Puppy Survival Thread Part 6

[Elphame]

As thread 5 is almost full!

@duplodancer turns out he has giardia :( some form of parasite. Nightmare scenario for finding him somewhere to go when we're on holiday now, he can't be around other dogs until it's cleared up hopefully in a week!

@fizzledays oh no! I've heard of that - one of things D dog was tested for. Good that you can medicate and get it cleared up but so stressful for you. Can family or friends step in?
@BiteyShark thanks for that - will ask about that one.

@duplodancer thankfully yes!! DH uncle has other dogs but has had dogs for forever so he's happy to help us out. Huge relief x

Sorry to hear of poorly pups. Glad the vets are on it and holiday cover is sorted.

Can I ask about time in crate? Obviously overnight; but I feel like he's in and out like a yo-yo. When I go to nursery and later for pick up, when I'm doing bedtime with DS. If I want to shower. (If, ha!). We had workmen popping in today so back into crate a couple of times. And then he chooses his most mental time to be when DS is trying to drink milk before bed; gets all growly so I need him to time out. We're trying to find our groove I guess and DH is away for a couple of nights. But how much sleep should a 12 week old pup need? It's like being a clueless ftm again

Second jabs tomorrow so I'm hoping the structure of some walks will help too.

I only tend to put him in the crate when he's sleepy. His crate is in the utility room and I have a child gate on the door between the kitchen and utility. If I'm giving him a time out, or going for a shower, I'll just let him roam in the utility room. That said, if I'm leaving the house I pop him in the crate but I try to tire him out first so he sleeps while he's in it.

He's only 9 weeks but I reckon he's awake about 6 hours in total.

Ah. I've yet to witness sleepy....

He does seem to be great all day and then suddenly extremely overwrought at night.

@MuddyWellyNelly
When we're home pup is out roaming with us unless we know he's tired (there are definite signs!!) or if we're doing something where he'll be a nuisance (in a lovely way). So he goes in and out a fair bit some days - other days he spends a lot of time in there, some days none at all.
Do what works for you to be honest. We had to put him in last night because he was pestering us while eating, he didn't like it much, but he soon settled because he knows he'll be let out again.
The amazing thing for us, is that when he was poorly the last couple of days he took himself into his pen area to chill and relax, so he clearly feels safe and secure there!
There are some who have strict crate times, we just use it so we know where he is and is safely away (he's 99% toilet trained)

Thank you @fizzledays. It's hard to work it out. We've been at the vet this morning but now out in the garden. I suspect he needs a sleep but I've to leave for nursery in 40 mins plus I think he would need a poo before I go. So I don't want to put him in the crate now. Luckily the garden is fairly safe so he can get his growl on out here. I realised last night I was making things unnecessarily stressful by having things like the litter tray where he can (sometimes) access. We are in a rental house just now and it's not easy to make work with the cat/puppy/child combo. But PP suggestion re baby gate to the utility has given me food for thought as to whether I can create another safe space for him.

@MuddyWellyNelly I've spent so much time wandering around garden thinking "he must need a poo" - I only get it right 50% of time! Does he ever go inside his crate or inside? Otherwise he would probably be able to hold it for a little while to also save you some stress!x

Are they all a nightmare outside? We have quite a large garden, over an acre, which isn't all secure so I can't let him just roam. I have put green plastic fencing around a smallish area where he goes to the toilet. I would love to let him in the rest of the garden but he becomes lunatic and I'm scared he won't come back. There's also things he could come to harm on. He has just become lunatic in the fenced off area though. He ran at the fence and got his head stuck in the plastic net, then bit me as I was trying to free him. So that's not working. The garden border will be secured eventually, but I don't think it will be small puppy proof, just dog proof. I've tried taking him on a lead but he's a nightmare - pulling, leaping around.

@MuddyWellyNelly this is a sleepy puppy

@marioncole sounds exactly like us in the garden. Getting better now he can go for little walks though.

