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

@TheBigMacDougal one time after the wormer I saw worms like strands of spaghetti rang vets and they said was normal it's the wormer working and will stop after few days

We don’t give a wormer - sounds bleurgh!

Yikes - not seen worms emerge after the wormer.

I got a Nina Ottossan hide n slide puzzle, but sushipup got the kibble out in seconds. I literally put it down and she got it all out! It's level 2. I was hoping it would buy me at least 5 minutes as I'm at an online conference all day.

The cat has been a better distraction for her. She keeps coming into the kitchen and they sit at a distance from each other pretending they don't see each other but really keeping tabs on one another. I think they would like to be friends but it is very slow progress.

Oh my goodness aria20 I had no idea you can sometimes see the worms come out like that 🤮

It should take more than seconds if it's set up correctly. There are 7 bits and each requires a slide to allow the swivel bit to swivel, then movement of the swivel bit, then a slide back so that the kibble drops into the recess, then another slide to expose the recess to collect the food.

We're at the farm today, pup has met pigs, donkeys, sheep, alpacas and her favourite goats. She has been really good sniffing everything, play bowing and wagging her tail at the goats. She's had a tractor ride too on my lap and is now chilling with a lamb braid under a picnic bench while my children are in the playground. She is watching a large mastiff type dog sitting under the bench opposite but she's not pulling to try to get to it or barking, just watching! So proud of her today hopefully she'll be chilled the rest of the afternoon once we get home.

@Turquoisesol it is very grim indeed!!

I went for our lunch time walk armed with Primula and it was a roaring success. Not only did I get instant recall from people and (very far away) dogs but I also got the best loose lead walking we’ve ever had!

One of the sets of dogs was a neighbour so he was able to have a really good play and the other dog was a tiny little thing so he stayed on his lead and said hello and the owner actually apologised to us for it jumping up at him 😂 I don’t think Billy noticed! He’s also managed to fall asleep outside of his crate while I was on yet another Teams call, which is real progress as settling outside of his crate is something I really want to achieve. Oh and he’s had 2 compliments in 2 days about the shininess of his coat! So all in all it’s been a great day so far 😊.

The worms sound gross! I thought workers stopped them getting them in the first place 😵.

Oh, I forgot my funny story that Billy (being too clever for his own good) figured out that if he bites down on the Primula tube, he gets a lovely mouth full of cheese 😂.

All hail the mighty Primula!

Spudpup was class swot in training today, his loose lead walking was 👌 and his recalls were awesome too. I’m so proud of him! We have an interesting bit of homework to do - we need to get a bun tin and put a different food treat in each bit, then note down which they eat first, second and so on - to see which is the highest value treat.

I am making Spudpup a new bed from an old duvet that went a bit manky in the attic. The various components are currently stacked down the side of the armchair where it will live. Spudpup already seems quite pleased with it! Hoping to get a zip this afternoon and get it put together tonight for him.

@tizwozliz I wonder if the parts are too loose? She just snuffled her nose about and got them all out straight away. I am going to try it on my mum's dog to see if it really is so easy - no disrespect to mum's dog!

I must try Primula, as the cocktail sausages seem to losing their allure!

I'm using JR pate, venison sticks and cheese as high value treats. I swear they know when they're coming because I say "high value treats!!!!" 😆 and they come running.

Goofy has always liked his crate however he used to wander in and out and flop down. I was worried he was hot but I think it was FOMO. I went through a couple of days of cajoling him back to the crate each time he came out and then he just stopped bothering and stays in there.

Hi all. I'm jumping on because I'm really struggling today 😨. I've had an incredible busy day/week, and having opalpup around too has just tipped the balance. I am really struggling to cope with the added workload, and wondering why I ever thought it would be fine. First puppy class tonight too, which I was really looking forward to initially. I am going alone, for various reasons, which just serves to remind me that I will be the main carer, and the only person in the family who will be doing any leg work with our 'family dog'.

Just shattered and worrying I've made a huge mistake 😥

I hear you @opalescent, my DH has been bloody useless today and that's with DD at home. Next week he's flying solo. I'm starting to ring doggy daycare as it's increasingly obviously he's not engaging. I'm cross with him today for many reasons though!

