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

Two quick questions- I keep seeing people referring to 'frozen kongs'....does that just mea stuffing a Kong and then freezing it? Does it just make the whole thing last a bit longer when given to pup?

Also- are all of your lawns being destroyed by di
dog wee?😂 any tips on managing this?

Thanks all 😊 I feel like a bit of a fair weather thread user here, because I tend to dip on and just ask questions ...life is maniacally busy right now, but please know that I really appreciate all your support and advice

Welcome @Weatherwax13 he looks gorgeous, really sweet

@opalescent My lawn looks awful too and after only 4 weeks 😮 I've heard about wee rocks and thought I might try them but no idea if they work

We've had total crate failure here for the first 4 weeks but inspired my comments on here - and despair! - I'm trying again. I slept in the kitchen with pup last night and she whined hardly at all and then slept until 5.30 although she crept out every hour to make sure I was still there! After a wee and poo, she eventually settled again and we got up at 8. The sore back was worth the additional sleep!

@MrsHerculePoirot Great news about leaving pup. Gives the rest of us hope! 🙂

We use these jars of meat paste to fill kongs. I often mix in some frozen peas or other frozen veg. One jar with a decent amount of frozen veg fills one medium sized Kong. Or his favourite filling is tuna and cream cheese, again possibly with frozen veg mixed in. I buy peanut butter from the supermarket, rather than the special dog sort. Morrisons (and probably most supermarkets) do a 100% peanuts type of peanut butter, so that's definitely safe for dogs. Or you could stuff with pups normal food. Or first stage baby food, as MrsHP said.

I stuff them (we have 3 so I stuff them all at once) then stick them in the freezer for when we need them. I usually only give him a Kong when we leave him at home alone, so that's his special treat to keep him calm without us. He's always in his play pen when we leave him, so he can't destroy anything or eat anything dangerous.

I have puppy Kong at the moment, when do you move onto the adult ones?

I've got some Ella's kitchen and sainsbos own veg puree things. I use kibble, the veg paste, I did have some Kong paste but it's £££ so might use some jarred paste or primula now that's gone. Then I stick in some cooked chicken or a sardine if there's a tin open (FawkesPup has 31p Aldi tinned sardines on his kibble sometimes) and stick a few bits out the big hole at the top to get him started.

Ours is a pen only treat too so maybe I might try leaving him in there today for a trial with it and the radio on and start the alone process

@opalescent yes to stuffing then freezing. We also made ‘pupsicles’ in the summer basically just got kibble and random veg/treats and poured in water and froze them! Kids loved making them and pup loved them!

Someone else suggested using something called pee fix on their grass but I haven’t used it myself.

AwesomePup is quite big so we started on the medium sized kongs, never bothered with the puppy sized ones. We have 2 red and one black, all medium sized. He's been fine with them from about 10 weeks, but as I say he's a big lab, so small puppies probably need the smaller size for longer.

Hi! New puppy parent here, we have just about survived our first week! Pic attached of the adorable fluffball/ankle biter.

We really are just finding our feet at the moment as first time dog owners. I feel like this is a massive learning curve and just not sure we’re getting it right all the time!

Things that are going well:
—Toileting - he has had a very small number of accidents in the house, but has had all wees and poos outdoors over the past three days. He isn’t weeing anywhere near as often as we were expecting (everything I read said to take out every 30 minutes at least, but since coming home at 8 weeks, he has been going much longer than that between wees).

— going into his crate to sleep. He either takes himself into the crate early evening, or accepts being gently put into the crate, then we lock the door and put the blanket over the top and leave him to go to sleep. He rarely whines at this point.

— he is starting to respond a bit to his name (we’re working hard on this one!) and is also able to sit on command (maybe 7/10 times) when he isn’t distracted.

Things we’re not sure about:
— wake ups in the early morning. We are super lucky that he is generally having a final wee at around 10:30pm, then sleeping through until around 5:15-5:45am (initially he whined for the toilet at about 2ish, but we only needed to get up for the first 2 or 3 nights). At the 5ish wake up, he just won’t go back in the crate without crying and howling. This is the only time he cries in the crate. We had been accepting that this was our morning start time, but this morning we attempted leaving him to cry. He cried for about 25 minutes, then was quiet for about 20 mins, then whined again so we got up to him at 6. Anything after 6 feels ok to me, but do we just need to accept that we’ll be getting up earlier than this for a while?!

