Puppy Survival Thread - as we approach Fireworks night for the first time…

[Riverlee]

Apologies if someone has already started a new thread. Couldn’t see one when I had a quick look.

As it’s a new thread, why don’t we all (re-) introduce ourselves. Ie. Good excuse for more cute puppy pictures!

I have RiverPup, who is now a 15 weeks old black Labrador.

Two pictures of when we first got him, and more recent.

One tip we were given regarding feet is not to react (easier said then done). By moving your feet out off the way, they think it’s a game. Try and keep your feet still, and/or just walk away.

Yes I have read this too. My 10 yr old can almost manage that! My 5 yr old not so much!! I actually think it's my 5 yr old that needs more training than the puppy!!

@Orangebadger You’re learning fast. It’s us humans that need the training, not the puppies. They just respond to however we act.

@Riverlee absolutely! If only I could train my 5 yr old with treats!!

Welcome
home Monty, he is very cute indeed!

nights were our nemesis and we took it in turns to sleep downstairs while Haku was in a crate then moved the crate upstairs, still so much tossing and turning until he was 15/16weeks and we ditched the crate completely and let him just be downstairs in the open plan kitchen/sitting room, no prob now at all

take him out to socialise him, his paws can’t touch the floor outside of your house and garden until post vaccination but you can still take him out and about especially while he’s little and not afraid

@Orangebadger I’ve ordered that book, thanks. Tigerpup woke at about 2am and 6ish, and was pleased to see he’s actually begun doing wees on the mats. However, he always poos on the floor (and we’ve never actually seen him do it, despite watching him 90% of the time.

Tried to take him for a walk yesterday, and he was petrified! 🥺

@Citygirlrurallife thank you.
Does Haku try to eat or chew stuff when he’s downstairs at night? I’m scared to leave Monty to his own devices down there, as we have open stairs with large gaps in - so scared he’s going to fall through!

@tigerbear no he doesn’t, apart from his very first day with us when he attempted a chair leg and we sprayed it with bitter apple spray he hasn’t chewed anything he’s not supposed to and he really wasn’t comfortable in his crate - Monty might be totally fine but my experience is don’t be a slave to it if he doesn’t settle after a week or so. We did 5-6weeks of not sleeping properly and wish I’d just ditched it earlier!

I keep reading nightmare stories of adolescent dogs - Haku is a pretty easy and lovely boy at 5.5months and I can’t help feeling it’s the calm before the storm!

we’ve signed him up for foundation gun dog training in January, mainly to keep up training and having somewhere to train with other dogs around and for something new to do with him that’s suitable for his breed, I genuinely love doing all the walks and training so don’t mind that inevitably most of his care has fallen to me

@tigerbear maybe try carrying him outside where you live to start with. Go slowly with him as may need a bit longer to really settle after his difficult start.

You're right to worry about gaps in stairs, one of our dogs when I was growing up fell through a gap right from the top of a staircase, no injuries thank god! But can easily happen!

@Citygirlrurallife I‘M planning to do gun dog training with RiverPup as well in the new year.

Did you know there’s a Ladies Working gundog group?

Facebook link

webpage

@Citygirlrurallife aww, Haku sounds lovely! I hope he doesn’t turn into a crazy adolescent for you! 😍🙏
@Orangebadger OMG, that’s terrifying about the staircase! 🥺I’ve been keeping an eye on him, and he seems more confident on the stairs today. Also much better outside today!

@tigerbear its all so new to Monty - I'd take it slowly with him. Let him get used to your family and the house and then the garden then the street, then start little sniffy walks with him. Coco is a pretty fearful puppy. I took her everywhere in a sling from when we got her (8 weeks) till 12 weeks when she could go out - and even then she's too scared to walk on a busy road.

The discussion on sleep is interesting - Coco fights sleep like mad most of the morning, will have an afternoon nap and then becomes comatose from 6 onwards. She has a pen with a crate in it with the door open and a dog bed - sometimes she sleeps in the dog bed, sometimes she choose the pen, sometimes she just sleeps on her toys. No rhyme or reason. I was out for most of yesterday and DS1 and our nanny kept an eye on her - she ate all her food. Today she's back to playing silly buggers with her meals again. Ho hum.

I have a temp new job starting in Jan and will be out of the house two days a week (my nanny will go full time on those days to keep an eye on the dog and keep the home fires burning), working from home 2 days a week - so will be interesting to see what happens then

@Orangebadger do you have an enzymatic cleaner you are using where Monty has pooed? May be worth having a designated spot in your garden and popping one of his poos there - the smell may encourage him to go there

We are having trouble with zoomsies! Pup finds it great fun running round and round the coffee table like a lunatic and launching himself on and off the sofa whether there's someone sitting there or not. DH and DS think it's hilarious but me not so much, particularly now he's getting bigger, he's either going to end up hurting himself or somebody else. We can't let him out of the room as its a tiled floor in the hallway and kitchen and I don't want to let him outside to run his energy off as it's a long garden so I wouldn't be able to see him safely. What do you do with your pups?

@CockapooMadness i let the puppy in the garden! We’ve put a barrier across 2/3 down (in the bit I know foxes go through and which has various things I’d much rather not have a puppy in) and let Coco go crazy. It’s her way of getting rid of some excess energy.

Yep I use the garden right now to let her run off some steam. Could it be that she's overtired and just needs to sleep and more wind down time. Easier said than done, I know!

@Citygirlrurallife and @Riverlee , can you tell me a bit more about gun dog training and what this means? We’ve just completed first 5 week puppy course and plan to do the next level but interested in what’s out there. The link to the ladies group and the videos looks interesting.

We’re now coming up to 18weeks and things feeling a lot better, I haven’t cried about the puppy for a few weeks lol! Main issues now are very loud barking for attention, and jumping up to greet. Teacher at class tonight gave me advice about teaching him to bark with the command ‘speak’ as as means of teaching him to stop. Will give that a go! So hard not to reinforce it with giving him attention as it’s so overpowering and hard to ignore.

@Beginningless i’ll message you with the link to the group I go to. One of the trainers is a key person in the Ladies Working Dog group, so she may be able to put you in touch with someone in your area.

Sat watching Christmas movies with the pup home alone (he's asleep!)
He's 17 weeks on Sunday and I've realised a few things. He's less bitey, he sleeps less, he goes outside for a wee more than inside, he walks nicely on his lead, he's stopped trying to eat my furniture.
I think we have turned a corner.

Having a hard day with pup! 11 weeks tomorrow. Just not sure what to do about all the chasing and jumping and nipping of kids. My eldest is ok with it, if at times frustrated. But my youngest, almost 5 is a nightmare, and most of my eldest DDs friends are not coping well when they are here. I just am not sure how to approach it now. It's more like how do I deal with the kids with her, if it was just us adults, fine! When does the nipping end? I can't remember?!

@Orangebadger having a puppy is bloody hard work - it’s ok to find it hard! We have a pen we pop Coco in when it’s all too much - it was a lifesaver in the early days as can still play with her over the pen but don’t get bitten!

She’s now 16 weeks and mostly nips me, esp when hungry or needing attention

@Rowgtfc72 enjoy the good times!

took Coco for a walk on a very snowy Hampstead Heath earlier - she absolutely loved it

@Cocopuff Diesel likes snow too. He hoovered most of the garden😁

No idea why it posted three!