Puppy Survival Thread - for old and new pups heading into winter

[Lougle]

A thread to continue our journey with our puppies as we head into winter.

If you're new to having a puppy, jump straight in.

Yup! I thought I’d be happily trekking through frosty fields with my new companion, I can barely make it 3 doors down the road before he looks like he’s going to shit himself with fear. The neighbours smirk at me these days. Bastards.

Ha! I am having constant thoughts on how my neighbours must be talking about that weird woman down the road who stands out in her back garden in all weathers loudly begging a puppy to pee and then takes said puppy down the road allowing it to sit in every neighbours flowerbed. They also may/may not have heard her calling the very cute puppy some very rude names (but in a lovely sweet tone of voice obvs) in her not so finest moments……..

Our older pup wouldn't walk from the house for a while. She was fine if we drove somewhere and then walked though.

@tizwozliz I have considered taking Maggie in the car to walk, we have some lovely woods, parks and footpaths but they are just too far to walk to and from for her to enjoy yet.

@Pineapplemonkey I can confirm pup answers to arsehole amongst other things 😬. Glad it’s not just me 👍

You know, you don't have to walk every day. It's a complete myth (particularly propagated on MN, imo). 20 minutes of sniffing is equivalent to a 1hr walk. 10 minutes of brain games ditto.

You could do scatter feeding in the garden, put kibble in a cardboard box mountain, hide kibble around your lounge... They're all really valid things to do.

If you're struggling to get out of the front door...I wouldn't. You're just ingraining the fear and hatred. Go back to basics and do heel work without a lead in the garden, then add a lead, then work on getting out of the gate and going straight back inside (lots of treats) and build up.

If the dog isn't enjoying the walk, the walk isn't for the dog, and if you're not enjoying it, it's certainly not for you. If it's not enjoyable for either of you....why are you doing it? You'll need spend a couple of hours dealing with the fall out of the stress it causes you both.

This will pass but go easy on yourselves and have a think about why you're doing what you're doing - I bet it's because you think dogs 'should' go for a walk every day. At this age, the garden (assuming you have one) can be plenty to burn off any excess energy and they still have so much to learn.

No walk is better than a bad walk. Fluffpup does tend to go out twice a day - she's a winter dog. But in no way does she get 2 hours of off lead romping. Her preference is a slow sniffy walk where I let her sniff every single blade of grass. We don't go far. Once I had changed my mindset that that was ok, walks were 1000% better for us. She's not bored or destructive. I play games - both mental and physical with her instead for exercise.

How old is he?

My old puppy (14 month old) wasn't keen on walking between 12 and 16 weeks I'd say...and one day something clicked and he was trotting along on a loose leash like he's been doing that all his life (I've been lucky with that, but not so lucky with other stuff, looking at you separation anxiety).
(Note that we've started walking with a collar only, the harness arrived later when we were using the long lead for recall training. To this day, he's still not a fan of the harness, so that might be something to consider for your pup)

He was also terrified of being in the car.
And same, one day, nothing.

They just change so much! I remember worrying about him being fussy with food, then about walking, then about toilet training, then about sleeping at night...now, none of these things is a problem. I just have new problems haha.

Here's the old puppy / young idiot tax

You're not alone @Chocolatebuttonns and you're not a terrible human. You've been honest and decided that you can't give her what she needs and that trying to do that would take too much of you. She's a lucky puppy to have landed on a responsible lap. So many owners make mistakes and refuse to undo them, so the dog suffers. Be kind to yourself.

So sorry @Chocolatebuttonns It'll feel better soon though as you know it was for the best, that lovely puppy will go to a lovely home that can give it what it needs to be happy and healthy and you will have the time to spend on yourself to do whatever you need to get over this.

I've been transitioning Pineapplepup over to new kibble due to her refusal to eat the one she's been on since weaning.

Have done 2 days of 75%old 25% new and no digestive upsets of any kind, better sleeping, feels like she is calmer as well. Started 50/50 today. Thing is, she's so enthusiastic about her food now but she still leaving maybe 15/20% ish. The kibble that is left is 100% the old food!

Shall I just say sod it and give her the new food 100%?

She obviously prefers it and if she was going to struggle digestion wise, I think I would have seen an effect by now (I gave her some on Sunday as well to check she liked it)

I've been checking in for your updates @Chocolatebuttonns
You are not a failure or a monster. You are a kind, responsible human being who is doing the best for her family and pup. The breeder sounds great too.

