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.

Was trying to find a suitable photo of madam looking furious in her drying coat and this about fits the bill!

@brushingboots she looks fuming 😂

@YorkshireFelix I admit they are nice but I saw the R&T stand at a horse show recently and just couldn't bring myself part with what I think is £38!

Hahaha I love that! I too am Spaniel Woman (hear me roar etc), and am currently on a train in said Barbour. I bumped into one of our local Spaniel Men on Friday evening and the exchange genuinely left me feeling like I was a bad owner so he's going on the Avoid List.

@brushingboots just roll your eyes at them and keep doing what you're doing. Thankfully I've not encountered any but we've not been up on the moors yet so I'm sure it will come soon. I did meet a lady with a spaniel in the woods today and she was so nice. I've found the majority of dog owners lovely so far!

I have to share this picture I took of V yesterday. I think he is starting to look like a proper dog and less puppy now. And yes I did pick my battles with the whole sofa thing 😂

Hi everyone,

Sorry, should have explained what our dog park is! I'm incredibly lucky; just 200 yards from my house is a patch of park that the council has fenced off which is only for dogs. There's a kid's play park next to it, so no temptation for the kids to use it instead. The fences aren't very high, but that's actually really useful because it means that big dogs with no recall tend not to come there (or at least aren't let off lead) as they could jump the fence and do a runner. It's just been pure luck as well that there are a few of us living locally who have puppies, so there's an informal five o'clock puppy club (plus adult dogs that are very social) where we can bring the pups and let them off lead to run around, play, sniff, chase balls and each other to their hearts' content. It's an absolute joy, and it's a real social lifeline too - I've got to know the neighbours more, and had people to ask for advice as well, which has been brilliant as I'm a first time dog owner (even if you end up ignoring the advice, you still get to talk about the dog 😄)

Here's Bill wearing his drying coat for the first time and planning to kill me - I think I've posted it before but it makes me howl, so here it is again.

@Bupster I've never seen a dog park before! That sounds great. I definitely think you shouldn't stop going.

I love that photo. He looks so annoyed at you 😂

Well, that was fun. We had puppy zoomies in the house for the first time in weeks, followed by puppy zoomies umpteen times around the garden (in the pouring rain) which was immediately followed by 💩So I put wellies and hooded waterproof on and went down to pick up the poo and round up the beast. The garden path is completely flooded (fortunately the back of the house is up two steps) so I've put puppy pads back down in the orangery to stop her slipping and absorb the water from her feet which are like mops. Puppy zoomies at 35kg is hilarious but slightly 😱

BTW I honestly have no idea who just let this Shetland Pony into my house...

@AubrieDog she is so floooofy I just love her!

She's got sort of punky crimped hair from getting wet today, it looks so cute ❤

Loving all the photos today. All the cuties in the drying coats and then the handsome Vinny sitting there looking properly regal 💓

@AubrieDog ❤️

Gorgeous @AubrieDog but I'm not sure I would want to be the one having to clear up after the floofy shetland pony! 😁

Hi all. I have a question. My 15 week old puppy is pretty good (apart from biting) except for on a lead. Today’s walk was the worst - trying to jump and bite me and my clothes or the lead, stopping and laying /sitting down! I’m guessing he’s perhaps tired but was a horrible walk and he ripped my coat while jumping and biting too! Any tips? We are going to puppy classes and lead walking starts next week I. There but any tips until then will be appreciated.

@Bupster Bill's face! They always manage to look as miserable as possible in those coats. We put ours on to go home from a walk in the car the other night and she pointedly refused to jump down while it was on.

@YorkshireFelix I just can't bear the judgement from the Spaniel Men as I don't (outwardly) judge them and their spaniels who aren't allowed to do as much as look at another dog without express permission. I agree though, most people I meet are lovely and I've made some proper friends dog walking. We hadn't long moved house when we got puppins and it has made a world of difference.

@Booksandflowers

Hi 🙂
I can empathise with you - my girl jumps up, grabs the lead and has ripped my clothes. I have struggled with the lead biting, particularly.
The problem is that I'm never sure whether to try to distract her with a treat or if that is just reinforcing the behaviour... maybe you've had this dilemma too...?
Once they reach 5 or 6 months the clothes grabbing does seem to lessen greatly so although my girl still grabs the lead on occasion, she is not pulling at me as much.
With regard to stopping and sitting/lying, sometimes they are tired, as you suggest, but with our pup we found that she likes to vary the walking route and will sometimes go stubborn about that.
Hopefully your puppy classes and lead walking training will help immensely.

Thanks everyone for the kind messages. It's just hard reading everyone's successes when I'm struggling!

Love the pictures of pups in drying coats - mine tried his on for the first time today and he kept getting his front legs tangled!

