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.

Thank you. I think I will stick with this one cos I don't know if I'm doing any of it right. Recall is patchy!

Yes, it's only with hindsight that I'd know that what we were doing was right/working. Even just repeating the things you've taught already in an environment with distractions is worthwhile. If it's an hour long session being that bit older is probably a bit easier as well. Take more treats than you can ever imagine you'll need!

@567and we've gone for this door. I did a crazy lot of research yesterday and this kept being recommended.

Home alone today whilst other half has gone into the office. Wish my air con in my car worked, could at least take a trip to the pet shop then, I'm very bored. Pup is sprawled on kitchen floor.

Billy has been so chilled out in the heat that twice yesterday and today I’ve momentarily forgotten I even had a dog until he’s come wandering in and I’m like, “Oh hey, I forgot about you” 😂. I could never have imagined that could happen a few weeks ago so hopefully that might give some of you with younger pups some hope!

@tizwozliz Billy started puppy classes at 13 weeks but I think he was a little young as he was still very erm… highly strung. One of the other puppies was 8 months and one was a year old already (although he was quite naughty so I wouldn’t recommend waiting that long!)

@LadyCatStark Ada was just over 11 weeks, the first half of the first session was pretty terrible as she was far more interested in the other dogs and people than anything we were doing/saying, but she was the right level of tired for the second half hour ;-)

Although tbh, the other older dogs weren't that much better.

@tizwozliz oh sorry, I think I tagged the wrong person 🙈 someone asked how old people’s puppies were when they started classes but I think it’s on the previous page so not sure who. Billy used to go to the gate after exactly 43 minutes as he decided he was going home 😂 nothing would convince him to carry on. We’re just waiting for the next level class to begin now but I think he’ll be more ready for it.

We started our classes at 12 weeks and we were the youngest by three weeks, if I'm honest she struggled as she was wayyy too distracted.

For down we have finally got it on a cue along with a slight bend of the knees from us but it probably took until she was 7 months old for that to be reliable.

We start puppy classes next month so he'll be about 16 weeks I think?

The dog ice lollies were a big hit, I'll definitely make more. Kept him busy for about 2p minutes too!!

We start puppy classes at the beginning of October, sandwichpup will be about 16 weeks too. He has his second jab on Saturday and the vet said to wait another week then he can go for walkies

Guidance says 5 mins per month of age so that will work out as 20 minutes, I know you have to be careful with their joints but doesn't seem much. What are people doing?

Sticking to 15 minutes on pavements but tbh I can't see how pootling on the long line in the park is any different to pootling in the garden??!!

He definitely feels like he's enjoy more but I'm sticking with it but don't know what age it ends?! When can they just go for walks of any length?

I am interpreting the walk restrictions as led walks when they don't have choice.

Ah that would make sense. We do a lot of pottering. And then mini training bursts. As we live so close to a park (I say that loosely, it's a private road bit has a tiny playground area and loads of open space, trees and backs onto fields) we tend to go there rather than do pavement walks.

So just one walk of 20 mins a day or say two of 10 mins each?

@Aria20 Yes, it’s for an emergency stop. If I work him I can also use it to direct him to a retrieve - stop, look at me and then go in the direction I send him. But it’s really useful for emergencies - Spuddog and his friend flushed a deer once on a walk, Spuddog stopped dead to the whistle but his friend was gone for ages 😬

I think it’s 5 minutes per month twice a day? But I’m going on distance - I know we can cover a mile in 20 minutes if we’re walking at a clip, so if we’re meandering along off the lead then I’ll go for a mile rather than stop at 20 minutes. If that makes sense.

Also he if stops and sniffs for a while are you including that in the time or just the time that he is walking?

Our regular evening route is about 1.5km in total, 150m on lead on the pavement at the beginning and the end. We'll normally be out a bit longer than 20 minutes as we might do some find it games in the middle but I'm not too worried when it's mostly off lead on soft ground.

A lot of other walks we prob only cover about 500m but they include a lot of running around on a big grassy area or playing in the stream

We started classes at 12 weeks, we did learn stuff but I think it's more that I learned than he did. He did his learning at home but I think that's true of all classes. Kennel cough also screwed is up as we had to do the last classes online.

That said starting early has meant were now able to do more interesting stuff at 20 weeks and try different sorts of courses. It also means that we know what we need to focus on in 121 training sessions, which are expensive so it's important we get the best value out of them

I found puppy classes quite stressful though there was a lot of useful info. Our pup was by far the biggest and bounciest. She was the best at sit, so that made up for her/ our other gaffes. I think the class was specifically for under 16 weeks or 20 weeks so they were all very young. One had been newly picked up that day which I thought was a bit over keen on the owner's part!

Sushipup's first half day at doggy daycare was brilliant! The lady is absolutely lovely and pup took to her immediately. They had an off lead forest walk before it got too hot. Then the dogs played in the paddling pool in her garden. She came home so tired she could barely walk across the room to the sofa where she flopped for the rest of the day. She was "good as gold" apparently so I felt like a proud mum. Was absolutely dreading leaving her and I missed her while she was gone.

FawkesPup has had to have a bath as he had a runny poo and then walked through it. Delightful. Think it's the heat, as despite my best efforts DH was on charge today and I suspect he didn't do as much as he should to help him stay cool.

However he is full of beans and me and DS just had him recalling to both of us with whistle and name and he was blooming fantastic. Clever little sod!!!

However he is weeing in one place in the house a lot, at the bottom of the stairs. I've scrubbed the laminate and the carpet it touches with enzyme cleaner but every day at least once he wees there

@GuyFawkesDay goofy had one spot....we stopped access to it and it stopped.

@LadyCatStark morningpup is 17 weeks and even puppy proofing the garden he likes to chew the decking. Can’t imagine leaving him outside quite yet!

We are on the naughty step at puppy classes as we missed 3 in a row due to a wedding, hen party and birthday. Restarting this weekend but feel pretty good as we’ve had 1-2-1 training since week 9.

We do slightly longer than 20 min walks as the majority is off lead (maybe 5 mins on lead) and he just sniffs around. Also when I say off lead I just drop a long line. I’m still. It brave enough to unclip!

*im still not