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....

Tripup coped with two nights camping with DH she settled in her crate next to his air bed. He bought a stake that goes into the ground with a 3m lead so she wandered abit chewing tent pegs but did really well. I’m now home with pup fast asleep next to me on sofa so DH could have 2 comfy nights in the holiday cottage that didn’t take dogs but he’s missing her . I really enjoyed having 5n away from the responsibility of looking after her but still missed my puppy snuggles. Just taken her for a walk and she was brilliant as we had bins to sniff (it’s bin day tomorrow), footballers & a ball, people and other dogs but she didn’t lose it once and gave me her focus for kibble treat with mostly lose lead walking. She’s not always like this! But it felt lovely to be a proud puppy parent with some of the training kicking in, she’s 17wks old now.
She travelled really well in the car as well we did 2.5hrs straight though with no whining. I too have the school run next week, I think I’ll leave pup at home for the morn run but may try taking her down for the pick up as times are staggered.

Mine has just settled down for the night. He has been really clingy today and barked a lot as if scared of something which is unusual so something spooked him. Wasn’t expecting him to settle so quickly so off to bed to hopefully get some decent sleep

Took chocpup for a walk this evening and it was a total shit show! He was pulling, jumping, throwing himself about....my dh is much better at keeping him on loose lead than I am. Do you use lots of treats when you walk your puppies to keep their attention? I already have to use a lot of food to keep him sat when we greet someone so he doesn’t jump up at people. Feel really awkward walking him at the moment, I want him to enjoy himself but he’d cheerfully throw himself in front of a car If he wasn’t quite tightly reined in. I guess we might have to talk to the trainer again. Can you tell we’re first time dog owners??

Also does anyone else’s puppy bark quite a lot?? Chocpup is getting quite Barry and I’m not particularly happy about it!

Another newbie here - we have a red miniature poodle who’s 15 weeks old. (Waves to Dobbin - lovely to see your pup). We have been really lucky that when he came to us at 10 weeks old the breeder had already got him crate trained and he sleeps in there through the night (about 11pm to 6.30 😀) and is happy to nap in there in the day. He was also house trained -we’ve had one accident inside on his first morning with us. He is into everything when he’s awake though! He started his walks last week and though they are obviously short he’s ready for a nap soon after.

My questions (we are first time dog owners) if anyone can help - do we need to rigidly stick to that 5 minutes of walk per month of age rule?

And I keep seeing owners refer to dog chews - what are these?! Kpup has various ‘plastic’ bones including those Nylabone ones. He isn’t very interested. Am I missing some magical dog chew that will keep him occupied for a short while? Hoping so!

@kauri25 dog chews can mean quite a few things - there are teeth cleaning edible chews you can buy that come in all different varieties, or there are the 'animal' parts type ones which are much beloved by most pups but less so their owners. My pup loves pizzle sticks and is now into cow's ears and we have also tried Moo Chews and braided lambskin. Animal 'spaghetti' is also popular. Not for the squeamish! The yak chews are good and not animal parts, but not all seem to take to them. There are others but have a look on Amazon or Pets at Home - lots to choose from. Nylabones seem pretty useless.

@Kauri25 yes you do need to stick to the 5 minutes per month of age. We asked our trainer about it and he said dogs bones are not attached and over walking can damage them.

Ours doesn’t bark much, only if something disturbs him but that doesn’t happen often.

Should have said the bones do grow and attach.

X-ray of a puppy showing how far the bones have to grow

Someone asked up thread about stopping puppy chewing the phone box/leads we’ve used Chew Stopper spray on laptop cables & our wall corner which pup tried to chew. It’s worked both times along with distracting & not making it a game focus point. Both DH & have been working at kitchen table with trialing leads and she’s learnt to ignore them. I have also been sewing at the kitchen table and by accident left my foot pedal attached to the machine on the ground, which she stood on and the noise of the machine sent her running away. Think others have used bitter apple spray.

Just tried out a long line and whistle in the garden for first time as was hoping to take her to the spot DH normally lets her off lead later. He’s not here and I’ve not let her off lead before as she doesn’t recall with me like she does with him. He whistles but I can’t so he bought me a dog whistle to see if I can get her to respond to that. I cut a single hot dog into 30 slivers she went bonkers trying to eat/lick my fingers she seemed to like it SO much. So I’m hoping combination of my whistle = hot dog, may work. But the long line was a nightmare in the garden as she just saw it as a giant chew toy 🙈kept jumping and biting grrr

Thanks muck for that - the only dental chews I’ve found (for puppies) then say from 5kg in weight which Kpup isn’t. I will investigate animal parts! What about the rawhide stuff - there seem to be some concerns about that?

