Puppy survival thread! July 2020

[Juiceey]

Roll up roll up... I'm a day late but here we are.

Latest update: Juiceypup is obsessed with DS's feet, who is now starting to get upset by it. He doesn't do it to anyone else, only him, and we don't know why. DS goes stock still as instructed but we have to prise his mouth open to get him off his toe. Has brought him to tears a few times.

I've had enough today. Not pup's fault really. Just exhausted between him and DS. I always planned getting pup in June so I had until October to be home with him (I'm at university) but I wasn't planning on having my son home for the three months prior and during pup's first few weeks! Pup's usually quite good at entertaining himself but won't leave me alone today.

We're making a break for it two days early and taking him to the park for the first time tomorrow. There's a huge big field there, so him and DS can have a good run around. DS is much better out than in. I imagine I'll find the same applies to pup.

@OwlInAnOakTree your pup will love running around outside - mine is definitely an outdoor dog. He will just happily go and sit in the garden in the rain if I don't call him in, quite oblivious. It is exhausting though, isn't it? I left dh to do the final bedtime wee last night with pup but I don't think he did as pup woke me up at 2am for a wee and then I was up again at 4.30am anyway with ds going to work. Too many demands on your time all round!

Yeah my pup is the same @muckandnettles. Our garden isn't puppy proof yet, work started on it four weeks before pup came home but lockdown resulted in a shortage of fence panels! So pup is on a long line in our garden to stop him disappearing through the hedge. Although he still attempts that anyway. So he doesn't get much of a run around in there at the moment.
Yes just too many demands on us. Constant. My fridge is now full of ready meals and pre prepped veg to save me having to think about and make dinner every day. At least that's one less thing to think about. And it feels like a bit of a treat too!

@OwlInAnOakTree my fridge is exactly the same, we've been living on simple, easy meals for the past 6 weeks as I just don't have the energy to cook after being with pup all day.

Pizza again here tonight, guys. I do cook some nights but it's hard work which no one appreciates. Chop something, throw a ball, give a chew, boil something, check on the oven, prepare a lickimat, give a treat for calm, squeak a toy, what's he doing now... It's a miracle that we haven't all eaten Millie's dog food some nights.

I'm feeling a little upset tonight as pup has been a little sweetheart all day then got over excited playing tug in the garden, humped me and dug his claws in my thighs, then clung onto my arm with his sharky mouth. Very bruised and sore and feeling a little shocked. I misjudged it, played for too long I think. It's my fault, not his. I'd let go of the toy, he'd 'won' it from me so I let him have it, but it seems he thought he now could have me. It happens so quickly. Not telling dh or ds...

In other news, he is being a star at 'leave it' and coming to the whistle in the house, as long as the treats are really good ones. In the Total Recall book, they say sometimes give the pup a really good 'jackpot' treat such as a packet of cat food. I just can't bring myself to do that but we are doing okay with the Italian cheese and the ham.

Italian cheese :D how posh is muckypup! Ours likes a bit of cheese string

Not much sleep today for the pupster, anticipating some overtired zoomies sometime this evening. Currently snoozing by the back door instead of on the sofa which is new (and hopefully a good sign that she’s becoming more comfortable around the house. Managed to plonk her on a dog bed last night once she was asleep but she was back on the sofa with me the next time I opened my eyes!

Haha at Italian cheese and cheese strings. 😄 Tesco's own here, does the job. Can't afford anything nice now we've got OwlPup!

Friday night is pizza night here too, so that was an easy one at least.

Friends came with their puppy again today. Somehow the pups ended up playing inside and oh my goodness, my friend's pup has made me thankful for OwlPup's coat. She's a sproodle and her hair was everywhere! I had to hoover as soon as they'd gone.

That sounds painful @muckandnettles. And always so disappointing when you've had a good day otherwise.

I've not been in the best of moods today. Not very proud of my grumpiness towards poor OwlPup. He seems entirely unaffected by it, mind. Hoping to find a bit more patience for tomorrow...

LOVING the Italian cheese pup!! Don't worry about the arm grabbing too much. Polka pup does it every day ! Trainer just said he's over excited ....annoying and painful though. I'm covered in bruises.
He's been better today but still did it ....sigh

Yep, loves Tesco Finest Reggiano Parmigiano or something cheese - it's very smelly and strong so Muckypup can smell it from a hundred metres away!

We’ve not tried cheese yet but pistachiopup just had peanut butter for the first time.

Her puppy pen arrived today so I put some peanut butter on a licky mat for her in there whilst we ate. She wasn’t that impressed have to be honest. With the pen not the peanut butter.

We’re hoping she might sleep in there tonight with her crate door open so she’s safe to get out and wee on her own but I’m not sure how it’s going to go!

Our puppy loves cheese! We've been very restricted in what we give him though, as his stomach seems to be upset at the slightest thing. Hoping there's no repeat of last night's diarrhoea!

