Puppy survival thread *September!*

[JuiceyBetty]

Can't believe we're in September now, our babies are growing up!

Newbies always welcome especially if they come bearing photos....

Yes the mornings used to be my most dreaded time when pup was at his craziest. He'd shred my pyjamas every morning. They do calm down eventually but just keep going in the meantime!! it will pass.

For teaching pup to settle I’ve found the flitting game quite useful. Basically get a boring repetitive job like folding laundry. Start folding it in the room with dog, and ignore him. When he lies down go to the next room. He follows, repeat and go back to first room. Eventually he gets bored and stays where he is.
Is helping my pup learn I’m not always doing something interesting when I’m in a different room! However he is obsessed with my DH and if DH is upstairs (pup not allowed upstairs!) then he will sit at the bottom looking sad so we need to work on getting him settled when DH goes upstairs.

In terms of the school run I leave for work at 7.45 and everything has to be ready before I leave or I get anxious so I do a lot of prep the night before then get up at 5.30ish (I am a long distance runner so getting up early for training is pretty normal to me!) to get organised. This also means I can have a good play with pup then Dh takes him for a walk whilst the kids eat breakfast so he’s very tired by the time they leave

We went to the river today to meet the swans and see the water. I got so carried away at laughing at them jumping back from the water and staring at the swans whilst I fed them that I lost myself and I stress of going back up the concrete ramp I walked them back up the bank and all 3 of us got stuck in the mud!

Thank goodness, no one else was around as I tried to lift one pup just to get them stuck albeit a little bit further towards the ramp which I had to repeat at least 20 times with each pup and my self before getting to firmer terrine

Pups legs were caked in mud and I must have stacked it at least 5 times.

Worst of all, I can’t go upstairs and shower till D.C. gets in from school, can’t leave them downstairs on their own. I STINK!

Was really funny though, I wish I’d taken my phone to get some pictures. I can’t even think about the start of my car right now!

That sounds hilarious! I wish you did have some pics!

Yikes @GazingAndGrazing poor you!

So far we've tried pig's ear, lickimat, kong and puzzle feeding bowl thing. She's not bothered, we are much more interesting than food! I have just bought some cheese spread for the lickimat so that's next to try. I do the flitting game a lot which is fine during the day, but morning and evening are a different story! I'll just wait for it all to settle and in the meantime keep trying with flitting, the boundary blanket, stay... and counting down the days til we can go out.

Try the 25p jars of salmon or chicken paste for lickimats and kongs. Stink to high heaven though not as bad as a pizzle 😆

Our lickimat staples are natural yoghurt, banana, low free cream cheese, wet dog food, strawberries, kibble soaked in water. Fortunately ours is a lab so will treat all food as the best thing ever but hopefully one of those will work for you! We freeze them too to last longer.

We recently got a hol-ee ball. Squeezing a fat carrot into it is my new favourite way to keep pup busy. But I think you might be right puppygalore, you're far more interesting for her at the moment!

I bought a hol-e-roller and I'm so excited to try it out tomorrow!

I just bought a split antler and that gives us a few minutes peace. Primula cheese in a lickimat too. And cooked chicken in a Kong, although he's not really got the hang of Kongs yet. I'll be trying some of these other suggestions too - thanks all.

Pup just walked towards the (closed) back door and peed as soon as I let him out. Is this the first glimmer of hope that toilet training won't last forever or just wishful thinking?!

LittlePoot fingers crossed. I hope you embarrassed yourself with your neighbours praising him when he went outside

Well riverpup slept from 10 til 6 with a poo at 1.37am but feels like we are heading in a better direction.
Also firm poo is back :-)
But biting is absolutely awful today.i know underneath it she has a very sweet temperament but omg she is awful when she is in attack mode. She is 11 weeks today so guess another few weeks of wearing the same more and more shredded pair of Jean's?
Out for our first walk tomoro and hoping that helps chill her out a bit.
@LittlePoot that sounds like great progress

@BiteyShark

LittlePoot fingers crossed. I hope you embarrassed yourself with your neighbours praising him when he went outside

Certainly did!

He's being a bugger for not napping today so I'm not sure how to best manage the rest of the evening to try not to ruin the night time. Just little catnaps whereas the rest of the week he was managing a couple of hours at a time. Little pickle.

Despite BiteyDog being an adult I still praise him lots when he pees and poos outside as it just became a habit. My neighbours must think I am crazy

Good luck with first walk @Riverhousepuppy. We can go Sunday but getting a lead on is still beyond me. Maybe the distraction of being outside will help (hopefully!).

Since my earlier message, pup has asked to go out another five times but with no wees. It was just a coincidence 🤣

Gave chocpup the snuffle mat today. This is him after 15 mins of searching

@LittlePoot he will keep asking and going out and the more times he goes out and pees the more it will start to stick. It’s so repetitive but keep going!

Thanks @Chocolateandamaretto. The snuffle mat looks like a great idea. Where did you get it from/which one is it and what food/treats did you put in?

www.rufflesnufflemats.com/ And the tigger toys are really good too

Help!! Polka pup has a manky eye. Green goop and running once that's been cleaned with salt water. It's a vet job tomorrow isn't it?! Or can you get conjunctivitis stuff at jets at home? His white bit of eye is all pink just like human conjunctivitis

Eyes are usually a vet job. Mine will see them same day just incase it's something serious.

I'll ring first thing - he's happy as Larry. Just looks so nasty. And I hate it when I get it - so so itchy. He's had a lot of cuddles and cheese tonight but I did think it'd be a vet job so I'll deffo take him. He's been lush today. So cuddly.

Be aware that they use a dye to see the eye and afterwards its comes out of their eyes and nose in fluorescent yellow/green. BiteyDog looks like BiteyDog the zombie for ages afterwards 😆

Feck really??! Sounds terrifying!

We had that a couple of months ago. It was an eye infection most likely from the manky puddles and rivers he likes to wallow in. We had the dye treatment and it is as ridiculous as @Bitey says! Eye drops were a daily wrestle but it cleared up almost instantly! We were meant to do drops for a week but we ran out after about 4 days (mainly due to numerous mis aims that landed on his forehead, chin, cheeks) but it still cleared up fine. Good luck!

@polkadotpjs

Feck really??! Sounds terrifying!

It's only eye drops but it's so funny as it looks freaky afterwards. I wanted to take BiteyDog ZombieDog for a walk to scare everyone