Puppy Survival Thread for New and Old Pups - Spring is around the corner!

[Lougle]

A thread for puppy owners to share their ups and downs as we head into Spring. We're not just here for the idyllic moments. We've all had a cry at some point!

All posters welcome - just dive in.

The previous thread is here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/4945764-puppy-survival-thread-for-old-and-new-pups-heading-into-winter?page=1

@MamaBanana12
Is he heavy? I read somewhere that it they don't do a full wee outside, carry them inside for 5 minutes or so then take them out again so they don't even get the chance to do it inside.
Also have read to keep them out longer, not just one little wee before you let them in.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I think you're absolutely right that it's dog dependent. Hazel is also 8 months old. She was quite happy chilling in her pen for much of the day. It taught her excellent doorway manners, because the pen door was a doorway so we used that for training every time she needed a wee.

We moved gradually from allowing more day time out of the pen, to separating two sections of the pen in the day to allow full access, and reconnecting it at night. We took the pen with us to our church when she was 18 weeks because we were having a family meal, and she just chilled and slept.

Then a couple of weeks later, at about 4 months, we started letting her sleep on DD2's bed, and from then on she adopted a pattern of day time snoozes on the sofa, or on her own bed, or on DD2's bed, and at night she's shut in with DD2 and sleeps on her bed.

If we leave the house, we shut her in DD2's room, and she sees that as a signal to sleep (we have a Blink camera).

Luckily no he's a dot at the moment! Yeah I've been doing that since yesterday and hoping he gets the message! Had a better evening and so far this morning he's been the model pup! I think he's just having my life 🤣

Thank you. Yeah my husband thinks my expectations are slightly off, and I can't disagree! I think my memories of training our old girl are a bit distant 🤣

Milo is a tired boy today after an active few days - I think it's caught up with him today.
He's had 2 walks today - not offlead just sniffy walks. Had his breakfast and a few treats to aid his training.
Very rare to have days like this due to him being a working cocker.mm who I shouldn't have as a "pet"
🙄

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'm going to keep up with the routine for now because it keeps me somewhat sane and I do feel pup needs the sleep and the chance to just chill!

@MamaBanana12 If it makes you feel better, my pup is 12 weeks 2 days old and he isn't toilet trained at all!

Here's my crazy pup, actually sitting still and looking calm for once.

What an absolute beauty!! 😍

Thank you @JamieJ93

I'm near tears today. His biting gets worse and worse. I can't walk across the room with him biting and pulling on my toes/ankles. Distracting with toys is working less and less, he'd much rather bite me. It's not even chewing, it's full on lunge, clamp jaws down and pull.

When will this end? I feel like every day is just survival.

He's learning. Try not to wear anything loose on your legs, and if you need to, wear shoes. It will pass.

I wear tight leggings and he still manages to pull them! I might just wear wellies all the time. Heck, why not go all the way and just wear an entire rubber suit at all times...ughhh.

Lots of people resort to wellies 😁

@Cavalierchaos
More support from me. I'm sure it will end. I have different worries from yours today but am a mess at the moment too. Clinging on to visions (however far off) of lovely dog in the future.
Keep talking, people have been kind and reassuring here.

@Cavalierchaos we used to use a house lead, specially in the evenings ( after the zoomies!). We would use small pieces of carrots and drop one for her and tell her settle, every time she settled she got another one. we also did this with part of her meals, have her on her towel/mat by your side ( we did /do it sitting at our kitchen table), tell her to settle, drop a piece of kibble, repeat repeat etc. I would go behind the stair gate when she got bad. I too was in tears sometimes thinking I had a monster for a dog and I was a useless owner. Sometimes I would take her on a short drive for a break, sitting on the back seat strapped in with a harness. It will get better.

It is so hard, isnt it. I don't cry but ... this is breaking me. I do the same as you, imagine that future lovely dog... Yet every day is so long and it feels so far away.

I also worry that my puppy is ill. He whines terribly before doing a poo, like he's in pain. Then when he's pooed, he's fine again. I'm going to take him to the vets for a check asap...

I kinda do similar, I get him to sit, tell him to wait, and then give him a kibble/treat every 30 seconds or so. I'm not sure how I link this to settle, though, as surely he'll just equate it to sitting and waiting...

The settle command is Very useful. Have them lie on "their" mat/ towel ( we use her own thick towels that we take to the pub and she now knows to lay on and "settle") , once laying down drop the kibble / carrot saying settle, gradually the pup will settle properly, head down,. Our pup now lays at our side on her towel when we tell her settle ( she will still get the odd treat). Its a calming method. Our trainer taught us this early on.

