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.

@cockapup I really wouldn't worry. I went in so unprepared, unluckypup is my first dog and she turned up as a rescue puppy a few months before I planned on getting one. These threads were a great help but I'm glad I didn't read them in advance. I had no real expectations about how we'd do things and instead played it by ear. Things like sleep, toilet training and other training were relatively easy enough. The one thing that would have made things easier would be if I had better understood her breed traits (all our challenges are typical saluki challenges 🙈 though as a mix of breeds I couldn't have known which breed she'd be most like) so I'd think that through more than anything else.

As for kibble, start with what pup is used to, then look at the all about dog food website. I feed carnilove but millies wolfheart is popular on here (similar ratings). Look out for the recommended feeding weight, often the cheaper by weight foods actually require you to feed your dog double (or more!) the amount of kibble, so they don't work out as cheap as they first appear.

@tizwozliz aww! I fear unluckypup would never forgive me if I sprayed her down, she's such a wuss, but the garden is already a hideous bog so I need to figure something out 😬

Ok so Grace is just 🥰🥰

@cockapup mine also came with food from the breeder- I didn’t want to keep her on that so just gradually switched her over to the kibble I wanted her to have over a 4 week period. Not that there was anything wrong with it, mind! It’s just I want her on the same brand as the others so that’s an easier transition when she goes onto adult food. Currently buying 3 different bags of food 🤦‍♀️ so looking forward to that switch.

What do other's do if their pup doesn't eat their dry food? Do you leave it down or take it away after a certain amount of time and put it down again a few minutes later, or do you leave it down? I'm not keen to get into a free-feeding scenario. Somehow, though, because Bertie's night time loo visits are random (mainly but not always goes from about 9pm until 5.30-6am) and his day time sleeps happen when they happen I am unable to establish a good feeding routine.
I have read that free-feeding isn't good for puppies/dogs. So this morning I put his breakfast down (which he ignored in favour of toys) and after 10 minutes I took it away and then put it down again for 10 minutes. He wandered over and had a few pieces and has wandered off again.

Any ideas anyone? My Steve Mann guide doesn't go into feeding routines and I think that is exactly what I need! Thank you in advance to anyone who has been there and found a workable solution.

I had this very problem. Then someone suggested soaking it (🤮) in a few spoons of warm water for 5 mins. Ever since I started doing this she has wolfed down every morsel in one sitting. Try that maybe?

I would start feeding on a rough routine. Hazel gets breakfast between 06:30-7:00, 10:30-11:30 (depending on when she had breakfast), 14:30-15:00, and 17:30-18:00. Her routine is still quite strict. Wakes about 06:00, toilet, breakfast, toilet, play, toilet, nap, toilet, play, toilet, mid-morning meal, toilet, play, toilet, nap.... Etc. We don't get much overtired behaviour because she has lots of sleep time in the day.

Her meals are her training times.

I soak it in warm water. We can be a bit all over the place, finding 4 meals a day very tricky. I hate getting up in the morning, so we always go back to bed with coffee. He will only eat if someone stays in room with him. So more like 8am for his breakfast. I don put it down at 6/7am, but he sniffs and moves on.

Then something around 11-12, 3-4 and then 7. Although I'm trying to bring this earlier as he always poos between 1 and 3 am! But yesterday we were in car around feeding time.

I wish I had an answer to him eating his food when its put down and all at once!

We've had a poo inside this morning. Does the toileting get easier once they can go outside?

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed today and not sure exactly why. Apart from I thought that the toilet thing would be more sorted now. I feel like I am watching him all the time, and I still miss it. I feel constantly on edge, like I can't relax. And is eating isn't right because I can't get him to eat in one go!

Training is ok. Worried that he likes to sleep touching someone although once sleepy you can move away.

The toilet thing means I'm constantly letting him outside and then often he just goes crazy, running round the garden eating leave, bark chippings and stuff. Its such a small garden anyway, and I don't have anything to fence off an area.

He's just cried to go out, so I let him and now he's sitting chewing a leaf and looking at me :D

FoxRedPuppy frustrating isn't it!

A gross one - eating their own poo. If I don't get to it in 10seconds flat then she's eaten the entire pile. It's so grim! Any reason why she might do this and how to stop it?

Aw I could have written that word for word. I think Mabel's got marginally better but I'm still having at least 1 poo a day inside and several little wees. Last night I could have screamed (I did inside!) as we'd been in the garden for 20mins or so and I didn't think she'd been (difficult to tell sometimes in the dark). She came back in,l and I was trying to cook my dinner and just as I took it out of the oven (less than 10mins since she'd been in the garden), I looked at her and thought, you look like you need to go so I abandoned my lasagna and took her outside for 5mins. I come back in, sit down with my slightly less hot lasagna and whilst I'm eating she poos right in front of me. She seems to enjoy doing this every time I sit down to eat. I haven't enjoyed a single meal in the 4 weeks she's been home. I'm exhausted from the constant watching and wondering.

You are most definitely not alone.

Mabel's had her second vaccinations this morning and she's put on 1.64kg in exactly 4 weeks, she's now 4.14kg, I knew my arms were aching more lately from carrying her! We're going to start outside walking at the end of the week, hurrah!

I've read about this before- my previous dog was partial to horse poo! There is some instinctive behaviour at play if I remember- they do it to cover their tracks? Let me see if I can find where I read it.

