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

Thanks @ashmts for the tips. Glad to hear it settles down soon.

@HappyThursdays
The poo in training class made me laugh 😂 how funny. It's good you have face to face training though - our Dogs Trust ones started last week but they're on zoom and it's rubbish. I'm making DH do them (as I do all the other training and i want him to get more involved) but he's not seeing much value at the moment. He said it was basically an hour of listening to the trainer while he fed puppy chicken to stay on her mat at his side.

Regarding the lead walking, what methods are you trying?

@PugInTheHouse

We have various rope toys, is there anything else you would recommend, bearing in mind he's quite small. He has stolen a cuddly reindeer from under our Christmas tree and we can often distract him with that if he's bitey but its the attacking feet etc that his hard. He has already ruined some new clothes I got for my birthdys because he just goes for you to bite. Hes so calm and cuddly most of the time but has 3 crazy times a day and its hard work. Especially as its mainly me dealing with it. My husband let's him bite etc which drives me insane as its the opposite of what I'm trying to teach.

I think if one adult is allowing mouthing then it's going to be difficult to stop the behaviour. Ideally you need to pick a strategy and all stick to it. I know your puppy isnt going t get very big but the teeth are still sharp!

Yes I totally agree. Already this morning he has been hugely better with me. I was really firm yesterday and this morning when I first brought him down I had no socks on and there was no biting. After about 5 mins he started on my socks but I have managed to keep him occupied. Breakfast soon so he'll be ok again after that. His teeth are sharp and it does hurt if he catches you wrong still.

Hi, we got a new puppy 2 weeks ago and have been working through the thread when I get 2 secs. Apologies if it's already been answered (I'm only on page 12!) but those suggesting a lead in the house, how do you stop pup chewing it to pieces? I think it would be great for our dobermann pup to help with several things but he just sets to destroying it.....

@HappyThursdays that’s so funny about the poo! We had our first 1-2-1 training session on the driveway yesterday! That was quite good but Retrieverpup was up at 4am puking, not sure if it was the treats the trainer used as they contained chicken. Trainer was pleased with pup although commented on the barking, looks like we have been reinforcing the barking so we need to break that habit.

@Islandoftheapes do you have a house lead? These are different to normal leads, v lightweight and no handle. My pup who is a real bitey, chewy beast doesn’t really bother with the house lead. I think she forgets it’s there a lot of the time but when she does chew it, it’s not particularly ferocious. All I can suggest is plenty of other chewy alternatives and redirect pup to those!

@Retrievemysanity thanks, I'll have a look!

@Islandoftheapes

Hi, we got a new puppy 2 weeks ago and have been working through the thread when I get 2 secs. Apologies if it's already been answered (I'm only on page 12!) but those suggesting a lead in the house, how do you stop pup chewing it to pieces? I think it would be great for our dobermann pup to help with several things but he just sets to destroying it.....

We have CoCo on a house lead (a small lead with the handle cut off) she is a 14 week old lab so she’s gotten quite big and strong now so the house lead is great for when our 3 children are running around. In the beginning she gave it a chew but now she’s so used to it, and it’s been great for walking too as she is so used to having a lead/collar or harness that she doesn’t pull or bite at the lead.

@newpup123 he has times when he walks v nicely but if we are around 200-500m from home or 200-500m from a route he recognises, like the start of one of his walks/play parks, he is almost impossible to stop. If we let him go (and we don't!) but if we did, on the way home, he would just run home and sit there. So we are working on him keeping his concentration on us the whole time. He's not food driven, he's a v bouncy dog but we're trying. We have lots of things to practice like holding chicken under my chin so he keeps looking etc but ultimately when in one of his tricky areas, at the moment nothing stops him. This morning I took him on the pavement and made him sit down and then got him to concentrate on me despite distractions and he's definitely getting better but other dogs and children are a real issue as he loves playing with them. Meanwhile his off the lead and whistle work is going really well. Trainer did say that is v cocker and a lot of them start like this so that made me feel better! We also started with zoom training but I'm so pleased we can have face to face though if we move to Tier 3 I guess that all stops again :(

@Retrievemysanity yes we were told off for the barking too! Lots to work on!

@HappyThursdays oh you always make me feel so much better! Thank you!

@HappyThursdays btw we are tier 3 but trainer can do 1-2-1 outside. We did it on the driveway.

Barking is not a problem here, in fact we seem to have bought a non barking dog. I had read that ot can be a breed trait, but we heard the dad barking so I thought it was an exagération. She has literally never barked. She is 12 weeks and can manage a whine but that's all.

I'll admit it has its upsides but she's not going to scare away any burglars.

We had a really good walk this morning, I normally have to bribe her with chicken to go anywhere but she was happy to walk today.

Ours didn't bark till around 13/14 weeks either. I was starting to worry there was something wrong with him! So maybe she'll find her voice soon :)

He barks at other dogs but in a 'why aren't you playing with me' way. He also barks at the sodding Xmas tree because the one bauble that has survived his mauling is now out of his reach grrr and if his indoor ball gets stuck under the couch but other than that, it's reserved for being outside. The training lessons are around 30mins and he barks for the first half at the other dogs apparently (which I can imagine).

Glad walks are getting better @Frenchfancy !

