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.

One tip from my previous puppy training with kibble… keep it together with some cheese/hot dog sausage cubes and the smell/ taste gets o to the kibble and makes it more appreciated as a training food.

My pup came crate trained and for me it’s been a sanity saver, he gets very bitey when overtired so being able to pop him in there to sleep it off has been brilliant. I wouldn’t be able to get through this tricky time without it.

I'm a fan of crate training - although Fluffpup loved her crate from the start, not sure I would have pursued it if she hated it. I was also a fan of routines and teaching them to settle. None of that depends on having a crate of course! It wasn't forever and she usually sleeps about 5cm away from my face now with me. We both sleep very well and neither of us move at all at night.
What I did was make her crate the best possible place it could be. New toys randomly appeared in there, treats got chucked in randomly as well and I was never too far away - I made myself ultra boring at worked at my pc near her - so she didn't have FOMO.

My one regret with our older pup was persevering with trying to get her to sleep downstairs alone in a crate for so long. Just led to sleep deprivation. This time round we got rid of the crate within a week as pup was using it as a stepping stone to the dining table!

@FoxRedPuppy In the car we had pups in a harness tethered on the back seat with a car seat hammock when very small, they then graduated to the boot. Both love the car

@Pineapplemonkey
Reading what you said about your mini Schnauzer could have been written about ours! He arrived at 8 weeks pretty much house trained, and also with zero interest in food. In the end we had to give up on the food recommended by the breeder because it was just such hard work to get him to eat at all, he has barking heads puppy food now and eats maybe 30 or 50 percent of the recommended amount willingly, then some of the rest with a bit of encouragement. As it's chicken based food we sometimes add a bit of fresh chicken to make it more interesting. Having said all that he's 7 months now, and apparently an acceptable weight. He's being weighed at the vet tomorrow so we'll find out his actual weight then. His mother is 10kg and his father 8 kg, so I suppose we should expect him to be somewhere in between.

Is yours salt and pepper or black and silver?

There's a Schnauzer forum at www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk which has helpful advice.

Good luck!

@oddandelsewhere ah it’s nice to hear from another mini schnauzer owner! Mabel is a pepper and salt (allegedly, she looking mostly black at the moment but the breeder says she will definitely lighten up as she gets older). Glad it’s not just mine uninterested in food, it’s only early days so it might improve, I’ve given her scrambled egg and rice twice now which she does seem really enthusiastic about though. I suppose as long as she gains weight and stays healthy (and wees and poos okay) then it doesn’t matter if she eating the recommended amount.

@ilovesushi thank you for your reply, that does give me hope! And has made me realise that I've fallen out of the habit of using high value treats, she seems happy enough with basic dog treats, but maybe hot dogs and chicken will make a difference when it comes to other dogs. I am probably quite nervous and it's holding me back in giving her off lead time. I did used to more and it was fine other than one time, but when she turned nine months I felt her awareness of other dogs intensified — she'll notice one from the other side of a field the moment they appear. I wonder if it has a link with when prey drive kicks in.

Right, I'll be buying some hotdogs today!

@Pineapplemonkey I second (third?) kibble scattering. My pup isn't so interested in it now sadly (unless it's grated cheese 🙈), but she absolutely loved it when little.

Our GSD pup is now 8 1/2 months. Her general excitement and adrenalin are still an issue, pulls like a train when out. Also barking is our work in progress problem! She is still a bit anxious on walks when cars come along behind her so doing lots of sitting on benches doing nothing to help her relax with cars and lorries going past. Looking back it was a tough time as a young pup but now I can see the progress. She settles well in the pub under the table and we can enjoy an evening out! Looking back I can see the biggest mistake was overdoing things with her, too much play and pandering. Once we realised she was overtired (which was making her manic, bitey and unable to settle ) things began to change.

@Floramac what a beauty. I grew up with a GS, fantastic dogs.

Aww @Floramac she's beautiful! Those ears!

@Floramac wow!

Hazel is a poo muncher. Any tips? My current strategy is to have the poo bag ready and sweep in, pushing her away from the poo while I pick it up. But I'd prefer if she didn't try to eat it in the first place!

@Floramac - oh my word, what a gloriously floofy dog -especially her hairy chest!!

On treats - that's just made me remember that we did taste tests with Fluffpup where we had a different treat in each hand. she was allowed to sniff each of them first, then choose. We tried liver cake, hotdogs, the jr pate, cheap treats, expensive treats but the winner every single time was tiny blocks of cheese. I've not bothered stinking the house out making liver cake since....

@Floramac what a handsome dog!

Hazel went from 10.30-05.30 last night. I was awake at 2.00, 3.30, 4.00, etc., but each time, she was fast asleep.