We have a very settled daytime pup who just goes mad in the evenings- running about madly and being really bitey. He really seems like he needs more exercise, so looking forward to Tuesday when we can get out for a walk in the evening. Hoping it helps!

How are you all transporting your pups? Ours goes in the boot of the car, and we've got boot liners for both cars to facilitate this. But he hates it! Whines constantly. We're going for a drive to Wales (from scotland) at the end of the month, all going well, and now wondering how on earth the puppy is going to cope! Looking at travel crates, as we could use it when we're staying with family and for travelling there. But what if we're stuck in a car with a whiny dog for 8 hours??

Hello, may I join in with this thread? Have a 13 week old pup who is both amazing and the devil at the same time! I feel like the 5 weeks since we've had him have been a blur haha.

Generally he is a lovely dog and learns things very easily but he gets into these moods where he bites and jumps and it becomes near impossible just to sit down as he won't let us!

Were also having problems with his tummy and have had a lot of diarrhoea sadly. Currently on a very sensitive food prescribed by the vet and a sample of 💩 has been sent off.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with a bitey pup?!

@marmite51

Our puppy loves cheese! We've been very restricted in what we give him though, as his stomach seems to be upset at the slightest thing. Hoping there's no repeat of last night's diarrhoea!

We have a very settled daytime pup who just goes mad in the evenings- running about madly and being really bitey. He really seems like he needs more exercise, so looking forward to Tuesday when we can get out for a walk in the evening. Hoping it helps!

How are you all transporting your pups? Ours goes in the boot of the car, and we've got boot liners for both cars to facilitate this. But he hates it! Whines constantly. We're going for a drive to Wales (from scotland) at the end of the month, all going well, and now wondering how on earth the puppy is going to cope! Looking at travel crates, as we could use it when we're staying with family and for travelling there. But what if we're stuck in a car with a whiny dog for 8 hours??

Don’t assume that a crazy land shark in the evening is down to having excess energy. Just like toddlers, puppies can act out because they’re overtired. Puppies can’t really self regulate so they will go until they drop. I put my pup down for naps (1 hour awake, 2 hours crated sleep time) and it does stop him from being so crazy. We still get it a bit last thing at night if we are a bit late going up to bed but he’s generally very good. I read about enforced naps on the Puppy101 Reddit and I’m a complete convert. Puppies can sleep for 16-20 hours a day so it makes sense that they get overtired very easily.

Hello again! We do seem to be controlling the bitey via very regular naps. He seems to need 30 mins awake 2 hour nap from 5:30 am to 10pm. Sleeps 10 pm to 5:30 with me getting him up for a wee at 3:30.

Anyone got issues with hiding to do a poo? He's happy to wee outside in his outdoor playpen, but won't poo there! I think I may have bugged things up by grabbing him to take him outside when he did a poo in the hall!

Also, any tips on getting back to sleep at 3:30? Grr

Hi everyone,

Housetraining is not going well, he just squats where he is standing. I take him oit every 15mins and he wees everytime but then comes in and goes on the carpet. He is sleeping through now though and literally sits at the bottom of the stairs whining to go to bed from 9pm. He does 10pm-6.30/7am.

The biting is getting less as long as i put him in the crate for enforced naps, he has a stricter routine then my kids have ever had!

He has a really sensitive stomach which isnt helped by the fact he will eat anything.

We have decided to go on our prebooked holiday to the isle of wight next week mostly because my mum who is the manager of a car home desperately needs a break after months of extra stress and hardly any time off, plan is to use windbreakers to make a garden area outside the caravan and let children and puppies wear themselves out. Also ordered a playpen so i can keep him contained in an area thats not carpeted and 2 boxes of puppy pads.

Definitely agree with over tiredness, we can see that in him, like a toddler! I actually realised I should have added that in my post, it's either excess energy or over tiredness, but got distracted from adding another comment by....the puppy!

Hopefully be more successful at enforcing naps today. We really need to focus on leaving him alone, even just in different rooms. He's so used to having someone around he whines when we go to the toilet, and if he's settled in his kitchen bed and I go to the dining room he gets up and follows me. I'd like him to be able to stay in a room without a person, so going to do lots of flirting about today.

We are exactly the same smiling! Or he goes for his wee. He then lies down on the grass, so I bring him inside and he hides in the hall to do a poo! At least he is weeing outside (mainly!)

Holiday sounds like a lovely idea.

Not sure why I believed the teenagers that if we got a dog they'd help out! I've been up since 3:30 and they are still asleep! They better take the afternoon slot so I can nap...

Hi all! Our dog trainer said the same thing about enforced naps when we asked her about the manic biting from our pup. She said they really do need a massive amount of sleep and that you can never actually tire out a pup with exercise, they will just turn into an overtired hyper mess! May not work for all but it has made a big difference here. We still get biting but less hyper manic episodes and if she does go crazy I can tell she’s been up too long so it’s into the crate she goes.
Another useful thing she told us is that brain training tires them out even more than actual walking... so 5/10mins of training with commands and treats is the same as a 30/60min walk. Again I’m sure not all dogs are the same but it has helped us out...

