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

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat its so frustrating isn't it, we had a pup who slept really well, wasn't up in the night for ages then last few weeks we've had a 5am toilet trip then up at 620 wanting to get out of the crate. Last night he was so tired he went to sleep at 8pm so we were expecting a much earlier start but he actually didn't wake till 630. It makes no sense at all. He had last poo at 7pm, then we got him up for a wee when we went to bed at 1045 which is pretty much same as last couple of weeks, only difference is that he was going to bed about 9pm.

I have given up trying to make sense of any of it

@Doberwow we do very similar to Sparkle. We say no biting first and try to swap with a toy. If that doesn't work, we say uh-oh and stand up, arms folded not looking at him. It took a couple of weeks in total I think but now as soon as we stand up he stops immediately. He doesnt bite as much now as hes a bit older but when he is tired or hungry he can have a crazy 5 mins. The other thing that works for us is to distract him with some of his 'tricks'. Stuff he can do easily like sit, hi five, spin etc and that takes his mind off it, happy to treat him for doing those things (we don't treat for not biting).

@LondonPupMum that's so funny, pugpup seems to hump the air/sofa when he chews his cuddly toys. Generally just before he falls asleep.

Thank you for the tips, I'll start those steps today 🐶.

[quote LondonPupMum]@MaryIsA interesting moment last night after trying the frozen tea towel, it defrosted a bit and he unraveled it then tried to hump it [/quote]
little loves aren't they?

Ours (female) humped when overexcited or overtired. First time we took her to the beach - it was seaweed and driftwood covered and must have smelled like absolute heaven to her. She humped everything in sight.

She doesn't any more.

@PugInTheHouse brilliant advice there on the biting.

@Doberwow it does get better honestlyj - one day you realise you've been able to walk down the stairs without boots on and nothing has attacked your toes.

@Doberwow we found that the biteyness was usually a sign of being over tired, weepup will not just take herself off for a snooze-we have to put her in crate. They need 18 hours of sleep and once we realised this things def became easier as she definitely wasn’t getting that!
That said she will still regularly nibble our feet when awake and not tired but not in the same crazed way!

@WeeM it's actually first thing in the morning, she's so OTT!

So you would've thought that she was not so tired then.

Although she may not be getting enough overnight sleep?

Went to bed at 10, was up at 3 for a wee, took 30 mins to resettle, then up at 6.

Ours was awful in the morning till I realised that she needed to go back to sleep after the first wee of the morning. I’d pop her in bed with us and she’d go back to sleep.

Don’t recommend that way of getting her back to sleep unless you want her there forever.

@MaryIsA whilst I'd love to, we are on a town house and up two flights of stairs, so not practical. I'm an early riser, so 6 is great for me.

Good to hear others have the same issue though.

Yep Sparklepup also goes back to be for a couple of hours after his morning toilet and breakfast!

What does everyone use for high value treats? I desperately need to sort out the car chasing so I need something that's better than cars. Not cheese though as we use that with the whistle for emergency recall.

High Value Treats

We used cocktail sausages cut up small.

Left over meat - steak, lamb (really high value)

We met a woman who was using salmon skin as a high value treat and a guy at puppy class reserved stilton for extra high value.

That's @MaryIsA we've been using hotdogs but it's not working so might progress to sausages as I have some. If that doesn't work I might have to try Stilton 😂

Anyone else feel like there isn't enough hours in the day? I feel like there's so much to train on that I end up doing nothing because I don't want know where to start. And then panic he's getting too old to learn and procrastinate even more.

@Sparkle79 do some preference testing. Get a range of treats and see what puppy prefers. Ours isn't that mad about cheese which surprised me, but she likes chicken and loves cold meat. We cut hot dogs into slices then half/quarter and microwave on a piece of kitchen roll for 5-10 mins. They then harden up and are good for portable treats. Not very high value though.

Also don't panic about teaching everything at once. I was the same and got myself into a right state. My pup is 6 months and we're just working our way through training, and she's been the youngest in every training class. There are dogs of around a year still doing the same classes and picking it up fine.

Really good advice about the not panicking about teaching everything. Little bits of reinforcement are good.

We let ours of the lead as soon as we could - best thing we did with her. Lots of cocktail sausages meant she didn't leave our side. We'd also run away in the opposite direction shouting her name so she'd run after us (never run after a puppy!). Lots of fuss when she followed.

