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

Also I would say our pup didn't get it totally until about 16 weeks, I would keep putting your pup out really regularly and making a big fuss when they get right. Do you clean any accidents with an enzyme spray?

I have to say I did eventually get a bit cross with our puppy and told him off twice, it's probably a coincidence but I don't think we had any accidents after that!

He's nearly 20 weeks now and I feel fairly confident that he knows not to go in the house. He can go a good few hours without needing a wee now and goes to the back door when he wants to go. I do still put him out if he hasn't been for a while to remind him!

@Girliefriendlikescake yes I think you’re right re the feeding time. I always used to feed him around 5, then changed it to around 6 as thought his early waking might be linked to hunger. I think that’s what started him pooing again in the night as he had stopped. So I switched it back to closer to 5 a couple of weeks ago. I think the main thing is whether or not he does a poo in the evening before bed.

I was talking to some mums outside school yesterday who have dogs around 3/4 years old. They said ‘give it a year’ and it will all be fine. A year??!! 😳

Haha sunny ive spoken to a few people who have said dogs don't calm down until they're 3 😳🤪🤣

Mine has just turned 3. At 1 year old I thought thank god I survived both the puppy and teenage hell. But the change at 3 has been noticeable and was just commenting to DH the other day that BiteyDog seems so much calmer for a spaniel and does everything he is told all the time.

I am really struggling with our puppies separation. She just continuously barks when ever we aren't in the room. Can't even go for a shower without the Constant barking. I can't take her upstairs as it's not puppy proof and I can't leave her outside her pen as there is wires under the sofa which she keeps going for and we have no way of blocking it off. We go out to get her used to it and leave a record app on a phone and she barks for 45 minutes pretty much non stop! I'm worrying about the neighbours. We obviously don't want to leave her too much, but life goes on. There's unavoidable situations where she has to be left. Is anyone else finding the same? It's so stressful. There's nothing worse than a barking dog for neighbours! We do the kong but she loses interest as soon as we walk out the room, we give her lots of praise if she manages to be quiet enough for us to come back in the room. But nothing is working.

• @hermionelodge* we have the same issue with BiteyFuck. The puppy trainer says not to push him as he’ll then associate being left with being scared even more. We have found that a proper bone from the butcher holds his attention for half an hour without us in room, but we can’t leave him with one when we’re out as he might choke, so we’re using it more to get him used to being alone than as a long-term solution. A kong stuffed with chicken or pate as well as kibble also works but only for minutes while he gets the food out. His normal treats or kibble don’t work at all, it has to be something amazing.

We also had another go at puppy proofing enough that we could let him wander out of the room and therefore grow a bit more independent - we have unplugged most of the lamps and tied their cables where he can’t reach them, and we have to wedge the bedroom door shut as it can’t be properly puppy proofed. This is to allow him to choose to move away from us sometimes.

Anyway, we definitely haven’t cracked it, but these are the steps we’ve been advised to take to help him think being alone is fine.

Hermione that sounds really tricky, would one of those plug ins help? When and where does the puppy sleep? We time going out with when our puppy normally sleeps and he seems to sleep a fair bit really.

For those of you saying your puppy is loosing interest in food, ours is the same. Most of the time he doesn't want breakfast, will eat a small amount at lunch and then again at dinner time. I wonder if you still because his growth has slowed down now?

Do any of your puppies get hiccups?! Ours does all the time, not sure if it's normal or not!

mary Thanks for the tips. Will definitely just keep persevering with everything and hope it clicks into place. I don't even think she barks due to being scared, she just does it to make noise. If we spy on her through the window we can see she is wagging her tail most of the time or sometimes just lying down with her toys whilst barking! But she doesn't bark normally when playing with toys outside the pen!

girlieWe were trying to get her to sleep In the pen downstairs but again it was constant howling and crying, we spoke to a dog trainer and she said to build a little pen in the bedroom. We've done that and she sleeps perfectly now with no noise but I'm worried it's encouraging her to be near/around us all the time. The plan is to slowly move the pen further and further until she is back downstairs. She is quite independent of us when we are all together, she will choose to lie on her bed away from us or lie in the pen but it's when we close the pen door she goes nuts! She just hates being caged off! And it's a decent size. We are at the stage where she is going to have to be left as we are both back to work tomorrow so she will be on her own for 3 hours unfortunately. She always sleeps in the morning anyway so it shouldn't be an issue but I know she will bark for about 45mins before she settled down and sleeps! I might give the plug in a try, I had heard they can be calming. Although they are quite pricey! Yes, our pup get a hiccups all the time, I mentioned it to the vet and she said it's perfectly normal

@hermionelodge we aren’t having great success at leaving ours. It can be quite hit and miss and I can’t work out what does/doesn’t help as sometimes he sleeps or plays and then in exactly the same circumstances the next day may cry or bark.

