Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@Turquoisesol this is what we have www.babysafety.ie/babydan-configure-flex-xl-hearth-gate-black-90-278cm/
but spread out straight. I think you can pick them up on eBay and such.
In terms of ticks just keep an eye on the kids mainly I’d say. Hard to spot ticks on dogs I imagine? The Lyme ones tend to occur in wooded areas with long undergrowth where there are deers in the vicinity. They tend to have to be attached for 24 hours before they transmit lyme so decent bit of time to do checks after you’ve been in such areas. Not sure about UK but I know where I am you can access maps online showing areas where the ticks are more likely to be found so might be worth a google?

I think chilling and just letting him be is the biggest help! I can't help but worry and faff around him but really he's never been a foody dog. He's also nearly 7 months so not a tiny wafe any more. He's probably just stopped growing so perhaps doesn't need as much to eat anymore. Also, he's still on 4 small meals a day due to his medication but possibly ready to drop a meal. I shall try to chill!

Hello, can I join?
Our little pup (well, not so little now) is almost 11 months. I’ve really messed up with leaving alone training, she’s happy to go in her crate at night (10pm-6am) but if I ever have the nerve to try and leave the house without her doesn’t the whole street know about it . Luckily she doesn’t have to be left home alone much but with things starting to open up again I’m realising there’s so much we won’t be able to do now (when we got a dog I had planned on having them trained to be left up to 4 hours if need be incase we wanted to do things like cinema/swimming etc). Trying to crate her once a day during the day for an hour or so after her walk, which she seems to be fine with...unless I leave the house in which case she barks the whole time (she can’t actually see/hear me leave so I’m assuming she can “sense” I’m not there or something?). Anyone else having the same issue?

I’m definitely feeling the puppy blues to today @MrsRandallFraser. She’s a sweetheart but cheeky and bitey and needy and it has turned life upside down and is so restrictive at the moment with not being able to take her out. Finding the constant vigilance so exhausting on top of work and young kids. I try to keep hold of the end goal of a lovely companion for my walks and fun pal on the beach, but hard today!

@Puppypuppypuppy, I don't really know, it isn't my advice. It is just advice I was given that has helped me. I'm sure with all these things it is a case of finding what works for you. Being strict with times and taking food away after 20 minutes has really helped us.

@Turquoisesol We are in an area which is pretty bad for ticks carrying Lyme disease. We have the little plastic twisty sticks to remove them to hand at home and I carry two of various sizes when I am out in the warmer months. Our cats get them all the time, but come and sit on me when they have them (they aren't really lap cats). I am always pleased but confused by this uncharacteristic degree of affection, give them a stroke, then feel the tick usually in their neck. We have all had ticks stuck in us at some point. We had my DD tested for Lyme disease a couple of years ago as she had flu like symptoms and lethargy coinciding with a bite. She was fine. It is a worry but it is just a reality where we are.

“Why is the advice that dogs should not graze?”

Mostly it’s inconvenient...

The most common painkillers need to be given with food or they can cause horrible side effects. Other medications too.

If they ever need to be looked after by anyone else - you’re fairly limited if there’s no set meal times and it can’t be anyone with other animals around or they’ll just eat it.

It makes it harder to spot issues like minor stomach upsets or loss of appetite.

Also a lot of training is based on you being the keeper of resources... you’re not if it’s just always there, though if a dog isn’t good motivated that might be a bit of a moot point anyway.

There’s probably other reasons, but they’re the first ones I can think of.

@Puppypuppypuppy yes I am going to sleep downstairs tonight. The foxes woke me up last night so I can only imagine what they are doing to him. As dp says, he could hear a crisp packet being opened a mile away that dog .

