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.

@MsMarvellous that’s such a gorgeous picture! So glad you had a lovely enjoyable day!

Good points and bad points -

Bad points is the biting. Still hard work with this and she can be a pest for biting things she shouldn’t eg wires. She can be a total whirlwind and none stop, but she’s a collie so it’s to be expected. She’s also started to bark when she’s bored or wants attention which I really don’t want to become a habit. She’s had a few accidents inside but we’re getting there.

Good points - she’s a friendly little thing and that was always my main aim. Her attention span is improving when it comes to chews and things which is helpful. She sleeps through the night without crying or accidents and that is a huge thing for me! She can be left in a room for 15 mins while I do something else and she’s fine. She gets on with our other dog and had good dog manners when she met our friends dog too which was great.

Am jealous that you can leave your puppies by themselves for 15 minutes...glad ours hasn’t started biting yet though!

I feel like I need to add, looking back, what I would have said about Skeleton Pup at this point.

Good - clever. Looks cute when he sleeps. Learns stuff quickly.

Bad points - screams at night. Actively chooses to wee inside, really difficult to get him to wee outside. Can’t be by himself for a second, screams if I leave the room. Screams in the car. Shakes when we take him out and about and very nervous of people.

Despite all this, he still ended up house trained, absolutely fine being left alone, fine being in the car, still not overly friendly and outgoing with people but fine, happy enough to be around people. So don’t feel like things that’s happen as a puppy are set in stone - most of the time it works out totally fine.

So our pup is almost 10 weeks,

Good points; he seems easy to train, learnt basic commands, 99% there with house training as long as you remind him to go! Is friendly and gaining confidence when out and about. He's very cute!

Bad points; he's up in the night for the toilet and up for the morning at 6am. I don't feel confident leaving him on his own as he needs supervision not to chew the sofa or skirting boards! He has chased and barked at the cat a few times.

We're also going stir crazy not being able to take him out for longer than 45 mins!! We have another week before he can go down on the floor when out.

Hello everyone, I have found my people!

We have a 13 week old cocker spaniel, but we only got him on Wednesday so still very early days. We got him from a breeder with kids so he has been fairly well socialised to normal family life, but I’m hyper aware we have a very small window now to introduce him to things.

We start puppy classes on Monday week which I am really looking forward to.

I am writing this from my crate-side bed on the couch! Everyone seems to have a few good areas and a few bad areas with their pup.

Goods for us are that he is fairly calm, no zoomed or biting (yet!), toilet training is going ok, just the odd accident when I’m not paying attention but I feel like it’s going in the right direction.

Bad is that he is VERY clingy but I have noticed marginal improvements each day and it is still very early days. Yesterday he was literally sleeping across my feet while I washed up, then if I moved to the hob he would come and drape over my feet there etc. Today he has been much better but he hates me leaving the room and cries. Or even if he is in the deepest sleep and snoring the second I move he wakes up and follows me. So I’m getting nothing done at all.

Interesting reading about the two hours out and two hours in the crate. He likes going in and out of husband crate now but doesn’t like being shut in. So I’m trying to put interesting things in his crate and then just shut it for one or two minutes but he hates it.

We also haven’t cracked nighttime at all and I’m a bit worried I may have confused him. I was all prepared to go cold turkey with sleeping in his crate alone at night. But I lasted half an hour with the horrendous crying and ended up lying next to him on the couch with me. He slept really soundly! Next night I put the crate next to the couch and I slept there and went well. Then last night my in-laws were here. My FIL is a gamekeeper and always had proper working dogs so is very old school in his approach. So he convinced me to leave him in his crate in the kitchen at bedtime and that I would have already cared untold problems. It was awful. He howled, barked and cried literally non stop for 3 hours. I felt sick with concern for him so eventually gave in and moved the crate to the couch and slept there again. So tonight I’ve put the crate a bit further away and he settled really quickly afternoon a tiny moan and is now snoring away.

