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.

Ahh thank you! 🩷

Awww, I suppose that's understandable when you're 7 and your life is suddenly turned upside down by a new "baby". It'll probably take a while for the older dog to adjust.

Yep, I completely agree - and I do feel for her.. trying to give her lots of cuddles and attention too! 💛 I’m hoping she warms to her eventually. Any tips welcomed!

Introducing Rundle. His gotcha day was almost a month ago and he’ll be four months on October 10. Working hard on his training and looking forward to some hiking, running and agility in future. He’s 90% bestest boy and 10% ausshole.

Oh gosh, it's been so long since we introduced pup to older dog...over 20 years in fact! I think our boy was 4 when we got a girl puppy and all I can remember is that she kept sitting on him and his expression said "help...!" But it didn't seem to take very long for them to settle, and there were never any issues between them. We've had far more problems introducing puppies to our cats.

I'm sure you're doing the right thing by making sure your older dog still gets plenty of attention and that there is as little disruption to her life as possible in regard to her usual routine...

Hello @MooseBeTimeForSnow
Oh my gosh - another beautiful puppy! Rundle's colouring is gorgeous! I'd like to bet he gets a lot of attention when you take him out and about...

We haven’t been too far yet, as he doesn’t get his second booster until Monday. We’ve had a couple of sessions at home with a local trainer and have him booked in for their three week puppy program in November and a Junior Handler class in mid-October for DS(12).

Lots of local stores are dog friendly, so we’ll get some more socialising done. He’s getting used to toileting in the rain. He’s going to have to get used to doing it in the snow and very cold temps as well - we’re in northern Canada.

Northern Canada, wow! Well, I guess that explains your username.

I know Aussies have a double coat but I wonder if his will grow thicker in your climate...? I would presume that it might. Either way, he is going to be a very striking dog.

@MooseBeTimeForSnow he is absolutely stunning! And I will no longer complain about standing outside in the rain in the North of England thinking 13 degrees is freezing 😂

@YorkshireFelix I’ve been in Canada for 13 years. Originally from ‘umberside/East Yorks.

It’s very low humidity here so -30, whilst unpleasant, is much easier to warm up from than 0 with a gale blowing in off the North Sea!

No such thing as bad weather - just inappropriate clothing!

We do the swapping thing with Roman too and it works well.

Re puppies picking up bits of wood, we were told by Guide dogs that can be dangerous (everything is a potential health hazard to puppies it seems!) so have bought some olive wood chew toys from Amazon (Artisan gift company) which are allowed.

Roman does enjoy chewing on them at home but still tries to pick up sticks on walks of course as well as all sorts of other things he shouldn't have.

Welcome to the thread @RichTea90 & @MooseBeTimeForSnow & thanks for paying the puppy tax!

Love seeing photos of all your puppies.

Welcome all new puppies, cuteness overload 🥰.

I've started an adolescent thread if anyone is interested 😊.

I presume sticks must be more of a gundog habit because none of our dogs have ever done it. They're not really into carrying stuff about so with them it's more chewing on gravel, chip bark and leaves that we need to be wary of...

Ah maybe ... Roman likes to carry stuff like sticks and toys around and to pick up gravel and leaves too. Though thankfully is showing less interest in gravel now than he did as a tiny pup when he was always picking it up and chewing it, silly boy.

Here I am at 9 months and still fighting the urge to give my pup away on a daily basis. He is feral and whines at me constantly. 😞
Good things:
-still sleeps through the night like a dream
-no accidents inside for a month

Err that's it.

Bad things:
-still attacks me on walks
-pulls on walks
-whines all the time he's not on my lap
-barks and attacks when I try to put the lead on
-occasionally try to chew the skirting/sofa
-needs attention constantly

Family friend says I should be playing with him and interacting with him all the time, and if I can't then I should re-home him. I can't play with him 24/7, I need time for me.

I'm hanging on in desperate hope that one day he will relax and chill out.

Oh and completely hyper all the time.

Im really hoping this is all adolescence and he will grow out of it.

It all sounds pretty normal for a small breed adolescent dog and he will grow out of it but yes, I know how you feel.

No matter how many dogs you've had before, you forget just how exhausting puppyhood and adolescence can be 😩It really is hard work!

@Cavalierchaos Hi there, I've been wondering how you were getting on!
I'm sorry to hear that you're still struggling, it's hard work isn't it?
I've had a couple of cavaliers in the past, and they were quite needy and playful as puppies. They did make the most lovely, calm, and very lazy adult dogs though so stick with it.
Your family friend is talking rubbish! Playing with him and giving him constant attention will only make matters worse, so absolutely don't beat yourself up over that. He needs to settle and get rest to be calmer.
Do you try to get him to settle away from you?

@Twiglets1 I've seen those wood chews and was telling DH about them so I might get one for him to try

Worth a try. Roman enjoys a good old chew on them sometimes

@Cavalierchaos sorry to hear you’re having a difficult time & your friend isn’t helping! Of course we can’t play with our pups every waking hour - that would be exhausting for them as well as us.

Roman is whiny and needy sometimes and I’ll be honest, that is when I feel most fed up with him & question why we got him. I play with him & try to redirect his attention to toys or chews but when he gets too demanding I eventually just ignore him and eventually he does get the hint and takes himself to his bed & sleeps. Puppies need so much sleep but they don’t always recognise it in themselves that they need to rest.

Some people I guess would use a crate in your situation to enforce rest time. We haven’t crate trained but the ignore method does tend to eventually have the same result of enforced rest.

I’ll be over to that thread when Roman is a bit older so thanks for starting it.

He has already started being less obedient about coming back immediately I call him while off lead so that doesn’t bode well.

See you over on the dark side @Twiglets1 when you're ready.

So far I'm finding adolescence better than puppyhood, but that's maybe because I've finally fallen in love with the little monster 🤣

Aw that’s lovely @BrodiePup