Puppy Survival Thread - for old and new pups

[Riverlee]

Thought I’d start a new thread as the old one is at its limit, for new and older pups.

please come and share your tales of success, woes, concerns and questions, and of course, photographs.

That's a good name too, so added to our ever longer short list !

@FeargalLandSharkey good luck today bringing pup home. Let us know how the journey goes.

SO many accidents all of a sudden too. ARgh. Two yesterday and one this morning. I'm trying to work and I miss it. My last puppy definitely at least went to the back door.

I'm beginning to feel stressed. I need to be able to work. My house is disgustingly messy and dirty because I don't a minute to do anything. I feel like I'm trapped in the house- I can't even go and get bread, which I need, because he can't be left alone. ARGHGHGHGHGH

Is it too early for wine ;)

I'm not sure I even have a DVD player anymore ☹️

Two wee accidents already this morning!

Never too early for wine. God I remember that feeling well. I also remember crying as I missed the front of my house and the front garden as I'd had restricted her movements to make it easier to clean...
All I can say was that my routine was 1 hour awake, 1 hour asleep. And during her asleep times I either did a fulls day work in an hour or cleaned/cooked etc.
I have had to significantly lower my standards since getting the dog. I did just purchase a steam cleaner - the first time I used it the results were mildly horrifying.

Oh I so feel your pain.

Deliveroo was the solution to my needing bread if that helps

I'm trying a new regime today! Mabel spent a few hours asleep in her crate asleep while I worked in my office in the room next to her. When she woke up I transferred my laptop to the dining table and she is allowed the run
of the kitchen diner whilst I'm working , I've brought her bed and toys in here and have the garden doors open so she can have the run of the garden (6ft fences/walls on all sides, non escapable). Its five to two and we are accident free this far in, I have my fingers crossed! My dining chairs are pretty uncomfortable but its a price I'm willing to pay.

@cockapup he looks like a Fergus to me, or possibly a Wilbur

I’m currently tearing my hair out, worse than my past ‘puppy blues’. Florapup (6-month-old Weimaraner). Is going through a hyper phase over the past few days. She isn’t sleeping enough and like most youngsters, is a PITA when tired. In the past when she was overtired, I’d put her in her crate. She’s grumble a bit, then settle and sleep. Now she just cries, barks and tries to chew the bars (I don’t let her out until she has a period of being settled in order not to reinforce that). The worst of it is that she has started growling at me when I go to move her off my seat. She also has a go at one of my Toy Poodles (the one she usually loves) if he sits on my knee and launches herself at the other one snarling (she doesn’t bite) out if the blue. I have plenty of experience of large breeds (including Weimaraners) from years ago. I assume she is just ‘asking questions’ about where she is in the hierarchy as she learns about life. I have had this in the past with a Rottweiler, but not with a Weimaraner.

I know the ‘dominance in a pack’ model is out of vogue and frowned upon these days. With anything else, I only train with positive reinforcement, but this is a difference issue. There is no scientific evidence against hierarchy in dog packs. I suspect it’s frowned upon due to some owners and trainers using it to justify cruelty. We only have to watch a family of dogs living together, including pups/youngsters living with their mother to see how they deal with boundaries being overstepped. Anyway, I roughly (waiting to be flamed 😳) told Florapup that behaviour (growing at me) was a step too far. I just restrain her, tell her a firm no, then distract when she launches at the others.

Having been there before (many years ago), I know it doesn’t mean she is going to be a nasty dog, but it’s such hard work. I’m feeling really fed up!

@AnnieSnap sounds really tough, I don’t think less of you for being firm, I’ve done it a few times myself, it’s pure frustration bubbling over. She needs to realise her behaviour is not acceptable, that’s your job, doesn’t make it any easier when you’re feeling completely fed up though.

@AnnieSnap . That to me doesn't sound like no, as in shouting at her. That sounds to me like a no, think again, make a better choice and then being rewarding for the better choice? Which, to me is great and balanced way of training.

Thank you @userxx and @BigBundleOfFluff She is always rewarded for good choices.

It's a rollercoaster, isn't it? This morning I was saying that we had made a mistake and shouldn't have got this dog. I was upset because I thought we were doing well, but on another thread, a poster was horrified that I have scratches on my hand and that I should have stopped biting. To be honest, I think we've done really well. Labradors are bitey. I don't 'allow it', but if she lunges for me, my hand scrapes her tooth as I remove it.

Mid morning, we took her to my Mum and Dad's for the first time to meet their two dogs she was beautifully behaved.

Well that poster seemed a bit deranged to be fair. No one let's a puppy (or any animal/human to be fair!) bite them. It's happens, puppies bite, or you can do is attempt to train them not to and that takes time. I imagine a lot of on this thread have puppy related wounds!

Mabel has discovered a love of cucumber and digging holes in the flowerbeds today, and we're still at zero inside accidents so far today. I could do without the digging but the rest is okay!

