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

Yes we had a mekuti but dpup kept twisting it around (v easy to do with dual clip harnesses). He's too much of a whirling dervish to wear it. If he walked in a straight line it would be fine but he doesn't (all the time). I ended up returning it.

We've gone back to a back clip harness (ruffwear's front range one which also has a back clip because it has a high chest which suits his body shape)

The halti one we used for a bit but again he's just too strong and twisty. I can see these might work when he's an adult but just simply won't work now.

Im sure all your dogs are better behaved so you might have more luck!

the other thing to note is that the thing with front clip harnesses is that the lead is then quite close to their mouths - dpup is a bit of a mouthy monster which meant every time he saw the lead he would bite it, pull it, then twist his body round which actually made him a worse walker if that makes sense

(I'm sure they work brilliantly for some dogs though!)

Can anyone recommend me a good car harness? I ordered one before we got puppy which is v tough and buckle-y and which looks incredibly complicated to get on. As we'll only be doing v short trips initially I would like something soft and simple.

I got a petsathome one - specific car one that comes with a clip and loop that the seat-belt goes through. Haven't tried it yet though. Tried to put it on once so far - not very successful............
@HappyThursdays
Yes, saw Dolly the ESS in one on YouTube - she's quite grown up now though. Will look at ruffweear - I didn't click on your links yet!

My car harness came from Amazon - it's cheap, simple to use and we can each have one in our vehicles

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NCPNP13/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s02?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

All the different harnesses and leads! Bit overwhelming, to say the least.
Ruffwear looks good though - clips seem away from moving shoulders/hips? Some seem like they are badly designed and would rub?

Do I need a double-ended lead? The Ruffwear harness has just one ring on back? :)

How did it all get so complicated and expensive??

We have a fabric crate in the car boot. I didn't fancy having dog able to access the kids while I'm driving. I've also got into (a possibly bad) habit of returning pup to car after her bit of the walk and then leaving her to sleep while we do something else. Eg go to cafe / playground. She is perfectly happy to go back in the car with a chew and is always asleep when we return. I realise I won't be able to do this in summer but at least she'll be older by then. I'm very happy with the car acceptance - I've stopped for petrol etc and opened the boot to get my purse then closed it again without getting her out and she always seems calm.

Had a good walk today. I met a friend with her toddler & scooter so it was a slow paced sniffy one but in a v busy city park (a famous one if anyone here is from Leeds) so literally hundreds of dogs, people, buggies etc to see. Pup did very well, minimal leg biting and responded to an angry NO. Lots of treats while sat outside the playground watching the world go by and walking nicely. I even managed to drink a coffee while walking so she mustn't have been pulling much. She was out for nearly 2 hours plus 2 half hour drive and so am expecting some good sleeping this afternoon.

@DoubleTweenQueen

How did it all get so complicated and expensive??

I haven't gone for anything fancy or expensive while still growing. I have

1. Doodlebone normal collar & normal lead
2. a basic slip lead fiver on Amazon
3. Doodlebone basic £16 soft harness for long line

I worry if you go for anti-pull harness as a puppy then you'll be stuck with it forever as you haven't actually taught them not to pull. Might be totally wrong though 🤷‍♀️

@DoubleTweenQueen

Do I need a double-ended lead? The Ruffwear harness has just one ring on back? :)

I have a double ended one which is really useful for other things - the halti one - because you can make a loop at the other end (not attached to dog) and loop it through rings on the outside of shops (say) or loop through chairs in a pub then hook it onto rings down the lead etc.

we can't have pup on a normal collar and lead because he was seriously throttling and choking himself - dp kept saying he would stop but he was really hurting himself and then coughing afterwards and I think he would have inflicted some sort of throat injury!

newpup123 as HappyThursdays mentioned spaniels are hunting nose driven dogs and will typically zig zag about picking up scents.

Only dipping in and out of this thread so not sure if yours is a spaniel as well. If so lead walking is often a challenge as they aren't food driven like a lot of dogs outside so I didn't get too upset about perfect lead walking which has got better as he has got older.

@BiteyShark

newpup123 as HappyThursdays mentioned spaniels are hunting nose driven dogs and will typically zig zag about picking up scents.

Only dipping in and out of this thread so not sure if yours is a spaniel as well. If so lead walking is often a challenge as they aren't food driven like a lot of dogs outside so I didn't get too upset about perfect lead walking which has got better as he has got older.

Thanks yes cocker spaniel

newpup123 as a hunting dog I was more concerned about recall than nice on lead walking.

Not sure what type of walks you plan to do but most of mine are off lead in the countryside so more effort (and it needed a lot of work) ended up being about training recall.

I accepted my cocker was never going to be the nice trotting dog by my side as he just loves following smells. Having made peace with that (he doesn't pull very much as an adult) I love now watching him walk with his nose on the floor following an invisible trail of smells.

