Young Puppy Support Group

[DuchessDarty]

I’d been looking for one of these but the only puppy support thread currently running is for older puppies. I’ve seen a few threads recently from posters who have new puppies like me, and thought I’d start our own group as I’d love to compare notes. But all welcome!

To kick off -

My pup, DartyPup, is a female poodle cross who is nearly 11 weeks old. Very sweet, friendly, fairly calm, sleeps a good stretch at night in her crate no problem and is happy to play in the garden by herself if I’m in the kitchen/conservatory and we easily have eyes on each other. She has a lot of naps and is doing well with house training.

But- she has the usual puppy traits of being needy and nippy. She loves biting bare toes and has a witching hour in the evening (as another poster aptly describes it!).

I adore the bond we seem to have bit am finding it draining. My children are old enough to be hands on and are keen to be, but their periods of peak energy don’t always correspond with the Pup’s. And when it comes down to it, she often wants me and so will whine if left with them downstairs while I escape for a rest. If they mistakenly leave a door open giving her access to the stairs, she’ll leg it up to find me. A stair gate isn’t an option unfortunately due to the design of our stairs.

Both my kids have never been particularly early risers and I’ve always been secretly pleased about dodging 6am wake up calls ... until DartyPup.

You probably covered this @MsMarvellous but what about putting his bed in your room?

Hey @SophyStantonLacy I tried that but he just wouldn't settle. I know the books and sites all say they will but with crate upstairs he was bouncing around, unhappy, scrabbling to get out. Crate downstairs and he settled straightaway.

Also I can't really move it up and down stairs easily. So as I need it downstairs in the day and he wouldn't settle in it I'm afraid I gave up on that.

Perhaps it's worth another shot. My DH is back and my home life is back on an even keel. We might be able to sort it together.

Could you sleep downstairs next to him? We did that for a week or two (absolutely hated it & brought back all the horrible memories of babies!) but now he goes from evening through till 7am fine.

I did that for the first 10 days and we made progress but he's going backwards again. To be fair I stopped because my air bed got a puncture. Maybe I should repair and try again.

I did that for the first 10 days and we made progress but he's going backwards again.

MsMarvellous I remember lots of behaviour regressions during BiteyDogs puppy and teenage period. We just went back to basics each time.

Hello 👋🏻

DartyPup is 16 weeks old today. I’m wondering if now is a good time to switch to counting in months? Really is like having a baby!

Like @MrsEricBana pup has calmed down a lot. Toilet training great - at home anyway. We took her to DD’s new boyfriend’s house yesterday when dropping him off. DD and bf disappeared to his bedroom and DartyPup followed them in then came downstairs to me. When I went up to tell DD it was time to go, I discovered that had done a poo in the middle of bf’s bedroom floor Teens hadn’t noticed, too busy snogging probably

Missing words there - it was DartyPup who’d done a poo on DD’s bf’s bedroom carpet although presumably that was clear

We are 17 weeks on Wednesday. I am just thinking in months now so he is 4 months. We have started working on recall with him on the advice of the dog sitter/walker who we had a meeting with. He is doing really well but whether he will do it when I let him off lead in the field is a different matter!

Hi - please may I join? Have had a bad day. We have always had dogs and have had our cockapoo puppy a week now (shes 9 weeks old now). She was much wanted and prepared for and has bonded with us quickly. As much as I love her, I'm reallt struggling at the moment and wondering what the heck we've done.
Its been a very long time since we had a puppy in the house and today I feel like a prisoner. She's learned her name and sit and is loads of fun, but if she is alone for only seconds she cries. Been trying to leave her for a couple of minutes at a time and she just howls.
The worst thing is the constant biting and nipping. Tried yelping, ignoring, stopping play etc. She woke up from a sleep 30 mins ago, had a gentle play, came to me and grabbed my arm, then went for my chest. I screeched in pain and have put her in another room with another family member. I feel like I really don't want to be around her and that I resent her. It feels as though she's taken over everything - I can't even shower until she's asleep.
I knew it would be hard but there's not much pleasure in this at the moment.
Sorry to be so negative, sleep deprivation is not helping either. I know this stage won't last forever, but this is depressing. If anyone has got any words of advice I'd be very grateful.

@Babs784 can I offer solidarity. I'm knackered. Chewed. Nibbled. And frazzled. As with the baby boards our mantra should be "this too shall pass".

I know what you mean about feeling trapped. We're 2 weeks and 2 days in and today I left him with a food puzzle mat to do the chill run and he dealt with that and dozed off with no howling. First time leaving him with no tears.

Bet it's not so easy tomorrow though 😂

Looking back what helped was to have some really large soft toys for her to play rough and tumble with, and not me!

when I saw my puppy playing with his siblings and subsequently playing with other puppies in the park (supervised) I realised what I thought was a vicious attack was actually their way of playing, so bite an ear, pounce, take by surprise.

the key is just to avoid avoid avoid..so crate train when they are in that mood, and make lots of fun in the crate, avoid dangling hands at them, make other fun things happen so biting you is less interesting or compulsive (often it is because they are bored or overstimulated, opposite ends of the spectrum really, just woken up or ready to sleep...)

crates really helped us pace our interaction with puppy, so that we chose to interact with him and weren't constantly on the defensive.
They also helped with leaving the room without tears.

