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 🤬😡😭.

Ada was 'only' 23kg last month when she was weighed. People always think she is much bigger from photos and are surprised when they meet her in the flesh as she is smaller than they expect

@LadyCatStark that sounds very stressful. Though it seems the other dog owners were in large part to blame. I'm sure all the hours of training you have put in are not in vain. It's just adolescence when they all lose their minds for a while but in most cases they eventually remember their training. Cold comfort when you're going through it, I know.

My pup had his first trial session at day care today. He did very well despite his initial hesitation. He made friends with a bulldog in his group and they had a great time playing. For the next few months there will be a couple of days each week when DH and I would have to leave him home alone for about 2 hours so I plan to try the day care instead. He has actually been fine on his own for about an hour and a half but he's such a social guy I think he would prefer day care. We'll try it for a day next week and see how it goes. He's 7 months now.

Yay glad I found this thread - I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

We have an Italian greyhound and we're on night 5. 1st night I slept on floor in living room and he slept on me all night. Night 2 slept in his crate all night! Then 3rd night we put him in thinking we'd nailed it screamed the house down so of course I ended up on the sofa. Then last night my back was killing so I just gave in and brought him next to my bed (averaging on one toilet trip a night but he does let me know).

Now for the first 3 days he barely ate. Day 4 it clearly caught up with him and he has been starving!!! So he's been having his biscuits soaked with bits of chicken and scrambled egg. Of course today he's had the shits. DH took him down just before we're ready to go to bed and he's missed his bad. DH fuming saying he's not allowed in our room and he will sleep in the living room with him. This was at 22.24, guarantee I will not get the night in my bed undisturbed! Good job they're cute hey..

@IggyIggyIggy aw it’s only day 4 you’ll get there. I slept on the sofa for the first two weeks so it was easy to get dpup out to the garden. Now in a crate by our bed no issues and no accidents, slept through from about 10 weeks with odd wake up but she goes to toilet then back to bed.
Your dh needs to unclench a bit or he’s going to struggle pups have accidents not their fault

When I slept on the sofa d pup was in a crate by the floor. I know crates aren’t for everyone but ours loves hers and kept her warm and safe as our house is open plan and impossible to fully pup proof

Anyone who thinks they will have to leave this thread soon, my "pup" is sixteen months and I'm still here. Granted I think she'll be an eternal puppy but I'm sticking around.

Mainly because my parents got a puppy and I briefly got broody for another. I need to be reminded how not easy it was!

We took turns sleeping in the sofa for about 2 weeks..she slept through till 6 after about 10 days. We still take a baby monitor up. The crate has been brilliant for her. She gets REALLY silly and bitey when she is tired and won't accept she needs a sleep. When she gets like this we pop her in her crate with a kong and she usually instantly crashes out for an hour or so and wakes up in a much more amenable frame of mind !

Our crate is very cozy with a cover, thick bed and close to the radiator ( whippet ! )

Promising, thanks all. I have a crate, with cover and bed and blankets all next to the radiator. I'm feeding all meals in there now he's eating as I really do want him to be crate trained going forward. I just think with him being so delicate it will be safer too. DH does need to get a grip, he lasted 8 mins before he came up telling me he couldn't do it.

Found you all!
Just took mine for a walk and once he had his poo just refused to walk. Argh! I think he's bored of our usual walk!
He's now been sniffing and barking at his brand new ostrich bone and has just run off with it.
Oh and 2 sicks this morning and he hasn't touched his food.

I also seem to have accidentally bought an enormous bone!

@TerrierOrTerror

Anyone who thinks they will have to leave this thread soon, my "pup" is sixteen months and I'm still here. Granted I think she'll be an eternal puppy but I'm sticking around.

Mainly because my parents got a puppy and I briefly got broody for another. I need to be reminded how not easy it was!

Ok you have convinced me I'll stay!!😂

@GuyFawkesDay how old is FawkesPup? I think a bit younger than Billy? Around 8 months he went through a stage of biting, not us but the bloody walls. It only lasted about a week and someone on here (@Aria20 I think) said that at that age they go through a second teething stage as their teeth settle into their gums. I think that’s what it was as a few days later he started chewing thing with his back teeth a lot.

