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

@BiteyShark I will take a look at Nexgard Spectra, thanks. Do you use Drontal for tapeworms?

@MaryLennoxsScowl I really want to use this trainer because he has good reviews. Dh doesn’t think we need to take dpup to classes because we are training him. To be fair he is doing really well for his age. How did your pup get on at class?

Puppy classes are important for socialising. For some of the classes a couple are let off the lead together to play, sniff etc. It's so important that they meet lots of different dogs before 16 weeks.

At ours all the pups have had first jabs so they are safe with each other.

It's not just about training.

I saw someone with a young boxer dog near us. Puppy was scared of pushchairs, owner was giving lots of strokes, and "there, there". Probably without realising this is reinforcing the fear. Saw puppy a few days later barking and cowering at any dog in the near vicinity.

I definitely think it would be good for him to socialise with other puppies, Clowns. One of our friends has just bought a puppy, so I’m hoping that they’ll be buddies! I have just sent another trainer a message. He has good reviews, so will wait to see what he offers.

Are there no puppy classes near you? He needs to socialise with lots of different puppies and dogs, of different sizes etc.

Ours are run by our vet surgery and are £45 for 6 weeks.

heatseeker14 we used to use drontal every 6 months (vet said 6 months was fine) but BiteyDog vomits or has the poos afterwards and as he has a chronic stomach condition we don't want to trigger it so after discussion with our vet we will only treat now with drontal if he has any symptoms.

@heatseeker14 I thought some of the socialisation like meeting other puppies slowly was aimed at younger puppies as ours was 17 weeks in the first class and has spent the 5 weeks since he could go out after jabs playing with other dogs in the park - whereas the gentle intro to other dogs would have been great when he was 12 weeks and still timid. He really enjoyed it and there’s lots we can learn and are finding it v useful, but I wish we’d found a class a few weeks earlier as the trainer has been amazing and v supportive and I would have liked to have been working with her when he was 12 weeks as I was feeling so overwhelmed then!

Just to clarify, we started BiteyFuck off with the gentlest old dog I know before BF was allowed out in public - my mum’s dog, who is vaccinated - and BF was initially nervous but then got v excited and bouncy and has never looked back since with that dog, but was initially v cautious with other dogs.

@ClownsandCowboys our vet offers puppy parties. We are on the waiting list, but I haven’t heard anything. The trainer I contacted today runs puppy classes, so hopefully I can get something sorted soon. Dpup met our neighbour’s dog today. They played lovely together .
Thanks @BiteyShark. I had read somewhere that 6 months would be sufficient for Drontal.

Mary L, I think it would be good for him to meet other puppies as soon as possible. I also think it would be good for me to meet other new owners .

We´ll have to crate our pup for the first time for night. Actually it´s going to be crate attatched to the playpen, crate door open.
But we can´t carry on with him roaming around free as he´s started to redecorate our house with his teeth. He chews everything including his chewing toys but apparently these are not enough for him.
Totally scared of the night today. Convinced he´ll whine the crap out of himself ´cause he´s used to sleeping with our older dog.
Uhh, can´t wait for the puppy phase to pass!

Hello everyone, could I join, I have a 5 month old rescue pup and overnight she has gone from an adorable little creature who follows me round and sleeps all day to a lunatic who cant sit still and has selective hearing

How did you get on, @yodl?
Bitey has not managed to learn that biting when tired and overexcited is not okay, but I’m hoping he’s made a breakthrough in housetraining, as he asked out twice this weekend and dragged me outside (we live in a flat so someone always has to go with him) and was clearly desperate but had not gone inside! He scratched at the living room door to get our attention. Previously he’s only sat beside it, which isn’t very obvious.

@MaryLennoxsScowl it makes you so proud when they finally manage to actually ask to go outside, doesn´t it? When that happened for the first time with both of my dogs I felt like if I can teach a dog to ask to be let outside, I can do anything .

First night in crate/playpen: he didn´t make a sound. He went outside about 00.20 for the last time and then it was all quiet till about 6.50 when he barked once. I waited for about another two minutes and then went to get him. No pees, no poos, but boy he needed to get outside badly! He even leaked a bit when I was putting my coat on.

I, on the other hand, slept very poorly. As I slept downstairs to hear what he´s up to on his first night without freedom, I woke up frequently. Moving back to bedroom tonight and hopefully be able to sleep a bit better.
As I have anxiety I tend to be a very light sleeper so every little sound wakes me up. It started after our kids were born and it seems it´ll never end, sadly. I know that a crated dog can´t do any harm downstairs but I still have to monitor every sound and movement I´m able to hear even if I´m half asleep. It´s so annoying, but I can´t help it!

