Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

Frenchpup is in my bad books. She has just eaten my sunglasses. My varifocal prescription sunglasses.

@Petalpup I'm thinking the same thing. We have training on Saturday so I'll see if they can recommend someone in the area. Was it you who had the friend with the ready-trained pup? Did you hear any more from her about it?

@Hamnan84 You live and learn, can't believe how much of a learning curve I've been on since I got my puppy. The Facebook group Dog Training Advice and Support is really good, as is the book Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy. Really helps you to understand your dog.

@Hamnan84 You live and learn, can't believe how much of a learning curve I've been on since I got my puppy. The Facebook group Dog Training Advice and Support is really good, as is the book Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy. Really helps you to understand your dog

I second this, and if you're not keen on reading (I'm looking at you DH!) look up kikopup on YouTube.

Sorry, that was meant to be a quote from @ashmts post

Re bathing, the vet told us not to be too worried till they were a bit older (when he was tiny). They aren't great at regulating temperatures when they are under 6 months anyway so I don't think we even bothered with a bath till he was about 4 months! If he got mucky, we just wiped the mucky bits!

@Frenchfancy naughty french pup! There is something about dogs and glasses!

@ashmts apparently it's quite common the following of lights but I am not sure how to train out of it but given how clever your girl is, you'd hope once on the right path, it's fixable quickly? Do you think it's just an extension of her wanting to chase?

Happy has made no progress in being hysterical about other dogs who won't play/say hello even if we treat to get him to move on (works for about a second then he tries to go back again). It's going to be a tough one to break this.

@Hamnan84 We generally have someone on puppy watch in the extension where we have her pen and everything set up. I try and leave her now and then for a few minutes when she is chilled out so that she can take my absence in her stride.

@Frenchfancy dpup1 got mine. Kept trying to rub off a bit I couldnt see through then noticed there is a massive gouge out the glass. I thought I'd rescued mine.

With little pups being left we worked up to it, leaving them in a room for a few mins, then 10 mins, then half an hour before we actually left the house, but our dpups were 13 weeks already before they came home.

Second set of vaccinations booked for a few weeks time. Cannot wait to take sushipup (!) out and about properly. Finding it near impossible to carry her round places. She just wriggles so much desperate to get down and explore. I've seen other people carrying their puppies about and the dogs look so calm and the people so competent!

@ilovesushi we used a carrier for our pup, he loved it being all snuggled up in there and just had his head popping out to watch what was going on.

I have a question re harnesses. Obviously pugpup isn't allowed a collar only a harness. We have 2 at the moment one is a thin one that he steps into, minimal coverage on his body. The other one is a lot more substantial but is quite thic, lots of coverage (not as much as a coat but quite a lot, will try to find a photo).

The thin one doesn't really fit well, it slides around so easy for his leg to come out if he's playing, can't really tighten it as then it seems too tight.

Coming into the summer I think the other one will be really warm, obviously due it his breed he will be prone to overheating. Is it possible for a harness to be too warm for them? Would it be better to get something like the perfect fit harness that is substantial but doesn't cover loads of their body?

I love the bigger harnesss as it has a handle on the back which is useful and it seems to fit well but I am worrying about it being too warm.

That is actually my other reason for swapping to perfect fit as I felt ddog gets warm in his (Bulldog, currently in Julius k9) The puppies seem much happier since they swapped.

Yes I think the Julius K9s are similar to Pugpups harness, they are quite thick material

@PugInTheHouse Love pugpup's smart harness! We've got an air mesh harness from doodlebone which I think will be good in the warmer weather. I hadn't realised that you have to put it on over their head's though! It's not impossible but not the easiest thing either!
I thought about a carrier but she is growing so fast and is a large breed. Just taken her for a walk around the block in my arms and she was a bit wriggly but manageable. A couple of cars went past which is good as our road is so quiet!

We have a Julius k9 for weepup, it is quite thick but it doesn’t actually cover much of her body if you know what I mean. I hadn’t really thought about that for summer actually. I like it because it feels really secure, there seems to be so many in the market I wouldn’t know where to start!
We now get her to sit and give her a treat then can manage to stick harness quickly over her head that way...otherwise she just bites it!
We have that car seat too @PugInTheHouse, she also doesn’t stay in it very well

@ilovesushi ah there are so many new pups I couldn't remember your pups size, pugpup was only 2/3kg when we were carrying him around so couldn't even feel we had him haha. I do love his harness, someone said it looked like bondage gear which made me chuckle!

I would have liked to carry on with that one but I definitely don't want him over heating.

