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.

@thenewaveragebear1983 the other thing my class trainer corrected me on, which might be relevant, is that I was standing in front of Hazel, moving my hand forward as she went down, to offer the treat. The trainer said that I was essentially encouraging her to lunge forward for it. Instead, she had me move closer to her, then rapidly move my hand down to the ground, so that her nose followed the treat down, not forward.

A 5m long line is so much better. We had a 10m and it was just too heavy and too long.

This is our current status and after a half hour of being a bit restless she has settled and she’s been here for 30 mins. I’ve given no treats at all, just fuss and strokes (and chest scratches).

That's a precious moment @thenewaveragebear1983 . I love it when they tuck in so neatly.

The woods is our favourite place, same stump, 5 months apart.

Anyway this isn't particularly helpful and very rambly but I just wanted to say I've had a very busy dog and it's hard work and very draining, and not necessarily something you're doing but largely temperament.

Having a second has made me realise that we weren't doing lots wrong with our first, she was just much more hard work. I now have a pup that sits at my feet and gazes up adoringly in classes rather than just envying everyone else's pups whilst trying to control what felt like a kangaroo on a string!

Lovely @thenewaveragebear1983 so nice when they just chill.

Ha! @tizwozliz kangaroo on a string is very accurate! I remember the puppy class trainer saying "Oh bleakdog, you've lost your marbles". I had to wait about a year until she got them back.

We did some livestock testing today, she's not scared of sheep... good intel!

Here's my two very different characters getting ready for a walk. Pup will just lie down and wait in a random bed... dog is trying to bust through the door

Has anyone had success using a doggy door? We are getting one installed in a few weeks and I'm really hoping it'll help with toileting outside.

He's totally consistent when we go on a walk. He'll always toilet and get lots of praise. But inside is just not reliable.

@Whyisitsosohard Hazel uses the cat flap at the moment.

I just discovered that my puppy insurance gets me a 'free consultation' with a behaviourist so I've booked an appointment for a weeks time. Might be rubbish but it's free so at worst I'm going to lose half an hour of my time, best case, they are helpful and give me some ways to fix Pineapplepup!

Her barking is wayyyyyy out of control, she barks to be let into the garden (which I could forgive if it ended there) and the second I let her out she barks and barks and howls and barks a bit more, it's deafening. Literally any noise will set her off, someone walking near the garden, a dog in the neighbourhood, children playing. And then inside the house she's doing the same, it is driving me insane, I cannot have her making that much noise, if not for my sanity then the neighbours she is waking up when she does it late at night/early in the morning.

I then have to drag her inside where she toilets on my floor because the barking distracts her from what she went to do in the garden in the first place.

Even thinking about the noise genuinely makes my head ache, it's sooo loud.

I think it's alert (or alarm) barking and she's just trying to protect her realm and me from what she perceives as dangers but nothing I've tried has worked and I'm soon to be the most unpopular person in the neighbourhood!

On the bright side she's eating all her meals, is pretty much toilet trained (bar the occasional issue because of the barking), is walking on a lead like a champ, stopped biting for the most part and is a great sleeper.

This barking though could be the end of me.......😬😫

That sounds like a good plan @Pineapplemonkey barking is stressful. We're lucky that our big dog only barks once to be let in after the toilet, if someone is at the door, or if other dogs bark at him across the fence. But he barked at the vets this week and it was so loud I had to take him outside. I can't imagine him doing that all the time.

Hazel, so far, is a pretty silent dog. She occasionally yaps if a dog barks. But generally, no barking.

How are we all getting on?

The last week or two, we've been separating the pen in the day time, so she can wander to her crate, or not, as she pleases. The last two nights, Hazel has slept on DD2's bed overnight. She did really well.

We are still having to work quite hard to socialise her with the cats. One of our cats avoids her, but the other sits on a unit and swipes at her. We were treating Hazel every time she came away from the cat, but the cheeky little thing worked it out, so started casually walking up to the unit, waited until the cat started growling, then looked pointedly at us as if to say "call me away for my yummy treat?" So we've switched it up a bit and now call her away before she gets there.

The trainer comes for our first session tomorrow and I'm very excited about that. I really need some personalised advice and plans so I don't lose my way and end up on youtube, good though some of the puppy training folk are.

Lessons learned this week:
Products sold to deter furniture/fabric/shoe etc chewing don't work (not for Bertie anyway). He's chewed the corner of my sofa and although I caught him quickly he keeps retuning to it. My current strategy is to close all doors and have him with me unless he's asleep in his pen.

Puppies are TIRING!!!!! Maybe it's my age but everything takes twice as long to do, or I find that I can't focus on anything which isn't dog related and of the moment otherwise I forget what I've done or have planned to do. Honestly it feels like I snatch moments to do any household admin or organising. I really don't know how people manage to work, especially from home, and have a puppy.

