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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

And also @casinoroyale4ever and @LadyCatStark. Such a clever doggo to go to the shop! My grandma sent her westie to the newsagent's at the end of the road for the paper every day. They are so clever. Wouldn't happen now eh?? Dog would get squashed or stolen out alone :(

Decaying or fresh. Merli enjoyed grass (which had been recycled by the sheep 🤮 )

Dammit! Just typed a long msg and then the dog jumped up and I deleted 🤦🏼‍♀️

After some advice about Mac pup. He has always had walks off lead and 8/10 times will come back very quickly when called, but not when he is in chase mode.

Mostly he runs out and back or circles back to us. If he’s see another dog he won’t be called off until he’s said hi (and played if they will), so I’m quite vigilant where we walk and when I let him off so it’s quiet.

Today he ran probably 200m from us and also disappeared from site chasing a pheasant he disturbed in the bushes (that he came back from pretty much straight away when I called). It’s not unusual for him to disappear in to a hedgerow but fairly close to us and just pops back out again. Am I creating a monster that will only come back when he decides he’s ready/runs miles away from us???

He’s a 6 month old sprocker and is like my shadow at home 😳

Feel like I need to go back to the start of my
Total Recall book!

I don't know how to answer properly @TheBigMacDougal but I will say you have described my friend's sprocker to a tee. He will always, always come back eventually but he will also run off into the bushes when he thinks he is flushing something. Im no dog expert but suspect that like with kids you choose your battles. They need to be dogs and do what they are bred for. In my uneducated newbie opinion....

Could it be the start of adolescence @TheBigMacDougal? That is often when they begin to test boundaries.

The dismembered pigeon was lovely and fresh..still pink urgh. She did leave it eventually on command which was very gratifying.

On the adolescence thing, our trainer today basically said we have 2 weeks when our dog needs us more than we need them, and when they.depend on us for their security in the environment.: she is 5 months on the nose, so yours is probably ripe for testing boundaries.

Not looking forward to that.

AwesomePup is an adolescent twat today. He's 8 months and a lab. Complete arsehole. I feel the pain of everyone struggling with adolescent dogs.

We went for a walk this afternoon and he was off lead, as always. He ran right up to a family with 2 adults, 3 kids and 2 on lead dogs, and wouldn't come back when I called him. The other dogs were scared of him, the owners shouted at me and told me he should be on a lead if he won't come back. Of course, he's been really spot on with his recall for a good couple of months, so this has taken me massively by surprise as well as them. I've felt rubbish about it all afternoon.
Pup has slept peacefully all afternoon, cos he doesn't care, obviously.

@MsAwesomeDragon sorry pup was an arsehole.

I do wonder if it’s the start of adolescence here, although I hoped we had longer before it kicked in. He really does have selective deafness, but loves being free to run and sniff and it’s lovely to watch him enjoying himself. I just worry I don’t have the time to train him to be as biddable as I’d like, but then I’ve read that novice handlers should expect a well trained dog by 3 years 🤷🏼‍♀️

novice handlers should expect a well trained dog by 3 years bugger!!! I really hoped we'd have it cracked rather sooner than that.

@MsAwesomeDragon Merli has good recall but saw mum and 3 Yr old collecting leaves. The sight of them holding little yellow items made him think they were trying to feed him treats I think. Anyway big lab bounding at her small child luckily didn't phase her and she smiled when he lunged at her hand ...I'm panting, nervously catching up expecting a justified telling off and she even laughed when he tried her son's leaf but then the little horror looked at child and booped the end of his nose 😯😳😨 wagged his tail and ran off.

I was stuttering an apology and just ran off horrified

Anyone using ostrich bones just beware they get brittle and jagged after awhile. I've just had to remove a small shard from his mouth

@MsAwesomeDragon sorry to hear you had shouty incident. If it helps PoirotPup is coming up to 10 months and we’re coming out the other sides a bit now.

He has never chewed anything he shouldn’t really and in the middle of it we had 2 weeks of chewing things he shouldn’t.

Frogdog is 11 weeks and very selective hearing.. he will come if there’s nothing better on offer, basically. First walk soon and I think will consist of off lead in a field practising recall rather than any actually walking. Is Total Recall any good? I have her Happy Puppy Handbook also.

Thank you everyone for all the advice sharing and experience sharing. This thread reminds me it's not just us and it's not just our pup!

Had a 121 trainer round in the week because pup has taken to lunging at as when out on his lead and the nipping is is worse. Trainer says the following (sharing in case it helps anyone or anyone has experience of using the technique)

He's over stimulated and we should stay in with him playing calming games more
We should stop using a bowl to feed him and spread is kibble in a sniffle mat or on the grass or kitchen floor. This apparently provides mental stimulation equivalent to a walk.

We need to work on a command so he focuses on us and gives us eye contact and we need to make decisions about wether he can go up to other dogs or people on the lead instead of him meeting everyone on his walk.

