Puppy Survival Thread for New and Old Pups - here comes winter 2024

[Bupster]

I thought I might as well be the one to start the new thread! Nothing to report but a sleepy puppy over here.

Thanks @Bupster

I suspect you're right about secondary fear. She'll be 7 months old next week so she's a month older than Bill. It's exactly what you describe; nothing bothered her before, she was fine with noisy motorbikes, trucks etc now she's spooked by everything, even wheelie bin lids clattering. Yup, same; couple of months ago I would have expected her to sail through Nov 5th without a flinch but now I'm expecting a panting, cowering, wide eyed wreck... I feel so bad for her.

I'm just not sure whether to play background radio or music or if that'll just be noise on top of noise...

Really wish we still had our camper van because we could have driven to a firework free zone, parked up with some butties and a flask of coffee, and she'd have been fine but I feel that the car boot is too confined for her. As it is, I think we'll have to tough it out somehow but I am dreading it.

Really hope that she and Bill both get over this phase soon but we're only a couple of weeks away from the 5th so I can't see it passing that quickly tbh...

When did Brie start getting spooked, @PyreneanAubrie ? The secondary fear period can last 2-3 weeks apparently. Bill's had about ten days of it now, so I'm crossing all my fingers than we're nearly out of it. It started with bin bags and horses and people with their hoods up; today it's noisy car door slamming. But he is getting over each fear quite quickly so we might be out of it already and he's just startled by the sounds (though that itself doesn't bode terribly well).

Today I played a YouTube video of fireworks at the lowest possible volume and he didn't even notice, so that's a bit more optimistic. Will try slowly upping the volume over the next few days when we're doing something else that's fun like playing or training, and see how he reacts. He's heard gunshots when we've been out and about as it's a noise that carries, and I live in a city which is in quite a rural area; and he's also heard them on the TV, and always been fine; but if it's a fear period then it's a few weeks where anything at all can be spooky 😕.

It was about two weeks ago, @Bupster - I was out with her on the Saturday morning and she pulled me into someone's driveway when a rattly trailer spooked her. She had reacted to a motorbike a couple of days before that though which was unusual as she was previously very steady with bikes. Oddly enough, she wasn't as bad with traffic over this past week but then got bothered by the fireworks last night.

That should suggest she's coming towards the end of the fear period but I sort of don't see how it can really have such a specific time frame... Fingers crossed that it does turn out to be the case, otherwise we might be in for a rocky ride during the first week of November.

I'll copy your idea and try some YouTube firework videos over the next few evenings. We're pretty rural so she does hear shotguns now and then but that's generally daytime so I'm wondering if the fireworks being after dark was a factor. We found that Algy was bugged less by them if he could go outside, see them and be "guardy"/bark, whereas indoors he was more jumpy about the noise, which sort of ties in with what you've said about Bill with the car doors...

It's a weird thing but I hope it won't last because a gigantic cowering adult dog would be a nightmare to live with.

@PyreneanAubrie Oh no! Poor old Brie. It does sound like a secondary fear phase. We had a few fireworks going off in the distance last night and pupsy was definitely better outside than in, where she could, I guess, sort of hear better where they were coming. She hears guns all the time and isn’t gunshy but as a child I was terrified of fireworks but never the sound of shotgun fire myself so I’ve always thought there must be something different about those particular sounds.

You know how to manage your lovely giants and am not v much teaching my granny to suck eggs etc, but how do you react to her reactions?

Interesting @brushingboots , that your girl was better outside, so that would back up what I said about our previous dog, Algy. If he could go outside and bark he coped fine on Nov 5th.

We didn't go OTT on the sympathy or babying with Brie last night, we just more or less said "it's okay" then tried to distract her with a chew but she still kept listening and looking up. We don't want to reinforce her fear in any way so we try to make everything a non-issue and distract her; same with her recent jumpiness in traffic. I'm not going to teach her it is something to be scared of.

I can completely identify with what you say about your childhood fear of fireworks though, I'm very noise sensitive (ASD/anxiety) and have never liked them myself. I'm going to struggle in early November just as much as Brie is 😧

Very tired puppy tonight, she's had a cuddle then done a bit of the lying down running thing 🤗

Small progress, yay!
DP took Brodie on the lead and just wandered around the front garden watching some cars go by. Still not sure but didn't get spooked!

I've also discovered he's a great help gardening 😂

Awww, that's very cute @locketrocket . I'm glad it was a better day.

We've just got back from our weekend away. Had to stay an extra day because the storm cancelled all the ferries off where we were staying. V had a great time with MIL and her dogs and it's been so good for him to spend time with them, although he kept trying to boss them about!!

He was SO excited when we arrived to collect him and snoozed the whole drive home. Dd missed him so much 💔

Our poor pup has fleas! We found out the breeder didn't give the litter any flea treatment before we collected them at eight weeks, so we applied Frontline Plus last week as a precaution but last night she started scratching madly and we're finding big fat black ones and there is flea dirt embedded everywhere. 😡 Obviously we can't apply more flea treatment only a week later so what else can we do??? I'm washing all bedding today etc.

Aw poor pup!

What about using a dog comb to go through her fur & see if you can find any more fleas to remove? Or giving her a bath with flea shampoo?

Might be a daft question, but do I need to wet her fur to use a flea comb on her??? Is it like head lice?

Scratch that! (Literally!)

Have used flea comb and got loads out. Will keep doing that and then bathe her with a flea shampoo. Thanks!

Aww what a nightmare @DowntonNabby! Hope you manage to get rid of them!

Thank you! We're just a bit surprised the breeder hadn't given them a flea treatment – we thought that was standard.

I’m having a frustrating day, thought we were getting into a good toilet routine - he’s been going straight after lunch. Been in/out 8 times when I can see he is sniffing about to go - get outside he won’t go - eating leaves, licking the floor and generally messing about. I can see he needs to go and won’t. I’ve missed too much work by this point so go to fetch my laptop and headphones to dial in from kitchen - out of the room less than 30 seconds… get back and he’s done number 1 & 2 on the floor. It’s so hard not to feel it’s deliberate 😖😖😖 I feel like he should be getting it by now.

@JohnNutLips that is so frustrating. V does it sometimes too and it annoys the hell out of me. Especially when you KNOW they need to go. He always does it first thing in the morning when I really don't want to be stood outside and need to start getting dd ready for school after a while..

Not much to report here apart from this accidental supermodel shot I took of V in the woods earlier 🤣

@YorkshireFelix
😍😆😘
So, so cute ❤

@YorkshireFelix Gorgeous boy! Glad he had a lovely time on his little holiday.

@JohnNutLips I had exactly the same feeling with my pup like he should be getting it by now! (Or on a bad day, he’s never going to get it).

But one day you realise you can’t remember the last accident- that’s a good day 😀

We've been practicing using a release word since our first puppy class the weekend before last (I was meant to miss last weekends as I was away but they cancelled it anyway because of the storm which is lucky for me!!). I've been practicing as much as possible, so when putting his food down, before opening his crate, leaving the front door for a walk. I think he's getting it! He just waited until I said 'free' to come out of his crate, and sat patiently until I said it before eating his dinner.

I didnt think he wasn't listening to me but he must have been 🤣 It's very satisfying!

Oh, what a good lad, @YorkshireFelix ! Bill only recognises that in one very specific context, when he's lying on the kitchen mat hoping I'm going to drop him some treatos as I'm cutting them up into littler pieces.

Ah well done, @YorkshireFelix and lovely Vinny.

@YorkshireFelix Well done both of you! How old is he now? 20 odd weeks ish?