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.

We managed to leave pup in the living room while we ate dinner without any crying. She sulked on the rug then hopped onto the sofa and started settling herself to sleep. And is now asleep on her vet bed by the back door. Glimmers of progress!

@GingerAndTheBiscuits - wow, that is really good progress, I'd be very happy to have a meal in another room. That is a bit of real progress, definitely. It's small steps isn't it?

Muckypup is overtired tonight and again we are having the difference of opinion about that. Dh says he needs tiring out and wants to take him for a walk, I say he needs a nap. Anyone who knows about puppies knows the right answer to that one...

Hi all
I'm having a bad day. Biting has got worse no matter what we do. He now punctures the skin and my hands are a mess. All my trousers have holes in them. We can't eat a meal without a huge performance. I have only had one unbroken night's sleep since he arrived. I'm beginning to fantasise about him running away. I feel like a total failure. Sorry for depressing post.

@OliveButler I’ve just said to one of the adopter’s of our pup’s sibling that I could still hand her back tomorrow and not feel much regret about it. I do not “feel the love” and mostly feel like it’s a thankless slog. I do struggle to see that changing too. We’ve agreed to keep trying til September but if it isn’t clicked by then I’m not sure what we’re going to do.

Suffice to say, massively sympathise. Can you get a break from the pup at all?

OliveButler that sounds like when mine was a puppy. I was on my knees with tiredness. My jeans had holes in them. We could set our watch with the manic biting episodes in the evening. He would eat stones, swing from the window floor length blinds etc. I put on a stone in weight from comfort eating and snacking just to get me through the day and night.

Things that helped were a very large crate which he didn't mind because it was HUGE but safe and great for timeouts. Also looking back group training just made me feel shit because all the other puppies looked perfect while mine was swinging about on his lead and generally being a git. Individual 1-1 training which I did later would have helped much earlier in hindsight. Puppies are only cute to make up for their behaviour

Thank you @GingerAndTheBiscuits My DH has just gone out on his bike and I just lost it. I appreciate knowing I'm not alone.

@BiteyShark that sounds familiar. I wll try the 121 trainer - pup is great with strangers! I abandoned the crate which may have been a mistake.

I am so very jealous of your day out @muckandnettles. I'm fantasizing about sending OwlPup to a dog sitter for the day and DS to my parents just for a bit of a break.

Sympathy to you @OliveButler and anyone else having s bad day. Just about every item of clothing my son has worn since pup arrived has holes in it. Plenty of mine too. And I don't think OwlPup is even excessively bitey.

Great work @GingerAndTheBiscuits. 😊

Interesting that you mention 1-1 training @BiteyShark. Classes still aren't running near me but I'm going to email someone tonight re 1-1 sessions, mainly to help me manage pup and DS' interactions. There are plenty of other things she could help with(!), but that's my main stress/worry at the moment.

@OwlInAnOakTree do it! Give yourself a break!

I’ve really appreciated the input of a 1-1 trainer if only to have someone to say “is this normal?” to and have someone tell me to calm down about some stuff. She’s going to come work on the car situation on Thursday. I’m doubting the enthusiasm with which the daycare said she hopped into the car last week

Im with all of you who are saying your pups need enforced naps, i shut pup in his crate as soon as he starts to get bitey and after a few minutea whining he settles straight down to sleep.

@OliveButler my kids clothes all have holes in them its really starting to get to me, ive put all nice clothes away so they are only wearing old things for now. I use a spray bottle so everytime he bites i spray him. It mostly works by distracting him and he still loves water so isnt overly bothered by it, it just breaks the bite long enough to interest him in a toy/chew.