We also need a command to release him from a sit, or down. So he doesn't move until we say 'break'.

We've started working on these things. I do agree we had become obsessed with socialisation and we're probably contributing to his hyper phases.

@LostFrog I like the book. It’s all positive and reward based and in steps. I worked well through the early stuff and didn’t rush it, but then kind of out the book down when we should be working on proofing more methodically (probably on a long line).

Welcome everyone with newer pups. If it helps PoirotPup is nearly 10 months and our kid is much easier now and he is generally a lovely soppy dog we love to bits. These are our experiences if they help give hope!

Early days biting - we distracted with long tug toys, allowed him to shred cardboard boxes, used lickimats and scatter kibble in the grass in the garden or in the house to distract. It was worse when he was tired so everyone would go to a different room and if potter behind the baby gate and then he would fall asleep usually.

We tried early on to incorporate lots of enrichment - puzzle toys but then realised we could make our own out of recycling (the kids loved this) and he could shred cardboard, shake a bottle for ages to find the kibble. Encouraged lots of sniffing - kibble in grass initially and then when we could go out on walks making sure we did some sniffy walks each day - we didn’t get far on these but could stay out for quite a while just sniffing a lot!!! I read somewhere that 15 minutes sniffing is equivalent in terms of tiring as 45 mins of running or something so we used that as much as possible 🤣

We’ve used various bits of training to make ourselves as exciting as possible - absolute dogs sexier than a squirrel is a hit CBeebies on speed but it gave us loads of ideas and games. Special tug toy and a tube of primula or other high value treats. This has helped loads with recall.

We didn’t leave him alone until after 5 months but now can leave him for three hours when needed no problem. We slept downstairs with him for about 6-8 weeks but again after that he slept through every single night.

We had a lovely few months where the biting stopped before adolescence hit. This involved about 2/3 weeks of eating stuff he shouldn’t seemingly out of nowhere and back to being jumpy/mouthy but at 25kg not so easy to pick up and out elsewhere! We went back to real basic training as he got overstimulated too easily again and now starting to be able to move on again.

We need to now start proofing our training outside - so in the house we can get a sit stay whilst we go to a different room and hide food or a toy and then release him to go and find it/sniff it out. Outside I can get him to sit but can only take a few paces at most so want to now work on that sort of thing.

Generally feeling quite positive about it all this morning - a long way from the puppy blues where I cried every single day, multiple times for two weeks and then probably most days for another 4!

Tree up and going far better than last year - TerrorPup was 3 months old and tried to climb it so it was put in the hall where she didn't have freedom, but this year it's in the lounge and pretty much ignored. That said she hates change and when she wandered in after daycare on Friday to find a 7ft tree in her lounge she refused to come in unless we were with her. She's over that now and is currently upset because we've moved the bin about a metre from it's usual position...

Took her to the beach in the week and bought out the 20m long line for the first time. She loved it and recall is really improving. And her separation training is going well too, we've reached long enough to go and sit in the car with a cup of tea! (We couldn't leave the room a few months ago so this is huge for us).

Argh dd has created a monster.... she keeps bloody sharing food with the pup and now whenever she eats pup sits staring at her waiting expectantly and then starts barking at her for the food! She doesn't do this if anyone else is eating

I think DD gets sent to the dogs bed with kibble at mealtimes? 😉

@MrsHerculePoirot that's a lovely post.

😭😭😭 I’ve been hit with the dreaded lurgy! DH and DS are negative so they can walk Billy but me and him are going to be spending a lot of time hanging out at home during the day for the next 10 days!

Oh no @LadyCatStark hope you don't feel too bad

@Aria20 thanks, I felt far worse when I had a cold a couple of weeks ago! My smell and taste are completely gone though, that’s how I knew I had it. DH was moaning about the smell of Billy’s buffalo ear and I couldn’t smell a thing. Now I’m glad masks are back in shops as I’d hate to have infected the pet shop staff!

Oh no @LadyCatStark!! I hope your symptoms stay very mild. I had a mild case back in September, but it didn't feel very mild to me. I had a couple of days where it was like a cold, then a week where I could hardly get out of my bed. The rest of the family stayed negative, but that's probably because they didn't come anywhere near me.

Pup was much better behaved on his walk today. Possibly because we didn't come across many other people/dogs this morning. He did get very wet and muddy, but I'm glad he can just be towelled down rather than needing a full shower. He was fully submerged in a pond at one point.

We left him to sleep out of his pen last night. It was a success. He slept on the sofa then moved to the bottom of the stairs when the power went out on the street and various alarms started blaring, but casually went back to sleep.

@tizwozliz does Ada still use her holee ball? I bought a cheaper version and stuffed it with bits of knotted cut up tea towel... sadly she has just chewed the ball itself and basically is in the process of destroying it! Is there any point me spending out for a real holee ball or will she be able to destroy it just as easily?