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 the sticky buds!!! I am not looking forward to that.

I have booked him in for a puppy groom at a local place which has excellent reviews for mid-September once his vax are finished. I've bathed him a couple of times at home and he somehow can climb out even though the bath is really deep and he's so slippery!

@Pyreneansylvie the paws are too much!! So cute.

We have a fairly small mid-terrace with hardwood floors so it's pretty easy to keep fairly clean. I hoover at least once a day but the best thing I've bought is a flash spray mop. It's so easy to whip round as much as I feel it needs (often multiple times a day!). I am convinced the house stinks of dog though and I've become blind to it.

I just took a photo of V and look at the difference 8 weeks vs 11 weeks. We will have had him a whole month this weekend! I saw a picture of someone's black 11 week WCS on a Facebook group and she looked like Vinny did when we first got him so I don't know if he's big for his age!

@Bupster sorry I missed your message there. I am worried about catching his claws because he doesn't sit still at all. The place I've booked him in does a claw trim for a tenner so worst case scenario I will just keep taking him there as it's only up the road...

I don't dare trim my puppys claws myself. The guide dog woman has done it at my house and she bribed him not to fidget using a licky mat and chicken paste.

So...
Milo rolled over, demanding a belly rub as he does 5 thousand times a day... I was horrified to see 2 hard lumps either side of his penis,
I thought shit what the fuck is this so I quickly googled before I rushed off to the vets,
It's a gland that raises when horny aroused/excited
Jesus Christ!

@YorkshireFelix He's certainly growing!
That's pretty much my cleaning schedule too...it looks ok briefly... I asked an honest friend at the weekend if the house smells. She said you could definitely tell we had a dog.
I've rung two groomers this morning, and both of them are full until next year!!

@CaptainBeanThief Puppies really are the gift that keeps on giving. Brodie keeps getting his lipstick out.
Utterly vile!

Well, I thought that this mornings walk would be today's dose of misery.
Wrong!
My house trained puppy isn't 😡. Absolutely no reason for it, don't even know when he did it, but definitely yesterday or today. It was on the wool rug that I've only just dared to put back down. He'd been clean for well over a month 🙁.
Today I can say, hand on heart, I wish we'd never got him.

@BrodiePup
It's disgusting, isn't it? Milos constantly sucking himself off, it properly knocks me sick, the noises he makes. It's vile.

AHH, I feel for you, he's at the age where they are fucking dickheads, you are in the absolute thick of it, they are absolute twats - and they do regress, and it is horrible and you do feel like you should never ever of gotten them - especially when you are alone all day with them when your husband is at work!
I don't know about you - but sometimes I can't wait to get to bed - particularly after a bad day just so I can go to sleep so Milo isn't pecking my head and then the anxiety of waking up sometimes praying for a good day - honestly some people are deluded when they think ahhh cute puppy or ahhh lets get a puppy they are easy - they.are.fucking.not.
Please go easy on yourself @BrodiePup but I know I'd never get a WCS I do love Milo but its been a really rough year
Xx

Oh @BrodiePup I'm really sorry. I've had to close up my study as the little sod shat all over the carpet every time I had a shower. Nowhere else in the house - and it's a rental, and a wool carpet. Those are the times where you do wonder what the bloody hell you've done.

Before I got him I used to take lovely long hot baths. Now it's a five minute scrub in the shower every other day with him either standing in the door trying to rescue me, whimpering from the bathroom doorway, or off doing something unspeakable. But yesterday I had a shower with only minor grumbling and only had to dry myself, not him as well. One day I'll have a bath again 😂

Vinny is looking gorgeous @YorkshireFelix he has grown hugely in those three weeks!

What is it with wool rugs and carpets? V chooses to go on my wool rug too. It's underneath the table and chairs and I often cant grab him quick enough because he darts under there. I might actually roll it up and store it for now, I'd not even thought to do that!

@BrodiePup I'm so sorry you're having such a rough day

Thanks for all your support, it does help on a bad day.

I thought B was too young for adolescence? I expected a few weeks where things were easier. I've just had him to the field, I usually let him have his sniff then we play ball. Then we do a few sits, stays, come etc. I got no engagement at all, he wouldn't even play with his ball. I pulled him in, sat him down and he wouldn't even look me in the eye, just wanted to be off doing his frantic sniffing. I have spent hours working with him, never missed a day or an opportunity. He won't even obey a stay in the house now and he was bulletproof with that.
@CaptainBeanThief please tell me it gets better? I actually don't like him today, and I've never felt that before 😢.

Please don't hate me for this folks but Brie is pretty good with toileting now....No wees in the house for nigh on 4 weeks and, amazingly only ever had one 💩indoors, early on at 10 weeks. HOWEVER, we do have the joy of her first season soon to be upon us and, if she's anything like her Great-Great Aunt Rose, she will at that point regress and start weeing all over the carpets. So much to look forward to.

We also now have a nasty brown patched lawn despite us rushing around the garden after her with a large watering can. You see - boys do have some redeeming features in spite of the unattractive appendages....

Have to admit, I would really love another boy dog. Dammit.

Boy dogs also create brown patches all over the lawn from their wees

In fact I always thought it was more of a boy dog issue @Pyreneansylvie as only ever had boys but apparently not!

Brown patches are actually caused by the squatting - which is obviously usually caused by females but as we know boys as puppies.

I thought it was a girl thing more... I don't remember it with Algy...

DUH!!! Where is the thread dunce hat?

