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....

@desperatehousewife21 sorry you had a wakeful night - at least you have made the progress of DH being able to sleep upstairs! You are making progress so that is something x

Chocpup is being very clingy during the day - my DH was out in the garden repacking one of our tents and chocpup sat and barked at the back door the entire time I wasn't actively distracting him. In the end I gave in and ignored him as I was trying to cook dinner. His ideal scenario is that DH and I are present at all times...however he is becoming so delightfully affectionate that it's hard to get too cross at him. Still struggling with the thought that we'll never be able to leave him (he can manage the half hour school run with a frozen kong but not much more) but it's actually really hard to build up in the week as my DH is working at home all the time so pup is just used to having someone there!

Just at my wits' end... VeryGrumpyPup is being awful going outdoors... just wants to run off; quickly gets to the end of his lead, and I am worried it will hurt his neck. Absolutely no interest in coming to me - just wants to sniff around / eat unsuitable things (every flower he finds needs to be bitten)... food bribery of limited success...
Puppy training on Friday can't come a moment too soon!

Any advice about what has worked for you?
He is only 11.5 weeks, so I know it's early days

Sorry to hear that Grumpy are. You possible giving too much freedom too soon?

Maybe concentrate on nearly at heel walking on a short lead. The longest we had around that age was 6ft and I never gave them the whole way. If they tried to pull away I’d stop, turn and walk the other way until back by my side.

What treats are you taking with you? I always up the game outside of the house. Tiny bits of cooked chicken, beef burger, hot dog or a pot of something licky like soft cheese so whilst they are licking the treat it’s also calming. I let them know I have the good stuff before we leave and treat small but often at the start and end of the walk.

When mine know they are nearly home they go bonkers!

Cheers @GazingAndGrazing...
Definitely working on a short lead - but he is a whippet, so is quick off a standing start! It's fine indoors, where he will happily trot along beside me - but outside, there are just too many exciting smells that he just isn't bothered about me at all. Definitely going for the premium treats (spend my life with pockets stuffed with mature cheddar / bits of hotdog / leftover roast - turning into mad dog lady?) - but he still isn't that impressed - apparently those have nothing on cat sick or hedgehog poo!
Yesterday, he was actually great - today, it all seems to have gone awry...

I am a total amateur but does pup go off the lead at all? Riverpup is so much better than i imagined when off the lead, she stays really close but I also make sure that if i think she is getting a bit far i turn around and walk back or hide, my plan is that she needs to keep checking in on me. High value treats which dont interest her on the lead become interesting. She seems more interested in me when she is off lead than on.
However, when we leave the house she pulls like a train, much worse when dh and dc are with us unless we walk in a straight line, which i have been trying to enforce "stay together riverhouse, nobody move forward, hold the line" like I am in the film Gladiator :-) Then when we get home she lies down on the drive and refuses to go in so I end up picking her up or make dc run so she chases them in which I think is ridiculous and creating rod for my own back so need to break that habit asap...
So maybe try her with a bit of off lead time and "hold the line" ;-)
Any ideas to get her in the door much appreciated

river we give pup a handful of treats if she walks into house nicely sits and waits for lead click off then she gets her treats. She literally sits there waiting for them DH started that early in as she was bouncing around all over and we couldn’t get the lead on/off in the early days, now it’s no sitting nicely then collar doesn’t go on and she gets no treat so yep 98% of time sits nicely waiting now as she loves her walks.

We’ve had to keep working at the loose lead walking a lot, I nearly carved 4wks a go to get a harness but DH convinced us (my DDs too) that his mum never used harnesses and all her dogs are well trained with no pulling. It’s taken a fair few stop start walks with lots of kibble rewards but she walked back from the MOT garage with me today past noisy roads & lots of litter and 95% was really good lead waking and ignoring all the litter Yah! I felt like we’d made progress at 23wks. But it’s hard work for me, I find concentrating the whole time giving her “leave it” commands and rewards to head off unwanted behaviour (like sniffing other dog poos etc). So abit of reassurance that the hard work does start to pay off after a few weeks....keep going even if it feels like flipping hard work at times though!

I have no idea about the walking side of things, got all that to come! I haven't even put a collar on her yet, maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

Day 3 here.... Today I've been working on getting her to come when I call her name. She's really picked it up quick! I need to get other family members to do the same so she comes to them too. Toileting is 90% outside, just 2 wees in the house today.

I've been flitting in and out of the room quite a lot. She seems pretty chilled about it. I put her in crate for school run and a work call (so 2 x 1 hour) and I think she just slept.

I have noticed her take an interest in the table leg and the sofa today... any tips on discouraging chewing that sort of thing?

Got very excited today to spot two gaps in pups mouth where baby teeth were (no idea where the teeth went)

Newpup try the bitter sprays maybe. You have to top it up every few weeks.

Do you all cut your puppy's nails at home or do you take them for grooming? I was looking at Pup's last night as she had a groom last week but seems to have a really sharp one. I can't figure out where on earth id cut even if I had some clippers!

Feels very Groundhog Day here. My DD's year group is also now isolating so we are all stuck in for a fortnight. I feel like I'm constantly shooing the kids away upstairs so puppy can nap, or shooing them away because puppy is awake and jumpy! Poor kids.

I have been cutting our pup's nails - figure it's good to get him used to this early. Don't generally manage to do all at once - but a few at a time. Bought some clippers off Amazon - and it's relatively easy with him, as most of his nails are white - do you can see the bit that is just nail rather than the fleshy inside bit - and cut there. Less is more?
Usually need a bit of filing afterwards to make sure the edges aren't sharp (that's for us rather than him!)

