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!

@tabulahrasa That eastenders theme tune story is very funny! Puppypup has realise that when i say 'right' it means I am about to change activity so has started to jump up hopeful for a walk/ some excitement.

@tabulahrasa glad it's not just me who verbally abuses him!

@PugInTheHouse Sparklepup would do something like that and then stare at me and snap his teeth but weeing everywhere is just taking it to the next level. Poor you. I would probably have taken him outside and said your wee cue.

@Puppypuppypuppy poor you, its very hard and not being able to give exciting treats makes it harder. I know what you mean about the poop... I said to DH the other day I was never even this obsessed with my babies poo, how have I got to where I am watching him like a hawk and if it's dark and I can't see while he's doing it then sometimes I go out afterwards to inspect it

With leaving on their own, I had to last week because DH unexpectedly had to go out and I can't do the school run with him, so he was on his own 50 mins. First time he's ever been left. I felt so guilty. I put him in the crate with a kong and I recorded the sound while I was gone. After 10 mins he whined for 10 seconds or so and was silent the rest of the time. I was very happily shocked.

@Sparkle79 yes that's what I should have done, taken him out and told him his wee cue, unfortunately @tabulahrasa was closer to what I actually did. I usually do just put him straight out when he does that. We've had weeks with no weeing indoors, the 2 times he has done it is when I have taken things off him he shouldn't have. Both times he should also have been asleep!

Sparkle - I think I may just bite the bullet and leave him. I decided that easter hols is the time I will be doing it ready for school runs after easter but I may just walk to the shop in a minute for the sake of it. I have a camera so can see what he's up to anyway. The 10 min break may help my mood haha!

Yes @tabulahrasa forgot to say how much your eastenders story made me chuckle! They are funny things!

And @GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat meant to say how well it sounds like you are doing! It's encouraging that the vets are properly listening to you now too - sounds like you're getting a lot more confident at spotting his symptoms and knowing what to do.

I can't help with food tbh. I use Tails.com and am glad when I hear your confusion about weights! They know what breed and age, update their weight once a month, and then you get a month's worth delivered to your door with a very specific weight! This month Dpup is on 293g a day!

The Good: I love having him off lead. We do walks in the woods, he doesn't approach other dogs, his recall is good to excellent and we both have so much fun. The Bad: He's become scared of the dark/his last wee before bed.... . The Ugly: Wees!! We've had two months of no accidents and then FOUR this week?! And he's only 5 months so I can't blame adolescence!

I mean glad I use Tails rather than I'm glad to hear about your confusion!!

I love a good, bad, ugly post!

The good
GeorgiePup started day care and it went well, I felt rested and positive by the whole thing. Toilet training is sorted (well for now) and he’s a decent napper in the day, will flop wherever. Also ditching the crate has been a success. He’s lovely on walks.

The bad
He’s still occasionally getting evening zoomies. Not the same as when he was tiny but he’s restless and often in and out to the garden until he finally does his last poo. He needs quite a lot of attention to ensure mischief doesn’t get the better of him!

The ugly.
His illness. Literally that’s the only thing I wish I could change in an instant.

Can I ask for those who are mixing wet and dry do you use the same brand so they go well together or mix? I find food so confusing! Puppy came to us on royal canin, I’ve been changing her to acana kibble but not sure if she likes it very much.

Good bad and ugly? Lol, mine might be a bit different... so he’s nearly 22 weeks but, I’ve only had him 3. He’s a rescue so has some issues over and above normal puppy.

Good
He’s stopped trying to chew ridiculous things like the fireplace
He’s got a fairly reliable sit, his recall is good enough that he got offlead (in a very controlled way) today
He’s managed to housetrain himself in kennels...
down and wait are coming along nicely
I can now sit in the car with him and he’s quite happy (that’s from not wanting to even walk too close to it, though turning the engine on is apparently a step too far)

Bad
He is too full on with the cat and she ain’t happy, in fairness if she was a dog he’s being very polite... but cat, so...
And he’s fairly anxious, so doesn’t rest enough and gradually through the day turns into a wee gremlin by this time of night.

Ugly
He has an issue with men, my poor DP and DS are basically having to slowly tame him while I do things like hand feed him beside them and he still barks every second time they move anywhere in the house... it’s fun...

Make that five indoor wees in the last week. 😣 How can you tell the difference between 'marking' and err.. just indoor weeing?

Ok, a quick google tells me he's not marking. He's just being an arse. 🤨

*yes, I'm aware he's not an arse, he's just a young puppy...

