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

@abitbesotted we taught hi five also, probably use more than paw.

Our trainer always does middle with her dogs. We also taught pugpup a 'no game' cue, this is for people, dogs, our cats at home, bikes etc. When he does it properly it means he stops going over to whatever it is and waits for a go play cue.

Best trick he does is ringing his bell to go outside. It's a push bell on the floor.

Abitbesotted - I’m so impressed by your off lead walks, I haven’t dared try mine yet. He has zero interest in me when we’re out and when I took his lead off at puppy preschool he shot off at a million times an hour 😂 Recall is my mission this week……..

So far we’ve done sit, stay, wait, down, off (he’s a jumper!), paw, leave, fetch - later two are hit and miss!

I do a lot of games to increase self control and also encourage proximity to me - our trainer gives us a couple of new ones each week and he loves playing them. They’re great for crazy breeds

We have taught roll over and spin as well as the others mentioned! Middle is good too, I'm thinking of building on middle to make it a "weave" between the legs lol not sure if I'm being too adventurous with that though lol

FawkesPup does spin, middle and paw, other paw, boop nose, chin (rests head on hand, useful at vet/groomer) plus the dull ones. Need to do roll over!!

He's been fab off lead and totally ignored a pheasant flying off nearby yesterday too. He definitely is maturing now. Bout bloody time!!

For those of us with fussy pups or looking at food I found THE most fantastic food at Crufts. I am probably going to move FawkesPup at some point. I got some samples and he wolfed one down but the treats, oh my word he loves them. The turkey "snap bars" are great for your pocket on walks.

It's really high grade, low GI food for optimising behaviour and I am blown away by it. It's called Essential Foods, it's Danish and has launched here more recently. Worth a look for anyone in a food quandary.

Thanks for the ideas.

Blahpup just encountered a bumble bee on our walk. Would not come away even with cheese. 😂 I don’t hold out much hope for letting him off lead, although his loose lead is getting better slowly.

Am currently sitting in my car outside the house eating my lunch to see how long I can leave him. Been 3 mins so far, max has been 20. He has his king. Got docs tomorrow so am hoping for at least half an hour so I can get there and back… pray for me.

*kong

Hahahaha I'd forgotten the bees! FawkesPup tried chasing a huge bumblebee in the garden, stupid creature!!!

It was a huge one. Even I was impressed by it.

Leaving him did not go well, got 8 mins in and the barking started. Continued until he heard me open the gate and then he stopped. Honestly I don’t get it, most mornings last week I left him for the school run and he was pretty quiet. Today, nope! Barking his wee heart out.

Yup, it's the nature of the beast. Just had a rather hairy half hour..... FawkesPup ran off after deer. Disappearing over the horizon at full pelt.

Spent 20 minutes whistling, calling him in the field. Bear in mind I am right up the top of the lanes and fields, about 30 minutes walk from home. I walk. I whistle. I walk, whistling. Passer by hasn't seen him on the path. Still walking and whistling, the dread started to rise.

Ring DH, ask him to come up with sausages.

5 minutes later get a call. Little shit was on the front step, absolutely exhausted, having run home, dodged the traffic on the road. I could bloody kill the little toad.

@GuyFawkesDay whaaaat?! I’d have been angry crying I think.

How scary @GuyFawkesDay. TBH that's my worst nightmare, especially the dodging traffic part. My pup's recall is definitely not 100% and I could totally imagine him racing after deer and ignoring any calls or whistles.

On the bright side at least your puppy went home!

@GuyFawkesDay we’ve been there! Mac pup was lost for 2.5hrs when he shot off after deer and got lost in a small woods. So scary! I hope you recover quicker than I did and he doesn’t do it again.

Mac didn’t even have the good grace to be tired when we found him. Trotted home like he’d been out for 20 minutes 🤬

He is very tired!!! Reckon he did 2 miles.

Just ordered a Tractive

@certainshepherdpups

How scary *@GuyFawkesDay*. TBH that's my worst nightmare, especially the dodging traffic part. My pup's recall is definitely not 100% and I could totally imagine him racing after deer and ignoring any calls or whistles.

