Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@hightideattheseaside how old is your pup? I've found a bit of age and a bit of practice has really helped DPup whilst I work. Although it's not perfect yet!!

DH walks him about 8am and he'll sleep from 8.30am till 10.30 ish. Its then a battle of wills for about an hour and a half. He'll tend to get something to get him through till lunch - a pizzle stick, cow ear, lickimat. If he's being really awkward I have a selection of boxes with kibble hidden in them. These take about 5 minutes for him to destroy and 10 minutes to tidy up, so only used when desperate! I'll sometimes break and blow bubbles for 10 minutes in the garden, or do a bit of recall / hide and seek if I have time. We break for lunch 12-1 and take him or a walk, I'll save a third of his lunch for a slow feeder ball when he's inevitable a pain in the afternoon. He'll sleep after his walk till about 3ish and again I'll throw food / toys / recycling at him until I finish at 4pm.

He's six months now and is loads better than back in January!

@Hightideattheseaside I found it difficult and I must admit, even though I will be back permanently in the office soon, I was doing most of the Happy sitting during the day while dp breezed around saying how easy it was! Now he's 8 months, we've got a dog walker that comes and picks him up and takes him out because we can't always guarantee him a proper walk during the day. We do one pre work and then he will settle for a bit but he likes an afternoon run around and even though we could do after work in the summer, in the winter it was absolutely miserable so I feel much better knowing someone is walking him during the day, even though dp will be around.

when he was little, I did find things like cow's ears kept him very busy (the ones with hair/muscle take a lot longer to chew) and little 5 mins burst of training if you can fit that in (training tires them out!). I also wish we had trained 'settle' more. It's probably his worst command as he's such a dynamo. But a good settle is really useful if you are working!

@LemonCake79 I really feel for you about the food refusal especially if it is bringing back memories of the worry around getting your kids to eat x

@PugInTheHouse We're one step forward, one back with the cats. This morning sushi cat barked and barked at the cat through the window. Yesterday, she was so lovely and calm.

On the subject of kongs - we have the pink puppy one in I think a medium or large. I have been stuffing it with soft goats cheese and kibble or dog peanut butter and kibble. It keeps her occupied and happy! Haven't put it through the dishwasher yet, but finding the peanut butter a bugger to clean off!

Sushi cat? That should be sushi pup!

I just use wet food in the kongs...

I’ve had too many dogs go, WTF is that? When trying other stuff in it, lol

@tabulahrasa haha that is so funny, they are little pickles! Pugpup sits on my shoulder during meetings, they call him parrot puppy

@happypuppymummy we had a similar issue, he wouldn't settle at all in the crate a few weeks ago, he would eventually drop off for an hour or so but then crying and scratching at it. We decided to leave the door open and have blocked the end of our bed with the crate so he can't get out of our room, put a soft bed next to my bed side table so he has a small 'alley' he can move around in, we leave the crate open which he uses most nights for a short time then he moves around and sleeps in various positions throughout the night. He seems so much happier.

Oh he sits on my shoulder too... he’s now 17 1/2 kg btw... and about collie sized

This is not an exhaustive list, but I get leg humping, shoulder sitting, spectacularly last week over the back of the other couch on to the windowsill then fell off behind the couch - behind where I sit so in full view... climbing up bookshelves to steal books, cushion stealing and launching himself into the laptop screen to say hello.

Only during zoom meetings with customers...no other time at all does he do any of these things

Oh my, pugpup is about 8kg lol. He sounds hilarious though, I bet they love his antics to be fair!!

@Doje she’s only 10 weeks tomorrow so I expected the first few weeks to be hard. Slightly concerned with how little work I’ve done though. @HappyThursdays this is the part I’m finding the hardest so far. I’ll look into training settle and buy some cows ears. If only there was paid maternity leave for puppies! Im hoping I’ll be able to wear her out at lunch times when we can start going for walks as we live by the beach. But May end up getting a dog Walker if work is too busy.

Thanks for the tips @MrsHerculePoirot I was clueless. Sounds like I’ll have to confine her to a hard floor. I don’t like the thought of cleaning liver paste out of my carpet!

Working from home we do a long training and sniffy walk in the AM pre work, he sleeps usually 9-12, maybe a small whine in between. Then lunch and back in crate 1-3, then train and play, then back in 3.30-5 generally!

I do feel bad about enforced naps but he's been so much better being more rested

@PugInTheHouse

Oh my, pugpup is about 8kg lol. He sounds hilarious though, I bet they love his antics to be fair!!

Yeah they think he’s funny... it’s the same people so they get a different version of his wee show every week

He doesn’t do it for zoom meetings where I’m not leading them, so I suspect it’s mostly - haha, this is when I can do all the things because she’s busy...

