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....

Glad the puppy training classes have gone well for riverpup and yourself! We start ours at the end of the month. At the moment I cannot imagine how training will work. We only got mummypup on Saturday so she’s new, and had a dodgy tummy the last few days so has been out of sorts, but yeah she’s a crazy 9week pup who just likes flying round the house.

So any kind of toilet training that had happened here has been ruined since pup had a dodge stomach. Today’s a new day though and hopefully can pull it back again.

We feed Royal Canin here... biscuits, and a small amount of meat. She’s not a fan however, it’s what the breeder had her on though. I plan to get her off it though, looking at Butternut Box or Different Dog

Oh and in other news, mummypup slept 11am until 5.40 🙌🏻 After I had a fight to get her to bed last night we did good. Equally I know they are like babies and sleep is not linear it’s up and down like a rollercoaster

We are still on same dry as breeder used (beta one) - not researched it much as husband was keen to move on to raw - but he was having very runny poo so we have gone back to the dry. I give raw apple and carrot and some cheese and sausage for treats too and he likes plain yoghurt on the likimat.

ooh that sounds excellent sleeping!

puppythursday is so active but he's also completely food obsessed. He didn't eat much dinner last night but this morning, I mixed in some of the symply pup tray with her dry food (dr john) and she ate it in about 30 seconds. She definitely knows when she's pooing - we had one in the night when I came down (dp slept in the same room as her but given he doesn't wake up when I nudge him for snoring, it's no surprise he didn't wake up if pup did!) and he did 2 little ones outside this morning. Weeing I don't think he has a clue!

he not she!!

We start puppy classes on Thursday but I'm honestly not feeling too optimistic as chocpup has a super low threshold around other pups and he just gets too overexcited (he just wants to play!) I tried one puppy socialisation class and it was a flat out disaster as it was obviously set up for shy pups not over confident ones so chocpup barged in like a steam train....the instructor was there with her zen voice "aaaand....lure him away with a treat" and I was literally waving sausage on his nose and it had sod all effect. So we'll give it a go but I have low expectations. 1 2 1 has been very helpful though - we had 1 2 1s about puppy biting and loose lead walking and both helped considerably so definitely consider them!

For food we're still using Lily's kitchen dry. The breeder had him on beta and it took a couple of weeks to switch over but has generally been fine tummy wise since. We are toying with the idea of raw but not sure about things like going away, staying with family etc.

We had awful at times runny bloody poo & upset tummy with our puppy aged 8-12wks we asked the vet at each visit as we were really worried. We had to keep switching in/out boiled chicken and rice and weaned her off Royal Cain and onto Wellbeloved Fish kibble. Yep it smelled but it settled her tum, plus once we’d finished all the jabs it started to settle down.

Had a good walk with her this morning but after me saying she only pooed in the garden I’ve had 2 walks with multiple poos 🙈this morning I had 2 bags but she had a dangling bit so needed to rummage for a tissue and pray she didn’t go again as I’d used both bags & my tissues arrhhh! Will be better prepared next time.

We had poorly tummy with riverpup too and she still has sensitive stomach. Dh cousin is dog breeder and she said do 3 days on chicken and rice then very gradually blend in james wellbeloved grain free. We have done and unless pup has had too much rich stuff like liver cake or too much poo then she has been so much better. I would definitely recommend it.
@TriSkiRun99 glad she is losing her poo shyness :-) she is 23 weeks now?
Riverpup is 15 weeks friday which I can hardly believe but we have been saying she is so much easier and predictable than before but like my teenager says "she is attention personified".

Pup was exactly 3 months yesterday. We have him on beta as that’s what the breeder had him on. He gets 3 meals a day and rarely anything else, a couple of treats when training and maybe the odd carrot but nothing else. Altho he does manage to grab a few of the rabbits poos most days

He’s def getting the hang of most things now. Sits by the back door for toilet, keeps to himself during the day when we’re working (this is helped massively when the suns out cos he loves sitting out in it).

Didn’t do too bad last night, this is still the area that needs improvement. He did 9:30-3ish then DH had to go down to let him out for a wee, then he went til 6ish when DS went downstairs and let him out.

We’ve got a puppy cam set up in the kitchen now so we can keep an eye on him and you can also talk through it so that helps.

Can I ask what flea and wormer you're all using? Our pup was on Advocate for flea (which is prescription only) so we kept her on that, however it means a drive to the breeder's vets every month which is a hassle as it's so far away from us. Our local vet who our cats are with isn't taking any new pets, and right now is completely closed for quarantining so can't even dispense. I'm wondering if a non-prescription flea treatment will be just as safe and effective. Our cats use Advantage and always been fine, anyone use that for dogs? Thanks

puppy can't you get a prescription from the vets and then buy it online?.

Also I have always got 6 months worth of worm and flea stuff from my vets so it seems overkill to have to go every month or is that because they want to keep an eye on the weight and therefore check you are getting the right dose?

If you look on here you will see a few threads where people have used over the counter stuff but it isn't very good.

