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!!!

[DeathByPuppy]

He is a lab, yes @BiteyMcBiteFace. He doesn’t like other dogs’ poo but LOVES sheep and horse manure

[BiteyShark]

BiteyDog (cocker) loves horse and cow poo.

He narrowly avoided a kick once because he inspected a horses bottom too closely for a fresh meal .

[DeathByPuppy]

Yikes!

[NZlife]

Hi, I'm new here!
We recently got a Labrador puppy, he's just over 13 weeks and we've had him 2 and a half weeks. He was really really nervous for the first few days but has settled in so well! I think we've almost cracked house training and today he did a wee & a poo on our walk which I was very pleased about!
We're going to book puppy classes to start in a week or so in the hope it will help with recall and some basic training. He's pretty good at going into his crate & will stay in there all night. He also will sit and wait for his food.
He pulls on his lead when we're out and gets very excited about other dogs and people and he will not drop any kind of toy (or slipper or sock) when he is playing with it!
I was so worried the first days that he wasn't going to be happy here with us but he is now so playful and loving and my DS absolutely adores him!

[Nojeansplease]

@BiteyMcBiteFace
Hes a terrier
I’ve been tackling it the last few days on my own
I’ve bought a new bed for the pen that he loves
And introduced a schedule
He gets 10 mins playing. 10 mins free from the pen to play by himself (ignoring any crying about the lack of attention)
Some snuggles
And then back in the pen with his meal in a puzzle / a chew
(Plus all his walks etc - and this is just during work hours!)
Then I can do about 45 mins work!!

It started out a bit rough, day one was intense crying!! (and I didn’t start with 45 mins!)
But very quickly he’s gotten used to it.
And today I even managed enough time to shave my legs in the shower
So. I mean. Dh will be pleased.

[Nojeansplease]

@NZlife if you hold down any flappy parts of the toy, and press it against your thigh (gently and slowly) it sort of forces a drop
Then I say drop as he lets go and then good!!! And give it back again straight away, or shove a treat in his mouth

[NZlife]

Thank you @Nojeansplease I'll try that today!

One thing I've noticed is when my DS and DDog are playing if my DS lies down the dog will stand over/on top of him. I keep telling my DS to not lie down while they're playing and I tell the DDog no and to get off but is this something I need to nip in the bud or is it just innocent play?

[Juanbablo]

We are having a BAD Puppy Day. 😭 so bitey, constant barking (which I have no idea how to fix so will have to ask at training on Monday). Hyper to the max. We've played and had a walk and played some more. As a last resort I've put him in his crate with some treats in the kong and I'm desperately hoping he will have a sleep as we've got some friends visiting with little kids and he can't behave like that around them. Our kids are used to it but it's still really hard to handle when we have days like this. Puppy is 13 weeks now and I feel like we are having more good days but he likes to throw in one of these to mix it up a bit!

[Snufflesdog]

@Juanbablo I remember this! We used to get one bad day and 2 good days
Then one or two bad and one or two good. The ratios started to work In Our favour and now the bad days are few and far between and they’re not as bad as the BAD days used to be!

Sometimes too much playing and stimulation can help create it, especially if they’re over tired. Maybe try training I’m instead of playing, if the chew doesn’t work.

Would also be interested to know what the trainer says about barking! We were told not to teach a ‘quiet’ and just move them away from triggers - but that is easier said than done, and sometimes impossible!

[Juanbablo]

Thankfully the bad days are less and less. He was much calmer after a little nap and good with friend's kids. We went out for a few hours early evening and he's been off his tiny head ever since we got back. He's having a fight with a doormat right now.

[Outnumb3red]

Ddog is 19 weeks now.

Still have some infrequent issues with toileting inside. Had to buy a new mattress on my sons bed as the dog peed it

He's good out walking. Great off the lead and comes right back.
He is still pretty scared of other dogs. Has a wee bark as they approach, he does stop once they are close. How do I stop the initial bark tho? If he has a good interaction he gets a treat. If he barks I try to walk away from the situation, is this enough? If they try to sniff him, he's hiding behind my legs, but he wants to sniff them. He's internally conflicted lol

[AliGoldie]

Day 14 here with new Goldie pup. She’ll be 10 weeks in 2 days. Besides feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and anxious all the time, things are going great! 🤪. Biggest challenge right now is crying and barking in the crate during the day the minute she’s bored or I heave the room. She can’t even go 30 secs without barking. Feel like a prisoner in my home. Went for a 20 min walk yesterday just to regain some sanity and came home to hysterics. Have tried everything, slow intro to the crate, feeding in crate, treats in crate... the crate is fine, doesn’t mind it at all...except when I leave the room. She even sleeps peacefully in her crate for 6-8 hrs a night. But how can I leave my house? People who work outside the home don’t have a choice. How do you do it?? Is it ok to let them cry/bark? Will it eventually stop?!

[DeathByPuppy]

Day time crate training can take weeks. Building up to leaving her alone can take weeks. You may be trying to run before you can walk. Sorry, I know that’s probably not what you want to hear .

I know what you mean about feeling like a prisoner in your home, it is a bit like that in the early days but you do need to remember that she has been taken away from everything she knew and now you are her entire world. It’s really scary when you leave. Are you on Facebook? The ‘Dog Training Advice And Support’ page is really useful. They have ‘units’ for you to read which cover loads of behavioural and training issues and then you can ask questions directly to the trainers. Very useful.

