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.

@OwlInAnOakTree I'm reading it as I do it, so only on about chapter 7 or thereabouts. Some of it doesn't apply as it's about older dogs with recall problems. I'm at the part where you start calling them away from things they really want (in the house first), which is the key part. Yesterday in the park a family was very nice about it, but pup went haring up to them and wouldn't come back to me. I grovelled profusely to them but because he is a puppy in training they said it's fine - but when he's older it won't be! Very sensible family had taught their children to just freeze when a dog comes up to them, so no waving arms around or squealing - I was impressed how well it worked. Thank goodness.

@OwlInAnOakTree It didn't go very well at all, lasted half an hour of crying and brought him upstairs. I'm fine with it though, he just lies at the bottom of the bed and sleeps really well. If he was in the crate I'd be up super early with him, this way I get to sleep longer! Half eight today. We had originally planned for him to eventually sleep in our room, or on the top landing, so thinking we'll just go with it for now. He hasn't had any accidents inside for over a week now, so that makes me feel better about it too!

We had another training sesh yesterday afternoon. Doing lie down on a mat. All went well with the aid of sausages that DH cooked for him. Until he started pooping. And pooping and then vomiting then shaking. It was horrible. The trainer was lovely and stayed on to check he was ok. After about half an hour of squirts bum and puking he fell asleep then had loads of water and started careering around again but he looked so poorly. It's horrible to see them ill. The lie down and mat staying was ace before all that though!

Oh no @Polkadotpjs hope polka pup is feeling better today. So horrible when they're ill but they bounce back so quickly.

@polkadotpjs oh dear poor pup. Hope all okay today. You made me laugh with 'squirts bum'!

We just had a fantastic playdate with another dog of the same breed and it went so much better than the one last week with a smaller dog. The same breed seem to know the same games and they had a great time. Muckypup also came to me in the middle of playing when I called him - I really didn't think he would but he was a star and everyone was so impressed. Finally some of that boring work training is paying off, which is just what I needed to see.

Aw I'm glad training is paying off. We met friends with a large collie/ poodle cross and he was very snappy at him (Polka snappy I mean". Big dog just looked irritated but then they seemed to reach mutual ignoring with a bit of play

Sounds like it's going really well @muckandnettles. OwlPup is fast asleep after a 30 minute dash about at the park so I'll try and use this time wisely and get reading! Did you buy the gun dog whistle she recommends? I've got a couple of whistles that I already bought but now worried that I'll lose them and not get one with the same sound...

@marmite51 sounds like pup's just brought things forward a bit for you then. 😊

That sounds awful @polkadotpjs Hope pup is all better soon. I've been using a mat in our kitchen at mealtimes. It works quite well if the treats are tastier than the food on the table. Doesn't work at all when we have, say, brisket and roast potatoes...

@OwlInAnOakTree we have a 211.5 acme whistle for recall. Absolutely recommend it. We have been training BonBon pup to 3 toots for recall, and practice using her meals so she comes running for it immediately, only ever practice with high reward. She's amazing at it (although we haven't been out in the big wide world yet). Only ever super duper high reward treats. I can vouch for it being a brilliant tool, super windy crazy weather and the whistle will cut through it and travel far. Plenty of times with adventurous dogs we've been walking (family friends) shot out of sight (trained gun dogs) after something/flushing birds. 3 toots and they're back instantly.
It is really important to get a frequency and stick with it. As you say, losing one you don't know the frequency of can put you back near square one as they are very quick to learn frequency and even which one out of same frequency whistles is being blown by their human.

We've not attempted 1 toot for stop what your doing and freeze. Wish we had as I think it's going to be much harder now, but breeder started with 3 toots from ~5 weeks.

@OwlInAnOakTree I bought two of the whistles she suggests, one for me and one for dh though I haven't entrusted him with his yet! The recall success this morning was just a little glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have a long way to go. Having said that, I don't think I've had a proper bite for about a week, though every time I say that I jinx it and he gets me good and proper again. But all my scabs are healing up and there has been no blood loss for well over a week. But then, I've not been playing with him as much as I was as he just gets over excited and goes for me instead of the toy. I feel a bit bad now I've said that!

@pokadotpjs hope pup's feeling better.

Great, thanks @PuppyBonBon and @muckandnettles, I'll get the acme one then. Will your pup be a working dog PuppyBonBon? How would you go about training 1 toot for stop and freeze?

Biting also reduced here muck, well, biting me...much less so DS. Fingers crossed it continues!

Sounds like some great progress being made with pups here! Well done all for hard work paying off.

GingerPup is still here - just. DH wants her gone. DD9 is devastated at the thought. DD5 loves the dog but would also be quite glad to reclaim the sofa. I’ve persuaded DH to let me try to put some distance between her and us at night as if we can crack the sleeping thing we will be so much better able to cope. He’s on nights so can completely get a break from her for a few days and my parents will be here at the weekend to lend a hand. Though I’ve no idea how to get both kids ready for bed (youngest still likes me to lie with her for a few minutes) while the dog is losing her mind downstairs because she’s alone, so that might be the deal breaker :(

Hello everyone. Can I join please? We collected our 8 week old toy poodle on Saturday.
So far he’s lovey but also very sleepy. He spends a lot of time in his crate dozing and resting. He does come out for a play but not for long. I’m getting worried he’s depressed. How normal is it for them to sleep so much?

