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.

He's just over 5 months old now, isn't he? Could be in a bit of a fear stage and feeling a bit dysregulated. Or he could be teething. Have you tried giving him some frozen carrots?

Thanks @Lougle off to read up more on the fear stage. He won’t entertain frozen carrots for some reason, picky bugger

Anyone with young it new puppies, or gave a gundog breed, there’s a brilliant account called ‘Life of Rose’ on instragram and Facebook etc.

Its just started folliwing a new black lamb puppy, giving training tips and general information.

The original thread followed Rose, another lab, and her development from puppy to gundog training. Theres always useful tips and advice, from some respected dog trainers.

We've got snow ❄️

We’ve got rain, and lots of it(yellow weather warning).

Lovely picture.

We have a yellow warning for snow, but have rain!

Loving the photo!

@Riverlee, we’ll be second class in the ring, flat coat puppy b1tch. I’m not going to give away any clues as to who I am, just keep an eye out for the naughty puppy 🤣

@Riverlee, sorry should have said we’re in hall 4, ring 24

BooDog had a suspected seizure this morning at puppy socialisation. Just fell like he was drunk and almost immediately recovered. Luckily the trainer was there to reassure me/offer a shoulder to cry on. Off to the vets tomorrow. Send hugs.

Oh @BackToLurk you have all my hugs! That must have been really scary. I hope it goes well at the vets.

Hello! Have just read through all 35 pages of this thread...!! Please can I join? Have got a puppy joining our family later this week! Mostly poodle. Main worry about her arrival is making sure she and our small children start off their relationship on the right foot ... So am going to get a puppy pen. Do you think it's best to have a crate in the pen or just a cosy corner with bed and blankets etc? And any recommendations of puppy pen? They seem to range from £20 to £200 !!

Welcome @Brightskiesabove . I chose this pen

We put a crate up and then zip tied the pen to each side of it, to make an 'igloo' type structure. We were very keen that the first thing Hazel should learn was to 'do nothing'. So she spent a lot of her time in there in the early weeks. We went in there to play with her. She slept in her crate, etc.

When she was about 4 months old, she started to sleep on DD2's bed, and we took down the pen in the day time. But now at 6 months old, we can still put it up if we need to leave her for a length of time, and she automatically settles in it.

Thanks for that @Lougle , think am going to get a crate then to put in a corner of the pen, and then also to take in the car. I have learnt so much from your posts, so much good advice!

@BackToLurk how did the vet appointment go? How is BooDog?

The vet couldn’t find anything obviously wrong so now we just wait and monitor. If it happens again then they will look at tests and MRI scans.

@Brightskiesabove plenty of good crates on Amazon (I've got a yaheetech one) around £50-60.

Dipping back in, we've had Jane pup for almost 4 weeks now!
We thought we had cracked the overnight, after only 10 days he was going 10-7am but the last 2 nights he's woken at 4 whining.... I don't think he's desperate for a wee, but he'll go. He settles back ok.
Need ideas to go back to him pulling all nighters!

BooDog has started to dislike his harness. He'll bark at it and start to back away, but if I take it slowly he will let me put it on. Once it's on he's absolutely fine. WE.ve already changed harness from one that went over hi head as that seemed to bother him, to a Perfect Fit harness that we can just clip around him. Any ideas?

We've got exactly the same with Chimipup. He's not keen on his collar going on - well, he never was but used to fight and roll when we tried. Now he just runs away. Same with the harness. I have to trap him in the hall with the doors and the stairgate closed and use lots of treats and 'good boy'. Gently does it as I don't want him to be scared. No idea why he's started to be like this?

@BackToLurk our pup the same, she hated the over the head harness, now use perfect fit and she still backs off but not so bad. But once on she is absolutely fine. No idea why.

FluffyPup always rolls over for a belly rub when the harness appears. Not a clue why!

He'a been to the vet today as he's had sore eyes since Saturday. The vet said it's conjunctivitis and prescribed drops.

Can you go back to putting it over the head, but make it a game? We started putting our hand through the harness and offering a treat, then moving our hand back slightly so she had to reach for it. Then she had to stick her nose through slightly, then further through, etc., until it was on her body.

For us (perfect fit) we changed to over the head because Hazel hurt her paw and then got harness shy.

Maggie backs away from her harness and has done ever since the one walk we did with her new ID tag on it. She didn’t like the jingle clearly. She now runs away from it, i eventually catch her, I put it on her, she then bounds to the door for walkies without a care in the world. It’s a little ritual we go through 2-3 times daily for zero reason whatsoever. 🤷‍♀️
she now has a smart leather collar with her name engraved on the buckle so no tag needed and we still play this ridiculous game. If I have the harness in my hand when I open her crate she will refuse to come out. The longest I’ve waited is 8 minutes

Our lab never likes his collar going on although has improved.

we always put it on whilst he’s eating, or a second person holds a treat in front of him and we get him to sit and wait before giving it to him.

@hennipenni Looking forward it, although dh has threatened to confiscate all credit cards and debit cards, so I don’t buy every toy going!

Any tips for a puppy that likes to bite their lead when it’s on?!? We’re distracting with treats, praise when she’s not etc but it seems slow progress! And it won’t be long before we’re actually able to go out for a walk, which at the moment won’t be much fun!!