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 🤬😡😭.

@Blahblahblah40 Oh that's rubbish, I totally sympathise. I'm the only adult in my house as well and it does make things trickier. Here are some things I did to get around this:

Bung pup. Find a good petrol station. Park car outside, with pup inside where you can keep an eye. Turn off car alarm but lock doors. No good if you don't have a car of course, and no good for anything other than getting supplies!

Pay someone to babysit her for a few hours. Found them on rover.com. Might not work if you're not in a very dense urban area or money is really tight.

Deliveroo groceries. Saved my bacon on many occasions.

All the above has added ££££ to my expenditure but has probably been worth it/ necessary.

I honestly never thought I'd be able to leave my dog, she just used to bark in such a piercing way, and so incessantly. And then suddenly, it just... stopped. I did nothing really, I think it was that she was growing up a bit, and grew in confidence. I'd take it as a good sign if your pup ever potters off to another room alone. Or even the other side of the room, away from you.

Bung pup in car although often I've wanted to bung her somewhere completely different, like in a rescue centre :)

The other thing that I have found really helps is making sure the dog gets some off-lead exercise every single day. I Imagine this is breed- and location-dependent but it definitely helps with the over-hyped behaviour. Although I gather for some dogs too much exercise makes them worse.

It. Will. Get. Better.

I've started to think of puppy rearing as a bit like baby-rearing. There are so many supposed rules, absolutes, things you should never do, must do, endless.... in the end, most turn out pretty ok, and a lot of it is to do with growing up and maturing.

Last week, in the middle of a storm with a (turns out) sick, anxious pup away from home I was ready to cry. This week everything seems much easier. This too will pass.

That’s very true, @Goawayangryman . Just like when you have a baby, you read all these books/watch YouTube videos, and everything is made to look so easy . There were these daft Kikopup videos where the woman was demonstrating with a ready-trained chihuahua - sorry, mate, some of us have boisterous 15kg chaps flying through the air at us! Also there are fashions and suddenly there is an about turn and plenty of people ready to have a pile-on and tell others how evil and dreadful their methods are.

When I had old dog I was harangued on here for letting puppy in the garden . All the rage then was keeping a puppy crated all the time and frog-marching them outside for a quick toilet trip every so often. Any self-respecting puppy would object to that!

When I had old dog I was harangued on here for letting puppy in the garden confused . All the rage then was keeping a puppy crated all the time and frog-marching them outside for a quick toilet trip every so often. Any self-respecting puppy would object to that!*

Descended fronpp0

whoops, puppy attack and posted too soon.

Descended from wolves but supposed to be kept in a crate at all times. Reckon.

Arf at the idea of keeping a bouncy 5kg 8 week old gundog caged and frog-marching them out for a wee on a lead.

Re Kikopup, we ditched one set of classes because the trainer brought this teeny, tiny highly obedient border terrier with her. She said it was 12 weeks old but I'm now confident this was an outrageous lie . Her sole goal seemed to be to make everyone feel inadequate. My daughter loathed her! She had this little dog sitting on a chair, off lead, waiting patiently, whilst all the other puppies bounced around, sniffed each others' bums, and peed on the floor.

Laughing a lot at the idea of keeping puppies in a crate at all times, mine can just about do 10 seconds when he wakes up before all hell breaks loose 😂

@Goawayangryman thank you, all fantastic tips for getting through. I think I read so much online that I start to really doubt that I’m capable of training him. I don’t have a lot of confidence. It feels a bit like having a baby and seeing how ‘together’ all the other mums are when you reach your baby group!

I do wonder if they have developmental leaps the same as babies and are worse when that’s happening?

No way in hell this pup would be in a crate longer than 15 mins. He LOATHES it when the door to the crate is closed. Hence the stair gate which I can just about get away with. I’m just going to ride it out for now and see how we go the next few weeks. Hopefully it is just an age thing and he will get past it all eventually. He’s been a good boy so far today, really quiet and slept after his walk.

Not a good day here. I foolishly decided to let the pup off his lead in an area with people and dogs, as he had been making so much progress. He went wild with the freedom and would not recall. I know it was entirely my fault and I'm sure that everyone thought I was the worst dog owner in the world. The pup is truly a delight but I stupidly put him into a situation he wasn't ready for. He is an adolescent now and seems to have forgotten everything he could do previously. I'm trying to chalk it up to experience but I feel quite discouraged TBH.

@certainshepherdpups I’m sure no one thought that. In fact, I bet they have all been there. We met a beautiful Staffie off his lead in the woods today, owner was calling and calling but he was far too interested in Blahpup and the other two dogs milling about to even care! Thankfully he was a lovely big boy and just sniffed, but just wanted to tell you so you maybe feel you’re not alone. His owner probably felt exactly the same as you!

