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....

Pup just whined at DH because he’s washing up and not giving him undivided attention. It’s going to be a long road to him being self assured and confident on his own

Have had a better day with Riverpup. But then DH and Dc and inlaws all came back at the same time, which was when she was already tired. Cue manic bitey jumpy beast, comments from mil, "tap her on the nose with a rolled up newspaper", Dh who has let her consistently jump up and bite at him was then moaning that she does it. I said if you are not training her to do something different you are training her to do exactly what she is doing. I keep saying tell her when she is doing things you like not just trying to tell her off. She can be jumpy so I had said to in laws can you put some treats on the floor as eating treats is incompatible with biting. So with treats in hand ready they left treats in hand and just starting saying no and her name which means nothing. Honestly they are all annoying me so much. Ds7 is by far the best with her.
Family blues not puppy blues today.

My pup is the same. Will sleep in the crate at night but hates being closed in there in the daytime. We tried a pen around it but he managed to climb on top. We have been leaving him for school run as its only an 8 min walk. Hoping eventually he will get used to it. Pup was sleeping 11 to 5 but has gone backwards to waking at 3 again. I work full time and i am exhausted. Feel tearful this evening.

I think i am being soft on the puppy at night because I feel guilty about not being there in the day (he isnt home alone) just not sure i could ignore and let him cry it out. I would happily take him to my room but because its all new and exciting he doesnt settle. Keep ending up on the sofa which is not great.

Mine is 12 weeks and she's probably been left for about an hour but that's when she was in her crate ready for a sleep. She will generally sleep 1.5-2 hours but I wouldn't like to put her in for that long unless it was definitely nap time.

I feel you about the in laws! No matter how many times I ask visitors (and DH!) to don't do X instead do Y and they do the exact bloody opposite and wind Pup right up she can be doing really well all day with me and then everyone else piles in and it all goes to shit. Grr.

@Worriesandwobbles have you tried things in the crate? Sorry if you've already said. We had the littermate scent blanket plus a Snuggle Puppy toy that had a heartbeat. She settled really well after a few nights, thank god. Now she uses the Snuggle Puppy as a toy for ragging around so we don't put it in as a comforter at all but I'm convinced it helped her that first week or so.

@desperatehousewife21 have you got puzzle toys and things that make their brains work? I've found if I want a few moments to get stuff done I'll give Pup some treats in a puzzle feeder and a dentabone thing, the whining for attention toon is just so draining. But I just keep thinking 'it's a phase, she's just a baby, it'll pass'!

Also following advice on here I now stick treats inside a folded up cardboard tube and let her tear that to shreds, as someone said once they realise the treat is the good stuff she left the cardboard alone. And our best thing today has been a Kong ball that gives out treats. I spent ages playing with her with it earlier because I was trying to teach her 'ball' and this evening she actually played with it by herself so I could sort out tea. I'm finding now she understands how certain toys work (like the standard Kong) she will give me a few mins rather than relying on me to entertain her.

Can I join the thread please? We have the most gorgeous, loving, annoying, frustrating, amazing cocker pup. She is 10 weeks old and has turned our lives upside down! We put her in the crate at night and last night she went from 9.30 to 6am- first time ever she went all night! She is kind of toilet trained but it's easy to miss the signs. She knows sit, is kind of OK at down, and comes when called if there is nothing more interesting to do. Excellent at meals though just sits and waits and isn't possessive at all. Doesn't know what to do about the cat though and keeps trying to play with him, which doesn't end well for pup! Here she is in all her cuteness!!

I bought a toy with heartbeat thing but he doesn't like it. Have tried filled kong and likimat and chews etc. He does settle eventually and more whines and paces rather than barks the whole time. Keep telling myself its just a stage and the crate is to keep him safe when alone. As my name suggests I am prone to overthinking and catastrophizing. Have taken on a new role at work and having some issues at home so the lack of sleep is making me even more emotional. I love the puppy and have no regrets - its just a big change.

puppygalore we’ve got a kong, we don’t use it as much as we should tho I think! I’ll have a look into some puzzle toys, think he’d really like them actually.

We left him in the kitchen for a few mins so DH could come upstairs to say goodnight to the kids and pup whines the entire time

We had a puppy training session today. The trainer seemed really unprepared and we had to drive the conversation and ask questions. A few positives came from it in that I feel reassured we’re doing okay and we tried him off the lead but he doesn’t believe in treats for training (said it’s only started in the last 10 years) or harnesses.

We have a harness and a collar for dpup but I’ve always thought harnesses look kinder however he did have a point about them being restrictive on the top of the legs and traditionally dogs that pull wear them like huskies so they encourage dogs to pull. It’s the first time I’ve heard anyone against harnesses but he did make some fair points so I’ll keep an open mind on that.

Currently dpup is shut in a crate overnight (happily) but in the day it’s open and he takes himself in there and we leave him alone. Trainer said we should shut the crate in the day... I don’t really understand why so we are ignoring that.

We were fairly underwhelmed and it wasn’t cheap. We have another contact so I think we will try that once he’s a bit older but for now we’ll carry on as we are.

@64kidsandcounting

Oh my goodness am I glad I found this thread! Anybody else got a staffordshire bull terrier pup here?

We were fortunate to have our old boy during lockdown, he was 10 and such a fab big brother to our pups. He had a serious complication during emergency surgery and we lost him to rainbow bridge I kiss him so much and I believe the pups do to.

I would love a puppy staffer, pics please??

Never posted on mumsnet before so will try and attach pic. He is a huge bundle of bitey energy. I'm really sorry to hear about your dog

@desperatehousewife21

Bunglepup is left for about 20 mins in his pen while we get ready in a morning

Thanks Bungle, and does he whine or is he occupied by a kong type thing or does he sleep?