We have pretty much cracked it when in the house though - this may help if you’re puppy is barking as she misses you - but if she is just finding her voice it may not!

I did LOTS of flitting from place to place at first, so sit down, they come and sit near you, wait a minute, go and eg put the kettle on, they follow, wait a minute, go and sit back down, they follow, wait, go and get a mug out, follow, wait, go and sit back down etc.... so just keep doing stuff and flit around the place within the same room. Eventually they start to realise you’re being really boring and stop following you.

I did similar in the end with leaving the room. Sometimes it’s just not possible, but for example in the mornings I started going for a shower, put my robe back on and go and get the lunchboxes out, ignore puppy, go back upstairs and get dressed, go back and make the sandwiches, ignore puppy, go back upstairs and dry hair, etc. So I basically kept checking in, making it super boring for him by not interacting at all but he could see I was still there and would always come back. Now he is fine and I put his food down and go up for half an hour getting myself and the kids ready and he is fine.

Really I need to do a similar version with leaving the house I think. But like you say life gets in the way and sometimes they just have to be left. It’s hard as I worry about creating a problem with separation anxiety but he also just needs to get used to it. Most people have said to me theirs just settled down in time. Good luck!!

Gnasher picked up a part of a tennis ball yesterday on our walk. When I took it from his mouth, two baby teeth came out with it! He didn't so much as blink.
I don't know where he's at teething-wise as he won't hold still for a second for me to have a look.

He'll be 6 months old next week. Time flies!

Have any of you asked the vet about puppies not being interested in their food? Bitey is still not eating his unless you play with him and give it to him bit by bit. If you leave it in his bowl he won’t eat it. He doesn’t look thin or anything though but it doesn’t seem normal.

Mine has been losing loads of teeth recently, three in one day the other day, I found them all on the floor!

I feel really guilty, I’ve just finished reading the ‘Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy’ book and he mentions slip leads at the end amongst other cruel things you shouldn’t use to train a dog to walk to heel. I had a 1-2-1 with a trainer a few weeks ago mostly to learn how to teach my pup to walk to heel and not pull. I was a bit dubious of her methods but she encouraged me to get a slip lead to walk him which I did. It hasn’t really helped his pulling and really makes him choke and pant. Just googled it up and seems they can actually be dangerous on puppies delicate windpipe. Sounds like they only should be used by experienced handlers on well trained dogs that don’t pull. My poor little guy! Doesn’t seem to have put him off walks though.

We make sure Clownpup is tired before we leave her. And I leave radio 4 on for some background noise. I also leave it on overnight which seems to help.

Hello all, not been on for a while. Skeleton pup is doing really well, for those who were around when we got her you might remember she was a complete demon at night, biting constantly, impossible to settle. Well she’s calmed right down, in fact she’s been asleep since about 7pm today!! And it’s nothing we did at all except waited it out, she just grew up a bit. So if there is anyone out there who is struggling with hyper evenings/awful biting it can get better with time!

Leaving her alone - I still worry about this. We can now leave her for about 2.5 hours and she’s fine as long as she’s had a walk but she has had a bit of a nibble on our table legs. I’m not sure if this is about teething or stress/boredom? I just bit the bullet in the end and started leaving her. Had to force myself to just shut the door on her and go sometimes but it seemed to work. I always leave her with a treat.

SunnyUpNorth hope your pup is doing well! I’d be looking for a more positive trainer. We have started putting the collar and lead on and giving breakfast/tea walking along and just treating her constantly for being at our side. If she pulls ahead I lure her back to my side. To start with we had to start in the kitchen tbh with few distractions but we’re getting there. Can’t say she’s perfect when she’s on the way to the field though 🙈

I’m so proud of Skeletonpup, but I’ve not done nearly enough training with her. We did the puppy class and were going to carry on to the next class but I didn’t hear anything so I didn’t follow it up - my fault. Thing is, she’s such a lovely girl that it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security but I know if I don’t keep working with her the teenage stage will be awful. So I’m off to another class tomorrow! Let’s hope I’ll be motivated to carry on!

Hi @skeletonskins that’s great news to hear your lovely pup is coming along so well, so pleased to hear it.

I actually used the dinner portion of kibble to bring pup for his walk and constantly rewarded him for eye contact and checking in. Kept it short (his kibble pieces are quite large so not that many of them!) but he did really well. I still feel really bad that I might have been abusing his trust, he is just the sweetest boy. Luckily I only had one session with that trainer but won’t use her again.

Glad you're getting on okay skeleton, I know what you mean about training. Our boy is very good but I don't want to get complacent, he has also started getting a bit funny with other dogs on walks. Not sure if that's the start of the teenage phase as he was always friendly before?

