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 That would be great!

@MightyMeerkat @GuyFawkesDay I'd love to join! I'm about 45 mins from you both

We’ve definitely not managed to have an unstressful outing today 🙈. Billy hasn’t napped all day and we went to a BBQ to watch football (well DH was watching football). I’d hoped the fact that he hadn’t napped might mean he’d be tired and sleep while we were there but no, he just can’t settle when he isn’t in his crate. He was just up and down and up and down and I had to follow him the whole time. I tried putting him on his lead and he just tried to back out of his collar and chewed his lead. He’s terrible for jumping up at the moment and the difficulty is that he’s a puppy in a huge dog’s body! No one wants him jumping up at them and our friends have a 2 year old. Eventually we popped him in a crate that our friends have for their dogs and he only just fit but he was so relieved to go in and have a little nap and it bought me an hour of freedom. But then he came out even bouncier so we had to take him home. The only thing that helped was a frozen Kong but I made the mistake of giving it to him as soon as we got there.

Puppy meet up, yay!!!!

FawkesPup is a total cockerdile. Been a bitey monster in between being utterly lovely. Teeth are clearly giving him real trouble

@LadyCatStark that sounded like a fun night

We went out to the local cove where we bumped into another lab pup 14 weeks. I let Makepup play as beach is cleaned twice daily and their pup is vaccinated x 3 (3???? ) Their pup sleeps through and wanders happily into the sea (are these sleeping, non chewing labs bred somewhere different???) . Mine sat on the shore line looking sad whilst I paraded my finest cellulite in a cozzie pleading with him to join me. 🙄

DH sleeping with him tonight. I am in bed again!!

Makepup is soft gorgeous goofy and soppy ....when he's not manic, bitey, destructive and nuts

My puppy has had 3 lots of vaccinations.

@opalescent we used a biothane (sp?) longline from the start as we drove to big open grassy spaces and let PoirotPup wander and sniff as he wanted. It allowed us to then only use the short lead for pavement walking and minimised pulling. There was a guide on the DTAS about how to use the long line and it’s honestly been the best thing we’ve bought. I know he can’t run off and is safe, but he thinks he is free!

@MakeMeCleanTheHouse when does makepup tend to chew? And on what? We tried to initially prevent the opportunity for any chewing and if he ever tried it we used our interrupter and distracted with something else… he wasn’t ever left alone until he was past five months and I think always distracting away has helped him not be able to practise the habit.

In terms of going out - I would say we have calm. But we’ve done some boundary/mat training and essentially just rain down the treats on him when he is in a down on the mat. Sometimes now he will put his head down for a bit but rarely sleeps. I just use his kibble or a long lasting chew or bone depending on where we are! Initially the kibble needed to be almost constant stream… now I can mix it up with some longer gaps and every so often one of us tends to take him for a quick wander somewhere…. I think the mat training really helped and he generalised that quickly - we were at my parents today and he took himself to the back doormat to sleep at one point. It’s also helpful at home for meals etc… might be worth trying to train?

I need to do some settle training. FawkesPup is great at self settling at people's feet or somewhere he likes (noodle mats are a favourite) but not on command. Useful skill, should I ever want to visit a beer garden again!

@MrsHerculePoirot he chews when sat next to me, sat on his own...seems to be a bit of a relaxed idle chew rather than frantic. But constant. So I constantly listen for the gnawing of walls, furniture, sofa.... I'm anxious of not leaving him and setting up a situation for separation anxiety so don't want to be in same room all the time but don't trust him

@MakeMeCleanTheHouse maybe have some of those wooden safe chews (coffee wood, olive wood ones?) and basically shove in front of his mouth if he starts chewing? I think tbh we’ve also been very lucky so far so might not work for a more chewy pup.

With the separation thing - think there are some people that leave early on and others that wait longer. I suspect both work for different pups/people/houses. We did the second and didn’t leave him for ages, but now we can leave him and he just takes himself off to sleep, so for us building that secureness did work. I did flit a lot in the house, and he was happy to stay in a room alone or would take himself off to different room to sleep if I was being very boring so left him then. We are renting whilst renovating though and I’m super paranoid about him damaging the house so I didn’t want to leave him alone and give opportunity to damage or anything in a house that wasn’t ours!!! Don’t know if I’d have made different choices in our own house but with hindsight I’d do it the same again I think as it suited him.

I'll try and find somewhere local to buy those. We have just changed to three not four meals a day and am giving at same time as adult dog to try and produce some focus on eating (am going to get him genetically tested for labrador genes 😁)

So far he's eaten much better and been more calm. (Based on previous confident 'we've cracked this' statements of mine I will be offering 7 meals tomorrow and he will be manic...)