We also hid behind the odd tree so she had to look for us.

I think we got a name for ourselves at the dog walking wood.

I'd do a bit of sit and stay with her now - she's 12 months - just when she's a bit bored. It really tires her out.

@MaryIsA@Sparkle79, our neighbour mentioned cocktail sausages.only problem is she runs off with each little bit so training is very stop start. We are starting training tonight so lets hope she’s not the worst behaved in the class.

I had a lovely day today, the trainer took pugpup for a walk for an hour, not a whole hour of walking but some sitting in the park and she carried him part way home. We then did an hours training in the garden. He slept all afternoon so I got loads of work done. I wish I could afford that every day lol.

She was working on him lying down. Its so strange, everything we've taught him he's down on minutes but he is not keen on lying down. We got him doing it under her leg but he still won't do it without her doing that. Its really odd for him to not pick something up. He's never wanted to lay down on command, she said its actually not a real necessity for such a small dog but said its of course handy.

She was using chicken as he usually has normal dog treats, he loved it. We don't really need to use high value treats with him though, a bit of dust or cardboard would probably do

@PugInTheHouse we can’t get the hang of down either, but he’s a dachshund so he’s already low to the ground. Another woman in our puppy class has a pug and she’s struggling with down too, it must just be their size

Yes we can’t master down either (cockapoo) and tbh I’m struggling to see where we’d use it. When dd lays on the floor he very cutely lays next to her.

@C4itl thanks, that's interesting to hear, or maybe its just that pugs can be stubborn little buggers!! It probably seems pointless to the pups that are close to the ground already lol.

It was so nice as the trainer said he was so well behaved, did heel constantly with he, recall amazing, in fact she had several people book with her whilst she was out with him as they were impressed with what he was doing. I swear she swapped him with another dog

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat yes thats what the trainer said though, said its necessary for big dogs but she said its nice to be able to do for the little ones but not essential. She got him doing it by sitting on the floor, legs stretched out with just enough gap for him to crawl under, then enticed him with chicken. He eventually did it, she even had him crawling but when trying it without him going under her legs he wouldn't do it. The other way she did it was using his ball, she could get him to lie down and rollover by manipulating him with the ball then cueing 'lie down' every time he did it. Again no luck just asking him to do it. Its the first one we've got really stuck on. DS wants him to lay down so he can teach him how to play dead when he pretends to shoot him

It took us a wee bit of practice to get the lie down but now she can, she’s doing it everywhere...when I ask for a sit I get a lie down . We got it by holding the treat and bringing it down by her nose and putting it right between her legs.

Does anyone else have an issue not being able to get the dog back in the house after the toilet. Weepup has started getting a bit into crazy mode and when I go near her she hunkers down and then zooms away from me. And it always happens last thing at night when I want to go to bed! I open the door and try to get her in that way and she just stands looking at me from a distance. Ended up I had to lure her with bit of food and then grab her! I really don’t want to be spending 20 mins every night in the freezing cold trying to get the dog back in!!

He’s stopped sleeping well in his crate, any tips? What’s the next stage? I’m so tired.

Dh and I are arguing so much this last week, I’m just not coping and he basically says I have to pull myself together. But here I am, yet again sat here with a puppy whilst the rest of the house gets their zzzzz. I’m breaking but DHs only solution is to ‘cheer up’ because I’m making myself miserable and I have to stop feeling sorry for myself apparently. Sorry I know we’ve delved into a DH problem but the root of it is the puppy sadly. I’m so tired that I can’t help but feel sorry for myself. I wonder how I just get over it?

@WeeM Frenchpup has started to do this and we have a very large garden. I now use the long line for the evening wee.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat poor you. . I think you might have a small DH problem though. In terms of the crate do you need him to go in it? Are their times when he needs to be locked away? Is your house open plan? We don't crate. During the day Frenchpup sleeps in her bed in the kitchen, in the kitchen armchair or on the sofa. At night or when I'm at work she is in the hallway where she has a den under the stairs.

I think crates are recommended because it makes humans life easier but I don't think it makes dogs life better and I think it makes some people lazy about training good manners. Have you tried one of the donut beds? Frenchpup loves hers.