Puppy Survival Thread August part 2

[Aria20]

New puppy thread as August has been a busy month! Not sure how to link the other thread?! @MrsHerculePoirot @SweetLathyrus @Spudlet @MsAwesomeDragon @GuyFawkesDay @opalescent @ashmts

@GuyFawkesDay I'm so jealous that your pup had his second vaccine. I'm not sure I'm going to survive another 3 weeks! I hope he is okay.

How much time is everyone spending training their pup? I do a few minutes a few times a day but suspect it's not enough. I don't tend to do it for very long because of how many treats we are going through! Also after sit and down, what comes next?! Any tips welcomed

@MightyMeerkat I'm trying to do lead walking 2 or 3 times a day but have failed this yesterday and today. I do sit, stay and another game several times a day but only for a few minutes and usually in response to bitey mania as this calms him.

I've put him in a spare wheelchair today (like you do) and we walked much further. He got a bit hot and bothered so not too far but he saw trains, bicycles, helicopters, lots of people, rivers and cows. I'm exhausted as I've squeezed a lot of domestics in and had really broken sleep last night

I'm proud owner of a pet camera

Bigpaws is shredding wooden trunks in the garden. DH has piles of chopped logs and no puppy warnings on them (obvs) so I never thought about it

I met four lab pup owners today who all told me theirs did not chew and they slept all night from the off....I felt an utter failure and asked them to take their unrealistic claims elsewhere

@MakeMeCleanTheHouse Thanks for the response. We tried the lead tonight, it was like having a shark on a line. She just went crazy and started biting! I think it's going to take a lot of practice 😂

Had an energetic pup here today. He’s figured out how high he can jump so I came home to him jumping up to my waist. He’s 10 weeks! Managed to do a bit more training with him and thankfully he prefers to bite DH so I got off lightly. Hoping he’s a bit calmer when the kids come home after a few nights away. He’s also gone down to 2 poo’s a day which is a bonus for us 😂

We keep trying him on the lead in the garden but he just chews it and is very over excited. I’ve tried giving him a rope to carry but he’s having none of it. Any advice? I really want to go out with him ASAP after 2nd jabs

@MightyMeerkat for training I’m trying to do 5-10 minutes every wake period but given I’m often only here for 2 of those it doesn’t add up to much. We do sit, stay, leave it, come and a bit of something else like trying to get him to stay in his crate, opening a door without excitement or playing with his nail grinder.

@MakeMeCleanTheHouse those lab owners clearly have that amnesia parents get forgetting how hard work their toddlers were.

For the chewing, the only thing pup likes is his olive wood one. He’s had it from 8 weeks. I might get some yak chews this weekend. He likes his Kong too but the olive wood is his favourite.
Also bitter apple really works on stopping him chew the furniture. And DH’s legs., he uses it as a pup repellent

Elmpup was beautifully behaved this morning, but has made up for it the rest of the day by being a bitey little jerk. She went to the groomers for her first groom and now looks like Dolly Parton when she was in her mullet phase. Hopefully her waves will be back soon.

We haven't managed much training today, but we desperately need to work on her recall. She ran out into the street this afternoon after slipping through a door and was lucky not to be hit

I need to work on my Kong stuffing technique, seem to either make it too easy or too hard. Ada's just been sat crying at her Kong as I'd packed it too tight.

I'm rubbish at the Kong stuffing too..only training we are working on is recall. Not going very well!
He's pretty good at toilet, going in crate abd on lead.

My puppy has started to bark a lot. Bark when in crate, bark at me when wants attention. All seems very attention seeking. Really not sure how to stop her. She has all the toys she could want and a licki-mat, kong etc. She has a pen around the crate which is large and contains beds and food, water and treats. My husband is worried she's going to be untrainable now.
She's only 13 weeks and very bright. Enjoys training and is often very independent - doesn't need cuddles all the time etc.
She seems worse with me and more attached to me which makes it so hard. I'm almost scared to play with her etc because I dint want her to become even more attached and barky. Help please! :(

Training wise I did sit and watch me first. Then use watch me whilst walking round house off lead. Helps then as on lead use watch me for eye contact which helps loose lead walking. Then I taught paw...which may have been a mistake, even though it's cute as he defaults to this to beg.

I'm working on
Stay (I use wait) not doing too well right now!
Lie down. Slow progress!

Recall is very patchy but improves with chicken based bribery. Hopefully can work on it more once I can get him outside.

1 week wait to use pavement and park, got the lepto jab in a week, then 2 weeks more wait for rural walks. I'm very happy just to potter on pavements and get his confidence up.

On the down side, he's done almost every wee on the kitchen floor today. Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhh.

