Puppy Survival Thread - March - April

[PugInTheHouse]

Just starting a new thread before we run out on www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4141698-Puppy-Survival-Thread-January-February

Welcome to everyone trying to survive the puppy days!

Fellow BT puppy here. She's a girl but previous JRT did that as a teenage dog. What worked for us was taking him outside every time- sometimes mid wee. You do have to clean the spots obsessively though as otherwise they'll always wee there. Took a couple of weeks but worked.

He's gorgeous by the way

@imovethestarsforno1 we're the same, tried all sorts but the only chew Sparklepup has really chewed on for a decent amount of time was a Pizzle stick and I just can't cope with the smell. Have you tried a stuffed kong? We got the bone one and I stuff some kibble in, put soft cheese or peanut butter in the ends and freeze it. That lasts him a while. Or he will chew a plastic bottle for a while but then obviously you have to be watching to make sure they done manage to chew any bits off.

@sparkle79 he has a pizzle stick but gets bored/ forgets where hes hidden it

@imove the best things I've found are the Yakkers Milk chews and the coffee wood chews. The Yakkers last for a good few days and the coffee wood ones for longer - although he's not constantly chewing them of course, but he does always come back to them.

Petal likes the braided lamb chews and rabbits ears.
She’s had a couple of chicken feet but I’m not sure they agreed with her.
Likes her yak chew
She’s had a couple of goes at an antler and a coffee root but they don’t hold her attention for long.
She’s 16 weeks and has lost her 2 front teeth. So cute!

LondonPuppy was sick in his crate after a nap tonight and is particularly sleepy on me now! Should I be worried? He’s 13 weeks

@PugInTheHouse interested to hear how you progress with leaving pup in the crate. We’ve not managed it yet either when she’s awake. Can’t even leave the room when she’s in playpen without her whining/crying/chewing bars

Currently out for our last toilet trip, which I always have to wake her for and yet again she’s messing about sniffing cracks in slabs and now digging a hole , I mean how long do I stand out here before I give up and just put her back to bed without doing anything!

Half an hour stood in the freezing cold til she did a pee!

@LondonPupMum

LondonPuppy was sick in his crate after a nap tonight and is particularly sleepy on me now! Should I be worried? He’s 13 weeks

Hope he perked up a bit.

@LondonPupMum how is pup today? When Sparklepup was sick we just fed him boiled chicken and rice for a couple of days and then gradually reintroduced his food.

@WeeM that's so annoying. We don't have that problem anymore because we let Sparklepup out on his own aand keep a close eye on him (while he eats everything he shouldn't, digs holes etc) but coukd you have a designated toilet area and take her there first and she can't go anywhere else until she's done a wee + poo?

@WeeM I will do, the trainer has asked me to do specific things to try and resolve (eg try leaving for just 10 seconds with a biscuit and coming back and say 'good stay' as he knows the stay cue well, then just leaving him and wandering out of sight to the kitchen but not leaving the room) He picks things up quickly so I am hoping we'll sort it soon. She said it only seems to be when i leave him as she left him in the kitchen at hers to go and get something and she said he whined for a couple of seconds then just got on with playing with toys and wasn't bothered at all.

Re the weeing outside, he used to take ages for the last wee as he was so sleepy. He is brilliant now, as soon as we say go for a wee he runs in a little circle and has a wee. He is 22 or 23 weeks (can't remember lol) and it took till about two weeks ago to get him weeing on command, he was still having accidents inside also though. We just kept repeating it when he was weeing 'good wee'. We were a bit slack on this at first as he was so good from 8.5 weeks till about 15 weeks we didn't need to but it went downhill after that so we had to go back to basics. I think maybe it will just take time. He doesn't wee in one place but just wees near the edges of the garden.

Partly our fault as we took our eye off the ball but also at about 14 weeks we starting retraining him to go outside (vet told us not to let him out before both vaccines due to foxes in our garden) so he knew to go to pee pad at back door and was 99.9% reliable with that so he was totally confused. If we had properly gone back to basics at that point then I think he would have been fine but stupidly we just assumed we'd catch him heading for the back door and could put him out but it didnt work as he ended up being confused about where to go.

@WeeM also he will go out alone now too but at night I tend to go out with him in case he decides its playtime haha.

@LomdonPupMum, how is pup today? I don't think it's unusual for pups to eat something random in the garden and then throw it back up again. We never had sickness, but did have a week or so of diarrhoea. The vet just said to feed chicken and rice for a couple of days.

@WeeM I remember those days! Pre-Christmas when it was so cold and wet and dark ALL of the time! I don't miss it one bit! You have my sympathies....

@imovethestarsforno1 you inspired me! I left Doberwow in her bed in the lounge and door shut for 5 mins, she was good!

I think Doberwow needs a bigger bed!

@Doje @Sparkle79 @Alonglongway thanks guys. Londonpup seems very perky and happy this morning. We didn’t have any chicken defrosted so I’ve just given him his usual food and will monitor it, he definitely had an appetite poor thing must have been starving! Hope it was just a blip, I also got told by a friend that sometimes when they’re teething they can be poorly?

@Doberwow he looks very content!

@doberwow shes beautiful I have a soft spot for dobies and was looking at breeders but then along came starpup. Our family dog growing up was a rescue collie doberman cross who was the best dog so starpup has some big shoes to fill

hairy cows ears last for quite a long time at that age - you need the ones with muscle and hair. They are really quite repulsive but they do last longer than most chews.

Happy developed a bad tum so can't have any of these chews anymore!

he's also got a tummy bug at the moment - he threw up a few times in the night and I can see at some point, he had gone through the bin as there were some horrible things in his vomit! I don't know how he did that without us noticing - he must have managed to close the lid on it afterwards!

Our big bully used to have yak sticks but we gave all three one each and made all threes mouths bleed. At least we assume they bled as the sticks went red. If it was just the puppies we'd say it's cos they're too little for them but its put me off now. We never had it before.

@WeeM, our trainer said sprinkling a little crushed up kibble outside can encourage them to go to the toilet, I think it’s the sniffing, we give mediumpup the chance to go naturally but just when you feel you are being played a little it can be useful, you only need a little. Pup always goes in the same stinky spot.

Afternoon all!

Dpup is now almost 13 weeks and he is doing great. Still the odd wee in the house, but about 90% of the way there, and down to one wake up at night. He is getting more confident on walks, and good at sitting, waiting (kind of), recall. His nipping is still there when he is excited, but getting better all the time.

Next thing is getting him used to being alone for short bursts. He is in a crate at night in our room, and settles great, but obviously we are still in the room. Any tips for a good treat we can give him to keep him occupied? He can scoff a stuffed Kong in no time, so was wondering about something a bit more time consuming to chew on whilst we leave him for short bursts?

Kids go back to school next week. I can take him on school run (and probably will the first few times), but ideally would like to get to a place where I can leave him for 30-40 mins at a time in his crate, and eventually get him confident enough to ditch the crate and go an hour or two in the kitchen if we were going out to the shops/cinema. No great rush so we can work up gently.

Doh, should have looked at the messages above! Will try some of those!!