Puppy Survival Thread Part 6

[Elphame]

As thread 5 is almost full!

Yes I applied common sense to the "rule" too. Elfpup was 2 steps then stop and sniff. If I'd applied the 5 minute rule we wouldn't have got out of the driveway and then he'd just have spent the next hour charging around the garden....

I built up the distance gradually and avoided walking him on tarmac. We did very little on lead walking at the beginning anyway as I'm lucky enough to have open fields with public footpaths a few yards up the road.

There is a conversion on the Labrador website of distance not just waking time and also it says free running off the lead doesn't count as they do it at their own speed. It's a really interesting article. I find we are out for 40 minutes but lucky to walk a mile due to all of the sniffing pooping etc. Sometimes we just walk up
The hill and geekpup runs around in the grass like a numpty.

There was a study in Norway that showed dogs not allowed to free run often as pups are more likely to get hip displacia. There is actually only anicdotal evidence that too much walking on a lead causes problems but it does make sense that trudging along for an hour at your hoomans speed on a pavement won't be the best for wee growing legs but at the same time it is important to get lots of excercise to keep weight off and build up muscle so that arthritis displacia etc doesn't take hold when they are older.

It's a bloody minefield

geekone it is a minefield so I just played mine by ear. We went off lead walking on rough ground and my stupid dog when he was a puppy would jump and launch himself off logs and across trenches. Interestingly he is very lean and muscular now as an adult, more muscular than his breed peers so not sure if that made a difference and only time will tell whether we got the exercise right.

@BiteyShark that's what we are doing too, just playing by ear. DDog is a Giant type but also a working type. We won't be working him but he supposedly needs lots of physical and mental stimulation however he is a completely lazy sod and completely breed untypical

Thank you. It is a minefield isn't it! We're close to fields so will do the 'commute' as being on lead and then be a bit more relaxed but sensible about off lead time. Just want to get it right and not cause joint problems. But he's not so zoomy in the evenings if he's had an interesting field walk!

Hi all can I have a 12 week mini schnauzer. All going really well. Just started going for walks after jabs. She’s great in the park but not so keen on roads. Should she be let off the lead in the park? She’s s very terrierish mini so worried about recall (canbe a bloody nightmare and very quick in the garden). There’s a dog park in there so might try there first. Anyone used an extendable lead

I was worried about my puppy running off but was told by an instructor that I needed to teach them recall off lead before they hit adolescence otherwise they will be long gone if he was let off lead without having been taught it (hunting spaniel).

In fact when we let him off lead in a 'safe'environment it was obvious he wouldn't go far from me. We had also practiced recall both with name and a whistle at home so each time he was offlead outside we made sure we continued to do that with high value treats for a reward. He lost recall when he hit his teenager period but I was so glad I had it cemented prior as it eventually came back . I just wish I had let him off lead sooner as he was well over 4 months old when we started.

Elfpup ( a terrier) was off lead from day 1 on the trainers advice. We played puppy tennis between the two of us and he got loads of treats. He was always top of the class for recall at the training sessions and he was good on walks too.

Sadly like Bitey it all went wrong at adolescence but he is getting better again thank goodness. I don't think he'll ever be 100% reliable though. Nothing is more rewarding than the scent of a deer (or a bitch on heat!)

Elphame don't lose hope BiteyDog was a little shit as a teenager but now I can walk close to deers and he doesn't bat an eyelid as long as I have a ball in my hand

Anyone raw feeding a very small breed puppy? All the advice I’ve found seems aimed at big puppies who can eat half a deer.
Tinypup gulps his food down without any chewing so I am afraid of him choking on chicken wings but he will need to eat bones. They will help give him good teeth, which many toy breeds lack. At present he is eating kibble plus commercial wet food, to give him a complete puppy diet.

@Bedknobsandhoover try a complete raw food like natural instincts or nature’s menu everything is in there but it’s minced. Or do the cold pressed like guru all the benefits of raw but in a ‘kibble’ shape.

@Bedknobsandhoover I did feed Elfpup on raw for a while. I chose a good quality complete from a specialist supplier (Honey's) They will give you a trial pack to see how you get on. It's minced excellent quality meat and contains bone (some of theirs also have veg if you want to include that too).

Although he's no longer raw fed I give him raw chicken wings 3 or 4 times a week to clean his teeth and as entertainment. He's just under 10kg and they are too big for him to eat whole so he has to crunch them up. I'm assuming that as a toy breed your pup is smaller than this? If you are worried give him a wing to eat but keep hold of it so he can't gulp it down (use tongs if you re worried about your fingers!)

Can I vent?

Early mornings continue. 5.10am today.

He is 14 weeks today. Goes mental in the morning when we are all having breakfast, beating up our other dog (Daxie) have to referee constantly. Jumping up, not really responding to being ignored, or being pushed down from table and then ignored. Put him in his crate with a kong after a few minutes to give everyone some peace.

Please tell me this gets better? He has no conked out.

*now

"You did his mum. You"

Iamblossom everything gets better eventually I promise . Our dog when he was much older than your puppy went through a phase of deliberately being naughty at dinner time and I am sure it was because he was being ignored and didn't like it. I just ignored that and it eventually stopped but in your case I think I would make sure your two dogs were separated and with the jumping then if ignoring doesn't help then yes I would remove pup behind baby gate or in crate like you did.

thanks bitey

Reporting in. Badly pup is still making steady progress. Today DH had to leave early and I didn’t get Badly pup up until normal time. She didn’t make any noise she had pulled her crate cover in through the bars - which she only does when not happy. So as good as can be expected really.

She’s 7 months old and doesn’t seem to be having a teenage phase yet (but there is still time).

She’s shaping up to be the chilled out, well behaved pooch that loves walking that we wanted.

Hi everyone, can I join? We have a 12 week old Rough Collie pup. She's really good, very placid, she sleeps well at night and house training is going really well.

She goes through nippy phases where she keeps nipping at our legs. I've realised that pushing her away makes her much worse, so I'm trying to ignore her when she does it, but it hurts and she doesn't stop even when I turn my back to her.
Will she just grow out of it?

I think that is how collies play with other dogs. Perhaps replacing your leg with a toy every time might help?

Not an expert though.

Distracting her with a toy sometimes works, but then she gets bored and comes back to nip at our legs.

I'm trying time outs today

Just want to join in. Here's a pic of our 5 month old crazy sprocker.

Took Blossompup out for his first ever walk yesterday. Omigod it was so fun.

Drove him to a farm shop to get him a harness, he was better in the car than before.

Then over the road was a massive empty field full of sunshine. He was off the lead, stuck to me like glue, couldn't believe his luck to have so much space.

A field. The sun. My two dogs. Simple pleasures.

I love walking the dogs, it's my favourite part of owning a dog (and dog sitting before I had my own puppy) :)

My least favourite is waking up at 4.30am haha ;)

Yes new not too keen on the early starts. He woke at 6 today though which is s massive improvement