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.

Thank you @brushingboots! He certainly doesn't seem to be bothered about the pressure from his slip lead as much as I'd like it to teach him not to pull 🤣

I agree re letting them have a bit more freedom and not expecting perfect heel walking all the time. As impressive as it is, I want him to enjoy sniffing around and exploring a bit (within reason) rather than walking right by my side all the time. I read recently that sniffing on walks is the equivalent of them scrolling through Instagram and checking posts from their friends which I thought was quite funny.

I know I need to expect much much less from him. He's only 13 weeks old today! I feel like we've had him forever already and keep forgetting he's still so little, so I need to keep reminding myself that.

I have been training him after a nap thinking he would be more responsive as he's less tired, but is it better to do it once he's had a play/run around then?

@tizwozliz aww she looks so cute!

@YorkshireFelix measuring a puppy accurately for a harness is probably a four person job. Here's my first attempt with baby Bill. Can't believe how tiny he was! This was only ten weeks ago 😭.

(this of course is the sort of nostalgic, amnesiac thinking that means you end up with a second puppy...)

@Bupster don't do it to yourself! 🤣🤣🤣

@YorkshireFelix Totally agree – they’re not robots and they need to sniff! I definitely prioritise the sniffs over perfect lead walking. I always think of it as her checking her ‘pee-mail’.

13 weeks! So tiny. He really is very little: we didn’t even get ours until she was almost 12 weeks. It sounds like you’re both doing really well so don’t be too hard on yourself either.

It’s definitely worth a try working with him when he’s a bit tireder, as long as he’s not over-tired and thus potentially bitey. I have learned now never to try and do a training element when she’s super fresh at the beginning of a walk/before a poo/before she’s let her initial steam off as it’s just asking to be ignored and then I’ll get annoyed.

Not sure what your routine is but if, say, he gets up from a nap and then has a wee outside, I’d then let him have a good go at sniffing around – play some sniffing games with him (ie mini hunting drills with pate, or even the side to side game that I think I described upthread somewhere), and then you could have a go at something ‘official’ as in theory he’s got warmed up and done some productive sniffs. Or you could swap sniffing for play of another kind – just something to take the edge off.

The other thing I’d say from my own experience is to keep sessions super short: five mins max and then do something else. Even now doing retrieves at home I find that she only wants to do about eight minutes of sitting up, waiting, retrieving before she clocks off and gets bored.

That’s an adorable photo @tizwozliz love the camo print!

@brushingboots thanks so much, I really didn't realise I should let him burn a bit of energy off first! Will definitely give that a go and see what happens!

13 weeks today! Just realised my insane googly eyed duck watering can is in the background of all of the yard photos I take of him each week 😂

I've decided that B is the best puppy ever! He eats spiders... quick splat with the paw and down the hatch...he's my hero!
BTW... even though we're being super strict with his loose lead walking, we do let him have plenty of sniffs. They just have to be within range of a loose lead 🤣. He can wait a couple of steps to get to the best sniff ever that is two yards in front of him.

@YorkshireFelix Anything is worth a try! It might just chill him out a tiny bit.

What a handsome boy! (And love the watering can. Useful to have something consistent for scale!) Here she is at the same age – that toybox is now overflowing!

@brushingboots aww she looks so much sweeter and less of a shit than Vinny is 😂

Hello again. Hope everyone is doing well - just skimmed through to look at all the lovely photos.
So, the big girl is 5.5 months old now and has become completely impossible to walk because of pulling and jumping up. On Wednesday I ended up having to straddle her and sit on someone's garden wall with my legs and arms clamped around her just to stop her from trying to fling herself at little kids walking home from the village primary school. It was totally humiliating 😳She is the sweetest, smiliest creature and loves everybody but she weighs almost 34kg so I'm terrified of her knocking someone over in her eagerness to make friends. My husband is doing a lot of the walks now as obviously he's much stronger than me and she doesn't drag him off his feet but I really need to find a way to walk her myself even if it means paying for a trainer to visit... I just really wanted to be force free with her training so slightly terrified that they'll expect me to use a choke chain or something.
At home she's an angel - she was never crated, she has access to two big rooms 24/7 but is very trustworthy. She is now fully toilet trained, sleeps all night and has pretty much stopped chewing stuff aside from her own toys/ropes/chews. She's calm and quiet in the house and the car but the lead walks are just a complete nightmare 😱

Ok so my lead walking frustration was very short lived as we tried out in the garden and up and down the path outside (I know, so shoot me!!) and he listened and didn't break focus at all!!! I am gobsmacked. I'm sure when we are actually out and about it will probably all go out of the window but it gives me a slight glimmer of hope!

