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

Each to their own but if I woke up at 3am needing the toilet and couldn't get out of bed to go I'd be distressed so I don't want to put my puppy in that position. She's 14 weeks and we still get up at 3am to take her out. She pees immediately and toddles straight back to her bed. We've had her 6 weeks and she now sleeps 10pm until we wake her. Today it was 9am. If you're an early riser and they're up at 6am I guess it's less of an issue. At one point we will start leaving her through the night but while she's still peeing straight away at 3am I'm going to assume she needs the trip out.

I also have a stone eater! First time she did it we panicked and took her to get an x-ray but we totally overreacted (first time dog owners). My partner and his dad are currently out digging all the stones out the garden and putting cement down. She's not so bad on walks as long as you're moving. If you stop to talk to someone and she gets bored she will still pick up stones. Totally agree with trying not to lunge and grab it from them cos that's how we ended up with her swallowing some. Toys would be better but I swap for a treat cos they're in my pocket on walks.

@ashmts we would never leave him, we don't set an alarm to take him out as he is on the crate next to me in our room so I hear him, I just get up and take him for a quick wee/poo then straight back to bed. If he was downstairs I'd probably set an alarm. That is what I was doing at first but he wasn't happy being woken up and he has never had an accident in the night, I was also advised not to wake him.

The only times he peed in the crate was before we went up to bed, we woke him to take him for a wee before going up to bed but he was so sleepy he wouldn't go then peed when he got back. The poo accidents were once when I just couldn't get up quick enough and open the crate door (we'd got a new crate and the latch was awkward compared to the other one) the other time was when he didn't go downstairs after he weed, I put him back as assumed he didn't need to and he then pooed back upstairs.

I hope it didn't come across like I left him to wee/poo. They were complete accidents. I don't sleep well anyway so don't care about getting up, also DH works early shifts so is up at 3/4am.

@PugInTheHouse My post wasn't directed at you but at the breeder saying just to leave them and they'll hold it. I've also read advice to take water off them when they go to bed so they don't need the toilet overnight but I don't do that either. Rightly or wrongly, it doesn't feel right to me. Might be making a rod for my own back!

Ah ok thanks, yes I was told the same re the water, we haven't done that either, he still seems to hold it for a number of hours regardless. The advice is 2 hrs before bed, that would be about 10 or 11 hrs with no water, it seems a long time for a tiny pup. I may ask the vet in a few weeks but not taking it away doesn't seem to matter for now as he still holds it 6 or 7 hours without waking at all.

Our breeder said they used a big crate for the litter and put pee pads one side and the slept the other, I most definitely wasn't going to do that. To be fair the pups all used the pad and didn't wee in the sleeping end but as we only have the one pup it is no issue getting up, with a litter I can imagine it would be quite hard.

It's really interesting to read the different toileting habits - ours (12 wks tomorrow) still needing a wee twice in the night and I set an alarm. Last night though she was more sleepy than usual and I coerced her out of her warm crate. We take any remaining biscuits away late evening and leave water down (in kitchen, not in crate), but she doesn't tend to drink during the night now. Can't wait for her to sleep through!

Hello all the new pups! The early days are very full on for most of us so hang on in there. Mine is 15 weeks now - four months next week. He's been sleeping through since the early days and now goes around 10 - 8 am - so there is hope for all you early risers.

We've been focusing on getting him happy travelling in the car and this weekend have used the long lead for the first time and been practicing recall which was great - but he's definitely not confident enough to run about with other dogs. He did say hello nicely to a couple who came up to sniff him (not on the lead themselves) but I think generally he was bowled over by the new found freedom! Our puppy classes have also started finally, although he absolutely wasn't top of the class at the first session! Some useful stuff though about lead greeting other dogs and starting to walk to heel.

We have a big week as he has his first puppy groom - which I am v worried about as have a terrible time trying to get the brush through him and he has not had a proper all over bath since he's been with us. He's non-shedding so absolutely has to get used to it. The groomers were v reassuring on the phone but I am slightly anxious about it! Anyone with older pups got any tips? I might post a new thread on it too/

@Puppypuppypuppy I take heart from your reassurance! :)

@Puppypuppypuppy mine had a groom at about 16 weeks. Apparently she was fine but I just left her there for 2 hours so don't really know!! They seemed nice and said she'd had lots of treats. She hates baths for me. I think it's one of those things like the way they get all the toddlers sleeping in a row on the floor at nursery - dark magic but don't worry about it because it's their job!

Welcome to all the newbies. Agree it's tough in the early days but everything changes quickly.

19 weeks today for us.

The good - sleeps through the night (10pm-9am today!). No toilet issues. Good with the kids, definitely less bitey on handling etc. Friendly with other dogs and plays off lead well. Lead walking not bad and getting better every week. Has been to daycare once a week for a couple of weeks now and seems happy. Work on boundary games at home has helped her be calm in the house, she lies nicely and watches the kids dancing round and doesn't react to their chaos much at all now.

Still working on - jumping up, recall (I wouldn't let her off lead with other dogs around apart from ones were specifically playing with), chewing shoes / anything we leave around, picks up litter, hates bathing and brushing

Night two - I saw a slight improvement! I put my slippers in his crate after the second/third wee and he went to sleep a lot quicker (maybe he likes my cheesy feet!).

