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!!!

Your dogs all sound lovely. I’m so disheartened with mine

Trust me it often feels like others dogs are so much 'better' than yours. It also feels like you should be doing lots of training and everyone's dog can do a million more tricks.

The key thing to remember is that most people are battling with something. Training can happen later if you need to manage the biting for a bit. I spent most of my dogs first year getting through the awful puppy/adolescent months with just sit/stay and recall. We learnt other stuff when he was an adult as you can teach old dogs new tricks.

Bitey-he’s a cocker terrier cross. What do you mean by hunting with him? Actual hunting?!

Perpetually-at 15 weeks he’s still a baby at the height of the biting phase! Ours was a horror at that point. Fast forward 7 weeks and he’s a different pup. It’s those pesky teeth! He will stop eventually.

8-10 training sessions a day?!
What are you guys possibly teaching?!

I feel like we should be doing more training, but I don’t even know what else is worth the time. He’d rather play or sniff out food as well.
We’ve got about 5 different recall options, wait, leave, sit, lie down, stay, bed, up (on the couch) and speak - we practice doing all of these with distance and distractions
He’s got them all absolutely perfect, no matter what distractions there are, unless he just decides he doesn’t want to (terrier) and then I’ve got no hope.

We’re working on toileting commands and settle
I’ve tried to teach fetch but he’s not great and he’s happier just playing tug
And I’m trying to teach quiet - but that’s a tough one and also ‘off’ but since he doesn’t jump up when it’s just us - only exciting new people
That’s difficult too.

What else is worth the time?
I’m finding it hard to have the energy to teach things like roll over, which doesn’t help me at all, amongst all the actual please stop chasing and barking at people training And please learn to play by yourself for 30 seconds training

Oh we also practice handling, paw, look at me and letting my brush his teeth

He got the basics of all of that by about week 10 though,
So even just the 3 training sessions we do a day running through those again - inside and outside the house, trying to add distractions that he doesn’t care about
Can be fairly boring

Hi new pup arrived yesterday from crete. Last night she barked and whined for a bit and woke at 1am and again barked and whined for a bit. Then 5am for a wee. I have been awake with her since 5. she is now asleep beside me on sofa. Should I be making her sleep in the crate in the day? its so nice cuddling her but I don't want to ruin nights. She was fostered with her sister and is 4months. was sleeping through night with foster.
She is not used to kids and is jumping up a lot at my daughter who is 6 and now is quite scared. Any advice on this apart from the obvious folding arms and walking away. Thankyou

We’ve got sit, paw, a few seconds of stay. He’ll go to his bed when we tell him to and down but we haven’t specifically trained him to do that it’s just come naturally. We’re also teaching ‘middle’ where he runs around the back and stops between our legs but it’s very early days on that.

We just want a dog who will be calm in the house and can enjoy off lead walks.

Woody by hunting I mean hiding and finding objects like balls. He loves to chase and hunt given that he is a cocker. Given yours is terrier/cocker you could try hide and seek so he has to find you behind a tree, running away and calling him, finding balls (start small in the house/garden then try outside). Take toys with you outside when walking and try and engage him all the time because for most young dogs simply walking by you is boring especially if they can run off and play with other dogs.

Thanks for the advice bitey, I try and play hide and seek with him but he never gets far away enough to give me chance to hide 😄 I’ll try with his toys etc

Perpetual I would be telling the puppy a very firm no when she bites, they do eventually get the message. Is she getting enough rest time/sleep? Our pup was a nightmare if tired, at 16 weeks they need up to 20 hours of sleep a day!!

My dd did all of the training with our boy, he knows sit, stay/wait, paw, roll over, play dead, touch (nose to hand) spin, bow and crawl!! I can take no credit teen dd did all the teaching. If we drop a treat he automatically waits now and isn't allowed to get it until he maintains eye contact with us.

When we're out and about he's not quite so good though 🙄 if he finds a friend who wants to play I have to drag him away. He also tends to run up to small children, he loves kids but obviously not all kids love dogs. He is getting a bit better at not approaching every dog and giving other dogs a bit of space, well sometimes any way 😬

Apologies I've forgotten who asked about his sickness (can't scroll back on my phone) he seems a bit better, just chucked up once this week. Vet said to feed him 3 times a day but that seems impossible as he point blank refuses food until teatime. He eats no where near the amount recommended for his weight, I tend to leave kibble down all the time now and he occasionally snacks on it. Otherwise he just has one tin of Butchers wet food a day. He looks a healthy weight, lots of energy etc so I'm not too worried.