Poo eating or coprophagia to give it it's scientific term is normal, undesirable but nonetheless something that some dogs and many other species do.
There are varied reasons why a dog may do this, being hungry, undigested food being present in the poo, habit, learned from mum in the nest, hiding the evidence if punished during toilet training and many more.
Prevention is always the best policy. Pick up as soon as they go especially if you have more than one dog. If it's other dog's poo, or the poo of any animal they are attracted to out and about then a solid recall and a reliable leave must be taught before having your dog off lead.
If your dog is in the habit of watching your other dog(s) poo and diving for it then the answer is to take them out separately for now. If he likes to poo and turn straight around to snack on it then you can teach a positive interrupter. This is just a word or a noise that you pair with a high value reward. Needs to be a happy sound so something like "yay!" said in a cheery voice. Grab a few really yummy treats and with no distractions and when you are interacting with him say "yay!" and immediately give him a treat. Repeat this about ten times then wait for him to turn away from you, try the "yay!" and he should turn to you for a treat. Then take him out on a lead and harness and as soon as he poos give him a "yay!" as you gently move him away from the poo. Throw a few more treats on the ground for him to allow you to move in and remove the poo. After a few sessions he should reliably look to you for a treat after pooing and forget about snacking on the poo.
If you have a clicker trained dog then the following method works well and has the added bonus of turning a poo eating dog into a poo finding dog....
Clear the yard/garden except for one poo. Have some very high value treats and your clicker and your dog. As soon as your dog looks at/sniffs the poo click. If your dog is clicker savvy they should turn to you for the treat and then spend the next ten minutes going through their repertoire trying to figure out what they did to get that click and treat.
Then they'll give up and go back to their favourite pastime of eating poo. Dog looks at poo or head goes down to it click treat
Depending on how good your timing is and how experienced your dog is it should take between three and ten repetitions for the lightbulb moment, for the dog to 'get it' to know what they did to get the c&t. Then you can put it on cue. "where's the poo? Dog finds and looks at the poo gets a click, leaves the poo and comes to you for the treat.
This is really useful when you are out with your dogs and one of them poos in the long grass some distance away. You can use your trained poo finding dog.
By Sally Bradbury

Thanks. Its only her own poo currently (though we've encountered horse or sheep poo yet). I'll try the distraction and high value treats.

Hazel did that. I taught 'leave it' using kibble, then I would make sure I had a poo bag ready - off the roll, opened and on my hand ready to scoop - before she squatted. I went to her as she pooed and immediately said 'Leave it!' firmly, while pushing her chest away from the area to stop her reaching it as I scooped. At first it was a race against time and a bit of a battle of wills, but within a couple of days she got it and now shows no interest. Cat poo is another matter 🙈

Our dog went off his kibble so we started using Butternut box, which is frozen cooked food you defrost. We serve it 50:50 with kibble as too expensive otherwise. (I can send you a ‘refer’ friend if interested).

(Poos have improved alot)

@lougle can you hire Hazel out to train the other puppies 😂

Oh Hazel has plenty of room for improvement, don't you worry 😁

Hi all, any tips for stopping them jumping up & biting when over-excited especially visitors or anyone coming downstairs.

We've been telling all visitors to stand still & if ignore (despite getting clothes and ankles nipped ) for a few weeks but literally no change and it's not heling DC bond when they are worried about being nipped. I do try and make sure we have a supply
of toys near the door as this stops the biting but I feel this is masking rather than solving the issue.

It’s common for dogs to enjoy a snack of herbivore poo 😫 Not common for them to eat carnivore poo, but some do. If they like it, it’s hard to get them out of it 😳

We've had such a good day training wise, but I still feel crap because of the wee and poo inside. I feel like I am constantly watching him. I desperately want to go for a run, but I can't because of pup.

Hi everyone,

We are new pup parents to our 15 week old lab-retriever puppy but we are a bit clueless about potty training.

We bring him out every hour, more if he looks like he's mooching around for a place to pee, overnight he uses his puppy pad. Accidents get ignored, outdoor pees and poos get high praise and a treat. So we are getting there.

Right now though we are relying on ourselves to bring him out. He's not going to the door or letting us know he wants to go - does anyone know how could we train him to bark at the door when he needs the loo?

No idea. Freddie has just pissed on my bed 🤬.

I’ve only had meals dogs before and they have been asking to go out and toilet trained by now, maybe not 100%, but most of the time. And any accidents were by the back door. Had a wee accident by the back door about an hour ago and then poss on the bed. I was sitting right next to him! He didn’t sniff or circle.

FFS. How do you clean dog piss out of a goose down duvet

@Turfwars how long has pup been home? Our pup was having accidents any old where for the first few weeks, then they moved to mostly at the back door, and now she is walking over to the back door and managing to hold it until we can let her out, we always take her out the same door to the toilet. She is still having at least one accident a day though. Just my opinion but I do think that puppy pee pads can confuse things a bit - it teaches them that it's ok to pee in the house.

Agh @FoxRedPuppy I don't know how you'd get that out! Oh no!!!

Exhausted today, Mondays are always a weird day as I have loads of meetings and it’s adjusting from the weekend. She slept in her crate for her longer naps today which was nice as I could concentrate without constant puppy watching, but I’m paying the price for it now as she’s a bit wild. We’re out in the garden and she’s just mooching about destroying my plants. I took her for a little walk with some chicken and she listened to me a bit better than with just kibble. I still find it horribly stressful though. She was wormed yesterday but today she just seems insatiably hungry still, just constantly on the scrounge.

sorry about your quilt @FoxRedPuppy i have no idea how you’d get that out, unless you have a laundrette nearby that do duvets?