Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@Turquoisesol For us it improved massively as soon as we got out on walks, so 13/14 weeks? It probably means he's overtired so you should try to enforce naps/calm with a lickimat or something, but ours wasn't a napper and refused to be distracted. It really does pass, I promise. In the meantime, tight trousers and wellies/Ugg boots!

@17CherryTreeLane Welcome! What kind of puppy are you getting? How exciting! Ours was really tough for the first month or so and routine was non-existent so I can't help there. They're all different though, you might get an easy one. Out for the toilet after eating, sleeping or playing, and regular enforced naps if you can.

Thank you ashmts! Yeah, i'm maybe being a touch ambitious with thoughts of a routine!! We are getting a labradoodle. It's a breeder our friend knows and their dog from her is so lovely. Hoping ours will be similar!

@Hightideattheseaside congratulations on your new pup! She's beautiful! Yes it's manic isn't it! My youngest will be 2 next week and he's a big clumsy boy so I've constantly got my eyes on him. She's got her crate as well which is her favourite spot. So good to have somewhere where they can escape to 😂.

@Turquoisesol I second the forced naps when they get really nippy.

@17CherryTreeLane welcome! We had no routine to begin with other than mealtimes which were around 6am, 12 and 6pm. But after a few weeks we realised that he tended to get bitey at the same sorts of times and when he'd been awake for about an hour, so we all sort of fell into a routine of enforcing naps. Our routine was pretty much this until recently when we stopped using the crate and now he just sleeps and chills when he needs to

6am awake, toilet, breakfast, walk
7-10am - sleep
10-11am - toilet, play / training
11-12 sleep
12 toilet, lunch, walk
2-4 sleep
4-5 toilet, play, training
5-6 sleep
6-7 toilet, dinner
7-9 sleep
9-10 toilet, zoomies, general madness
10 toilet, bed

@ashmts you have done great with the training, you must have been proud although annoying that you're being held back.

Thanks so much @Sparkle79 !

Out of interest when did you your pups start settling through the night better? Just finished night 1 and I think I was up 4 times. 😴. Just wondering how many night of that I'm up against 😂

Interesting to read about everyone's routines. I brought mealtimes one hour earlier yesterday to start establishing an earlier night. But then pup needed to go out for a poo at 11pm - never done that before - so bedtime was as late as ever.
Just googled zoomies. Our puppy does this. It is mental. I find it really unnerving. She is getting lots of naps but maybe she needs more. Or maybe she needs more mental stimulation in the day. We have perfected sit with lots of built in distractions and come but not much else. Fetch looks very complicated!

@Lizbiz89 my youngest is almost three. He’s a bit cautious of her. My eldest is 5 and is obsessed with her!

@Turquoisesol our girl is already bitety at 8 weeks. In less than 24 hours we’ve seen that she loves to attack feet, so I’ve Amazon primed some croc things. It’s going to be a long few (painful) weeks! Good to know enforcing maps helps minimise it.

I’m a bit worried about how my youngest will feel about it when she gets bigger, and if the dog will take the kids screaming and running away as a game and think biting ankles equals fun.

Do people recommend a time out for biting in their crate or a neutral spot?

@Hightideattheseaside we are dealing with the biting by quickly distracting her with a legitimate thing to bite or chew. I got lots of puppy chew toys before we picked her up and have sent off for more since. She also likes chewing on an old knotted tea towel and a raw carrot! Absolutely loves the carrot! If she nips us we just stand up out of her reach and ignore her. They have to bite, so it's just about making sure they can do it in a non destructive, non anti social way if possible. She is never going to understand a time out.

Haven’t posted for a while, just been catching up!
I could do with some advice on visitors, whenever anyone visits (in the garden) they greet C4pup too excitedly and he goes crazy, jumping up and play biting

Also, one family member plays too rough with him, dragging him and pushing him around the floor and says ‘he likes it’ when I try to tell him to stop, I’m so paranoid about him getting back problems due to his breed

Any advice on how to keep C4pup calm when we get visitors and also how to put a stop to the play biting all together? Not sure whether it’s just a case of him getting used to seeing other people now lockdown is coming to an end or whether it’s the other people who aren’t helping by getting him too excited

@Sparkle79 Thank you. I really enjoy training and she's got so much easier to manage through it. I just don't understand how these people don't seem to have done anything in three months.

@Lizbiz89 it's all a blur now so hard to remember but week 1 was the worst. By week 3 we were down to two wake-ups a night, and she went straight back to sleep after the toilet.

@Hightideattheseaside I wouldn't recommend using the crate as a punishment. We got a room divider so there was a part of the living room that was a safe space, and it meant you could quickly step over it and away from pup when she got bitey.

