Puppy survival thread. Cold nights in the garden ... yeah...no

[MakeMeCleanTheHouse]

The foghorn is sounding frequently and I suspect that's why I'm up enjoying the ambience of a foggy garden at 4am.

Hoping @BaconandAvocado is fast asleep and all the others with wide awake pups.

And me, I'd really like some advice on recall please because Anouk is rubbish. I think I've confused commands. She totally ignores "come" but will eventually arrive to "what's this?" But only with few distractions
Today I had her off lead in an open space with 8+ adult dogs of her breed and I nearly had a heart attack... She was mostly ok but when non-breed dogs and pups showed up... Bye! Luckily her older relatives herded her back .... But I really don't know how to do recall without a secure area. We have a small garden but that is too small and too familiar....

We are back to the long line again. It's so hard to get it right in terms of when to progress. Mine is fine at home. With any form of distraction... Bye doggo...

I'm considered signing up for the RNIB online training thing that's just been launched.

dog toys that can be destroyed and then stuck back together again The limbs are stuck on with mega velcro but the dogs love pulling them off and "tearing" them. You can then really easily stick them back on again for the dogs to do it all over again

@PollyRoullson, those toys look great! My puppy has destroyed several stuffed toys. They are his favourites but he can only have them under strict supervision since he invariably rips holes in them and pulls out the stuffing.

We had a wonderful walk in the woods today. He was happy as a clam and got thoroughly filthy. Afterwards we took him to a self-service dog washing place. He wasn’t entirely thrilled but tolerated it quite well.

@MsAwesomeDragon, I hope the vet can get to the bottom of what’s going on with your pup.

Oh @MsAwesomeDragon poor pup. Can you move onto white fish instead?

www.bettyandbutch.co.uk/products/push-to-mute-duck-dog-toy

We've just got one of these and he loves it. Tough but satisfyingly furry to carry

FawkesPup has itchy/sore boy bits. He's always washing/grooming that area. Anyone have any ideas why it might be happening?

Hello, we got our puppy yesterday. Poor little guy is not enjoying the cold weather at toilet time. He goes out, shivers away and they wees the second he is back indoors 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Nahhh he is too cute!

We had a lovely day yesterday. DS (12) puppy sat for us and DH and I went out with friends for a few drinks, to watch James Bond at the cinema and to a Chinese restaurant. It felt so good to be normal! DS said Billy behaved perfectly and he earned himself £20 and a chippy tea so he was happy!

@LadyCatStark that sounds like the sort of thing I'd have said when I had small children 😁 but yes I hear you !!

@GuyFawkesDay our terrier demolishes most toys, how robust is it

@Nahhh carry him when back inside then take him out again 5-10 mins later. Repeat. He will have to go in the garden that way. You will have to keep doing this until he learns to do it the first time. They do get it eventually

I'm struggling so much to find daycare. Everyone booked up. My DD is having surgery in couple of weeks and I have to take her in for 7.45am and spend the day there. DH away with work. A friend has very kindly volunteered. I was getting a bit desperate

We have seemed to turn a corner on the toilet training! Jinny is 11 weeks now and has had 3 accidents this week, where as before it was literally every 15 mins!! And the accidents she has had have been huge wees instead of little drib and drabs!

She’s absolutely loving going to the dog park that is behind our house as well 🥰

Only thing is she wakes at 4am every single day and it’s killing me. She will just constantly barks.

My dad died 2 weeks ago and so it’s been SO hard, especially since all I want to do is sleep but I’m finding taking her on the school run in the morning she then naps for a good 2-3 hours.

@GuyFawkesDay could he have laid on grass seed or some sort of plant or even if you've cleaned the floor in the house with something that's irritated him? Or could be a uti? Does it look swollen? Those would be the more obvious things to consider or.... I don't know if it works the same for boy dogs but could it be a hormone surge if he can smell a local female dog on heat?

@Jinnybean sorry to hear about your dad. I hope puppy will help comfort you x

Did other people find toilet training is very hit and miss? (Literally!)
We have some days where I think oh we’re getting there and only the odd accident and then today it’s all gone to pot?
He’s only 9 weeks so still little, and the breeder had used puppy pads so I think that confused him too. He’s doing fab at holding it during the night so am guessing he’s making up for it during the day too??

@Nahhh that is such a cute puppy!!!! He's like a little teddy bear!!!!

