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

Our house is open plan and pup is in kitchen/diner with a stairgate blocking the entrance to the lounge. Our pup just sleeps when we are in the lounge watching tv, it’s if we go into the kitchen to cook or open the dishwasher that she wakes!

As for leaving the pup, we started straightaway for school runs etc. To be honest this usually coincided with while she was sleeping but on the times when it didn’t she had a kong and was fine. The longest we’ve left her is 2 and a half hours and she slept most of that time and only barked the last 5 mins when she needed a wee.

We started leaving her from day one. 5 minutes at first, then 10. Always leaving something interesting to eat that she doesn't get at other times. We also have walked in and out of rooms so she doesn't really bother if she can't see us. We have a traditional house with rooms and doors, I imagine open plan must be more difficult. I also didn't worry if she cried the first couple of times I left her, a bit like I did with babies I timed 5 minutes to stop myself going to her, then just opened the door and carried on as if it was normal.

@ashmts Our doodle pup has a bed in the sitting room and a crate in the downstairs spare room. She seems fine using the bed during the day for naps and the crate at night, so you could offer both

I was wondering where you all went! I didn’t realise there was a new thread.
Redpup has been a demon today, I know it is due to being overtired .
Our house is open plan and the living room has a glass partition with folding doors ... so no great for pups, great for single living and having parties none of which is my life right now.
Redpup is normally quite good. Except... at nights when he gets the Zoomies... or when we try to watch tv... he tries to join us in the sofa, which he is not allowed as he is a lab retriever and I don’t want a 25kg plus across my sofa in the future.
But today as I said I was lost, he was possessed and I didn’t know how to get him to sleep, then came DH and just sat and stroke him and the small demon went , just like that and fell asleep.
Sometimes I remember my life before 😂 and think why?? But they are worth it, aren’t they?

Must be something in the air as pugpup has been a pain today, he peed on my sons sheet music (left on the floor) pooed and peed on kitchen floor and then stood in his snufflemat and peed in that! He has most days completely clean but today was rubbish. He has seemed exceptionally hungry today also.

His evening sleep was interrupted as the door went for the shopping delivery so just trying to wear him out to go to bed. Hopefully he'll have another wee so will sleep for a good few hours.

The routine has also went out the window here too, the nightly 8-10 nap didn’t seem to happen...Maybe they’re excited for Santa?

He also stinks tonight, I have given him half a pouch of wet food to replace lunch time kibble for last 2 days so not sure if its that? It literally eats dust of the floor so couldn't get anything really. Its grim though!

GeorgiePup has also been difficult last night and early this morning- I wonder what is going on with them all!

DH and I have started bickering over competitive tiredness. Of all the things we considered before getting a puppy it wasn’t sleep that I thought we’d struggle with.

Pugpup had the worst night in ages, up at 230, 530 and 630, went to bed at 11is but missed moat his evening sleep.

He seems like a different pup this morning so hoping it was just due to us washing his wrinkles and the crap routine yesterday evening. Was deep in playing and has just stopped and ran to back door for a wee then the same for a poo so his brain has clearly switched back on today

I am getting tired, feels like it is catching up a bit but I feel worse than I did as I have been off work yesterday and today so slept in a bit, I felt better with less sleep.

To be fair to him hes never gone less than 4 hours before even the night we got him, I just hope it was a random crap day.

I'm worried he needs more food, it is so complicated to calculate, I have tried finding out calorie amount online but not really sure.

He has Wainwrights dry puppy food which he had at the breeders, he is eating it in seconds and never leaves any. Yesterday for the first time he actually cried at the kitchen cupboard after finishing his food. I have started to give him some wet food at lunch time to vary it and to give him some additional water in his food. It takes him longer to eat but he's definitely hungrier after.

The wet food pack says 2.5-4.5 pouches a day. We only gave half for lunch as it seemed such a lot but I think I will up it to 1. His adult weight is right in the middle of the feeding table on the pack so I think its OK.

