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.

@BrodiePup I see, that makes sense re long line and harness. I just got it for our small front garden as we haven't had a gate installed yet and I'm convinced he will run off even though he's never more than 2ft away from me!! I hope you manage to find a solution that works as it must be so frustrating

@DoggoneTired extremely cute pup!!

@YorkshireFelix Thank you 😊

@DoggoneTired
She's lovely! She looks very intelligent.
Going off the weight I'd hazard a guess that she has something big in her DNA but wouldn't like to say what...

@BrodiePup
We have two martingale type collars but they're ancient - they belonged to Rose & Sylvie who were born in 1999! No brand name on but they're full webbing, not the type of half-check with a chain - the webbing loop is a lot less harsh and doesn't snag their coat. I'm struggling to find anything similar.

The Dogmatic headcollars and leads are quite expensive but excellent quality. We got a bright orange set for Algy because he was very big and we thought a bright colour would look less like a muzzle. Obviously Brie won't be as big as a male so we may need to get her a set of her own once she's approaching full size. We've never tried Halti.

Like Brodie, Brie is pretty good at home but can be hard work outside. She actually walked really nicely today because it was quiet; it's mostly when she sees people or dogs that the pulling starts. She's a bit "look at meee!!!" for wanting attention at the moment, which frankly drives me nuts but I know she needs the socialisation. Once she's adult she'll hopefully be more aloof.

@Pyreneansylvie Thanks for the info, it's nice to ask someone who is in the same situation and has used them.
I'm guessing the dogmatic will be 9 months onwards like the halti? By then Brodie will be a perfect citizen who walks beautifully on a lead...in my dreams 🤣.
I actually felt sorry for him this morning, it can't be much fun being a puppy. Sore teeth, hormones starting to kick in, then weird hoomans expecting him to do all kinds of strange things.
It is hard work and frustrating though isn't it?

@BrodiePup
Yeah, I think they do generally say about 9 months for a head collar so you'll get there first and can report back for the benefit of the younger ones. We'll battle on with collars (and my emergency grab harness) for now but you're definitely not alone in the dreams of loose lead walking and impeccable outdoor etiquette. If only...

You are not kidding about it being hard work! I'd completely forgotten how exhausting and frustrating puppy rearing is and I definitely hadn't factored it that I'm now 60 whereas with our previous pup I was only 49. Some days I feel I'm fighting with her all day to stop her digging/chewing/pulling but other days I begin to see the lovely natured adult that she will become and that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Honest truth is I'm besotted with the little sod 💗

I’m another one who had forgotten the hard work of having a puppy & how it can make you emotional at times when you feel you are failing. I remembered all the great things about my previous dog - who was a puppy 20 years ago! - and forgot all the frustrating things.

The main thing is the puppies are happy & healthy I guess and making some progress even if it’s two steps forward one step back.

Would love to hear what your evening routines are if possible?

Vinny has been napping great through the day and would usually eat his tea then sleep from 5.30-6ish. He wakes up around 11 then again any time between 2-4, and again at 6/7ish. I read somewhere that you shouldn't let them nap after a certain time so they sleep better at night but not sure how true that is in reality. I've been knocking the post-tea nap on the head and keeping him up until 7-8pmish (with great difficulty!) and I'm not sure it makes a difference really. Quite often when he wakes in the night he doesn't need the toilet so he can hold it quite a while, and he goes back to sleep if I sit next to the crate. This can take 45 mins though by the time I've taken him out to check for the toilet then sat waiting for him to actually be asleep.

Would love to get to the point where he stops that 2am wake up but I know he's still only small. He did randomly sleep through until 6.45 this morning for the first time ever!

I think I need to do some more work on positive crate associations as he's not unhappy in there and settles nicely, but only if someone is sat there next to him. So often he wakes up even though he doesn't need the toilet and whinges as someone isn't there. I did read about leaving them to whinge a bit but I'm not really comfortable with this and I live in a mid-terrace so don't want to piss off the neighbours!

I'd like it to be a place where he chooses to go in and chill if needed. I've bought a box of puppy safe natural chews which will arrive today, so I'm going to put one in there for him to discover and enjoy in the crate. I can see him from where I sit and work so can keep an eye on him while he's got it!

I think there’s a real obsession with crate training at the moment and not every puppy enjoys being crated at night. We’re raising a guide dog puppy and their advice is to try to crate train but it doesn’t matter if they don’t take to it - the puppies are expected to not need the crate anymore by 8 months anyway.

