Puppy Survival thread part 4

[GooodMythicalMorning]

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

If it was me Clay I would ditch the pads otherwise it can be confusing.

We all have different opinions just go with your gut feeling Clay

Tough one. Normally puppy pads are best avoided as they teach the dog to toilet in the house. This little one (gorgeous BTW!) has had a lot of changes. Maybe try without. But have some in case? Could I be more on the fence?!?! You might even find pup too scared to toilet outside? It might be quite confident and happy. Wait and see. Good luck.

Thank you everyone. We've had her home a couple of hours and she's absolutely lovely. We're totally smitten already. She's a little quiet but has been wagging her tail and just wants to cuddle up to us on the sofa.

She's already peed on the rug and the sofa. She's also refused to leave the door into the garden but it is raining so I think that's why. I've had to put a puppy pad down for now and she's used it already. I think we might need to use those until it's dry outside and we might have a better result.

I'm a little confused about what to do generally though whilst we're still getting to know her. She's not slept yet and I've no idea what her routine is. I've put her in her bed and crate a couple of times but she just comes back to sit with us after a few moments. I guess it will get easier as she settles in.

The kids have been told they mustn't pester her especially when she's in her bed, her crate or when she's eating but she's just content to sit with them at the moment.

I didn't put Elfpup in his crate for day time naps for the first week - I just let him sleep on my lap which is what he really wanted to do ( OK yes - any excuse for puppy cuddles!). He now goes into it for his post morning walk sleep which gives me two hours to get some work done as he's velcro'd to me the rest of the time.

It took a couple of weeks to establish any sort of routine

There's lots of good information about puppy raising on these links, it's well worth having a read through of them. It's all written by well respected professionals who use force free, science based techniques.

Good luck Clay it will take a few days for her to settle down and you can create your own routine with her.

Thanks again everyone. It's great to have somewhere to chat about this as its all still very new. It's taken so long to get to this point, and then it happened very quickly between contacting shelter and having her home with us that it doesn't feel quite real yet!

She seems a little more confident today, was very happy to see us this morning. Although she had pooed in her crate so I think I left her too long. I did sleep downstairs but youngest DD woke up in the middle of the night so I went back up to lie with her and fell asleep. How long should I be leaving her overnight? I'm conscious that I want the crate to be a place of safety and happiness.

She's been barking a little more today and was growling at the TV earlier. She has been barking at the cats and they've taken refuge upstairs, refusing to come down. I've had to take their food and litter tray up for them as they were toiletting on my bed. We're going to have to work on her accepting the cats. I've read a couple of articles but any advice here would be great.

Her poo has also gone a bit runny. Her fosterer warned me that they usually do for a while after coming from Romania and has been giving her pro kolin. I couldn't find that in the shops so got something similar. Do I need to worry about it though? I'm planning on taking her to the vets ASAP to have her chip registered etc so will ask then.

Apart from that, she's a lovely little thing and brilliant with the kids.

You could use a baby monitor so you could hear her stir in the night and get up or do what I did (along with the monitor) which was assume they can hold it for one hour for each month of age plus one. However, it's early days so I would be tempted to get up more than usual and give her the opportunity to toilet so she doesn't go in the crate. We had one accident overnight and that was 100% my fault but getting up more often stopped that and he then never associated that it was ok to toilet in the crate

We had many sloppy poo moments, pro kolin is great and I use it now if needed. I took mine to vets (emergency vets on a bank holiday sigh) when it was frequent, watery and had mucous and blood in it but for just soft sloppy poos I just did a wait and see. However, I found vets are very happy to give advice on the phone for free especially for puppy worries

The overnight thing seems to vary considerably. Elfpup at 10 weeks could go from 11pm to 6.30 without soiling his crate so we don't get up for him. He did whine in the night once and then I got up and took him out. That's been his only saving grace as he's terrible during the day. I have to take him out constantly as he hasn't once asked.

Cats are hard - mine is a terrier and they chase cats. Luckily his breeder had a couple of cats so he's "cat trained" and doesn't see them as fair game but he does want to say hello and my cat is having none of it. He'll now come close if pup is on my lap but he's very skittish. Pup has never been allowed to run at the cat and is called back (which he obeys immediately) if he wanders towards him.

We've taken to feeding the cat on the dining room windowsill which allows him to come straight in through the cat flap to his food bowls and then straight upstairs as the staircase is there too. As pup isn't allowed upstairs this looks like the way it's going to be from now on.

