Puppy Survival Thread: surviving into 2022

[LadyCatStark]

The other thread is full and I can’t see a new one! Hope it’s OK to start one. I’m actually barely surviving puppyhood, actually teenagerhood, this week 🤬😡😭.

Hi everyone can I join!?
This is my new baby Eddie the sprocker spaniel. He's currently 3 days old so awhile till we get him but we are all so excited! Can't wait to have a cheeky pup in the house again 💙

So tiny. The waiting is the worst part. We first met our pup when she was just under 4 weeks and the 4 weeks after that seemed to take forever

He’s gorgeous @looneylou201! It’s the longest wait - it feels like forever until you get them home. I remember having sleepless nights in the lead up to ChenPup coming here, veering from the night before Christmas excitement I had as a child to terror, thinking ‘what the f am I doing’! It’s definitely worth it, but do be prepared for sleepless nights, a LOT of wee and poo, and complete chaos!

@looneylou201 oh wow. Sooooo tiny!

Re Millie's, we've had the countryside mix which was roundly rejected. I thought I'd do my own resarch so I nibbled a bit myself and it tastes quite.... yeasty, a bit like marmite or something! We don't use puppy food either, I just buy the adult stuff. I have a feeling it's a bit of a marketing swizz although I know young pups do need slightly different nutrient balances to older dogs.

I'm struggling with ours, not so much because of her, but because I've got some... weird thing following bronchitis, off to GP tomorrow but I just can't wrestle with her ATM. Thankfully she is quite sleepy currently.

Puppy class tonight with the giant, well-behaved older dogs - luckily DD is in charge of the actual hoiking tonight.

My battle this week is trying to make myself more interesting than other dogs, so running around the park with a luminous green green snake and awful squeaky donut. He was perfect and recalled away from other dog’s on both walks but it was bloody hard work and I was more exhausted than him at the end!

Still really struggling with mouthing - he’s fine with everyone else now but I still seem to be the target. Drew blood (again ) earlier. Any tips?

Also our next door neighbours have ripped the fence out (obviously helpfully not telling us timescales or anything!) so having to put the pup on a lead every time he wants to go for a wee . He’s been very good all day but I am slightly worried it might put back his (now 98% perfect!) toilet training.

No tips, but our trainer said that the person they feel the most comfortable with is most likely to be mouthed if that makes you feel any better?

We went through a stage at around 6 months where pup was quite bad with me only, I had to be very careful with a lot of the games they tell you to do to make yourself more interesting as they frequently resulted in pup latching on to my wrists. Once my only escape was taking off my sweatshirt in the garden with pup still latched onto a sleeve and running inside! It was a real balancing act between getting her to engage with me and just totally losing her mind.

@looneylou201 oh bless a tiny new pup! We met ours at 5 weeks old but we couldn't bring her home until 10 weeks as she had a hernia they operated on before coming home to us it was a long wait

@Handsfullofholes haha I can picture it as I've been there.... waving her old favourite squirrel tug toy around like a nutter and she still ran off after the other dogs making me look a right mug

Mac pup is in the bad books. He ate a wee covered sock of DS’s 🤬. It was my fault as I tried to tempt him to drop it by throwing a treat he then scoffed the sock so he could dive on the treat 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Off to the vets we went for him to vomit it up.

Oh dear, naughty puppy!!

FawkesPup has had us in fits today, he's got a new piggy toy, which oinks. He's carried it round all day and played with it non stop with little quiet oink oink noises constantly going. Then as soon as DH on work call really loud oinks 🤣🤣🤣🤣

What breed is your dog, handsfullofholes? Some are definitely mouthier than others. If it's a breed characteristic, it can be an absolute bugger to train them out of. #formerkelpieowner

I think my dog might need that piggy toy, @GuyFawkesDay.

@Handsfullofholes my lab is still a monkey for mouthing. We basically now say "get your toy" and he wanders off to find a toy. But he still does it again later😩

@tizwozliz that does make me feel slightly better bizarrely! It also makes me feel better that it’s not just me being attacked during engagement games! He got my wrist in the park earlier and has ripped so many pairs of jeans.

@Aria20 I had that today, a poor bloke with a pug was staring like I was utterly mad, whooping and rustling this bloody snake in the grass - he did come back though

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog he’s a working cocker, so living up to the cockerdile nickname! I’m not sure if it’s technically a breed characteristic but that’s interesting… He’s much better than he was but it’s very taxing when he does something brilliant then full on attack of the shark teeth…..

@TheBigMacDougal poor you! (And Mac pup)

@GuyFawkesDay 😂 his pig toy sounds fab! I had an interview for a promotion at work over Teams last week (and I got it 😃) and Billy decided to pop in and start chewing his honking duck right at the end 😂.

@autienotnaughty mine exactly the same. Still mouthy but will fetch a toy on command, and knows 2 or 3 by name.

@LadyCatStark I think it's a similar noise. It's just a pets at home one but I couldn't resist it

@autienotnaughty that’s a good idea, he does know bring a toy, I’ll try it and see how we get on!

The puppy is eleven weeks old and moulting away already. I thought I'd try a grooming glove but this is viewed as a particularly appetising chewtoy, which makes me feel like a falconer with a gauntlet and a particularly bitey (and fluffy) bird of prey.😬

Will be taking the pup to Pets At Home on Friday and will be looking out for a toy like that. Desperately need a bit of oinking to enliven my meetings.

I know he is a little dream! Anyone got any puppy must haves for me? Starting to buy bits in now 💙🐶

Looney the time-consuming bit is clearing away anything you don't want chewed or choked on from puppy-level. Lead, collar, bowl, whatever food the pup has been fed since weaning, puppy pads if you want. A bed for the dog to ignore, I suppose.

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog we have the 'brush viewed as a toy' issue. we get around it by having two brushes. One for chewing, one for brushing. she likes to swap them over mid-brush. Because the other one is obviously much more interesting.

That is a genius idea @Goawayangryman. My pup always wants to chew the brush but I never thought of using two.

Best not to get absolutely everything straightaway. A trip to the pet store and putting pup in a trolley is an excellent trip out whilst they're too young for walks still so save some of your purchases for those trips!

Fab idea. Not sure if it'll work with little Cerberus but worth a shot.

Feel like I’m going to be in the loony bin soon… last vaccination today and Blahpup has been an absolute horror since. Nipped DC so had to enforce a time out. Feeling awful mum-guilt as he looked so sad. 🥺
Also feel like the puppy biting will never ever end. My slippers can’t sustain much more!

@Blahblahblah40 once you are out walking he will get much better, just hold in there! I honestly spent loads of days crying having been bitten before we could go out for walks .

Now he gets his two 20(?) minute walks a day he is mostly a delight - unless tired!

Did he nip DC because they accidentally touched the sore spot maybe?