Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@Turquoisesol it is totally normal to have regrets. Puppies are pretty horrible really, they np, they wee and poo, they chew our stuff. That's why they are so cute otherwise no-one would want them.

Definitely involve your DS in the training. It does get better. Dogs are much nicer than puppies imo.

@Turquoisesol my 7 year used to get riverpup free zones when she was little as he needed to be able to relax and do his own thing like he used to. My oldest ds who is a teen declared he didn't like riverpup when she was little either. She definitely wasn't what they thought having a dog would be like, she was a full on, attention needing, bitey, puppy who was hard work. Fast forward to 9 months they adore her and she them.
I agree the little puppy and particularly the bitey bit is so very hard. Puppies need lots of sleep and are often over tired so need enforced naps like babies. Proper crate training really helps as it gets pup to learn to switch off and your kids your attention for a bit.
It does get better and it won't be long but puppy regret is real and I thought multiple times what have we done, this is such hard work, no time to yourself, puppy taking my every physical effort and waking thought and children felt sidelined and didn't like her etc etc
Now my teen will be stroking and fussing her and I say, do you remember when you didn't like her and he makes me smile cos he talks to her and says, I used to hate you as you were effort but now how could I not love you. As a teen he still hates me most days but undoubtedly riverpup is everyone's favourite in the house.

What kind of dog do you have riverhousepuppy? Is there anyone else on here with a border collie pup? I am starting to get worried about how we will handle the chasing and herding

@Turquoisesol when we first got our puppy our oldest was similar. Cried a lot for the first week and was scared of the biting. I had mega puppy blues for a good few weeks as did DH and we were constantly saying half joking to each other "shall we send him back?" and we were all on the fence for a good few weeks. Now 3 months later he is part of the family and isn't going anywhere. DC are really confident around him, play tuggy etc and tell him no when he gets overexcited.

It does get better

@Turquoisesol ps we have a collie and I'll let you know when I work out how to manage the herding and chasing

How old are your children sparkle?

@ashmts We dont have a trainer. I'm not sure if I'd say it was a resource guarding issue especially. I think he could tell he'd upset me as he kept following me around all evening and then curled up and slept on me which he doesn't usually do.

@Turquoisesol

How old are your children sparkle?

9 and 6

And you have a young collie just now? Please tell me all your top tips 🙏

@Turquoisesol yes 6 months. And I know what you mean as naively we didn't do much research into breed, breeders etc (I only realised you're supposed to do that after we got a puppy and I joined a puppy forum ) So I was the same as you initially omg what have we done getting a collie because everyone kept saying how high maintenance they are.

So I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but these are some of the things we do in the hopes that we satisfy his natural instincts and tire him out mentally and physically...

Lots of people have said to give them a job so we're in the process of teaching him to tidy up

Also we try to make him work hard for his food so try to feed him in different ways every day - rolling kibble in a towel, putting it in all the recycling, scattering around, put it in a bix box and then bury it with all his toys. Theres a Facebook group called Canine Enrichment which has really good ideas.

We kick balls to him in the garden and once he's caught one we kick another one to him in another direction. There's a game called sheepball you can teach them which is similar but more complicated. We also blow bubbles which he loves and the kids can do (but you have to get them to blow them low then stand up quickly so he doesn't accidentally snap their face!) also we throw kibble to him a piece at a time and he gets in his herding position and pounces on it then goes back to lie in wait for the next piece.

We did buy him a boomer ball but he's not interested in that.

He does have lots of energy and to begin with I regularly questioned if we'd made a mistake. He always seemed to need entertaining. But these last few weeks he's really chilled out. He gets 1 or 2 walks a day mostly off lead chasing a ball and running with the kids, and we play in the garden a bit and he likes to go in the garden and have a sniff about on his own, and other than that he is very calm and sleeps a lot.

The onle breed-specific downside is that he wants to herd cars which is a PITA

Like I said in a pp he does prefer us to be together and will try to round us up on walks but it doesn't bother us and actually it's quite nice to know he's looking out for the kids. Plus I think it keeps him close to us because he wants to make sure we're all together. Our walks with him are the highlight of my day (unless we're walking along a road of course!)

Sorry that was so long and I'm not sure how helpful any of it was. I'm still learning!

@turquoisesol I had a similar situation with my 7yr old he was really wary around starpup because of the nipping and zoomies It will get better starpup is almost 16 weeks and much calmer he snuggles up to DS now and they are starting to form a really nice bond. Infact they are snuggled up playing roblox at this very moment.
On the other hand I've had to message the vet this morning as Starpup has developed a lump on his ear. I think its a heamatoma from body slamming the sofa like a knob last week.

Thank you sparkle I really appreciate your response it makes me feel better. How has he been on walks chasing joggers etc? Also with other dogs, does he try to herd them? That’s one of my concerns. I do think collies have a good off switch in the house for chilling out which I am hoping that will develop. I was speaking to a dog trainer on the phone yesterday to set up a one to one session and there was a fair bit of telling me how we would have to work hard on the herding. And she seemed to think I may have to do agility or something whether I like it or not as she will need that kind of activity. But I don’t really want to do that ideally just want to walk and throw a ball

What kind of dog do you have imovethestarsfornoone? That’s nice to hear 🙂

@Turquoisesol my kids are 5 and 7 and I really worried that I'd ruined their peaceful life. I will always remember shouting 'Just get out the kitchen, NOW!' at them in the early days. We basically had separate lives for a while, me and the dog, DH and the kids. It was horrible.

