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....

@LittlePoot sorry you're feeling so down about it all. It's so very hard, especially with young DC. All I can say is it does get easier. I felt very overwhelmed for the first two months but then things got so much easier. I think you should focus on crate training, naps in the crate really saved my sanity in the early weeks. And a pen might work well if you've young children. I used to find mornings so difficult. I'm not a morning person, and pup was hyper and bitey in the mornings, and then throw my hyper DS7 into the mix and it was just awful. OwlPup is 5 months tomorrow, and all he's done this morning, in the hour since getting up at 7, is sit on the sofa, had a bit of a cuddle, and chewed on his yak. Unimaginable 3 months ago. Things will get easier. I hope it goes ok for you today being back at work.

Thanks so much everybody. I'm up, dressed and even have make up on so that's more than I thought I could manage at 5am.... Pup is cute and was so pleased to see me when I came down. And I think he's inadvertently learned to sit on cue (we haven't been actively training, just rewarding accidental sits). It's obvious progress, I just need to work on my own anxiety. On the plus side, I've lost half a stone in a week with the stress.....

@OwlInAnOakTree - how did you crate train? He's happy at night and we're not (yet) forcing it in the day. We have scattered treats in there, given him a couple of meals in there, last night he had a Kong with kibble and primula in there. Although the dozy doughnut lost it through the bars and then needed help to get the last few bits out.

@LittlePoot I dont know if it helps but riverpup is 10 weeks old and I have had some bad moments of what have we done, how will I manage this, will riverpup ever sleep through the night or let me out her sight, stop jumping at boys, stop biting, be toilet trained etc. Riverpup is my first dog and it is really hard sometimes. I was rushing to get dressed before dh left then dropped my youngest at breakfast club so my eldest could look after her so she wasnt alone as she gets so upset. In the shower I was just thinking what have we done. But then yesterday we took her to a friends farm and she had the time of her life and it was so nice.
For me I am trying to break it down into little goals, first ones
Sleeping through the night
Reliably toilet trained
I think and hope these will happen in the next few weeks. Then onto less biting.
I am wfh and have found today feels much better as we are getting into a routine.
I agree that we had imagined that lovely friendship not the bitey clingy sleep deprivation part.
I have also got her in the kitchen with me in the day which is working then lounge in the evening. Her crate is in our bedroom and she has a bed downstairs and that seems to be working for us.
Big hugs, take it a day or hour at a time and you can get through it.come on here and chat as much as you need too.

Oh hugs littlepoot it’s horrid when your mind goes into catastrophising mode, only you know if a dog will work in your life. It does get easier but it is still draining at times and hard work. In terms of crate use during the day, we just put her in there (Same place as overnight) she’s in the lounge at front of the house away From all the noisy family life at the back of the house. It’s covered 3-sides with a blanket she has a toy & handful of kibble and a blanket. I use it after she’s weed, had her morning run/walk normally 10.30-12.30. She runs in there at command word ‘nap-time’, very happily - we have a cheap puppy cam set up so I can watch her. The enforced rest/nap time really helps her switch off and gives me a break from worrying what’s she up too. If I’m busy in the afternoon got a work call etc ill also crate 2-3pm after lunch and after a frisbee play in garden. It’s finding a routine that suits your family life which is what works. the first 4weeks were really hard work she didn’t come trained but we do have a easily trainable dog which helps.

Thanks again you lovely people. xxx

Two firsts for me in the last 24hrs I let Tripup go off lead with me controlling her. Normally by DH does it, but I had the whistle I’ve been working with the last 2days and a treat. DH came too for moral support but Tripup quickly realised I had the lead and the treats. We didn’t meet anyone else as it was a large open common area where the hardest thing is stopping her eating horse and rabbit poo! I found the walk really stressful inside but pup was brilliant and well behaved she came every time I called or whistled. Previously I’ve just let my DH ‘control’ her which was fine but it had quickly meant she wasn’t listening to me.

Second win was I actually left her alone for 15mins running around the kitchen lose and she seemed ok when I got back from school run this morning. Yah. I was more worried about that then my daughter I got the biggest fussy cuddle from Tripup when I got home though. We have left her in her crate before for an hour, but not lose. So her reward is another off lead walk this morning if I can hold my courage and do it alone this morning...

