Puppy Support Group 2

[DuchessDarty]

A continuation of this:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/3600375-Young-Puppy-Support-Group

All age of puppies (and owners ) welcome

She's a Springer x lab. She was the last of her litter to be collected as well so had a night alone which I thought would have worked in our favour. The first night she was definitely more timid, she didn't explore or eat or drink. She just wanted to cuddle with us. Yesterday morning it was like a whole new dog! Mouthy and very playful! When she is crying she is still wagging her tail so i dont know if she is just doing it for the sake of it. Maybe she still hasn't settled, I suppose it has only been 2 nights. It's just hard not to worry and put a lot of pressure on us. I'm off all this week and dp the following week but after that we have to go back to work and leaving her for a couple of hours. I don't want her distressed the whole time she is alone but we can't even go to the toilet without howling the entire time we are gone. That's good to know that your pup has come out of his shell and enjoying a lot more! Gives me hope!

I worried so much the first few days that we’d accidentally got a nervy and scared dog, but he was just adjusting to new surroundings. I realised afterwards that we also shouldn’t have asked lots of people to come and see him until he’d settled in - my parents came the day after he arrived and then friends the next day - as he was too scared to enjoy them and it was overwhelming to him. He loves them all now though.

BiteyFuck lived up to his name this morning though - I tried to remove a pair of dirty pants from him and he growled and wouldn’t drop them, offered a treat, but he wouldn’t swap for treat, so I tried a toy and he didn’t want that either, so I yanked them off him and he bit my hand and then my sleeve and my jeans. I shouted BAD DOG and gave him a time out, but when I went out of the room I discovered blood dribbling down my finger. He was very remorseful when I came back and licked me and is now asleep on my feet but what should I do if he won’t give things up?!

Hi @hermionelodge I think lots of of us have gone through that and are coming out the other side.

Re the crying and clinginess-that does calm down very quickly. She is new and scared. The flitting method works well here, where you basically flit from room to room, job to job etc. So sit down for five mins, go over to the sink for five mins, walk to the fridge, back to the chair, back to the sink etc just keeping moving around a lot and they soon get bored of following you. Don’t give in to the crying, don’t cuddle and reassure them, just ignore and stay calm. Ignoring them a lot is good! They soon learn your routine and that you’re just making dinner or loading the washing machine and it’s boring. Mine tends to keep an eye on where I am now but doesn’t follow me much anymore. If you’re going out of the room for a bit longer eg to have a shower then leave a lickimat or their nibble in a slow feeder of some sort.

Mine was crying a lot in the mornings so I would go and have a shower, come down and get the lunchboxes out, go back upstairs and maybe get dressed, come back down and make the sandwiches, go back up and dry my hair, come and down and do drinks and snacks and so on. Was a bit annoying but I actually only had to do that for a few days. Ignored him every time I went in and out of the room and they soon learn not to worry, that you’ll come back.

Nighttime’s I think you need to keep a firm but fair approach. Have him by your bed if you’re happy with that. Then maybe in a couple of nights move him away a little bit, and gradually move the crate to the door, the landing etc over a few nights. If she a whimpering just hold your hand near the crate and shush her but I think don’t response every time, a bit of ignoring is good too.

Good luck. We are two months in now and he is lovely although smelly and very restrictive!!

Should add we are going away tomorrow and I am about to bring him to a dog boarder for five nights. I am so nervous!!!! Have no idea if he will settle, an expecting to be called up and told someone needs to collect him as he won’t stop crying 🙈

Mary you probably need to work in drop and leave as a command when you do some training. Are you going to puppy classes? They covered that in our puppy class.

Basically for drop you use a rope type toy and hold either end and the dog plays with the middle bit. You then stop play and say 'drop' the idea being the puppy eventually lets go. Once they let go you become really fun and start playing again!

For leave you need a decent food treat which you drop in front of them, ask them to leave and if they move you pick the treat up and try again. Slowly increase the time and always pick the treat up and give it to them rather than let them get it iyswim.

This has worked well for our puppy, my dd dropped a piece of chocolate the other day and he stopped in his tracks when she said leave. She then picked the chocolate up and have him a dog treat.

Drop is still a work in progress but he does understand the principle at least!!

Hi sunny thanks so much for the advise re moving about and ignoring. I had been moving around but kind of chatting away as she followed me so I will stop that. When you were going out of the room for periods of time such as showering, getting ready etc was your puppy crying?

I think we will probably do the crate in the room and move it further gradually. That's probably our best bet. I was worried she would be doing some damage being so distressed when we were leaving her in the crate but after a chat with the vet, I feel a lot more confident doing it. Just worry about the neighbours...!

Oh, I totally understand the nerves but I'm sure he will be just grand. They do adapt so quickly and dogs are quite fickle, a treat and a pet and they love everyone. Hopefully you can relax and enjoy your time away after the first night

Ouch Mary, at least he showed some remorse for it! I don't really have much advice other than agree with girlie. Try and teach them drop and some obedience/training classes. As soon as my pup is clear, we will be getting get into classes.