We've had Boopup for 7 weeks now and the cat is still spending all her time upstairs except at night when she sleeps in the garage. She will come down to the kitchen during the day but the puppy is just too excited to see her. She used to jump on the table to get away from him but he can now get up there too!

Any advice on how to train him away from the cat gratefully received. I'm hoping that as he becomes better at recall and less jumpy with strangers and other dogs then we can use the same techniques with him and the cat.

On a positive note he is much calmer in the evenings and sleeps in the living room whilst we watch TV. The downside is that he's waking around 5.30 am (used to go to 6.30). We do wake him around 10pm and take him in the garden and keep him up for around 20 minutes whilst we potter around before bed.

Boo. The Blue Cross have a great info sheet on cats and dogs. Yes cats need a safe place but also the dog must never be allowed to chase. It just reinforces that it's fun. Try a long line?
When the dog sees the cat you need to get the dog's attention and treat and reward ignoring the cat. The idea is that eventually the dog sees the cat and looks to you for reward rather than being interested in the cat!
My bloody two torties came on the walk with Wolfie and I today. NOT helpful. One bounced at the dog. Who then of course wants to play!

Thanks Wolfie, great advice.

Boo have a look at this guide to managing dogs and cats.

Hello all, wanted to check in with some old friends as my pup (the puppy who prompted the puppy survival thread part 1) is to be castrated tomorrow. For various reasons I won't go into, handing him over and leaving him at the vets is going to be so hard and I don't know how I'll get through tomorrow. I know it's routine etc etc but I adore this dog. I'm able to stay while he is sedated so at least that's one thing but just can't wait until it's done.

Hand hold here Skeleton. I spent the whole day thinking about mine and waiting for a phone call. I am just glad that is one thing I don't have to do again.

Useful stuff as the Wooster hound honeymoon is over..! The cats, who were unperturbed by a regular visiting newbie, have NOT taken to a 6 month old bouncy whippet. They will occasionally peer into the living room where he is asleep but seem to be getting MORE distant, not less. He is keen to inspect both them and the chickens, with no evil intent as far as I can tell- red hen took off down the street at some speed with him bounding behind but he didn't try and catch her!
He is in a very bitey stage - I naively thought mouthing meant mouthing, not bruising and nipping at any available limb..... I've been trying replace the limb or precious toy with a dog chew, working on tempting fingers dangled in front of his nose and rewarding resisting temptation, and am moving on to removing him from our presence when he nips. It is very stressful- who Knew?!!

Skeleton a handhold. It'll be fine I'm sure. But stressful. For you I mean!
Wooster. Argh the biting. I had holes in me and ALL my clothes.

Well, after a great first night where she took herself off to sleep in her crate around 12.30, tonight it has gone a bit wrong.

She started looking sleepy at about 11 so I moved get blankets into her crate with a carrot and a pigs ear, waited till she'd had a drink and a wee and put her her crate. But after a few moments she was growling and barking (cat had come into the kitchen). I let her out and has sight the last hour going mad, growling, barking even though the cat isn't in the room anymore (she growls at her own reflection).

She's now sleeping next to me on the sofa as I had to pick her up to calm her down. I don't know whether I'm meant to risk waking her up to move her into the crate or let her sleep on the sofa .

Feeling out of my depth already.

And, son just came downstairs and she's awake again, wanting to play.

Clay it's so easy to worry that you are doing the wrong thing, we have all been there. Really just do what you think is best and if it doesn't work try something else

Weirdly comforting wolfie - hearing some reassurance that Woosterhound isn't some kind of psychopathic vampire. Hope wolfiie pup is feeling better?

Thanks Bitey. I needed to hear that this morning. I feel like I'm going to cause some major behavioural problems

I read so much in preparation for this but it's so different when it comes to putting into practice!

Oh yes if you read a lot of what's around you start to think of you do x and not y then you are going to end up with a badly behaved out of control peeing pooing aggressive monster . Everyone of us has had different challenges and approached things differently because puppies, people and homes are all different. My approach is try what you are happy with, if it doesn't work step back and start from scratch in case you aren't following it correctly. If that doesn't work maybe try a different technique, if that doesn't work there are lots of people that can help either on here or in RL. Expect bumps along the way but try not to stress too much ( easier said than done).

Reasearch and prep are good (I did lots) but the reality is often different. and with helps

Skeleton lots of hands to hold on here today if needed. Hope the chap is ok and isn't too groggy when you get him later on.