Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@Sparkle79 I find that the tricks are good to do, they are usually easy to learn and they can be really useful when teaching some of the harder stuff. We even use stuff like spin or sit when trying to do heel or distracting him in the park to get his attention to us rather than a dog or a bike. The other tricks are sometimes ones we teach as a one off and will never use again but just want to wear him out. It is also useful to teach a command that means that they haven't quite got it (we use uh-oh but it can be anything) and then when doing the harder stuff they will understand when they haven't quite got it.

I dont think we have done loads but mainly leave it, drop it, down, wait, stay then obviously the walking/recall stuff. I am not sure what other obedience stuff we should teach but I think that seems to work OK for us really.

I am just watching him now and he has fallen asleep with his head in my ugg boot

@Sparkle79 we don't religiously do training sessions, just when the mood takes me. Mostly when he wants attention and is being an arse. I'll pick up the whistle and liver cake and we'll go in the garden and do recall for 10 mins, or take a toy and again liver cake and I hide the toy - make him wait while I hide it, then release him - and then reward -if- when he brings it back and drops it.

Sometimes I take his breakfast to the field and we'll do a recall 'session'in the field.

The DC's do a lot of 'sit' and 'down' with him when I'm making dinner to keep them, and him busy!

@Sparkle79

Had to Google lipstick Funny enough pup had one yesterday after the zoomies!

Thanks @PugInTheHouse and @tabulahrasa for training replies. I may be over thinking it. We do things through the day eg "wait" for food etc, haven't really done, any tricks because I feel there is too much obedience stuff to teach first. But then I get in the rut so maybe I do need to sit down with a pen and paper and make a plan.

A plan might be a good idea if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed

I just do what I fancy tbh, lol

So obviously their name is first, then I tend to do sit and touch... mostly because they’re the easiest to teach, after that depends on the dog, what I feel like doing, if anything suddenly becomes important (leave or drop for instance)

Because unless they matter to you right now, it doesn’t really matter what order you do anything in, eventually it’ll all get covered.... and a lot of obedience stuff will take time to perfect anyway, so no reason not to add in random fun stuff alongside it while you’re doing that.

Oh yes! As a voice of experience neutered boys still get lipsticks. He doesn't do it often these days at nearly 4 though.

We haven't seen a lipstick yet, but I'm sure it won't be long!

Having established he doesn't have concussion, i'm now wondering if I'm letting him do too much. We are very lucky to have a large garden, and I'm not restricting him running about in it. Do you think that's ok?

Pic just because...

He's so cute @17CherryTreeLane my understanding is that exercise should be limited when they are little, especially running. There seems to be a huge amount of differing advice when it comes to exercising puppies.

Some places say 5 mins per month of age (twice a day but some sites say once). Some say that is nonsense and there is no evidence to back it up.

Pugpup tends to go out for 30-40 mins twice a day, he stops lots to sniff (and mark) then at the park he isn't necessarily running around loads. The pavement walk is no more than 10 mins each way. Sometimes we do go out for a longer time just once in a day but again I do think he isn't running or walking the whole time. I do worry it's too much but he rarely climbs any stairs etc and he may have a couple of crazy run arounds in the garden but only for a few mins. He sleeps loads though. I was told ALL exercise should be included in their daily allowance, my vet was a bit vague though TBH.

Thanks @PugInTheHouse - sounds like I'm letting him do a wee bit much. I'll keep an eye on it - particularly his love of football!

Chasing balls isn’t great for their joints, and on lead you want to watch for as it’s all at your pace.

But just being in the garden or offlead isn’t an issue, you don’t need to restrict that unless you see they’re actually tired but not stopping.

very cute dogs!

we started gun dog training today. The trainer has many many cockers of her own so we feel confident she's the right person. She said we should stop giving him as many treats as we are - he's not food obsessed anyway and he doesn't need them. We only need to go once every 3 weeks and in that 3 weeks we have homework to do in between! The stuff he can do once he's done all the initial training is so exciting, i wish we could get there but we've got to get the fundamentals completely right first!

@Sparkle79 I found it helped to focus on one or two things a week. But we weren't that disciplined either and we probably should have been!