@Hightideattheseaside

I’ve never had to clean anything off a carpet tbh, if you’re having to clean up afterwards, switch what’s in it, lol

I wonder if I may need to start enforcing naps? At the moment she doesn’t sleep for very long at a time and I could do with being at my desk for some of the day rather than downstairs. I need to step up the crate training I think as she doesn’t choose to go in there at all at the moment.

Have to say I have struggled a little bit today. Not sure why, I thought he was getting a little calmer but he's found it so hard to settle these last two days

Has anyone else's pup ever gone mad biting and fighting their leg in their crate or when not settling? Pup is definitely trying to stay awake but it worries us and we don't know how to stop it

He's about 4.5 months and is in the midst of teething so I'm sure things should improve soon.

@tabulahrasa that’s good. I guess any sensible dog would not waste liver paste on the carpet! I’ll just have to bite the bullet and try it!

As per his schedule, Dpup has just been a pain in the arse for the last hour. Literally as I clocked off work at 4pm he crawled into his crate and put his head down.

I'll having a peaceful 10 mins MNetting then will move his lazy butt to go collect the kids!

@hightideattheseaside we definitely found enforcing naps helpful at the beginning. He would go overtired and bitey and I'd pull him onto my lap for a snooze. Once he chilled out I'd encourage him into his crate. I found he slept better and for longer if I shut the door - it just meant he wasn't compelled to get up and see what was going on anytime came into, or left the kitchen. #nosypup

yes we also had to enforce naps with happy as he had and still has serious FOMO

we have an issue with him at night - he's always been a brilliant sleeper but suddenly over the last week, he's become a lot more alert at night and is barking at things (and he's not a barker). I could not see what he was barking at at 4am on the camera and the problem is, we are back at my place which is terraced so we can't leave him barking without driving the neighbours mad so have to go down immediately. I think it might have been the milkman coming down the street. The dog walker parked and was opening the gate when he heard her (he couldn't see her) this afternoon and that made him jump up from his nap and bark! I have got some blackout blinds but I'm convinced it is noise rather than movement - might have to try white noise on quiet at night if he's going to keep getting disturbed.

@HappyThursdays we have an annoying dog over the back fence who goes in the garden to just bark, so our lounge with the crate faces the garden and sometimes Londonpup will just join in despite being half asleep. Annoying.

Thanks for all the tips re the crate overnight..... She's 17 weeks and up to now has been fine. @Puginthehouse I'm wary about leaving the crate open upstairs in case she sneaks out for a cheeky toilet break! You've given me food for thought though.

@HappyThursdays as I slept downstairs with pup last night I was woken up by cats or foxes in the garden. It was loud, but I doubt I'd have heard it from our room. I imagine there's lots going on that they hear overnight. Maybe some white noise would help?

@happypuppymummy ah yes of course, we put puppy pads under the blankets that were on the carpet and he did actually wee the 1st night, I think he was unsure how to let us know he needed a wee, it was about 630am and he just used to whine in the crate if he needed to go whereas not in the crate he just popped his head up by the side of the bed so we thought he just wanted to try and get up lol. He was just turned 6 months so a few weeks older and really reliable with night time toileting and never really went in the night at that point so we weren't that worried.

@happypuppymummy yes I think it might be the foxes as they run up and down the alley way behind the house grrr! It's odd as he must have suddenly become more sensitive to sound as they've always been there. Dp came home today and he heard him outside on the phone before he had even got to the house and I couldn't hear him! Argh!

A million times better with lemonpup's eating. Feel like we are turning a corner with this. He even ate all his kibble for the first time ever. In the interests of full disclosure I did mix a little grated cheese through it.

I'm shocked by how much I worry about him. Don't get me wrong, I agreed to having a puppy but it was DH who really wanted him. I didn't expect to be in love with him (and by extension worrying about him) so soon. It's been great to feel some of the anxiety around good intake lift today. I feel as though I've really enjoyed him and learnt a valuable lesson about the importance of being strict with some issues.

Stillpup has his assessment day at daycare today! I'm so nervous. It's like the first day at nursery all over again! He's a bit shy around other dogs- he's touched noses with a couple of calmer dogs on the school run but is definitely wary of jumpy puppies. I'm hoping he'll be ok with the other dogs... The daycare staff said they'll take things at his pace and they often have puppies who start off a bit shy but I'm still worried!

@LemonCake79 That's great news! I think food and associated processes is the most anxiety-inducing aspect. I still worry all the time! Do his poos look normal? Am I socialising him enough? Do his back legs look weird? Is he scratching his ear more than usual? Etc etc. I'm hoping I can relax about him soon!

@LemonCake79 that's good news! Any tips? It's Georgiepup's turn to go off eating now He's been interested but then just sniffs it and walks off!

Good luck @StillAliveish