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.

And he's back!

I'm so, so proud of him today. He put up with my brother's little dog staying over last night, and other than barking like mad because he wanted to play (also possibly thought he was a squirrel), he was fab - really tolerant of a strange dog in his house.

What with all the commotion, he didn't get to sleep till midnight instead of his usual 8pm, and didn't nap this morning either - but he insisted on going up to play this evening.

His bestie's owner was lovely and kept her dog on a lead at first, and when my pup noticed him he galloped over, tail wagging. He was a bit subdued for a while, but by the end of our time at the park he was rolling around with two labradors twice his size like the absolute hooligan he is. I could have cried with joy 😍

Aww that is fab news @Bupster

Aw, thanks, @YorkshireFelix . Hopeful for any of us whose pup gets a scare. I don't think anyone has ever been so happy to see three dogs trying to bite each other's faces off 😄

That’s fab @Bupster. He’s obviously a tough little guy. I am two days off being able to take Lottie for a walk and she is desperate to see the world. We spend what feels like forever with her sitting like a little statue at the end of the drive sniffing the air. The trouble is it’s not a busy village so very few people or dogs go past but when they do she is delighted. I think the neighbours think I’m mad the amount of time they see me just standing there - they probably think it’s my choice not hers!

@YorkshireFelix oh that’s annoying! Zeus has been a complete nightmare for this today.

It’s been raining nearly all day here and while he doesn’t seem to mind mooching around the garden in the wet (the back door has been open all day) he’s been coming back in to pee.🤦‍♀️

We’ve got Get Off spray but it’s not working.

He’s also been a biter today - despite having loads of chew toys.

DD3 (12) who has the patience of a saint and adores the dog even got miffed off with him today as he kept biting her (it’s a teething bite, not aggression).

@JessiesHuman yes Vinny has been crazy biting today too! Just as I said to DH this morning how he had been so lovely most of this week and not as bitey as he had been the past few weeks... He must have overheard me and wanted to prove me wrong 🤣

He's slept a lot so must be very tired for some reason. Managed to do a couple of wees outside today but that's it. BUT we have done some great heel training and I introduced the whistle when sitting like @brushingboots recommended and he got it straight away! So I can't complain too much...

Hooray @YorkshireFelix, that’s brilliant news! They are such clever dogs. You should be able to make lots of whistle progress in the weeks while you’re still confined. And he really will get there with housetraining, worry not! He’s still only a very tiny baby. I think our girlie was at least four months before she was reliable and we definitely had accidents after that (think I've blocked the memory from my mind).

We are about to force ourselves out for a quick sniffy run after a grand total of 600 minutes walking this weekend at horse trials (as her activity gadget helpfully tells me). You’d think she’d be knackered, but no – instead, currently singing a ‘lovely’ tuneful whining melody hoping to raise me from the sofa.

Thank you, I have to keep reminding myself that he's still only little.

Hope you didn't get caught in the rain! It's peeing it down here which isn't helping with the toilet trouble. Poor V looked like a drowned rat when we brought him in just now. I can't wait until we can do long walks (hopefully not 600 minutes worth!) as I am really missing my morning walk along the river before work.

My next things I need to teach are stay and leave it but will need to do some research on how best to approach it. He's discovered a penchant for picking up snails from the yard so leave it might come in handy!!

Ugh Roman also has a penchant for snails and the first we know he has picked one up is when we hear a crunching noise from him as he bites their shell. We look on horrified while he wags his tail at us.

I got bitten enthusiastically by him yesterday so can definitely relate to the posts about that 😩

Glad you have your little hooligan back @Bupster 😀

@YorkshireFelix Ahh, leave is a fun one to train as you can sit on the floor with snacks to do it: pile in each hand, offer one, ask to leave, when he leaves give the other. And it can be built up and up. The other day she brought a very ripe dead pigeon (not killed by her) to my feet and the sequence went: 'dead', 'leave', 'walk on' and it was so rewarding to watch her put into practice everything she has actually been taught.

If it’s any consolation, at 15 months we still sometimes bring in snails after the last wee, though she did give up slugs by four months. I find she only holds the snail shells in her mouth and doesn’t actually want the slime itself but it’s still vile to watch.

Sit stays are great too as it really tires them out sitting there having a think! Little and often for that. Sit him up, walk back two paces, walk back in, mark, reward. Repeat until he’s rock solid at two paces, and then gradually increase distance/direction/level of distraction and you can do it everywhere! I honestly think getting a solid stay at distance has been the most rewarding dog thing I’ve done because you can utilise it all the time. I get her to sit up while I take the poo bag to the bin, or go back in the house and get a dummy or whatever – and she’s still sitting there! The key thing I found with that was not to make it too hard too quickly: sometimes I’ll do one now and realise it’s too far for her or she’s not concentrating properly as she breaks the stay and I have to take her back to where she was and start again, so it’s still very much a learning experience.

I think I taught ‘wait’ at the same time which is also really useful as it’s somewhere between recall and a stay. One of the parks near us has lots of paths and windy corners so I shouted ‘wait’ and pipped the whistle every time she got to a corner so she didn’t go round it before me and she quickly got the idea. Can also do inside with doorways to stop barging. You have so much to come with stuff to teach him – he’ll love it too!

Ah thank you @brushingboots, I know I've said this before but you always explain in such a clear way to me. Thank you for always taking the time to write such detailed posts!

We did sit stay and it clicked straight away. It amazes me how quickly he picks things up! Dead pigeon is gross. I am not looking forward to when that time comes! I remember my MIL's cocker once picked up a (live) hedgehog and brought it into the house and she screamed like a banshee 😂

I did try heel training out in the yard and he was too distracted which isn't ideal but I'll just have to keep at it. We've got plenty of time to work on it before we can go out walking!

