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The doghouse

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Original poster

Puppy survival thread! June 2020

693 replies

Juiceey · 31/05/2020 11:37

Hello, anyone around to join me?

We've got our first puppy, a miniature poodle, yesterday. So far so good apart from the incessant humping!

He's VERY bitey, which doesn't hurt yet but no doubt will soon. He's massively attached to DW already and cries if she leaves the room. He loves DS but I think he played with him too much yesterday and overtired him, hence the humping?!

Crate training isn't easy and he cried for half an hour last night but then slept through til 5. Which is horribly early but I was ready for that!

OP posts:
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thecapitalsunited · 14/06/2020 18:01

I haven’t left the house but I’ve gone into the garden (or hidden in the loo) for 10-20 mins and pup has either been in his crate or his playpen. He hasn’t earned free run of the house yet so is only out of his pen or his crate under supervision.

JudasHisCarrot · 14/06/2020 18:38

Yes, we've left ours for up to an hour on a few occasions. Each time have left him (post toilet trip) with a king stuffed with kibble and peanut butter and then frozen and he's been fine. One of the first times he was crying when we got back but since then he's been fine. We worked up to that - 10 mins one day, then 15...etc.

JudasHisCarrot · 14/06/2020 18:39

He still cries when I go upstairs though Hmm

muckandnettles · 14/06/2020 19:30

Have any of you found any good chews that last a while? I've just found that my pup gets through most of them so fast apart from the bully sticks we got this week - they last about half an hour which is amazing. I'm quite squeamish about some of these chews I must admit (looking on Amazon, they sell lungs, hooves, snouts...urgh) but if they kept him happy for a while I'd get them I think as the bully sticks have been brilliant at calming him down and they are pretty disgusting. He will sit with a Kong but isn't falling over himself to get to it, iykwim, and sometimes it's just useful to have something handy to give him, so any good chews you can suggest?

Original poster
Juiceey · 14/06/2020 19:44

Ostrich spaghetti! He gives them a good going when we need him to wind down. From Amazon.

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OwlInAnOakTree · 14/06/2020 19:57

Which bully sticks do you have @muckandnettles?

OwlInAnOakTree · 14/06/2020 20:03

We had a puppy play date today with a ten month old pup which went really well. And now it's thundering and he's completely unbothered by it. Two positive puppy socialization ticks today. 😆

thecapitalsunited · 14/06/2020 20:04

@muckandnettles Glad the bully sticks worked for you. We’ve tried pigs ears this week which seemed to last a while but they are quite fatty so you can’t feed too often. I was able to watch a film while he gnawed himself into contentment but I don’t think my pup is a particularly hard chewer. We get 10 minutes of peace from a raw chicken wing but I try to give that as part of a meal. He gets the same look of contentment as when he’s going at a harder chew.

Rowdythree · 14/06/2020 20:48

My pup loves his buffalo horn, it's lasted weeks and he chews it every night. Especially when he's in a bitey mood. I did buy an antler but lost it between the shop and the car Confused but I've heard they're good too

OwlInAnOakTree · 14/06/2020 20:50

Thanks @Juiceey and @thecapitalsunited I'm not sure what to do re leaving ours. He naps in his crate quite happily with a blanket over it. We don't have a pen, but he's largely confined to the back living room for now. I wonder if we tried leaving him in his crate but without the blanket over it, that in itself might unsettle him. But not quite sure I want to leave him unsupervised in the room even for only five minutes at this point. It's impossible for either of us to leave the room without him making a run for it anyway. So crating him might be the only way we can actually leave. 😄

happygolucky6 · 14/06/2020 20:54

Today I gave my pup an empty lucazade bottle and she has spent hours chasing it around and biting it. So all the chews and toys I've spent money on, the top toy seems to be a bottle 🤣🤣🤣

muckandnettles · 14/06/2020 21:08

@OwlInAnOakTree the bully sticks are from Maltbys, on Amazon. They sell all sorts of things I didn't know existed.

muckandnettles · 14/06/2020 21:14

I'm looking at ostrich spaghetti (wtf?) and pig's ears on Amazon. Thanks for the advice about the fat content @thecapitalsunited as I actually wouldn't have thought of that. Worth knowing. @Juiceey I can't believe ostrich spaghetti is even a thing. He will love it I'm sure! They aren't cheap, these things...

OwlInAnOakTree · 14/06/2020 21:14

Thanks muckandnettles, have some in my amazon basket but the choice was a bit baffling so thought I'd check which ones you got seeing as your pup liked them and they lasted well.

@happygolucky6 same here, spent a small fortune on toys and favourite here is an empty milk carton. He loves it. He also loves an empty box. We've plenty of them from all the deliveries of dog toys!

Peachypips78 · 14/06/2020 22:05

WRT leaving puppy- we leave ours in his crate for 1-2 hours per day at the moment so he doesn't get separation anxiety when we can't be there all the time. He is fine. A friend of ours told us that he once left a nanny cam on his dog and he whined for the first five mins then stayed asleep the entire time he was out!

