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

@heatseeker14 sadly hes not great, had to have surgery last night to remove damaged sections of his bowel still no idea about the cause

Outtheforest

Have they sent off samples to see if they can figure out what has caused the damage?

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that @Outtheforest. I bet you’re so worried about him. I hope you get some answers soon and your boy makes a speedy recovery.

Thankyou all, they think the damage was a small abnormality present since birth that has just gradually gotten worse. He was a rescue so spent his first 4 months as a stray before I took him in. Hoping the corrective surgery will sort him out finally

Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery and home with you soon.

Forest that sounds really scary, poor puppy, will insurance cover it?

One of our pups teeth came out this morning, it was really grim as he was crunching on it for a while

He suddenly seems to have a lot more energy suddenly as well, usually after a long walk he'll sleep but now it seems to rev him up even more!!

@Girliefriendlikescake it's been quite the ride but finally things are looking up. Sadly I'm not in the UK and pet insurance is just not a thing here.
Probably going to need medical attention myself when I get the bill

How is your puppy @Outtheforest? Is he home now?

I thought we had cracked sleeping through the night, but our puppy is now waking at random times for the toilet. He was sleeping 10:30pm to around 5am then back to bed for another hour until DH’s alarm goes off. I could cope with this as a couple of times he made it to 5:45am so thought it won’t be long until he regularly sleeps 10:30 to 6am, but he has started to wake earlier and earlier to go to the toilet. This morning it was 3am 😑 No idea why he is doing this. I even went to bed later at 11:30pm last night so stupidly thought he would make it to around 6am. I’m wondering whether he is getting a bit chilly during the night and that is causing him to wake up earlier. He’s in our bedroom in his crate at night. It was a bit cold before I put on my dressing gown to take him out at 3am. Could this be causing him to wake earlier? I’m considering moving his dinner from 6pm to 5:30pm or 5pm to see if this helps. Bit worried if I do this he will be hungry during the night. What time do you all feed your puppies?

Heat our pup gets fed about 8am and 5pm, he does have a few dried biscuits down in the evenings which sometimes he eats sometimes he leaves. He's not a greedy dog and tends to stop when he's full.

That's annoying re him waking in the night, I'd be tempted to move the crate downstairs to see if that helped. Has he got a blanket in his crate? I tend to tuck my puppy up in his bed under the blanket at night 😶

I can't believe that our puppy is now heading towards the 6 month old mark! He is generally pretty good but we are finding walks difficult at times as he just sits down and refuses to budge 🙄 anyone else had this? I normally pick him up and walk a few steps with him and then try him again at walking. This works sometimes....

@heatseeker14 I am having a similar problem with my 4mth old puppy. He was sleeping really well but now.......arrrgghhh! Last night it was midnight, 2am and 6am - midnight and 2am he did not want to go out. 6am he went out for a wee then straight back to bed. What can it be?? Like you, I am wondering if he's cold but they have fur coats! And mine has a memory foam pad with vetbed on top, a warm pad like a hot water bottle and a blanket (although not covered). Do you think they just want a cuddle? I don't really feel like cuddling him at 2am but then I feel bad in the morning.......

@Girliefriendlikespuppies - mine also just stops but usually on the way home or in the driveway. I have to bribe him to get out of the car / off the pavement and into the house. I don't think he's tired, just wants to stay where he is, watching the world go by.

@Outtheforest hope your puppy is home and ok now.

Hi, please can i join? I have a 9 week old Miniature dachshund puppy whose gorgeous but exhausting. Ive had puppies before so its not my first rodeo but she's a different beast and my first daxie....crate training is taking forever and she cries if i leave the room. I've had 2 weeks off of work and thankfully am self employed so relatively flexible though I haven't left her home alone yet as the behaviourist wants her to be 100% happy with the crate.
I lost my old lovely dog at Christmas and was desperate for another but frankly this is harder than i remembered shock

Forest pup is home and recovering from surgery after 12 nights in the vets. He's doing much much better and the vet is hopeful this will be the end of his problems.
Hes currently making quite the nuisance of himself now hes feeling better and I'm having to try very hard to discipline him when actually I'm just so relieved hes feeling well enough to attack my cushions

Glad to hear forest pup is doing better.
We had a trial at a local daycare today for a couple of hours. Seemed to go well and the monster has been sleeping most of the day since. Bliss!
She is unfortunately regressing with pooing in the house - keeps going downstairs and pooing in the hall when we arent looking, and not going outside at all. No idea why!

