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!

Also if it helps... just in a - well at least I’m not her kind of way, lol

I literally spent last week with mine tied to my waist (for easy access for chewing redirection and to make sure I was in control of all cat interactions) and because he’s so clingy, can’t be left with anyone and also chewy, but not yet crate trained... I can’t even pee in peace

I mean, at least I don’t have to try to pee extra silently now in case it sets off the barking...

So you know... could be worse

@Justme78 just another voice saying it's absolutely normal.

I spent the first few weeks thinking I'd ruined our lovely family. I was in one room with the pup and the kids were in another, all too often on their tablets or the computer. They would peer round and ask 'is he being bitey now?' and come in tentatively at times only for 3 minutes later I would be shouting at them 'get out the kitchen, just go!!' as Dpup would turn bitey again.

It feels like forever at times, but realistically it takes about a month to turn the corner. Bites get less frequent, sleep gets better and toilet training finally starts to kick it and things seems so much better.

Stick with it, and come on here and ask questions / vent when you need!

star pup has been with us 4 weeks now and only just starting to bond with 7yr old ds. I think ds was quite disappointed he'd been promised a puppy and instead got this little furry land shark. The biting is reducing gradually at least as long as we dont wear pink lol

Really interesting re recall and approaching other dogs. I am practicing with Puppypup to call him back approaching other dogs off lead (and on!) and it is slow going. @PugInTheHouse I really like the sound of your trainer! Every time you quote her advice it is really helpful. Can you share how you have approached calling back off lead pug pup?

I agree re reactive dogs @HappyThursdays and I am amazed at the number of owners who are happy to just let their off lead dog come over to mine without checking first. The incident we had at the weekend was purely because a young dog with no recall off lead targeted Puppypup to play with and his owners were unable to call him off or catch him.

Welcome new pup owners! It does get better but it also sometimes feels one step forward and two back. I have felt so much more positive since Puppypup was around 5.5 months (and agree with whoever said that even now at just 7 months we sometimes have bad days!).

@Puppypuppypuppy she is amazing and pugpup adores her. I don't know what I would have done without her, I stupidly thought it would be much easier to get them walking nicely etc. Re off lead we just used the long line and stood away from him, let him play a bit then called his name with a firm come whilst crouching to his level with hand out as if we had a treat. Also she has brought another dog along who has good recall and then practiced with the two off them, obviously pugpup happily copied the other dog.

The thing with pugpup is that he likes to be near you so will walk at heel often even on the long line which definitely helps. She didn't let him off lead till she was sure he would come back. I'm not sure if you saw my post before but the other thing she recommended is whilst on the short lead to check they are in the mood first to come to heel and generally do as asked before letting them off, she told me not even to use the long line if they are not in the right mood for doing as asked.

That's a really good idea to not let them off if they're not in the right mood to be compliant. @PugInTheHouse I want your trainer too!!

My issue with recall is he just isn't food focused enough. When we're at the park he's all about the ball. He just sits and waits for you to throw it. Even if he has the ball and wants you to throw it, and you call him to come so he can give you the ball to throw, he refuses. His recall has gone out the window the last couple of weeks so not really sure how to go about training because he really couldn't care less even for sausage!

Ah @Sparkle79 @Puppypuppypuppy I forgot about the high value treat. She also said to use a treat you only use for recall. Obviously really easy if pup is food orientated. No idea how you do it if not, another ball?

With pugpup we can only treat him every 2 or 3 times as otherwise he will pretend to do things in order to get a treat. He did it at 8.5 weeks and used to pretend to squat for a wee for a treat. He definitely is one for deciding what's in it for him before doing as asked but so far so good with recall.

She seems to have real success with even older dogs, the pup pugpup plays with for recall training is 9 months and has only just started with her as she had hardly any recall. She uses the long lines a lot in order to find out what works for them. One of the things she uses a if for whatever reason they decide not to comply is calling them then running away in the opposite direction. This is not fool proof though as dog breeds who really go after scents won't care too much if you run away from them.