@BiteyShark

newpup123 as a hunting dog I was more concerned about recall than nice on lead walking.

Not sure what type of walks you plan to do but most of mine are off lead in the countryside so more effort (and it needed a lot of work) ended up being about training recall.

I accepted my cocker was never going to be the nice trotting dog by my side as he just loves following smells. Having made peace with that (he doesn't pull very much as an adult) I love now watching him walk with his nose on the floor following an invisible trail of smells.

Yes absolutely. I guess I want both - i know I'm hard to please! She'll get plenty of free country walks but I also need her to calmly be on lead if we are in family oriented places that require it.

How did you train the recall?

newpup123 you can definitely get calm on lead walking as I have seen spaniels at the gun dog training with it but it does seem to be a lot harder than with other breeds because of the nose down zig zagging instinct. New people that turned up to training all complained of pulling when walking. The ones I see generally when out walking tend to be older or people using a figure of eight lead over the nose. I tried one of those but he just put his bottom up in the air and rubbed his face all down the street to get it off . I have a front lead ring harness which helped when he was younger to have more control.

For recall best to train to a whistle as it takes out the emotion in your voice and can be heard a long way (acme whistles are great). I use 4 pips and then reward him for coming back. As he isn't food orientated when outside he gets a ball play. As with everything do this at home, then in the garden and then outside when young (a puppy typically wants to be with you but when they hit adolescence will often ignore you so best to crack recall before that happens so they 'know' what they should be doing even if they decide not to).

I did gun dog training for over a year and they recommended not doing traditional walks but engaging them on hunting and retrieving when out. I resisted that for a long time but when I eventually gave in recall was so much better. Their guidance was also not to let them get too far away as they are bred to work close and if they are too far away you have lost control. Also they advised not to let them hunt on their own (unless you want to lose them) so hide balls or dummies and get them to hunt and retrieve. If you look back on here you will see I had a nightmare time with recall when he was 6-11 months of age. However, he now sticks to me like glue and we can walk past deers, rabbits and any other creatures he would normally run off and chase but only because he now thinks I am more fun than them as I play with him hunting and chasing his ball.

Am having major puppy blues today. We are doing bits of training, bur she is more pleasing herself than anything - too much jumping and teeth. Finding it very hard going. Can’t approach her with a towel to dry her off after some training and ball fetch in the garden - she just wants to bite it and shake the hell out of it. She’s 10 weeks. An ESS. I am disheartened and very tired :( Is this normal? I’m wondering if she’d be happier as a primarily working dog.

@DoubleTweenQueen

Am having major puppy blues today. We are doing bits of training, bur she is more pleasing herself than anything - too much jumping and teeth. Finding it very hard going. Can’t approach her with a towel to dry her off after some training and ball fetch in the garden - she just wants to bite it and shake the hell out of it. She’s 10 weeks. An ESS. I am disheartened and very tired :( Is this normal? I’m wondering if she’d be happier as a primarily working dog.

Yes both biting, jumping and puppy blues with regret are normal. It will pass

Totally normal @DoubleTweenQueen
In fact, it’s what made me join this thread, puppy blues. We had wanted him for so long but the reality in the first few weeks wasn’t quite what I imagined.
15 weeks now and still a bitey, pulling monster but he’s our monster and we love him to pieces. Training is helping too.

I am having a wobble, and feeling that I don’t have what she needs, but she’s getting the ‘down’ today. Thankyou x

@DoubleTweenQueen I am at 14 weeks and I find the puppy blues ebb and flow! I did loads of reading up and logically knew what it would be like but have found it incredibly hard at times, particularly also trying to work at home full time and with a DH who leaves the house at 615 every day so is not around to help until the evenings.

For biting - big soft toys you can divert her to - we got a few cheap ones from Ikea - and chews which will keep her occupied (lots of info on the chews on the thread - I found the antler chews and pizzles have been lifesavers). Also you're still getting to know her at 10 weeks but you'll begin to work out a rhythm and see what her trigger points are in the day for biting (either tiredness or too much morning energy and enthusiasm for us).

Also a bit of advice I got (can't remember where from) is really focus on 'sit' as a command and that can be used in all sorts of situations - so for eg when they jump up give them a positive 'sit' command rather than 'down'

Will do :)

@DoubleTweenQueen I've got a 12 week old cocker and she's a totally different dog to two weeks ago. I was in tears most days (every day?) at 10 weeks, putting so much pressure on myself to be training her and she was bouncing about and just didn't have the attention span. I've relaxed over the last couple of weeks and just tried to enjoy her and everything has sort of fallen into place anyway, with sit and toilet training and sleeping at least. Even the biting has reduced massively. Two weekends ago I was crying to my partner asking if we should rehome her because I also worried she needed a working home. I'm sure we'll have hard times again soon! But I'm so much happier already. Lots of posters on this thread told me to hang in there so I'll say the same to you!