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.

Met the pup trainer today and I like him, im already feeling more confident and in control, let's see what the group session next week brings!

Hello we have just become owners of a gorgeous Maltipoo it was a whirl wind, my husband as me at 12 today how i felt about it and now he is here!! (His team member had him but he didnt get on with her other dog so she gave him to us)

I havent had a dog since i was a child, my husband had a greyhound at home as young adult so knows more dogs than me! But i want to be a good dog owner and learn as much as i can!

I should say i have a 6 year old and 1 year so will be interesting!

@thenewaveragebear1983 I do the same as @Pineapplemonkey and have developed a system of daytime and nighttime toilet visits with all bases covered and as of today Bertie has his first coat for the colder days and esp rainy nights. My coat (avec poo bags in one pocket and small torch and treats in the other. Umbrella and Lakeland garden clogs by the back door).
We've had a practice putting the coat on and getting it off so that I'm not faffing too much in the night if he's bursting.

Bertie had his Kennel Cough nasal spray yesterday. Was a star for the nurse.
And a round of applause for Hazel!!! They need to learn so much don't they and we have to learn how to teach them.

Pretty sloppy point but at 13 weeks I'll take it!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. We're going well. No toilet accidents for us today! We had a good walk where we practiced lots of recall, getting the muscle memory down now before adolescence hits! She is still very timid around unfamiliar dogs but we're seeing steps in the right direction. Crucially no reactivity since the incident last week. I'm waiting for her confidence to grow before I try to train loose lead outside of the house, she pulls like a train but she's becoming more relaxed.

The biting got better and then worse again, she drew blood from DH's ear today. He was like a bear with a sore head after

Wow! That's fast! Hope pup is settling in well and your nerves are still in one piece 😬

@NotAdultingToday congratulations! That's a lot to process in one day.

Sorry about your DH's ear @BleakGarden

@NotAdultingToday any pictures?

We are!! The biting is the absolute worst. If we could crack that he'd be great. What I've found is he loves a routine and needs his sleep (even if he thinks he doesn't). So enforcing nap times is vital (ours is 5 months now). He also needs plenty of stimulation so snuffle mat, hiding things, training etc are all good.

FluffyPup was a total land shark when we first got him (he was 15 weeks). I can't even remember how long it lasted now, but it has passed. Thankfully he cracked toilet training in a week (it was January, so we're grateful for that!).

The biting is a developmental phase they go through. It will pass!

Any tips for the constant, and I do mean constant eating things? I’ve imposed a new rule that she’s on lead at all times in the garden as she is just eating cat poo, hedgehog poo and plants constantly. We have a biggish garden and there is no way I can keep these things away, so I need to train her out of it, I don’t know where to start.

she can now climb onto the sofa and chairs so that’s todays training activity, and also rather annoyingly can slither under the sofa, get stuck, and need rescued ten times before 7am . So basically I need tips for how to keep her just away from the goddamn sofa

quite frankly, I feel terrible, I have a really sore throat and earache, I’m super tired. It’s wet and miserable and I am now taking the puppy to football in the rain and I’m feeling utterly cheesed off with the whole thing.

@thenewaveragebear1983 can you teach a 'leave it' command using kibble? It takes time to generalise (eyes up £350 vet bill from last week) but it does go in. Last night Hazel had a piece of gravel in her mouth and she did spit it out when I said 'leave it'. Had it been cat poo, she would have completely ignored me though!

Hazel is a real monkey. I'm trying to teach her to bring me things. To do that she has to learn to drop them on command. As soon as kibble is in the picture, she will not pick things up. She was playing with a trainer, then I got the kibble out to do some training - the trainer was dead to her. As soon as the kibble was all gone, she picked up the trainer again to chew it. I'm going to have to look up some tips.

Hazel makes me laugh so much. She just doesn't seem to care about anything. I picked her up earlier and sang jingle bells, swinging her backwards and forwards in the air. Her ears were flapping around, she was flying in the air... She just doesn't care!

@Lougle she will ‘drop’ for a biscuit but that doesn’t work for edibles as they are already gone. I think we do need to do ‘leave’ command.
I did a little bit of training with her around the sofa, sitting on the sofa and throwing a treat to her bed when she advances with intent. If she sits on the floor by the sofa that’s fine, I just don’t want her on it. I figure that within a week she won’t get under it anyway so that problem might just resolve itself. Would you train a general ‘leave’ for all things or do i need a specific ‘no sofa’ command and a second ‘leave the cat poo/rubbish/banned substances’ command?

she was very good at football considering we were in the muddy edges of a field, in the rain, with lots of people and footballs and noise. I’m keeping her entertained til lunch time then hopefully she will have a nice sleep this afternoon and I can go back to bed with a lemsip

I was told that 'leave it' is reserved for 'you never get it' things. 'Wait' for 'you get it when I decide' things.

