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!

@Australia77 I know how you feel, definitely - on our really bad days I'd happily swap him for a bag of crisps. Anyway, it is getting slightly better as I get to know him more. He slept through till just after 7am with only one loo break, though again it was an epic fail to get him in the crate for sleeping. He will go into it happily on his own terms to play or sleep during the day, but won't be just put in it for a time out or nap. I don't know how people get their pups to do that. I'm just hoping as with everything, that if I persevere it will all come good.

Starshollowwannabe sometimes having the back door open all the time doesn't help with toilet training as there is no distinction between outside and in. You want them to have a clear distinction between the two areas so eventually they ask to go out each time. This also means you need to be outside with them all the time to praise each time they go until they have mastered toilet training.

@BiteyShark that is a good point - we have been spoilt by this good weather recently so the door has been open all the time. I can see exactly what might happen once it's closed. I know some people put a bell by the door for the dog to ring, but that seems a step too far for my little one at the moment!

Lovely to see the other puppy faces and sorry for your loss @Carrotcakeforbreakfast. We also have a cat and she's the only thing that makes him bark. Also undeterred by swipes!

Sorry for all of you that are suffering in the night!

@Australia77 - please hang in there- it will get better and you will be pleased you got him. Think of it like a new baby- you want to stuff them back up for the first months but you like them eventually. We are also working and homeschooling as well as having our puppy and it's very very tough.

@ksa103 - my tip would be from the first night put them in their crate downstairs and ignore the crying and then they should go through the night quite quickly. Wilf stopped after two nights. It's harsh and some people think it's cruel but it has worked for us and he is a happy puppy.

Oh and thank you for the clapping trick for the biting whoever suggested it. It's cut it down a bit!

Can I join in?! We have had our 11.5 week old puppy for 3 weeks now. She’s a mini labradoodle.

For the first week dh and I took it in turns to sleep next to her downstairs. That worked well as we’ve had no howling or crying. After a week she’s been on her own downstairs in her crate and we take it in turns to get up around 4 and take her out for a quick wee. She then goes back in her crate til around 6:30/7 with no fuss.

She’s very affectionate and friendly. She is a bit bitey - especially with the kids but she doesn’t bite hard.

I last had a puppy 10 years ago - my Weimaraner. She is so much easier than he was! She has her next injections tomorrow and can go out from next week. Here’s a pic of her 😍

Pic didn’t seem to attach - here she is (hope this doesn’t post twice now )

Is it just me, or do the days seem incredibly long when you've got a puppy? Whenever I look at the clock, I'm always shocked by what time it is...

Jumping on! We picked up our 8 week old pup last week. She's a mix of staffy/American bulldog/allsorts!

She's sleeping in a pen next to our bed as of now. We tried with a crate and she got seriously distressed (beyond normal crying) and was constantly messing as though she couldn't control it because she was so distressed. She is really happy in the pen, I think because they used pen not crate at the breeder.

Like most of you shes a bitey thing! Trying to distract her with toys or a loud noise. Feet/shoes are her favourite.

The picture is from her first day before she tore the crate apart!

I'll join too please. We have a 10 week old sprocker from working stock, we have had him 2 weeks now. Toilet training initially went well, then he regressed massively and now we seem to to be doing ok again. I can't take my eyes off him though and we are going out every half hour and after eating, drinking, playing and sleeping!

He is in the crate at night, in our room and is sleeping through which is brilliant. The first week he was up every few hours which was awful.

We have switched him onto Millies food and I'm using all his daily food allowance for training - in 3 main sessions around mealtimes and a few short extras throughout the day. This has worked really well and he has learnt quite a few commands. My main issues are trying to get him to leave DS alone and the cats. DS has really sore eczema on the backs of his legs which is red and the skin is broken. Pup is obsessed and won't stab jumping up and licking/nibbling at it. He knows "leave it" and will get down after a few seconds but this is happening 10 times a day and really upsets DS as he says it make the itching worse. I'm loathe to put him in long trousers in this warm weather as it will make the eczema worse.

The cats is self explanatory - chasing them. He just wants to say hello but they run away and so he chases. I'm hoping it will improve as they get used to each other.

Forgot the picture!

Nice to meet you other owners!

How long are people walking per day? I know it is supposed to be only five mins per month of their life but we are doing 2 x 20 mins every day and sometimes half an hour.

Hi again everyone! It’s so good to hear from new owners...and I have to say it makes me feel better that lots of you are struggling with the biting too! I was so prepared for disruption and house training trials, but I didn’t expect to have razor sharp teeth sinking into us quite so much! I had dogs growing up but don’t remember the puppy stage....everyone I’ve spoken to says it’s entirely normal though, which is reassuring!

