Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

Can you pen him in somehow next to a bed? So he’s contained but a hand can be put in it he complains?

Oh @XelaM that sounds really hard, they are so active at that age aren't they. Have you tried a yak chew before (not sure if there is a minimum age) that is one thing I found would settle pugpup when he was younger. It might just calm him down for long enough for him to settle in there.

@Happythursdays how do you keep his attention on your 30 minute concentrating walk? I can keep Dpup's attention with food for a tiny amount of time, but he'd rather sniff. I tried a squeaky ball today too, it got his attention, but then I threw it (obvs a mistake, but it seemed natural 🙈) and he just ran off with it!

@Turquoisesol Thank you! Will have a look

@tabulahrasa The pen is literally by the sofa where either of us sleeps to make sure we're close to him. He can see us centimetres away form his pen and we put our hand inside to settle him, but as soon as we open a tiny bit of the zip to put our hand in - he gets his head out and wants to come out.

@PugInTheHouse He has little puppy bones that he chews on that calm him down but it takes AGES when he's so distressed for him to even accept it. We even got a lick matt and put peanut butter on it, but when we put him in there with it - he stepped on it and fell into it and ended up full sticky peanut butter and not happy

One thing I must say though is that the crate definitely helped with the toilet training as he doesn't have the run of the whole house anymore and can't sneakily do his business in random places I can't immediately see

@xelam pugpup used to love the lickimat, I used it to go and get ready/have a shower as he would like it for at least 20 mins but I dared to leave the house once. He was on his own 25 mins but since then he won't lick it if I even leave the room. Such a clingy little thing.

@PugInTheHouse They are aren't they! Our pug pup wants to squeeze himself so close to us it's ridiculous- he doesn't want to be even a millimetre apart. Sometimes he just crawls onto either mine or my daughter's chest and plonks himself to sleep right there with his tail in our face He just can't stand not being right next to/on top of us

Can I ask those of you who don’t sleep with their pups any more what age did you manage to do this?

Currently one of us sleeps on the floor next to his crate. We’ve been able to shut the crate door now the last few nights with no issue but we are right next to him.

I know I can’t rush it - I don’t want to risk setting us back and it taking longer. So I’m just really interested to know really others’ experience.

He’s only just 10 weeks but we can’t have him upstairs and in our room due to rental and the stairs frankly also being a death trap...

@XelaM sorry to hear about your pup! Hope the recovery goes well - I don’t envy you!

@MrsHurculePoirot we did about 10 days sleeping next to him. Once Dpup wasn't waking up for a wee we just tried it and he was ok. He does still need to be asleep in his crate for us to go upstairs, but he tends to be pretty dozy from about 7pm onwards. We take him out for a last wee, then pop him in his crate, lights off and wait for him to settle.

@XelaM How awful for you all! That seems like an impossible ask - 4 weeks rest in a crate! What about all the socialisation, getting used to different experiences, people, animals etc? Can you still take him out and about with you? He'll go nuts and you will too if he has to stay cooped up.
I think I saw something on facebook too with an American woman who trains dogs in their crates. Seemed a bit odd to me, but for this scenario it could be brilliant.
Really feel for you!

We had more success with sushi pup and the cats today. The older cat who has been in hiding for the last fortnight on DD's bed came out into the garden when she saw I was doing some training and watched from a a distance then came over quite gingerly to have a closer look. Fortunately I had a big handful of treats so I did some sit with major distraction training with sushi pup. All good. They both got a little closer at one point, then cat slunk off back inside and sushi pup ignored her and dug a hole in the ground. All I want is for them to coexist in the same space. My dream would be them curling up on the sofa (not the new one though!) together but I can live with far less!

@Doje I tried one night in next room but he woke about every two hours and needed settling back so worried it was too early! Have moved crate into living room so I can sleep on sofa. Usually he is sleeping until 5-6 from last week about 11/1130 and doesn’t have accidents in the house so maybe this will at least allow me to be marginally more comfy 🤣

@MrsHerculePoirot Thank you! The trouble is really stopping him from doing too much now that he is feeling better. It's a really an impossible task.

@ilovesushi The vet said that he only needs to be in the crate if we can't supervise him, so I take him with me everywhere now He is allowed 4 5-mins on-lead walks, so he gets to go out a little bit. Because he's so small and friendly people always stop to cuddle him and he loves strangers (not necessarily a great thing ). I have to take him to my daughter's school everyday and there he gets loads of cuddles from all the kids. There are also a few dogs there and yesterday he was super-excited to meet my daughter's classmates' 1-year-old Pomeranian. Even though the Pom was more than double his size, it's the Pom who was scared of him

The only time I put him in a crate during the day on his own was yesterday for less than 2 hours when I needed to teach a class online. He was in the same room as me and screaming so loudly all the students could hear him. I think they must think I'm some evil dog-abusing monster Lesson learned. Today I was teaching from the sofa whilst he was next to me. Much quieter

But I really need him to sleep in his crate at night!

