Puppy Survival Thread: muddy footprints into Spring 2022

[tizwozliz]

Discussion of all things puppy...

Previous thread here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4451767-Puppy-Survival-Thread-surviving-into-2022

Teenagers also welcome

Oh looney he’s just delicious!!! Sending lots of Springer love, they’re utter lunatics but so much fun.

Mine loves anything frozen to chew on, carrots, ice cubes, treats.

Nipping can definitely be overtired, I had to really enforce naps in the earlier days and still do sometimes as he wants to be involved in everything and always wants to be busy so will keep going as long as possible…….

And enjoy the tiny stage, they grow so so fast - 16.5 weeks here and he’s tripled in size since 8 weeks

Oh and get him used to baths - if there’s any mud around guaranteed he will find it and be in it within a split second 😂

@hashbrownsandwich

Hashbrown pup went for his 2nd jabs today. The vet said Labrador's, shortly followed by springers, are they breeds who seems to go through the most delinquent stages in her opinion.

How...reassuring

See, I think that is reassuring that they’re just teenage arseholes not life long lunatics 😂.

Hashbrown - as least we’ll all be prepared for the twat stage 😂

Vet also finished consultation by saying she's glad she gets her puppy cuddles at work because she's never going to be mad enough to get another one herself

I think I'm realistic, Hashbrown pup is 10 weeks now and so far no where near as hard work as I thought he would be but I am bracing myself for the first class dog dickheadedness 'challenges' ahead.

@Suzbug

Any suggestions for a 14 week old puppy who isn't keen on walks? I have tried all the high value treats, taking a squeaky toy with me etc. On a good day we might make it 10 metres down the road, and then he just wants to come home. He generally likes the park - but HATES the 5 minute car journey there! I know he's only little, but also it's stressing me with the thoughts that we're never going to be able to walk or drive anywhere with him!

I'm by no means an expert but I remember our lab we had about 20 years ago (I was a teenager so my parents dog) used to be a nightmare for walking to start with. He would literally get to out of sight of the driveway and then dig his heels in, cry, whimper, anything that glued him to the spot. Being a lab we thought treats and food would help but nope, he wasn't interested. We ended up taking him out, one of us would drive in the car and drop dog and Walker off and they'd walk back. I'm going to ask my mum if she remembers how he finally broke his habit.

@hashbrownsandwich

Vet also finished consultation by saying she's glad she gets her puppy cuddles at work because she's never going to be mad enough to get another one herself

I think I'm realistic, Hashbrown pup is 10 weeks now and so far no where near as hard work as I thought he would be but I am bracing myself for the first class dog dickheadedness 'challenges' ahead.

@hashbrownsandwich Billy is 1 now and coming out the other side of his nobhead phase. He still has his moments but it’s soooo much nicer now! I was working at my computer earlier and momentarily forgot I had him 😂.

@hashbrownsandwich I've read that. It's something to do with their instinct to head home. We have two young children so I'm not sure it's an option for us! I did think about driving somewhere that I can walk back to later just to pick up the car. Maybe the pub

Ada didn't walk from home for quite a while, we either went somewhere in the car (luckily she's always been fine with the car) or carried her the first bit. She'd walk fine once not in the vicinity of the house. I think it's fairly normal, we didn't force the issue and she just got over it.

Touch wood, we've not really had any teenage behaviour regression, partly I think because she was never a nice little obedient pup to regress from!

@tizwozliz

Ada didn't walk from home for quite a while, we either went somewhere in the car (luckily she's always been fine with the car) or carried her the first bit. She'd walk fine once not in the vicinity of the house. I think it's fairly normal, we didn't force the issue and she just got over it.

Touch wood, we've not really had any teenage behaviour regression, partly I think because she was never a nice little obedient pup to regress from!

🤣

@tizwozliz

Ada didn't walk from home for quite a while, we either went somewhere in the car (luckily she's always been fine with the car) or carried her the first bit. She'd walk fine once not in the vicinity of the house. I think it's fairly normal, we didn't force the issue and she just got over it.

Touch wood, we've not really had any teenage behaviour regression, partly I think because she was never a nice little obedient pup to regress from!

Glad it's not just my delinquent pup! Funny that he seems to walk, no bound, just fine when we are walking on the grass with the hidden dog/cat/fox poop 🙄

I dream of being able to go nice long walks with him. We live in the perfect place for it. I know it will come eventually...

So glad to hear that others are being driven mad by their crazy teenage dogs and it's not just us. Sushidog is 13 months (working lab goldie cross) and we are back to using a trailing lead on walks so I can grab it quickly should we see any other dogs. Recall seems to have gone out the window and her excitement levels can be through the roof. I am carrying lots and lots treats and when we walk past a dog she looks at me expectantly for a treat, so she gets what we are aiming for.
The good news is she has discovered swimming and loves it! We have found some quiet streams with a decent amount of depth so she can get a proper swim not just a paddle, and she is a complete water baby. It also wears her out beautifully!
We are trying agility classes soon which I am ridiculously excited about. I was tempted to sign up for the bronze good citizen award, but I don't think I can face the stress of being packed into a village hall with a load of dogs and people and trying to keep her calm and focused. Much rather run around a field with her!

Our bronze classes are all outside or in a huge indoor riding school. The only small one was annoyingly outside but on a Saturday so just too many dogs for my teenage idiot. The one I went to on Tuesday we could just find our own space much better. Have to say, the daily grind of doing the training is working, he's definitely better already.

