Struggling with puppy

[mumofthreesmallmen3]

Hi everyone, I am starting to struggle a lot with my puppy and would just like to maybe get ideas to help with the main issues I find I'm struggling with. Background is she is 19 weeks female Labrador. Over the past few weeks I have been finding it really hard, I'd like to know firstly If this is normal, secondly any tips. The nipping/not leaving alone is something I'm finding very hard,I know it's normal but it's relentless. Her routine is she gets 2 walks a day around 30 minutes each, around 9 and 4 roughly. The vets said the 5 minutes rule for walking outside so sticking to that, she also has my garden medium size and we also have a enclosed garden that we share with neighbours,communal, which is large and grassy and fully enclosed by the backs of our houses in a square shape, so she often will go out there too, I don't use lead there so I throw the ball and she has a run out there so I do think her exercise/physical Needs are being met. Is it possible I'm overdoing it or does this sound ok. We also do short training sessions with her kibble on things like sit,stay etc. If we are not out or actively playing/training she won't leave off, constantly bite my arms or hands, ashamed to say she made me cry the other day! Ridiculous! Id had bad news and I just wanted to sit down with a tea! I tried the yelping out loud then withdrawing from her, she goes more if I do that, I feel enticing her to do it more really with the loud exciting noises. I tried the remove myself from her with no reaction at all, I'm constantly standing up and down,up and down, I need a break! Is this normal? Another issue is she has diarrohea a lot, she actually has vets appointment on Monday as I need to sort the reason for diarrhoea out, it's impossible to pick up with bag, it makes a lot of mess,I'm hoping vet can help with issue but it's another thing that's quite stressful, in the day time she is pretty ok,odd accident, night time I put her into crate around 10pm after last toilet break as that's when I go to sleep, I still get up around 3/4 am to let her out as she needs a poo then, Is this normal? When would she be able to do 10pm to 6 am? I generally do hear her and let her out to go, if I do not in time she will soil crate, but after this 4am poo she's wide awake and ready to go, any advice for this issue? She is happy in crate I believe,she sometimes takes herself there in the daytime for nap, and bedtime she doesn't create, just at the 4am poo she will be wanting to get up and play then. She also will not toilet out on walks, is this a puppy thing and will change? She only will go in my small garden, not communal large one, when we finish walk and get to front door when I'm getting keys out of bag she will go outside front door without fail, is it because the walk is exciting so she forgets/holds as too busy sniffing/looking at everything? Anyone with experience of labradors 4/5 months is this all normal? It's so so much harder than I ever thought! If I sort the diarrhea problem on Monday that will be one less stressful thing, but she is hundred miles per hour most of the day! Is she not sleeping enough? She sleeps on and off through the day, but she's quite Velcro, she will sleep next to me on sofa,when I move,which I have to,she will wake so I don't know if I should be doing enforced naps in crate so I can get on with stuff? She's been lovely but I am shocked at how hard having a puppy really is! She is like having 4 toddlers at once with sharp teeth! By the time I do something in the house she's undone it! Sorry so long, did anyone else feel stressed at this age with there dogs,am I doing something wrong with her,please tell me in a year or 2 she's going to be a lovely mellow dog,she won't be this much forever will she? I'm trying to go with it but bit overwhelming last couple of weeks. I'm sorry this is so long

I wouldn't put pup on either of those foods, personally. They're expensive for what they are and nutritionally poor.

I'd go with white fish, rice and pumpkin puree to bind up the tummy. Chicken can cause the runs so it's worth trying to eliminate that. Fish and rice is very gentle (I just buy the blocks of Pollock which are frozen, cover and microwave them til cooked. Pumpkin is great for settling tummies and providing gentle bulking.

If you want a decent high street type food Wainwright's gets decent enough scores on all about dog food and is easy to get hold of.

It may be pup has Giardia which is a parasite that is very treatable.

Once you're on top of the tummy issues then choose a good quality food but best in mind the most expensive ones aren't always better. Millie's Wolfheart are worth a call.

As for behaviour, it's very normal puppy stuff.

We found clicker training really helped ours understand when he'd got something right. You have to be quick, capture the behaviour and click and pay with food quickly but they soon catch on that click = food and that click follows what they did.