— biting. I know puppies bite, just don’t think I appreciated just how much!! We have been trying to redirect to some chew toys, but he hasn’t taken to any of them. Got a puppy nylabone yesterday and he seems to like that much better, it is softer and smaller, so hopefully this will be a good one to distract him with. My 8 year old is struggling with the nipping, but she also wants to be all over him! We are working hard on boundaries and gentle play and removing herself if he starts to get too playful, but this is going to take some time I think!

— food. He is on Beta puppy dry food, he doesn’t eat much of it a lot of the time! Recommended amount of 35g three times a day, some meals he’ll only eat 20g or so. He is having treats for training, and we’ve also tried him with a stuffed Kong, but I wouldn’t say he’s having loads in between meals, certainly not enough to be filling him up. Do you think this means he’s bored of his dry food? Or just a case of puppies having varied appetites?

Sorry for all the questions! I will be returning to the thread over the coming weeks I’m sure!!

[quote opalescent]@Elmrosie that's great news! Has she been sleeping in your room since first coming home? How old was she then?[/quote]
@opalescent - she was 8 weeks when we got her. She's been sleeping in the dining room, which has a vinyl floor, with one of us for company each night. She started being dry through the night two weeks ago, so we thought we'd give it a week or two and then try the sleeping alone. She was pretty similar last night for my DH - barked a little for the first half hour, then settled through to 6.30.

@pompomandpeach welcome!

I just wanted to say re: food- my puppy didn't seem that interested in the kibble she came to us eating. As a first time dog owner too, I was keen to see her wolfing down and enjoying her food, so I popped to pets at home and bought some wet puppy food (butchers). I started mixing in a small amount of this with her kibble, and she LOVED IT.

BUT- she now really only wants that part, and only picks lightly at the kibble. The vet told me afterwards that her diet really should be predominantly dry, and that I have spoilt her by offering wet so early on. She now has seen what COULD BE 😂 and so isn't happy with kibble alone. I really wish I had known this beforehand, and only stuck to dry. This is only my experience of course, but didn't want you to end up making the same mistake!

We use a pen rather than a crate. We fixed a roof on the top so it acts as a roomy crate. Sushipup took to it straight away though she only uses it at night. When she's ready for bed she just goes in of her own volition. Maybe those who are struggling to crate train their dogs, might find their dogs are happier in a pen? If I have to leave her in the day for an hour or two I just leave her in the kitchen with the radio on and a kong or beef tail to keep her calm and quietly busy. She is a lab X who loves to chew things, but so far so good, no destruction while we are out.

@pompomandpeach @Weatherwax13 what lovely pups!

Sandwichpup is 13 weeks old had his first vaccination a few weeks ago and second one next weekend. I've been taking sandwichpup on the lead in the front garden for new sniffs, sights and sounds. He is inquisitive and loves being out of the front as people and cars go by. I took him for a short walk, kept him on the path and away from any other dogs. I know he isn't supposed to be going out yet until he has had his second jab, DH just had a right old go at me. I don't want sandwichpup getting an infection but he loves new sniffs and really settles him down a bit and I've read that it is OK to take puppies out as long as you are careful

@pompomandpeach I just accepted the early starts - they didn’t last forever because I didn’t feel comfortable leaving puppy today cry/whine but I know others do it differently.

Re food - I think they don’t eat lots straight away. Remember they’ve been with their mum and siblings, usually full time for 8 weeks and we’ve taken them away from that and everything they’ve ever known. They are without their siblings and mum, in a strange place with strange people and I can’t imagine how overwhelming that could be. We found for the first week or so PoirotPup would eat more if we hand fed him. I did think he was broken as he is a lab 🤣 but don’t worry he was fine after a bit and now we have to use slow feeder bowls 🤣🤣🤣 I think it’s very common when they first come. As long as toileting fine and they aren’t clearly underweight and aren’t lethargic when awake I wouldn’t worry!