Pup is 8 and half months now and still very occasionally launches himself on us, but usually it is our fault for misreading and mis reinforcing, so the outlook for your puppy is very good! He is such a dear little hooligan, so keen to please us but with his own agenda and drives and that always helps me cope with occasional bouts of bad manners..

Fetch is a very good game to avoid biting we found. they bite what they fetch instead of you and it trains stimulates and exercises all in one

Thanks so much - even though I knew it would be hard going at first, I didnt expect to feel actual resentment a week later.
Can't believe I'm admitting that and I feel terrible for it. It's not her fault. I'm no stranger to hard work but this feels like a real slog at the moment - puppy classes don't start for another 5 weeks. The class leader says not to start training until then, but that's madness surely? She'd be out of control by then!
Just popping to the shops has to be planned to make sure someone's in or she's napping. The biting is starting to affect how I feel about her, which in turn makes me sad - its making me on edge every time we play. I'm not sure I'm training her right either. Have read so much, am probably getting myself confused never mind the puppy.

9 week old puppies are/should be asleep a lot. so if she is awake and biting you/complaining rather too much, perhaps the answer is to reinforce the sleeping. either by leaving the room (if that helps) or staying in the room whilst she is in her crate so that she sleeps a looong time (like 2 hours), or getting her used to white noise/hustle and bustle whilst in a crate, without being handled (then she might drop off anyway)

I think that "bad" demanding behaviour in young puppies is very much linked to sleep and lack thereof. and when they are wired to get your attention without a let up it can be more difficult for them to settle.

Dog novice here tho, you probably know all this. I was just surprised how similar puppies and babies are in regards to sleep and difficult behaviour

Probably the point of not training her is not to overstimulate, or hype her up. Admittedly I did my Fetch games at 12 weeks, which is when I first got my little one.
I think the main training is really to train them to enjoy settling off your lap!!!

Morning all - Babspup slept through the night! Has been out for a wee and seems v glad to see me. With a unbroken nights sleep under my belt I'm going to start again today and try to set a proper routine. Nettleskeins (how do I bolden?) that makes sense about the sleeping. ATM the crate is in our bedroom at night, but will be downstairs overnight by the end of the week. We bring it down in the morning. She falls asleep by my feet during the day and I transfer her to the crate to nap. On the furst day home, she took herself to the crate for naps, but hasn't chosen to do so since then. Do you think I should be putting her in the crate for naps at set times or when she's beginning to look sleepy?

Hope everyone else is OK this morning!

@Babs784 we got a full night too. It was a 5:20am wake up but I'll take it!

Whoop.

@MsMarvellous that's fantastic. Babspup has been fed and I've played and run around the garden with her. She must be tired now. Going to tackle the big pile of ironing, so put her in the room next to me. She can see me but can't get to me and is complaining bitterly! I'm going to stick to my guns and hope she gives up and goes to sleep ? Here goes . . .

sometimes they won't settle in the closed crate if they need a pee/to toilet, just in case that is reason she continues whimpering/barking when you think she should sleep. Digestion after a meal took about an hour or two, peeing pretty constant! I was amazed how clean puppy's habits were (in sense of not wanting to use bed area)

Well it took 20 mins of crying before she went into the crate by herself and went to sleep. It felt quite harsh at the time, but I gritted my teeth and carried on ironing. She woke up later as if nothing had happened!
I dont know how you all feel, but to me even though she's very young I want to start as I mean to go on. I love having a dog that is so loyal and loving - I just don't want her to be a dog that gets upset the minute she can't see us.
I think I'm realising today that I have to treat this stage almost like a toddler - putting her to bed for regular naps.

I agree Babs. MarvelPup is getting the hang of snoozing in his crate while I work. I time tea break and lunch etc so I can play, train, walk him etc. It's working so far!

Can I join in? We are picking up our cocker puppy on Friday. We had a beautiful cocker for 15 years who sadly passed away in March. So I’m used to cockers and dog ownership. However the puppy days are a bit of a blurred memory for me at this stage. I have snippets of socks being liberated, curtains being chewed and skirting boards used as gnawing tools in the beginning. I’m a bit nervous about going back to that stage again.

Just coming back, as I have been so tied up when pup that I kept reading but getting distracted before I could post! We’ve had her for one month today and things are getting easier. Later this week she can go down in public which will help. The biteyness is much less and I currently have NO scans on my arms for the first time in a month!! She’s settled when I leave her for up to half an hour and I try to do this a few times a week to get her used to it. She’s sleeping well at night time and the wake up time has stretched later, for the last four mornings it’s been me waking her at 7am, after putting her to bed in her crate at 10pm. She’s not had a toilet accident for over a fortnight with the exception of some excitement wee sprinkling when she sees really exciting people or a dog!! I know this is common in puppies and should sort itself out.
I’m posting really just to offer hope to those finding it hard - it will get easier. I spent much of the last month wondering what on earth we have done and have cried so much... now it’s starting to feel worth it.

@Dipdep - I totally agree and understand what you mean! Our old girl died earlier this year and I think I'd truly forgotten what this stage is like. We had a pretty rough day yesterday and I found myself really not enjoying Babspup like I want to. And its really not her fault. Much better day today so I'll take the rough with the smooth. She is a gorgeous girl and I'm mad about her, but puppyhood is HARD.

@ KatinLondon - thank you so much for that, its very good to hear!