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!

@Sparkle79 ours is 5.5 months so fingers crossed. I do give her a chance to settle every day but she only settles outside the crate after 8pm. During the day she just runs around jumps on the sofa to get on the windowsill, barks at pigeons, jumps on the other window, scares those pigeons, back to the other...you get the picture .

I do worry about the amount she jumps on and off things as they aren’t really supposed to but I have no idea how to stop it. Tried blocking off access to the sofa and she jumped over the pen...unfortunately we don’t have a kitchen we can sit in because she’d probably settle better in a more boring room like that!

Frenchpup decided to see what electric fencing tasted like! She was not impressed. We had just stopped to say hello to the nearby horses as most mornings. She seemed to think it was the horses fault!

@Sparkle79 this gives me some hope that doboodup will settle down in the next few months!

She’s a 15 week old lab. Our main issue at the moment is that when she is awake, she wants our attention, and will jump on the couch repeatedly if she isn’t getting it. She’ll also jump repeatedly on the couch if she feels like it’s a mealtime and I should be feeding her (generally in the 15 minutes before mealtime!)

She’s not allowed on the couch - it seems to be pure attention seeking. My husband can get her down with a stern ‘down!’, but I don’t seem to have the same authority. If I lift her down, I get some snarling and teeth trying to stop me. Ignoring can work but takes ages and feels like it’s reinforcing the behaviour. Throwing a treat definitely works but I really feel it’s reinforcing the behaviour! (And she ten just returns to the couch generally)

Any tips anyone?

@Frenchfancy oh dear! Hope French pup is ok

@Doboopedoo have you tried throwing a toy to fetch? Sparklepup is the same and I wonder if it's reinforcing too (and also worry about the whole jumping thing) but throwing a toy usually works, or running out of the room calling him in an exciting voice (and then frantically thinking of something exciting to do with him)

@Doboopedoo that said, the "no puppy on the couch" lasted about 6 weeks and now we actively encourage him to come up for cuddles

@Sparkle79 throwing a toy works sometimes, then she jumps back on the couch with the toy......

I did actually ask my husband the other week why we were doing this, as our couches are ancient, but consistency is good (and I want her to know not all couches are fair game whenever we can visit other houses!) we have cuddles on the floor instead!

@Doboopedoo Mine was a nightmare with the couch when she was younger, just really hyper on it. She also got down when DP told her but nipped and growled at me if I tried to get her off. We used a room divider to block her access to the couch until she calmed down. She seemed to just grow out of it and now we've got rid of the room divider and she's allowed on the couch. I'd just block her access and stop her doing the bad behaviour. She might find some other way to attention seek but you can deal with that if/when it happens.

Booked pup in for her spay in two weeks. I'm dreading it

@SpreadHummusNotHate exactly the same with the not settling outside the crate issue here! Although it seems really location dependent as she will happily sleep on my parents sofa and in beds at daycare, it is just at my house she seemingly can’t settle anywhere else 🤨

We have had the WORST night, Plantpup has woken me up about 3 times. I don’t think she likes the wind as it’s not been for the toilet!

Morning guys! Londonpup is doing well, he’s getting more chilled out at 14 weeks and can occasionally fall asleep on the sofa with us instead of having to be put in the crate to nap! Mouthing has got less and less too except when he’s overtired or overexcited.

The only real issues we have are walks. Leash walking is tiring and he does pull a lot, especially when we’re nearly home. He has started to learn heel but distractions are more exciting for him. We’re doing some park walks where we pop him on the longline and he loves it, maybe 70% of the time he comes without us having to reel him in!

We want him to be dog friends with our friends 6 month puppy, who is fairly calm, but he gets super excited around her still. Anyone have recommendations on how to get him to be calm around her?

So Doberwow is 11 weeks today.

Excellent at toileting on demand
Good in crate at night, takes a while to settle (about 20 mins last night). Then slept until 5.10.
Excellent during the day as in sleeps for a long time in her bed when I'm working (she can see me).
Does sit and stay well.
Teaching her too seek out treats.

But

The biting and attacking our clothes is incessant and I just can't get her to stop. Tell her ah ha, move away. Move out of the room momentarily. Come back and she's at it again, jumping up also.

My feet and ankles and a state.

I'm happy If this is a phase, but should I be more concerned?

She is only 11 weeks.
TIA

Petal’s not perfect at all with the biting at feet and clothes but the idea is to get in first with a toy so that they don’t have the chance to get at your skin/clothes. If they’re not interested in toy then then find a better one!
Or drop good treats on the floor so that they are on the ground and then give them praise while they have all 4 paws on the ground.
Turn back and don’t engage at all with them when biting so there’s no reward or attention.
Petal is worst with me and ds and hardly does it at all to dd and dh-dd because she isn’t that interested in the dog and therefore not very exciting and dh because he just scoops her up and cuddles her like a baby and she seems to lap it up and relax

@doberwow you need toys scattered at strategic points round the house and don't even approach pup unless you have something to redirect it. Biting here happened due to tiredness and overstimulation so make sure pup is sleeping enough and try and limit 'tuggy' games when he is in the biting moood.

Puppypup did a fair amount of biting, mostly of me, and it's the only thing that worked long term. Also not putting myself in situations where he was on a level with me - for eg being on the sofa or the floor. Removing myself from the situation was always really hard - i would end up dragging him across the room attached to my leg to get away from him which made him even more excited.

Better morning here for us but dh home this morning. Got a double ended halti lead so helping this helps me with the girls.

