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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

@MazzleDazzle he sleeps in a dog bed in our room but also has our Newfie for company so hasn't really been sad as such more needing a wee wake up.

Oh my word, so scary that Billy made a break for it! Hope you've got some Christmas gin for your nerves!!!

FawkesPup has started being a toad today. Think we might have his sensory overload after last few days so trying to keep him quiet and "normal". Which has been great but today he's been hyper/bitey in the house in between big snorey naps so I think the overload is right. Chewed Christmas cards, stolen the teatowel and shredded it, "asking" for play with bites.... my god, they're crap at knowing they need to rest!!!! Argh!!!

My goodness @LadyCatStark that sounds awful. I hope you've managed to calm down by now and that the rest of the day has been easier.

I feel quite lucky that AwesomePup hasn't done anything like that yet (I don't want to tempt fate though). He's doing really well with recall at the minute, mainly because he knows he gets Primula if he comes back when called. He did steal a football today, from a small group of boys playing on the field near us. I shouted for him when I spotted him going for it, but he was too close and brought it back with him. I had to apologise a lot to the boys, as it was a Christmas present he'd stolen😳

I resorted to standing in the playpen to get away from my pup for a few minutes today after she got bitey and manic, running around and under the furniture, and didn't pay a blind bit of attention when I said 'no' . She did a poo shortly after (outside thankfully) and is now sleeping on my legs. What a roller-coaster...

Visiting a new beach or forest everyday has caught up with her, rest day tomorrow when we drive home

Thanks everyone, it was very scary although in Billy’s defence he was only going to the shops.

Our friends now have another dog round and are rubbing our noses in how good he is. Way to make us feel absolutely shit.

@LadyCatStark that sounds so scary! I hope you are ok. Shame about the visit cut short. I am hopelessly sensitive about other peoples opinions and being judged and I would have found that very difficult. I think you are very brave to have taken him in the first place. We had people over yesterday and I was tearful beforehand because I was so anxious that Frogdog would be naughty and ruin it.

I seem to be going through some sort of PND. If this is puppy blues it is 100 times worse than I expected. Have gone from run down and bit weepy to full on panic attacks, I actually feel like I can’t breathe at times. I feel utterly utterly shit. Sorry, probably not the place for that, just had to get that out!

God I felt like that! The anxiety and sheet panic about WTF I had done bringing this mad puppy onto the house. It passes, I promise. Even when the little shit digs up your flower bed and them jumps muddy pawprints all over the sodding furniture 😩

I didn't sleep last night feeling so anxious about how difficult my puppy was last night. Hugs to all of you, its tough xx

@cheeseisthebest that’s rough. My family are also not dog people which makes it really difficult as they don’t know how to behave around him. Also my FIL has been a nightmare because he is all hyper and silly with him and gets him all excited and barky. He’s a springer fgs. He’s already excited, by default!

We brought dDog to stay with my parents for Christmas. They have a big house in the country and I thought we would all enjoy it.
He coped with the journey really well with no whining in the car.

However when we got there it was a different story and the first night I was in tears worried that he would ruin Christmas for everyone. He was just soooo excited and could not settle at all exactly like his first night in our house but worse because theirs is not puppy proof so I had to follow him around everywhere. He barked and whined and jumped up and scrabbled at doors which are not things he does at home. At bedtime we took him in with us and he kept me awake half the night jumping up and down off the bed and scratching the carpet.
My parents are used to dsis bombproof older dog who they love and in comparison mine looked like a huge marauding idiot. DD, who loves the dog, was really sad about what an idiot he was being too.
Nightmare.

After a few days here though he is fine again. Settling down in front of the fire, lying down not begging at mealtimes, enjoying being fussed nicely and generally being pretty chilled. We had planned to come in the week before Christmas but DS got a positive Covid test so it was touch and go if we could come at all and we wound up arriving Christmas Eve. I think if I had been able to do plan A things would have been fine.
I am not going to try and go away with the dog again for a long time though.

Mine was generally good Christmas Day with the extra people and dogs here, she did bark when she was shut in another room at dinner time as couldn't leave her in front room with the other dogs as she's bigger and if she jumped on the frail little old dog she'd break his leg. She was on her own for 4 hours Boxing Day and she slept most of it after a walk by the river in the morning, I think she enjoyed the peace after a crazy houseful on Xmas day.

But yesterday she was a right pain!! Barking loads for attention, counter surfing she managed to eat a small segment of a chocolate orange, luckily no ill effects! She finds it much harder to settle when all the kids are at home and her behaviour is poor so then DH moans about her. They were getting on better when he was working from home while the kids were at school as he saw how calm she normally is during the day and she was sleeping under his desk etc but now he's back to resenting her barking and being a pain...