My biggest problem at the moment is jumping and biting me on the leash. Sometimes giving him a chew distracts him, sometimes putting my foot on the lead and waiting can help, sometimes nothing helps. I did a lot of research and apparently they grow out of it...

Thank you both. Yes I’ve done the treat to distract and start again and it does work some of the time but I’ve also wondered if it’s the right thing to do. Dont want him doing it in order to get a treat. Hopefully another month and he’ll be a bit easier

Yes, that was my thought regarding treats so now I generally just stop walking until she gets bored and stops jumping around.

They do grow out of it but it is infuriating while it lasts.

Yes definitely infuriating. Just want a nice walk! 🤣

For those dealing with jumping puppies.....

Don't think of treats as a distraction, that way lies chaos... the treats are a reward for behaving CORRECTLY, you reinforce good behaviour with a reward. So whenever they are on all 4 paws and walking nicely you reward them.

You have to be swift, reward quickly and reinforce with praise.

Libi can be a jumper too - and she's 20kg now so I'm having to work hard to discourage that, but I know we will get there in the end if I am consistent.

Sorry I feel like I am posting so much here recently but don't have anywhere else to ask!

Vinny has always happily slept in his crate. He's never been one to go and just venture in there throughout the day, but I'd pop him in and close the door and he'd not make a fuss and go to sleep. But the past few nights we've put him to bed and he settles for a bit then when we go upstairs he just barks and howls. I can't leave him to do this as we're in a mid terrace and I think our neighbours would kill us! And I don't think it's particularly good to leave him to 'cry it out' anyway. If we let him out he just wants to play or cuddle or find something to chew. He usually gets put to bed around 7/8pm depending on how tired he is, then he will wake up around 10/11 but then not want to go back to sleep. DH was up until 2am with him last night which isn't sustainable since he works 7 days a week

But I don't know what the solution is. He has a big comfy donut bed now which he loves and also loves snoozing on the sofa sometimes in the day, if I haven't put him in his crate to nap. The kitchen is fairly safe but he does like to chew the bottom of the stairs, the skirting board and the cupboards so I am very wary about leaving him in there, especially since it's a rented house. He also doesn't like being left alone at all (even if I go upstairs for 2 minutes to the toilet), so I can't see how getting him to just sleep in his bed in the kitchen would work really anyway!

I did think about moving the crate upstairs into our bedroom but we don't have much space and I don't want to get him used to that when he's been previously sleeping so well downstairs.

Can anyone help at all?

@YorkshireFelix I think maybe you are putting Vinny to bed too early. Roman does also get very sleepy in the evening and is normally asleep at about 8pm on his bed in the living room. However, we wake him up just before we go to bed about 9.30/10 (early because he wakes us up early!). We make him go into the garden and do a wee, though he is reluctant sometimes.

We then move him into the kitchen where he sleeps at night and have a routine where he gets a biscuit in his donut bed in the kitchen to settle him again and then the lights go off. He completely accepts that routine now and starts looking at us for his biscuit as soon as we go into the kitchen.

Tbh he did bark & fuss a little bit sometimes in the early days but we just ignored it and he didn’t fuss for long. I do appreciate though that is harder in a terraced house but it is probably a necessary step to ignore Vinny so he knows when you go upstairs that’s it. Just to add that Roman doesn’t like being left in his own during the day either and follows us around. But he does accept it fine at night and has never had a crate. It’s just what he’s used to so you may need to warn the neighbours in advance to break the new habit Vinny has of howling for attention at night.

We have a different problem which is Roman waking us up every morning by barking from about 5.30 am. We can’t delay going downstairs or he does a wee on the floor. I know we can’t complain as he has been quiet for hours but I’m getting so tired as never get a lie in any more!

@YorkshireFelix I think like @Twiglets1 you might be putting him down a bit early, as he's not a tiny puppy anymore. Our routine is B has his last walk at 9, then settles for a while, last wee 10:30/11.00 and put in his crate. We go down to him at 7, when he's usually still spark out. I appreciate people have different timings and routines though.

Brodie has never gone in his crate out of choice either, but settles happily if he's put in there.

I'm not sure taking the crate upstairs is a good idea, unless you're wanting him to eventually sleep in the bedroom with you when he's older?

I'm sure it's just a temporary glitch, but mentioning it to your neighbours and saying that you're trying to sort it might be a good idea if it continues.

Sorry, I'm not much help.

Thanks both, it's hard to know how to adjust things as he's getting older! I'll try keeping him up a bit longer in the evening.

It's difficult too as DH works late Thursday to Saturday and often gets home at midnight which disturbs him and V wants to get up and play because he's excited to see him. So I don't know if that's causing an issue too.

I did try leaving him at first last night but after 15 minutes he was getting worse and I was so wary of the neighbours but I think I'll speak to them and just warn them about it. And you are right I don't really want him sleeping upstairs in the future so I'll knock that idea on the head. I am just so tired so will try anything 😴