We are 6 weeks down the line from pup arriving now, and like others have said, can’t quite believe we’re still in so much chaos! Pup is great at night so I know we’re very lucky on that, and toilet training feels like it’s heading in the right direction, but she still feels so all consuming in terms of having to keep on top of nap times, meal times, mental stimulation etc. It’s full on!

Oh and trainer recommended we put pup down for the ‘night’ early evening. So she goes into her crate whenever she’s ready for a nap around 7/8pm and then that’s it for the night... any wake ups after that are out for a pee in the garden then back to bed with no play etc. Sounds quite Gina Ford draconian but we’ve done it from when she was 10 weeks and she hasn’t protested. She has a pee around 10/11 (sometimes she wakes up herself and other times it’s not til we wake her before we go to bed) and then wakes again at 5.30/6am. We used to get up for the day with her but the early starts we’re taking their toll and she often didn’t stay awake long before napping again, so we tried put her straight back in the crate after the 5.30/6 wee and she sleeps another hour or so now. Which makes for a more civilised 7am start to the day!

For those struggling with toilet training a lead might be another idea to try? ShadowPup mostly has to go out on a long line out the front door as we have a lot of free ranging hens and ducks out the back. I did briefly start taking him out minus the lead but he got so distracted with sniffing things and digging holes or laying down on the grass to chew a stick that he really regressed with his toilet training and we had lots of accidents inside.
I still take him out every half hour or so, and it's always on a long line (does mean he has his collar on all the time which might be an issue for some), take him to the bit of grass he usually goes on and say "wee wees" and refuse to move til he's done something.

I had a small breakthrough with lead pulling yesterday at the end of his walk. I had spent the entire walk stopping every single time he pulled which drove the DC mad, and then waiting for him to look at me at which point I lured him back into position with a treat. After a very long and frustrating time of doing the above, he suddenly started looking at me when he reached the length of the lead for a treat and therefore not pulling. So the last minute of our walk was lovely non pulling walking and it felt like a huge step! Hopefully he hasn't forgotten it all when we take him out today, but at least that's given me hope that the training method works.

DH did morning routine with pup today and it was lovely to come round slowly with a cuppa. Like a PP we put ShadowPup down at 7/8pm and he sleeps through with a few short toilet breaks in the evening and final wee at 10/10.30. He can stretch to 8am which is handy for the mornings when DS has a nose bleed and I can't get downstairs to sort pup yet but it's generally 7/7.30am

I've managed (somehow) to get him used to being left for a bit in the mornings although he does woof for some of it. I've gone back to a bowl for his morning feed and when I put that down for him I go out to let the birds out. We have a lot of babies at the moment and they all have individual pens with food and water. So the more that have hatched the longer it takes me in the morning to let them all out which has slowly stretched the length of time pup is left for. He gets another small handful of food in his bowl when I get back to reward being alone.

We bought a retractable lead which Juiceypup LOVES. He bolts off in every direction. Starting to realise he's never going to learn to walk nicely next to us though...

Agree re enforced naps. We do them as much for my sanity as for pup's needs. He also goes to bed early, at 8:30. We've not had the zoomies very often, only two or three times, and that's been around 8pm. He goes to bed early on those nights and is asleep within seconds.

Someone asked about traveling in car. I've got a small crate in my boot, but he's outgrown it already! I was hoping he'd be big enough/trained enough to be left in the boot once he'd outgrown the crate. I asked on a BC forum about it and general consensus was he was safer in a too small crate than just in the boot. He whines for most of journeys, just 5-10 minute ones so far. Except when he's really tired like after an hour in the park today or after playing in a friend's garden. So the only tip I can give, is maybe try and exhaust pup out with a run around the park before the car trip? Maybe he'll then just sleep?

So, first outing today fully vaccinated so he was allowed down in the park. He had great fun running around. Turns out he has zero recall when in public. Zero. I was planning on letting him off lead, but there was loads of football stuff happening so less space than usual on the field, and a lot of other dogs, so I didn't feel comfortable doing it today. He was on a long line and I let go of that a few times. He'd follow me if I ran in the opposite direction, at least. He had a bit of a play with a friendly pug. And a good two and a half hour nap when we got home.

@ShadowsInTheDarkness thanks for the walking on the lead tip. Will give that a try.

Disaster taking pup in car today. Absolutely beside herself. Enjoyed the walk on a long line in a deserted meadow. But then refused to even approach the car and was hysterical all of the 5 minute journey home even on my knee

I had a little day out today with an old friend and left Muckypup with DH for the day. Oh my lord, what a treat. I feel as if I've had a fortnight in the Seychelles or something and it was just a walk and afternoon tea on a posh hotel lawn. All relaxed and happy to be back now, ready for anything!