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.

@BigBundleOfFluff that's reassuring that it was so short lived! Yes she is showing a bit of unsure behaviour towards some people actually, as in yesterday she seemed unsure when two prams were behind us, and also a group of loud teens. She's not barking, just tensing and wanting to watch them.

Hazel loves foraging in a ball pit.

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
Pineapplemonkey Miniature Schnauzer 11wks 3.5/4kg (roughly, will be weighed next Monday at vets)

Mabel would really like a ball pool, I feel mean saying no!

I got mine for £15 on Facebook.

Thanks @Lougle and @Unluckycat1 that's really helpful! I wonder if she's piled on the pounds because she'd gotten a bit skinny after she came to us. It just seems like 130g is too much in one feed! My older dog looks really cheesed off when I hand her a bowl without about half that!

My older dog used to lie down when other dogs approached too, it was a submissive, wanting to play thing. She doesn't do it now but still has a very polite approach when she meets other dogs!

We had a good walk this morning before the rain started, we bumped into my mum and her dog who's a bit fear reactive with new dogs, it went really well so I think I'll be able to take the pup to her house now. My older dog isn't really suited to small playing fields... she loves to explore... so I had to keep calling her back when she was getting close to exits. It was interesting to see pup turn back and come to me when she decided my older dog had strayed too far. I hope she never grows out of that!

She's still quite nervous meeting new dogs, and was doing a bit of climbing up my leg and mum's leg. Not sure how we'll get on in puppy school this evening with lots of puppies in an enclosed space.

I hope it goes well @BleakGarden . At our puppy school the dogs are spaced 2 metres apart and they must be held on lead at all times. When a particularly nervous dog needed to do an exercise, we were asked to make sure we were keeping our puppy's attention so they didn't lunge for the other dog.

I’m having a really horrible day. The dog is driving me mental. Poo-gate this morning, she will not settle, she’s had two wees on the floor, she will not wee outside the front while on her lead and she’s now crying at the back door because my kids are playing out there. She’s had her lunch but I’ve taken her out twice and she’s not pooped. She isn’t enjoying it outside because the wind is really strong and it’s cold.

she’s been in her crate for a decent sleep this morning because I just could not get her to settle. It’s the upheaval in routine I know, but my god it’s hard work. I’ve not eaten yet today. I’ve cried three times. She’s literally like a different dog to how she was last week. Please tell me this is normal and my nice puppy will come back?

Oh have a hug @thenewaveragebear1983 . Does she normally wee out the front on a lead? If no to either the front or the lead, it could be that.

What do you consider 'settling'? Where does she settle? Hazel doesn't settle unless she's in her crate or pen, or sat on the sofa with direct interaction from us. She settles for a couple of minutes at a time on the lounge floor, if there is something interesting to chew or destroy.

I'm just starting to introduce SMARTx50 with Hazel (although it's tricky with having two dogs!). It stands for See, Mark, Treat, and Reward x50. So you take 50 pieces of kibble out of her daily allowance. Any time you see a behaviour that you like, even if only for 30 seconds, you say 'Yes!' and give a treat. Don't worry if it interrupts the behaviour (e.g. she was lying down and stood up because she got a treat) because that will fade. When you do that, you'll be more likely to see the behaviour you want from her because she's been reinforced for that behaviour.

Do you have any space that is completely puppy proofed? There's no harm in needing a few minutes.

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
Pineapplemonkey Miniature Schnauzer 11wks 3.5/4kg (roughly, will be weighed next Monday at vets)
RedFoxPuppy Red Fox Cockapoo 10.5 weeks, 3.7kg (that was last week at the vet).

Was cleaning RiverPup’s muddy paws this morning and got reminded of probably the best advice we got from puppy classes. Basically that’s to stroke every part of their body - legs, paws, ears, underbelly, nose, tail etc. Touch around their eyes, hold their ears, open their mouth, etc. Firstly it helps enormously when trying to dry a muddy, wet dog, but also, if they need to go to the vet, then they’re used to being manhandled (or dog-handled).

