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 can you get a sample and take it to the vet? I'd be thinking a UTI, especially as it's been 4 times in 3½ hours.

@JaneIves I'm glad you've had a better day. I hope tonight goes well.

@JaneIves here’s my bundle of fun, almost 6 months old…… no idea how I got here, this thread definitely helped!

@userxx oh he's gorgeous!

I'm not sure how you fared the early puppy days but seeing your boy has made me love mine more! I know he'll be the best boy, I just don't see it all too clear right now.

He has been 100% better today than yesterday, mostly in part to my harsh words to myself and hopefully in some part to him.

Those woeful eyes they make!

Is he grizzle colouring? Mines grizzle but quite dark all over at the moment.

Our poor boy has been sterilized yesterday. He did great under anaesthetic but looking so sorry for himself with his cone. Feeling very guilty.

We found the first 48 hours after RiverPup’s op he was very dopey (looked stoned) and cried a lot. He always wanted dh or myself in the room with him. He also became more affectionate.

We used the all-in-one suits rather than the cone of shame. However, it was during the mini heatwave in September, so after a few days, he didn’t wear that and he was okay and didn’t go for his wound.

More questions. I'm assuming put anything on say skirting boards to deter chewing is frowned upon and a 'bad thing'? Really struggling to get Boo to stop chewing every door, skirting board, wall etc

Yes he's a grizzle, he was really dark when he was a tiny pup, he looked more like a bear cub than a pup!

Today has felt like a hard day 😞 feel like we've gone a bit backwards in some respects, since his big teeth have come through he's started biting again, he is also testing boundaries but that's probably his age. I feel exhausted at times 🫤

I don't think it's a bad thing to deter an unwanted behaviour by making it less appealing, as long as it's a dog safe substance. It's always better to tell your dog what you do want them to do, though. So providing a safe contained space and suitable chewing materials is better.

@BackToLurk . I confined my pup when she was that age to just a couple of rooms at the back of the house and the garden. I puppy proofed them - and I mean puppy proofed! Literally all she could eat was some sparse furniture. Meant I always wasn't watching out for her, before she learnt the difference between a legal chew and illegal one. I did use the bitter apple spray for the first week or so but having a tastier better alternative on hand worked better. My Fluffpup is a champion chomper even now but apart from one chair leg which was gnawed to a spindle she's never gone wrong. At about 6 months she was let loose on the rest of the house.
I do spend a fortune on disgusting animal parts, wood chews and toys.
I got the bitter apple spray from Amazon, it's dog safe and I did use it but I think redirection and telling her what she was allowed to chew worked better.

@userxx sorry to hear that. I know I'm in for a long slog!
A good day for pup, not so much for my daughter who is getting more and more despondent. She imagined a completely calm and malleable pup. What we have is a wriggly, bitey cute arsehole.
He will snuggle when tired.
She doesn't help by being all excitable and handsy with him, despite me making her read easy peasy puppy squeezy!
She sobbed tonight because she said he doesn't love her, and the look of jealous rage when he does calm down and snuggles in to me or my husband.
I try to tell her, palm out to lick rather than hand straight on the head, to remove hand and fold arms and turn away when biting, and to speak about 10 octaves lower!

And then she resents me, for trying to tell her. I can't win!
Tomorrow is a new day.

@JaneIves look for the YouTube clip called it’s yer choice, it’s a great little game. We did it with our Pup and she got it so quickly and my ds is 8, I found it just gives them (the kids, not the dog) a bit of control over the pup and it makes them listen. We still do it with Maggie when she gets a bit over enthusiastic

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DBmLFn6YyoM

Help!
I seem to have taken a step (or two) back and slightly off grid with Bertie's night time. I had a really challenging night with him last night, culminating in me letting him sleep with me on the bed as by 12.30am he had been crying and barking for 2 hours and nothing I tried was settling him down. Over that time I tried:
Checking the bed in case he'd wee'd or there was something making it uncomfortable.
Toilet break.
Adding my pyjama top to his crate so he had something of mine with scent on it.
Leaving him for 5 minutes and then going to him and quietly reassuring him but not engaging otherwise (numerous times, waiting longer each time)
Putting him in his creche downstairs, me on the sofa, lights off, no TV or other distractions.
Moving his crate to the landing.
Moving his crate to my bedroom.