I think the advice differs so much regarding exercise. We were told that puppies will just keep going even when tired hence the need to limit it. Although I have read lots that debunks the theory of 5 mins per month.

@HappyThursdays the gun dog training sounds amazing! How exciting.

@PugInTheHouse I asked the vet about this last week and he told me not to worry about it. He said it's more for larger fast growing breeds rather than Londonpup (cavalier King Charles) and smaller breeds. He said bigger concern is jumping off things

@LondonPupMum thats good to know, it has been something I've worried about. He is a nightmare for jumping on the sofa but we are careful to limit it when we catch him about to do it.

Gundog training sounds exciting. I think I heard they don't use treats. Sounds hard! We've only had sushi pup for two weeks but haven't gone beyond sit in terms of training. Her sit is pretty impressive though! Looked at a video for fetch but it looked so hard! Not sure what to try next. Just some fun games would be good.

We're at 8/9 months so I would definitely use treats when they are younger @ilovesushi ! Sounds like you're doing brilliantly already!

@ilovesushi paw is easy too, also wait before eating food. We did hi-five too which was cute. Pugpup still doesn't really fetch, his favourite game is to chase the ball, bring it back and drop it maybe a foot away, he lays down with his paws either side then as you go to get it he runs away with it. He'll do it in the garden also from further away so we walk slowly to him and he looks straight at you then waits till you are really close before running away.

We had a nice walk at our local dog park again, he is terrible for marking and keeps trying to wee up people's legs he was great with the other dogs and his recall was great. I used tiny bits of cheese instead of kibble so it was easy to get him to come to me haha. There was a 6 month old lurcher over there too and he was a bit overwhelmed by her as he'll she kept jumping on his back and biting him but he kept going back for more. I am hoping the more we are over there he will start reading dogs signals better. Even if they snarl at him he thinks they still want to play.

Can I ask for advice about feeding chicken and rice? Stillpup had a touch of diarrhea with a little bit of blood in it. Vet said to feed chicken and rice for a few days. Today was the first day but he's constantly hungry! It doesn't seem to fill him up at all. Is this normal? He's had about 2.5 chicken breasts with equal portions of rice. He's done one small poo (firm) but he usually does at least 2. Is it normal to do less poo on this bland diet?

Sorry to just butt in with another question but Google isn't being very helpful and I know you lot have done chicken and rice a few times!

Sorry I have no idea really re amounts as when the same happened to pugpup the vet gave me probiotics for him and we kept giving him his normal food. It worked within a day or so and then never happened again. He was about 13 weeks as it was when he started eating crap off the floor once he could go on walks

@PugInTheHouse haha, yep... He ate some cat poo which is what we think caused it!

@StillAliveish cat poo, snails, worms, caterpillar, leaves, stones, moss and anything else he could get to

I’ve done lots of chicken and rice with my 5 year old dog. He’s small - a Cavapoo and not too food focussed. He had regular upset stomachs as a pup and now just occasionally. I do 2 meals from 1 chicken breast, with lots of rice. I also put in a bit of frozen veg if it’s to hand.

Having said that, when my puppy had diarrhoea couple of weeks ago, I tried him with the Lily’s Kitchen food recovery recipe and it did the trick - only needed 1 can

Can I ask when people talk about chews for puppies do they mean food chews? I’ve heard of nylabone being mentioned but not sure exactly what it is or how it works. Our puppy is 9 week lab if that makes a difference.

@MrsHerculePoirot We've got a lab golden retriever cross a week older than yours. We have various chews mostly non edible ones including a puppy nylabone starter kit and some nylabone teething 'keys'. Her favourite chew is a yak's milk chew we got from the local pet shop. This one is edible but I think it will take forever for her to whittle it down.

@MrsHerculePoirot I think sometimes it’s one and sometimes it’s the other! Nylabones are chews made of plasticy material that don’t really run out (although some of ours have significant tooth marks now 😂) they are often flavoured to taste/smell like something to get the puppy interested. I found them useful with Plantpup, although not as useful as natural chews like yak chews and antlers etc as she seems to be so much more interested in them. I guess they smell more perhaps and taste more interesting. Only downside being they don’t last forever! But they do last a fairly long time

Thanks so much!