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

@littlebilliie - can't really help on lickimat brands, I just bought the first one i saw.

In terms of what to put on them, I use various things - peanut butter, cooked sweet potato, banana. Freezing extends the experience

@littlebilliie we just have the lickimat branded ones, i prefer the tuff one because it’s not as easy to flip also the lickimat wobble bowls seem to go down well. I sometimes use single ingredient baby food pouches for ease - aldi do carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash etc.

@GuyFawkesDay you’ll be fine, I actually am finding myself wishing for the bitey tiny puppy days to be back, I had the worst puppy blues and definitely didn’t embrace it as much as I should have.

I think we had a sweet spot for about a month when teething was over but now in full on spaniel adolescence like @ashmts and @HappyThursdays. The barking, so much barking, she barks at everything. The worst is barking at food, every time I give her any food in a toy or a bowl she loses her mind barking (doesn’t seem like excitement either), the only thing that seems to illicit less barking is scatter feeding on the floor. I don’t really understand the behaviour- never known a dog to sit and bark at their food rather than wolfing it down. We also can’t give her any chews apart from an ostrich bone, she’s either not interested or barks at them non stop.

The one thing she was good at was sleeping overnight in her crate, but last night we had a lot of whining at bedtime, she didn’t need the toilet, us being nearby didn’t seem to comfort her so left her to it in the end - there are no other signs yet but I suppose she could be coming into season soon?

Bloody teenagers sigh

We've got one lickimat branded one, and another that is a cheaper brand that we found at a local pet shop. AwesomePup LOVES cream cheese on his, frozen to last longer. We've experimented with putting different baby food, peanut butter, etc on but he is always happiest with the cream cheese, any brand of cheese.

This morning he has discovered the joy of sticks. He found one on the field behind our garden and brought it home with him. He looked so proud of it!! Then when I left him with a Kong while I took DH to work he apparently cried because he was in puppy jail (play pen) and the stick was outside the pen. DD had to come and rescue him, but apparently he wasn't interested in her, just the stick lol.

Oooh I never thought of using baby food pouches damn I just got back from food shopping...next time! Unfortunately I can't use cream cheese/primula/yoghurt as gives pup bad upset tummy! Honestly I'm lactose intolerant and so are 2 of my children so I suppose only fitting the dog is too! she loves my daughters oat milk though and had few licks of dairy free yoghurt this morning so we'll see how that goes!

@MsAwesomeDragon my pup also is a stick fiend on walks but I'm always a bit worried about it as dog trainer said don't let them play with sticks as they can break off and get stuck in their throat etc so I always confiscate them but she tries to steal them back... I bought a fake stick toy but she won't even touch that she is not fooled....

@SpreadHummusNotHate interesting you are linking the barking to possible teenageness... how old is your pup? Mine is nearly 6 months now and is very barky at times, especially when we dare to have our dinner even if I give hers at same time. She has also become quite defiant with recall, she'll come back when/if she pleases even hot dog/chicken doesn't necessarily work if she's not in the mood! I'm constantly on look out for signs of the first season but so far no swelling or obvious signs, her mum was 9/10 months before first season so I'm hoping we have a bit longer before I have to deal with that and any possible phantom pregnancy and spaying!

She’s 10 months so definitely a teen! I don’t know if the barking is down to adolescence- I guess I’m hoping it is and that it’ll calm down. I don’t know if I can deal with this amount of barking for the next 10-15 years . It’s the food barking that is just so weird, barking at noises outside etc I feel like we can deal with that because I have a better understanding of why she does it….
I’m going to ask our dog trainer about it - so if we get any good advice on barking I’ll share it!

We have puppy home. She's weed in her bed twice and tried to eat the puppy mat...

Shes now fast asleep on the cushion we put on the floor for dd to sit on with puppy, I think that's her bed now.

She's only eaten about half the lunch the breeder said she should be having.

This all feels rather daunting.

Wolfpup has been driving me mental for the last two hours. Counter surfing, barking the lot. I think he's annoyed I'm working after having a week off with him and being at his beck and call, turns out he also needed a poo but wouldn't go in the garden despite repeated trips. Ffs!

She's only eaten about half the lunch the breeder said she should be having

Our pup took about a week before she'd eat anything approaching the quantity the breeder had said she was eating. I think the first day she ate about a quarter of her allowance.

@MargosKaftan

We have puppy home. She's weed in her bed twice and tried to eat the puppy mat...

Shes now fast asleep on the cushion we put on the floor for dd to sit on with puppy, I think that's her bed now.

She's only eaten about half the lunch the breeder said she should be having.

This all feels rather daunting.

Spudpup was a bit off his food for the first few days. It just took him a while to feel fully comfortable, I think. He was also a bit wary about accepting treats to begin with as well. He wolfs everything down now though.

@MargosKaftan it also took a few weeks for our puppy to eat the suggested amount of food. We were really worried about him but now he eats just fine.

I’m really at the end of my tether at the moment 😭 I thought it would get easier when I finished work for the summer but it’s got harder as Billy doesn’t settle as well when we’re moving around the house more. I reeeeally need to clean the house but I can’t do it while he’s up and when he’s napping it disturbs him. I know I have to lower my standards now we have a dog but there’s a fine line between that and living in a hovel. I can’t do any washing when he’s up as he steals bits of it but again, if I try to do it while he’s napping it disturbs him. I took him to the pet shop round the corner to get a pizzle stick to try to keep him occupied and he pulled like a train. Our trainer just says to turn around and walk the opposite was but he just refuses to turn and I can’t without pulling on him. I tried giving treats by my leg and he took the treat and pulled off each time. He’s jumping up at everything all the time and he’s even managed to put a massive scratch in the wall by jumping up. He’s also jumping onto and off things including a stack of 6 garden chairs which is really dangerous and bad for his hips. I don’t know what to do with him! 😩

It's been 4 years but it looks like I need to rejoin the puppy survival threads!

