Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

We are at a loss to what to do about all the jumping up and nipping here. Turquoisepup is frantic and it is so stressful. I have taken to putting her in her crate (she has to be bribed in with a treat) but when she comes out it starts all over again. We have tried ignoring but it can’t really be ignored as it is quite painful and she is ripping our clothes. Send help !

C4pup was 7 months yesterday and he hasn't humped anything or cocked his leg up at all, is this normal? I mean, if he never wants to cock his leg up and start marking all over my house, that's fine by me

@Turquoisesol I firstly it does get better. We found leaving the room reset her. Just for a few seconds, shut the door, and we’d usually come back to a calmer pup. If they are older and can go out then sniffing walks calms them down.

A bit of trading too, teach down and sit when calm and then try when a bit hyper, it tries them out. Ours was at her worst when she was resisting napping.

Frozen carrots, tea towels or a kong or old yoghurt pot.

Some treats hidden in newspaper in a box. Snuffle mats. Treats in old egg boxes or a bit of squeasy cheese smeared in. Just calms them.

@Turquoisesol oh you have my sympathy and solidarity! We use lots of toys (big ones so hands are out of the way!), chews, basic training he can easily do to refocus his energy or time out in the kitchen (our playpen). He'll usually go to sleep then. Sometimes he's too bitey to pick up and put in the kitchen so then we leave the room. After a few goes he'll usually calm down. It's always in the early evening when he's obviously getting tired.

Thank you all. Yes evening is bad normally but sometimes morning too after she has been up for an hour or so. The kids come in to just get their breakfast they are good at not winding her up but it seems to get her in a frenzy and starts jumping up biting them and biting ankles. It’s a bit stressful

Yes some of the guidance talks about putting them in another room or crate. But it’s almost impossible to pick her up when she gets in to that phase.

@Turquoisesol the biting is the worse! Londonpup is almost 20 weeks and it got way better. It was a gradual process but we did timeouts in the pen and redirected to toys.

He's got a bit nippy again but we're putting it down to teething as he had some wobbly teeth and bleeding gums the other day!

We are not yet 13 weeks so got a bit of a long slog ahead 🙁

@Turquoisesol my little dude gets very nippy at breakfast time too. Have you got access to a baby gate? I got one of the fold out baby Dan ones from a friend so I’ve now divided the kitchen/living room in two- when the DC are coming down for breakfast pup is led into the other area where I hang out with him (wearing thick denim jeans) and try to calm him with some training/chew toy. Alternatively I bring him out for a run in the garden. The kids are smallish so I lift them from couch to table etc when he’s like that too!

In evenings the DC go on the couch and I literally use the coffee table to barrier them on to it so pup can’t get up onto it and start nipping them. He’s calmer round me so I guess that helps as I can divert his attention and bring him to kitchen section with me.

It’s all about prevention at the moment although I look around the room sometimes and shake my head at the lengths we have to go to! This too shall pass (in 6 months or so maybe?!😩)

[quote Doje]@Happythursdays I do have a long line. But if I hold the other end then he spends the entire time yanking me to go further which is uncomfortable and I think will damage the loose lead walking we have done, and if I let the other end trail then he goes really far away from me anyway, and that's the bit I have a problem with! We do a bit of both in different situations, but neither I really enjoy! What do you do?

Now I'm not looking forward to 'real' adolescence and the weeing everywhere and bitches in season! [/quote]
Some training is needed for the long line it shouldn’t be a case of getting to the end of the line and yanking you. A trained wait or recall as he gets close to reaching the end of the line whilst still moving forward is the key. A wait can be trained very easily starting on a normal lead. Every now and then stop dead in tracks say your chosen word (mine is “wait”) and reward him for stopping next to you. He will soon pair that word with the stop and then you can start saying the word alone and reward each time he stops. Progress to a slightly longer lead and continue until it is reliable. Now when getting near end of long line say your word, dog stops and wait whilst you catch up. Bingo no more yanking!

I was wondering about separating the living kitchen area. At the moment she only has access to that part of the house. Our second living room and bedrooms etc are all separated with one baby gate. But the open plan living kitchen is her area. To split the open plan I would need a divider which is about 2.5 m long. Which I was wondering about looking in to getting

@Turquoisesol yes, too bitey to pick up. That's why you have to leave the room and shut the door. Literally a few seconds.

Breakfast time was always awful for us too. Till I realised that she'd woken us up to go out but she really needed to go back to sleep afterwards.

I'd sit in a chair with her on my lap and a cup of tea till she went back to sleep and then do breakfast. It's just me and DH though so I wasn't trying to get a pack out of the door ....

I use a house line for bitey puppies... basically a really really lightweight longline.

It means you can interrupt and divert quickly.

We just started attaching a lead to her in the house yesterday so will persevere with that

Hi all, pup came home to us on Friday and rationally I know she's been wonderful. She sleeps through the night in a crate next to the bed, usually wakes once between 3-5am for a wee and then back to sleep until 7-8am. She's a bit bitey when she plays but we've been redirecting with long toys. She goes to the toilet when we take her outside and we've had minimal accidents inside. So all this is good, but my god have I got some anxiety, I'm on the verge of tears every day thinking I've made a mistake and I have this feeling of sickness pretty much all day every day, even when she naps and can't come to any harm. I'm on the Facebook DTAS group and seen it commonly referred to as the puppy blues but I never thought I'd feel this awful. Hand hold anyone?

