After my last thread, I have actually got a puppy. Help!

[MrsRyanGosling15]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/3478913-Tell-me-everything-I-need-to-know-please

This was a thread in January where I got so much advice. Thanks everyone so much. So we finally have a puppy. We got a toy poodle (and a small part king charles) he is just what we were looking for. He has been with us about 4 weeks now. In that time I have taught him to sit and give me his paw. He is getting very good at stay too. Toilet training going ok but could be better. More my fault during the day as if I have been busy and missed the time to bring him.out he will pee. So can't really blame him for that.

Some issues though. Separation anxiety. I took him with me on the school run. Quickly discovered he hated the car. Cried and vomited everytime and was shaking all over. So I left him at home. Big mistake. He is now my shadow and couldn't have us out of sit at all, even for a second. So I have been reading up and allowing him to follow me whenever he wants. I have noticed this last week he will run after me but will sometime just check I'm there and then go back to another room. Taking this as progress. Is there anything else I should be doing here?

Sleepless nights seem to be over. Sleep 11pm to 6.30/7.30 in crate in our bedroom (downstairs alone stressed him out big time) possibly contributed to the separation anxiety.

The big area I need help with is the morning time. I'm up with him 1st. When the kids get up he goes mad. Barking, jumping up and biting at them. (Puppy biting, not aggressive) the kids are on the sofa afraid to move as he will be all over them. He just seems so excited to see them that he can't control himself. No redirection with toys helps. And can't put him in another room r in the puppy pen as he becomes very distressed. What can I do? For the 1st 40min of every morning when this happens, I seriously sit thinking I made a mistake.

I need him to not go.mad in the mornings and I have no.idea how to do it. I think he is quite a smart wee pup though. He learnt sit and paw in around 5 min 3 weeks ago. Walks lovely on lead too.

And help or advice (again!) Greatly appreciated.

The trick is consistency, even if they whine or bark, leave them and within a couple of days they will be fine. Set boundaries too, don't be afraid of no. Book into training the kids are welcome to attend

Have you tried having him on a house line?

I was going to say a house line too. Or distraction with a favourite snack/treat or frozen kong in his pen?

Are we just supposed to believe that you have a gorgeous dpuppy?

Hi OP. We have a 15 week old.

We managed to get past the child craziness through stair gate and treats. If your puppy can sit already next bit shouldn’t be too bad. I’d have treats positioned where kids could access them near the kitchen (where puppy was behind a stair gate). The kids could ask the puppy to sit, and then give treats through the stair gate. Then, when he’d calmed down and realised sit= treat from kids, then the child could come through. If he started to jump at them the child would fold their arms and turn their back on him til he got off. When he stopped, they’d turn around and give him attention/a treat for good sitting. He now never jumps at them in the morning. Still jumps at every visitor though!

Distraction really doesn't work, purely because I'm on my own and can't. It only works for a second or so then he is right back to it. The mornings where 2 of us are here is a bit better. If I sit right beside him with treats and keep telling him to sit or down and constantly giving treats when he does it, it's ok. The moment I stop to make breakfast, get kids dressed or someone just walks past, he goes mad again. My 4yr old in particular is starting to cry in the morning before he comes into the room because he hates the way the puppy acts. He loves it all other times.

I think I have the puppy blues that I read about on here. I could actually cry about it all today. I never ever buy myself anything nice. Got a lovely new jumper last week and just 10min ago he but the arm and ran with it in his mouth (and attached to my arm) and now it is ripped.

This is said pup that is driving me to distraction.

Oh he's cute 😍
My puppy is 7 months old and is a little shit.this morning a I caught her chewing DD's new sandal and I've had to bin them 😤

Well obviously you lie - - no way that angelic little dpuppy is anything but perfect!

I have a mini poodle. They are very clever and trainable usually if they know what’s in something for them.

How old are your kids? Ours also loved to jump at my kids (they were 6 and 9 when he was tiny). He quickly learned that the 6 year old wanted nothing to do with him if he jumped at her and stopped doing it.

My 9 year old found it harder to ignore and he jumped at her for longer. He knows not to now.

While the pup is tiny is the easiest. I found the most effective thing really is to ignore. Fold arms, walk away. No eye contact, talk to someone else in the room if you have to. But not the pup.

Also agree with pp about getting a 1-1 training session at your house. I got a lot more confident once someone who knew what they were doing told me the best strategies.

