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

Are you all leaving your pups on crates downstairs?
My Dd keeps on about havjng to be with the puppy at night but I've read differing views.
Ours is 17 weeks so not teeny and she didnt like her crate at all to begin with (my fault for rushing things)
So I started again and moved crate into the kitchen so a busy area and put her much loved bed just at the entrance and.now she is happy to go in and out and also hilariously gathers up all her toys and takes them in.
Yesterday when I popped out I left the crate door open but shut the doors as she has done a couple of random poos on my sofas.
I left pads but she didn't use them and was fine for short periods.
So last night i settle her in there about 11. Tiny wbimpee but I chucked a few treats in and left door to crate open and came to bed when she was quiet left alexa playing nice music and a dim light on.
Dh got home from work at 1 and she was asleep no noise at all.
Dd came down a out 6 and she was in crate and obv happy to see her. Pads all dry. And went straight out for a wee.
Today I too Dd to a party for 2 hours. Did much the same and she was fine. Again no pee or poo on pads. So she's obv good at holding bless her.

So does this sound OK?
I've read so much on here about people sleeping next to their crates or setting alarms. Every 2 hours to. Toilet them.
Im.a shit sleeper as it is so this would be bad for me and my girls would be on their knees and the teenager bloody hideous.
Dh is on lates the next 2 nights so will be in and up in the middle of the night so will be able to check she's not in any distress.
I'm confused that people say they should never be left alone but then it's seems OK to leave them overnight.

Also. Am I did the right thing leaving the crate open as she is definitely happier with this.

She played in the garden today and loved it.

Snuffle kongs and chews weren't good early on. What he liked at 12-20 weeks were soft toys that squeaked, flappy soft toys that he could shake, andsoft toys with a little bit of chewy bit on them (like a piece of rope as part of the design) Big ropes big rubbery things were no good/interest. He also loved a tricorn thing that had a different sound (crinkly paper, squeaky, low crackly sound) in each corner. Wilko often has good toys for puppies, I really recommend the soft toy kind, small and shakeable that they can run around with. Chews are too heavy often.

He had a pheasant toy from John Lewis (stuffed but harder than a child's soft toy) that he loooved.

Ledkr I think puppies are like babies in that quite quickly they pick up the sleep patterns of day orientated mammals(cant remember the term for it, but not nocturnal!) so sleep soundly all night and then wake at intervals in the day for food stimulation play toileting. Whereas at night all these activities/appetites are suppressed. Dogs don't hunt at night so they whereas I think cats do. but even kittens quickly adapt to sleeping at night rather than playing, when they are in human society..anyway I'm sure some animal behaviourist will explain things better. Your arrangements sound fine to me, my pup was happy to sleep for 2 hour blocks sometimes in the day. My puppy also had their last pee at 11 and woke at 7, and could hold on fine, at 17 weeks.

I slept downstairs with her to stray with, but she was 8 weeks old. Now at 16 weeks she sleeps downstairs on her own.

The leaving alone thing depends very much on the puppy I think. At 16 weeks she now is happy to be left for 2-2.5 hours. But to start with we built it up because of her age. Dogs are social animals and don't want to be left alone all day and most puppies are used to 6 or so litter mated, plus mum being with them all day. So building up time is useful to make them feel safe.

Suddenly leaving a puppy for long periods if they aren't happy (which yours obvs is) can lead to separation anxiety, because they associate you not being there with horrible feelings.

I think it can depend on breed too. Some breeds are better at being left than others.

Ledkr one of my dd's friends (aged 15) had the puppy/dog/grown up dog in her room in his crate at night..I presume that was when they went for a decent stretch at night..I slept with mine for first three weeks, but by 17 week he was fine downstairs in a crate, no crying at all 11-7. A lot of people I know sleep with their dogs, it is definitely a Thing. Partly because there isn't the issue of them peeing on the floor anymore at random. Really I would sleep with my dog, if it wasn't for the amount of stairs in this house, and my dh's reluctance to have cats or dogs in our bedroom. On holiday I've slept with the dog on the bed and it was no problem, he certainly didn't disturb me.

I have no probs with dog sleeping in their rooms on her own bed when she's no longer having accidents.

I've got to crack the house training now.
She's grey at going where her pads and papers are but mostly next to it and not on them we are taking her outside and praising/treating her when she goes but dh has worked all weekend and I have had lots to do as well as the fact it's been pissing down for 2 days.

could you make a little gazebo for her to pee under, outside on the surface you want to see used? At that time of year (Feb) I had great success with my puppy peeing on the concrete floor of the greenhouse as far as I was concerned that was at least outside and a step in the right direction... I would also think that pads and papers could go outside rather than inside (if you can find a way to keep them under cover a bit, like porch?? My ddog still hates peeing outside the rain but he has worked out that he can go very quickly in the flowerbed next to the house instead of having to use the cold wet muddy lawn now.

Oh yes. I might look into that. I put a used pad outside but it got soaked an dthe newspaper blew away and scared her.. She's so tiny tho that the wees are quite small.

clowns I take back everything I said yday
We’ve woken up today and she’s suddenly crying to go outside to the toilet and when she’s taken out without asking she’s not fighting it too much.

And yet suddenly everything is biting. Tell her no - bite. Tell her yes - bite. Training session - bite. Snuggle - bite. Play - bite. Redirect - still just bites me
She’s spent more time in her pen in ‘time out’ than anything else today. Starting to feel sorry for the poor thing ...until I take her out and she bites me repeatedly again.

