Puppy survival thread! July/August! Roll up!

[Juiceey]

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!

Ah @Bunglemom it is so so hard in the early weeks and you can see from previous posts that everyone goes through it. Lack of sleep is horrible so hopefully pup will start sleeping longer soon. Are you using a crate? It's been the only way I've kept my sanity. OwlPup naps in his crate giving me a bit of breathing space. Also means I can take DS out to give him a bit of normality. OwlPup is 20 weeks tomorrow. I'd say the first 8 weeks were awful. I've never been so stressed. But the last 4 weeks have been noticeably easier. Still hard work at times, but a massive shift. I know it all seems insurmountable at the beginning, but it will get easier.

We are going away this weekend and I’ve just started to write a packing list for AmigoPup. Oh my god it’s crazily long!
Any tips from those who have already taken pup away? We are staying at a friends (scarily stylish) holiday home.

I don't know how any of you cope with small dc and a puppy. I have two teens who are both enormously helpful, plus a puppy who arrived toilet trained and sleeping through the night - I know how lucky we are! But I still have moments of what have we done. I'm heartened by those who say it gets easier - pup is 13 weeks and incredibly energetic (and bitey). I know we can't walk him for long but he really needs to burn energy.
@AmigoDog I feel like I'm taking a baby again with the amount of kit we need. I'm not out pup is ready for a stylish holiday home

@AmigoDog we haven't been away but even going to the park for an hour is an absolute faff in terms of getting together everything I need for pup and child. So, yeah, good luck! 😆

@Bunglemom hope you have a better day together. Everything is easier with a bit more sleep so hopefully if the nights get better you will have more energy to tackle the days. My children are teenagers so we have been taking turns taking the early morning or late night shift so everyone gets some rest. Is there someone who can watch the puppy so you can get an hour or two out of the house for a break ?

We are going away next week too so had a trial half day out at the weekend as not been out with pup for longer than half hr upto now. She coped brilliantly as we stopped on benches etc enforced her abit of down time whilst the kids played took her treats & lunch with us. It gave me hope that family life can resume soon with a puppy in tow.

However the cottage we booked back in January doesn’t allow dogs so DH is camping down the road whilst I’m relaxing in the comfy cottage with our two kids. We put the tent up in garden at weekend and puppy was hilarious she went mental to start with but we think / hope she will be ok sleeping in her crate in the sleeping pod zipped next to DH. They can then join us for day time stuff... hope it works!

so DH is camping down the road grin whilst I’m relaxing in the comfy cottage with our two kids. Amazing! Best plan ever

Hi all thanks so much for your kind words of support... I’ve read this thread from the beginning and can see we’re all in the same boat!
Fortunately I have my in-laws staying at the moment (never thought I’d utter those words lol!) so I have help I just am totally crap without sleep!
We’ve come up with a plan tonight that DH will sleep on the sofa and keep an ear out for bunglepup and try taking him out as I’m sure he was really unsettled due to having his injections last night x

Thanks to you all again

Sending love and support to those who need it, it DOES get better! I had my fair share of 'wtf have I done' moments but they've mostly passed now.

My only gripe now is that we can't leave him at home, DW is too soft and can't bear him crying for a minute so when we've tried to leave him for 5 minutes she's watched him on the camera and came back in. I just want to go out for dinner without him!

@TriSkiRun99 such a great holiday you have lined up there - good work! We are off for a week in Wales in 3 weeks time, so I'm hoping Mucky will be okay. The house does allow dogs, so we should be fine. When we went away for a weekend we took two cars so pup could have his enormous crate in case he needed time out, but it was a lot of fuss we didn't need to have done really. @AmigoDog my only tip from that experience is to move things out of the way when you get there if they might be a problem (Mucky went round and licked all the candles for example!) and we also rolled up the rug and put it out of the way just in case Mucky did a wee on it or chewed the edge of it. But we found that being in a new place was just so exciting he was exhausted. My biggest worry was that he wouldn't sleep but he collapsed in a heap every night with no prompting at all.

Dragonpup grabs a toy and bolts to the garden to place It under the trampoline. I’m assuming he sees it as his den. Anyone else come across this? It’s usually his favourite toys that we then collect up in the evening and he starts again the next day. He must wonder why we keep bringing them in!

At 5.30am he did a wee in the garden then ran back into the house before doing poo pose. I grabbed him and got him outside but then he scrabbled at the door to get back in before giving up and pooing. He appears to really dislike the rain 🙈 he then went back in his crate for 30 minutes but I think the drama of it all in the torrential rain had completely woken him up. Oh and he tried to pull the table cloth off the table so I need to rethink where the Poole pottery fruit bowl should go as clearly the table isn’t safe!

Dh and I are alternating so it was dh’s morning after my early morning loo trip. Just found dh asleep on the rug in the garden with dragonpup snuggling beside him We’re a bit sleepy!

@TriSkiRun99 how did you wrangle that? Sounds like an ideal holiday setup! I can’t imagine taking pup away yet, we normally camp so I have visions of him bolting across a field or inviting himself to someone else’s bonfire....My Dh is actually taking the kids to his parent’s house this weekend so it will just be me and pup for a couple of days so that will be like a holiday tbh.

We had the trainer over this afternoon and she was amazing. She agreed with us about working on his calm settle and she got him lying down at her feet really quickly so I copied her since she’s left and he’s now snoozing at my feet. She gave us some good advice for the kids as well and made me feel better about keeping them separate for chunks of the day. So when he wakes up we’re going to try scatter feeding him on a lead in the garden with the kids nearby and see if he ignores them. She also suggested some anco(?) wood for him to chew - has anyone used this? And we’ve got him some beef skin to keep him busy at the kids bedtime.

She’s running his puppy classes in a few weeks as well so I’m feeling really positive about them too.

