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....

@polkadotpjs - that doesn't sound bad to me? I don't suppose there are many puppies who could resist an excited child on the floor!

We took pup for his first couple of walks today. We seem to have got over the lead chewing which is great. But he seemed pretty nervous on both. Morning - 10 minutes around the block in our village. Then afternoon - drove to a lake about half a mile away and walked 15 minutes or so. Lots of sausage or chicken as encouragement but little pup didn't seem particularly happy with either outing. I hope I haven't traumatised him already!

Little poot - dit worry polka pup didn’t like walks at all at first. Apparently it’s just overwhelming so we carried and fussed him and treated him and now he know that if lead goes on that we are going out and he likes it!

@LittlePoot so glad you got to do your first couple of walks. We did one this morning and are going to do another little one about 8.30.
@polkadotpjs we had a football related situ today as well. Took riverpup to ds football game and there were a couple of other dogs there but she was great. Then when we left riverpup and youngest ds were walking across the field when a woman stopped and said how cute pup was etc and stopped to stroke her with her 4 dds. Riverpup is partial to a bite of hair if she gets a chance and suddenly had a selection of pony tails in front of her which she couldnt resist. Luckily she didnt go crazy and they thought it was very sweet and funny. And I got her out of there before she got too excited.
Has been so nice to have her out and she has definitely been more tired for all the new adventures.
Am still confused about the 5 minute per month rule and if that includes running around the garden or formal walks only and once or twice a day. So much conflicting advice.
She slept til 6.20 this morning after 2 night poos so at least is getting up later

I'm taking the rules as 5 min per month of age twice a day on the lead. And not counting garden running about in there. I figure he has a choice about the running about so if he's tired he can stop?

One more question for you knowledgeable lot. Our breeder suggested going from four meals a day to three at 12 weeks and adding a bit of meat to the kibble. And presumably we need to up the total food as he's growing. What he eats now is quite a bit more than the packet guidance (Purina beta puppy) so I'm feeling a bit lost as to how much/how often. Any suggestions? It varies every day whether he eats it all or not. We use some of the allowance for training treats plus a few other bits including a tiny bit of chicken and about a quarter of a sausage today as walk bribes

Yeah I agree with @LittlePoot - we do 5 mins x months of age twice a day. That doesn’t include lounging about on a bench at the park, just the walk from the car to the bench!

Took chocpup to a kids party in the park this afternoon. He was very big oof considering how many kids came and fussed him! It only got a bit much when everyone started eating hot dogs, and I can’t really blame a lab for getting excited with tons of people waving sausage in his face. Fortunately DH had some frankfurter in his pocket so we distracted him and noone’s hot dog was stolen, but it wasn’t for lack of trying!!

That should be good not big oof!!!

ZombiePup also wasnt keen on his first walk @LittlePoot - he seemed rather bemused by it all in fact...
Have planned a lovely walk with a friend next weekend and her dog, so hopefully that'll be good!

Photo shoot planned with the pup tomorrow, with a work friend, so we can see him grown and change, especially as he is turning silver from black colour!

First groom Tuesday morning (poor timing since it's after photos), and first training session in the afternoon... so hopefully will get some clarity in what we're doing/could be doing better...

Need to start looking at fixing the lounge barrier as well, and pet cams - then we can start building him up to being left for a bit... any recommendations on that as well would be handy!

Novel experience for TriPup today at a triathlon watching bikes, people and runners. My DH was handling her, he stayed 1.5hrs and she was really good. DH was knackered though more tired than me & eldest DD who we’re taking part in the Tri. She was a lovely chilled out puppy all afternoon which was good, and actually chose to lay in her new fluffy bed for 10mins. DH bought it for her yesterday as we had a couple of super cheap ones which washed and didn’t matter if she chewed them but as she’s calmed down so much it was time to see if we can keep working on the ‘bed’ command ready to allow her to settle in the lounge with us when winter kicks in. She’s currently only in kitchen/diner at the moment.

We went to 3 meals a day at 8 weeks old based on breeders advice, we have a few more weeks then I think we need to transition to 2meals a day. Can’t see how she will cope with that at the moment!

