Puppy Survival Thread - December

[Hellin301]

Day 5 of new puppy and I’m wondering what possessed me to go through all this he’s a little devil at times, most of the time actually with odd moments of cuteness

Oh I love the good, the bad and the ugly!

Here’s ours!

The good... toilet training is going well, even from about day 3 we rarely have any accidents and it’s almost always because he’s been sat by the door and we haven’t noticed. He loves walks, recall is good and we walk the fields with the long line trailing on the ground just in case. He generally stays close by. Enjoys saying hi to people and most other dogs. We met a staffy today he wasn’t keen on at all though! Biting is less and usually only when very tired, he’s fun to play with but can also entertain himself.

The bad.... he keeps getting an upset tummy and we can’t work out why. Luckily he makes it outside and seems otherwise well but it’s a bit odd.

The ugly.... he wakes really early! Like 5.20am every morning! We thinking it might be our boiler coming on so we’re going to move him soon and see if that helps.

Oh thank you for the responses re toilet and walks, it sounds as my pup is doing that right at least

Pugpup had a pretty dodgy poo today but I think it may be due to him being in the garden and walking out for the first time, he literally just eats anything, or tries to at least so I'm not really surprised.

Waves @newpup123 - I think we are only a week behind you :)

Everyone's walks sound like they are going great. We asked the vet about the length of time that pup likes to be out and she laughed (said he looked v energetic ). Her advice was avoid jumping/stairs as much as you can but if it was straight walking especially off lead at his own pace it was fine. Pup doesn't walk, he only runs (fgs!).

Good, bad and ugly is great!

Good - we finally cracked toilet training, virtually no more biting (unless exhausted), he will lie down now in the same room while we eat rather than begging for food, recall/stop is good

Bad - as we focus on one area of training, the other one goes so we've taken our eye off jumping up and it's back

Ugly - his lead walking is still abysmal. We can get a great heel for around 5 seconds then it goes. All his time on lead he just wants to be off lead, everything is too exciting (still), loves everyone, every dog. We can see he knows what to do, he just doesn't want to so we are really hoping it comes with age and more training (god help me!).

Oh and he is obsessed with horse poo. Obsessed with it. I think I could recall him from most things but it needed both me and dp to drag him off a steaming pile of horseshit earlier today! And it gives him dodgy tum argh!

@PugInTheHouse I sympathise as pup hoovers up every piece of rubbish on the ground. I have to be really quick on walks for things like face masks

@HappyThursdays it drives me mad, I am constantly pulling leaves out of his mouth and he will run away from me in the garden as he knows I am about to remove it.

Just running round the garden and having one walk has almost stopped his biting today. He had about a minute of being really bitey with DS1 but he's not great at giving him toys to distract him.

For us the good is definitely his toilet training and sleeping, hes been really good at sleeping from day 1 with us and toileting has been great from a few days in. He is easy to train so far, learns tricks very quickly, mastered sit and paw in a couple of days, hi five in about a minute. We thought if we do easy tricks that get rewarded then he may do the harder stuff easier.

The bad - biting, and even though he is toilet trained on a pad by the back door we need to transfer to outdoors, I have no clue how to go about it.

The ugly - cats aren't keen, they are nervous of him, makes me feel sad that they are like that. They are better than they were but we cannot leave them at all still.

All those of you with cats - am v interested in how it’s going. One of my cats is interested, comes downstairs and sits with puppypup. Pup is v boisterous with him but wants to be friends.I try and mediate - as in I won’t let cat scratch dog, dog mostly wants to play ( brings toys for cat to see) but is a bit over energetic.
Other cat is living upstairs, coming down to eat. She is v nervous.

Thanks @HappyThursdays I'll investigate those brands. Another issue for us is that Pup is suddenly terrified of the harness going over her head, so I'm now looking into brands that I can clip round her neck and belly instead of going over her head. There's always something with my diva dog!

Good - she's calmed down around my kids LOADS which is such a relief. We have finally started spending more time all together in the living room and kitchen instead of the kids hiding upstairs constantly. My eldest is still very nervous but he's getting much happier around Pup as she's less interested in eating our toes.