Puppies will sleep up to 20 hours a day! Mine didn’t get the memo ;)

Oh so lovely and tiny! Yeah I don't think we've ever managed 20 hours a day either but I wouldn't worry if that's what he's sleeping for @AmigoDog Hope he settles in well.

@GingerAndTheBiscuits does GingerPup have a lickimat? Giving OwlPup one is the only way I can leave the room without him noticing and/or complaining about it except for Kongs in the crate. So if his nap time in the crate doesn't coincide with DS bedtime, I give him a lickimat which buys me about ten minutes upstairs...

@OwlInAnOakTree she sure does. Three of them. And two kongs. And puzzle games. And a snuffle mat. Nothing holds her attention if we leave the room. We must be super lovable 🙄 She is having a lovely snooze while I work in the same room (standing up, so she’s helping me get a bit fitter!). If only she was always being this chill!

We do wonder if the litter are part Vizsla who apparently are total Velcro dogs.

Yes I am wearing crocs. I value my toes. Don’t judge me

After the bull pizzle stink at the weekend I got DPup her first split antler today. She loves that too, but definitely not as much as the pizzle!

I also bought another food to try for her. She's been on Harrington's but her poos have been huge recently relative to her size so discussed it at the pet shop and they recommended a natural gluten free one called Greenacres. Double the price of Harrington's naturally but we shall see how she gets on.

In that case @GingerAndTheBiscuits, I have no idea what to suggest! I had the lovely idea before pup arrived, that we would take him upstairs at DS' bedtime and he would snuggle up with us on the armchair in DS' bedroom whilst we read bedtime stories together. Oh how I laugh at my naive ignorance now... Hope you manage it. She is lovely. Vizslas are beautiful.

@Imadreamer44, OwlPup lost interest in his antler pretty quickly. I stored it in a box with the pizzles and the last few times I've taken in out, he's been much more interested in it. I'm guessing because of the residual stench of the pizzles.

I’d say that including the time he spends resting in the crate he’s probably asleep nearly 20 hours. It’s only been 2 full days though so I guess we could get a change imminently!
He woke up just after I posted and went crazy for a bit, weed on his pad and pooed on the floor. Now he’s asleep again. He fell asleep next to me which was lovely and cute but I needed to make a phone call so I had to move and he woke briefly and went back in his crate.

Me too @OwlInAnOakTree. Visions of her sleeping at my feet while I worked from home. Oh how we laughed...

@AmigoDog he looks so cute! Our pup is barely awake! He has 20-30 mins activity, then 1.5-2 hours sleep from 5am to 7pm, then sleeps 7pm to 5am, with a wee at 11 pm and 3 am.

He won't sleep upstairs during the day, so we are spending much more time in the kitchen than we planned! DD cleaned the kitchen and baked cakes today, she was so bored of being in the kitchen watching a sleeping dog...

@OwlInAnOakTree we hopefully will. We don't shoot ourselves, and you have to, you can offer your dogs services to a shoot and enter field trials. So we're going to train her for it and see how she gets on. If she's good we'll compete. We have friends that shoot too, so we might take her out with them. Our trainer said it's good for dogs from strong working lines to have a go at their "trade" and can help owners understand the nature of the dog so you approach training. For us that means understanding her instinct to flush and retrieve. If she picks something she shouldn't up, we must not scold or chase, instead: "Good Girl", recall, drop and reward. We're much more likely to have a safe encounter with bad things than if we chase or scold, that would lead her to hide and be sneaky/reduce recall. Plus it's her instinct to pick things up, so really unfair to scold her nature. Same with chasing birds, teach her to have a command to tell her the jobs done and to return to us will be much more fruitful than telling her off for her natural instinct. I'm talking foul in fields btw, any thing actual livestock and she'll be on a lead (plus a big part of her socialization is to lean that livestock are completely boring).

To teach the whistle stop, normally one long blast rather than pips, you can either do it starting with praising when they give you their attention when you give the blast and praise the idea of the stillness they exhibit on hearing, encourage the freeze to continue until a release command given (return, turn etc) or the other way which we'll do as she comes to 3 pips: teach the long blast = sit (whistle first, then say sit), then progress to long blast = sit + wait, then walking at heel + blast = sit + wait, progress to include if owner walks off, and keep going until you can do it at a run and they sit and wait. Then allow them to run free, whistle = sit and stay where ever they are. Eventually you can progress and ease off the "sit" element and it becomes a "freeze".

I'm sure there are other ways to teach it too, but those are the two ways I know.

Lovely afternoon with the dog. Then DH came downstairs and within minutes she had nipped him under the arm and he reacted really badly. Maybe I could send him to the rescue instead? 😩