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....

@BiteyShark yes i remember my dad being very similar when i was younger... didnt want the dog and then totally besotted and loved by the dog so much in return she went to work with him everyday!

@GolightlyMrsGolightly Yes i feel all the emotions of wanting to send bunglepup back too (truth be told its probably only my DD who is besotted by the dog that is saving his hindlegs!) Its a comfort to know that it will get better and it doesnt last forever... just feels like forever at the time your experiencing it i guess!
I just keep thinking as long as there is a cold Gin at the end of the night then i can get through it!

@Bunglemom hang in there honestly. I'm knackered and fed up and shouting like there's no tomorrow at anyone who'll listen today but Polka pup looks up at me and cuddles in and I think I love him the best !
That said, even half hour off for a bikini wax later has me all excited!!

@Bunglemom - I can't help you as my pup is 9 weeks old and just here.

But I totally get where you are coming from. As I noted up thread, it all seems to fall to me (as does everything, but still.....) and yes, I too a quietly thinking God, what have we done. I go from absolute adoration to - gee, maybe she is a demon? Maybe they let us take her because she bit all the other puppies and she is evil.... - see what lack of sleep does.

I am planning on locking DD (16) in with her when she gets home so I can get an hour to get out to shop for dinner and just breathe - she has been stuck to me all morning.

PS - you guys are helping me get through it all.

Thanks

To all of those struggling and Grannypup is also a bit of a bitey pain in the arse at the moment. But she is not my first pup and I know that she will grow up into a lovely dog that we will adore - it just takes time. She is my 6th dog and when I look back I don;t remember this time with the others (although it absolutely happened) because I have so many other lovely funny happy memories of them

@polkadotpjs yes i hear you! I have my nails booked in tonight and i might take that long to choose a colour that everyone will be in bed when i get back 😆🤣

@Annasgirl Yes lack of sleep is the worst kind of torture! at 3 am in the garden the other morning i actually was thinking if i would prefer to be waterboarded or standing in the rain with a fluff ball!
Always here if you need to chat/vent! 😉

@grannycake the gin certainly takes the edge off (especially when swigged from the bottle neat 🤣)

Thank you all for all the loveliness. Those sharing the tough times and those who are reassuring us that we will get through it.
River pup just drew blood on my arm after her most savage biting ever on me, she properly wrestled me from side to side and would not be diverted or distracted. I was thinking, why riverpup why.
When is peak bitiness? Is it now at 10 weeks or will it get worse before it gets better? Will I be able to wear my summer maxi skirts and linen trousers next summer in the carefree way I used?

@Riverhousepuppy It gets better - ours got better fairly soon after her second set of injections and we could start taking her out.

Also we got better at enforcing/encouraging naps at regular times - which really helped. We learnt to spot when she was getting over tired or overstimulated.

We started with the time out as well - just walking away or shutting the door on her for a couple of seconds. It reset her.

Gone completely by 5 months and probably sooner than that in reality - could well have been 4 months - and was drastically reducing all the time.

Ours still bites. My feet a ripped to shreds and also hands and arms. He has so many toys to chose from yet he prefers our flesh! Or the broom, toilet rolls, cardboard box.

Ouch @Riverhousepuppy. I always expected biting to get worse as teething happened, but I don't think it did in our case (although might still, he's not lost all his puppy teeth yet...) so the early weeks were the worst here. Then bitey-ness just got less and less with OwlPup. He's nearly 5 months and other than a bad bite a few weeks ago where he caught my thumb accidentally while we were playing tug, I can't remember the time before that that he bit me. He does still have a nip DS ocassionally though, but DS can't even walk through a room calmly, so pup is over excited by him. It's definitely reduced even with him though, and I don't think he's actually trying to bite any more, maybe just use DS's clothes as a tug game and sometimes DS gets nipped a bit in the process...

@Bunglemom You're not alone. On our walk yesterday evening DH confessed that he's getting to the point where he feels it would be best if we rehomed pistachiopup and it's a bit like someone has chucked a grenade into our life!

Admittedly this was after a particularly bad day - she'd eaten poo on the morning walk; had terrible diarrhoea all day and then eaten more swan poo on our evening walk! He just couldn't cope with the thought of what was to come. And can't believe our lovely life has been reduced to poo eating and diarrhoea cleaning up for very little reward at the moment.

Its so hard. I don't want DH to be miserable but equally I can't imagine giving her up now. The kids and I are very attached but we are also finding it very difficult. Am definitely not loving dog ownership at the moment and the immediate impact on my life is not positive but I'm hoping in the long run it will be.

We got home and spent an hour chatting to our neighbours outside about it all, whilst pistachiopup and their dogs were running around the front gardens together having a lovely time. We both felt a bit better after that. They said we'd be mad to give her up as she's such a lovely dog and we just have to hang in there. It will all get better. I think its so hard when you're in the eye of the storm to see the good stuff. The negative stuff just stands out more.

So just wanted to let you know you're definitely not alone, and I think all these feelings are normal. It's a huge adjustment and puppies are not easy at all.

@grannycake - thank you so much for the reassurance - it is so good to know. I am sad that after waiting so long (5 years until DS was old enough etc) I am having doubts!!! But the delight when she does a poo in the proper place is immense!!!

We also started giving ours from an early age some brain stuff to do. So putting food/treats in empty toilet rolls for her to find or wrapped in newpaper in a box so she had to snuffle through the paper - also egg boxes - smear a bit of cheese inside them, close them and let her work out how to get inside. That all helped at focussing her and calming her down.

Only works when they aren't having the absolute zoomies though.