@imnotprincessbubblegum I do feel your pain. I think a lot of people think the small puppy time is the worst but adolescence is an absolute horror show for some dogs. I felt terrible yesterday as friends of ours who have a v tiny dog (not sure what it is but some sort of shih-tzu cross) said how much hard work they thought Happy was. I mean he is hard work lol compared to their little thing who isn't even strong enough to pull on the lead but we still love him very much and he is doing a lot better than he was but he still can't be let off lead yet while his recall is not back to where it was. Have you tried to leave pup outside the crate? She might find it a bit too small for him now during the day? It is the time a lot of them find their voice unfortunately. They say the best thing to do is to leave them for short times first. So start with 5 mins, move to 10 mins etc. and keep going back a step if it proves too much. I don't know if you've got time to try and make that work?

sorry, mixing my hims and hers there!

@StillAliveish I think I've got it into my head that if she cries and don't help her she'll hate me forever. She barely cries at home, the car is another story. I was definitely the driving force behind getting her and DP was a bit relcuctant so I feel responsible making sure she's being well behaved even though he's been incredibly chill and loves her to bits.

@Turquoisesol no I don't have kids, always wanted them, seriously reconsidering now based on how I've felt the past few days. Like I said rationally know she's ok, I'm just so worried about doing something wrong and messing her up later down the line.

To whoever said to take her out in our arms/a sling until she's fully jabbed up, we have been doing this but she seems to hate it, she wriggles and cries. If I put her in there asleep she wakes up. Walks seem a long way off at the moment especially as I know she'll love them.

@tabulahrasa thanks - all of that makes sense and now I do recall something about 'being in charge of resources' and that being a good thing. I will have to ponder!

@imnotprincessbubblegum Puppypup is 8 months and we still haven't left him alone in the house I am ashamed to say. I thought we were making progress in that he was sleeping happily alone downstairs at night and pottering around before we got downstairs in the am but as you can see further up the thread we now have barking and I am back on the sofa. I think adolescence is definitely one step forward and a few back.

I think we all need to remember we are puppy parenting in v different (pandemic) conditions and we may get to where we want to be with our pups in slower time, but hopefully we will get there. On the upside our puppies will be well bonded with us.

I leave my 8 month puppies, as I try to walk them separately (unless we're doing a family walk and take all 3) but they haven't been left for more than 2 hours. we did build up to it and usually aren't left for more than 1.5 hrs most of the time.

@happypuppymummy Awww. Is your pup pulling a lot? Sorry I’ve only just joined this (and Mumsnet actually) so still trying to catch up.
I feel like I’ve tried everything. Letting her access to the whole house, leaving music on, tv on, leaving kongs/lickimatts, speaking to her through the Alexa, doing the putting shoes on and walking to the door/garden/back gate etc to desensitise her to me leaving. The dog trainer suggested leaving her in crate if that’s were she’s quiet and comfortable being alone at night (her crate is actually in like a little den type thing/under the stairs like a little Harry Potter bedroom). I’ve been told it’s more her being annoyed at being left then distressed. Sounds about right I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m off having wonderful adventures without her because she fine alone at nighttime and if she wants to go off and do something, she’s been on dog walks with other people and even stayed overnight at a friends house and was absolutely fine leaving me then

[quote Puppypuppypuppy]@imnotprincessbubblegum Puppypup is 8 months and we still haven't left him alone in the house I am ashamed to say. I thought we were making progress in that he was sleeping happily alone downstairs at night and pottering around before we got downstairs in the am but as you can see further up the thread we now have barking and I am back on the sofa. I think adolescence is definitely one step forward and a few back.

I think we all need to remember we are puppy parenting in v different (pandemic) conditions and we may get to where we want to be with our pups in slower time, but hopefully we will get there. On the upside our puppies will be well bonded with us.[/quote]
Oh no (I’m still catching up on the thread), how exhausting, hopefully it’s just a short phase. I was really anxious when we first got our pup so would never leave her or if I tried and she started barking it’d put me off doing it again as I’d worry about neighbours complaining. Now I think why didn’t I just do it back then, a little barking for a few weeks is better than her literally not being able to be left.
Absolutely!!. I remember reading a while ago this is the sort of age people rehome their dogs due to “behavioural issues”/adolescent behaviour but no matter how much you train them before they reach it, it’s biological isn’t it. I’ve had some really off character behaviour from our pup since adolescence . That’s true, lovely having a great bond, just can’t wait til we’ve trained her to be left alone so we have a lovely bond with our dog but also able to do the occasional human only things.

