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!

Hi @pinkpip100 she sounds adorable! Extending sit is a challenge and something I’m still working at with Plantpup who is 15 weeks (dependent on her mood we’re up to about 30 seconds...)

I would say for definite alone time training as I neglected this massively and Plantpup now won’t be without me without barking, crying etc. Also training calm and settle - I’m training Plantpup to settle on a mat which most trainers seem to recommend as it pops up a lot and she has started to just take herself off there now rather than causing havoc. It’s taken a lot but it really does seem to be beginning to work and is definitely worthwhile. I would put both these things above sit/down etc in hindsight!

Thanks @Plantlover23, that’s really helpful - funnily enough I’ve just been talking to my dh about the fact she has literally never been on her own since we got her, not even for a few minutes, so we definitely need to work on that. She likes her ‘donut’ bed and will occasionally take herself off there to chill out, but she won’t stay in her crate at all (apart from to eat, as we feed her in there). She’s not yet spending more than a few seconds chewing on a toy before getting bored - mainly she just wants us! my ‘pre-puppy plan’ was that she would sometimes lie in her crate, happily chewing on a toy - but as yet, that hasn’t happened 😆.

@pinkpip100 10 weeks is teeny. Ours didn't have much of an attention span at that age so I wouldn't worry that she won't settle down with a toy yet, you're right in the thick of it. We turned a corner once ours started getting out for walks, it tired her out and she was more settled in the house. She's 6 months now and pretty good at entertaining herself when needed. I tied myself in knots worrying we weren't doing enough training but don't put too much pressure on yourself, there's plenty time. I'd focus on socialisation like getting her used to new sights and sounds, trips to pet shops since nothing else dog-friendly is open, getting her used to the car (you can carry her on short walks before she's fully vaccinated). I'd be careful with trying to get her to be happy alone just yet, she's really young. Go really slowly with that, at the moment I'd just focus on bonding with her and building her confidence.

Thanks @ashmts. Yes I keep beating myself up about not doing enough too! I’ve taken her for a couple of short ‘walks’ wrapped in my coat but she wasn’t keen, I think I need to persevere though. We’re quite a lively house with 2 adults & 4 children (one with additional needs) and she’s coped brilliantly with all of that, but I know she needs more experience with ‘the great outdoors’.

Sorry @PugInTheHouse , I didn’t reply to what you mentioned me in way up thread! I agree it seems like you think they’ve smashed something then all of a sudden they haven’t anymore. I do think Plantpup has got worse in her crate since being at daycare (perhaps the only downside of the whole thing) as she is sleeping wherever she likes there, often curled up to other dogs, so I think that’s my theory of why she’s now so grumpy when I pop her in her crate

@pinkpip100 If I'm honest we didn't manage to get pup out for any socialisation before her first walk, other than trips to the vet for vaccines. It's something I'd do differently in an ideal world, but we've got lucky and it hasn't done any harm.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I hope you get a positive response. I would absolutely trust our daycare to supervise a dog with health conditions and to respond to any emergencies so hopefully you can get him in.

Here’s a sneaky photo of pinkpup in our garden (this has made me realise how bad our grass is!).

@pinkpip100 what a cutie!

Plantpup is the same honestly - she has just started taking herself off to another room, but never for more than a minute or two and if I leave rooms she always follows me (I think as she assumes either food or fun is wherever I’m going...)

Crating is something I’ve found quite hard - Plantpup has been an angel through the night virtually from day 1 and will sleep a dream in there but I think it’s helped massively that her crate is in my bedroom so I’m always right there too. I would say definitely work on leaving her in her crate ASAP in a different room even for a minute whilst you brush your teeth etc as that is something I wish I’d done too as Plantpup notices as soon as I leave and is never best pleased!

@pinkpip100 the guilt is real isn't it!

Your dog is adorable!!

My Doberwow can get extremely bitey!

She's also 10 weeks.

Hi guys hope you’ve had a good day! We have been practising heel in the house which is going really well. Going to move from a harness to a collar for our training walks now in order to have more control I think and hope that works with excessive pulling.

Londonpup is awesome in the crate day and night and will settle very quickly (apart from 6.15am when he’s decided it’s time to wake up and won’t go back in post wee!). He doesn’t settle outside the crate though, he runs around chasing his tail or biting us or things he shouldn’t. When we put him in the crate he sleeps straight away! Question is when did you guys with older pups notice them settling outside crate? And did you have to train this or did it happen naturally.

God who would’ve thought there’s soooo much to think about when you get a puppy!!

Apologies I can’t remember who replied to me now on previous thread re the night time wee. We have just spent another half hour in the garden then zooming around the living room when she came back in...it’s so hard to catch her and she just won’t respond to commands as she knows fine well what I’m up to. I don’t have a long line lead so maybe that worth thinking about. But weepup doesn’t have a collar, only a harness and putting that on is a total trauma...don’t really want to be doing that at night time when she’s asleep when I take her out crate. Maybe I should look at a collar but they weren’t advised for pugs so we haven’t bothered.

