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

10 days in and I need advice!

Dpup is really good 90% of the time, but I need help with the other 10%.

I know it's when he's tired, but he gets so bitey, and so over excited I have trouble calming him down. Anyone have any tips?

The things that work are 'time out' where I leave the room, and just sitting until he crawls into my lap. Both are not foolproof though. I'm worried he'll wee / poo on the floor in the first scenario, and in the second, if he's not ready I get bitten a bunch of times!

@Doje Can you just leave him in a safe place to go to sleep? GeorgiePup crashes quickly if he’s left without stimulation. It’s the constant interaction that just keeps winding him up and making things worse. We can still see if he needs the toilet but even if there’s an accident it can be cleaned up.

Sometimes he does, when he's asleep he does this weird quick breathing now and then! Being a pug he does breathe weirdly anyway, snorting is quite accurate bless him.

@Georgie if I leave him in the kitchen he'd chew handles etc. Is it worth getting a puppy pen? How many others have them?

Re breathing, yes and no. He breathes fast when he's in a manic phase! His little heart beats like crazy too! But when sleeping it's more like a breath each second.

@Doje we have a baby gate on the kitchen where he sleeps so we just sit at the kitchen table when he gets too crazy and let him potter around our feet until he realises no one is playing with him and sulks off to his bed. On occasion he does have an accident, but it’s not the end of the world if it means he’ll calm down and go to sleep

I think it’s worth having somewhere he can go when you need to leave him unattended for a bit. Where does he go at night? When you have a shower? Etc.

DH is working from home at the moment, so he never has to be left alone. His crate is where he will go when I do need to leave him. He's happy in there, sleeps and naps and chill out time in there, but when I tried to put him in there as a time out he got very upset about it! And I want it to be his happy place as it's generally working.

I've tried sitting on the kitchen table, but he chews the bench! I might invest on a puppy pen.

When my pup is being bitey I put him on the floor and keep my feet up. If he pesters to be picked and is still bitey I might walk around with him for a minute or so - just walk to the kitchen and back - then when we sit down he settles.

Unfortunately with husband on furlough and DD home from university he is ver spoilt and will only sleep when he is being held. He is fine in his crate at night but during the day he wants to be cuddled to go to sleep!

Does anyone struggle with waking in the night and not feeling you can get up and walk about for fear of waking the puppy?

I’ve always struggled with insomnia but I woke around 2.30 with a tickle in my throat and a stomach ache (and DH snoring!) and just had to lay there until GeorgiePup stirred at 5.45am 😫 What do you all do?

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat yes, my 12 yo who has autism/ADHD does wake regularly in the night, last night he came in our room and pugpup sat up. It was 330 so I thought as hes awake ill take him for a wee in case to save getting up again but he didn't need to go. Same at 515. He eventually did wake up himself for a wee at 550 then went back to sleep for an hour.

I am so paranoid that he will wee in the crate but I need to try and sshh/settle him first as I think he can clearly go longer without going.

I’ve not posted yet but have been reading as we collected puppy last week. It’s been going ok but this morning I had a huge cry and couldn’t stop, as I can’t control him when he gets overtired and latches on to my legs with his teeth. He really hurt me yesterday and I none of the recommended methods worked (squealing excites him, I can’t removed myself from the room as I can’t dislodge him, turning my back and being silent has no effect). I know I need to recognise his tiredness and intervene before it gets to this stage so we’re trying enforced naps today in his crate but I also worried about giving the crate negative associations as he has to be put in their against his will when he’s in this state.
Anyway, just hoping things improve. I do love him and am so worried about being able to cope. We’re only on day eight!

@MyRabbit79 i think that's really normal! I've had mine 5 weeks now and by the end of the second week I was crying regularly, wearing boots in the house to protect my ankles and my arms looked like I had been self harming from all the scratches and bites. It does get easier- I'm not going to tell you it's easy now but it's better and I feel the upsides to better balance some of the challenges. What worked for me was concentrating on one thing at a time. So biting was first, then toilet, then crate etc We aren't all the way there on any of them but the biting has calmed down a lot. We still have accidents but he knows where he is supposed to toilet etc. Walking him is mostly a delight after weeks of feeling like I was dragging him out in fear against his will- now he prances down the road tail up! It will get better, but it will take time. Good luck!