Sunny I wouldn't beat yourself up, you weren't to know, it's like being a new parent and naturally we'll make a few mistakes along the way! Dogs are very forgiving ime anyway 😉

Our pup was ill Ystd, off food and then threw up bile, was all ready to take him to the vets when he suddenly perked up and ate a bowl of food! Has been fine since so wondering if he ate something he shouldn't have.

We're away on a mini break with him now in Devon, he's had a busy day and is snoozing now. Taking him out for a pub dinner later!

Clownpup is 12 weeks now. Her biting seems to have ramped up in the last few days. She's so snappy and bitey. She's just taken a chunk out of my arm.

I take her out, it isn't because she needs toilet I replace with a toy which she ignores and just launches for me. I ignore her, but she just keeps attacking. I remove her, but it doesn't seem to help.

Urgh, I'm a bit worn down by it. And she woke up at 5am today. The kids have gone away with grandparents for half term and we're still so restricted because of her. And I don't even like being around her much at the moment.

@ClownsandCowboys I know what you mean. My DDs are going to my parents tomorrow lunch time and staying over but obviously I'm still restricted to what I can do.

I know this might sound stupid but do any of you wonder if your pup is happy? I constantly worry I'm not doing enough with him.

Today he got up around 7.15am and just mooched round in the back room, had his breakfast until we were all ready. Someone was with him as we got ready at different times. At 9ish I took him for a 20 minute walk. When we got home I tidied round while he followed and then I went out for an hour and he had his kong then a sleep. I got back about 11am and we had a cuddle on the couch then a few games of tug and fetch. Then we did a little bit of training - maybe 5/10 mins and then I worked while he sat next to me. We had lunch and he had another little mooch around while I did some more work then I went out for an hour at 2.30pm so he had another sleep. When I got back with DDs they played with him and he's pretty much just followed us round and had cuddles with us since then. DH took him out about half an hour ago for a walk at the beach which he loves. We might do another 10 mins of training when he's back from his walk.

Is this enough? I think we have slipped with training - we are just working on sit, down, stay and recall at the moment - we used to do it a lot but as he got better we stopped and now he's slipped back. He is restricted to the back room and kitchen as he is still having accidents so I worry he is unhappy. We hadn't had any accidents for weeks but the last few days we have had a few - I'm not sure why. He is almost 18 weeks old. Does this sound ok?

Keep you are doing more than us most days! I'm sure your pup is more than happy!

When I'm working our puppy doesn't get much attention at all during the day, he may get a 20 min walk at lunchtime if I have time but that's it. He's otherwise expected to sleep or occupy himself which tbf he does on the most part.

He gets more interaction once my dd is home from school and a longer walk in the evenings. He seems happy enough I think, he could have a lot worse 😉

@ClownsandCowboys, sorry to hear the biting is still awful. It only happens accidentally here now and I’m sure the collar I mentioned has something to do with it. It might be worth a try.

Our next challenge is to get ours used to being left alone.Because we’re both home all day, she’s used to being with one of us all the time.

Clowns my puppy is now 11 months old, and he still gets bitey if he hasn't had a good sleep...on the go for too long...at 12 weeks they aren't so good at just dropping off all over the place, might you need to give him a nap routine..settle him somewhere safe and cosy (doesn't have to be a crate, although we used one at that age for naps)

Dpup has started growling at us when we try to move him. So far he has growled at me for trying to move him off the sofa to get his breakfast! Growled at me when I tried to pick him off my bed to put him in his crate at bedtime last night. Growled at me when I tried to put him in his crate this morning so I could take my car to the garage.
Feel really anxious about it. Don’t want to make things worse so it escalates to a snap or a bite.
I’ve started to train him to get off when I ask him to e.g sofa. I’m not going to put him on my bed while I get my pjs on etc.
Think I should be training him to go to his bed in his crate, which would make things easier if I need to go out.
Have any of you had this with your puppy? If so, how did you respond to it?

On the advice of many people (maybe it was puppy training class) instead of carrying him or lifting him I used kibble/plain treats to get him to follow me or go where I wanted him to be. It is easy to get into the habit of physically moving the puppy when you can "lure" them a bit more efficiently. For example if he runs up stairs (we have a stairgate but sometimes it is left open) I used to fetch him physically from the landing, now all I have to do, is a put a bit of kibble on the floor downstairs or better still make a squeaky toy squeak, and then reward with a piece of kibble when he comes down. I would also give the command for whatever or wherever I wanted him to be, ie basket, outside, leave it. growling means they are annoyed, so you have to make them think that whatever you are asking them to do is a good thing, not the "annoying" option. It does not mean dog is vicious or aggressive, just that he is letting you know how he feels.

might it also be a bit confusing for the dog if he is not sure where he is meant to be settling at any one time - sofa, bed or crate? Perhaps a different times of day it could be more routine until he gets older and more flexible, and then I find they are happy to sleep all over the place.