Have you got any books? I like the ‘Happy Puppy Handbook’ and ‘Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy’, both have useful, easy to read and easy to implement training advice for these things.

[DeathByPuppy]

Leaving her to cry to the point of hysterics isn’t good. You are just storing your a load of separation anxiety in her, which is the opposite of what you’re trying to do. Do you give her a chew or a frozen, stuffed Kong when you leave the room, so she is both distracted by your leaving and associates your leaving with positive things?

[AliGoldie]

Yes I feed all her meals in the Kong. I just wet her kibble and then freeze it. She loves it and is fine while it lasts but then starts whining and barking the minute it’s empty (about 10-15 mins max), which doesn’t leave me much time to get anything done. Thanks for all the great resources though! I am on Facebook and will look up that group and the books you mentioned:) I think I need to work in my patience.

[AliGoldie]

Actually, can you suggest a chew toy that tastes good and will keep a pup occupied for longer than a kong? I just find if it’s too frozen she just gets frustrated and barks and when it’s thawed a bit (which is how I give it to her) she’s done too quickly. She won’t just sit and chew the empty Kong. She is VERY food- motivated.

[DeathByPuppy]

Bulls pizzles last ages when puppies are dinky. They really stink though! Avoid those rawhide chews, they are often toxic. They are best supervised though, so they don’t choke. I gave mine his in 20min stints to start off with, a few times a day and it took him a good 3 or 4 days to finish one.

My lab puppy (pretty much 17wks) eats mostly dry food but I freeze wet pate type puppy food in his kong. It seems to last him longer, he licks it out, it takes about 25-30 mins for him to finish one.

Also Yak chews are good (they sell them in pets at home or online). They’re made from yak’s milk. You can put the last bit in the microwave when they get chewed down to a stump and they ‘puff’ up. Just makes it a bit safer for them and means the last bit isn’t wasted . Just make sure you buy the right size for her. As a large breed pup you need at least a medium or large size chew. The small ones are choking hazard for her. It’s best to get them from an actual shop rather than online so that you can actually gauge the size. Sometimes the ones described as ‘large’ on the ‘net are tiny [voice of experience].

[BiteyShark]

Ali have you tried her in the crate whilst you are in the room and when she is calm literally step out of her sight then back again.

Maybe keep talking in a calm voice and do that time and time again so that you step out of sight for a few seconds longer. Then be quiet so no talking and do it.

Sounds daft but I used to put BiteyDog into his crate and would potter about the kitchen and every now and again feed him a treat through the bars if he was quiet. I also used to do the walking out the room but when he was behind a baby gate coming in and out all the time but you could do the same thing with the crate. If there was protest crying (not anxious or stressed) I would ignore but move about the room until he was quiet and then he would get a treat through the crate bars.

[AliGoldie]

Thanks so much for the great advice! She is usually calm when I’m in the room with her but the minute I walk away, she whines. I’m going to slow it down a bit and do as you suggest - walking away for a second while talking to her and treat when she’s quiet - so ya, doesn’t sound daft at all. I’m lucky she loves her food. I haven’t had to get fancy with treats yet. I’m also going to look up those puzzle toys. I figure by the time I’ve made the round and tried everything she’ll be out of the puppy stage and we’ll have moved onto a new challenge! I just wish I knew the difference between protest/anxious/stressed crying 😕. I mean sometimes it’s obvious, but not always.

[AliGoldie]

@BiteyShark sorry I think I misunderstood. It’s the bully pizzle sticks?

[BiteyShark]

The treats we used weren't the ones Death suggested mainly because at that age we were battling with upset stomachs but lots of people swear by those that DeathByPuppy suggested as a distraction.

For treats push through the crate just for being quiet we used tiny training treats but for leaving for longer periods we started to use a sturdy biscuit type dispenser and kept using that as we increased the time apart. I actually don't think it really matters what you use (as long as it isn't a choking risk) as your dog gets used to being given a particular 'something' that indicates treat for being left alone for a bit. It obviously helps when little if the treat distracts them from being left initially.

[AliGoldie]

@BiteyShark sorry for the mixup. Day 1 on here and still learning how to reply to the right person. I’m afraid about upset stomach too. She’s doing so well with just her kibble. I will definitely invest in some stinky bully sticks when she’s a bit older. Will do some research and try different things. Would love to leave her with a stinky bully stick right now because I know she’d love it, but would be afraid of choking.

[BiteyShark]

That's ok AliGoldie and welcome to the doghouse section. The puppy survival threads were really helpful when mine was a puppy for support.

[DeathByPuppy]

If you are a bit wary of introducing new foods (I don’t blame you) then I recommend the KONG Wobbler, it’s a really robust slow dispensing puzzle feeder (great for chewy retrievers!). I‘ve got the large one (big and heavy!) and put a couple of wine corks in mine, along with the kibble to slow down the delivery and keep him busy for longer. There are lots of puzzle ball type feeders available, just make sure it is appropriate for your kind of dog. Even when my puppy was really small we still had to have robust toys because he LOVED chewing toys and was shaping up to be a ‘power chewer’.

[AliGoldie]

The support and advice here after just one day has already helped so much. So thank
you thank you. I was looking at the Kong wobbler. Going to get one now for sure. And wine corks! Genius!