Our puppy is less than 4 months but he sleeps in our kitchen/diner in his bed (not crated) all night through and has done for ages now with no fuss. He can’t last toileting wise so most mornings there is an accident on the floor but some mornings recently there hasn’t been. I know from our previous dog he will stay clean all night when he is able to physically.

Your puppy may just not like being in the crate at night? Could be worth trying to get him to sleep somewhere else with a tiled floor? Our puppy doesn’t mind going in the crate for short rests during the day but he prefers to lie on his bed in the living room with us.

I agree with you it’s really hard to get them to stay awake in the evenings. Ours seems really tired after his evening walk & we feel bad even waking him up to do his wee before bedtime. We put him to bed quite early about 9.30 and he’s quiet all night then until about 6am.

We only use the crate through the night really, he settled well in it right from day one. At first it was open into a pen where we left puppy pads, but he only used those for the first couple of weeks. He was left on his own from about 10:30 to 6:30 and there was never a sound out of him.
We got him up, let him out and fed him, then back in the crate for an hour while we showered etc.
Through the day he settles really well on his own, so we've always left him to his own devices and only use the crate if I need to nip out.
I'm starting to build up the time he's left alone out of it now, and would happily not use it through the night. I'm not happy putting him in it when it's hot as I think he needs to be able to find a cool spot rather than being trapped. My husband wants to continue though as he thinks it's Brodie's safe place at night. Watch this space...I'm sick of the sight of it tbh.
As far as evenings go, I feed him at 6 then he'll play or potter in the garden while I make tea. We eat at 7 and I usually give him a chew to keep him occupied, it was a cows ear when he was younger. I take it off him when we've got cleared up. Then he'll snooze for an hour. Last walk about 9 (he won't poo in the garden) a bit more snoozing, out for a wee at 10:30ish and he goes straight into his crate himself.

We're end of terrace, a small house with an unusually large kitchen and that's where the dogs have always slept. We don't crate - all ours have been "free-range" but we do have dog gates in 5 locations downstairs so we can restrict their movements at certain times. They are not allowed access to stairs because of being a heavy breed.

Our previous dog (nearly 11 years ago) was a winter puppy but this time, as we got the pup in late May and it was warm, she has also had night time access to the rear extension (orangery) which has a tiled floor. That is where we put the puppy pads and is mostly where she sleeps now, underneath the dining table.

We got Brie at 9 weeks so we had a lot of broken nights at first. Initially I slept down on the living room sofa which meant that although she couldn't see me, I was close by so she wouldn't disturb our next door neighbours. If she squeaked or whined I would get up and let her outside or just sit in with her until she settled just as you @YorkshireFelix are doing with Vinny. Up until about 16 weeks old, she was fighting sleep, refusing to settle, she just wouldn't switch off and would get horribly snappy when she was overtired, start trying to chew everything in sight then go rushing around chasing her tail, barking at the cat etc. She has been quite a challenging puppy over all; she's clever, curious and busy whereas our previous two (both male) were much quieter. Now, at almost 5 months old, she's calming down a lot, still trying to chew stuff now and then of course but also happy to snooze while we do house chores. She still has two rooms to patrol all night but generally settles around 10 so we go up at 10.30ish and she mostly seems to wake about 6 which is fine for us as DH starts work at 7 anyway. She's dry through the night now.

Routine is key. We're now doing a short walk in the morning a longer walk late afternoon then the evening is some garden play with ball and tug ropes followed by a nap. Another short lead walk of 10 or 15 mins, another nap or just a quiet time with chews then her 4th meal is about 8.30 or 9. Outside to toilet after food then outside again at 10ish before we bed her down. Obviously the routine might need to change as we get into winter; mealtimes and walks will probably have to be adjusted slightly but it'll fall into place.

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. Vinny is also really snappy when he's tired but that's the indicator to us to enforce a nap.

He settles well with a toy/chew for some chill time and enjoys sleeping in there but it's the being left 'alone' (i.e we aren't in sight) that he struggles with. I'm sure there will be some training methods I can use to help him get used to us not being directly next to him.

I'd love to give him free roam but he keeps trying to chew the skirting boards and walls (and anything else hard he can get his chops around). We are in a rental so very mindful of damage to the house. I know once he's older he will hopefully stop wanting to chew everything and then he can have a bit more freedom!

