Puppy Survival Thread - August

[MrsHerculePoirot]

Discussion of things puppy!

Old thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4281840-Puppy-Survival-Thread-June-July?pg=1

Hmm I will remove the water then. Good tip. I thought they needed 24hr access but he can get a drink when we do night wees I supposed if he's thirsty.

That recipe sounds fab @tizwozliz thank you!!

This evening has been horrendous. Up until 7pm pup was so calm and well behaved. As soon as 6pm hit it's like he turned into a different dog. He won't stop biting or jumping on us. He's so amped up that nothing we say/do/try makes any difference. He's nearly 15kg already but still with razor sharp teeth. I don't know how to make any of this better and I'm having serious puppy regrets. My husband is covered in bites and I'm at my wit's end.

We leave water in the crate, he has knocked it over a couple of times but I was told not to restrict access to water. Also (don’t shoot me), dpup has been sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night. Drinking water is also a self-soothing thing for dogs too.

@Returnoftheowl this is zoomies. I find distraction with training exercises is the only answer. Literally I am super persistent with 'sit' 'down' and other exercises for treats. It seems to focus and calm him.

My other dogs have never accessed their water at night despite it being available. I don't feel that it is as essential as some others do.

Pup has had his bitey, naughty session, jumping on stuff, stealing food, pulling stuff off counters, peeing on the kitchen floor....whilst stood in it I retrieved the latest item he'd removed from the fridge door and just burst out laughing.

Mine just had a big drink before bed.

Earlier he was asleep in the crate with door open and he looked so settled. Was nice to see!

Unfortunately @MakeMeCleanTheHouse training doesn't distract him, nor do treats. He's too amped up to listen to any training. During the day he's really good with training, but at night he loses it. Nothing seems to focus him.

Sorry I'm not name checking - the sleep deprivation is getting to me. Sweet pup is generally brilliant, he's really got the hang of settle, as soon as anyone goes in the kitchen he's in his bed just watching the action. We also have a large crate in the kitchen where he eats and we can shut him in if we need to open doors or separte him from Sweet dog, unfortunately, the cat has taken control of it .
We have a smaller crate in the bedroom for night, and he had been going from 10.30pm - 5:20am which just about worked for me. But for the last four nights we've had a 2:30 wake up for wees and poos. He does them really quickly, then settles, but still insists on getting up a 5:20. He's 12 weeks, I know it will get better, but right now I'm on my knees.

@SweetLathyrus we had those early starts for several weeks. Do you cover the crate so pup can't see any distractions or be woken by sunrise? Have you tried white noise to block out bird song, cars going past etc? Where is the other dog as maybe he'd sleep better if he was with the other dog?

He's still so little, I don't think mine started sleeping longer until 4 months.

@SweetLathyrus We had exactly the same timings/wake-ups until around 14 weeks. We eventually realised that he didn't actually need to go out at 2:30, he just wanted to be out of his crate. We let him out of the crate and he'd come onto our bed and settle for a few more hours, but I know that isn't for everyone - by that point my sleep was more important than paw prints on duvet covers!

We have woken this morning to a poopy, pukey puppy. DH thinks he’s nibbled something in the garden yesterday while he and his dad were gardening Spudpup seems ok in himself, but there’s a queue for the washing machine now 😖 Poor puppy!

Going to leave his breakfast for now and see how he is later on - it’s also given us the impetus to sort his long term insurance out, as the short term breeder’s policy expires tomorrow!

What a lovely start to the day 🙄

Poor spudpup . I hope he feels better soon.

AwesomePup did really well with loose lead walking this morning. His breakfast was eaten on the move, and proves an excellent incentive to walk nicely beside me.

Pup has again picked around the kibble only eating her wet food. Grrr. I bought several small packs of millies wolf heart in different flavours before committing to a 4kg bag in the flavour she loved the most and now she's not bloody eating it. Tried scattering it around the garden...couldn't care less, tried putting it in cardboard boxes,tubes and plastic bottles, she has great fun with the recycling but still not eating it.

Do you think it could be teeth related so she doesn't want hard food?

Also had a puke here this morning. Woke at 5 for a big wee then settled back down. Asleep again now and not had any breakfast.

Teething and not wanting the hard food makes sense.

Hmmm, Spudpup has now been sick 5 times - just bringing up bile. He’s not eaten anything, but I have managed to get him to crunch some ice cubes up so at least he’s had some water.

I think I’ll be ringing the vets for some advice come opening time. Hey ho.

@Spudlet poor spud do you have any toxic plants in garden he could have eaten?

He may have nibbled a potato leaf but that’s about it, and they have to be ingested in quantity apparently - he hasn’t done that. Trying not to feel cross with DH as it could have happened just as easily with me here! Also feeling worried as his proper insurance starts tomorrow and I’m worried that if we have to go to the vets today they may count it as a pre-existing condition and not cover him 😖

Oh no poor spud puppy. Stressful about insurance. Keep us posted. Xx
I've just handfed pup and am considering putting a towel down outside as he doesn't like the wet grass in the night and the mornings. Pampered much!

I've just spent 40 minutes doing directional change loose lead with my adolescent dog, feeling dizzy but I think she got the hang of it by the end

@Spudlet Sorry to hear pup is not well. I hope it's nothing too bad.

My pup scared me yesterday. First she tried to eat a bumble bee and was so close to being stung. Then she licked a slug and I had to grab her before she chomped down. Then she found the tiniest gap in the fence and was off - thankfully she returned otherwise I'd have been trying to work out how to get over a 6 foot fence. Not easy when I'm only 5 foot tall. I'll be glad when she's a bit bigger and can't get through the tiny gaps.

Ada is always trying to eat or otherwise play with bees and wasps. She's been stung once, thankfully not in the mouth, but hasn't learnt her lesson. Not sure if the bees/wasps are particularly dopey at the moment, but she seems to be able to catch them much more easily than I'd like.

Hope Spudpup is feeling better soon @Spudlet How is he in himself otherwise?

He’s definitely feeling a bit sorry for himself, but not overly so IYSWIM. Could be the lack of breakfast causing his woefulness tbh. He’s crunched some ice cubes up so he’s had a bit of hydration from those and he’s had a poo which was mostly carrot - apparently he had 1.5 carrots yesterday which is a LOT IMO and maybe the source of the problem (pause to facepalm, I was away for TWO DAYS!). So we’ll keep an eye on him, keep on with the ice, offer some plain rice for lunch and take it from there.

Spuddog was a regular puker in his younger days so I’m not too worried, it’s just that Spudpup is so young - if he was a bit older I wouldn’t be too concerned at all.

@SweetLathyrus our pup seems to want to get up at 5.30ish. The last 3 mornings we have stayed strong and kept her in the crate through some low level whining (having already taken her out for a wee). She has eventually settled back off though, until about 7.30.

She's in our room, and can see us for comfort. Just thought it might be worth suggesting.

Oh I hope Spudpup recovers quickly @Spudlet. It's worrying when they're not right.

Had a minor whimpering breakthrough. Took FawkesPup to bed at 10, after wee. I took a cuppa with me....he went in crate well, had his couple of bits of kibble etc. Then started whimpering. I put netflix on my tablet and just ignored it as it was just low level. 2 minutes later, sound asleep. Did the same at 1:30am. 4:30am he needed a poo and struggled to settle. I sat in silence hand on him through the door and at 5am....sleep! Hurrah!!!!

Up at 6:30 which is very acceptable but he seems to have "got" fetch overnight?! We've had mini tennis balls he's just ignored but today he's on it fetching and bringing back. Bizarre!!

Hugs to all the fellow sleep deprived dog parents xxx