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

@Plantlover23 ha! Their noses are crazy. Glad to help!

@HappyThursdays thanks for the walking tips - good to know.

@Putyourdamnshoeson hang in there! I'm finding some days you just have to shut your eyes and get to the end. Tomorrow is a new day.

We have had the odd issue with fleas, we have cats too and although they are always treated pugpup has had the odd flea on him. We used indorex everywhere and washed everything but still find the odd one on him. So bloody frustrating.

Had a bit of an issue walking today. We went with a friend and pugpup up just barked for most of it and pulled on the lead to get near to her. After half hour I put him in the carrier which he usually loves but he cried and barked the whole time. I let him down again and he started the barking/pulling towards my friend. I stopped to do my lace up and gave her the lead, he stopped instantly and walked really nicely with her holding the lead. So strange, not really sure what that was all about. At least he was too distracted to eat everything off the floor for a change, although he walked way longer than he should really.

Hi everyone, joining in as we're picking up this sleepy little dude on Saturday. I've been following these threads for months since we've been on the breeder's waiting list and picked up so much good info. Looking forward to venting with you all next week

mehmaid. Is your new pup a border terrier? Grannypup is a border and she is so gorgeous. Can be a bot challenging though

@grannycake

mehmaid. Is your new pup a border terrier? Grannypup is a border and she is so gorgeous. Can be a bot challenging though

He is a border! He's our first dog and we've heard they can be quite stubborn and difficult but we quite like the cheeky terrier personality so fingers crossed we'll manage ok. Any terrier specific hints and tips feel free to pass them on!

Hi again everyone. So Grasspup is 10 weeks on Saturday. He had his first set of vaccines with the breeder at 8 weeks. The vet says we need to leave 4 weeks between the 1st and 2nd set, that is their preference. This means though he will have been inside for 6 weeks with us before he can go outside (leaving another 2 weeks after he has had the jab). Is this normal? It seems such a long time and I am worried it will make it more challenging when we finally can go out.

Other friends have only waited two weeks between jabs.

We are taking him out in his puppy carrier which he likes, and he is going in our garden.

@SaveMyGrass we had 2 weeks inbetween jabs. I feel for you as we were desperate to get him out further than the garden, but not sure what you could do really? If you change vets they'd likely want to do their own set of jabs.

@saveMyGrass I've said this before but I think it is worth repeating. The advice we got from our (French) vet is that they can go out once they've had their first jabs as long as you avoid places with lots of dogs and don't let them eat poo. Obviously it is completely up to you but it seems that UK advice is on the (very) cautious side.

@Putyourdamnshoeson I have no advice for you except sympathy! I’m too finding it very dull and tedious. Not sure what I expected but certainly didn’t expect to feel so trapped and tied down. But do agree that some days are better than others. People say it’s better when they reach adulthood so I’m holding on to that

So the food under the crate worked temporarily but now we’re back to constant crying and barking again I’m really confused by it as she is definitely tired when going in there (basically falling asleep wherever she is), has a Kong/treat of some sort, goes in of her own accord etc. She has started to settle and be chilled for the first 5 minutes or so that’s she in there then start crying, barking, howling, the whole lot. I am just at a bit of a loss what to do as she won’t settle for a nap anywhere else. I also don’t want to give attention to the crying and teach her that crying = I come back and let her out, but I’m not sure how long it would take her to stop if I just left her or if she’d get more and more wound up

Yes I’m feeling trapped in the kitchen! 10 week old and homeschooling 3 kids! I feel like I’m always saying “hang on just going outside again” every 5 mins! Then when she is asleep my 3 are so noisy I have to stay nearby or the noise wakes her up. Then the pressure to do the socialising, car trips, toilet training, recall, lead training.... I’m feeling torn in all directions and not doing a great job at any of them! I’m hoping it’ll get easier, hopefully kids will return to school and we can start walking outside after 2nd jabs.

@Whyisitsodifficult. Yes recognise that feeling very well! It’s not even like I am being productive in the kitchen because I don’t want to wake her up so tend to just sit
It is much better now she can go out for walks though so hang in there.

Had a zoom session with a trainer today which was a million times better than I expected and really helpful for little tweaks as well as the main training.

She’s not getting any less bitey though and has started launching herself at ds (8)when he comes into the room and nipping at him.
I know she’s doing it because she wants him to play and he’s pretty good in general at not reacting but it’s draining having to intervene all the time and remind him to have a toy and/or treats with him at all times and I do feel quite sorry for him even though he still absolutely adores her!

We’re not crate training but just wanted to offer sympathy. We have 4 year old and 12 week old dogs - I call the little one the bad baby

Thanks @Frenchfancy @Doje. I’m going to see if vet would do jabs just a few days earlier. We are in a bubble with my SIL who has a 9 month old cocker so think we might socialise them once he’s had next jabs as she is up to date.

You read all this stuff about 8-12 weeks being such a key time so to not start walking outside till 14 weeks seems counter intuitive.

He’s doing well otherwise. We have introduced him to lots of new people (on the doorstep) and he is unphased and he’s been on lots of walks in his carrier to get used to sights and smells.

@IdrisElbow we gave up on crate apart from nighttime and just taught place and bed instead. She was much more relaxed.

I think you have to go really slowly with crate and not get to the stage where they are scrabbling.

If you do need to use a crate then you could try covering it.

@IdrisElbow it’s so hard isn’t it Sounds like your puppy is still quite new to the crate though? So could well still just be adjusting to it all! Have you tried popping a treat in whenever the pup is quiet? That is assuming there are breaks in the howling which I know sometimes isn’t the case!!

Thank you all for the well wishes and the warm welcome back.

The thread has got so busy and lots of new pups! Very exciting! I apologise if I don’t keep up.

