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!

@nicketynack she's gorgeous! It feels like ours has doubled in size in the two weeks we've had him! They don't stay little for long do they

We haven't had any furniture destroyed yet, lots of shoes stolen though! Is she sleeping downstairs? We're carrying our boy up to bed with us each night but I'm conscious we won't be able to do that for long as he's so heavy already! We've got a pen coming so I'm hoping to get him to sleep downstairs eventually, not sure he'll be happy though

ps - JudasHisCarrot - hang on in there! I read somewhere recently that labs are really challenging puppies. I was surprised because they are such lovely adult dogs. The calmest, sweetest adult dog I know is a lab, and think about all the guide dogs etc...he's not going to be like this forever.

Maybe it's because labs are so intelligent they are such 'exuberant' puppies?! I remember when a health visitor told me that all the cleverest kids were terrible sleepers

@Rowdythree - We have a big pen for her in the kitchen so she sleeps in there at night and we use it for "time out" during the day when she gets a bit too crazy and needs to calm down. The first few nights were awful but our breeder was very firm that she needs to sleep in her own space and that we weren't allowed to go in to her in the night. She was managing to sleep until about 4.30/5am but adding blackout stuff to the windows has helped massively. The pen is a godsend! She hasn't managed to get hold of any shoes yet, but has gone to town on nibbling sofas, cushions, table legs, skirting boards...so it's good to have somewhere safe to put her when we can't watch her!

@nicketynack our breeder was also very firm about having his own space! The pen delivery date keeps getting pushed back, which is really annoying. I've been warned about the 'skull cracking' stage of teething at around 9 months which is when you want to have somewhere safe to put them so they don't destroy the house!

@Rowdythree - that's annoying! We got ours from Margo the Dog and delivery was really quick..next day I think. Hope it arrives soon! I hadn't heard about that stage...I thought we'd be in the clear after 4 months!!

Nicketynack, my border collie looks just like your Bernese!

@OwlInAnOakTree - beautiful collie! I haven't seen ones with the reddy grown Bernese-like cheeks and eyebrows before. Lovely! My mum has collies and I keep thinking that our Bernese is very similar in the face to hers.

@PharmaLama thanks for the heads up- I wouldn't have thought of that at all

@lovelyjubbly12 I think we might have got lucky too. They are all so different. Walking them def helps so hang in there and it will get better I'm sure. Maybe our puppy is a bit thick

@Lovelylurcher ours did that at first. We just kept walking him around the garden but it only really stopped when we went out for walks properly.

I know I've been strict with the crate but if I'd had my way he'd have been in the bed from day one! OH flat refused in his farmerish way.

Thanks @lovelylurcher will try and hang in there! My old dog was a Golden Retriever and he was a complete dream as a puppy - he definitely spoilt me for any following puppy! I naively thought another retriever would be a similar puppy - boy was I wrong!

Here he is (thoroughly outs self). Hard to get a picture of him as the only time he's not moving is when he's asleep!

Gorgeous puppies all!
We are enjoying Bonnie black lab. She is 11 weeks now perfect during day terrible at night!

Here's a question - what are people feeding their puppies?

Our breeder did a lot of home cooked stuff initially but moved them onto tinned tesco puppy food before they left. We've stuck with this as wanted to keep pup on what she's used to...but I'm wondering if/when I should start introducing 'better' food?

I've read that, like giving kids too much sugar or e-numbers, types of food can affect puppy behaviour...but I don't know if this is a tiny bit OTT? I'm not sure if supermarket branded dog food is too processed in this way, or if it's fine.

My puppy came with two pouches of Asda wet food. I wanted to feeed dry food as I'm not bowl feeding but using their food for training, brain games, etc. So I spent hours and hours researching dog food to try and find one that was nutritionally good and also affordable. I finally settled on Skinners and bought a small 2.5kg bag to try it. Then a friend recommended CSJ so I bought a puppy trial pack of that as well but that's only 3 days' worth. I think he likes it better than the Skinners and my friend tells me her dogs poos are firm on CSJ, which, if I'm honest, nutritional value aside, is the most important thing for me! I've now ordered a 15kg bag of their champ puppy and will see how that goes over the next few weeks.

Have you had a look at the allaboutdogfood website? It shows the nutritional value/daily cost of different brands. I got lost in it for days and massively overwhelmed with the choice...but it's a good place for some comparisons.

@Lovelylurcher - our breeder swears by Salters dry food so we've got our puppy on that and will continue to do so. I think they're local to them and have fed their dogs that for a few years now. Our pup was from a massive litter they had this year and Salters couldn't miss out on the chance for some publicity -

salterspetfood.com/11-bernese-puppies

oh my goodness nicketynack - that picture is hilarious! Do you get free dog food for life now?!

Thanks for the tips on food owlinanoaktree - I'll check out that site too. x

I'm feeding Skinners Lamb and Rice which is what the breeder had him on. He LOVES it (but to be fair he's a lab so would happily wolf down ANYTHING). Poos are solid so I'm going to keep on with that. But had a proper lecture from the vet about it, he told me that it's 'beyond grim' as a food

Love that photo @nicketynack

@nicketynack love that photo!

@JudasHisCarrot did your vet really say that about Skinners?! I knew it wasn't the best out there, but thought it was better than 'beyond grim'. We don't have firm poos on it though, although, to be fair we only used it for three days and it probably needs longer...? I find foods an absolute minefield and just too overwhelming a choice.

We are feeding Millies wolfheart. The all about dog food website shows it's a high quality option and I liked that the Millies website takes the breed, age, activity levels of the puppy and calculates which food the dog should be on. I also liked that he can stay on the same food once he's an adult and we just adjust the amounts. He really loves it and his poos are much smaller, firmer and at predictable times which has really helped with toilet training.

I'm having a crap day with him today. One of the cats has left a dead thing in the depths of a flower bed and I can't find the blasted thing but pup is obsessed and gets all growly when I try and pull him out of said bush. He is also so so bitey today. I feel like having a cry but there's dinner to make. Have crated him and am praying he sleeps.

My pup is a Golden Retriever and the breeder had him on Millie's Wolfheart - I've tried supplementing it with some other cheaper kibble, because it's so expensive, but I've bought a load more today and I'm going to try their tinned food as well as it is good stuff. I also liked the fact it's adult food from the start. Their treats and biscuits are amazing - the fish biscuits sent pup into a frenzy as soon as I opened the packet (they do smell!) and their 'semi-moist' treats go down really well. My puppy is still a nightmare with the biting and will grab my clothes and hang on, humping and biting like a crazy thing. Our garden is very overlooked by our neighbours and I just imagine them watching as I try and do my training routine, staying calm with a great big puppy hanging on my leg as I get the washing in or go and pick up poo. He then stops for a while and potters off to do something else as if nothing has happened.

We had a really humiliating lecture from a vet about food with our last dog, labrador, overweight - vet said that feeding him Bakers was like giving your child Macdonalds every day of the week. Slunk away with all our tails between our legs...

Love that photo @nicketynack, my pup was one of 10, I thought that was a lot! We feed ours on Yorkshires Finest kibble, that's what the breeder had him on so we're sticking with that. He's on a fish only diet as he had an allergic reaction to chicken, so salmon flavour kibble and fish treats only. At least its good for his coat

We are feeding Millies Wolfheart, she is doing very well on it.

Symply puppy food for black lab Bonnie, seems to be doing well on it. Loves cheese for training treat.

@Wagsandclaws can I ask what area? My friend is after that type and is in the north west. It's so hard round here to find a reputable breeder at the moment.