Puppy Survival Thread - January - February

[C4itl]

Continuing on the thread from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4105422-Puppy-Survival-Thread-December?pg=28 before we hit the message limit

@SpreadHummusNotHate he's not amazing on lead but he is getting better when we tell him to leave it/no touch/wait whichever is appropriate but yesterday he pulled for the whole walk to play with the dog we were walking with so its not always stress free. There are very few quiet parks or places near us which is tricky but we are working on his impulse control a lot so hopefully he'll improve.

@Puginthehouse yep, last poo about 7pm. DH used to walk him around the block at 11pm and still mostly wouldn't poo.

@Spreadhatenothummus I find the constant 'on the go' tricky too. He's awake for 2 hours at a time, but most of that you have to be with him and doing something with him otherwise he bites to errmm...'encourage' you to play with him. He's 15 weeks now and if you do an hour or so with him then he'll chill out and watch me if I'm doing something like cooking.

To whoever's (sorry, can't remember) asked, we don't have a bell for toileting. I feel like it'd just be another thing in the house / need to train and I've got enough going on right now!

Ooops, I'm obviously in a bad mood with all the homeschooling and got your name wrong @spreadhummusnothate ! 😳

I’m curious about the bells for toileting! But equally apprehensive about the idea of her using it to get attention or annoy me

Plantpup has become increasingly grumpy in her crate over the last day or two. Rather than just whining/crying she has started barking and her little puppy howl whenever she goes in there. She goes in very willingly and has been crate trained using treats etc which I still reinforce but has now started on the barking. She never goes in unless I’m sure she’s not hungry, thirsty and she only goes in after she’s been for a wee and a poo. So I think it is just for attention/frustration, but not sure what to do about it - just leave her to bark it out and eventually she’ll settle? Take her out? Who knows

@Plantlover23 that can happen with the bell
Today the cat was outside (he is an indoor cat so just in the catio) so pugpup wanted to jump up at the fence to get to him. When we came in he pressed the bell so I let him out in case he needed a wee, he didn't he just wanted to see the cat so we came back in. He did this again so the next time I didnt get up to let him out so he looked at me then pressed it 3 times

I dont really mind as if he just wants to go out and play that's fine, when he was just trying to annoy the cat then I just distracted him in the end with his antler.

@PugInTheHouse btw did you watch dogs behaving badly on channel 5 last night? They had a German shepherd who wasn't great with the cats

@SpreadHummusNotHate sorry I forget what breed you have - our puppy is still the most energetic and most enthusiastic puppy we have met. When we go to the park he is the most bouncy and the one who runs around the most. I have never met a more lively dog. He is 6 months and no calmer than he was when he was younger. I think it depends on your puppy's breed and his own personality. I could tell he was going to be a handful  but it actually works quite well for us.

@QueenOfToast Happy only understood the bells around 5 months. Now he rings them all the bleeding time! And I darent not answer in case he needs a pee but he definitely rings them if he wants our attention just as much as needing to go out!

@HappyThursdays she’s a springer x cocker spaniel cross (I think maybe you have a spaniel too?) we knew she’d be active, need lots of walking and lots of sniffing/scent games etc but I think I just didn’t appreciate how full on the puppy stage would be! She doesn’t stop, she would never nap unless I enforced it, I think she’d just stomp about biting things all day

I have family with adult sprockers and they are lovely dogs so I do know it’ll turn out ok, especially with the training we are putting in, it’s just difficult when you’re in the middle of it I guess! Made worse by lockdown as we are lucky to have family close by who would love to make a fuss of her for a couple of hours but obviously we can’t at the moment.

