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!

@WeeM I think it just comes in time, although I think pugpup has always been happier sleeping with/on one of us. In the mornings when he was getting up mega early i could bring him downstairs and we'd lay on the sofa and go back to sleep, he'd often sleep an hour or two past his bedtime. He used to nap in the crate but if I got up from the sofa he would wake up and start scratching to get out so now he just snoozes next to be on the sofa most of the day, or on my feet or his new favourite spot - on the back of the sofa.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I’m so glad you’ve had a good day. You definitely deserve it.

[quote PugInTheHouse]@WeeM I think it just comes in time, although I think pugpup has always been happier sleeping with/on one of us. In the mornings when he was getting up mega early i could bring him downstairs and we'd lay on the sofa and go back to sleep, he'd often sleep an hour or two past his bedtime. He used to nap in the crate but if I got up from the sofa he would wake up and start scratching to get out so now he just snoozes next to be on the sofa most of the day, or on my feet or his new favourite spot - on the back of the sofa.[/quote]
Omg too cute! Ours used to sleep on the couch/in her bed for the first few weeks but won’t entertain it now. All she does with the bed is chew it/dig in it/drag it about . Hopefully she’ll come back to it.

We had our first training session today. The humiliation! Dpup had a massive puppy tantrum. I don’t know how else to describe it. Trainer was trying to show me a method for loose lead walking and dpup threw her self all over the place, was biting the lead, whining her head off and finally sat down and refused to move. Trainer was very good. Just said ‘she’s a bit of a drama queen, isn’t she?’ Dpup was perfectly happy by the end of the session... actually quite adoring of the trainer. At the end the trainer was commenting that, despite being distantly related, dpup looks very different to her springers. Said that dpup was chunkier and was probably going to be huge.

So basically I have a chunky drama queen of a springer spaniel.

I did that that if she wants to meet a chunky drama queen I should bring my 3 year old next time.

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore
Sorry but that really made me laugh 😂
I’m also intrigued about the loose lead method the trainer was showing you - or did you not get that far?

@SpreadHummusNotHate how scary for you. Hope Hummuspup is okay. Sounds like he will be if he was sick

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat that's great to hear!

@ashmts how does your trainer teach the asking permission thing?

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore

Sparklepup has been so lovely the last week, really seemed to calm down and stop biting, but the last couple of days he's been really naughty and really bitey - he'll spit a toy out and deliberately go for our arms / feet / legs / whatever body part us closest. But we've found a couple of teeth and blood on toys so I'm hoping that's what it is and he'll go back to being calm again soon because I was actually starting to enjoy him

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore how funny/embarrassing! Glad the trainer was good!
Petal shows me up every time on the zoom training as it’s at the time she’d normally be snoozing. She spends half the time blocking the screen with her big bum and the other half being much more bitey than usual.

Funny and humiliating in equal measure!

@Colourmylife1 We started by trying to get pup to walk closer to me and be more aware of where I am. So I walked with pup off lead and every time she ran ahead of me, I turned around and walked in the opposite direction. The first few times she went bloody miles before turning around and realising I was heading away from her in the other direction! When she came after me and caught up with me - reward. By the end she was turning around to check where I was after a few metres. Then we put the lead on her (and the massive tantrum happened! ) and I walked with her maybe 10 metres with her walking to heel. Practiced keeping my arm down by my left side, saying ‘heel’ once (rather than every 5 seconds as I usually do!) rewarding as she kept by my heel and then as I got to the end of the 10 metres, turning in front of her so she had to turn close to me on the inside, walk another 10 metres, put into a sit and repeat (many, many times!)

@SpreadHummusNotHate Thinking of you and Hummuspup this morning - hope she is tickity-boo and raring to come home x

@ashmts I would also love to know HOW to teach them to ask permission! I need that in my life. Pup is finding all sorts of things to chew and I have to be on the ball constantly - mostly with a tasty treat to swap - but it's very stressful! I'm sure she's eaten things she shouldn't.

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore That's funny about your Springer! I did lol! I must say, getting mine to 'heel' was impossible when she was a younger jumpy crocodile, but am trying to persist now she's 6mths and has more sensible episodes. Am doing short practices in house and garden with treats at every step she takes near my left side. We do short bits of loose lead in the garden and lane outside the house with roast chicken and lots of changing direction. Tried a 10m long line in the field behind us once - once! Will put that off a bit longer!
Have some gundog training lined up to start early April, which I'm hoping will be the start of upping our obedience, particularly as she goes through adolescence. Am desperate to go on long off-lead rambles with her.

I have to now take her into town on the school run next week as we have our first puppy date lined up so want to get her used to going in the car and the town/park environment. Hoping she will be lovely, but we've all been a bit sheltered with our own company for soo long. This also makes me a bit nervous how she will behave at gundog classes......

Honestly - I think it's actually more complicated than having a new baby!

