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.

Another veggie dog owner here too (used to be vegan, dh still is) our dogs are on dry food which is okay, but I do put a topper of ham, fish, eggs, cheese etc on their kibble. I don't think I could do raw food for them. I am okay with the dried animal parts as treats, as I like to think they're a by product of other industries and not going to waste or being killed specifically for treats (I maybe naive though 😬)

I hate the smelly dog chew things. Ostrich tendons , yak chews, split deer antlers, cow or lamb bone braids are my chews of choice for Coco - but she’s only a tiny dog (nearly 4 kg - which is 2 times what she was when we picked her up). She’s had them all from around 12 weeks. We have an olive wood chew too but she’s not a big fan.

you can get play bones from Natural Instinct that you keep in your freezer which I suspect may be good for aggressive chewers - though only allowed from 6 months

Honestly @Rowdythree i haven’t dared look into it

I buy treats from Lily’s Kitchen because they’re a bit more ethical and when we had cats in the US I got them very expensive “humane” pet food but yeah going to go the veggie route (or possibly try the insect dog food) once Haku is fully grown.

bTW with your other dogs when did you start adding other food to their meals?

We have done it pretty much since we've had him as he's always been a really fussy eater, so to encourage him to eat we've always had to add something more tasty to his kibble.

Rowdypup absolutely loves his kibble so we won't need to do it for him, at the moment anyway

I buy treats from Lily’s Kitchen because they’re a bit more ethical

Lily's kitchen are owned by Nestle

Ugh well FFS I won’t be buying them anymore then

prob shouldn’t have got a dog 😆

We get our treats from Just for Pets if you have one of those near by, they have a pick n mix type arrangement with all the various animal parts😆

For the past two days Rowdypup has had no accidents in the house!

Well done Rowdypup!

Unfortunately I just spoke to soon 😩

I add a bit of whatever we have going. Scrambled eggs, sardines, salmon any fish, sweet potato, cottage cheese or cooked flaked chicken or just a couple of spoonfuls of good old butchers.

We have just started given her kibble differently and not in her bowl. We play chase, hunt the kibble, catch the kibble etc to make it fun, and more importantly us more fun. Part of trying to build up to good recall - being the most exciting thing around.

@BigBundleOfFluff I'm trying to make a transition as well to making meal times enrichment, just doing it for breakfast at the moment but def need some more ideas!

Coco is raw fed for meals so lickimats are good for her meals. She absolutely stank when we got her and I rapidly realised it was down to the kibble the breeder had her on - since transitioning to raw food at 9 weeks she’s a lot less stinky! She also has cut up meat/ some hard training snacks/ the occasional bit of kibble for training purposes - we use puzzle feeder toys and sniffmats to keep her distracted while I’m working from home. We have a carrot bed toy which she spends ages on pulling all the carrots up - you can hide treats in the holes but she’s not quite big enough to reach the bottom yet…

though her favourite food puzzle seems to be Amazon packaging with snacks hidden in the paper - a great use for their excessive packaging!

@Cocopuff coco is soooo cute!

We have a lick bowl which L loves, takes her a good 20 min as it moves around. And a puzzle mat for kibble. But I need to make meals more fun, like hide things around the house or garden. Need to start getting more creative as she literally takes 30secs to Woolf down her food!

We have a slow feeder for RiverPup inch definitely helps.

Gave Him a licky mat and thought it was keeping him occupied for ages, until I realised he was shredding the mat!

@Cocopuff whats a carrot bed toy? Lovely photo.

@Riverlee fortunately Coco is tiny so her chewing isn’t at that level. Yet. Though she does love mangling an ostrich tendon or two.

Cocos carrot patch is in the back of this photo (where we introduced her to bubbles) - she loves pulling them out

Mmm, think Riverpup would probably try and eat those carrots, or at least shred them. He does like real carrots though. Never knew until my sil got a dog that dogs like carrots.

Yes, I suspect it would struggle when up against a vigorous chewer… coco isn’t a huge fan of real carrots - enormous fan of melon through

Coco is very cute! A friend was just telling me about “bubble time she does with her spaniel in the garden, sounds adorable.

