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

LibisMum
this is exactly what i have done - ive moved the bed and just have the mattress so that it is low so she can get off and on .
she pads round the room , changes position and place , off and on the bed , licks my face - one night inwas woken 2,4 , 5, and 6 - i feel utterly ill , weepy amd exhausted and its affecting the bond .

@Bupster Sending huge hugs, it's horrible and frustrating and I totally feel your pain.
Brodie can be a pain getting his harness on, he thinks it's a game. His is a ruffwear one that he slips his head through and then the tummy flap clips to the top panel. What I do is hold a treat and feed it to him with my hand through the neck hole... while he's taking the treat I get it over his head, he's stuck with it then while I fasten the clips. If yours goes on in a similar way give it a try. He's fine when it's on too. I've also found he settles better on a blanket in the back, I use one of the straps that fits into the seatbelt holder.
I've found the best thing to do when you're getting frustrated is to leave it for a while (if you've time) have a cup of tea and take some deep breaths. Go me! What I usually do is sob in a corner 🤣.
I hope you've managed to give the car a try and it went well 🤞🏻. We were told at training today to celebrate the small wins and let the many failures pass.
We will get there in the end!
Sending hugs, stay strong x

OMG that's hard work! What breed is she?Is there anything you can do to mentally tire her out before bed?

I was going to ask if she's sleeping a lot during the day - but she should be doing both, sleeping a lot in the day and at night.

When does she have her last meal? could she be hungry? maybe try giving her a half feed a couple of hours before bed?

Hi @BrodiePup
How you doing?
How's the little swine doing?
Honestly it does get easier
Here is my little bundle of dickhead being the best little dog ❤️

I did exactly this, @BrodiePup - coffee in my case and some chocolate hobnobs and sat away from him for a bit. When I'd got my shit together, and he'd had a nap, I tried again, and got him in the car, still wildly over-excited and trying to leap out of the seat but it was a step forward. And the rest of the day improved from there. But Jesus, I'm tired.

Here's the furry little arsehole asleep on what is clearly now his rucksack.

Hi @JamieJ93 I love your encouraging messages...honestly, they're great 😊.
I'm not too bad at the moment thanks, he behaved really well at training this morning, and the husband has been around this weekend which takes the pressure off massively!
However (there's always a however) the husband has just come back from a walk with a poo for me to look at (I can't believe the depths to which I've sunk) in it there were 3 stones, small marble sized. One piece of glass the size of my finger nail, and a red plastic wheel off a toy 😡. I've given him another talking to, but I'm not sure he took any notice!
That's a fab photo...Milo living his best life 😀. How are you doing?

@Bupster he looks like butter wouldn't melt, that's a gorgeous photo! I'm glad you had a success in the end...small steps and all that.
I would say put your feet up and chill this evening, but that's not possible with a pupper.
Get a good nights sleep and tomorrow is another day...
PS; Buy coffee and hobnobs in bulk, you're gonna need 'em 🤣

@BrodiePup
It's ok - I get excited ( well maybe not excited) when Milo used to have extremely bad bouts of shits with all sorts in and then wed get fully formed ones!
Honestly - I don't know even know what they reduce us to
I relate to you most on here as I have ( still am at times) been where you are! It varies IMO especially in high energy breeds especially with WCS in behaviour month by month ( even day by day) you think you've cracked it if you've had a good week and then they revert back to being a wanker so I don't even trust Milo when he's good anymore. Well I do because I feel the dog I have struggled with, hated at times, just wanted to run away from is shining through,
I have felt judged a lot of the time by other dog owners because YES he is wild and shock horror I have a WCS as a pet - shoot me.
He's a loyal lovely boy - yes he's annoying as fuck most of the time but he's very comforting and well behaved and brings me socks in the morning to wake us up.
He sleeps in his bed in the hallway at night but has access to the kitchen and front room during the night and he doesn't wreck the place. ( We live in a ground floor due to my disabled leg 😂)
But honestly - do not give up PLEASE I've felt like a shit owner and not deserving just because he's a working breed and looked down on
I will let him off lead, I will let him burn off his energy if I see fit.
Anyway rant over
Ha ha

I'm also eating hobnobs as we speak at my mum's.
My husband has Milo at home whilst I have a couple of hours to myself.

LibisMum
thank you. Dont think she is hungry - she ahs a kong before bed and a lick mat . She is really picky eater tho and turns down food a lot. She is a bichon .

