Puppy survival thread September and the pups just want to eat all the leaves!

[cheeseisthebest]

Omg I never start ongoing threads like this!
Back to school for my lot tomorrow. Taken pup for an evening walk tonight, desperately trying to tire him out! He's struggled to nap today as felt too hot.

@GuyFawkesDay

Longline. We have got 5m and 10m ones. The farmer has signs up asking dogs to be on lead and I think that's only fair. The 10m one I use every day.

A 10m line is a bit bulky but I used to lunge horses and it's amazing how muscle memory works... I just use it the same! I would love a biothane one as the webbing one gets soaked and covered in grass clippings in the park and it's a bit grim.

Definitely prefer 10m to 5m as FawkesPup gets chance to have zoomies, sniff, potter about (and fall in ditches!) as we are pretty rural. And we practice recall and stay etc on it. The 5m is handy in the park in town for a bit of freedom.

Thanks @GuyFawkesDay, definitely looking into a biothane line, this group has been such a help!

Absolute sweetie until about 6:30.
Total arsehole 7-8:30 or so unless I disturb his biting and "playing" with our limbs.
Starts being a bit wander/lie down/follow me about til 9:30pm and then he has his bedtime biscuits and tends to crash at this point.
Chuck out for wee 10/10:30 and then he grumbles from his crate in our room til we get the light off.

@opalescent Biting, bullying adult dog, biting, bullying adult dog....think he stopped at about 9pm...farted a bit ....erm...

Some nights alot better but last couple of days have been a bit tedious

@opalescent Billy has his tea at 6ish, then a walk til 7ish. He likes to go for a nap in his crate after a drink til about 8:30 then he’s up and likes to chew a chew, potter about and have strokes or belly rubs til 10pm. If DH is out at work he likes to watch a David Attenborough documentary 😂. That’s it then til the morning.

All sounds very familiar 😂🤯.
Those of you with older pups, have they settled down in the evenings now?

7pm-10pm constant biting.
10pm final wee and bed

@LadyCatStark that sounds idyllic! Please tell me billy used to be a pain in the backside during evenings?

@opalescent yes he was a totally knobhead at first, hence why he has a nap at 7pm! I’d actually prefer him to be in the living room with us all evening but he prefers to nap in his crate still even though he naps out of his crate in the day time now.

I'm on an airbed next to crate. Could cry thinking about my lovely confused bed upstairs!

Comfy not confused!

Although tonight has been a bit unpleasant as I bought him a sheep horn marrow which the per shop said didn’t smell or get slimy etc but it’s stunk the flaming house out! I didn’t have the heart to take it off him when he was so happy though!

@opalescent - Ada normally has her dinner somewhere between 7 & 8 pm, then might have a chew and/or a sniff round the garden. Then whines at the baby gate to be let into the sofa, where she will nap until bedtime. If she's not let into the lounge it'll be a big sigh before napping on her bed/ armchair in kitchen. Maybe once a week if she's overtired and bitey she'll be encouraged into crate earlier and have a rest there before being let out to resume normal napping activities on sofa!

Due to the darker evenings I've been trying to move our walks earlier but it's meaning she has a sleep early evening when she'd normally walk and then is full of energy wanting to play and barking at us if we don't! I'm thinking of getting her a light up collar I've seen a couple of dogs with them but am a bit nervous of going to the field in the dark - I have a torch, whistle and a rape alarm in my dog bag lol but still!

@opalescent PoirotPup is now 7 months. He had dinner at 7. Usually potters about following depending on what we’re doing - but we ignore him to some extent because if the kids play with him he would get over aroused and start mouthing or jumping about etc… by 8 - 8.30 he’s usually on a chair asleep in the front room and stays asleep for the evening. I mean if someone goes into the kitchen gate he’ll obvs follow just in case but just come back and sleep again.

We go out and have a babysitter and he does the same. Just sleeps on the chair next to her all evening after kids have gone up!

We entice him for a last wee sometime between 10.30 and 11.30 depending when we go to bed.

So yes for us it’s got loads better! We tried doing a later walk but found actually it didn’t make him any better he was just even more tired and bitey. When he was bitey in the evenings we just used to shut the door to front room and I’d go in kitchen behind gate and clean up and bed usually fall asleep then I’d give it 10 mins and open front room door and bed just go in and sleep.

@LadyCatStark just chucking this out there but I understood that you are supposed to not walk them soon before or after food - something to do with twisted gut maybe? I would have thought slow potter and sniff fine but not more crazy running type walk.

@LadyCatStark sorry didn’t finish! Meant to say I’m not saying that’s what you’re doing btw 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ (The crazy running straight after dinner!) just I didn’t know that until not that long ago!

@MrsHerculePoirot no I didn’t know, thanks for that. Sometimes we do it the other way round so will do that. We’ll need to sop anyway with the nights drawing in!

Is anyone else’s pup getting their winter coat? Billy is getting all scruffy long bits 🥰.

Yes! PoirotPup’s coat is definitely starting to get thicker with some longer bits!

Think the eating/exercise is most important in dogs prone to bloat - which most labs aren’t I think. I’ve read roughly an hour before or after food. I tend to leave an hour after eating but sometimes a bit less the other way around.

Ada had a great time with my friends dogs yesterday.

I think today we're going to go on a train and then perhaps to the beach

cheeseisthebest
I feel your pain.
Nights are still awful here.
I'm "sleeping" on the sofa near Newboy and his crate.
He still wakes 3 or 4 times in the night. I let him out into the garden and sometimes he goes for a wee but other times I'm not sure as it's (obviously) dark.
Would I be better off sleeping upstairs now so he's not just waking me for some contact?

Puppy Folk, is there anyway I can improve this or is it just a developmental stage?
He's 12 weeks old and I feel like 300.

You post the best pics @tizwozliz

We sent Goof to doggy daycare for a two hr trial ealier this week. He's been a nightmare since. Won't settle, sleep well in daytime, up at night and very bitey. I've made the decision it's not for him and will search for one to one. It's an occasional need but obviously still a need. Really stressful to find the right thing and worried because I have to work.

This is him this morning. Up at 6.30am so took him out and tried to have a swim. Chewed the car on the way there. Barked constantly so I gave up and took this pic which makes it look idyllic instead of the stressful experience it was.

@BaconAndAvocado we were on the sofa until about 13 weeks and gradually withdrew being quiet and out of sight. Thought I was never going to crack it and then in space of last fortnight he started sleeping until 5am so I went back to bed. Got up at 5am to let him out then back to bed. He has been quite good at that until this week which has been a relapse. Last night whined when put to bed and awake at midnight not wanting to go back. But once he was sleeping 6 hrs I took myself to bed

@BaconAndAvocado we slept on sofa until he was 17 weeks. Although he very quickly was sleeping from last wee at 11.30 until 5.30 reliably.

@BaconAndAvocado I know it’s not popular on here but I never slept downstairs with Billy and he slept through from night 2 and after 11 weeks slept til we got up, even if that’s 9:30 at the weekends!

Obviously, I’ve no idea if it’s because we didn’t sleep downstairs or if we just have the world’s laziest puppy but I do know that he naps a lot worse at the weekends when we’re all littering around downstairs than in the week when it’s just me WFH.

MrsHerculePoirot
MakeMeCleanTheHouse

I'm just finding the lack of sleep hard......and being tied to the house!
I know it will get easier but it all seems a very long way off.

@MakeMeCleanTheHouse - nobody is going to believe your pup isn't an angel if you post pics like that

We've just been for a walk along the river and met another little lab to have a play with. I can't believe how many lab pups we've met down here, i haven't met any at all at home but we've met at least one every day down here.