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.

Hope you got some sleep. Ours was another disturbed night. Woke at midnight. I’ve got massive puppy blues this morning. Feel really tearful about how we’ve over complicated our lives and panicking that we’ve made a mistake. We’re all tired and all I’m seeing is the negative. Please don’t all jump on me, I know it’s irrational.

Puppy blues is the pits, I suffered with it badly, felt exactly like you do. Things will get better, you’ll all settle into your own groove. What helped me was getting out of the house for a few hours and having a catch up with friends…… usually in the pub with a large Pinot 😬

We had a 4am vomit. The result of pup not actually chewing her chews!

Raining again so just deciding where to go and get muddy today!

@oOmoonhaOo @NoWordForFluffy

Midnight! He’d been dozing with dh all evening, I came in from Bookclub and he was like a hyperactive teenager all night.

wet, windy and cold walk this morning. Unusually for me, cut it short.

I managed to get out before the rain came, thankfully! Not that he gives a shit if it's hammering down...all the more puddles to frolic through. 🐕🤣

I'm glad he settled eventually. Midnight is not reasonable though! Good job they're cute, isn't it?

Who could get mad at this face? 😍

It’s such a shame that we have to end our posts worried that we’ll be flamed.

I know what you mean about puppy blues. It’s such a chaotic change to what was a settled household! Why do we do this to ourselves 🙈… Totally worth it once out of the puppy monster phase, but I’m trying to savour each moment!

It’s like when your toddler has a late afternoon nap… nightmare later on 🙈🤣

We’ve all been there. Think I cried daily at one point, and still have the occasional al outburst.

Such good timing, headed to the woods for a bit of shelter from the rain and it eased off and the sun even came out for a bit. Started raining again on the drive home.

The highs and the lows are all there. It's hard work at first and then the challenges just change. Hang in there. We're at 7 months now and she's just lovely to have around.

We’ve come out the other side with our now 16 month old, and stupidly for another one 🤣

@oOmoonhaOo, our boy is 16 months. I think about another, but we don't have capacity for separate walks etc, so it's not feasible!

Thanks all. First thing in the morning is when I feel worst, sleep deprivation does funny things to you! I know deep down she’s actually doing amazingly well and she’s really cute!!. It’s nice to be able to talk about the negatives on here though and get some reassurance. Your experiences are proving very helpful to me so thanks again!

I'm at 22 months now. Boy do I remember the lows. And the tears and the wailing!
Last night Fluffpup woke me up by staring intensely at my face - she wanted to show me her puke that she'd just done in my fresh laundry pile.
She's so lovely and the only thing stoping me getting another retriever right now is that I can't imagine any dog living up to my lovely little lady love.

Well, we were back to sleeping 10.30 to 6 last night. Phew! I can see why this is callled the survival thread!

@hennipenni As our resident celebrity Crufts dog owner, have you seen the Crufts thread (under Doghouse section). Can you enter any words of wisdom on it?

@Riverlee thank you, no I haven’t. I’ll pop over now. Don’t think I’ll have any words of wisdom as it’s my first time showing there. Been plenty of times though with my friends when they’ve shown they’re dogs

I feel exactly the same when I look at Hazel. She's training to be DD2's assistance dog but I'm already dreading her retirement at 7 months old!

Loving this thread already. I have my adult daughter staying too, which is great in some ways but she's also needing my support. Definitely feel like crying at times, but it helps so much to hear from others. Currently it's the constant weewee watch (and occasional fail), plus the crazy biting! But we're not even a week in yet. Loooong way to go 😆 Sleeps next to me like the beautiful pup she is though, I can see what she will become. Even if it takes a year or more.

Whippets can be bonkers puppies! We have a 16 month old beddywhippet and he has chilled so much in the last few months… he’s a a dream!!

@BleakGarden ❤️ come and talk to us.

I'm quite frustrated tonight. Hazel was doing quite well in her down stay at dog training, until a man decided to buy liver cake. He stood a few feet away from us, fiddling with the bag, so she got up. I resettled her, then he walked right in front of her with the liver cake on display.

It's no big deal but it's been a long day and I didn't have much resilience!

I'm so stupid. I looked at your photo and thought 'oh I've never seen a dog like that...almost whippet cross Dalmatian, but something isn't right....' Cute jacket!

Thank you @Lougle it’s fair to say I’m having a meltdown, her growling at me just tipped me over the edge. Things are getting worse in terms of pup’s reactivity with dogs and visitors, the separation anxiety initially got better but it’s much worse now so I’m not getting any time away from her which doesn’t help my state of mind. I’ll pick up her pain meds on Monday, she does look like she has hip dysplasia but I don’t know if that would explain reactivity from 10 weeks old. The behaviourist also prescribed short acting sedatives in case of emergencies (like DH is away and one of the kids needs to go to hospital so I’ve got no choice but to leave her). I need to do more with training but I’m overwhelmed by the reactivity if I’m honest. In a way I hope it is my fault (as per the other thread) because that means if we rehomed her then things would get better for her.

anyway sorry for the giant whinge. I’ve been lurking here, I love reading all the updates.

Well firstly, don't lurk, post. This thread is for the ups and the downs. It isn't Facebook pose perfect dog ownership. We can at least listen, if not help.

FWIW, I think you've done your best. It could be absolutely nothing you've done. She might need a quieter home, or a home with just one owner, or a home where she'll be given a job to do, etc.

It must be absolutely gutting to have one dog who you have done so much with and another who you can't do the same for/with.

I've been there with a reactive dog from puppyhood. I was a bit more naive than you and the initial shaking I put down to being cold and small. I should have picked up that it was nervousness. He was so fearful that we could walk in the wind, nor near leaves. He once nearly catapulted me into the road because he reacted so badly to a dog walking in the other direction that he wrapped his lead around my legs in panic. We had chickens and his drive to get them was so intense that a full packet of ham wasn't enough to lure him away from their enclosure. He would circle it obsessively. We had to close off one end so he couldn't circle. He could scale a fence and even though we blocked off the garden, he would just climb the fence. When we retrieved him, he'd do it again before we could get back over the fence. It was just crazy. He got more and more reactive and he bit someone. Not hard, but enough to leave a mark. The vet felt that he had some sort of neurological problem.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's easy to judge when you haven't been there.

Thanks @Lougle ❤️ I really appreciate the support. I'll call the breed rescue charity tomorrow, just to hear their view on things