Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@mynameisnotmichaelcaine Hello! I have an 8 month old WCS. I'm very impressed it's going okay so far, I found it impossible for the first month or so. It does get a lot easier.

@Sparkle79 You posted about your dog displaying resource guarding behaviour on the first page of this thread, so three weeks ago, and were advised it's not normal (not necessarily rare but absolutely not desirable) and you should get a trainer involved. Did you find one? Prevention is so much better than cure with these things, if it's become an established behaviour it's harder to reverse. @tabulahrasa 's method might work but as an inexperienced dog-owner I wouldn't touch trying to sort this myself. A professional will be able to help you. If you need to leave your dog at daycare or in kennels for any reason and he snaps or bites, it could have horrible consequences. For his sake you need to nip this in the bud. Sorry if I sound like a dick but I do think this is serious.

“tabulahrasa 's method might work but as an inexperienced dog-owner I wouldn't touch trying to sort this myself.”

To be dead clear, that’s what I’d do... but, I also think it needs professional help, especially if someone’s not experienced.

Because I’ve dealt with dogs that are guardy with food before, but, it’s rarely just their meals and resource guarding can pop back up and actually it’s more dangerous when it does because it’s situations that are harder to control.

So ideally you want a full behaviour assessment and plan.

I've been MIA on these threads for ages, but pleased to report pup is so much easier now. He's six months. He's completely toilet trained, walks are becoming easier, and he's generally just being pretty good. However we do still have some challenges: not been off lead yet, he's still on his 10 metre lead, as his recall has already deteriorated when he is doing something fun. He's generally more independent and knows what he wants to do and is now protesting more on the occasions he gets put in his crate to nap, for example. He's also had his first groom and although he was great, I don't love his new short cut so am considering investing in some clippers to try it at home.

@ashmts We didn't get a trainer as that was a one off and didn't happen again (from memory I think he'd been trying to eat a piece of his plastic toy and I'd actually gone to get it from his mouth in a panic)

This is related to his food and has only started in the last day or two so no haven't got a trainer yet and wanted to see from other people if this was something they do when they hit adolescence.

@tabulahrasa thank you, will give that method a go and if he keeps doing it I will speak to a trainer.

He also has his Simparica Trio pill yesterday and I'm sure last time he had it he was a bit grrr the next day so I'm wondering if it's related.

[quote Sparkle79]@tabulahrasa thank you, will give that method a go and if he keeps doing it I will speak to a trainer.

He also has his Simparica Trio pill yesterday and I'm sure last time he had it he was a bit grrr the next day so I'm wondering if it's related.[/quote]
Honestly - you’d be better contacting someone now, especially as it’s now not a one off.

It took me 3 weeks to actually get a session with anyone for my puppy (he’s a rescue, we’re having some major issues with men)

You don’t want to wait until you’ve got a really serious issue... and while I’m saying I’d do that, I’m also very confident I can read when a dog is taking food from me, but is still hugely uncomfortable.

@tabulahrasa s method is exactly what I would do, this method is recommended when dogs are food guarding.

@Hightideattheseaside @MrsRandallFraser@MrsHerculePoirot, it is good to have some solidarity - yes, just keep thinking investment of time now should hopefully pay off!

@mynameisnotmichaelcaine you sound similar to us, we brought home our 8 week border terrier puppy this week. I work part time but am on leave so it does feel like maternity leave. Three kids and me were the ones keen to get a dog, though partner is now being won over 😀 Wondered how your husband is getting in working from home with puppy?? I will need to do some work from home, abs at moment can’t imagine being able to concentrate as having to be vigilant all the time but hopefully this is only until the toilet training stage has passed.

I posted yesterday worried about pup being poorly after his first vaccines, but he’s completely fine now. I called the vet at 4 as I was worried he’d barely moved all day and was breathing rapidly, so they probably think I am completely neurotic.

Apologies for typos!

@celestebellman DH works in the kitchen and leaves the back door open if she's awake. I am out 8:15 until about 3. We have my friend come over at about 1 to play with her for an hour or so (I pay her) and DH takes an early lunch so she has quite a big stretch of attention in the middle of the working day. Eventually friend will probably take pup to her house in the afternoon, providing pup gets on with her dogs.

@mynameisnotmichaelcaine, does your puppy entertain herself when awake? I feel like I need to be playing with ours/ giving him attention, as I worry he will be bored but I am probably overthinking it! Also, don’t want him to get used to constant attention.
I am still taking mine out to make him go for a wee regularly. To be fair we have had only two wees in an inappropriate place since we brought him home 4 days ago, but he still has newspaper down in the puppy pen (crate is in the puppy pen) and he did wee on this earlier when he woke up and I was out the room (but to be fair he could not get out!) Wondering if I should get rid of the newspaper? - he had been trained by breeder to go on newspaper but obviously now want him to go in the garden!

Sorry, realised you said she gets quite a bit of attention - but it’s encouraging that he can work with her there!

