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

[WomblingKnobhead]

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

We have snow here. I nearly woke pup up I was so excited for her to see it and she was still sleeping at 8am!

It's not really settled enough to be fun to play in yet but she was totally unphased at going out in it.

@tizwozliz jealous of your snow. It's just raining here but very cold!

My puppy is 6 months old today!

It's sunny but child here this morning. I think I'll take pup out to the woods to see how the trees are holding up after the wind last night. I'm currently still in bed though, as it was dh's turn to get up with pup so I'm making the most of my lie in.

We had a very sleepy night. Pup and I napped on the sofa last night and again this morning. He needed a wee at 6am but snuggled up behind my legs on the fleece blanket and was my furry hot water bottle til 8:30am.

He was very, very quick to have his wee and poo this morning in the wind and rain. Don't blame him one bit, poor lad!

He has very much enjoyed the snow we had though. Only a dusting but still enough to try and catch, eat, roll and have zoomies in. He's now shattered by this new experience plus the cold and wet and is snoring in his crate.

It’s soo windy here. I hated our morning walk but Billy loved it and ran around like a lunatic, chasing leaves and sticks. He also has a new favourite treat: crab sticks.

We haven't been out yet today weathers been horrendous and pup has been happy sleeping/chewing but will have to brave it at some point or she'll be a pain tonight!

We have been out twice!! One idiot snow based zoomies this morning and a very mucky and gusty field walk this afternoon. Than God for fleeces to keep the worst of the mud off!!

Little oik chased pheasants (on long line so wasn't far off getting him) but whistled for recall AND HE CAME BACK! He got a lot of Primula for that!!

He is so cute!!

I need to get a little fleece coat like that. So cute

I'd love an equafleece but they're expensive and these Rydale ones are easier to get on/off wriggly pups. The definitely keep the mud off tummy, chest and tops of legs. Quick hose round the bottom of legs and a towel off, job done!! And they keep the wind off. I wouldn't use them often but for really manky muddy walks and on days like today, absolutely worth £15.

He’s gorgeous GuyFawkesDay!

Freezing cold today here too. Freddy wasn’t too keen to leave the radiator and would have happily peed and pooed indoors, the rascal, but I was mean and put him in the garden. We went to a local dog field today, he had a blast while we tried to keep warm.

Oh my word what a cutie pie!!!

Yep, wees and poos have been done very fast today 😆

Such cute little pups!!!!
We were out for a couple of hours this afternoon. Several trees down in the woods, fallen over the paths we normally walk on. We had to turn back at one point and several times we had to go along much smaller paths. He had a fab time dashing around the place, jumping in the freezing cold pond and splashing for about 5 minutes. I don't think a fleece would have saved us from that level of mud, lol. He was covered!!!! Dh towelled him down outside before he was allowed into the house.

Speaking of mud…

So. Many. Muddy. Paw prints.

We aren’t even allowed outside of the garden and yet my kitchen is covered in mud.

Does anyone have a steam mop? Are they worth it and will they save me from the mud? Open to recommendations

@Handsfullofholes I have a steam mop it's good, it was about £30 on Amazon so not a big brand. But my tip is shut the other doors/gates to contain the paw prints to just the room nearest garden and have a towel ready!

Steam mops are fab if you don't have LVT or laminate flooring. Them they bugger up the glue and layers. Tiles and solid floors they're great.

I have laminate so it's spray mop for me. Great invention. Fill with hot soapy water and it dries fast

We have laminate, so we use a spray mop. But mostly we just have muddy floors 🤷

I'm not sure whether my standards are very low, or my dog is fairly clean but our floors don't seem to get muddy. Covered in leaves, and little sticks and that sort of rubbish, yes, but it all tends to be sweepable

Different fur @tizwozliz we are the same. Occasionally muddy prints if one has recently run through mud but otherwise their fur sheds the worst before they get indoors. You can towel dry and have a wet but clean towel.

So FawkesPup has his first tummy upset. No puking but very upset bum. He's absolutely 100% fine in himself and a thorough pain in the arse this morning but oh dear lord I have quite a lot to clean up in the garden this morning.

I think he's maybe eaten something rancid he shouldn't yesterday on his walks or the new chews he had the first one of have definitely disagreed with him.

Slept downstairs on the fold out bed with him so we could get to the back door quickly!!!

Off to boil rice and cook some white fish to go with it

It's snowing here!!! We've been out in it for an hour and a half. Pup discovered the joy of catching snowflakes, rolling in snow, and just generally enjoying this new experience.

Hi everyone, new here!
We have a lovely 10 week old springer, first dog. He is lovely, sleeps through at night and has done from day one, not too bitey (yet!) although some issues with barking esp at the kids. Dh is wfh and I am home by half 3 so he has plenty of company.
Just feeling a bit overwhelmed at the amount of attention he needs - I would say that he is getting at least 4 hours of play/training/games/garden time at the moment where he is interacting directly with me or dh. I guess this is all part of the bonding time but i am a bit overwhelmed and feel like I am neglecting the kids - they are not really interested in the puppy unfortunately and I don’t want to force it and make them resent him. I don’t think I realised what a long road it would be before we can get out and about with him for walks - teaching him to walk on a lead etc. Sorry for the moan, also dh away this weekend and crappy week at work so just a bit

Still no snow here but dry today so had a nice walk in country park on long line but she was listening today so hopefully we'll get there again with recall. It was very cold pup could see her breath and seemed confused by it, she also went to squat for a wee then didn't go as low as the grass was frozen lol.

@GuyFawkesDay does yours wear the fleece every walk now? Do you think he needs it for the cold or is it just for keeping worst of mud off? Pretty much every dog we saw today had a coat or fleece of some kind and I felt a bit neglectful with pup not having one...