That sounds tough @CovoidOfAllHumanity. Glad he’s settled now though. We’ve been invited to stay with my DSIS over New Year, but I think we’ll give it a miss.

Our pup slept in her crate with the door closed from 10:30pm - 6am! . I feel like a new woman after a full night’s sleep.

For lots of reasons, she’s not allowed upstairs, so bedrooms are out of bounds. We used a baby monitor the first few nights and came down to settle her when she stirred. Worked well, but getting up half a dozen times through the night was taking its toll - on me! Switched to sleeping downstairs in the same room as her and she’s much more settled.

We actually had an ok Christmas and Boxing Day. It was the first time being in a new house with an older dog (parents greyhound) but we had prepared as much as possible by taking them on short walks together and short periods in the house.

@LostFrog we had the same with my dad getting pup all excited luckily only one incident of too tired biting and it was my hand so not too much of a drama.

My 86 year old grandad still thinks he’s “a bit busy” though

FawkesPup has had a really good fox poo roll this morning. He stinks.
I've ketchup massaged, shampoo'd and repeated. He still stinks 🤢🤢

He also went in the field ditch, had massive zoomies and then jumped up so my legs were covered in ditch water and muddy paw prints.

I look so elegant on my dog walks 🙈

Hugs to all with overwhelmed pups. It's such a hard time for them, they don't understand at all. I am hopeful of less counter surfing, paper stealing and other annoying habits

Merry Christmas all! I haven't been on here in a while but thought I'd check in. We have a lab/ golden retriever x, 10 months old now and the best dog in the world. Also the most bouncy energetic dog in the world though calming down some recently. Just reading through some of the posts reminded me of my not quite puppy blues or maybe it was, but an overwhelming almost crushing feeling of the huge responsibility I had taken on by bringing a puppy into our lives. I almost felt quite panicky about it. Good news is I've calmed down about it now. I know she is fit and well. She has all the walks, cuddles, games, stimulation she needs to be healthy and happy and a large part of that is DH pulling his weight more and the fabulous doggy daycare she goes to where she gets to play with other dogs and two off lead walks a day. The cats have also settled down so that has relived my guilt about bringing her into our home. So, for any of you still in the early days or months struggling with bitey pups and puppy blues it really does get a whole lot better!

@GuyFawkesDay my spaniel also loves a ditch thankfully I am spared the jumping up but I still end up muddy trying to clean her and get her in the car lol. My garden is like a bloody swamp at the moment I hate it!

Yep, mine too @Aria20 and added spaniel mining in one border too 🙄

Moving his royal numptiness to travelling in the crate in the boot now he's ok in the car. Will give it a go later. The one we had upstairs is a travel crate anyway so he will be fine and dandy in there with an old towel on the base.

@GuyFawkesDay yep she's in a crate in boot with old towels but it's a big suv so I have to lift her in and out of the boot so still get muddy myself. Today we have sideways rain and high winds so we haven't ventured out for a walk yet, waiting for a dry spell.

@GuyFawkesDay zooming through the field ditch is one of Billy’s favourite things to do too.

It’s a beautiful day today and Billy enjoyed a swim in one of the ponds near our house. He tried the going the shop thing (which is still closed) and I said “Where’s Dad? Find him!” And he trotted off home 😂.

@Aria20 my review (and Billy’s) review of the nerf duck is that it’s not good! I couldn’t manage to “ping” it although DS was able to when he tried it out in the house and it needs 2 hands which you just don’t have when juggling a lead, poo bag, treats etc. Billy wasn’t fussed about it either, he ended up leaving in at the entrance to one field and we collected it on the way back 🙈.

@LadyCatStark well at least I know not to bother with that one then!

We found a mountain of leaves to jump through oh what fun she's had!

Can't beat a leaf pile! We hide the tennis ball in the undergrowth/leaves and do "find it" which gives hours of fun

Back home after eight days away. Not sure if pup pleased to be home or not. Two less people to get fusses off here. Slept all the way home in the car apart from a quick wee stop (3.5 hours). Think she'll be playing catchup a bit on naps over the next few days, she def wasn't sleeping so much whilst we were away.

Real test is going to be if we can get her to sleep downstairs on her own tonight.

Currently away with family, they have a 9.5 week old pup and it's been...intense. TerrorPup has been absolutely excellent, playful but so gentle despite this pup virtually fitting in her mouth. I forgot how utterly life consuming a small pup is. And how sharp teeth are.