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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Puppy survival thread! July/August! Roll up!

949 replies

Juiceey · 28/07/2020 14:05

Here we go, hero puppy owners.

We've just got back from the vet where I was shocked to discover he now weights 4kg. Little lump! He's 19 weeks old tomorrow. Wonder how big he'll get? On a miniature poodle group I'm in the adults are anywhere between 6-12kg. I hope he's small as easier to carry about!

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GingerAndTheBiscuits · 02/08/2020 16:46

Cheese gave GP a funny tummy too @AmigoDog. She’s okay with small amounts of cream cheese and with yoghurt, just not cheddar!

AmigoDog · 02/08/2020 16:58

Thanks ginger. It was cheddar the pup was eating. He seems ok now though but we will keep an eye on him obviously.

Yes. We use the Simple Solution spray which is supposed to break down smells and prevent re-marking

juiceey my trainer said that simple solution contains ammonia which actually encourages dogs to wee on it as it evokes the smell of urine.

smilingthroughgrittedteeth · 02/08/2020 17:31

@Juiceey try washing the mat and doorway in hot water and biological washing powder a trainer years ago told me it was the best thing for getting rid of the urine smell and stopping them repeat weeing

smilingthroughgrittedteeth · 02/08/2020 17:32

@AmigoDog smileypup was sick yesterday i think its just the heat

Emrysmcdogface · 02/08/2020 18:36

@Coffeewithmyoxyg3n we have a soft toy we keep in an air tight box with cloves. We hide it in the garden with a small pot of his food. First few times we 'hid' it about 3 feet away, and use the find command.

We now can hide it anywhere in the garden and he follows the scent! He's 12 weeks tomorrow...

Soon we will work on getting him to retrieve the toy rather than just find it!

marmite51 · 02/08/2020 19:42

Hello all! We're on holiday at the moment, staying with family, so haven't had much time to keep up with this thread. Big hugs to all struggling.

We're staying with family who have an eight year old well behaved and impeccably trained dog. She's putting puppy in his place regularly. He so wants to be her pal, and is so persistent, but she just calmly barks at him. A couple of times he's pushed it too far, and she's properly snapped at him, so its good that he's learning boundaries.

I narrowly avoided having to go into a canal after him yesterday. He was off lead on a long walk, when we turned a corner and there was a canal. He was very nearly in, I literally grabbed him by his haunches! He loves water, and was very disgruntled at being put back on his lead.

polkadotpjs · 02/08/2020 20:06

I hear you. Polkampup keeps peeing by the front room door. And pooping. It's been cleaned but nope. Still
Goes. I put a pee mat down and he goes on that. I'm trying to not reward but not react. At least the mat isn't my carpet. But then think I'll just move the mats gradually to the back door. I'm sure we'll be there by 2025!

polkadotpjs · 02/08/2020 20:09

Polka pup also getting super bitey as he becomes confident round us. It's exhausting but I'm assuming he is exhausted and I'm going to put him in his crate shortly. Tried to go for a drink but he was bonkers at the bar. Loving people cuddling him but then biting me quite savagely. He's off to bed soon and I think I will be too. I abandoned my drink and left DH in there!

Original poster
Juiceey · 02/08/2020 20:13

Interesting- so the simple solution spray could be making it worse. I'll buy some biological washing powder tomorrow.

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GingerAndTheBiscuits · 02/08/2020 22:48

20 minutes of lunging at me before she has given in and gone to sleep tonight, after an hour of it downstairs. I didn’t even get to tuck my kids in tonight because she was going nuts downstairs and couldn’t leave her. They put themselves to bed :( I’m so fed up of not just being able to get peacefully into my own bed 😭 surely this should be getting better, not worse!

GingerAndTheBiscuits · 02/08/2020 22:52

Sorry for always moaning. It’s just so confusing and frustrating. She was a dream right up to about 8pm, then just became a nightmare. She’s slept really well today, two good naps in the day and a catnap this evening, two lovely walks where she was so good, and then 2+ hours of being a demon dog.

grannycake · 03/08/2020 04:57

We brought our little border terrier home on Saturday morning. Working on crate training. DH & I are taking it in turns to sleep on sofa bed in living room. He did the first night and it didn't go well. I know because I could hear her upstairs

I did last night and it was fine got up with her at about 1:00 am and then 15:45. She's had a mad playing/chewing our and is now asleep next to me on sofa

Toilet training more hits than misses so that's positive

I'll share a photo later

GingerandTilly · 03/08/2020 06:45

Thank you for letting me join the thread everyone.

