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

Anyone with a 5 month old dealing with sassy behaviour? I.e. slightly aggressive barking and growling? Help!

Hello everyone, can I join you?

I've got a 14 week old lab and she is settling in well, with a few issues as you'd expect.

I hadn't prepared myself for so much work, despite having raised puppies in the past. It is like having children, by the time they've grown a bit, you forget how bad it was when they were tiny and think 'I'll have another one'

@Hillary111 our 6 month cocker barks a lot, mostly attention seeking though. Growled at me a few times when I move her out of my seat on the sofa. The barking is driving us mad to be honest.

@Plantlover23 she's only 9 weeks. IMO you're doing well being able to leave her when she's sleeping in her crate, it took us 3 weeks to get to that point. She was our absolute shadow at first. Gradually she got more independent and calm. We haven't done any specific work with her on being left alone but I can now go upstairs for 45 minutes and leave her downstairs and she'll just chill. DP popped out for 15 mins and she was fine. She's 20 weeks. Different people will have different opinions on this but I think you need to let her grow up a bit before you start trying to train her to be left alone, she's just a baby. (Also I should say I went through a phase of being really anxious about not training her quickly enough and missing opportunities etc and got myself totally worked up, but the best thing I ever did was to calm myself down and relax. Everything starts to fall into place. And then you get the new challenges!)

@Hillary111 I've definitely noticed mine going through a bit of a personality change, more confidence and yeah I think sassy covers it. She doesn't bark with us but she goes to daycare and we've been told she barks a lot at the other dogs and has started nipping them during play. Absolutely mortified. He reassures us it's not aggression, just excitement, but I want to nip it in the bud. Do you have a trainer or behaviourist you could work with? We do training over Zoom and it's brilliant.

@jayne35 @ashmts I’ve got his first professional training session tomorrow so hopefully we can get some tips on how to handle it. It’s only been in the last 3 weeks, he’ll sit there and stare at me and if I don’t pay attention he’ll start growling and barking! I think it’s okay for now but I don’t want it to get out of hand. He’s definitely starting to test the boundaries! Just when you think you’ve got it all handles and then a new issue pops up

@Plantlover23 definitely the calmer play works, DP tends to get pup more worked up as he plays tug, they chase eachother round the room, more hectic games of fetch whereas I usually let him sit on me with a chew or a toy to chew on and it stops him from getting to that over excited stage. Of course the other play is good too, but knowing when to stop is the key!

We started leaving pup for 10 mins and slowly increased it by 5 minutes at a time. Now he can be left for around 2-3 hours without doing an accident. We have been in the house a lot more lately due to lockdown and we’re getting a bit concerned he would go back to square one, but he seems to be okay being left still as we popped out without him today

Pugpup is still on his downward spiral with weeing indoors, driving me mad, he literally just stares at me and wees. No idea why as everything else he picks up within minutes, I showed him to ring a bell at the back door to go out this morning and he did it twice to go out for a poo himself this afternoon. He is 17 weeks on Sunday.

We have had amazing success with him not chasing the cats, we were trying to put the harness on so we could pop the lead on but found that the cats decided they would pop in at random times so I was never ready. He had dreadful impulse control when seeing anyone walking passed so the trainer said to try using 'no touch' rather than 'no cats' so we can use for any moving object. We only tried it today and he hasn't chased them once. I have made sure I have treats in my pocket all the time and as soon as I say no touch he sits and looks at me rather than the cat. I am shocked TBH. I am sure he'll slip up but it's a good start.

Now just to stop him weeing on the carpet.

