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!

To help with answering the door we have taught pugpup to sit and wait at the threshold of the lounge at the end of the hallway, he stays till I have answered the door then I walk back to him and he waits till I say he can go and say hi to whoever is there, gives me chance to make sure the gate is shut etc. We practiced by making DH and the kids ring the doorbell instead of using their key. He follows me to the toilet so doesn't go in the crate either then.

I am thinking of getting a pen that an attach to the crate so he has a safe space but isn't enclosed. I am not sure it'll make a difference as he barks even if left in the lounge roaming. Maybe I will have to get a sitter forever lol.

Just got dpup2 out for a walk by herself! This is brilliant progress for us.

@PugInTheHouse

To help with answering the door we have taught pugpup to sit and wait at the threshold of the lounge at the end of the hallway, he stays till I have answered the door then I walk back to him and he waits till I say he can go and say hi to whoever is there, gives me chance to make sure the gate is shut etc. We practiced by making DH and the kids ring the doorbell instead of using their key. He follows me to the toilet so doesn't go in the crate either then.

I am thinking of getting a pen that an attach to the crate so he has a safe space but isn't enclosed. I am not sure it'll make a difference as he barks even if left in the lounge roaming. Maybe I will have to get a sitter forever lol.

I need to work on this! I've relied on the safety gate on the kitchen door far too much.

I shall enlist the kids help too, that's a great idea and they'll love it!

Dpup's is officially back on the lead for the foreseeable! His recall has gone out the window, over the wall and into the field beyond. Literally....

He's five and a half months. Is this too early for adolescence?!

@Doje no

@GooodMythicalMorning that's brilliant. They are all such funny little things with their quirks and things they do/don't like aren't they!

@doje it was great to enlist everyone's help, we basically just used his normal 'stay' cue, got him to sit, stay and then kept saying good stay as I walked to the door. At first we had to reset once or twice before I could get to the door but easy to practice when I wasn't having to rush to open the door. Once DH or DCs were inside I would then walk back to him, treat him and say go say hi and he'd go and jump all over them

[quote HappyThursdays]@Doje no [/quote]
Uh oh 🤣

I've contacted a trainer today! 🤣🤣

They really are @PugInTheHouse

We did the doorbell thing with ddog, seemed to help.

Huge news here is that last night puppypup slept all night in the living room on his own out of his crate. Didn't hear a peep all night. Watched him a bit on the camera and he was just asleep on the sofa.

That's brill @Puppypuppypuppy Hope the good sleep continues for you.

It's taken a few days of gradually moving out of the room. I hope it's not a blip!

fingers crossed for you.

Thats brilliant puppypuppypuppy!

Petal had her first big social occasion test today when 5 of my friends came round for garden drinks etc. It wasn’t a total disaster but she was quite jumpy uppy and I had to do a mix of lead, pen and playing with her to keep her from being a complete pest. Not easy to focus on hosting and her at the same time especially when we’re both out of practice!
But she redeemed herself by walking really pretty well on the lead as I walked a friend home.

Hi @PugInTheHouse we started early with leaving londonpup. Started with a couple mins and gradually built up. Now up to 3 hours

He's thoroughly crate trained and we will wear him out physically and mentally before we go and leave him with something safe to eat and water in his crate! Although it's nice they can settle out the crate, it really is a godsend for helping training things like settling and separation.

He's 17 weeks

Hurrah for good walks @GooodMythicalMorning and good sleeps @Puppypuppypuppy

We've had a mixed day with Happy. Took him to a local river he likes but on the way out his walking on lead was absolutely abysmal. On the way back he walks completely beautifully, like the picture of good on lead walking. He has been this way since he was a puppy and we still can't crack the over excitement on the way out on a walk vs the calm, lovely dog on the way back! He doesn't care about treats which makes it hard and he doesn't care if he throttles himself, as long as he gets where he wants to go as quickly as possible! He basically knows what to do, just doesn't do it!

16 days till gun dog training and I'm counting every one

Yuck. There is always something isn’t there?! GeorgiePup has slept amazingly for the past month after we stopped using the crate but the last two nights he’s woken us up barking at 2/3am. Wtf is that all about? Once I’m awake I find it so difficult to fall asleep again and I’m horrible with no sleep so we need to fix this fast.

Everything else is going pretty well! Doggy day care is hilarious, she sends videos and he just has a different side to his personality we get to see with a group of well behaved dogs. He can be the annoying little brother I fear but the lady says they love him even when he’s bothering them. It’s lovely to see him chilling and sleeping with the older dogs too.