@PugInTheHouse yes we did this re recall only treat but we are really limited treat-wise at the moment as puppypup is on a super bland diet due to his stomach. It's v annoying. Did you say you were on the south coast? Am wondering whether your trainer is also near me I laughed at pugpup pretending to squat for a treat!

@Puppypuppypuppy yes South Coast. Yep, he used to do it with picking stuff up also, will pick up a leaf, look at me, drop it then sit down and put his paw up! Hence the need to treat randomly lol.

I say I live in the south but usually here south is much more south than I am.

Lol, we are Portsmouth so pretty far South but officially South East I guess.

if it's any consolation, non food orientated dogs can change. Happy was totally non food interested and would only do anything for his ball. Now he would honestly sell 100 balls for a tiny cube of cheese so it does change.

I honestly think the key thing with recall is not to panic about how long it's taking. If you end up being on lead for longer, it doesn't really matter. There is no overwhelming need for a dog to be off lead, it's really a nice to have if you can get it right but you'll see out and about a lot of older dogs never walked off lead either because their recall isn't great or because they are reactive!

our problem with Happy is that he goes too far - he would happily be a km away before he turned around - but we knew he would be this way as he was always overconfident, even at 8 weeks!

Dorchester here, so yes you're more south. :)

Tested out recall with the distraction of a willing dog and owner and as predicted it was not successful! I thought she was going to do it as she started to come back but then couldn’t help herself and doubled back to play again. It was fine because the other owner was on board and it was probably too much to expect from her to come away mid play but it’s clear she still needs to be on lead if there are any distractions!

Hello, looking for a bit of reassurance. Pup is doing well, 13 weeks and growing like a weed! Very chilled out pup apart from evening zoomies.

Every now and then he just twists or jumps awkwardly and starts limping. Within half an hour he is fine. Just now he was hanging out in the garden chewing a stick when he started squealing like someone had kicked him. We all dash out and he is limping heavily on his front leg. Fast forward 20 mins and he is almost back to normal. I'm sure in another 20 he will be fine.

I'm guessing it is because all his limbs are soft and growing, but seriously, he was just rolling around the grass! He wasn't even walking or running!

I'm not too worried as he always recovers fast. But does anyone else have this?

@caplin that sounds concerning. I'm the least likely person on here to consult a vet but in this case I would be making an appointment. Joint problems now can cause serious problems later in life.

Does anyone give their DPups the tracheas? Local pet shop sells them. What about pigs ears?

@Caplin

Yeah... I’d get that checked tbh... is it always the same leg/s?

“Does anyone give their DPups the tracheas? Local pet shop sells them. What about pigs ears?”

Not the current one yet...I’m still changing over food and they’re a bit big when he’s foods not the one kind yet, as in I’d be a bit worried about them being a bit much for him.

But I have done with others.

We tried ddog1 with tracheas and pigs ears but I think they're too tough for bullies as both times he vomited them back up.

Well tonight will be a test...slept at funny times today so did wee at about 8.30. Took her out just now as usual and she didn’t do a thing-just messed about digging, sniffing cracks in slabs, putting stones in mouth. And I stood there for ages. So who knows if we will wake up to an accident now in the morning. It’s the first time she’s ever not done the loo before bed.

[quote C4itl]@Sparkle79 If you decide to go for it and want a code for 50% off, let me know

@SippingSipsmith Another mini dachshund here! He's 6 months old now and 100% better than when we got him at 8 weeks. He is very clingy still during the day but on a night he happily trots into his bed and stays there until the morning. I also used to do the same thing of carrying him to his bed once he fell asleep (I didn't crate train, he sleeps in the kitchen).

Is he actually eating the stones or just picking them up and spitting them out? I've found that pup only ever eats the stuff in the garden if we make a big deal of him having it in his mouth, if we just ignore him he realises he's not getting any attention and just spits it back out.