Have you got the toilet training bells on your door? I read about them on here before we got our pup. They are great and make it much easier once pup is ready to ask to go out for a wee as you don’t miss the signs.

It really gets easier. I am 10 months into our first dog. We still have minor issues but he’s a great part of the family and we all enjoy him so much more now than when he was a little puppy. (Though I fear we have adolescence to hit yet!)

He’s beautiful!

My 1-1 trainer also suggested a puppy pen. It was a life saver! Had his crate in (open), a dish of water and a toy. Meant I could pop for a shower etc without me having to make the entire room ‘puppy proof’.

He still sleeps in his pen now. No crate, we tried him with free run of the house and he didn’t sleep well. Shut him in his pen and he sleeps all night.

I know you didn't ask for advice about getting puppy used to the car but you need to sort it or you will not be able to take him anywhere.

When we got our puppy we had a (supposedly) 6 hour drive home with him. The traffic was horrendous and the actual drive took 8 hours plus a few stops. Anyway our pup was sick and messed himself and, not surprisingly, it put him off the car.

He was really scared of the car and didn't want to go in it at all. We started by walking him up to the car and then just turning round. Then just sitting in the car and not even starting the engine. Then sitting in the car with the engine running. All the time praising him and giving a treat. All that took a couple of weeks.

Then we literally drove for a minute. Did that for a couple of days. Then 5 minutes for a couple of days. Just kept increasing the time.

Yes it is time consuming but it works. Our dog now loves the car as he knows he is probably going somewhere nice. He is happy looking out of the windows or even sleeping

mydog he is actually doing well in.the car now. We were even able to go away for the night and bring him on the 2hr drive there and back. Only with 2 adults or one of us and the eldest.

We have been doing the walk past and ignore stuff. Literally every morning for a month now and things are exactly the same. He just jumps and bites on to them. When.they make it to.the sofa he just goes mad jumping up.
Puppy pen- doesn't matter if I am sitting right beside him, he goes crazy, crying and barking. I think I'm going to have to get someone in because this is seriously driving me mad. It's usually just the mornings but these past few days it's literally any time he is awake and not being played with.

Does he have a kong/snuffle mat/licky mat/ antler chew?
It can be enough to distract him for a bit or keep him interested long enough to get used to being in a playpen ( with you nearby and in sight )

My MN name is in honour of BiteyDog as a puppy. Those razor sharp teeth are bloody awful.

Redirection onto toys did nothing for us. The only thing that worked was to remove him from us or us from him. Basically bitey jumpy behaviour resulted in play stopping and the ultimate punishment of not being with us.

I would invest in baby gates or playpens and when you puppy gets over excited with the DC in he goes for a few minutes timeout.

Honestly if mine cried or barked during that time I ignored him when he was in his timeout.

Once settled he came back out. If he did it again then back he went. It didn't take long before he got the message.

And yes puppy blues is awful and the relentlessness gets you down.

playoen was a god send in those puppy days. our toilet us upstairs so didnt want him to following me each time so popped him in there for a couple of mins then or for quick jobs or if he needed a doggy version of time out. perfect

playpen*

Have you watched kikopups videos on YouTube? I found the one on puppy biting extremely useful, amongst others.

I've got a toy poodle too.
She was terrible in the car for a year - vomited every time, but now, at 2 and a bit, she's fine. She was the most active puppy I have ever had, and had to be forced to rest otherwise she just got tantrummy. I made a point of shutting her in her crate at 9pm every night (which was in the sitting room with us) simply so I could watch TV in peace. She always went to sleep. Poodles love to be involved with everything. Even now she is always with me, whether it's gardening or housework, which she finds equally fascinating for some reason. She is also still very zoomy around the house and garden, like a kangaroo sometimes, and using the furniture like a gym on occasions. It amuses me, but then there is only me and my oh, probably would drive me mad if I was dealing with kids as well.
And the biting was terrible. Being grabbed on the back of the ankle really hurts (and everywhere else), but one day we noticed that she had stopped (it was really once she got her adult teeth) and that was that, so it gets better; honest!

Here was mine as a puppy

Puppy pen- doesn't matter if I am sitting right beside him, he goes crazy, crying and barking.

How long (as in how many days) of leaving him the playpen or crate as the kids get ready do you think it would take for him to break out of the habit? If the playpen is in the kitchen and he can see you then you should be reinforcing any separation anxiety.