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.

Hazel did sleep through, so I'm pleased. That was 8:50-6:15 and she only woke because DH came downstairs.

Oh gosh I'm a bit worried about how big Charlie is. We weighed him at home a week ago and he was 12.7kg - he'll be 17 weeks tomorrow- and he feels heavier again now 😱

We've had conflicting things said by vets - one said you can't really overfeeding him at this age as it goes on growth whereas another said he felt a bit bloated - a polite way of saying he has a big belly??

Dogdaywoes woes golden Labrador, 18 weeks, 10.5kg
Lougle chocolate Labrador, 13 weeks, 7.6kg
Riverlee black Labrador, 16 months, 28kh
BigBundleofFluff Golden retriever, 18 months, 30kg
NoWordForFluffy, fox red Labrador, 12 months, 24-25kg ish
thenewaveragebear1983 fox red Labrador, 12 weeks, 8kg

Woke up this morning to Maggie having pooped in her crate, the cat having protest pooped (2nd day running) on the rug and generally just a whole lotta crap to clear up.

pup seems to have a bit of a funny tummy, not sure why except she did do a lot of training yesterday and also had a fair amount of kibble as bribes. She was really really hard work yesterday so maybe she wasn’t feeling well. It can’t be helped by the fact she is just constantly snuffling for food and seems to be constantly finding things, she took a massive earthworm off last night and I had to remove it from her much to her Dismay. Hopefully her increased rations will help with that today.

@thenewaveragebear1983 oh no, what a mess to wake up to! Hope pup is OK today.

Dogdaywoes woes golden Labrador, 18 weeks, 10.5kg
Lougle chocolate Labrador, 13 weeks, 7.6kg
Riverlee black Labrador, 16 months, 28kh
BigBundleofFluff Golden retriever, 18 months, 30kg
NoWordForFluffy, fox red Labrador, 12 months, 24-25kg ish
thenewaveragebear1983 fox red Labrador, 12 weeks, 8kg
DoggyNewbie yellow Labrador, 17 weeks, 12.7kg

@DoggyNewbie I've looked back to page 1 and you told me that Charlie was a smidge under 8kg at 10 weeks. That means he's been averaging 670g per week of weight gain. The stated average for a lab is 1-1.5kg per week, so if anything, he's been a bit slow to gain.

There is evidence that fast growth is not great for large breed dogs:

"Overnutrition in large-breed puppies leads to not only heavier body weight but also faster bone growth with abnormal bone remodeling. The end result is a larger but less dense skeletal structure supporting a load that is heavier than ideal. Controlling the growth rate and providing nutrients in amounts adjusted for energy intake can help decrease the risks of skeletal abnormalities caused by rapid growth in large-breed puppies." https://www.vetfolio.com/learn/article/focus-on-nutrition-feeding-large-breed-puppies

But Charlie doesn't sound big for a Labrador at 12.7kg and 17 weeks.

@thenewaveragebear1983 that's a bad start to the day. I was kept up all night by one of our cats crashing in and out of the cat flap and careening around the downstairs.

Hazel has learned 'orbit' (a complete circle around our legs) this morning for breakfast . She learns so fast, it's scary.

@DoggyNewbie thank you, yes she seems full of beans this morning. She took herself off to bed early last night and we didn’t wake her for a last toilet visit so she obviously couldn’t hold it all night. Lesson learned!

@Lougle thank you! Will try and weigh him again today- he definitely sounds heavier than the other lab puppies on here but there is a wide range if healthy weights for grown labs isn't there? I guess he's not going to be a small adult! We missed his vet worming appointment last week due to kid illness/not attending school so will reschedule that today.

Hazel sounds very clever!

@thenewaveragebear1983 did you take the kibble bribes out of her daily food allowance? At this age, if they have too much food they just poo it out. It might be why you've had an accident. Did she not cry in the night?

Please can I add Bertie to the list.
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
10wks today
2.41kgs.

@Lougle yes, I weigh her kibble out as part of her food allowance. The dog Walker will have given her some as well. She probably just had too much. We didn’t hear her in the night, dh is a very light sleeper so I’m sure he would have heard her even if I didn’t.
she seems ok this morning though, she’s always a bit wild in the mornings so today was no exception.

i’m looking forward to being able to take her for a walk first thing. She had so much energy in the morning and she’s bored of our garden even though it’s massive. This morning she was trying to run up the slide 🤦‍♀️

Fluffpup is the correct weight and shape. I remember her steadily putting on 1kg a week. I was worried that she'd be a large lady, she's not and she's quite muscular. Her weight gain slowed coming up to 6 months then stopped by a year I think.

