Puppy survival thread! June 2020

[Juiceey]

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!

I had to defrost the freezer this morning because someone had left the door half open so it was completely iced up. The freezer is pup's favourite thing in the kitchen as he loves ice and we often get something out of there for him, and he can hear the door to it opening in his sleep, so it was such a drama with ice everywhere, food melting, floor all wet. He's exhausted and so am I. Difference is that he has gone back to sleep...

Doggy daycare yesterday was for 3 hours and he was so exhausted by it he just slept when he got home. I think it was too much for him, to be honest so I felt a bit worried. He had also not wanted to wee in the pen so had saved it for when I arrived and sprayed it all over the place when he saw me, so I felt bad for him being so desperate to go. There were only two other dogs there, but he just didn't stop I think. I'm not sure I'll do that for a while as although it was nice to not have him for a few hours, I would prefer to be in control of what he does at the moment I think, so I can see how he reacts to things. Need to find a puppy class really - that would be better.

Morning all.
Another up and down night - when I'm awake to let him out when he wakes up, it's all good and I can take him outside. I went to sleep at 3am though and woke up at 5.30 to a huge mess. We're at the vet at 10.15 so hopefully we can get his tummy sorted finally.
I am definitely going to start puppy classes as soon as I can.
The biting is out of control and the zoomies not even entertaining anymore. Barking, snapping at our feet, legs, faces. Growling at nothing. I am definitely questioning why I've done this.
@Juiceey hope your pup is feeling better.

Also, life lesson for me. Don't leave dog poo in the garden and think you will clean it up in the morning. Horrible - fly central. I have now ruined patches with boiling water and bleach. Scrubbing grass at 7am!

@OliveButler try and look and the link below
Our pup is 11 weeks and likes to bite so we looked up google and came across this site
It says when your puppy bites like your feet stay still and don't move as moving away will make he or she more excited
We tried this yesterday when he was biting partners arms and he stayed still and the pup backed off
Also there is a training session on there you can do to stop the pup from bitting your hands etc
Thats our training session for today

www.puppyleaks.com/training-your-puppy-not-to-bite/

I feel for you all with pups that have the runs. Mine (now 12 weeks - got him at 8 weeks) had the runs for a few days when we first got him but it immediately stopped when we put him on Lily’s Kitchen dry puppy food. His poos are great now, and they barely even smell which is a bonus. I know it’s not always that simple though..

We’ve been lucky with nights - he sleeps in the dining room/kitchen downstairs on his own with no complaint and wakes up/shouts for his breakfast about 9am. He wees on his puppy pad overnight and there’s always a neat poo waiting for us too.

His only issue, which is pretty normal I know, is his mad bitey episodes. Some demand barking too, but only at me and never my partner! I’m working on both - demand barking is totally ignored and I literally turn my back on him. If it turns into leaping up and biting, he gets an immediate time out. Even if I have to do about five of them in a row! It’s a fairly new regime (like, two days!) but I think it’s starting to work - the demand barking is decreasing.

Toilet training is up and down.. We’re getting there though. He’s not very good at asking to go outside yet, but he does seem to prefer holding it in until I take him in the garden. He never poos in the house during the daytime now anyway, and there’s usually only one or two daytime wee accidents.

Thank you @Livelovelife35 I'll take a look. I watched a dog training video yesterday (McCann something I think) where the trainer grabbed the dogs collar quite hard when he bit. It looked horrible.
@GidgetGirl what a cutie. I did start with Lily's but Butternut has so many recommendations I will change when I finish the stuff the vet gave me.
@RonBurgundyspanpipe thanks so much for suggesting Giardia. The vet gave us the Pro-Kolin but also Metronidazole so that should sort it hopefully. She said it could be lots of different things but at least we can do the antibiotics and not delay. I need to think about the garden - is reinfection a risk do you know? I do pick up as much as I can and use boiling water on the rest but maybe that's not enough.
Vet was lovely. We have worming treatment, pro-kolin and antibiotics. Vaccinations next week. Poor pupper - so much in one day. He's fast asleep.

We’re almost at our four week mark, so far toilet training is going really well, I didn’t think it would as we’re in a flat.

Links favourite thing is biting obviously, all three of us having matching bite marks on our hands.

We have our first face to face puppy training session today so I’m looking forward to that.

Hi all. Sorry haven't kept up with thread- just enjoying catching up.

How much is Butternut box @Juiceey ? I feel really rubbish giving him the same boring Eukanuba kibble every single day.

Our puppy is now 16 weeks and the biting has def slowed right down. He still does it but it isn't as frenzied or painful. He's also nailed the toilet training I think although famous last words. Haven't had an accident inside for over a week. We now just leave the back foot open and he goes out when he needs to.
We can leave him now for a couple of hours and he's fine. Also good in night. That's only because we created him right from the word go.
Pizzles - he can bite as much as he likes- I'm not buying one of those argh!
We had diarrhoea here for a few days after worming. It's stopped now.
Ticks- bane of my life.
@GidgetGirl your puppy is SO cute!

