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!

Thanks all, I’ll try this.

We have a small garden but it takes an eternity to get to so we were in house training at night.

By the way - I’ve been told I’m training too early. At how many weeks did you toilet rain your pups?

We toilet trained GeorgiePup from the moment we bought him home. We adopted The Watcher approach from Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy and he was clean overnight immediately never having an accident in his crate and during the day by 12 weeks. Ironically had a 2x wee accident overnight two nights ago (24 weeks now) but that was the morning he had his seizure so possibly wasn’t feeling himself.

Thanks @GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I’ll have a look at that!

He’s not in the crate anymore he just sleeps in the lounge but the accidents were in the kitchen so he at least has manners

@Brazilianut We started straight away too although we did have a lot of accidents to start with. Their bladders are so little and they're just babies. Ours was trained for poos outside within 5 weeks and pees within 8 weeks of getting her. If you move pup downstairs and sleep beside him will it be easier to get to the garden? That's what we did to save carrying her downstairs, not sure what your layout is like.

Oh yes so many puddles in the first few week! We had an enzyme cleaner to try and reduce him finding his scent and using the same spot. We (well Dh) slept downstairs until he was sleeping through.

Definitely toilet train from day 1.

Same as the others we started toilet training at 8 weeks. We had a pee pad at the back door as vet advised due to a fox issue not to let him in the garden till after 2nd jabs. Within a few days he was automatically going to the pad to wee. Unfortunately once we took it away and tried going outside it all went wrong so we went back to basics of taking him outside regularly. They definitely do understand at 8/9 weeks though. He could be in the middle of playing and would stop and run to the back door to wee or poo. I wouldn't recommend the pads but for us we had little choice if we listened to our vet. I think if we ever did it again we may build a little area in the garden we can disinfect regularly rather than training inside first as it would have been much quicker to get him sorted.

Re night time, pugpup was in a crate next to me in our room and would whine when he needed a wee/poo in the night. At first we woke him after 4 hours but he was so sleepy it didn't seem right so we left him and he woke up after about 4.5/5 hours for the toilet. The general advice is if they are waking and having an accident before you get up to take them out then set your alarm for an hour before that. So perhaps set alarm for 2am, if pup hasn't had an accident by then you can increase by 15 mins each day.

I should have said overnight he was fine with no accidents 90% of the time straight away, had the odd poo accident but that was when his tummy wasn't quite right, a few wees when I was so tired I didn't wake up when he whined.

Day time with the pads and reliably going off on his own really early, 9/10 weeks but then at 15/16 weeks we had more accidents than ever. He was ok by about 23 weeks again and will ring a bell to ask to go now. It felt like a long process for us but we made mistakes with it as just assumed as he was so good with the pad he'd automatically go outside. Bizarrely with poos he asked to go outside every time, it was just the wees.

Hi all can I join please!

Picking up our puppy tomorrow. She’s 8.5 weeks, a little Maltese bichon cross (I can’t say maltichon, it’s not even a thing)

Have her crate and bed ready. Also have cleared a space for her in a cupboard to have a room to get away from my dd6 when she needs time out. Planning on crate training her first then letting her try the room and see how she goes.

We visited her a few weeks ago and brought a teddy of DDs for her so she has our scent.

We have a carrier to take to pick her up as it will only be DD and I as DP works away. I don’t trust dd6 to hold her for the first journey until we get to know each other.

I’ll try attach a picture. She’s adorable. I’m nervous as I’ve only ever had large male dogs, I’ve never dealt with a tiny female.

Just realised I’m gonna have to call her bumdog on here aren’t I 🤣

😂 how about DiggyDog instead?!

Agree with the others, definitely toilet train from day one, however I think a lot of the progress does come from age, and bladder maturity so don't expect progress straight away especially with wees. I think they have an inherent urge to poo not where they live, so poos are much easier to get outside (in my very limited, one pup experience!)

Can I just come in here and moan?...

I’ve got a 5 month old rescue - only ever been in kennels and a shelter till I took him 12 days ago. So not as straightforward as he should be at that age.

He’s scared of men, didn’t know that before I took him on and I have 2 here (DS is an adult) and is freaked out by half the things that exist in houses still.

I know why he’s reacting like he is, I know what to do, we’re making slow progress... but dear god, the barking is unbearable....

He literally just sat up and started barking because I breathed (to be fair, he was sleeping and I kind of snorted at something and he didn’t know it was me, but still...)

He’s very sweet for about 10 minutes a day, between bouts of puppy zooms, chewing everything and the barking, lol

He’s learned his name, sit, touch, he’s halfway there with down, I’m now at the shutting the door stage of crate training, he has now accepted that my DS is ok to walk about, he’ll approach DP cautiously as long as he’s sat next to me (DP I mean, not the puppy) so he is making progress with stuff.

