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....

Seems that the puppy blues are a bit of a theme for us all atm. Feeling it here too and DH does all the hard work because it was his choice to get a dog but I feel resentful at times because we’re so limited (I know COVID is a factor too so not all dogs fault!) but we can’t just go out for an hour or so to the park/ beach etc with the kids because we can’t leave him that long.
Where DH and I are both working from home, pup is basically never left alone which I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing. He needs to get used to being alone (I’m talking 20-30mins at this age) he’s been left a few times while we did the school run with a kong/ carrot and he was fine tbh.

Toilet training and walking seem to be going well. Crate training is basically done, he walks straight in there after his last wee at night. Only downside atm is he’s waking at 4:30/ 5am for no reason. I say no reason because DH went down this morning at 4:30 and just said ‘shush’ firmly and he shut up and went back to sleep! So I know it’s not needing the toilet (altho I appreciate it might sometimes be).

I think I’m just wishing away this puppy stage. I want him to be 2yo and able to walk for an hour around the woods with us.

@desperatehousewife21 - same. I'm definitely wishing away the puppy stage. I can see he's improving but I can't work out how on earth he'd going to improve enough that we get a bit of our lives back. I'm trying to ignore that and just focus on getting through each day, hoping either I'll start to feel happier or it'll just click into place. Still broken sleep here too (for me - pup usually ok) but it's better than the other week where I was walking up at 1am and not getting back to sleep. So I'm taking that as a win.

Dog walker went really well - awesome to have an hour off and he then slept 90 minutes. And she said he was pretty well behaved so I'm taking that too.

Grr. ImmaturePuppy just ripped a hole in my joggers. Although I have now twigged that mental bitey jumping may mean “I need a wee”, because I took her outside after she had run round the room trying to bite everyone in turn, and she did a wee and then came in and fell asleep on the floor.

Cat fail - puppy did a poo on the floor while DH and I were both on work calls. DH cleaned it up, and then cat came in, looked horrified and peed in the hall. FFS. I thought I might buy some Feliway cat diffuser stuff but the Amazon reviews were really mixed so I’m not sure.

I am building myself up on the prospect of being able to go for walks in a fortnight - 2nd jab on Mon and then I think you have to wait a while for it to take effect, is that right? How long do you have to wait?

Am happy to have my puppy to cuddle up to after a crappy day at work !! Role on half term

@desperatehousewife21 I agree. I want a dog who walks up mountains with me and then snoozes in front of the fire while I enjoy a massive roast.
Not a needy puppy who chews the carpet 🤪

I'm just trying to take it day by day. I've made the mistake of over-googling stuff and feeling really anxious.

The good - crate training ok. She sleeps at night (up once for toilet). Seems happyish to take herself off there to sleep during the day and I've left her for the school run each day. She is starting to respond to her name and "sit" .

The bad - nipping at feet, random growling when over excited. I feel bad the kids are basically hiding from her in the lounge.
I can't get her to wait nicely by the front door at all, she just pulls as soon as it opens. I don't understand how you train this really - how do you ever leave the house without undermining what you're trying to do if they don't get it?

@Worriesandwobbles

Am happy to have my puppy to cuddle up to after a crappy day at work !! Role on half term

I don't really get cuddles, they quickly turn into mouthing / biting and so I make her get down. I've tried holding a chew which works for while but it's still not very relaxing. She is asleep next to me on the sofa now but I darent touch her or move as it will wake her

Pup would sleep on one of us all day and night if we let him he loves sleepy cuddles but we do try and limit them (well we did in the early days) because we didn’t want him to only be able to fall asleep on one of us, this is when we were crate training.
He’s not allowed to lay on us in the evening because it’s too much of a difference when it’s then time for crate, although he does happily walk in there at night. He slept through til the kids got up at 6ish this morning so v happy with that. Needed the sleep!

Treats worked for us for training to walk nicely. A treat when he sat before crossing the road, a treat at the other side, randomly given if he walks along nicely. He spends most of his walk looking at us now expecting a treat

@newpup123 I saw a YouTube video of a trainer who basically stopped and shut the door about 30 times every time the dog pulled on the way out. So it might be something you need to try with a lot of spare time! I'll try to find the link later. Pup is ok at the gate but, just the rest of the walk is a crazy puller. She's now used to getting a treat at the gate and crossing roads, but my H isn't as strict as I am so she's picking up bad habits on their morning walk.

I find we are stuck with anything that requires patience. So 'wait' and 'stay' we are getting nowhere. Recall is also zilch, I've still not let her off lead unless in our garden. Pup is happy to do tricks with instant gratification, but can't seem to grasp anything beyond that. Jumping up and straining to meet everyone is becoming a problem on walks too, not helped by everyone who just wants to coo at her and rile her up! She's not aggressively jumping, she's just wanting to play, but there's no way I can reliably let her off lead like that.

We are off to the vet this morning just for a check up post his vomiting thing. He's got v runny eyes and is a bit itchy so we'll see what the vet says.

Dpuppy sleeps through the night now but has often done a wee (or 3!) when we come down. He always waits to go out to do his poo.

He desperately needs dog socialisation. Because of Covid all the classes are full (as they are reduced numbers) and we really need to find something. I'm wondering whether to follow @LittlePoot idea and get a dog walker to take him out with other dogs but he is still quite young and can't do more than about 15 mins but at least it would be some socialisation.

