Puppy Survival Thread Part 6

[Elphame]

As thread 5 is almost full!

Pup is driving me mad today. This horrid biting frenzy she has every morning and evening is just awful. I can't walk a step without her biting my trouser leg and hanging on - then it's the slippers/shoes. It is just making me cry at the moment!

Hi all, I'm feeling better today. I did get some stick including being called cruel, which was quite hurtful, however I spoke to my dad, he has had working dogs and pet dogs all his life. He was very reassuring and agreed with my decision to bring in a puppy. He is coming to see piranhapup (she has unleashed her teeth!) this week.

Piranhapup is really coming out of her shell, as DH nose and some wallpaper in my room can attest to! She is having wet food now and the amount of water she drinks has come down considerably, so no more weeing every 20 mins! My older DD's aged 13 and 11 have been great at helping me take her out if she wakes from a nap or after eating.

Old Boy is doing good too, he has been out in the garden a lot of his own accord which is great to see as he usually just lays on the couch looking a bit sad before piranhapup came along. He prefers the kitchen now as the stairgate means it's his own area. He was watching me trying to put a trampoline together earlier and helpfully tried to give me a face bath whilst hooking on the safety net. He has ruined about 5 squeaky toys, tried to paddle in the kids swimming pool after a tennis ball and buried a pig's ear for later.

We have decided to just keep piranhapup and old boy separate until piranhapup is older and bigger. I think the terrier in old boy just sees something small, black and squeaky. If old boy will never take to piranhapup that's fine too, they will just stay separate and old boy can live out his years without the pup being a problem to him.

I made a mistake yesterday. I took piranhapup out for a walk with old boy, when she hasn't had her second vaccination yet. So I've been worried incase she has picked something up and kicking myself for not thinking about her vaccinations. She had her first at 4 weeks old.

Piranhapup slept quite well, settled at midnight, I actually have no problem with her sleeping on our bed but she preferred the floor so slept on my hoodie with a teddy. She is very fluffy so I think she finds it cooler on the floor. I had a puppy pad down but she mostly tried to eat it. She slept until about 4am, needed some water and a wee then settled back until about 6am.

I carried her into town today, she met my old work mates, a few toddlers, children, elderly people and a lady on a scooter. I read she shouldn't be out for walks but socialising her with lots of different types of people is not a problem at her age and good to help her be less fearful when she gets a little older.

Thanks so much for asking after piranhapup, old boy and I. It means a lot just now! Pictures of piranhapup attached.

milktray I had a rescue pup around 10 years ago. She saw a behaviour specialist due to her issues paid for by the rescue because she was bitey and the rescue were going to put her down as they felt she was untrainable. I fought for her and was able to adopt her after help from the specialist. The lady got me to speak REALLY loudly and high pitched whenever rescue pup bite me and then immediately turn my back and not interact with her in any kind of way until she stopped her behaviour. Everyone in the household had to do the same thing for consistency. It worked absolute wonders and after a couple of days, she stopped. If she occasionally started up again, we just repeated the reaction and subsequent ignoring. She was 9 months old however so how effective it would be on younger pups, I don't know.

Aww she is gorgeous :) I'm glad you are feeling better! And happy to hear that old boy is enjoying his puppy free zone! You never know she might even bring him out of his grumpy self.. with time of course. And meanwhile you can enjoy having a new pup and taking her out socialising her :)

@milktraylimebarrell hope your pup grows out of the biting stage soon! Mine calmed down a lot now, initially he would bite and chew lots, he ruined a few of my clothes as well because he was quite fast with the chewing my clothes!

Hello all, stepping in to join the pack. I've read many posts despairing over toilet training. My girl Bear pup is just 4 months old and pretty much toilet trained although we do have the odd 'accident' but I bought a pack of 3 machine washable puppy toilet training pads from amazon which have been a godsend. Appreciate its a bit of a cost upfront but I believe they will pay for themselves over time as they can also be used for travel etc. You can buy just the one pad, but here's the link: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B019E53PAI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

And for those struggling with training new pups, you could check out this book which has helped me in a lot of ways:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008258YKI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

Congratulations to all who have new additions to your families, and encouragement to anyone struggling with any issue of new puppyhood. We all know how difficult it can be, but I sincerely hope it does prove rewarding for everyone here. All the best.

PS. How do I add a pic of my girl?

Lovely pics @CollyWombles.....what breed?

I want to step in to reassure those wondering if they will ever enjoy owning a puppy. We got the small hairy one on Feb 5th after waiting AGES and being desperate to get a dog. Both DH and I grew up with dogs and were confident we knew what we were doing. Cue a huge dose of the blues for both of us. This tiny thing was taking over our lives. He peed and pooped everywhere, I couldn't sleep properly (even though he didn't do badly) waiting for him to wake up and need the loo. The sleep settle but then he got bitey. My DD (who wanted a puppy until he got here) was both terrified of him and jealous of the attention he got shown. He didn't help by chasing her around biting her or jumping all over her.

When he was 14 weeks old my DH and DD started campaining for him to be rehomed as he was such nuisance and to be honest secretly I agreed. I didn't love his silly puppy ways I just hated the mess and hassle.

He is 20 weeks old now. He has been properly toilet trained for almost 4 weeks with no accidents and asking to be let out. He sleeps 9pm - 6:30am no problems. The biting is almost gone except at playtime and he brings us his gardening gloves to put on so he CAN play bitey games. He rarely jumps up and no longer chases DD and jumps all over her and bites her. They aren't best buddies but they can sit on the sofa together without arguing. she has also learned to get him to sit so she can feel safer. He has learned to be alone so we can now go out occasionally and leave him for a couple of hours meaning on Sunday DH and I BOTH went swimming with DD rather than one of us having to stay with the dog. This will help DDs jealousy and mean life is more normal.