@C4itl Yeah sounds like your visitors aren't helping the situation. If they're playing too rough don't be afraid to step in, it's your dog and you have to live with the consequences. We're still in almost-lockdown in Scotland so we have this to come. I think we'll all end up needing to go back to basics with 4 paws on the floor training and getting people to ignore them when they jump up.

@C4itl when DPup did this I gave him a pizzle stick in the garden. We had a friend of mine's daughter round and lovely as she was she didn't give him a moments peace!

Or could you keep his meal to coincide with the visit? We scattered his lunch on the lawn (what's left of it!!). The snuffling chilled him out and I got the visitor to 'help' by doing the scattering. I could then say to her "oh it's his lunchtime now, let him eat".

@Hightideattheseaside time out for Plantpup when she bit was just that I left whatever room/area we were in so the playtime and attention was over. Only for around 10-30 seconds or so (increased it as she got older). I think this works better than a specific spot (especially the crate) as she just learnt that biting means fun stops rather than biting equals a punishment in a specific place which she could associate more negatively

@ashmts I am dreading what you are describing with classes! Plantpup is going to a similar adolescent class for older pups who missed due to lockdown, I’m really hoping everyone will have made an effort and be in a similar place but yours sounds like people just haven’t bothered!

@Lizbiz89 by 11 weeks Plantpup was just waking up once about 4am then back to sleep, by 12 weeks we were through the night - it feels like it’s forever at the time but it really doesn’t last forever!

@C4itl Plantpup can be like this too with visitors. I have taken to asking people to ignore her initially which seems to stem it massively as she just assumes they aren’t interested and just potters up to them to have a sniff eventually. May be worth trying if your visitors will listen?

@ilovesushi I found zoomies in the early days incredibly unnerving! I grew to get used to it though. The trainer who sees Plantpup said that it’s a normal puppy thing and it’s totally fine for them to do it, it’s only when it becomes accompanied by biting etc that it’s more of a sign of overtiredness. Plantpup is 20 weeks now and still gets zoomies about 7pm every day, they just last for a lot less time now! Apparently they are burning off excess energy before bed

Yea I I was think more for when she was getting a bit too much to ignore. We’ve lots of toys so have been distracting with those when teeth stray to fingers. Unfortunately due to layout we can really have a room divider so I think it will be stop play and walk away to a different room. I definitely don’t want to punish her! She can’t help it.

@Hightideattheseaside we did use the crate for time outs which I don't think is recommended but it worked for us. But it was because when he got like that he needed a sleep and the only way for him to have one was to crate him. So I used to try to do it in a non punishing way, and give him a kong to settle with in there. This is after all other techniques had failed and we knew he was tired.

@ashmts yeah that's nuts they've done nothing. We've tried our best although still no where near heel walking He just does not get it at all. He gets very frustrated whenever I try.

We've had the guest issue, specifically the rough play. I don't allow it but bil likes to do "Roughie tumbles" as he calls it I was actually glad that lockdown meant he hasn't been over to do it, especially with the puppies.

Thank you for all of your suggestions!

@GooodMythicalMorning I really don’t like rough play, I feel like it encourages biting

@C4itl Same, thats exactly why I don't like it.

@C4itl we have gone back to basics with Happy and are turning our backs on jumping up (till he sits calmly) and I have got the visitors to do the same. He soon learned not to do it but you need very very compliant visitors!

I just went to meet a friend for a walking coffee and Happy was an absolute menace. They had an older dog and Happy would not accept that she didn't want to play with him. She growled and barked at him so I pulled him away but he would not do a calm sit and kept throwing himself at her again and again and really whining/barking (so unlike him!) till eventually we had to leave! I tried to treat him when he sat calmly but he only managed to hold it for a few seconds. She wasn't in heat or anything so no excuse really!

@HappyThursdays pugpup is exactly the same with other dogs, he can't be calm at all with them. We will be doing some work with the trainer from next week with a dog she works with who is really good at showing cues to other dogs to leave her alone

Thanks @PugInTheHouse - would love to hear how she deals with it. I watched some of her videos - she's very good! And the dogs adore her don't they! Happy is back in training on Friday thank goodness. We are doing 1 to 1 training this time as I think he needs more intensive training but she is going to bring her dogs to help! Argh!

@HappyThursdays yes I will report back. It won't be till week of 19th actually as work is too busy for me this coming week. She is great and yes they love her, pugpup cries when she drops him off. She's so calm, I can hear my voice getting higher pitched and stressy when I am doing recall etc but she has such a good tone.

I definitely think the 1:1 helps as we have been able to train so many different things that are suited to his personality. Obviously the socialising with other dogs at training or daycare is good when allowed of course.

Our main things now is him being calmer with other dogs (and bikes) and the separation issues.

Hello everyone! Can I join this thread please? We have just got a puppy and I would love to chat to people who understand and get some tips etc as I'm exhausted!