Pup is being a really crocodile here too. I've swapped my usual perfume for bitter apple which I apply liberally! And I've also resorted to "no". I know some books say not to tell a puppy off for biting but it's near constant and painful. I just wouldn't be able to cope otherwise.

We have to have 3 vaccinations too. The vet said it was because of increased risk of infection because lots of pups not jabbed during pandemic so third one offers enhanced protection.

Cockerdile mode in full swing here. Pen used as time out and lots of ignoring going on but he's chewing like a mad thing so must be teeth.

I am ordering a wood chew and about to so a whopper JR products order for loads of theirs to occupy his mouth

Yaks milk chews are really good.
My sleeping through the night puppy no longer sleeps through the night and still follows me around and waits for me at the door if I go upstairs. (Quietly though now so thats slight improvement) I'm very tired!

He's been very nippy but so far not today. Won't last I'm sure. He gets very excited when my son comes down and jumps up and nips but managed to keep him calm this time cos he was wrapped in a towel. Think he's shattered!

I also say no with nipping and biting, it's impossible not too!

Felt like the worst puppy mum yesterday, let Ada nap on our bed from 6 yesterday in the hope we could stretch a lie in until gone 7. She slept happily, until about 7.15 then vomited clear liquid (hunger puke?), fed her breakfast which she also vomited. Online vet advised could just be that the first puke irritated something, so half rations more frequently and monitor. No more pukes but a bit down, wasn't interested in lunch. Took her out for some fresh air late afternoon and it was like a switch flipped, totally normal 15 week old lab, kangaroo on the lead or pulling like a freight train, wanting to meet everyone. We did manage some nice off lead wandering where there were dogs in sight but at distance and she didn't disgrace herself :-)

So all fine again now but no way was the extra hour lie in worth the 8 hours of worrying!

But thinking it might be time to swap to 3 meals a day so the evening meal is slightly bigger? She normally eats at 8 with a biscuit or few bits of kibble right before bed.

We have to have 3 vaccinations too. The vet said it was because of increased risk of infection because lots of pups not jabbed during pandemic so third one offers enhanced protection

All vets appear to do something different, and advise different waiting times after vaccinations before being allowed out. I've heard of people being told to wait 4 weeks before going out after a 12 week vaccination!

@GuyFawkesDay My pup isn't a fan of yak chews but is loving the lamb's ears. I got them from dragonfly not JR though

Ada is a fan of anything new. You think you've cracked it and found something she'll chew on for a while but by the 3rd one she's not that interested!

Sandwichpup has been biting legs, ankles, fingers, hands especially mine. I've got a bit scared of him as he bit my nose and tend to shriek a bit when he goes for my legs. I know this is the worse thing to do as he thinks it is a game but he has sunk his teeth into me it's hard to ignore. Do try and distract/divert with toys but not always successful. I try and give him attention when he isn't biting me but that then sometimes turns into him into biting me! As well as toys, he has a kong and himalayan cheese chews (looked at yak and antelope horns but seems he is still too young)

Oh sandwich that's hard. I try to distract with toys but they want flesh don't they! How old is he?

@sandwiches77 it’s so hard at the beginning. I cried every day for a few weeks. Things we tried/used were:

• always have a toy, long tug toy preferably, to hand. Having two at a time was better as we could play with one and then when he won it swap to the other one and repeat
• allowing cardboard boxes and Amazon packaging to be destroyed! As he got older we could hide kibble in it like a puzzle.
• flirt pole was great both for just playing in garden but also where you could stand one side of gate and play safely 🤣
• scatter feeding so kibble, grated cheese, anything tiny and just sprinkling it about. When his nose was down on the ground he couldn’t be biting us.
• when he was biting us we would just walk away and shut the door or go behind the gate. Just for 30 seconds and then come back one. Rinse and repeat. I think this did help a bit.
• also I used to stand in the kitchen with a drink and lob food at him over the gate. One small bit at a time and he’s go and scramble to sniff and find it.

That phase really is tricky but it does get better I promise!

Sandwichpup is a 13 weeks old cockapoo but I think he mostly spaniel. Have started wearing wellies in and outside so doesn't hurt when he tries to bite my ankles and therefore I don't shriek and react making it into a game. Hoping this tactic will work.

I have got a tug toy but he isn't bothered about it, he does like his squeeky hotdog though!

The secret to a pub lunch is to wear them out first