Such a rollercoaster! All puppies bite and especially gun dog breeds- Labradors, spaniels, golden retrievers etc. It's because they are bred to carry stuff and use their mouths.

Today Foxpup bit me on the nose! I was carrying him outside for a little walk around the block and he just spun round and nipped me!

But this afternoon he had a good nap and got some work done and a bit of hoovering. So I feel better again. And i have wine chilling in the fridge!

I'm so pleased for you @Pineapplemonkey . Enjoy the wine @FoxRedPuppy

Struggling a bit today and also wondering what the hell we've let ourselves in for . I'm tired after another night on the sofa and then stressed working out logistics taking dc shoe shopping but with a dog that won't be left without non-stop barking and a quivering wreck when we get in (as I discovered having got stuck in traffic and out for 45 minutes instead of the intended 10 mins a few days ago!) .

Tell me it gets better and I might be able to leave him for a couple of hours one day in the future. We budgeted for doggy day care thinking it would be occasional days out or emergencies but it's not feasible every time we leave the house!

I’ve been looking into day care for my one office day a week. I had booked a dog Walker to come in, she does 1hr with her, but i think it’s too long for the pup. Dog lady is on holiday for the first two weeks of November so I’m trying to find a dog day care I can take her to on my way to work and collect her after. It’s hard. I think if I find someone I may keep her there on Tuesdays going forward.

How old is he @Doodledangle ?

@Lougle if it makes you feel any better, your little pup seems better behaved than my two chocolates who are 10 months and …erm, 7 years old🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
So definitely don’t be upset 😊

Thanks @feelingalittlehorse , that's so kind. But we have adolescence to come, also! I see photos of her other litter mates curled up next to other dogs, resting. Our dogs seem to constantly play fight when they're together. I think big dog is trying to teach her doggy manners. She was much calmer with my parents' dogs but I think that's probably a bit of the unknown.

To be honest, on occasion, myself and the older older one aka Feelydogsnr have just sort of sat there amid the pandemonium and let it happen around us 😂😂 I’m just very, very fortunate that they all get on. Having the eldest one as “the boss” definitely helps, I think she’s glad of the distraction for middle Feelydog so she doesn’t have to entertain him at all any more and is enjoying some peace and quiet.

Labs are absolute land sharks- the nipping, the chewing Oh GOD THE CHEWING. I actually taught this one the command “drop it” before anything else, because quite frankly, I learnt my lesson with the other two regarding ingestion of unfavourable things at rapid speed. I could probably fill all 40 pages of this thread with the list of things that have been eaten that make me look like The Worst, Most Neglectful Owner Ever.

Because I’d done it before, for some reason I felt so much pressure to get it right with this one- it reduced me to tears sometimes thinking, bloody HELL, I don’t remember this being so stressful.….

I have found a doggy day care near my work and I’m going to meet her on Saturday. It’s been one of my biggest worries tbh, leaving her all day, so I’m really hoping we like this lady (and she likes Maggie). There’s some big day care places by me (basically like kennels for days) - I don’t like the idea of that, but this is one person in their home and a couple of doggies. We’ll see.

other than that, we have had an ok day. Put her in her crate for nap time rather than on her bed, and it was good - I think we both benefitted from it. I’ve got the food sorted now and a bit of a better routine with it. I need to start carrying treats as she’s getting a big naughty outside with things she’s not allowed. My garden had erupted with mushrooms overnight and there seems to be constant little things she’s not allowed. I need to do another sweep with a binbag and collect everything dangerous.

Well done @thenewaveragebear1983 .

We set our fire alarm off accidentally earlier but Hazel slept straight through it. She really does seem bomb proof right now.

@feelingalittlehorse thanks so much for the encouragement - much needed.

I’m also looking for doggy day care one day a week - it’s certainly gone up in price since I made enquires last year and luckily. I don’t need to rely on it yet as it’s hard to find a regular slot and I doubt I’ll find one until the new year.

@Lougle he’s 10 months but only just joined our family so very much new to us and has had zero training in his previous home and was never left so we knew it would be baby steps and it’s early days so not panicking just feeling a bit overwhelmed & tired. I’ve read so much but now feel like I need a proper plan or schedule to work on recall (none!), basic commands and getting him secure enough to leave for short periods.

So Bertie is home, due to traffic delays we didn't get home til 9pm. He was a star in the car and slept most of the way.

But OMG he got so distressed when I introduced him to the crate and tried to settle him. He wouldn't eat, wee'd on my bed, took him out to the garden as soon as I saw him sniffing but he hated it and cried (alot). Then he poo'd in his crate on the vet bed stuff.

So, all in all I decided that today was just so overwhelming for him he needs to be in the crate but on my bed with me next to him. Hey presto as soon as I put him in the crate on my bed he conked out.
Tomorrow is another day and we can start again.

Any tips on how to help him NOT develop separation anxiety would be gratefully accepted. First vets visit tomorrow.

Oh, and I am besotted by the way.