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

We slept downstairs with PoirotPup for about 7 weeks after we got him then did a week where we went upstairs but came down early or first sign of rustling from him and he was fine by himself.

We also didn’t leave him alone (as in no one in the house at all - he was fine when we were upstairs and would take himself into different room to sleep) until he was nearly 6 months. But now we’ve tried it a few times (I sat and had a cuppa in the car and watched him on the video cams) and he wandered to check we weren’t there and then just went to sleep.

So for us not rushing and building up his confidence and security with us and our home I think worked well for us. To be fair though I’m totally paranoid as renting whilst renovating and everywhere is beige and not ours!!!!

That's really useful, thank you @MrsHerculePoirot

Slow and steady definitely wins the race.... but I really so want my own bed!!! DH isn't doing the puppy settling as it's very much my dog so 7 weeks sounds a killer!!!

He's such a lovely , lovely little pup though. Every visitor has remarked on how chilled and sweet nature he is. He's focused and learning lots, quickly - I'm thrilled to bits with him. I just want to sleep in my bed

He's doing great sitting now and the easy peasy puppy rewarding staying in sit is great. His butt plants on the floor all the time. I'm teaching him "watch" and "down" now. I think he's got "toilet" now too. That said we've had 2 wees on the floor today but both my fault for not being focused on him. He gave signals but I was busy.

How do you feel about letting pup into your bed with you? Lots of people do, and a spaniel is small enough to manage it, even as an adult (we borrowed a spaniel a few times for weekends and he ended up in our bed when he was with us, as he was unsettled). We won't be walking that road as a fully grown lab would take up too much space in the bed, lol. We did it for years with dd2, so won't be starting that with the dog. I've heard lots of people say that their dog slept with them for a couple of months then started taking himself off to sleep in his own bed. (I'm assuming your DH would object to pup in your bed really).

That’s what I wanted to do MrsAD but we couldn’t have pup upstairs otherwise we’d have done in bed/room until they get older enough to choose elsewhere!

Wish me luck we’re off camping tomorrow….. have far too much stuff 🤣🤣🤣 might need to leave a child at home or something!

Personally I don’t want my dog in my bed…that’s just personal choice! One thing that helped Banditpup settle in her crate was a doughnut bed. She took to it as soon as it arrived and is happy to sleep in there at night (usually naps on the sofa or the floor in the day).

At 8 weeks puppy in our bed would have seen it as open invitation to nibble ears/noses/hair etc.

tiswoz yes the first couple of nights DH was woken up by the puppy licking his face!

Licking would be ok, Ada would have been using teeth! We can now safely lie down beside her as long as she's not in a silly mood but that first week was all about keeping her away from our faces!

Good luck camping @MrsHerculePoirot . We're keen to introduce pup to camping - have you done anything to introduce to the tent? We might put a tent up in the garden this weekend. Unsure as to when we will be able to trust her in a tent. We had a tarp up in the garden for shade when it was really hot and she collapsed it twice by chewing through the guylines. We ended up replacing them with kevlar cord :-)

Spudpup slept until 7 today! I feel strangely rested (even though I was still awake at 5am after a weird dream 🙄).

I have to say we just went straight for it with the crate in the kitchen, and us in the bedroom. I was prepared to take to the sofa if it all went wrong, but he was ok as long as one of us sat on the floor by the crate until he went to sleep - like right pressed up against it. Then we gradually snuck out. It was like having a baby again

Mind you, Spudpup was 10 weeks old, so a little older when we got him home. So that no doubt made a difference.

Well wolfpup has just been sick on the carpet. I don't do vomit, that and sniffing are two things that really turn my stomach. Urgh. I need to do decorating today, it's going to be a nightmare.

Oh no, poor Wolfcub.

FawkesPup has done 4 poos already and it's 7:30am 💩💩💩 my back is wrecking so I'm just watching the diving then will go on ploppy pick and sluice down the patio

AwesomePup woke DH up at 6:15 this morning (my alarm was set for 6:30). So I don't need to worry about him waking us up, DH wakes up even if I don't. So today I get a lie in, because DH is on puppy duty 😁

@Wolfcub yuk. Poor puppy. How is he now?