I am hugely paranoid about his food intake as obviously pugs are known for getting overweight easily. He is very active when awake so i do think perhaps I am underfunding.

Sorry, thats really long haha!

@PugInTheHouse We have a dachshund so have the same problem of there being an issue if he gets overweight.

I'm currently feeding Harringtons dry and pets at home step up wet food (both not great but what breeder was feeding) mixed together, but I'm moving to solely the wet food next week when the dry runs out and then over to Butternut box after Christmas.

I think C4puppy is completely sick of the dry food now and only eats it when he's really hungry

Hopefully Butternut will be easier as they measure it out for you rather than having to guess.

Hi everyone and all the new pup owners. I have a 16 week mini poodle. We've had some ups and downs with his confidence and I was slightly despairing last week as he was so easily spooked outside but he seems to have settled a bit again over the last few days and we even managed lunch in the pub.

He's already grown out of his first harness - what harness do people with smaller dogs find good? He's pretty powerful despite his size and does pull sometimes.

just as a quick update, things are going really well here. Pup is 20 weeks this saturday - we've totally stopped accidents inside. He will wee on demand now if we take him out in the garden and all his poos are on his walks. He still doesn't ask to go out though - he will sit by the door if he hasn't been out for a while but he's not actively asking yet

my kids are back from university and he's been a complete delight with them. He's the perfect family dog we had hoped for :).

we had one night where there was really big rain here and he woke up scared and cried so I came down and sat with him till he calmed down but other than that, he sleeps fine and just waits for us to come down around 7 to open the door for him to wee and then we take him for a walk

we've switched totally back to dry food - not only is it easier for us but it means that his poos are completely solid and less smelly which is better all round!

his whistle recall is great apart from when he's with other dogs and then it is variable so we are working on that - he will recall at the end of a play but the over excitement when he sees a new dog is too much and he often won't recall at that point. I don't want to set him up to fail so at the moment, I'm cautiously watching that interaction, rather than over using the whistle.

we've even had progress on the walking - we have stopped all treats for anything other than him learning to walk to heel without the lead. Both dp and I do a couple of minutes every time we get up to make a cup of tea, and we've switched back to the rabbitgoo harness which combined with him learning than he should be walking to heel has virtually stopped him pulling

i have a few days away to help with caring responsibilities and I am very much hoping all our hard work isn't undone if dp stops doing this stuff!!

Can I join you guys? Our Springer pup is almost 15 weeks, my first dog, DH grew up with dogs. It’s been a whirlwind!! Pretty much there on toilet training & he’s really quick to learn new things. But he does get naughty & manic & bitey when over-tired, which I find hard to deal with. I think it’s on us to make sure he gets enough nap time & quiet time in the day- I hadn’t expected it to be this all-consuming!

mac12 - sounds like pugpup, he is awful when over tired, turns into a complete maniac, gets a crazy look on his face and tries to launch at everyone to bite them. He does sleep well after though.

It is so time consuming isn't it, I am not getting much done at all. He is a light sleeper in the day too so thats a nightmare.

I think he will train quite easily, he is 11 weeks and will sit and wait every time for a treat after wees/poos and actually will just sit on demand now. DS2 has been teaching him paw for about 3 days and he seems to know that one too.

Not sure what else is useful to teach at this stage, there are not many dog trainers near me doing face to face teaching unfortunately and looks like we may move from tier 2 to 3 now so it's not going to happen.

Just popping in to say 'hello'! We have a cavachon, almost 14 weeks. We have lots of nipping. Toilet training isn't too terrible now. Starting to get better at going for walks. The big issue is that he won't be left at night. I have been on the sofa for five weeks. It's a comfy sofa but, y'know ... so am contemplating putting him upstairs in the crate in our bedroom and doing the 'moving out' thing from there. He might be happier if he knows where everyone sleeps at night and then gradually moves away? Not sure. Anyway, lovely to meet you all. Reminds me of those two Mumsnet threads I joined when my kids were due!