He's just had his second dose of the split up second vaccine so 2 more weeks until pavement walk and 5 until everywhere else...

Zeus has been a bugger today. No other word for it.

Managed to wee and poop outside this morning - all good. Thought we were in for a brilliant day after our cuddles this morning.

At roughly midday the mayhem started, he raided the cat’s litter tray for ‘snacks (it’s enclosed with a flap so there was some real effort there), attacked his pen (shook it like a rag doll) water and food everywhere, picked up his water bowl in his teeth and went running around with it (was on a work call so couldn’t immediately deal with it), went to mum’s and he pooped and peed on her carpet despite us taking him out to the garden before we left the house.

Still can’t find his bowl , discovered another poop behind the treadmill…

And now he’s laying on me looking angelic.

My three kids were SO much easier 😂

@YorkshireFelix you’re very welcome! I’m only self-taught but if it helps I’m delighted – and I’m all for supporting other women with gundogs, whether they’re working or not, to counter the vast swathes of mansplainy blokes who still do everything like it’s the 1950s.

Brilliant, well done! He is going to be fab at so many skills by the time he gets out on walks and it’ll stand you in great stead. I do a lot of sit stays because I want her to be super steady when asked, but I honestly don’t think you can do enough of it as it’s so useful.

A hedgehog, that’s impressive! I think I too would resemble a banshee.

Zeus is still so young @JessiesHuman - I promise it does get easier!

We were told with Roman to take him into the garden to his “busy” spot before every walk & immediately after it, and the same with other trips out. It doesn’t seem to make sense to invite them to do their business just after they have already gone sometimes but we stick to the routine. So if I was going to someone’s house I would encourage him to go before we leave our house but try to remember to also try to get him to go again in their garden as soon as we arrived at the other house and then again as soon as we get home. It seems a bit excessive sometimes but they do have small bladders (especially with your tiny puppy I imagine).

Having said that, sometimes Roman would wee/poo on a floor despite JUST being given the opportunity to go outside. Their brains take a while to understand it’s better to go outside! But they get there eventually & Roman is so much better at 4 months than he was at 3 months, though still has accidents of course.

Thanks for the tips @Twiglets1. It's our first puppy so, although we're reading as much as we can, it's a bit of a learning curve.

I never thought I'd be prising cat poop out of a pup's mouth.

God I was prising Roman’s own poo out of his mouth a couple of weeks ago in front of a visitor, such an embarrassing memory!

How is everyone? I'm a nervous wreck 😄

Honestly I keep posting that I'm not an anxious person, and normally I'm not, so I've been trying to work out why I'm feeling so overwhelmed with work etc - and it's all stemming from the bloody puppy! It's like I love the little bugger so much that I feel I have to get everything right, and I worry every time I leave him with a sitter that he'll be anxious (he never has been, he's only once really pined for me); I worry about driving him, about entertaining him, about finding time and space for him when work really kicks in again, about training him properly, about absolutely everything. It's insane. He's a normal, healthy, happy puppy who loves everyone, especially me as I'm his person.

Has anyone else felt like this? Any top tips for restoring my sanity?

@Bupster I totally get it! And if you come up with any sanity saving tips, please pass them on!
I think we just need to cut ourselves some slack, all we can do is our best. The pups are happy and healthy so we're doing something right 😊.
It does get easier, my only major battle now is the horrendous pulling and lunging on walks, but even that is showing tiny signs of improvement.
It's definitely the relentlessness of it that wears you down and puts you on high alert 24/7. I still stress about putting Brodie in his crate if I have to go out, I'll wind myself up about it for hours before it happens. Why? He toddles in for his biscuit quite happily, lays down with his monkey without a sound, and is usually dead to the world when I get back. I know this is what happens, but I'm still checking my watch every 5 minutes and worrying about him.
We need to relax and not overthink everything...much easier said than done!
You sound like a lovely dog mum to me, and your pup has definitely landed on his paws x

Oh thank you, @BrodiePup . High alert is exactly it. It's like I'm doing all the anxiety for him.

I don't want to jinx it, but so far today, Zeus has had zero accidents! But like yesterday, he had a bonkers half an hour at midday. I think I need to schedule my lunch break for 'Kaos' time (have been binge watching that on Netflix 😃) . He's now exhausted himself and is napping in his dog bed on the chair next to me.

He's got his second lot of jabs tomorrow afternoon, so we'll soon be able to take him out for short walks. Am so looking forward it. After 4yrs of Long Covid, WFH and not leaving the house much, I can't wait. We can build up the walks together. There are loads of neighbours with dogs who have offered to join us on walks, so hopefully that will help him to get used to other dogs.

I never even really liked dogs before we got him. Just need the cat to get on board now...

That’s really good… we found that gradually the gap between accidents got longer until suddenly it seemed we weren’t expecting them every day anymore before they started to happen occasionally not regularly.

I’m a bit disappointed when I see one now but try not to show it to avoid giving Roman a hangup 😂 ( as if he’s that sensitive, honestly 🙄)

That's good to hear. I think Zeus is hyper responsive to treats even if they are the biscuit he'd be having for dinner anyway I used to just praise him for doing his business outside but today I gave him treats and he's had a 'clean' day.

I give Roman at least a piece of kibble sometimes something better every time he does a wee/poo in the designated space in the garden 🤷🏼‍♀️

Can I join please? We have a 10 week old puppy. Bit of a rocky start. She had diarrhea for several days but we've just worked out it's because we were soaking her food and it was too much volume for her tiny belly (despite weighing it carefully). We've stopped soaking it and reduced meals and it's thankfully stopped.
Not going to lie it's been a stressful introduction though!