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!

@Puppalicious hope all's ok. I would phone the vets and see what they say. It's great that she's drinking.

I would, just in case.

@Puppalicious aw hopefully pup is feeling better soon.

Weepup today hasn’t had a poo since 9 this morning ...but eaten all food and been totally normal (eg crazy) otherwise.

Aw @Puppalicious hope pup is okay. @WeeM Sparklepup had a day like that and then back to normal next day but I'd been too worried to enjoy the 24 hours of no poopascooping!

I took her to the vets, she has a raised temperature and an infected eye, so they gave her an anti-inflammatory and eye drops. They said she would perk up and to feed her chicken and rice, but she hasn’t perked up at all - she’s still mostly sleeping, not eating at all. She did a normal poo and took a little water, but its all a bit concerning. We`re to take her back to check her temperature tomorrow.

@Sparkle79 she seems fine otherwise so fingers crossed. Had her out again but just did a wee so will see what happens in an hour when we prise her out her bed to go!

@Puppalicious that’s a shame, hopefully she perks up by tomorrow.

She perked up just after I posted thankfully! Hope she continues on the mend tomorrow.

At my wits end, last 2 nights have been awful. Pugpup won't settle at all. We have taken him out several times for wees but its not that. He has now basically been crying and whining and scratching at crate for 2 5 hrs. He he next to me so its not separation, we have let him out but he just wanders round chewing stuff. He must be shattered. I have no idea what to do.

Oh that’s good! You’ll hopefully sleep a bit better tonight now!

Should say I have put my hand in crate, tried to sshh him so I haven't just left him crying completely

@WeeM

Oh that’s good! You’ll hopefully sleep a bit better tonight now!

Sorry cross post - that was for @Puppalicious, I wasn’t saying that was good you’re having a bad night @PugInTheHouse !

We’ve had a couple of incidents like that too, where we know she’s tired but just will not give in. It’s usually been early evening type time though, not late at night. We end up letting her out because we think she must need the loo. But then she doesn’t do anything. I don’t even know how we resolved it-I think she was just overtired and eventually did go to sleep....sorry that’s not much help but you have my sympathies!

Thanks @WeeM he's going strong 2.5 hrs later so not sure when he'll drop off. I have had to leave the room as had enough. Cant let him roam too much coz of the cats.

Just cant think of what could possibly be wrong.

DH on earlys too so up in 2 hrs poor thing.

@PugInTheHouse we put up a pen with crate filled with comfy blankets at the back of it so Dpup can come out at night in case I sleep too deeply and he needs to wee. It’s worked great and Dpup now sleeping through the night till 6:30am.

Not sure if that’s your set up too but it’s worked well for us!

That’s in our bedroom and I’m really hoping we can move him out soon!

Oh crikey @PuginthehHouse, I hope you got some sleep. DH tends to put Dpup to bed as he naturally stays up till midnight / half past, and I'm forever grateful he does.

@Brazilianut he has slept through the night for months, even on his first night never cried and woke just once for a wee between 11pm and 7am so I am totally shocked. He always just walks into the crate when we take him up and has never cried.

@doje He eventually dropped off after 3 hours (10-1 of crying with various efforts to settle him), slept for 2 hours, DH took him for a wee as he was up for work (4am but really 3am) then he settled after a few mins and slept till 650 so a pretty awful night. I opened the crate door at 650 and he came out, stretched and laid straight back down on the floor. I brought him downstairs let him out, no toilet needed so I got some blankets out for me, one fell on the floor and he instantly laid down and went to sleep. I woke up at 840 and he was wandering but I think he probably slept most of that time. He has just had breakfast, a poo and is back to sleep on the blanket now.

We usually go to bed about 11/12 but pugpup hasn't been settling downstairs at all so we have been taking him up earlier to bed after he's had a wee, he has been sleeping in the crate 1030-630 until 2 nights ago.

We have a big issue as we need to let the cats roam around at night, they are still not keen on him and whilst they spend the evening downstairs with him there they are still wary, they also often sleep on ours bed so if we let him roam around we'll have to shut the bedroom door and I feel bad about that.