Our pup keeps trying to play with our cat as well. He’s absolutely shown her who is boss - swiped a few times and hisses! Doesn’t seem to stop pup trying to make friends though...

Sorry for quite the number of exclamation marks in that post....so tired thanks to puppy...

Oh my, your puppies are all so beautiful! I was on one of these threads last autumn and our beautiful boy will soon be 1!

Wishing you all lots of luck with your little ones!

For those with puppy’s and cats, just a word of warning to be super careful. It only took a split second for our cat to take a swipe at our puppy. I didn’t realise but 9 week old puppies have no blink reflex so she actually scratched her cornea. Could immediately see the eye was damaged so we rushed her to the emergency vets. She’s on two different eye drops and oral painkillers and we’ve had to go for checkups every couple of days. It’s been 10 days now and we are very lucky that it’s healed nicely. There is a slight cloudy patch on her eye which may or may not be permanent. Although if it is permanent it doesn’t seem to affect her vision. I can’t tell you how awful I felt. Just wanted to put that out there as a word of warning as I never anticipated that would happen.

Evening everyone, hope all have survived a day without too much biting/humping/chewing!

Well dpup has got us wrapped around his fingers. After 3 nights SOLID of incessant crying (we were all exhausted) we caved and took him into our room last night, where he happily slept on the floor next to DW right through til 5am without a peep.

I swore he wouldn't be allowed in the bedroom. SIGH. But the lack of sleep nearly broke me!

And he literally cried none stop. The whole. night. long.

Juiceey it took us a bit longer to crack.

Over 2 years before our dog eventually made his way from kitchen in a crate to our room on our bed. However I now wonder why we didn't do it before. We get more sleep, the dog sleeps longer and we get those lovely moments in the evening and in chilled mornings when we get those doggy cuddles.

@Juiceey oh no, puppy in the bedroom! We have caved in to the extent that I'm no longer attempting to lock our pup in his crate, which will inevitably lead to damage in the kitchen as he gets bigger if I don't get him locked in at some point, but to be honest you have to have some sleep don't you? I tried forcing him into the crate last night and he howled and barked until I had to let him out and I felt so bad about it. Tonight though, I don't know if it's because it's cooler or what it is, but he happily went in his crate with no fuss and I closed the door. I haven't locked it in case he freaks out, but he seems okay in there, all cosy. To be honest I'd love him upstairs but we have no room at all and I don't think I'd be able to carry him up and downstairs for much longer as he's a heavy lad now. I have had only one bad bite today, and only a few humpings, so it's been a good day.

I’ve been sleeping in the living room with puppy in her crate, she gets in happily now and is sleeping longer so I’m planning on retreating to the bedroom soon.

Early start today at 3am and although pup went back to sleep till 6am, I couldn't sleep...He's happy enough though, and so I'm happy!

@Australia77 I am in the same position and can feel your pain. I've been feeling, more often than not, that I've made a terrible mistake.

I have a 10 week OK labrador. My elder daughter (6) is thrilled but my younger daughter (4) is terrified of him due to the biting. I'm fed up with him, I have read up a lot on training etc but he's not responding to anything. He barks at the children and bites everyone, howls bloody murder in his crate and destroys everything in his path despite having loads of toys. I'm on the verge of calling the breeder to take him back.

@Rowdythree - Good to meet another Bernese owner! Our Bernese is 10 weeks old now. We've had her for 2 weeks and she is becoming a real handful!! Luckily no humping with a girl, but lots of biting and destroying furnishings and defiant diva barking. She's getting better at sleeping and we didn't hear a peep out of her until 7am today. We blacked out the windows of her room and this seems to have stopped her waking up with the sun now. Fingers crossed it continues!!

Good thing she's cute...

I've found with my little girl a nice long walk in the morning makes her snooze all day. Don't hear a peep from her unless it's to go out for a wee.

I'm so very proud of her. She's only 14 weeks and she's toilet trained and has learnt all her commands and sleeps through the night. We are currently focused on recall. I feel we got lucky with a very good doggo. 💕

She's snoring away 💤 (she does have dog beds to sleep on, in fact she has two in this room... she just sleeps anywhere and everywhere) 🐾

She's very cute lovelyjubbly!

I think a lot of us on here have younger pups so can't take them for walks yet...

Speaking of which, anyone tried to get their pups used to a lead yet for when they can go out? We tried yesterday, but pup just tried to chew and roll around with it!