We are ok with dpuppy and love him v much but I find it extremely challenging when dp's kids come to visit. As they are only here every second weekend, they are v over excitable around the puppy and I'm really worried he's going to snap and bite them especially as he's so bitey at the moment. He adores them because they play games with him but they also don't see the signs of him having had enough so I have to watch them like a hawk. I do think having young children around if you have puppies must make it a lot more stressful so you all have my sympathies!

Hope @HappyThursdays pup is ok at the vet and there's nothing yukky going on.

I sent a video to the trainer who runs our puppy classes to prove pup can do as he's told sometimes when not in a field of other puppies. She was suitably impressed and also advised not setting expectations too high re attention when there are dogs around, as he's just a baby and will get there. Made me feel a lot better.

dpuppy has conjunctivitis but she didn't want to give him antibiotics as she says it's mild and probably viral and quite common at the moment. He had a mild temperature but she said that was probably because he was a bit excitable (to put it mildly).

He was not happy having his temperature taken! He did try and bite her watch for which he got told off by her. Mental note to take his antler in next time (that he likes to chew) to stop him chewing everything in sight. He was chewing the perspex dividers between where you sit and you know how vets have a display of dog food - he literally launched himself head first into it to try and open one of the bags

we really need to get on with the training tbh - I think he is pretty far behind where he is meant to be!

his lead walking is absolutely no better - he had to greet every single school child on the walk this morning even though I had a whole packet of ham in my pocket! - but i feel slightly more encouraged as I read an article about dogs who stick their noses to the ground (like he does) and it said it takes 2-3 weeks of lead walking for v scent driven dogs to get better ARGH! but at least I know it's not going to happen quickly now!

Pup was a bit wired tonight, wouldn’t settle. We thought he was bored and then it clicked, we think he’d been awake from 2ish- 8ish with no nap

He’s asleep in his crate now, just praying it doesn’t cause him to be awful tonight. I know what an overtired kid is like, so hope a pup isn’t the same!

I am so glad to hear that other people are suffering with the puppy regret/blues/anxiety.

Tilly is now 15 weeks English Springer spaniel and in some ways doing well but I can’t get over feeling I’ve ruined my life. It’s felt like a really hard week emotionally here I’m hoping it will “click” and get better or even have the hard conversation about possibly it wasn’t the right decision for us. I just don’t know and feel terrible for even having those kinds thoughts!!

Hi everyone can I join you.

I have a gorgeous 13 week old border terrier whom I am totally in love with. She can be a little terror but she brings me so much joy too.

Here she is, I'm biased but I think she's beautiful

Hello all, joining this thread hope that's ok? We picked up our lab pup Luna on Saturday, she is 8 weeks and are ok but feeling rather overwhelmed as it's our first ever dog. We take her out frequently to the garden but all she wants to do is play and then she forgets. She is very hyper in the morning when we take her out for her wee after her breakfast she is constantly pulling and biting on the lead and trying to dive bomb into the plants I pick her up and bring her in and she is running around to the point where she is growly and bitey.
Is this normal? Or are we doing something wrong?

@Dozycuntlaters She is so cute I have a border terrier pup who is 19 weeks old and she is the sweetest thing most of the time

@coolmum123 As the owner of a now 7.5 month old lab it all sounds very normal!!! Evenings and morning were his worst time. All teeth! He massively calmed down around 16 weeks and when his teeth fell out. Hes now a treasure 90% of the time. Keep going and invest in as many natural chews as you can (when she is the right age).

We need a new thread! Can someone cleverer than me set one up?

@Doggonemental - I've been exactly there most of the past few weeks. The past couple of days though have been a major improvement in lots of ways. Probably partly me finally getting used to the upheaval but also that pup (4 months exactly) has improved in some fundamental things like lead walking and attention on us. We even had him off a lead with another dog for a few minutes earlier and he came back when called (only the once - I didn't push it!). Of course I know it'll be two steps forward and one step back, but I'm feeling optimistic today. x

@LBee2020 I was just looking up the chews as I am clueless about what we can and can't give her. We were thrown a curve ball right from when we picked her up because the breeder had her on a raw food diet and we got her home and from day 1 she has refused to eat it. I have switched her to kibble which she does eat but phasing it in has been challenging as 3 of her meals were raw mince. So I have her on kibble for breakfast and lunch and then boiled chicken for tea and dinner. The vet said that was fine because to switch all meals so quickly was not ideal. But now I don't know if I can introduce chews into her day as this is still her first week with us. Should I wait until all her meals are kibble before introducing?

Doggonemental hang in there, I think it’s very normal. Our pup is 6mths old and it’s got a lot easier in the last few weeks. We are actively trying to do things we would have done pre-pup like a trip to a cafe, and outdoor play area with the kids taking the puppy with lots of treats (normally kibble) to reward positive behaviour when she is with us. Walks have become more relaxing as lead walking is getting easier not perfect but most are better now. I can see that although life is different I can see puppy fitting in more every day.

@LittlePoot and @TriSkiRun99 thanks for your comforting words. I can’t believe anyone gets another puppy after this but I’m sure once she’s older hopefully it will all be worth it!!

Hope you ok @Doggonemental I went through that trapped feeling too but am better now I am back at work (so its not my responsibility all day.) I enjoy evenings cuddled up with the puppy and weekend walks on the beach. Are you on your own with the puppy alot ? It is quite a burden. I have a spaniel too.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4058369-Puppy-survival-thread-October-November?watched=1

new thread :)