I am thinking perhaps we could block off a section of our bedroom so he can roam but the cats can still come in, they won't go near him anyway and I don't think he can get up onto my bed easily. He has always loved the crate but he has always been a big wriggler when he's asleep so perhaps it's just not working now he's bigger? Or get a bigger crate?

Our room is small (well its not but our bed is massive) so we don't have loads of space.

Oh no @PugInTheHouse. I wonder what’s up with him. There’s been some funny weather here the last few nights-sudden heavy hail storm and v windy. Could it be something like that? Or is there something in his bed?

I tried to do a nice thing this morning and set my alarm for just before Petal usually gets up so that dh could have a lie in (I don’t normally hear her get up but he has tuned into her little noise and can hear it from upstairs! He never heard the kids when they were babies ).
Anyway. Completely forgot the clocks went forwards so I was awake and waiting for an hour until she got up at her usual daylight saving time 🤦‍♀️. What an idiot!

Re food. I think we are winging it a bit. I tend to just judge it so that she has a few bits of kibble left as she’s not mega greedy so I know she’s had enough if she leaves a bit.
She seems happy with 2 meals a day with sometimes a small handful of kibble at lunchtime and plenty of small treats in between.

@PugInTheHouse If he accepted the crate from night 1, did you ever have to do crate training or did he just go in? I wonder if it's worth going back to basics and making positive associations, giving treats in there etc. Alternatively maybe he doesn't like sleeping in your room any more? I slept next to pup the night of her spay and she kept looking at me indignantly like 'what are you doing down here?'. I don't know if that's even a thing cos I know most pups would probably prefer to sleep near you, but I know you've said before he wakes super early when your DP gets up so wonder if it's worth trying him in his own room? Just some suggestions, alternatively maybe he's just having a bad couple of nights and it'll pass.

@HappyThursdays Thanks for the info, our Zoom puppy trainer actually used to do gundog training so I might see if she could recommend anyone. Let me know how you get on. Pup's mum works with birds of prey so it must be in her genes. She's such a clever girl (biased) so I think she'd love it.

@PugInTheHouse sorry to hear that and sounds like I’m not out of the woods yet! I’m a newbie so others will be able to help you a bit more. Hope you get some shut eye tonight.

@ashmts no not for sleeping we didn't train, he always just popped in there himself when he was tired in the day. At night we just put him in the upstairs crate. He has treats etc in the crate but isn't happy being left really. He is not anxious, just noisy about being left (trainer observed him). He doesn't sleep in the crate in the day anymore, he just sleeps wherever he fancies.

He only wakes up early when DH does his weekend shifts, during the week he gets up about 630/7 which is fine, he's only worked about 4 weekends this year so far, the last 2 he has been waking up when DH got up but sleeping either side of waking totally fine. This weekend he didn't wake up night before last until an hour after DH got up but cried at 1030, 11, 12, 3, 5, 545 then up at 630. Last night he didn't settle at all till 1am then slept for around 2 hours at a time after that. He is clearly tired as is asleep now.

@Petalpup yeah weather is weird here too but stuff like that doesn't bother him really, he is not scared or bothered by anything at all I don't think.

What I don't get is that he'll go in fine, first lot of crying is after 10 mins or so.

Thank you everyone for the support, it's nice to talk to people about it, definitely helps!

Does anyone think it could be a good idea to leave crate open (it fits perfectly to block of an escape route if I move it, then maybe put in a dog bed so he can wander between the 2? Or is that too much freedom for him when he's always slept in crate?

@PugInTheHouse I’d defo try that!

GeorgiePup went from crate to having two whole rooms to sleep in and he was fine. We don’t have the same issues with leaving him alone but I would say there is no harm in trying. Sounds like it can’t be any worse than the nights sleep you’re getting at the moment. Only thing is GeorgiePup never slept in the crate for daytime naps so we knew his favourite spots for sleeping and set it up accordingly. He can now jump on to the sofa so we often find him in the sofas in the morning.