@imnotprincessbubblegum we are in the same boat, almost 7 months and can't be left, he barks solidly the whole time. We are working with a trainer as soon as she is allowed indoors to do some work with him. I am finding it really stressful, he seemed like he was doing ok but now he won't even have a lickimat if I leave the room, let alone the house. He will wait till I come back in then will have it. It is the only thing I am really stressed about as I need to be able to leave him.

Argh! Seizure on this evening's walk. He's doing so well in most of the other areas, it's so annoying that we have this to deal with. Anyway he's fine, but it's frustrating and disheartening.

We haven't left Georgiepup either, he's almost 7 months. Haven't needed to but I would like to start just so he is used to it if we did have to.

@MrsRandallFraser yep, I was the one who pushed for the dog too until DH relented. For a couple of weeks I never told him how much I was struggling but eventually I just burst into tears! He was lovely about it, but I could see the "I told you so" in his eyes! He's much calmer than me about everything so he's helped me to see things in perspective a bit more. Stillpup also hated the car initially but now he associates it with going to a fun place on a walk. We couldn't really carry him either because he was wriggly and heavy but even a short amount of time helps. We used to drive to our local reservoir, park in the car park and literally just walk down to the water and back carrying him, he loved it! Then he started to like the car a bit more. Obviously treats too but he also liked having his bed blanket in the car to sit on.

@StillAliveish that's good to hear! I feel like I'm surrounded by people who find having dogs a breeze and I'm the only one struggling. I'm hoping she'll start to see the car as a positive when she can get out and run around after a journey.

@MrsRandallFraser trust me, they're lying

@MrsRandallFraser I think it is that people forget, it feels like a lifetime ago that we were on edge constantly watching to see if pugpup needed to go out for a wee, in reality it has only been a few weeks since we have really been able to relax fully with that one thing.

No one really mentions the puppy biting (until you bring it up) and most places you seem to see all these fabulous dogs just sitting/standing next to their owners not reacting to people/dogs/bikes whereas on here many of us are struggling with the pups pulling or barking at people or dogs.

We met a dog in the park today, a lovely boxer cross who was on a lead. Lovely dog and played beautifully with pugpup (till he got all hot for her and was about to try to hump her) however she was on the lead as she isn't that obedient. I actually felt a bit better about some of the issues we've had as it shows not all dogs are perfectly behaved at all time but can still be really nice dogs. The owners said she grooms their rabbit made me laugh with this 28kg solid dog to be grooming a little rabbit!

@imnotprincessbubblegum yes same problem here with our 6 1/2 month old. I work from home so with him all day. He cries even if I go upstairs, and now when my DH & DD are in he won't settle with them and just sits at bottom of stairs waiting. I have read some guidance re training but it's about building up very very slowly seconds at a time, however I have to leave him for school run twice a day so that training isn't feasible! I do give him a kong whilst doing school run & sometimes he's still eating it when I get back, other times when I check camera he's just sat howling and whining!

I am the same just worrying/thinking about life getting back to normal and wanting to be able to pop to shops or out for a meal even for an hour without worrying. Aargh!

@StillAliveish @PugInTheHouse I'm SO glad I posted, it's made me feel a lot better about things. I think it was all very well over-reading about all the things you're supposed to do with a puppy but reality is very very different.

I won't lie, the whole issue re leaving him is really getting me down. He will settle with other people if they are good at distracting him but just not on his own. He loves the trainer/walker and spends a few hours a week with her, he cries and howls when she drops him off. He's just super clingy to both of us, I feel like this is good in a way as she can practice leaving him also when he is at hers.

I too feel like in real life around us everyone is a bit smug and they are all passed the puppy phase.