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....

Bunglemom if I could turn the clock back I am afraid I would have just moved my dog into the bedroom. I was adamant he wasn't going to sleep in our room. He was a poor sleeper.

Yes we eventually got past the stupid several wakings of a puppy but he still used to wake earlier than we wanted as an adult and as I have mentioned before when we did it at 2 years of age and suddenly we got lie ins when we didn't need to get up for work. So now I am cross with myself for holding out so long and if we ever get another dog they will have a bed in our bedroom .

Sorry about the rough night bunglemom ! Hope you dont need to use your brain today ?

I’m leaning on agreeing. Pups are now 15 weeks, sleep in their crate and then up with me at silly O’clock where we will happily sleep till 10am on non work days!

Bit peeved they can’t hold a wee in for less than an hour awake but can sleep on the bottom of my bed for a couple of hours

Recall has gone out of the window again so I need to refocus on that but food wise, I bought Eden and they are doing really well on it.

@Riverhousepuppy

No unfortunately im in work today but on the plus side not dealing with my mother in law and her pissing me off to the hills!
Thanks for the hug i need it!

@BiteyShark
Im leaning to putting the pen in my room... i think the trouble is he is picking up on my stress and he just wants to cuddle me.. i just want my inlaws out now!!

@Worriesandwobbles
Dont think i use it most days lol

@Bunglemom. Hugs and gin to you and hope in laws go soon too.
Riverpup is in crate in our room with blanket over the top. She doesnt have a crate downstairs but we put it upstairs for sleep purposes (mine) and it seems to work as she can hear us and dh snoring.
If you have one then worth a try? I think once she I reliably toilet trained she will just be in her bed (which is currently in the crate) in our room. I have thought about moving her crate downstairs but I quite like her there. I caved in because I needed sleep and its acc ok

@Riverhousepuppy

I think im willing to try anything at this moment in time including selling a kidney

Gin is defiantly going down tonight

@Bunglemom crate by side of bed, shh shh bunglepup sleep time now. So much Gin drunk that pass out and sleep through whining anyway :-) x

@Bunglemom and keep kidney ;-)

@Riverhousepuppy
Lol if i get rid of the kidney though i get a relax in hospital 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I think pup is picking up on the stress and tension in the house too and im sure that doesnt help as when my in laws went out on saturday he was like a different dog all together, no accidents indoors and no playing up.

@Bunglemom there is that too it ;-)
Riverpup is the worst hooligan ever when in laws over so you have my full sympathy on that front. How long til they go?

@Bunglemom sorry you're struggling. I hope moving him to your room helps if that's what you choose to do. I definitely would've sold a kidney when my kids were babies if it had got me a couple of nights of sleep!

We moved Pup's crate yesterday but to the back of the house where my husband works so he can nap in there during the day when DH is working. So far he isn't napping in the much but DH can put him in there to go to the toilet and he doesn't moan so that is better than when it was in the lounge. It also helps when we have visitors arriving as they can come in without pup being able to see them which gets him mega excited. So much trial and error! I'm finally starting to relax a bit about getting everything right first time though.

@Riverhousepuppy
Hopefully (fingers/toes/eyes any other body part that can be crossed) the solicitor said the end of october.. i cant wait as my MIL has been very difficult to live with (which is surprising as the first 4 weeks she was fine but now is a moaning nightmare!)
We have a break in Wales booked for half term (booked pre covid!) and i really need a break now!

@Bunglemom Grannypup started in bedroom crate when I couldn't hack the downstairs sofabed any more. The crate is now on the landing and mostly she sleeps from 9.30 to 5.30 with the off nightime pee break (about once a week)

I don't know how you're putting up with your in laws so long, hats off to you!

Good luck tonight everyone and fingers crossed for excellent sleeps. Pup has been such a moody cow today, I can't wait to put her to bed! I'm wondering if she might need an extra walk in the afternoon or evening but wary of doing too much too young. Might need to shuffle her current morning and lunchtime walks as after 5pm it's like she has a personality transplant and a walk is the only thing I can think to try!

bungle the stress you are all under will definitely be affecting pup. Dh and I had a stupid argument and picklepup hated it and started acting like a loon.

Picklepup is doing well and we've had a couple of lovely walks. How do i get her to stop pulling on the lead?

Pup woke me up urging at 3 a.m - brought up a small ball of a chew he had eaten earlier ! Spent the rest of the night on the sofa together just in case but he was fine. This week at work has gone on forever and I can't wait for the weekend.

