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

@PugInTheHouse Tbh I was surprised (and jealous!) when you said he'd sleep through anything even in the daytime. Not sure what's normal for pugs though, but constant alertness seems to be normal for mine! I'm the same as @HappyThursdays, she hears everything.

We did our walks on the pavement for the first two weeks too and she's had intermittent walks along the main road the whole time so not sure where this has come from but I can only assume she needs more practice. I'm scared she's hit that second fear period already.

@ashmts he has always just raised an eye and gone back so this has shocked me this week. Only time he doesn't stir is after 830/9 in the evening, he is zonked out then as hardly moves.

Bless her, I think it is similar to babies/toddlers tht these odd changs in behaviour just seem to occur randomly. I am thinking the same may happen with pugpup as he won't be able to walk far so we are likely to have to drive to parks. Its all so tricky.

@puginthehouse puppypup is exactly the same re sleep to the extent that sometimes I am tied to the sofa to try and make sure he has enough. However it is improving - I have done more flitting and he is getting better although he does sit crying at the bottom of the stairs for me when I go to the loo!

What has improved is I can leave him with other family members and he is fine without me. At one point he cried for 20 minutes straight whenever I left the room, regardless of who was there. He is definitely better bonded with the whole family now.

The main thing three months in is I feel a lot calmer and more confident. I was tearing my hair out in the early days worrying he would never handle loud noises outside/ recycling noises etc. Everything seemed to spook him. But I have seen he can get used to things, he's quick to learn and he's growing out of some of the annoying puppy stuff.

Huge sympathies to anyone trying to balance home schooling a puppies - I take my hat off to you all

@Puppypuppypuppy he still cries if I go out but he is now excited to go out for a walk with DH if I'm not going rather than refusing and sitting outside the front door crying so that's some progress I guess.

@PugInTheHouse I think it's a long game! I got so worried about the whole '16 week window closing' thing that I found it really hard to relax with him for the first few weeks. I can see that he's relaxing and growing in confidence and that has made me relax more too and just feel that we will get there in the end.

If anyone remembers my freaking out about his first grooming appointment and whether he could handle it as he was such a worried little thing - he had his second yesterday, bounced in like he owned the place, all over the groomer who he obviously recognised, and was an angel throughout apparently!

"We have to be very careful with him because he's so fast and he easily runs too far away."

We have the opposite problem - HooliePup just lies down mid walk😂🤔 she lets us know when she needs a wee breather🙄😂

"the other thing we really need to work on is wait/stay."

You can practice this every time when feeding your puppy Happy. Ours has to wait until we say she can eat. Gets reinforced daily.

Blowinahoolie - we can get pugpup to wait nicely till we put the bowl on the floor but not any longer. Will keep trying.

It's a challenge isn't it Pug

Did a very brief woodland walk this morning. Trying different routes close to home each day (with three DC in tow). Crate training around 9am each day. 5 minutes on the timer yesterday, 7 minutes today, and will do 10 tomorrow. Everyone has to clear out the living room when this happens.

I will persevere. She whimpers after a few minutes, then stops. Trying to build up to 45 minutes so I can get out to do a food shop soon.

Is everyone practicing recall in their gardens? Aiming to do this at weekend so there are two people free - one at each corner of the garden. She does come on command most times, but often will just plonk herself down and just look at you.

@2catsand2kids

Hi all, I was reading the previous thread and thought I should actually join in this one as we picked up our new puppy last Friday, he’s a very endearing miniature poodle, he’ll be 9 weeks old on Wednesday. So far I am severely sleep deprived but he is totally worth it. The kids absolutely adore him, the cats are decidedly less keen though! He has his second jabs booked in on the 23rd so not long til we’ll be able to take him out for a walk.

The toilet training is going relatively well, this is definitely not the ideal weather for hanging around outside a lot though, especially at 4am! He didn’t get on at all well in the crate (he literally whined and howled all night in it on the first night home, and there was wee and poo everywhere), so since then we’ve left the crate open and just closed the pen he’s in and he’s been fine. I have however been sleeping on the floor of the sitting room with him and really need to try and get back to my own bed, I’m going to try and move the mattress to the other side of the room tonight and see how that goes. I’ve never attached a picture to a post before so am not sure this is going work.

I would suggest (weather permitting) to take him out now on walks whilst being carried so he gets used to sounds and bustle etc

Worked brilliantly with our pup and made those early walks much easier!