Puppy Blues are real. I'd have happily handed ours back any time in the first few weeks. It got better after she'd had her jabs and could go out properly.

But was sure I'd made an awful mistake - it's such a big change. And ours was a lovely puppy.

She's 16 months now, and a little treasure. Stubborn, but cuddly, good with people, sleeps a lot. loves a walk. Wouldn't be without her. It does get better!

@MaryIsA thank you! People keep telling me that but I really don't feel any better. She's asleep on my knee right now and I feel so sick with worry for no good reason! The only time I'm not worrying is when we're both asleep at night. I think it's the responsibility and possibly feeling a bit trapped, especially as we can't really go out anywhere just yet.

@MrsRandallFraser I'm with you!! We've had ours about 5 weeks and I'm still very anxious! For a week after we got him I was googling how to give up your dog! It's a bit better now but I'm a naturally anxious person which doesn't help! Is there something specific you're struggling with?

This definitely won't work for everyone, but what really helps me is reminding myself that it's "just a dog". In the list of priorities, kids, my family, job, roof over our heads etc etc., he's not right at the top. As long as I feed him right, give him exercise and attention and look after his health as best I can that's all I have to do.

It also really helps when you have a nice training session or walk and it all feels worth it

Mrsrandallfraser I totally relate to you. Do you have children? I have two primary age boys and I really didn’t expect our life’s to be so changed. I worry that I will never have time for them again to really enjoy my children as my life is so dedicated to puppy just now. I feel trapped that I can’t go anywhere. I worry about future holidays if we can’t settle her in to kennels/home boarding. I worry that she won’t outgrow bitey phase. I worry that she will be snappy when she is older or reactive as she can be quite timid and scared at times. My children are enjoying playing with her but the responsibility feels huge .
And like you I know she is actually doing quite well. Sleeps through. And pretty much toilet trained already. So we are doing ok I think.

Someone on here said to me - all dogs really need is fed, a bed and to know they are part of the family and feel secure in that. Most of the rest slots into place.

Getting them out and about to see things helps and helps you - they can sit on your lap on a bench if they haven't had their jabs.

And play with them - a good game of tug is great for bonding.

I used to worry mine was some sort of exceptionally bitey aberration - but she was just a puppy, and a really soppy lovely one at that.

Stillaliveish yes I do occasionally try to tell me it’s just a dog and really not the highest of priorities. But then a good dog vs a “bad” dog in the house really impacts on the whole family so I feel pressure to train her to be a good family dog for us.

One of my worries is actually about ticks. I worry that when out walking now she will pick up ticks and pass them to us or the children. I have a fear of someone getting ticks/ lymes disease. She is treated for ticks/worms but that doesn’t stop them crawling on her and passing them to us. Does anyone have any advice for this worry? I guess it’s just be vigilant checking her and family.

[quote StillAliveish]@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![/quote]
I really hope so. I want to just enjoy him!

[quote GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]@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[/quote]
I'm not sure I'd presume to give tips given how hard we found it to get him eating. I can share the pep talk my friend gave me. She said:

• it's a myth all dogs are greedy and fall on their food. Some aren't huge eaters and will go all day without eating for no medical reason whatsoever. She suggested I try to work on worrying less as there would be other signs if he was ill.
• a puppy very often won't feel safe eating in a large kitchen no matter how well he's settled. Putting his head down in a bowl so he can't see the rest of the room is scary. We have started feeding lemonpup in his pen (he has a pen with his crate in it).
• is the bowl right? We were using ceramic and the breeder used stainless steel. He's much happier after I bought him some steel ones.
• dogs shouldn't be encouraged to graze. You need to take the food away after 20 minutes and feed to a schedule. Don't feed him early if he's hanging about. She emphasised the need to be strict at this stage even though that can feel wrong.
• mix a bit of cheese in the food, grated on the Parmesan setting so he can't just sift it out. Give him a tiny bit when you prepare the food so he gets the taste. I've been mixing about 3/4g in for a medium breed so it really is a tiny amount.
• weigh his food before and after he eats for a few days so you can record what he's eating and spot where he has his biggest / smallest meal.
• reward him for eating by ear ruffling and telling him he's a good boy etc. She said in general I should work on his seeing this as a reward so it isn't always food. Do a special voice etc.
• move training to later in the day if he's not eating well. It will stop him just trying to survive on training treats.
• weigh him, he is probably gaining weight despite an inexperienced owner's perception he isn't eating.

Gosh, that is such a long list looking back! Her main theme was for me to chill out. That said I found this advice super helpful and it has made a difference to us.

@HappyThursdays snap re midnight barking. I have slept on the sofa the last two nights as Puppypup just would not settle and kept barking at the back door. On Sunday it was on and off for an hour and a half. I think with him it's alertness which morphs into attention/ FOMO. Am trying to ignore barking during the day but as you say it's harder at night re neighbours.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat and @LemonCake79 Puppypup has had periods of what I thought was fussier eating but I have now just accepted he's not a dog who will always wolf down his food. He's also never ready to eat first thing either - he normally wants to eat around 11. So I have just been leaving it and he it eventually. Why is the advice that dogs should not graze?

@Turquoisesol for nipping etc do you always have a toy to hand? I had them all over the house so I could pick up to redirect puppypup. Put some on the stairs for the kids to come down with in the am so the puppy can latch on to that rather than them.