Thanks Bitey, that's my concern after looking on here, that it won't be as safe for her. lt's because she's still growing, they won't give a longer term prescription as they want it to be based on her weight. I see their point, but in say 2-3 months it's unlikely she'd go into the next weight category, currently she's 11kg so in the 10-15kg. I would expect her to stay in that for a while!

well puppythursday is doing very well on Come and Sit but still has no clue about toilet training! I think because he's a farm dog, he just wants to be outside all day. If I leave the door open (the garden is not secure so I have to watch all the time and it's difficult if I'm working), he will go outside to wee and poo. But if the door is closed, he simply doesn't try and goes inside. Just need to master him sitting by the door or asking to go as he hasn't got that yet!

his tummy was fine till today when he had one very hard poo this morning then two very very wet ones this afternoon. Will just give him plain biscuits tonight and see what happens and he's at the vet tomorrow anyway so we can check.

one heart attack moment - someone came to the door and I opened it and he was asleep in his bed but he shot out and started running as quick as he could towards the road - luckily he had his lead still on and he responded to Come but I shudder to think what I would have done otherwise!

hope all the other puppies have recovered from their tummy issues!

puppygalore - i just got advantage to try as neither frontline or stronghold seemed to be effective (although after reading your message I may have actually been after advocate oops) worth a try. I use drontal for worming.

Hi all

The carpet shark has entered the building! It's been a busier day at home with more people in & out which has definitely wound newpup up. A couple of timeouts in her crate helped but I think it's a sign of the weeks to come.

Regarding the ankle biting, Ive read I need to ignore & freeze to make it no fun. But how does that work when she's eating my jeans? Do you all physically move them away. I have been doing the substitute for a toy thing but there aren't always toys in reach.

Let me know if it works @Worriesandwobbles! Advantage has been great for my cats, much better than frontline, so I was thinking if the dog version is ok maybe I could use it for a couple of months til pup's weight starts to level off, and then the vet might give me a prescription if I find I need the stronger stuff by then.

Ankle biting, I have been saying NO and physically moving away even if that means actually pulling her with me because she won't let go. I then just stand still and click/treat when she lets go. It's been about 3 weeks of that, then it died down and she's really been getting it. It also took experimenting with different chew toys. I've ruined my progress though by giving her an old slipper to chew this week on the advice of someone, and now she's back to thinking my feet, ankles and slippers are fair game constantly.

Checking in after a couple of weeks break from here. Our pup is nearly 14 weeks now, 5 weeks with us has flown by. Potty training is still an issue though .

I keep taking him out through out the day, to a certain area behind our house but near the kitchen door. He always gets a treat and generally this works well. About a week ago he started to give us a little woof when he needed a poo and I thought great! But this has now vanished and he just pooped on the couch without any warning .

I know he's young but five weeks taking him outside several times a day is starting feel tedious. It doesn't help he's not particularly food motivated. He loves chicken though but I don't always have that at hand.

Morning!! Please may I join? Ilikeit pup came home yesterday, and bloody hell the first night!!!! I knew it would be bad but... We put her to bed in her crate and She screamed and howled from 10.30pm until midnight. We felt we were being cruel so went down every ten minutes or so to reassure her, but ended up taking her bed out of the crate, putting it in the front room and me sleeping on the sofa. She slept well then until 3 and stirred so I took her for a wee, and then up for the day at 5.30. Please tell me it's just first night upset for her and this will get better? What do you think I can do from here to help her sleep in her crate as ultimately that's what we want for her. She's an 8 week lab by the way.

Ilikeit pup

Eek that's difficult @ilikeitwhenshegoesbabababababa

How old is she? HAs she been in crate before? There are videos on you tube about making the crate a fun place to be. Put treats in there during the day and encourage her to go in without closing the door. Hopefully she'll get better quickly

If she’s not used to the crate then take it slowly. You don’t need to use a crate. She was probably lonely and scared , first time away from home and mum, sleeping next to her for a few days will help.

We had a bad night with mummypup. Wouldn’t settled you sleep until gone midnight then woke at 3 whining and took an age to settle.
She’s got dodge poos again this morning, she’s only been having kibble and tiny bits of treats when she toilets outside. Maybe stress? Have two very noisy boys

likeit I’m new to the puppy world but sounds a bit harsh putting a brand new puppy in a locked crate downstairs on her own when she is 8weeks old, just left everything she knows. She’s a baby. A human baby usually doesn’t sleep alone without crying for months on end sometimes years. And majority want to be on mum for weeks after birth for comfort/warmth etc.

Why not take the crate to your room and leave it open theN gradual retreat as pup gets more confident. Or have it in the living room open if you are happy to sleep there with pup for the next few weeks

@ilikeitwhenshegoesbabababababa we've had puppythursday for a few nights now. He's not going to have a crate but the first night we put his bed right next to us on the floor and every time he got out we just patted his bed to get back in. Second night we moved the bed a bit further a way. Third night (last night), his bed was at the end of the room. He actually slept from 8-10pm on the couch with us when we took him out for a wee and a general wander in the garden and then 1030/11pm till about 5am this morning when he did another wee and then he went back to bed till about 7am.

Eventually the idea is that his bed will go back in the kitchen but it was recommended that they spend the first week nearer you

his weeing inside is still atrocious though

we read that in the Perfect Puppy book!

night before he was up at 3am btw so I don't think it's unusual!