.