Also, just to add. I'm on the app and I am writing in paragraphs but my posts don't seem to be coming out correctly... apologies if they are difficult to follow/read.

Ugh puppy has been such a pain tonight 😩 totally hyper and I've let him in and out the back door about 10 times and then discovered a massive wee in the hallway!!!

Ffs.

I'm wondering if his food isn't helping with the hyper ness, what are you all feeding your puppies on?

I put him in his crate for a bit and only let him out once he was calm and he's now flat on his back sleeping on the sofa! I think we should probably start doing that in the evenings as that seems to be the witching hours.

The witching hour has thankfully finished in our house. Pup has been really hyper this evening. He has been ultra nippy, digging in his water bowl and charging about. Nearly broke his neck skidding round the kitchen and hallway because he was soaking wet.
Now he is like a little angel asleep on the sofa .

Clownpup has Harrington's kibble.

Yup, our pup has a mad half hour as well. Very mouthy and runs wild around the living room! She was on Dr John's puppy food but we are now mixing in some beta purina puppy food. Will have her on that fully by the end of the week. She is also not taking too well to toilet training... goes anywhere but the pads and sees them as a toy to be ripped up

We feed Millie’s Wilfheart countryside mix. He is so calm, we have never had the zoomies or a witching hour once. He has plenty of energy, can be playful but is also very content. Two trainers emphasised that food can cause the hyperactivity and that’s Millies is good.

Thank you, we tried Harrington's but the fussy bugger wouldn't eat it 🙄 will have a look for that one sunny. He currently has wainwright's kibble and butchers soft food (both for puppies variety) but I noticed tonight that the dry food has sugar beet in and am wondering if it's that that sends him hyper!

The crazy hour must be almost universal. Ours turns into a frenzied bundle of teeth and claws in the late afternoon/ early evening. We’ve almost got two puppies - a lovely sweet one who licks our hands and sleeps on us, and a nasty, bitey little harridan.

@Girliefriendlikescake our puppy has Wainwright’s wet food and kibble too. I hope that is not what is causing his hyperactivity because I bought a massive bag of kibble yesterday!
I am a bit concerned we are over feeding our boy with the amount of treats he has. We have done lots of training with him recently. My boys absolutely love training him. Just need to keep an eye on how many calories he is having.

also I feel the same. When she's not being bitey and mouthy she is the most calm and adorable pup. The minute she gets mouthy it's like she eggs herself on. There was no pressure before but now she's getting jumpy with the bites and it hurts! She has been especially mouthy this morning which is new. I am now walking out of the room when she starts, leaving it about 30 seconds then coming back in. Will see of this makes a difference

Heat I hate to say it but I tried feeding dpup slightly differently today so increased the wet food (butchers puppy) and decreased the kibble to a very small amount and the difference in astonishing.

He's been like a different dog, he has behaved well all day much more settled and calm and no witching hour at all. Really annoying as like you I have a bloody big bag of the stuff!!

Will give it a few more days to check it's not a fluke.

We feed Millie's Wolfheart Countryside Mix too.

Clownpup doesn't have any wet food, just kibble.

She had her first mad evening last night. Usually she sleeps most of the evening, but last night was a bit bonkers until 9pm.

Ans she keeps waking up at 5.20am,ans we've realised it's out neighbours waking her as one gets up for shift work. We've already moved her crate, not sure how else we can stop her being woken up. Do they do sound proof crates 😂

Our pup is the same for waking up early. She's awake and ready to play at 4am every morning! We are wondering if it's because her breeders are game keepers and her parents are working dogs... wondering if that's the time the breeders were up and about for the day. Although, we still can't get her to sleep In her pen with the door closed without sleeping beside her.. something we need to nip in the bud fast! She just can't stand being away from us or closed off. So right now I don't even know what sleep is... 4am, 7am.. it all feels the same just now

Glad I'm not the only one with an early waker! She wakes up between 4 and 5am every morning without fail!

She's 17 weeks tomorrow and it's only in the last 10 days that she's been happy to go back in her crate and back to sleep after she's been out for the toilet. Although she will only settle if I put her in the crate upstairs and not the crate downstairs where she usually sleeps.

I don't go back to sleep but being able to get back into a warm bed and not being bitten to death at 4am is definitely a bonus

Still biting at 17 weeks? Nooooo! The thought of much more of this bloody biting does my head in. Yesterday she bit me hard enough to draw blood twice, if anyone knows how to stop it, please, please tell me!

Sleeping isn’t bad. It was 5.30 this morning. Later would be ideal but we can cope with that.

She's only just started to loose her teeth so I've a fair few weeks left of the biting but she is so much better than she was a few weeks ago. She only really bites now when she is tired or over excited.

I was told to make sure you always had a toy in your hands so if they start biting you replace your body part with the toy

I try and do the toy thing, but it's hard to always have a toy in your hands when trying to deal with two children/dinner etc.

Exactly. And when you’ve thrown all the toys across the room to distract her from clawing at your legs. It just shows that she really is the Queen of Cute that I love her so much!