@PugInTheHouse Thanks for the camera recommendation, this night barking crap is making it today’s urgent purchase!

@HappyThursdays I love reading your pupdates. You’re a couple of months ahead of us and it gives me lovely hope (and realism) for what’s coming up next.

@Petalpup we also had guests over today, another family and it was lovely to finally show him off. I feel like no one really knows him and we’ve had him 4 months now. I felt like a proud mum (apart from when he took a shit in the middle of the lawn whilst Dh was bbqing). It was full on but we let the children wear him out and then put him inside for a nap.

Today we have my brother in law and his family over which will be lovely, they have a baby though so will be interesting. He’s used to toddlers and their noise and movement as I’m a CM but he will need to be extra gentle with the crawling baby.

Hope everyone is having a lovely BH weekend 🐣

@LondonPupMum we started with that a little while ago but we have just done really badly at it. Just weren't regular enough with it but he barks from the second he is in there if he thinks we are leaving the room. He was great with the crate when we were in the room though and I think that lulled me into a false sense of security. If I could trust him not to chew stuff then I would leave him just in the lounge but he seems to be trying to chew right at the back of his mouth on anything wood at the moment. I am considering a pen that attaches to the crate but I am worried he'll jump out of it. I need a proper plan with it I think.

We had some garden visitors yesterday and he is great with people, he is very excitable at first and does jump up and struggles when people are eating as obviously wants to join in but he was lovely. My 8 yo nephew was getting him to do all his tricks and he ran away with DSs slipper round the garden and it turned into a half hour game of the kids chasing pugpup then vice versa. He didn't sleep much but got plenty of exercise.

Re he 'diet', we bought some of the vets food and it seems to be going really well. We mixed a 3rd in for a couple of days then half and half yesterday. He has a really sensitive tummy and already it seems to have really helped from that respect, I don't think I realised that actually the other food wasn't that great for him, I guess it was just his normal. He hasn't really had any treats or snacks in between most days. He has his lickimat when we eat dinner and yesterday he had a few blueberries but that's it. He doesnt seem that bothered to be honest.

I took him to DH/DS1s cricket training this week and he struggled more with the number of people (40ish) but I kept him on the lead and after a while he stopped trying to pull to everyone. He needs to get used to it very quickly as we pretty much spend the whole summer at a cricket ground.

@PugInTheHouse that's great news about the food. I found Happy really suffered with those back teeth coming in at 6 months.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat the camera will make a real difference! I love the fact that he's enjoying daycare and playing with the dogs!

@Doje it's so awful when they do that running off! We are doing recall training every morning at the moment. I can see the point at which he disengages when he goes too far away so we are working on him understanding how far away he's allowed to go!

Morning all - loving all the stories of the social pups! It's going to be very odd for them all to get used to sharing their space with new people.

So second night was fine, other than coming down to a puddle on the floor. Not counting my chickens quite yet though - I know now things can go backwards as well as forwards!

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I am worried about the barking possibilities too - Puppypup has started barking at noises at the front of the house during the day and as things are opening up there are more people about later at night - I could hear people walking past the house in the early hours. What I do feel though is more confident about leaving him to do things in other parts of the house and he has more or less stopped complaining when I leave the room without him. We're nowhere near leaving him alone in the house yet @PugInTheHouse and we're at 7.5 months now - if that makes you feel any better!

Taken Puppypup out this am to an absolutely rammed park to practice recall and ignoring other dogs with high levels of distraction. He did pretty well really - I would say around 90% coming back to me when asked - still on the long lead but made me feel a lot more confident that at some point he will be off it. He has developed a total obsession with footballs though!

On my list next week is to look into some sort of day care, mainly for socialisation purposes.

Hi everyone,

This is my very first post on here, whenever I google my puppy problems the results page always brings me to this forum! So I thought I'd just make an account. Mostly just need to vent, but any words of advice would be wonderful, too...

My husband and I are both in our thirties, in the past few years he's been pretty forward about how much he wants children, but I don't, which has caused a bit of tension and some arguments. I feel bad for him, but I was quite happy with my life the way it was. Not having children meant I could focus on work, I could go travelling whenever I wanted, and I could enjoy an active social life. He's seeing all of his friends and family move into the next stage of their lives, and he seems to think that because he's not moving forward, he's failing compared to them.

