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.

I know nothing about breeding and cockers but he's gorgeous so I'd just enjoy him and his healing magic. I lost my mum and sister during lockdown and my boy is also part of my healing 🐾

I've never considered a black lab but I think in my sub conscious I had a feeling it was this black dog or another (depression)

It's going to be a long weekend confined to the house. We normally have training Saturday morning which gives us a bit of peace on Saturday afternoons.

@StopGo sorry to hear about your DH but what a lovely post to read about your pup. I know that PoirotPup really has done wonders for my daughter particularly and me too (after the initial puppy blues 🤦‍♀️). I’d be interested I think just to know too re DNA!

I've thought about getting health testing done as Although mum was KC reg, Dad is working cocker so I haven't got full health scores for him (naughty I know)

@StopGo I’m very sorry to hear about your DH. Lovely to hear that she’s helping.

I can see why people would think she’s a springer, but as guyfawkes said, it can just be a bit that it crops up every so often. Our breeder breeds Sprockers and every litter looks different dependent on the parents and line they’ve come from.

@StopGo

Has anybody used a doggy DNA breed/health test?

We bought a Cocker Spaniel after seeing the mother etc. She's now four months old and a wonderful puppy but we seriously doubt that she is a Cocker.

I don't want to sue or anything but I would like to know the truth.

We have, on our poodle cross boy. I was really curious to see what his exact mix was.

@StopGo your puppy is gorgeous, just enjoy her and all those healing spaniel kisses xx

@StopGo I'm sorry to hear about your DH, that must be so hard . I'm glad your pup is helping your family heal. Do the DNA if you're interested, but I know a couple of working Cockers who look just like your pup. Sometimes traits just show up from a few generations ago.

AwesomePup is feeling fine again, no more throwing up at all yesterday or today. We think we might have figured out what he's having trouble with. No vet advice to bring us to this conclusion as I haven't even made an appointment yet, I wanted to see if it happened again. On the field behind us, where we play every morning, we've just noticed that there are loads of little mushrooms covering certain parts of the grass. Now puppy, like most puppies, likes to sniff around the grass and may well have eaten quite a few of these mushrooms before I'd noticed they were even there. DH and I both think this may well be what's upset his stomach. We're going to try walking him elsewhere this week, if we can find somewhere without mushrooms (it's rather damp around here), and see how that goes. We're trying him back on his normal kibble today, but have plenty of rice and chicken if we need to go back to that at all.

you should have got a lab, Billy is 25kg of lap dog! AwesomePup is a 23kg lapdog (I think he's a couple of weeks younger than Billy). If one of his humans is sitting in the living room then he is sitting on or next to them. His favourite is if 2 of us are sitting on the sofa and he can sit between us and cuddle both at the same time. That explodes his not very little head!!

Mine sleot on my head this morning. Got fed up at 6am with his faffing so I came down and got on the sofa with a fleece blanket on my side. Dog curled up behind my knees. When I woke at 7:30 he was fast asleep on my back/shoulders with his face next to mine. Cute but heavy 😆😆😆

DH took great delight in taking pictures

@StopGo he does look more springer with his colouring and ears, but I read that cockers and springers used to come from the same litter, so not unusual if the odd pup has some throwback genetics from somewhere down the line. He is gorgeous! Mine is a cocker/springer cross with a bit of beagle thrown in and he looks similar to yours but has longer fit. He also has the beagle long back and more rounded head.l shape.

Sorry, I hadn’t refreshed the page before posting and I see that chat has moved on a bit!

Oh yes 25kg of lapdog here too at 8 months 🤣 massive soppy things… but annoying when they occasionally suddenly try and bolt after something on a lead!

Oh god we've got puking too. Two really big vomits today after she seemed off her food this morning. I put the being off food down to a long journey yesterday and stupidly gave her some scrambled egg which she wolfed down. How many vomits for a vet visit? She seems otherwise ok, playing etc. Not pooed as much as normal but one normal one this morning.

Back from a lovely woodland walk with sandwichpup, he rolled in some poo and I have got stung

I dread to think what counts as a 'not lovely' woodland walk @sandwiches77

@Goawayangryman when pup was quite a bit younger he vomited about 7 times, huge amounts and I was really worried but it was very late at night...so I just monitored. He drank a lot which was reassuring and was absolutely fine by morning.