Im getting really fed up with the house training tbh, he goes everytime we go out to the garden he just goes indoors constantly. He was out for 40mins not long ago whilst we tidied up the kids garden toys and watered the veg and i saw him wee 3 times, came in and 5mins later he just squatted and wee'd, no attempt to go to the door. Theres a puppy pad down jn the lounge too but he didnt use that. He can start going out for walks the day we go on holiday (very good timing) so im holing once he starts going for walks the house training will click a bit better

We are also having trouble with him not being left alone he barks and whines whenever we leave the room or go up the stairs. Our neighbour is a nightmare so i think in trying to keep pup quiet not to anger the neighbour we have inadvertently pandered to his need to be with us, including having a crate next to our bed for him to sleep in to avoid any howling at night, works great as we only had 3 nights of broken sleep but means he is never left alone. Not a major issue at the noment bit i am so worried about what will happen when DP returns to work which will hopefully be in 2 weeks time now his industry is starting to get up and running but he works long days and away a lot so i need to work on pup being left alone so i can leave the room to do bedtime.

@smilingthroughgrittedteeth, I'm a single parent and for bedtimes with DS, I try and time his naps so that he's in the crate whilst I'm upstairs. If things don't fall that way, I give him a lickimat with his favourite salmon paste on it. I swear, I can't normally leave a room without him dashing out the door quicker than I can stop him, or whining if I do manage to escape. But, if I give him a lickimat, he's so engrossed in that that I can get out of the room without him following me. My DS is 7 though, so on those nights, he goes up a bit earlier than me and gets ready himself and I just pop up for 10 minutes to read a story. When I get back down, pup is usually sat quietly on the sofa waiting for me...the sofa he's not allowed to up on when I'm in the room...

@GingerAndTheBiscuits, I think I will. Tbh, I think I need to! I sent a trainer I've spoken to before about her classes a text message asking about 1-1. And then realised it was 8pm on a Saturday night and felt really rude! I find since pup came I have little awareness of what day/time it is anymore....it's just an endless round of nap, play, poo, wee on repeat.

Today our puppy has completely destroyed my pea trellis in the garden. It's been my lockdown pride and joy. Alas, no more!

It was quite comical, DD was trying to distract him from the peas and threw a ball, resulting in him flinging himself through the trellis and taking off in search of the ball, trailing pea plants behind him.

If I didn't laugh I'd cry!

Half of tomorrow's Tesco order is for Muckypup - cocktail sausages, cheesestring and salmon paste! Looks as if we are planning a children's party.

Sympathy to everyone struggling with it all tonight. We've had a horrible evening with trying to cook in the kitchen which is basically pup's space now - too much noise and chaos sent him loopy and although he really needed a sleep he just wouldn't and kept barking. I calmed him and kept him by me, but the neighbours were squealing in the garden and other dogs were barking, it was just a sort of perfect storm of distractions and stimulation.

My friend today helpfully told me that horrible way of stopping dogs biting, where you make them bite their own lip. I said that was very outdated and cruel and we had to agree to disagree on that one. I would never do that no matter how much the little bugger bites me!

Well, we had our first group training session today (outdoors, socially distant).

Definitely a mixed bag. As a PP said, I couldn't help but compare myself and DPup to the seemingly perfect puppies sat nicely next to their owners whilst she tried endlessly to bite us or run away and play with the others.

We did pick up some good techniques and seeing her play with other pups her age was beautiful. Her confidence and socialisation was v good.

Polka pup ripped my trousers today and my legs are covered in bruises from the biting. I find it hard not to yelp/ shout when he latches on and growls. He thinks I'm tremendous at playing a rabbit clearly. Bloody terrier instinct.
But I messaged a friend tonight who is 9 months on and she was very blasé as to biting and says she'd forgotten how bad it can be. So there's hope. I too am very jealous of the day out. I'm having a hair gut next week and cannot wait for the peace
My cat hasn't been downstairs since puppy arrived but she seems happy enough on new posh food and cuddles and being allowed on the bed.
It's such hard work but I see glimmers of loyalty and love in his face that make me keep smiling Damn him for ripping my trousers though. I need some kind of tough canvas - army surplus?? And leather gauntlet gloves

Our neighbours are having a party while DH tries to sleep in the living room with the dog. I can’t sleep waiting for the dog to erupt in a fit of barking because they’re so loud!

