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

@Spudlet hope you have a better day tomorrow I feel your pain my youngest DD is on the ASD. She’s been a flipping nightmare today again I’m hoping it’s the disruption to the normal routine rather than her getting sick as the same type of behaviour builds when Illness is brewing too.

Sorry I can’t see the name on my phone but the1yr dog losing the lead training post op. We had similar issues after our dog was spayed we just put it down to typical teenager dog stuff. It felt like weeks of back to basics on lead walking but it has settled down again we are at 14mths now. But we do go to a small socialising & training class once a week for older pups which has helped too so hang in there all your hard work hopefully hasn’t gone to pot.

Oh @HappyThursdays what a horrible thing to happen! I'm so glad to hear that Happy is doing better now. Poor soul. That must have been such a shock for you. DP put grass seed down in the garden without telling me, I went mental when he mentioned it. Ashpup is doing well thanks, I can relate to them losing their training after an accident but in our case I think it's cos we went soft on her. She was a bit spoilt cos we felt so bad about what had happened and it's taking a while to get that discipline back.

@Spudlet That sounds really hard. I found a puppy hard enough without throwing in children or marathon training! Don't know where you get the energy.

Anyone got good tips for making the house smell less doggy?! I've Reed diffusers in the hallway and the downstairs room. Spray febreeze especially around the dogs bed. Hoover daily. The sofas are leather so wipe clean and she's not meant to go on them anyway. Pup herself doesn't smell too bad so I don't get why the front room does?! It's not smell of dog food, it's just dog smell

Aria20 I got rid of her big fluffy bed that stank and I couldn’t wash easily, now only machine washable cushions/mats for her. Mop floors regularly. This is more difficult with carpets. I also bought charcoal pouch things which are supposed to absorb smells. And bought lemon oil and oil burner.
I think the key though is having an ability to machine wash any soft furnishing that can absorb smell.

I noticed our house smelt a bit doggy when I walked back in yesterday. But not like it did when we had Spuddog. Spudpup brings his own special aroma 🙈

@HappyThursdays We always used to advise people to carry on with training classes until the dog turned 2, as they can go through lots of changes and even regressions until they are fully mature. So don’t panic, all the training you have done is still in there, somewhere, and it’s not at all unheard of to have to go back to basics with a teenage dog, or even an adult. I had to with Spuddog several times during his life. But it does come back to them.

@ashmts I don’t know either tbh - I don’t feel like I have a lot in reserve right now, put it that way… I slept in this morning though (until 7.22, woohoo) so that did help a bit. Just got to chug through until it’s time to stop 🤷‍♀️

I love this time of day. I get up with pup at 6.30 ish, breakfast and play. Other half gets up at 7.45 for work at which point I get a coffee and then pup and I occupy the sofa bed for morning snoozes. Sometimes we watch some David Attenborough :-)

We have our first puppy class on Friday evening. Whilst we've been making quite good progress on some things I have a feeling it will all go out the window once we add in some distractions.

@tizwozliz Almost certainly, but remember that dogs are context specific learners. They don’t easily generalise the things they’ve learnt, so Spudpup is getting good at sitting at home, for example. But he will probably need to go back to basics when we start going for walks, or to classes. When we’ve taught the skill in enough different places, that’s when it will click and he’ll be able to sit wherever we are

@Turquoisesol yes I think the bed is the culprit for the smell to be honest! She prefers just laying on the floor or wherever but I want her to "go to bed" on command so have kept the bed. I guess need to wash it more often.

Need to get the vax out and shampoo the carpet this week I think and hopefully that helps too.

Do some dogs just smell more than others? Is it due to their activity levels like sweat almost? My mums Yorkies rarely smell but they are lap dogs who don't run about in the woods like my spaniel!

I just keep the windows open as much as possible. We need to wash the blankets and hoover more though…. There are hairs EVERYWHERE!

So big steps forward for us recently - managed to do an off lead walk at the weekend because it was so quiet and it was fine! We did the clip back on for a few minutes and off again but it felt like how I thought dog walks would be. I wouldn’t trust him with lots of dogs/distractions but he did come back (not instantly!) and it was lovely!

I’m currently sat in my car on the drive watching PoirotPup on the camera. He wandered about to check no-one was about then got onto his favourite armchair and has been asleep ever since! I’m going back in shortly but it’s been 45 minutes and all good!

