Puppy Survival Thread Part 6

[Elphame]

As thread 5 is almost full!

Iamblossom, Dpup sleeps with us every night. Last night she slept through from midnight to 6am. The way I see it, dogs are pack animals and they naturally want to sleep close to their pack. Puppies also want to sleep near or next to safety. Sometimes she sleeps on our bed, sometimes she prefers the floor. She is going to be a big dog so I've no doubt once she is fully grown she will prefer the floor anyways, as she already gets fed up of DH and I moving around.

I don't think you have made a rod for your own back as such, I think it's important to get enough sleep as a full day of crazy puppy can be stressful enough without being really tired.

Blossompup2 has really runny poos and has had for about 36 hours. At the vet's suggestion he hasn't had any treats other than his kibble for 24 hours and his feed is the same he was being fed at the breeders'.

He seems fine in himself and is drinking and eating. But I am starting to get a little worried...

Dr google says rehoming stress/vet visit stress could be a factor. Obviously the vets are now closed....

Yes very common to have runny poos. If at all worried vets should have a number for an out of hours vet. If it just normal poo but runny you could try a probiotic like pro kolin (which you could get from amazon etc).

We had to have a few vet visits when ours was a puppy and straining every hour with mucus and blood in it (needed antibiotic injection).

Iamblossom, I think as long as pup is still drinking water, he should be fine. Main risk of runny poo is dehydration. Are you sure he isn't getting access to anything, eating something in the garden maybe?

Dpup has learned sit! For a piece of chicken 😊

I have never seen a dog drink so much. Have to refill both water bowls during the day!

Thanks, feel a bit reassured. Will check in with Vet on Monday if no improvement.

Good job collypup !

How much sleep are everyone's puppies having? Dpup has not done much more than sleep today and almost seems sad. Not overly interested in toys and once she has done her toilet in the garden, just lying down and napping instead of exploring. She was particularly active yesterday, maybe she is just tired.today?

@CollyWombles need to sleep at least 20-23 hours at that age or they get all crazy over tired and bitey (well ours did). Sleeping means growing

Thanks geekone. Another question, when do you all give your pup it's last meal of the day? I usually give last meal at 9pm, but been reading articles that say it should be earlier. I can't get my head around Dpup going 10-12 hours without food! Doesn't seem right.

Our 8 week old German Shorthaired Pointer came home today and immediately made herself at home chewing the plants! Been very good so far, no accidents in the house, letting us know when she wants to toilet and has claimed her cosy crate perfectly. She's just woke me up to wee wee and then straight back in her crate and back to sleep!

CollyWombles are you feeding frequently during the day? 3-4 times? If so and it isn't causing any issues with poo timings just stick to what is working.

Our sleeps a lot! Her routine is something like this - wakes up around 5.30am to go out. Then will go back into pen for an hour or so until we get up. Has mad half hour biting and chewing everything, has breakfast and then goes for a nap for a couple of hours. Repeat with lunchtime food and then again at 6ish for dinner! She goes back in her pen around 8 when we eat and sleeps pretty much through.

I am cross with her this morning as she has put one of my (only) flip flops in her paddling pool and it is soaking wet! I have a bad foot and these are the only shoes I can get on so have to wait for it to dry before going for a walk!!

@katmunchkin what a beautiful pup!

Thanks all once again!

kat, your puppy is lovely, what a great first night!

I can't believe how much I am worrying about Dpup, it's like I've regressed back to my firstborn DC baby days! I just want to get it right with her because she is going to be a large dog and large dogs that aren't brought up well can do damage. Feels like a lot of pressure and I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, but so much things are conflicting!

Feels like a lot of pressure and I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, but so much things are conflicting!

The best advice I can give is that what works for one person and puppy won't work for others. Research all the different things by all means but remember the best way is the one that works for you.

Isn't she - we've named her Betty she obviously feels more relaxed today as she's started chewing, play fighting and has found her voice. But it doesn't take long for her to tire herself out and go back to bed

Very much enjoying the puppy pics and picking up all the tips and advice I can!
So excited to bring our puppy home.
I'm planning to enrol in a puppy training course, it's a 6 week course just to learn the basics and get him started.
Has anyone had any experience of them?

TheBogWitchIsBack I went on three puppy training courses. The first I didn't complete as I didn't like the instructor as they were quite dismissive of my breed (spaniel) and just wanted to interact with more 'trainable' dogs.

The second was much better but I found it wasn't personal enough so if your dog responded to set things it was great but mine was bored and just played up all the time.

The third was excellent and we got a lot more from it than any of the other two but it was tailored for gundogs.

I see what you mean. I wonder if 1-1 training sessions with a good training would be the best way to go?
I was thinking classes would be good for socialising a pup too and also getting to know more experienced owners.

Trainer*

I did a couple of 1-1 lessons and you get far more out of it than any group classes. Group classes can be good for socialisation but be careful as some classes are all about your dog interacting with other dogs and unless you have a fearful dog ideally you want to train the dog to focus on you rather than thinking they should play with every person and dog they meet.

I took Blossompup1 to a course of 6 puppy training classes when she was just 9 weeks old, carried her in etc. It was brilliant, taught sit, recall, lead training etc.

I have remembered a lot of it and probably won't bother doing a course with blossompup2. He will be going to the same minder we use for our other dog and will get loads of socialisation there.

Blossompup2's poo still really runny. Had to be really vigilant clearing it up as we had friends over this afternoon and was terrified one of the kids would run through it! It's so wet I have to scrape us much as I can up in a bag and then sluice the grass with a watering can.

He slept till 7am this morning but did have a very late night. And had pooed in his crate so had to have a bath.

He is so gorgeous, everyone is totally smitten. Having to make lots of fuss of Blossompup1 in case she gets jealous!

Argh! Another day starts at 4.45am. He slept from 10 till then and no mess in his crate.

I would put him back to bed after letting him out but its impossible to keep Blossompup1 upstairs while I go down and then they run around together so they are very much awake!!

Could you use a stair gate iamblossom?

I took DH and Dpup for a coffee date this morning. We visited my old work place and colleagues, then to the coffee bar next door. She got lots of petting and cooing, plus I brought a bag of treats that I encouraged people to give to her. She is learning to bring a ball back and to sit beside a pavement to wait to cross.

I spoke to my vet, she can have a free puppy check, the first vac she had before we got her, he thinks is probably a lie as 4 weeks was far too young and he doubts any vet would do that. So she will have her first vac at 10 weeks and second at 12 weeks. She is also going to be booked into puppy classes starting in July.

She has slept through the night twice now, and housetraining is going well. Old boy now tolerates her at the stairgate and if he does bark, he doesn't for long, he just walks out into the garden and ignore her.

Progress!

colly yes we have a stair gate at the bottom of the stairs. So I suppose I could leave BP1 at the bottom of the stairs behind it while I deal with BP2, but the issue is stairs, I carry DO2 up and down them as Daxies aren't supposed to climb up or down stairs. Plus I think she would sit and bark if I leave her there, and wake up the whole house! Argh!

I will consult with DH - if he does the early shift I physically restrain BP1 in our bed (where she sleeps) u too she settles back down, so I will get DH to do that too.

Although tbh if the crate is messed when we get down to BP2 there won't be any chance of putting him back to bed by the time we've cleaned up the mess he'd be well awake!