Puppy Survival Thread - June/July

[MrsHerculePoirot]

Discussion of all things puppy...

Old thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4234193-puppy-survival-thread-may?msgid=108567452

Hi. Thanks for the new thread. I'm glad PoirotPup's limp is getting better.

Thanks for the new thread. We went out for lunch today and Billy ( black lab, 14 weeks) was sooo good, I can’t tell you proud of him we are!

Joining in for the new one! Glad to hear of the progress with everyone's pups. Challenge pup is 10 months old now and mostly a delight (despite the periodic destructiveness, the stubbornness, the barking and his lack of ability to settle well!). He can still drive me crazy and we have the odd bad day but he's my little boy and I adore him! We had a walk today in a country park with him and two family dogs (including his brother) and they ran and ran and bounded around with such joy that it was a total delight!

Thanks for the new thread. Pup (18 week old black wcs) lost her first tooth today!!

She's been good all day apart from she gets over hyper at dinner time and barks a lot. Sometimes a chew eg goat ear or similar will keep her calm and quiet other times it's driving us insane. She gets more hyped up with a kong as she likes to throw it and watch it bounce. Licki mats don't last long enough nor any of the puzzle feeders/treat balls. And for a wcs she's rubbish at sniffing out scatter feeding kibble

Thanks for the new thread. We've had car dramas today and digging, which is new. We also seem to have given up on morning nap which is a killer as I now can't shower without barking carry on (English springer 9 weeks old)

What’s a WCS ? Working cocker spaniel I’m guessing
Black lab 14 weeks today from gun dogs so longer legs and skinny not the stocky lab

@Wolfcub ah yes the digging! Ours has eased off a lot finally at 18 weeks... garden is a state though!! My tip - put ground coffee in the holes they keep going back to dig, they don't like the smell but it's harmless for them, added bonus it's a slug and snail repellent!

Thanks for the welcome everyone, although I won't feel 'proper' until we pick SweetPup up to bring him home.

But for those of you struggling, SweetDog nearly broke me in the first month, between 9 months and 2 years he was only walked on a longline and I never thought I would get a relaxing walk. But he was the most loving poppet, and has actually always been able to calm himself in the house. Stick with it!

Yes, WCS is Working Cocker Spaniel, and I this time I really do know what I'm letting myself in for .

I've just been rereading The Happy Puppy, DH is very excited that pub are actually recomended as a place to take your pup during the socialisation period.

life our lab is gundog stock too. He's got 4 generations of trail champions behind him, so there's a lot to live up to for the little man, not that we're planning on entering him for any competitions at any point. And dd2 would be horrified if we ever tried to take him on a shoot (dh has already been invited to take him out shooting when he's old enough).

I usually do training with his normal food at every mealtime, but apparently dh doesn't bother doing any sort of training when he feeds him, just plonks it down in a bowl. We do have training treats that we use for random rewards throughout the day, the little wagg bones, which he generally gets when he's been to the toilet outside, or practicing recall in the house, garden or field out the back.

He was sick this evening and then promptly ate it before any of us could get to clean it up. Not quite sure what made him sick, but I imagine it's because dh has been quite free and easy with the chews and training treats, so he's possibly been overfed or had too much rich food today. He seems fine in himself so I'm not too worried about him.

@SweetLathyrus we did that today, purely for socialisation purposes you understand 😂 Billy was exceptionally well behaved and made us sooo proud!

@lifelongfrugaleer our puppy is also 14 weeks and also a working lab, he really does have the longest skinniest legs and his facial features are very fine. I tell him he’s very pretty 😂.

Saying hi to everyone!
@familychallenge what type of dog is challenge pup?
Shaniapup is a 6 month Australian Shepherd - gorgeous, smart and stubborn as hell She also barks for attention/ from frustration.....
But it's like having a baby, one day you realise the biting has stopped but another problem has replaced it
Love her to bits though, wish we'd done it sooner.

