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.

@tigerbear I was the one that warned about puppy blues. I have to say it definitely gets easier as they get older. Pup is now 18 weeks old and after having him for 9 weeks tomorrow I am at last starting to feel like I couldn't imagine life without him. This is very different to the first few weeks where I would have happily returned him to the breeder and not wanted any money back. We have cracked toilet training and have had no accidents for a few weeks now which has meant that I'm not on edge all the time watching out for signs he needs to go outside. We enforce naps in his crate which he loves being in every 1 1/2 to 2 hours of being awake. We only use it for him sleeping in it but his crate is inside his pen which we put him into if we can't be there to supervise or we want a bit of relief from him. He has really come on so far and when I look back to how life was when we first got him, he makes me feel very proud. Don't get me wrong he's still a bitey little shit and will eat anything in sight that he shouldn't but there is light at the end of the tunnel at last. Stick with it, you'll probably have some more crappy days, but in a few weeks you'll start to see a turning point.

Hello and merry Christmas! I haven’t posted in ages but have been following along and welcome to the new puppies - @Rowdythree your Newfie is a ridiculous ball of fluff, utterly gorgeous!!

Haku is now nearly 6months old and 27kg - the last few months with him have gone so quickly compared to the first few weeks. I keep reading about how awful adolescents are so have to keep reminding myself to enjoy this phase of him being so sweet and easy and trainable. We had an incident a few weeks ago of poo accidents overnight (we don’t crate, he has run of the open plan downstairs room) and it stained the wood floor - think we’ve solved it now though with 3 days of probiotics and reducing all food down to kibble only, I think he had the runs and just couldn’t hold it all night. But now we have to figure out how to get the stains out of the wooden floor (we rent our house!)

Otherwise I love having him, I love the excuse to walk every day, love his cuddles, love training him. I do pretty much everything for him unless the others are asked but I knew that would happen which is why we waited until I was ready 😂 we’re starting gun dog training end of jan, mainly for something new to do with him and have him training in front of other dogs. He loves all other dogs but is very good at assessing if they want to play, I think we’ve managed to highly socialise him to others in that respect. He’s very much a country bumpkin though and terrified of going into town despite socialising him as a puppy - I think us being car-less for a month meant that all took a massive step back.

he’s also done his first overnight boarding with our trainer, which he clearly loved though I’ve never seen him so dirty as when I picked him up!

all in all we’re having a really brilliant time with him

Testing of photo loading will work

I managed to wake up early enough to let Rowdypup out of his pen for a wee this morning, which was great. I then had to pop upstairs for something and when I came down he'd done a poo in the living room, so not so great. My own fault though for not supervising properly.

This morning his favourite game is biting/ tugging the bottom of our dressing gowns or pyjama trousers, which is not going to be great when he's 50kg+, so I need to nip that in the bud.

We took him out to our local town yesterday in his doggy pushchair (he's already over 8kg so too heavy to carry for long distances) which he found interesting. I'm going to try and take him different places everyday so he gets used to it. I can't wait to be able to take him out for walks.

I don't have the puppy blues (yet), but I am absolutely exhausted. I'd forgotten how tiring having a puppy is. I keep falling asleep every evening in front of the TV!

@Rowdythree ugh yes that was annoying for us too - Haku won’t be as big as your puppy but he’s likely to be large for a retriever so I def feel you on training certain behaviours very early due to their projected size

having said that I do wish owners of small dogs would also teach theirs not to jump up and scrabble at my legs, have had tights and legging ripped and my clothes filthy. I’ve trained Haku not to jump because it would frankly be dangerous once he’s full sized but cockapoos jumping are still annoying!

@Citygirlrurallife beautiful pup, he sounds and looks so friendly!

Yes, I find little dogs scrabbling at my legs and jumping up extremely annoying <looking at you MiL> large dogs could never get away with such behaviour

@Citygirlrurallife gorgeous 27kg pup!! I know what you mean regarding jumping up, all dogs should be trained to not jump regardless of size. L Will be medium sized so about the size of your pup now, it's one of my main priorities to stop her jumping.

My MIL is staying and she wears a lot of skirts... we all wear trousers. L is having a field day with all that floaty fabric!

Thanks @Rowdythree we didn’t realise until we went to collect him that his dad is used a lot by the guide dogs for breeding so we’re hoping his personality will stick as he’s pretty calm for a puppy!

my mum brought her cat overnight for Christmas, they’ve met before but not on Haku’s home turf - he just wanted to play with the kitten constantly including bringing him balls 😂 but was very good at listening when we said to leave it. We’re hoping to adopt a kitten in the new year so hopefully that bodes well….

