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

I've found a smear of cream cheese frozen inside a Kong worked well for Dpup.

Can I ask people's experiences please... I find when Dpup (12 weeks) is awake, it's so full on. Anytime we're not playing / training, then he'll start to chew stuff he shouldn't - the fridge, the bench, cupboard handles. I try and direct him to a 'legal' chew, but he'll usually go back to the non-legal ones.

Does this stop in time? Do other pups amuse themselves better than mine does?

It passes, and it gets easier once you can take them outside.

You can try and teach settle.

Also frozen tea towels, ice licks made of meat juices frozen in and old yoghurt pot, frozen carrots, beocoli stalks...all help or keep them occupied .

Frenchpup is now 19 wks (just had to go and count that) and is still fairly full on when awake. She gets a Kong when I go out but not at other times so it is special treat. She loves it so much she doesn't even look up when I leave the house. Other things that work are a plastic bottle with a few holes in with kibble inside (I put cat food in because she loves it and it's smellier than the dog food) and a ham bone (dried Spanish ham bones specially for dogs) I can get them easier than pizzles and one bone lasts for ages. I switch them out about once a week. The bones have definitely made a difference, she can spend half an hour just gnawing away.

For regular training treats I use a grain free kibble she loves. I bought it before I read about the possible side effects of a grain free diet so I never fed it to her for meals, but it is just the right size for training, doesn't get stuff on your hands and she loves it. For really high value stuff I use chopped up cheese rind (small pieces about the size of a baked bean). I have used chopped up hot dogs because we had some left over, which she adored but didn't concentrate on what she should have been doing. I bought some ready made treats at first but found them to be much too big, so ended up chopping each one into about 9 pieces so I gave up. I made some homemade ones based on tuna which again she loved but they took too long to eat. Training snacks need to be small but plentiful.

Thanks for kickstarting my education in dog treats @Petalpup @HappyThursdays and @Frenchfancy
Who knew there were so many options!

@PoleToPole we’ve had lots of fun with the prizes! So far she’s had a flowerpot, a slipper and a sock and I think she’s getting the hang of staying with me rather than taking them to her bed as she usually does with her illegal finds! It’s taken a lot of chicken though!
I’ve started taking her on ‘walkies’ to a bigger part of the garden (we had originally fenced off a small section for her). I put her harness on as if we’re going for a proper walk (not allowed out until the weekend). It’s quite fun but I haven’t added a lead yet and if she finds something yummy to smell she’s not good at coming back to me so more work to do there!

Yes, sorry @HappyThursdays and @QueenOfToast that was me on my soapbox about dog foods again .

In case I havent posted it recently (unlikely <img loading="lazy" class="inline-flex mumsnet-emoji" alt="Blush" src="https://www.mumsnet.com/build/assets/blush-Brh13p-7.png"> but you never know) this is a good article about why you shouldnt judge a dog food by its ingredients lists, which is how dog food comparison websites rate dog foods. It was written by three Professors of Veterinary Medicine who are all Board qualified Pet Nutritionists too:

vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/06/why-you-shouldnt-judge-a-pet-food-by-its-ingredient-list/

PolePup is on Purina Puppy and PoleDog (my Great Pyr working dog) is on the horrifying Pedigree Chum chicken. Between my fosters and y own dogs I`ve fed just about everything from raw, to homemade (once and as a last resort for one foster) canned, kibble...so long as it has everything they need for their breed, size and life stage, suits them and your vet is happy with their health on it, it will be fine.

@Petalpup thats great news, Im really glad you`re all enjoying it. It does seem to work well, and make it fun too

I love the flowerpot idea too @Petalpup, it brings to mind such a brilliant picture of PetalPup!

Welcome to the thread @SunshineOutdoors too! I think it is always a bit of a shock to the system, and the first few days/weeks/months can have their brutal moments too, especially night time toilet stops in the cold (perhaps buy shares in a coffee plantation in preparation ), but it is a very exciting time

@QueenOfToast a jar of frozen, dog friendly flavoured baby food works well as a training treat too. A couple of licks every time is a bit less overpowering if your pup has a sensitive stomach, and is easier to take out and about when they can start going on walks.
Works well for walking at heel training too. You can freeze cream cheese mixed with tuna in it instead, or even just pureed canned dog food.
Kongs, neither PolePup nor PoleDog are at all food motivated so they get ignored. The cats love them though!
One of my fosters loved them filled with mashed sweet potato and cream cheese, then shoved in the freezer so that the mush freezes and is harder to get out. Again though be careful to make sure its dog friendly, not too high salt etc.

Re your DS, no ideas I`m afraid. Of course you could use offal, that might put him off?

@Doje mine was exactly the same at that age. As someone said, once she got out for walks it stopped more or less overnight. Must be a boredom thing (and she had plenty of toys and chews but she preferred the banister). We got a room divider and just blocked her off from anything we didn't want chewed. The only things in her 'room' were her crate, another bed, all her toys, and a couple of IKEA units we didn't really care about (which of course she didn't chew, clearly they can tell what's expensive!). It'll stop soon though, hopefully.

