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 hang in there. You're doing a v hard thing solo puppy parenting and am sure being unwell will have unsettled her. Hope she picks up soon

@Plantlover23 I hope plantpup is feeling better soon poor thing.

Thank you @PugInTheHouse and @Puppypuppypuppy ❤️

She is currently licking away at the peanut butter on her lickimat so I’m hoping that’s a sign she’s feeling a tad better!

@HappyThursdays @Puppypuppypuppy I don't know if I'll be able to explain it very well. So first we worked on stopping them grabbing for treats, so practised giving them treats and them taking it gently (with the treat in your fingers like a claw if that makes sense).

Then step 1 was get them to sit and hold a treat over their head. Start high up, if they sit nicely and don't grab they get the treat. Gradually reduce the distance between your hand and their head.

Step 2 - sit down and place the treat on your knee. If they don't grab it, reward. Again, move closer to make it harder.

Step 3 - place the treat on the ground

Step 4 - drop the treat on the ground from about an inch high

Step 5 - drop the treat. Rather than picking it up and giving it to them, release with 'okay' or another word so they know it's okay to move

Our trainer work with 3 D's, so gradually build up distance by getting closer, duration by making them wait longer before rewarding, and distraction by practising in different locations. It took us a few weeks to get to this stage but she is honestly brilliant now. Day 1 she was jumping up for the treat over her head.

Should have said, you need lightning reflexes at first so if they lunge for the treat you can grab it first and they can't self-reward. Start far away and with tiny durations, like 2 seconds. I wouldn't be comfortable doing it with a nippy dog and obviously if they have resource guarding issues or anything I'd get a trainer involved before anyone starts trying that on their own.

@Doberwow, I second the Dog Training Advise and Support group - it's really useful. Although having said that, we didn't follow it religiously for crate training. Dpup was always quite happy in his crate. We slept in the living room with him on his crate for the first week or so. When he stopped waking in the night then we moved back upstairs.

@Plantlover23 how the hell are you going to catch puppy wee?!

Lemme have a go at this:-
17 weeks

The Good - He's lovely natured, made a good start on sit, down, heel, wait, and loose lead walking. Nothing bomb proof, but he's consistent when no other distractions. He's good off the lead, and good(ish) recall. He sleeps through the night midnight to 7am.

The Bad - Still biting when he's tired, he can't be left alone. He's a bugger to get to sleep, but a dream when he's gone. He's terribly nervous meeting other dogs, in never seems like a good experience.

The Ugly - (sorry in advance) Mine and DH's sex life has nose-dived. Between never being left alone, homeschooling and late night (DH) and early mornings (Me) it's impossible to find the time or inclination.

@Doje with incredible difficulty I imagine! They’ve given me a little tray to catch it in to then decant into a pee pot...but I think she is going to be so confused when I approach her that she will immediately stop weeing and look at me like ‘excuse me? ’ They asked for it to be her first wee in the morning so this will also be me outside my house at 5am attempting to do this

@Puppypuppypuppy thank you!

@Doje also thank you!

That sounds like an impossible task!
I guess you may be able to get a couple of drips but I think I’d be tempted to see if she’d go on the kitchen floor and try to get it that way? I’m thinking some sort of pipette?!
Not great from a toilet training point of view but if she’s having that many wees I doubts they are all outside anyway? Hope she’s better soon

@Petalpup Pipette came into my head too! No they definitely haven’t been all outside do much harm to let her go inside at the moment I don’t think. May try the kitchen floor approach...currently waiting for her to wake up for her starring moment

So *not much harm ...early morning typing taking hold!

@Plantlover23 let us know how you get on! Hope the medicine has helped her.

Do your pups have the same routine / wake up time every day or does it vary? Our family wake up time is 6am so we've been getting him up then and taking him for a short walk, then home for breakfast and back to bed from 7-10am which works really well for us. The last few days he hasn't wanted to get up so we're thinking we'll leave him at the weekend to sleep as long as he likes in the morning but not sure if this is advised.

I failed miserably! It was dark and she went right in a corner We will wait for wee no.2! Going to try @Petalpup’s kitchen floor approach and see if that makes it easier to catch and not startle her. What a nightmare. On the plus side she slept quite well and seems a little better this morning

Plantpup sleeps different times different days dependent on what I’m doing! She mostly wakes up naturally between 5-6 every day and if I’m going to work we leave the house at 7 so she doesn’t sleep again. If I’m not she goes back to sleep after going to the toilet anytime until about 8ish. Doesn’t seem to be doing any harm!