Here is 11 week old happypup

@WeeM I had a problem with Plantpup and zoomies, my trainer suggested not trying to catch her because then it just becomes a big game for them. She suggested using things like kongs, lickimats etc so now when Plantpup has excessive zoomies or I can tell she’s overtired and needs to stop I give her one of those things and it chills her right out Much less stress for me and her than me trying to catch her was! (I was terrible at it...)

@WeeM it’s a real pain in the evening/night but sometimes the only way! I would definitely recommend a collar too though, even if that’s the one and only time you use it

@LondonPupMum Sparklepup is about 21 weeks and he is the same, won't sleep unless we shut him in his crate, and if I was trying to cook dinner or tidy up he'd be nipping at my heels etc or just go and play with someone else. He'd have to be being entertained the whole time he was awake.

But the last week or so he will come in the kitchen with me and then just lie down and watch me whilst I potter. We tried mat training but he just used to hump or eat the mat so we gave up, but there are a couple of spots that he chooses to lie. I did occasionally drop some kibble in front of him when he lay down and relaxed on his own, and sometimes whispered "good boy" so I guess we semi-trained it.

The other day we had a very long off lead walk through the woods and when we got home he lay on the sofa and slept for an hour, which I thought would never happen.

Thank you ashmts She said yes so we’re really pleased. Like you, I trust her and think he’ll have a ball! She has other puppies for him to play with and is well aware of his epilepsy and that we’re still adjusting. He’s going to go one day a week.

hello all! firstly apologies to Frenchfancy if I was a bit snappy post Happypup being rushed to the vet after his hot cross bun incident. I was very worried about him (the silly dog!) but all was well in the end.

We are now on 7 months and Happypup is lovely and v easy and fits in well BUT he is a proper teenager now and his recall has totally disappeared. And I don't mean slightly disappeared, I mean completely and utterly disappeared. And I would have said pre this, it was almost 99% perfect!

I thought this might be the case with him because he's always been a very confident dog so we knew at some stage this would happen but it was very scary the first time it did. We were out for a walk together and he just disappeared. Didn't even look back for us. Started running and kept on going. We caught him 20 mins later and he wasn't remotely bothered! We thought it might be a one off so the next day took him out in an enclosed space and when we let him off his lead, he buggered off and didn't once listen to any command we gave! So he is back permanently on the lead for all walks at the moment.

one thing it has made me realise is that being on lead for walks is actually not the worst thing. He doesn't get to run around but we do other things (we hide things for him and let him find them etc.). I can't see him coming off lead for many many months now though the new normal is ok for us if not slightly frustrating for him!

other than that, he's a lovely dog - we have an old age home near us and a few of the residents come out for a walk at lunch time and he is happy spending ages being stroked and cuddled by them! everyone says how good he is - I said he's like that cat in Shrek, he turns on those flirty puppy eyes but in reality, he can be a right mischief!

btw for all those asking about settling outside crates, Happypup wasn't ever crated so he's always roamed around but I would definitely say from around 6 months onwards, he was much much better at settling himself

we also found he only ever got zoomies if he hadn't slept enough during the day - when we started enforcing naps, his behaviour improved immeasurably

we don't bother now as he can sort himself out but certainly in those biting months, enforcing napping was so key (he doesn't bite/teethe at all now)

@HappyThursdays can I ask what you do with him at nighttime?

Hi @GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat, hope pup is doing well!

he gets shut downstairs - so he has access to the lounge and kitchen. He has a bed in the kitchen but he normally sleeps on a cushion on the sofa or his blanket spread out on the kitchen floor

We are definitely getting there and adjusting to it all! Still playing around with medication levels but making progress!

Nighttime has gone wrong though, he’s protesting the crate and we’ve slept downstairs with him for two nights now so I’m just wondering what our next step is. Dh thinks he’s too young and will get up to mischief but I think we won’t know until we try.

To leave him out of the crate I mean

@HappyThursdays does he not chew stuff?! DPup has got loads better to be fair, but I can't imagine leaving him free reign of all the cupboard doors and my kitchen table legs overnight!

he was a terrible chewer when he was teething but for some reason, didn't do it much at night

he's always been an early to bed pup - it's rare that he's awake past 8pm tbh and then he's so tired he sleeps

I can watch him on the camera - he does move around a fair amount but he just gets up and then plonks himself down somewhere else rather than doing things he's not meant to

one thing I do worry about is summer - i think a lot of this is because it's dark and he associates dark with sleep. I've noticed as sunrise is earlier, he is starting to wake up a bit earlier so I may need to invest in some curtains as we don't have them everywhere downstairs!

btw @PugInTheHouse he still eats everything he finds. It's a bit easier now he's on the lead for walks but I'm sat here watching him in the garden eating leaves/bits of wood/snails etc.!