We have a camera and check it when we leave the house. Usually he whines for a couple of minutes and then settles. He does have a big area to roam around in though.

@desperatehousewife21

We give him a puppy chew and he is ok for 5 mins ( he worked out the kong pretty quick and lost interest) but he goes mad after but i think thats cus he can hear us upstairs and wants to be with us...

We are going to try leaving him alone in the house for 5 mins this weekend.... luckily both neighbours have dogs and dont mind the whining 🤣

@Sheepareawesome

Absolute beauty!

We have a 13 week old Cocker too and he sounds very much like yours apart from the sleep, thats a work in progress!

bunglemom that sounds v similar to us. Good luck with your 5 min trip out the house! We were thinking of doing the same thing. During the day, just a walk around the block so he can’t hear us upstairs.

@desperatehousewife21

Its making me nervous even thinking about it but the rational side of me thinks he will never learn and we wont even be able to pop to the shop without him if we dont do it now!
How old is your pup?

Morning
I need to do the leaving too. Have left her while we go upstairs or put the bins out etc but not all by herself. It does worry me but I know we need to.
I need toilet training advice. Poos are pretty good for going outside and back door has been open for weeks so she is ok doing that but it is starting to get cold plus she will have the odd wee in the house. I took outside twice this morning and she ran back in and peed on the floor. Do I leave the door shut and get her to ask to go outside? How does it work? I sort of regret the door open thing but now not sure how to turn it round. Any advice much appreciated @BiteyShark I am sure you posted something about this but cant find it. As a guru and saviour of all new pup owners reminding us it will all get better could you repeat said advice here please?

bunglemom he’s 11 weeks so still a baby but I’m stuck between ‘just give him cuddles he’s only a baby’ and ‘we’re making a rod for our own backs’

No help with the toilet training @Riverhousepuppy as we are the same. Keeping back door open and looking for signs. Did her poo outside this morning unprompted but peed on the newspaper inside. The puppy please book tells you not to use newspaper to just go cold turkey and take them out all the time or let them have accidents in the floor but I prefer to pick up newspaper than clean a floor so a bit stuck in this issue. I am also dreading the bad weather as sometimes it takes several trips out to get a poo even though she does the same signs !!!

@desperatehousewife21 oh my tell me about it! Its like having kids again... put them down dont put them down leave them dont leave them!
and like having kids everyone has an opinion!!! 🤣🤣🤣

@Riverhousepuppy

I feel your pain, we can be out in the garden for hours and bunglepup wont do a thing, straight in and he will wee and/or poop in the kitchen or lounge! im just trying to be consistent in the approach, every 20 mins going out with him and rewarding him everytime he goes to the toilet outside with a treat or fuss... everyone who ive spoken to has said that one day it just 'clicks' a bit like potty training kids... my added complication is that i am in a town house with kitchen and lounge on the middle floor so it means lots of trips up and down if i dont lose weight i will be annoyed!

@LBee2020

Mine is 6.5 months and he gets left for up to 3 hours in his pen (which has his crate in). We've only done this when he's been fed, toileted and walked and we know that he'll sleep the whole time (which he does). We can also work upstairs and he will sleep for 3 hours (or more) downstairs in his pen. If he is awake and we are in the house though he doesn't let us get out of his sight generally unless he's in the garden or distracted with something really good. We've been leaving him since he was about 4 months I think.

Wow that's amazing. Am in awe and more than a little jealous! Well done.

Pistachiopup will be 5 months on Sunday and has never been left alone. Well maybe 5 mins once when everyone was upstairs accidentally at the same time. It's really limiting, stressful and not sustainable but I just can't figure out how to start doing it.

Having a massive resurgence of puppy blues here the last couple of days and grieving for my old life! Hey ho, sure it will get better.

DH has been away with work for the last two days so I've been doing it all on my own and she woke up at 5.30am this morning so am not in the best mood. Probably why I'm feeling low about everything.

DH has really enjoyed his couple of days away without her too :-(. On the phone last night I was moaning a bit, as I didn't get to go to the gym as I couldn't fit in everything that needed doing last night on my own. I sighed and said but it's too late now (as in, we made our bed we just have to lie in it kind of thing) and he said "Is it??" So he would clearly be ok with giving her away. He's not attached at all.

Long list of annoying things:

• Someone always has to be with her. Invariably that means I'm trapped downstairs. Or just trapped generally. Sob.

• Challenging walking if she's on the lead. Lots of times she'll just sit down and refuse to move at all or else constant jumping up. So annoying. She's brilliant off the lead. On the lead is a bit of a nightmare unless there are two of us and I walk ahead then she'll follow.

• Fussy eater - she's a nightmare to feed. Basically only eats when we're out on walks. Handful of kibble every couple of metres to persuade her to walk. Refuses to eat out of the bowl (Unless its chicken and rice!) She did eat the raw lamb bites for about a week and I thought we'd cracked it but she's back to refusing it again.

• Jumping up and grabbing things. She'd stopped doing this for a few weeks so I thought that phase was over but its started again. Really irritating.

• And she totally ignores "drop it or leave it". She knows the commands. Will do it perfectly if we're "training" and standing next to the bowl with little bits of cheese in it. Completely ignores the commands in real life situations.

• Early waking. One of the things I really didn't appreciate enough about my old life was having coffee in bed in the mornings before getting up. Will that ever happen again?? I'm not sure we have her sleeping in the best place and she often wakes up when she hears us moving upstairs. so if someone goes to the toilet in the middle of the night there's always the chance you'll wake her up.

• And the really big one - I still haven't figured out how to exercise at home. That's really getting me down. Walking is nice but its just not the same.

Sorry for the moany post. Think i just needed to get it all out

and to everyone struggling at the moment. Sorry i can't offer any advice or hope at the moment