That was a big part of why we got our puppy five months ago. He seemed to finally accept that children aren't an option, so suggested we get a puppy as the next best thing. We talked about it a lot. I basically said I didn't think it was a good idea, because it's not something that I really wanted - but, if it would make him happy, and he thought that his desire to own a puppy could outweigh my reluctance, then we could get one.

I know now, this was a huge mistake. If I could go back and change things, I would. As soon as I said I didn't want a puppy, that should have been it. No compromising, no ifs or buts. Because I never wanted a dog, and I regret getting one so much.

As far as I can tell, the dog's pretty average for this age. He's quite well toilet trained, but hates going for walks with me and barks a lot at people, which I find really stressful and embarrassing. The thing I hate the most is that I just never get to relax any more. I'm constantly watching him, stopping him from eating things he shouldn't, or destroying things, etc... We can't leave him alone, because he howls like he's being tortured, and the walls aren't that thick so we don't want the neighbours to get upset. So I barely have any time away from him now.

My husband tries to help by saying he'll look after the dog for the evening so I can relax and have a bath, and that's kind of him, but it's not what I want. I don't want an evening here or there where I get to relax. I just want my old life back, where I was happy, and didn't have to plan all of my time around a dog. And I'm still expected to be grateful to him for this huge favour of letting me have one hour of peace.

The worst part is that I secretly resent my husband for this. Every stressful walk, every time I can't even read the first page of my book because I have to stop the dog chewing the carpet, I think, this is all your fault. Our lives were fine before, but you just had to change things so that you could feel better about yourself compared to all your friends who are having children. And now I'm just stressed, and miserable. And I think he actually enjoys this. He likes the stress, and the hard work, and the responsibility, because it makes him feel like he's in that next stage of life, so he's not a failure any more.

Sometimes I think, maybe I'll suggest giving it back. But I know he wouldn't go for it, and I'd probably feel too guilty.

I feel bad about myself just typing this. I feel like such an awful person. But I'm just not the sort of person who should have a dog, and that's the problem. The dog's fine, he's just doing what dogs do. But I can't deal with it. I just want to go back to my old life.

Wow, this was depressing. Sorry, everyone. I hope your weekends are more cheery than mine.

sophiewithapuppy my DH thought we had made the worse decision getting our dog (more my idea than his) but he now thinks it is the best thing we ever did. You might not get to that point but just to let you know having a nice adult faithful dog is very different to the first year of owning a puppy.

In the meantime can you throw money at the problem? Dog daycare who boards is what I recommend. You get real time off and also sets up boarding so you can still have evenings out or days away so you don't feel tied to the dog.

If you want to change how you feel (and given you were pressured into it you are under no obligation to do so) then I would recommend looking at fun things to do like puppy agility, scentwork, trick training etc that helps build that bond and isn't just 'training'.

@sophiewithapuppy hi, welcome to the thread. So sorry you are having a tough time. I really wanted a puppy and feel the same at times. It has got better recently but the feeling of being tied is overwhelming at times. I have no real advice but as your DH wanted the puppy should he not be doing more?

I second daycare, whilst we don't send pugpup to actual daycare he does go with the trainer/walker twice a week for a few hours. It wears him out and he sleeps all afternoon when he comes home. This gives me a whole day to work and I know he's having a great time.

@Puppypuppypuppy it definitely does make me feel better as I feel like I am the only person who hasn't cracked this and I have no good reason for it. Pugpup liked the crate, has no health issues, is toilet trained and is quite confident generally. It is purely that I have not done it.

Had a good chat with the trainer today, she is waiting to hear if they have the go ahead from 12th April for indoor training but she said in the meantime to not stress at all and to go completely back to basics. Just in the crate for a really short time, shut the door, then let him out without leaving the room. Also to increase flitting from room to room.

@sophiewithapuppy

Firstly - he isn’t doing what dogs do, he’s doing what puppies do, which is worse... but everything you mention is either stuff that’s very trainable or will just stop as he grows up anyway.

But...if you didn’t want a dog, why is it you walking him? Watching him? Having to get the hour to go for a bath?

That should be the other way round.

I’m the dog person, my DP likes dogs fine, but wouldn’t have one if I didn’t get them.

So the work part of having a dog is mine, he will of course walk/feed/watch if I can’t or ask him to so I can do something else (or with walking sometimes just because he feels like it) but all that stuff is my responsibility because I’m the one who actively wants a dog.