Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

Dpup is also 6 months and has started barking a lot more. This weekend I had to abandon my family at a cafe and me and pup went to eat elsewhere as he was barking at another dog. We were 'that' family that everyone about is saying 'whose is that noisy dog?!' 🙈

Google puppy fear periods...

@Doje @tabulahrasa @PugInTheHouse thanks all, good to know it's not just us! I'll Google fear periods as well, I knew there was one around four months but hadn't realised there might be another coming up. Such an embarrassing walk!

yes they get another fear period as they hit adolescence - I think (personally) it feels worse than the first one - probably because they are bigger, louder etc. When they are small it's easier to deal with. That may be absolute bollocks in how it feels for the dog but it's how I felt as an owner!

Happy is an over confident puppy but someone on a motorbike came right up to the house when he was 7 months old and parked by the front door and he went absolutely mental. And when the rider got off and didn't take his helmet off, I thought Happy was going to explode! It's the most he's ever barked. Ever since then, we've had to be very careful around motorbikes to the extent that we had to go and sit on a bench and be v calm and watch them go past!

they can get spooked really easily still

@doje that's what happy had started doing - especially when they won't play with him! I haven't tried going out with him again to a cafe/for coffee with my friend after we had to leave but I'm hoping this calm sitting will help!

@Turquoisesol she has two crates, one in the bedroom which she's previously been fine in and then one in the living room where we've been doing training as I'd like her to settle in there during the day rather than on my knee the whole time.

Does anyone else find their puppies a bit skittish and nervous in car parks? And keep refusing to move just sit there and watch everything?

I haven't brought mine to a car park yet @Turquoisesol but I can imagine he'd be similar. Cars one at a time are one thing but a herd of them would be quite another matter!

Popping on to ask about nail clipping. Has anyone done it for their puppies yet? It was my most hated job with the DC and I'm dreading it!

Redlemons I have been trying to do a few car parks and areas with roads but not sure if I am reinforcing her fear rather than aclimitising her.

With nails we haven’t attempted yet. Turquoisepup is 13 weeks. I read that if they walk plenty and particularly on pavements the nails will wear down naturally. Although perhaps this is wishful thinking

Those with pups that sleep at night and don’t wake up super early - what time do they go to sleep for the night.

PoirotPup keeps falling asleep at 7-730 and then sometimes wakes for a bit for 45 minutes later but then wakes up at 5-5.30. I’d like to push it all back but wondering what is realistic to aim for. Or is this something that will come as he gets older and just chill?

@MrsHerculePoirot
When she was little we tried to keep her up in the evening with a bit of play or training and letting her nap on us or sofa in between so that she naturally stirred more than if she was in her bed.
And then did last wee at about 10 or 11.
Now she potters or naps, or makes a nuisance of herself in the evening and settles down for the night at about 9.30/10 and sleeps til we wake her in the morning (yes we are really lucky with sleep-I’m waiting for it all to fall apart!)

Thanks @Petalpup

Hello everyone, can I join. We have a 11weeks old Beagle called Si just for more than a week and its such a hard work, I cant imagine. He destroyed all tulip bushes. We love him so much but exhausted. He is so so active and clever, noted that we have never had a pet before except fishes.

Georgiepup used to be an early riser but as he's got older it has got better. I think the combination of a stronger bladder and the ability to sleep through light noise has helped. He also used to be in a crate and now sleeps in the lounge so he can stretch out and reposition himself as he got too big for it. He enjoys moving around in the night.

Thanks @Turquoisesol having canvassed some friends with dogs no one seems to clip their nails- it’s all concrete floors and getting the groomer to do it. I am a bit wary of those little dew claws though as breeder advised they can become ingrown🥺 I might delegate to DH because I’m definitely too chicken to do it.

@MrsHerculePoirot I too have a pup on the same time zone as you- the last two mornings I’ve faked staying asleep and puppy has quietly snuffled about the room for 15-20 mins and then eventually come and sat himself by my bed till I “woke”. I’m going to keep it up. It got us to almost 6am which somehow seems more bearable as a wake up time and I figure if I’m sufficiently boring and there’s nothing else in the room bar his teddy in his bed then maybe he’ll just eventually opt to stay asleep for a little longer. Here’s hoping!

