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....

@Luisa77 - we had a 2 hour drive and had pup in a car seat in the back with my husband. It's one of those seats you put puppy in and attach him with a harness, but as we had no harness on yet my husband just had his hand on him the whole way home. He mostly slept so we didn't stop and it was ok.

Great to hear of some improved sleep last night. Ours was fine overnight but being a bit of a twat today, especially with DH which is risky as he's the only reason the dog hasn't been taken back already..... Asleep again now though so hopefully a quiet couple of hours.

Perfect fit harnesses are good. They come in three pieces so you don’t have to replace all of it. Our is great and there is a bit of growing room there. It is perfect for taking him out on a long lead so he can run around the grass and have a good play.

@Bunglemom and @Chocolateandamaretto so glad that they did a bit better at night, whispering so pups dont hear.
Cant wait to go to bed and wake up in the morning again without that night time pooping stuff.
Your plan sounds good to me for bunglepup. Riverpup doesnt really go into the lounge until we do around 6 or 7 and then has mostly chews not toys out in the hope she will associate it with chilling out. I dont mind if she dozes a bit as think she needs a lot of sleep so less bitey hopefully.
The vapour rub is also helping a bit too although stings on the puppy cuts. She was trying to dig our rug up and I put a bit on it and she left it. Could this be the cure?
Soaking her rope toy in chamomile before freezing it as I heard that really helps with teething so we will try tomorrow.

OMG I’ve always felt a teeny tiny bit smug posting on here, my anxiety reads too much in to things and the pups were, were so good. So blessed with overnight and recall.

I’m questioning their raw feeding, they have vomited lots for weeks and now regressed to pee’ing in front of me even after us being out for ages.

Everyone in the house thinks/believes I’m over feeding them, I don’t think I am.

Aghh, I’m over thinking again.. I know some of you may have seen my other threads, lots going on

Not having a great day fingers crossed for peaceful evenings for you all, x

@GazingAndGrazing - no advice from me but some solidarity on the over thinking and anxiety. My husband slept back up in our bed for the first time in the nearly 3 weeks we've had the puppy and I woke up at about midnight and couldn't get back to sleep for worrying. I moved out onto a sofa upstairs so I didn't wake him and I'm now sitting on the bottom stair listening for pup to wake up. I'm in all sorts of panic about how I'm going to make it through the day and whether I'm ever going to sleep again. Pup is sleeping through no problem - what the hell is wrong with me???

@GazingAndGrazing you always come across as lovely and a great source of recall info which has really helped me. Sorry to hear you are having a hard time at the moment. Riverpup hasnt had vomiting but had terrible poos for ages and wouldnt hardly eat. We seem to have turned a corner but I do have poo paranoia still.it was so stressful and made me super anxious.
@LittlePoot sorry you are having a tough time and your anxiety is high. Our pups are like babies and I think it's really easy to worry and overthink,I definitely do.
Have you got anything nice planned for today pupwise?
My dh said last night that riverpup gets all my attention over dc, cats ( and I am sure he meant him too) which is completely true but she is all consuming at the moment.
We are also spending a fortune on chews at the moment, any recommendations, she loves yucky things, pizzles, gross hooves etc

Hi everyone, I'm new to this thread and I got my 8 week old Tibetan Terrier puppy on Sunday, his name is Bodhi.

So far and generally okay, although I completely agree, it's WAY harder than I thought it would be! I don't think anything can quite prepare you for first puppy.

Yesterday was a really difficult day for me, and I had a bit of an emotional meltdown. When Bodhi wasn't passed out he was playing, and the relentless playing was mainly biting and chewing me, or scratching to get to me. The longest this went on for was 1.5hrs!!!!! I ignored him, but he was still going crazy for ages afterwards. That's all it was all day, either asleep, or awake and chewing/ scratching me!

I'm lucky in that he settles fairly well at night, he sleeps in his crate with the door open, we're working towards closing it!!
He's not eating as much as he should be according to websites and the food packaging.
He's toileting inside as well as outside, I've spent most of my time when he's passed out scrubbing floors.
I can't leave the room without him whimpering or incessantly barking. I bought him a puppy sling to go out on walks and he loved it the first day, however yesterday we went out and he HATED it, I had to turn around and come back home.

Please tell me it gets easier as well as more enjoyable??!
I'm slightly terrified of the day ahead today incase it's a repeat of yesterday! Do puppies have off days? Thanks in advance x

Welcome @Phiney! They definitely dont have days off but some days are easier than others. The first couple of months are the toughest so just keep plugging on knowing that every day is a step towards a lovely dog. If hes sleeping well then that's amazing as the lack of sleep (as this thread attests to) is one of the worst aspects. The best thing our trainer told us was to have 3 kongs and a lickimat made up every day and in the freezer so you can calm pup down with one whenever he gets too excited. I also spent a lot of time making treat boxes with old cardboard boxes so he could rip those up and use some energy finding treats (which were actually just some of his kibble). Ours is the greediest lab boy but we still didn't give him as much as the pack said as it seemed crazy. We since moved him onto Eden which is much better nutritionally so he doesnt need as much and he goes MAD for it so it must taste nice!

Are you on your own with pup or do you have a partner? If so, make sure you share the load and work thr schedule so you each get some alone time to sleep, exercise, relax each day.

Oh, and if all else fails, theres always alcohol!!

Good luck and stay on this thread as the support and advice is invaluable!

Welcome @Phiney86.
In the same boat as you... VeryGrumpyPup is 9 weeks old and has been with us for a week, and it's fairly relentless when he is awake - and exhausting being on constant 'poo watch'. Also just like you worried that he isn't eating as much as he should (and he is a skinny whippet so doesn't exactly have any spare weight on him).

