Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@Sparkle79 what time do you give breakfast? We do 8am and then dinner at 5pm, we found this worked really well, originally he was being fed 7am when on 3 meals and last meal about 7/730. £ thought there was no way he'd manage on later/earlier times but he's actually been fine. He has lickimat at 730/8pm and a few snacks during the day (mainly training treats or a dental stick).

@tabulahrasa thanks, good ideas. Maybe I'll try that instead. Or would he be fine if I just did dry only?

@PugInTheHouse tends to be 6am & 6pm and a chew or something around 12 and a teething chew at 9pm ish. Maybe we should bring his dinner time forward a bit.

And then he gets a bit of his daily allowance for training throughout the day.

@Sparkle79 yes that may help, we thought it might be too long to have the meals spread out that far apart when he'd been used to 3 meals.

Does anyone have any tips for helping pup sleep through the night. Ours goes down from around 8 and we take him for a wee around 10 but he wakes again at 4 and then sometimes stays up till 5. We have tried to keep him awake but he just takes himself off to bed. He is only 10 weeks though so maybe I need to wait?

“Or would he be fine if I just did dry only?”

It’s like feeding kids, whichever you go for someone will tell you it’s wrong, lol

My theory is always, if the dog is fine and eating it and it’s a half decent food - it doesn’t matter what kind you go for.

Hi can I join please!? Just brought home a 8 week french bulldog and she's absolutely lovely but it's definitely crazy with the kids 😬. Our lovely bullmastiff passed away in feb so I'm pretty experienced with dogs, however puppies and children I am not!

@Overthinker84 that sounds pretty good for 10 weeks. A lot of puppies wake several times a night. What do you do when you take him out/put him back to bed?

Aghhhhhhhhh. Pup just slipped her collar on our main road. I was trying to cross over and she hung back only a bit and the whole lot just came over her head. I rugby tackled her and fell on the road. She was good and didn't struggle and I somehow managed to get her to the pavement. Fortunately the lady who runs the stables down our road stopped and came and put her collar back on. I had left loads of space before crossing so the person in the other direction had plenty of time to stop and was really nice too. Now drinking wine and waiting for the harness to arrive....

Welcome @Lizbiz89 we need to see a photo as payment before you can join

There's our little girl. She's called Prudence.

Ah gorgeous, and a lovely name.

@tabulahrasa

“Or would he be fine if I just did dry only?”

It’s like feeding kids, whichever you go for someone will tell you it’s wrong, lol

My theory is always, if the dog is fine and eating it and it’s a half decent food - it doesn’t matter what kind you go for.

true! Thank you

Tried following the PDSA guidelines for changing food, gave a small amount of the new Royal Canin stuff in a separate bowl, then the vets food normal amount. He ate the new stuff, licked the bowl completely clean and has hardly eaten any of the vets food. He hates it. I feel awful, I wouldn't have made my kids eat something they don't want to.

How bad would it be to not bother doing it slowly, would it make him really ill?

@puginthehouse
he usually goes back to bed but will be awake and occasionally want to play. I think I'm just impatient as these early mornings are a killer haha

@LostArcher hope you're ok. It's such a horrible, heart stopping moment. You did well to grab him! Without wanting to put the fear of god in you, some can escape from harnesses too so worth double checking it fits snug in the right places!

@Overthinker84 yep, I found that bit hard. We were really lucky as he literally woke for a wee about 430ish then back till 7am. We had a pee pad at back door though as he didn't go outside till after his 2nd jab so I think it made it easier as he didn't wake up so much. He started waking earlier as he got older and it was a killer. He's back to being really good again now luckily.

@LostArcher poor you, sounds very scary! You defo deserve that wine

I had mine slip a harness which us why I switched from julius k9s to Perfect Fit harnesses which so far, fingers crossed no escapes.

Thank you @Sparkle79 and @HappyThursdays. I am still a bit wobbly. She was good and did let me grab her and hold her but there was no way I can carry her home as she's 10kg now. She's got so much floofy fur. She's been a pain in the bum since I came home as well! She is deffo teething too! We've put her back into her puppy collar and I am sure she can't get out of that. Will be very cautious tomorrow.

@LostArcher so scary, I do worry about this especially when pugpup is pulling to see other dogs or people. Off the lead he never goes far but on it he would probably run off.

Hello. I’d like to join if that’s ok. We brought home our 8 week old Labrador puppy, Penny today. I also have children @Lizbiz89 it’s been a whirlwind since she came home. But she loves her little den already so at least she has a safe space to chill out.

@Hightideattheseaside she is beautiful! We picked up our lab golden cross last week. It has been exhausting! She is gorgeous and so intelligent. As long as she gets lots of quality sleep she is great, but if she gets over excited, she is a nightmare! Same as me I suppose! I'm also trying to wrangle two very put out and nervous cats.
@Lizbiz89 what an absolute sweetie!
@LostArcher terrifying! Yes wine is def the answer here. Even upgrade to gin! x

@HappyThursdays Thanks, it was a bit of a disappointing class actually. The trainer had said she'd revise it to account for the pups being older but when we arrived all the other dogs were basically untrained and all we covered was eye contact and a bit of heel walking. Ours can do that in her sleep now. Quite frustrating, I'll keep going to see if it improves but it seems unfair we're being held back because the other owners haven't bothered doing anything in the meantime. One of the families were saying their dog isn't good on lead so they just walk him off lead, but apparently he's run off and met them at home a couple of times... It's just mental, it's so irresponsible. At least I didn't have to worry mine would be the dunce!

Oh the stories of pups slipping their collars/harnesses always give me the fear. What a horrible experience @LostArcher, sounds like you handled it really well though.

Turquoisepup is frantically nipping trousers legs and jumping up and snapping between 7 and 9pm

Please - does anyone know how long this lasts? Currently we are at 11 weeks

Hello, you all seem a friendly, supportive bunch. Hope you don't mind if I join? Our puppy comes home tomorrow. Would be really great if anyone had advice on a rough routine to start with?!