My pup is a bit too old now at nearly 20 months to be on here, but I’ve been loitering and just wanted to say to those that are struggling to hang in there it does get better. I remember putting a few posts up in the early months of despair of having him and wondering if I’d made the right decision as he was far from my vision of the snuggly lap dog that I had envisioned for myself. The relentless taking out every 20 minute toilet training, the biting and constantly having to watch him every waking hour so that he didn’t eat something he shouldn’t. Walks were hard work with him picking up every tissue or baby wiped dropped. The sudden change overnight of mine and my cats usual routine. The tiredness was overwhelming and at one point I hated him and thought he was the biggest mistake I’d ever made. It took 6 months for me to start feeling more like myself and start to accept him. Now of course I wouldn’t be without him and have the dog I wanted. He is the most loyal, cuddly companion and makes us laugh every day. I wouldn’t swap him for a million quid. But it was hard work with a lot of training that we’re still doing now. Puppies are knobs, but it does get better.

Dropping in to say I'm struggling at the moment.
JanePup is 5 months old (21 weeks) and after a shaky start we were all rubbing along fairly well.
He got toilet training and all night sleeping within 10 days. Land sharking thankfully reduced within the first 4 weeks.
He mouths now, really quite gently for a terrier!

I'm now struggling with all of it. He's relentless. The last few days have been a blur of fur. He doesn't know how to settle or 'just be'. We've tried, we really have.

He's loosing teeth so I assume he's unsettled in himself. He also cocked his leg for the first time today!

His sleep and nap patterns have changed. He needs less during the day but he needs more entertaining.
I'm in a constant state of worry that he's not getting enough/getting too much stimulation or exercise.
Lead walking is a farce, he pulls and darts all over the place.
He is motivated by food until a bird/leaf/smell or other thing like air distracts him. People and other dogs he goes crazy at, he wants to be everyone's friend.
He keeps trying to 'dominate' my daughter. Only her, he'll go for her wrist first, then try to hump.

I'm tired. So tired. We all are.
Where we used to have some time to ourselves it's impossible now.
I'm struggling with getting things done around the house as he's literally at my ankles all day. Whines and cries when left behind the gate.
He's crated for sleep which he'll do with an ask and a treat, rarely goes in willingly.

He is a clever but wilful little bugger. His recall is shit, but he knows how to do it.

I'm venting but I really am at a wall at the moment. I'm tearful, anxious and generally a bit overwhelmed by him.

Oh @JaneIves I feel for you. Does he go to training classes? Will he settle on a mat for some treats?

Recall - don't let him practice ignoring you. Keep him on a long line until he's coming back snappy every time.

You might need to change up the food you take out with you so it keeps his interest.

Lead walking - do you practice in the garden? You could practice walking without the lead, putting the treat behind your left knee, every step. He'll get the idea that the good stuff comes when he's by your left knee. Once he's doing that reliably, add the lead. Once he's doing it reliably on lead, try taking it out of the garden. We went back to taking literally one step with Hazel. One step, treat. If she moved out of position, wait her out, then encourage her back to position. One step. Rinse and repeat. She very quickly understood that she only got the treat when she was behind my left knee.

He can't lie down yet 😔 Im trying to teach him but it's so hard! I sit with my knees up and he knows now that if he goes underneath and lies down, he will get a treat. Every time we do this, I say "lie down". But he hasn't worked out what the words mean yet. Am I doing this right?
(I did try just holding the treat down on the floor, as suggested on the internet guides, but he just wouldn't lie down for it.)

Thank you for posting, posts like yours are all that keeps me going.
Please tell me it didn't take anywhere near 20 months to see an improvement, though?!

@Cavalierchaos No thank goodness, things started getting easier around the 5 month mark. Hang in there.

Thanks @Lougle

He can do loose lead for a bit, then it all goes to shit. We tend to stick to the same route at the moment as anywhere 'new' or different it's worse.
We take cheese, chicken or sausage. He'll walk nicely for a few steps, good eye contact then soon as he gets the treat he's off.
I stop when he pulls off, but he darts and pulls in all directions. I'll say his name calmly, usually takes at least 30 seconds for him to then look at me again. Ad infinitum.
He's on a shortish lead.
He wants to greet everyone!
I'll pull him away but he pulls towards the walker/jogger/cyclist until they're some way away.

As an aside, he hates the harness coming out, he'll hide from me. Freezes when I do put it on but he'll come out the door with a little tug.

Best way is to get him into a sit first, then hold the treat above his nose and slowly move it down and slightly back towards him. As he follows the treat with his eyes, he should go into a down. It might be that only his elbows go down at first. Still treat that, but don't give it a word. Just say 'yes' before you treat. Then when he's going down onto his elbows, consistently, wait a second or two and he might go down a bit more with his bum. 'Yes' and treat. Then eventually his bum will follow.

If you want to persevere with the under legs (which is also great), then keep at it, but I would change to using 'down'. 'lie down' could seem like two different instructions.