Puppy Survival Thread - May

[Doje]

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

thewalkers he's gorgeous!!!! Is he a lab? He looks just like mine, but a few weeks younger. Enjoy!!! (And don't worry if you find it tough, it's exhausting!!!)

Welcome wolf. It's very exciting choosing a puppy. What breed are you getting?

@MsAwesomeDragon yes he's a lab, 8 weeks today. He is sleeping a lot and had 1 accident so far.

thewalkers mine is a fox red lab, 11 weeks old. I feel like he's grown such a lot in 3 weeks, and he's learnt so much already. He's not had an accident in the house in over a week, which I'm amazed by. I'm absolutely besotted with him, but completely exhausted.

He had his second injections today, so only another week til we're allowed to go off our driveway for walks. No agricultural land for 3 weeks though, because cow manure spreads one of the diseases they vaccinate against. I did not know that, and I'm very glad they told me because lots of our local walks have sections with cows grazing.

@MsAwesomeDragon he is gorgeous, wow so much bigger at just a few weeks.
It's a long wait isn't it to finally go out.

Welcome new joiners! Gorgeous pups!

Mines fox red lab too - were 18 weeks now and so much easier than it was. I can go weeks without crying now 🤣🤣🤣

We've had another accident, he is going in his crate. He's not doing anything when I take him outside but going in his crate a couple of minutes after we come back in.
I'm going to have to get better at predicting when he needs to go.

@thewalkers

We've had another accident, he is going in his crate. He's not doing anything when I take him outside but going in his crate a couple of minutes after we come back in. I'm going to have to get better at predicting when he needs to go.

Spray the bottom of his crate with an enzyme cleaner that discourages them from going in the same place again.

@LadyCatStark we gave our pup his meals in his crate so he really identified with it as his space, so less likely to wee there. Could be worth a try.

MsAwesome a Springer. They are my all time favourite dog.

I have £160 of stuff in my pets at home basket. No food as I don't know what they are eating now. What don't I need (no puppy pads in there btw) and a chunk of the money is a crate?

Glad to see you hear Life

@thewalkers stick to the outside after every drink, meal, play and every 20-30 minutes when awake. If he doesn’t go come back in and hold/carry him/sit him on your lap on the floor - whatever so that his paws aren’t really on the floor and go back out again in 5 minutes. Rinse and repeat!

Also clean like @LadyCatStark said so he can’t smell where he has been before. You’ll get there - good luck!

@Wolfcub make sure you sign up to their pets club as you get big discounts on first shop.

We managed to get nearly 20% of three big shops there! Twice on my phone app/account and then DH registered too and he got it… we tried on DD’s phone but she isn’t 18!

[quote MrsHerculePoirot]@Wolfcub make sure you sign up to their pets club as you get big discounts on first shop.

We managed to get nearly 20% of three big shops there! Twice on my phone app/account and then DH registered too and he got it… we tried on DD’s phone but she isn’t 18![/quote]
I was just going to say this! DH signed up as I’d already signed up for my tortoises but the lady behind the counter took DH’s phone, did some jiggery pokery and before we knew it, we’d saved 25% instead of 10% 🥳

@thewalkers another tip if you've been outside ages waiting for them to wee... throw a few pieces of kibble into the grass scattered about and as they start sniffing around they usually then find a spot to wee/poo!

5am wake up here this morning it's normally 5.30 and that extra half hour helps. 17 weeks today, when do their bladders start to hold it that bit longer lol??

@Aria20

5am wake up here this morning it's normally 5.30 and that extra half hour helps. 17 weeks today, when do their bladders start to hold it that bit longer lol??

5am here too. I was quite pleased with that as a first wake up, as it's been 4 most days. Of course, he's wide awake and playing now. No going back to sleep for him.

Morning! 4.20 wake up here. I'm quite pleased with that though as no other disturbances and no inside toileting. Makes up for the diarrhoea that was smeared across the kitchen floor yesterday evening 🙈. I wonder if we were too heavy on the good treats yesterday.

Thank you for all the advice. We've had a good morning with no accidents so far.
I feel so attached to him already, this little bundle of mischief that cuddles and attacks me equally 🤣.
Hope everyone is having a good morning.

Perhaps it depends on the size of the dog? Billy is 13 week (today!) and he can go from 11-7 and once didn’t get up til 8 😵 but he’s a Labrador so bigger than some full sized dogs so I guess his bladder will be bigger too.

@LadyCatStark she's a cocker spaniel and doesn't wake up in the night, does a last wee at 10ish and then wakes usually 5.30 so maybe I'm just expecting too much but I'd be happy with anything beyond 6am

@Aria20 awww she’ll be tiny then, Billy is already as big as my mum’s cocker spaniels 😂 could her last wee be 11pm though? I experimented with making Billy’s last wee 10:30 as he’d woken up and it seemed a natural time and he bloody well woke up at 5am! I won’t be doing that again 🙈.

@LadyCatStark we tried letting her out later but it didn't make any difference to the wake up time and where we are all tired from the wake ups we've been going up at 10 ourselves lol.

@Aria20 oh no that’s annoying!

@thewalkers What sweet pup! With the enzyme cleaner read the instructions. I was using it like dettol - spray and wipe - but you have to leave it a good 15 minutes or so to activate. Our pup took to weeing on her new bed after being brilliant from day one at going out to wee. When I actually used the spray correctly and left it to activate before chucking the bed in the machine, she broke the habit. So many things we learn!

Sorry to hear of everyone’s early starts. I think it is at least something you can reassure yourselves that it won’t last forever and should sort itself out within a month or so.
We had a crazy night last night with pup just not setting at all and biting everyone’s feet. It was really annoying. But it just occurred to me that probably the reason is that ds had a friend round to play which we don’t tend to do that often. And she was pronably overstimulated and excited from that. It was making me wonder if I should do it more so it’s not so exciting when it does happen.

Just dropping back in to say with the early starts try making the space the puppy is in darker. Our one year old pup started getting earlier and earlier then I started pegging heavy blankets over the curtains in the room she is in and she’s gone back to 6.30-7am from 5am. Worth a try if previously pups were sleeping later. It’s good reading what everyone is upto as it does remind me how far we have come. Especially as pup was being a zoomie mad thing and digging loads in the garden this morning when I trying to work, but on the whole life has massively settled down for us. I do still get moments of oh ffs what do we do with the dog if we are planning to go out or do xyz like pre/dog life, but the impact she’s had on our 9yr DD has been huge making her a lot calmer as she’s been struggling with school/life. Keep going guys with daily training and it does slowly get a lot easier. We’ve also gone back to group training with a lovely bunch of older pups to continue working on skills in environments that are distracting & just to socialise with other dogs. It’s really helping our pup.