@celestebellman She gets her needs met but not much attention from him so is pretty much left to entertain herself with him in the room with her from 8-11:30 and 2-3. She does snooze quite a lot during that time. She tends to be awake for longer in the afternoon and evening when the kids and o are at home. I'm quite glad in a lot of ways that we didn't get her when I was working from home (I'm a secondary teacher), as I struggle not to constantly interact with her when she's awake and I'm at home. DH is much better at leaving her be 🤣

Working from home/managing home learning during lockdown was quite a challenge at first but it’s settled down a lot now.
We did a lot of things like giving her food wrapped up in Amazon boxes and paper, soft cheese smeared on a knotted flannel, rabbits ears once she was a bit older and quite a few games of tug and fetch under the table during meetings and sometimes took calls in the garden whilst watching her wee.

Now she’s 5 months she goes much longer between wees-like 3 + hours and mostly snoozes even if we’re not in the same room.

Thanks, @petalpup, good tips! Have got a kong, not used it much yet but think similar idea.
@mynameisnotmichaelcaine, yes I think I might struggle not to interact - will have to try to focus!

I felt a lot better when I went to bed last night, I'd been reading the happy puppy handbook and I think some of the things in there suit me better than the DTAS group. And then I woke up this morning and anxiety had kicked in all over again. We've tried some crate training and it went well, and the breeder has offered to help me with the car howling later today so I feel like I'm making steps in the right direction. I'm just doubting myself constantly and it's not helping with people saying 'just leave her for 20 mins and go out, she'll howl but she'll be fine' it just doesn't seem right...

@ashmts are you at 8 months now! Wow didn't realise you were so close to Happy in age!

@Doje the concentrating walk is hard work! Requires making a serious of very encouraging noises when he's concentrating on you and sort of hissing noises when he isn't so he switches his concentration back. You start off v short and get longer. Happy is not a food obsessed dog so treats never work with training for him. We have another 2 weeks before we go back to the trainer and the improvement in his walking and behaviour is simply astounding. All we are doing is 2 short concentrating walks a day plus 2 focused long sits (indoors not outside) and it's transformed him. He's still his mad self but he has a (little!) bit more discipline! We even crossed a cat on his concentrating walk yesterday and he didn't even try and chase it.

In other news though, he barked again at night. We simply cannot leave him if he does that so I might need to come downstairs grrrr. He is absolutely delighted of course when we come down and see him and I know the solution would be to leave him as he's now doing it to get us down but we can't do that because of the neighbours!

@HappyThursdays We are! Today is actually 6 months exactly since we brought her home. Crazy to think how much she's come on since then. But at the same time it feels like she's been here forever. I think there's maybe only 3 or 4 weeks between her and Happy? Annoying that he's started barking at night, we've definitely noticed ours has found her voice and will bark out the window a lot more than she used to.

Was just about to type that we're having a really warm day and I'm worried pup will overheat cos she keeps lying in the sun (I've been taking her inside regularly to cool down), but she's just taken herself off and lay down in the shade. So think that problem has solved itself! They're so clever really, we worry about them so much but they're not daft. They won't stay uncomfortable for long.

Yes, black dogs unite! Happy needs a groom as his fur is a bit long too. He has also recently discovered shade . One thing the sun has made us realise is he really needs a bath! (Hold your nose!)

He's 9 months next weekend.

Lots of news, exciting to read all your updates!

We have some of our own, we left Georgiepup on his own for the first time today, he literally didn't lift an eyebrow. Granted it was for 5 minutes between me leaving and dh coming home but he didn't care one bit so I feel we can build on that.

We are going through a bad patch with seizures though. He had one this morning whilst DH and I were both out (day of chores today!) and he was home with the teens. Their first one to deal with by themselves and they were amazing, they needed to get it out if the way as it was inevitable.

Happythursdays that sounds interesting. So you walk them and speak to them constantly to maintain their attention? Is this an alternative to providing treats?

I was wondering if anyone can advise how to stop puppy coming to the table when we are eating? My puppy is still very young (13 weeks). But if we have something that smells nice like chicken. She goes a bit mad at the smell, jumping up at the table and sniffing. We never give her anything and tell her to sit. But it seems very difficult for her as obviously smell us so good! So we end up with someone taking her in to garden while everyone eats then swopping over. I would like to get to a position where we can eat together and tell her to wait in her basket. We do try this and give her a chew to keep her occupied but it doesn’t last very long.

@Turquoisesol we feed Dpup bit by bit through dinners. And they take aaaages because my 7 yr old eats so very sloooowly. We make him sit in his crate, and when he's quiet and calm, he gets a bit of kibble, and we feed him bit by bit throughout dinner time. It's not ideal, but he's learnt that that is the place to be at human meal times.

Thanks Doje that sounds quite good. Was it something you read about somewhere or did you come up with the plan yourselves? I can’t really find any advise on it anywhere

*advice