Grannycake we’re crate training our BC pup too. He’s doing quite well but we still have the crate in our bedroom for night sleeps so I just hope it works when we try with the crate downstairs at nighttime.

We have an old baby monitor that we’re going to use and I’m going to set my alarm for his toilet trips as he usually needs a wee about 1am and 4am! 😴

I’ve found the crate training advice on this website really helpful if anyone else is considering crate training...
thehappypuppysite.com/crate-training-a-puppy/

Good luck with the pups everyone. It really feels like looking after a baby again!

AmigoDog · 03/08/2020 07:03

Congratulations on the pup grannycake. I think our first nights were similar to yours.

So after posting yesterday pup didn’t have any more diarrhoea and this morning poo was back to normal so I think it was probably just the cheese - poor thing.

We have the trainer coming again today. Im not sure what to talk to her about. We are possibly a bit behind for 2 weeks in (not sure) but last time she came I was feeling so overwhelmed and i can see we have made progress with pup since then. I do worry we are not doing enough training with him though.

Imadreamer44 · 03/08/2020 09:07

DPup been dropped off at daycare today as I'm back to work. It broke my heart! Hoping she does okay.

AmigoDog · 03/08/2020 09:20

Ahh imadreamer44 it must be odd but I’m sure she will have a lovely time. How many days will she be doing?
We are looking for a place for AmigoPup.

BiteyShark · 03/08/2020 09:44

@Imadreamer44

DPup been dropped off at daycare today as I'm back to work. It broke my heart! Hoping she does okay.
Hope your pup is ok.

I send mine off every week and he never looks back as it's his second home.

Imadreamer44 · 03/08/2020 14:13

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I got a lunchtime text from them that she's happy and confident which is good.
She's going 2.5 days a week currently as I'm working part time at the moment. That might change to full in the not so distant future.

Original poster
Juiceey · 03/08/2020 15:29

Aw, don't worry. You'll soon know if she's not happy.

When we picked up Juiceypup from daycare he didn't want to leave with us!

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Original poster
Juiceey · 03/08/2020 15:31

I want to be able to go out for dinner again at some point in life without this dog. Or to the supermarket. SO, I NEED to teach him to be left alone.

Starting with 5 minutes today. Is it literally a case of 5, 10, 15 etc every day til you've built up to a few hours?

I regret not persevering with the crate. I sincerely hope we don't come back to a trashed house/shit on the floor.

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polkadotpjs · 03/08/2020 16:27

I'm also wanting a bit of time out even if an hour from being constantly him. He goes in crate but I still think it's small for any length of time unless he's asleep. I may buy a bigger one

OwlInAnOakTree · 03/08/2020 17:21

Me and DS have managed some afternoon trips to the park whilst OwlPup is asleep in his crate. If he's been to the park or for a good walk, he seems to sleep for about 2.5 hours if he can't hear us in the house. Otherwise, I've left him with a lickimat whilst I put DS to bed but only dare to leave him for about ten minutes. When I do this, he's usually just sat calmly on the sofa when I come down. If I leave him alone in the room whilst I'm in the kitchen however, he instantly starts messing about with things that are on the shelves next to the sofa that he can reach by jumping up on the sofa. I think that might be some kind of rebellion against being kicked out of the kitchen. So, lickimat seems key in this house! I keep thinking I'll buy a little camera, just so I can see what he's up to if I do leave him.

thecapitalsunited · 03/08/2020 18:38

I checked my bottle of Simple Solution and ammonia isn’t mentioned so I don’t think it does contain it. They do make a potty training spray though which is designed to smell like pee and encourage puppy to pee in that spot. Hopefully you haven’t bought the training one!

muckandnettles · 03/08/2020 18:56

Third night away and it's been fine apart from the place having no garden with grass in it, so I'm walking Mucky at 6am for a first wee, then 6.30am for a poo, 7am for another wee. Then on high alert for next wee, poo, sleep. Rest of family still asleep of course. Something to remember when booking a holiday again...

AmigoDog · 03/08/2020 19:19

thecalitalsunited I checked my bottle of Simple Solution and ammonia isn’t mentioned so I don’t think it does contain it. They do make a potty training spray though which is designed to smell like pee and encourage puppy to pee in that spot. Hopefully you haven’t bought the training one!

Oh god spraying training spray accidentally is just the sort of thing I’d do. Have double checked though and not made that mistake this time! Mine is multi surface disinfectant cleaner and it contains Dimethylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride which guess is what she was talking about with ours.