We have a new cocker spaniel pup, she has been with us a week tomorrow. She is lovely, sleeps in a crate by our bed (usually for 8 hours waking some nights around 2am for a wee), toilet training is going well as she seems pretty clever at understanding what we want her to do - apart from the biting, my foot was bleeding this morning. It's like she has this crazy 30 mins a couple of times a day (usually when she wakes up), the biting is driving me mad though. I have tried a loud 'ow' which she ignores, I guess leaving the room is the next option which she hates.

@Jayne35 No help on the biting I'm afraid Grannypup is now 15 weeks old and it hasn't improved yet - worse for an hour before bed. I wear thick jeans, long sleeved Ts and fleeces. Socks and shoes at all times. I read somewhere yesterday that if they hung off your jeans while you were trying to walk then walking backwards stopped them but grannypup didn't get that memo - she just walked backwards with me grimly hanging on to the jeans,t will

However she is not my first puppy so I can comfort myself with the fact that it will pass - can't come soon enough. My arms and legs make me look like I am self-harming

Well i put a massive teddy sprayed with my perfume in the pups bed last night as well as a heat pad and he settled so much better.. went to bed at 10.30 up at 1am to poop then back down til 5.25... i can live with that!

@puppygalore
I have no idea how ive stuck the inlaws for so long either... going to work is my saving grace!

@PicklePorkPie
Yes i completely agree, pups are more in tune with emotions than we are i think... hopefully they wont be here much longer and im 100% convinced it will all change if not where can i buy shares in gordons gin
Pulling on the lead i sort of solved by saying a very sharp AHA (makes me look mad!) and stopping the walk.. it seems to have worked?

@Jayne35

We have a cocker too! I found that rubbing a bit of vicks vapour rub on my feet helped, they dont like the smell and giving them a pigs ear when it gets too much

@grannycake I won't bother trying backwards walking then .

Not my first pup either (previous one was boxer), I don't remember the biting being this bad, with the exception of hanging of trouser legs but it was a long time ago so maybe I have forgotten the bad bits.

I also look like I self harm so I'll follow your lead on thicker clothes and shoes at all times, best make it old clothes though as my pjs got torn last night.

@Bunglemom Vicks sounds like a good idea, pup is worse first thing so I may try that tomorrow. Arrived at work this morning looking really dishevelled and covered in dog hair!

@Jayne35

Snap lol!

Pigs ears really work too and because they are so hard to chew it does distract them for ages!

We have a lump of anco root out for pup all the time which we have been giving him to chew if the biting gets too intense. I don't like giving him pigs ears as the little sod swallowed the first one we gave him whole (he is a lab for context, you're probably fine with a smaller dog!)

We're at 14 weeks here and the biting comes and goes. Sometimes I think we're getting somewhere and sometimes it's mental. The best thing has been working on us being more calm in general and especially the kids being more calm around him, and rewarding him a lot for settled behaviours. Saying "ow" was only amping him up so we've done away with that, and we're working on "leave it", swapping out for a toy and just walking away if he's biting too hard. DH and I (and two of our kids) are both happy for him to mouth gently so he is learning to be a lot more gentle with his teeth and neither of us is bruised or cut at all so I really feel for those of you with sore arms! I don't know if any of you have read Ian Dunbar's stuff about bite inhibition but that was helpful for us.

Biting is puppy phase I will definitely not miss, my arms are destroyed too! I run cold so been wearing jumpers anyway, they are now sporting holes everywhere. The only thing that's lessening it here is 1. Pizzle sticks. Nothing else chew-wise interests her, tried pigs ears, yak things, plastic chew toys, dental chews, frozen chews, no interest. 2. Constant treating. Any time she's not biting me/jumping up I click and treat her. Any time she chooses a toy, click and treat. Any time she lies down or sits nearby me instead of chomping my slipper, click and treat. It's getting a bit better, though that could be wishful thinking!

I have a puppy groom booked later on the advice of our trainer, does anyone know how long it generally takes? The person was super vague on the phone.

Same here @Chocolateandamaretto the ow/yelp thing just riles our lab up, it becomes like a challenge if I do that or freeze/go limp. I let her gently mouth my hands when she wakes up from a nap as that's her gentlest/non moodiest time, so she'll sit in my lap and have strokes while giving little nibbles and I'm hoping that will help her with bite inhibition.

I found stepping out of the room for a couple of seconds reset mine when she was being intolerably bitey. (MOst of the time) and then she'd calm down and have a rest or a chew then a rest. The really bitey times were usually when she was super tired.

Frozen tea towel to chew on is a good tip. I'd also freeze meat juice - from a chicken or whatever with some water and give her that in an old cottage cheese pot to lick at.