@WeeM he won't stay in the seat the walker just puts him on her seat and he stays there nicely, she originally used to take the seat and she would send me pics of him sat or asleep outside it. That pic was in her car. I have ordered a clip that goes round the head rest then onto the harness then we have the belt clip also. I will keep the car seat in the boot so can use it when I need to (like collecting him from vets after his op).

The perfect fit harnesses are highly recommended for breeds like pugs as you can get different size parts if they have odd shaped bodies then just replace the parts individually if required.

@HappyThursdays I think it is, I think she's just made a game of it. It's just starting to get worrying cos it's hard to distract her from it and she's chasing lights at the expense of sniffing/playing with other dogs/interacting with people, so it's a problem now. We've taken her ID tag off her collar and attached it to the back of her harness in the meantime, just trying to remove the stimulus as much as we can.

@ilovesushi They start to associate the harness with walks and will help you put it on! Mine now sticks her head through the hole for me (after a minute of dancing about cos she's overcome with the excitement of LEAVING THE HOUSE! Mind you, we can all relate to that now )

@PugInTheHouse It's not something I've really considered but I know with pugs you need to be really careful in heat so makes sense to get a harness that's more strappy. We're also about 500 miles north of you if memory serves, so hot weather is something we rarely worry about

@PugInTheHouse Plantpup has a perfect fit and it’s great. I just had to replace one of the parts as she’s grown and it was so useful to not have to replace the whole thing. I can’t imagine it being especially warm or anything like that come the summer.

For those of you with Julius K9 harnesses it may be worth looking into them a little, both the trainers I’ve worked with don’t recommend them being used as the placement around the front of the dogs shoulders restricts their normal walking movement. I haven’t used one myself so can’t say from personal experience! But worth thinking about when shopping for harnesses

@ashmts yes we are right down the south, obviously we wouldn't take him out when it's really hot but even at about 15 degrees and sunny I can imagine his harness would be quite warm.

Pugpup is a nightmare getting his thinner harness on, he seems to be so excited to go out he goes crazy, he bit DH today and broke the skin. I wonder if he doesn't actually like that harness, he is not so bad with the other one. Not great still though. It doesn't seem agressive, just that he is so worked up he can't stay calm. He has recently started barking loads once his lead is on till hes out the front gate. So strange.

Thanks @Plantlover23 they definitely make sense to get if they still have some growing. I can't actually figure out from the website what size the front and top are, or does it not matter as long as the girth bit is right?

Morning all and hello to all the adorable new pups. Puppypup has just turned eight months! We're two weeks on from ditching the crate and he is settled and sleeping on the sofa all night - I think he's one of those pups who needs room to stretch out and even though he's dinky and he had almost the biggest crate it wasn't roomy enough. He's been perfectly behaved, no chewing at all although the room is pretty much puppy proofed still. It's also really helped with his independence in the house as he's on his own downstairs for long stretches - still haven't left him alone in the house though!

We've also made some off lead progress although DH is much more confident with it than me and we've done a bit more socialising so he's starting to get a bit more confident with people who are not family.

Our main issue is building his confidence but I am sure we will be able to do this more as lockdown eases and he's exposed to more situations and people. There are a couple of things he is really resistant to learning though - one is 'wait' in the house eg if I want to answer the door. His wait is really good outside eg for crossing a road so I don't get why this is! I also do still get nervous with other dogs and play. Again probably because he's a small dog.

Interesting re neutering and I really need to read up on it. I am instinctively waiting as Puppypup is not the most confident dog and have heard that it can have an adverse impact if done too early.

@Puppypuppypuppy where are you getting him to wait when you answer the front door, can he see you? How often are you practising with him? We found that we just needed to spend some time getting him to sit then wait and if we couldn't answer the door straight away we just didn't. During these times it was mostly parcels so they would just leave outside if we didn't get there in time any way.

Having used them (Julius k9) They're ok, they aren't too restricting but they aren't amazing, I'm waiting til I can afford a PF harness for the big boy now. I dont like how they cut across the throat is my main concern and that 2 out of 3 dogs could get out of them.

@PugInTheHouse I think there is a breed guide on the site which should have suggested sizes on it. I ended up emailing as there’s no crossbreeds on there (obviously otherwise the list would be never ending!) and just emailed them her girth measurement and a bit about her, that she’s quite long but skinny etc and they recommended a size which fit perfectly. She is now in XXS front -XS top - S girth so it can end up quite random/varied. They were really quick at replying and really helpful so definitely recommend emailing if you’re not sure!

@Plantlover23 thats great thanks