Puppy Survival Thread - May

[Doje]

Starting May off! If someone could link I'd appreciate it....

@Puppypuppypuppy thanks, he knocked over the dreggs of my cold coffee and laid in it so he is minus the vest at the moment but hasn't done any itching so will be ok, we have a spare arriving today. He is not really weeing much but I think he's still a bit dehydrated, he is drinking small amounts so I'll keep pushing water on him.

We just decided to do it when he showed the behaviours that we were told neutering would help. One thing he doesn't suffer from is shyness, he seems completely normal again last night/today and is back to being excited to see anyone. The vet said even when he'd just come round every time they went into the room his tail would wag even though he couldn't lift his head up

Gosh, pugpup sounds like such a sweetheart 😊

@PugInTheHouse great to hear he is doing well, it's chop day for my little guy tomorrow so hoping for the best! As you and others have said, I decided to do it now because he's 8.5 months, not timid at all and showing a few hormonal behaviours (marking, humping and some definite teenage posturing and territoriality with other boys). Trainer and vet both thought it was a good time so this doesn't become learned behaviour, although I understand there are no guarantees! Also, more practically I am at home for a couple of weeks and so can make sure he has plenty of time to heal. He will need to be in daycare 2-3 days a week from June and while we have a good one in place now, a lot round here don't take intact males over 9 months so if we needed a different solution in the future he may well need to be done. Am hoping I don't see a lot of change because he is a lovely happy confident boy! Too confident sometimes!

On the walking my vet and trainer both advised caution but not rigidly sticking to rules. I love near a wood and spent lots of very slow long time but short distance walks with him sniffing and going at his own pace when he was very little especially. Now I'm more relaxed and he's a very active dog. Other thing my vet said is that both the breeds he has in him (pug and beagle) tend to fat so it's very important he is active and to monitor his weight as they see a lot more health problems caused by excess weight than by over walking. And I try to mix it up- some long slow sniffy walks, some training road walks and some where he gets to go a bit nuts and run around madly and play with other dogs! Plus endless endless recall training

@Turquoisesol

Thank you tabulharasa that really makes me feel a lot better. I was thinking growl so next step is bite. But maybe it is more of a grumble and I don’t feel too happy noise

You get things like the canine ladder of aggression - and they’re dead handy for working out the subtler tells of stress, but then they go growl, snap, bite... and barking isn’t even usually on them.

Because barking can mean a load of different things - but so can growling.

You get a sort of low grade growl that just means, ooh, I dunno about this, I’m going to make a bit of noise till I decide whether I’m really bothered or not. Which is what that sounds like it was.

But you get dogs that make happy growling noises when they play or are overly exited.

I’ve had a foster who growled at you when he wanted you to do something for him, like unstick a toy from under furniture, lol

I had a dog years ago that would growl when you told him to do something he didn’t really want to do, like go to bed - he’d do it, but would walk away growling, almost muttering under his breath about it not being fair or something, rofl.

And of course they do do it as a last step before moving on to a bite - but it’s definitely not just that.

Some dogs are just chattier than others.

Thanks that’s very interesting. Obviously important to know your own dogs behaviour

I was about to say, Georgiepup growls when he's playing. Often during very exciting games like Tug, he'll do a proper belly growl. If we drop the toy he'll drop it too (he doesn't actually want the toy, he wants you to hold it) and then he picks it up and tries to put it back in your hand. Not a hint of aggression but definitely growls probably through excitement. He will also bark if we take too long to throw a ball for example, like a happy/exciting 'come on!!'

Hope you're ok.

@tabulahrasa puppypup does the low chatty growl when things aren't quite as he wants them - we call it chuntering. He also does a kind of chewbacca type growl when he's extremely comfy

Tips on how to get a Maltipoo to not bite wanted please.

Tips on how to get a Maltipoo to not bite wanted please.

Glad pugpup seems brighter now. I’m sure it will be a distant memory soon

Growling/barking chat is interesting. Petal sometimes growled when she was a little puppy if we moved her when she was asleep and does a playful growl with her tug toys. Also a bit of an attention seeking growl when she wants to come out of her pen and we’re being too slow!

We did a teenage puppy class at the weekend which was quite good but she kept barking which isn’t really like her at all. I think it was mostly excitement and a bit of frustration that she couldn’t interact with the other dogs (she did have a good play with a cockapoo at the end) but after a few barks she just seemed to decide she liked the sound of it and carried on . I tried to distract her but without too much success. She was better after a quick break so maybe it was a bit much for her. There was a poor little sausage dog who just shook with fear from start to finish. He had to go and stand further away in the end. (He was scared before petal barked so I didn’t feel too guilty!)

