Puppy Survival Thread for New & Old Pups - Soon be Autumn 2024

[BrodiePup]

Setting the ball rolling on a new thread as the last one has reached 1k 😊.

Brodie had his first proper bath today...
I don't think he was overly impressed!

He'll be 6 months old on Tuesday. I can't believe how the time has passed, or how far along we've come.

To everyone who is struggling at the moment, stick with it, it really does get easier.

He looks like a little well loved soft toy! Adorable.

In case anyone thought that their life with a puppy was exasperating or ridiculous: today I've had to ask my sitter to come and look after him at three hours' notice because the battery light has come on in my car, and I need to drive it for half an hour, and I can't do so if he's with me, because he hates the car and we're doing desensitisation (putting him in it a few times a day and turning the engine on), which is the reason the battery has run down in the first place of course. ARG.

Everything is a battle isn't it @Bupster?
Really good that you could get your sitter so quickly though! I hope your car is an easy fix 🤞🏻.
I'm going to have to get a pee out of Brodie in a while so I can crate him and go get my hair cut... I wonder how that will go?!

Sitter has been and gone. Obviously pup acted as if I'd barely survived Mordor. Is anyone else's puppy insanely attached? I don't mind it most of the time, as he's only four months old, and I want to be with him all the time too, but a bit of me is really genuinely looking forward to adolescence - I know he'll be an arsehole but he might be a bit more of an independent arsehole?

@Bupster I never really thought that much about what I won't be able to do whilst he's so small and that's a good example! I really need to go to the doctors for something but I can't mon-Thurs as I'm at home with him and dh is out. I'm also wishing life away until he's out of the puppy stage...

I feel trapped at home sometimes with the puppy. Luckily my son works from home so I beg him to work in the same room as him sometimes just so I can go out. It feels a bit like the covid time again where I get excited just to go out to the supermarket.

As he is a Guide dog puppy I can technically take him into the supermarket but how could I concentrate on getting the right stuff? I took him once and all we stocked up on was puppy treats.

My son also looks after him once a week when I go swimming and I feel like I've been released from being a virtual prisoner at home. I always have a coffee afterwards to make it last a bit longer!

Yes I love a lone supermarket trip now. It feels weird to be walking about without tripping over a dog!

All I did was drive for ten minutes north and then ten minutes back home to charge the car battery and it was like FREEEEEDOM 😄Thanks @YorkshireFelix and @Twiglets1 for making me feel less demented.

I feel like I've kind of done this to myself on the one hand by not crate training, and having him sleep with me, and just being on hand for him when he's needed me (and there are just the two of us), but on the other hand it's felt from the beginning like what he needed, and I wanted to make him feel secure and confident more than anything else. And that does seem to have worked - he's a fabulous little pup - but others with pups of similar ages do seem to be able to cheerfully leave them alone and to take them places in the car.

I'm just exhausted today and feel like I'm failing and I've got everything wrong.

He got nipped in the family jewels tonight by one of the regulars in the dog park (a dog, not an owner!) so now of course I'm glued to his side and feeling guilty. It wasn't anyone's fault. I think he's fine - he's very robust, and tends to play like a cannonball himself - but I am a bit worried that it will bruise his resilience a bit. I desperately hope not.

@Bupster
Don't worry about him getting nipped unless it was aggression.
Pups need to learn,
Milos always getting it and he will teach pups as well.

@CaptainBeanThief no, it was an older small dog that doesn't cope very well when the puppy play gets rambunctious, and mine is at his happiest when he's body-slamming with labradors or rolling on his back and having his whole head in another dog's mouth. Which leaves him a bit open to a worried older dog who's trying to bring things under control. There's definitely a visible small red mark on his unmentionables, and he was a bit growly just before we left to one of his besties, but he's sparko now so I'm really hoping he bounces back tomorrow. His joy with other dogs has been such a delight. I'd hate to lose that (for him and for me - it's pretty much my entire social life right now because of the car thing).

@Bupster You are not failing! I know it's the thing nowadays to crate train but for various reasons I didn't want to, so didn't, and I genuinely don't think it's been a problem at all for us – yes, she mostly wants to be with me but she's a spaniel so I think it's more than that anything else. You having a super bond with him is key so I wouldn't worry – provided you can get out of the house without him! Have you left him at all on his own yet?

(Depending on where you are in ye olde shire do give me a shout if you need a IRL person to whinge with, plus pup who will push in for cuddles.)

@brushingboots he's been left with sitters and friends, but not for any length of time on his own. I've stood outside the house for two minutes watching him on camera, and he's been okay so far, so I should probably start increasing that. He is half spanner so I was expecting a certain amount of velcro - but the advice on when to leave them on their own is so conflicting.

It just feels like there's SO MUCH - between making sure he's having sniffy walks, and the right food, and basic training, and his ears are clean, and he learns some recall, and gets some enrichment, and I'm doing car desensitisation three times a day (which is making me anxious in itself), and that's before I manage the bare minimum of work and wash my own clothes and put the bins out and pay the bills. I feel like there's just not much left, and I don't want to overwhelm him as well as me.

I’ve not crate trained either @Bupster I never did it with my previous dog either and he still happily settled places - and managed without me - once he was older.

Fait enough if people want to crate train but it’s not for everyone.

I couldn't imagine not crate training! I can't work out how you'd do it without. Not saying it is wrong at all, I am just curious - what is your routine if you don't crate? Do you still enforce naps somehow? Do they have a bed or place they nap in head? I know there's a lot of people who don't do it, or the dogs don't like it, but I can't get my head around how you'd actually manage it. Again, not in a negative way I am just interested in how it works

@YorkshireFelix we have a dog bed for Roman in the kitchen/diner at night and in the daytime we move his bed into the living room.