@Jinnybean I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. This must have been the worst timing for getting a tiny puppy who needs so much attention and training. Be kind to yourself and just do the minimum, you need time to grieve.

@lifestooshortandsoami he's still so tiny, of course the toilet training will be hit and miss. Stick with it consistently and he'll get there within a few weeks.

@GuyFawkesDay it sounds like something has irritated him down there, poor boy. I assume you've tried giving him a bath to wash off any irritants. If it still bothers him tomorrow it might be worth a conversation with the vet?

[quote MsAwesomeDragon]@Nahhh that is such a cute puppy!!!! He's like a little teddy bear!!!!

@Jinnybean I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. This must have been the worst timing for getting a tiny puppy who needs so much attention and training. Be kind to yourself and just do the minimum, you need time to grieve.

@lifestooshortandsoami he's still so tiny, of course the toilet training will be hit and miss. Stick with it consistently and he'll get there within a few weeks.[/quote]
Thank you. I think I expected it to be a more consistent disaster so I should be grateful we’ve got the good days!

Being as consistent as possible but I think it goes to pot if I have to go out and dh is in charge- am trying to make sure we do the same things but dh is sometimes trying to do things a bit differently and make it more interesting for him when he goes outside- whereas I keep it very boring but lots and lots of praise if he wees etc

Well FawkesPup has just bathed himself in the stream so he's going to need at the very least a good rinse later and maybe a nice puppy shampoo. I've ordered some dog irritated skin cream from MooGoo so hopefully that'll help.

He seems to do it after he's had tummy rubs and his legs 'go' and I think it's a bit....erm...stimulating 🙊🙈

Jinnybean
Hope you're getting through this terrible time abs your pup can offer you some comfort.
She is seriously gorgeous 💕
Newboy is also a Lab, 14 weeks, and doing really well with housetraining.
No indoor accidents for about a week now and usually a poo and a wee overnight.
His capacity to learn new things is fantastic. So glad we opted for a Lab.
He's my first ever dog ( always had cats) so I needed a more straightforward, placid specimen!

@Jinnybean, I’m so sorry for your loss. Your puppy is adorable. I hope that she brings you some joy in this difficult time.

@Jinnybean sending you lots of hugs xx

DH and I took sandwichpup to his first puppy class. He loved it, although the only puppy to try and eat the training cones! He was asleep in the car on the way home, aww bless him.

Trainer has set us some homework of feeding him without using his bowl but sandwichpup grazes his food so not sure how successful this will be

Sorry to hear about your loss @Jinnybean.

Is anyone else still finding the whole meeting other dogs etiquette really hard to fathom? I always recall Billy and put him on his lead as soon as I spot another dog as he’s such a dog’s dog and just wants to play but then the other owner puts their dog on a lead and moves away from us. They’re only doing it put of courtesy but then Billy misses out on an interaction/ play time that he could have had. This happened yesterday and Billy sat and refused to move so I shouted over is it ok to say hello and it was so we went over and Billy had a lovely play with another lab and I had a lovely chat with with owner. I explained that I never know the etiquette and she said that she’d only moved away as I’d put Billy on his lead incase he was scared 🙈. He’d really have missed out if we hadn’t have gone over and so would I! The day before another lab came up and the owner was having a chat at the other end of the field and didn’t even notice his dog and then later on another dog came over and I tried to ask the owner if they could play but she didn’t speak enough English so she also called her dog away because Billy was on his lead 🙈. It seems like a whole minefield of unwritten rules!

@sandwiches77 we often feed without the bowl and AwesomePup loves it. I might hand feed him, use kibble as treats for training (in the house only, when out and about we need chicken or Primula lol), scatter feed on the patio/lawn, use a food dispensing toy (we've got one that wobbles and drops food, or holes in a plastic bottle so it drops food as he rolls it round), or a snuffle mat (we made our own from an old fleece blanket and a holey door mat). Quite a few of my friends with puppies say their dogs eat more when they have to work for it than they ever did from a bowl.

We've had a vomit free day!!!!! 😊😊😊😊 We've been out for a walk with another new toy from B&M. This one is a squeaky toy that's a cross between 2 balls and a bone, that lights up when you throw it. It's so good he ran round the field squeaking it for half an hour. He hasn't quite grasped the drop part of fetch yet, but when I persuaded him to swap it for a bit of chicken he happily bounded across the grass to catch it. It's hidden now so it's a toy that only comes on walks. It's far too loud and annoying to be an indoor toy.