On the bright side at least your puppy went home!

Same. His recall is great in the garden but I’ve not been brave enough yet to let him off in the woods. He would be off like a shot I reckon if he saw a deer/rabbit/another dog.

See he recalled off a pheasant just a few minutes before. Hardly batted an eyelid.

But he's never seen deer before. And they were big roe deer. And there was 3 of them. Irresistible, instinct just took over.

Little toad was seen by a walker, he literally followed our normal walk path home, so he must have crossed the road, trotted through village, over the park and home 😱🙈

@GuyFawkesDay

See he recalled off a pheasant just a few minutes before. Hardly batted an eyelid.

But he's never seen deer before. And they were big roe deer. And there was 3 of them. Irresistible, instinct just took over.

Little toad was seen by a walker, he literally followed our normal walk path home, so he must have crossed the road, trotted through village, over the park and home 😱🙈

Mine went deer chasing as an adolescent and scared the shit out of me. I was about to call DH and tell him I had lost our dog when he eventually appeared.

He now sniffs them and doesn't really chase (WCS) because he knows he can't catch them. I think it's part of the course with a spaniel

Jings @GuyFawkesDay… I’m surprised nobody saw him and stopped or tried to call him over when they didn’t see a human??!!
Hopefully that will be it out of his system now and he won’t do that again!!
We have all sorts here so I’m 100% anticipating this. Blahpup has started following the path home though without me guiding him so I reckon he could get back easily enough if needed. Just wouldn’t want him to as we are too near a main road.

@Blahblahblah40 someone did see him, when husband came to pick me up, he spoke to him! Said he'd seen him trotting across the field 🙄

It's properly in the sticks, dead end private lane with footpaths that criss crossing it. It's perfect dog walking territory. And perfect for wildlife too 🤣🤣🤣

I've walked that path for a decade. Seen the roe deer once!! Sods law. Just one of those things and yes @BiteyShark definitely a Spaniel thing. My cousin who's had loads of spanners says deer are their absolute nemesis.

But yep, he can have a tracker now, save worrying for the sake of £4 a month!!

I can well imagine that gave you a proper scare!! So glad he’s all ok though x

Would be great to hear how well the tracker works - I’m definitely considering one for later down the line

My cousin has had tractive for their farm dogs for years and says they're fantastic. The dogs go pottering about in the fields and yep, they've lost one or two chasing stuff!!

The contract can also include replacement if it gets lost or broken, which is good to get as it will happen when a spaniel is involved 🤣🤣🤣

I'm surprisingly not too stressed about it. Mainly because the dog was so bloody blasé. DH said he opened the door and he was just sat there, and blithely trotted in to his water bowl 🤣🤣🤣

Mine hasn’t seen a deer yet, I’ll be sure to hold on tight when we do though if it’s a spaniel thing 😂

Such a surprise though, I had literally just had him recall out the field chasing his ball. I don't know where such big deer were hiding!!!

I am partly furious with him and partly hugely impressed and proud 🤣🤣🤣

Twas a proper Fenton moment 🤦‍♀️🙈

Found you all! Lots of gorgeous pictures to look at and lots pups behaving badly which makes me feel so much better!

Stretch pup is 6 months now, we passed our KC bronze a couple of weeks ago but missed the start of silver due to me having Covid. So will probably start after Easter now.

He is still my Velcro dog and follows me round the house. Am caught between loving having a dog and again and the stress of trying to leave him in the house on his own, made more difficult by me working from home FT. He cries and howls when left alone so definitely has some SA, it has got better, I wasn’t even able to go upstairs and leave him with anyone else in the family at first, so maybe it is something we just have to keep trying in a controlled way.

Am loving the spring days and marginally less mud, although stretchpup has started digging up the garden and humping other dogs and trying to hump me, he has been neutered so not sure what’s going on there. Picture of him doing his best ‘I wasn’t digging up the plants mum’ face