I promise it gets better. Mine was an absolute terror as a puppy and teenager. Typical cocker spaniel. He's turning into a sweetie if an adult dog though. It's taken time, patience and a lot of training but it's worth it!

As said up thread, puppies are twats.

It gets better.

Keep praising the good and ignoring the bad.

Make sure they sleep enough. Start leaving them alone a bit so they get used to it = just for a few minutes at a time.

Train recall using treats - as a puppy they stick to you so it's good to let them off the lead (in safe places).

My puppy can’t tolerate cooked chicken and royal canin gave him the runs too, the vet gave him Hills and he did well on that with a scrambled egg in the morning. It was expensive so we switched to AVA from pets at home and he does well on that, still not cheap but we were just so relieved to find something he was settled with that we stuck with it.

I've heard the pumpkin thing before is that available here in UK,I've never seen it but meant to be very good for there stomachs? They will test for coccidia parasite but want to rule out if a diet issue first as I was using a cheaper brand kibble for her, I'm happy to try this but it's if it's still going on in January then look for other issues, they said her weight is fine and she's in great condition, she did have panacure around a month ago but only a 3 day course, it's 6ml for 5 consecutive days this time and the Bland diet of chicken and rice 🙏

The loose poos are annoying but really it's the blood that alarms me the most, it's not every time she goes but it is every day, one or more will have blood in them, she goes a lot, I'd say to 10 to 15 times a day! What I'm feeding her now is not working for her I don't think so I'm happy to follow there advice but in 2/3 weeks if the same then to look for other causes, I think that's all I can really do for now especially with it being Xmas etc, I have tried her before on chicken and rice but only for 2 days, I didn't know you kept it up until poos are better, they did seem to solidify a little bit but bit worried soon as I stop the cooked diet for back to normal

Why do people assume puppies are going to be easy! Puppies are very rarely easy, they are taken away from their mums at a very very young age, and you become their surrogate mum. Why do you think this will be plain sailing? Does she have toys? She's teething, she is a baby and she has no mum! You make life as best you can for her and accept the roller coaster that it is. In my many years experience with dogs, they do not 'calm down' until 3/4 years old

I had a constant diarrhoea issue with my puppy and was taking advice from the breeder. Tried all sorts of food changes to no avail. Was literally hosing the lawn down to get rid of it - was awful. Should have just got a stool sample done for giardia, which is what was the issue. And the biting phase seems like it's going to last for ever, but suddenly you it will all be over. I used a sharp 'shhh' sound for behaviour I wanted to stop. Oh and babygates to separate from me to give me a break. Got the (almost) perfect 3 year old at my feet now, but it's blooming hard work!

I don't think I imagined it to be easy, just maybe not so full on as this. She does have lots of toys and chews, I just wanted to see if other people felt a bit stressed or what people done to help with things that are trying really, and although I have had dogs before its my first experience of puppies so I've not had to deal with toilet training/puppy behaviour/nipping before, I tend to use Google strategies for training/issues but it's sometimes better to ask people on a forum what worked for them

That is what I am doing now, because her poos are so loose and hard to pick up I go out with hot water, spray and brush as it just spreads everywhere when I try to clean it up, also a portion of the garden is a fake grass, she mainly will go on that so I try to clean it off as it's not the same as soil/real grass

Oh OP! You have my sympathies, you are me a few months ago. I knew the puppy stage would be hard and was prepared for it… but I wasn’t really prepared for the relentlessness of it all. I’d wanted a dog for so so long and waited until my kids were older etc.
At the start I didn’t just cry, I wailed. I did so much “faking it until I made it” and ignoring bad behaviour but it did work. My pup is now 8 months and the warmest, loveliest, friendliest addition to our family.

