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.

Hi @Flashcardsagain

We had the same thing with Roman having diarrhoea for a couple of days when he first arrived - it's a terrible combination with a tiny puppy who isn't one bit house trained and an upset stomach!

I wouldn't blame yourself in any way though. We didn't wet his kibble and it was the same stuff he was being fed on before he came to us. We didn't change one thing and yet he still had diarrhoea. I think sometimes it's just the upset of moving to a new place and thus is unavoidable.

We did start wetting his kibble after the weather got really hot btw, and that had no impact on his bowels at all.

We've experimented and it's definitely the soaking of the kibble. We think it means it's so expanded its just too much for the system so we've also cut the amount given in one sitting Lots of water available. Anything to stop explosive diarrhea in the kitchen!

Explosive diarrhoea is even more catastrophic in the living room 🤦‍♀️

Yes we managed to contain it to the wipeable areas thank goodness! Wormed today so we will see what that brings.

We are having issues with my ds and the dog though, dog has got the hang of sitting for us rather than jumping but my DS is young (4) and will not listen to us when we say he needs to stand up and stop playing if the puppy jumps or mouths. So now we have a 4 year old to train and the puppy to train. The former is going to be much much harder.

Aw, puppies & children are a great combination though ♥️

Can I join too please?!

We've had dogs all my life, however I swore after the last one died at 16 in December I was never getting another one.. I lasted 8 months!

Meet Buddy, 10 week old , bloody massive Lurcher.
We have had him 2 weeks and so far he's pretty reliable on house training, thank God! Knows Sit and Paw and is working wonderfully on leash walking.
Working on ' Stay' too but, well we have the puppy bounce!

He's also decided his favourite house human is my son 7.. and he likes the sofa. Hates the car!

Hi @Fixesplease Buddy looks a real little cutie with those big eyes, bet it’s hard to say No to him

@Fixesplease Mine hates the car too if it helps! Had some lovely support from this thread, and I think there's another member, @HariboFrenzy, who's had the same problem too. Solidarity!

@Fixesplease Buddy is gorgeous!

Oh dear we have had a vet trip today due to vomiting and diarrhoea. She has been a bit lethargic and off her food all day. Luckily not Parvo but likely something she’s eaten. So scary though when they are poorly and like with kids it’s always the middle of the night when these things kick off. Everything crossed she is back to her bouncy bitey self soon. I am constantly anxious and hovering over her poos praying for normal like a loon at the moment!

That is really worrying @Waxlyrically which I know from when Roman had the same thing when he was tiny.

A lot of people suggested Chappie original wet food as being good for sensitive stomachs as easy to digest. We tried it for a few days and it did seem to work immediately at firming up the poos. May have just been coincidence I don’t know but I keep a couple of tins in the cupboard now for emergencies.

Gahhh I am struggling with lead walking!

Vinny is brilliant walking to heel in the house but as soon as we go in the yard or back garden he just doesn't hear me at all. I do so much work with him around engagement, lots of fun and making me the most exciting thing ever (which I am INSIDE!) but as soon as we go outside it's like I don't exist. I'm not sure what else I can do apart from just keep trying...

I've been trying to introduce the lead to get him used to it but he just pulls and pulls as he wants to run about and sniff. I'm using really high value treats and he doesn't care! He walks nicely on it inside the house of course.

I'm not sure if we will need to get a harness for when he first starts going for walks as I'm worried about him pulling around his neck. We have the slip lead (which I'm definitely not going to use outside until he's walking nicely) and also a lead which attaches to his collar.

I'm desperate to get out because I feel so stuck in the house but if he's just going to go mental every time is there even any point?

@YorkshireFelix I think all of us have experienced this! Can't remember what flavour Vinnie is but spaniels are a nightmare for pulling on the lead. My pupper is half spaniel and he is perfectly able to walk nicely - I did loads of work in the house with him - but when he's excited to go somewhere I've got no chance, it's like water-skiiing. I need to go back to first principles really and do more of what you're doing in the house.

I would always put a puppy in a harness rather than a collar, I'd be terrified of hurting their delicate throats - there's people who bring puppies to my local dog park on a collar and lead and I can hear them wheeze as they strain on it.

Training leads can help apparently - dogs tend to dislike head halters (for good reason) but a training lead will clip at the front and the back of a harness and it limits them pulling. Caveat: I've not tried it yet, though I have just bought one!

What I use at the moment is a short 1-2m lead for pavement walking, then he's off lead at the dog park and on a 5m long line the rest of the time. He gets treatos for checking in with me, which is quite effective, unless it's dog park time when I might as well put on roller skates and enjoy the ride 😄.

@Bupster thank you, I know a few of us on here have had issues with walking spaniels so I was kind of expecting it!

I think I'll have to get a harness as I don't want him to damage anything from pulling (I do need to get one for the car anyway so it's not really an extra expense). We have loads of great open spaces here as we're right on the moors so would love to have him off lead as much as possible but he's only allowed to pavement walk from the 23rd, then everywhere else 2 weeks later...

God it's so annoying though. He might as well be deaf as soon as we walk out into the garden!

If anyone has any harness recommendations please throw them my way. I've seen perfect fit mentioned a lot. I do have a Pets at Home voucher to use so might see if they have anything decent enough to tide us over for now.

Sorry forgot to say he's a cocker!

Perfect Fit are great, and you can get measured in some stores, or send his measurements to them and they'll advise you. As he grows you can then get the next bit up instead of having to buy a whole new harness.