Bad - suddenly developing fears. Harness, car, lead, walking down our drive. God knows what's going on, no idea how to help her get over it. Recall also still awful, hoped by now she'd be getting it, but no. Pulling/barging towards other dogs is becoming a nightmare every walk.

Ugly - she bloody stinks! She has regular grooms every 6-8 weeks and after those she smells amazing and her fur is so soft, but after a few days back to manky stinking. Her coat is shiny, feet and breath is fine, so not sure if it's a health/skin thing or just me being sensitive to it. I need to invest in some dry shampoo for her!

@Puppypuppypuppy my 2 cats are the same - I think I've mentioned this before! The girl mostly stays upstairs and hisses if she sees the dog as she comes through for food, but the boy cat is more confident just as his usual self and will saunter around ignoring Pup bouncing everywhere. That hasn't changed at all. I was hopeful by now we might see some signs of them all getting along, but so far not to be.

Anyone else's pup seemed to have regressed with toilet training because of the snow? DPup is only 9.5 weeks, but was doing ok. Now he seems to wait until we're back inside to wee on the floor! Three times this morning we've been outside for a good 15 minutes, and then as soon as we come in he wees!

Also, any hints and tips on wees outside will be appreciated....

@Doje I read that if they don't go when you're out, bring them in and sit them on your knee/carry them about for 5 minutes then go out and try again. What are you doing to reinforce toileting outside? Treats or making a big fuss or what? Tbh (and in the kindest way possible) I think you might have slightly high expectations, the puppy is 9.5 weeks and it's minus 2 outside. No wonder he doesn't want to go! We haven't found the cold has been putting our puppy off now but she's 17 weeks, it'll probably just take time for yours to grow up a bit and get used to it.

@puppygalore I've read that raw feeding makes them smell better. We're still on kibble so can't speak from experience. What breed is she?

Puppy is away to DP's sister's today as we're both working and our dogsitter is on annual leave. First time she's been looked after by anyone other than me, DP or the professional dogsitter. I'm nervous! I'm WFH in case it gets too much. No idea how people WFH full time with a puppy, I had her for 45 minutes of work time and she distracted me the whole time and managed to send a Teams message to my boss saying 'ndaovnasopv' using her paw

@ashmts, I hear what you're saying about expecting too much. I know that he's still very young. I'm just finding it so frustrating! How long would you say is realistic?

We're using treats and fuss to reinforce wees and poos, but I think because it's dark we miss half the wees, which is (I think) why he's doing so well with poos - they're so much easier to spot and therefore reward /reinforce.

@ashmts that's interesting about food, I hadn't considered that. She's a Lab and on large breed puppy kibble. Everything else is totally fine, sleep and toileting excellent, cost and teeth etc very healthy so don't really want to change her diet - I have found a dry shampoo highly rated on Amazon so going to try that first!

For anyone else looking for walk in type harnesses, I'm investing in a Dog Copenhagen one. Expensive but hoping all the snazzy features will work for us and reduce at least one of her new fears. Took her out today with the old Julius one but felt very unsafe the whole time, so will switch back to just collar til the new one arrives. I've pulled and with all my strength plus DH pulling can't make the buckle come apart so god knows how she managed to get out of it! Have tried a Halti too but it feels very flimsy.

@Doje I say ours took 5 weeks for poos and 8 weeks for pees (she still isn't 100% perfect) but it isn't this bad for long, with the constant weeing every half hour. It's just so difficult to keep on top of that, especially in this weather. Now she can go over an hour without needing so it's much easier to just pop her out periodically as a reminder to go, plus she's started jumping at the door to ask to go out when she needs. It really is frustrating for the first few weeks, I totally get you! But it'll get better. What about following him round with a torch so you can see what he's up to?

Thanks @ashmts, it's good to have a time in mind. I have taken your advice and got myself a better torch!

@ashmts I did loads of research re puppies and the practical things and how to train etc but I really didn't consider i would need to take any time off. I took the day off to collect him then the following day. I am an accountant and WFH every day. I managed to get through the days but I was working much longer hours. He was only ever awake for maybe half hour at a time so it wasn't too bad then would sleep for a couple of hours. If I had known I think I would have taken a week off for sure. Would have been more fun!