He is shaky when out and doesn’t like walks yet but I can see tiny improvements each time. So again rightness direction I think.

How much do yours sleep in the day? Can they oversleep? He seems to nap quite often but doesn’t have any huge sleeps seeing as he wakes every time I virtually blink. He also isn’t interested in balls or toys etc yet still isn’t confident to explore the garden alone. So I’m not sure how to occupy him and keep him playing independently. It’s def like a baby/toddler on fast forward!

Sorry for huge post!

Hi @SunnyUpNorth congrats on your pup. Pics or it isn't real

Sleep wise they cam sleep something like 20 hours a day and even adults can sleep 16 or more. They are designed to live in rest with bursts.

The clinginess is to to be expected. If he's not been with you long then it's all new. He'll settle as he finds his place.

For the crate I'd read Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy and / or look at the resources in this dog training group: www.facebook.com/groups/374160792599484/?ref=share

I didn't do exactly either of them but the softly softly approach worked for us. The first 2.5 weeks were horrible bedtime wise but suddenly clicked and it's been easier ever since.

THanks @MsMarvellous I’m not too worried about anything but it’s just a lot of new info to take in and don’t want to accidentally reinforce negative behaviour. We aren’t experienced with puppis/dogs at all.

I’ve read three books but not the easy peasy one. I’m doing the things they say such as putting random treats in his crate, some toys etc and feeding in there and he does seem to like it, just hates the door being closed.

One thing I’ve found amusing is people saying they’ve transferred the puppy into the crate once they’re asleep. Mine pings awake as soon as I move so there is no chance.

He is on a dry food (Millie’s Wolfheart recommended by the breeder and our local pet shop) and I’ve been using some of his daily allocation for training and reinforcing. But for example, I’ve just used all his breakfast up in about 2 minutes doing some sitting training and rewarding him for not jumping up. But then when I’ve used it all up and he carries on doing good behaviour I don’t want to get even more food so have been praising him but at this early stage not sure if that’s enough.

He is absolutely adorable though and haven’t regretted him for a second. He seems to have a lovely temperament and is eager to please. As others have said, there are so many dog owners and they seem to manage just fine so I’m sure we will get there!

I can’t imagine a day where he will be able to be left by himself though 😂

I’ve joined that Facebook group too, I saw you recommended it up thread. Seems like a great resource.

Are you all brushing their teeth? Might get a baby toothbrush and see how I get on with that.

Sunny I would definitely get yours used to teethbrushing eventually. I have a cocker and my friends who also owned one told me that was one thing they regret they didn't do as their teeth can suffer a lot with plaque.

At this stage I would just get yours used to licking the toothpaste off the brush rather than actually brushing. After experimenting with different brushes and toothpastes we found logic dog toothpaste and this brushh* to be the best.

Awww @SunnyUpNorth what a gorgeous pup

Hi Sunny, beautiful pup 😊. I love how she acts as a footwarmer for you, I might encourage bluepup to do this in preparation for cold weather, I hate cold toes 😂.

@SunnyUpNorth your puppy is gorgeous 😍 my older dog couldn’t even be left at one end of the room without crying when he was a puppy and he’s fine being left now so it does come together!!

Does anyone have any tips about getting dogs used to being groomed? Our girl is FLUFFY but brushing her is a bit of a battle at the minute!

@SunnyUpNorth gorgeous puppy! Mine is a working cocker too and will be 13 weeks on Wednesday so I guess ours are at the same stage.
They sound similar too with the not wanting to be left thing. I’m finding it quite stressful as I go back to work (after 6 weeks off with her) in a couple of weeks. We’ve got a dog daycare/dog walker coming to see us on Tuesday about perhaps doing a couple of short visits during the day(teen kids are home at 2.30). That way she’ll only be left for a couple of hours between company. Luckily she likes her crate and sleeps a lot in there during the day.