We've had better recall again lately.... apart from yesterday in the woods she found a bone... no idea what animal it was from but she would not drop it or come close enough for me to put her lead on incase I stole it.... I kept acting like I didn't care walking off etc so she'd follow me, run close then run off again wanting a chase! Eventually managed to distract her from the bone by throwing lots of small stones into a puddle so they splashed up she dropped the bone to investigate and I grabbed her harness lol. Dragged her away from the bone and home we went! She slept well after all the fun she'd had though.

@Aria20 glad you tricked her away! We came across a dead (obliterated) pigeon the other day and on our way out I managed to get him past him but on the way back I thought ‘what harm can a sniff do’… 🤦🏼‍♀️🥴 he ate some of it, then spent the next 800m thinking about making a dash back for it but luckily was on the long line!

I’m impressed you can walk her off lead in woods. Mac loses his mind with all the scent and bolts around free hunting. Maybe one day we’ll be able to.

@TheBigMacDougal she also found a dead fox the other day thank god she didn't try to eat that! There are a couple of small woods that I know well and are usually empty so I can trust her - she does run quite far ahead into undergrowth etc but she comes back and as not normally anyone else around it's not an issue.

Other busier places or places I don't know as well I have her on the long line or leave her normal lead trailing so I can grab her quickly if needed as she would probably pester other dogs!

We have to walk past a stables daily. No pavement so it's edge of road dice with traffic.

They helpfully leave out plastic feed sacks full of horse manure locals take to add to their compost.

FawkesPup thinks it's a marvellous tasty treat 🤢

@GuyFawkesDay Mac is partial to horse poo when we’re up at the stables. He prefers it fresh 🤢

@Aria20 does she disappear from sight? I just worry so much he’ll find deer again and be off. If he bombed around but kept checking in I could probably manage it but he goes very deaf and a couple of times went much further (and out of sight) than I was comfortable with.

It was 3 degrees when we left home for our morning walk and 14 when we got back! It's going to be a shock if it gets colder again, have to remind myself it's still March and not the start of summer.

Pup being mostly a star on walks. Still quite resistant to doing even the basics when out and about (i.e. sit) but she is listening where it matters. Found a great new walk this morning that I'll definitely do again.

Ada also wanders quite far into the undergrowth but she comes straight back first time of asking 95% of the time. I've had to pick quite a few bramble thorns out of her over the past fortnight. Going to try and take some super tasty treats out to jackpot treat to try and ensure her recall stays that way. Although she mostly has no interests in treats when out so not sure how well it will work.

Photo

@TheBigMacDougal yes out of sight but only for a moment as she does check in and I can hear her rustling in bushes and her collar jingling lol. I def wouldn't trust her near roads or wild animals though.... she loves to chase birds and squirrels, she chased a fox once but did give up and come back...sure she wouldn't give up on a rabbit or deer etc though!

@tizwozliz yes similar here went out with a jacket on came back with it tied around my waist and just a t shirt on and I was hot! Crazy that it's so cold over night compared to 19* in the day!

We met a dog Walker in the fields today with 6 dogs, 4 who were trustworthy enough to be offlead so mine had a fantastic time running around chasing 4 new friends! One was a huge chunky lab the rest were smaller - spaniel, mini poodle and some sort of terrier mix! No idea how this woman was walking 6 dogs on her own though lol.

I had a fright today. I was getting dressed and when I came downstairs, Billy was nowhere to be seen! I called and called him and looked “everywhere”. I thought he must have slipped out when DH went to work so I looked out the front and he was nowhere. I tried calling one last time and he barked back at me. He’d shut himself in the utility room! The one place I hadn’t looked 🙈.

He going to the home boarders for a trial tonight, the first time he’s slept without us since we got him! I hope he’s a good boy 🤞. I’ve walked him as much as possible today to tire him out 😂.

@LadyCatStark our doggo did exactly the same - got herself shut in the laundry room and settled down for a lovely nap in the dark and warmth. Nearly went nuts chasing around the house and garden for her.
Sushipup refused to get in the car today. I think it was quiet warm in the boot for her yesterday and I took it quite fast over some speed bumps - I just didn't see them! All in all it was probably pretty unpleasant for her. I tried to lift her in but she stuck herself to the drive. In the end we walked from the house which I suppose saved on petrol.

@ilovesushi haha no idea what he was doing in there, probably in the bin as we have to keep it in there so he doesn’t go in it 🙈.

He’s been at the dog boarders for 45 mins and they haven’t rung to pick him up yet so so far so good 😂. They did ask if he was crossed with a Great Dane as he’s such a big lad!

@LadyCatStark lol at Great Dane comments my friend also has a huge black lab that people ask that too! I'm not sure whether to send mine for an overnight stay before holiday lol what if she howls and they then say no sorry you can't bring her back?! Least if I'm not in the country they have to deal with it for the week... she may well end up there overnight though when we move house as she'll have to go for the day to keep her out the way and I expect DH will say to leave her for the night too as he still finds her a nuisance.... I'm worried how she'll react in a new home and she won't be able to sleep with ds1 anymore as his current bedroom is downstairs so DH doesn't mind but he doesn't want the dog upstairs at all in the new house! I fear we'll have lots of barking at night!