We can’t exactly enforce naps but puppies sleep a lot naturally and he falls asleep after walks or energetic playing. I do say “go to bed” when he is overtired - a command which he hasn’t learnt yet tbh but I know he will (my old dog did). But he is getting the hang of self settling & often puts himself to bed without words from us or just sleeps on the floor.

If we just ignore him when he is being obnoxious ( because overtired) he eventually gets the message and flops down with a sigh and being a puppy he is asleep very soon.

@Twiglets1 ah that is interesting. I can see it's beneficial from a self settling point of view then. I could just imagine Vinny going for hours and hours then finally dropping from exhaustion haha...

I do wonder sometimes if I should get a bed and have it in another room to see what happens. We use 'lie down' when he goes in the crate which he understands now so maybe I'll try it outside of the crate. I've seen some people teach the 'place' or 'settle' command too.

My DH and I own a small casual restaurant (dog friendly!) and I have bought a crate for there as he will be with DH once or twice a week in the daytime, but a little dog bed would be much easier to manoeuvre!

Also on that note he was at the restaurant with DH yesterday for the first time as I've started a new job and have changed my WFH days. I've been so stressed about this finally happening as I thought it would just be a logistical nightmare but V was good as gold!! He was so happy there (he's only been inside in the sling and not actually pottered about on the floor until now) and he just sniffed around, played with his toys, napped and had one of his natural chews. I am SO relieved!! I think maybe it was a nice change of scenery for him instead of being confined to the kitchen and living room at home.

@YorkshireFelix Im glad for you that Vinny settled at the restaurant. I can imagine that I would have felt stressed too by the idea of that but sometimes they surprise us with their adaptability. Those natural chews are so useful in helping them to settle & he must have felt secure with your husband there.

If you don’t mind me giving my opinion, I think you should try getting him a dog bed. Roman loves his bed and it’s easier to move around than a crate/takes up less space. It would be ideal to have both options if Vinny likes his crate and a separate dog bed.

@Twiglets1 We bought mixed box of chews and they stink but he loves them!! The trachea and rabbit ears are his favourite (VOM!!!)

But yes I think it might be worth getting a bed! It's good to know you think the same too. I thought he might just think it's a toy and drag it around but he has bedding in his crate which he just sleeps on and doesn't shred to pieces. So I have hope...

Thanks for your advice

This thread may be my saviour! Just welcomed a puppy (GR) to the family and am swaying between 'WTF have we done, life ruined' and 'he's the best!'. Is this normal?!

He's doing well, but I don't know what's normal for dogs in terms of house training, or much else. He sleeps in his crate at night (complains for 10 mins at first and DH is in the living room with him - tonight is night 3). In the day he eats in his crate but otherwise ignores it - I want to get him feeling happier in there for chill times so we can work on separation, but he prefers to sleep plonked at my feet in the day. We have cats, cables, sofas so I'd rather he was in his crate for breaks for everyone's safety!

Tbh Roman does sometimes drag his bed around like a toy but he hasn’t damaged it. He even humps it occasionally.

So it really is multi functional for him 😂

He loves nibbling all sorts of ears - mostly pig & human (likes nibbling my husband’s ears but luckily very gently compared to the treatment the pigs ears get!)

Your feelings are so normal @ErnestClementine that I think we can all relate 💯

I’m not sure what’s normal either in terms of house training but I’ve heard puppies learn quicker with crate training ( one advantage I guess).

Roman isn’t in a crate at night but a tiled floor reduced the stress of multiple accidents overnight. At 4 months the floor is clean most mornings now.

@YorkshireFelix
Milo loves our (live) rabbits bonnie and Clyde.
My rabbits love him, my female rabbit lets Milo groom her 😳
I obviously don't leave them unattended and always have a hold on Milos scruff but she has her head down as a go ahead to allow it. If she wasn't happy she'd let him know.
However he loves eating rabbits ears - the dead type
This reminds - I'd like to advise you to always get your pups used to being grabbed by the scruff of the neck - it's not cruel, my mum was horrified the first time I had to do it with Milo when he was really young but there may be a time where your puppy is a dog and is in a situation where you need to grab them by the scruff of their neck and they NEED to be used to it.
Also you need to be touching their ears casually on a regular basis and also, around their eyes and face - you may need to apply ear/eye drops or check teeth so all this is invaluable to later life!

Re not crate training: I just taught a 'go and lie down'/'bed' straight away for anything involving settling or napping, and she quickly learned to self-settle. She did resist it as a tiny baby and when she got up I'd either go and put her back down again or simply ignored her and she got the message. She often just napped on the floor too or on the doormat and I accepted that as it was clearly where she wanted to sleep, and sleep was the goal! She's always had two big beds in the kitchen which she still sleeps in overnight.

I just didn't want to train a settle both in and out of a crate – it seemed like having to do the same thing twice and I didn't see the point when she didn't actually need a crate. She slept overnight from the first night in the kitchen in her bed and we never heard any screaming or upset.

@YorkshireFelix Amazing about the restaurant settling – and natural chews are the best! The day I bought a buffalo horn was a magical day in this house. If you're worried about him chewing a bed, I can recommend those big plastic ones as it doesn't matter if they chew them (and if they do it's good for teething) and you can fill them with blankets/a soft donut bed for comfort, though she will chuck those out and sleep on the plastic sometimes.

That’s such a cute image @CaptainBeanThief of Milo grooming your pet rabbit ♥️