Thanks every HummusPup is home this morning and immediately back to her normal self tearing around the house and jumping on the sofa - her blood glucose was normal all night apparently so don’t think there were any ill effects from the chewing gum luckily. Going to be so paranoid out on walks now though - walks were already out bugbear as she terrible on lead and very patchy recall so can now add the stress of looking for litter as well!!

We actually have a one to one with our trainer today to look at some of our walking issues - thought we might have to cancel it but I think we can go ahead so that’s something! She’s a Sprocker so half springer sounds like a few of us have spanners + outdoor struggles!

@Sparkle79 @DoubleTweenQueen We're absolutely not there yet with asking for permission but in theory the eye contact and impulse control exercises we work on should get us there eventually. I did a long post recently about how she teaches impulse control. I can't quite believe how much progress we made so quickly, a couple of months ago my pup was a hoover and now she just doesn't touch stuff. Last night I left my dinner on the coffee table, and later a plate of biscuits, and left the room to put the kettle on or something and she just doesn't touch them. Eye contact is very much a work in progress, but the trainer says spaniels find this harder than a lot of other breeds. We've finished our block of training so we've got a bit of a break before I sign up to something else. Have to say we've slacked a bit on practising outside (the weather's been awful in my defence) so the plan is to practise what we can already do inside, outside.

I quite fancy gundog training. Do you need to start it young? I'm reluctant to sign up to anything in person till we're out of this bloody lockdown, we already had f2f puppy classes cancelled and not refunded. (And I'm in Scotland so at this rate we'll be locked down till 2023)

@SpreadHummusNotHate glad pup is back to normal. I am horrified by the amount of rubbish now I have a dog - I really didn't notice it as much before.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat that update was so lovely to read!

@ashmts I really want to do agility training with Puppypup but I am the same re signing up to anything at the moment. Is gundog and agility the same/similar?

Puppypup's stomach has settled with chicken and rice diet but we're still waiting for lab results before reintroducing other food. It's a bit of a pain. I was planning to start working up to leaving him this week but it's been such a weird week I haven't yet. @PugInTheHouse have you made any progress with Pugpup - I know you were thinking about it too.

Does anyone have any camera recommendations for spying on pup when alone?

@Puppypuppypuppy we have a Littlelf camera to spy on pup whilst she’s in the crate it seems to work well and was easy to set up, think it cost about £30 so much cheaper than a furbo

Thank you all! I really love this thread. It’s such a niche world having a puppy that it’s lovely to have support for through it all.

I would also be interested in a new camera. We currently use a baby video monitor at night but it’s pretty crap when it’s very dark. Also can’t be used when I leave the house. The others we’ve seen though require an app to view which would be awkward at night when I just want to glance and check when I roll over.

So pleased Hummuspup is home and doing well. I remember rejoicing when GeorgiePup starting doing naughty things again as it meant he was feeling himself

star pup had his second jabs this morning and only woke up once last night. He celebrated this by puking on the way home from tje vet and managing to get it all over dc's leg and booster seat. i thank past me for getting waterproof seat covers.

@Puppypuppypuppy well I havent actually left him yet properly but the trainer observed him in the crate when I left him and he is actually now just barking a bit rather than the distressed hyperventilating he was doing before so it is really just him being a drama queen. I have just bought a camera and its brilliant so I am going to make sure he's had a wee then pop him in the crate and walk round the block and watch what he does, will try a short time to see at what point he stops barking and will take it from there.

Had progress yesterday where I was in and out of the room as was clearing the spare room out and after about 15 mins he got fed up of following me and just settled in the lounge and stopped following me.

The camera we got was from amazon, about £30 for 2 and you can watch it live, also record with a memory card. Picture is pretty clear.

We have this camera here, I’m amazed at the quality for the price. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PDPZFGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_C63N2YGRPPD6WM4HBVYM?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

@ashmts thanks, will read through your other post.

Does everyone brush their puppy's teeth?

@Sparkle79 I try to! On average one of dpup’s toothbrushes lasts 2 days though.... if anyone knows of an indestructible toothbrush...

@SpreadHummusNotHate Pup’s trainer told me yesterday that people say labs are born half trained and spaniels die half trained which made me laugh!

I do brush their teeth but some days we forget

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat so glad things are going better

I've had a lovely day with Happy but he is absolutely furious about his long line - he was v good today but we are going to keep it on a lot longer given it's spring time around here so a lot of pregnant animals so he is really permanently on lead at the moment . I'm not sure we will ever get the confidence to let him off fully after what he did before! The upside is that his on lead walking has come on loads because he's getting a lot more practice!

Oh, can I join you?
I've just skimmed through this thread, holding my breath to see when it gets better, and it sounds like it's going to be a long wait...
CondiPup is eleven weeks, and I'm swinging between thinking he's the best thing ever, and crying about what an idiot I was to think I could manage it.
But it's definitely better than three weeks ago... just... am going to have another look through for the advice on "getting crazed dog to check in before eating your stuff"

@morethanacondiment You are very welcome to join and share!! Lots of sympathy and helpful experience here!

You need to post a pic of your pup though!