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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

@BaconAndAvocado what a lovely lad he is growing up to be.

My pup is almost 7 months now. Commiserations with everyone on lead walking. Mine can walk absolutely beautifully most of the time, but occasionally he will lose his mind and pull for all he's worth. I've taught him "with me" which means he's supposed to stay at my side. When he pulls forward I stop and say, "With me." It's very cute to see him shuffle backwards until he's next to me. Of course, I'd prefer it if he would just stay by my side the whole time. . .

We probably weren't being as strict as we should have been with lead walking when we were on holiday with my parents. We just use a stop go approach, no moving forward with tension on the lead, but it's difficult to stick to if you're walking with other people.

LostFrog
Yes he is already a big, heavy boy.
Think he's going to be of the stocky persuasion as an adult dog though hopefully not too rotund, as Labs often can be!

Thanks all, I've already picked up some ideas re lead walking on here 🙏🏻

@certainshepherdpups we use "with me" too as our trainer didn't like "heel" she def knows with me means walk next to me but when we get near to the park or woods etc she anticipates being let off the lead and starts to pull forwards to get there quicker!

I will try with me.
I looked like the worst dog owner at school pick up today cos he was going nuts about 2 girl dogs. Pulling and barking and going crazy.
So embarrassing.

He has had hormone injection but takes 6 weeks to kick in, I really hope it does. He's not marking as much.

18 weeks today ! Absolute gorgeous but teething ++ and like a baby shark atm.... ouch. So many teething toys but mostly wants to chew hands and arms.

@cheeseisthebest has your had chemical castration? I'd be interested to find out how you get on if so as considering it for FawkesPup

@GuyFawkesDay what a good pup!

SPup pulls HORRENDOUSLY given any chance. He lulls me into a false sense of security by walking to heel beautifully.. then suddenly, as soon as I relax/blink/breathe he lunges his 30kg mass to catch leaf/butterfly/tumbleweed and I nearly land in a muddy pile on the floor. Tbh it's only a matter of time and in fact he did take me out by running full pelt at the back of my knees. I was walking past a very serious man with a superb off-lead heeling spaniel at the time. The worst thing was he didn't even comment on me laying prone on the floor. Ha!

SPup went out with the dog walker today for his first big boy walk with the self proclaimed 'frantic Friday teenager group'. From the videos I was sent he had a great time and it meant I had a day off from walking duties.

@Didiplanthis what a cutie!

@cheeseisthebest how old is your pup? Do they have to be of castration age? I am also interested to hear how that goes.
SPup is a goldie and I understand that they shouldn't be neutered until 18 -24 months, if at all. Apparently there is increased joint issues from neutering too young with his breed.

[quote GuyFawkesDay]@cheeseisthebest has your had chemical castration? I'd be interested to find out how you get on if so as considering it for FawkesPup[/quote]
Yes about 3 weeks ago. He's been absolutely fine, will get him done when it runs out.

He's 7 and half months, he's a shih tzu so small. They would castrate him at 6 months but I preferred doing this just to see how he gets on. It takes 6 weeks to kick in properly and lasts 6 months so could get him castrated about 13 months old.

@cheeseisthebest I hadn’t even heard of chemical castration until recently. Is it a good way to delay the op? I know Mac pup has to be neutered at 12 months to keep going to our doggy daycare but not done anything about it yet as he’s only 7 months.

Our lead walking is ok. I find he walks nicer on the harness than he does on collar, but think that’s because I’ve taught him on harness and not collar. Not tried the slip lead much as want to make that a transition to heel walking only.

He’s had a cut paw this week so at least we haven’t been far since his deer escapades 🤦🏼‍♀️. Got myself a new book to start working through but then got a bit despondent last night as it’s very working gundog focused and talking about not walking dogs so you’re building no negative experiences with behaviours. We’re way beyond that and also don’t want to work him, just want focus and to be able to use his drive rather than him being self employed 😂

@Didiplanthis so beautiful! What is he like with the chasing smaller dogs/cats/etc? I have heard they have insane prey drives and the only whippets/greyhounds I see around here are always on the lead so am intrigued. What chews are you using - we are entering teething territory and they all seem so expensive (the edible ones anyway)!

Here he is. Sleeping. I'll try to get one of him awake later. He really is the perfect pup 🥰

Oh, meant to post this on my thread I started, well anyway, I think I'd quite like to join this thread. Whatisthispup is just 8 weeks old and has been here since yesterday evening. Just one accident, and is settling in well, and is rather lovely

Lovely dog pics all!

@Goawayangryman your doggo is the spit of our gorgeous 11 month old lab/ golden retriever cross only ours has a blacker nose. Ours is also drawn to mud!

He is very cute @whatisthisinhere!

There’s a couple here who are walking their chocolate lab bitch who is in heat around the prime dog walking spot in our village in the middle of the day 😡. Billy has gone running up to her twice now. The first was my fault as (obviously) I didn’t realise she was in heat so I thought I’d be able to recall him and the second time they were coming into our field via one gate while we were going into theirs via the other. I didn’t think he’d bother as he’s usually out of sight, out of mind but he ran back into the first field after her. I put him on his lead and he wouldn’t move until she’d gone into yet another field (which is actually the park and the main focal point of the village) and even then he tried to run after her. They’ve been very nice about it but FFS, why would you do that? Some other people have mentioned that their dogs have been going crazy at the park and running off and we think it’s her scent that’s driving them mad.

You shouldn't feel that your dog was in the wrong @LadyCatStark. Really odd they would take her out knowing there were other dogs about. Our dog has just finished her first season. We felt quite paranoid about staying away from other dogs. We stuck to very isolated spots, quiet times and kept her on the lead. It also coincided with her ripping her paw/ claw so then we were stuck inside for a few days anyway.

Silly of them really unless they are hoping for a mating! I stuck to pavement walks for 4 weeks and crossed over or changed direction if I saw another dog coming just incase!

Managed to get a full row of crochet done today before this one started demanding belly rubs

@whatisthisinhere cute puppy! The early days are so much fun, though of course challenging in their way.

My pup has been a bit stubborn the past couple of days. Adolescence, probably. He is generally very food motivated and willing to do anything for a treat, but a few times lately he has just looked at me as though weighing whether it’s really worth it to do as I ask. It’s funny and annoying in equal measure!

I had an unsettling experience on our walk today. AwesomePup spotted another dog (a greyhound) and lay down to wait for me. I popped him on his lead and we walked past the greyhound who was also on his lead. Something about my pup must have annoyed the other dog as he attacked mine 😩. I tried to pull mine away but his collar came off. The other dog had mine pinned to the ground and mine was making very distressed noises. The other owner pulled hers away and mine ran away (not far and he came straight to me for cuddles to calm down). The whole thing took no more than seconds, my dog is not injured in any way, the other owner was incredibly apologetic and looked just as shaken up as I was, she gave us her address and asked me to let her know if mine was injured so she could pay for any treatment. I'm still thinking about it a couple of hours later (I'm sure the other owner is also still thinking about it), but pup is contentedly sleeping on his bed.

@MsAwesomeDragon oh no poor pup and poor you. Must have been worrying and quite scary. Thankfully yours wasn't hurt. There is a similar thread on dog house at the mo about other entire male pups/dogs being attacked by neutered dogs so it could be that?