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.

@namechanged984630 we are just over 3 weeks in and I am still finding it hard. He is lovely and I know he is just being a normal puppy but it is just so restrictive at the moment as we are constantly watching him - I miss my life before him. I am desperately hoping that I will feel better once he is trained but it still seems such a long way off.

@DuchessDarty that's what we have been doing today. Taking him out lots and massive praise if he goes outside. He has had 3 accidents inside today. What do you do when you leave them though? In a few weeks I will need to leave him a few hours in the morning and I don't think he will be able to last that long even though he does last around 6/7 hours at night.

I keep reading things saying they should be able to hold their bladders for an hour per month of their age. Mine is four months now and there is no way he can hold it for four hours. He can only really do two when he is tired in the evening and snoozing. Otherwise if it gets much past an hour and I’ve forgotten to take him out he has an accident. Hence why we can’t get past leaving him for an hour and a half in the day. That is very restrictive but I’m hoping he will become better at holding it soon.

Does he not go 4 hours at night yet Sunny?

Also does anyone have experience getting their puppy a hot water bottle for their crate at night?

WeePup doesn't chew or play when in his crate at night. He sleeps straight through. So I'm wondering whether it would be comfier for him, as the weather gets colder, to have one of the hot water bottles lined with a fleecy material? I'd pop it under his blankets so he wasn't in direct contact with it but wondered if anyone had done this and it proved a disaster? He's a whippet cross so really does need any extra heat he can get!!

@weeblueberry yes he can hold it at night, he is generally sleeping through til 6/7am now. He dozes in the evening, I bring him for a wee around 10/10.30 and then into his crate and he generally sleeps through.

I’m wondering if it isn’t his bladder but just that he doesn’t like being alone that long. I’ve been watching him today and not taking him outside hourly and actually he seems fine waiting 1.5-2 hours.

I’m such a terrible person though, I made the realisation that I’m not leaving him water when I go out. His water is just outside his crate. We bought one of those bowls that can be mounted on the side of the crate but when you take the bowl out of it the bit that holds the bowl could potentially hurt him if he fell against it or hit it with his eye by accident. So I took it off and just left the bowl by his crate. I don’t take the water away in the evening like they suggest as he sometimes has a good drink then, but he doesn’t have water during the night. Anyway today I stupidly realised that when I come home he always goes straight to his water first. So perhaps he is thirsty rather than needing the loo. The most I’ve left him is an hour and a half and he does sleep most of that. But I shall start mounting the bowl inside the crate again. Is that what everyone else does?

We have a plug in heat pad thing that goes under his vet bed inside his crate. I put it on at night and I will prob use it during the day when the weather gets colder too.

Sorry you've probably mentioned this before but is he in the crate when you're out and he's toileting in there? Don't suppose its something as simple as getting a smaller crate?

He is in the crate but not toileting in it. I have a camera and when I check it he seems to be generally ok for the first hour or so but then gets barky and whiney on and off til I get back. I thought maybe it was because he needed a wee as I tend to bring him out every hour at home. But I watched him carefully today and he seems to be fine for up to two hours for a wee now so maybe it’s just too long for him without company.

Help!
My 16 week puppy has randomly started waking at 5am and refusing to go back into his crate and barking like a lunatic, it’s horrible!
Don’t know what’s happened or why?!
Up until now he’s done 11-7 why has this changed, do they regress?
I’m on my knees with exhaustion as my son has also been waking me from 2-3 so I’ve barely slept!

Twin there is a second puppy survival thread now that you might want to jump on as this one is quiet.

But yes I noticed that my dog went through phases when his behaviour regressed and we just had to go back to basics each time.

BiteyShark thanks I didn’t realise!
I’ll have a look on there

Hi I’m new here! We got our first puppy just over a week ago. He is a cavaschon x cocker spaniel and as gorgeous has he is, I’m just not coping. He is 11 weeks old, doing well in his crate and sleeping all night. Mostly toilet trained with a few minor accidents. But lotttts of nipping and biting. I can handle him biting at me and other adults but I have two daughters, 5 and 3 who I now feel like aren’t relaxed in their own home. He’s not doing it maliciously and I think because they’re running around he thinks they’re playing. He especially loves nipping at the 3 year old resulting in her constantly in tears over it. I’m constantly worrying about where they will get dressed etc and they used to be able to lie on the floor reading and colouring but now can’t! I have felt really down the past few days as I feel like we just weren’t cut out for a puppy! Any advice please!

Do you have a large playpen where you cordon off areas for either the puppy or your children?

It does get better but the early months with the biting is hard so I would try and keep them separate, especially during the trigger points e.g. evenings, because any noise and running about will just make the puppy more bitey unless you can supervise and intervene.

Not really. He has his crate and the girls sometimes play upstairs which makes life slightly easier for an hour 🙈

@josieee I think for now you have to separate - use stair gates, play pen whatever. This is a lesson we learnt with our puppy. Life got easier when he didn't have free run of the house. Then you supervise every time the puppy is in family space. Make sure the kids have a toy if they want to play with the puppy - this will give them a barrier. Make sure the puppy has exercise and stimulation as well because this will help when at home - they will be a bit more chilled. The biter phase will pass but it might take a while. Also does your pup have teething toys?

@twinmama32 we went through this when the clocks changed. Sudden taliapup went from getting up at 5am to 4am! Neither was acceptable! We have worked hard since to change it because I was exhausted and touch wood my pup will sleep into 7:30am now. Here's what I did:

1. Made sure he had his two walks a day
2. He used to nap in the evening - I now play and take him for a walk so he can't nap before 10pm
3. He wakes up around 5 / 6 I take him straight to the garden to do his toilet. I keep it very quiet and boring. Then he goes straight back up to the crate. I stoke him and say 'back to sleep'. His crate is in the spare room - so I then jump in the spare bed (he can see me) and sleep until I need to get up.

At first he would have a little moan but now he is used to the routine and consistency. So far this has worked - and I must say I am relieved! Hope this helps x

@talia66 yes he’s got plenty of toys but just seems to prefer the kids or the carpet. Originally we thought we would keep him in the kitchen but as it’s so cold out at the minute and the kitchen is the coldest room in the house he’s ended up in his crate in the lounge. Do you think we should try him in the kitchen with a baby gate maybe?

Just take him every where you go - so if you are in the kitchen take him with you - if you need to go off alone crate him or put him in kitchen. Then if you children are there monitor the interaction. I am doing puppy classes with mine and they covered biting. They suggested having a toy to redirect him from yourselves to the toy (to stop him biting you guys - hope that makes sense) if he does touch the skin you quickly stand up and remove your self and the fun. He will quickly learn that if he touches human skin the fun stops. If he is bothering the children when they are trying to play of colour on the floor I would take him to a different room and either do some training or for instance give him a teething toy whilst you potter in the kitchen. Just try and make the interactions with the kids as supervised and pleasant as possible.
Just a side note it does get so much easier!! I have found with structure, exercise and training my puppy has come on so much. He is 5 months now and the biting has really improved. Mind you I am bracing myself for when he hits those teenage years!