Can I give my puppy a cute pseudonym? I’ll call him chocpup...

Chocpup has actually been quite charming today. I don’t know if I’m in a better mood for having a blow out last night or if it’s because my mum is here to help out with the kids but he’s much more mellow today so I’m feeling better. Thanks for the reassurance last night x

@Chocolateandamaretto so pleased to hear things have gone well today and you are feeling more positive. It's just little things sometimes that make all the difference so I'm glad that Chocpup is being charming! The trainer sounds really good as well.

m0therofdragons AmigoPup does that too. We find lots of strange things under the trampoline. He also poos under there too sometimes so I have to tip it upside down every now and then to take a look.

Chocolateandamaretto I’m so pleased you had a good experience with the trainer today.
Ours visited today too. I was a bit apprehensive because previously I’ve felt deflated when she’s left, but today it was a really positive experience for us too. She said she can see a big change in AmigoPup and that he is doing brilliantly. She also really reassured me that we are doing the correct amount of training with him. I was panicking that he was “behind” and I had missed our only window of opportunity etc etc (Like many others on here I am a big worrier and catastrophiser) but I’m feeling a lot better now.

muckandnettles that’s a good idea to move away anything that’s not pup friendly (or puppy proof!). The owners of the house are my best mates parents and I’ve known them
all my life, but the dad is a multi award winning architect and the house is stunning, so I am a little bit scared! I have a pop up puppy pen if I need to contain AmigoPup indoors (although he won’t like it for long).

Just popped on to say thanks to @muckandnettles
It was indeed an ear infection - vet was convinced it was ear mites but the swab showed none. So now I have to do 2 x ear drops and 1 x ear wash a day. You can imagine how that goes.
Today Olivepup has poo-ed and wee-ed indoors because he doesn't want to get his paws wet. I took him on a walk in the morning when it was raining and he seemed ok but obviously not.
I still haven't had my insurance claim paid. Very conscious that I owe DH £3k for 'my dog'.
Have a good evening all. Need a glass of wine and early night.

Thanks your making me feel a tiny bit guilty now I did offer to swap with him & sleep in the tent one night. I also found an alternative caravan which was dog friendly before we paid the balance but he said go ahead as I’d always wanted to stay there plus we weren’t sure whether tripup would be ok to go but she’s calming down every week or at least we know 4.30-7pm is the worst time of the day the rest of the time we can re-direct, play, feed or crate depending on her mood.
I’d be interested if the Aldi pens as they looked like pop up ones surely any jumping puppy would just rip it or trip it over? We also need to get one of those stake in the ground pegs so Tripup can be secured by the tent on a leash to wander but not get into trouble. What could possibly go wrong 🤣

TriPup with a tent peg racing around

I took pup into work today for a quick visit - everyone said he was gorgeous and he was very well behaved. He is getting quite heavy to carry around now though (and in 2 weeks will be so much bigger again - I might get muscles ha)

@OliveButler I'm sorry it's an ear infection - horrible I know, but ears shouldn't smell bad so I thought there might be something wrong. A lovely young vet that we saw with our elderly lab some time ago sniffed both his ears very carefully while we chatted to him and he explained what he was doing as a dog's ears should smell 'doggy' not nasty or stinky at all. We had gone to see him about a limp, nothing to do with ears!

I love reading all the updates at the end of the day. It was first walk day today and I decided to walk them separately.

It was a disaster it’s so windy here, neither would walk at all, just pinned to the ground shaking so I gave up.

They are very happy in the house and garden but I need to get them out and about luckily they love the car.

Photo is pup1 in his current position he may not have walked but he is worn out from chasing garden leaves!

Dragonpup used a lot of energy to get his bed into this position then fell asleep beside it!

@m0therofdragons

Dragonpup used a lot of energy to get his bed into this position then fell asleep beside it!

Aww, so lovely.

Mine are now snuggled up on the sofa with me which is nice but they should be in their crate...

• fetches rod for my own back -....

Dragonpup only goes in his crate when we go to bed about 11pm, although last night he was scrabbling to go upstairs at 10.45pm. He woke after 6am this morning which should feel amazing however the neighbour’s milk bottle had blown out of their recycling box and the wind was blowing it against their garage so after half an hour I couldn’t stand it anymore and went out at 3.30am to sort it out. Dragonpup slept through it but now I’m ridiculously tired!

I messaged puppy school to say I'm not going again as it just didn't work for us at that time. Glad I've made that decision now as I can't stand the thought of going there again. Puppy school dropouts we are.

The wind yesterday sent Mucky a bit crazy and when I let him off over the fields he went racing off like a demon, chasing bits of litter that were blowing around from the building site. It was so windy he couldn't hear me calling him, so I had to jump around and run away from him to catch his attention. Mercifully, there was no one else around walking their dogs to see me do this. Generally though, he has calmed down considerably now and I'm trying to persuade dh that he could be allowed in the Nice Room, if he kept to one spot (which I think he would). To start with I was just with him in the kitchen in the evenings, but now he settles more I go in the other room and he snoozes. I sort of feel we need him to get used to being with us in the evening - I actually think he might choose to go into the kitchen to his toys sometimes as well. He now goes into the hallway regularly and is bored with it now. The two rooms are adjoining. Do all of you let your pup have free run of the downstairs?

@muckandnettles I've been meaning to ask you whether muckypup is allowed in your living room yet. OwlPup is still only allowed in the back room and kitchen. But I think when DS starts back at school next week (and do toys won't be out all day every day) I'll start spending a bit of time in the front room with pup. I actually prefer spending time in the back room, so haven't minded being in here with pup. And the front room and hallway have better furniture, which I don't really want OwlPup left alone with just yet! But I think it's nearly time...