Hats off to @Doje and anyone else juggling a puppy with home-schooling, you’ve earned a few I think

Ah yes that's right @SpreadHummusNotHate I thought you had a similar breed . Yes we have a mad cocker. Someone stopped me today and said 'he's quite spirited isn't he' . I like to think of it as playful! Have you tried some of the dog toys that are for them to figure things out? I'm slightly annoyed we didn't try them earlier

yes spirited is the word! She has Kongs/lickimats/kong wobbler/treat ball things but none of the Nina Ottosson type ones so maybe I’ll try one of those, thanks

We do seem to go through food - I swear we’re feeding her most of the time she’s awake, either through training/play (we use her kibble moreso than treats) so I worry a little about that going forward. She’s currently trying to “kill” a cow’s ear rather than chew it

Yes we have exactly the same problem, in fact I was discussing it with dp today. I know he is more energetic than most but he really goes mental for his food now.

Even the Nina ottoson ones are centred around getting food out !!

If you're feeding dry food, the wobble one is really good. Today it took him more than 10 seconds to eat as he had to try and get his kibble out the wobble bowl!

@Plantlover23 we don't have a bell, but Dpup sits by the door when he wants to just go out and play. It's really annoying because I know it's just to play but I'm not confident enough to call his bluff!

@HappyThursdays I thought I had posted a reply but its disappeared. I havent seen it but will have a watch. Pugpup is keen to play with the cats but they arent keen on him, we are really working on him not chasing them and they are getting closer to him. They watch him loads when he's in his crate. Pup is used to cats as the family he came from have cats but those cats were OK with him as they were used to dogs.

@Doje they’re so clever aren’t they I feel the same when plantpup has a whine in her crate! Almost certain it’s just for attention and to be let out but same problem, not confident enough to call her bluff!

@PugInTheHouse yes he kept trying to paw the cat . But he learned really fast though of course it looks quick on TV but probably took them days!

Hello! Can I join? Proud owner of a 10 week old Airedale Terrier pup. He's very sweet, quite independent and doing fantastically overnight. 12am to 6pm in his crate with very little protest, but the bitey / mouthiness is driving us all insane. Trouser legs, shoes and boots plus the odd grab and tug at a sweatshirt sleeve (and perhaps the arm in it!). Much worse when he's tired or over-excited. Know that this will continue for some time, but looking for helpful tips on how best to deal with it in the interim.......and lovely to find such a great community of people hopefully dealing with similar issues.

Other than that, he's fab! Loves napping with his head on our feet!

@HandbagAddiction Naps on your feet sound absolutely adorable. Plantpup is 11 weeks and I had the same problem with the biting and nippiness!

I’ve found the best ways of dealing with it have been the ‘yelp’ when she goes anywhere near me with her teeth. This seems to have worked at least in that she is now much more gentle if she does nip me! I had to be really loud and melodramatic about it for it to work.

The second thing I’ve done with her since the start is time outs, so just leaving the room temporarily as soon as she’s too excited /doesn’t stop nipping after the yelp has happened once or twice.

She is exactly the same with being worse when tired/overexcited also, and it is often accompanied by the zoomies around the living room. Encouraging calm play has worked quite well for me, she knows I will sit with her quietly and play tug, or with a ball or another toy. So in the house I try and keep as many of these calm moments as possible so she’s successful and we avoid the over excitement / overtiredness in the first place. At the first sign of a nip or bite or a tired huff I pop her in her crate and almost without fail she has a nap virtually straightaway. She knows she gets to run around outside in the garden and soon on walks (which I cannot wait for ) so she still has that excited time where she bounces and runs around like crazy.

Apart from one case where she got the extreme zoomies in the living room the other day and nipped my finger, she hasn’t playfully nipped me or clothes for a good few days now. She still will with other people though so obviously hasn’t generalised just yet. Plus, they’re much more exciting than me

Hi all, completely new on these doggy threads! We have an 18 week old pup. He is a Siberian Husky and is quite the character already. After a rocky start we are settling into our new life as first time dog owners after wanting a husky for years.

Dc almost 10 and 18 and capable of helping out ( hmmm ) but we’re having terrible problems with the biting. Have used pet behave spray on any areas we can and he’s stopped now but prefers hands and feet

I know he’s teething but I’m at my wits end!