Sorry guys, just ignore me, two hours in the dentists chair this afternoon has clearly zapped my few remaining brain cells.

I was hoping we would be further along with toilet training by now since he's been home almost 4 weeks. We get the majority of them outside but only if we watch him like a hawk and pounce as soon as he starts sniffing. Many times we will take him out (we do it routinely as recommended after sleep, eating, drinking, playing etc) and very rarely he will do one then.

I bought some of those bells for the back door but he doesn't even sniff around them at all! It's like he doesn't realise he should only go outdoors despite taking him out there constantly!! I'll never get these people who say their dogs got toilet training in 3 days. HOW?!

No idea how they do it but probably just lucky.

Our puppy is nearly 14 weeks now and we still have to watch him constantly.

The minute we get complacent (like this evening) he reminds us he isn't properly house trained yet by doing a wee in the house. At least he seems to be choosing tiles not carpet now, unless that is me being complacent again!

@Twiglets1 I'm glad it's not just us. I am pleased yours seems to choose hard floor though! Vinny always likes to go on a rug like a spoiled princess. It does feel sometimes that he will just never get it, although I know he will in time...

He definitely will get the hang of it eventually.

We give ours a treat every time he goes "busy" in the right place, outside.

He's so greedy it's surprising to me he hasn't mastered it yet but we have to have faith their toileting is better than when they first arrived so are slowly getting there.

I'll never get these people who say their dogs got toilet training in 3 days. HOW?!

Definitely some luck involved. Our eldest seemed to come almost toilet trained, she only had a few accidents in the house in the first few days. But I'm sure we didn't do anything different to most, and we did things they say you shouldn't, like have doors open to the garden constantly.

On the flip side she didn't sleep through until she was 5 months or so!

That makes me feel a bit better as our puppy has the hang of sleeping through the night or at least not making a fuss if he wakes up.

Just goes to show- they all have their own strengths & weaknesses and we should try to focus on the positives (need to follow my own advice).

Yes that's a good way of thinking about it! Vinny has happily slept in his crate since day 1 and I know a lot of people struggle with that so it's swings and roundabouts isn't it.

@BrodiePup it gets better. My pup is 1 yo next month. Long after I thought he was fully house trained he did his business on new carpet overnight and had walked through it. I woke to stinking disgusting livingroom. I was livid. I tried to keep quiet about it (to pup) as no use telling him off but I definately didn't like him that day. It didnt help that I had run out of pet stain/odor removing solution (as I had been confident he was past that stage). I bought a huge 2 litre bottle that day from pet shop and haven't needed it since. It was a one off.
As it sounds like you've just put that rug out again had he done his business there before? If so is it possible he could have smelt it as dogs noses are so much more sensitive?
In relation to the walking, I wonder whether he may be over stimulated. I think I remember from a previous post you mentioned you got him at around 11.5 weeks old? If so and if he hadn't been out much before you got him, is it possible he missed out on some of the early socialisation window through no fault of your own which could be making your job harder now?
In terms of adolescence, my dog's right in the midst of it. Its difficult sometimes but not a living nightmare. He's bigger, stronger, more distractable. But he's still gorgeous, quiet, calm inside, friendly to all, highly trainable, listens intently sometimes (usually when there's food involved! ), he's getting slightly cuddlier and more experienced, even at his young age. Some of the behaviours I've had to tell him "no' to 10,000 times he's gradually started to realise (sometimes) that 'no' means 'always no' and not 'no for 5 seconds then do it again'.
I love him but there is still the odd hour where I don't like him! I think that's normal human emotion in some circumstances like this... Recent example was when he jumped up at me repeatedly on a walk biting at my clothes and mouthing my skin trying to raid my pockets for his treats. He nearly pulled my trousers down he was biting so much. He hadn't done that for months and I thought he knew better. It felt like he was assaulting me and I couldn't sit him down and tell him he'd crossed a line which was very frustrating. I took him straight home and left him there while I went out for a couple hours to calm down.
One of my worst days with him was when he was around your pup's age. After a truly dreadful walk I remember shutting myself in kitchen and crying wishing I'd never got him. Now it pains me to type that because I love him so much.
It gets better because they get better at listening, understanding and following rules and learn self control over time. We get better at communicating with our own unique dog and they gradually learn the boundaries.
The puppy and adolescent threads are full of people feeling like you did today and like I have at times too. (I think most people with puppies would have to admit to having felt that too more than once.)
But you'll notice that people posting about their older dogs are often so full of love and admiration for them. So it seems like we're on a journey that truly does get better with time. I hope so anyway, this is my first dog. But since I don't know any adult dogs who behave as badly as my pup does and since all owners of adult dogs tell me their dog was exactly same at my pup's age I have to believe it'll get better.

@IrishCoffeeEvening Thank you so much for that, I really feel fed up with it all today. We did pick him up at 11.5 weeks, the breeder wouldn't let them go until they were fully vaccinated. We thought at the time that it was a great idea, but quickly wished we'd got him younger. He did have a nice life with them though, he grew up on a small holding on the North York Moors, and played out in the garden with his brothers and sisters. Apart from roads and traffic which haven't been an issue, he was very well socialised.
I think I need to take a step back from him and let my husband take over, hopefully he's going to be about more soon, and Brodie is his dog after all.
For now I admit defeat...

@BrodiePup I had a poem on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager that I want to share with you. I'd type it out but I'm not sure I'd be allowed to under MN rules so I'd ask you to please Google it. It's called Keep Going by Edgar Guest.
Rest if you must but don't you quit girl, please xx