This is our current routine:

7am - wake up pup and out for a wee, back to bed
8am - pup wakes up for breakfast
8:30-9:30/10am - pup naps on the sofa next to me (this is new, he's only recently been able to get up on the sofa and I've decided to choose my battles and just let him up)
10-12 - general pottering around, playing
12-1 - a small snack like a chew
1-3 - another nap
3 - out for a walk
4-4:30 - dinner

He then just sleeps on and off from then till 10pm when he goes out for a final wee and then to bed. To get him to go through the night I started off by getting up at 3am to let him out for a wee and then increasing this by 15 minutes each day until we got to 7am.

Sorry for the long post![/quote]
This is great @C4itl thank you. Great to hear from another mini dachshund owner especially one who has survived

We had a better day yesterday in part to my DH stepping in a bit more and giving a hand when he's not at his desk. I think he realised I am just a zombie.

However now pup has diarrhoea and sickness again - he had it this time last week and it cleared! He's just thrown up few cedar tree leaves and undigested treats and had bad diarrhoea. He's got 2 lovely M and S chicken breasts in the oven now going to hope that it clears up today and I'm not down the vets for the 3rd time in a week (he was there for the d and v last Tuesday and again on Friday for his injections).

He's very happy in himself and tearing around the kitchen so going to keep an eye. He got to some bird poo yesterday before I did.

He has eaten small stones. If I hear a larger one in his mouth it's an effort not to try him stopping eating it as I just want to get it ASAP but maybe I should just see. He's better with the stones this week but still likes to find bird poo, moss, patio pointing etc.

@Plantlover23

Hi *@SippingSipsmith*

I think a lot of people will join in and say this was the worst age for them! It was definitely the worst for Plantpup so hang in there.

I’m not sure who it was (possibly @PugInTheHouse) but someone said their trainer advised them that the likelihood of them actually eating the stones is very small, so potentially might be better to just leave him to it with the stones in his mouth rather than teaching him that picking stuff up gets all this attention as that becomes a bit of a nightmare in itself. Obviously if he’s actually swallowing them completely ignore that!

The recommendation with the toilet generally does seem to be to just stay out there as long as you can and to take them out as often as possible. I felt like I lived outside for the first two weeks or so! But it did work and the message got through and we rarely have accidents inside now. Is there a way of keeping him away from the stones on a short lead possibly? Just to put your mind at rest about the stones and so maybe he’ll relax a bit more a go out there. It really is just persistence with the toilet and it draining but all the pups seem to get there in the end

Our routine about that age was pretty much the 1 hour ish awake that’s recommended followed by around 2 hours asleep repeated all day. I had to enforce naps a lot with Plantpup as when she was tired she was a zoomie bitey monster so I would stick to the timings of 1 hour awake really rigidly then put her in her crate for a sleep and it seemed to work pretty well. She went to bed in the evening properly about 10pm at that age and then would wake at 4am pretty convinced it was the morning but that quickly stopped and she sleeps 8pm-6am now

Hang in there, this part was really really hard for me but Plantpup is now 16 weeks and mostly an angel. I’ve been ill and staying at my parents this weekend and she has mostly just politely pottered around the house and snoozed on the sofa, it’s been a dream. So hang in there!

Thank you @Plantlover23 the 1 hour up and 2 hours asleep rule has helped.

He suddenly disliked his crate on Monday and was up a lot in the night. We did a lot of crate training yesterday.

He arrived loving his crate but I think me having to do the school run in the mornings ruined that slightly.

Seem to have got back on track yesterday and he's taking himself off to his crate for sleeps again as like you say they become bitey monsters without the sleep and that's what was happening.

Oh I wonder what today will bring!!!!! At least I feel slightly better and switched on after more sleep

Well today is the day we bring bumpup home. I’ve puppy proofed the house as much as I can until she gets here and we get to know each other. DD has been seriously told not to leave any Lego’s or barbie shoes on the floor ever, I’ve tied up any cables, cleared out under furniture etc. Bumpups crate bed and toys all sitting waiting for her, and her carrier ready to go after school.

Anticipating that being the last full nights sleep for a while! My course will be fun tomorrow!

Getting a big food shop in this morning so we don’t have to go anywhere for a while too.

Don’t think I’m missing anything but there’s always Amazon prime!

Wish me luck please 🤣

Aw that’s lovely @BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum how many weeks old is the pup?