Awww @marioncole so cute. Yeah. Not seen that yet in muddypuppy land

Luckily our garden is well fenced, though he accidentally opened the gate latch today. I quietly closed it before he realised he had managed it. My puppy book says young pups have a strong need to be near you, so theoretically letting him roam should be safe. But I'm not sure I'd trust muddypup. I guess it depends what is outside the garden too.

A better day here today. But an unintended consequence of the clicker training. I've got it looped on my belt for easy access. He's quickly figured out click = treat. But now if he hears it rattle he is instantly sitting waiting for a treat. I can't decide if this is good, or undermining the power of the clicker.

Birdypup is a nightmare outside. Since July we've had to put buckets over the rose bushes (as she was in danger of poking an eye out), fence off the vegetable patch (after a wet soil all through house incident) and put fencing round the trees (after numerous digging at roots incidents). Now the issue is leaves - she goes out to wee, gets distracted by the leaves, comes back in, then 2 mins later is at the door again - aaarrrggghhh.

Still struggling with night-time - 4am or soon after she is waking. Tried a few nights of going down and soothing her in the crate which did work but took 45 mins and I decided to stop as I think it was teaching her if she cries someone will come and talk to me. Last 3 nights we have been letting her cry it out which is really hard - this morning she started at 4.30 and didn't stop until I got up at 6, which of course in her mind probably equates to "if I cry for 90 mins someone will come down", but I did go and make coffee first and let her out in a tiny gap between howls. We're determined to crack it though and from much googling it seems like it can take up to 2 weeks of tough love - you can survive on 5 hours sleep though can't you?!

Hope the pups with delicate tummies are ok too.

duplodancer so sorry that you've been driven to tears.

I had no idea how hard it was all going to be and to be honest I think that if I could rewind to May I would make a different decision.

I'm just hoping that in a few months (years?) I'll look back on all of this and think it was worth it, although I don't think I'll ever have the same strength of bond with birdypup as DH and the DCs do - I just don't have it in me.

Not looking forward to the next few days at all as it's due to be so wet .........

Birdy I think the trick would be to find the minute window when he's quiet to let him out. My puppy book (second post in a row I've said this, I've become that person!), has a good section on this sort of thing. It's not something we've had too much of a problem with (yet?) because he was with other dogs until recently and we have a toddler, so he often comes second in terms of attention. While I feel guilty, I think he's benefitting from not being too needy.

In muddypuppy news, he's been overall a lot calmer the last 24 hours. We are finding our feet and right now he's flaked out on the floor. OK he's on the vetbed that he dragged from his crate and murdered for 5 minutes first, but it's progress! And last night he curled up at my feet whilst I watched some tv. That was officially my first "awwww, we have a dog" happy moment. . We've also managed to ram the stairgate across the hall so he's away from the litter tray. Progress is being made.

I'm really struggling with working at the moment. I work from home, I have a separate office but I don't trust pup in there yet - carpet, cables etc. So I'm bringing my laptop into the kitchen but I don't have all the software I need on my laptop to get everything done, so I'm getting a bit behind on my work. Last week I was going into my office when he was sleeping during the day, but he's sleeping a lot less this week.

How old is you pup @MuddyWellyNelly?

Why did I get a pup and not an adult dog?

Gosh this weekend has actually not been utterly soul destroying so far. And the house doesn't stink of dog wee. What a result! I wonder if things are on the up. Dare I hope?
Oh @marioncole I have asked myself that so many times over the last few weeks.

Does anyone have any tips for getting a harness over the head of a puppy who approaches everything with mouth open and teeth out?

marioncole I deliberately bought ezdog quick fit harness when mine was a puppy for those reasons. It's straight over head and one click behind the front legs.

All the other harnesses I tried were more fiddly and took longer which gave him more time to bite them when he was young. We now have different harnesses as an adult but I still have the ezdog one for the car as it's fast to get on and off.

Thanks @BiteyShark I'll have a look at that. It's getting it over the head that's tricky though.

Mine hated the harness I had that went over her head. I bought an ezydog one: you put one of the dog's front legs into it, then fasten a strap round the neck and another strap goes from the rear of the front leg, under her body and fastens near the first fastener. It's easier than it sounds!