Puppy Survival Thread Part 6

[Elphame]

As thread 5 is almost full!

@MuddyWellyNelly

• insurance, we went with Direct line.
• treats, I soak his kibble and stuff it in then freeze it. When I take it out I smear some cream cheese over the top. I always have a few in the fridge.

I'm so much happier now we're going for walks too. I love seeing him so happy too.

I wet her dry food and then stuff it inside and freeze it overnight. She seems to be able to get the first bit out but then can't reach the rest and gives up. So I end up having to poke my finger out and either feed it to her (keeps me busy, which sort of defeats the object!) and if it's been laying around too long it gets wasted.

I tried stuffing it less hard so it comes out easily but it makes no difference. I tried wetting it completely and only half, makes no difference. I tried smearing peanut butter inside first to keep her interested but it ended up being a real pain in the arse to clean up afterwards.

So I'm watching replies with interest!

Saw this and thought of the puppy thread...

How much do all your pups drink? We're getting a bit worried that ours drinks way too much...DH uncle who just had him for a few days when we were away, and has trained dozens of police dogs raised a bit of a flag, and it's something we'd noticed too.
We've checked his food and it isn't salty/excess salt levels at all.
Vet check?

How much is yours drinking?

@DontCareWasMadeToCare it's hard to keep track of the actual unit amounts, we've been visiting people lately so he's been drinking from their bowls too. But he can easily empty 3 bowls a day I reckon?
It's the way he runs to it sometimes like he's desperate for water

We have the large stainless steel bowls, proper adult size and not for puppies, and we fill it at least twice daily.

Our breeder commented that muddypup drinks a lot and that they are all different. That said, I don't really notice him drinking, if that makes sense, so I'd say if it's enough to make you regularly say "again?" In surprise then I might be tempted to see the vet. Perhaps a kind vet would talk to you over the phone first to see if there is anything else that you should be checking for. It's hard when they are young as there isn't a barometer of normal behaviour for them, so you can't really say if this is a change.

Can I just say. Puppy and 3yo toddler is Hard Work. Not just in the normal ways. But if we're out walking the toddler runs about and the puppy chases so I have to run too and before you know it I'm "chasing" the puppy. Or we get home from the shops, and the dog is settled and I want to leave him in his crate for a few minutes as a training point; but said toddler runs up to crate and winds dog up to the point he gets his paw stuck. Or the door bells I bought to help with toilet training got repurposed by DS into a tug of war toy. Roll on the end of the holidays so he goes back to nursery and I can at least have mornings to work on puppy training. Child currently plonked in front of Postman Pat and I don't care. 

@DontCareWasMadeToCare @MuddyWellyNelly thanks both! We need to go to vets anyway for kennel cough vaccine so we're going to chat to them then. We definitely notice his drinking and there's a real "again?" feeling to it. Will see!!

I've been filling the Kong with dry kibble and then putting peanut butter in the hole to keep it in. Doesn't last him long, just long enough to keep him occupied while we leg it out of the house 😆

Second jabs this morning so I'm looking forward to taking him on proper walks now. I'm still terrified he'll scarper if I let him of the lead.

Ours isn't interested in Kongs at all! Maybe he's too little to understand them?! I've tried stuffing with all his favourite things and he plays for about 2 mins then gets bored and gives up. Maybe I put too much soft stuff in there?

Have to share this, our doggy daycare puts pics up of the puppies every day on their Instagram, here's our boy enjoying the slide baby climbing frame. It's made me look at agility toys for the garden, little tunnels and poles he can zig in/out of for fun. Found one on ebay for £40 for a full set, tempted!!

He's so much better than he was, so much calmer and just so loving and adorable to people. He barks at other dogs but that's mainly with excitement, especially if they don't want to play - but we can get him moved on relatively easily.

This walking timing rule is a tricky one. Is it a solid 25 mins, or 25 mins of him ambling and sniffing and a bit of walking? The ground has been so hard as well. As a GSD we're worried about his joints and just want to do the best for him but also get him out and about. He goes loads of places with us now, whenever we visit family/other dogs especially.

oh, and we went with PetPlan!

Oh Fizzle I do love a GSD. You're right to be cautious of the joints though, we lost ours aged 10 to hip problems. :( My understanding of the 5 minute "rule" is that it's proper walking, on lead ie forced exercise. It doesn't include running about the garden, and if you do lots of stopping and sniffing of things like we do, you will be out for longer than the allotted time.

