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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

Merry Christmas everyone! Pup enjoyed opening her presents. Will see how she gets on with my parents 2 dogs later, they are normally all fine at their house but they've not met at our house before so wonder what pup will make of having other dogs on her turf!

Merry Christmas everyone. AwesomePup enjoyed opening his presents this morning, particularly the deer leg which kept him fully engrossed in his bed while we did the rest of the present opening. After dinner dd2 invited him to join us at the table to play Uno. He was very confused but thought it was a great game 🤦

Merry Christmas everyone! Billy loved opening his presents this morning, he thought he was being very naughty and snuck off to open them behind the sofa each time 😂. We’ve come to our friends’ for Christmas dinner/ night and they have a sausage dog and they’ve been a right pain in the ass together! Billy has ended up having to sleep in the garage (within the house) as he was over tired and couldn’t settle with all the fuss going on around him and he was too hot.

Merry Christmas all! Successful day here, it was my first ever year hosting Xmas and SPup was a good boy! He coped with one long walk first thing this morning and slept whilst i made lunch. Present opening was FUN but I had a old marrow bone which I filled with his raw food and froze. That did the trick Popped out briefly and then panicked and came home because I couldn't see the dogs on the camera. Turns out they were asleep out of sight in the kitchen. I really need to invest in a couple of cameras to put my mind at rest!

Aww lovely! FawkesPup had been pretty good all things considered. He let me sleep in til 8am after getting his breakfast, then after the kids opened their presents whilst he got stuck into his Christmas buffalo hide. Nice long walk, got filthy and needed a hosepipe rinse on his legs!!!

He loved his Christmas lunch and got a bit barky and overwhelmed during the cooking but he's behaved pretty well, when I think it's his first experience of the weirdness that is Christmas. He's still having a go at his dead in his bed now.

The tug-e-nuff toy is a HUGE hit. It's brilliant, I am really impressed. And the Kong wobbl kept him busy working for his dinner tonight whilst we played a game.

We got a tug enuff toy too and agree massive hit!!

Which tugenuff did you get?

Ada loves one of hers but isn't keen on the other. We only use one out on walks.

We had a sheep in the garden this morning, luckily I spotted it just as I was about to let the dog out

I just got a pocket Tigger, the bright blue and green faux fur one.

Definitely going to get one on a string now. Bless him he keeps appearing with it in his mouth asking to play. He also LOVES the chuckit balls too. No more shredding the normal tennis balls!!!

He slept in til 7:45 this morning, what a treat! Just had a very soggy walk up the lanes as he decided the field ditches were a great place for a paddle 🙈 stuck him in the crate as once we got back he got stupid and bitey so covered him up to enforce a nap.

All of a sudden some more commands have cemented with him. Now just got to get him to stop bloody counter surfing.

Hope everyone had a lovely day! We ended up having to come back from our friends’ early as Billy was completely unmanageable. The final straw was him cocking his leg and marking his territory on the side of their sofa. He’s now home and being the model dog. I could really cry 😢.

Dont worry LadyCatShark I bet that your friends sausage dog has also peed on the sofa at some point which encouraged Billy to do the same

Tug E Nuff toys are great, we have three but the favourite is the sheepskin bungee tugger. The rabbit ones she loves but we find she often misses the bite part and just tugs on the rope.

Lovely Christmas had here! TerrorPup was relatively well behaved, unfortunately literally no one discourages her jumping up which is bloody annoying. She doesn't do it to us and much as we try to manage it when my in laws are dancing round the room with her she finds that much more fun than our attempts to get four paws on the floor. She got completely overexcited unwrapping her presents so still has half to go. But overall better than expected, it was the first time we'd had overnight guests since we've had her and she coped really well. Including when they all came back from midnight mass, I'd gone to bed with pup and she only stirred when OH came into the bedroom. She's exhausted now though!

@PollyRoulllson that’s probably true. It was deliberate as he’d just been outside for his morning wee. It’s just such a shame that they never see him at his best. I don’t think we’ll be invited back for a while…

Happy Boxing Day to all. We had a good day yesterday. The pup was a star during present opening. He loved his presents, especially a stuffed toy with smaller toys inside for him to remove. He hasn't even managed to demolish it yet which is a huge plus (though I expect it won't be long for this world, since he adores it so much).

Dinner was a bit of a challenge. For the first time ever, a frozen Kong was not enough to distract him. I think the smell of roast lamb was just too much for him to bear. He calmed down again after dinner.