@MyRabbit79 If you’re worried about him seeing the crate as a punishment, give him a chew toy/activity that he loves but he only gets in there. When GeorgiePup is tired he likes to chew and lick to self soothe so he has an array of lovely variety of things he likes and associates then with sleep. All very much like a baby/toddler!

Apologies for all my typos!

Thank you both for replying (sorry not sure how to tag yet), it helps to hear others have the same. I feel better than I did earlier, have made liberal use of the anti chew spray and he's had some naps when overexcited. We're working hard on sit and stay which I can use if I catch him before the full mania sets in. I have so much to learn.

@Myrabbit79 I feel your pain. Literally. On my ankles, calves and hands.

I'm not much help as I'm in the same position as you (10 days in). I'm working on ignoring him. I put him in his crate with the door open and try to divert attention away from the biting. A frozen kong tends to work for us - most of the time he's a different pup when he's finished it.

[quote Doje]@Myrabbit79 I feel your pain. Literally. On my ankles, calves and hands.

I'm not much help as I'm in the same position as you (10 days in). I'm working on ignoring him. I put him in his crate with the door open and try to divert attention away from the biting. A frozen kong tends to work for us - most of the time he's a different pup when he's finished it. [/quote]
We ordered a Kong but then they went out of stock so we desperately need one! He has a vaguely similar toy that will amuse him for a bit and we need to figure out some healthy fillings for it (not peanut butter as partner is allergic). Sorry you're suffering too!

@Myrabbit79 I'm using cream cheese in DDogs kong which is working. Definitely recommend freezing it too!

Any thoughts on the joy that is Christmas morning chaos and a puppy all mixed together? Usually the floor is a sea of paper and presents and he’s going to eat the lot! Shutting him out the room feels mean

We are planning on walking puppy before we do main presents, then putting her in crate to sleep for a bit ( fits into her routine) more concerned about lunch really as we normally spend hours round the table, and early afternoon is when Frenchpup has the most energy.

Hello all! I wonder if any of the original pups are still on here!

We're nearly at 5 months now (in about 10 days time). Pup is still a complete whirlwind. We get to the park where we let him off lead and he sprints - he seems to have one speed and that's 30mph. There's no nicely trotting next to us! He runs away, back to us, round us etc.! But having said that, his recall is ok (otherwise we couldn't let him run like he does!). He is still murderous on the lead and hard to control when he's over excited on the lead as you can see he almost can't help himself pulling (he whimpers and looks at us as if to say let me ooooffffff!). But there have been improvements.

Just wanted to say @ashmts you've done great with your cocker and toilet training. Ours has only really been 100% during the day the last week or so.

We are still spending most of our time trying to do 'walking on lead' training. He's lovely in the house but is still better behaved for me than everyone else!

Re Xmas - we will do one walk early doors and then another after lunch (tree already put outside due to me finding a naughty cocker hanging off a high branch by his teeth )

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat give him his own pile of wrapping paper to rip up in the corner?

Hello all
Esp you @HappyThursdays :-) we are still around, Riverpup is now 6 months old and pretty good but getting to teenage stage so some selective hearing and also the constant jumping on random ppl!
For christmas morning we are considering the following, currently have the puppy pen around the tree so might extend it if she is too interested so riverpup can't get in and just give her paper to play with. Also thinking early walk before main presents or she could be hyper.
To all those with bitey pups, Riverpup was truly awful and ruined many items of clothing and our arms and legs were in tatters but at 26 she just doesn't do it anymore. She can occasionally mouth a bit but no grabbing and teeth down or anything at all. Its rubbish when you are in the zone of it but it will pass and one day you will look at your arms and realise they are all healed.
Merry Christmas all and thank you for being such a wonderful community :-)

[quote familychallenge]@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat give him his own pile of wrapping paper to rip up in the corner?[/quote]
He would eat it though, is that not dangerous? (No clue he’s only 12 weeks!)!

Just a quick to say happy Christmas 🎄 to all and your gorgeous pups 😀 I hope we can all do presents and xmas dinner with no major pup catastrophes

@MyRabbit79, there are quite a few kongs on my local pet shop. Can you not find any at all? I assume you are uk based?