Regards the sofa ours were allowed on from day 1 as I'm soppy and love cuddles with them but cant sit on the floor for long as very hard flooring. I think distraction and cordoning off areas is key. We have to do this for parts of our home as we dont like them in certain areas as lots of delicate non puppy friendly things.

@Doberwow, it just takes perseverance and unfortunately, time. As others have said, always have a toy to intercept - I carried one in my back pocket, and had them dotted around the house. The best thing we did was to teach him 'find a toy', and now (on the good days) he comes to us with a toy to play with, or we say 'find a toy' and off he pops to find one and the comes back. It's ace when it works!

This weather is driving me nuts! Dpup hasn't weed since 7am this morning. Every time he goes out he's either distracted by leaves blowing around, or terrified of things banging because of the wind. And he's not napped, again because what's going in outside is far too interesting!

We are also having the sofa battle! He’s just got big enough to jump up and is now drinking from cups on the coffee table, stealing papers to eat and it was the safe haven for the mindees if they wanted to move away from him 🙄

In better news, ditching the crate has been so easy! He just snoozes on his blanket on the lounge floor and even though sometimes I can see on the monitor that he is awake, he doesn’t move. The only reason we have to still get up early is to give him meds but we can adjust those timings when we get his levels right.

@Sparkle79 @SpreadHummusNotHate @Plantlover23 happy to read some solidarity about not settling at all outside of crate. Mehpup is only 11 weeks so I'm sure will get better at relaxing as he gets older, but I'm feeling really guilty about the amount of time he's spending in his crate. He's never awake in there and has plenty of treats and chews etc, just had all these lovely ideas of him napping at my feet or on the sofa with us. No chance!

If anyone has any reassurance of their older pups freely wandering the house, snoozing as they choose without turning into the tazmanian devil it would be greatly appreciated

Springer and working cocker owners!! Can I have ideas for all your activities? inside, and out? We are both getting a bit bored with our usual ball-finding in the hedges in the garden. Am doing a bit of off-lead heel work, and a bit of loose-lead - house, garden, and a bit in the lane. Recall, in the garden - (which is more like a small field with trees and hedges)

She is 6 months next Monday, and starting to ignore me/the whistle. We have good days and bad days! Sometimes she is lovely and biddable, and sometimes just plain wild.
She has started to sleep through properly - even last night, through all the wind, which is amazing as I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep since she came home :D

All suggestions and reassurance really welcome x

@Mehmaid Yes, yes, & yes! It can be done!! My Springer was insane in the house when younger - up to about 18 wks. She was confined to the kitchen and garden - wet muddiness also dictated this.
She has a mat or a dog bed in two other places in the house, and she has been allowed short periods in other rooms - starting if she is calmer in the evening. Then allowing her to follow me around a bit when I’m doing stuff, and praise for being calm. She started to take to her dog bed in another room, and also sniff around other rooms instead of going crazy. She has got used to ‘out’ and ‘off’, and sit & stay for doors, if I want her to stay behind in a room (she is very good at this), or have manners and waiting for me to say she can go through (fairly hopeless at that still).
She will aim for & sit in her comfy spot now, and not jump on the chairs most of the time. Since she was 21 wks, I have invited her into the sitting room to lounge in her bed while I sit in a comfy sofa. She sniffs around, but is good and will eventually fall asleep in her bed next to my chair.
If she starts to be naughty, it’s back to the kitchen! (where her crate is, and she’ll settle in there)
I think it’s a mix of enforcing boundaries consistently (using the same words for things and being strict!), her growing up and calming a bit and getting more familiar with her home.
If I can make progress with a working Springer, anyone can!! X

@DoubleTweenQueen honestly thank you so much for this! We are totally relegated to the kitchen/diner 95% of the time and I'm missing my sofa But this gives me hope that one day we'll get there. He's a border terrier so high energy but smaller, if you managed it by 18 weeks there's no reason we can't too - thanks for the advice!

@Mehmaid, I have an 18 week old springer and he's been chilling out with me in the living room of an evening for about a month now. At 11 weeks I thought it would never happen!

Daytime chilling out is still a work in progress though! Sometimes he chills out with me in the living room, but if he gets too excited we head back to the kitchen where he'll flop on the floor, or in his crate. To be fair, this is the first week we've been able to chill during the day as the kids are back in school! Before then, there was no chill-out time!

Oh, and right now he's in his crate cos he's too mucky for the living room! 🤣

@Doje that's two replies for 18 weeks, I'll start counting down the days Thanks so much, you've given me hope!

@DoubleTweenQueen I have a Springer but we don't do anything you haven't mentioned to be honest. Just a lot of reinforcing the usuals - sit, wait, leave it. We hide his toys in the garden which he loves, and I do a loose lead practise when we have 10 minutes. Working on 'drop' which he's good at in the house, but no so much in the garden. I also watched a video and we now do 'spin' and 'twirl'. 😁 I'll watch this space and see if there's any more ideas from others!

@Mehmaid we have a cavalier spaniel and he’s starting to chill on the sofa but only occasionally and usually the hour right before bed. It’s a big contrast from a couple weeks ago though. He’s 14 weeks so here’s hoping it’ll continue getting more often

Thanks @Doje :) She wasn’t listening this morning, but has been better this afternoon, and we’ve been enjoying the rain!!

Thankfully, I have been able to book her onto a gundog training class starting in early April which I’ve been waiting for, and we missed puppy class so this should be a shot in the arm for our training! (mostly me)

@Mehmaid You will get there! It was not great being stuck in the kitchen in the cold evenings - the chairs aren’t very comfortable! And it's been lush getting back to a sofa. I would see how your pup progresses with being calmer in the house, and give it a try as soon as you dare! You will get your life back!! X