We crate trained Milo - it worked for us, probably due to him being a WCS and just being such a high energy breed.
He needed the chill out time, which he needed to be shown/told how to do.
He won't go in it now, he will just bark.
At night he has free reign of the ground floor ( we have a ground floor property with huge garden).
He definitely is calming down abit, still can't be a handful. He is a very loyal boy but very hard work.

I understand your not wanting him to free roam if he is likely to chew the skirting boards, we haven't had that problem - yet! A friend recommended me to buy some Grannicks bitter apple spray for the woodwork to stop him wanting to bite it but tbh we haven't had to use it yet. He's just really good at night - not so much in the daytime though when he is horribly bitey and always up to mischief.

Every puppy is different and I definitely wasn't trying to say don't use a crate just that they don't suit everyone.

We all have our different challenges which is why this thread is so reassuring to know we're not alone with our puppy problems.

@Twiglets1 ooh I've not heard of the spray so will have to investigate! He seems to love chewing anything wooden, so my dining table legs and chairs aren't faring well at the minute.

I agree this thread is so helpful, especially having people at different points of the puppy stage who can give advice

My friend said it worked really well for her as her puppy was a biter of table legs, I got it from Amazon.

@CaptainBeanThief how old is Milo now? Vinny is a handful BUT I had fully prepared myself for the worst and it's not been as bad as I thought so far. Although I know he will probably get more insane over the next few weeks... I know they all change at different rates but if I can think 'ok he might calm down at X number of weeks' then it might give me some hope haha.

My DH grew up with WCS and has experience with gun dog training but I've never even had a pet before! He works 7 days a week so isn't around much so it's a very steep learning curve for me. I am enjoying it though even though my arms are bitten to shreds!! I've found a trainer locally who does puppy and gun dog classes so I can't wait until he's old enough to go.

Milo is 14 MONTHS
he's always got better then reverted - he's not been my first dog let alone spaniel. I've done everything "right" but, it's still been very very hard.
He got better about the 8 MONTH mark but then reverted back about 10 MONTH due to "adolescence"
He still is very bitey. His recall is still very hit and miss ( even though it was great before he hit a certain age)
I'm "told" it's about 18 months blame @BrodiePup when they calm down 🤣

You will find other people with spaniels i.e. springers and show cockers and even workers Look down their nose at you for having such a wild puppy for being a ... Puppy 😒

I'm sure you are doing a great job, Vinny is only young.
Xx

@CaptainBeanThief I get blamed for everything 🤣...you'll be thanking me if Milo becomes the perfect dog in 4 months!

It is great being able to compare notes and get tips from ordinary people who are simply battling on, rather than the "experts", and it sure has helped me in my most hysterical times.

Behaviours seem to ebb and flow with puppies. Looking back I've been extremely lucky with Brodie, he never mouthed and he hasn't chewed...however he turns into a Tasmanian devil when I walk him. If I could go back and start again I think I'd be a lot more chilled about it, but it's nearly 30 years since I had a puppy. Back then there was very little internet so you just go on with it rather than googling everything and getting 10 different solutions to every problem!

We've got the Bitter Apple spray for kitchen mats etc but if she's being really persistent with skirtings or chair legs we make a horrible concoction of cayenne pepper mixed with Vaseline and daub it on, hence we are now The House of Orange Blobs.

I can totally understand the need to crate if you're in a rented property, at least until the teething phase is done with.

Thank you @CaptainBeanThief it's much appreciated! I have a LONG time to wait until my lovely companion appears then haha

I think if I can start getting a full nights sleep it will make a huge difference...

It's funny you say about people looking down their nose as the FB group I'm on seems to be two camps - one expecting you to fully train your puppy from day 1 and the other saying let them be a puppy. There's so much conflicting info floating around the internet so it's hard to know what to do for the best sometimes!!

It is … sometimes I feel like I’m doing really well with the puppy and other times I’ve literally cried and feel like such a failure. It makes you feel worse with all the conflicting advice.

I'm home alone ahhggggh! My husband is away until Monday night...I'm 24 hours in and knackered, so a huge shout out to anyone raising a puppy on their own. All I'm really doing extra is the 9 o'clock poo walk and 10:30 pee, but I've got used to handing the responsibility over after tea.

I got a martingale collar yesterday and decided I couldn't use it, but after a truly horrendous walk this morning I'm going to give it a try this afternoon on a short walk. He just isn't getting it. I stop, do little jerks on his lead, walk in the opposite direction. Lots of praise when he gets it right or checks in...but he wants to pull, so he's going to pull.

This morning's injury is my left little finger from holding the lead half way down. I don't know what I've done but it's swelling up impressively.