We pick up Elfpup this weekend. She'll be 8 weeks old and a friend ( I hope) for my 4 year old Welshie. I still remember the early puppy days....

Compulsory pictures to follow

@SpreadHummusNotHate you can teach a 'quiet' command though I can't remember how but if you Google, there is probably a video of it! I can't say ours is always successful but it does work on the odd occasion when happy is feeling compliant

@HappyThursdays oh mine knows the quiet command alright but only does it during training for it, not when she's barking at me!

@LadyCatStark that sounds like you're having a tough time. Keep on training him and he'll get it eventually (that's what people keep telling me anyway). He is still young, and needs to keep practising. Loose lead walking is supposed to be a work in progress for about 2 years apparently. Does he nap in a pen/crate? Or would he settle in a pen/crate while you do little bits of housework?

We've just been to the vets for his next worming tablet (and to get the Guinea pigs claws clipped). He's more than doubled his weight in the past 8 weeks. He was ~7kg when he had his first injections at 8.5 weeks and now at 17 weeks he's 14.5 kg. I knew he was growing fast but didn't realise quite how fast. I think I might need to increase his portion size for meals, as I've been underestimating his size

What breed is your puppy @Elphame? We will need to see photos asap. I do love little squishy puppies (which rather begs the question of why we went for a great galumphing brute of a boy)

It's really mind blowing just how fast they grow @MsAwesomeDragon

Tizwozpup was 5.6kg when she arrived with us, 8.1kg 3 weeks later. Weigh in day is tomorrow

Agree on the growing! PoirotPup is now 20kg at just under 6 months. We’d been underestimating for food too - but think as he’s a lab it’s probably not a terrible thing and although he is slim he definitely isn’t too skinny!

@LadyCatStark I think it’s an age thing - they seem to train fairly easily to start with but we certainly didn’t proof anything very much and he’s definitely regressed on some things. He’s good at listening when in the mood basically! I’m just generally do whatever I need to do when he’s due a nap and my boring chores now result in him taking himself off somewhere to sleep. The boring chores though are the other side of a stair gate in the kitchen or upstairs where he can’t come so don’t know if you can gate off somewhere and do boring chores behind it/out of sight?

Tizwozpup has had her first braided lamb chew today - I have greatly enjoyed the peace and quiet . Not so keen that she sampled several cow pats on our walk today

@MsAwesomeDragon yes he has his naps in his crate but it’s in the kitchen and as soon as he hears me so much as move he wakes up! I think that’s my problem really, he’s obviously really well bonded to me but DH is next to useless and one of these men with a Very Important Job so despite initially saying that he didn’t want me to end up doing everything and Billy being basically my dog, that’s exactly what he’s ended up doing. I just feel a bit overwhelmed as it’s literally like having a toddler again! DS (12) is actually a great help but he’s gone camping with my parents so it’s all down to me this week. He actually did really well with his walking this evening and his recall with the whistle that I bought last week so I’m pleased with him for that. Oh and I was amazed that when I was tidying up after tea, the bin was full and he spied a yummy looking slice of garlic pizza bread. I told him to leave it not really thinking that he would and he just sat there looking at it! So he has had some really good moments today and it’s not his fault that I’m not getting any help!

@MrsHerculePoirot unfortunately today’s chores weren’t boring they featured a microfibre duster on a telescoping pole and the mop which are apparently the most exciting things ever to a dog! 😂 I think another problem is that I don’t really let him out of my sight so that he can’t chew anything, which was what our trainer advised, but at some point we need to trust him to be in another room from us. Mind you, he managed to sneak the TV remote outside with me watching him somehow so maybe that time isn’t yet 🙈.

Well, Pele-pup's first trip out offered more experiences than we bargained for. The grandchildren wanted to picnic at the beach, so we put pup in an old buggy and walked down. After 15 minutes eldest DGS fell and broke his wrist dramatically. Pele-pup has now met the coastguard.
DGS is in hospital, with his dad, waiting for surgery, but looks OK now he has proper pain relief.
Pup took it all in his stride, and was helpful in distracting the other DGS.

Oh no @pelagra that sounds like a very dramatic day. Hope he’s ok!

Regarding food and weight, I found it a bit confusing that our puppy meal bases the suggested portion on expected adult weight. I've found this site www.thegoodypet.com/puppy-weight-chart which calculates expected adult weight and tells you if your pup is OK, under or overweight. it even knows about obscure breeds like ours.

@pelagra blimey hope you’ve had a stiff drink tonight! Hope your DGS recovers quickly.

@LadyCatStark we’ve been flitting from quite early on and so he will take himself off to sleep elsewhere. It used to be to sneak onto the sofa we weren’t going to let him on initially! He hasn’t really chewed furniture, we did watch him like a hawk as rental property initially - but we’ve got ostrich one, various dried animal parts, yaks and coffee wood (and half of bloody pets at home toys 🙄) so also he hasn’t had the chance to practice on illegal things! He does like occasionally to steal things like the remote control/sock/shoe and parade it around the room but knows he will get a treat for dropping it to us so luckily hasn’t chewed those either! Can you wait until he is sleepy in one room then go to another and be boring so he starts to be ok napping nearby but elsewhere maybe? I realise I am saying that like they don’t all have some massive FOMO every time someone goes into the kitchen 🤣🤣🤣🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️