I think for the sofa, you need a 'not now' command of some sort, if you will allow her on the sofa sometimes. If you will never allow her on the sofa, you could teach an 'off' command.

Thanks @Lougle - ok she does ‘wait’ quite well, so I think we need a definite ‘leave’ for the banned list and a totally separate one for the sofa. Although maybe as simple as ‘in your bed’ would work as it’s where I want her to go. I did consider using ‘away’ but I think it’s too close to ‘wait’. This morning I was redirecting her to her bed once she either put her paws up on my knees while I was sitting, or put her paws on the sofa. She did go to her bed but she did need me to go there and remind her what her bed was with biscuits.

We use "off" if she attempts to get on furniture. Works (sometimes)! Ours is dreadful for picking things up and eating stuff, she picked up a wad of chewing gum the other morning- I did have to get if out of her mouth ! I use leave constantly during playing/training with toys and kongs, our trainer told us to immediately give the toy back with a yes. If she leave something bad I will treat or give a toy to make it a positive thing.

Hi everyone!
We brought home GhostPup, a lab, last Monday - I read the whole thread before he arrived and then was too shattered and overwhelmed to introduce ourselves 😅
It’s been going quite well I think - I feel so overwhelmed with the pressure of getting everything right! - our first puppy and even though I’ve read loads I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.
He’s not had a single pee accident and only a couple of poos, and is settling well in his crate at night (with me on the sofa..). He’s doing well at sit. He was lovely and cuddly the first couple of days but is getting a bit too chompy to cuddle now!
I knew he’d be bitey but I am finding it hard sometimes, ignoring it is difficult if he’s biting my feet!! And I don’t quite get how to put him in his crate if he’s biting but not as a punishment?! The kids don’t help by dancing around squealing 🙄
Anyway, hi!

I only put him on the crate if I know he’s tired and that’s why he’s bitey. And then I follow the same routine as when I put him to bed other times (if that makes sense). I’m not angry with him and sit with him to soothe him to sleep. If his whining and crying ramps up, then I let him out.

Ive found the key to biting is that we have toys everywhere to offer him. Feet, I walk away shut him out of room for a few minutes. I never sit down without a toy!

Oh dear. Sproutpup has been a bit crazy today. Still love him though.

Welcome @GhostDog . My best advice would be to buy a puppy pen and attach it to the crate, so you have a 'safe zone' that you can put puppy in when you either can't supervise closely or need 5 minutes to regroup. That way, you can decide that puppy is getting bitey (that always, imo, means they're tired) and pop them in the pen with a toy. Hazel will take herself off to her crate now if she's left in her pen.

DH's DM & DF have come over to visit from France and we had a big family meal in the bottom floor of our church building today. We took Hazel's crate and made an 'igloo' with the puppy pen (zip tied the pen to either side of the crate so she had a play pen around the crate). I was so proud of her! She whined for about a minute, then settled herself down on a blanket with a toy. Then she decided that she was tired and went into her crate for a long sleep.

We did some lead walking on the way to the church and back (it's a 5 minute walk but took us about 15 minutes!) and then we did some off lead recall and sit stays in the car park (pretty deserted) on the way back.

@FoxRedPuppy that's what I do, for the same reason abd I'm going to order the playpen Lougal has shared a pic of to keep the chaos a bt more contained. 😁

Or to sit in myself for a bit of peace !

My DM often tells me that if she used to have sewing to do, she would climb into the playpen and leave us playing outside of it 😁

Welcome @GhostDog and Ghostpup and lovely picture of Sproutpup.

If possible, try and get the kids to stand still as Ghostpup sees it as a game.

I do have pictures though im on the app so might not work?

Very sadly i had a huge allergic reaction to him last night and we have had to rehome him. He was with us less than 24 hours but we all fell in love with him. I was sad to let him go i had a good cry! I feel so stupid

But the home he has gone to is a good one they already have a old dog so have all the bits and know how to look after him straight away whereas we would have had to learn we have had a video and he was happily playing with lots new toys, hopefully he will keep his playful confident personality