Last resort - him on the bed with me and he was asleep immediately until this morning - and I think it'll be a case of rinse and repeat tonight.

He might have been working up to last night for a couple of days as he'd been a bit unsettled in the crate but not to the extent of last night.

Typically in the early morning I hear him stir and get up to let him out and then I give him a dental chew and take a cup of tea up to bed with me and he comes along and sits on the bed or we both have a doze until about 7.30 to 7.45. Thats a routine that works for me and stops the day feeling exceptionally long. If he happens to sleep until later in his crate I just get up normally with him. Other than that, he spends the entire day downstairs.

Yesterday he went from 4 smaller meals a day to 3 larger ones (adding that for context just in case it's important).
We had two 'walks' of 25 minutes each over the day. I had been walking him once a day but felt it might not be enough opportunity for him and me to do something outside that we both enjoy (mostly).

Indoors he likes to join me on the sofa for a doze or just to sit during the day and I'm fine with that, I still put him in the lounge creche when I need to go out and leave him. His creche seems to be his 'go to' if I'm occupied with something else and he isn't playing with toys or we're doing some training.

Other than that he has never voluntarily gone to his crate (no matter where it is or whether I'm there), he always needs an enticement to go in.

So, I think he has separation anxiety (according to my midnight google search). He doesn't seem unwell, or hurt in any way and is as bouncy as ever this morning (albeit quite bitey).

I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for here. Whether it's how to get things back on track or whether to change things without creating further potential issues. I really don't want to upset my neighbours either as his bark is quite high pitched and his cry sounds so desperate!

Any advice would be very much appreciated. He's currently sound asleep on the sofa after his breakfast.

Can you just let him sleep on your bed? Hazel sleeps on DD2's bed now. She'll go in her crate happily, though.

Typically in the early morning I hear him stir and get up to let him out and then I give him a dental chew and take a cup of tea up to bed with me and he comes along and sits on the bed or we both have a doze until about 7.30 to 7.45.

that’s your problem ^

You’ve had him in your bed dozing. He knows where you sleep. He gets to sleep with you in the morning. He wants that all the time. And, unfortunately, you’ve given him what he wants.

Unless you’re prepared for a few nights of him crying himself to sleep, I think you’ll have to accept he sleeps in your bed now.

Not the end of the world tbf if you’re happy with him in your bed.

@Lougle yes I could do that. I think Hazel's a bit older than Bertie. How long has she been going on your DD's bed? Bertie is housetrained now and naps, rather than properly sleeps, during the daytime so he is now sleeping fully through the night which is partly why last night was such a shock to the system.

I don't know whether to stop using a crate or whether to buy a couple of extension bits for his creche so that the crate fits in there as well as his toys? That way his crate is in the main living room if he decides it's ok to go into during the day. I don't want to get rid of it in case there's a chance he'll need it at some point, although it doesn't fit anything else in it except him now that he's grown (alot). Maybe that's the problem, it's too small for him now.

@Devilshands I know! I don't mind him on my bed, in fact I quite like hearing him snuffle in his sleep and having him close to me where ever we are. I just want to do what's right and at the moment I don't know what 'right' is.

@FeargalLandSharkey Hazel is 6 months old now, but has been sleeping on DD2's bed since she was 4 months. She is a very good puppy though and doesn't chew or explore when it's bed time.

@FeargalLandSharkey if that’s what you want then go for it! Absolutely nothing ‘wrong’ with it! As long as he still gets some time alone during the day (otherwise you will get separation issues) then crack on! My youngest slept in my bed from the minute he was housetrained and knew to wake me up if he had to go!