Urgh, pup wouldn't wee before bed tonight so goodness only knows what time we'll be up in the morning! Luckily I don't work on a Tuesday so I'll be able to nap with her at some point tomorrow...

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat that’s like music to my ears!

@RedLem0ns that made me laugh a bit. It’s DH’s turn to be sleeping downstairs for a few nights but I’ll suggest that to him 🤣

Our pup used to wake at 5am - thank god the clocks moved forward! It's now around 7.30am. I think it gets later as their bladders get bigger. We used to take him out as he would've been bursting, then pop him straight back in and ignore cries. He would settle eventually for another hour or so and he now gets that he is to go back to sleep if we ever do that now.

Londonpup is going through a fear period at 5 months I think. He's always been a confident boy but he was scared of a white pipe on our walk, and an empty bath tub someone had left out on the street whilst renovating. He's also terrified of cats which is terrible for us as he barks in the garden anytime he thinks the cats appeared now in the corner of the garden

Any tips on desensitising to cats when you don't actually own one?

@Greenleave welcome to the thread! Please can we see a pic of your lovely pup!!

It is so incredibly hard, you will see so many posts on here where we have all had many ups and downs!

@MrsHerculePoirot I found that the older he's got the longer he's slept, he's now 7 months old and sleeps from 10 - 7:30.

We've always kept bed time at 10pm, but I was getting up in the night at around 3am and moving it forward each night until I got to 7:30/8. I went for a similar approach to @LondonPupMum about ignoring him after he'd been out for a wee

Can I ask how you guys go about removing stuff from pups mouth if they pick up dangerous stuff on walks? e.g chicken bone

We are training leave it in the home and outside but of course that takes time for them to get it and generalise outside too. Also sometimes it's too irresistible and he sees it before me. I'm conscious I don't want to take it unless it's really bad and don't want to encourage guarding as he will growl a little sometimes.

Someone said scatter treats on the floor and say drop it, some say take a tuggy toy out and distract. Useful to know what you're doing?

We went to the beach this weekend, and I had no idea how much gross dead stuff Dpup would find utterly irresistible!

I used a combo of tasty treats that I randomly chuck / try to lure him with and a squeaky ball I keep for super special emergencies.

We do the tuggy toy- ideally one that’s already out on the floor so we aren’t rewarding him for picking up random crap by giving him a novel toy. It takes a lot of shaking and calling sometimes though!

We have met a few friends dogs when out and about and my pup is quite submissive. She likes a little rough and tumble play but does spend a lot of time lying on her back in a submissive position. She also gets excited meeting humans and does a little wee with excitement.
Everyone thinks she is lovely. But me always looking for things to worry about I wonder if she is too submissive and could become fearful? Does anyone have experience with this at all ?

@LondonPupMum Our trainer specialises in dogs that live in urban environments and she specifically doesn't teach a 'leave it' command. She says in a city you'd always be going 'leave it, leave it' and then yeah sometimes they spy it before you so you don't get a chance. She teaches advanced impulse control with the aim being that any time the dog wants to eat something off the floor they look to you for permission before they grab it. It sounds impossible but honestly, it works. I mean it is a work in progress for us but my puppy used to hoover up anything, and now I have a spaniel who doesn't scavenge. I'm massively impressed with her methods. She's based in London actually (and I'm guessing you are too), I can PM you her details if you're interested.

In the meantime, just swap for a high value treat. Means you need to have great treats in your pocket all the time. You can also practise swapping at home, make a toy really exciting so they put it in their mouth, take out your treat and make them voluntarily give it up. Similar to 'drop it' but you can take it out their mouth this way (gently, and only if they don't guard obviously).

@ashmts that sounds amazing. If you could that would be fab. We spent his whole lunch training drop it with a bully stick today. Worked if we still had hold of it but if not he wouldn't give it