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

@CleverQuacks Hope your older dog is feeling more settled. I had horrible guilt about bringing a puppy into out two senior cats' lives. The older one lost her purr for about a month, but it came back. The vet said it was normal. We got some plug in cat hormone thing on amazon he also recommended which calmed them down. I am guessing there might be a dog version.

To all those struggling with nippy pups and broken sleep it does get better! Sushipup is approaching 6 months and has stopped the foot nipping completely and sleeps through from 10pm until about 6.30am. She does one short bark to say "I'm up" and DH pops down to feed her and let her into the garden. Those early struggles will fade fast from the memory. Am slightly dreading teenage phase though!

So Billy’s decided that in this heat all naps must be taken on the nice cool kitchen floor. Totally understandable but he’s also decided that , as I’m now off park for the summer, I should sit next to him and not make a single noise or movement or he’ll have to wake up 🙈 he must have had an hour and a half nap yesterday and probably not even that today as every time there’s a noise he gets up!

*off work

AwesomePup has decided that the paddling pool is the place to be today. He's alternated between splashing everything from the paddling pool to napping on the cool mat

@MarleneDietrichsSmile

Looks a good list. Maybe add poo bags

Not sure what puppy pads are for, is it for house training? Never used them

Yeah, they’re like huge flat nappies. We dutifully put one on the floor of the crate every evening, and Spudpup leaves it dry as a bone overnight, but pulls it out and shreds it all over the kitchen floor at some point the following day. It keeps him occupied, I suppose… 🙄

Get the anti wee spray and kitchen roll. Old towels for drying,most of our puppy pads went to charity tbh

I use puppy pads for my Guinea pigs, they're better than sawdust. Never used them for the puppy though, he cracked outdoor toileting within a week by just spending loads of time outside and giving him lots of treats every time he weed or pooed outside. He now likes to poo when we're out for a walk but the garden will do in an emergency.

Old towels, got loads of them!
Got anti bite and wee spray on order 😁
Bought poop bags already

Treated myself to a whistle as I'm (possibly overambitiously) thinking I might try to train recall to a whistle?

@LadyCatStark

So Billy’s decided that in this heat all naps must be taken on the nice cool kitchen floor. Totally understandable but he’s also decided that , as I’m now off park for the summer, I should sit next to him and not make a single noise or movement or he’ll have to wake up 🙈 he must have had an hour and a half nap yesterday and probably not even that today as every time there’s a noise he gets up!

This is exactly the same for me! Massively over tired pup tonight at our training class as not enough sleep today! At least she's zonked out now! Our pup seems to have developed a big FOMO!

Phillip exactly the same for us. All the pups were too hot and couldn't focus. Wolfpup was a disgrace

@Phillpot12 yes!! Billy had massive FOMO yesterday as DS had a friend over for a sleepover and he really wanted to be part of the boys’ club 😂.

He’s been super smart today as he wanted some of my ice pop and obviously I didn’t give him any due to the flavourings and sweeteners etc so he ran off and came back with his ball and dropped it at my feet as he thought it’d get him a treat! 😵 then this evening when I was trying to coax him into his crate with a treat, he did the same thing to try and get the treat. It just goes to show that they must have quite complex thoughts. He really does amaze me!

That's impressive work from Billy - clever pup making those connections! Was it you that said about teaching fetch by giving a treat for the ball? Pup is quite food motivated so I think it would well for us - haven't done much of the returning part of fetch!

We've just been out and AwesomePup was amazing at recall. Off the lead, and he was reliably coming back every time, even coming away from the interesting teenagers playing football!! We met a patient greyhound who played chase. It's quite a sight to see a flopity lab puppy chasing after an adult greyhound at full pelt. And then we came across my friend and her patterdale terrior, and they played so nicely together until he started licking her unmentionables at which point we decided to part ways. I'm hoping he'll sleep well tonight.