Thanks magenta - the thing that confuses me is Kpup does a fair bit of haring around the garden - are we meant to be limiting that?

chocolate Kpup doesn’t bark much - I get a bit indignant when threads say poodles are yappy! When he does bark it tends to be in the garden when he has got over excited. Having said that he did bark yesterday for the first time when the door bell rang...

Running around the garden is fine kauri25 I think as we had the same concerns with a super active breed and puppy. We have a long garden and shes out there a lot sniffing and we do 5mins ball and frisby with her a few times a day then followed by an hour rest/nap on the sofa. She has a love hate relationship with the frisbee 🤣chases it barks at it and chews it. Then brings it back to us but can’t quite release it to play again.
But for walks it’s normally 2x 20mins with her at 17 weeks.

Morning all, well I didn't get to post early this morning as DD slept in so there was war!!! But we survived.

Great news - Daisy slept calmly all night, one wake at 2.30 and bark for 3 mins (DH timed it) and that was it. She is now asleep beside the dishwasher!!! She fell asleep there on. my foot as I was making tea and stayed there even when I moved to the table.

I am now stressed over "puppy frenzy" where she goes a little crazy and barks and bites (she bit DS (13) on the nose yesterday at 8pm) - trying to read up on training not to bite - my God, it is exhausting trying to stay on top of it all. DS is the calmest with her and he is a real "stick to the rules" child so he was doing all the right things with her. And when an issue arises it is always left to me to solve (and I never had a dog before). Did I mention that reality is hitting and I wonder what we have done!!!!

Thanks @muckandnettles, my husband had a golden retriever growing up and apparently she never bit or chewed and only needed telling no once. His parents back this up, I feel quite defensive of my unruly boy 😂. We are besotted and he's been amazing for DS1(15) who has been struggling terribly with anxiety (he's also autistic). He's taken photos into school (ASD base) and he never crosses home and school over so this is quite huge. Pup also accompanied him out to taxi this morning too

Hi @kauri25 lovely to see you and pup here. I bought a box of natural chew tests suitable for puppy, it arrived like it had been sent by a psycho hostage taker, honestly it was really grim and I'm not squeamish. Especially rabbit ear which he crunched and ate within seconds 🤢.

I've bought coffee wood, split antler and yakkers too. These are more refined but he's not anywhere near as interested. Split antler is in the lead, but wasn't an immediate thing and he's not that enraptured. He loses interest very quickly and still prefers ripping and biting the furniture.

I bought from Mia's doggy tuck shop (hostage box) and Happy Hounds treats (the refined chews). Both had suitable for puppy sections.

Morning all.
So envious of those sleeping puppies. Riverpup slept in crate in our room from 10 until 3am then needed a wee, then up at 4 for a poo then up for the day at 5.10. I feel like I did when I had newborns.
@Annasgirl we have that frenzied behaviour too. She goes absolutely wild. I read on here before that it is to do with being overtired so trying to forgive on that basis. We have sectioned off the bit if garden outside our backdoor for toileting and general daily use, then there is a gate to the main garden. When we go through that she is crazy at times. She will do some training and be fine then will hang off my legs.
I am trying to teach her "calm" which means on feet on the floor when she is around my ds7. So far she is ok with that and definitely calmer around him than ds12 but when she is in that crazy mode nothing will stop her.
Second jabs for us tomorrow as riverpup is 10 weeks today.

@DobbinReturns ours is Golden Retriever and he is very unruly, though in a different way to our old lab - he isn't a thief and we can leave shoes lying around for example (whereas the lab chewed anything like that to pieces) but he digs the lawn up and is still bitey at times. I'm amazed your husband had a Golden who didn't bite as they are notorious for it. I got fed up with advice from people who said things like 'we just didn't allow biting at all' or 'just tell them no.' As if we hadn't tried that!! Other advice I've been given was downright cruel, like smacking them on the nose or making them bite their own lip. Mind you, we are getting the crate out of the garage later on to reinstall it in the kitchen so we can get some sort of control, so I'm not an expert on this at all. Anyway, enjoy your naughty lab - they are lovely dogs and I'm touched to hear about the success with your son (I used to work with ASD children and I know what a milestone something like that can be - so lovely!) Dogs are great ones for breaking down barriers I think, in all sorts of ways.

@DobbinReturns oh dear I see what you mean about the psycho hostage box! Just looked at Mia's website.

Hello all!

Hope you and pups are all well?

