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.

@AubrieDog she is soooo gorgeous! I bet you got (and still do!) so much attention when she was so small. Also I think you gave some great advice! Yours was the most valuable since you have so much experience with large breeds.

@winsomeadante welcome! She is so sweet. It is nice to see some new pups joining us 😍

I took V down to the woods for the first time today. He was unsure at first as it was quite windy and rustly but I think he liked it in the end! I did take the longline with me to try letting him off lead as there's some big open green spaces near there but then I chickened out. We also bumped into three huge off lead bull type dogs with the owner not paying attention to them whatsoever. They wanted to say hi to Vinny and seemed friendly but he was terrified and I found it hard to stand between them as they were so huge. I'm not sure what the etiquette is there as the owner was miles away not even looking in our direction. I know it was fine as they were friendly and the majority of dogs are, but it did make me think about how vulnerable we can be to other off lead dogs, especially big strong breeds like that.

Here's V enjoying his new Aldi special donut bed 🤣 The fabric is much more robust than the old one so hopefully it lasts more than 2 days...

Thanks. I was worried I'd said the wrong thing (I'm neurodiverse and horribly anxious...).

Awww, that's so good about the vets and the car, that is real progress for a pup of Summer's age. She is going to be an amazing dog. I am biased though - I love Boxers; my aunt and uncle had a (rescued) white one for years and he was just a big bundle of love.

@YorkshireFelix You're so kind. I felt bad and was too scared to come on here yesterday in case I was persona non grata (seriously).

Yes, Brie gets a lot of attention and I sometimes feel overwhelmed by it (I'm very introverted) but I know socialisation is important so I try to cope. She is honestly the sweetest natured creature though, we are so lucky.

I do think I'm slightly in love with Vinny. Sorry 😊That Aldi bed looks super comfy - wish it came in my size...😴

Off lead bull type dogs would terrify me too - even though Brie is huge she's still just a babe and she's never off-lead in public places. Glad you & Vinny are okay.

@AubrieDog I am autistic and hate interacting with people and didn't really consider how much people will want to stop and talk to me about Vinny constantly 🤣 it's exhausting!

I didn't know if I was being silly as they were friendly and I know I am feeding into a stereotype of those breeds of dogs, but they are scary! And a tiny woman handling three of them just terrifies me. I am sure they were soft as shit but I was just a bit freaked out.

@YorkshireFelix I know how you feel, it really is mentally draining having to constantly interact when you want a quiet walk. It does (thankfully) start to lessen a bit once the puppy gets past the very cute phase.

Not silly at all; I've been around massive dogs most of my life but there are still some I'm terrified of. I think the press around bullies and cane corso etc doesn't help and a lot of them are probably lovely, but it has to be said that they do look intimidating.

@YorkshireFelix Fab news about the woods debut and the bed!

Ugh, I hate it when things like that happen – I’d def avoid three dogs like that, just on the basis of size let alone anything else. Bless little V. Not all dog owners are created equal, alas: I’d be mortified if I realised I’d lost track of her offlead and she’d bounded up to someone else, and she’s the opposite of scary. Best you can do is just lead with positive signs for him. I don’t instinctively like German Shepherds, for example (for irrational reasons probably) but I try to model confidence around them for her (and depart the scene swiftly) so she doesn’t feel any worries. I think that’s the best you can do.

Ahh @AubrieDog, she’s amazing! What a little (or not so little) sweetie.

My not so little pup sends her love to all before we depart for a run in the stubble.

@brushingboots she is a cutie pie! Did the hair on top and her ears grow longer as she got bigger? I'd love to have a glimpse into the future and see if V gets any hairier 😄

@winsomeadante She is so cute! Zeus is still a little biter too. I call him BiteyMcBiteFace. He's lost so many baby teeth but where do they go? I've never found a single one!

The weather today has been awful here too and Zeus is such a prince that he doesn't like to get his paws wet. So ended up in the garden for ages waiting for him to do a wee with him on a lead as he was trying to get to the cat's poop.

@AubrieDog what an absolute gorgeous fur ball - is brushing a full-time job? 😂

@brushingboots those ears 😍

@YorkshireFelix V is very handsome and looks almost regal in his new bed.

Zeus came across a a barking dog the other day when we went to the shop. The owner was very good though and could see that Zeus was a puppy and stood still with his dog until we were a fair distance away (we were walking in the same direction). Zeus was a bit spooked - he's usually very good on the lead but was really zooming away. I just kept saying 'good boy' in a high-pitched voice - not sure whether that's the right thing to do though as I've never had a puppy.

@YorkshireFelix Her little tuft on top has only just emerged this summer so it took a while! I've never trimmed her ears so that is the length they have naturally grown to – obv I brush and comb them but I prefer the natural look so just make sure they're tidy. I hope every day that her coat stays this silky – and that the supplement she's on keeps on working!

@brushingboots Thanks 😊 Your little girl's coat is beautiful. I hope she enjoyed her run...

Should I be worried that people will be scared of Brie because of her size? I never thought about it with our other dogs but big dogs and guarding breeds get such a bad press now...