Aw, well done AwesomePup! Can’t wait to be able to take Spudpup out - counting the days here.

Spudpup met a combine harvester yesterday! It was doing the field opposite our house, so we went into the front garden to take a look while DS went to the front bedroom for a grandstand view. It was a massive great noisy thing, but he seemed to take it in his stride.

I keep looking at him and realising how much he’s grown in a week…he’s looking very leggy today. I think he’s going to be a lanky one. We only have a Nissan Juke… oh dear

@GuyFawkesDay Ditch the puppy pads, it's confusing for them and teaches them it's okay to toilet indoors. Top tip my friend told me a few weeks in - don't use poo bags if they poo indoors, just pick it up with loo roll and flush it! Saves the trip out to the bin. Don't know why it never occurred to me. Do you have a bed? Or are you just using blankets?

Tizwozpup tried sardines for the first time yesterday. They were a big hit.

@tizwozliz sardines are Billy’s absolute favourite!

Thank you so much @ashmts i have sent the join request for the FB group I tried being boring this morning but he slept so well until 6.18am I didn't need to (I tired him out a lot before bed).

@GuyFawkesDay I would recommending getting puppy puzzle feeders and a simple slow bowl (like the PatH paw version). I cannot remember your lovely pup's breed (e.g. a wolfer of food or high energy) - but when you are stuck in doors enrichment with their daily food allowance is so important to tire them out and keep them engaged. Distribute 1 portion of each meal between different feeders for each meal is what we are doing. Show them how it works and they will pick it up in no time.

In terms of your next supermarket shop: fresh apple, frozen broccoli, frozen carrot and frozen peas are all great (make sure it is bite-sized). In small amounts, plain natural or greek yoghurt (no added sweetners/flavours) to seal your frozen kong. Some dogs don't take well to dairy so monitor poos afterwards (not envy). Later as he settles in, get the same brand wet food pouches to feed half kibble/half wet food in the kong and freeze (e.g. James Wellbeloved do a wet puppy version of their dry puppy food). The initial few days he will likely have a funny tummy so introduce these additions slowly and just keep an eye.

Car training continues here… Spudpup was chilled with the boot shut and his toy, and when the engine was running, so we shifted about on the drive a bit then went down the road, just a hundred yards or so then turned around. He was a bit anxious on the road, but settled again when we got home. Will keep doing this.

Has anyone tried the Adaptil spray? I used to use the plug-ins for Spuddog and they really helped, I was considering getting the spray for Spudpup in the car. It’s quite pricey though…

It's freedom day for B! Can't wait til DW finishes work so we can take her for her first not-in-sling walk.

Tomorrow will be a big challenge, it's DS' birthday and he's got a massive garden party planned. Friends. Bouncy castle. Activities. Lots of family members. B will be soooo over stimulated and probably go a bit crazy and not sleep much we expect!

@Spudlet I've just got rid of my Juke

Spud we put classic FM in the car which helps Banditpup to be more relaxed.

Happy freedom day Meredith!

We’ve only just got ours and I love it Our other car is a Micra which is getting on a bit, so when we replace that we’ll probably get a bigger car and have the Juke as our smaller car. Until then, Spudpup will have to learn to fold up 😂

@ashmts we've got a cocker spaniel. So high nutcase quotient!!!

I've got a lickimat and will look for slow feeder bowl too.

Bedwise we've got a borrowed ferplast carrier/crate and lots of fleece I'm going to cut up and some vetbed.

Interesting about puppy pads. Will have a think. I've got 4/5 weeks at home 24/7 to crack it if I am on it with regular loo trips to the garden pen.

@MorningInspiration thank you! I tend to have those veg in anyway so that makes like easier. I've been given some royal Canin wet puppy food tins and he's on the normal puppy kibble so will save them for Kong based fun.

Luckily we have all laminate downstairs so will definitely be using the loo roll poop trick. The rug will be rolled up til we have cracked the toileting lest it prove too tempting!!