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....

The pictures are amazing - everyone's puppies are so cute!

Polka pup picks up every bit of litter/ food/ shit he sees on walks but last night he picked up a dummy. Yes a baby dummy. The right way up and then looked at me all shame faced. I was too busy peeing myself laughing to take a photo but oh it was funny
Today's rainy walk was awful as I was already soaked but DH was busy watching footie. Wish I got 2 hours silent tv time weekly.
I was just saying to DH how we'd had no pee/ poo inside for a couple of weeks but apparently polka pup peed in his office the other day. Oh well! No stealth poo behind sofa though like he used to at the start!

Such lovely pictures all. Sorry to hear you are anxious littlepoot I think we've all wondered wtf we've done at times. I definitely recommend some time away from the Pup. Definitely doable if your dh is fully on-board with dog.

I took Picklepup to a (outdoor) shopping centre today. We live rurally so it was a huge number of new things. She did brilliantly but my goodness she has so much bouncy energy!

We met a beautifully behaved 11 week old golden retriever and Pickle was just an arse jumping at him like she does with every dog. He was super chill and made me wonder what I'm doing wrong with Pickle.

She just loves everyone and every dog. She hurls herself at everyone. How do I sort this? Anyone had experience of this?

Riverpup just gave loads of signals that she wanted to go outside, went out and she had a wee. I gave her treat jackpot and thought brilliant this is good riverpup. Then she came back in and shat on the floor. Why why why :-(

Pup is nearly 13 weeks. He’s generally ok at going toilet outside but we have to be on the ball about it. If he’s allowed in the front room, and if he needs a wee, he’ll start sniffing around on the carpet so if we see that, he gets sent straight outside!

He’s doing ok most nights, DH is going to try and come up to bed tonight. So fingers crossed for that!

Morning all, can I join in?

We picked up new 10 week cocker spaniel yesterday. First time time dog owners!

Last night was ok, she was in her crate calmly. She's had a play this morning and now back in crate for a nap. I'm going with establishing a routine as the best thing to do for now 🤷‍♀️

I really need this thread. Have a 15 week old lab/setter cross and she is such a whirlwind.
Her reach is extending every day and we can’t leave anything on the dining table now.
Our last dog was a lab and we adopted her when she was 4. She was so calm & gentle, obviously I knew a puppy would be different but I seriously underestimated the work involved.
We adore her but it feels like a full-time job.
Sympathies to everyone feeling stressed out at the moment.

Welcome all :-)
Ww had bad start to the day. Riverpup woke up crying in her crate and I had a quick wee before I went to her but poor little thing had terrible diarrhoea and couldnt wait. So at 6.15am I had a pup covered in diarrhoea, a crate of diarrhoea and all her bedding too.
But she seems quite settled now and is asleep so probably hasnt been feeling great. I suspect the rabbot food kibble bonanza and liver cake probably did it
She is starting to extend her reach too and I really want to avoid counter surfing if we possibly can.
Hoping we all have easier days today

From day 1 we have said ‘down’ to pup trying to get up on our dining chairs while we’re sat round the table eating, whether it’s lunch/ dinner etc. We push him off and say ‘down’ and take absolutely no notice of him while we eat. He got the message on about day 3 that there’s just no point trying it on. He’s a lab, so he’ll be big enough one day to just take off the table/ counters so training him from the start that it’s a no go area will help (I hope!).

We can take him out for a walk tomorrow, first time! The kids want to come too, so we’re going to go after dinner, only to end of road and back cos I know he’ll get tired out easily.

River what a stressful start to the day! Hopefully it was a one off.
I am sick of the sound of us saying ‘down’ at this stage, we push her down as well but she takes absolutely no notice.
I am trying the ‘four on the floor’ method in the DTAS Facebook page but I don’t think it’s a quick fix.
I get slightly overwhelmed with all the training we should be doing so have decided to stick with just a few things for the next few weeks and then if things haven’t improved I’ll look into getting a trainer.

OK day and night here, no inside accidents and a whole night sleep. Its cold and wet to keep going in and out the back though and kitchen floor keeps getting wet and muddy (have put an old towel down) Pup is obsessed with the laundry though, forever stealing underwear while i am transferring things to the machine or dryer. We don't seem to be able to get the drop command.

hope your pup OK river

@newpup123 our cocker comes on Tuesday (thought it was Monday!).

For all those struggling with 'down', I was brought up with Great Danes who were the bane of my mother's life as if she ever left anything on a surface, they would hoover it up then run away like they had done nothing. She lost many a roast chicken left to cool that way

[quote HappyThursdays]@newpup123 our cocker comes on Tuesday (thought it was Monday!).

For all those struggling with 'down', I was brought up with Great Danes who were the bane of my mother's life as if she ever left anything on a surface, they would hoover it up then run away like they had done nothing. She lost many a roast chicken left to cool that way [/quote]
HappyThursdays fingers crossed for you!

Newpup is actually doing fine so far. She seems calm and keeps napping in her crate. I have a 5yo and 7yo who want to play with her all the time so I think they need training as much as her.

I am so wired and on "high alert" but I guess we'll all chill out with time

Neither 'down' nor 'off' has any effect here and it drives me crazy! I have a puppy pen in our playroom/dining room to put her in while we eat if she's not napping but she's awful in it. She cries and whines and no matter how many toys or snacks I give her to keep her occupied, she just leaps up rattling the door and and she will soon be tall enough to be able to just jump right out. No idea what to do. I was hoping by now she'd be used to it and as she can still see us would feel ok about being in it, but no luck.