@glassofbubbles25 thanks, you’re right, today has been a better day. I decided to take Billy to the beach instead of the field. We haven’t been in ages as I thought it would be too muddy ( we have weird sand) but it wasn’t at all and we had the whole beach to ourselves. We did see dogs from a distance on the prom and he just stopped and looked but came back when I called. Best of all, no one was in heat! I think he’s got a bit too big for his boots on the field and thinks it’s “his” and he can do what he wants. He knows it’s a safe place so doesn’t feel the need to stay close to me. He’s certainly marked the whole area as “his” anyway.

@LadyCatStark he's 7 months. I mean he could bite harder, its mouthing and play biting but jeez I'd hoped we'd be past this. The anti nail biting solution on the nails works a treat though, he doesn't like it. So hopefully he might twig hands are not for munchies!

FawkesPup is SOUND today. He's full of it, and has been on 3 short lead walks just round our small block. So far not a sign of a limp or soreness. Really hoping his is a good sign!

Good news @GuyFawkesDay! Hopefully it is on the mend. Macpup had a sore back foot and limped for nearly a week on and off, but I could see it had been cut when he first did it so just cut his exercise.

@LadyCatStark that sounds like a lovely walk! We were near the coast for Christmas and it was great on the quiet days.

Great news about fawkes pup!
What can I do about my dog just refusing to move on walks?

@TheBigMacDougal we did have fun! It’s beautiful in summer. Here he is trying to run through the puddle left behind by the tide and drink the sea water at the same time 🙈😂.

@cheeseisthebest I throw a treat a little bit in front of Billy to get him moving when he wants to go to the pet shop but can’t. No idea if it’s good advice but it works. Or I say “let’s go find Dad” or DS. Some days Dad is in favour and some days it’s DS 😂.

I did try that today, threw some treats down.
I think it's because we took our neighbours daschund with us for a walk on Sunday, he loves her so much and doesn't want to walk without her! Unfortunately she's very overweight and can't walk very far!!

@cheeseisthebest we do have that problem with our neighbours. He tries to pull to their side gate to go visiting 🙄.

We have 2 lovely old ladies in the village who give dogs gravy bones. FawkesPup makes a beeline for their driveways 🤣🤣🤣

Found you all again! Its been a while since I've been here, we had a little bit of a traumatising start to pup life when on her second or third week out in the real world she got off the lead when she was spooked by an airplane overhead and we lost her - it was only about an hour but was terrifying.

So we have spent literally months on recall training on a long line. We bit the bucket just before Christmas and let her off lead and she's been brilliant since, although a bit testing when she sees a play mate! Also had endless episodes of poorly stomach, including one over Christmas which resulted in an extortionate emergency vets bill. Good job we love her.

However now she is five months and already starting to see hints of naughtiness - she knows when she's got something she shouldn't and runs away from us. Will also jump on furniture the second we've left the room.

Here's the naughty madam in a rare quiet moment

Pup has just been weighed at the vets 24.2kg, I thought the weight gain would be slowing a bit by now.

I downloaded a free 'games to stop your dog jumping' booklet from absolute dogs today. Same old, same old - "scatter some of their food allowance on the floor before they jump/as people enter" - jumping is more fun than food for Ada!

Yup! It works for counter surfing but I am just replacing stolen food with ok food, so I can't see how it's a benefit?!!?

FawkesPup is being a bitey twat again. He veers between angelic sweetheart and possessed demon shark. Jumps up on lead and bites that again too 😩 it's like he's 12 weeks old again. Only bigger, and with larger teeth. It's all attention seeking and teenage stuff I know but it's going to be LONG few months if he has to go through surgery.

He is absolutely sound again and just a total pain in the arse, jumping onto every person and all the furniture.

Feel like I need the DogFather!!!!

@tizwozliz that wouldn't have worked for mine either as not that into food. We just make her sit and if she tries to jump fold arms or turn our back and instruct everyone to do the same....mostly she automatically sits now when anyone comes in, her tail goes mad thumping the floor though and you can see she's desperate to jump up! Sometimes she can't resist and does jump up - particularly on the kids and also my mum and dad who love dogs and don't discourage it!