@pompomandpeach that is great that your pup is managing to to sleep through until 5ish. I'm sure he'll be sleeping through til 6am soon. If he's not happy getting back in the crate at 5am can you leave him to potter about safely outside the crate while you pop back to bed? We have ended up with multiple beds - one in the pen for nighttime and one in the kitchen diner for daytime use - though she now prefers the sofa!

@pompomandpeach just to add - I did quite like the early morning snuggles with pup and a cup of coffee before everyone else got up thought they felt hard at the time!

@ilovesushi What have you used for a roof on the pen? I have a pen but pup is already testing its boundaries. Won't be long before she's trying to climb out!

@opalescent I did the exact same thing. Worried she wasn't eating enough so gave her wet to tempt her! She's still not a big eater though

@MightyMeerkat it's some sort of corrugated plastic floor covering/ protection. Had a quick google and maybe it was correx. It's fixed down with cable ties. We folded it over to make it a bit thicker and stronger. We added it when she started leaping over the sides on waking up in the morning. She was only teeny tiny but somehow managed to scramble up the sides and over and out and wait for us at the kitchen door.

@ilovesushi Thanks! I'll have a look for something similar

I'm hoping to use pen and crate downstairs as soon as FawkesPup is sleeping through. He is a bit of a softy and likes being attached to me. So going to have to go slowly until he sleeps through. Little stinker is still waking about 4am. I can't wait for a full 10-6 sleep 😩

He had a lot of fun in pets at home earlier walking round! Made loads of friends and watched the fish whilst I got some locusts for our gecko.

Had a lovely walk round the park, he's definitely gaining confidence and had a lovely potter on the long line with a bit of primula based recall and rabbit and squirrel scent sniffing.

Managed to pick up an used but 2nd hand hands-free lead too which will come in useful.

Just want him to sleep.....

@GuyFawkesDay Sounds like a lovely day. Second vaccine on Tuesday for my pup so looking forward to getting out and about.

My spaniel is like Velcro too. She follows me to the bathroom, races ahead to the door if she thinks I'm going to leave the room and is generally under foot. Makes it hard to get anything done! I swear she even sleeps with one eye open so she knows as soon as I even think about moving!

Welcome and congratulations on your new pup, @pompomandpeach! To be honest I wouldn't be too concerned over the amount s/he is eating at the moment. When we first brought little Hilseeypup home, he definitely wasn't eating as much as the guide said. It took him a little while to settle in.

Our training is having to have a little bit of a break at the moment as I'm not able to to use food-based treats today. His tummy is still out of sorts. It got so much better over the course of the day yesterday (and I was feeding him scrambled, egg, rice and chicken) and then overnight he had two tummy upsets and again first thing this morning. I've given him a break since then and haven't fed him at all. He hasn't asked for anything but once he's woken from his nap I will give him a little bit of bland stuff and see how we get on.

I need help! Cheesepup used to be really happy in the crate but now hates it and will only sleep on the floor with one of us there. I really don't know what to do, feels like such a massive backwards step. Last night at 2am he just wanted to play, was absolutely full of energy. Eventually crashed then I put him back in his crate but after couple of minutes he started barking again. Doesn't cry or whine but barks. So I got him back out and I spent the night on the sofa. It is so uncomfortable though as our sofa is awful!
What should I do? No space for him in our bedroom. I think he's hot too as he has a lot of fur and likes sleeping on cool surfaces.
Today he's had a much busier day to wear him out. He's also had a bit of an upset stomach I've got him back on his old pouches (they were out of stock) and also given him charcoal paste.
Am still struggling with leaving him for even a second or going upstairs. Just generally struggling atm.
He's 14.5 weeks.

Poor puppy. Definitely try pro-kolin if it's food or jab based upset tum. You can buy it on Amazon.

@MightyMeerkat mine is the same. Can be spark put bit if I go to the loo he's coming with me🤦‍♀️ unless there's a Kong involved or a chicken paste lickimat he's Mr Velcro.

I might stick his crate downstairs soon. I can use the Alexa's as a baby monitor (thanks for that tip!!) And I wonder if actually he just needs to pootle at night. He woke at 2:30 for a wee after a bedtime drinkathon, then again at 4 and just wanted a leg stretch and 10 minutes of being up then he went back to bed. Maybe if he was in the pen he might just sleep better. Worth a try, possibly!