We have swapped kibble brand on the advice of Pets At Home and he loves the new one and is eating much better too!

I am struggling to catch his wee at night before we get outside though - I'm down, he's out of crate and the pee!

Anyone got any tips on how to entertain a puppy how can’t go for walks yet? We already give her all her food from Kongs (although if it’s frozen/too difficult she isn’t interested)/Snufflemat/ training. I let her sniff out kibble from toilet rolls/egg boxes. She has toys, we play fetch/tug. However none of this seems to last very long. She also doesn’t nap much or for longer than an hour so it’s very difficult to get anything done
We still have two weeks till walkies

@SpreadHummusNotHate Have you tried alternating her toys? We found puppy was getting bored of his toys so we took some away and then after a few days swapped them out for ones he was currently using and he played with them for a lot longer as he thought they were new!

I do this around once a week and it seems to work, walking time for us has finally came around this week though, it'll soon come around for you, hang in there!

Thanks @C4itl - will try to do that a bit more. She does have the attention span of a gnat at the moment though so toys don’t keep her interested for very long

I suppose we just have to be patient and things will settle down

we are 18.5 weeks, just been to vet and he is 10.74kg. Was worried he was getting overweight but vet confirmed he's absolutely fine and will just be a large cocker as he's measuring big too

in a @newpup123 style :)

good bits - sleep is excellent - he goes down around 8pm and up around 630am, he's a lovely nature and very happy, commands are great, he will sit to greet people now (but boy did that take work), poos on his walks

bits we are still working on - recall (we are still on a long line, fine in the garden but when other dogs are around or he's picked up a scent, he won't 'hear' us), lead walking still pretty dreadful but improving, weeing is a bit hit and miss - e.g. if we are training inside and he needs a wee, he will just go but I would say it's one accident every few days/once a week and it's clear why it's happened, retrieving we are working on - he's v good at 'finding' but not so great at persistently bringing it back (getting there!)

@SpreadHummusNotHate we alternate toys. Other thing we do is hide them in cardboard boxes so he has to find them. We've now started hiding them in small boxes, which we put in bigger ones and fold the cardboard flaps over so he has to work to get the toy out.

@SpreadHummusNotHate It's really difficult when you're trapped in the house with them. My puppy sounds exactly the same as yours. It was a long 4 weeks! A frozen carrot bought us 15 minutes of peace, and she seems thrilled by an empty plastic bottle. We have wooden floors so it slides and she chases it for ages. Very noisy though. Obviously make sure she's supervised with carrots or bottles cos there's a theoretical choking risk but at this stage you're probably watching her like a hawk anyway.

@SpreadHummusNotHate do you have long lasting chews like ears and pizzles? Those have been life savers here. Scatter feeding outside also good.

@Retrievemysanity (and everyone else) How long do cow ears last with your puppy? Her first one took maybe 45 minutes to get through but that was only last week and now she's getting through them in more like 20 minutes. Is that normal?

@wineandsunshine we were told if pup isn't making it to the loo at night then to set an alarm for 15 mins before the time he normally goes and to take him then.

10 week old pup is really small (2kg) he has very bitey/chewy times when he starts getting tired or sometimes when first wakes up. He seems quite hungry also. Someone suggested a lickimat. Would I keep back some of his kibble to give him so he isn't over eating?

@ashmts are you getting the ones with muscle and hair? if I give him any ear that is non hairy/non muscly he will finish it within 20 mins. The ones with muscle and hair last ages

www.frescodog.co.uk/search?q=beef*+ears*+with*+hair*+and*+muscle*&type=product those are the ones I get with muscle and hair but check what age it's suitable for

in fact without hair and muscle, he can chew an ear in under 10 mins tbh

Thanks @HappyThursdays @Retrievemysanity @ashmts

Plastic bottles are a good one actually, she loves chasing them on our hard floor!

My MIL very kindly put together a puppy pack of treats/chews (some she can’t have till a bit older) but she left out pizzles and rabbit ears in case it freaked me out - after two weeks of picking up poo though maybe I’ve toughened up enough to get some pizzles!

@PugInTheHouse - I tend to measure out HummusPup’s food first thing in the morning - she usually has four meals which are mostly from Kongs or Snufflemat and I keep some kibble back for treats/training. She’s not too fussy at the moment

@spreadhummusnothate thanks, I have been doing just 3 meals a day in a normal bowl. It takes him seconds to eat it. I may spread it out then and put in kongs or snuffle mats to see what happens. I have been using training treats in addition, maybe I should cut those out?

We’ve been using some training treats as well as some kibble. I find the kong makes the food last a little bit longer, so you can have 5 mins to grab a cup of tea . I’m only putting dry kibble in at the moment, anytime I try and make it a bit trickier she just barks and loses interest

The lickimat hasn’t really been a hit here either but I know some people swear by it. Kibble in snuffle has been well-received though - all the sniffing is supposed to tire them out. Not sure it has that effect but she seems to enjoy it

I have some balls you can put kibble in so will try that at lunch time and maybe order a snuffle mat too, although they are huge!! Twice the size of my puppy haha