PugInTheHouse - I`ve found the most useful commands to teach early on are:

• leave it (if the idea is forming)
• drop it (if the ship has sailed)
• stay
• to me
• come (used as a follow me and keep following command when I`m walking)
• stop (as in freeze when he`s in the middle of running, extremely useful for safety)
• still (as in hold still so that I can check ears etc)
• open and swallow (so, so useful for tablets and medicine, always teach my dogs this early)
• with me (as an on and off lead walk at heel command)
• find...(a toy, a person)
• go to ...(a person`s name)

I always turn them into games and make training fun and engaging. PolePup absolutely loves training, and picks things up at light speed, he is not at all food motivated, and will usually turn his nose up at food rewards, but is completely cuddle motivated.

I went to a dog training conference once with my parents when I was growing up (they trained sheep dogs and other working dogs), and there was a lady with a Labrador puppy she had owned for three weeks speaking, the pup was twelve weeks old and could do all the above and much, much more. Ever since then I have trained my dogs from the get go.

Also "calm down" if he is getting a bit zoomified, that is very useful!

@PoleToPole speaking?

PoleToPole silly question perhaps but how do you train? Like, talk me though it like I'm 10 please.
VanPup at 14 weeks knows his name, Come, Sit, pee-pee, High Five, Spin Around (I youtubed how to do those and he loved learning 'party tricks', took seconds), and will look at people when we say names (ie DH, DS, DD) - generally finding it eaasier to do something than to stop doing it so to speak.
Go to DH and Stay would be so useful.

Thank you @PoleToPole that is really helpful

GreekOddess badly phrased, that would be remarkable!

Vanellope, ok, but I admit sometimes I cheat and use PoleDog to demostrate, much, much easier and faster to train when they have an older dog to learn from!

For "go to" I start by teaching PolePup everyones names, so as soon as someone enters a room, "oh, heres X, look a X, over there see X?" pointing and the and patting them on the shoulder, then calling them by name, as in "DD?" and waiting for DD to respond, then seeing "see there`s DD.

That gets them used to names, as they see the individual responding to their name. I give PoleDog the "speak" command so that he barks too. so that Pup gets used to his name.

Then I get one of the DC to leave the room and act confused, "DD has gone, where`s DD?"

Get DD to come back into room and act very excited, "there she is!!! Theres DD, go to DD!!" DD crouches down and holds her arms wide open, calling PolePup by name at the same time and giving lots and lots of cuddle when he rushes to her. I keep repeating "Go to DD" as hes rushing over (helpful if you are a 10ft or more apart as you can repeat it several times). Then as soon as he is with her "yes!!! Yes!! That`s right, well done, well done, good boy!"

At this point PolePup is just so excited that he got it right that he rushes back to me for more cuddles, as he is rushing, DD says "that`s right, go to Pole, go to Pole" and then "Yes, well done!!!" and so on.

Hello, is it too soon to join you all? We're going to officially choose/secure BaskinPup tomorrow and we're so excited. Pup will be a miniature labradoodle, preferably a boy but as there are more buyers wanting boys than puppies available we may end up with a girl. I have absolutely no experience with girls though so I'm a bit daunted. Any advice about this?

Also, best buy for the first week or so? What would you say you've used the most with your puppies? Really conflicted on whether to crate train or not too.

Your puppies are lovely - will make puppy tax payment tomorrow when we know for sure which is ours!

Sorry, am tired as was doing search and rescue exercise last night with PoleDog so pressed send too soon.

VanPup sounds like hes picking things up so fast! I havent taught PolePup any party tricks yet, the DC want to though.
PoleDog doesnt know any either, but I trained him especially to be a search and rescue dog, and he tends to take a dim view of anything considered "fun". If he cant see a point to it, it is very very hard to get him to do something. I will do now with me as I have earnt his trust, respect and love, but DH and the DC can forget it . PolePup is a delight to train after training livestock guardians (the most stubborn dogs on the planet) for so long!