@GuyFawkesDay how do you teach watch me? I’ve been trying but he watches the treat 😂

House training is pretty good. He sits and lies down on cue. If I hold a treat away from me he looks at it and then knows to look at me before clicker and treat. Lead walking...needs lots of work. Recall pretty good in the limited environment of house and garden

Just sleeping and being left alone without destroying anything ...and chewing when he thinks no one is watching..to sort then do all this outside in the exciting distracting world.

I've also played firework noises, hoovered and drilled around him.

Doorbell...tricky as adult dog is loud barky and hysterical on first tone. I'm sure this will be infectious

We do watch me by holding a treat in both hands with arms outstretched to the sides. As soon as pup makes eye contact with you give a treat and repeat. You may have to wait quite a while at first.

@MakeMeCleanTheHouse, don't feel like a failure, puppy ownership is a lot like having a baby, you read all the books - but your puppy/baby doesn't! Then there's the competitive parenting (my DD didn't walk until 15 months, cue much crowing from my neighbour about her grandson's abilities), but did start speaking at 8 months, which I didn't mention - because DD let everyone know , but after all that, she didn't bum shuffle, or toddle, just got up and walked!). They all reach these milestones in their own good time.

@MightyMeerkat we were probably doing less than you, but have the advantage of a big dog modelling (mostly) good behaviour. But up to now (13 weeks) a lot of the training we have been doing is just built in to the routine of his day - like not putting the food bowl down until his bottom is on the floor and letting him work out that is what we want.

Yesterday was Sweet pup's first day out and it was a big one - first training class. DH and I both went, but from next week it's just DH, I've already done the training with Sweet Dog, and SP only wanted to be with me, so DH couldn't join in. About half way through, he (SP) decided it was all too much and went to sleep! Mostly a success though, and we did some extension training on the way home - practicing a settle in a pub garden .

Other wins, car travel is getting quieter, and he slept through again until 05:46. But we are back to collecting stones again!

@calmplease - they go through lots of phases, and you need to explain to DH that training is life long, it doesn't EVER get 'done' - we still go back to basics with Sweet Dog at six and a half sometimes - he needs reminding that the whistle is 'come back', not 'Show my face out of reach, stick up my middle paw and disappear again'!

@Elmrosie - LOVE a bit of Dolly Parton! For the first couple of hours home from the groomer yesterday, Sweet Dog had a bit of a 1980s frizzy Bon Jovi thing going on, but the curls soon come back.

@GuyFawkesDay - that is why I'm hesitating over 'paw' - I know it's useful for the vet, but I have only just stopped SD using it for attention with every student who comes into my office.

how do you teach watch me? I’ve been trying but he watches the treat @Jigsawtrain, do you use a clicker? You could try clicker in one hand, treat in the other, but behind your back to begin. With Pup in front of you if they flick their eyes in your direction, click and treat. Once they have that, hold the hand with the treat out to the side, they WILL stare at it - hold your nerve, the moment the eyes flick away and to you, even for an instant, click and treat, then gradually build up the time before the click. They have a tiny attention span, but it will soon improve. Try the Kiko Pup videos on You Tube for inspiration.

Feeding early has possibly helped my sleep. Up at 0.45am but he just wanted a very quick hello and then garden at 4.45am. Up since 6.15 as a rampaging pup however.

I use to do watch me with two hands but am clicker training and haven't got enough hands!

Pondering a dose of flea treatment 3 weeks after the first as he is scratching alot

@Jigsawtrain I did it by putting a treat between my eyes and saying watch me. Eye contact = treat. Tip: Use different hands so they can't predict where it comes from.

Then stop using the treat as a cue and just say watch me and reward the eye contact.

FawkesPup had it very quickly. Now I can say it whilst he's on the lead or walking next to me. Sometimes he plants his bum to do it, but that's ok.

I'm now trying to get him to hold the eye contact before I give the treat/toy. Get him to keep looking to me.

@SweetLathyrus no we don’t use a clicker but I’m thinking about getting one. DH isn’t keen for some reason. It’s hard always having a treat on hand but a clicker I could have

I’ll give the watch me training a try tonight, I’m hating being the one that works out the house and missing out on the all the fun 😂

I forgot I have a clicker! We have a quiet few days coming up so might start some training. Clicker might be good for recall too.

He does sit and wait for his food and we praise him. I'm probably doing bits of training without realising.

Yep, rock number two yesterday… this one came out a lot easier (the vet said it would almost certainly have passed through but was worried about his recent surgery causing an issue). So it was a dash to the referral hospital last night, followed by an endoscopy, which couldn’t catch the rock, so they made him puke it up. And I picked him up at midnight.

Fucksake puppy. I will be checking the garden over for dangerously sized pebbles later today before he’s allowed out again!