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.

@cockapup licking or sniffing seem to work for us- so any kind of licky mat with a thin smear of yogurt or cream cheese on it a sniffy mat (we got a cheap One on Amazon) with some tiny crumbs of biscuits hidden in it.

Licking, sniffing and chewing are all naturally calming. Also you need a routine so he doesn’t get overstimulated.

Hazel had her first big girl Bronze class today. It's at 7.45pm which is quite late for her, but she did well.

I have a question- how can I get Maggie to settle in her bed, loose? At puppy class she ‘settles’ but at home she just will not. Even when she’s really tired. Doing clicker/reward for settling then perks her up, and when I stop she gets up and climbs up to demand more treats. (She’s due a wormer and she does seem especially hungry the last few days)
This evening in the end after 20 mins of lie down , treat, lie down, treat, I’ve put her into her crate because I’m exhausted and I’ve been with her since 6am and I just want a rest. She does this during the day as well. Have I basically created her to not be able to settle independently by using her crate too much? As in, in the days she just goes in her crate to nap, she very rarely naps on the dog bed. It would be nice if she would just chill in here with us in the evening, instead she ends up being put to bed.,

And I know that if she was allowed on the sofa she’d be fine and would lie down and snuggle all evening but she’s not allowed on the sofa.

i will just add, there were no distractions this evening, the kids were out. And she had gone into her crate and immediately gone to sleep so she was definitely tired.

Help! As I'm a first time dog owner, I have a revolting issue that I don't know if is a usual puppy/dog thing or if I need to make a visit to the vets (in the morning, I don't feel it's an emergency)

For a couple of hours now Pineapplepup (17wks today!) has been scooting round on her arse and desperately trying to lick it. She last had a 💩 mid afternoon maybe, could have been after that but its dark and rainy and difficult to tell, she's been out plenty of times and had wees. She's been a bit agitated (along with the licking and scooting) but still slept for an hour or so. About half an hour ago she woke up and peed on my living room carpet (hasn't happened for weeks and weeks, she has pretty much mastered toilet training) and I then took her into the garden There she strained and strained for what felt like forever and left a massive pile on the lawn, she still didn't seem happy and when I had a look at her arse she had lots of poo stuck out still and I had to do a huge clean up job that involved pulling out all kinds of solid bits 🤢 She obviously knew she needed help as she let me do it with no fight!
She seems more content now and has gone straight to sleep.

This is the 3rd time in a month or so where she's needed assistance and I don't know if she has some kind of issue or it's just because she eats so much rubbish in the garden (leaves, mud, twigs, anything she can fit in her gob) and it's 'difficult' to expel. Her digestion is usually pretty good, she's regular, solid well formed etc and has never been sick but I have no idea if puppies occasionally have these issues or whether a trip to the vets is needed.

I can't believe I didn't vomit, good
god that was a nasty task!

I have been transitioning her to new
food this week but the only side effect I've noticed from that is shes actually eating her meals now (and shes had similar issues on the old food anyway). She had her worming tablets yesterday.

Is this just a yucky dog owner occasional task or do I need to take her to the vet?

@Pineapplemonkey Don’t worry, if she seems well in herself it will just be that she is having difficulty passing bits and pieces she has eaten. I’ve had to do that with all my dogs at some point but as she grows she will likely not eat as much rubbish (although my lab never learned 😂) and the issue will sort itself out. Worming tablets often help to clear out their system so that will have helped this time.

As long as she is well in herself with plenty of energy and is peeing and pooping regularly (even if she needs mam’s help sometimes!) she sounds fine and normal.

You need a strong stomach sometimes for this puppy owning malarkey 🤢

Ah thank you @MuttsNutts I feel much better now you've said that. She seems fine this morning, slept all night and has reluctantly been out in the rain and deposited (pretty swiftly) a neat little pile on the lawn with no effort/mess. Has eaten breakfast and is now chewing on her yak stick on my lap.

I come from a family with no dogs so I have no idea if some things are normal or not with dogs- I've never had this issue with cats!!

@Pineapplemonkey it’s totally normal unfortunately and not really mentioned in the puppy books 🤷

They really don't mention it do they- the bastards! I would have appreciated a heads up on this horror. And I thought my worst bit would be picking up poo, how wrong I was!

Maybe this is my cue to write a puppy book.........

🤣🤣🤣 I think it would be a best seller and put everyone off the idea.