Thanks @BiteyShark & @Woody479, I’m trying to hold on to an image of having a calmer dog in time.

Our pup arrives tomorrow, 9.5 weeks.

In the midst of the nippy phase!

Collie

Have classes starting in two weeks but unsure what to do meantime!

Girliefriendlikespuppies that’s actually what DH tells me, he reckons I’m not assertive enough. I’ll try tomorrow to be much more so. She sleeps all night but maybe only for a couple of hours during the day, not sure how to get her to sleep more.

Well done to your DD, she must have patience by the bucketload.

Haven’t been on here for a while, sorry! Pup is now 7 months and today he’s ill. I’ve never seen him actually ill before - even when he’s had an upset tummy before he’s been full of beans - but this morning he was sick and wouldn’t eat his breakfast and is moping around being all sad and lacklustre. I took him to the vet and they gave him an anti-vomiting jab (he was only sick once though) and some tins of dog food but he’s only eaten about 2 tablespoons of food and when I tried to give him some more just now he wouldn’t touch it and he wouldn’t take a bit from my hand either, and he didn’t want to drink water. They said he has a temperature and we are to go back tomorrow to have his temp taken again. I feel so sorry for him and I’m worried - it’s so unusual. He isn’t following me around the house or magically appearing when the fridge door opens either.

How’s pup now @MaryLennoxsScowl? Our boy was ill a couple of days ago. He was sick 3 times before bed and was like a wet rag. Didn’t want to walk up the stairs to bed. He was sick again at 2am and his tummy was making horrendous noises. We thought he was going to have diarrhoea. DH took him out and he did a normal #2. The tummy noises continued for quite a while. He wouldn’t drink from his bowl so I gave him water using a spoon. In the morning he was quite perky. I gave him rice and chicken to be on the safe side. I knew he was okay when he looked up at me as if to say WTF is this?! I hope your pup is feeling better now. I hate it when Dpup is poorly.

How are your new arrivals doing? @puppyNC? @neenienana

@Girliefriendlikespuppies, glad to hear your pup is okay. It seems like there are quite a few bugs about at the moment.

Good so far. Two pees and a poo outside so far. Know we won’t be accident free overnight though!

That’s a really good start, puppyNC. Do you have a photo of him/her?

Sorry to hear that there's other poorly pups, I think dogs must be more vulnerable to tummy bugs because they eat/lick all manner of disgusting things 🤢 Touch wood our pup hasn't been sick for a few days now...

He did however get me up at 4am this morning as he needed a gigantic 💩 ffs. I walked him down the road about half an hr ago in the hope he'd do a poo then but other than wees nothing. Can't believe my life has come to this on a Friday night 🤣🤣🤣

In other exciting news he has finally started cocking his leg on walks rather than just bopping down, my boys growing up 😁

Haha I thought the same earlier @Girliefriendlikespuppies when I was watching Dpup snoozing on the sofa. How times have changed!! When he was ill I was super excited to see a solid poo. Such a saddo! 😂
Dpup has just started to cock his leg too! The first time he did it both DH & I saw him. It took me back to when the kids where small and they reached a milestone. 😂

@heatseeker he’s been so limp all day - I was getting really worried. He wouldn’t play with his toys, trotted placidly at my heels when we went outside and kept refusing water even when I dipped my fingers in his bowl and let him lick them (didn’t think of a spoon!). Then about 6pm he went into the kitchen while I was out the room and stole a wood plant holder that’d been sitting around and when I caught him chewing it I knew he was feeling better! He’s still not fully himself but has also stolen DH’s shoe and made me hold his antler at the correct angle for gnawing for 20 minutes, and did a tiny bounce over a puddle last time I took him out!
Have also spent my Friday night anxiously observing to see if my pup was going to poo, @Girliefriendlikespuppies! I’d like to pretend I had glamorous evenings before pup, but sadly those days are years behind me anyway!

