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

Hope lifepup is OK!

The paddling pool has been a massive success! Billy hopped in whilst it was filling up and tried to drink the water as it came out of the hose, then he had a great time bobbing for his chew toys. He must have had about an hour’s play then he ran into the house (soaking wet 🙈) and took himself into his crate and we haven’t heard a peep from him since!

@LadyCatStark that's lovely. Our pup also loves to drink from the hose/pool. She just gets in to dip her paws in and fish out her balls and then out again but it's nice for them to cool off.

Fluids and charcol for 24 hours to support liver and kidney functions

Wolfpup also hated the food the breeder had. Took me three days to change it. Hated it mixed too. In the end I offered him three bowls on evening. Old, new and mixed. He picked new. He also didn't like the kibble soaked at all so he has it dry. Need to find him a good topper

He's a total loon today. I don't know if it's the heat of the lack of walks or what but jeeez I'm punctured like a balloon

I've used the mud daddy to creat a cold ark of spray for him in the garden that he could run through. He seemed to like that when he wasn't murdering my poor defenceless conifers

@MrsHerculePoirot I was surprised that our vet was so bothered but she said pup was doing great on current food so need to continue. I guess it's maybe something that's done on a case by case basis. Saying that, we used to go to a different vet and they talked a load of nonsense so we swapped. I trust this one so I'm inclined to do as they say. And in the case of PP where pup needs built up and was rejected by its mum I'd lean even more towards a vet being involved in nutrition.

Ashpup is doing great now, thank you. Me and DP however... We got a fright and we're still anxious. It's taking us a while to go back to how we were, we're treating her like glass a little bit. Which isn't great cos she's not getting as much exercise as usual, and we've not been back to pubs etc so we've probably set ourselves back. It'll just take time I think.

@lifelongfrugaleer How scary for you, thinking of you all today x

@lifelongfrugaleer hope lifepup makes a really quick recovery

@ashmts glad to hear ashpup is doing good

Pups can really set our anxieties high

@Wolfcub yours is a lab too? We are trying to be less of a pin cushion but you can just see it in their eyes when they are in the shark bitey mood

As for the paddling pool mayhem, great fun! Anyone taken their pup to a doggy swimming pool/class yet? Definitely keen as we don't live near but often visit the seaside (for those of you who live near the sea, very jealous!!)

New 'mum' to a 10 week old lab pup here. She's been really good, potty training a breeze but I'm struggling with massive anxiety regarding her health - she's regurgitated food twice since home - vet advised just to keep an eye and no issue if otherwise eating, pooping etc. Then I worry if she is breathing too fast, itching too much etc. Does it get any easier, learning when to worry and when to not? I feel like I've spent the last week googling things like 'how fast should puppy be breathing' etc.

@MorningInspiration no mines and English springer with a mouthful of needles

@Wolfcub my sister has an English springer. Beautiful pup with needle teeth who loves to chew and bite too! Though with those ears and puppy dog eyes my heart melts.

@Meloncurse I googled so much in the first week (breathing, hiccups, eating leaves/twigs, biting, hating naps). Anxiety was so bad I stopped eating for 2 days and dry heaved all the time. Very much puppy blues which I googled and read some helpful articles.

Now 2 weeks in I am so much more comfortable (went from a 10/10 to a 6/10 to a 2/10 and now maybe a 1/0.5 for my anxiety). You get used to the breathing, hiccups etc. You see the vet who has seen 1000x nervous puppy owners and reassured from them. And naturally your anxiety cannot stay at 100 all day every day.

It gets better and you know your doing your best. The anxiety and nervousness does pass.

Life pup is home and back to being a git. Thanks for the well wishes. Charcoal poop is interesting

@MorningInspiration we are very lucky to live by the sea 🥰.

What are everyone’s puppy summer plans? DS has already finished school and I work term time only and finish on Tuesday so we need plenty of outdoor inspiration! We’re planning to teach Billy to paddleboard (well sit nicely on the board while we paddle). DS likes to go wakeboarding at a nice centre where Billy can have a paddle and of course there’s the beach and rivers. Fingers crossed for nice weather!

Lovely seeing all the new puppies!
@ashmts glad your puppy has recovered from the knock on the head!
@lifelongfrugaleer hope your pup is recovering from the sweets overdose!