But he's still an arse.

@Doje we went through a period of indoor wees from 15-22ish weeks after hardly any from 8.5 weeks. It got worse and worse then we just went back to putting him out after naps/food/play. He eventually became really good again, then this week he has done some 'angry' wees. When he marks it seems different, generally round lamp posts and trees and his sniffing seems to have more intent. Only time he marked at home was in the garden, something had pooed and wee'd on the decking, it drove him crazy, he kept going back to it and eventually wee'd there.

@Puppalicious we use the same brand but only because it is what the breeder used, I hadn't really put much thought into it though when it came to mixing it.

@Puppalicious we are planning to use the same brand just because he has had runny poos a few times when we've introduced new things so it just seemed like the safest option.

Can I ask... Do you always feed him the same flavour of food or do you mix up the flavours (by the same brand)?

*him or her that should say!

Just watching the weather - it's going to be really warm Monday to Wednesday! Will make the walks a bit more pleasant!

The lighter evenings when the clocks change will be good too. Legopup is still having accidents in the house which is disheartening. We are I think doing all the right things but if I'm on a work Teams call I can't stop to let him out. DS age 15 tomorrow is going to have to step up during the school hols...

Also disheartened as either trying to work or deal with toddler, trying to house train and outdoor train which isn’t going very well.

I use different brands for wet and dry.

The ingredients are rarely the same between wet and dry food anyway and I always run out of wet before dry which means an extra trip to the pet shop or an extra order online... so wet I just use whatever looks half decent when I’m doing my normal shopping anyway.

Also the wet makes up a tiny amount of a day’s food because even if it looks like half (I don’t give that much tbh) ..it’s not half of the calories. So in my head it makes less difference than changing the dry.

@HappyThursdays Lucky you, it's to be warmer here but heavy rain! As usual. We're still mainly on indoor rest anyway, I'm hoping the weather perks up soon but it's looking terrible over Easter. Really interested in your gundog training you mentioned earlier, when do you and Happy start? How did you go about finding a trainer? We've finished our puppy classes and advanced classes so I'm looking for something else to do, I really enjoy training with her. It's probably been my favourite part of puppy ownership.

I must admit @ashmts we are in the throes of adolescence and he is a real nightmare in many ways now. He has the most amazing nature and the vet has actually asked us to help with some younger puppies who are scared of dogs so this morning he went and met a 12 week old cocker puppy and after about 20 mins, little puppy was jumping on his head and he was just lying there. He is adorable like that! But then I took him for a walk and he nearly took my arm off! And he's getting v strong!

Gundog trainer came personally recommended to us from the farmer who lives next door to dp. We are doing one to one training and we have 6 sessions set up. It took some doing finding a trainer that doesn't use punishment - I think it you ask @PollyRoulson she has some contacts for good gundog trainers. He is also going to learn to be around farm animals as that's important where dp lives (she also trains falconry dogs, she sounds amazing!). This woman said she makes her living out of boisterous cockers who are adolescents and lose their recall so I have high hopes!

@Sparkle79 we usually buy the variety box of wet food trays or pouches so various flavours, the dry food is always the same as the bags are so big.

What brands do you all use?
@brazilianut, I’m glad there’s someone else crazy enough to be trying to do this with a toddler!

@puppalicious we use adsa tinned puppy food and our local independent pet shop has thier own brand of kibble. He was weaned on the asda stuff so ive stuck with it even if it is cheap as chips. Starpup is 14 weeks and on 520g a day split into 3 meals plus treats and chewies. Theres no fat on him I think he takes after his mastiff dad rather than his springer mum.

Good
Hes really good during the day while I work. He just chills out where ever he feels comfortable. Hes able to manage being left twice a day for the school run as long as he has radio 4.
Bad
Still not quite cracked toilet training
Ugly
escaping the garden after the cat - as we speak DH is putting a new gate up
5pm bitey maniac like clockwork

I’m not going to do good, bad and ugly today because I’m all worried. She had a great playful day yesterday, eating all her food and only one small pee accident all day. But today she’s completely lethargic, only really moving for me to take her out to the toilet. When I took her and the kids out for a play in the garden, she really wasn’t that energetic at all. This morning she did a big pee in her pen and was lying in it - she’s peed in her pen overnight but not during the day and she never even moved before doing it, we don’t think (usually we know she wants out for a pee when in her pen as she stands up and looks at us). She’s drinking but hasn’t eaten anything. Should we take her to the vet today I wonder or just see if it’s an off day and she’s back to herself tomorrow?