He has now started humping my leg which is frustrating but to be honest compared to where we were at a few months back it is SO peaceful and happy in our house! His recall is improving, he does sit and wait and walks wonderfully on the lead.

Hang on in there - it DOES get better, honestly!

@cath2907 glad to hear that things are getting better and hopefully it will be reassuring to others :)
I also posted a similar message a few days ago, it such a fantastic feeling when it "clicks" into place! My pup was 16 weeks when I started to feel better.. so 16-20 weeks seems to be the time frame... really hope it helps others as we too thought we made a big mistake!
Can't imagine life without him now :)

Blossompup has entered the building.

8 weeks old black lab.

Cried and howled all the way home.

I immediately gave him a bath as he stank.

Has weed in the garden, had a loopy 45 minutes, giggled at the cat and has now fallen asleep on my leg.

Think we have about an hour before he meets our existing dog and my two sons when they all get home from school and puppy minder.

He has HUGE paws and gangly legs! Gonna be a big boy.

Let the fun begin!

(He is utterly adorable. Remind me I said this tomorrow morning)

We need pics @lamblossom :)

Awe he is a sweetheart!

Afternoon all. First day alone at home with Dpup and Old boy. It's gone reasonably well. Dpup has come to life, complete with much biteyness, running, trying out her bark and generally harassing me to death. She is coming when I call her so responding to clicker training well. Old boy spent the morning sunbathing in the garden and beating up his squeaky toy. We had a play when puppy was asleep.

Very shortly, an anti bark spray collar is arriving for old boy. He has always been a problem Barker but with Dpup in the house, it's got a lot worse. I'm concerned the neighbours will be upset, so we will see if the collar curbs it a bit.

Iamblossom, your pup is gorgeous!

Dpup is a German shepherd, black lab mix. Her dad is the biggest German shepherd I've ever seen and her mum is the smallest black lab I've ever seen! Her parents are only 4 doors away and all her litter mates are nearby. Aside from the fluffiness of Dpup coat she looks mostly lab.

Blossompup2 introduction to Blossompup1 went pretty much as expected, lots of manic running around and nipping each other. BP2 has now passed out with exhaustion!

I posted a separate thread a week or so ago about the trials and tribulations we were having with our pup and toilet training. Basically, due to a littermate's waterworks problems, we were unable to make headway with house training until after the other pup was no longer there. Sadly the poorly pup could not be helped and had to be pts at 16 weeks as her kidneys were not working.

So we had to start toilet training properly at 16 weeks rather than the usual 8 if not before. And then our poor pup had a gastric bug which took 5 weeks to clear. I posted last week as we seemed to still be getting nowhere. Not pup's fault, awful set of circumstances.

Anyway, since I posted things seem to have clicked. She is clean and dry most nights and hardly any daytime accidents either. She is so pleased with herself! She has a special woof for when she needs a poo.

Picture just to show how gorgeous she is.

She is gorgeous @Trufflethewuffle

Our pup has just learned to get up the stairs but can’t get down. I came home today to find he’d moved up to our bedroom. He ‘d got company, the cat asleep on our bed, his favourite toy, my dressing gown to sleep on and his own en suite where he’d pooed in the corner.
Tomorrow I’m borrowing a stair gate.

Not quite as bad a night as I was expecting but still knackered.

He cried for 40 minutes when he went to bed at 10. I let him out for a wee at 1am, he cried for 20 minutes. DH got up with him at 5am, and me soon after.

Crate was clean, he did two huge poos when DH let him out in the garden!

Iamblossom, sounds a good night overall!

Dpup is currently chewing snoring DH's hair. We are both happy having her sleeping in our bedroom and on the bed. She curls up at the foot of the bed with her soft toy and in the morning, she comes up for a play. She was up at 5am for the toilet and also very hungry, going to sleep again now, just as I have to get DC up for school!

I'm not sure if I am feeding Dpup enough? She has 4 meals a day, at 8am, 12pm, 5pm and 9pm. A pouch of wet food each meal so 4 pouches a day. I mix a small amount of kibble in her last evening meal. Does this sound enough? I think she would eat and eat and eat given the choice.

@collywombles what does it say on the pouches? I used the weigh guide to see how much to feed. Also allaboutdogfood.co.uk is very good if you put specific brand and then use the slider to adjust the weight of the pup. But 4 meals a day sounds right to me :)

Also a question, does your pup not get into mischief in the night? I'm too scared to let mine the run of the house/ upstairs!

We were also up at 5 today yawn.....

CollyWombles is there a guide with the food on how much to feed with the dogs age as it will vary as they grow.

My vet just said as long as the puppy is putting on weight then it was fine.

Dpup is in our room at night with the door shut so she doesn't have access to anything other than our room. We made sure any wires are out of reach, we have a puppy mat with puppy pads and her water bowl. Aside from trying to take a strip of wallpaper off the wall and trying to eat her puppy pad, she doesn't currently get up to no good, though this may change! With 4 DC, getting enough sleep is more important than the negatives of having pup in with us at night. Also if she was downstairs, the moment she whined or barked, my old boy would go crazy and no-one would ever sleep!

Aww ok that makes sense. Mine is also in our room but in the crate, I'm thinking of slowly letting him have more freedom but still nervous at the moment :)

Happily awaiting a new arrival in 5 weeks time!
Can someone please talk me through crate training? Iv been told it's highly recommended but I don't know what it is.
Any tips and advice or what worked for you?
I'm off to rtft!