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

@Spudlet Billy bit a hole in both mine and DS’s favourite tops last week 😡 and scratched DH’s sunglasses 😡😡😡

I think he’s been a pain these past few days as he’s bored. DS is away and DH has been working on a presentation for work from 7am-10pm 🙄 so it’s just been me and him and we’ve been on the same old walks. So tonight I took him to the beach which he loved and tomorrow I’m going to take him for a day out at a nature reserve.

@LadyCatStark ours is the same if bored and doing the same walks few days in a row. So I do try to vary it, today we went on a nature trail. She liked the ducks, but not the geese who honked at her. She was a bit more pully on the lead tonight as well, she's normally very good, but my oldest has walked her a few times lately and obviously let her get away with running/pulling so I had to keep reinforcing tonight!

We're going to attempt the beach tomorrow. It's a little bit further than I'd like to go in the car, but dd will sit in the back seat and randomly sprinkle treats down on his head as we go. He's not been to a beach before, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing his reaction.

Oh ratbag looks adorable!

Day 2 here. I was worried she wasn't eating enough, turns out I've been calculating it wrong and giving her too much. She's been eating fine...

Dc2, who has begged for a dog for the last 4 years, has introduced herself to everyone walking a dog on our estate and can tell you which dog lives in which house, their age and breed (but not a clue about who owns them), cried and said she didn't want puppy anymore. Its all too different and puppy isn't trained and its hard. Ffs. Anyway, calmed her down and said happy for just me and daddy to do training and she doesn't need to spend lots of time with puppy if she doesn't want to. Hoping she changes her mind and loves puppy soon.

@Aria20 aww that sound like a lovely walk. Billy nearly pulled me over on the sand but it wasn’t really his fault, the sand was wet and really slippy!

@MsAwesomeDragon we’re very lucky that the beach is only 10 mins away, we’ll there is a closer one but it’s more of a marsh.

Wish I was near the beach!

@MargosKaftan I was desperate for a dog when I was a kid. I begged, I pleaded, I got every dog book out of the library I could find, I took my toys out on leads made of bits of string… and then when the actual real puppy arrived, I remembered being stranded at the top of the garden crying, because the puppy was attached to my shoelaces and I was too scared of his needle teeth to get him off 🙈

Don’t worry, I got over it and he became my best mate! I used to take him out with my friends and their dogs and walk for miles 😊 But the puppy shock is definitely real for kids as well as adults.

@MargosKaftan my dd2 cried several times in the first couple of days because puppy was being bad. Things like peeing in the house (not sure how she thought he would arrive house-trained), or being a little bit bitey. Now she loves him, regularly allows him to push her over and climb on her, and settles down on the sofa to "just chill" with him. She's 11. How old is yours?

Dc2 is 8. She also didn't sleep well last night, which is adding to the tears.

Still, now dh is permanently WFH, he wants a doggy buddy so she's staying!

@MargosKaftan they will become besties! DS is 7 and he found it hard at the start - we just kept them apart initially unless PoirotPup was basically asleep then they sat in same room. It’s got so much easier and they love each other now. I told him that it was because dogs played with their siblings by biting and wrestling about (which he had seen them do!) and that it was because he loved him so much and thought he was his brother 🤣 so then he used to go round telling everyone PoirotPup wanted to bite him because he thought he was his brother and loved him so mich 🤣🤦‍♀️

@MsAwesomeDragon tell me about it. DH has been desperate for a dog for ages. I said we had to wait until dd was 3 but somehow i was overruled!!

Awww I've wanted one for years too. FawkesPup was a superstar and asked to go to the toilet in the night. I was too slow on first one and he weed on the floor but my fault.

He also slept on my head. I put our fold out bed next to his crate but after first wee he couldn't settle so he ended up on with me. I've been thoroughly dog showered with licks now.

