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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

Long time lurker here.. can I join? SuperPup is nearly 6 months. Obligatory pic He has decided this last week that destroying destuffing stuff is FUN! Casualties include his brothers bed and various toys (and shoes given half a chance!!) Prior to this I had a puppy who only chomped on his Yak/Antler/Ostrich bone which I was stupidly quite smug about. Does anyone know if it is usual for pups to start wanting to chew softer items once their adult teeth are through? And if so... how long will it last

@LBF2020 yes I think it's normal mine had a phase of it around 6/7 months think it lasted about a month chewing her bed and soft toys. Apparently it's when their adult teeth start to settle in the gums! Just have to keep redirecting them to appropriate items!

Pup chewed a chunk out the doorframe at 5:05 am this morning. Wondering whether we need to get a bigger crate and go back to that for overnights. She hasn't slept in a crate for a couple of months now though so not sure she'll accept it.

She also hasn't eaten any breakfast and I'm about to do a new food order so now can't make up my mind how much and what flavour to order. I thought feeding a Labrador was going to be much more straightforward than this. I know common advice is if they're hungry they'll eat but I'm too soft. I hate to think that the only reason she's eating food is because she's starving not because she actually likes it.

@tizwozliz I have a fussy eater too it's frustrating!

@tizwozliz feel the same. It's awful thinking they don't want their food. Imagine if we didn't like our food to the degree we'd only eat it if ravenous. Not nice.

Having said all this, mine has been really good with food recently but this morning has left some (unheard of) and is emitting horrible smells. I think she's eaten something untoward. I'm just hopign the vomit comes later rather than sooner as I'm going out tonight selfish

@LBF2020 SuperPup is very handsome. I'll let you know about the de-stuffing in about... a month.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so inadequate since getting our puppy. Having a rather down day today. Just have no idea what I’m doing! Not for want of watching or reading stuff - it just seems to slide out of my brain.

Oh no @pardonmytits what's occurring?!

in case it helps I'm sort of of the belief (don't tell trainer) that as long as you're reasonably consistent and look after their physical and emotional health by giving pets and stimulation... that's probably alright. Bit like kids. I think they do mature on their own accord to some extent.

Obviously that doesn't mean recklessly saying to hell with training but I do think some doggy people can go a bit OTT. And possibly not great advice if you've got a massive rottie on a string or something but generally with most well-bred family dogs, I think they are pretty forgiving!

I'm going to really regret that when my dog knocks over an elderly person due to not being taught not to bounce at people every single day, for 10 minutes a pop.......

From our morning walk, I can also add dogs with cones on their heads to the list of things Billy is scared of. He ran away from our neighbour’s dog and wouldn’t play until she took it off 🙈. I’m so proud of him because a (very yappy) dog came into the field while I was dealing with a poo and I just said ‘wait’ and he didn’t go running off towards it! And that was without the bribery of a treat! He also came back when he started to approach a friends’ dog who doesn’t like him a couple of times (this was good practise as the friend’s mum who was walking him wouldn’t shout at if he did run up to them but the dog didn’t want to play.)

Thank you, goaway. Just feel like I’m failing left, right and centre. Can’t say I wasn’t warned about springers being nuts, and I love her, but it’s so overwhelming. Especially when I’m also trying to work. Bit of a pity party, sorry. I know the solution is training and time.

@pardonmytits I'm sorry you're feeling discouraged. Is there anything in particular you'd like to discuss? Maybe we could offer some ideas. In any case, sending sympathy and solidarity to you.

Spaniels are HARD work. The energy plus intelligence = total scatterbrained nutters. What is it that's getting you down?

We went to a dog walking meadow today and he LOVED it. Off lead in 8 acres of Riverside with loads of logs, tyres and some horse jumping cavaletti still in there and he rang round like a loon, swam 4 times and just had such a lot of fun. It was great to see.

Oh FFS guess who just stole a little bit of stollen? Reckon it probably had maybe 1 raisin in it. Do I need to worry/Vet or see how he goes?!

Does your insurance have a free advice line or video appointments so you could double check? I think raisins are one of those things where you don't know what amount will be harmful to a dog, and it's not necessarily dependent on size of dog.

@GuyFawkesDay oh no! Hope he's ok

Fell off the thread. 8 month lab how the bleeding hell do I stop the jumping on worktop with front paws and stealing food
Also at table

Thank you for your kind replies. I think I’m struggling most with her not being able to settle for very long during the day unless she is in her crate (which she sleeps in overnight and will deign to have naps in if she is tired enough. Otherwise she whines and barks, and this continues even if she is simply behind the stair gate rather than the crate). I have her on my own (with kids too before school) at home from about 6.45am till 3.30pm. Chews only work sporadically and for a short time then she loses interest. We have puzzle feeders. She has one main walk in a forest or park on the long lead and lots of time sniffing about in the garden (on lead as our back gate and fencing has been damaged) and around the local streets. But every time I sit down to try to do a bit of work, she’s jumping up at the dining room table, where I sit, or wandering around jumping up trying to steal things (counters are mostly clear but there is the odd thing). I know I need to do some boundary training/bed training. Last time I tried to get her interested in going to her bed by throwing treats and releasing her, she seemed to just get bored and wandered off. Maybe I need to use something higher value? Thanks for listening to my waffle. Just one of many issues but probably the one that is causing the most headaches…

GuyFawkes I hope your pup is OK. Spaniels!

I hear you @pardonmytits lifepup hates me working or looking at my phone

He's absolutely fine, vet made him sick but nothing in there raisin-like. He's fine now and table/counter surfing again.

We have some of the same issues @pardonmytits with nicking stuff and being attention seeking. It's definitely an age thing. I assured they do stop it. We leave the top drawers open now to put the dog off from trying to get to worktops but he's a devil for getting on the kitchen chairs/ table if he can.

The food stealing and ignorance of drop is really hard.

@lifelongfrugaleer 9 month old lab here! We have taught him to lie down when we're at the table. We got a load of really small kibble and used our hand signal for down. As soon as he lies down we mark it and then place a tiny bit of kibble between his legs so he doesn't get up again to eat it. We just keep the treats raining down between his paws whilst we eat. As soon as he stands up or comes to the table he gets ignored and we just tend to position our arms so he can't jump up. As soon as he lies down again we treat. Over time and depending on his mood we can leave longer between treats or mix it up.

We had taught a reliable down in the house before that and we made sure to mark and treat as soon as his front hits the floor and to keep the treats coming initially.

We do it if we're out with him also, we have a mat we take, he lies on it and we rain treats on his head. Mainly teeny tiny kibble for teeny tiny dogs, but it means we can keep a steady trickle when needed.

Last night he was so tired he laid down and I took longer between treats and then he basically went to sleep for the first time. It's definitely worth training I think - his jumping up and nosing at the table when we were eating suddenly went pear shaped when he hit adolescence but honestly this really works. It's just a pain when you want to just eat, but we keep a lidded pot on the table so we always have loads to hand.

Oh it's so hard isn't it. And exhausting. Just a lot of ignoring can work but the barking gives me a headache. Glad we currently don't have any neighbours!

He does sulk and wander off in the end.

We've also had a lot of barking tonight. Silly dog was obv hungry as didn't eat dinner earlier (fussy as usual!) she is now eating!