There was a very loud party 3 doors down at ours too last night too! But puppy slept through it. He's woken up this morning with a bit of a dodgy stomach, but he did super well, and of the 6 poos so far this morning (!) only one was inside. But now he's asleep in the kitchen in his bed, and I'm listening to radio 3 and getting a bit of work done. Am looking forward to my nap! But think he needs to stay near the garden until his tummy is less dodge.

We have cat progress too! They ate breakfast in the kitchen while he was in there!

But worried that he is very easy because we are totally focused on him, less sure how it will go once he has to fit in with us a bit more...

I had to put proper clothes on yesterday to go out in and it was very strange - had to change as soon as I got in so they didn't get ruined. My clothes are all full of holes and in some cases are bloodstained. You'd think you could buy puppy armour wouldn't you? Just something to cover my forearms would be fantastic as that's where he aims for most of the time. The best trousers I've found are my really thick stretchy jeans, the ones I usually don't wear because I hate them. Because they have some give in them he gets through to the the skin less somehow. My very old and tatty walking trousers are also pretty good. I haven't worn a skirt or dress all summer.

Hope we all have a good day. I had an almost full night's sleep so feel a lot better than I have done. Pup went for a wee at about 11pm then was okay until 7am. Very happy with that. He is also such a little sweetheart in the morning.

I'm very excited about puppy classes at the end of the month - sounds as if it will be worthwhile from what you are all saying.

@Emrysmcdogface 6 poos already today...I really hope he is better now!

8 hours sleep! That's amazing. We are currently discussing the pros and cons of sleep vs batshit crazy.

I am not sure my crocs are going to survive the argument.

@Emrysmcdogface the sleep was good but yesterday evening was awful with lots of barking, going out, coming in, pup needing lots of things to do to calm down because he was so overtired - it was all a bit of a nightmare. The worst part was where dh dropped a red hot chip from the oven tray onto the floor and pup picked it up straight away. Must have burned his mouth, so we gave him lots of ice to chew on. I was angry that had happened, because if I'd been told I could have held him the other side of the room. Dh felt guilty about it so was also upset, neighbours were screaming and shouting, ice all over the floor. It was chaos until dh and ds took their food to eat in the other room and pup just flopped down and slept. It's all about the management of pup I think, and our house just isn't designed for so much going on in one room. We need more rooms, not one big room.

I don't know why the trainer local to me isn't offering sessions in the park or similar.

Re clothes, I'm a stone and a half over weight for the vast majority of my clothes. So I have limited clothes that fit me currently (because I refuse to buy any more in this bigger size!) and they're all adorned with holes or pulls now. I need to time my weight loss with OwlPup stopping biting so that when thinks go back to normal I can wear my smaller, un-holed clothes. The holes might be good motivation for weight loss.

@Emrysmcdogface that's a lot of poo for a Sunday morning. Hope pup's ok now.

We'll be going for our second street 'walk' this morning. I don't imagine we'll get very far.

Sounds like a nightmare muck! But also like the sort of thing that you'll laugh about for years to come, it's like something from a farce!

On balance we have decided to have a nap rather than run around the kitchen banging into things. Poor elephant got a bit of a humping before he finally settled down though...

I'm the same Owl! Need to lose my lockdown weight below I can go back to the office, as no office clothes fit me anymore!

My cunning plan to get a dog to help keep me active and lose weight hasn't kicked in yet! It's hard to function on 4 hours sleep without a LOT of chocolate....

@Emrysmcdogface

Sounds like a nightmare muck! But also like the sort of thing that you'll laugh about for years to come, it's like something from a farce!

On balance we have decided to have a nap rather than run around the kitchen banging into things. Poor elephant got a bit of a humping before he finally settled down though...

I hope we will laugh about it, yes! At the moment it's not in the least bit funny.