Puppy Survival Thread Part 5!

[GooodMythicalMorning]

Continuing Bitey's thread once more

The thread to be, where puppies grow and we meet new doggie parenting challenges every day.

So beanpup had a day of pooing everywhere yestersay that he wasn’t meant to. He did sleep well so that’s good. There are also 3 bean cats and the oldest isn’t so well and is vomiting at the mo and weeing places she shouldn’t. Not sure if she’s just pissed odd that there’s a puppy or if she’s unwell? She doesn’t seem ill.

Oh bean all these poorly animals. It's a constant worry isn't it.

We have decided not to risk leaving his dressing on until Tues despite it being the best one yet for staying where it should be as we don't want to risk the rest of his foot getting damp in there. So will be phoning the emergency vets later for a fresh dressing but at least we will also know if his staples have stayed in place.

Yey we have another dressing. Honestly my New Years wish is to have a healthy non accident prone dog that our vets don't remember the name of

Pleased he's sorted Bitey . I hope you do have a better new year.

I have a pup who doesn't want to nap. He does, but it's always a massive stress. However, he did beautifully yesterday - my parents brought DC home, so it was very exciting for him. DC had stayed there because I had decorators in on Friday, so confining us all to one room for a long day with restricted toilet access wasn't a great prospect so they opted to stay with parents instead, even though they missed puppy arriving. They aren't little - DD is 19 and DS is 9. Anyway, pup enjoyed lots of fuss and slept from 11pm - 5.30am, then did another hour until 6.30am. A really good night. I'm not getting too excited yet, but he certainly settled so much better.

In the early days I often had to force naps to happen especially in the evening but sounds like yesterday was a good day KinkyDorito

Not looking forward to the fireworks tonight. They never used to bother BiteyDog but recently he's started to get fearful of certain noises. Good job I am sleeping next to him whilst he has the dressing on so I can reassure him.

Hi everybody on this thread...HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all. Tiny pups causing sleepless nights, teenage pups causing general mayhem and older pups settling down with odd bursts of bad behaviour. We are all getting there. 18 month old currently lying in bed in living room whilst we are tackling champagne. She seems to like Jools better than Graham Norton!

Happy New Year! Ours began in the garden as pup decided to pee, much to the frustration of DS! He was unphased by the fireworks. I feel 2018 has started as it will go on .

Coco. I can't wait to feel settled with him. I'm looking forward to some more relaxed evenings. It sounds nice and peaceful at yours.

Happy new year to everyone

KinkyDorito the relaxed evenings will definitely happen 'eventually' . I've just spent 30 mins having cuddles from BiteyDog who is now fast asleep.

KinkyDorito, once you have cracked housetraining my top tip for relaxed evenings is to establish a wind down routine. I work from home, mostly outdoors so after her afternoon walk cocodog stays outside pottering around with either me or DH. Comes in when we finish so 5pm in winter, 6 pm in summer, has a rinse off in the sink and her supper. We basically ignore her from 6 onwards, do the fire, cook supper etc. This was when as a pup she would have her zoomies and then crash out for a while, she has modified this over the last months to picking current favourite soft toy, squeaking it, running up and down the hall with before taking it to her bed in the living room. Sometimes she is more sensible and just lies in front of the fire and naps. She knows that her last event of the day is one of us brushing and combing her which she endures because she gets a dried tripe stick to chew afterwards whilst we eat. Whether the tv goes on or we are chatting if one of adult DC is home cocodog knows nothing else is going on other than the odd belly rub or cuddle until bedtime wee. We have been very consistent with this because she is a very active clever little madam who is very good at demanding attention which she gets during the day but is very calm all evening and sleeps well at night. Sorry for the essay🙃

I was thinking we don't actually have a set evening routine but that's not true. When it's dinner time either we eat first or he does but either way play time finishes at dinner and it's followed by calm time infront of the tv. BiteyDog is usually asleep by 7pm and sometimes gets carried to his bed later like a big baby

I second what Coco says. Boopup is a nightmare until about 8pm (if he's being ignored he goes around the kitchen eating the furniture so someone has to entertain him). However when we move to the living room he lies down on a rug with a chew toy and naps until we put him in his crate at 10pm. If he's too hyper at 8pm we put him in his crate for about 10 minutes to calm down.

I'd say he started being able to settle like this from about 12 weeks so I felt like we were chained to the kitchen for the first month but it does get better.

This is so helpful, thanks Coco, Bitey and Boo. We've been playing until late to try and tire him out. He woke 3 times last night, so obviously it hasn't worked. When I've read your posts, it's clear we need to leave him to it. Thanks

If I had a ball in my hand BiteyDog would play until he collapsed with exhaustion and I am being serious. I find the calmer I am the calmer he is but at the age of your puppy sometimes they need help calming themselves down so a short time out when they are zooming about in the evening.