@PugInTheHouse I wonder if the breed makes a difference. Ours is a working cocker so is always on the go. For the first 4 weeks (until she could start daycare) DP and I arranged annual leave and shifts so one of us was off every day. Apart from anything the lack of sleep for the first few weeks would have been unsustainable if we were working the next day too. There's just no way I'd get quality work done WFH with her around, she only catnaps through the day. She's getting more calm in the evenings though, we've started getting chilled nights and sleepy cuddles from around 8pm which is lovely. Starting to feel like we're getting there, although I know adolescence is right around the corner! Starting puppy training classes on Saturday which is exciting.

@ashmts I reckon it does, pugs sleep similar to cats really so asleep a lot . He has more awake time now but its not so stressful as we don't have to worry too much re wees/poos etc now. He also has never needed to wee every hour, every couple of hours at most so that makes a difference i think.

I do think the breed makes a difference. I had only had large breeds before (Great Danes and their cross breeds) and I wanted one again but dp was absolutely adamant he wanted a smaller dog and his friends on the nearby farm who have a litter every few years to keep working dogs on the farm happened to be planning a litter this year so we nabbed one of the working cockers.

I remind dp of this all the time because this dog has 10x the energy that any of my large breeds had. I'm sure there will be someone who comes along and says their cocker is not hard work but this one never stops unless we force him to nap (which we do regularly!) and god forbid anyone goes outside and disturbs him because he's up in a second and roaming around again.

My larger breeds were quite floppy. He's like a little dynamo who is either running or asleep and not much in between!

Happy new year all! Our puppies first new year! Hope you all have calm evenings! (Thought I would get this in now before the Internet overheats)

Happy new year to you all too! Yes you’ve just reminded me of the possibility of fireworks spooking GeorgiePup, we didn’t have him on bonfire night so not sure how he will be. We have our tv on pretty loud though so hopefully that helps.

Happy new year all and belated merry christmas! I need to read back through and catch up, things have been busy here.

PolePup is deep in the thick of teething, although he doesnt seem inclined to use any of us as chew toys - thank whichever benevolent deity bestowed that trait on him!!! He hasnt ever been one for mouthing us, and has only ever caught us accidentally. I am quite astounded by that.

For those asking about snow, it gets very cold here in winter, and the snow is currently much deeper than PolePup. PolePup is very intrepid and insists on bouncing through the snow, so I now keep a hairdryer in the mudroom for when we get back in as he ends up soaked .

PoleDog is not at all fussed about going in the snow to toilet and never has been, PolePup is following his example and is also unfussed, I have been putting a jumper and coat on PolePup as it is getting cold here (-18 for last few nights without the wind chill) and his fur still isn`t very thick.

With my foster dogs who were bothered about toileting in the snow/cold I either used to: take a large puppy pad out and put it down for them to go on, or put dog booties on them. I have never found it a problem to transition back to no puppy pad after winter either, and both seem to work to stop the my feet are getting cold and so I will not wee or poo outside issue.

@ashmts in my experience raw feeding does not make them smell better - quite the opposite (not envy!). Most of my fosters were raw fed, it did great things for them but Christ they smelt revolting, I don`t usually mind dog smell either.

I have always groomed my dogs and my fosters myself, there are loads of good YouTube tutorials, its very easy to do and the equipment is fairly cheap on Amazon. Its a great bonding and training thing too. Plus I don`t leave my dogs with anyone unless DH or I are there too, our brilliant vet and her staff aside.

Our cats are elderly, giant, pretty bomb proof, both love dogs and puppies and have always been very kind to our foster dogs, they aren`t exactly the best example of normal cat behaviour . One is still much bigger than PolePup and twice his weight, and the other is slightly bigger. PolePup loves them, but his breeder also had giant cats, he did try to chase them once when they were playing together, both just stopped running, sat down and gave him dirty looks.

We have always had a baby gate up across the hallway which leads to the laundry room and a couple of rooms we don`t use much - those are the cats areas and there is a strict ban on dogs in those, so if the cats need some space they always have it.

Place marking...new puppy joining the family next week. Done our return visit today to pick our puppy (outdoors) and ordering all the stuff we need. Very excited!!!

So exciting @blowinahoolie! Which breed and sex are you getting

PoleToPole St Bernard puppy, female. All the DC can't wait. Wish it was the new year already!!

Happy new year everyone 🎉