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 🤬😡😭.

I've heard similar horror stories about robot vacuums. We've just got one and the dog basically chases it around and thinks it's some sort of creature. It's fine if she is supervised, but definitely not to be left on when I am out of the house....

Wow some horror poop stories - so sorry you had that!

Mine thinks the hoover is the most fun toy so runs around trying to bite it.

Currently enforcing naps, he’s getting overtired most days and then gets really bitey and jumpy. I’ve put him in his crate and letting him whinge for 10 minutes to see if that’ll make him sleep! I hate the crying but telling myself it’s for his own good……..

ChenPup is very excited by the hoover and mop - he jumps around in front of them, barking away with his wagging furiously, then tries to leap on them. I have to put him behind the pen with a sprat otherwise I can’t get anything done!

@GuyFawkesDay what bag have you got? I need ti explore this as made the mistake of doing a white wash of school shirts after washing dog bed and towels... cue black hairs on school shirts

Just a quick thanks for all the advice last week about things for muddypup to chew - I received a parcel of animal body parts at the weekend, along with an olive wood stick, and they're all going down very well (although the bull's unmentionables stink to high heaven).

@Aria20 Amazon special dog washing bag, comes with two fur magnet things you put in the bag which the fur sticks to then you rinse them off.

Billy rolled in a dead seagull at the sand dunes today and he stinks 😭. He’s had a bath in fox poo shampoo and doggy deodorant from the same company and I’m sure he smells worse now! DH is already constantly complaining about the dog smell even though I Hoover and clean all the time!

I am making my first batch of dog soap tonight. Going to try and get a 🦊💩 neutralising scent mix together.

I've washed every sodding thing under the sun today. Day off, my arse.

@GuyFawkesDay if you perfect the recipe then please let me know what it is! DH is doing my head in with his complaining.

@CovoidOfAllHumanity

That sounds about right

He will do the exercises quite nicely for sausages but in between when the lady is explaining what's next he keeps up a constant level of whinging with occasional barking which must piss everyone else off.
Other peoples dogs sit at their feet looking up at them whereas mine is straining at the end of the lead barking at the other dogs. It is really quite embarrassing.

This is exactly what my pup does! Doesn’t help that there is THE most obedient boarder collie puppy there, so we look even worse by comparison. We’re still on the first puppy class but the last session is next week and they were discussing moving onto the bronze award next. I asked if we should wait a while to see if he calms down a bit, and if we’d get kicked out as he is at the minute, but the lady laughed and said he wasn’t the worst they’d had! 😂 So that made me feel a bit better!

@GuyFawkesDay I’ve been told that tomato ketchup can help with the smell of fox poo. Luckily not had to test it out yet, but have some in just in case!

We have to put the pup in another room when the hoover is going round. He barks so loudly at it (at most things at the minute, but that’s another thing to work on). Avoided using it for the last few days as the barking is too much some times. but had to bite the bullet today as he seems to be shedding so much this week. Hoping it’s just a phase/time of year thing, as he’s not really shed much before now.

Ketchup does indeed neutralise fox poo but it's not exactly an easy thing to do, wrestling a wet dog and a bottle of ketchup

No, probably not!

Re the shedding, I definitely think it's a time of year thing. Mine is absolutely awful at the moment. There is hair everywhere.

Puppy class bronze KC last night. Sweet Jesus. She was SO badly behaved, marauding around. The ex police fellas were just like, errr, yeah, time to use a Halti and rein that doggo in :) DD and I were both quite pleased with this as again made me feel that perhaps it's not totally our training failures and she is indeed a 'spirited' dog :)

He also said that, no matter what you do, some very energetic, playful, working line puppies need a firmer hand and a short spell on a halti to break the pulling habit. It sort of feels like cheating and I know it's frowned on but I've genuinely had enough and someone is going to get injured - probably me! And she is getting very firm but kind instruction over the half term with a bit of old-fashioned respect for her place in the household drilled into her :) Again, absolutely not current thinking and I do know the dominance thing has been debunked.... but two separate experienced, positive reinforcement trainers have now said to me that she is basically d*cking us around and making her own games up by running away and disregarding our cues and, essentially, needs to be told very firmly, 'no'!

Is it a working golden retriever you have @Goawayangryman ?

Dad is a working dog yep. Mum, show. Definitely more working!

She is highly intelligent but not particularly biddable nor could she give a shiny one about food - which is a challenging combination!

@Goawayangryman every dog is different I think. Some will respond to positive reinforcement and some won’t. Exactly the same as children, some you can “talk down” others don’t respond to that. Listen to your behaviouralists/trainers and do what’s best for you. For example I remember everyone telling me that if Blahpup was nippy to essentially squeal and stop play. Didn’t work for him, he thought it was all good fun. So I resorted to putting him out the room as he craves attention the most.

Yeah, I've totally given myself over to the trainers now, I am just going to do as I'm told in the hope that the dog will, too!

How old is she now @Goawayangryman - 6/7 months was definitely the most difficult stage for us?

7 months on the nose...

Freedom day for us today. Blahpup went for first proper walk this morning to the bus stop for school pick up. Much fun had sniffing absolutely everything in sight. Pulled on the lead so much it felt like I was trying to restrain a tiger. On the plus side he has slept for the last 2 hours which is a big change considering he appears to have a daytime insomnia.

Hurrah for your walk!! And the sleep, I’m hoping we experience the same in a few weeks

That's great @Blahblahblah40 the world is now your oyster :) and long may he sleep.