Morning, I’d like to join please - we have a 17wk lab puppy we’ve had since 8 weeks, who is great in many ways and has settled in with us well, but we’re really struggling with play (I hope!) biting when she’s excited.

She’s just jumped up at the baby gate and scratched my DDs face (she was the other side) and ripped my jumper in two places after jumping up towards me and hanging from my clothes (this was after she had got excited playing with a toy squeaky pig) .

She frequently reduces my children to tears when she clamps on to their slippers/clothes and won’t let go. We’re covered in scratches. I’ve done loads of reading and I know it’s to be expected, we use baby gates, keep the children away a lot of the time, say ‘off’ and throw treats to get her off us. Sometimes it doesn’t work though and she clamps on for dear life. We remove ourselves when we can (either out of the room, difficult when she’s hanging off your leg!) and use her crate to allow her to calm down. She has loads of toys/chews to play with, is walked as much as is allowed and we spend time training her.

The majority of the time she’s a lovely dog, I just find the biting so upsetting and it seems to be getting worse, she’s 13kg and it obviously really hurts when it happens.

We have a trainer visiting tomorrow (puppy classes cancelled) and will ask her, but I was hoping to hear from other owners out the other side who might give me hope! It’s amplified at the moment with homeschooling as the children are here all the time.

Thank you for reading!

@blowinahoolie

"the other thing we really need to work on is wait/stay."

You can practice this every time when feeding your puppy Happy. Ours has to wait until we say she can eat. Gets reinforced daily.

he does this for his food so he's ok at it indoors. In fact we have to tell him to eat or he won't

it's his outdoors wait and stay - it's still all too exciting and he's dreadful with distractions. It actually makes you laugh because you can see him trying not to get distracted and giving in

I'd also like him to wait and stay indoors with me moving to another room or not being seen which he can't do yet :)

how was the walk @blowinahoolie? is she growing fast? she sounds absolutely gorgeous!

welcome @JG1980 if it's any consolation you're in the worst biting weeks - I've got to run back to work but I'm sure others will come along with some good advice x

"how was the walk @blowinahoolie? is she growing fast? she sounds absolutely gorgeous!"

It will just take practice with the stay/wait. We are same, it's not always consistent. First time puppy owners, so this is all new here too.

Yes, she managed fine. She will sit and watch other dogs calmly from a distance, doesn't seem in a rush to bound over to them. She enjoys being made a fuss of, one neighbour spent a good few minutes chatting and petting her. I made a concerted effort to make sure all four paws were staying on ground. She sat mostly nice whilst their was a fuss made of her. Tomorrow's walk will involve going over a footbridge in our village, so something new again for her. Trying my best each day to offer new local experiences for her. I feel focused on this 16 week window of socialisation, as she is a giant breed.

HappyThursdays yes definitely growing fast , she is getting really heavy. Weighing her tonight. Can't wait to see how much she has gained!

Welcome JG1980 it's tough the biting stage isn't it? Hopefully things improve with your Lab and you are doing all the right things like using baby gates. We are same with our pup, she is a 13 weeks old Saint Bernard puppy.

Can I join too please? We have a 9 week old springer spaniel. She is completely delightful and I am having so much fun doing some training in the garden with her but the sleep deprivation and the biting are getting me down a bit.

"but the sleep deprivation and the biting are getting me down a bit."

Snap! Feeling this way too welcome LorelaiVictoriaGilmore it does seem to get better from what others are saying on this thread though who are further along.

I really hope it gets better but right now I feel as though I am making so many mistakes! She is the first dog I have had... I grew up with dogs but this is my first where I have had most of the responsibility. I’m doing pretty well with commands, recall etc but sleep is a disaster and I am not sure I am handling the biting properly. The timing of getting the puppy just couldn’t have been worse. I should have had a quiet January at home spending time on settling the puppy - instead of which I am home schooling, finishing some work that should have been done before Christmas and have builders in the garden re-doing the patio which should have been done before Christmas.

Same here, busy homeschooling and have two preschoolers too. It feels relentless. The use was that schools would be back by now so I would have all day at home with puppy. Nevermind, just have to make the best of it.

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore I could have written your post with the exception that we have a cocker rather than springer. The sleep deprivation is a struggle and we're hope schooling. God it's tough!!

Sounds like we’re all in the same boat! I had planned a quiet January puppy training while the kids were at school too!

It’s awful, isn’t it? I’ve got a five year old and a two year old. Both of them in the house plus puppy = daily migraine