Puppy support group 3

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

A thread for all new puppy owners for support and understanding!!

My puppy is now 7 months and has hit the teens 😒🤪😳😫 stay with me fellow puppy owners - I need you!!!

[Nojeansplease]

Let me start by saying I’m far from a doomsday prepper
Even Italians are able to go food shopping still and in wuhan they’re having food delivered, so I’m not worried for us,
But the supermarkets round here don’t really do much, if any, puppy food.
So I’m going to stock up on that in case we get sick and can’t go out.

Is anyone else doing any other covid prep for your puppies? We have a lively little one and if we can’t do the walks and exercise dpup is accustomed to, He may be unbearable to live with...especially if we’re sick!
May have to buy a few new toys to hold back!

[Fizzlestix]

I should maybe be in the adolescent group now, I’m not sure
She’s 5 months and Im just wondering if anyone’s experienced the same thing..
We have a perfectly house trained dog through the day.
But at night, about once or twice a week she has an accident in her bed.
I don’t know when it happens, but she wakes up about 2-3 hours earlier than she normally does and doesn’t seem keen to go near it.

Everything I’m reading says it’s a medical issue like incontinence or uti And dogs should absolutely not want to go in their beds.

But most nights she can hold it for 12+ hours (her choice)
And if she wakes up and cries we never leave her there, it’s just as long as it takes someone to get to her (less than a minute - and I know she can normally hold it that long as other nights even if she sleeps for 10-12 hours, if I gave her the option of then snuggling in my bed or going outside she’d hold it!)

Do I need to be worried? Google says yes but I think the dryness all the other nights and during the day says it’s not incontinence or uti?!

[ValedictoryMessage]

I keep thinking she’ll be better by Christmas....

[heatseeker14]

Sorry to hear you’re having a tough time, @ValedictoryMessage. It is overwhelming when they are very small. My puppy would want to follow me everywhere. He cried when I popped upstairs for a few minutes. He came to the toilet with me. I found it intense and very intrusive. 😄 He is now 7 months old and so much better. I found ignoring him and flitting about worked. He mostly gets the message now. Still follows me it’s just not as intense!

[ValedictoryMessage]

I'm ready to hand mine back to the breeder ... if the rest of the family would let me.

Seems to suffer from intense FOMO and the hour of being an absolute terror in the morning makes it impossible to do anything else. 12 weeks.

[heatseeker14]

@Girliefriendlikespuppies and @Fizzlestix, it’s good to know I’m not the only one with a frisky puppy! I had to remove the new bed in the end. He never slept in the blasted thing anyway. 🙄 He tried bonking my arm instead, but I politely declined his advances. 😂
He has had the zoomies on and off the last few days. Charging around the garden like a mad thing. Seems restless and bored, even though he has had plenty of exercise and brain games. Had to make a point of ignoring him a fair bit today to get him to relax.

[Fizzlestix]

Our vet said for our girl that we should do her before first season. Basically the reduction in types of cancer outweighs the increase chance of anxiety / other issues in his opinion
We’ve not booked anything yet though. And I know lots of people disagree with him. He’s encouraged we do our own research and see what we think
I don’t even know when we should expect her first season

We thought getting a girl would mean no bonking, but since we picked her up at 8 weeks old, she’s always been a bit partial to a particular fluffy bed or a foot...

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Heat I've been told it can cause a few problems getting them done young including making them more anxious. I think we'll wait until he's at least a year... out boy has one of dds old soft toys that he likes to take off for some serious bonking 😳

[heatseeker14]

@BiteyMcBiteFace, she looks like she is full of beans! 😁 Love it when dogs pull crazy faces. When my pup is in full crazy mode he wriggles on his back and pulls a funny, toothy clenched grin. Reminds me of the Ridley Scott film Aliens! 😂

His hormones have now properly kicked in. Bought him a new bed the other day. He hasn’t slept in it once, but he has been humping it a lot. 🙄 If I throw a toy for him, he will fetch it a couple of times then he will furiously bonk his bed. This seems to only happen in the evening at the moment. I know we shouldn’t laugh, but yesterday we were literally crying with laughter because he looked so funny. So determined and was literally beaming with happiness afterwards. 🤣 Today I have my serious head on and need to make sure I try to prevent it becoming a habit. Think we will get him castrated soon. Planned to wait until he was 9 months old, but I’m not so sure now. We delayed getting him done because I was worried about it affecting his growth. I think he has stopped growing now, but I have read that neutering can fix a dog at a mental age. Is there any truth to this? I obviously don’t want him stuck in teenage mode for a long time haha.

[BiteyMcBiteFace]

This is a recent photo of Biteypup in full adolescent mode

[BiteyMcBiteFace]

Lovely pup photos

@Outtheforest So glad to hear your pup is doing well, even if the chicken aren't happy about it I remember your posts when he was very poorly.

@lazzaroo Our lab pup is 9 months and can still get OTT and mouthy (especially with DH) when overtired or overstimulated. I try and fit some time in the day when there's nothing for Biteypup to do than nap. If she thinks I'm up to anything at all, she wants to be part of it - even if it's as mundane as emptying the bin I will use a house line still in the evening if I know she's had a busy day and she might start getting mouthy and jumping about on people on the sofa. It makes it so much easier to deal with her without manhandling her.