Awww it's great to read the positive toilet training updates. Only a few weeks ago we were tearing our hair out. Gnasher hasn't had an accident since the sneaky behind the chair episode a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic stuff! Hope I'm not speaking too soon now.

He still gets chompy when he gets over excited or tired but you can see him trying to be gentle.

Lots of scent marking on walks too.

His recall is abysmal. We can't leave the door open a crack as he's out like a shot and straight across the road.

Hi all, really in need of advice. My 6 month old cocker has always guarded bones, and growls at the kids when has then . We thought at first you took the bone away if didn't stop, but it says online that doing that is doing exactly what they are fearing and the reason for the growl. Getting the dc to give him it. Asking him to leave and giving to straight back, praising, siting next to him, stroking him, leaving him, nothing is working, where we are trying to show we are not a threat/trying to take it. This week he has started doing it with toys and just now when one of the dc walked past, he had nothing. He absolutely loves them in general for play, cuddles etc. He even takes his bone and sits on them yet then growls. Twice he kind of barked as they came near which has worried me. Without bones he is perfect in all ways. But now it seems to be transferring to other things and it's worrying me around the children. He hasn't done anything to them and as I say amazing on all other aspects, but I really want to stop this getting worse and hope some of you lovely lot can help me with this. Sorry if this has already been asked.

@yodl that’s great! I was the same when pup first arrived - every tiny noise sounded like him crying. I think it took me a few days to calm down. I hope you sleep better tonight.
Hmm @LionKingLover, my spaniel puppy got growly over bones too so we’ve been careful about how we take them off him - we sit beside him and pat him, and then move to holding bone for him to chew, and then stand up holding it and he doesn’t seem to mind. He hated things being openly taken away. I don’t know if that is too much hassle for kids to do though, and I don’t know if it has stopped him from possibly growling if he feels like it.

Actually, we asked our trainer about it and the above is what she suggested. She also said don’t take bones away ever, cut them into small enough pieces that puppy can eat them in one session. Or distract by luring him with chicken before removing bone so he doesn’t see you do it.

Is he crate-trained? Maybe he could only have bones while crates to prevent him getting possessive near kids?

He was in a crate, he now has the kitchen with a baby gate on the door. I thought of keeping bones away and he can't have the., but this week he did it with a toy, and tonight when they walked near him(maybe he had something nearby I didn't notice but wasn't chewing) so I'm worried . But he loves them generally. They are doing everything we say too. I'm worried the bones will go and it will transfer to toys or something.

@yodl I was the same for a good while, being awake even when pup wasn’t as I was worried I wouldn’t hear him (ha, as if!) and he would wake everyone. I also did the same after having kids, I think you always sleep with one ear open after having kids. But mine at 8 and 6 now and I definitely sleep more soundly now.

We went away last week and left Sunnypup with a home boarder for 5 nights and he was fine!! He got on really well with all the other dogs, he slept mostly quite well. We may not use that boarder again for various reasons but I feel better about leaving him in the future now.

We still aren’t doing great with leaving him during the day. I’ve got to leave him tmrw for about 2-3 hours and I’ve never left him for more than 2 before 😬

He also hadn’t had an accident for ages but for two days after coming back from the boarders he did around 4 big accidents a day. But none today so hopefully back in the swing of things.

He is 5 months now.

Also keeps pooing at night which is annoying. He did a poo before bed last night so thought we would be ok, but then did one around 2 and then two big ones at 5??? I’ve cut his food down as his pops were a bit soft, but are hard again now. I feel like he gets hardly any food so reluctant to cut it back more.

Sunnyupnorth is he crate trained? My nearly 5 month old also liked to poo at night but since being crate trained we've had no accidents. The crate is in the bedroom so if she needs to go out we can hear her but so far since using it shes slept through the night with no accidents. I usually take her out about 10 and am up with her by 6.

Yes he is crate trained, he isn’t soiling the crate just crying to be let out. He goes straight out, does his business and then straight back to bed.

Ahh sunnyupnorth that's frustrating, is he a small breed? My puppy is bigger than a lot if fully grown dogs already but if yours is little he may just have a tiny bladder and bowel and will grow out of it. Its positive that hes asking to be let out

Clownpup is now 9kg! She's too heavy to carry around now. She's got her last jabs tomorrow. We've not had any house accidents for ages and she generally asks to go out when she needs to.

We've only left her about 2-2.5 hours so far.