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 another thing that works for us @Frankincense88 is to hold him tightly so he can't bite or struggle and calmly talk to him and walk slowly around the room. If he's tired enough he'll then give in and fall asleep and can then usually be transferred to his bed or the sofa. It's very cute.

My questions today - our pup is very high energy and excited pretty much all the time. Doesn't seem to be scared of anything. This is good however it means that in new and exciting situations - so today, he met a delivery person at the door as I am keen for him to meet people whenever possible - he becomes almost hysterical, squealing, lunging on his lead to reach them etc. The noise was pretty alarming for people walking past! In this state he doesn't pay any attention to treats or commands whereas in the house I could make him sit and calm down for a moment.

It's making me nervous about how he'll be on his first walks next week. Anyone else had this and how did you manage it in public?

what breed is he @MyRabbit79

ours is like this and the only thing that has improved it is age

our first walks were a disaster - I think I posted on one of these threads as it nearly reduced me to tears and I'm not someone who is reduced to tears that often! He spent all walk trying to approach every person and every dog and sticking his nose to the ground and wandering all over the place.

he is now 23 weeks and marginally better with not wanting to greed every person but he's not got past greeting every dog.

one tip I wish we had known sooner is we do not allow him to go for a walk unless he allows us to put on his harness and lead calmly. If he is over excited before you leave the house, you have no chance of controlling him once outside. At first, that could take 20 times of putting the lead on and taking it off. He has to sit calmly, with no squeals, no biting the lead, no running in circles like a lunatic and then we go for a walk. I wish we had started that when he was younger. That probably cut down 50% of the overexcitement. The rest is a calm 'come on' and pulling him past situations quickly.

@HappyThursdays he's a cockerpoo so it's the excited spaniel in him!

Sorry you had the same problem. It's a huge struggle to get his harness on in the house, he's constantly biting at it but I am planning a lot of practice in the next week in advance of walk.

yes I have a cocker and I thought you might have one or a version of one

it's a very cocker trait. In a way, it's one of the things that makes them so lovely because they adore people and just want to be friendly! But of course it makes training hard.

yes ours was like that too with the harness/lead. Definitely persevere because it will make a huge difference as he gets older. Ours is infinitely easily to walk now with us being persistent. And don't set your expectations too high. Your first walks are likely to test your nerves and your patience but it does get better I promise!

@HappyThursdays thank you for the encouragement! I have a close friend with two cockers and ours just seems so much more crazy than either of hers. He's lovely but definitely a handful.

@Frankincense88 I feel you pain! I am also teaching online from home- although it's my regular job so I'm set up for it. We have managed to create a routine where tropicalpup (14weeks) gets walked between 8 and 9am then comes into my study with me at 9. Her bed comes too and she has never got any attention in there at all. We have built up slowly but today she slept 9 till 12 and then mooched about with her toys until 1. At 1 she needs another walk and more attention but I can now get s good stretch of work done.

@Orangesarenottheonlyfruit I'm jealous of your flattie. We adored ours! This time we wanted something a little less full on and smaller- time will tell!

if it's any consolation @MyRabbit79, Happypup's best friend is a cockerpoo the same age as him and although he was madder than Happypup at 13 weeks, he's now calmer than Happypup. I said it must be the poodle in him finally coming through! When they go for walks together, Happypup is forever leading him into trouble .

@Tropicalsunshine I'm so jealous 😂 Frankinpup generally does 1-1.5 hours awake, 1 hour asleep throughout the day but lately the 1 hour naps haven't been as long. I think his teeth are playing him up too as I've read online that they can be a bit more irritable and disobedient when teething around this age. Even with us both home all day he can't just chill out for a bit next to us (he has previously!) It's frustrating because he's so cute now he's little but I'm just counting down until he's older so he's more fun and less bitey 😂 not had a minute to myself since he came home at the beginning of December!

oh the other thing i wish we had done at the age your pup is @MyRabbit79 is not let people greet him till he was sat down with all 4 paws on the floor. To start doing this, when he is over excited to see you and runs and jumps up at you, you basically cross your arms and look away (while telling him to sit) and once he does sit, you then praise him massively. With visitors or delivery drivers, you can try and forewarn them that he must sit before they say hello.

I wish we had started this properly at 13 weeks and been really strict about it as i think it would have stopped a lot of that nonsense. Because of lockdown and no visitors, the only people he's seeing now are strangers on the street and it's tough to enforce this so he's starting being a lunatic again. I told the postman he could greet him as long as he sat first which he did this morning.

@HappyThursdays yes, really good point. We do that in the house but agree it's tricky with other people. Our in laws for example met him once before lockdown and just wanted to fuss his as he's so cute but they're on board now (if we ever get to see them again).

GeorgiePup is also a cockapoo! As you’ve seen I had a difficult weekend too! He’s 15 weeks now and wants to meet everyone and can be super excited and still gets poo zoomies. Very slight improvement each week as he’s getting older.

And actually we don’t have a jumping up problem, he’ll just chuck himself on his back in front of them for a bellyrub

Hello everyone. Can I join in? We have a 9 week old cocker and God it's rough! I've had dogs all my life and this has still taken me by surprise!

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat aw the belly rub thing is cute! But does he then bite people's hands like ours does?

@Literaryseed welcome and solidarity! I am a first time dog owner so my mind has been blown by this.

@Literaryseed I know that feeling! I'd forgotten or blocked out how tiring puppies are. I'm effing knackered!