I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so left AwesomePup on his own with a Kong to keep him busy. Both dds and a niece were upstairs keeping an ear out for him, but I came home an hour later to find him happily asleep in his bed. No noises loud enough to be heard by the kids upstairs, so that was good

With regards to smells, AwesomePup seems to smell worst when he's been wet, which is a lot at the minute as he's been in the paddling pool quite a bit.

@Spudlet you have a lot on your plate, so don't stress about not doing as much training with the puppy as you'd like. Just keeping everything ticking over when you have a child with ASD is enough. You have a whole lifetime to train the dog. AwesomePup doesn't like the car either, so we're pretty much at the same stage with that as you are, but mine is 16 weeks now so older than yours I think. He's fine as long as he's being fed treats, but we can't do that on all journeys forever. It's a work in progress.

Aria20 we have a raised bed I will try to link for you. It doesn’t absorb smell and can be hosed down. She really likes it and it’s our “go to bed” place. Also pets at home mats for crate which are machine washable.

This sort of thing
www.buntypetproducts.co.uk/products/bunty-raised-dog-bed?currency=GBP&variant=31505427529781&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx8jp2v-C8gIVB7DtCh184wZgEAQYAyABEgJcmPD_BwE

I think some breeds definitely smell more than others. And probably how often they get wet makes a difference. I am sure it can be managed, just takes some effort unfortunately!

@Aria20 We have this bed which is really easy to wash, our old one fell to pieces after a few washes. I can't say I notice much of a smell (although now I'm paranoid I've gone nose blind), we use the dressing gown if she's wet which helps. We have blankets on the sofa and wash them regularly. We have wooden floors and have had the windows open a lot recently in the good weather. Every so often there will be a whiff but it generally means we've either gone too long between bed/blanket washes, or she's had a particularly smelly chew in her bed. Cow ears are the main culprit, if she ever eats that on her bed (the only place the smelly chews are allowed) it needs an immediate wash.

@Turquoisesol I did look at raised beds but they seem so big and we only have a small front room so DH wouldn't want a big raised bed in it as it would take up too much room, he just about tolerates this bed lol.

Just bathed her as she went in a lake and then through long grass and had loads of bloody grass seeds on her! I hope none in her ear as don't want another ear infection. She is currently drying off in the dressing gown which she hates haha and her bed , blankets and towels have all been washed. Hopefully it helps... prob only for a day!!

@ashmts god yes the cow ears are foul! They are garden or kitchen only!

We are all in the living room, I repeat, we are all in the living room. DS is perched up high on the armchair with the iPad (we’ve been for a wholesome bike ride this morning, don’t judge ) and Spudpup is lying on the floor beside me with his rubber ring, although I think he’ll fall asleep soon. This is excellent, although my dungarees have been somewhat chewed in the settling down process 🙄 But I’ll take that!

Yay for family spudlet!!! That sounds like a huge victory!!!

We've just been for a picnic at the park. The big park in town, where there are loads of people, bikes, pushchairs, wheelchairs, etc going past. AwesomePup managed to eat his lunch in a calm settle position and only barked at a few people (he did growl at the drunk man who tried to pet him though, sensible dog)

@Spudlet I can totally relate! I also have a DS with ASD who normally struggles with the school hols and puppy is exacerbating this. I am also training for a marathon so am struggling to manage dog walk plus training in this heat!

@mynameisnotmichaelcaine Hooray, I’m not the only madwoman who decided a marathon and a puppy would be a good idea Bless your DS, the change can be so hard for them, can’t it? Then before you know it they’ll be back to school and we’ll have it all to deal with again 🙄

Spudpup lasted in the living room for 15 or 20 minutes then got overwrought, nipped my armpit (yeowch!) and started stealing the sofa cushions. So we went outside and did some training and now he’s asleep in the kitchen while DS and I chill on the other side of the baby gate. Honestly, we aren’t out of sight or anything but Spudpup was Very Very Cross about this! However if he is going to turn into Sharknado he needs to have some quiet time without any victims to nom, IMO. Still, it feels like a huge step in the right direction.

Don't flame me. We have just had travellers move into the village, they've been in the wider local area for the last eight weeks and have threatened women and men out walking with violence. I am a bit concerned about walking the pup, when they were here last year they were shooting birds out of the trees behind my house. Top tips for keeping yourself, and pup, safe on solo walks welcomed. I don't have anyone to walk with so that's not an option.

Honestly, I’d drive somewhere else for the time being. It’s just not worth the stress, if they’re being aggressive. (I used to work with Gypsies and Travellers, i met many lovely people, I am not lumping everyone together, but every group of people has their good and their bad).