Puppy thread 2021 alumni, where are you now?

[LadyCatStark]

Hi gain, I fell off the puppy thread a while ago but have been wondering how all the pups (now dogs I guess!) are getting on?

Billy is 18 month old now and is the most gorgeous, good boy we could ask for. He was neutered on Wednesday so has been feeling a bit sorry for himself as he wants to get back to playing in the fields and he doesn’t like his special collar (but completely freaked out at the cone the vet sent him home in!). He’s thriving on raw food and is super fit and shiny but he is a typical greedy lab and could happily eat all day long 😂. He totally failed at gun dog training but is a super star at agility and fly ball (although he is having to miss a few weeks while he recovers). The only bad thing now is that he’s decided 5:30 is time to get up in the morning 🙈.

It feels like those early days of wondering what the hell we’d done are a life time ago 🥰.

@tizwozliz oh my god so cute! What is her name?

Oh my!!!! What a cutey!!!

I'm not sure I'll ever be brave enough to do puppydom again!!!

Wow, a new puppy. So adorable! I wouldn't mind getting another pup now that ours is nearly two, but DH is of the quite firm opinion that one dog is all we need.

Grace is settling in nicely

@tizwozliz adorable! I don't think I could have two though haha!

Oh wow! I so want another but DH says no 🙈.

We bought DS a pool table for his birthday, Billy is most upset there are balls and sticks that he’s not allowed to play with! Every time we have a game, he brings his ball for us to throw so that he can join in 🥰.

@LadyCatStark yes kids can no longer play table tennis if the dog is around as she's obsessed with balls of any sort and tiny ping pong balls that move fast are extra exciting!

Oh wow! I am jealous. Is it easier having just gone through the puppy years and having a more settled young dog to show them the ropes - or is it just as hard?

On racket sports, we put up the badminton net the other day and realised a game was impossible with the dog in the garden. Shuttlecocks are very good for catching and carrying around in the mouth - very gently and delicately so we did get them back in one piece. Benefits of the soft retriever mouth.

It's FawkesPups 2nd birthday today. He's turned into a total smasher so I won't jinx it by getting another!

Happy birthday Fawkesy!

Oh wow! I am jealous. Is it easier having just gone through the puppy years and having a more settled young dog to show them the ropes - or is it just as hard?

We're only just over 48 hours in so reserving judgement! I'm a lot more relaxed though and not frantically googling "can dogs eat..." or "are hiccups normal?" Etc.

Genuinely the sweetest dog I know. Doesn't growl (apart from at cats), everyone and every dog loves him. He's an absolute goofy gem. Even my I don't want a dog husband has come round (mostly)

The kids and him have the loveliest relationship.

I'm still doing gundog classes and training with him and starting scent work. Been a good decision. Same trainer from the start and we can't believe he's the same as the mad tearaway puppy with the attention span of a goldfish!

I had forgotten puppy hiccups! 😂

Still having to Google sometimes - Grace only has 7 nipples apparently not that unusual

@tizwozliz mine also only has 7 lol

Our boy is 2 1/2 and he is the gentlest, loveliest, most empathetic boy in the house (he is snoozing next to me right now) and a bloody (adorable) loon out off lead. On lead on street walks, let's call it a work in progress. He's actually much better walking to heel off lead. He goes mad for the water and we're just at a good point where he's now waiting for permission to dive bomb into the river - it's taken time but we needed to get it right as sometimes it's very high and fast moving ane just not safe for him. Having a group dog walk twice a week has been, for us, a brilliant decision - he is great with most other dogs if a little exuberant at times. So, so good in the house, has a rock solid 'leave it' and 'out' for any potential kitchen mishaps or toxic food grabs. We've handled him a lot since a pup so when he comes home from a full run we can check him coat, ears and teeth, between paws etc (grass seed season is a nightmare - he's was SO good letting us remove grass seeds from his eyes last summer - a tricky job but it's like he knows to trust us when we go anything like this he scraped his paw pads recently and was very patient letting me clean them and but ointment/balm on). The only thing we struggle with is a fear he has of booming exhausts - it breaks my heart how much they worry him and it takes my everything not to have a bag of his poo ready to throw at the boy racers that go down our street. I had MAJOR puppy blues for a long time, I found it all emotionally and physically exhausting but on reflection I think part of this was trying to bounce back from Lockdowns. He is the thing that gives me the most unconditional joy and love and makes me feel completely in the moment with him, he makes me laugh so much with his funny little ways and he also gives me the most worry if I ever see him scared or hurt. I love him to bits. Tired pup is a happy pup and he will happily doze and mooch about for cuddles all day after an off lead run or an interesting sniffy walk. Food driven so we scatter feed him, hide his food to play "find it" or use a Kong wobbler. Mental stimulation as important at the physical.

Just had my dogs annual health check and booster jabs. And found out she has a grade 1 heart murmur. This has never been picked up before and she's over 2.

The vet said not to worry and they will see her again in 3 months and if it's still just grade 1 no further action but if it's changed wi have to do heart scans etc. of course I can't help but worry now as she's been a lot more lethargic and off her food the last week or so but I put it down to the heat so I feel bad now but I never would have expected this! Does anyone have any experience of heart murmurs?

@Aria20 oh no! I know nothing about heart murmurs in dogs but I hope it is something that can be managed. How horribly worrying.

@bingohandjob Our dog is about the same age and I think puppy blues and emerging from covid was a lot to deal with! I hadn't really considered them together before. At the same time having a puppy then really helped me come out of that weird covid time.

Joining in the nipple counting - our dog has 9! Not sure if that is normal or unusual.

Just been looking back through the old threads as Grace was weighed today when we went to the vets for worming and wanted to see how she compared to Ada and know I posted weights on those threads from time to time. So many cute puppy pics!

Grace is 10kg at 15 weeks, Ada was 10.8kg at 14 weeks.

@Aria20 sirry to hear that. Fingers crossed it is nothing to worry about when you go back.

PoirotPup is nearly 2.5 now. He’s lovely. Still finds it a bit much when new people come to the house which is just hard work to manage sometimes.

He’s been struggling a bit at daycare too out of nowhere so he’s have a 2/3 week break and then we’ll try again. He doesn’t have to go a lot - just on days we both work out of house.

don’t think I could do it again right now with a puppy! Although sometimes I’m sorely tempted….

Grace is so much easier as a puppy than Ada was in a lot of respects, so even though we're having to juggle both as they have different walk requirements right now it's been fairly straightforward.

@tizwozliz they are adorable pictures

@MrsHerculePoirot when I went back the other week as she now has a lump on her neck - they think an enlarged lymph node from an infection - they listened to her heart again and this vet said she struggled to hear the heart murmur at all so it's very mild thank goodness.

Grace and Ada are adorable! Are they related in any way? I always think if I got a puppy, I'd like one related to our current dog, because she is so fabulous.