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

I miss the days when I could give cardboard and plastic bottles to Dpup to play with now she just eats them! She’s ramped up digging again the last couple of days, I think walking her early 6.30am means she’s bored again by 11am and I’m ignoring her whilst on work calls so we’ve seen an increase in destructive play that we hadn’t seen much off for a few months. I have bought a new Kong Flyer (like a frisbee) which she really likes and after 4d hasn’t eaten it yet she had destroyed 3 normal frisbees. Plus it was worth buying the £7 ChuckIt ultra ball as it’s 3mths old and still no teeth marks, as tennis balls were barely lasting a day!

Still a very reluctant crate user here. Other than visiting to checkout if there are any treats hidden in there she never voluntarily goes in without a lot of persuasion. The local wildlife is not helping with the overnight toilet trips either, owls the other night and pigeons getting amorous at 5am this morning. Gets her attention and doesn't help with persuading her it's still time for sleeping.

@Aria20 ooh good question, she may have done!

@MrsHerculePoirot she calmed down after a while and went to sleep and was fine the next time she went out so hopefully it was a one off! It must have been a sound or something spooked her.

She’s such a sweetheart but I constantly feel like I’m not doing enough! I know it’s important to start training early on and she’s mastered sit when inside but as she spends most of the time asleep, I can’t fit much in! I don’t think she’s sleeping too much but when she’s awake she just wants to run around and play or is eating etc. Or playing with the cat and too distracted.

Can I ask how long it took your pups to learn their name? Sometimes she seems to respond to it but 98% of the time she doesn’t. I don’t know if I’m expecting too much or too little…

I know it’s important to start training early on and she’s mastered sit when inside but as she spends most of the time asleep, I can’t fit much in!

I was just saying to my other half yesterday that there's lots of talk of training and exposure to new experiences being essential in the first few weeks but I don't think I appreciated how limited the time is to do them in - pup sleeps a lot! Hopefully we'll get into some sort of routine which will make planning things easier, never know whether a nap is going to be 30 mins or 2 hours

@Jloco @tizwozliz I got so worked up about how important it was to train them and socialise them early that I made myself ill. Please don't worry too much about it, mine is almost 11 months now and still learning every day. She was a maniac for the first 4 weeks, she barely slept (definitely nowhere near as much as is recommended, and we did try to enforce it) and had zero focus. If I could do it all over again I'd pick my battles, focus on toilet training and sleep/crate training, and leave the rest for when things were less crazy. @Jloco Mine barely responded to anything for weeks, she was too busy trying to eat the skirting boards and hurl herself onto the couch. Am I right in saying you only got your puppy at the weekend? In the nicest way possible I'd say you're expecting too much. It'll fall into place.

Can I ask how long it took your pups to learn their name?
How are you teaching it? Ada definitely started to know her name within a week. This is how she responds if you call her name now, after 8 days at home. We did specifically work on teaching her it. Of course we haven't really tested with any distractions, so it's still a work in progress

Wolfpup has been to the dog walkers/sitters this afternoon. He has apparently been lovely. I'm waiting for the inevitable nightmare time this evening. He did a lot better than I expected although did give me the death stare when I collected him

[quote Jloco]@Aria20 ooh good question, she may have done!

@MrsHerculePoirot she calmed down after a while and went to sleep and was fine the next time she went out so hopefully it was a one off! It must have been a sound or something spooked her.

She’s such a sweetheart but I constantly feel like I’m not doing enough! I know it’s important to start training early on and she’s mastered sit when inside but as she spends most of the time asleep, I can’t fit much in! I don’t think she’s sleeping too much but when she’s awake she just wants to run around and play or is eating etc. Or playing with the cat and too distracted.