Just the barking is driving me demented... I tell you he’d better be the best dog ever when he grows up or I don’t think I’ll ever forgive the barking, rofl...

would also say re toileting that not every dog is quick. Happy hardly ever pooed inside but took till 5.5 months to get the weeing outside reliably. He was just too excited or too distracted and he wouldn't ever stop something fun to go and wee! At 7.5 months now, I can't actually remember the last time we had an accident but we were certainly having them a lot right up to 5.5 months!

re the off lead stuff, you need to be very careful if your dog approaches others when off lead and you can't call them back. A lot of reactive dogs are walked on lead and if you can't call your dog back and he/she approaches them, they could end up getting bitten or attacked so it's a really crucial skill to teach them when they are young enough to learn!

I agree with Happy re the toileting. I really thought we were sorted by 4 months but it is really common to have regressions, or just general ups and downs. 5/5.5 months a normal age judging many comments on here for really reliable toileting. There is a huge difference from just putting pup out and catching all wees to a pup who is aware of when they need to go and asking.

Hi everyone, I have a 10 week old puppy which we have had for 5 days and I'm having a complete wobble about it. He's lovely but I feel really overwhelmed and feel like I've made a huge mistake. Not sure what I'm after to be honest. Maybe some reassurance...

@Justme78

Hi everyone, I have a 10 week old puppy which we have had for 5 days and I'm having a complete wobble about it. He's lovely but I feel really overwhelmed and feel like I've made a huge mistake. Not sure what I'm after to be honest. Maybe some reassurance...

Hiya, Just to let you know it does get easier those early puppy days are hard but the pup and you will settle into a routine. Is there any specific issue we may be able to help with?

@Justme78 I spent about 3/7 days of the first few weeks on and off crying because I was so worried about my pup and regretting how much she had impacted on my life etc. Now she’s 16 weeks and an angel and I love her to bits, it does get better What are you having the most trouble with?

I feel like I'm going to be tied down forever and have lost my freedom. I know it sounds really selfish but just have awful anxiety about it. Pup keeps on biting my 2 younger kids and they are not really wanting to be near him so I feel like they are in one room and me and puppy in the other so I guess I feel a bit isolated. I know I have to give it time but I'm a bit of a mess right now.

@Justme78 we have issue with the constant mouthing too, it gets quite bad and pup would happily chew our hands off if he could. I think that’s supposed to change once their adult teeth comes through and that’s keeping me sane for now!

I had major puppy blues for the first few weeks. It's overwhelming. It does get easier. With the biting we just kept putting a toy in his mouth every time he mouthed us and said "toy", if he kept biting us we got up and walked away,then went back to him with a toy. If he kept biting after that he went to bed for a nap. We quickly figured out that he could only be awake for an hour and his ultra bitey times were like clockwork. You will figure out what works for you and your pup and it will get easier.

We're almost 6 months and definitely still not easy and yes he can be lovely sometimes but I wouldn't use that word to describe him just yet.

But I live in hope!

@Justme78

It’s totally normal... and puppies are not dogs, they’re a complete pain most of the time.

I’m not a huge fan of the puppy stage even when they come without my current ones issues. But they grow up into dogs and are worth it.

[quote tabulahrasa]@Justme78

It’s totally normal... and puppies are not dogs, they’re a complete pain most of the time.

I’m not a huge fan of the puppy stage even when they come without my current ones issues. But they grow up into dogs and are worth it.[/quote]
This is so true - I have had a number of dogs over the last 40 years but the puppy stage always comes as a complete surprise - it feels endless but it's a relatively short time when compared to the life of the dog

Can totally relate to the feeling overwhelmed and being isolated from rest of family due to biting and toilet training.
It is all coming together a lot more now-I’ve just done a zoom workout with her in her pen -awake and a bit miffed about it but much more manageable than it would have been a few weeks ago so it feels like some semblance of normality is returning (not that zoom workouts are normal but you get what I mean )

@Brazilianut yeah we started toilet training from the day we got her too. We followed The Happy Puppy Book to the letter after it was recommended to us. And it worked great for nighttime. She’s never had an accident in her crate during night. Daytime we have had a few accidents but she’s 4 months now and I can’t remember the last time she had a wee in the house. Still has the odd poo accident but that’s mainly because she still seems to associate her playpen with somewhere she can do that. But we are only really using that when we are working from home now.

But yes it is relentless and overwhelming! We still have a lot of bitieness...slippers/feet mainly but she’s definitely calmed down slightly now! It helps when you can start taking them a wee walk too I think.