Good luck with the camping @MrsHerculePoirot. Let us know how the pup takes to it. I quite fancy camping, the rest of the family do not.

@GuyFawkesDay - I think if I was dealing with 4 poos before 7.30am I'd look at changing food sooner rather than later.

@MrsHerculePoirot good luck with your camping. I am not a camping kinda person but we hired a huge bell tent/glamping style for my sons birthday and he had a sleepover with friends in the garden. Pup was scared of the tent! She wouldn't go near it or the ropes holding it up it was quite entertaining watching her run sideways away from the tent giving it evil eyes for taking up her garden

@Spudlet same as our pup 10 weeks old def makes it so much easier with toilet training and sleep.... if I ever have another puppy I think I'd hope for 10 weeks again!

@tizwozliz I think I'm going to. It's still very soft poo and stinky farts so I think the Canin isn't suiting him. Going to get some Eden from the behaviourist trainer guy as it's grain free and scores highly on AADF. He reckons it's the best dry he's seen and they do a semi moist version for adult dogs too.

No introductions re tent! Where we’re renting has the worlds smallest garden so nowhere to put it up. PoirotPup generally not fearful of stuff and lots of gentle encouragement and treats raining down on the odd occasion have been fine. I think because we will all be there he will be fine I hope!

It’s basically due to pour with rain for 24-48 hours so that will be fun 🙄

I think Eden is what we'll move to. Ada came home on James Wellbeloved Turkey and Rice and she seems fine on it (4 firm poos a day, one per meal) so we'll work through what we've got but think something like Eden is better quality. Although I've read that some dogs don't do well on the high protein content. We bought 15kg of puppy food so I've got plenty of time to weigh up the options

Day 2 today 8 weeks old, sleeping and gaining in confidence. Does go outside to the toilet but only gets to the door and has a fail. Up at 5am every morning so far.

We have a cat mate water fountain hoe much should they be drinking?

We didn’t sleep downstairs with Billy. He was up quite a bit on night one but then slept from 11-5 from night 2 and his waking up time has got gradually later since then.

I bought Billy a Yakkers chew yesterday and it’s his favourite thing ever! He takes it everywhere including bed and to the toilet. Even if he’s not chewing it, when he gets up to move, he picks up the chew to take with him 😂

@LadyCatStark FawkesPup likes his yak stick chew as well. Apparently when they get stubby you put them in the microwave and they puff up into a cheesy treat

The yak chews I looked at said only suitable for puppies over 4 months. Are there brands that are different?

I'm sleeping on the sofa with 9 week old pup in the crate next to me. He woke 3 times last night, three wees and a poo...and I'm glad to encourage house training and pop him outside. However I'm also looking forward to my own bed and sleeping all night.
He is a chewer so if I left him outside the crate, he will chew when bored. If I shut him in the crate he would cry when he wakes and I'd have to come from the bedroom to let him out. So I might as well be close for now.

He sleeps in the crate and yesterday I shut the gate but sat close to open it when he woke. I plan to keep doing this in the daytime until he's happy and then I'll feel I can use it overnight to contain him (if I sleep in my bed) and know he's not running riot.

He has the hiccups a lot. Is this normal?

I lay listening to him last night envisaging kennel cough or lungworm and feeling dreadfully guilty because I'd let him go on the grass for a wee when having a socialising carry last night ...plus he ate a snail and licked a slug on Wednesday

I'm now performing a slug patrol several times a day. My garden will thank me

Yes, hiccups a lot is normal. At 12 weeks we're not getting hiccups quite so often anymore, at 8 weeks we had a couple minutes of hiccups multiple times a day.

Do you know what worming treatment your pup has had @MakeMeCleanTheHouse ? Ours covers lungworm so I can relax a little bit about it. She's a lab, I'm not going to be able to stop her picking things up at this stage in her life and I think you can get lungworm just from soil/snail slime anyway. I've caught her eating one snail and exchanged for a treat bit she might have had more.