I think it's sometimes too easy to get caught up in the 'must tire the dog out so they sleep' mentality and I have done that in the past but now I do a reasonable amount with him then it's rest. So last evening BiteyDog had the zoomies because he had been unable to go out and play for 8 days now which for a working dog is hard on them so he was just frustrated. What we did was grab him and hold him still and calm him down and then put a lead on him so I could stop him from running and hurting his paw and within 5 mins he was back on my bed dozing and enjoying a stroke, much like calming a zoomie puppy that is overtired

I think perhaps it is different if you are out working, school etc then interacting more with the dog in the evening would be natural. Because I am home a lot I was guilty of trying to fill pups day and tire her out. All I ended up with was a hyped up overtired dog who couldn’t listen to me.
In recent months we have stopped throwing balls on walks,cut her afternoon walk down and when I play with her it tends to be hide and seek, a bit of agility training , something that uses her brain.

Coco I often feel guilty when I work from home as I can't play with him as I need to work. It's so hard though when they look at you with their 'sad play with me eyes' or keep bumping into your legs with a toy in their mouth .

If I remember correctly you did a couple of formal agility classes. Are you still doing them and if so how are you finding it?

Bitey, I know how you feel, cocodog could win gold medals for guilt tripping. But I know she gets plenty of attention and play...the poodle bit of her will always seek more. We have had quite a lot of visitors over Xmas and she has learned to settle down and not continually mug people. She made me laugh this morning. My parents were over for coffee and she knows that they are not to be fussed over, she stayed on her bed in the living room for a full 45 minutes and then stealthily slid out of her basket and crawled commando style under my mums legs, along the carpet until she found a toy and then popped up with it in her mouth and thrust it in my fathers lap. He jumped a mile.
We did a beginners agility class getting her used to the equipment, forward focus and drive etc. She is a bit of a natural but gets over stimulated so easily particularly by the other dogs. We have joined a regular weekly class which exhausts us both but tbh I am in two minds whether to continue or not. I think she has a stimulating life as it is and I notice the other dogs in the class, to be fair, mostly border collies, are very intense and since I have spent much of the last year trying to get her to be less intense and therefore less tired, am wondering if it really has benefit for us at this time. Am thinking ideal for her maybe when she is a bit older and wiser😁

Ah I was wondering how you were getting on with the classes. I like them but not sure when we will be able to go back with his paw. Fortunately the class is quite small otherwise I think I would go back to private 1-1 lessons as he is a pain for waiting his turn.

Well we had a naughty dog incident earlier. It was VERY quiet and I found him destroying a sock. He doesn't ever do stuff like that so I think the boredom is now getting to him

Hope everyone had a good New Year. Zivapup is settling in well, a few puddles but that’s to be expected. He loves playing with toys and seems happy to amuse himself killing teddies! My older dog isn’t playing with him yet but they happily coexist so I’m content with that.

Poor old bitey bored dog, I should think he is after eight days. I remember being worried how we would manage after cocos spaying but I think they do know when they are poorly. Hopefully his paw is on the mend and he knows it!
Because cocodog is new to the established agility class, only 6 dogs maximum, we practice set pieces on our own, then taking it in turns with another dog. At the end we all do a run with more experienc3d dogs doing more and coco doing a part of the run. She has learnt that the collies and a very grumpy cockapoo do not appreciate her attempts to play which I suppose is a good learning curve.

Ziva he's lovely . It sounds like he's settled well. How are your nights going?

Thanks for all the help today. We're trying to keep it low-key this evening, much to the frustration of a very excitable puppy!

Nights could be better, no accidents yet but he seems to need to go out at 3am. He doesn’t poo a lot so that’s not being a problem.
How many times a day does everyone feed their pups? I’m doing 3 meals plus training treats. He’s fed on natural instincts puppy food raw complete.

Coco it sounds like your more advanced than BiteyDog. We are just doing short turns on each equipment at the moment to get the dogs and us used to what we should do.

Ziva I fed BiteyDog three meals a day until 6 months old then he went down to two. However, around 5 months of age he started to naturally cut down how much he was eating to get to the adult sized two portions a day. Treats were given freely when we needed to for training.

3 meals nutriment raw here with treats. He doesn't always finish it. We're at the vet tomorrow so will be checking weight and looking at quantity - I suspect guidelines I was given are quite generous portions. He's happy enough though.

Snap for 3am Ziva - I will think of you when I'm out later in the rain, wearing my pyjamas and brandishing my trusty torch! I was 3, 5 and 5.40 this morning, finally getting up at 7am. He is much better at settling back down, and I do think overexcitement contributed to the number of trips out. Dpup seems to save all poo for through the night and into the morning. Hoping this will adjust with time.