@OliveButler no problem, lucky you getting abs without a poo sample, our vet has insisted on two before treatment which is quite expensive. My puppy's littermate had already been diagnosed with giardia beforehand so we knew what it was but they insisted.

It is really hard to treat as you can treat the dog but the spores remain in the grass/ground for ages. We were spraying the grass with a jet hose after each poo and wiping pups bum but she still got reinfected. We have now caged off the grass so she can't get to it and waiting 4 weeks until hopefully all the spores have died. We also rewashed all her bedding and blankets (for the umpteenth time), sterilised the hard floors, steam cleaned the carpets and settee and sterilised all her toys. You also need to disinfect the bottom of shoes if you go back on the lawn. We also clean the patio where she is now reluctantly going with jeyes fluid each time and hoping now she is allowed out for walks there will be less spores near the house to reinfect her.

The change of food to the special gastro stuff the vet gave him yesterday seems to have worked and he's poo's are slowly firming up he also has only been 3 times today instead of his usual 5886789 X and is much livlier so i think his stomach was hurting. We discovered fleas on him yesterday so the vet gave him a flea and tick tablet that was supposed to qork within 12 hours, ive bathed him in flea shampoo and sprayed the house but he is still scratching

The biting is getting to me he has put holes in loads of the kids clothes

Im now not sure whether to try weaning him back on to the food the breeder had him on (and i have a massive bag of) when the time comes to take him off the gastro stuff or whether to just bite the bullet and buy him something else

The special food we got for bailey for 2 days has worked poos are hardening
Though its still the bitting that gets me frustrated and I always go back to the thought did we actually do the right thing
Then I think we'll we can train him not to bite but of we had got a older dog from say dog trust whats to say they wouldn't bite etc

Just need to think positively and wait for training classes (waiting lists many of them) and hopefully he grows out of the bitting and chewing everything and eating everything outside

Also see of we had too send him back to the breader will we get the money back that we paid

Just out of curiosity as we may need to down the line if things don't improve as hes seems to continually bite my partner and its kinda causing family arguments due to him being stressed about the pup

The biting does take a while to sort. Mine is 17 weeks now as we’ve just started noticing a decrease in biting. It got softer first then less often. My breeder recommended a book by Ian Dunbar which said that you need to teach bite inhibition before you can teach a dog not to bite at all so that if an accident happens say you fall on the dog or shut it’s tail in a door the dog can pull itself back when it auto snaps at you.

@OliveButler I saw the same dog training with McCann dogs and I usually rate them on things, but the biting one was a bit rough. Mind you, I did actually try that in desperation one evening when it was really bad but I just couldn't manage it without him still biting me, even though I had his collar. Useless. The Simpawtico guy is the opposite and is more on the lines of talking the pup through how to be gentle but I've also found that doesn't work for me as pup isn't taking it in at all. So we are mainly just waiting it out, distracting where we can and just getting out of his way. Pup can be gentle so we know he understands but just can't always do it. Bless...

My partner doesn't remember any of his pups when growing up bitting as much as ours seems to go for my partner quite a lot at the moment
We knew pups are hard work with having to train and toileting but its this bitting that's causing frustration at the moment
Its hard cause we wanted a dog so much and cause hes had experience in collies but not quite like this

Well another night sleeping through here. I love him so much when I see his little morning excited face. BUT I need to start crating in the day more to prepare for being able to go out a bit. I put him back in just now and he cried a bit but I gave a treat and he's gone to sleep so he doesn't mind it but I'd like to be able to put him in during meetings for say an hour - any tips? I think I'll use the new sheepskin tug when it arrives maybe?
McCann training on biting- to refer to a PP- OMG! Looked hardcore mean! I'm having biting issues and can do the standing still but he gets frenzied and excited tugging at my leg or worse, arm so I need the holy grail!!!

@Livelovelife35 I sympathise with the puppy biting your partner more than you as we have the same here. The difference is that I stand up, move away, if necessary leave the room but my dh will sit and tell the puppy 'no' whilst being bitten to death. I also wear long sleeves and long trousers and until recently wore Ugg boots round the house! Dh wears short sleeves, shorts and bare feet - pup sees all that as an invitation. I also try and have things to hand to give as distraction - or treats to use it as a training moment. Dh thinks I'm spoiling him, obviously. It's infuriating! Our last dog was a lot easier (labrador) but then we left him alone a lot as we were all working and out a lot more so we saw less of him and he destroyed the house rather than us.