I remember taking my sisters lurcher out for a walk for the first time and having to pull grass out of her bum when she had a poo....🤢

It seemed to go on forever.....but doesn't sound quite as grim as @Pineapplemonkey had to do....

I have to pull a string of poo held together by my own hair at least once a month 😂

It could be worse - my friend had to pull a fairly intact Tescos poly bag out once, I was that friend that stood to the side and pissed myself laughing.

🤢 at these.....

Reminds me of my friend who had to pull a pop sock out of her nans dog....

Well at least I'm suitably reassured by these revolting posts, although equally as 🤮

Yep we pulled a carrier bag out of my previous lab.🤮 And frequently have to help with a Klingon as my current lab loves eating grass so much 🤮

I am losing the will to live with toilet training. We were improving but for whatever reason we're right back to pissing and shitting inside constantly and it's really getting to me. He's almost 5 months. It's relentless. How did you get hazel using the poo palace. I take him out first thing and last thing but he won't go. He'll hold it and sneak off. Same with daytime.

@Whyisitsosohard sorry to hear that. What breed is he? Has anything changed? Has the weather got worse?

With Hazel, we initially had just a rectangular gravel patch and so we took her out on a lead, said 'be busy' and didn't leave until she had done wees and poos - big praise and kibble for doing it. But it was pretty tricky keeping her there - she wanted to explore. So we added a fence and gate (home made), so we could shut her in there. Up to the poo palace, shut the gate, big praise and kibble for wees and poos.

Now it's quite automatic. If she takes herself out of the cat flap, she tends to wee on the grass and then run to the poo palace for poos. If we go out with her, she does both in the poo palace.

I think at this stage you have to be more determined than he is. If he's outside for long enough, he will go to the toilet eventually. Lots of praise, lots of treats. It might take an hour the first time, but eventually he will go. As he gets that nice things happen when he goes outside, he'll do it quicker.

Having said that, Hazel often won't go to the toilet if we're out. She'll wait until we get back to the garden. So 'be busy' isn't quite so automatic there.

@Lougle maggie also doesn’t often go when on walks, and it makes her quite frantic to get home because as soon as we are in our driveway she wees.
She had a lovely walk today, we did lots of heel walking with the lead and without, and she had some lead free time with lots of recall practice. We have some grassy areas that are like pathways by us, ideal for recall practice, there’s no cars but there’s also not just free open space like a park, I can see if there’s pedestrians or other dogs. The one thing she does do especially toward the end of our walk when she’s tired, is lunging after cars, so we did a bit of sitting as cars go past but she’d had enough by then and just wanted to go home.

That does sound ideal @thenewaveragebear1983 . I think recall is so important. It's really interesting - when we're out, she recalls beautifully. In the garden, she has a little think about whether what she is doing is more interesting.

We've been practicing her heel position this week. At bronze class they want the dog to come and sit beside us, rather than stand, which is what we were doing. She's doing great with it though.

We’ve done ‘here’ which is come to me and sit facing me, and ‘come with me’ which is walk by my left - oddly she will do that one off lead but not on it. She’s much happier walking this week, it’s been really nice

@Whyisitsosohard
Sounds like you need to go right back to basics.
We took pup out every 20 minutes and stayed in the garden with him until he went. If he didn't go after 15 minutes or so, back in but watch him like a hawk, and I mean literally someone on watching duty who never took their eyes off him and was close enough to scoop him up and whizz him outside if he sniffed the floor, turned around or started to crouch.
When he went in the garden we used the words hurry up ( but only when he was actually going) and then treats and lots of enthusiastic praise. And repeat. And repeat..
And crate at night, and set alarm for 1am, 4am and into the garden no talking and quiet praise for going.
They are babies and have no idea to ask to go out, and tbh it's better if they don't have free range into the garden because then they don't get any praise for garden toileting. And don't learn.
You have to stay out with them, even in the rain and cold at 4am.
We used Steve Mann Easy Peasy puppy Squeezy book - it was really helpful.

It's funny how we pick up different cues, isn't it? We use 'close' for coming and sitting directly in front, and 'this way' doubles as either come in our direction, if off lead, or walk beside me where I'm going, if on lead.

He's not crated overnight. Honestly I don't have the patience to go back to day 1. We've had him for nearly 2 months. That's a lot of time didn't waiting outside at has watching him like a hawk.