Puppy Survival thread part 4

[GooodMythicalMorning]

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

Damn it, looks like we need a vet visit as he definitely has an inflamed lump along his castration wound line. I was hoping it would look better today but I think it looks redder. Googling suggests that it might be a dissolvable stitch being rejected by the body. I should book a weekly vet visit as we are there so much. Thank god BiteyDog loves going to the vets.

Wolfie on the dremel. I did a bit more today and other than him being curious about it I am amazed at how calm he is given even the groomer comments about how BiteyDog hates his paws being handled. Maybe get one and just try it out to see if WolfiePup prefers it to clippers. I also feel confident to use it which helps

I should get one. Even if it just starts by getting her used to the look and then the sound of it.
Madam also has a sore patch on a paw. Claw rubbing pad? Yes we too should just book a weekly appointment. Cats have upset tums. Too. FFS!
Show today. Best wolfhound (only one but they can withhold) then 4th best hound pup overall. She was great in the ring. Ran nicely. Stood still. Let judge go over her. And all on a proper leather slip lead. Never been brave enough to use one before!

Poor biteydog

placemarking for when I catch up properly.

@slave, might be worth sorting insurance out before those four weeks are up, I didn't and only arranged it the last few days of the four free weeks, was surprised to learn most (maybe all?) won't actually have you covered for x amount of time for accidents and x amount of time for illness). Eg, my four weeks finished on first, new policy started on second but I can't claim for accident for a week, or illness for two weeks. Hope I'm making sense, it's not a strong point of mine :)

What are you paying for insurance?

Dh has done all his sums and thinks it is better to self insure (as long as we save the premiums) but it makes me feel very nervous so it is an ongoing discussion...

Wolfe, can I ask if it was wolsingham show?

We took our puppy with the intention of helping her not be so nervous around people and to meet loads of dogs. She's a little bit nervous of some people, I was worried that she'd be traumatised or that she's pull too much or just do something to make me look like a shit owner and we would be driving home in less than an hour but she was absolutely perfect, no pulling on lead, no jumping up, and loved all the attention people were giving her. Sounds stupid but I was very very proud of her.

Spent a bloody fortune on bits and bobs for her though...

No shopping opportunities! It was Bath show. Could be an interesting RL meeting. "Hi Bitey!" Can you imagine the looks we'd get?!

More rosettes for WolfiePup. We use a rope slip lead for gun dog training, the leather ones look much nicer .

Goood BiteyDog isn't keen on peeing or pooing in the rain at home. He holds it for a lot longer until he is forced to do a quick dash and splash .

twojues hows the new pup settling in?

monkey I used a play pen for a bit but the sides weren't fixed so it didn't take him long to bash it so it moved about but it did help for a little while.

Abhorsen I used to think we had cracked housetraining to only turn round and see an accident .

blue definitely try the grinder I am very impressed by how easy it is (although slower as I need to take quite a bit off as they are long).

Hope I haven't missed anyone (been stressed with Biteys ailments )

@anti

I'm paying £20 for accident and illness for black lab, i could have got cheaper but due to experience of having I'll dig and struggling to get insuranvpce the next year, I made sure to get a lifetime policy.

I know a lot of people here (where I live, not here on MN) don't bother with insurance and just put x amount of money away each mine that per dog and it's not been a problem. I couldn't relax if we did, our previous dog broke it's leg in its first year of life and we wouldn't have had enough put away to cover vets bills, we would have be fucked without insurance, dog went on to get cancer in a different leg when he was about 4 years old, again there's now way we would have had enough put away to cover the months of treatment her needed. The chemo alone was over £3,000. He lived until he was 14 and had no further problems but my way of thinking is I'd rather pay insurance that I'll never need, than have my puppy get ill and not be able to afford vets bills.

TheAntiBoop we pay just over £30 a month for petplan cover for life up to £4000 per year. Whilst we have savings I would not self insure simply because whilst a one off cost might be ok what happens if you have a major accident and need to pay out thousands. Then the dog gets sick and you need 100's to even start diagnosing then they find a chronic condition. Also what happens if something major is found before you have saved anything up.

Obviously this may not happen but my reason for insuring is to cover the large catastrophic things (a bit like house insurance for fire, theft, subsidence etc). I insure for everything and just view it as lucky if I never claim.

If you do decide to self insure I would still make sure you have third party liability. If something happens and you get sued you do not want to be finding money for legal costs or payouts. Usually just third party liability doesn't cost much at all on its own.

I'm so glad I didn't go and speak now :). I've seen you mention shows before and was almost in edge of saying hello, on,y thing that stopped was puppy jack hammering dhs leg, lady with wolfhound was laughing, I was cringing

Puppy often tries jackhammers a specific cushion, she thrusts so hard that she actually rolls over. Everything I've read suggests she will grow out of it, and when I see her trying to drag cushion to a corner I distract, but while it was funny watching dh turn red yesterday, it's not something I want her to get in habit of so if anyone has tips for stopping a female dog jackhammer dh and the cushion he uses I'd be greatful..

ByGum I think distracting sounds the best way. Your poor DH

Interesting! I'm struggling to find insurance for less than £47 per month. Over a pets potential lifetime that is a lot of money and we have sufficient savings to cover at present. I'll keep looking around.

In terms of toys - what can be safely left in a crate with them? Pup isn't a great chewer but I do feel nervous about choking

Also what happens if something major is found before you have saved anything up.

