Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The doghouse

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

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!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
51
SimonJT · 11/08/2020 18:43

Well we are on the last day of pups first holiday, we had a few days at a holiday cottage and Link soon learned to keep away from the edge of the swimming pool! He did escape the garden one day and terrorised the horses in the next field, little swine.

We’re now at Grandma’s and he has been very good, including being nice to her cat.

No one has been bitten in three days, I’m hoping it isn’t a fluke!

Coffeewithmyoxyg3n · 11/08/2020 19:03

So cross! After a very long wait to see the vet, which coffeepup was relatively well behaved for other than being the only one there to bark. Saw the vet and they have put us down for first injections not second like I had specified over the phone. I did query it too on the phone as he is 11.5 today and new the second ones are from 12 at the earliest but they had insisted it's fine. Clearly that's why!

So now we have to go back again on Monday for his injections as that's the earliest they can fit us in. Really annoyed at we had made plans the week he can start going out which we now can't do as he will be 6 days behind what he should of been.

Also does anyone elses pup drool loads in the car? The backseat was soaked and was worried he was going to be sick as he was car sick when we brought him home. He's only done very short journeys so far, this was he longest he's done other than coming home.

muckandnettles · 11/08/2020 20:02

@SimonJT well done - that sounds very successful! Envious of that swimming pool as well...

Bethanemethane · 11/08/2020 22:06

Coffeewithmyoxyg3n My lab drools in the car loads and is sometimes sick. She is in a crate in the boot and we keep a stack of old towels in the boot which we line her crate with and use to wipe her doggy drool. I’m hoping she’ll get used to the car as she grows up and we try and put her in every day for a short drive. Poor pup.

HipHipHippo · 11/08/2020 22:18

Hello all, can I join in?
Had our pup for three weeks or so, he's 11 weeks.
We've had ups and downs, currently going through a down because I accidentally scared him (freaked out at a spider) and now he just won't settle.
The kids are in bed and I'm knackered but I can see a very likely scenario where I'm downstairs all night...

marmite51 · 11/08/2020 22:19

Hello all, sorry for not replying, have been busy this week going back to work!

MarmitePup sleeps on his bed, which is on the floor at the bottom of our bed. He sleeps really well, from 11 until 7ish.

He's a good wee thing, so friendly and just loves children. When the DC bring their friends into the garden his whole body wais from side to side. So cute.

He's discovered digging, and has nearly made it to Australia 🙄 My garden is wrecked!

We're still trying to get the right balance of exercise with him. He has a morning walk, and generally another one in the afternoon or evening. Sometimes he's overtired, sometimes under tired! We can't seem to figure it out.

Imadreamer44 · 11/08/2020 22:38

Just want to say good luck to you all sleeping tonight in this heat. Our house feels hotter than ever tonight.

AmigoDog · 12/08/2020 05:55

What time did you manage to get him to sleep hiphiohippo?
AmigoPup went from bitey to fast asleep at 10:30 last night.

Can I have some opinions about ‘sleeping through the night’ please? Pup goes to bed 10ish and morning starts 6ish. His crate is on a different floor to our bed. He’s generally quiet but I have a camera and can check if he’s moving about.
I started by waking up at about 3ish to take him to the loo. Usually he did a wee and a poo. Occasionally just a wee. I managed to push back the time to 4 (with the very occasional poo accident). Each time he’s been fairly keen (or at least easy) to get back to sleep. We have also (and I know it’s probably confusing for him) Left him in his crate for the whole night a couple of times, but with the door ajar so he can get in his pen. On these occasions he’s done a wee on the puppy pad but never a poo. I’ve come down at about 6 to puppy ready to start the day.
The last 2 mornings I’ve been down at 4:45 to take him out. No accidents in the night. Outside he’s had a wee but no poo. I give him a bit of time just to check then try and get him into his crate. He really doesn’t want to go back in. If I leave him he cries. This never happened when it was earlier in the night. Last night I did manage to get him to sleep in the end but this morning he’s definitely up.
Now I’ll willingly start my mornings at 6 for him, but not 5! I’m wondering whether to stop the night trips completely now and just go through to 6. Or whether to put them back so he’s still sleepy after.
How did others know to drop the night loo - especially those who don’t have pup in their room?

Emrysmcdogface · 12/08/2020 06:34

I also want tips on sleeping through! Puppy is taken outside at 10:30pm, wakes me up (quiet whimper) at 4 am for a wee, then back to sleep. then up from 5:30ish. I am so broken!

He's 13 weeks now...

Just trod in him as he likes to run under my feet as I walk! I feel very guilty...