Rare moment of calm…

What a good pup and a gorgeous cat too!

We had a dog sitter (friends teenage daughter) in today whilst we visited relatives with dog allergies and I think it's forced a bond between the two dogs which is great. However, now I'm worried they might gang up on us!

Haku is a handsome pup.

@CockapooMadness

“Don't get me wrong he's still a bitey little shit and will eat anything in sight that he shouldn't but there is light at the end of the tunnel at last.”

So true.

We’ve had RiverPup coming up four months. Felt frustrated today as didn’t feel we are as far forward as I expected to. We all said we would up the training this holidays, but everyone has different opinions as to what this will entail. Dc doesn’t want to over-exercise him and dh keeps saying he’s only a pup. Grr! Everything I read says do it now when they’re young.

Give yourself a break @Riverlee - your pup is only 4 months and still little. You have a lifetime ahead to continue training. I’m focusing on the basics and trying to get Coco to walk on the lead nicely - looselead is the ultimate aim but heaven only knows when/if that will happen.

My idiot of a husband has invited a friend his wife and his two year old son to stay NYE to the 3rd - not only is our house no way set up for a 2 year old (our youngest is 9!) our poor puppy is in for a rough few days as a result. I’m going to get my idiot husband to lay down the ground rules re leaving the puppy alone and get him to get his friends to reinforce it. If he doesn’t he is going to be in soooo much trouble

I think puppy blues are setting in today, Rowdypup (quite literally) has just bought one of my pot plants into the house - minus the pot. I'm just exhausted, I want to sit down and chill in front of the TV without constantly wondering where he is or what he's up to. I've done all the early mornings since we've had him, but I need my husband to take over for a bit, I need a break.

Hang on in there @Rowdythree - it does get better I promise. I love our pen for Coco - it means I can pop her in there and see what’s she’s up to and just take a breath for a few minutes. If you have space to have one I highly recommend it

You’re doing great @Riverlee and @Rowdythree

the days are long but the years are short….

Solidarity to all the exhausted dog mums, here with you. I think you describe it well @Rowdythree , that’s part of the puppy blues that’s hard to articulate - the hypervigilance. And I may be being terribly sexist but it tends to be the women who suffer with that burden. Most of the time I have one part of my mind on where pup is in toileting, in the house, when he needs to walk and nap etc, and it makes it very hard to fully relax since I am also mentally holding many of those things for kids too! DH tells me I am perfectionist and it doesn’t matter if there’s the odd pee on the floor, missed walk etc. Which I agree! But if I wasn’t holding it all in mind then it would be more than the odd pee I am sure. Sorry that’s turned into a DH rant but kinda not sorry, it’s true.

Thank you for the support, I'm feeling a bit better this evening, pup is totally gorgeous and is really a good boy, so I feel bad for having a whinge. I know it will be worth while in the long run. @Beginningless I think it is mainly women doing the brunt of the work, as it's another caring responsibility to add to all the others that we have. I'm definitely turning my alarm clock off in the morning and letting DH have his turn!

I hope everyone has had a good day with their pups

RiverPup was a pull-monster on the walk earlier but when it’s raining heavily he’s always worse - too many tempting smells around. However, he’s had a lovely evening gnawing on a yak bar and is currently laying on the sofa with dh.

We have renamed the hour between 7.00pm-8.00pm Humping Hour! Anyone else's pup does this? It seems to be nearly every night and is quite distracting when you're trying to watch tv and out of the corner of your eye you can see pup trying to give his gingerbread soft toy a good time! We don't acknowledge it, just let him get it out of his system and are grateful that any older relatives aren't there to see it 😂

Oh nooo, thankfully that’s not on my list of pup annoying behaviours, @CockapooMadness, I would struggle. I can give you the rest of my list tho, it’s been a thoroughly shit couple of days with mine and I really could hand him back tbh…

@CockapooMadness i think this is a phase male dogs go through - certainly remember my friends male puppy going through a humping phase for a few months. No advice here though other than to ignore/be grateful it’s only one soft toy getting the attention…

Im getting v fed up with the rainy and windy weather - poor Coco is so close to the ground it looks like she’s had a mud bath every time we take her out for a walk. I’ve invested in Equafleeces to reduce the amount of dog washing going on in my life - they are great but abit of a faff to get on and off.

Wishing all puppies and their exhausted owners a happy and hopefully less rainy and exhausted new year.