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.

@LibisMum wow that is good going! Also I bet your dd was so appreciative of you going all that way!

@YorkshireFelix
Your boy is a little treasure! Glad you had a lovely family day. It is odd how some adult dogs refuse to acknowledge a puppy...

@LibisMum
All that sounds rather stressful but good girl Libi for not weeing in the house!

@AubrieDog I am so proud of him, I can't even explain how good he was!! It gives me so much hope that he will be amazing when he's bigger!

He will be an amazing dog - he's getting there already; just look at how much he's done in the last few days! You've got a goodun there, seriously 😘

Hooray for both of you and your super pups, @YorkshireFelix and @LibisMum!

This evening on our walk I was brought the same dying pigeon (found not caught by her) not once but three times because she kept remembering where we'd left it and wanted me to see how clever she is again. Yum.

she was - she had said she was coming down to get it, but I knew she had all her last minute jobs to do before flying - getting a new outfit for client meetings etc.

I don't mind the journey - if I go from other station it is only an hour each way, no changes. From my home station there is a change and they don't always hold the connection on the return journey if the london train is running late. luckily no issues this time.

I was very surprised and impressed by her bladder - nothing overnight - and she weed and 💩 in the garden after breakfast - but sadly that was only the first round and she caught me out and did one in the hallway while I was having my morning cuppa. Hey ho. On the plus side she's raw fed so at least they are solid and odourless 😆

Can anyone share a video or technique to get a cocker spaniel loose lead walking. I realise it's nigh on impossible with a spaniel but I want to have a go. My last one dragged me off my feet far too much.

But this pup just eats the lead the minute it goes on and if I try getting him to heel and walk he just jumps at me constantly for treats. Raaah!

We still have a few more days in the garden before we can go out on a walk and I want a plan for how we do it before we embed bad habits.

That sounds very frustrating - do you have any good (in person ) classes / dog clubs near you? I still go to one with my pups, even after nearly 40yrs of having dogs. Apart from anything else it shows you that your pup is really just like all the others - and if you are lucky some are worse and you feel relieved 😉

With the lead biting, one trick to try is to put the lead on in the house/garden and just let it trail - don't try to pick it up, just let having the lead on become something he is used to for a bit.

The jumping is really normal, turn your back on him then reward instantly he's calm and not jumping. You have to be swift and have treats always available.

If you are not able to get to in person classes there is a fabulous training group on Facebook that is run by professional trainers, not the usual discussion group, you have to commit to reading all of the advice already there on a topic before you get any question answered by the admins. They run a specialist, subscription, puppy group which deals with exactly this kind of issue.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogtrainingadviceandsupport/

@Flashcardsagain Vinny (also a spaniel) was like this when we were practicing inside. I did the same technique as @LibisMum suggested to tackle the jumping and he did get it eventually. I was tearing my hair out as I couldn't work out how to teach him to heel as he just went crazy jumping and snapping at me when he knew I had a treat. I thought he'd never do it properly! It was suggested on here to try a tube of Primula cheese as a reward and he will literally do anything for it (and it's really easy to handle as you don't have to fumble around trying to grab a tiny treat) so that might be worth a try.

We've only been out walking the past week and sometimes he pulls the whole time, and other times he pulls a bit then gets into a groove and does a good stretch of heel walking with good engagement. We are just trying to practice as much as we can and hoping it will all click eventually.

Having a bed for Vinny outside his crate has been a game changer today. He's been chilling playing with toys or having his chew laid on it by my feet whilst I work, and he even took himself off for a nap on it earlier! I am very pleased!

That's good. He is really doing so well at the moment 😀

@Twiglets1 I know! I am sure it will all come crashing down soon enough 😂

Haha well hopefully not! 😂

That sounds good, @YorkshireFelix .

@Flashcardsagain if you have Instagram I recommend following Sunny at Thorpe Creek Spaniels – she hasn't done any tutorials per se but has done lots of videos on LLW with her current springer pup, Aila, and her first dog, a sprocker:
https://www.instagram.com/thorpecreekspaniels/

On the Facebook group Working Cockers (UK) (I think that's the name) there's a Spaniel Man on there called Gary Marriott who has done some brilliant lead walking videos, accessible to all. I have denigrated the Spaniel Men (TM) here before but he seems to have instant success so I'll gladly take his word for it, and if I had another pup now I'd start from scratch his way, so that they never learn to pull in the first place.