Thanks @JessiesHuman , she's a sweetheart. We don't go crazy with the grooming except when they moult; then you really have to attack the loose undercoat and get it out. They're honestly not that difficult to keep clean though, my husband always tells people our dogs are Teflon coated 😆

It's not just Zeus; a lot of dogs hate getting wet feet and persuading them to wee on a rainy day can be a battle of wills!

@AubrieDog thank you!

Nooo I don't think so – I only say that as once we had a run in with a very big lab and puppins hurt her shoulder so now I am slightly cautious of very big, muscular dogs that she hasn't met before, but also because of the unfortunate reputation that bull breeds have got. I wouldn't associate Brie with that kind of dog or that kind of attitude at all, and if I bumped into you I'd be too busy cooing at her to be worried – you know what you're doing! I met a cane corso once and it scared me, but what scared me more was its owner not paying any attention to its 60kg+ mass.

@AubrieDog I suspect people won't really read her as a herding dog, or be scared, because she looks like such a fluffball!

There is a young Akita, a rescue dog, who comes to my local dog park and he looks absolutely fluffy and lovely and you have to be quite aware that actually he's an undersocialised (but thankfully very sensibly owned and looked after) six stone lump of guard dog. The owners keep him on a lead (not least as the park has a low fence) but he obviously wants to play, and the younger puppies often gambol up to him, whereupon he sits on them. Which is quite funny, but I'm very glad he's on a lead and not loose, and that my idiot puppy has some recall.

Bill's problem is that he is not afraid, at all, of other dogs. On the one hand I love it - he's such a confident, happy, robust puppy, and we have such a lovely social time at the dog park. On the other, I've had to do quite a lot of work with him to calm him down outside the dog park. Now, if he's on a lead, I can generally get him to sit quietly and watch other dogs pass (so long as he doesn't know them) but that's taken months of work. You might be all better off with puppies who are more sensibly wary than my absolute numpty.

@JessiesHuman They swallow them! Listen for them crunching when they shouldn't have anything to crunch...

@Bupster
They're a guarding breed, believe it or not. There is a tiny little sheepdog that does the herding and these big guys are protection dogs to guard against bears and wolves. Brie's going to be around 8 stone fully grown so roughly the same weight as me! Fortunately she doesn't sit on other dogs though...only people 😆
It's good that Bill is a happy chappy, I hope he stays that way.

My husband just sent me an article about Le Patou terrorising walkers in the French mountains. I'll share it in case anyone's interested.
https://www.connexionfrance.com/practical/how-to-act-if-you-see-a-patou-dog-while-hiking-in-france/672770

oh @winsomeadante she is so cute - as for carpets - Vax are my heroes 😆

@AubrieDog I'm not usually bothered by any big dog breeds but those muscular bully dogs just scare the life out of me! Maybe it's because I associate them with all the bad press over the past few years which I know is tarring everyone with the brush and bad of me...

There's a man on our street who has two huge Rotties and I love them. They look scary but they are lovely. His car number plate has '666 ROT' on it 🤣

I'd never really known about guarding breeds until me and dd started watching a dog groomer on YouTube called 'girl with the dogs' and she grooms some really unusual breeds I've never heard of before, including a few livestock guarding dogs. That article you shared is interesting! And the tourist who ended up in a tree 😳

@YorkshireFelix

I know what you mean, there's a bully in our village as well as two Cane Corso and everyone is petrified of them. I have to say you're braver than me, I'm pretty wary of Rotties and GSD also.

Yes, I'm hooked on The Girl with the Dogs too, she does Pyreneans all the time (called Great Pyrenees in US/Canada) so you will have seen them. They are mostly very gentle and act more as a deterrent without the need to be overtly aggressive. That girl, Vanessa, is incredibly good at reading a dog's body language and knowing exactly how to deal with them, it is pretty amazing watching her handle the really massive dogs like the Central Asian Ovcharka that is her favourite breed. I love the way she manhandles these great big brutes even though she's tiny.

@AubrieDog we always watch her as part of dd's bedtime routine. She's made dd want to be a dog groomer

@YorkshireFelix am with you with a fear of muscular breeds. We have a cat and three kids. My DP wanted a staffie but I couldn’t contemplate getting something that could overpower my kids or throw my cat around like a rag doll.

Was so pleased when DP started to want a mini dachshund. Zeus annoys the cat but she’s very much in charge.

@JessiesHuman see I love a staffie but my sister used to have one so maybe it's because I'm used to them! Staffie to miniature dachshund is quite a change 😂

@JessiesHuman Our cat is very much the boss too although she does like Brie and seems to trust her. We've always had cats so that's another reason for us having a dog with a low prey drive.

@YorkshireFelix Oddly I like Staffies too and in fact I don't actually mind the English Bull Terrier either because there was an enormously chunky one around here years ago that was a real gentleman.

Thank you @AubrieDog I love hearing positive stories about boxers! My experience of them is also very good (we had one when I was a teen). ❤️

@AubrieDog Our cat is very much in charge too. Sometimes it feels like she’s playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with him. But he continues to try to play with her.

The dynamic is different for us this time with puppy and older cat, but this is what we had with the opposite; an adult dog with younger cat. I suppose this also shows that it is less about size and strength of dog than it is about prey drive and early socialisation.

That wins the Cute Award 🥇

Nah! It's just another pathetic attempt to justify having a ridiculously huge dog loafing around the house😜