@LittlePoot I let him nap where he chose for the first two days, but realized I'd never get anything done because he'd wake at the slightest hint that I might be doing something or going somewhere. During those two days I'd done what you're doing, throwing treats in there, giving a kong, etc. I'd occasionally close the door briefly but not lock him in. But from day 3 I just took the plunge (probably against the advice of all the training I'd read!) and locked him in with a kong (same as you, filled with kibble with a bit of a treat like peanut butter at the top) and also covered it because I did that at night so felt it would help. I found with OwlPup that if we went into another room so he couldn't hear or see us by the he finished his kong, then he'd just settle for a nap. If he could hear us, he'd whine a bit, so leaving him in peace was key to us in the early days. He's never chosen to go for a nap in there himself, which I was hoping he would do, he'd rather just sleep on the sofa. But all I need to do now is get a kong ready in front of him and he'll skip into the crate surprisingly excited! He's not 100% happy in there if he's not ready for a nap, so I've tended to plan a day around his need for sleep rather than try and force sleep at times that suit me, if you see what I mean. But at the age of your pup, he'd generally need a nap after being up for 60-90 minutes. I think it's good to remember that they need a lot of sleep, so up an hour, nap an hour is perfectly fine in the early weeks. I do think we got lucky with OwlPup, I think he's pretty adaptable and didn't really fight the crate so it was easier than for some. But worth trying. Like I said, naps in the crate is the only reason I've survived!

Hello all!

Hope you all had a nice weekend?

Well i had my hair done and left DH with the kids and bunglepup for a few hours... it was heaven! When i got home DH looked like hed been through a world war 🤣 DD2 was having a meltdown, the puppy had just done a wee on the carpet and he hadnt managed to have lunch... Welcome to my world 😁

Bunglepup seems a bit more settled and the runny poops have finally stopped... however he has his second lot of injections tonight so im preparing myself for an unsettled night and more runny poops..... at least it wont be long before he can go out!

Bunglepup is 10 weeks old now and he always seems hungry after his meals, on the pack of the dry food it says not to increase until 12 weeks? is it worth increasing or waiting?

@LittlePoot you’ll find my posts in the July thread if you want to see someone else having a breakdown in real-time! Our circumstances were slightly different in that our pup was a rescue who came to us at 4.5 months so outside the socialisation window, had never lived in a house and had some “issues”. After 7 weeks we asked the rescue to find her a new home, and we were lucky that we got to meet the new family before she moved there. It was without exception the hardest decision I have ever made and I miss her terribly, probably more than anyone else in the family. Almost a month on and both DDs still occasionally burst into tears about her not being here (which then sets me off!). However, my DH’s mental health has been very poor throughout and given our pup’s challenges (which were by no means the worst, but felt insurmountable at the time) I couldn’t do it all on my own, which was the reality and I know it was on balance the right decision for us. But I will probably always have major regrets - about rehoming her and about having her in the first place! So I suppose my cautionary tale would be to keep on trucking if you can, and ask for all the help you can find - trainers, dog walkers etc etc - to make it work. Especially if your DH is on board, because that was probably our biggest problem, more than the dog. Because the alternative of giving them back wasn’t really a cure-all either.

Having said that, we looked after a friend’s dog at the weekend in advance of a week’s dog-sitting. He is a super easy two year old but it cemented for me that I couldn’t commit to a dog again. Maybe it’s all a bit too raw still and I’ll change my mind in the future. But the neverendingness of it struck me, even with a total dream dog to look after. We loved having him and will love having him here for the week but that is probably enough for us! I think some people are just not dog people (or not dog-people enough). But if any pup-thread members need a dog sitter, give me a shout 😆

Hi there,

I've been lurking on these threads for a few months but can I please join? We have a border terrier pup who is nearly 10 weeks old and I am finding it really tough! I knew it would be hard and she would be bitey, but I hadn't realised quite how hard it would be. I think the hardest part is that over the last few days she has started to really growl and snarl at us if we are doing something she doesn't want, such as putting on her collar, her harness or putting her in the puppy sling (not had her 10 week vaccinations so have been using that to take her out and about). It's actually quite frightening when she acts this way, and as well her head is swinging about with her teeth snapping at our hands. We are trying to use lots of treats and be positive, but she is doing this more and more. And she has to wear a collar / harness so we can't just stop putting these on her! And I don't feel confident taking her out and about in my arms as she is so wriggly in my arms and I'm worried about her hurting herself if she jumps down, so the sling is needed for the next week until she can go for walks. Any words of wisdom would be gratefully received!!

Do you need to take her out @happymonkey36 or could you spend the week doing desensitisation with the collar and harness (because you’ll be ditching the sling in a week anyway) and let her exercise in the garden instead, or have people come to you for some socialisation instead of taking her out. The dog training support and advice group on Facebook has excellent guides on desensitising to collars

@happymonkey36 Hi I also have a border terrier who is now 13 weeks old. Yes she can be very bitey but it is starting to lessen now as I have got better at always having a toy handy to distract her.