Good evening. I will admit that I’ve slept a lot today. I did the usual 6.30am start inc a field run and then went to bed till 2pm and dozed this evening - I needed that.

I spoke to DH tonight worrying that the pups are doing really well but I’m only taking them to the two same spots apart from street walks. We did go to the river but I don’t like the long grass and what could be lurking in them, I’m such a worrier though.

I’m thoroughly enjoying our playing field time and showing off the boys little tricks, even at 7am on a Saturday and Sunday

I’m doing 15 mins trailing 6ft long lines, following me around the playing field or lead walking 3 times a day. They also have garden time but I don’t let them jump on or off indoor objects.

little mine are now 13 weeks, I took them straight from dry to frozen raw cubes at 11 weeks. I did drop to 3 meals a day but after 3 x 15 minutes exercise I put them back on 4 times and just offered smaller portions in between breakfast and dinner, it really helped with the biting and begging. I do only feed on a lickimat though

Hi 👋🏻 new to the thread... sorry if this has already been posted... I need a bit of advice if anyone please could help?
We have got a 6 month old English bulldog a little girl .... sweet little madam ☺️ but I'm struggling to get her to stop peeing in the house... we had have her 6 weeks and I take her outside all the time I mean all the time lots and lots of praise when she's weed/pooped outside and telling her No when she does a wee inside but she just doesn't seem to be getting that she should not be going in the house...
any advice is welcome! (She's not our first dog but she is our first bulldog)
Thank you!

littlepoot picklepup was a bit meh about her first walk but has warmed to them by keeping them slow and allowing her to have a good sniff.

polkadotpjs that sounds a bit traumatic but not your fault.

Picklepup has been really good today. We all sat outside in the sun and she chilled with us on her bed which we brought outside with her water and toys. I've put some kibble in a box and she loves chomping on that. She had two short walks, just along the lanes and met several people which she loves (she drops to her back for a belly tickle with everyone) and dogs. She's still wary of dogs but improving.

This morning I've made 2 daft mistakes, 1. Remembered for the first time in ages to put on cocoa butter body lotion on my scaly old legs and 2. Worn cropped jeans as it's meant to be hot today. So now pup had discovered she likes to lick off the body lotion on my ankles and will. not. leave. them. alone!

She's doing so well with sleeping, 11-5.30 for the past few days which I know is amazing at this stage. I can't help but wish she'd push that 5.30 back a bit though! She's been non-stop since getting me up, been out twice to play, played a quiet tug game, had several chews, but shows no sign of tiredness and is constantly jumping up to get my attention. I've just put her in the garden to hopefully burn off some more energy and give me 5 mins to eat my breakfast while the kids are momentarily quiet. School run in half an hour and hoping I'll have everything done by then!

SO looks like Bunglepup AKA Dickhead had read my gushing post about sleeping all night...

the little bugger kept waking every hour! totally fed up of it now... got a MIL with a face on her cus the dog woke her up too.. DD's both have a snotty nose (no temps or coughs) and feel like im just constantly living on the edge with this bloody dog!

On the plus side when i took him a walk at 6.30am i watched the sunrise that was nice!

Sorry to hear that @Bunglemom. Sending my best wishes from my edge to yours.

Took pootpup for another short walk this morning and he was terrified of every passing car and ended up whining and hiding behind me. So now I feel terrible. DS was stressing out about school as well and I failed to help him too. So I just feel pretty shit all round

@LittlePoot sending you best wishes too... have you tried picking pup up when hes scared and just giving him lots of reassurance? that seemed to help with bunglepup now when someone approaches him now i just say its ok and kinda make him go to the person/dog (as long as i know they are friendly)

Good morning all,
I’m new to this section of MN, have been following some of your puppy Journeys over the last few weeks as we are bring our first puppy home the last weekend of the month.

I have a Q about toileting in the garden. Where do you encourage your puppy to toilet in your garden? We have decking immediately out the back door then on to grass with borders up the side.
Do you have a specific area?

Dragonpup slept in his big crate downstairs last night 10.30pm to 7am.