@Goawayangryman AwesomePup vomited about 10 times before we took him to the vet. And even then it was more because he'd stopped drinking and was looking very sorry for himself that we decided to take him in (especially as it was a weekend and costs £140 before you even have any treatment!!!). If she's still acting normally, drinking and pooing I would monitor and take her if she starts looking ill.

I took pup to a different, busier park this afternoon because we've been slacking a bit on the socialising recently. He did really well at ignoring people and dogs unless he was allowed to meet them. He has taken to barking at people in our local park so it's interesting that he didn't bark at anyone at all in the bigger park. He did enjoy meeting a husky puppy, a red setter, a couple of children and a few adults who wanted to say hello. And his big reward was that he got to play in a shallow bit of the river - he had proper excited zoomies in and out of the water then rolled in the sand (and possibly some poo 🤦)

Having a tough day again here. Felt really positive after the trainer had been but pup just bites us from the moment he’s awake- literally hanging off our trousers, grabbing hold of ankles and calves, growling and won’t let go trying to implement what the trainer advised but he’s literally asleep or attached to us by his teeth. Dh and kids now scared of him and I don’t know what to do.
I get it’s his breed but thought there would be at least some time where he didn’t bite us sorry for the depressing post but struggling today

How old is he @lifestooshortandsoami? What did the trainer suggest? I'm sure you've tried everything we would suggest already? I find they can't bite if they are biting something else - anything else, a chew, a toy, a frozen carrot etc basically keep his mouth full or busy!

@Aria20

How old is he *@lifestooshortandsoami*? What did the trainer suggest? I'm sure you've tried everything we would suggest already? I find they can't bite if they are biting something else - anything else, a chew, a toy, a frozen carrot etc basically keep his mouth full or busy!

@Aria20 he’s only 10 weeks so very much a baby so we expected a bit of it, but it’s relentless. The trainer said to distract his focus or if really bad (which is how it feels at the moment) to walk away. Problem is if try to walk away he’s hanging off us and ripping clothes etc so don’t want him to think it’s a game. He’s had chews, frozen carrot, toys, treats etc and they work for a max of 5 mins and he’s back to the biting. He seems to get very overtired but won’t sleep. Have had to enforce sleep in his crate but he’s def sleeping a lot less than he should do 🙈

Dh is struggling and ended up shouting at him today which then upset me as I don’t think that’ll do any good. We knew it would be tough but christ thought there would be a few minutes where he wouldmy be hanging off my ankle/arm/ jumper etc.

Am having a gin to celebrate surviving today!

Have you got a sling for naps?
I think the nipping is exhausting, by far the worst part of having a puppy. Happy to clean up poo, pee and sick if it meant no nipping!

@lifestooshortandsoami it will pass but it does take time. Things we did that helped a bit were scatter feeding kibble in the garden or floor (nose down means can’t bite). Puzzle toys, or kids made puzzles from recycling with kibble hidden in it. Lickimat. Puppy kong. Carrots. Cardboard boxes and just allowing him to shred and destruct them. Long tug toys so our hands/us were further away. Flirt pole. When we knew he was tired everyone left the room and one of us went behind a stair gate and were boring and he then usually fell asleep eventually…. We also bought cheap clothes to wear in the house and looked like we were fleeing some awful situation with the holes and the dirt…

Ripping up tissue and loo roll is populat here too or flannels/towels.

Absolutely just give them all the cardboard boxes and rolls you can. Ours had a box he slept/rested in and chewed the top edge at the same time. He has shredded egg boxes (put some food/treats in and shut the box and let him go for it) which are definitely a big hit. Knotted old tea towel and then put it in the freezer for biting on with sore gums too.

What breed is pup?

Argh Macpup has a limp 😩. Why do these things always happen at the weekend?! He was fine coming back from our afternoon walk, mooched around the house, had his dinner, had a nap and is now limping. Am I terrible for not rushing him to the vets this evening? No obvious signs of trauma, no pain on palpitation.