Hi all, thanks for the new thread.
Vanpup is coming up to 5 months and teething just got really bad in the last week, he is off his kibble and not comfortable in his skin, more bitey and sometimes lethargic. Chasing shadows, barking at himself in the french doors, but is's managable for now. He's a mini poodle and eating, sleeping, general loveliness and trainability has really impressed us since day 1. He's had socialization visits to the groomer in December which went well and is due again 2nd Feb (she's grat and has covid proofed a lot) but his nails were getting long and we bit the bullet, studied up on youtube and did it, just a tiny but. He was a super star.
Walks off lead and plays with other dogs in the nature reserve around our house twice a day. He's never happier (and I love the excuse to get out of the house and away from work/homeschool).

@BlondieJ We are still having lots of jumping and biting over here too! I think it does help to know it's normal and you haven't ended up with a crazedpup.
The thing that is helping us now is that she has a very strong 'sit'. So when she's being mad we can ask for a sit and she will, then a short little session of sit, down, roll over seems to reset her a bit. You definitely need treats to hand at all times for this. Some in the pocket or a little pot on every surface!

Thank you again @ashmts and @MyRabbit79

I think that pressure of training is part of the problem! You read so many things about how if your puppy has an accident inside it’s your fault because you weren’t watching them enough, if they don’t learn this and that it’s your fault, I think I’m creating stress and pressure on myself!

I do need to try and work out a strategy to leave her for short periods though as I live alone so can’t even shower or go to the toilet without her crying and whining

@ashmts-that’s good advice to calm down and let things fall into place. I get worried about having to get lots of training and socialisation done before we miss opportunities but there’s just not enough hours in the day without stressing everyone out!
She’s started (10 weeks) to get a bit more bitey and jumpy now especially when she’s tired or hungry (a bit like me really 😂).
She’s just had a massive running around session in a part of the garden she doesn’t normally go in so will hopefully crash out for a while now.
I really need to get her used to the car too as she’s not keen at all as soon as it starts moving.

@Plantlover23 if it's any consolation, Happypup was having accidents almost every day right up to around 20-22 weeks. He might have gone a few days in a row with no accidents at one point but his peeing inside during the day really was awful. He never really weed at night but during the day, if he was in any way distracted - like enjoying a treat, playing a game - he would just wee wherever he was! He could not get ringing the bells to go out and if we didn't proactively take him out every 1-2 hours, he would almost always have an accident.

but it did suddenly click into place around 5 months and he now rings the bells to go out and hasn't had an accident since.

we didn't respond negatively ever unless we caught him mid wee when we told him no and took him outside but otherwise, we just kept mopping up! walking helped too as he loves weeing and pooing on his walks so we still take him out for a quick 2 mins stroll round the block before bed and he gets his wees and poos out at that point!

but really don't despair - it takes some puppies a long time to get toilet training sorted and you just need a big dose of patience and lots of spray and kitchen roll!

@Petalpup exactly the same car issue here! She has a soft carry crate for the car which I always put toys etc in but she cries and cries and paws at it to try and get out for the whole journey

The only time she didn’t was after her vaccinations as she passed out completely But I’m not sure how to encourage that all the time rather than the crying and escape attempts!

I don’t know how, but FloomPup arrived housetrained at 8 weeks. The breeder was teaching them to go outside, before they went to their homes. We’re having to take him outside constantly, when he whines at the door, but thankfully no accidents in the house (he’s 11 weeks now).

I am writing this with him biting and shaking my trousers, and growling at me, so I can totally sympathise with the PPs who are finding the biting unbearable! My hands and arms are covered in scratches and cuts

I have a different opinion to many about teaching pups to be left alone. Much of the training advice in English is about puppy sleeping in your room and being with you 24/7 for the first few months. French advice on the other hand advises against pups sleeping in your room and advises leaving alone for short periods from day one of arrival to get them used to it.

I knew I was going to be back at work so went for the French way. At 4 months she is now left for a few hours every morning with no problems.

I will however add that not all dogs are equal and some dogs are happier to be left than others. It was one of the things we took into account when choosing a breed.

I'm not saying that it is bad to always be with them if you can, just that there are other ways.