@heatseeker14 ours started going to the toilet again in the middle of the night a few weeks ago after a few weeks of sleeping through. Sorry to tell you we haven’t worked out how to crack it.

He also wakes at dead in 6am so I had increased his last feed from 5pm to 6pm and that’s when he started needing a poo in the night. So moved it back to 5pm but hasn’t resolved the issue.

I also started giving him a bedtime biscuit, just half a bonio, but wondered if they could be causing it. I’ve just switched to a smaller ‘bedtime’ biscuit that has stuff like chamomile and valerian in it. Two nights ago I got really excited as thought he had slept through....turns out my husband has woken and let him out and I hadn’t heard him. First time ever!! Last night he woke twice 😬 I’m just hoping one of these days he will sleep through and all will be fine.

The separation anxiety hasn’t really improved so I’ve gone back to basics and being virtually housebound. Just doing the odd nipping out for 20 minutes or leaving him in the kitchen whilst I do jobs around the house. I think I rushed it before and it’s backfired. So fingers crossed he is still young enough to improve again quickly.

The nights and being housebound are getting me down so I’ve been trying to focus on the positives! We have been working on walking on lead a lot and that seems to finally be going in the right direction. He still had a long way to go but is good around half the time and generally pulls a lot less when he does pull. He is also doing quite well off lead. He has become more confident so his recall worsened a bit but I have worked out that he always knows where I am and will go in the same direction as me even if he doesn’t come right to me when I call. But he is generally quite cautious so I don’t have to worry too much when in the forest. We have had some lovely forest walks this week.

He is 6 months tomorrow, can’t believe it!

Hi all. Can I join please? We’ve had our 10 week old cocker for 9 days now and I’m worried I’m raising a psychopath. She has times where she really bites me and growls A LOT! Worse when she’s overtired. I’ve tried distraction with toys and training and have resorted to putting her in her crate for an enforced quiet time. It’s really getting to me, if she’s awake she’s biting and the growling is happening more frequently.

At other times she’s a complete baby and just wants to snuggle.

Currently looking for a decent trainer and reading easy peasy puppy squeezy, has anyone any tips or reassurance that this is normal????

Obligatory puppy pic!

The biting can be relentless. Unfortunately it's a bit like a toddler touching the TV or something, you just have to keep reinforcing it.

I've had a lot more luck standing still as statue and ignoring her or removing her to the crate or other room. She sometimes does it when she needs a poo! Other times she is over tired.

I read that puppies like routine, so that might help.

Clownpup has really grown, getting her weighed tomorrow but we reckon about 13kg. She's walking well, only ever sits down because she wants to follow a person or dog. We took her to a dog field yesterday and let her off, she loved it!

How does everyone find sticking to the "5min per month" for walking. It's so hard to only walk her for 20mins a day.

clowns I've not gone with the 5 mins per month thing, my pup is a terrier and has done a few long walks no bother. He's also nearly 6 months.

Although talking of walks he was a complete pita earlier, refused to walk and ignored me completely 🙄 He only perked up when another little dog came over and he wanted to chase her!!

He seems to be loosing teeth every day, really gross but hoping that will mean the chewing and biting will calm down?!

Gorgeous puppy cocker it is normal, we didn't have much growling but I think all puppies nip and bite.

I think I'm cautious because she's a large breed, a labradoodle. Especially with the Labrador element, I worry about her joints.

We definitely do a bit more than 20 mins in the whole day, but not too much.