It's so much better now, DS2 is madly in love and trains him every day, and DS1 loves it when Dpup comes on and sits on him. 😄

You've got a tough few weeks ahead, I'm not gonna lie, but it goes quickly and it's so very worth it.

@ashmts Dpup is definitely resource guarding! (Spaniel) He does it when I go in his crate to sort out his bed. At the moment, he's torn between what he wants to do, vs what he knows he should do, so he compromises and makes a face, but there's no biting. It's definitely a work in progress. We're hopefully seeing a trainer after the 12th April, and resource guarding is one of the things on the list!

@ashmts We dont have a trainer. I'm not sure if I'd say it was a resource guarding issue especially. I think he could tell he'd upset me as he kept following me around all evening and then curled up and slept on me which he doesn't usually do.

It was just the way you said you tried to take something off him and he snapped and bit, that sounds like potential resource guarding to me. But I wasn't there. I really recommend a trainer. So helpful to get an outside (professional) perspective, especially if you're struggling with the herding too. Even puppy classes if you don't want one to one.

@turquoisesol hes a springer cross mastiff. If he had a designer name I'd pick spanstiff lol. He hasnt inherited any of the spaniel inteligence though thick as four short planks. saturday he stood infront of the open patio door looking out then turned round and wee'd on the carpet. It was like he didnt realise the door was open.

Sorry above was for @Sparkle79

@Turquoisesol I felt the same as your 9 year old and I'm 30! It does get better, puppies grow up fast. I'd say it took less than 2 months for me to feel better around her, and a month after that to enjoy her. I don't have children so can't speak from experience but everything says to give them their own space so they get a break from the nipping. It is relentless at first.

@Doje I think we got lucky tbh, I'm not sure how much of it was us preventing resource guarding and how much of it was her just being laid back. Hope the trainer is helpful, it's such a tricky thing to deal with and prevention is so much better than cure. Bloody spaniels but I love them.

Thank you everyone I appreciate your words of reassurance

@ashmts yes sorry that probably was him resource guarding I just meant I don't think he has an issue with it in general because he's usually pretty good at drop. But yes could definitely do with a trainer for the car chasing!!

Hi everyone, this is Ryu our border collie pup he is 13 weeks old and we have now had him for 2 weeks. Hope it’s ok to join in. I completely forgot how exhausting having a puppy is, it’s just like having a naughty toddler that has shark teeth.

@Turquoisesol

Thank you sparkle I really appreciate your response it makes me feel better. How has he been on walks chasing joggers etc? Also with other dogs, does he try to herd them? That’s one of my concerns. I do think collies have a good off switch in the house for chilling out which I am hoping that will develop. I was speaking to a dog trainer on the phone yesterday to set up a one to one session and there was a fair bit of telling me how we would have to work hard on the herding. And she seemed to think I may have to do agility or something whether I like it or not as she will need that kind of activity. But I don’t really want to do that ideally just want to walk and throw a ball

He doesn't try to herd dogs, in fact he's not overly interested in other dogs. Runners / cyclists a couple of times he's looked like he might go after. If he's on a lead he will sometimes bark at them but off lead not so much. We tend to grab his attention when we see one coming and get him focused on the ball and either throw it in another direction or wait until they've passed us then throw it. We're lucky that he is very ball focused so 9 times out of 10 we can distract him that way. I do look forward to the day we can just go for a walk and not be on alert looking for cars, bikes, people etc.

Gorgeous pup @Mumofazoo!

My DH has gone into work for the first time in ages today and the anxiety I felt this morning at being left alone with HummusPup is unreal. Surely I shouldn’t be dreading being alone with her that much BUT she has just fallen asleep on the rug for the first time since she was about 9 weeks old, she’s now 6 months. This has literally never happened before now I’m sitting here not moving a muscle and wondering if she is ill

Morning all.

Just checking in to the new thread- off to have a read.

[quote Sparkle79]@ashmts yes sorry that probably was him resource guarding I just meant I don't think he has an issue with it in general because he's usually pretty good at drop. But yes could definitely do with a trainer for the car chasing!![/quote]
The thing with resource guarding is, it’s not an issue until it is one... if that makes sense? Lol

I’d definitely try and do something about it now, it might be that he only ever has an issue when it’s something he’s stolen - but they’re often the things you really need to get off them.

I’d set him up tbh, leave some stuff about that he’ll find really exciting, but that it isn’t an emergency if you don’t get them back straight away... and practise drop with them and his highest value reward.

Cars btw, I’m currently doing liver cake (because apparently that’s the only thing my puppy values) as soon as he spots a car, until it’s gone past then stop. It’s taken about 3 weeks but 99% of the time he’s now looking forward the liver cake when he spots a car.