Her worst moments are always when she is tired - does this correspond with when you are trying to put her harness/lead/sling on?

I would not try to take her out at the moment and just spend some time trying to get her used to these things - probably just after she's woken up and toileted. Lots and lots of treats help massively

Thanks for your replies. I'll have a read of the facebook advice pages and try to desensitise her to the collar and harness. She doesn't mind them when they are on, it's the action of getting them around her neck she hates! I'm worried about keeping her at home for the next week as she needs to see more traffic, livestock etc as I'm aware that the socialisation window is really short but I'll focus on training in the garden for the next few days and hopefully she'll be happier when I try again. And yes, maybe she is a bit tired when I've tried it so I'll try to do it when she is more awake. It's tricky trying to fit everything in before she needs another nap!! Thanks everyone.

happymonkey we had trouble on occasions getting the collar on, but by getting her to sit/treat/sit/treat get the focus going before we try with the collar. If she doesn’t let us we remove eye contact & stand still wait until calm and try again. Sometimes it took a few goes but by removing the “struggle” element ie we wouldn’t engage with any fighting to get collar or lead on it removed the ‘game’ element for her but she got a kibble reward when she sat calmly. It took time but it worked after a couple of weeks of doing the same thing every time....

I did it! This morning walked her off lead for 20mins met one dog so put her back on for 2mins greeting and moving away then released her. She was brill, twice she ran ahead more than I was comfy but the whistle & sausage got her back very quickly.

HI All,

we are still here with Daisy the Shih Tzu puppy. Busy weekend with her and the DC!!! She was much calmer this morning as it was just the two of us. I'm finding it tough- I feel so responsible for her. But she is sleeping all night in the crate so job 1 is done.

We have moved on to toilet training - so glad we have a garden but we cannot let her out alone as we have lots of foxes here so we always have myself DH or oldest DC (16) as I don't trust the younger ones!!!!

She is doing really well on the toilet training and I am trying to get that sorted before I try to control the biting - although I am trying to initiate the no biting little by little and always have a chew toy with me (it has become a replacement for carrying a soother everywhere for DD when she was a baby!!).

Thanks to everyone here - it helps to not feel so alone especially on the tough days.

Quick update on progress with the water bowl (Grannypup learnt to splash the water by stamping her feet in it). One day of removing bowl every time she did it has resulted in no splashing in the house. However, when we went out in motorhome on Saturday she did again outside the van - which was the first place she did it last week. Not an issue outside and it is cute but I probably should stop her fun there as well she does look cute doing it though

@grannycake
Are you sure there isn't something in the bowl?
My pup does this if there is a bit of food or hair in the water. Took me a while to realise this.
Also it could be when they are hot. Apparently cooling their feet is a quick way to cool down.
But, he could just be having fun

Puppy has been a nightmare today ! Enough said ha

@Worriesandwobbles

Puppy has been a nightmare today ! Enough said ha

Same here! I let them sleep too long this afternoon and I’m paying the price for it now.

Sigh

Riverpup was really good all day then my mil came round after pup had been playing for a while and was tired. All hell broke lose, riverpup was crazy frenzied bitey machine. Literally hanging off legs and arms like she was trained to kill.
Fast asleep now though. So hope she sleeps through the night but bet she will be up for a toilet in the night.
But one night in the not too distant future so will sleep through, fingers crossed

At one point I was walking along talking to mil while riverpup had her teeth sunk in my leg hanging on every step, we all pretended life was normal and it wasnt happening

The lickimat failed us for school run today, pup apparently likes peanut butter off my finger but won't touch the mat. And now I can't get it cleaned, argh! Any tips?

I'm so, so tired today. Pup went down 11pm last night and we had our fingers crossed for another stretch til 6.30, but then she cried at 12.30 and then both my DC were up 1-2. I finally got to bed at 3 then pup was awake for the day at 6 So I've had no energy at all to do much with poor pup. One of my dc is back to school as normal but the other is on staggered starts so feel like I've spent the day clockwatching, filling kongs and bribing pup into the crate

@puppygalore my pup's favourite thing on the lickimat is Tesco's salmon paste...25p a jar...lasts 3 lickimat applications. Also works well in the top of a kong to hide the fact that it's just full of boring old kibble.

Thanks @OwlInAnOakTree I'll pick up some paste! I might have to get a whole new mat to try it out though as the bloody peanut butter isn't budging.