Rowdythree · 15/06/2020 07:03

We haven't left ours either yet, I'm quite concerned about doing it. It's very difficult to get everyone out the house though, Especially at the moment! Maybe we could just hide up stairs and see what happens Grin

Imadreamer44 · 15/06/2020 08:27

We hid in the garden for 10 mins yesterday to start the process.. and the little minx managed to get out of her pen! Working on a Plan B now..

dontdisturbmenow · 15/06/2020 08:28

My 15 weeks old puppy was never in a crate as he was happy to sleep in his bed at night in our kitchen/dining/living room.

He now sleeps on the old sofa there. We've left him a couple of times for 1 hour or so but it coincided with a time he sleeps anyway. No issues. He's on his way to destroy in bed and has a good go at the wooden table legs, but the table is old too so we're not too bothered. He does demand a lot of attention otherwise be it cuddles or stimulation, he's not quite good at entertaining himself despite many toys but he is really little trouble overall.

muckandnettles · 15/06/2020 08:34

Morning! How are your nights going? Ours are very hit and miss - not helped by the fact that I can't sleep so well now that I know I'm going to have to get up in the middle of the night and when I go back to bed after the wee break, I just can't get back to sleep. So if I was actually sleeping when pup was sleeping I would be fine, but in fact I'm exhausted.

Lovelylurcher · 15/06/2020 08:48

@totallydevoidofideas - we are struggling with the biting and the jumping too.

Our pup will be 11 weeks on Weds. She's learning some commands, and I think overall mouthing us a bit less, BUT what makes me nervous is that she seems a bit 'bolder' with the biting...hanging off clothes and not letting go, sometimes even lunging at us and snapping the air. Sad

Anyone else finding this? Hoping it's part of the process - perhaps a case of getting worse before it gets better?

Hardtoknowwhat · 15/06/2020 08:57

May I join this thread?
We brought our 8 week old lab pup home on Friday. She's very cute, bitey when in play mode and, typical lab, totally good obsessed!
The biggest issue we're having is her crying and barking at night. She goes in her crate fine (also uses for naps in the day) and will sleep for an hour or so and then cry and bark. We take her out to wee/poo then cuddle to relax her before putting her back to bed. If we didn't cuddle, she'd just start crying and barking again. This goes on until about 3/4am then she'll then settle for 3 hours max.
I've joined a lab group on FB which is great but they all seem to have puppies that sleep all night. I know she's still a baby and it's only been 3 nights but currently can't imagine her sleeping any longer than 2-3 hours..

muckandnettles · 15/06/2020 09:11

I have found that when our pup can't settle it can be because he is overtired or not quite tired enough but now we know him better it's getting more predictable and he is better at just flopping down when he's had enough, though he wont do that if we are playing with him. @Hardtoknowwhat welcome! Just wondering, are you sleeping downstairs with your puppy? The first few nights are tricky, definitely, we found that. Eventually I just sat and ignored him until he nodded off to sleep, then slept in the adjoining room on the sofa. Absolutely terrible night's sleep for me, but i could then hear when he stirred.

dontdisturbmenow · 15/06/2020 09:23

@Lovelylurcher, yes the biting is tiring! Pups will go through phases of actually attacking us. Once or twice a day usually when over tired. Gentle telling off (for anything) only spurs him on, so the only option when it happens is to put him in the garden (all fenced off) and wait about 5 mns after he hits the cat flap incessantly to get in. I then open the door, get to his level and ask in low tone if he's ready to be good. 75% of the time he has calmed down by then. When not I repeat until he does.

Lovelylurcher · 15/06/2020 09:31

@hardtoknowwhat - we had similar issues. Our puppy was totally fine to nap in crate during the day but at night it was a different story...she hated it and would cry etc. DH and I tag teamed on the sofa with her sleeping on the floor beside the sofa, not in the crate, for two weeks...not ideal!

As she seemed to far prefer sleeping on the floor - and because we were becoming demented with exhaustion - we have just let her sleep alone on the floor downstairs for the past few nights with a baby monitor on. The space is open plan with a wooden floor so if she has an accident (only one so far, because we came downstairs late), it's ok. No stairs or anything and closed off from the rest of the house.

I was nervous at first - crates are safer as they're totally contained, but then figured it would be very unlikely for her to come to any harm down here. Might be worth trying to find an area in the house like this if she continues to dislike the crate xx

Lovelylurcher · 15/06/2020 09:47

@dontdisturbmenow - thanks! We are doing similar with time outs, and whilst she does seem calmer when she comes out, it often starts up again soon after! I'm hoping eventually she'll get it. Confused

I did meet a 14 week old puppy recently who was MUCH calmer than ours at 11 weeks, and the owner said each week has made a difference. So that should give us all a bit of hope I guess....