@XelaM Oh that is so much better than I thought! I'm teaching online too with a sleeping pup at my feet!

“The pen is literally by the sofa where either of us sleeps to make sure we're close to him. He can see us centimetres away form his pen and we put our hand inside to settle him, but as soon as we open a tiny bit of the zip to put our hand in - he gets his head out and wants to come out.”

I more meant with something else... that is open at the top so he doesn’t feel shut off from you as much.

I ended up penning my last one in with a coffee table and chairs on their side for most of his first crate rest, lol

He was crate trained, but a puppy, so night was actually fine, but he was a rottie so too big to keep still by holding or lifting and he obviously wanted to be next to us.

Has anyone on here started following advice on the DTAS group and then deviated from it? I am really struggling with pup only wanting to sleep on me during the day (she's brilliant at night) and I'm still constantly anxious about nothing. The fb group says that's fine, she's a pup she'll sleep on me as long as she needs to. I unfollowed the groups as I thought they were just making it worse, almost too much advice to read. I put pup in her crate this morning after she'd fallen asleep on me, closed the door and and went to dry my hair. She howled. I waited for a break in the crying to get her out as I don't want to teach her I'll come when she cries. But now she won't go anywhere near the crate and before now she was hopping in there during the day for a treat. I feel like we've gone so backwards and it's really getting me down.

I really like the dog training advice and support but it is difficult to follow it all to the letter when life has to carry on around the puppy. I do have a lot of time to dedicate to puppy but I also need to occasionally do things while she is asleep. She doesn’t like to come in the school run and refuses to walk. I can’t carry her so I have to put her in the crate with a kong. I am only gone 10-15 minutes.
I think it would be near impossible to just let them sleep in your lap whenever they wanted to

We’ve mostly followed it. PoirotPup however has never wanted to sleep on us so maybe easier. He just wants to be in same room, lying on our feet type sleeping. He sometimes goes in his crate for a nap in the day but I wouldn’t shut the door. I have a video cam thing that links to my phone so when he’s fast asleep on the floor downstairs I have run up to grab some washing or do a quick chore but keeping an eye out and listening....

He’s only 10 weeks so we’ve still only had him just over 2 weeks I have to remember and he’s still a baby really!

He’s currently asleep in his crate (door open) that he choose to go in so I’m hoping he’ll just get more confident as he keeps growing.

@MrsRandallFraser I found DTAS very useful but also really overwhelming. I ended up staying a member but hiding their posts from my feed as it was constant dog stuff. Not sure if this is what you mean or if you've deleted the groups. Sorry I can't keep up with all the new pups, but I think yours is really young? I made the mistake of trying to do everything by a certain point, got so caught up in socialisation windows and training windows etc, and put too much pressure on myself. I think DTAS is so good and we did follow it to an extent, but for my own sanity we adapted some of the advice and methods. Like we didn't crate train exactly how they advised, we used some of their stuff and some of the advice from Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy, and some other stuff, and it all kinda worked. She'll sleep in her crate at night and go in during the day if we get a rabbit ear out as a bribe, but she doesn't really want to go in during the day. Which is fine, cos we don't really need her to. If you're feeling anxious and overwhelmed the best thing you can do is relax. It really does all come together over time, as long as you do keep up some sort of training.

@Turquoisesol @MrsHerculePoirot @ashmts

Thank you! That's exactly what I meant, it's good but so overwhelming! I think my mistake this morning was just popping her in there, no kong to distract. I won't do that again. Yes, I'm still a member but I've unfollowed so I'm not seeing every time someone posts. We've only had pup a week, she's 9 weeks so teeny tiny still. I can just about cope with her sleeping on me and like I said she's so good at night in her bedtime crate. I think I might use her bedtime crate for daytime naps, as she does settle in there and just continue crate training with the daytime one and see if she ever starts to go in there.

Um... I’d have just gone to dry my hair and let her decide whether to stay sleeping or follow me tbh.

I’ve always read that as more of - you don’t have to stop them sleeping on you if you’re sat there anyway rather than, you need to stay there and let them sleep...

@tabulahrasa I couldn't really. She can't do the stairs herself so we've blocked them off to her in case she hurts herself. She climbs on to my knee when I'm on the floor for a sleep otherwise she will not settle at all which is quite frustrating. I've just popped her in her nighttime crate so I can get ready go out and she's settled fine, so hopefully this mornings experience hasn't traumatised her!

Oh aye... stairs... lol, yeah, I kind of forgot hairdrying is upstairs.

Hi, have been following since joining a few posts up. @XelaM, sorry to hear about your puppy, that sounds really difficult to manage.

We have had our puppy for 3 days, and he has been great, so far, sleeping in crate in day and at night. Had his first vaccines this morning, and has just woken up whimpering, which he has not done before, and gone back to sleep on my lap. When I move, he whimpers and he is trembling in his sleep. He was fine immediately afterwards, and playing when we first got home.

Any one else’s puppy been unsettled after first vaccine?