He's been coming fab though, we've had wees and poos outside and he seems to have grasped sit for treats

Awesome night here, pup slept from 10pm until a 5am wee then back to sleep until 6.30am

I've been trying to teach cue words for toileting but might have left it too late. We've rewarded for toileting outside which she's done since day 1 but she was so good at taking herself out and/or going straight away when we took her out we never used any cue words to encourage her to go. Now she just looks unimpressed if I start repeating words to her when she's in the middle of her business!

Wolfpup is not enjoying his isolation so far. We've got biting, stealing things, wee-ing on the doormat and general grumpiness going on here. I suspect this week or so locked in will set us back

Hello everyone. B (12 weeks) is generally being lovely, although it's frustrating when she plays in the garden then comes inside seemingly just to wee on the carpet then goes back out to play again! Facepalm! Her biting of feet though, damn that really hurts.

H (16 months) seems really happy to have a friend around. They play so much and seem to really love each other. I've been trying to take him out for walks by himself in the middle of the day as when B comes on the walks, she doesn't leave him alone!

Joining in the new thread! Challenge pup will be 1 at the end of this month. Can't believe it. Reading about all the early stage pups reminds me of how it was! It does get much better. We still have some teenage rowdiness (mostly chewing, bit of garden digging, intermittent recall defiance and quite a lot of woofing at the neighbours!) but he's much better. There will be ongoing training for a while but it's much more how I thought having a dog would be and much more fun,

Good luck to all!

I need a little kick I think. This morning I tried Spudpup’s new harness on again and it was hopeless - luckily it was only cheap as I don’t think he’ll ever wear it, it’s just the wrong shape. So I got Spuddog’s old harness to try… and with a bit of adjustment, it fit.

Spudpup sleeps on Spuddog’s old bed, in his old crate and eats from his old bowls, and he even has some of his old toys and none of that bothers me. But that harness had me in tears Need a bit of a slap to pull myself together, I think.

Anyway, he now has a harness so I think this afternoon we might risk a longer car trip and go to the garden centre to see the things. It’s a bit of a toss up between the car and socialisation, but I think socialisation had to win tbh. And there’s nowhere equivalent within walking distance of us, so he’s going to have to man up!

@Spudlet having a puppy is emotional in itself. You don’t need a slap you need to have a little cry to let it out and then allow yourself to love that the harness gives even more of a connection with spudpup and spuddog.

@Spudlet sorry you are feeling that! I still well up over old family dogs, or if challenge pup does something that an old dog did you get that pang. Spud pup won't fill the hole, he will get you in a different way in time!

Glad he's making such progress with the car, sounds like a nice outing for him and you!

@Wolfcub have a look at the canine enrichment group on fb. They have loads of ideas for things to do inside for dogs on crate rest etc so might have some good ideas for things to help entertain wolfpup and save your sanity?

Spud perfectly ok to be upset. I'm still calling wolfpup by old dogs name and have a coaster with his picture on by my bed. I felt guilt replacing him with wolfpup as a screensaver on my phone yesterday

Quarantine day one is not going well. Wolfpup is bitey, badly behaved and refusing to listen. He's never picked up post before. It took me ten mins to rescue what was left of my pension statement letter this morning

Just need to let off steam. I went out today for coffee with an old friend leaving the dog with DH and DC. Came back and pup had not been given her lunch, no morning walk, she had weed on a bed (never ever done that before), chewed up wood leaving splinters all over the living room carpet and been attacked by the cat enough to draw blood. Also the house smells of dog farts. Turns out when it feels like I do everything it is actually true.

Wolfcub has discovered that if you flip the likimat over and bend it the frozen goodies fall out in lumps. Ffs

Can you get a tuff lickimat? They have a rigid base so he'd have to find another trick. They can also go in the dishwasher which is why I got a tuff one

@Wolfcub you have my sympathy, HummusPup had kennel cough a few weeks ago and keeping a teenage spaniel entertained indoors wasn’t much fun!

Filling a cardboard box with kibble, some toilet rolls, some of her toys, treat balls etc kept her entertained for about 45 mins earlier then she took a 2.5 hour nap. It makes a right mess but worth it!
Also playing hide and seek in the house and garden she loves and tires her out - if you have kids you could employ their help here!