I’m sorry for ever offering advice on biting, like I knew what I was talking about

We had clearly not experienced actual biting yet

Mine is biting today as well. Pain in the arse. Its relentless isn't it. Wankers. 😂

I’m trying not to get annoyed
But also, would appreciate if she stopped being a dick.

Its torrential rain here and pup was fast asleep in her crate (door open but in a pen) so i braved the 18 minute school run (round trip) i filmed her and got back to a crying pup filming showed she became upset after 5 minutes and only tentatively licked the kong I'd left. Just feel shitty for rushing it as we've been going so slowly with trying to increase independence....reading this...

Snuffles you need a long waggly tuggy toy to do playbiting with. Also a pair of houseboots so she cannot bite your ankles. The pen sounds good, if you are near, she is still being socialised. I think the mistake we make is to think they are cuddly at this age, when they look cuddly. They become much cuddlier later when they aren't so adorable looking.. Dpuppy used to make these terrible lunges for me across the sofa, aiming for my nose or my hands - terrifying. He doesn't now. I credit his de-biting progress to lots of playing with other puppies - really it is a stage they need to go through. You can google bite inhibition. Any moving object they see, is fair game, because they are practising pouncing on prey and all sorts.

Yeah, the ever so cute lunge for the face. Today, to my shame when she bit me really hard on the back of my leg, I turned around and shouted "will you just fuck off".

I've read some more about biting and I tied an old t-shirt into a long knot toy and played way more with her when she bit. And kept repeating "this too shall pass"

It's like when you have a baby/toddler, people stop us on the street and say oh isn't she adorable. And I grit my teeth and agree

My pup is also known as "arsehole" especially when he gets bitey. Its normally down to tiredness so we shut ourselves in the kitchen with him and he tends to calm down and chill. Pup was neutered today which means wearing a cone for 10 days and minimal movement. He's already jumping around like nothing has happened and constantly walking into things. This is going to be a long ten days I fear.

Got her some more chewy toys out whilst she had a nap and I could finally figure out a plan of action and between that and the redirecting its working...mostly

Except now she’s scared of the pen, which depending what we’ve been doing actually has toys, a nice bed and blanket and usually a snack or chew and is not at all scary. She got so scared she has wet herself on three occasions in there (straight after doing a wee outside) Because I stepped out of it and sat next to her (and her toys On two occasions and her dinner on another) but didn’t chat to her. So we’re practicing getting treats when I leave and then getting straight back in now.

People keep saying leave her 5 minutes by herself now or you’ll never be able to leave, but I fear we’re a long way from that sort of confidence!!

It feels like we deal with one thing and a new thing becomes and issue immediately, there’s no moment of success!

Also I’m glad everyone else seems to refer to their pups the same way
I told a family member today that pup was being a dick and they thought I was being very unreasonable!

I obviously love her, but no sleep and cleaning someone’s wee 100 times a day whilst they bite you, Is somewhat draining

Tbf I thought both my DC were dickheads for at least some of their baby/toddler hood.

Mine was older when we got her 16 weeks so she has adapted quickly to being left alone.
She seems to love her crate now with her bed in it but I haven't shut the door yet and probably wont although tonight I could have done with it as she seems intent on gettin go to the sofa but has weed on it a few krnes and shit twice on the other one so I'm afraid I'm not allowing it.
We are working on her using her bed in the lounge while we arr all in there but she tries over and over to get up.
My poor girls end up sat on the floor with her so I'm going to get two nice big cushions for them to sit on which wil be extra seats at Xmas.
I felt a bit fed up tonifhr as dh is on his 3rd late so I've been on my own and I miss being able to relax and eat and watch TV.
It's the constant watching her for peeing or pooing I find exhausting and there's 3 of us.
I'd like to be abke to shut the crate for a break but I'm worried if it frighten her she won't go back in and at the moment she's sleeping in it all night with puppy pads on the kitchen floor so I don't want to spoil that.
I've also popped out for up to 2 hours leaving her in the samw way and she doesn't even whimper.
Dh has been in about 3 each night and she's as quiet as a mouse when he gets in.
She doesn't sleep properly in the day so I think she's really tired by 10.

Bitey day here too - must be something in the air. She had been much better the past week too, more fool me for thinking we had cracked it! To be fair, it's only me she bites. Well me and my mums old lady springer. I keep telling myself it's because she loves us best...
We still haven't really left her, which is stressing me out slightly as she is 15 weeks now so we need to bite the bullet at some point. I think she would prefer to be out of her crate so she can snooze on the sofa when we leave her but I just dont trust her not to chew something or hurt herself!

Ledk-what about putting the crate inside a pen? That’s the set up we’ve got and it seems to be working well (touchwood!!! Terrified of jinxing myself!) we put puppy pads in there during the night and he’s got some toys/water.

No room and the kitchen is her pen if you see what I mean.
Fitted kitchen no wires and just a table and chairs.
She seems happy enough and actually does all her wees on just one pad which she doesn't manahe in the day as I think she's too excited by the kids.

Our pup has been more licky and bitey again this week, he's not too bad with me but will try it on with dd.

On the plus I left him today at 10am and the dog walker took him out between 12-2, dd was home by 3.45 and this seemed to work well.

I'm leaving him in the kitchen/hallway now not just in his crate so he has more space to wander about, still has access to the crate if he wants it. As far as I'm aware he just sleeps when we're out, no crying or barking anyway.

He has started being a bit of a dick to other dogs though, he likes to try and pin them to the ground and growl at them 😒 funnily enough that doesn't go down well.