Puppy Survival Thread: Surviving into Summer 2022

[tizwozliz]

Discussion of all things puppy, highlights and pitfalls, good times and bad, successes and failures

Previous thread here

www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/4496297-Puppy-Survival-Thread-muddy-footprints-into-Spring-2022

Teenagers also welcome

@buckeejit your puppy looks so like mine, facially! What kind of dog is he?

This is Maggie, for reference.

@tizwozliz I have joined the mantrailing waiting list so will see what happens! If I worked part time, I'd love to train us up for search and rescue but I can't commit to it time wise. Our dog has got silly about getting into my car, so we'd be pretty useless in an emergency anyway.

@Aria20 I have a perception of our recall not being great, but the other day someone I didn't know complemented me on her recall which made me reassess how we were doing. I think I need to have more faith in her. I often clip her lead back on if I see other dogs coming but actually I think I need to practice walking past with her off lead more. Because she is a working breed, I can tell people sometimes look at me askance that I have her on the lead when we are out and about in the forest. The mantrailing people also do a short bullet proof your recall course which I might sign up for too!

@buckeejit that sounds hard to juggle - childminding with a puppy. Do you have a pen or a crate for your pup? Somewhere dark and cosy she can go for a nap? We used a pen but fixed a roof on it when she very quickly learned to scale the sides! We chucked a blanket over to keep it dark. They do need a lot of sleep when they are little. Hopefully she will get used to the background noise.

She's very cute.

You have another doppelgänger here!

Ours is a double doodle (labradoodle / golden doodle cross).

@ilovesushi I think you are right about the recall and it's prob better than I think as often she'll start to go over to another dog and then remember and stop and come back to me.... of course this doesn't always happen... sometimes if she really likes the look of another dog, she forgets herself and runs over to say hello, especially if they have a ball!

It definitely depends where we are as she knows in our local field the regular dogs are always up for a game of chase so she knows she's allowed to play with them.

@Newpuppyterror looks like pup is laughing! Funny all these new pups so similar!

@FuckingHateRats Maggie is adorable! Our Teddy is a cockapoo

@Newpuppyterror also gorgeous & all so similar!

We're for the beach tomorrow & we haven't let the pup off lead yet - think he wouldn't be a runner off as he's so devastated if anyone leaves so may give it a go, will play be ear. Recall good if he hears a click but triggered by our cats &may be too excited yet.

@ilovesushi thanks - he has a crate in the utility room attached to the playroom which I've put a baby gate on, he just hates being alone & is woken by every little noise. Think I will try to plan a bit more for next week & nap times as it's to be good weather so can easily take minded children to the garden or park.

@ilovesushi - I think people have quite differing thoughts on what good recall looks like 😁

I would describe our pup's recall as just ok but both the dog walker and the home boarder describe her recall as brilliant. Brilliant recall to me would be her coming back to me immediately at gundog training when she's suddenly decided to run laps of the field and she doesn't do that!

Some days I can't even get her to sit, I had to settle for a standing in front of the rainbow picture instead.

@tizwozliz what a beauty! The dog and the picture! That is one for the gallery wall if you have one!

Aw @tizwozliz what a great photo! Would love a wee photo session with our pup but just too knackered mostly!

Anyone got any tips on how to get puppy to lie down? She sits fairly reliably (as long as she's not too excited!) But whenever I try and get her to lie (using a treat as lure), she just comes up to a standing position again.

I'm bringing the treat from her chest to the ground but she just stands up and walks towards me.

@Newpuppyterror you may need to hold the treat closer to her nose rather than her chest. That can help lure her into position. Another technique is to show her the treat, then put it on the floor with your hand over it. She will try to get at the treat and since it's on the floor it will be natural for her to lie down.

Hi - I have a 12 week old goldendoodle. He's our first family dog, so I am a total novice. He's a beauty though.

He's doing OK, sleeps well in his crate and toilet training is nearly there. We have started on a bit of training - touch, sit, down, settle. I have started leaving him alone, just for 10 mins at a time.

My two youngest kids (5 and 3) are wary of him. We still have a bit of puppy biting and sometimes he jumps up, which we have been working on. It is early days and we have only had him 2.5 weeks. I hope my girls relax more around him soon. Fingers crossed.

@Newpuppyterror we have been working on this too! It didn't work for us to put the treat in front of his nose. Instead, I get him to sit. I then show him the treat before I close it into my hand. I then move my hand down with the treat inside and put by hand on the floor.

Joined quite late on the last thread. I'm here now x

@TooManyPlatesInMotion so cute!

All those pups are so cute!!!

Please can I join? I collect our corgi puppy next week. He'll be 12 weeks old, which I think is late compared to most puppies coming home.

We're on holiday at the moment so he's boarding with the breeder and they've taken him for his first 2 sets of jabs.

I miss him and he's not even home yet!

So hit me with all your puppy wrangling tips, please. 😊

Aw, look at his white socks!

We are currently minding my MIL's corgi who is 10 months old. (And our 6 month old wheaten terrier). It's chaos

@DMCWelshcakes he's such a cutie!!! My only advice for puppy wrangling is to have a crate or pen to put him in when he gets overexcited, and plenty of long tug toys and safe chews to redirect any biting/mouthing.

I took AwesomePup (not really a pup as he's 16 months old) to flyball today. He really enjoyed it. So far, in our first lesson, we've practiced recall which he did brilliantly even though there were other dogs around. And we did a sort of structured retrieve of a stationary tennis ball from a board. AwesomePup did really well, but he did think he should definitely find the best ball from the bucket rather than just the one on the board, he seemed to think there might be a better one. It seems like a really friendly, welcoming group, who don't mind too much when dogs lose the plot a bit and run round the field parading their tennis ball, or run to their mate instead of their owner, etc. The outlook seems to be that these things happen and we'll just try again in a couple of minutes. We've been given homework to keep practising the recall and the stationary retrieve, so next week we can possibly add in the next step, but they said there's no pressure and if we need an extra week or two on any step that's what we'll do.

@MsAwesomeDragon that sounds great. Mine would also be parading around the field with a ball - she does a victory lap whenever she finds a random old ball at the park!

I've bankrupted myself buying crates and blankets and harnesses and toys and all the chew toys of creation. I'm also planning on repurposing the baby jail now that DiddyDragon and DiddyCakes are in high school and have free rein of the house 😁

DiddyDoggo is sure to find something I've forgotten though!

Our pup is/was a master of finding hair grips (despite it probably being at least 5 years since I last wore any) and little plastic wire ties that you get on packaging sometimes

@DMCWelshcakes your corgi pup looks adorable! I don't think I've actually seen one in real life.

@MsAwesomeDragon your flyball class sounds great! I think it takes the pressure off if you know people aren't going to be judgey if your dog loses the plot now and again.

Can I join…we got our 4 month old very bouncy Cockapoo just over a week ago. He has been amazing we’ve had a few accidents at home but mainly our fault rather than his! He sleeps all night in our room from about 9pm to 5. Dp is up for work at 5am every day so he has already got into the habit of needing a wee at that time. Unfortunately I’ve broken my foot in the week since we got him so it’s been tough going with the dc home hobbling around and having the pup and not quite the time we had planned!

I have been looking for puppy classes for DP to take pup to but really struggling to find anywhere. There’s a lot of good online content but has anyone got a good recommendation on one in particular?