@thenewaveragebear1983 agh what a day! The double poo first thing would have sent me over the edge. I hope she's settling down a bit 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
BleakGarden, German Shorthaired Pointer, 12 weeks, 9.5kg
Pineapplemonkey Miniature Schnauzer 11wks 3.5/4kg (roughly, will be weighed next Monday at vets)
RedFoxPuppy Red Fox Cockapoo 10.5 weeks, 3.7kg (that was last week at the vet
RowNine, Maltipoo 10 weeks, 2.5kg approx (will be weighed at her second vaccination next week)

Here's the little sleep thief.

All going well apart from sleeping. Had resigned myself to bedding down next to her until she's fully settled in her crate, but hit a new low when she was in manic shark mode around 1.30am last night. Had to dash upstairs and get a padded bra and everything 😳

Wow she is adorable!

Pooper pup is doing much better now we're going for walks. I think she was bored. The poo is better, firmer, less stinky and less frequent now we've changed food. All good.

Not sure why pup can't keep still while she's pooping but she steps in it all the time! Anyone else finding this?

This is a picture of Hazel at puppy class last week.

So Charlie has had a visit to the vet this evening after repeatedly gagging and bringing up phlegm. Worse when he's been wearing his harness or running around. I was worried he'd eaten something he shouldn't but vet says all looks fine but suspects kennel cough. I know they can get it from anywhere but he's barely been past the side of my house 🙄.

Also an updated weight - Charlie now weighs 15.2kg 😱. No comment was made on his weight but that's phenomenal. I think we may need to scale back on the humans leftover 'treats' 😬

Growing up I had a dog like this. She never grew out of it!

Thanks all, yes she seems a bit calmer now. My dd came home and played with her, clearly she just needed a bit of attention and now I have super puppy guilt as well as mum guilt for working all week and ignoring the kids and the puppy (I haven’t ignored them really, I know this)

She’s going to play at her friends house tomorrow which will hopefully be really fun for her and she gets to hang out and just dog for a bit which is nice 👌

@Lougle awww look at her 😍. My pup would have tucked into that pumpkin and ruined the class.

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
Pineapplemonkey Miniature Schnauzer 11wks 3.5/4kg (roughly, will be weighed next Monday at vets)
RedFoxPuppy Red Fox Cockapoo 10.5 weeks, 3.7kg (that was last week at the vet
RowNine, Maltipoo 10 weeks, 2.5kg approx
Chimichangaz, black working cocker, 19 weeks on Friday, 8.7kg

I am losing the will to live with toilet training. Genuinely it was easier to train my toddler. She got it in 3 weeks no accidents. We've almost hit 4 weeks and he's still going inside almost exclusively. He's got worse if anything. He makes a special effort to go inside bearing in mind how often I take him out.

Waah! @Dogdaywoes! I'll buy shares in baby wipes then! I have to do the sniff test every time she comes in and this afternoon I was greeted by a paw full of poop.

Just got back from puppy school and she's already crashed out. It was 30 mins in the car each way and she didn't whine. She was very anxious at the actual puppy school though... shaking, whining and hiding. Thankfully all the other pups were screened off and she continued to eat so I decided she was under threshold enough to continue. By the end of the hour she was playing with toys and watching the other puppies without shaking, the trainer was really good and finished the session with an enrichment activity that she really enjoyed. Hopefully next week she'll warm up enough that we can so some training!

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
Pineapplemonkey Miniature Schnauzer 11wks 3.5/4kg (roughly, will be weighed next Monday at vets)
RedFoxPuppy Red Fox Cockapoo 10.5 weeks, 3.7kg (that was last week at the vet
RowNine, Maltipoo 10 weeks, 2.5kg approx
Chimichangaz, black working cocker, 19 weeks on Friday, 8.7kg
CockapooMadness, cockapoo, 14 months, 10kg