Do you think letting him sleep on my bed because he’s not well is the Beginning of the End? He usually sleeps in his crate in our bedroom and gets to jump up on the bed when the alarm goes off - this used to encourage us to get up but nowadays he likes to jump up and then snooze too so our alarm assistant has been sleeping on the job. He’s recently been thinking that any time he wakes up at night should be time for him to get into bed so I suspect an all-nighter would be The Thin End of the Wedge.

ML Scowl, our pup started off in a crate and was allowed on our bed if he went to the toilet at 5-6am. Now he sleeps on his bed on our bedroom floor but comes round at some point to ask to get on our bed. Our bed is really high, so he can’t get up by himself. This has been as early as 4am!
When we go up around 10:30 - 11ish he always makes sure I am in bed before he shuffles off to his bed. It it so adorable. Sometimes he will come back to see if I’ll allow him straight up. I say go to bed and he shuffles off again. 😄
When he was poorly I let him straight up. Was a bit worried he might have diarrhoea, so I put down puppy pads and a fluffy blanket on the end of our bed. Made me feel better to know he was close to us. So far he hasn’t pushed to get straight up with us now he is better. I’d crack quite quickly if he tried it though! 😂

I'm sorry to hear of the poorly pups. Hope they are better soon! We have done 2 off lead walks now. Puppy is 14 weeks. The park was deserted which helped. He ignored me a fair few times but did come back more than he didn't. I'm just so worried that as soon as he sees a person he will run straight up to them. He loves people, especially kids, but I know that lots of people don't like dogs and plenty of kids are scared of them. So I want to get the re call cracked. But as someone else said, why on earth would he want to come back to boring old me when he could play with someone new? Even chicken or cheese wouldn't get him back I don't think.

Hey @Juanbablo we haven’t got it nailed but I generally only let him off places where all the other dogs are off too - in the hopes that at least he’s not running up to anyone that is on lead for a reason!

I also put him on a long lead when we get there for his initial burst of new smells and excitement and practice recall
My ‘rule’ is that he needs to come back to me 3 times, on first go, before I let him off. And each time it’s a jack pot reward of his best treats and loads of it
Then he’s sort of reminded of the process in the new environment
And also what good things await him if he comes back!

He’s 4 months and it’s not perfect, but people comment a lot on how good he is for his age so it’s not tooo bad.
He’s definitely not learned of dogs growl it means go away, or any other pieces of common sense, so I do need to spot on lead dogs before He does!

Sorry to see there’ve been some poorly pups

Mine is 18weeks. I’ve been letting him off-lead since he was 12weeks, taking full advantage of that ‘puppy recall instinct’ they have. Recall command wise, I use a whistle, an Acme 210.5. It has a consistent tone and if you have to replace it every one sounds the same so your dog will recognise it. It carries much further and clearer than my voice too (especially in windy weather) so he can hear it better. Given that we’re 18 weeks now, his ‘stay close’ puppy instincts are fading and yet he still recalls very well, probably 19 out of 20 recalls are first time comebacks. I recall him and he is rewarded with a click and a treat (we are clicker training too). The slight problem is that it can be a bit fiddly having the clicker, the whistle and a treat (high value treats like tiny bits of minute steak work brilliantly for us).

As for other dogs or people causing a distraction/run risk, the trick is for you to spot them and get your puppies attention before he/she does. Easier said than done sometimes, I know. You can use a long line if you want but some people find them a pita because they get tangled up and/or mucky/caught on things. I’ve got one but have never used it.

When I first let my dog ‘off the lead’ I used to leave his lead on but just let it drop to the floor. That way I had a bit more of something to grab if I needed to (rough playing, running off, eating things he shouldn’t, meeting people he shouldn’t etc). It did get grubby dragging on the floor though! After about a week of consistently good recalls I disconnected the lead completely.

@Nojeansplease, mine still has a few problems reading the body language of ‘no thank you’ dogs but he’s getting there. He’s much better at ‘asking’ if they want to play first and then coming back to me sooner if they give off negative signals. The problem comes when an on lead ‘No thank you’ dog is being walked with a playful dog. He finds it difficult to keep spatial awareness and stay out of the ‘no thank your dog’s space when he’s playing with the playful dog and ends up getting growled/snapped at. He could do with learning a bit more etiquette in that arena.