My cocker is now 15 months and honestly, her LLW has mostly improved with age and consistency. We don't use fancy gadgets or tools, just a collar and lead and stop/about turn when she pulls, ask her to come back to heel, and make it clear that no progress will be made unless she walks nicely. Probably my best tip though – as someone who has been consistently very exasperated by this – is also not to ask too much: don't try and practice in a high-threshold zone as it's often asking too much, ie set them up to win. So practice if you can when they're in the right mood: for you at the mo, in the house/garden, and later perhaps on the way home from a walk, rather than en route to it, or before, when they need a poo/are desperate to get to the exciting place to go off lead.

It is hard though and particularly irritating, I know, when people say, 'oh just be consistent' because even when you are progress isn't always linear. 100pc agree about the Primula which I used for a long time for training and we also use dog pate in various flavours as a lure.

Thanks for that, @brushingboots - particularly about not trying to do it when they're already over threshold. Bill is actually not bad most of the time, but he loses his shit when he's going to the dog park and I don't really want to make his life miserable by taking an hour to travel 200 metres, which is how long it would take if I were turning round every time he pulls. I'll practice at home or in other places I think.

He was a little superstar at daycare - made friends with the carer's dog, rather than pestering her all day to play, and just got on with his day, after about 20 minutes looking for me. Obviously he tried to bite my nose off in delight when I picked him up but he does that when I leave him with a sitter for an hour. The car journey was miserable though - he whined and barked all the way there, and whimpered most of the way back. He was lying down and able to take treats, so not completely losing his shit, but it breaks my heart that he's so unhappy and I can't help him 😕

Pic of my darling boy making friends/nicking someone else's bed, depending on your perspective...

@Bupster Pleasure! We still have danger spots where there is no way she's going to walk nicely but gradually they are reducing so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Hooray for daycare success! I wonder what the noise in the car is all about – is it just that he wants to be in your skin, right on top of you? Is he just being a brat? Cos it doesn't sound like he's actually in need of anything.

yeah we'll all be saying how well they are doing when WHAM - doggie teens kicks in and they put the proverbial two fingers up to us and forget everything they ever knew 😂

Glad Bill enjoyed himself at Daycare @Bupster that must be a relief knowing that he can settle & make friends without you & be perfectly happy ❤️

Sorry if I have forgotten this but how to you transport him in the car? I’m only asking because Roman used to whine & bark when we tried him in the boot of our hatchback with a dog guard. Moved to a harness on the back seat and now he is relaxed & actually goes to sleep in the car even on short journeys which is a relief.

@Twiglets1 he's on a harness in the back seat, with a hammock over half the seat (it's a two-door, so I can't have it over both seats or he can't get in and out - and I can't sling treatos in the back to keep him settled). He has a bed in there now and he is lying down, but he's just very clearly not happy still.

@brushingboots I just don't know what's causing it. I always thought it was frustration more than anxiety, and yes, wanting to unzip me and crawl inside 😀 but he was doing a lot of yawning too today which makes me think he is edging into some distress - but of course he might just have been desperate for a wee. And having said all that, tonight (when he's not been bouncing off the walls) he's spent more time apart from me in the house than ever before 🤷

Absolutely delighted he was happy at daycare though, and the carer is so clearly very kind and very experienced. It's one great big worry that's completely lifted now.

Maybe try a harness that just attaches to the seat belts so no hammock?

Who knows what goes through their doggie heads though? My old dog used to be perfectly happy in the boot on a blanket so don’t know why Roman couldn’t settle 🤷🏼‍♀️

Anyway, you got one big worry lifted today so that’s positive 😀

@Twiglets1 the hammock seems to help - before he used to keep dropping things off the seat 🙄honestly I think he'd only be truly happy if he was driving the bloody car

He probably wants to sit on your lap @Bupster !

We had something called a pet tube with our old dog in the car.

Thank you for the advice and tips. We've had some success today after we forgot (crossed wires) his lunch. So he was starving and happily trotted next to me in the garden in a heel position for a cup full of kibble.

I think DH has booked puppy classes but very difficult to get to with our schedules. We have lots of neighbourhood dogs to socialise with so not too worried about that, it's the actual training I want pinned down. I'm determined to have a dog that doesn't jump and pull!

Oh and he also whined to go out for a wee according to DH! And he pawed at the back door for a poo so that's progress although I guess suggests we need to sit next to the door if we want to see that.