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.

Just joining this thread for moral support. Litha is 15 weeks and came home last weekend. He is amazing and sleeps through in his crate next to my bed. A few whimpers the first couple of nights but now he just nods straight off until 6.30/7am. The breeder had trained him to use puppy pads so he holds it in on walks, and waits til we get home so he can go on (or near) a puppy pad. Am just keeping to a routine and hoping it clicks soon. We have our first weekend away in my campervan next weekend - am hoping accidents will be minimal! 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Thanks everyone! I've sent the trainer an email. I think she needs to be more forthright with the owner. He's not very engaged with his puppy so everything else in the room seems way more fun. The trainer does step in but only once things are already going south!

So cute @CreepingCrone !!

Pup had a roll in 🦊 💩 this morning so she had her first proper bath. She wasn't impressed

Pic

Oh dear! She looks deeply unimpressed.

Oh @tizwozliz she is beautiful!😍

Hazel had puppy class tonight and won the fastest recall award. A nice bag of training treats.

Well done Hazel! (And you of course - you've trained her well ☺️)

Thanks 😊 I'm pretty sure it was her affinity for liver cake that did it.

God I’ve forgotten the joy of making liver cake 🤮

I cop out and buy it at training. £1 per bag to keep my kitchen smelling fresh.

What on earth is liver cake??

so after the vets on Monday, Maggie has improved over the week, but then was sick last night after training and has been sick again tonight, twice. 🤦‍♀️ she’s been fine in herself, again. Her poos are firmer after the probiotic and a little bit of rice. But now sick. Honestly, I despair.

Liver cake is a homemade treat you can make. You find recipes on google. I used to make it for my old dog. But it does involve putting liver in my food processor and smells vile when cooking. But dogs go mad for it and it is better for them than other high value treats like hot dog or cheese. The farts aren’t improved though 😂

As a lifelong veggie I really struggle with making liver cake - I just make it in the summer when you can relocate outside all day long. It's quite revolting. But you will get mugged by all the Labradors when you take it out so it must be good! I find that if you leave the food processor running for ages it makes the cake have a rubbery texture - like a Thai fish cake and it doesn't crumble in your pocket.

Top Titbit-Liver Cake Recipe:
1lb Liver; Half lb Flour; 1 Egg; 1 Clove Garlic: Liquidise liver (bit at a time), egg and garlic. Transfer to mix bowl and mix in flour till you have a paste. Bake in a greased foil lined tin at gas mark 6 for 45 minutes. Cut into small pieces and freeze. Defrost as required.

Pupxx is refusing to walk with me, I’m not sure if his harness is uncomfortable or it’s one of his new quirks, either way it needs to be sorted.

Felt a bit smug this morning when the 7 month old guide dog puppy had to be put on its lead to walk away from us as we walked off lead in other direction 😂

I'm making liver cake today, I find chicken liver smells less than other types.

Freddie seems to be getting really scared of going for walks from my house. He is fine if we go in the car somewhere. Some noises scared him earlier in the week, so I am working on lots of treats as we walk past that house (a nail gun and general building noise).

I now feel like I should make him liver cake. Boak 😂

Perfict fit replied to me, but I can't find any second hand as Freddie is XXS-XXS-S. So think I will just buy one. He really hates it over his ears.

@BigBundleOfFluff I‘m also a vegetarian and just couldn’t make liver-cake, or feed raw. I do feed wet meat, as well as kibble, but I have to draw the line at raw meat 😳

Does anyone else have an issue with a ‘doggie smell’ in their house? I have always had dogs, but for the past 22-years, I’ve only had Poodles and they don’t smell. Over the past couple of months, I’ve become very aware that Florapup is leave a pungent dog smell everywhere 😫 We don’t have carpets or curtains, our tiled floors are thoroughly cleaned several times a week and we have covers on the sofa where she lies, but there is always a distinct pong about the place. It’s not offensive to us, but I’m acutely aware of what it will smell like to others. I’ve now become concerned that I may be picking up the smell on my clothes from our cuddles 😳

Yeah I had to do a whole heap of research on raw to convince myself that it wasn't right for us, rather than me just being squeamish.
We have a current lingering wet dog smell. It's been made worse as I've just had a hysterectomy and am not on top of the washing plus it's been so so wet here and Fluffpup has been to doggy day care every day this week and got filthy running around in fields. I find that as long as I keep on top of washing the throws that are on the sofas, Hoover all the time, use my steam cleaner and wash her toys as well it's just about ok. I do open the windows everyday even in the middle of winter. Fluffpup has very fluffy nether regions and even though she vigorously and noisily attends to her vulva she sometimes smells of pee - so I do use doggy wipes every now and again to cope with that. She gets brushed all the time too which I think makes a difference.

Florapup is an extremely short coated Weimaraner. I can’t bear to think how much she’s stink if she had a longer coat. 😲 She never smells of wee (probably due to the aforementioned very short coat), it’s just strong au de dog 🤮

On the subject of food pup came from the breeder on James Wellbeloved and her farts have been awful... she can clear a whole room! Plus she almost never does a solid poo. I tried to switch her to Millie's gamekeepers mix which is what my other dog eats but she got proper diarrhoea. Millie's suggested the gundog mix and we switched her yesterday, I didn't even mix it just a straight switch, and she is doing solid poos for the first time in ages!! I feel like a new parent checking nappies and celebrating!

We popped into the vet today for a weigh in and she was very happy to see the nurses, she went out the back into the surgical room without me! A big step given how Velcro she is. She's 12kg now

I think I need to try Millie’s. We are on Raw with kibble but honestly it’s a right pain in the butt. I am currently adding rice to it because of her poo issues. I find it impossible to judge what she should be having and if she has training treats even more so. After puppy school on weds I realised that really we should be treating her a lot more that we are so I need to factor that in and it’s all so bloody confusing. I intended to use this month to get her off raw into kibble but not sure if I’ll manage it with one month, but maybe over the next two months…. Plus every time she grows that means more food but unlike with kibble that means a new pack defrosted and x amount weighed out and it’s just so much effort. And let’s be honest, we’re talking about an animal that will eat cat poo breakfast lunch and dinner if she could so I don’t know why I’m pushing the raw…. She literally eats shit. 😂

<can you tell what kind of day I have had >

in other news, Maggie has decided that her harness is utterly terrifying. Like, back out of the room, tail between legs nervous. I think it’s the ‘over the head’ thing, as soon as it is on std is fine, but this morning she actually refused a walk because I could not get her to come up to me to have it on,