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

@Plantlover23 Ours went through a phase of barking about 10 minutes after bedtime, probably about the age yours is. We just let her out for the toilet, gave a cuddle, and popped her back in and she settled. Would that help? Otherwise what about going back to basics with crate training and giving her treats in there? I know people will say ditch the crate but I just think it's so useful for them to like the crate for vet visits/after surgeries/if you'll ever need to board them for holidays.

@Aria20 Try a scrambled egg. No oil or anything, just put a splash of water in a pan and cook the egg through. One egg should be enough at the age yours is. If ours is a bit loose that tends to get things sorted out again.

@ashmts should I offer her the scrambled egg instead of lunch do you think?

Thanks Nordstrom! couldn’t believe it wasn’t taken.

@Aria20 sorry just saw this, yeah I would. Then back to normal food for dinner if her tummy is a bit better. If it's still off I might give her the egg + kibble. I'm dead relaxed about diet though, it's the one thing I don't worry about!

@ashmts she's been asleep since 11 so has effectively missed lunch... guess it won't do her any harm she's not wasting away and will hopefully give her tummy a break. Will see if she fancies anything later

Thank you @ThePontiacBandit @Biking0077 @ashmts @Aria20 It’s nice to know she’s not unique in her sudden protest! It’s a strange one as I know she doesn’t dislike the crate as such as she will merrily skip in there after I give her an ‘on your bed’ command, and will lie down settled on the blanket until I shut the door. It’s like she doesn’t like the fact she can’t wander around if she wants to. Tried ignoring but got up to 10 mins or so which when I have direct neighbours I can’t really let her go on much longer than that. I’d be happy if she’d sleep in a bed! She has always just seen them as toys though So I think I might need to get a new one and reinforce it like the crate if I decide to go that way. I’ll try giving treats etc in her crate like I did at the very beginning just in case there is some real dislike of it going on and see where we get to!

@SaveTheUnicorns you definitely havent broken little pup, our 2nd night was awful too!

We are 6 nights in and I am tired!! He goes back to sleep no bother after his 1.30am wee but his 4.30 wee he is hard to settle, must be the lightness of the summer mornings.

My living room looks like a creche with blankets and toys everywhere.

Hang in there people with new pups! It gets easier - we slept on kitchen floor for weeks, then sofa for more weeks, then sofa for second half of night and now sleep back upstairs and puppy downstairs 11-6.30 minimum. PoirotPup is 21 weeks now so we’ve had him 12 weeks and we’ve slept upstairs all night for the last four of them!

Been away for a while and not up to date with all the many pages on this thread! Hope all the pups are doing well.

Cantepup isn’t brilliantly trained but she’s been good with loose lead walking, with me anyway, from an early age. I give her treats as she walks along next to me and if she pulls I say ‘steady’ and she comes back to my side and gets a treat. She’s generally pretty good but when the park is in view she pulls like a monster. I keep stopping, she keeps pulling etc but it’s only a short distance and it’s because she’s so excited to get there. She is 6.5 months. So this is all fine - I figure she will calm down a bit as she gets older.

But the dog walker had a scary incident with her today while waiting on the other side of the road to the park. Apparently she was pulling really hard and he had other dogs with him who are pretty small so it sounds like her pulling from one direction caused a tight lead on another dog in another direction. This dog came out of its harness and ran into the road in front of a skip lorry. Thankfully the lorry stopped in time and the dog was fine. But clearly it could have ended very differently. The walker was basically telling me that Cantepup’s pulling caused this situation and suggesting she needs a behaviourist. And I don’t know what to think. I don’t want to be indirectly responsible for the injury or worse of someone else’s dog and the ruining of the dog walker’s business. But I also don’t think she’s that bad, while fully recognising I’ve never walked her with other dogs. What do you think?

That sounds scary glad all dogs are fine! I’d maybe just work on the pulling - we’ve really worked on it last week or so and it’s made massive difference. I’ve basically just stopped still every time he’s pulled, then as soon as a step back moved on. We sometimes didn’t get far initially - this sounds like what you’ve done with steady. Could you when you get these the park just really work on it there so start at the first point the pulling starts, stop and when pup comes back give treat like you are and step forward and just stop if pulling again (or do without treat?depends what works?) It might take some time the first few days but I think they very quickly learn what behaviour gets them where so first day it might take 30 mins to get through that last bit where the pulling happens but few days in I reckon it would be much quicker? I’d maybe try that first - I am no expert though!