@LadyCatStark I'm so sorry your visit had to be cut short. We were supposed to go away this week but ended up having to cancel. Although that was disappointing, in some ways it was a relief. I kept imagining the stress of potential puppy mishaps in someone else's house. I hope your friends were understanding especially as they have a dog themselves.

@LadyCatStark sorry you had to cut y your visit short because of pup. I hope your friend understands and you get invited back at some point.

We're at mil's house this afternoon but have left dd1 at home with the dog as we know he would have got stressed with so many new people in a tiny flat. Seeing as we've got the option of dd1 staying at home with him (her preference as she doesn't like mil or sil) we decided it would be better to leave him behind. My parents visited us on Friday and pup absolutely loved having new people in the house. We don't have visitors very often so it was good for him to have people coming to see us.

Hmm I’m not sure they were too understanding. Both dogs were hard work but unfortunately everything Billy did was multiplied by 10 because he’s (probably) 10 times bigger! For example, last night we went for a walk and he pulled so hard he almost choked himself but today I was able to walk him with the lead looped over one finger. I think he was just completely overwhelmed! They were quite stressed out just by his hairs and massive paw prints by the back door so it was always going to be a challenge.

It’s such a shame as he was excellent on Christmas Eve when my family were around at our house. He was entertaining everyone and didn’t even jump up once.

They are due to come to ours on New Year’s Eve so hopefully Billy will be better when he’s on his own patch.

Christmas eve we went out with my family and my dog was a nightmare, he's normally so good. He just constantly barked at the other older female dog that was there too. It was so stressful and everyone was so annoyed by him. I literally didn't know what to do with him, he's been super bitey again but later was whimpering in pain from his teeth. Poor boy

Sorry husbands family not mine, most who aren't doggy people.

SPup also got a couple of Tug e nuff toys for Christmas and they are a massive hit here too! I have got two long ones but I think I will get a pocket one to keep for walks.
@LadyCatStark sorry to hear pup was a nightmare. I think SPup would also be trouble in another house. Our friends have offered to have us to stay with pup, but they are always going on about other friends dogs being annoying that I don't think it is worth the stress. We will go and leave the pup with the dog boarder. I hope NYE goes better for you.

I only managed a quick walk up the lane today. I found an injured wood pigeon (broken wing ) I tied the dogs to a tree, threw my coat on it and carried it home whilst juggling the two dogs. Wood pigeon is now at the local wildlife centre. Hopefully they can help it.

@LBF2020i definitely can’t recommend taking your pup. It almost broke me!

Sorry pup was a PITA @LadyCatStark I think a lot of pups have found it a bit overwhelming.

Oh my word, FawkesPup has been full of it today. Cracking open the vino.

Merry Christmas everyone. Well Foopup slept through last night!!! 11-6!! I can't believe it and fingers crossed it is the beginning of proper sleep for both of us!! Struggling to believe he's only been in our family for 3 weeks, it's like he always been here! Looking forward to his second jabs so we can finally escape the garden!!
How's everyone else doing?

Bloody hell, this dog is going to finish me off this Christmas! He wanted to go to the pet shop after his walk but it’s closed and he managed to slip out of his new collar and go running off down the main road toward the pet shop. I’ve no idea how he did get run over! Of course every time I got close to him, he bounced off into the road. In the end a neighbour had to come out in her pjs and bare feet to help me out 😭.

Joining the thread after lurking for months!

That sounds terrifying @LadyCatStark.

We finally got our pup last week. We’re on night 5. She’s as good as gold through the day and as long as we take her out every time she wakes, drinks or eats there’s no accidents🤞🏻.

I spent last night sleeping on the floor next to her (empty) crate with her curled up beside me. Your post gave me hope though @Fooshufflewickjbannanapants. Where does your pup sleep? We have a crate and pen set up downstairs. She’s happy to spend time in it through the day and falls asleep in it no problem, but when she wakes up through the night she howls and claws at the cage. We’re all off at the moment, so I’m on nightshift and the kids do day shift. Thankfully once they’re up I can go back to bed for a nap!

@MazzleDazzle with our dpup I slept on the sofa with her in the crate right next to me for two weeks so easy to get her up in the night she normally slept 10-4am then back asleep til 7. We have a super comfy sofa or id or just had her upstairs with us from the off and brought her down.

Then we moved her crate up in our room near the bed and she sleeps through 10-630 mostly the odd 530 get up but back to sleep afterwards.

@tizwozliz we do that with our yak bars! Dragonfly products are very reasonable and last ages. We also put them in the freezer at night which seems to help
Our pups favourite thing at the moment as she’s teething