It’s 26 degrees here but pup keeps laying in the direct sun. He’s got a paddling pool and water to drink, played with ice. We can’t walk him as we’re self isolating again until dd1&3 get the all clear (swabbing this afternoon). Sooo bored of Covid although working from home with pup is nice - my boss must be cursing right now.

@Mummyme87 if it isn’t in the house, I’m happy. Make life as easy as possible!

@Mummyme87 I'm with @m0therofdragons and happy if it's outside. Our lawn is now ruined and looks a mess, but we don't have a big enough lawn to have had a separate section and even if we did I'd have got bored with it as you'd have to accompany them every time which is a pain.

Yup I'm with the pp, make it easy for you! I've found pup has 1 favourite area of our artificial grass for wees and then prefers to poo on the opposite side of the garden. As long as it's outside I don't care! When it's a poo I pick it up and then chuck hot soapy water on the area, with wees I basically leave it and hope the rain washes it away. So far our fake grass seems fine.

Pup is currently on AVA food that the breeder weaned her on, but it's a pain for us to get as it seems to be only available at Pets at Home which is not handy. Thinking of changing her slowly to another one. I've been on the compare site and found Orijen and Acana are highly rated for nutritional value, has anyone got any experience of these foods? Or changing your puppy's food over in general? Thanks all.

puppy are you simply switching from 1 dry to another?

Just weigh out 3 days worth of food in to portions per feed. Divide a portion into 4, take out a quarter of food and replace with the same amount of new food.

Days 1 - 3 feed above
Days 4 - 6 feed above but half a portion the new one mixed with half of the old.
Days 7 - 9 three quarters new 1/4 old
Day 10 and beyond new food 100%

If you are switching to raw - we feed frozen complete raw chunks just do a straight switch feeding 4 times again like a new pup whilst their stomach gets used to it.

Good luck!

Thanks for feedback on garden toileting 👍

Hello
Sorry to hear about the bad nights sleep bungle. Sleep deprivation just sucks and makes everything awful.
Riverpup did 10-4.40 then wanted a poo. Then 5.10 wanted to get up and I just thought no riverpup the day doesnt start now and put her back in her crate where she slept til 6.30. Am sure it was fluke though and she will be up for the say at 4.30 tomoro.
I went on a 10 minute walk last night with ds12 at 9 and I think that might have helped but time will tell.
I am with everyone else on anywhere outside works. We sectioned off a bit of garden from our back door which is all concrete for riverpup which is for toiletting and has hose etc as I didnt want to let her out in our garden at night for the toilet. But if she gets a chance she much prefers to wee or poo in the main garden past the gate.as long as it is outside that works for me.
Took her for little walk this morning and she played with 3 dogs off lead which is so scary but she was good and came back when asked but I felt super anxious the whole time. I am always asking, does your dog have good recall using the @GazingAndGrazing technique. She us terrified of cars and motorbikes though @LittlePoot
For the brave puppy off leaders, how much off lead do they have and is it walking with you like in woods or set field area?

@Riverhousepuppy we have always had some walking off lead with our pup and when they are young they should be good at keeping an eye on you to check you don't go out of sight. We used the old 'running away' trick if necessary just to keep Mucky on his toes and he ran after us. Make the most of this phase and let them be off lead as much as possible as long as it's safe. Now Mucky is a teenager he only comes back to us if he thinks it's worth it or nothing else is going on, but we are hoping he will return to that lovely phase where he came back every time!

Had my first experience of TriPup ignoring my recall whistle...made my heart leap as I could see her get a scent off something and she was off. We were in quiet rural area but the little bugger ignored my 3x attempts at whistle before running back for her sausage. I could see her digging at something. DH said she did it to him Sat for the first time too... is this the start of teenager?? She’s nearly 5mths old.. today at home though she’s great at breakfast actually left my DD eating her food to sit and watch from her new comfy bed. Plus she’s not barked at the wheelbarrow in the garden today as I pottered around. But I too have my youngest off school with a cold which I’m 99% is a standard snotty cold but now I have err massively on side of caution & not dose her up on calpol and send to school. Feeling paranoid if I send her back tomorrow I’ll be That parent when she’s fine for school.