(Inside only, outside she’s still an arsewipe)

Really just posting for solidarity but a few things that worked for me:
Routine- awake/activity/exercise/puzzle toy/training for an hour then sleep in crate. When awake again straight out for the toilet and repeat. And repeat. Meant that I had a break while she slept and also I knew she wasn’t tired etc. We don’t need the routine anymore.
Limiting access - mine was confined in kitchen/dining room/ conservatory and garden for first 6 months. This area was totally puppy proofed and meant I wasn’t always on edge watching out for her destroying things. I guess setting her up for success?
Training- build it into your day. Most useful command for me was WAIT. Easy to teach - just do at doors, before meeting people before dinner.
Working on your bond- took me a while to work out what she really liked. Obviously food as she’s a goldie but also bum scritches and chest rubs. But by far her favourite thing is playing. Tug of war, puzzles even guess what hand the treat is in. I’d like to think now that she’s knows I’d do anything for her and she’d do anything for me.
Labs are cracker dogs. You will get there, I’m not just saying that to make you feel better, you WILL. They are smart biddable dogs and once you get the diarrhoea sorted I reckon everything will start to fall into place within a month or so.

Stick with your vets advice but I also think scrambled eggs, sweet potato and white fish are good for sensitive tums. Do you have the pro-koalin paste? Keep us informed as to how you get on!

Thanks so much big bundle of fluff !! I knew there was other people out there like Me haha, I also don't think I understimated,I knew not going to be easy,and I also planned this for years until kids were older and I had undivided time for training and everything that goes along with a dog (seems to be cleaning or fixing things mostly lol) but it is still a bit of a shock,same way it is when you have a baby and your like wow I have no life or no time! I'm going to keep on trying with the positive reinforcement, do what the vets say around diet and see in a couple of weeks where we are

I would actually like to put a stair gate at bottom of stairs, I have a odd shape stairs that one's before I'd looked at didn't work on my staircase but I'm sure there is a solution, I don't have the option to go elsewhere to give her the message of enough as downstairs is all open plan,no doorways etc it's completely open plan, I think until she's more reliable with toilet training I may put a barrier up at bottom of stairs, but I feel she would maybe just jump it, she's quite tall and around 30 lbs

We have all hard floors bar a couple of rugs downstairs so accidents aren't the end of the world and expected, and upstairs is a lot of hard floor, I only have carpet on stairs and small bit of landing. I feel like I should say a plus side to her now 😅 she's so lovely and friendly to dogs and people, she has learnt things quick and she is delightful when she isn't using her teeth! I do quite like her 😁 but she is attention seeker too!

I recognise some other posters on this thread - we were you, about a year ago!

Retrievers (labs, GRs, etc) are shocking puppies, despite their rep as friendly bundles of fluff. I still have scars from where mine bit me, over and over again, on my ankles. Little sod.

Now, however, she is 1.5 years old, and I can put my hand inside her mouth to brush her teeth or fish out contraband, and I never worry about her biting me or anyone else. It's like she had a personality transplant at about 6 months of age.

We also had endless feeding bother - no allergies, just took a while for digestive system to settle down. Agree those commercial foods like Royal Canin, etc aren't actually very good for them. They're mostly either fillers, or horrible cheap resprayed meat or meat derivatives. Yuck. Vets sell this stuff, particularly the badged 'kidney support' yada ones, and I'm always a bit sceptical of the ethics of that.

We now use a tray of Forthglade complete per day, mixed with whichever quality kibble is on offer online. Millie's is really good, but there are others which are totally adequate as well.

But I think it's important to rule out worms, coccidia, giardia etc first.

OP - just on stair gates- I too have odd shaped stairs. I repurposed an old crate. The 2 long side I put 2 gate hinges on and fixed the wall with an old belt looped over the end bannister post for the other side. The cot mattress lined her crate. I didn’t want to spend anything much on it as it’s just temporary and once you have a 100% wait/ asking for permission you won’t need it any longer. I’ve taken mine off again as she knows she’s only allowed upstairs when invited. Btw use “freedom” as your release word. I yell it out in full on William Wallace braveheart style whether it’s going outside or eating dropped food off the ground. Makes me smile each time.

I was using 'ok' in a high tone, when I've been teaching wait, for a treat or her meal, she does do that command really well actually in general, but freedom does sound a lot better 😂once Xmas is out of the way I will look again for a barrier or gate just for now, she's been on chicken and rice and panacure for 3 days now,her poos aren't as liquid but not solid either, can also still still the rice undigested is that quite normal does anyone know? She is going a lot less than before,about 4/5 times a day now when before was easily 10 plus

Still see* it's solidified a bit but it is still on loose side, no accidents indoors,I think mainly because she has to go a lot less theres less chance of accidents so is helping with that too in a way

Try adding the pureed pumpkin it really helps, as does a probiotic paste like pro-kolin.

