Puppy survival thread. Nov. Read this and buy a hamster instead

[WomblingKnobhead]

Or a rabbit, or a goldfish, or a cuddly toy.

We’ve got snow too, which is weird as we never get snow! Even in January when the whole country was covered in snow, we didn’t get a flake. Billy wasn’t sure at first but when we went for our walk, he loved it and refused to come home despite the fact that he fell in the bloody river and I had to fish him out. He had steam coming off his fur, but he didn’t seem cold at all.

I can join in with the slightly blue feelings today! DH has been away for the weekend so I’ve been alone with Pup which has been mostly fine.

I think he’s overtired though and when I interrupted his fun game of attack my shoes or attack the settee asking for the leave it command he managed to get hold of my hand and I now have a big slice across my palm from sharp puppy teeth .

Handsfullofholes (LITERALLY)

Joining the blues feeling with poorly pup. He's definitely better tonight as his poop is normal but he's just been wretching but not actually sick. Argh!!

@Handsfullofholes can you enforce a nap? I know ours is like that when he's overtired and putting him in the crate and doing boring stuff nearby means he drops off pretty quickly. Sanity and hand saver. My hands were covered in scratches and bites when he was tiny. Those unclipped claws were almost as bad as the teeth!

Just had a huge roast dinner and settling down with a fire and Dr who but need to get off my arse and walk.puppy. it's pouring out there!

[quote LostFrog]@MsAwesomeDragon that sounds blissful. How old is your pup and what breed? That’s quite a result getting him to choose you over other dogs. I come a pretty poor second to chasing the cat at the moment!
Mantrailing sounds awesome fun
Relieved that no one is saying oh no you must stick to 5 min rule. My sister says she did with her retriever and he is very healthy for an old man BUT she also has selective memory about a lot of things so I’m a bit [/quote]
It really was blissful. I love my weekend walks with him now he's older and getting more reliable with his recall. He's an 8 month old Labrador and we've done a huge amount of work on his recall. The whistle recall is bombproof (at the minute, but I'm aware he's an adolescent and like all adolescents he is getting more selective in his obedience), recall to his name is less reliable. (He's not so good at leave and drop it, therefore he eats a lot of crap that he finds while we're out)

Looking forward to those days! At the moment recall is ok but not bombproof and I want to nail it with him really.

Hurrah for fish rice and pumpkin and it's miraculous properties. We have normal poop tonight, if a slightly weird colour.

I really need to get a whistle his recalls improved a lot this week.

@GuyFawkesDay a nap was enforced straight after! Stupidly I thought he would be ok to stay up and wait for DH to get back, but actually putting him down for a sleep and waiting for a while worked out better for everyone! Glad to hear I’m not the only one with a cockerdile

Sorry to hear your pup is still feeling poorly. Hope he’s on the mend soon!

@Handsfullofholes that sounds painful! Frogdog had half a raw duck neck for tea and just listening to him crunching his way through it was terrifying. Those little teeth are sharp!

Cockerdiles are real. Ours had a two week teething lull but it's back with a vengeance.

Hopeful that after only 1 💩 since 6am and that being normal he's on the mend. He's STARVING (or thinks he is) but tbh I'd rather keep the portions smaller whilst he's off colour. Will see how things go tomorrow and add a little kibble to his rice/fish/pumpkin and hopefully will continue to improve.

It's awful when they're not right.

Hope he's better soon guyfawkes.
Well took him for a brisk 40 minute walk, got back half 8 and he was a nippy little pain when we got back but now asleep.
God I'm sick of these nightmare evenings, thought I'd cracked it by removing his food at 6 and upping the exercise.

Oh no, I am wondering if mine is teething again as the biting has upped again this week? I'm not sure. Trying to get the balance between exercise & sleep is really hard.

Does yours like chewing? Would a low calorie frozen Kong keep pup busy and occupied?

He likes biting down hard on my hands! He does like a frozen kong but they don't last long. He just has these crazed moments when nothing calms him!

Can I join? I've just found this thread but it resounds with me! Our 13 week old puppy is biting us all the time. He has destroyed my lovely light weight down coat from Uniqlo. Literally destroyed it so I've had to throw it out. He lunges at us. And barks. Recently he's started to sleep more at night but that's the only progress.

Welcome cocktail, photo please! Oh your poor coat.
I'm struggling. Feel like puppy has taken over my life, ruined my evenings and I'm exhausted. Thought by 6 months it would be easier.

Oh the biting is just grim.

Mine is 6 months this week and still turns into the aforementioned cockerdile when overtired. He's obstinate, is chewing my rug and snatches every damn thing he can ALL the time. If it's within reach he steals it. Infuriating!!

I don’t find kongs particularly work with my pup, although it was very interesting earlier having been under the radiator (empty luckily!!) for a few days.

We have “Mr Tea Towel” who is an old tea towel tied in a knot and soaked, then put in the freezer who goes down quite well. I think the cold feels nice and also saves his stomach being filled up eating frozen carrots.

Frozen tea towel popular here too. He wasn't fussed about Kong at first but we gradually made it harder (started with kibble and a bit of puppy Kong paste) and he goes nuts for them now. Frozen we get 20-30 minutes of peace and he mellows out with it

I did try that once and he wasn't interested but will try again.
Definitely teeth pain as I was holding a lambs braid and could feel how hard he was biting on it. He also twists his head around frantically which I think is due to teeth pain. Poor boy. Love him again now he's fast asleep!

@cheeseisthebest

Welcome cocktail, photo please! Oh your poor coat. I'm struggling. Feel like puppy has taken over my life, ruined my evenings and I'm exhausted. Thought by 6 months it would be easier.

Thank you. I will try a photo but I've not been particularly successful at this in the past. The picture will not be of the lunging and barking. But don't be fooled.

I know what you mean about the evening! I was hoping it would be better by 6 months.

@GuyFawkesDay

Frozen tea towel popular here too. He wasn't fussed about Kong at first but we gradually made it harder (started with kibble and a bit of puppy Kong paste) and he goes nuts for them now. Frozen we get 20-30 minutes of peace and he mellows out with it

We can't get the puppy interested in a king so will try to follow what you did.

Yak cheese chews worked for a few days. An antler works for about 15 minutes. I also
Bought a lick mat and dog peanut butter but that really only interested him for about ten minutes.

I have no advice about the teething but our trainer advised us to keep ours in the kitchen in the evenings and put him to bed early at 7-8pm to avoid the evening zoomies in the living room, partly because of potential Christmas tree issues! He has a play pen rather than a crate so it’s up to him whether he sleeps or whatever. I did it for the first time last night and felt really mean that we were all sat in the other room from him but it did make for a calmer evening and he still slept fine last night so maybe that’s the answer for now. Ours is only 10 weeks though so not sure about an older puppy! Have gone through an awful lot of tights these past couple of weeks, coat remains intact so far but at least one oven glove has had it.

Argh! Billy went straight to sleep after his tea last night at 6:30pm. He must have been tired from his super fun, long walk. I got him up at 9pm but he went straight back into his crate so I let him go back to sleep… then he got up, full of beans, and 4:10am 🙈 I won’t be making that mistake again!

Argh 4.10!
Mine sleeps in my sons room and just barks if put in the kitchen.