Puppy survival thread October/November!

[HappyThursdays]

hello all - will hopefully link from the old one!

just realised we'll all have fireworks night to get through shortly. Went out for a walk with dpuppy who is getting much better at walking though we met a big dog which scared him a lot! We can only get him into puppy classes in November which is a shame but at least it's something

Just about to leave to pick up our pup. Nervous!

PaddyPaw us too. I'm glad it's not just me feeling nervous. My husband is more confident and is taking the lead (pun intended) with sleeping and training. Mine and the children's job is to reinforce training and to try to keep the cat happy.

@Puppypuppypuppy I was looking at this too, we still have a bag and a half of his old food to get through though before I make the change over.

On allaboutdogfood.co.uk it has a really good rating, a lot better than the dry food he's currently being fed. Probably worth a try!

@C4itl I like the simplicity of it! I might try it as spend way too long thinking about feeding pup

@Puppypuppypuppy yeah it seems pretty easy as everything is already measured out

I had my Zoom puppy training this morning - amazing, I have learned so much. It is all about positive training (like Puppy Squeezy) and I am now looking forward to putting it all into practice.

We will go for real training classes once lockdown ends here but he has given me enough to keep working on in the meantime.

Hi all, not been on for a while as it's been quite busy here. Had our last 1-1 training this week and Pup was awesome at 'leave' and 'heel' for him. Tried everyday since and she will not bloody do it for me at all, typical!

I finally let her off the lead today at the grand old age of 4.5 months. We were on a quiet field, not secure though so I was panicking a bit. There was just 1 another dog and the owner said his dog would be fine with her and had good recall. Luckily when his dog came back, so did Pup...on our own she would have come nowhere near me as I know that's how she is in the garden when we practise. I'm drilling recall everyday but feel like I'm getting nowhere, she's ok at times and others is deaf and blind to me. I think I'm going to look into renting a private dog field to really practise. Can anyone recommend a good long training lead? I got a cheap eBay one but it's so thin and just burns my hands when she tries to run and play.

While I'm asking for advice...Can anyone recommend an indestructible water bowl for the crate? This week she's discovered she can somehow unscrew the clamp on hers (how?!?!?! ) and tip the water all over her bed. Argh.

On the crate discussion we’ve on our third one now as pup kept growing rapidly. We have the biggest one now I think we will need after that she should be ok without. She happily goes in during the daytime for quiet space/ nap time but it’s in a separate room to the kitchen/diner that she’s in most of the day hanging out with the family.

Re call I bought a whistle off a recommendation on the previous puppy thread and she’s brilliant with it most of the time. When I left her off I blow the whistle and give her the treat of the day - either hot dog / cheese / chicken - something she doesn’t get for any other reward so it’s ‘high value’. She then runs off but loops back every 20-30secs for a treat. I practiced in the garden when she was 14wks old then bravely did it in a place she had walked a few times before. Only twice in 4mths has she actively ignored me - the 1st time it really freaked me out but she’s just got the scent of something yum and decided I could wait. The second time I miss read her energy levels/ excitement and should have got her back on lead 2mins before I did as I nearly lost control. It taught me a lesson in really reading her body language and keeping calm!

Lovely to read of progression and good news - gives me hope :)

Today we had a go at a bath! Yes I ended up wetter. We practiced 'down', and recall in the garden. Bit of let's eat the hairbrush, and fetch. It's a fairly loose program.
Her bite is getting a bit more gentle, unless DD is wearing her scary.cream Sox

Wishing everyone a happy weekend! You all care so much about your pups - they are very lucky to have such lovely caring homes. I am hoping to regain my bed tonight - setting alarm for three hours to catch wee time (pup not me)

we take one step forward and 2 steps back half the time I think!

long leads - we got one from amazon (neon cord one) that had a handle. I know they say you shouldn't but I have tiny hands/wrists and I found on the long lead it was easier.

pup's recall is good but he is not massively tested here and he hasn't hit that age where the training appears to disappear (6 months from memory?) so we have that joy yet to come!

there's a guide dog trainer round here (my goodness is she patient, I see her all the time taking the dogs out and about) and she said she doesn't really expect completely perfect recall till 12 months though from 6 months it's near perfect.

we are not making massive progress with the jumping up and given it's so wet and muddy, I am only wearing clothes I don't mind him destroying. We need to get on top of it!

@HappyThursdays Did you take your pup out in your arms for socialisation, before you could put her on the ground with a lead? I can't imagine doing that with my wriggly monster - need to wait until Dec 12th to 'walk' her

Picked our new pup up yesterday. Didn't have a great night sleep wise but other then that I think he's pretty perfect.