@TheVeryThing I feel the same, it's a full time job. I keep wondering how I'm ever going to re-start my business again! How do people cope with these puppy months and get everything else done?!

newpup I Have a 6 and 2.5yr old... absolutely need training!! The eldest constantly wants to play with her or have her on his lap. The youngest just wants to be super noisy and steal her toys.

We are getting on okay with her, she has free reign of downstairs, is taking herself off to her crate for naps, she is weeing indoors however. She was trained to wee on A piece of vetbed, and with it being torrential rain I couldn’t imagine trying to get her to wee outside so will leave that until the rain has cleared off

I’ve been lurking on this thread for ages - it’s been a godsend! I also have a 15 week lab/setter who is demented but lovely. I’d give her a c minus for training at the moment. One thing driving me crazy: she will NOT settle on her own for more than a minute. I need her to understand that an empty room with comfy bedding and toys is a good thing...but she’s a determined girl. We have tried the leave-and-come-back routine but making no progress. If anything, she’s wise to us and now doubles down on attempts to call us back

On the plus side, she is good at mealtimes. We have a cushion on the floor near the table and intermittently drop kibble down to her while we eat and say “settle down”. She now associates sitting there during meals with getting treats and doesn’t misbehave. Now, that might disappear in the morning - but for now it seems to work for us. Oh, and she only gets a treat if she’s sitting or lying down on the cushion.

Good luck to you all and thanks for all the wise tips - it helps so much to know that all this craziness is part of the deal with having a pup!

After the literally poo start to the day riverpup has been ok today. Had couple of nice walks with her.also as we are all at home she has been easy as her sole focus isnt on me. She has been giving signs to go out so really hope I can keep picking up on them. I would love to crack the toilet training. She did have a poo on her walk so is getting less poo shy.
When we eat at the table she is ok but if we have anything on the sofas she is a pain. Yesterday I taught her settle which is basically hold the down position. I did it with the liver cake while we were having tea and when I asked her to do it today she did it so something stuck. Hoping she continues to do it.
She is absolutely awful at drop it though, any ideas on that?

@Riverhousepuppy do you play tug with her? The easiest way we've found to practise drop it is to play tug, then let the tug toy go slack, hold a treat under his nose and say "drop it"

Can now do it with a closed fist with a treat in and sometimes a closed fist without a treat. Practise every day though!

@Chocolateandamaretto that sounds a great idea. Will definitely try that tomorrow. I try to do it when she grabs clothes and shoes which I am wearing but need to get it well established and at the moment it really isnt. Thanks :-)

Haha yeah our stuff is still way too appealing! Have found it works on a walk with fairly low interest crap he finds now - wouldn’t work if he found a snail but he dropped a calyppo wrapper the other day which was a proud moment lol

I’ve been refreshing my memory of the counter surfing video we’ve slipped into saying No & pushing away a lot instead of rewarding the good behaviour (it’s hard work to remember all the time when she gets into jump up mode at meal times..), I’m going to try work on this this week & switch tack as we’ve tried weeks of no and body block and silent push her away from the counter when prepping food and it’s not working... she does respond well to reward based training so I’ll try this again.

Not a v good night here. DH came up to bed, pup in his crate in the kitchen. All good until 12:50am pup started yapping so DH took him out for a wee but he didn’t do anything so straight back into crate and back up to bed. Didn’t hear from him again til 4am again yapping so outside for a wee and did one that time. Back into crate and bed until 5:40am when he started whining. DH ignored him until 6, he went down and put the kettle on didn’t get him straight out.
So he needs to crack the midnight waking because he obv doesn’t need the toilet. DH is considering sleeping on the sofa tonight to get him past the midnight waking by shushing him. Thing is where he was in bed with me, every noise woke me up whereas before he’d get to him before anything became too loud.

He tried to bring him upstairs this morning with the coffees but he was too scared to walk all the way up the stairs so DH is thinking it’s going to be a while before he can sit in bed with his coffee again!

Ups and downs for us over the weekend. I've taken over night duty from DH and she has now settled in her bed better and for longer now I'm in the room next door so she can't see me. When she whines I go in take her out then straight to bed. Had a wee on the floor when she hadn't whined(or I didn't hear), but only one waking last night for the first time so hopefully going in the right direction. Had a moment yesterday evening where everything felt too much, kids, pup and general life. But I'm tired and trying to see past these weeks to the future. I'm trying to work on flitting in and out of the room she's in as she does tend to whine if left on her own, but she is now settling down for day naps on her own better.

Happy monday all!

Well we made the decision on Friday night that bunglepup is getting too tall for the pen (and im worried he will hurt himself) so we have made the choice to puppy proof the kitchen and shut the door... also made the decision to let him cry it out (spoke to a breeder at work and this is what he suggested)

3 nights weve had no sleep but last night he did stop for a short while so fingers crossed hes getting the message that no matter how much he whines and howls hes not getting the attention.

Needless to say PIL are over the moon with lack of sleep but god bless my DH who gave them 3 solutions, Ear plugs, a hotel or put up and shut up!

Hopefully it gets better cus my DH isnt feeling the love at the moment and i think the puppy blues are creeping in.