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!

@happythursdays they look like dogs so quickly don't they, it just flies by!! I can picture him slipping out of the harness now, at least he came back bless him, still makes you worried though doesnt it.

It makes me smile that you say arms too, I say it all the time and it makes DH laugh as obviously they are front legs but I think arms makes it easy to distinguish quickly what I mean

they are definitely arms

Well we have bumpup home. She is absolutely adorable. Understandably very sad and keeps whining, missing her mum and her sisters. She hasn’t done the toilet since we got her home about 1.5 hours ago, or attempted to eat or drink. Is that normal? She’s tried out her crate but came back out and is now laying asleep on her other bed in the living floor.

Had her first jab and check up at the vets today so it’s been a big day for her.

@BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum Awww adorable!

I’m not much of an expert but as long as you keep her close by tonight she will start to settle. She’ll be herself in no time.

Aww diggydog is very cute. Totally normal not to eat much for the first few days. Just keep taking her out every 30minutes and encourage her to drink.

Frenchpup snapped the long line today. We were on our morning walk on a road (thankfully a very quiet one) when she decided to chase the cats (our cats who regularly walk with us) it just snapped leaving me holding the long end and her running down the road. Thankfully her recall is pretty good and she came back to me. It was a reminder as to why recall is so important even if they are always on a lead.
I'd actually ordered a new one a couple of days ago as I'm fed up of the one I've got getting sopping wet.

She’s just woken up from her nap and is like a different puppy, climbing all over DD and now eating her dinner the wee soul.

I think she’ll be just fine :)

@BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum she's gorgeous!

@Frenchfancy poor you what a fright! Cats are v good at dragging dogs into trouble! Our first long lead was also horrible, wet and muddy - the biothane one is a bit better if you can get them there (and they tangle less).

Yes its a biothane one I've ordered. Should be arriving tomorrow hopefully.

Aw bumpup is very cute.

Bumpup still not gone to the toilet. I’ve taken her outside regularly but she just stands there, if I move away from her she’ll come to me but that’s it. Won’t drink water either but I managed to get her to drink some milk just to get something into her.

She’s eaten some food and seems happy enough snuggled into me on the couch.

She just had her jabs today too so it’s been a long day for her. I’ll try again outside before sleep time, but hopefully she’ll be back to herself a bit tomorrow.

She peed!

Wish me luck for our first night.

Hope all the pups are good

@BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum so cute! Hope all goes well tonight. Ours cried for a wee 5 mins or so the couple of nights and then she just went to sleep.

First wake up at 2.45am, out the garden for a wee, quick cuddle and back to bed. Wee shite is trying to play with her toys, and bite my phone and fingers.

@BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum

Get ready for your hands to be bitten and scratched to bits

🤣 Love the excitement over BumPup peeing!

I'm loving seeing all the new puppy faces and stories. I'm starting to feel like an old timer now. Dpup is 4.5 months and has chilled out loads. We had a big hoon about the field this morning (recall 9/10!) and now I'm watching Corrie with a coffee with him asleep at my feet in the lounge. So simple but something that seemed so far away only a month ago!

welcome home @bumpup im gearing up for a bad night tonight DH is on the first night shift since we got starpup and the cat has his booster jabs at 7pm which is normally the time starpup is starting to settle for the evening. tomorrow will be sponsored by coffee.

I'm wondering what to call stillpup, because, as I'm sure you can imagine, that doesn't describe him well at all!

Can I ask about crate training? He'll sleep fine in the crate at night in our room, no problem but although I take it downstairs in the day, he's completely disinterested. I feed him in there and leave treats/toys etc but he'll either just ignore it or drag them out. He only has access to the kitchen in the daytime and prefers to sleep on the hard kitchen floor rather than his bed or crate?? He's left for two 20 min periods each day in the kitchen while I've done the school run and been fine (I record on my phone to check he's not crying!) so is it ok to not bother about whether he goes in the crate in the day or am I setting up issues for the future? Here he is on the kitchen floor

@StillAliveish I think that's great if (not-so)stillpup sleeps outside the crate. The only reason we crate in the day is because he won't sleep otherwise but I hope at some point we won't need to use it.

How much time do you spend playing with your pups during the day and how much time doing training? Sparklepup has started asking to go in the garden and then just digging and we think he's bored.

@Sparkle79 it's very early days, we've only had him a week! Hopefully it continues but I'm prepped for much much worse to come!! It was awful the first day but I feel much better now.

I mostly just train, I guess most playing is training anyway? Fetch, tug and drop etc. I hand feed him half his food each meal time and use that as an opportunity to train him to follow/sit/eye contact etc. He can reliably sit in a few situations but not stay yet! We're working on fetch and DS enjoys just doing shuttle runs with him after school!

I'll do half an hour dedicated training/ playing before I leave him for the school run twice a day and he'll generally sleep then. I let him sniff around the yard for 10mins after he's been to the toilet but other than that it's just chew toys in the kitchen. Oh, and he enjoys playing with the kitten in the yard!

Tired tired tired now. Bumpup slept most of the morning, woke up for half an hour at lunchtime, now back in bed dozing. Still no poos, hasn’t peed since this morning and still won’t touch water. I got her registered at the vets and they’ve said just to give her a few days to settle in.

When she’s up and about she’s very playful, throwing teddies about and trying to bite toes!

We have 2 beds, one inside the crate for night time and one for during the day. I might try syringe some water into her mouth later to make sure she’s getting something

After a relatively nice 24 hours with calm behaviours and plenty of sleep, CondiPup has excelled himself today with being the world's bitiest dog. Two of the kids went near him in PE T-shirts which will now have to be replaced, and he got his head under my zipped-up jacket and ripped a hole in my jumper. He locked his jaws round daughter's plait and couldn't be distracted.

I don't know what to do. DH left at 5.30am and won't be back until 8 this evening, so pup is safely on the other side of the pen and we're all cowering.

Why did I think this would be a good idea and do you all still PROMISE 16 weeks will feel better?

@morethanacondiment. I watched a video and read some articles precisely about this after pup bit me really hard - it was a shock but apparently perfectly normal. And with DC they see it as a game and take negative attention as attention, any squealing or saying “no!!” just seems to encourage it.

The good news is it’s perfectly normal and gets better in time. We are walking away and ignoring for 10 seconds, no attention whatsoever or words.

@morethanacondiment I PROMISE!! I've had to replace most of my wardrobe but getting to the point now where I can actually think about wearing the new clothes!

@morethanacondiment In the meantime, sometimes chucking a handful of kibble on the floor and saying "find it" worked...

But @Brazilianut how can I walk away when he's clamped his jaws shut? It's like he's on a ride at a theme park!
@Sparkle79 real clothes sound so aspirational right now
DH just came home early, and I was super excited, but he's gone straight upstairs for a meeting. I think I'm going to be way past tolerant when he reappears...