SweetestThing · 12/08/2020 08:39

Morning, fellow puppy owners. Nearly five weeks in with our Springer. We started getting up at 2 for the night-time wee, then 2.15, 2.30 and within a week he managed to sleep from when DH puts him to bed (between 10 and 11) to between 6 and 7 in the morning

I'm an early waker, so those times suit me fine. He sleeps in his crate, door closed, in the kitchen. Currently lying snoozing at my feet as I work.

I think we've been very lucky with the night sleeping. The digging and chewing - that's another matter!

We can start taking him out on walks this weekend, so looking forward to that new milestone. We've been working hard on recall and start puppy training classes next week.

Keep going, everyone. Ginger, so sorry to learn that you've had to decide to re-home your puppy. Right decision for you and puppy, but I'm sure it was a painful process to go through. You did all you could to help him settle. Some things just aren't to be.

Borris · 12/08/2020 08:44

Help. My 4 month old has turned into a humper. Is this normal? She's a bitch!

Borris · 12/08/2020 08:47

My general summary would be
Good - sleeping,toilet training, walks and recall
Bad - biting (but can see new teeth coming through), being left home alone, jumping up, playing tug with lead

DD has 10 days at her dads coming up so I'm hoping I can use that calmer time without her to cement some stuff

Borris · 12/08/2020 08:51

I'd say that sleeping happened quite suddenly. Had a few weeks when up several times. I did put back to bed after a wee at anything before 6.30. If she wasn't tired then I'd sit by the crate in the dark and stroke through the bars until she went to sleep. She got good at going back to sleep and then one day realised I'd not been up in the night at all the previous few nights. And it has continued

She is funny and wakes up without fail between 7.57 and 8.07. Makes me chuckle that it's always so precise

muckandnettles · 12/08/2020 08:52

@Amigodog I'd just see how it goes if you don't get up in the night and if you're happy to get up at 6, then get up then and see if there are any accidents. If you don't mind using puppy pads for a bit longer, then there's no harm in it I don't think. I think like a lot of things it's just maturity and they get to it in their own time. I set the alarm for the middle of the night for ages once I'd stopped sleeping downstairs, and by the end I just felt I was waking Mucky up unnecessarily. In the end he sleeps from around 9 or 10pm to whenever I get up around 7. He's a big pup though, and 5 months old now.

Kitcat47 · 12/08/2020 08:56

Toilet traing was going so well. Now it's like he just pisses anywhere!! Help!!

muckandnettles · 12/08/2020 08:58

@Borris I think humping is normal but something to be discouraged as much as possible, obviously. Mucky does it still when he is a bit overwhelmed by too much going on - it's a sort of anxiety hump, that's how I look at it. So for example, after not being humped for ages, he did it at puppy school when it was all a bit much for him and he was fed up and out of sorts, then again in the paddling pool when it was hot, he was tired, I was messing about in the pool with him just a bit too long. It isn't sexual, though it looks it, it's more of a sort of mixed signal 'don't know what to do with myself' sort of situation I think.

pistachioicecream · 12/08/2020 09:27

@AmigoDog Pistachiopup is a good sleeper but I think we just got lucky!

For the first week she was with us she just had a crate to sleep in which was in the downstairs study. She'd go out for a last wee or poo if she needed it at 10.30pm ish and we'd put her to bed. I'd sit by the crate for a while until she was asleep then creep out. So I'd usually be in bed just after 11. We'd set the alarm for 2am and take her out for a wee. Then straight back in her crate. I'd sit by it again for a few minutes before going back to bed. Then I set my alarm for 6am to come back down to take her out and the day would start then. She'd do a wee straight away and a poo prob 15 -20 mins after being up. She's never poo'd in the middle of the night.

You're all much hardier than us. Within a week of broken sleep we couldn't do it anymore. Ordered a playpen and her crate is in there now. Had to move it to the kitchen/family room though where there is a tiled floor rather than wooden floorboards in the study. (Didn't want wee on the floor in the study!)

First couple of nights we shut the crate door to get her to fall asleep but then opened it when we went up to bed. Left newspaper by the pen gate. When we came down at 6am she would be up sitting in the pen waiting for us and had usually done a wee on the paper. No poo ever.

Then she started waking up as we'd try to open the crate door before going to bed. So we just stopped forcing her to go in the crate to sleep. She has another bed in the pen outside the crate. Crate door is open and she can choose where she wants to sleep. Currently in the heat she usually falls asleep on the cool tiles rather than either of the bed options. I think she moves around in the night though switching positions - as generally the blankets in the crate look slept on too.

After a week of leaving newspaper out for her we were regularly coming down to no wees at all. So we don't leave it out now. She's just dry through the night.

We've also managed to push back the time we come down. Just did it 15 mins at a time. Now we come downstairs at 7.30 after we've showered and dressed. Don't hear a peep from her until then. At the weekend if we've gone to bed a bit later can usually stretch it to 8!