Here he is just now

Dogdaywoes woes golden Labrador, 18 weeks, 10.5kg
Lougle chocolate Labrador, 13 weeks, 7.6kg
Riverlee black Labrador, 16 months, 28kh
BigBundleofFluff Golden retriever, 18 months, 30kg
NoWordForFluffy, fox red Labrador, 12 months, 24-25kg ish
thenewaveragebear1983 fox red Labrador, 12 weeks, 8kg
DoggyNewbie yellow Labrador, 17 weeks, 12.7kg
FeargalLandSharkey Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, 10 weeks, 2.41kgs
.

I'll cheekily add unluckypup even though I don't have much to add to the thread anymore 🙈 the early puppy days feel a blur, something we just muddled through tbh, so I don't feel in a position to offer good advice.

Unluckypup nearly 11 months, mongrel, probably saluki and gsd plus other breeds. Over 20kg.

I do feel she is still a puppy though, with certain challenges. I can't remember the username but someone with a 10 month old pup was dealing with some separation anxiety. We are too, it came on about six weeks ago out of the blue, and I think is maybe something to do with the second fear phase? Though there isn't much useful stuff about the second fear phase online so I'm not sure if it's a definitely real thing? Anyway, she howls if left in the house alone. Our solution so far is avoiding leaving her alone 🙈

She's still fixated on other dogs and still dropping to a lie down when one is coming our way and refusing to budge until they pass. Recall is still a thing of the past, though if i walk around our local fenced field she does come and check in with me often, which feels like a small step towards how things used to be. She still wants to give people a hug when they say hi to her (thanks to the 15yr old for totally undermining the no jumping up training 🤦‍♀️). Otherwise she's a lovely, sweet-natured dog.

She is beautiful @Unluckycat1 . Do copy and paste the list and add your details!

I love the markings on her muzzle.

@Lougle that's an interesting article, it's reviewing studies in great danes and giant breeds. I'm not sure if great danes are more prone to skeletal disease than non-giant breeds. Looking at the underlying studies I can't be sure of the study design (probably not randomised or controlled as the studies are up to 50 years old!) Pup isn't a giant breed but it's got me concerned enough that I will have a chat with the vet at her appointment next week. She's had a whopping weight gain but I can still see her ribs so I'm not sure if I should cut her food down, hopefully her growth rate settles!

Dogdaywoes woes golden Labrador, 18 weeks, 10.5kg
Lougle chocolate Labrador, 13 weeks, 7.6kg
Riverlee black Labrador, 16 months, 28kh
BigBundleofFluff Golden retriever, 18 months, 30kg
NoWordForFluffy, fox red Labrador, 12 months, 24-25kg ish
thenewaveragebear1983 fox red Labrador, 12 weeks, 8kg
DoggyNewbie yellow Labrador, 17 weeks, 12.7kg
FeargalLandSharkey Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, 10 weeks, 2.41kgs
BleakGarden, German Shorthaired Pointer, 12 weeks, 9.5kg

I'm loving all the photos!

Thanks @Lougle I'll log in on my computer later as I'm having a copy and paste fail on my phone 😅

@BleakGarden I was told by my vet that I should aim to see the shape of her ribs but not the individual ribs, if that's any help. Though as she's a mongrel I guess I needed that kind of vague advice. I think your pup can't possibly be overweight if you can see their ribs though (not an expert disclaimer!)

@BleakGarden your pup is an ideal weight according to this growth chart.

https://pawleaks.com/german-shorthaired-pointer-growth-chart/

She's still fixated on other dogs and still dropping to a lie down when one is coming our way and refusing to budge until they pass.

@Unluckycat1, FluffyPup is a bugger for this! He'll grow out of it though, I'm sure. He just wants to play with them all. 😩🤣 Every owner I speak to about it says their dog did it as a puppy (he gets many laughs from other owners!).

@Unluckycat1 well hello to the beautiful unluckypup. Fluffpup definitely had a second fear phase. It didn't manifest as separation anxiety but I noticed for a few weeks she was really quite cautious passing people - she liked to sit and wait til the passed. She was also a bit jumpy with strange sounds that wouldn't have bothered her before - like a swinging gate. I just ignored it all and didn't make a fuss. Occasionally I'd say - "this is just a different bike, we've seen these before, it just has 2 people on it" etc. She never ended up fixating on anything as went back to her normal cocky self within a few weeks.

@NoWordForFluffy that was my thinking, that it's just a 'please play with me' pose. But I've had a couple of comments that made me doubt myself, one dog walker said 'oh, they're very nervous aren't they'.

The other day we visited a family member and another visiting dog was there who hated unluckypup. We did what we could, kept them on leads, different rooms, I took her out for a really long walk, but it still managed to go for her a few times. She was totally submissive when it happened, dropped and showed her belly. Later on when we were leaving and it was in the same room she was wagging her tail at it but I realised it must have been a nervous I don't mean you any harm wag rather than actually being happy to see the other dog. Anyway, long story, the punchline being that I'm now second guessing all dog body language 🙈 she does love playing with other dogs, but maybe she's sometimes nervous and I've not realised. It's hard to tell.