I just can’t bear her to be crying for us. Hoping for a lottery win so I can stay at home forever!

Thanks all, he is a little sweetie.

@BiteyShark thanks for tips, I’ve ordered be toothbrush and toothpaste so shall get cracking once they arrive.

@SkeletonSkins I’ve just been trying to give mine a little brush every day and handling his paws, ears etc often to get him used to being touched and brushed there. He loves being brushed and it makes him really relaxed but I can only ever do one side as he lies down and refuses to move. At least half of him will be tidy! Is it that yours doesn’t like being brushed at all? Perhaps get a softer brush and brush them as you stroke them on your knee?

Sunny don't worry too much about getting lots of brushing done of their teeth. Even now sometimes we only manage a few strokes each side if BiteyDog isn't in the mood but it does make a real difference even though you don't think you are doing much at the time.

When ours comes back from boarding his breath stinks and teeth are dirty so we know just a little bit every day does help. We may still end up needing a scale and polish at the vets as we feed wet food which is particularly bad for teeth but my hope is we won't have to do it often or at all.

Carrots are great for teeth cleaning too!

@SunnyUpNorth it’s mostly that she doesn’t want to be still for any length of time 😂 she’s a border collie so she very much likes to be DOING and being brushed is so boring apparently so she just has to run off/fight the brush/bite me. I might try her when she’s enjoying a chew so a bit distracted. Worth a go!!

Bluepup is short and fluffy at the moment but her hair will grow long and she'll need lots of grooming. I have been handling her ears and paws several times a day and washing under her eyes every evening with water. Brushing every day but often I have to distract with a chew when she is on my knee, I do have a feeling she likes being groomed and sometimes she tries to "groom" me back.

Our dog trainer told us to get coffee root or heather root chews to clean teeth. He said dentistix type things are rubbish. Not sure how true that is but she certainly likes a good chew on her heather root.

OH my goodness, bluepup is adorable, like a little teddy bear!

In the pet shop yesterday they were saying so many dental chew sticks are actually full of rubbish and really bad for them. We bought some natural ones think they are spinach or sweet potato based etc. But I’ll try the carrots too.

Are they not allowed some chew type things til they’re a certain age?

Q about night time - last night I slept next to him on the couch again and twice he woke and whimpered and I took him straight out for a wee. No fuss and straight back in the crate. However I did bring him immediately but then was thinking about when my kids were babies and if they whimpered at night I would leave them a few minutes to see if they settled again. Should I do that with the puppy? I guess the risk with him is he has an accident but I realised in my sleep deprived stupor I just leapt straight up.

Oh dear God I'm not alone, I love this thread!
Grassypup is 13 weeks and a complete dote. Bitey as hell and also hates being left alone. We too started with him in the crate beside the sofa and gradually moved the crate so it's now where it should be in the kitchen. But we're taking turns sleeping on the sofa because he howls if we go upstairs. He comes in a couple of times during the night (outside toilet aside) to check the current occupant is still on the sofa.
How bloody long will we be doing this for???
He had his first trip to the beach today and he loved it. He's so brave. Not so brave with passing cars but he's getting there.
I've also added a little spoon of sardines to his kibble as he was very slow to eat. It's been a game changer and he's hoovered up his meals today.

Bluepup is in a crate next to my side of the bed. At first I got up and took her out at every whimper, now, 1 1/2weeks in I give her a few minutes if she's snuffling, wriggling etc and she sometimes settles back down. 7 hrs straight through last night!!! 🎊🎊, I got woken at 3am by a flipping fox outside my bedroom 😡😡

Morning!
Gosh this is as tiring as having a newborn! Have hardly had any sleep but to be fair to the puppy it’s my fault as I couldn’t fall back to sleep after bringing him out for a wee around 1.30. He woke and whimpered around 12.30 which I felt was too early so gave him a minute or two and sure enough he fell back to sleep.