I’ve seen that carrot toy around and reckon Haku would love it. I’ve started only giving his meals as enrichment now, so in a topple or rolled up in several blankets or mashed and frozen onto a licky mat. He is overtired and manic in the evenings so I’m trying to wear him out a bit - doesn’t help that DD thinks it’s playtime too and winds him up more! It’s quite fun though finding out new things to do with him

@CockapooMadness sorry for not replying earlier. You were indeed the one who mentioned ‘puppy blues’ as a thing, and over Christmas and NY, I think I was properly depressed and anxious.
like you, I would have been glad to hand him back to his previous owner.
It’s only in the last week or so that I’ve really bonded with Tigerpup to the point that I do like him, and not resent him anymore.

it helps that he’s the sweetest, most adorable dog, and we haven’t had any major concerns with him yet - sleeps through, doesn’t chew furniture, can let him off lead in the park and great recall, plays with other dogs nicely etc.
Latest pics of him, one just after having his first session at the grooming parlour, and the other looking like an Ewok 😍

Does anyone have any tips regarding the jumping up thing?

He’s doing a lot better with toilet training, and we’ve done away with the pads. He can hold it overnight, which is great, and accidents inside are getting less frequent 🙏

Oh isn’t TigerPup sweet?! Re the jumping up we did the age old thing of ignoring and doing the sit command and then treating and attention to sit - we worked really hard and consistently in making him sit in a million situations so now he’s very responsive to the command and if he’s sitting he can’t jump….

I’ve def noticed a change in Haku in that he is now barely napping in the day and needs a LOT of interaction - and if he doesn’t get it during the day then he’s a bit of a nightmare in the evenings, like an overtired toddler

Can I ask about collars? What type of collar and lead is everyone using, especially the larger breeds.

On recommendation today , brought a half-check collar, today to help with heel walking, as RiverPup can be pulley. They seem to garner mixed reports when reading up about them. What have people been advised?

Evening all. @Riverlee , we just have a pretty standard collar but for walks he always wears a harness (Golden retriever) and we have done this from the start. He isn’t too pulley so far (5mo) but getting stronger. I use the clip at the back of it but there is one at the chest you can use which is supposed to stop pulling as they get pulled to the side if they pull. I bought a long line lead recently but it hasn’t showed up so I can’t report on that!

That sounds good advice re sitting, @Citygirlrurallife, does he need told to sit when he approaches strangers or has he just got the hang of that now? @tigerbear , at home we always turn our back if he jumps and this works fine but that doesn’t work with strangers who don’t do this. I try sit but he’s generally too excited once someone is showing him attention. I feel like I need some staged strangers to practice with.

Thats a shame about your evenings with Haku, ours is a dream in the evenings, cuddly sleepy and relaxed, it’s just all day he drives me mental, ha!

This is getting a long post but who was it who was dealing with Giardia? We’ve had blood in stools and diarrhoea on and off for a couple weeks and they are treating for this. Any tips?

@Riverlee same here re standard collar but we never use it with a lead, always use the perfect fit harness. We actually do two leads, one on the ring on the back and one on the front ring to discourage pulling and easier to maneuverer

you know what @Beginningless he is getting better at sitting automatically but he never jumps up at least. Took him on a longer walk today and he was weirdly PERFECT. Say when asked the first time whenever someone was approaching then even sat when I gave the command from about 20m away and then we had a runner coming towards us and he sat before I could ask him to! All off lead

Haku and Tigerpup seem to be doing well! Re jumping up - our rule is no affection until all 4 feet on the floor. Coco gets super excited when any of us come home and jumps up so we are teaching her to sit before showing her love etc. I agree with using Sit outside too. Fortunately Coco is a tiny dog and will always be small but I really think it’s important to nail the not jumping up - as an owner of a small dog that I sometimes need to step in to protect from over vigorous big dogs (or even when just walking her and minding our own business) I’ve had big dogs jump up and leave mud all over me on numerous occasions because their owners have not taught them that it’s unacceptable.

I use at Tellington t-touch harness for Coco - ring at front and two on back so good for practicing loose lead, car seat clip, two clips on to steer etc. Bonus is that it doesn’t go over her head (she has enough of that trauma with equafleeces) and is adjustable so grows with her. Hopefully it will last her for a while. Have also heard v good things about perfect fit harnesses.