My three sleep in my room; two on the bed and one on the chair! I sleep on 1/50th of the bed clinging on as hard as I can! Wouldn’t change it for the world!

@FeargalLandSharkey why do you think he has separation anxiety if he goes in the lounge creche when you go out? Does he bark when you leave? They do like to be close to us and love the comfort of being on the bed, that's what he wants now!

Mine was a big fan of her crate - she genuinely loved hers and slept in it with the door open. But last summer we stayed at a different house for a few weeks and I didn't have room for my crate so she slept with me.
I went from being anti dogs sleeping in my bed to loving it. She lies like a human with her head on the pillow beside me.
She has free rein to sleep where she wants - occasionally she takes a notion to sleep on the sofa downstairs. I notice her abscence! Plus we are ultra lazy and at weekend we sometimes lie in til 9 until she decides she's bursting for a wee!

Pupxx sleeps with his face pressed up against mine, it’s cute until he starts growling in his doggy dreams, I remove myself quickly!

I'm so happy. We went out for almost 4 hours tonight and Hazel slept/laid calmly the whole time in her pen. It's been ages since we set up the pen so I thought it might be an issue, but she remembered immediately.

Well, this is a new low point. I made the decision to move Pineapplepup's crate from my office so I can at long last get my office back. I've moved it to the kitchen. Same crate, same contents, same blanket over the top. She jumped in voluntarily at bed time.

I am currently laying on the tiled kitchen floor next to her. For the second time tonight. She just wouldn't stop crying/shrieking and she eventually fell asleep whilst I was next to her. I snuck back to bed and she started back up again and I had to come back down and lay on the floor.

Just trying to decide how to move like a ninja back upstairs to my bed.

Even the first night I bought her home at 8 weeks she didn't make a sound from the second the crate door shut. This is the first time ever I've heard a sound from her at night. She sleeps from 10pm to somewhere between 7&8 every single day, always has, until right now.

Don't know what I'm going to do if she doesn't settle though.........

Oh bless her (and you!) Do you feel she still needs the crate or could she do without it now? If you left the door open so that she could go elsewhere if she wanted, would that be a problem? Are you completely against her sleeping in your room? What about the crate in your room if you don’t want her on the bed?

My current dog has never chewed stuff she shouldn’t and I was happy for her to sleep with me so I got rid of the crate by about five months.

It sounds like Pineapplepup is just unsettled by the crate being somewhere new and I expect she will settle again but you may need to do as you have done tonight for a few nights to help her get used to it.

If it were me though I think I’d be looking at the other options I’ve mentioned above, especially as it seems from your recent posts that the problem with her barking seems much improved and you wouldn’t want her increased anxiety starting that up again. Not stalking you, I just remember you because I too have a MS and know what that unique shriek is like 😳.

Good luck whatever you decide. This setback will have come as a shock if she has been happy in her crate up until now but this too shall pass and all that…

@MuttsNutts its nice when other people appreciate the unique shriek MS’s make. I was genuinely concerned she was going to wake the entire neighbourhood at points last night!

After I stealthily got back to my own bed, she started crying again but then exhaustion must have kicked in as I managed to get about 3.5hrs sleep before she started up again around 4am. I went down, let her out her crate and let outside for a wee and then let her follow me back to my room. She was all agitated and wouldn’t settle so I left her to wander the house and 10mins later she was back and curled up at the end of my bed and went to sleep. I woke up at 8.15 with her cuddled into my back with her chin resting on my ear 🙄

She seems good this morning, scoffed her breakfast down and wanting to play.

Will have to have a think today what I want to do tonight. We were in such a good routine with her crate but I am not lying on the kitchen floor again! I never thought moving her to a different room would cause such issues for her, she was already on her own so other than the fridge noise not entirely sure what the huge deal is!