@MyRabbit79 we are having a terrible time with leaving pugpup. We went with the advice to have them with you to sleep etc but I cannot even go for a week without him crying and barking. If I move off the sofa he jumps up awake. When asleep at night he is in a much deeper sleep and I can leave the room for a wee but that's about it.

If I give him a lickimat I have been able to leave him in the crate to be able to go upstairs or out to the garden and he's fine. I can probably get 20/30 mins out of that. My worry is that he would happily wee in the crate and he's done that if I have left the room for even 1 minute so not sure how to resolve that.

I need to be braver about it really.

@PugInTheHouse it's so hard. We've just been out for a 45 minute walk without him but only because he was asleep in his crate and he's due to stay in there for two hours.
I'm still like you though when he's awake - not even able to go to the loo. Which seems insane. I'm planning to build up his time behind the baby gate in the kitchen on his own with treats etc. Managed a couple of mins yesterday while I hung up washing but he still cried.

@MyRabbit79 I'd be happy if I could leave him asleep, if I stand up off the sofa he stands straight up and barks, its crazy!

@PugInTheHouse ours would be exactly the same if he wasn't in the crate. To be honest I even wonder whether he knows we've gone out when we leave him in there. I can't remember, is pugpup doing naps in the crate or just around the house? As soon as we reached about ten weeks he wouldn't really sleep unless we crated him.

@MyRabbit79 yep he's always slept in the crate day time also, he still wakes up instantly. After 830pm he doesnt, he'll open an eye maybe but just go back to sleep.

@PugInTheHouse @MyRabbit79 I’m with you both so much on this waking up thing! Mine wakes up almost instantly if I move or make the slightest sound, and then cries. If she’s fast asleep and I leave she’s fine but only because she doesn’t notice I’m gone! If I leave when she’s awake it’s just cry constantly

New thread! All is well here with Puppypup, but I am definitely comparing with other pups on here re progress. We have never left puppypup alone so far - he has always had someone with him in the house and we really need to crack that. But he just will not go in his crate during the day - when I try and put food etc in there to encourage him he just goes in and takes it out somewhere else. I can't imagine just leaving him in the living room on his own as too much stuff to chew still - and can't put him in the kitchen alone as that's the cat's route to the outside and I don't trust them to be together without supervision. So am in a bit of a quandry.

The other thing is he hasn't been off lead yet. His recall is good on the long lead but I can't get out of feeling he would just take off after another dog or worse get spooked by something and run off. He's much more confident than he was but still has moments when he is properly freaked out by an unexpected loud noise.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat Puppypup is not really bothered by rain but the wind we have had in the last couple of days definitely made him a bit odd! He was hyper alert and quite tricky on walks.

For all those struggling with toilet training - Puppypup is five months and has more or less got it but in the evenings he can still sometimes wee right next to the door if we've not heard him ask to go out. The weeing and pooing on walks is a game changer though and really helps. @PugInTheHouse we definitely had times where we felt things were going backwards.

What kind of age did you all start properly training your pups in terms of sit, stay, etc? Plantpup will wait patiently for food and seems to have learned that’s necessary and is beginning to respond to her name but only if there’s nothing else especially distracting around. Outside of that with things like sit and lay down she just seems far too distractible at the moment and I’m not sure if she’s just too young at 9 weeks.

@Plantlover23 I would start straight away with basic commands like sit, lie down, stand, come, teach them their name. They are clever little things and you’ll be surprised how quickly they pick things up! 5 mins a couple of times a day and try and end each training session on a high so with a command they know . Some things like lie down are easier on carpet rather than hard floor - it took our pup weeks to master lie down, she was just sticking her bum up in the air at 9 weeks - then one day it just clicks!

@Plantlover23 I agree, you may as well start training straight away, even if progress is slow. The first things we did were sit and lie down (lie down took ages for him to get).
I'm signed up for a 30 day online training thing with videos by Zak George. It's American and linked to an American dog products site (Pupford) but pretty good for giving you something to follow.