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 think actually I have selective memory, most of our cushions have chewed corners (Ada likes to bite the corners as she humps ) and a lot of the wooden furniture has tooth marks but none of it is stuff that requires immediate replacement or can't be fixed/sanded/lived with. She's also stripped wallpaper and nibbled the edge of the carpet but that's both in areas that haven't been dealt with since we moved in and were attractive as already had loose/ripped bits.

Anyone got any tug-e-nuff toys? Sandwichpup likes jumping up at coats and wonder if it might be a distraction

I'm back after a week away here.... had bronchitis, horrible, hard to manage with a young dog and no backup but I'm out the other side now thank god!

Jealous of those of you with no chewed items. Mine is a super-chewer, although not particularly strong of jaw and strangely doesn't go for furniture. You cannot leave anything within reach, we've sacrificed among other things: hairbrushes (multiple); shampoo bottles; kitchen implements; firewood; shoes, socks and other random items of clothing; pens and pencils (messy); food packets; the screw covers off the bath panel; a bath plug; several garden plants; most of my herb garden....god, I could go on forever. Aside from that she is great .....as long as she isn't allowed near horses' bums!

My pup is still having loose poo though it seems to be improving. I hope it's not related to his day care experience on Tuesday. I think we'll send him back to day care one day next week and see what happens.

We've been fortunate that he hasn't chewed anything of value so far (touch wood). There are a few teeth marks on the coffee table from his very first day home, and he has attempted to chew one rather tempting rug (it has fringey things that look a bit like one of his rope toys). He also likes paper so he has chewed some loo roll and kitchen roll but luckily no important documents!

@Goawayangryman so sorry to hear you've had bronchitis. That must have been no fun especially when also taking care of a pup. I'm glad you're on the mend.

@certainshepherdpups from my entirely non-scientific anecdata, a lot of pups I know got gastric bugs around the time they started to be out and about more. Mine included, at around 14 weeks - it was grim. I doubt it is a stress reaction, but I suppose it could be. I think your pup's behaviour when the daycare comes to collect them next time/ you drop off will give you a tip-off as to whether that is an issue. My dog practically mauls the day care lady to death, so excited is she to get into the 'dog-catcher' type van and go play, and my friend's dog cowers when their dog walker comes and she found out he has been a bit too stern with the dog

@sandwiches77 we have a couple of tugenuff toys, we really like them. We reserve them for playing with us so she doesn't have free access to them, but they are great. The favourite is the sheepskin bungee. I have one of the pocket rockets but it's slightly terrifying as teeth and hand are very close. We also have a long rabbit chaser which she walks along carrying but doesn't seem to enjoy tugging.

We have a couple of tug e nuff toys, a pocket tuggee and a rabbit skin chaser. She had another one that she broke pretty quickly when she got to it unsupervised. We tend to only use out on walks, normally as a distraction technique

Tug e Nuff toys are fab, just bought another after pocket tug success. Definitely recommend. Worth the extra cash!

FawkesPup has the ALL CLEAR from the vet!!! I am beyond happy right now

I have also observed that @Goawayangryman and my pup had a bout of tummy upset when he was about 14 weeks too. (I panicked and took him to the vet which was probably very silly of me in retrospect.) But he's well beyond that stage, he's now a big strapping lad of 7 months.

We'll definitely keep an eye on how he reacts to the day care next week. He seemed to have a good time on Tuesday and he is generally a very straightforward, uncomplicated pup who eagerly leaps into new experiences without a care in the world. But if day care is stressful for him I guess we'll have to figure something else out.

Brilliant news @GuyFawkesDay! You must be so relieved.

Great news @GuyFawkesDay what a relief!

Have you tried any pro biotic paste @certainshepherdpups

Ada had a bout of loose poo the other week, otherwise happy in herself and eating and was just loose rather than liquid so we just fed some sweet potato and the paste and kept an eye on it.

@GuyFawkesDay good news on the all clear, must be a relief

Great news about FawkesPup 🥳.

I managed to buy the new Sky remote by stealth. DH rang me on the way home in the very spot that my signal runs out so I told him I’d had to nip to Asda and used the get-out-of-jail-free-card that I had to nip to the pharmacy because of “women’s problem” 😂.

Love the stealth @LadyCatStark
Hope you are feeling better @Goawayangryman

Looking forward to a lovely off lead park runabout with the pooch today and a long walk tomorrow with him too. He will sleep better tonight!!!

@certainshepherdpups SPup had loose stools after 2 days at day care. He usually has really good poos so it was very noticeable. I put it down to over exertion and stimulation and possibly he had forgotten to go whilst he was there because he was too busy playing with the other dogs! He went back to normal after a week or so. It will be interesting to see if it happens again whenever he needs to go back. Hope your pup is feeling a bit better.

@GuyFawkesDay fantastic news!

Argh pup has been so great at recall the last few weeks when it's just me and her in our 4/5 usual walking spots, even recalling away from other dogs... today we all went for a walk somewhere different and in an enclosed field DH was like might as well let her off and she just wouldn't come back just running near us then running off again then 3 whippets ran over and that was it she was off running with them! They had a blast but she showed me right up as I'd said to DH how much better she's been lately

Still dealing with loose poo here. Poor pup. He seems fine otherwise, bright and playful, though he slept a bit more than usual yesterday. I will try some probiotic paste. Thanks for the tip @tizwozliz.

@Aria20 I feel your pain. Mine has gone utterly feral again. I just got a good dressing down from the trainer for lack of consistent practice. She's right but god I felt like a failure! One thing the trainer did say is that open fields are much harder to control them in as they have clear lines of sight and are less worried about losing you.

@certainshepherdpups poor pupper, hope they firm up nicely again soon, maybe just eaten something that doesn't agree. Are they slimy at all? For mine that is usually a sign she has ingested something untoward.

Oh no @certainshepherdpups. We really rate the buddy and Lola tummy buddy liquid. It really helped FawkesPup when he gave himself the sh!ts after eating something grim. Worked better than the prokolin did. Really hope you get answers soon.

Mine went off lead for first time in a fortnight. You can imagine the carnage. Recall was about 50:50, even with liver paste 🙈

@GuyFawkesDay yes after ours had been restricted to onlead during season the first offlead was just a nightmare! But then after being so good recently today threw me! I guess a combination of being somewhere new, open field as you say @Goawayangryman and DH and all 3 kids with us so more of a distraction but she just thought it was a game to keep running off little sod! Clearly I need to start going to different places on my own with her to proof recall everywhere!

I think Ada has learned how to spell walk

Hahahaha clever girl! We can't say out or sausage.

@Aria20 Billy is always worse when DH comes out for a walk. I think it’s either the excitement of DH actually coming out or that he doesn’t know who to listen to.

@LadyCatStark wish they saw the usual good behaviour lol it's just typical isn't it and makes it look like I haven't trained her!