@Plantlover23 Could you try mopping it up with some kitchen roll and then wringing it out into the pot? Not the most hygienic way to do it though...

@C4itl This is a good idea! Correct about the hygiene but I’ll almost do anything at this point if it’ll work

Oh good luck @Plantlover23! Glad she is a little better.

We are still trying to work out a routine for mediumpup, this morning has been a disaster. She sleeps very badly during the day, I have mostly just been letting her flop wherever but of course she is always waking up to check on us. At night she goes in a little pen and sleeps really well, yesterday until 9am! But I am on a sofa next to her and I got up at 8am today to ask DP to take over and that disturbed her so we were up for the day. And she’s been vile, really bitey and aggressive, not just mouthing but actually going for us, I am starting to worry, she is back in her pen now but is just chewing on a pigs ear, not asleep. Just so hard to get her to settle, so worried about the biting. DP is leaving for work soon so it’s just me and DD12 but I can’t even ask her to take her outside for toileting as she can bite when having her lead put on and off. We can’t go out for walks until mid March as she isn’t getting her jabs for another three weeks.

Hey all, has anyone got any tips for jumping up? HilDog is 6months, large breed and LOVES people especially kids. We've been trying the ignore thing and just turn around when he does this and it works for partner and I but HilDog will still try and jump at strangers.

Tried a couple of others things but to no avail. I'm wondering whether it's just an excited puppy thing and if there is anything that will actually work?

@Hillary111 Ignore and turn around is a good start. But reward the good and train to sit when meeting strangers. He can't sit and jump up at the same time. If it's people coming into the house you can train to go to bed when the doorbell goes (we are still working on that one!).

If you are out he doesn't get anywhere near strangers and kids till he's sitting. It'll probably involve a lot of high value treats!

@Hillary111 google 4 paws on the floor - basically all the good stuff happens when all 4 paws are on the floor.

Our dog has learnt that with me and DH she greets up by being on the floor - the inlaw encourage the jumping though and she does that with them. In our case its no the dog that's the problem.

Thanks @MaryIsA, i'll take a look at the 4 paws thing. As with you, my family and in-laws allow the jumping up and almost unintentionally encourage it which is not helping :(

Pugpup has just eaten a squashie, DS dropped it, pup grabbed it but DS panicked and chased him so obv pup ran away. Checked ingredients and no xylitol in it I don't think but they are pretty big so I am a bit worried!

I managed to catch some wee

Never been so excited to be close to wee before in my life. It seemed like a pathetically small amount but the vet said it wasn’t the worst they’ve seen which made me chuckle to think I’m not the first to have this battle (nor the last!) They will test and call me to let me know if there’s any sign of bacterial infection, so we shall see!

@PugInTheHouse I hope he is ok after the squashie eating! If no xylitol it should be fine hopefully.
Have you had any luck with him crying when you leave rooms? As usual (seeing as they are soulmates and all) I am starting to see the same problem creeping in with plantpup. If I leave her in the kitchen with my mum now (who has been in my support bubble so visits loads and she absolutely loves her) she cries until I come back, although she will play, eat food with her etc but is just whiny and grumpy until I return. It is strange as doesn’t seem to always happen, she went to puppy socialisation yesterday with three other pups and her trainer and seemed absolutely fine the whole time she was there without me. But don’t want it to get any worse!

poor Happy

he finally ate something we really knew he couldn't (containing raisins, and a lot of them)

dp was in pieces because he put it down without thinking and that dog has lightning fast reflexes and ate it before dp could turn around

trip to the emergency vet who saw him in 15 mins (!) - luckily for Happy, he eats so fast he hadn't chewed anything so he didn't need to stay in. They made him sick and he's come home. But if he had chewed it or we hadn't noticed, and the amount of raisins he consumed, it could have been fatal.

dp is busy throwing away every single foodstuff containing raisins!

We knew this day would come with him the way he is - so we need to go back to basics on his training. We also need to talk to the vet because he is starving all the time - but for the time being, we are all just so relieved he is ok!