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 just had a look at this Butternut box. NotQuitePup is not a big fan of the whole eating thing, unless it's crumbs the kids dropped. We're thinking of swapping from the kibble the breeder recommended to wet food or a mix. It looks like its a good deal for proper food, how are people finding it?

@NotQuiteUsual www.butternutbox.com/Caitlin73

C4pup is loving it, his bowl is empty every time. The different flavours don’t seem to affect him either considering it’s essentially changing his food every day. I’d definitely give it a try

@grannycake fingers crossed it will be a grower! Have you tried heating it up? Plantpup was even more excited after I popped it in the microwave for 10seconds

@NotQuiteUsual I only started transitioning mine over to it yesterday but so far so good! She was never especially interested in her dry kibble, would eat it but never particularly enthusiastically. Seems much keener on butternut so far

For those of you who have got fully toilet trained pups, how did you know they were fully trained rather than it just being luck of the draw? Plantpup rarely has accidents inside now (1 here in the last week) but I’m not sure if its just because I’m so vigilant with her signals and taking her out regularly rather than her being trained iyswim. She won’t go in her crate and will whine until I let her out if she does need to go and will go outside straightaway, but outside of her crate in the house I’m not so sure

@Plantlover23 Thanks - keeping my fingers crossed (I've tried warming but no difference). The trick is getting her to actually try something new! Toileting - I would say she has been reliably trained since about 16 weeks but we have had a poo accident in the crate at night once and one puddle last week - both times I was not quick enough. She rings a bell to go out but she can also use the bells to be annoying if she thinks she's being ignored

C4itl thank you for the code!!

DH bought some wet food and she loved it mixed 50/50 with her kibble. I have a feeling we'll end up moving to wet food long term though with what a fuss pot NotQuitePup is. It's a great feeling seeing them love their food after they've been refusing it.

We're not having many accidents here, but she's definitely not toilet trained, we're just hyper vigilant. Will be interesting to see how she goes next week when DH is back at work and I'm homeschooling two reluctant pupils.

@NotQuiteUsual I mix it with dry food too, I tried going to only wet food before and he couldn’t get his head around the fact that he was still getting fed the same (probably more) because it didn’t have dry mixed in so he was going crazy barking for more food

@Plantlover23 we had a rocky time with toilet training and I think we knew finally when we realised we had stopped thinking 'does the dog need a wee' and stopped regularly taking him out. For us that was the key moment we knew it was done!

We are absolutely loving having pup now. He's so much fun to take out for walks and he's everything we hoped for. Biggest issue still is his over excitement - I don't mind him wanting to greet other dogs and he will recall from them but a big big issue is him greeting other people, most of whom will have no interest in greeting a wet and muddy dog. The problem is if anyone shows any interest in greeting him, he will respond to that and I worry about him jumping up and making people filthy and potentially knocking someone over.

We are still having a rocky time with toilet training. Poos he is fine with, rings the bell to go out or sits and waits at back door. Signs are easier to tell also I guess. Wees he was fine with from about 9 weeks but he has gone seriously backwards.

I have been keeping a track and from tea time he seems to go so often. Sometimes more than every hour. I have no idea what to do. He is doing wees outside and we are praising and treating him, anything inside we aren't, we just clear it up.

He is 19 weeks now and it is seriously getting me down. Generally earlier in the day he will go a few hours, he also goes 8 hours minimum at night. He wakes up and we take him straight out about 645am.

I should add that I know the main issue is that we used the pee pads on the vets advice and she said it shouldn't be an issue. I am at my wits end to be honest.

@PugInTheHouse we’re at 19 weeks too and C4pup has got the hang of toileting during the day and will go to the back door each time, but we’re still having to get up at 4am and then 7am to let him out. I’m guessing our dogs will be a similar size (mini dachshund) and it sounds like we’ve got a bit of an opposite routine, you’ve got the hang of the nights and we’ve got the hang of the days

I have no idea how we even sorted the days tbh, it just came with time. Have you tried that trick of taking the pee pad outside once he’s done a wee on it? We didn’t use pee pads but when my parents got a puppy that’s how we trained him

Also when C4pup had an accident we put him outside straight away even if we knew he wasn’t going to do another wee out there, not sure whether it helped or not though...

@C4itl yes we tried putting the pads outside, he ripped them up I think it is just going to be perseverance. I think I will have to go back to basics of sticking him outside more regularly and waiting till he wees.

Its so annoying as he was going to the backdoor every time and now he's not. He does for poos so he clearly doesn't connect wees and poos at all.

I will try putting him outside every time he wees indoors also. It doesn't help that I feel I'm getting no help with it all either so its making me feel down. The others are not consistent with any of the training and it drives me insane. For instance I am training him to wait at the lounge door whilst I answer the door, he's getting really good but sometimes he tries to follow me first. The kids end up grabbing him and taking him back completely defeating the object.

@PugInTheHouse ah there’s just me and my boyfriend here, no kids, I can imagine it’s a lot harder having to make sure everyone is doing the same thing!

@C4itl yes it is tricky. Youngest is autistic and can be a bit 'enthusiastic' so tries to help and ends up not really helping. DH just forgets what he's supposed to do. Eldest DC is pretty good as he's a sensible head bless him.

Still sounds like we have a while to go on the toileting front then!