She's 15 weeks old now. She was 10 weeks old when she arrived and we did night time wee's for just over a week. So somewhere between 11-12 weeks we stopped taking her out in the middle of the night.

I guess the downside of what we've done is that she's not accustomed to sleeping in the crate with the door closed anymore and not sure whether that matters. She still goes in at some points during the day if she wants to but never with the door closed.

If it were me I would stop the night time visits and see how he does.

good luck.

grannycake · 12/08/2020 09:49

After a couple of really poor sleep last night was marginally better. I set up the sofabed next to the crate. She started to fall asleep on the bed - I failed here and fell asleep myself (only 2 hours sleep the night before) and she woke me about 12 for a wee. I then put her in the crate next to the bed and she slept until 6 with a couple of minor grizzles which were dealt with by talking softly and stroking her paw through the crate.

I'm opposite to most people - I want her to go to sleep earlier as I normally wake between 4:30 and 5:30 myself

smilingthroughgrittedteeth · 12/08/2020 10:23

Hi everyone,

@GingerAndTheBiscuits im sorry to hear it hasnt worked out but youve tried hard and its obviously the right decision for your family and gd.

Ive just caught up qith the thread but cant remember all the questions so heres what i can remember Smile

Sleep - Smileypup sleeps in his crate in our bedroom, he started off right next to me but is now in the alcove at the bottom of the bed. He sleeps 9.30pm - 6.30/7am. For the first week he needed out at 3am for a wee but he just didnt wake me one night and has slept through ever since. He asks to go out for a wee at 9.30pm then just sleeps in his bed in the lounge till im ready to go up to bed.

Food - he was on Beta puppy food qhen he came to us but didnt get on with it and ended up on special vet food for a week, hes now on james wellbeloved and doing really well, i buy a different flavour each week so he geta a change and also add a bit of chicken stock or gravy to it occasionally to make it a bit different. He loves his food though and wolfs it down.

Biting/nipping - he was terrible and destroyed so many of the childrens clothes, hes 15wks now and its got a lot better. We use a spray bottle if he does nip which distracts him.

@grannycake i am totally jealous of your cool weather the coolest its been here for days is 32 degrees, its unbearable.

smilingthroughgrittedteeth · 12/08/2020 10:26

Smileypup has been doing well when left alone in a room for a short period but we havent left him home alone at all yet so are going to start trying this week or school runs are going to be awful

AmigoDog · 12/08/2020 11:05

Thank you so much for all your sleep experiences. I think I’ll leave pup all night tonight and see what happens. I’ll check him on the dog cam although it’s not always obvious what he’s doing...
I wish we could have him in our room. DH is fairly keen not to go down that route - although if there was an issue he would be ok with it. So far pup has only ever been downstairs.

I have been reading the dog training Facebook page again which was recommended on here. Reread the unit on biting which has made me feel so much better about pups behaviour. I had read it before but I’ve read so much stuff it all became a blur. It makes it absolutely clear that biting is totally inevitable, more so around kids, and it’s not a sign of bad things to come. I trust that view more that those on my breed specific FB pages.

I hope everyone has a good day today. Another ridiculously hot one in London today. I’m so over it!

Juiceey · 12/08/2020 11:41

@Borris I have a humper. He only does it when he's over excited, if we play with him too long! We say no, push him away and turn our backs.

OP posts:
SimonJT · 12/08/2020 15:52

We had what I can only describe as a Fenton moment this morning, now I know Links breed is renowed for being completely ignorant but he has been quite good at recall on a long line. This morning before we left Grandma’s we went for a nice country walk so I let him off, he did really well the first 3/4 times. After that he was gone and he was not going to listen.

pistachioicecream · 12/08/2020 15:56

@Kitcat47

Sorry missed your message earlier. Oh no. poor you. I think it can seem like two steps forward, one step back with lots of things. You think you've got something sorted and then it comes back. We've had to go back to basics with toilet training a few times. Don't be disheartened. You'll get there in the end!

Lots and lots of praise when they get it right though. Am frequently dashing out into the garden with a desperately over enthusiastic "well done, you're such GOOD good girl" when I've spotted her weeing on her own, treats in hand. Neighbours must think I'm mad. Don't want to miss the opportunity to heap on the praise for getting something right!

Good luck.

HipHipHippo · 12/08/2020 19:49

Amigodog surprisingly he went down at 10:30. I think his usual bedtime routine made him feel more comfortable, and he's been fine today so I was obviously far more worried than I needed to be.
He woke up when DH got home from work about one and wouldn't settle for him so it was up to me (just needed a poo) and sitting with for 5 mins.

One thing I've noticed though is that before hand after letting him out for the loo he would happily pop back into his crate and not worry about me closing the door and heading upstairs. Now I have to sit with him in there until he's asleep (doesn't take long) and then shut it. Slightly frustrating I'll admit!