Thanks for the soaked kibble tip. So far it's been successful. That, and the present of an empty cardboard box we gave him today. So generous!

Just back from a walk. And then the daft dog goes loopy for 5 minutes running around in the house and garden. Obviously my pace isn't good enough.

@fizzledays He is utterly gorgeous! I started a thread about the walking thing recently and most people echoed @MuddyWellyNelly so that's what I've gone with. We were out for an hour the other day but so slowly as kids kept stopping to climb things.
Also I believe it's 25 mins at a time so you can do morning and evening walks too.
Already have lots of kongs, bought a lickimat and a snufflemat yesterday. They see me coming

omg @duoplodancer I am so tempted by a snuffle mat... a friend of mine has one and she says it's amazing. Knowing our boy though he'll pick it up, rip it and the food will go all over the floor anyway... bless 🙄

He is such a cutie, I can never be mad or frustrated for long. He's so affectionate now that even when he's naughty and grabs things he shouldn't I just melt so quickly (after a firm talking to of course!).

Great info about walks thank you, DH seems to think that a 20min amble is 'enough'. Exasperating. He gets plenty of walking/running about in the garden though so I guess it makes up for it!

Remember mental games can be even more tiring, too.

Does the walking time depend on each breed? The KC and Labrador site both said it's 5 mins per month of age, twice daily. So we currently do 15 mins twice a day which, by the time we've stopped at berry sniff post and person wanting to pet a dog, it's almost doubled each time 

Yay, second jabs done yesterday so now we can go for walks. The vet nurse told me not to let him near water for the next month. Then I get him home, decide to let him of the lead in our garden and he jumps straight in the pond 🙄 Not sure which of us is more of an idiot. After a momentary panic of thinking I'll have to jump in after him he starts swimming around. Springers love water I hear.

@DontCareWasMadeToCare no I think it applies to all breeds.

@marioncole did the vet say to hold off for another week or so before doing walks?

How long on average can your puppies stay dry for? I feel we've had massive regression. He was in his crate for maybe 30-45 mins while we had lunch then because he seemed settled I took DS up to his room to do a puzzle. The dog started whining after a bit. I went downstairs as soon as I could and he'd pee'd. Earlier I was out for about 1hr 20 and he'd peed. I also heard him barking as we were coming back to the house but not sure if he heard us or if he'd been doing that the whole time. Previously he's been really good about us leaving but I'm worried he's become more tricky. Sigh.

How's everyone getting on with toilet training? I've had 14 week old lab pup since 8 weeks old, and have been toileting her always after eating/drinking, on waking, at night, every time she wakes from a sleep, after playing, and roughly every 30 minutes to an hour when awake. Always with huge praise and sometimes treats when she does so much as a wee.

Yet there little improvement in her toileting. For example, she will wet her bed instead of the bare floor, she will use puppy pads overnight but not in the daytime (just chews then in the day, despite having loads of yummy chews!), and will often pee without warning (doesn't go sniffing around first or whimper), after being outside and no weeing for ages.

I know she's only 14 weeks old but we've been at it for 6 weeks solid now, with very little to show for it.

I tried sleeping with her in the beginning so I could
Let her out at night, but by the time I'd woken she's already been without waking me! Or, worse than that, I'd spend half an hour in the rain outside at 3am and then she'd come back in and pee on her bed straight away.

Snap. Also 14 weeks and also soul destroying.

Mine is mostly ok in the house (15 weeks) but will only 'go' on the deck and patio. Not the grass and never out on a walk so I have to factor in lots of time on the deck / patio to avoid accidents inside even if I've just been on a walk and even though I don't actually want him to go there at all!

Oh well I'm glad it's not just me, then!

How long did it take for things to improve for you, 15 weeks is depressingly close to our age here and I can't see anything changing anytime soon!

Oh god. Worst night ever. Having previously slept well, last night he barked incessantly. I got sleep from 1-2, DH got home at 3 from a seriously delayed flight which wound the dog up again. He did go to sleep at that point but still started barking once more in the night (DH got up) and then at 6.45 DS woke and his shouting woke the dog.

He was wormed yesterday and did do poos most of the times we got up (treated them like toilet trips with zero interaction) so I'm hoping he maybe just had a dodgy tummy. But I've heard him barking when I've returned home a couple of times so I fear it's a separation thing. I'm beyond shattered today and no chance of sleep for either of us.