Picture attached.

@StealthRoast what a handsome boy! We have an 18 week old pup too who is still bitey.
Things that have helped - making sure she has enough sleep during the day, making sure she has enough to chew on that isn’t attached to us, things like cow ears last a while and keep her mouth off us. Also weirdly sometimes if she is running around biting and barking like a crazy thing then often it’s because she needs a poo

Other than that if it’s too much and she’s too worked up we get her to go in her crate and then leave her for a couple of minutes this usually seems to “reset” her and she comes out a calmer dog! I know it’s suggested to remove yourself rather than crating your dog as a timeout, but it’s hard to leave the room when they are attached to your ankles!!

I think the biting feels so much worse with the puppy teeth too as they are like needles!!

Hopefully in a few more weeks it’ll have calmed down for you guys! I just console myself with the fact that I don’t know any adult dogs who do this. So hoping it’ll be a distant memory before long

@HandbagAddiction hi! We use the 'yelp' too but in our experience if it doesn't sound quite right he ignores it, the trainer does it brilliantly and he looks at her shocked every time. We also said no biting and replaced with a toy. If that didn't work when he was really bitey we stood up straight and folded our arms and looked away. When he then stopped and took his attention away then we would say goo, no biting.

It is the worse thing the biting, even with a tiny pup like ours. It upset our youngest who completely overreact, he is the only one pugpup still bites and I think it is because of that.

I forgot to mention if we know he is over tired then I will pick him up and cuddle him tight to be (like an over tired baby) and that calms him too. Obviously easy as hes still only 5kg at coming up 20 weeks so much tricker with bigger dogs of course.

The best thing for biting was from a recommendation on here. (@Poletopole or @ashmts maybe?) Encourage them to learn to always come to you with a toy. Invest time in 'where's your toy?!, bring me a toy!, find a toy, A toy! There's your toy' etc Dpup now can be in the middle of a biting frenzy but if we say 'find a toy' he literally snaps back, tootles off to find a toy and comes back with one in his mouth.

I did the 'ignore and move away' after the slightest bite which I think helped, but also have a clear surface to jump onto and ignore them if it gets too much. DPup is by no means an angel, but generally is when he's overtired, overexcited, or as PP said, needs a poo.

@Doje think that was poletopole, we had no luck trying to distract her with toys. Not through lack of trying! Even now ours is not very toy-motivated although apparently she goes mad for the ball at daycare?! Absolutely not interested when she's with us, it's so strange.

Welcome @StealthRoast and @HandbagAddiction. We tried all the techniques above for the mouthing. It's hard to know what worked. The only other thing we tried that I don't think has been mentioned is 'licking your wounds'. Make a big show of cradling your hand or whatever she bites and going owwww all sadly. Ours always looked super concerned about us and would put her paw on you to check you were okay, wee cutie. She stopped mouthing about 13 weeks. The other thing that saved me was getting a room divider so I could easily step over and away from her, cos it does really upset you! Easier to deal with if you know you can step away.

Best thing for us for the biting was ignoring her, stepping away from her and closing the door, only for a couple of seconds. it reset her.

It was always when she was overtired - we weren't getting her to sleep enough. We'd quite often cuddle her to sleep - because we love a cuddle and so does she! Or a kong, or something to chew - frozen tea towels, frozen meat juice in a old yoghurt pot, the last bit of yoghurt in a pot, frozen carrots, brocolli stalks, a treat inside a toilet roll and the ends folded in - or in an old egg box.

Basically giving her an 'out'!

Also a bit of training, not when they are in an absolute frenzy - a bit of sit, lie down, they find it really tiring but love the praise when they get it right.

Ugh, an interesting couple days trying tp balance homeschool and puppy life. After getting so good with toileting, it's gone to pot. We leave keys in the door and she now bats thwm to go out, so accidental bell training.

We need to get NotQuitePup used to the car before her second jab next week.