I tried using the clicker last night and it worked really well. I bought a few before we got him but haven’t tried them, but my kids like messing with them. So there was one on the table next to the sofa. I moved the crate out to the hall last night and he moaned a bit more than previous nights. Every time he went quiet I clicked and said ‘good boy’ and he complete calmed down. It was weird. When he whimpered at 12.30 I said ‘shh back to sleep’ and then did the clicker and said good boy again and he quietened really quickly. Going to try it with some other things today and see how we go.

He hasn’t shown much interest in toys and completely ignores balls but one thing he loves is some treats hidden in cardboard. So either folding in either end of an empty loo roll/kitchen roll with a couple of bits inside, or this morning I’ve given him an empty lightbulb box with the flap loosely closed and he’s been playing with it for about 15 minutes. I’m going to save egg cartons too as I reckon they’ll be good.

This might be my attempting to have a shower and leave him strategy this morning!

Beautiful puppy pics!

I survived the weekend with DH away at the wedding and Biteypup has lost 3 little teeth over the weekend! Only the little front ones, so still plenty of needles left to bite with

We're still not making it through the night without a wake up call about 5.30am. She will go back to sleep for an hour or so, but the day has to start by 6.30am. I don't suppose that's too bad, but it's taking some getting used to after losing our old fella 8 months ago and being able to lie in until whatever time suited us

We went to the Dorset Dog Festival on Saturday and she had a whale of a time. We were only there an hour, but she was exhausted after all the excitement and slept right through until 6.30am yesterday morning, stayed up 45 minutes and then went back for an hour long nap. I may have joined her in a cheeky Sunday morning nap

Omg cute pup pics!!

I had a two night break from our pup as was at a wedding, he stayed with my mum and daughter and has done well. Mum said his nighttime routine was much the same, up once in the night and up for the day at 6-6.30! Was lovely to see him this morning and he was properly excited to see me 😃

He is getting his second vaccinations this afternoon which feels like a step forward.

He seems to grow a bit more every day and his fur colour has changed a bit around his face, there are lots of brown flecks now!

@SunnyUpNorth have a look at the Canine Enrichment group on fb, they have loads of ideas like the toilet tube one that your baby might like!

We’ve also introduced the clicker and she really likes it! Seems to love learning and is getting more into her food which is good. Her favourite so far is salmon pate

Took her for her second jab today but turns out she’s not 10 weeks until tomorrow so have to go back tomorrow bit embarrassing!

Two nights ago, when she was in insane biting exhaustion mode, I decided to just push ahead with the crate as we’d tried softly softly treats and food in the crate and although she’s fine in her night time crate and in the car, she just wouldn’t go into her downstairs one and sleep when she clearly needed a sleep! Now I know some people will disagree with this approach, I’m just sharing it because tbh it’s a game changer for us. So two nights ago she was tired in the evening, driving our dog crazy and just bitey and bratty. We put her in the crate and my god did she cry. For a good hour on and off she cried. We were sat right with her and gave her a chew to chew on which she did a bit. Eventually she settled and chewed on a chew, and so I let her out st this point as I wanted her to learn that you have to be settled to come out. She came out, and fell asleep straight away. So not inside the crate, but we’d managed the horrible biting bit at least. A bit later we had the same situation, really tired, bitey etc so we put her in again with a chew , shut the door. She cried again for a while but did settle down with the chew after a while so I let her out,

Then yesterday, 6pm she started going bitey and horrible again. Popped her in the crate and she cried for less than 5 mins then fell asleep for about half an hour. When she came out she was happy, had a much better rest of the evening!

So today we’ve been out this morning and not long got in. She slept a bit in the car but I knew she must be exhausted and she was just jumping st me biting and biting at my older dog. So put her in the crate, put a chew in and literally 3 mins of mild protest crying, and she was fast asleep. She’s still asleep now! So I know lots of the advice is to go very softly softly but tbh we needed quicker results and I just wanted to share what has worked for us (so far!!!)