Gosh canteloupe that sounds like quite a blame to put on your pup. I would have thought at 6.5 months the not pulling on the lead is always going to be a work in progress. And no matter how good she is, if there is something exciting and distracting nearby then it will often result in some pulling. The dog Walker probably needs to manage this better himself somehow by managing the environment he is in /takes the dogs to. Or if he can’t handle an excitable young pup then Perhaps he isn’t the right dog Walker?

Disclaimer - I have a 6 month old pup myself and that is the extent of my experience. I have never used a dog Walker so would lnt really know what to expect. But that would be my tuppenceworth!

I think walking pups along with 6 or 7 other dogs is such a bad idea

For a pup dog Walker you’d really need 121, imo

Our local dog Walker walks 6-7 dogs and it’s often complete chaos and, and she’s lost a few dogs a few times (owners then get calls from kind people who find wandering dog)

Have you ever seen your dog Walker during a dog walk? It can be a real eye opener

@Canteloupe33 that's really shocking. How many dogs is he walking at once? Sounds like he has more than he can handle...he can't blame your pup for him not being in control of all the dogs, perhaps the other dog needs a new harness or it needs tightening/double ended lead...

Our dog walker does puppy specific walks, there are 3 pups along with her exceptionally well trained adult dog, sometimes they all go together, sometimes 121s. She takes them to quiet fields in her van, they play games and practise recall and generally have a good run around. She sets them up for success by managing their environment - she knows taking them to a busy park or walking them along the street would be carnage at the moment! The dog walker laying the blame with the 6 month old puppy is ridiculous

That sounds scary @Canteloupe33 and the dog Walker at fault for not being able to control the dogs in their care. But also something you can work on too. My 14mth is fab off lead and mostly ok on lead but does still get excited if approaching the park. Sometimes we just sit treat and wait for calm then carry on but she’s still learning. Her recall off lead is very good though.
I’ve watched several local dog walkers to me as they can have upto 6 at a time and the lady we go to for training / social class is brilliant. I watched her get all 6 lab type dogs to sit by her feet with minimal noise or fuss as I approached unexpectedly with mine on a lead in a open field type place. She had complete confidence in her control of them all off lead. I was very impressed, I’ve seen others with very little control or some just keep the dogs on lead at all time fair enough if poor recall.

We had a scary experience yesterday when we took Billy out for a walk to a park next to DS’s school. We were just setting off when a man on a motorbike pulled over and started saying something to me. I went closer as I couldn’t hear him and he started asking me lots of questions about Billy but in an odd way such as, “You got him from X place didn’t you?” (No) “He had a funny paw when he was born, yeah?” (No). And in between he kept mumbling about how he “looks exactly like Max.” I said that he wasn’t “Max” and we’d had him since he was 8 weeks old then he agreed he wasn’t Max but then shouted “Max” to try to get his attention! That worried me as I was concerned he’d try to claim that he was stolen but luckily Billy didn’t even flinch and just carried on sniffing the floor. It was really weird and I was really glad we weren’t near home and he didn’t see our car. Of course Billy looks like “Max” he’s a black working lab, they all look exactly the same at this age 🙈.

Gosh that’s scary. Sounds like trying to engage you in conversation with a view to trying to steal pup maybe?

Turquoisepup been pretty sleepy all day today then really barky this evening and not quite herself. Someone else said up thread their pup seemed out of sorts after worming tablet. Do other find this ?

That does sound scary @LadyCatStark. I'm glad Billy ignored the man. I agree that all black working labs look the same at that age, so it's no wonder he looks like this Max.

I finally pick up my pup tomorrow morning! So excited and nervous

That was my first thought which is why I just gave him yes and no answers but I was worried he genuinely thought he was this dog which might have been stolen. He was a bit incomprehensible TBH and his bike was still on so it was hard to hear. I’m just glad he wouldn’t able to find us if he wanted to!

@Canteloupe33 that does sound scary but I'm so glad that all pups are ok. The dog walker needs to take some accountability in the situation too as it is part and parcel of the role (particularly if you walk young pups).

@ladycatstark such a scary situation too - I would feel very intimidated. Well done for keeping your cool! Theres always a worry the pup would react just from a stranger calling them and the accuser would take it the wrong way. You would hope a microchip would clear things up but he could have just grabbed the pup. If his story was genuine, I think grief also makes people act strange and suspicious too

Good luck @Jloco - if I had one piece of advice for myself the day before picking the pup up it would have been have a nice long lie in (and clean the house now)

@MorningInspiration

Good luck *@Jloco* - if I had one piece of advice for myself the day before picking the pup up it would have been have a nice long lie in (and clean the house now)

Yes! I couldn’t sleep the night before we picked Billy up as I was too excited, then I wished I had 😂.

@MorningInspiration & @LadyCatStark thank you! I best get to sleep soon then, although I think I’ll be too excited too!!