I think this is the biggest issue with self insuring, you never know when something might happen that would require expensive treatment and if you've not built up enough of a pot to deal with it you're a bit scuppered.

I also agree that you definitely need third party coverage of some kind if you don't go ahead with regular insurance. You can get it with membership of the Dogs Trust and I think (though could be wrong) that you can also get it with some household insurance policies.

Hmm maybe it's expensive because that breed typically has a lot of claims?

Discussing with the vet he said 'most' things should be less than the 4K limit per year except for things such as hip operations so I opted for that policy as I can top up more if needed but hopefully would not need to.

Could you try to find a company that has a higher excess to reduce the cost. However, cheap isn't always the best as people have expressed concern over some companies that try and not pay out. At £47 per month for 10 years it comes to £5640 so if you were unlucky to have a major accident or chronic condition that needed payouts over several years it doesn't sound that bad. Another disadvantage is if you decide to self insure and then you find your dog is ill or accident prone and you need to insure all the things you have gone to the vets about will be considered pre existing conditions. Even when I claimed for my new puppy that wanted a full complete history from the vets to find out if it was a pre existing condition.

Obviously a lot of people don't insure and sometimes that's the right thing for them. Personally I would not risk it (and glad I didn't given how often I am at the vets )

I have canvassed lots of friends and it is very half and half. It's hard!

The excess I have seen that brings the price down are so high that it almost means I really am just insuring for the unusual.

He's a mini schnauzer and so far so good but I know he's young. More chat with Dh I think!!

That's the problem with insurance as it's a very personal thing on what is right for you in terms of your finances, savings, unknown future etc. I would ignore what others do and ask yourself whether you are comfortable covering possible expensive vet bills from day 1. Maybe google the price for certain operations, conditions, or diagnostics so you know what things might cost if they were to happen.

Antiboop I got my insurance for 17 a month with £65 cash back through quidco. It's with direct line who aren't on the comparison sites and is lifetime cover. We've got a mini schnauzer as well - think he's only a few weeks younger than yours, £47 seems a lot per month to me.
I did think about self insuring but I'm a single parent so always have an extra fear about something happening!

I think pup is possibly scared of the wind, he's happy to toilet outside in the pouring rain but it's really windy today and twice he's gone inside when the door has been open!

@ByGum thanks for that I hadn't really thought about looking into the 4 free weeks and what it covered so thanks for the heads up. I am going to ring the vets tomorrow so hopefully even if I can't see the vet for a little while the receptionist will be able to help us out. I had looked at insuring through petplan but for the cover I need it was going to be £107 a month.

TheAntiBoop do mini schnauzer have any common conditions? Cockers often have elbows/knee or hip problems which can be very £££ but I can't remember seeing such things for the schnauzers as we were thinking of getting one before we settled on a spaniel.

I adore their facial expressions and could watch them for hours.

Ours is 34 per month from tesco for our English bulldog. Full premium cover renewed each year (life cover)

Thanks - I will look at direct line and tesco. I think my London postcode always adds noughts onto things...

I am naturally risk averse but Dh is a risk taker!!

Pup is super chilled - house trained, slept in crate 10-7 from day one.

But problems we have

• barking on walks and grooming(has improved after following advice on thread)
• major one - he plays quite roughly with dd. He will chase and snap at me and ds but is playing and mouthing. With dd he growls and his teeth are out. We take him away from her when he starts and we are working on her reactions but it is hard! It's the one behaviour that's making me regret getting a dog!! He's not always like it - sometimes he will go and snuggle up next to her so it's just when he's excited

Hello,

I will write to introduce ourselves properly but we got Fillypuppy 8 days ago and he's amazing (well, I think so - DH is less convinced.). But I need some help please...

Everything is good except for crate training. I know, I know, we should have him in our room and all that, but DH wouldn't even let the dcs stay in our room for more than 2 weeks, so no way is Fillydog getting a look in! Anyway, I slept nearby the first couple of nights, but it made no difference.

Tonight is a great sample evening in our household:

DS takes Fillydog for a walk after his dinner, around 8pm. Wees and poos all nicely done and rewarded. Fillydog settles under living room table (note: we are all in the kitchen, not the same room) and goes to sleep. Not a peep out of him for the next 3 hours.

Just before 11pm DH and I want to go to bed. I wake Fillydog, take him outside for a wee, praise him and put him to bed. Same words and nighttime routine cues every evening. Lots of treats and toys in cute. Turn light out and leave room.

The crying starts immediately we shut the door. And goes on and on and on. And on.

If I go in to comfort him, he gets incredibly worked up and it's even worse when I leave the room again. If I stay in and wait for him to fall asleep, he wakes up 5 min later and starts up even louder.

What do we do? He's been having plenty of "fun" crate time during the day, when the kids just hang out in the room, ignoring him, whilst he chills with the door open or shut, and that's been mostly fine. We've been working on a few minutes on his own in the room during the day but that's been harder.

Trouble is (& please please don't flame me), there's no way of him having company all day every day. Once the kids are back at school, he will need to spend a couple of hours at a time on his own some days during the week, and at least until he's completely toilet trained (doing super well, but not there yet, that will have to be in his crate.

Please help? I don't want to let him cry it out, at least not without some supporting strategies, as he's a super happy little soul and I want to protect him and keep him that way. TIA!

Can you try a kong with something inside he can work at so its a treat but also a distraction maybe? Only at crate time though. Or background noise/music?