@polkadogpjs I'm at a similar stage to you in that pup hasn't spent any time actually locked in his crate, ever, during the day. He will spend time in there quite happily but likes to come and go. Times I've tried to get him to stay in there, he realises and pisses all over his bedding. Complete fail on our part. The sheepskin tug is amazing - pup goes crazy for it. I followed all their instructions about building value on it at home and then when I produced it on a walk he was so thrilled it was great. He carried it around for a while and was so proud! He wanted to sit and chew it but I think he would destroy it if he did, so it depends what size dog you have whether yours would do that. I wish I had some wisdom about crates but I'm afraid 7 weeks in I'm admitting failure on that. If I left him to bark and howl for 10 minutes it might be okay, because he would stop and go to sleep eventually but I just can't do that because of neighbours being close by. I need to decide soon whether to do more crate training or just forget it and get rid of the crate.

For those of you wanting to start leaving your puppy on his own in the crate or the house, I got some good tips from a program called Dogs behaving badly. I think it's on C4 on Tuesday night. There was a good example of training your dog to realise you are coming back. I'm going to try that with mine.
I've been leaving mine for 10/20 minutes at a time but he still whines as I FaceTime him on the phone (he can't see the phone but I can see and hear him)
On the program the owner kept leaving and coming back after 30 seconds or so for about 5 times, to make him realise she was always going to cone back, then stayed out for 1minute then built this up. It was amazing to see.
I'll let you know how I get on.

@HeyLala sounds good - looking forward to the report back!

Thanks for the tip @HeyLala gonna try that with pup! Returning to work in 4 weeks and petrified about leaving her.

Morning!
We had a much better night - his diarrhoea has stopped so no urgent need to go outside. I now feel much more tired though.
I empathise with all the frustration about biting. I went out to the local Tesco and I could see the lady behind the till looking at my hands and arms which are covered in red marks and scratches. I have tried the staying still which works if you're sitting down but if you're walking he'll still go for your trousers, feet and ankles. If it wasn't for the fact he hates his collar I would have been tempted to go for the McCann collar thing yesterday.
@Livelovelife35 I really feel for you - I have times of huge regret too. My DH does nothing and my DS1,DS2 are in year 12 and 10 so my priority is that they get their work done. It does feel lonely, especially at night. I will just keep trying everything I can with the biting. It won't last forever.
I need to buy a pop up stair gate as pup can go up the stairs now (not down though). Something else to worry about.
I think I am going to bin the crate. It takes up so much space and he never uses it. I have bought one of those 'cave' type beds. He likes to sleep under sofas and chairs so perhaps this will work. I really need to get some work done today - I am self-employed and have done nothing since Friday.

NEW THREAD ALERT!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/3956118-Puppy-survival-thread-July-2020?watched=1

come join us xxx

We are now at 14 weeks. Some things have got better and some are still needing work. After raisin gate I've been working on "drop" lots. He will drop most things for cheese so I've had to make little pots of chopped up cheese and leave them round the house and in my coat pockets. He still won't "drop" for very tasty things like digestive biscuits or chicken but I'm going to keep at it.

Dicking about on lead on road walks is very much still an issue. We have village roads lanes with no pavement so he's constantly trying to charge into the middle of the road, pulls and chews his lead. The minute we are on a footpath and he's either got the run of the long line or off lead he is a dream. Brilliant at coming back for the whistle and sits nicely while I clip the lead on or off. So I'm having to do lots and lots of heel work with him in the garden and the lane outside the house.

He's also a complete bugger for biting and jumping up scratching legs and ripping clothing. I watched a kikopup video about biting clothes and am going to practise the training she used on pup today. We have also all agreed that we will put him into a sit before stroking him, and only pet him when all 4 paws are on the ground. The plan is to all leave the room when he bites to see if that helps - DC are 7 and 9 so I can't leave them in the room with him when he's biting anyway and am hoping the immediate withdrawal of attention will have some impact!

Using "down" for leg scratching horribleness, it's a bit hit and miss. I've read you can couple it with being a tree, arms folded, turning away slightly and being completely still so will try that as well.

Lastly apparently pups really hate being touched on the head? So thinking the biting that usually happens while being stroked may occur when someone touches the back of his head. So we are going to be very conscious to only stroke his back. Hard to rewire that one as we have a lot of cats and they prefer to be stroked on the head over their backs!!

Not sure what it is but he just seems to like to bite and its causing a friction in the family cause of the frustration
I know when we took him to the vets a few weeks ago he said he had ear mites and gave us something to clear it up so I'm wondering if his ears are bothering still cause half the time je doesn't listen
Has already put a hole in the linning on the bottom of the play pen and only got it 2 days ago
Our concern is that if it never eases and gets worse then we have to make a decision not just for us but for anyone outside the household
Its heartbreaking cause we paid a good amount for him and wanted a dog for ages