Can I ask how long it took your pups to learn their name? Sometimes she seems to respond to it but 98% of the time she doesn’t. I don’t know if I’m expecting too much or too little…[/quote]
Billy started to respond to his name straight away, it must have been meant to be his name 😂 I think a lot of training happens naturally when you’re doing other things, for example Billy never gets food or treats unless he sits for them. We work on recall when he’s in the field or when I want him to come over to me etc. At first I thought we needed to do discreet ‘training sessions’ but now it just happens naturally.

Talking of names, I am getting my pup on Monday and cannot pick a name. She is a completely black shihtzu. I have narrowed it down to
Betty,
Betsy,
Eden
Meeka

Any suggestions? My other dog is Lily

@CleverQuacks I like Betty although it does kind of depend on your accent as someone in DS’s primary school class had a sister called Betty and it came out as ‘Be’eh’.

@LadyCatStark that’s a very good point. I say the “t” in Betty but lots of people may not.

Originally she was going to be Bonnie but the breeder said that three dogs from her last litter were named bonnie so it’s very popular which put me off a bit.

@CleverQuacks ah I like Bonnie best!! It was on my list. I know a toy poodle called Betty and a beagle called Betsy. All lovely names.

Trying to think of names for a tiny black shitzu.... Connie instead of Bonnie? Elsie? Pepper? Pippa?

I like Elsie! I will add it to my list

Banditdog’s Mum is called Bonnie and she has a sister called Mabel (not naming Banditdog’s name, it would be outing!).

I need a puppy name too. Black show cocker boy....he's a gorgeous little thing.

Picking up in August but here for all the tips

Guy!!! You took the plunge!!! I knew we'd tempt you. My friend has a black cocker boy called Nigel. He's the loveliest dog I've ever met, and the reason we decided to get our own puppy.

@GuyFawkesDay

I need a puppy name too. Black show cocker boy....he's a gorgeous little thing.

Picking up in August but here for all the tips

Boy or girl?

Our pup (only had her a month) only listens to me

Then when DH or the teens look after her, they have discovered she WILL come, but only if they speak in a high pitched voice , mimicking my (foreign) accent

It’s hilarious, but essentially I think it is because I train her 2x5 minutes a day with name + command (eg: “Chubby! Come!”, “Chubby! Sit!” Or “Chubby! Leave it!” That’s as far as I got), rest of family not bothered with any “formal” training

2x5 mins is very little, I guess I may need to do more?

Yesterday the little bugger escaped, and I found her practising stairs. She struggles as she is a very large breed with huge paws/legs but she keeps escaping to try and master the stairs. She’s determined. She also spent half an hour trying to teach herself opening door handles

Bit worried she is much more clever than our old docile dog

@ChubbyLittleManInACampervan that's hilarious that she only listens to them in your accident!

@GuyFawkesDay - Henry? Freddie (Frederick if he's naughty!) Dexter? Huxley?

@ThePontiacBandit I know a Mabel too love it!

Can I join in? We collected pupster yesterday. It’s a bit of a change from dear old Spuddog, who was 14 when we lost him… DS is definitely finding it to be a BIG change and he’s a bit unsure at the moment, but we’ve had some really lovely moments as well (DS has ASD so it will take him a little while to adapt to the change, I think). However pupster is lovely, a really clever little lad. I sat with him last night until he fell asleep, then we didn’t hear a peep until 6am so really pleased with that. He’s also been out for a little ride in my game bag, just to sniff some sniffs until he has his second jabs next week and the vet okays walks.

This morning, he is coming to do the school run in the car - it’s a very short ride so good practice, and I can carry him to the school gates. We have staggered drop off times so it shouldn’t be too manic, but he’ll get to see some people. Then if he’s ok in the car, we’ll pop to the local pet shop as I need more puppy pads, some puppy chews for crate training, and a harness so we can start with his lead in the garden. Hoping that should tire him out enough for a good old nap later on!

The 5am wake ups are taking their toll! Some of us don't go back to sleep so easily after being up for 45 mins

Awww @tizwozliz, they don’t last forever!

MaePup cries her eyes out in the car, even sat on someones lap. Poor little thing. Really need her to get used to it though.