Puppy survival thread part 2

[Orangebadger]

Thought I would start another thread for all those puppy owners.

@Riverlee
@Unluckycat1
@Sunflowers765
@BigBundleOfFluff
@Cocopuff

Will have to look back to tag others as cannot remember all names.

Hi @BigBundleOfFluff , thank you for asking!! Everything went ok, was very anxious throughout though. I think she just slept the whole time, she was very relaxed when we got home. Hope everything is going well in the fluff household xx

Have had my first gin since Chipup arrived and am actually relaxing about the whole thing for the first time. This anxiety is unreal!! I hope it doesn’t last forever. I am thinking a lot of it is juggling the six year old and the puppy at the same time, but I am finding it so hard. Much harder than I ever expected. I just want her to wee outside. Just once, so I can give her cheese and she can equate outside wees with goodness. I know I’m rambling but I am just finding this so hard!! Xx

Desperately cute though!!

As per pic

Oh the wee pink puppy belly!!!!!!!

@Chihowhow i never knew how much hard work a puppy is either. It’s a good job they’re cute! chipup’s .’s little face.

Mines a lot bigger, but I still love taking pictures of when he’s asleep.

I'm piling on with my sleeping Fluffpup tonight too!

Yes how much hard work puppies are!! Lovely sleepy pup photos 😍

Well we are going away on holiday in 3 days and with perfect timing Orangepup went into season today. We are leaving her with a dog sitter and she has no in tact boys, but it's a worry to leave her right now! I did wonder if it was on the way as yesterday she was very sleepy, a little aloof which is very unlike her and really not bothered about her walk. Then she kept licking her bits. No obvious bleeding but when I put a tissue to there today there were some specks of blood. I think she's just licking it away. I was always worried that our holiday would coincide with this! What can you do! Luckily the dog sitter lives down our road and can always bring her back home for some down time if it gets too much with other dogs. Normally she does that when Orangepup gets too much for the other dogs!!

@Chihowhow the anxiety is hard! When I got my first dogs I couldn’t sleep for ages, worried about them, worried about us. Turned out fine even with our dog reactive, man reactive, terrible pulling on the lead dogs.

This time I’m more confident with the odd wobble if she’s unsettled/anxious. Obviously she is sometimes as she’s only been here 5 days and we have taken a 9 month pup from everything she’s ever known. (We didn’t just take her obviously..)

The brilliant news today was a vet checkup and Whippydog does not have a heart murmur (my old whippets did). Very happy.

Unlike my old dogs, Whippydog was not scared of the vets, is not interested in the cats, happily walks through puddles. Just goes to show how different dogs can be even when they are same breed.

@Orangebadger how old is orangepup again? That's rubbish timing, how long are you away for? I really ought to do more research, but I vaguely recall the season is in stages (??), so hopefully the easier part is at the beginning. Sorry if this is a question too far but when you say kept licking her bits, do you mean loads so it was obvious she must be in season, or just a bit more than usual?

We're going away too, though just for a long weekend, and I'm really anxious about it. Anxious about unluckypup feeling abandoned, about my MIL not being able to cope with her, about her running off and getting lost etc etc. Argh.

@Unluckycat1 she will be 10 months on the 1st August. Ironically when I saw her dog sitter on Monday I did say I was worried about her going into season while we were away. That was before the signs came. Yes licking her bits LOTS!! so not much blood as she's licking it away, mind you when I wiped after she came in from the garden it was only a tiny amount. I think it can last 2 weeks. She's very subdued and really not remotely interested in going out for a walk at all. Luckily she goes to her dog sitter every Monday when we are both at work so she's very use to her home and loves going there. But yes less than ideal timing!

@Orangebadger oh no!! Typical!!! I’m so sorry about the timing-you must already be a bit on edge with going away as it is. I hope everything goes smoothly xx

@Orangebadger thanks for the info, sounds like it's fairly clear when they come into season, thank goodness! Hope all goes well, I'm sure it will, esp if orangepup can chill at home too

Is it normal to flip flop between “ow, you little land shark, you have pissed on the carpet again!” And “oh my God you are absolutely everything and I love you so much!!”? I am finding myself giving myself massive ultimatums-“I am going to have to go back to work and I am freaking out about leaving you and what kind of a life am I even giving you if I need to work (from home) and ignore you for an hour. I should never have even got a puppy if I can’t care for you properly” and “what if I want to go on holiday in 2025, I can’t even do that and leave you”. I am finding the emotions so hard! Is this normal??

Was for me.. and still is. There are days I feel
like such a failure and he would be better off with another family swiftly followed by days of not knowing how we would manage without him and seeing how well he is doing. From what I hear there are probably about another 12 months before it settles into a more stable emotional rollercoaster

@Chihowhow I certainly flipped between OMG I am so happy we finally have a dog to OMG what have I done???? I should not have got a puppy yet! I have a 10 yr old and 5 yr old. Training puppy was very challenging with them and the school holidays are a big juggle! But I feel now we are past the worst and it's all paying off now. Orangepup is 10 months and have probably only felt that it's paying off over the last month or so.

It's bloody hard work having a puppy and an emotional rollercoaster!

Just had our 10 minutes of evening madness, think they're both settling down now. Fingers crossed

Hello 👋🏼 my first post here

We have had our girl Labrador with us for just over 4 weeks now, since she was 8 weeks old. Going for first walks in the next couple of days, and I’ve been dying to get to that stage. I feel like it might use up some energy and entertain her a bit, it’s been hard staying at home.

Finding it so hard with the biting, jumping up and scratching/catching claws and ripping clothes, weeing indoors, the destruction, the super high energy… I miss my laid back cat, who’s spending less time chilling out with me but gradually building up her confidence with having a dog around.

This is my first ever dog, very much wanted, and I’m so looking forward to all the walks, but finding this puppy stage much harder than I thought. Reminds me of how I coped with early motherhood, which was also much harder than I thought it would be!

It is just a puppy phase isn’t it? There won’t always be the biting, ripping clothes, etc will there..? 😬

@LabLife8 😂🤣 yes it’s just the puppy phase and there won’t always be biting etc. It’s a bloody nightmare whilst it lasts though isn’t it? Sometimes I think Florapup (now 14 weeks) is a PITA and others, I adore her (usually when she’s asleep) 😳

It is a fairly relentless experience but the puddles etc will stop fairly quickly ime if you're consistent. Get her claws clipped asap that definitely helps reduce the scratches and ripped clothing.

Just be prepared for walks not to be the solution you're hoping for, ours at 12 weeks took a lot of coaxing and would sit and not move, now at 6mths she is the opposite and is like a runaway train at times. My arm sometimes feels like it's going to be pulled out of it's socket .

I echo what others have said I swing from despair and missing our life pre puppy to thinking she's adorable but sadly that is usually when she's about to nod off on my lap 😬.

So proud of myself for teaching the "down" command today to Britpup!! It's such a huge thrill when they learn something. Couldn't help spoiling her with a lick of popsicle...

@LabLife8

Yes, perfectly normal feelings and puppy life is hard. At one point, I was in tears most days, and The Dogs Trust got threatened to RiverPup on a daily basis.

Ps @LabLife8 Any pictures of your adorable monster? There’s a lot of labs on this site. Mine included (now a year old).

Not a Lab (obviously!) but this is Rafa in a rare moment of stillness

Forgot to add he's six months this week