I think you're doing all the right things. Have you tried having him on a lead and feeding him squeezy cheese or liver paste? I used to play 'where's the dog?' where I dropped a treat on the floor as I walked around the house if he was near my heel but otherwise I walked on a few steps. And I still treat if he checks in when we're walking. I break all my treatos into about six pieces or he'd be fourteen stone by now

Likely to grow out of a harness fairly quickly so I wouldn't want to be spending too much money. Youngest started off in a hurtta weekend warrior harness that we picked up in a bargain bin somewhere.

The truelove harnesses are meant to be quite a good budget friendly option.

I like the perfect fit harnesses but didn't find they really saved money as we'd always have to swap at least two pieces out at once. Might be slightly better for a spaniel rather than a lab.

Mine were off lead from as soon as they could go outside so I never expected them to walk nicely at the beginning of a walk, still don't for the 17 month old in some circumstances tbh! We always did a bit of lead walking practice but only after they've tired themselves out a bit. But it did mean driving to places that are walkable really initially.

Thanks both!

@Bupster funnily enough we've just tried on lead with some primula and he did slightly better but still lost interest after about 30 seconds. We only have a tiny front garden and back yard, and a small house, so difficult to actually walk more than a few steps before having to turn around!

@tizwozliz ah yes I remember I'd seen those harnesses mentioned somewhere but couldn't remember the name of them so thank you. We are literally a 5 minute walk from woods, canal, river and large grassed areas/fields then 10 mins on to the moor but its pavement walking until we get there. Otherwise I'd have him off from the start. I am sure we will get there eventually...

God knows how I will ever be able to measure him because he's just a nutcase!!

@YorkshireFelix
Sorry to say, but expect it to get worse before it gets better. It brought me to tears a few times. It's amazing how strong 12kg of determined puppy is! We have lots of woodland walks on our doorstep, but are avoiding them due to all the amazing sniffs, and sticking to boring pavements at the moment.
Our harness is a ruffwear front range in extra small, it fit him from 3 months. I'm about to buy the next size up as I really can't fault it. However, we no longer walk B in it as we were told the way he pulled in it could potentially damage his shoulders and hips...it really has to be seen to be believed! So we use a wide, well padded collar and a bungee lead, both ezy dog. My husband has taken over walking and takes absolutely no nonsense from him. Stops, changes direction and circles him round, with lots of praise and treats when he's in the right place. We're beginning to see definitely progress. I'm way too soft and mamby pamby. Forget taking V for a walk that he, or you, will enjoy and get manners in place first.
This is just my experience and equipment, it's whatever works for you and I'm sure you'll get lots of other suggestions.
Good luck and remember it will get better.
Pic of Brodie the first time he tried his harness...not a happy pupper!

See he went full victim face @BrodiePup

We see that same expression on Roman whenever we approach the car despite it nearly always meaning a trip somewhere nice.

Guide dogs sent us an Ezy car harness which he prefers to going in the boot. Have a different harness for walking him but we haven’t tried it yet - it looks really complicated. The collar & lead is a lot simpler but he does pull unfortunately.

@Twiglets1
He does a good victim, he's perfecting it with age 🤣
Brodie prefers the back seat of the car in his harness to a crate too. We only really use it in the car or with his long line now.
I've not seen the ezy harness, but it must be good if guide dogs recommend it.

What I like about the Ezy car harness is it’s easy to use. The previous one they sent us was hard to get a wriggly puppy into but that one got discontinued & this one is easier 😅

@YorkshireFelix Another vote here for Perfect Fit as they are adjustable and and there’s a market for swapping bits/selling on. We had an awful lot of use from a Kurgo car harness, which has a clip on both the front and back, and when she got too big for it (yet too small for the next size up) just switched to lead and collar apart from on the odd long line occasion.

V is a tiny, tiny baby still and not having been allowed out yet the environment is going to be all the more exciting. Keeping on as you are is key: the more you work/play/train with him outside the better he’ll get so there’s definitely a point to going outside! Don't feel disheartened, it's all a learning curve and spaniels are definitely not dogs for a linear growth chart!

A lot of trainers (and people whose dogs have only ever walked on slips) will say that the slip is how you get him to walk nicely, ie he never learns to pull because of the gentle pressure it brings. Of course that’s easier said than done. I didn’t do that but if I got another puppy tomorrow I would, as I’m not convinced that using a harness helped us at all: she still pulled, but she just didn’t sound like she was choking. But there’s walking and there’s walking: it depends on what you want him to do and how you want him to walk. Unless I’m asking for heel I’m ok with her walking at the end of the lead as long as it’s loose, as she walks faster than me, and that way she will dip in and out of sniffs. Some like heel position all the time, but I encourage the sniffs as it’s how they see the world and the walk is for her not for me!

If it’s any consolation, at 15 months we still get the odd bit of what @Bupster describes as water-skiing: here we call it ‘swimming’, where she appears to do breast stroke along the pavement. I hate it but accept that she's a spaniel and not a robot. I agree totally with @tizwozliz's approach of not expecting too much: asking a tiny baby to walk nicely on a lead from the get-go is certainly ambitious and much better, if you can, to try asking (for whatever it might be) when they’ve let off some steam. There’s no way we can do any training on a usual walk until the ‘poo zooms’ are over!

Thank you @BrodiePup, I remember how much trouble you've been having with pulling. I'm glad you're making a bit of progress finally! I dread to think how much money we must have all collectively spent trying to find what puppy related equipment works for us!!

I'd forgotten how cute Grace was in her little harness.

She absolutely hates all harnesses now, not quite sure why, but once she's had them on for 5 mins she forgets.

At 17 months she can walk reasonably nicely on a lead on pavements and at the end of the walk but the from our house to the open space nearby is still a challenge, she can generally manage the first bit but the last 50m to the entrance is just too exciting.

I've probably done less with her, practicing nicely just because of the realities of juggling two dogs. With our older one it seemed to really click somewhere between the ages of 2 and 3.