Ah thanks, our puppy's nails are totally black. I've been having a good look and following YouTube vids but I'm finding it impossible to see where to cut. Maybe I'll just attempt a file and leave the actual cutting to a professional!

We have had a very productive few days - constant monitoring and rewards for good behaviour mean we have had all poo and wee outside for 3 days now!!! But I am still not counting chickens etc. Still it is a relief and I am in the routine of doing it now and Daisy has learnt that wee and poo outside = treat. Wee or poo inside = nothing. She loves her treats!!! I do wonder though, if I will still have to reward every poo when she is 3 and 4 years old .

We are off to the vet tomorrow to get vaccinations finally so I can't wait to start walks. Although this is not really the best time of year for long walks!!!

The other funny one - Daisy barks at her reflection - we all laugh, but she takes it very seriously. I am a little bit worried that she will end up being one of those small dogs who barks at other dogs to assert herself - she never barks except for this or if she wants to go outside or gets stuck somewhere.

Pup went out for his first walk yesterday! We managed up our road and back, 10 mins max but that was enough for him. He got a bit scared he was really good though, walked along and seemed to get the idea quickly.

DH slept on the sofa again last night, he said pup only woke once at 2ish, he just said ‘shush back to sleep’ didn’t need to get him out or even get up and pup went back to sleep til 5:30am so all good.

Oh well done @desperatehousewife21 - I hope we can get Daisy to walk as far as the end of the road - I reckon she will be so busy eating the lead we will barely get out of our gate!!

So glad you got your walk @desperatehousewife21 makes life so much nicer.
That's brilliant @Annasgirl did you have the door open or did you keep it closed and get her to ask you? Today I have moved office from the kitchen into the dining room but left back door open so she feels this is also her space. So far so good but I dont know what it will be like with door shut though but will try that tomorrow and this evening.she had been very good at not going in the kitchen so hopefully more exposure to lounge will make her less likely to poo there?
Our last puppy class tonight, cant believe we have done 6 classes.

happypuppy has arrived today. What a whirlwind .

We're in rural land here so he's come from a working dog family - we got the comedian of the litter apparently, I think the one that was deemed less well suited for working .

he's done a poo outside, 2 wees inside and the rest outside. Problem is he's SO quick at the moment. He's been running around like a lunatic since he got home. We have to take him out into the garden on a lead because we can't let him run off yet (surrounded by farms) and we need to acclimatise him with livestock first (we don't have any but he will be surrounded by them).

we aren't crating him but he's learned where his bed is. We were going to put him in the kitchen but he's happier with us in the living room so we've left him in the bed there. One of us will sleep with him tonight.

he can have his next set of jabs on Friday which is a little early but the vet recommended it so we can start taking him out properly and teach him about the other animals!

@desperatehousewife21 he looks adorable!

trirunski please could I ask how you trained pup not to pull on the lead? And to walk with you?

Thanks everyone I think the walk certainly wore him out, DH had to carry him fast asleep from his bed in the front room to his crate last night!

He’s just about to go out on another one now.

For those of you struggling with bonkers or aggressive behaviours, just met a bloke on tonight's walk who swears changing his dog's food has worked absolute wonders. She used to growl and bite a lot apparently, then they changed her from Pedigree to a better quality blend and it all just stopped. So while I'm sure all our crazies will subside with time and training, it's worth mentioning about checking your food quality! He was saying this while my pup was going beserk around him and his totally chilled out dog, so I think he was trying to tell me something

PicklePorkPie I watched a couple of you tube videos on loose lead walking, I like Zac George but others prefer kiko pup (she was too perfect for me 🤣). Practice a lot, treat when they walk how you like, stop when the don’t, hence the stop/start walks, change direction too. Lots of eye contact and leave it command for litter, so combining skills. Pup tends to have an evening off lead walk on moorland with DH and a urban noisy lead walk in the morning so we get her used to both environments.

Newpup seems to have woken up a bit today! Zooming around and trying to catch my shoes this evening. I'm not keen on that sort of thing at all but I know it's a phase to get through.

What chewing things do you all provide? I have some puppy chews but she goes through them in 2 mins. I gave her a carrot today which she seemed to like.

Also what food are you all using? How do you decide? I'm currently just giving what the breeder gave us.

@Riverhousepuppy how did you find the puppy classes? What age did you do them over? I need to get sorted with some help training.

Morning
@newpup123 I looked online in my local area and picked one that I thought looked good who was apdt etc We booked a 6 week puppy class and then 3 121 training sessions which are next. I have found it really useful. I have taught her lots of stuff from online and books but have found somebody watching you and being able to correct what you are doing is best for us. It is definitely a case of me having the training more than riverpup.
She started at 9 weeks just after we got her. The downside is that she is super distracted in class and restless and always seems to need a poo or wee. It is 6.30 til 7.30 and there is a slightly later class but that wouldnt work for our routine. We practise the exercises in the week which she will do at home but doesnt always do in the class. But I guess that is part of training, having , reliability in all situations.
As a first time dog owner they have been brilliant and I am looking forward to 121s and hope to continue with 121s at least monthly when these ones are completed. It is good being able to chat to others and also for her to read riverpup in a neutral way whereas I am often caught up in emotions, situations, what else I need to do etc.
It is also lovely just focusing on riverpup and the crucial basics of training