I’m going to do a little ‘good, bad and ugly’ that we we did before- it was fun! Feel free to post yours

The good
He’s so good! He has a very sweet nature. He’s happy for us to potter about and doesn’t really follow or care. He lays and watch us through the safety gates if we’ve had to close them to make dinner for example.
I’m a cm and he’s so so gentle with the little ones. He sits and waits for them to give him a treat as we sporadically do training with the little ones and him so he knows they are a source of potential treat! He’s also quite indifferent about them which is what we’re aiming for. He’ll happily snooze whilst they are playing around him.

He’s had a successful first groom!

He’s been poked and prodded at the vet and animal hospital and is still so excited to see them when we go.

Fully house trained- had one accident recently when I said he can’t possible need to go out again. Reader, he did need to!

The bad.
He still nips DH but we know now it’s to instigate rough play. He doesn’t do it with anyone else but it can be annoying.

He’s still a pretty early riser and even when he does sleep later we have to wake him for medication.

The ugly
We still can’t walk him very far, his medication makes him unsteady whilst we get his levels right and also we are cautious of another seizure. The anxiety is horrific.

What’s yours?

@IdrisElbow Another mini dachshund here! We haven't crate trained and just used a baby gate over the kitchen entrance as we have an open plan house too. They're generally quite clingy dogs but over the past few weeks he's started putting himself in his living room bed or just sleeping on the carpet during the day, and then he trots off to his kitchen bed at 10pm. He's 5 and a half months now and it gets a lot better, but he's still really cheeky!

The good:
Hardly any accidents in the house anymore, and he sleeps pretty much through the night now, I'm getting up 15 mins later each day starting at 4am and now at 6:15am. By the end of the week we should hopefully be at a full night with no get up!

We also don't have to sit in the kitchen and ignore him to get him to settle down anymore.

He seems to be fine being left alone during the day for a few hours, although there's not really anywhere to go at the minute.

The bad:
He pulls quite a bit on the lead, but we're doing training classes and he seems to be making some progress.

He's started to hump things and I think it won't be much longer until his daycare say he's no longer allowed to go until he's neutered. This isn't really an option until he's around 2 years old due to his breed and increased risk of IVDD.

The ugly:
During the day DP and I can't go upstairs at the same time as C4pup barks and howls and generally goes crazy. I'm not really sure how to stop this from happening but I need to resolve it as when DP goes back to work I'll be most likely still working at home and will need to go upstairs for meetings.

Bless Georgiepup @GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat! It sounds like he’s handled everything life has thrown at home like a dream considering.

I like the idea of the good, the bad and the ugly!!

The good for Plantpup
Hasn’t had an accident indoors in forever, has started to ask to go out if she’s in certain rooms (thinking of bell training if anyone has any recommendations?)
Sleeps through the night 9-5:30 without any fuss whatsoever
She is so clever - learns commands within about 10 minutes and will do pretty much anything for food We have sit, down, touch, paw, mat, sitting at the curb to cross roads pretty much all down which makes me really happy!

The bad
She can still be quite nippy especially when she’s overtired/overexcited. She is learning that it’s not the right way to play though and it has decreased a lot, just not very fun when she catches you with her little shark teeth
Walks are hit and miss, she is very reluctant to walk the first bit away from the house so I often have to carry her around the corner and then she will start walking Can be a bit pully on the lead but not too terrible. Wants to meet EVERY dog and person which we need to work on

The ugly
The barking/crying when she doesn’t want to settle for a nap! Sometimes she is good as gold, through the night she is an angel, so I need to work out the problem I think! It may be that she just doesn’t need quite so many naps anymore

Looking forward to seeing all of these

we are nearly at 7 months

good
he has a lovely nature - so friendly and loving
he sleeps really well
totally toilet trained
can walk beautifully on the lead when he wants to
great recall
really good fun to walk as he's so engaged

bad
still pulls really badly on the lead on the way out to go for a walk (but not on the way back!)

we are definitely in adolescence as he has times where he knows we are asking him things and he's deliberately ignoring us

he can still get totally over excited - he's quite hard to calm when he's like that and won't stand still/sit if he's in that frame of mind - so we'll recall him if he's like that when we're out and he'll come back, but he'll come back and still run round in circles

he still wants to greet everyone, every animal, every person though he will engage more with us when off his lead than on

Ugly

he is a dreadful, dreadful food stealer and eater of everything on the floor - if you leave a plate anywhere with food on and turn your back for a millisecond, it is gone, he will also eat anything he encounters when we are out and he's too quick to stop

his jumping up has come back (our fault for not being consistent about this) and we need to nip this in the bud because he's not small now!

@plantlover23 pugpup sounds quite similar in how quickly he learns commands, with the bell we had one he can press and have it stuck to the floor by the door. We just kept pressing it everything we went outside and said 'outside'. After a few times of doing that he started pressing it. He does also press it if he wants to just play outside but we don't really mind that. I think he has learnt he needs to get our attention in some way so if we are not in sight of him sometimes he presses the bell, other times he barks and we let him out.

Bit scared to write the good incase we tempt fate but here goes...

The good

Sleeps well at night and fairly predictable daytime routine with a couple of long naps

Only has the occasional toilet accident

Has glimpses of being a really lovely dog

Great fun at the park, loves playing fetch and going on adventures through the woods with the kids, and has good recall

The bad

Still quite nippy

Gets upset when any of us aren't all in the same room together

Gets any sock that's lying around and "leave" and "drop" go out the window

Started wanting to say hello to everyone and have had a couple of embarrassing jumping with muddy paws incidents

The ugly

Tries to chase (and sometimes bark at)
every car that goes by so pavement walks are very stressful

The smell of pizzle sticks makes me want to gag but they're the only thing we've found that he'll sit and chomp on for any length of time