@PugInTheHouse I have had a similar issue a couple of times where she has weed outside then come in and almost straightaway weed inside!? Very puzzled when that happens

At what age did your pups all become even a tiny bit more chilled? When plantpup is awake she is 100mph. She will very rarely (unless in the kitchen with me interestingly) play quietly with a toy or a chew. As soon as we go into a room like the lounge it’s zoomies after zoomies.

@Plantlover23 obviously being a pug he loves snuggles so sits on the sofa having a cuddle and sleeps lots but when he's not doing that he's quite hectic. The only other times he is more chilled (or at least not zooming around) is when he has his antler or lickimat. He will happily spend 20/30 with a lickimat with peanut butter on.

Has anyone got any ideas for something else we can use on the lickimat? He loves the peanut butter but I think it makes him really thirsty which at the moment with his wee issues is not ideal.

@PugInTheHouse I’ve just ordered a lickimat as they seem to be so popular! Hoping maybe it’ll occupy her for a while. It came in a bundle with one of the lickimat sprinkles? Crushed up biscuits I think they are. Not sure on their ingredients etc so will check when it arrives but that could be an option?

Thanks. Just thinking peanut butter is probably a bit salty which is maybe causing him to be so thirsty. As much as we wouldn't limit his water we need to crack the indoor weeing and if he's weeing every half hour to an hour randomly all evening we are at a loss at how to sort lol.

Hi everyone I'm here for some solidarity and I'm already feeling quite reassured by the messages here. We have a 13 week old patterdale pup, she is lots of fun but it has definitely been an interesting ride so far! Now she's had all her vaccinations we can go out more and she is slowly getting used to other people and dogs though she's still jumpy and way too enthusiastic but I hope that will just be some time and practice needed (we've managed to get a few puppy classes booked in but not for a few weeks)

The main challenge at the moment is barking. I know as a breed patterdales can be vocal and I am working on 'quiet' as a cue which seems to work if it's distant noises but we have a big hedge in our garden with other gardens behind. Whenever a back door is opened or there is a noise in one of the gardens like a bin lid closing she will immediately go full pelt into the hedge and bark very loudly. She then is too focused to listen and I have to try and grab hold of her to get her away. It's making me feel really stressed about her being outside in the mornings in particular.
We don't know those neighbours as their front doors face onto the next road along.
Any tips greatly appreciated!

We have wees straight away after she's been out too. According to a youtuber dog lady, ouppies aren't always good at emotyingtheir bladder in one go, so if you think the whole wee didn't come out, give them a few more minutes.

NotQuitePup is very lazy. I know her breed are very chill though. She gets zoomies, but after some tug of war, running about after the football and belly rubs, she's happy to entertain herself. I kind of expected her to be more energetic, so I end up worrying she's sleeping too much, but her siblings are the same I'm told.

No advice about barking I'm afraid oriel hopefully your neighbours are understanding.

Oh I forgot to say, how are you guys handling seperation anxiety? NotQuitePup has is really badly, I know Newfies are prone to it and expected it to be a big job. Butbi went yo Asda for 20 minutes this moenong while she stayed with dh and the kids abd poor thing couldn't relax at all. When we put the kids to bed she really struggles too. Since DH works from home and I'm at hone with the kids, it's not much drama right now. But I'd like her to be ok about me popping to the shops.

@puginthehouse Puppypup is over five months and we still have the odd accident. It's only wees, it's always in the evening when we're more relaxed and less 'on it' and it's when we haven't noticed him hanging around the back door - and so he wees next to it.

We've mostly cracked it now through having a few days taking turns to watch him all the time - and i mean actively watching for any hint he might need to go, following him if he gets up etc. I found there was definitely a period of time when he went for a wee around every 45 minutes all through the evening and we'd assume that because he had only just gone he wouldn't need to again, then we would have a puddle,

@Puppypuppypuppy its exactly that, we keep thinking we're safe for a couple of hours and we're not

This all sounds very familiar! I’ve just had to let plantpup go on the kitchen floor as they are currently digging up the road outside my house (literally RIGHT outside the door) and she was absolutely terrified of all the loud noises and definitely wasn’t going to. So frustrating

We have stepped it up a gear today, I got really upset last night and DH knew part of it was that no one else was pulling their weight. He has had all his wees outside so far and the 1st one on a walk! I have taken him out within 5 mins of eating or waking up. Sometimes came back in but I played with him or sat him on my lap then took him out again.

I am also monitoring when he is drinking. I guess ideally he would have bigger amounts of water less often but I don't feel right not just leaving water out all the time. Both the vet and the trainer said to just give water with meals and snacks but on here people feel very strongly about doing this so I am really torn. I am wondering if controlling it (not limiting) for a few days will help us reinforce the wees outside then he will automatically ask to go and we can just him to it with the water. We don't take it away at night and he's fine even if he has some just before bed.

This is my busiest work week but today is the quietest day. I am not sure how I will manage the rest of the week, could be looking at VERY long work days lol.

@PugInTheHouse I forgot to mention, there's an app called Puppy Potty Log which you can put in when they've had a drink, something to eat, when they wee or poo and it creates a prediction and sends a notification when to take them out! I've been using it more for tracking his poos as we've changed his food not long ago and I wanted to see whether it was making a difference to the frequency of them, but it's really handy.

It's worth a try, the icon is a green hill with a yellow fire hydrant Even if the predictions aren't very accurate it's handy to look back on the days and get an idea of when he's going out.