@Chocolatebuttonns we rehomed a puppy about 9 years ago, exactly like you- it was destroying my mental health and I just couldn’t give him what he needed. I felt so guilty. I never thought we’d ever have another dog and I really deliberated over getting our current pup. Be kind to yourself. You have done the kindest thing for the dog, they will find a family who are ready and have the nicest life with them.
For me, this time round, we have bigger house, bigger garden, older dc, work from home….. it’s completely different to before.

@Chocolatebuttonns I will look at your previous posts later, but from the little I have seen you have done the right thing. You've been realistic in what you can give, and not give, a growing dog and that counts for a lot. You have done what is right for the dog, and not what felt like the easy option for you x

@thenewaveragebear1983 @Pineapplemonkey and anyone else with a reluctant walker. Have you tried the lead on collar only? I’ve used both for various dogs of mine but sometimes they just prefer a collar.

It’s actually only recently that harnesses seem to have taken over as the default in some areas.

I had that very thought based on something a previous poster said. So earlier I took her out for a walk round the block with just a collar and lead. We were out for about 2mins before we had to turn back because she was constantly gagging and it was awful. She just won't stop pulling! We came back home and I put her harness on and tried again. Still pulled but no gagging at least. Cannot convince her to not pull, hoping she gets the hint of me continuing to stop every time she pulls soon!
She also wants to go in every single garden we pass by so I am constantly pulling her away (I live on an estate which has open to the street gardens) and if I hold her lead any shorter, I'm going to literally be holding her harness!

@Pineapplemonkey My current pup (mini schnauzer also 😍) was like that to begin with. I had to do the ‘stop dead every time’ thing for a solid week when I had the time to spare to do that and it really helped. She still tries to pull when we leave the house but soon remembers and reins herself in. It’s pure excitement in her case.

Give it time, yours is just a baby still isn’t she?

You’ve done completely the right thing by your pup and yourself. You’ve been totally responsible.

Ah it's nice to hear from another mini schnauzer owner! She's only 16 weeks, so that's 4 weeks of going outside (after vaccinations) so not that long.
If I put her on a long lead in a field, she loves it, will run to her hearts content and I can even let her go sometimes and her recall is really good so far. It's walking on pavements on a short lead that is her nemesis. It's probably a combo of great excitement, slight fear (cars etc) and age.
I never thought she would ever be toilet trained but she's pretty much there with that so I have every faith she can master loose lead walking!

@Pineapplemonkey I’m sure she will. At least when she’s pulling she isn’t reluctant to walk, she’s just got to fine-tune the balance.

Mine is a year old now and was very similar to yours by what you’ve said. She’s a year old now and a dream (mostly!)

Well that gives me hope then!

Any tips for getting rid of her fascination with my dinner (or anything else I might have the audacity to eat in her presence). She was stood on her back legs with her tongue out as far as it would go the other night when I noticed the tongue was in fact licking my jacket potato 🙄

I spend half my meals fending off a puppy hurling herself at my plate and crying because she can't have it. I've tried giving her her dinner, chews of all kinds, treats, toys. She is obsessed with my food!

Quite honestly this is a low level puppy issue in the whole scheme of things but still annoying!

@Pineapplemonkey Hmm…mine had a crate (open usually) in the sitting room so when I ate she was always sent to her bed and ignored while
I was eating. If she misbehaved and came to beg I would calmly put her back and close the door. There were a few times that she decided she wasn’t having that so created a bit by trying to dig her way out 😂 but she very quickly learned and soon just put herself to bed when I brought my dinner into the room. I eat late at 9pm so it was her bedtime anyway really so that likely helped. By the time the crate was gone at around five months it wasn’t an issue.

If you don’t use a crate you could persevere with putting her back to bed a couple of times but then I would put her out of the room until I had eaten. They’re clever little things though and soon learn that if they don’t want to be banished in one form or another, they have to behave themselves 😇

And I never feed any of my dogs from my plate ever. That’s a golden rule because once they know they might be in with a chance, they never forget.

@MuttsNutts I think I need to speed up the moving of her crate downstairs! It started in my room and moved to the spare room a few weeks ago but maybe my life would be bit simpler if it was in the living room. I've tried training her to stay in her bed but to no avail!

And I agree about the feeding from my plate, I had the same rule with my cat so am already used to that