@JamieJ93 You're a star and Milo is lucky to have you.
My take on it is yes, maybe a working bred dog isn't the most sensible dog to have as a pet, but they're proper healthy animals, not some mutated creature bred to cater to the latest trend. If we can give them a loving home and a happy life, and we're not bothering anyone else, people can shove their opinions where the sun doesn't shine.
The little monster has wormed his way into my heart, and somehow we'll work it out. He's an easy pup in a lot of ways, but a nightmare in others. He's been really good this weekend, which I think is probably setting me up for a fall next week when I'm back on my own. Prepare for hysterical posts 🤣.
What age did you start letting Milo roam free in the house? Brodie settles really well in his crate overnight, and I certainly won't take it off him while he enjoys it, but putting a dog in a small cage still feels very odd to me.

Milo got free reign at about 10 months - we introduced a bed at nights about 9 months.
He slept in his crate - in our room until about 9 months.
I'm aware this might come with scrutiny but it worked for us and more importantly Milo.
He's a whiny little cling on so we had to take things very slowly.
We still can't leave him in the house on his own however this is our next step.
As I don't work I have time to work on him.
I know for a fact Milo will turn into a good dog because when he doesn't play up he does behave impeccably so he DOES know so when adolescence fucks off he will be a nice happy well rounded doggy. Well that's what I'm hoping.
Yes we probably are stupid idiots for getting wcs as a pet and MN seem to think they are the devil incarnate ( probably true) and anyone who has them as a pet is stupid but they do steal your heart and you can't help but to love them with every inch of your being despite them testing your patience.
Maybe we can dog swap for a week 😎

@Bupster I would love my pup to wear a harness but it's such a struggle to even get a collar on him. He would throw himself onto his back and roll around biting my hands. But then be absolutely fine once it was eventually on. Now I put a bit of butter on a lickimat whilst I put the collar on and it's easy.

Side note, my pup weed on the sofa yesterday which he has never done before. I scrubbed it with fairy liquid and sprayed with Dettol but it stinks. Need to get an enzymatic cleaner....

Fin 6mth+ has had full access to the entirety of the home since day 2-3, sleeps on the floor where ever almost always within an arms distance by his choice.
Sleeps on the bedroom floor with the other two although he wiggles and worms all over (under the bed and into the ensuite).
We've left him home alone with the other older two and he appears to do just fine.
I see improvement on the jumping at me behavior and the food scavenging and so far not much interest in the garden (which is struggling from the heat more so than the puppies interest).
i'm honestly pleasantly surprised and can see that he will grow up to be a lovely fellow. which wasn't a given being he is a terrier after all.
the pulling lead issue isn't present on his early am walks.
however he doesn't show much interest in recall...but neither do the two old boys at this point we assume somewhat deaf.

oh my heavens @Bupster he's adorable <3

That's such a good idea - I tried scattering a bit of kibble yesterday which helped but he loves butter, you're a genius @Cavalierchaos

@BrodiePup and @JamieJ93 , Bill is half WCS and half working Labrador - all the chaos, God help me 😄

@Bupster
Oh I don't have sympathy for you 😬😬
Solidarity from me and @BrodiePup how old is pup now? He is a beauty by the way but I'm not fooled I know that they are swines in disguise.
When's he in for his vaccines then you can really start to get him out and about on adventures x

@JamieJ93 he had his second of three jabs today - he's going back to the breeder for a week's holiday the week after next so when I pick him up we can start exploring. Thank GOD. He's an absolute lump too, they weighed him this morning and he'd put on 2kg in two weeks. He still fits in his rucksack but you wouldn't want to yomp (plus it makes him want to poo 😄)

We’ve reached a milestone as pup is having her first season. She’s 7 months and just looks a bit bewildered about the whole thing!

Dipping in as my ‘pup’ has just turned two and I used this thread a lot in the past.

For any other old boys (and gals), thought I’d post an updated picture.

What a peaceful photo @Riverlee

Well, I started today feeling more positive...mistake! It all started off well, we went to the park and did some recall work which didn't go too badly.
Got home and I decided to try to get back to more normal behaviour. I left him downstairs and went to do the upstairs housework. Only left him maybe 45 minutes, checked on him a couple of times and he was absolutely fine. Came back down and found a pee 🙁, he should've been fine. Cleared it up and decided he definitely wouldn't need taking out, so got on with the ironing, next thing I heard him peeing in the lounge! Dunno what the heck is going on...that would make 3 huge pees in the space of 3 hours, he can usually go that long without even going! Gutted! We'd had 3 clear weeks 🙁.
Also his gravel hoovering is off the scale today ahhgghhhh...
Got a poo walk in half an hour or so, I'm now wondering what will go wrong on that.
@JamieJ93 I'm definitely up for a dog swap 🤣

@BrodiePup at about the 6mth mark their bladder capacity increases significantly. They also know they shouldn’t pee in the house SO peeing indoors does not mean the bladder is empty.

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea
It was an impressively large puddle!

@BrodiePup in our case Airedales are known to be big drinkers. Not emptying the bladder fully because of distraction and peeing indoors more than acceptable was picked up a while back.