Well I think my hubby isnt feeling the love for our bunglepup... he actually cried to me last night that he isnt enjoying it as much as he thought he would and is scared to tell our DD who really wants the dog how he feels... Cue a family meeting about the puppy and how we all feel (in hindsight this wasnt probably the best time as we are all sleep deprived from the puppy!) and we all laid our cards on the table about how sad/how much hardwork/ weeing inside... the list goes on Bunglepup is and now i totally feel like im being pulled in half in wanting to keep the dog and potentially getting him rehomed as i know he has the potential to be our family dog if we just give him time...

Ive read previous threads about how you can get the 'puppy blues' but jeez i didnt think it would be a mirror of PND!

Puppy is 10 weeks old on Sunday and i know it will get easier once he's able to go for a walk etc but realistically when does it all get easier???? 😥

I feel like all i am doing is moaning about the dog, my hubby is grumpy, my kids are on top of the moon with the dog and im just stuck in this horrible place torn between love and hate (not literally hate the dog but you get my jist!)

Sorry for such a long rant but i cant vent to anyone as DM just keeps saying 'what did you expect?!'

We are taking pup out every hour and praising to high heaven when he toilets outside however the last few days hes refused to toilet outside (ive stood in the pouring rain for HOURS!!) then comes in and wees on the carpet.... where am i going wrong??

@Bunglemom Have you tried placing the pup where you want them to wee then standing over them with an umbrella? Grannypup hates rain but this works (about 75% of the time anyway) We live in Wales so she's going to have to get used to rain

@grannycake Yeah we've made it a totally chilled out space til he does a wee and then running around the garden like loons celebrating which is the time we then play with bunglepup... he actually seems ok with the rain, doesnt dart back in or look for shelter etc so bit confused where this is coming from?

My DH thought I had made the worst mistake ever getting BiteyDog at the beginning.

And now he is worshiped by him. He is 'his pal'. He is protective of him and won't have a bad thing said about BiteyDog and keeps saying he is the the best thing I ever got.

Not everyone feels the love at the beginning and puppies are so different to that faithful old dog everyone wants (and gets).

If it helps @Bunglemom my husband definitely isnt as bonded with riverpup and said on a round about way that he she is so much work and has disrupted the whole house. I acc read some comments about puppy blues from this post and said it was normal and we would get through it. Even though I have my own moments, at 3am outside waiting for a wee.
@DobbinReturns I remember when my first son didnt sleep at night and my mil is law said she didnt ever remember my dh waking up at night as a baby. This was backed up by fil. My bff said to me at the time, the operative word there is remember. Of course he did he was a baby, puppies bite cos they are puppies.
My mantra even though I am knackered is this too shall pass and I shall look back at the puppy pics of river pup and say, oh wasnt she cute and not "remember" all the bad stuff.

thanks @Riverhousepuppy its horrible feeling so conflicted isn't it?!
Yes i agree about the baby thing, my 1st DD was a nightmare but still went on to have DD2! yes i think i shall have that mantra tattooed somewhere (visible at 3am lol!)😀

Ah @Bunglemom, it is so very, very hard and I don't think you're experiencing anything different to what most of us on here have experienced. The first 8 weeks or so of having OwlPup was the most stressful time of my life and I've never felt quite so close to the edge as I did in the early days. It sounds so overdramatic to say that, but it's true. And I'm a single parent by choice, so have raised a child on my own...but new puppies are way harder than new babies, in my opinion. OwlPup is nearly 5 months now and things are much, much easier. Still challenging in some ways, but a world away from the early days. Things like toileting and sleeping will start to fall into place if you're consistent. Sounds like you're doing all the right things, things will get easier for you.

@Bunglemom I was on here when ours was about that age, quite seriously ready to return her to the breeder, I hadn't bonded whereas everyone else had. It was such hard work for a 5 minute cuddle a day.

It does get better! So much better when they can go out for a walk - really a huge difference.

Also make sure they are getting enough sleep - a lot of the bitiness and zoomies is lack of sleep. And just ignore the bad behaviour or distract them. Frozen tea towels, chicken wings (raw), yak chews all helped with the mouthing. TIme out of a couple of seconds - so we stepped out of the room when she was too much.

It's so much better when they get the hang of housetraining (they do!), they sleep through too. Puppy training really helped too.

She's 9 months now, took her to the pub last night and she just snoozed under the table, walked home without too much pulling, slept all night and went out for a wee at about 8.20am.

She's adorable and I'm really glad we didn't send her back!

@OwlInAnOakTree Thanks so much, your kind words have made me feel a lot better ☺ its reassuring to know that im not some sort of weirdo who has this gorgeous puppy but who absolutely at some points regrets the decision!