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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

Oh yes @certainshepherdpups a house near us has a giant inflatable nutcracker man. Billy is not happy about it!

Yep, the walk to the favourite place (cafe) is now fraught with the danger that is..... inflatable snowman and Santa. I mean to be fair they're about 7 foot high but still 🤦‍♀️

Dog has sore shoulder still. Vet says to rest him. Vet is clearly taking the piss and has never lived with a 6 month old cocker spaniel who only speeds are asleep and full tilt.

@certainshepherdpups yes mine is afraid of statues/sculptures too and giant inflatable snowmen/santas lol.

@Handsfullofholes mine was allowed pavements straight after second jabs, parks and mixing with other dogs after 1 week and rivers/streams etc after 2 weeks. The advice is so different!

Can I join please? Long time lurker and despite following the threads, I have been sucked in by puppy eyes and we will be bringing our boy home on Saturday. First time pet owner and am equal parts excited and petrified.

Charlie is a 10 week old golden doodle. I would appreciate sage advice and hand/paw holds while I sob through the pup blues.
Photo attached as per puppy thread T&Cs.

Oh lordy what a cute puppy!!! Here to hold hands and paws

Thanks @GuyFawkesDay - its the cuteness that sucked me in.

@Handsfullofholes I honestly can't remember but possibly 1 week for usual stuff and 3 weeks for river swims

I wasn't very strict...I avoided common dog spots but also assessed risk of him being unlucky enough to sniff the same tree as an infected dog and went out

Welcome to the thread @AutumnNymph. Charlie is adorable! The cuteness will hopefully carry you through the tough times.

We were told one week after second jabs. To be honest I wish we had done more sooner - Frogdog is scared of EVERYTHING! People, bikes, other dogs.. we had to walk past a group of people today and he was pulling the other way and then tried to climb into my arms!
So, advice please - I don’t want him to feel he has to greet or be greeted by everyone he sees, but should I be trying to get random strangers to engage with him to show they are friendly?? Or just continue to walk past people and ignore them??
Dh has taken him for a “bag walk” every day and chatted to people on the beach etc, so it’s not like he has been cooped up all this time.
He will be 12 weeks on Sunday.

@AutumnNymph he is very cute, like a little teddy bear! Is he your first dog?

Yes my first!

That’s definitely the hope

@AutumnNymph ah Charlie is cute! Is he mini or standard size doodle?

I'm joining please! First day with my new puppy Bingo, she's a flatie and my first dog. She's been a dream so far, definitely lulling me in to a false sense of security.

I already need some advice please... I'm at home all day, every day, except for the school run and they don't let dogs on site. Do I save half her breakfast and put it in a Kong and crate her or do I get someone else to take my daughter to school?

I'd rather do the first as this is going to be a daily problem but she's obviously brand new.

It's a 10 min walk each way but with a bit of time for handover as DD is in reception.

@Aria20 his mum is a standard and a Dad a mini , so maybe a standard mini ?

@beggingforsleep Billy was fine to be left while I did the school run after the weekend that we got him. I was worried about it and planned to take him with me but he was scared of the car at first (DS goes to high school in our nearest city), so it felt kinder to leave him at home. Just make sure she’s tired and ready for a nap. At first Billy was only able to manage an hour up before needing to go into his crate for a nap for an hour or so. At first you’ll probably be getting up early with her (sorry!) anyway so she’ll probably be ready for a nap by the time it’s the school run.

@AutumnNymph he is very cute!

@LostFrog I try the tactic of just walking past without making any fuss so Billy can see that it’s not scary. Apparently, if you try to reassure them it just makes them think there’s something that they should be afraid of if that makes sense. Or if I see one of the (many!) things that Billy is scared of up ahead or know it’s going to be there, I try to keep his attention on me by really focusing on loose lead walking so he hopefully won’t notice.

TerrorPup is pretty confident. In particular she's not fussed really around livestock. However the plastic life sized cow outside the butcher's is absolutely terrifying. As is my in-laws automatic bin..

They're hilarious aren't they. FawkesPup's most ridiculous fear is....... blueberries! He's absolutely terrified of them. Runs away from the packet or if you drop one. Weirdo

@LostFrog you want puppy to focus on you and ignore everything else ideally. People make the mistake of thinking ‘socialising’ puppies is getting them to play/interact with other dogs or people when actually it’s about exposing them to situations/noises/scenarios etc. I’d just do lots of focus on you stuff when out and about so you’re the most interesting thing and if there are any specific scenarios/things that cause anxiety work on desensitising to them slowly and regularly.

OH does field archery, so 3d animal targets in the woods. Ada was very unsure about the white fox the first time they met but I put a treat on his head and she's been ok with him since. I don't think we've encountered anything that she has remained scared of. I think that's mostly her personality rather than anything on our part however.

@MrsHerculePoirot - we're still working on focus 5 months in. I'm doing a lot of standing about with her on a lead waiting for her to engage with me. It's our number one struggle. Waiting to see what she decides is more interesting than me at today's training session, in previous weeks we've had a horse, a tractor and a helicopter. Everyone else's puppy carries on with their task, Ada plonks her bum down and watches until whatever has taken her interest is out of sight. Oh to have a puppy that comes and sits expectantly by your feet when you reach into your pockets :-)

Not sure how I managed to post that photo, anyway here she is having spotted another dog some 300m away!

I hope you’ve had that picture put onto a canvas @tizwozliz it’s gorgeous 🥰.

Has anyone got any ideas do isolation activities? Luckily DH and DS are still negative so Billy can have a daily walk but only 1. He’s done so well so far and looked after me but I can tell he’s bored now. This morning I’ve resorted to just letting him chew up DS practice spelling test paper that he stole off the dining room table just for something g to do!

Does he know the names of any of his toys @LadyCatStark ?

Find it games are Ada's favourite, either finding a toy she knows the name of and bringing it back or I hide boxes with treats in them for her to find.