@pistachioicecream 💩 quite literally! sending you a massive virtual hug!
Its so hard isnt it to see you DH upset and not feeling like theres much we can do about it, i said to my DH that our DD1 was an absolute nightmare but we didnt give up on her did we?! then he points out its kind of illegal to sell a child but not a dog 🤣

I feel exactly the same, its super hard to balance out the good bits as everything just feels like such a bloody chore!
My lovely neighbour (who happens to also be one of my bosses!) saw me close to tears this morning and just gave me a massive hug and told me to hang in there, it does get better... one to make the other neighbours talk im sure 😁 as i dont think they have twigged that i work for him lol!

@Riverhousepuppy "Will I be able to wear my summer maxi skirts and linen trousers next summer in the carefree way I used?"

I'd love to know the answer to this too! I remember moaning in the heatwave that I had all these lovely summer clothes and I couldn't wear any of them because of a bitey, jumpy puppy.

She's 18 weeks now and I'm still only wearing crappy old clothes :-( She is better than she was at 12/13 weeks which was peak bitey-ness for us but its definitely not over yet and I still wouldn't risk wide legged trousers or a skirt. She bit a hole in the jumper I wearing yesterday by grabbing it which was very annoying - I thought we were over the worst of that.

Joining the thread! Bonny is 8w and 6d and came to use last Saturday. She is a sprocker (mum Springer and dad Cocker) and is just absolutely adorable. There are just the 2 of us at home and both are besotted. Maybe we will hit bad days so good to have this here to remind me of the good times! She sleeps in a crate by our bed- today until 7am and is only up once during the night. Last night that was 5am. We are getting on ok with toilet training. We have her on dog beds in our studies during the say. DH has a puppy pen in his. Lots of people have said we are mad getting a spaniel and if it didnt look like we were moving to permanently WFH then we wouldn't have for a puppy at all. Looking forward to learning with rest of you. We really like kikopup YouTube for training tips. I heard about the DTAS FB group through here and it is brilliant for advice.

@bonnysmum oh my goodness, she's so tiny - how gorgeous!

Every time I say how much better Mucky is at something, it's like he reads this thread and makes sure i will eat my words. He went crazy humping me yesterday, then this morning he wouldn't come back when I called and nearly knocked someone over. I was mortified and dreading seeing the same man tomorrow on our walk as I apologised profusely but he just turned his back on me. I keep telling myself all the good things he now does, but it's hard. One bright spot is that dh now adores him and I think Mucky has done that himself by deciding that dh is his Master and I'm just some random who feeds him. I was sort of expecting it really, but it's a bit upsetting if I'm honest as I've done everything so far and now dh is reaping the benefits. But it's a pup's survival skills kicking in I suppose, so that's fine with me. I love seeing them together, with Mucky snuggling up to dh's feet under the table or having a belly rub. Dogs can't fake it, can they?

For all those of you struggling in those first few weeks - it does get better and some of it is maturity definitely. We had desperate evenings where I seemed to be shoving toys, chews, Kongs whatever at Mucky to make him calm down and where I felt so upset most of the evening. Now he generally zonks out after his evening meal and that's it. Hoping you all have a lovely fun weekend with your pups!

Oh bonny your pup is so sweet enjoy the early cuddles.
Hang in there others the 10-14weeks were really hard going. Crate training really helped our pup as enforced quiet time away from the family she really needed. Plus then brain training, it was easier once she could go for a walk even if they are really short.
Our pup is nearly 18wks and little things start to feel easier. We’ve had family time out with her to beach and gardens for 1-2hrs, and she’s stayed home 1-2hrs in her crate so we can go run or swim without her. Today was fun I was home alone as teenager was back at school so Tripup sat one side of the baby gate whilst I was the other in the hallway doing a Joe Wiches Hitt just 20mins. She sat by the gate with toys and a bed whined abit got lots of reassurance as I did burpees etc but I managed to finish the workout. Played frisbee with her and started whistle training which she was really responding too. Then crated her and left the house for an hour. I could watch her on puppy cam app, she was fine. Just carving out slivers of ‘me time’ away from Pup really help manage the down bits like evening zoomies which still hit at times but are a lot less intense than they were. So hang in there and these tough times will pass.

Thanks to the poster who advised about the chew spray, I've ordered some. Might put it all over my feet and ankles as well as the phone box connection thing!

Pup has been pretty good today, had our garden fence repaired so I felt confident in letting her off the lead and out of the pen to explore a bit more. She's finding her feet and getting a bit more barky so I'm hoping I can get that sorted! She barks at our cats when they dare show their faces and sometimes at the kids when she gets too excited. She now knows her name, 'sit', and is fairly good at 'come' and we've been trying 'down' as well. Got her only 6 days ago so I think this is excellent progress! I have been worried about her doing too much activity but she seems to really need lots of playtime in between naps.

Just 2 wee accidents today, but very random again, one was literally just after she came in from a wee outside and the other was about 20 mins after an outside one. Just when I think I'm spotting patterns and sticking to a schedule she pulls a fast one!

She's definitely getting extra aggressive and bitey when she's overtired, unfortunately today she just wouldn't settle without me. I gave her a Kong teething stick tonight which has really helped to calm her down. She's 9 weeks and I'm sure is teething already.

Got a lickimat, peanut butter and puzzle feeding toy ready for school run on Monday, v worried about it!

puppy the chew spray works for us, but I also resorted to wearing jeans and wellies or crocs inside during the super bitey weeks they did help.

We too have a black lab/cocker spaniel cross looked very similar to your picture with the same carrot toy 🤣she carried it everywhere the first 2weeks. She’s now nearly tripled I think in size & weight!

Currently crashed out asleep next to me.

I keep telling myself that although we have added an element of chaos into our lives for now, the puppy stage doesn't actually last that long and the benefits of a family long will be long lasting.