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

Ada doesn't wear a collar in the house. They're not meant to have them on when in a crate from what I've read and we use a harness most of the time for out and about

@Spudlet, such a relief, how do you stop puppies trying to kill themselves?
Looking VERY smart there, @GuyFawkesDay!
Sweet Pup gets his collar put on in the morning after breakfast, and taken off after 'tea' at 4:30! It's red to contrast with the glossy black!

AwesomePup wears his collar all the time. His is black because DH likes him to look "manly", lol. He was most put out that the first harness I got him was red and high vis, so blue and black seem the safest option to stop DH moaning.

@Spudlet so glad to hear pup is ok. I hope he’s home soon!

What have people done to train pups out of jumping up? He’s not very jumpy other than when we’re sat down and he wants to play/get attention. I feel like teaching him ‘off’ isn’t going to stop him jumping up, and will just teach him to get down once up…

Also, any tips for teaching nice on lead walking? We’re practising in the garden.

@Spudlet Glad pup is okay. My pup is eating everything she can too. Such a worry.

We are saying down and wait but I have told the kids we need to consistently say the same word. It's not easy is it!

@MsAwesomeDragon pup is also black and has a bright orange high vis perfect fit harness and a bright orange long line. Her normal lead is black and her current collar is purple but when we get a bigger one I may get orange to match the perfect fit harness!

Crikey @Spudlet. How scary. Bigpaws is eating stones as of today...possibly because we have removed all the snails and slugs.

You are all doing far more training than me. First day back at work and just glad to be able to do some! Older dog decided pup is OK....and played with him. Got a bit rough at one point so I retrieved a worried pup. Big paws paddled up to his tum tonight.

I've not had any time off work! Wish I had! realised cheesepup got himself into an evening routine. Tonight was waiting for someone to sit on his favourite sofa (he didn't mind who!) So he could snuggle up! So sweet!

@Spudlet so pleased to hear spudpup is ok!

@cheeseisthebest with collar we take it off at night - initially because he was in a crate and you’re not supposed to leave them unsupervised in crate with them on. We don’t use the crate any more but it’s now a habit to take it off at bedtime and put it back on in the morning like getting dressed I guess 🤣 I did leave it on when camping so I’d hear him move in the night in the tent or just in case he tried and managed to escape (which he didn’t!).

If I left it on it would make a noise all the time cos of the tag, think that would drive me mad!
Just took him out for final wee with my new headtorch, genius idea I thought! But meant I could see the hundreds of slugs! Yuk!

Ah we have slide on tags (spaniel recommendation) so jingle free!!!

@TheBigMacDougal pretty much the same as every thing else - attach a word to the desired action if it's something I want him to do, ignore/remove if it's something I don't. Jumping up falls a bit into both camps!
Greeting - no attention unless there are four paws on the floor.

Jumping up on the sofa, I taught Sweet Dog 'up' for when he is allowed, and 'floor' for when he isn't - that distinguishes it from 'down' as a specific lying down position. "Floor" for Sweet Dog means he has to get down one level, eg from the back of the sofa (he's a par cours expert) to the seat, or from the seat to the actual floor). I didn't teach it properly until he was older because of the impact on joints, but everytime I placed him where I wanted him as a small pup I used the words. Hope that helps!

@GuyFawkesDay, "Spaniel recommendation" I know the pain!. Other breed specific recommendations? For us a 'spaniel bowl' for drinking to keep the ears dry.

On the sleeping front, I went to bed at 8:30pm with Sweet Dog - who is also dealing with SP's schedule!, them DH put Pup to bed around 10/10:30, and we made it through to 4:40 am, then back until 5:40.

I was amazed because he appeared to sleep practically all day yesterday.

Jingle free tag sounds great idea!

I don’t know about jingle free tags - the jingling tag has alerted us a couple of times to various japes including the other week PoirotPup getting up on the counter and eating his kibble 🤦‍♀️

Good night last night with opalpup- she dozed from 8.30pm downstairs. Put her in her crate at 11pm. I took her out for a wee and 💩 at 4am, and she went back to sleep in her crate till 7am! Chuffed with that.

She is SO bitey first thing in the morning. I try and use lots of toy distraction but it's a tough time of the day.

Those of you with older/previous dogs- how long does the bitey bit last for?

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Flexitags

Tags here. Less easy to catch on things and lose in the undergrowth.

I'm using a travel bowl for water (again, spaniel relative recommended) a road refresher. He's got a small one so can't actually get more than his snoot in. Ears stay dry. The fact he still drips water everywhere off his chin we will gloss over 🤣

Donut bed success, he settled without whimpering after both loo trips so I slept til 6!! Yippee!!! He seemed to feel much more secure I think snuggled down in it. Added my worn t-shirt again too so it smelled of me. Feels like a bit of a breakthrough.

@GuyFawkesDay that's great news! Have you got the bed inside a crate? How old is your pup again? We have one of the calming beds too.

Yes it's in his crate (bit squashed up but doesn't seem to matter.

Am enforcing naps in the crate as well now.

He's 10 weeks

@MrsHerculePoirot

I don’t know about jingle free tags - the jingling tag has alerted us a couple of times to various japes including the other week PoirotPup getting up on the counter and eating his kibble 🤦‍♀️

Oh yes good point!

Love that donut bed.

Those slide-on tags are good, much less jingly and annoying.

My spaniel recommendation is more for the teenage era… a bear bell They are like extra large cat bells, on Velcro straps. Spuddog went through a phase of vanishing off into the thickest undergrowth possible on his hunts - he was never far away but I couldn’t see him. Could hear him with his bell though, and as it was on Velcro, no worries about it getting hooked up.

My other strong recommendation is gundog training. You may never want to shoot over your dog, and that’s fine (can’t guarantee you won’t ever want to shoot at it… ). But the working types especially have generations of instinct to get into the undergrowth and find something to hunt, so gundog training helps you to channel that. I used to have an old woolly gloves rolled into a ball so so it smelled like me and throw it into ditches and bushes for Spuddog to hunt out. And I had a small stuffed toy that lives in my boot so again it smelt like me, for the same reason. Find a positive, modern gundog trainer and see what they can do - watching a spaniel work is great fun, whether they’re looking for pheasants or for your old sock 👍

And I say the working types… Spuddog was a show type but he had a working drive too, he just wasn’t as rocket fuelled as the true workers. But he could do it all, and did! I just had to make sure to keep his fur trimmed so he didn’t get stuck.

I've already got gundog training lined up, really lucky there's a good behaviourist/trainer nearby who does them. I'm really looking forward to them once he's old enough. It's a joy seeing them work.

My family has working spaniels, & they have satellite trackers on their collars as they tootle off the tractor/farm vehicle and into the undergrowth and sometimes can't be seen. Easy to find on the smartphone though!!! After their stud dog escaped chasing an on heat bitch and got killed, all the dogs have them especially as they really are in the sticks and the dogs can just disappear into acres of crop fields. I thought a tracker is a bit much for me but the bell sounds a great compromise locator. For when we are out and about - FawkesPup has already shown a great propensity for the undergrowth by splattering my garden beds so I have no doubt he'll be off!!!