Definitely just as stressful as having a newborn but possibly even more full on, as they are mobile and bitey!
The one saving grace is that he seems to be sleeping well at night more often than not - as I found that sleep deprivation definitely leads to emotional meltdowns!

I think the extra responsibility has been a big trigger for my anxiety. I have found it much better now i am back at work and someone else is looking after puppy in the daytime. (went through a phase of being convinced he would die over night and I would find him in the morning !)
Sleeping and eating ok here but pup has gone backward with walks, just wants to turn around and go home. Going to drive somewhere today for a run around in an enclosed field.
At the moment the rewards of having a dog are outweighing the frustrating moments so fingers crossed this continues.
No teeth lost yet at 14 weeks ?

Morning! DHs turn for the 6.30am start so I’ve had some rest. Thank you for the kind words and although I’m not pleased to read others have found pups a trigger for anxiety I am relieved I’m not the only one.

I was really disappointed in myself for how low and strange my feelings were but, you are right it’s like having a newborn who can follow and bite you!

Today I’m researching new food and we have a planned walk in the woods.

Welcome Phiney (show us a pic of pup!) I can’t believe I’m 5 weeks ahead of you already but looking back I’d say a routine was my saviour and enforced naps as well as sharing the care around. I mainly do everything which means I can pull the walkers card out on any of my teens when they are around and have a rest.

Good morning,
We are on a mission to get some essentials in for our incoming pup next week.
What essentials could you not live without? Have been life saving? Bar the standard crate/bed/bowls/collar.. our pup is a miniature dachshund so won’t be very big

LBee I’ve decided to give Eden a try. Just thought I’d see if you have a referral code before I order?

@Mummyme87

Good morning, We are on a mission to get some essentials in for our incoming pup next week. What essentials could you not live without? Have been life saving? Bar the standard crate/bed/bowls/collar.. our pup is a miniature dachshund so won’t be very big

Gin and wine

Cheep kitchen roll and loo roll to cover accidents
Thick socks for the bitey times
Yak chews

Extra storage on the camera roll

Second the kitchen roll (glad we don't have carpet downstairs) my puppy loves his likimat (not essential but keeps him occupied for a bit). We needed a stair gate as all open plan and he discovered the stairs quickly.

I’m on the gin and wine with my kids 😬 no harm having a bit more

Welcome Phiney !

MummyMe I bought a hot water bottle thingy from Amazon that's meant for dogs. It's a thick plastic disc with a zipped fleece cover. It's heated in the microwave and stays warm until the morning. I place it under the fleece lining in the crate and our chihuahua-mix pup seems to like to snuggle on top of it. He's 11wks today and has been sleeping really well in his crate.

Puppy and I didn't have a good day yesterday. We've had him 2 weeks, he's very good at going outside as long as we take him there regularly. But yesterday I had two visitors (at different times), I had mentally allocated approx half an hour for each visit but both over run massively, both ended up staying for couple of hours which screwed up my day entirely. I was so angry at myself for not managing the timings better.

Puppy was of course running around like loon whilst the visitors were here and pooping on the carpet and leaving couple of wee puddles too. As he's so small, I haven't been able to get a small enough collar for him yet which means he's difficult to catch when he's zooming around the house. He now has a kitten collar on which he greatly dislikes but tough tithes. Later today I'll start him get used to a house lead (is that what it's called?) and hopefully it's easier to catch him and keep him close to me.

Yesterday's antics (and visitors overstaying their welcome) really exhausted me. I've been religiously taking him out for his toileting for two weeks and it feels like he hasn't learnt anything.

Eek, slightly worried that we won't be able to collect our puppy in 2 weeks if we are heading into another lockdown!

@Gazing. No sorry! We just get it from our local independent pet shop.

Luisa77 masks, gloves (new at the front door and remove immediately when leaving the house), hand sanitiser. It will be okay. Lots of people got pets during lockdown.

Hello...10 week old lab pup (Jaxon) has been with us for a week.
DH is sleeping downstairs overnight while he eats used to sleeping on his new bed. He’s doing well at night tbh and only goes out for one toilet break.

His naps in the day are a bit hit and miss though, DH lets him snooze on him on the sofa a lot so when he’s then not available to sleep on, he just can’t settle himself v well. He’s going to have to try tho as DH is working (from home) come Monday. (I also work from home).

He doesn’t like being left alone (what puppy does!?) a frozen kong really helps tho and he likes the garden, he was brought up in an outhouse/ kennel type place at the breeders then would spend all day out on the grass with his siblings til we came to pick him up.

Mummyme87 - good tips, thanks. My main concern is that we might not be able to travel to collect him. It would be deemed "non-essential" travel presumably. It's all speculation I guess - we don't know what the parameters of lockdown will be yet

luisa77 well it could be seen as essential as paid a deposit etc. How far will you need to travel? Just think back to #cummingsgate

@Luisa77 I picked up in lockdown. It was tough to find a definitive answer as to whether it was ok or not. The kennel club guidance was a bit vague...pointed out rules re non essential travel, etc. BUT, then went on to say breeders were able to carry out their business, could be classed as essential for puppy socialization, etc... there was the suggestion that you could employ a pet transporter type person as that was just them carrying out their business too. So yeah, no definite yes or no answer any where. We went. It was only a 30 minute drive for us. The breeder had the pup in a crate on his driveway for us to pick up so we didn't go in the house or have to get too close to the breeder. Hopefully there'll be a way for you to do it within any new guidelines.