@DoubleTweenQueen yes we took him absolutely everywhere we could. If we went out to the pub, to nip to the shops (though you need 2 then as dogs aren't allowed inside), out in the car - we took him on the bus/train etc. We just wanted to get him out as much as possible. He was less wriggly when confronted with lots of new things. Lockdown has been a right pain in the arse for socialisation I have to say and all his puppy classes were cancelled and he is the type of puppy who could have really done with them. And even now, because they shouldn't walk far at this age, you don't really get anywhere on a walk so end up going round the block!

I'd love to take him for a walk by the sea at some point as he loves the water and I can imagine he would think it was brilliant chasing the sea!

aww sweet little pup @JustCurious2

@JustCurious2 Awwwww! Cutie! We've had ours for 10 days and it is a bit nuts, and daunting, but naps and nighttime sleeping is getting better. Good luck! Come share here if it's all getting a bit much! X

@HappyThursdays I will have to get my act together then! We're out in the sticks so will need to drive to busier places, but could start with a walk down the lane, being carried, this afternoon and see how we get on!

it's a bit of a pain @DoubleTweenQueen. It was like going out with a baby!

Yes we took pup everywhere we could in our arms in those first 4wks, including to watch the train arrive at the station, into the pet shop, sat on a bench by the seaside, in the park, school run walk in a backpack on back to front so she sat with her head out the front bit. We didn’t “meet” any other dogs as such until fully vaccinated at 14wks but do get out as much as you can. It really will help as many sights sounds & smells as you can.

there was a thread on here at some point for people with older dogs about things you regret

and there were quite a lot of people who said that they regretted trying to force their puppies into too much socialisation so I think as long as it's at the pup's pace, it's probably ok

with lockdown, we haven't done anything other than walk him outside from the house - it's a good point actually you make and I'm wondering whether we should drive somewhere with him to give him a change of scene!

(sorry @TriSeaSwim99, my post was made same time as yours so I wasn't countering it, I just suddenly remembered that 'things you regret' thread but I don't think our puppies are timid ones anyway!)

btw whoever recommended puppy tv - it is absolutely hysterical thank you. It's very relaxing (for me!) though pup spent ages trying to find the squirrels and the ducks behind the TV

Thanks! Backpack on front sounds good! She is encountering different sounds & smells around the house and garden but I need to gently branch out to the big wide world as soon as I can. She's tolerating a collar so will take precaution of having her attached to a lead in case she wriggles out of arms. Need to get her used to short car trips too. I will persevere - thankyou x

Took Frenchpup to the market this morning. It was the only place I could think of at the moment where she could encounter noise and people.

She walked for a bit on the lead (which surprised me because when we tried it at home it didn't work) then I carried her around the market. She didn't wiggle at all, just snuggled up to me. Overall a very positive experience that I am definitely going to repeat next week. It did me good to get out and see real live people too.

Last night was terrible though. She has been really good with her cage, choosing to go in there rather than sleep anywhere else. But last night she suddenly decided she hated it. Cried anytime we tried to put her in and is now totally ignoring it.

Thanks @HappyThursdays my trainer said the same about perfect recall being something to only expect at 1 year, and that's if they've been through the adolescent stage. He said there's a reason why service dogs are all older than 12 months! So I'm trying not to feel too down about it, it's hard though as I'd really hoped to see results by now and I'm sick of being dragged around on walks. He said the loose lead and recall go hand in hand once they learn that being near you is the best thing ever, but right now even in very familiar places, Pup is interested in everything except me!

We didn't end up going to many varied places @Frenchfancy as we've been in a version of lockdown since March and don't tend to go to pubs, town centres etc anyway. For us the key things are seeing dogs, Kids, horses, squirrels, roads and traffic with the occasional train. If we ever go on holiday down south again with her, no doubt we'll wish we exposed her to other things but it's impossible to do it all I think!

I'm also feeling a bit shite about the fact that she's started destroying our lounge again trying to chew everything, so I guess teething is really bothering her. The jumping up issue is not improving. She desperately wants to play with other dogs, and just wants to leap all over them. She also wants to play fetch, but refuses to ever drop the ball unless I'm bribing her with treats. As we are approaching 5 months is really hoped to have some of these things sorted considering we've been working on it since 8 weeks old!

Oh sorry Frenchfancy, the socialisation bit was meant to @DoubleTweenQueen apologies!