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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

@LostFrog yes she was scared when the tree clattered down around her so hopefully it has put her off. That pic of your cat is sooo sweet!

FawkesPup has a new nickname.

After requiring a bath 24hrs after a groom and pulling the shoulder muscle I spent all week only walking him round the block trying to protect.....he's gone and re-hurt it messing with his friend this morning. So now he is know as the Hound of the Twatskervilles. Back to another few days of trying to keep a lunatic adolescent spaniel quiet. Hahahahahaha as if!

Give me strength!!!

Well you got to try out the coat pretty quickly @GuyFawkesDay

We've been for a swim session again this evening. She loves it. Think we might do one a month until the warmer weather and lighter evening's.

Apparently there's a dog swimming pool near here (it's actually for horses but you can hire it!)

Yep, it's brilliant, I am so impressed @tizwozliz he was bone dry under it really quickly

Sleep seems to have gone backwards this past week, waking once or twice a night. Mostly we can tell her to go back to bed over the camera but I'd still rather she didn't wake us at all. Last night she woke at 4.30, back to sleep for an hour then I ended up on the sofa at 5.30 with her. She slept until 8:15 then so it's not that she's not tired or needing the toilet or hungry. I did wonder if it was because it's cooler? But it shouldn't be cool enough in the house to be an issue for her I wouldn't have thought and she has fleece blankets on her bed she could snuggle into.

Otherwise she's good, although very resistant to doing any sort of training beyond the scope of our house/garden. She's been great on walks, recalling away from people/dogs and checking in frequently but she's not interested in proofing any of our training exercises, even a sit is challenging! Last session of our pet gundog course tomorrow and I'm relieved to have some time off from homework!

@tizwozliz dammit I keep forgetting about the proofing out and about. Frogdog loving his off lead beach walks each day, we have been paddling and playing snuffle games in the rocks. Puppy school starting on 2nd Jan so probably ought to work on a few things before then so that he doesn’t totally show me up!

We're having more barking lately... seems to be attention seeking it's very frustrating! I guess there's always something to work on

Ours is getting more assertive. Barks when people come in etc.

@GuyFawkesDay it's not even that kind of barking... it's more stop whatever you are doing and play with me now!

Vet for us tomorrow for his chest lump.

I need to do more proofing. Life a bit busy right now so struggling to fit everything in

We’ve had both kinds of barking lately. Someone came to the house and the pup barked in a way I’d never heard before: deeper and seemingly more assertive than usual. He also barks when he wants us to play with him. Or he grabs something from a handy table that he knows he isn’t allowed to chew. Fortunately it tends to be something paper and so far he hasn’t managed to destroy any important documents! But that is definitely a clear signal that he needs some interaction.

He’s growing up but still very much a puppy. Today he approached another dog, wanting to play. The dog was at first happy to play with him but then suddenly snarled and snapped. My pup immediately backed off and lay down, very obviously telling the big dog, “No harm intended, I’m just a puppy, O.K.?”

Ada barks at

Her reflection in patio doors or tv (she's fine with mirrors)
Her Kong wobbler
Anytime she pushes something off the sofa and would have to get off the sofa to retrieve
If she can't get to something she wants, e.g. ball rolled under coffee table, if we've left a block of cheese at the back of the worktop
If a squirrel or cat is in the garden - even if she's outside and could just chase it!

Vet visit complete: biopsy and smear taken to see what it is and check for any infection. Thinks it's a tumour of some sort and most likely a histiocytoma which is benign. Results by next Friday. Feel a bit crap and scared.
If it is the histiocytoma it will probably resolve on it's own. This time last year was spent at my sisters bedside as she died. It's a rubbish time of year and I am struggling to keep some perspective that it is most likely benign

I feel better just for offloading that 😌

Hi All!

Can I join the party please?

Gone right against the grain here and welcomed a Sprocker last Saturday to our family which includes four children aged 10, 8, 4 and almost 9 months. Ignored every single recommendation to wait until youngest child is at least 5.

I must say the gorgeous, gorgeous boy has been an absolute superstar. I am barely a week in, mind you. No crying at night, only a handful of accidents, coming on with training brilliantly. I’ve been focusing on recall and diverting the mouthing. Wondering what the best thing is to concentrate on next.

I almost feel like it’s too good to be true, and the teen months are going to come back and (literally) bite me.

Sorry to hear that @WomblingKnobhead how long do you have to wait for the results? Hopefully it will just be benign and sort itself out x

@PowPurry you must be very patient and thrive on busy lol. My youngest is 4 and it's been ok, hard at times but also fun.

I admire anyone taking on those commitments, @PowPurry sounds like you're doing brilliantly. Pup is gorgeous.

The Hound of the Twatskervilles has today taken a random sock off the street and point blank refused to give it back. He is currently in his crate as he's overtired and mouthy. He needs a quick nap before dinner!

"Graduated" from our gundog foundation course today. Ada was pretty well behaved for once until they wanted us to sit for a group photo at the end!

Weighed at the vets and the little fatty is now 23.1kg. She's put on more weight in the last 4 weeks than I expected, haven't really got a feel for how much growing she's got left to do or when she'll reach her adult size. She still seems small compared to other labs we see but we were only expecting her adult weight to be another 3 or 4 kg.

He’s a darling, at the moment anyway!

Today’s agenda was a bit of “sit”, although with a hand command. He sort of naturally did it anyway when recalled so I made the most of it. I tested it during the zoomies, and without fail he obliged every single time. I’m amazed!

Oh he sounds a poppet!

Mine has got to 6.5months and apparently his ears have stopped functioning if there are other dogs about. Argh.

Same here @GuyFawkesDay. I was feeling very discouraged yesterday when he suddenly seemed to forget how to do loose lead walking. And he had been brilliant at it before. I think it may be the beginning of adolescence, though in his breed it usually seems to peak at 8 or 9 months. Bracing myself for a fun February and March.

@PowPurry your pup is gorgeous. Enjoy!

Yep. I’m preparing for it to get worse, a lot worse, before we come out the other end!

I can’t complain at all tho, he’s been such a good boy since the day he came home really.

@Aria20 by Christmas eve for the biopsy and the smear for infection sooner I imagine. Bit calmer tonight and he's happy as ever so that is reassuring

Aww I do miss the tiny puppy days a bit. Especially when FawkesPup is being a proper arsehole.

But then I remember I now get 8hrs kip a night (mostly) and he's stopped biting us constantly and I don't miss it so much