Puppy Survival Thread - May

[Doje]

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

If any of you are on Amazon, there's lots of good deals on dog stuff for Prime day. Puppy Nylabone pack half price at £5, lots of meal enrichment games from Outward Hound, and some flirt poles etc.

How many walks a day are your puppies on and how long for?

Life dog has 3 walks a day. Out for ages but not far in distance as he sniffs loads. He's 13 weeks.

Mine will go out for his first official walk on Thursday. It'll be for about 15 minutes but I won't worry about the exact time if he's doing lots of sniffing around rather than running/walking. I think your pup is older than mine though.

We normally do two walks a day. Morning walk about 40 mins maybe. Sleeps a lot in afternoon. Plus odd bit of training in garden. Evening walk about 30 minutes. Turquoisepup is about 5 months now

We roughly stick to the 5 mins per month and go twice a day - but if mostly sniffing I don’t worry about time. He’s 18 weeks but is a large breed (lab) so I think you have to be more careful with their joints when younger. I don’t worry so much on softer ground and tend not to walk too far or too long on pavements for example…

@lifelongfrugaleer

Life dog has 3 walks a day. Out for ages but not far in distance as he sniffs loads. He's 13 weeks.

Billy gets the same. 2 15 minute walks in the day time and a longer, walk/ play in the fields/ park in the evening but with plenty of sniffing, resting etc and barely any pavement walking.

@MonaChopsis I had £10 credit for buying something from a small business earlier in the month (something essential that I’d have had to buy anyway!) so I bought Billy a welly chew/ squeaky toy that’s the same as my Joules wellies for the grand total of 40p 😂.

Does an off lead run about count in the 5 mins per month rough guide? I'm starting to think we might need 3 walks! Currently do a morning walk 25 mins or so like others it's usually slow and sniffing so really it's prob less and then an evening walk to the local park 5 mins away where she then has an off lead run for 15 mins or so then walk back. She's 18 weeks and a working cocker so will be high energy.

@Aria20 we have a sprocker (springer x cocker) who is nine months now but I tended not to worry too much about off lead time on softer ground as they are going at their own pace, stopping to sniff etc.

Personally we are not too strict about that rule but it’s a good reminder to build up their fitness gradually and not take a young puppy out pounding the pavement for hours.

I think with a working cocker you’ll quickly find you can’t wear them out through exercise alone - they just get fitter! We try and build training into walks, hide things for her to find, hide behind trees and make her find us etc to get her brain working a bit too

@SpreadHummusNotHate I tried hiding between trees the other day when she was off lead in park and the dumb dog couldn't find me she enjoys snuffle mats and puzzle feeders too and loves playing with toys inside and in the garden and finding kibble in the garden. What else can I start doing with her? We have licki mat and kong and treat balls too.

sometimes I have to shout quite loudly in the park to get her to find me, probably look like a complete loon. Sounds like you are doing all the right things, sometimes I give her kibble in an egg box/toilet roll and she likes tearing up the cardboard. The best thing I have bought is a holee roller and I wrap kibble up in small bits of fleece and stuff them into the ball.

Something really important with a working type breed is to teach them to relax/settle. This is something I neglected and now struggling with. I felt like I constantly had to entertain her with more and more enrichment activities/play etc and now I have a dog that can’t settle. She settles much better with my husband, he walks her and plays with her of course, but is much better at ignoring her demands for attention.

Any one any tips on installing an off switch

Haha I've had to confiscate toilet roll tubes as she was shredding them which is fine but then eating the mulched toast cardboard! She gets a bit over stimulated when I've given her kibble in a small plastic bottle she loves jumping about with it but got a bit crazy! She does know settle and does it when the kids are at school but of course when they are home the house is busier and more exciting!!

Just a word of warning on the walking we have a Lab x cocker loves her off lead but DH ignored me telling him to keep the length of the walks down and over the Xmas period he took her on a couple of 1-1.5hr walks mostly off lead (at 9mths old) and she developed the vet thinks a shoulder strain and ended up doing virtually no walks for 14days on ibuprofen and a nice vet bill. So take care even if your dog seems happy try to stick to the guidance. We did find after that injury that we could ‘wear her out’ as well at times doing brain training stuff. Just 5mins every hour, I was doing something with her between work calls. All the stuff mentioned above usually involving food she’ll do anything for food.. but it really made me realise that although she does love long off lead walks she equally enjoys the other brain stuff.

@Biking0077 thanks for that. Yes I was trying to find non food/treat related brain activities haha most involve finding food though!!

Aria20 not sure if it’s already been suggested on here. But I have been following the two videos on scentworkuk to get started looking for scents. It is about finding treats. But it can take a few minutes to find each small treat. I am now on to getting turquoisepup to stay in the kitchen while I hide a scented sock in garden somewhere for her. Then. I say find it and she goes to find it. She only gets a tiny treat reward. And you can use toy rewards if you prefer

Mine is currently lickings a frozen liki mat which has just 2tsp of plain yogurt and water on it but keeps her occupied for 5-10mins very low calorie.

Been looking at the walking guidance and we are out for longer but don't go far as lots of sniffing goes on

Following!

I have a Lab x Bernese 10 month old 30kg ++ bouncy wonder boy. My 5th dog and I go bigger every time 🤦🏻‍♀️

He's doing really well but once his excitement switch is on for the day it's hard to turn it off

Reassured to see what a lot of you are doing for excitable play is what I'm doing too

I've had to put mesh all over the garden. He's an escape artist. I've fitted a car guard specifically for my car. I will guarantee he gets past it first go. He's been delightfully asleep on my knee for most of the day but when he's been awake he's a needle teethed maniac.

Life dog is currently snoozing and we skipped third walk. Seems it might make him over tired as he's less hyper today. Or maybe just bored with footy like the rest of us.. Zzzzzzz

The NYlabone teething dinosaur I bought on prime day is an absolute hit.

Can anyone recommend a puppy car harness (ideally if you have a cocker/sprocker/springer type)

@Wolfcub we just put crate in the boot as thought it seemed safer than just a boot guard/harness. Some of the car seat type harness ones look nice but we have 3 children so the seats are taken lol

@Wolfcub I don’t think car seat belt clips are breed specific. We’ve got various options but one of them is just the universal seat belt clip so one end attaches to their harness (like a lead) and then the other has three different metal ends that just clip into where the set belt would clip into. You can adjust the length of it.

[quote MrsHerculePoirot]@Wolfcub I don’t think car seat belt clips are breed specific. We’ve got various options but one of them is just the universal seat belt clip so one end attaches to their harness (like a lead) and then the other has three different metal ends that just clip into where the set belt would clip into. You can adjust the length of it.[/quote]
We've got that one too, but AwesomePup figured out how to press the red button and release himself on his second trip in the car!!!! Luckily dd2 was in the back with him and clipped him back in straight away, then sat with her hand covering the seatbelt buttons for the rest of the journey. Since then he's been in his crate with the top open so dd can drop treats in for him regularly.