Life dog has a very handsome face too. Clearly I’m biased. He has come from a long line of working dogs but we have no plans to hunt
Maybe agility as friends do it. He adores go find and fetch in some long grass. With the little wagg treats

Urgh. Got puppy napping in his crate this morning and thought I was on for 1.5 hours uninterrupted work. Then ds woke him up again so it's been hellcat time instead. Bloody kids

@lifelongfrugaleer, @LadyCatStark, and @MsAwesomeDragon I love seeing leggy working-strain labs, they are a completely different beast to most of the roly-poly pet labs around (Lovely as they are too).

Sweet pup also has a pedigree full of FTCs and will eventually go to gundog training - not that we shoot, but after exhausting three regular pupy classes/1-2-1 trainers with SweetDog we discovered a gundog trainer we clicked with. It makes all the difference to work with a breed specialist, and a whole class with the same drives and challenges. (Mind you, you do have to do your homework to avoid the very traditional trainers - but I found most of them were very proud to advertise "We use aversive methods" on their websites )

Can we join in?

12 week old Scottish Terrier.
Got him at 8 weeks.

Things we've learned, he's very clever, dd has taught him sit and down. Also learning leave and wait.

He adores his food which is how we are progressing with training so well. He's just the sweetest little man around, loves a cuddle and belly rubs.

When he's behaving like a little shit he usually needs to go for a little shit. During bitting, over excited times we call him Vader.

Can relate to the digging, he has a pen in the garden and he pulls out the grass then digs

@SweetLathyrus whereabouts is your gun dog trainer as I'm looking into this after having finished "puppy school" which I didn't find very useful as it was too basic for her and she def needs more specific training.

There is a gun dog trainer handily in the next street to us. It NE England for those interested. We will be looking at her and seeing when he's allowed

@Aria20 you could go through the Gundog Club (thegundogclub.co.uk/instructors/) as they only acredit force-free trainers.

Sorry, should have said we will be going to one in Winchester although they aren't actually on that list.

And see Pippa Mattinson's Facebook page Positive Gundogs - you'll need to do a bit of homework first to answer the questions, the group had a problem a few years back with trolling and some aggressive old-style training types, so they do 'vet' you!

I had missed this new thread, just catching up!

Nordpup has been off colour over the weekend...she has vomited twice and now this morning has a bit of loose stools. She did manage to eat some fungus growing on an old tree stump the other day 🤦🏽‍♀️ (she literally tries to eat anything she can get her paws on). I was worried but she seemed fine over the first night afterwards..

Worth a call to the vet??

Im joining for support....collected 9 week old border collie yesterday, all sweet and innocent, slept all night till 4.30am in his crate, door open, but stayed in it and i slept next to him on sofa. Has been a terror all morning, is a velcro dog, has decided to be bitey and try to hump me 🙈, tries to eat the carpet, wont let DH work upstairs so hes camped downstairs now, im about to leave for work and pups happily sleeping!
Need to work in his 'valcro' asap

Hi everyone, I posted on the last thread but then lost track so hoping I can join!

In a couple of weeks I’ll be welcoming a little pup. She’s a poodle cross, which I know aren’t the most popular on mn, so I hope I can still join! I wasn’t in the ‘market’ for a particular breed as such and definitely wasn’t only looking for a ‘designer dog’ but she has been bred from my friends’ family dog which is the main reason I’m getting her, because she’s from a lovely family home and not a puppy farm.

I’ve never had a dog before and I’m so nervous I won’t do a good job of it. I’ve read one book so far, watched both of Zak George’s puppy series and countless other videos and just ordered Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy. I just want a nice well-behaved dog I can take out and about (don’t we all!).

I also feel bad not rescuing but all the rescues I saw were big breeds with difficult pasts that needed experienced owners and no other pets.

I have a cat so would appreciate any tips on how to introduce them! Because of the layout of our house, I’m not sure it can be done gradually (the cat cries and scratches if locked out of anywhere), so it may have to be a quick rip the plaster off introduction, which isn’t ideal!

Hey everyone, we're currently on a couple of waiting lists and will be bringing a golden retriever home either the start of September or the start of November. EEP!

Any books or blogs you found invaluable for training advice? I dont think we'll be crate training (nothing against it done correctly we just dont have the spare space for a crate big enough for a goldie to be a permanent fixture)