I'd be asking for a Giardia test from the vet tbh

We had a Labrador puppy as a child and she was very good, don’t recall doing any early letting out of doors for toilet and biting wasn’t an issue apart from the phone lead indoors!

But my DM was a teacher and we got the puppy late spring early summer so she could take her on puppy walks round the local high street to socialise her as well as round the park.

DM trained her herself and I recall she was very easy to train, hardly any shouting needed. We said she could’ve been a guide dog puppy.

I do think as well don’t overtire the puppy with too many or too long walks as she may not sleep properly at night if she naps a lot in the day. Definitely get her off the sofa next to you.

Labs are very intelligent dogs too.

Agreed with @liarliarshortsonfire - lots of different places to walk, we did this a lot including to the seaside, she was a bit scared of the waves though! I think labs do get bored more so maybe than other breeds but her retriever instincts may kick in if she’s a hunting dog (of that stock) which mine was, she’d go mad chasing rabbits even as a pup!

It might be worth trying tripe for digestion, we gave the pup this, it smells dire though!

I would skip the rice, no nutritional content and use tripe as above. Try the Tinned butchers tripe, easier to digest.

Some dogs are sensitive to anything with grain ( including meat products which have been predominantly grain reared ie chicken).
Good luck, she sounds lovely, my Springer was like a little shark for the first 8 months or so, now nearly 7 and a wonderful companion.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through all this. We have a spaniel who was pretty hard work for the first 9 months or so. I agree it is like having a demanding toddler and I also didn't quite expect that. She's extremely bouncy so a lot our training has been about trying to calm her. She's over a year now and has gotten a lot calmer and we are much happier. She still acts out sometimes though and she's still a Velcro dog. I'm used to cats and I did find the constant need to be with you all the time hard at first! It will get better!! Puppies are overrated, I think we could have been happier getting an older dog but we had small children so wouldn't have considered a rescue for that reason as you just never know. If we were to ever get another dog, I'd go for a rescue though.

Stick with it! It will get a lot lot better. We have an almost two year old lab/ golden retriever and she is the best girl in the world. As a puppy she was a bitey nightmare. We went from a no shoe household to wearing boots all the time because she kept going for our feet. She was a ball of energy and needed lots and lots of short bursts of training and games to use up her mental and physical energy. She is a working breed and I think we under estimated how bright and active she would be! We took the 5 minutes walk thing with a pinch of salt. It doesn't seem to be based on sound research. Our walks were generally running around in the forest rather than pavement walks on a lead.

One thing I didn't train when she was little was to teach her to go to a mat on command and settle. Maybe focus on this? Ours also didn't poo or wee on walks for ages. We went on a day trip by ferry one day and she held it all in until we got home including wees. You said she is quite a velcro dog. Can you practice leaving her for short bursts so she doesn't get anxious when you need to go out for longer? Radio with a licky mat covered in dog peanut butter used to work for us.

She is a brilliant dog now (she was always brilliant but she was hard work). She is very fun and playful but can also be calm and cuddly. She loves training and we do loads of dog activities - flyball and agility. She also goes to a doggy daycare which is amazing for her because she gets lots of playtime which I think labs need as they are so sociable.

It will be fine! The teeth will be a distant memory soon!

I'm starting to think I should keep her off sofa for a bit, how difficult will this be as all she's known.
The trainer told us to never never never let your dog on a sofa or chair as they assume ownership and it’s likely to be the cause of them getting annoyed at anyone they don’t quite know who’s simply sitting down! I’m new to all of this, but Easy Peasy a puppy Squeezy (the book) has been a godsend. It teaches you to hand over a chew toy or teddy when they feel like chewing something. We quickly got to the stage that whenever our puppy even considered nipping/chewing we handed over a teddy/toy and now he looks around for one if we haven’t given it to him and takes it first. Told my friend and the same thing, after a while stopped going for the feet and just grabbed for a chew toy. Best of luck with it all op!