We are near to the sea too but so far sushi pup has just been happy running around on the beach or running back and forth from the edge of the water as the tide comes in and out. She's not shown any interest in actually getting in the water.
When we go down to the stream she loves leaping around in the water like a mad thing.
I love the idea of a dog paddling pool and am off to google one now! Also have a DH who is appalled at the amount of dog related stuff appearing in the house.

Hope everyone is coping with the heat. Fortunately our house stays relatively cool downstairs. We have a big plastic tray in the garden that serves as a tiny paddling pool and pup helped me water the garden this morning.

When she wakes from her nap, I'm going to attempt to measure for a perfect fit harness. Does anyone else use one of these?

Spudpup has had a trip to the coffee shop this morning - it’s only a five minute drive, so I thought it would be a good little car ride for him. He sat outside in the shade on my lap while DH and DS went in for takeaway, and was thoroughly cooed at by passers by, watched the cars and so on. Then we came home. He seemed a little less fretful in the car?

However we have had a setback as he got quite upset at bedtime last night while I was on the loo and so couldn’t intervene quickly, and DH didn’t know what to do, and today he’s a bit reluctant to go in 😬 I have been putting treats in at intervals and just fed him with the bowl in the entrance, and we’ll just work on it. Trying not to worry that I’ve scarred him for life! I could hear him getting really worked up but I couldn’t do anything about it, please someone reassure me that I haven’t mucked things right up 🙈

@tizwozliz we use perfect fit and I love it! They didn’t have puppy sizes on their website so I emailed his measurements initially and they told me what to get. Then when it looked a bit small I emailed updated measurements and a pic and they told me which bits to upgrade. I’ve found their customer service really helpful.

Which measurements did they need? The website only seems to talk about taking a girth size but presume they need at least a collar size as well. What age was your pup when first fitted?

Spud I’m sure he’ll be fine with reinforcement!

Banditpup has slept a lot today. Mostly inside where I’ve had windows open but curtains shut. She got very excited when we had a BBQ and ran around but she’s asleep again now.

Good I hope so @ThePontiacBandit! This is not my first dog but bloody hell, the puppy anxiety is something else. Spuddog was a rescue so I was dealing with other people’s mistakes, now I’m so paranoid about making them myself

Can anyone help me on exercise, btw? I know the recommendation is 5 minutes per month of age twice a day, but that seems to be on the lead - how does that translate to meandering off lead? We are lucky to live rurally so we have plenty of scope for slow meandering along footpaths - we wouldn’t go for miles of course, but if you’re just ambling along at puppy pace, so you need to be as rigid as if you’re pavement pounding?

Also, do you think he’s comfy enough… he’s found DS’s beanbag (and pissed on it - oops. DS is being very magnanimous about it though).

Also need to sort out car travel whilst she's still small. We have a boot guard but the space is too big for her right now. It's so difficult at this age when they're small but you know in a few months they'll be twice the size.

@tizwozliz just girth size is all they need. It doesn’t go over head or round neck in that way.

We have him on back seat clipped to harness at moment as he really didn’t like car initially - and we want him there for our camping trip next month… will transition to boot after that. I know lots of people use crates in boot though right from start. I might have done that if I was going to start again but don’t really know!

@Spudlet when meandering on soft ground at pups pace we didn’t worry about the time too much - I likened it to being in the garden mooching about. I’d just be mindful of the time and how much running/walking is being done maybe? It’s so conflicting everything you read about it I found!

Elmpuppy has had a relatively good day, though we had a few accidents mainly due to my attention being diverted for a split second and not getting to her quickly enough. She has been used to puppypads and consequently looks very proud of herself when she pees in her pen, rather than the garden.

She has pooed A LOT today though - we're at 8 so far. All pretty solid. How many are other pups doing?

We put Banditpup in a small crate with a doughnut bed inside. She’s had 3 car journeys like that and she’s fussed a bit but getting used to it.

@tizwozliz pup is in a crate in the boot. She whined first couple of journeys but they were taking her to the vets for an ear infection so she might just have been whining because of that! She is now very happy in her crate in the boot, I didn't do any special training just put her in there and after those first couple of journeys she soon got used to it.