Puppy Survival Thread - May

[Doje]

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

Hi I've come to join you!

We already have six year old SweetDog, and SweetPuss, who will be joined on 18th July by SweetPup, a little black WCS boy.

(SweetPus may murder us in our beds for this!

When we got SweetDog (also WCS, brown) I swore I would never have a puppy again, but after almost a year of looking for the right resucue hound, we have come to the conclusion that it needed to be a pup - mainly for the sake of the other animals, particularly for SD who is the gentlest boy ever, and could not cope with a resource guarding older dog - I get so cross at the number of spaniels in rescues because of resource guarding - they are breed to retrieve and give up the prize. SD is also chilled and unreactive with other dogs - we could hire him out as a training aid, so a puppy it is!

We are very, very excited, we think we have a name, but haven't completely settled, so now I just have to remind myself how to train a puppy.

Could I ask those of you who are very regular and longer term posters to add the breed of your dogs occasionally - it's really helpful because although there are lots of shared puppy challenges, there are some breed specific ones too. I have read back, but can't always remember whose pup is what!

Welcome @SweetLathyrus we have a lab who is 19 weeks old!

Ps should I start a new thread as this one is nearly finished?!?

@SweetLathyrus ahh lovely I also have a black wcs she is 18 weeks! So far she doesn't resource guard but she does bark a lot for attention. She was easy to housetrain and not a chewer of anything bad. She is my shadow.

Pup lost her first puppy tooth today!

@MrsHerculePoirot maybe a June/July one as near end of June lol

Welcome @SweetLathyrus. We spent a long time looking for a rescue dog too, but every dog we could find relatively locally needs a calm household with only adults or children over 14 only. Since we've got an 11yo (she was 9 when we started looking) we haven't had any luck. So puppy it is.

AwesomePup is a fox red Labrador, aged 12 weeks. He's absolutely gorgeous, and we are all (dh, dd1(21), dd2(11) and me) completely infatuated with him. Dd2 and I wanted a WCS, as our friend has one and we've borrowed him a few times, but dh really wanted a bigger dog so we compromised on a Labrador (this may seem like quite a large dog, but dh wanted a HUGE dog).

New thread is here when we run out of space on this one!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4281840-Puppy-Survival-Thread-June-July?watched=1

Thanks @MrsHerculePoirot

PoirotPup definitely seems to have lost his limp! Taking it easy today still and then will build back up next few days so fingers crossed all good!

Welcome @SweetLathyrus

We have a 10 week old Bernese Mountain dog.

I think we've reached that magical 3 week turning point people speak of...when you are coming out of the initial 'what the hell have we done?' phase and finally feel like this little shark you've invited to live with you really is part of the family! I do love her.

Feels like progress as dd has really bonded with her this weekend. She is sleeping from her last wee at around 11-12pm until approx 6 quite happily (with the odd wee before I get down to her).

@MrsHerculePoirot glad the limp is sorting itself out.

Hi @SweetLathyrus I have an almost 10 month old black WCS. Great dogs. She did almost drive me to distraction in the first couple of months but if you've been through the puppy stage you'll have a better idea what to expect than I did (first dog). I knew it would be hard, but reality was even harder than I had prepared for. She's brilliant now though.

Can anyone give me an idea of a typical day's treats for their young puppy? As in - what sort of training treats (if different to usual food) and approx amount they are having? I'm trying to work out if we are giving too much/too much variety...it's difficult when you are rewarding the life out of every little good behaviour!

Initially we used kibble for training and still do now a fair bit of time at home. Then we sometimes took out a handful of kibble and replaced with treats. Because PoirotPup is a lab I was super careful/concerned about his weight but we have weighed him every two weeks since getting him and he is fine, if anything on the skinnier side so I’ve less worried now than I used to. I was also told by a trainer that it’s hard to over feed a puppy with treats for training and just to keep an eye on their shape and toilet habits…

So for training treats to answer your question we use kibble from daily allowance, some of the duck treats from butternut, some of those waggs treats (the soft biscuit ones), sometimes cooked chicken or sausage cut up into small bits or the pate from JR foods when training. Depends if out or at home and what we’re trying to train!

MonaPup is a 13 week old labrador puppy.

I am Stingy McMeanface with training treats, and train exclusively with her daily kibble. This means she has three shortish training sessions a day, at least one of which is a walk. (Her evening meal is in a Toppl so we can eat our dinner in peace too!) It's a really easy structure and means I can focus on different skills and on proofing existing skills outside, without having to worry about adding too much to a puppy diet!

Just to add though, that when I start doing off lead recall I will probably add a high value treat to the mix, specially for recalls... I really want them to be bombproof! She's good on lead and long lead, but I suspect off lead will be a different matter!

Mona in case you haven’t heard of this. Jack pot recall is supposed to be good. Where occasionally they get something really good on recall. Then each time they want to come back in case this time it might be jackpot (like they are playing the lottery) It’s supposed to be better than always giving really good treats every time.

Thanks @MrsHerculePoirot and @MonaChopsis . It's good to hear what others are doing.

@Turquoisesol I like that the idea of treat lottery, thanks for the tip.

@Turquoisesol thanks, that's a great idea, will definitely do that.

Hi all. No posted in a few weeks. We have an almost five month old working golden retriever / lab x. She is fab! We have got through the bitey stage which was very wearing. She is mainly behaving herself with our cats and knows they are boss. We are struggling big time with recall when she meets another dog. Generally DH and I have to make a complete fool of ourselves lunging about to grab her after calling and walking away don't work. I think I will try the jackpot recall. I am finding it very stressful scanning the horizon or through the trees for other dogs so I can put her back on the lead before they meet.

@ilovesushi come and join us on the new thread!

I'm on my way!