But I love him. He's such a sweetie and a funny little thing when he's not trying to eat my hand/ankles/any bit of exposed flesh/jeans etc. He fell asleep next to me on the sofa last night and I felt on top of the world!

Aww Bertie is naughty. Is the sofa very chewed? I met a family with 5 cocker spaniels and they had a throw on the sofa. Turned out that underneath it, there was a mass of chewed up foam. We're lucky that, so far, the only victim of Hazel's jaws has been a Christmas bauble. She's seemed to get that her toys are for chewing. She used to try and chew charging cables but she hasn't done that for a few weeks now.

Hi all, apologies, i have not read the thread but would like to jump in!

We have an 11 week old miniature poodle/retriever cross. Struggling with the biting, but we're all pretty impressed with her.

Quick question though - should we stop our dog going up/down the six steps between our living room and kitchen? She hates being confined so would rather roam free but i've heard you have to protect young dogs joints?

At what age can a puppy use stairs?

We’ve had a good weekend with Maggie. A long sniffy walk in the woods yesterday on her long line, then today she came to football and ate her entire lunch piece by piece and basically sat at my side the whole time. I was really proud of her, she was very calm and settled.

i agree @FeargalLandSharkey that puppies Are just tiring, she just takes up so much of my headspace and it’s exhausting. There’s so many Christmas things I just haven’t done this year and things I need to do that I don’t know how/when I will get it all done.

I made cones of unseasoned popcorn “pupcorn” for all her little doggie pals for Xmas gifts however, while I was cooking dinner! 🍿

We have a lab. We were told not to let them upstairs or let them run for miles until one, as lab’s bones take longer to develop as they’re larger dogs. I imagine six steps should be okay though.

@FeargalLandSharkey Yes, puppies are tiring. My day consists of dog-asleep sessions , and dog-awake sessions, and I plan accordingly. Plus dog-on-walk sessions as well.

@Lougle no it's a tiny corner but it would be more if I'm not on the ball all the time he's awake and active. I get that he needs to chew and most of the time he chews the right things. Really its me taking my eye off the ball and trying to multitask when I can't.

@searchandrescue I have a golden retriever. I put stair gates on the stairs - she didn't even know upstairs existed until she was 1. I wince everytime she races up and down them still - she's not the most graceful of dogs.

What is the concern with stairs though? Is it that the puppy will fall down and get injured, or is it that the pressure on her joints as she goes up and down successfully will cause an injury over time? If the latter then we probably need to plan to stop her moving between our kitchen and living room for the next year, unless we carry her. There's a gate that does that at the moment but it makes her high maintenance. She is not happy unless at least one of us is at the same side of the gate with her (except for when she settles for the night)

Also, how do you manage the kibble:treat ratio? I've realised that our dog is probably getting most of her calories from treats these days and is consuming nowhere near the amount of complete food kibble the packet recommends for her age/weight?

@searchandrescue It’s to do with the possibility of hip dysplasia and the development of bones. I think the odd step or so is fine, but stairs are obviously a lot of steps.

Our lab wiggles his bum as he goes down stairs. It’s quite comical to watch.

Is your dog healthy and gaining weight well? If you feel you’re only feeding treats, then use kibble as treats. It’s all food to them.

We have a step from our door to our patio and then three steps down into our garden, Maggie goes up and down them all day. It never occurred to me that she shouldn’t, to be honest. She doesn’t go upstairs though, unless she’s escaping up there illegally.

I found it really difficult to balance the food, especially when she was having raw food. Now she’s on pure kibble (Millie’s wolf heart) I just weigh out her allowance in the morning and she has 3 meals, and I use them as treats as well. I do have a bag of puppy kibble which is much smaller pieces for using when I need lots, such as when we’re on a walk or at dog training. I just weigh out 30-50g and that gets deducted off her total. I try to do her whole lunchtime meal as either scatter feeding or rewards. Her breakfast takes her literally seconds to eat. It’s no wonder she is always hungry, she inhales her food. She’s gaining weight well, but not excessively, she’s quite a sleek looking hound now with no ‘puppy fat’, it’s just her puppy face that gives it away

Pup has decided to come into season on the second day of our Christmas holiday - argh!

Oh no! Is she bleeding much?

No not much, would be easily missed but our older dog decided to help with cleanup 🤢

Just been to the pet shop to get some pant type things.

That's bad timing! Is she just 8 months old? I am so glad we got big dog neutered a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't bear the thought of Hazel coming into season and trying to keep them separate. She'll probably not come into season until she's 18 months now!