I hope an end to the biting is in sight for you!

We have relaxed a lot on the 5 minute rule. I think you’re allowed to do more than that in total per da anyway but it was suggested not in one go? I took it to understand 2 or 3 walks of that duration per day?

I spoke to a trainer who’s view was that it matters more for big dogs than small dogs as I think the gap in their growth plates is bigger and takes longer to close. But she said a few things of interest:

1. Large working breeds growing up on a farm would get a lot more exercise than that a day just running around. But their growth is much slower as they won’t get all the treats that pets get. Apparently there are some studies to show growth rate/weight is more of a factor than duration of walks.
2. Hard surfaces are more impactful than soft - we have done quite a few hour long walks in forests where our puppy runs off lead and must cover so much ground. But he does tend to self regulate and will trot alongside me at times for a break. She said it’s the pounding walking on pavements that causes the impact rather than running on soft moss, leaves etc
3. She said to have an element of common sense so you wouldn’t bring them on a 5 hour mountain course or a long walk every day but she said the off longer walk is fine. I wasn’t walking mine to school as it’s around 15-20 minutes each way. But she said if I was rushing to get there then jjst walk slowly on the way back.
4. I think from looking at a couple of vets comments on other threads the 5 minute rule has been de-bunked a bit?

Mine is 6 months today. We tend to have one short around-the-block type walk and one longer walk per day. I try for the longer walk to be a forest run off lead but if it’s too muddy I just walk on the path.

Think all his baby teeth are out now. I hadn’t noticed him loosing any and then we had around a week of them all falling out, they were very cute!

We kept to the 5 minute rule within reason when on a lead and walking on pavements as it's harder on the joints. Totally relaxed that rule when off lead and wandering about on squishy forest floor walks. I think the rule is there to just make you be sensible rather than a hard one full stop. My vet said pavement walks yes but in the garden don't worry about all the time spend playing etc. From reading up on it I saw that squishy uneven surfaces are actually good for them and as someone mentioned being overweight is more of a problem.

Tbh if my dog has joint issues in the future it won't be because of not adhering to the 5 minute rule. It will be because of the injuries he had from just being stupid (ran into a table leg, jumped across a ditch etc ).

That's good to know, thanks. This morning giant pup has stolen a whole ham sandwich from the table

She does suddenly seem to have gone a bit feral and psycho the last couple of days. She's 4 months now.

Forest pup definitely does more than the 5 minute per month rule but not so much enforced. So when we go on an actual lead on aim is to walk walk we dont do more than 30 minutes. But he spends most of his day following either me or the other dogs round our farm for way more than 30 mins but that is his choice and he can sleep and rest whenever he likes in that situation. He is however left at home when I go running whereas the other dogs will come with me. I dont run far but I think the consistent speed is a bit much for him.
We are however abroad and that is just not a rule that people have ever heard of or follow

@ClownsandCowboys that’s so funny about the ham sandwich!! What a little opportunist, bet he couldn’t believe his luck!

@Girliefriendlikespuppies I have moved puppy’s dinner time to 5:00 - 5:30 pm, and this seems to have helped because he now squeezes out two poos before bed - staggered pooping obvs 😂 Since Friday he has managed 10:30 - 6:00 3 out of 4 nights. One morning he got up at 5:30 for the toilet and back to bed until 6:30, no idea why he got up earlier than usual. I don’t think it’s for a cuddle @shopsalot because he always needs the toilet. I’m sure he likes the added bonus of human contact during the early hours though! My husband told me I was making strange noises in my sleep the other night. Maybe I’ve been waking him up 🙄

Good to hear your pup is feeling better @Outtheforest.

Hello to CockerShark & HarrietBasset 👋🏻

@CockerShark our pup was flipping crazy around 10-12 weeks. Very bitey and occasionally growly. He is much better now at nearly 17 weeks. Occasionally bitey but nowhere near as bad. We use a time out pen when he ignores toys etc 😂 It is called his naughty pen of doom haha.