@certainshepherdpups

Not a good day here. I foolishly decided to let the pup off his lead in an area with people and dogs, as he had been making so much progress. He went wild with the freedom and would not recall. I know it was entirely my fault and I'm sure that everyone thought I was the worst dog owner in the world. The pup is truly a delight but I stupidly put him into a situation he wasn't ready for. He is an adolescent now and seems to have forgotten everything he could do previously. I'm trying to chalk it up to experience but I feel quite discouraged TBH.

They were 100% sympathetic and relieved it wasn't their dog showing them up for once.

@certainshepherdpups mine has started doing this again and she's 1! I thought she'd outgrown the teenage phase but obviously not!

Just catching up on this thread....good to see that the other pups are still being 'spirited' as it makes me feel like I'm not alone with ChenPup and his shenanigans! Big un-MNetty hugs to you all out there.

Thanks @Stretchandsnap for that advice re dealing with the separation anxiety, I'm going to give that a try. I have noticed he's starting to take himself off to other areas of the house for a snooze or a look out of the window, so I'm hoping that this might be the start of him being less velcro-like - it's only if I leave the room he starts whingeing.

I completely agree about it being like having children - there's so much conflicting advice and most other dog owners seems to know what they're doing, whereas I feel like I haven't got a clue. I seem to spend my life watching puppy rearing Youtube videos these days! I did feel marginally better last night on our walk - we met a 15 week old Great Dane who has decided that she doesn't like walking and her owner had taken 20 minutes to walk a distance that normally takes 5 minutes. Then we met a very excitable 6 month old Hungarian vizsla who was desperate to say hello to ChenPup - the 2 of them had a good old sniff and a jump around in front of each other. The owner commented on how calm ChenPup was - which shows just how bouncy hers was, because CP is mental.

I have a poorly up. Up since 4am, no obvious stomach upset but she's intermittently crying and has yelped when we've examined her tummy. She's finally been to the toilet and now seems more comfortable, the vets have said to leave her for now and if she's still not right this afternoon bring her in.

Worrying for you, terrier. Paws crossed.

A glorious morning. Pup less nervous of the other dogs she met on her walk today. Recall non-existent in public still!

Really hope pups ok terrier xx

Freedom day for us! Feels like we’ve been at home forever……. DC and I went to our local NT place, managed a walk and a hot choc outside at the cafe and even walked past the ducks. He really enjoyed it, no nerves at all, totally random zig zag walking obviously but overall a success! Saw one other dog who he had a little sniff of but that was it.

Sounds like a great first walk @Autumn101

I did a lot of visiting places when pup was little where I could have a 20 minute walk followed by a coffee and some people watching.

Major progress here this morning. Went for our usual walk and he only pulled on the way home. Then I managed to make it out to the car to get things out the boot and clean the entire kitchen while Blahpup just stayed in his bed and snoozed. He also slept from 10:30pm to 7am last night! Am starting to wonder if good sleep improves the mood of these velcro puppers?! Also been really consistent the last few days with putting him in his room whenever I have to do anything at his height, go upstairs, answer the door. He’s been raging but I think forcing the separation from me has worked.

Great news Blah 👍👍

How is your pup so calm around the ducks, Autumn?! Mine is utterly fixated on them.😁

That's great you've finally got our @Autumn101 - sounds like a great day! I'm also amazed and impressed at his calmness around the ducks, mine would have imploded with excitement!

@Blahblahblah40 - do you just let him rage? DH keeps saying I'm too soft on CP and he needs to be left to just bark and whine.

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog

• if I remember correctly your dog is a herding breed. Their default behaviour around moving animals is going to be quite different to other breeds. From the day we brought her home, Ada was content to sit and watch birds. I'd love to pretend it was down to my excellent training but it's just her nature.

I have no idea how he was so calm as he’s normally a whirling bundle of excitement! I don’t know whether maybe it was just as it was his first time out so there was so much to see and sniff?! Ask me again in a week and it may be different 😂

@SirChenjins I didn’t let him at first because he was really annoyed. But I was sticking with it even if he barked. Just put him behind the gate and stood. Then if quiet a treat. Lots of walking past and treating whenever quiet. Also invested £££ in long lasting chews on Monday morning and givinbfgthem in his room which were buying me 15 mins. For some reason yesterday and today he hasn’t been barking anymore, but still been whining intermittently. Have noticed that he whines more if I got into the living room. If I go upstairs he whines but eventually stops and goes back to bed. Kitchen and bathroom are fine, he is quiet then. He obviously has FOMO re: the living room!