@familychallenge ah let us know how it all goes. It is so strange leaving them there. Our trainer advised it too, it was almost overnight the behaviours started and after she had taken him ou

Pugpup growls when he is playing with a tug toy or something, I have never heard him growl other than that, he's such a soppy sod I don't think he dislikes anything haha. He's barked a couple of times today when I think his wound is itching him, he keeps spinning in circles trying to get to his tail, I don't think he can figure out where the itching is coming from. I had to put his coffee smelling vest back on as that seems to ease it for him. I have another one arriving today so I can change it soon.

@familychallenge - sorry it posted when I was trying to add something . . . Our trainer advised it too, it was almost overnight the behaviours started and after she had taken him out she said she thought it was time. So far he seems pretty much the same as before, we haven't been out enough to know whether the specific behaviours have changed but he hasn't humped my leg yet haha.

@familychallenge - sorry it posted when I was trying to add something . . . Our trainer advised it too, it was almost overnight the behaviours started and after she had taken him out she said she thought it was time. So far he seems pretty much the same as before, we haven't been out enough to know whether the specific behaviours have changed but he hasn't humped my leg yet haha.

@familychallenge - sorry it posted when I was trying to add something . . . Our trainer advised it too, it was almost overnight the behaviours started and after she had taken him out she said she thought it was time. So far he seems pretty much the same as before, we haven't been out enough to know whether the specific behaviours have changed but he hasn't humped my leg yet haha.

@familychallenge ah let us know how it all goes. It is so strange leaving them there.

Pugpup growls when he is playing with a tug toy or something, I have never heard him growl other than that, he's such a soppy sod I don't think he dislikes anything haha. He's barked a couple of times today when I think his wound is itching him, he keeps spinning in circles trying to get to his tail, I don't think he can figure out where the itching is coming from. I had to put his coffee smelling vest back on as that seems to ease it for him. I have another one arriving today so I can change it soon.

@familychallenge - sorry it posted when I was trying to add something . . . Our trainer advised it too, it was almost overnight the behaviours started and after she had taken him out she said she thought it was time. So far he seems pretty much the same as before, we haven't been out enough to know whether the specific behaviours have changed but he hasn't humped my leg yet haha.

@PugInTheHouse thanks for the reassurance! I'm almost sure it's the right thing but still feels like a big decision to make with him! Challenge pup will do well out of guilt presents in the next few days lol 😀😀

So interesting on the walking advice. When we took our 12 week old lab x for her vaccinations the vet advised 3 walks a day 20 minutes each which surprised us but he thought it was right for her.

@Hightideattheseaside 13 week lab here too. We try to do one shorter sniffer walk wounds near us. Take it slow and no rushing. Second walk we try to drive to grassy area and use longline.

I did post worrying at the weekend as we did a walk for just over an hour... it was slow and on soft ground/grass but we bumped into friends and time just disappeared. I was really worried i’d ruined him for life 🤦‍♀️

We do also have to do a school run, one way, three days a week so sometimes he gets that as extra and sometimes it’s one of his walks!

If it helps the other thing I took from the ortho appointments was...

You’d be hard pushed to damage good joints from over exercise and there’s really no way of avoiding damage in really bad ones, though there are some in between ones that you might make a difference to.

But if both parents come from a long line of health tested dogs, they should have good joints.

And it’s weight that matters more anyway - being overweight will do way more damage than exercise will.

Can I ask you all do you let your pups in to lounge and on to sofa? We did initially let pup in to lounge area. But it was becoming a common start battle keeping her off sofa and just general naughtiness grabbing things she shouldn’t. so have since decided only the kitchen for now. Our dining chairs are fairly comfy so we do hang out in there quite a bit and she has comfy dog bed.
But the evenings are feeling a bit segregated with an adult in kitchen with her while the rest of the family is in the lounge. And I am wondering if we are missing out on bonding time with her when we could let her snuggle on sofa with the kids.

@Turquoisesol we were allowing him on the sofa but gave out a stop to that. He is allowed in the lounge though and has a few beds scattered about to choose from. He does really enjoy just lying across our feet though.

I'm a little worried my pup is overweight. We've been sticking to 2 15 min walks per day, but I think he might need more - he's 12 weeks.

@Turquoisesol one of us (usually me) sits with Legopup in the kitchen still until 9 - 9.30pm when he goes to bed...a legacy of the toilet training issues we had at 4 - 5 months. Even though that's now sorted, we've not changed the routine, as our living room is on the next floor up, so no easy garden access. DH & I were discussing today that we will try to move him upstairs after we've had our tea, so that's it's a bit more sociable. We are actually considering moving the crate upstairs too.

Yes it would be nice to get to the point where we can enjoy evenings together. Although to be honest I think we would still have issues with her trying to chew sofa etc but hopefully not for too much longer