@Retrievemysanity lol that made me smile! I was just thinking how good today was when I nipped upstairs to the loo and came down to find he had managed to knock an unopened can of pop off the counter and pierce it with his teeth so it was squirting around the floor going off like a sodding firework! Just off my hands and knees cleaning the floor, the kitchen cabinets and the sodding dog argh!

On the barking ours never did a peep for months and we used to joke he didn't have a voice. That changed in adolescence when he finally barked and made us all jump with surprise. Now he barks and growls if he thinks 'monsters' are outside the house and has conversations with himself

Hello all,

Hope you don’t mind if I join this thread - I have been reading it for a while!
We have an 11-week old pup, she’s been with us for almost two weeks.
Things going well I think and she is lovely, although like many of you, I do get moments of total despair! It’s so reassuring to read that things get better as time goes on.

Just thought I'd post some positive news to help those struggling...

Had a lovely day today. Went for a walk with another family & pup walked nicely enough for all the children to have a turn holding her. No pulling ---- which is very unusual! She even got taught to play hide & seek 😂 Interestingly I had her in a harness which I don't often use. Just a cheapo back clip one. I thought they were supposed to encourage pulling but certainly didn't seem that way today.

Return car journey ended up being 3 hours for a variety of reasons which was annoying but she was totally fine. She's in a canvas crate in the boot (surrounded by muddy coats and boots!). I got her out once for a leg stretch but she didn't complain at all, I think she just slept.

Oh there was one issue today - she barked at sheep! She'd never seen them up close before and it was at the end of the walk when she was tired. Will go find some more and test out what she's like to see if it's a problem that we need to deal with or just a one off

Had a tricky day today. Quite few toilet accidents which he hasn't done for days. Went up to bed at 10 after a wee and a poo then he woke at 345 so DH took him down for a wee. I noticed the blanket in his crate was pulled over at one side so I went to may it back out and he'd already peed in there. No idea why, he is next to my bed so I hear him quite quickly and he usually goes longer than that at night. Hoping its just one of those days.

So glad things are going better @newpup123 and how brilliant that she was good on the lead.

Pup has been sporadically vomiting for a few days now. We are keeping an eye on him but his poos are solid and he's bouncy and not whining when he vomits (only a few times and small ones a day). We are going to stop all treats because I worry that the vomiting is complete over excitement as it's happening after exciting events

@PugInTheHouse sometimes I think they get over tired and have busy days and weeing just happens! Hope you have a better day today

We are at a crisis point with his walking and I had a come to Jesus discussion with dp last night who I think is very head in the sand about it all. There is one day this week when I am at work and dp has to go out and I think he just thought my (adult) son would be fine with him but there's no way he could be walked by anyone else at the moment. We called the trainer last night and all think he needs to be taught a command like 'heel' or 'walk' because we think he's confused and actually he is an easy dog to train. So we are going to start again indoors and use the ball as a treat rather than food as that's higher value to him. His recall is excellent now, even with distractions so I'm holding on to the good points but just getting him to and from the park is murderous!

Thanks @HappyThursdays he actually went straight back to sleep and didn't wake till 730 so that was really good.

We are attempting to take him out at lunch time today, we have no cooker (long story) and are sick of microwave meals and takeaways. We have a carrier for him (a little bag sort of thing) which I've seems to like. It will be around his dinner time so he'll eat and go to sleep probably. Am worried re the weeing but will take him into the garden bit for that. Wish us luck

Hi everyone,

@HappyThursdays we’ve also had a vomit and one bout of diarrhoea, I guess it’s nothing to worry about for now but interesting you say about treats, I wondered the same. Not necessarily excitement for GeorgiePup but just too much food in general for him.

This is day 17 for us. Does anyone else feel like they are in the newborn stage they went through after their babies? We’re taking turns in sleeping (the late wee break/early wake up), only showering when someone is abound to watch the puppy, housework has gone to ruin, little piles of ‘essential’ crap on the coffee table next to me, people wanting pics and updates and meeting puppy and general conversation seeming to be exclusively about the antics of the dog!

I’m pooped! I am seeing improvements in his behaviour, toileting, sleeping etc so that’s good. I can’t wait for everyone to break up for Christmas as that will be easier.

Good luck! I'm sure it will be so exciting that he'll eat and then sleep!

We also had a first this morning - a cock a leg wee rather than a sit down wee. Dp was very proud

@HappyThursdays Aww he's turning into a big boy! Very cute.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I've never had a baby but the puppy stage is how I imagine it would be (except would last longer!) and it has totally put me off. It's so relentless and boring. We were better by week 5 so you don't have long to go!

@PugInTheHouse we're also going to take pup for her first venture to hospitality. Our cafés opened up again yesterday (we've been in tier 4 Scotland since she was 12 weeks) so we'd really like to get her used to that environment. I'm worried about it though! I'm worried she pees (or worse) or gets under people's feed trying to say hello. She's so friendly but can be too friendly. Not everybody wants to pat her and she doesn't realise. Has anyone successfully taken a 15 week old puppy to a cafe? We won't be eating, we'll have a juice and leave.

Hi @ashmts I have taken mine out when it's allowed. Firstly I would say don't rehearse any behaviour you don't want. So keep her on a short lead and don't let her go up to random people. She must stay by your feet under your table. Keep her there with lots of treats and strokes. Then leave before she gets bored.