Food switchers, FawkesPup is on Eden small kibble. The original recipe. He enjoys it, and his poops are smaller, firmer and less stinky on it ....unless he's had the JR chicken Pate!!. His coat is gorgeous, really soft and silky (even the vet commented!) and he seems to be thriving on it.

He's having some "pets love fresh" chicken as a tiny topper as I got a ridiculous deal on it too. He LOVES it. I'll move him to the Eden semi moist once he's old enough.

Slept from 10-5am too, woooooo. Slowly getting there. We went to visit the sheep in the field at 6am on our early walk. He wasn't sure what to make of them 😂

@opalescent - the positive side is that you won't have too many cooks spoiling the broth! Nothing worse than one person training pup to stay off the sofa, not bite or steal socks, and the other letting them get away with it.

Your primula stories inspired me so I Took ds and Wolfpup to the park with a tube of primula and a longline which we repeatedly let go of and had Wolfpup race across the park to me. There were other people in the park but not near us and no dogs but it was a successful start. Although I was bricking it letting go of the lead

I hear you opalescent. It is difficult when you get the realisation of how much we are responsible for ourselves. People ask me how the puppy is going and if everyone is doing their bit and helping. My dh has actually been quite good at taking for walks etc but the kids are just too young. It takes an adult supervision all the time and there is just no way she is well enough trained yet for them to take her round the block. That day seems very far off.

Sorry you're having a tough time @opalescent I sympathise. Juggling pup, home, and work is really hard. And unrelenting. Especially when you're doing by it yourself or mostly by yourself.

My OH is fairly good but he doesn't drive so it's more limited what he can do on his own. We have our last puppy class tonight and I'd love to be able to wave him and pup off at 6.30pm and have 2 hours off and for him to return with a tired pup and an Indian takeaway.

Ratio of good pup to bad pup has not been favourable today. I have many new holes in my sweatshirt and had to give her an enforced nap in the crate again after not needing to for weeks. Still having issues as soon as she sees the lead/harness/collar. We ended up going out to the car without collar or harness on, put her in the boot and she happily accepted the harness at the other end.

Extra baby gate acquired today so we're going to try with the crate open tonight and she'll have access to the hallway as well as her crate.

@GuyFawkesDay - was it your pup who struggled with the food they came home on? If so, good to hear they're getting on with the Eden.

Yeah, the royal Canin gave him the sloppy ploppy. Interesting that his second jabs haven't so I am not sure I can blame those for the first week of godawful poo. The Eden is lovely, but he will leave it for the pets love fresh, the monkey. I am mixing it up so he gets tinned sardines or tuna in oil, roast chicken, salmon on top so he doesn't get too bored as kibble must be a bit dull, even with kongs etc to vary things up.

Lovepup is out for the count beside me atm, but MY GOD the biting before she keeled over. I have proper battle scars on my armsand it really hurt. Once she really looses it no toys are going to distract her from attacking me and hanging off my arm / top. I try not to react too much as that excites her even more but hard not to! Quite fed up. Complete sympathy re feeling 100% responsible. Here the other family members think they are doing me a big favour if they watch her while I work for a couple of hours

@opalescent it is really hard being the main carer, especially when you’re trying to make the pup be good so as not to make you DH like him/ her even less 🙈. We’d got to the point when DH was basically completely ignoring Billy’s existence and therefore Billy was trying to gain his attention in any way he can. Today’s been a better day, which I think is because Billy’s been a super good dog 🥰. I also ended up going to every puppy class alone or with DS as DH always had ‘something’ to do.

I went to all puppy classes alone too. DH thought they were just for me because he's had plenty of dogs already so knows what to do. Of course, it's nearly 30 years since he last trained a puppy, and his step dad (the actual owner of the dog) was already considered old fashioned in his methods. So DH was suggesting a choke chain for the puppy!!! I have had to be quite firm that we will NOT be using things like choke chains and we can do some very good training with positive methods. So now, training is up to me. DH will join us for a walk in the evening, but gets offended when pup recalls brilliantly for me but doesn't do so well for him (pup stops halfway between us and looks back to me to see if he should carry on to DH)