Speaking of chewing, I was absolutely dreading the teething stage and expecting her to cause havoc and chew furniture but it seems to have been remarkably easy. Has anyone else found that? She's lost a lot of baby teeth and her adult ones are coming in but she seems fine. Am I counting my chickens? Is the worst still to come? She's 5 months.

Morning everyone!

Plantpup is doing well, she has been in the car every day this week so far and I think I’ve worked out that it’s roundabouts/sharpish corners she doesn’t like, as she is quiet as anything on the motorway! Still not quite sure how to fix it but it’s nice sort of knowing what the issue is

She woke up this morning retching. Nothing came up but I looked it up and it said it can be a sign that a puppy is hungry. Have any of you experienced similar with your pups?

@Plantlover23 My 8 month old pup has done that twice in the last two weeks. Its interesting that it could be hunger as she is really fussy about food so it's something I will watch more carefully. Am getting a trial Butternut box today and hope that she will like it

@grannycake Apparently it is to do with the acid in their stomachs if they are empty for too long it makes them feel nauseous! She ate her breakfast after with great enthusiasm so it seems like it probably was the case for mine. My butternut box is arriving on Saturday too

@Plantlover23 Fingers crossed. I'll post later on how she finds it. I have spent so much on food that she just rejects - luckily my sons jack russell happily eats anything I donate to him

Can I just ask a quick question about walks? Do you all go out twice a day?

GeorgiePup (cockapoo) is 17 weeks and bar 1/2 days has gone out for two weeks walks a day for at least 20/30 minutes each time. However I’m struggling if Dh isn’t here (shift worker) and I have to take 3 under 5s out with me (childminder) by myself.

Would it be awful if he just had one walk when DH gets home some days. I would play with him in the garden instead with his ball and have a run around but even crossing the road with them all feels too much. Am I being a wimp? All kids or all dog and I’m fine, but mixing them and I lose my mind

Ours at that age was just getting one walk a day. Off lead usually.

And a lot of things like snuffle mats or treats hidden in newspaper in a big box or in egg boxes, stuff t9 tire her brain out. And 5 minutes training twice a day, that really tired her out.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat also lots of things like tugging games. I think it’s more about tiring their brain out and bonding with some 9lay and training.

But you could pay for a puppy Walker to take them out once a day. We used the grandparents to do that when we couldn’t.

Thank you, that is good to hear.

Yes we have lots of indoor things to keep him occupied as well as the children and stimulation that provides (3 little ones plus my 3 older ones homeschooling).

We are currently doing training with a local dog walker/ day care lady and thinking of seeing if she has space one day a week just to give him and us a change.

@grannycake @Plantlover23 my butternut box arrived on Monday and C4pup seems to be loving it so far!

Georgie - we often only do one walk a day. Things are really tough at the moment with work as I am working extra hours for the vaccine centres and it's tax return time for DH so he's flat out. Also I have a small window after work as due to pugpup eating everything off the floor the thought of walking in the dark is stressful, Obv being a pug means the advice says as long as he's played with lots he doesn't need walking as they are lap dogs as such but he absolutely loves walking and meeting everyone so we do try for at least once a day.

I find the days he does more training he is more worn out so that helps.

We have had loads of success with moving pugpup outside for poos due to using pads early on. He rings a bell to go out and its super cute. Wees are getting there, he is now happy weeing outside and will go whereas before he wouldn't wee in the cold but he is still not asking. He obviously doesn't connect wee and poo but we purposely have always referred to them the same so he knows he just goes out for them, same when using the pad.

He is so good with his training indoors and in the garden, he picks things up so quickly but once distractions are put in his way he loses the plot. We are going to have to keep building up slowly I think.

I generally do two walks a day - around 7:30 and again around 1:00. This means that she sleeps for a couple of hours afterwards and as I am working from home this is hugely helpful. On the weekend we tend to go for a longer walk mid morning and only go out again if she's particularly annoying bouncy

I’m so excited to take plantpup out! She has boundless energy that needs burning off 😂

She is puzzling me today - I upped her food intake after the retching situation this morning to try and prevent that happening again. Since then she’s now pooped MUCH more often than usual, 6 times today so far compared to her normal 3 or 4. They have been quite small poos...but definitely substantial enough. Wondering if this means I upped the food too much!?

Is anyone else feeling the pressure of getting pup socialised before the alleged magic window of time closes? Ours is on walks but only around our local area and he's so little and excitable he hardly makes it any distance. He has met dogs on his walks but hasn't played with another dog yet, and I've tried to book him in for a groom but they're only taking welfare cases. Puppy classes all cancelled here too.
I can't tell if I'm worrying too much or if I'm in danger of having an under socialised dog.