Eek 34kg! I find my 8kg pup pulling a bit much so I can't imagine how you feel!

I think paying for some training is a great idea, if you find the right kind of trainer for you. Worth researching and making sure they are on the same page as you

What breed is your dog @AubrieDog ?

Roman is 16kg at 4 months so we think he’s going to be big too ( he’s a Golden Retriever/Labrador cross).

Oh, sorry, it's us with a name change... she's Brie, the Pyrenean. I wandered off for a couple of weeks - I'm neurodiverse, I tend to get anxiety and run away sometimes especially if I feel I've been waffling too much 🙄which I was.

Definitely sounds as if Roman will be a really good size. I imagine he'll be a very handsome dog when he's mature.

I'm so confused about lead walking. Our old dog always pulled so would love to get loose lead walking right this time. We haven't even tried a lead yet as he only just had 2nd set of jabs.

What harness would people recommend for a 11 week old cocker?

Ah ok - no I don’t think you waffle more than the rest of us 😊

Thank you & I think Roman will be handsome too tbh. Though at the moment he’s just a silly pup. I’ve got a photo of his Dad and he’s a gorgeous looking boy. And his mum looks lovely too so ya know - good genes.

@AubrieDog I am autistic and tend to waffle so don't worry!

@Flashcardsagain I've just bought a True Love harness to try for our 13 week cocker. It should arrive before 10pm today so will let you know how it is. I'd seen them recommended on a working cocker group I'm on on FB and then someone else mentioned them here (sorry I'm on the app so can't scroll up to see who it was!). They have good reviews and only cost me 20 quid so thought it was worth a try.

@YorkshireFelix Hooray for your outside success! You will have plenty more of it! We were surprised by two massive stags this evening and she came in to me and sat so nicely and watched – I was bursting with pride.

@Flashcardsagain I was wittering on the other day here about harnesses for spaniels – would v much recommend a Kurgo car harness (not just for the car) and a Perfect Fit too, as the latter comes in pieces and you can size up piece by piece rather than having to buy a whole new harness each time.

I still maintain that if I was starting from scratch with a cocker now I'd aim for them never to learn to pull in the first place with a sliplead, but it's horses for courses and you can only train the dog in front of you. I went down the harness route this time last year with my cocker pup and I really don't think it helped us. She's now on a collar and lead and is genuinely much better than she ever was with a harness (albeit at 15 months so hopefully having learnt something along the way).

@AubrieDog I thought it was you and Brie! Sorry to hear you're having a rotten time on walks – I am in awe of you handling a 34kg dog. I have no experience whatever with anything bigger than a springer but I wonder what the general cause of her unwillingness to walk nicely is. Is she just super keen to meet everyone? Or is she pulling towards inanimate stuff?

@brushingboots oh wow that is fab! I've never seen deer in the wild before, that would amaze me. What a good girl just watching calmly!

@brushingboots
Hello 🙂
90% of the time Brie will walk beautifully with a fairly loose lead...until she sees a person, child or dog then I get towed along like a water skier behind a speedboat! She really is the sweetest natured girl - she just loves everybody. In some ways it's a good thing, especially with her being a guarding breed, but it makes walks difficult because I'm only 51kg! She's still just a baby really at 5 months and hopefully she will calm down naturally over time.
We discussed the idea of a trainer today but ruled it out because we feel it's unlikely we'd find anyone locally who would quite grasp the Livestock Guarding Dog mindset; they're strangely independent and stubborn dogs. I think husband also secretly feared the idea of me going into nerd mode and trying to train the trainer in Pyrenean Mountain Dog 101 🤓 So we'll just battle on.

Ahhhhhh - me and my little lion boy chilling out on the sofa!
He's being all cute and "innocent"
Anyone with a cocker spaniel will know when they are cute and being nice that they are saving their energy up to be a mega dick in the near future.
15 months old... He's much much much better APART from the pulling, I mean he's always been a typical spaniel puller but since everyone has been complaining ( not naming anyone ) @BrodiePup he is trying to air swim and nearly pulling me over. He's strong but he's all chest. 😬😬
Anyway here is some doggy tax
I know he's not so much a puppy psychically but he is very much puppy in his mind

@CaptainBeanThief haha! We get about 2 minutes of cute before the insanity starts. Can't wait for that to increase slightly. But from those pictures you'd think he was an angel 😂

I always find it funny how people comment how calm and sweet Vinny is if we are out and about and I always tell them the truth! He is so deceiving.

@CaptainBeanThief
Awww, he looks so happy 😍.
That lying on their back with smiley teeth routine always cracks me up. Our girl kinda reminds me of The Groke from the Moomins when she does it...

@YorkshireFelix
They're all deceiving. Puppies are evil. No idea why we put up with them really...