Bronte was/ is a poo muncher. She has never done it out on walks only in the garden. We started by always being there when she did anything and clearing it up, then as soon as she walked away give a small treat. She now tends to look around for us before doing anything and walks away when finished. But.. I am sure she would still do it if she was left on her own! Also tried the giving some pineapple, did not work.

Can I join please, this is our 9 week old girl. She's been home since Sunday. Toilet training is going in the right direction (poos outside) pees are 50:50. Today was the first day she actively looked to go outside, we've been taking her out every other time! She didn't get up to the toilet last night for the first time, but she cried out for reassurance a few times.

She gets very vocal and distressed if she can't see me. My older girl did this but I can't remember how long it lasted. I am leaving the room briefly throughout the day but she gets so distressed and pees. Also hating going in the car, I think because she can't see me. We did one trip to the vet and she was very shaky around the car afterwards because she howled the whole way. So we've done a few sessions of scatter feeds in the boot to get her confidence back. Haven't tried taking her out again yet! She is far too wriggly for a harness in the back seat. I need to get her comfortable quickly because I am out in the car a lot doing school runs etc and I think she'd prefer coming along to being left home in the crate. She's slowly building a relationship with our older girl (she's 3) but she's particularly bonkers in the morning when my older girl likes to sleep. She's given her a few warnings but we end up settling our older girl in a different room because pup is relentless!

@BleakGarden she is gorgeous! My puppy came home last Saturday and is 9wks tomorrow. She seems fine with the car (sorry, not gloating promise!). I use this:

amzn.eu/d/4vShr8v

I have it on the front seat next to me so she can see me and I can give her reassuring head scratches. It has a bit inside to clip to her collar or harness and a normal seatbelt to wrap round it.

Works well for me, might be worth a look?

Thanks @Pineapplemonkey I will definitely give it a try! What sort of harness have you got? I'm assuming it just attaches to the clip?

I haven't tried Mabel with a harness (I'm dreading trying to get it on her to be honest) I just clip it onto her collar. She's still wearing the collar she wore with her litter mates as the extra small collar I bought is far too big still!

@BleakGarden oh how precious 😍 could she be feeling car sick? Sounds like you're doing the right thing by scatter feeding in the boot, I so so wish I built more positive associations with the car rather than presuming my pup would grow out of disliking it (she's 10 months and would never choose to go in the car, though she accepts the occasional journey while looking very glum). I think she started off with car sickness and this then morphed into car anxiety.

Okay, so I have hit some lows today and I've just got into bed thinking I must be doing it all wrong. First time dog owner (have always been a cat owner previously, I know cats) and don't come from a doggy family, I also live on my own which means I have no one to share the rubbish stuff with.
I have just been stood in my garden, in torrential rain, trying to carry a large umbrella, a torch (because non of the solar lights are working today🙄) and a squirming puppy (9wks old tomorrow). I had to put her on the soaking wet ground so she could do her bedtime wee and I don't think she knew what was going on, I was getting soaked, as was she. I was following her with a torch and as soon as I saw her wee, I scooped up soggy pup and took her inside where she is now tucked up asleep in her crate for the night (thank god she sleeps through to my alarm goes off, she is a dream at night!)
There must be a better way surely? Are all puppy owners going through this nightly debacle??

I think I have some kind of puppy depression, feel like crying today

@Pineapplemonkey I had a really down day last Saturday so I know how you’re feeling 😩. I bought an outside pen for the garden, I pop him in there to go to the toilet, much easier than following him around the garden in the dark. Might be worth a try.

@Pineapplemonkey puppy toilet training in autumn winter is hard! My only recommendations to make life easier are decent warm easy to slip on and off footwear. I remember longing for fleece lined crocs at one point! And warm waterproof easy to get on and off coat. You have the umbrella and torch. Sounds like you are doing brilliantly!

Pineapple - it doesn’t sound like you’re doing anything wrong - autumn / winter house training is never that fun but you’ll have a dog that doesn’t mind all weathers and won’t pee indoors because they don’t want wet feet.

A head torch can help and waterproof hooded coat (long is helpful to keep legs dry). Not a waste of money, dogs need walking in all weathers obviously (mine love rainy walks) and if you’ve got the right shoes, headgear and coat, you don’t mind either. Agree garden clogs by the door good too (but spray with anti chew stuff or keep up high!).

If you say a word to associate with every time she’s taken out to the loo, she won’t be confused and will soon understand what you’re out there for.

@Pineapplemonkey we built a 'poo palace'. It's just 4 pieces of wood in a large rectangle, with weed control fabric, covered in gravel at a depth of 75mm. We have a wire mesh fence around it (1m tall) and a homemade gate. It means I can pop her in there, shut the gate and stand outside. I say 'Be busy'. It depends on whether I have the timing right as to whether she performs quickly. If I've gone out too early, she lays down and chews the gravel!