Puppy Survival thread part 4

[GooodMythicalMorning]

Puppy's getting bigger!: continuation of Bitey's thread. If anyone wants to join feel free.

I think with essentials it does depend on your situation. I have never used a baby gate with children or dogs. I did have a crate. It never closed it with wolfpup 1 (except at work) and I haven't bothered with a crate for wolfpup 2. In fact wolfpup 2 is still too small for a collar so I haven't got one of those yet either.
We do use the dog food bin the food and water bowels (make sure they are stainless steel with a rubber bottom to stop slipping). Old blankets/fleeces on the beds keeps pup warm and are easy to pop in the machine if they get weed on. Lots of kitchen paper and simple solution for the accidents.

Blue I did try to make a sling out of my scarf but she hated it so I tied the scarf round my waist to secure my jacket at the bottom and tucked her in there. I think I looked like the mad dog lady with my crazy terriers and makeshift scarf ensemble .

Thanks Fillybuster! Good to hear from people with similar issues and worries. He's sleeping in our bedroom currently in a crate that I'm gradually moving away from the bed and will eventually get him out the room! We get to actually sleep and he's doing great at waking me up when he needs to go out during the night. Now he's settled in to the house a lot better I'm going to have to start leaving for 5,10, 15 minutes etc as he simply has to get used to it! Looking forward to some light at the end of the tunnel though . He's a labrador x collie.

Clay - I also agree that crate and baby gates are essential. Dpup has been with us nearly a week and the crate has been absolutely vital.

Dpup seems to have settled in, by which I mean she has become a right little madam, She is utterly adorable and totally spaniel crazy. She has actually made Ddog look sane . He seems to like her although I find their play fighting quite scary. Getting up at night is so tough though, had forgotten that.

Thank you for the suggestions all.

I have cats already so baby gate was definitely on the list as I want to create areas where the cats can get away if they want, particularly in the beginning.

I also planned on crate training but confused by the options. Is it better to get a solid metal crate or would a large soft/travel crate be better as it can be used in the car as well?

She's expected to be small when fully grown but as she is a cross breed of unknown heritage, nobody can be sure. This makes it hard to know what size of things to get but I can always replace later if necessary. I'm assuming the rescue will give me her neck measurements for a collar beforehand. Vets is covered as I use a fantastic one for my cats already.

I'm researching food brands at the moment and will go for a high quality or raw diet. Not totally decided yet. What about toys? Do I just get a few different types to find out what she likes?

Will she need a separate bed for say the living room as well as her crate?

Sorry for all the questions! I feel like a new parent who wants to buy everything available but I know from experience most of it ends up a waste of money

I think you will need a metal crate for home. I ended up with two, one for home and one for the car, but you could move it between.

Toywise, I'm finding stuffed kongs really useful. Also, I got two smallish squeaky rugby shaped balls from pets at home and both dogs love them, they seem to be a good size and they weren't expensive. She's less fussed by the rope toy. But then she's a little bit younger than your pup and she's super bitey at the moment.

Oh subject of my little crocodile, are there any chews that a puppy can have? Even the puppy ones say not for less than 3 months. She's constantly chewing us and ddog and anything she can grab. She stole a chew from ddog and loved it, but I can't find anything similar I can give her. Or is the age limit just arse covering and not really necessary?

My dog trainer buys old fleeces from charity shops and then cuts them into strips and plaids them or knots them for very young puppies to chew or put on a flirt stick. They are lovely and soft on very young teeth but also quite durable.

Nylabone and Kong for chewing.
Freeze carrot for teething!

I'd forgotten nylabones. When I gave Ddog carrot he made a terrible mess but could try again with Dpup. The fleeces are a good idea too. Will try that.

I just gave wolfpup 2 a peanut butter stuffed Kong and she rolled in it wolfpup1 just watched indulgently until pup2 ran out of ideas and then calmly showed her what to do. Same happened when I tried dried Foch skin, I don't thing she is ready except she is obsessed with slippers and crocs

I love spaniels. Dpup was 9 weeks old yesterday. Last night, she had her last wee at 11.30. I set my alarm for 4, but she's been waking me when she needs to go out and there was silence. I went back to sleep... and woke up at 6.30. Still silence. Went down, found her awake in crate and waiting for me. No accident. I'm so pleased. Its still early days but it feels like real progress.

So what are safe toys to leave with soup when we are out?

At the moment he goes in his crate and I just make sure he's ready for a snooze but there will be times he's more awake and I don't want him getting bored! He's not much of a chewer and tends to like wrestling his cuddly toys

Tried a kong and he wasn't interested at all despite various different fillings

From day 1 of pup coming home at 8 weeks he was going 11-7 without needing a wee so I guess you can be lucky!

We took our little pup for her first walk yesterday, she was quivering with anxiety as soon as we left the house, I'm a wheelchair user so she sat on my lap until we reached our local nature reserve. She was reluctant to move at all but did lots of sniffing. We walked on a bit and once she'd seen a few other dogs she got the idea and became very enthusiastic. We let her off the lead for a short while next to the cricket pitch and she didn't run off.
As soon as we were back near traffic she wanted to be back on my lap and by the time we stopped for a coffee she was fast asleep, we had a very peaceful afternoon while she slept.
Yesterday confirmed that our little pint sized chihuahua was the perfect dog for us.

Here she is playing with her best friend

That photo is adorable.

Gorgeous pup!

I’m a convert to little dogs. I’ve always been a Collie person but recently got a JRT and as well as being pleasingly portable he’s as sharp as a tack, learns new behaviours in a startlingly short time, is intently focussed on me, has a fab recall and is insanely cute.

I might go for a Chi next time 😁

Hey all, would really appreciate some advice on toilet training. Have always found it really easy with my previous girls, but my goodness this boy is sooo different!! We're managing to get to about 4am at night before he let's me know he needs to go out so that definite progress there.

However, during the day the battle of the wees is one that he's definitely besting me at! We haven't had an indoor poo incident in days. Today we have had a bit of a battle with him again, I think he's overtired but refusing to nap (I've finally got him off) which definitely seems to make toilet training go backwards!!? But he'll go outside, mess around then come back in and wee. I thought yesterday we were making real progress, but today he's done nearly all of them inside... Feel like I'm back to square one! He's being taken out a million times a day it seems. He's been here a week now and feel like I've made very, very little progress (I know he wouldn't be fully clean yet but after today he's not even 10% clean)...

Any advice? He just seems to have no perceptible signs he's about to wee.

Thanks!!

Restrict access to the house. (not keep him outside but keep him near a door!) If he goes out and doesn't go than watch like a hawk and take out again in 10 minutes anyway. Out on a lead and much praise for going in the right place.
Out after nap and food and drink and play. And every 20 mins.
Hustle him out mid squat if you need. There will be signs. Watch closely.

Thanks so much for your response.

That is what worries me though as I'm doing all of that bar putting him on a lead which I'll now start doing...

Just sending him out won't work. He needs to be taken so you can praise and focus on the wee! There's a great group called dog training advice and support on FB. They have great advice on toilet training and lots of other things too.
It's flipping hard work! And remember to clean with a decent (enzyme) cleaner or he will keep going back to the same places.

Took Fillypup for a 5 mile cross country hike this afternoon, followed by a much needed bath...now he looks like this:

Lise07 I found toilet training two steps forward, one step back. Just when you think you have cracked it they pee as soon as your back is turned :(

Haha totally! He slept through till 6.30 this morning though so maybe a bit more ready for him today haha

Any tips on stopping a digger? She's having a lot of fun burying toys....