[quote MyRabbit79]@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat aw the belly rub thing is cute! But does he then bite people's hands like ours does? [/quote]
He’s not tooo bad, certainly with strangers he’s better but definitely turns in to a bit of a crocodile when tired at home.

@Literaryseed

Hello everyone. Can I join in? We have a 9 week old cocker and God it's rough! I've had dogs all my life and this has still taken me by surprise!

Hello! I have a cocker too, she's my first dog and the first puppy I've ever been around (what was I thinking?!). She's 19 weeks today and you'll be glad to hear it's got a lot better. 9 weeks was rough, I totally sympathise. It gets a lot better once they can get out for walks. Only a few weeks to go! You can do it.

Thank you everyone! Cant tell you how much it helps to know we aren't alone in struggling with the puppy stage! Here is pup - I suppose I should call him Literarypup on here 😁

Literarypup is very cute!!

@MyRabbit79 we have to force pugpup to nap sometimes, mostly he'll just crash somewhere random on the floor or climb on my lap, if he does I treat it like I would have the DCs and wake him sligtly, put him in the crate and say 'in your bed' (as we have been teaching him that so we can hopefully eat dinner in peace one day lol). He will nap happily when it is quieter at home so I can easily get plenty of work done. When he is awful and bitey I have to do the same and hold him close to me still and he will give in and fall asleep. I had to do the same to DS1 as a young baby as he would have happily not slept all day, it's very weird having a puppy that is exactly the same as having a baby.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat pugpup has poo zoomies also, it's very cute and funny. He has normal zoomies also where he is really bitey beforehand then zooms around until he can't breathe then generally drinks loads then goes to sleep. When they are poo zoomies he barks, normal zoomies he growls

1:1 training was not as good on Sunday, the covid restrictions now state they have to only be outside, he was good at first, we took the crate out and practised 'in your bed' which he did really well at. Once we tried other things he became distracted with the garden, running around, going everywhere he shouldn't have been and eating everything (so much so he was sick a load of twigs after!). We are doing lead etiquette tomorrow, he has none right now so that'll be interesting!!

I really dont think it matters how much you research getting a dog that it still doesn't prepare you, the biting is worse than I imagine and it is just like looking after a baby. He cries if he can't see me (actually that's worse than my DCs) and I am constantly worried about where he is or what he's doing (more like a newly crawling baby lol). He is lovely and cute, loves everyone and is a good sleeper so it is still good but I am exhausted.

Hello and solidarity all! Just trying to catch up.

Welcome @Literaryseed, she`s gorgeous, such sparkly eyes

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat you always get some "expert" piping up, usually the absolute best "experts" are the ones who have never had a dog. Same as with kids .
I used to just beam at them and thank them effusively, pretending theyd just given me a massive compliment and keep it up regardless of what they said, then trundle off enthusiastically prattling on to my dogs how nice it was that we made some new friends. I rarely get anyone saying anything, Id like to think its my resting bitch face, but its more likely PoleDog stood silently and still as a statue at my side, daring them to say anything.

@blowinahoolie yes I would try getting her up at 1am, and if not gradually work it backwards until she can get outside. It sounds like you are doing brilliantly so far

@MyRabbit79 I have always found tiring them out mentally before walks works really well, so do plenty of training in the house, and then set off.

Sorry to hear the training wasn`t as good this time @PugInTheHouse, perhaps it was just a one off and it will be more rewarding tomorrow? And yes, I absolutely agree that its worse than with DC!!

PolePup is doing well, he is so calm and focused, and very confident, but he never gets hyper and doesn`t get zoomies anymore.
Not sure he has much of a chance as I train him a lot, which he adores and which really tires him, and I am slowly building up the walks.
I got the DC to make him some games, including one out of toilet roll tubes in a box which was always popular with my fosters, we hid his favourite cat toys in them for him to find, and then we made him a chew out of dried sweet potato slices and rope, and he loves that.

He ignores kongs regardless of filling (PoleDog does too, he sneers at them like they are dirt under his paw), doesnt like lickimats, and doesnt like anything food orientated really but he lives for praise and cuddles.

Treats just drop out of his mouth as he ignores them and waits for praise and cuddles instead. Our cats are thrilled to have another dog who ignores food based toys, and they take full advantage. They now follow him around when we are doing training, getting in the way and bickering with each other about who gets to be closest to him . PolePup loves their attention.

Morning everyone!

Just wondering how many times your pups would wake at 9 weeks? Literarypup is still up at least 2/3 times in the night which wouldn't be so bad if he'd go back to sleep straight away but sometimes he's up for an hour. Any tips? He's in his crate downstairs. We tried sleeping next to him and sleeping with him in our room (crated) but it didn't help.

@Literaryseed pugpup only ever really woke at 3 or 4 for a wee then back till 6/7 however as it started to get colder he seemed to stir or be restless more often. He would settle if I put my hand in the crate and sshh him but it was still waking me up and I didn't want him to get too much in the habit one settling him every time (also a couple of times I tried to settle him when he actually needed a wee which if course never ends well. We bought a heat pad (snuggle pad i think it it) and it really helped. We put it in the crate when we put him to bed. also at first we put a hot water bottle in for a short time before he went to bed.

@Literaryseed at that age we set an alarm for around 1:30am and 4 am to take him out for a wee, and he had one before bed at about 11:30.

He's 12 weeks now and down to one alarm at 3ish.