[heatseeker14]

I’m glad to hear your pup is doing well @Outtheforest. I remember you posting about how poorly he was. Good to hear he is back to full health.
Dpup has been really full on today. He has had two walks, most of it off lead with a bit of ball play. Played fetch with him in the house. Has had his treat ball, Kong and snuffle mat. Kids blew dog friendly bubbles with him. In and out of the garden like a blue-arsed fly. Scrounging in the kitchen whilst I was prepping dinner. In the end I told him to pack it in, and now he is now snoozing on the floor instead of the brand new bed I bought him! 🙄😂

[Outtheforest]

I forgot all about these threads but for those that remember my sickly rescue from thread 2 he is now 9 months old, gaining weight and has been given the all clear by the vet. Unfortunately for him his reward is hes now healthy enough to have his balls off.
Hes definitely going through teenage phase but is a sweetie when he isn't being selectively deaf about chasing the chickens

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Juan mine is half jrt (and half yorkie) it's definitely a terrier thing. We had a yorkie growing up who was a nightmare for fussiness and my dad's jrt only eats once a day when he's starving!

Love the pics 😍

[heatseeker14]

@Girliefriendlikespuppies & @Juanbablo, your pups are so adorable. 😍 Here is my little shadow. 😄

[Juanbablo]

Girlie he's a Jack Russell. Maybe it's a terrier thing? Although my Nan's JRT wolfs her food down in seconds.

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Keep and heat would love to see recent pics of your pups!!

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Juan what breed is he? Mine only eats once a day as well at teatime. He had reflux a while back and the vet suggested 3 small meals a day absolutely no chance of that. He looks at me like I'm crazy when I offer him breakfast!!

My boy is a terrier mix, he is also a healthy weight, lots of energy etc so I don't worry too much now.

Here's recent pics of the little bugger 😉

[Juanbablo]

He is so fussy. Never eats his breakfast, rarely any lunch but will usually eat dinner. He's probably so hungry by that point. He has gained the weight back that he lost so he's obviously eating enough but I find it all so worrying! He's so small, I worry about him not eating enough to grow. He has plenty of energy, sleeps well, wees and poos regularly so I suppose he must be getting enough. It's like having a baby all over again!!

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Juan your puppy sounds worse than mine for fussiness and that's saying something!! Mine eats half a tin of butchers puppy food and I mix some James Wellbeloved biscuits in with it. I tend to leave some biscuits down all the time as he will occasionally snack on them (he has to be starving though! I've heard good things about Millie Wolfhearts food so might try that next.

Keep he wakes me up two or three times a week for the toilet overnight, it's always a poo he needs. Sometimes I walk him late to try and get him to poo then, this sometimes works.

[Juanbablo]

He won't eat any dry food, even if it's been mixed with water. Luckily he doesn't ever have a poorly tummy, never has loose poo or is sick. So we've been trying different foods to see what he likes, which is what our independent pet shop recommended. Nothing! He likes nothing! Except cheese, chicken, turkey. At this rate I'm going to end up cooking him dinner as well as the rest of us.

[Keepsmiling1]

Hi,

I haven't been on here for a while and SmileyPup is 8 months next week. I can't believe how much he has changed in the past few months. He is really good with DDs and will happily stay on his own for 3/4 hours. He is no longer crated and will sleep on the floor next to my bed (and jump up for a cuddle in the middle of the night!) He still pulls on the lead but is getting better. His recall went a bit off when he hit 6 months and sometimes I have to shout him a couple of times if he can see other dogs to play with but 9/10 he comes straight back. He doesn't bark (except at animals on the tv!) and loves a snuggle on the couch.

However he still needs to wee/poo overnight most nights. Generally in the day he is very good and he rings his bells to tell us he needs to go out (only a problem if we are upstairs and can't hear him as he will go on the kitchen floor!) At night he started going in the bathroom so we put a puppy pad down and he goes there now. It's great because he never wakes us and always goes on the pad but I thought he would have grown out of this by now. I was at puppy class today and they said he should be able to hold it overnight by this age and we should restrict him so he has to wake us to go out. When he realises he has to go outside he may hold it. @girliefriendlikespuppies is your pup still needing to go out overnight? I feel like mine is the only one still needing to go out or having the occasional accident!

[Snufflesdog]

We keep royal Canin puppy for when ours won’t eat - like when teething or upset tummy
She loves royal canin so much I can use it as a training treat
I always assumed it was like McDonald’s when you’re hungover or unwell haha

I find if I mix royal canin onto something and really mix all the gravy in she’ll eat pretty much anything
When you said you’re transitioning is this what you’re doing? Or just swapping one meal?

If pups always been on wet food - RC is quite small and mushy too, the kibble probably feels weird and also boring and not as rich!
I’d definitely try some hot water in there too to soften it up as pp have said
Sometimes I add puppy milk
Or other wet food
But to be honest our puppy would rather not eat than eat kibble So I feel your pain!

[heatseeker14]

Hi Juan, have you tried mixing a little bit of boiled water with the dry food to make it mushy? I was told this can help when transitioning to dry food on its own.
I wouldn’t worry what other people say about your dog’s breed. All dogs have the capacity to be snappy and aggressive in the wrong hands. Sounds like you’re doing the right thing with training. Socialisation is also very important. Can be embarrassing when pups decide to gate crash another dog’s walk though! Mine has done it a few times!

[Juanbablo]

One thing we are really having a hard time with though is food. He won't eat anything! He started off on royal Canin mini puppy food. I had heard it wasn't great quality and we ultimately wanted him to eat dry food, so we slowly transitioned him onto Tails. He wouldn't eat it and started to lose weight so we tried Nature's Menu, Barking Heads, Lily's Kitchen, Wainwright's. He won't eat any of it!! Trying Butchers now and if he doesn't like it (so far has tried a tiny bit of two meals) the I'm going back to Royal Canin. It's better he eats something than nothing. I thought dogs ate anything! Our cat will eat literally anything but this puppy is so fussy!