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.

I tried absolutely everything! The only things that have worked and that make me feel he's safe are to have a seat hammock in the back, with a clip that goes round the fabric bit of the seatbelt and onto his harness. He prefers the ones that go over the headrest as they give him more freedom but they're not as safe if I crash and also he gets his little nose right into the front which makes a crash a lot more likely 😄

@brushingboots Thank you so much, this is absolutely great and I will definitely use. I am actually excited to try some of it. We do the retrieve thing quite a lot already as she loves it, doesn’t always bring it back but when she does I do go OTT with praise. This is in the house mind you, I tried in a field the other day and she ran to it and then straight back to me.

I really appreciate it, and wish I was nearer so you could recommend but I’m up in Scotland, near Edinburgh.

One last question if I can be cheeky! I have heard teach a settle, now when I’m working from home and it’s just me and her, she automatically goes to her bed when I put my headset on. I think she knows there will be no attention - she might sleep, or just gaze for a bit. It’s a different story when the rest of the family are here and then she struggles to settle - but I’m not really sure how I’d stop that…

You are very knowledgable!

@haggisaggis We also had some car sickness here, but she seems to have just got better with time! I still feel bad putting her in the car as she’s not a fan but I console myself with the fact that she’ll love our destination!

@ConsternationStation you are very welcome! Always happy to help if I can from my own limited experience.

If you're on the Perth side of Edinburgh then Charlie Thorburn at Mordor Gundogs might not be too far. He's just south of Perth. If I lived up there or even in the Borders I'd go to him. He does some brilliant videos too on both Instagram and YouTube so you can get an idea of what he does.

Re settling with others around, I'd have thought that will come in time. How brilliant that she knows to settle when you put your headset on – that's superb for her age. I think if you want her to settle with everyone else around then a policy of polite ignoring and quiet rewarding for making good choices is probably in order. I think that's what I'd do, but it's natural for her to want to be involved with stuff and it's good for them to learn themselves when things are dull and it's time for them to go and lie quietly somewhere. My girl used to follow me round the house endlessly but she quickly discovered that not all trips to the bathroom were worth making.

Bill has yet to make the same discovery 🙄

Haha @Bupster you know you love how much he cherishes the (Mumsnet banned) loo brush!

I’d actually managed to forget that 😄

My first puppy in almost a decade, always had bigger dogs (lurchers, german shepherds, spaniels) but wanted something a bit smaller and manageable this time around so decided on a little pom, I forgot how much puppy teeth hurt 😅He's a smart little man, very polite so far but don't want to jinx it

What beautiful colouring your puppy has @mapleriver

Gosh, that's a pretty drastic change of size from medium/large dogs to a toy breed....! I wasn't that brave, I stuck with big!

@brushingboots just watched a Mordor Gundogs video on puppies - given me some great perspective, and going to work hard on fun and engagement! Thanks for the recommendation!

@ConsternationStation Pleasure, glad it was helpful!

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas. I’m really enjoying the time off work and spending time with the pup, he’s 7 months old at the end of this month. We’ve had a few days of really good behaviour despite visitors and lots going on, also making some good progress with heel walking. If anyone has any tips for when he pulls towards other dogs I would appreciate it!

Please can someone throw all their tricks and tips my way on how to get pup to sleep alone at night.

N is meant to be sleeping overnight in her crate in the living room but she will not sleep for more than an hour before she starts whining and crying - LOUDLY. DH and I were sleeping downstairs to keep her company - she has been sleeping partly in her crate, partly on the couch with us. We've had the flu this week so things have gotten a little messed up and I feel like we've set her back the small progress that she was making. I really don't want to be sleeping on the couch downstairs, I don't feel comfortable with her upstairs yet for various reasons but mostly her own safety, and I really need more decent sleep to recover from this flu.

What do I do to get her to sleep alone, in her crate at night, for more than an hour at a time?

@ConsternationStation Sorry you are having disturbed nights.

Is there any way you can go free range, restricting her to one puppy proofed room with dog gates instead of crating? Kitchen (or even utility as she's not a large breed) can work well with a gate and leaving the door open.

We never have our dogs upstairs, for their own safety (giant breed so not great with steep stairs) but they've all been free range downstairs/kitchen reared from 7,8,9 weeks and we've never had disturbed nights or whining.

I hope you can get some rest and that you feel better soon.

Just realised that way back in the mists of pre-Christmas I tagged the wrong spaniel owner before. Soz.

Re sleeping, @ConsternationStation, I am inclined to agree with @CoubousAndTourmalet. Our (also spaniel) girl slept on her own downstairs in the kitchen from the first night she was here – no crate, just in a bed in the kitchen with a stair gate. It probably sounds terrible but there was no way I was sleeping on the sofa with her for an unspecified amount of time and creating a rod for my own back, so we just didn't. She whined a bit initially (for the first half an hour) and then understood. At least, I assume she did as we didn't hear her crying. Now she's 18 months she barks if she needs the loo urgently in the mornings when I'm too lazy to get up so I know if she'd needed something all that time ago I'd have heard her. She has no separation anxiety, she understands what 'it's bedtime now' means, and everyone sleeps well. Indeed she now has the kitchen and the snug to herself overnight with a total of three beds, a huge footstool and a sofa with many blankets on it, so she has more space than we do upstairs.

I didn't crate train and have no regrets but lots of people find it useful. I think I'd be going cold turkey at this point, giving her a space safe where she can't hurt herself, telling her it's 'bedtime now', tucking her up and going to bed yourself. Your health and wellbeing matter too. Maybe as I've said here many times I am just a cold stony cow with my dog, but she is a dog and I cannot be a good owner if I haven't been to sleep.

I realised it was for me @brushingboots! and have continued to watch Mordor content very regularly!

@CoubousAndTourmalet we have the exact same issue, and now Christmas is done and we have a bit of time, we’re going to do as suggested above - make sure she’s safe, and go to bed! She will definitely not like it but she’s gone to bed at roughly the same time since she came home with us so hoping it’s not too tough for her as she realises it’s bed time!

@ConsternationStation I’m the other side of the fence on this! Bill wouldn’t settle in a crate when I brought him home. On night two, when he was waking and crying every hour, I buckled and brought him into the bed and I’ve never regretted it. I (almost) always know if he needs to go out (two accidents, both downstairs, in six months); I know if he’s had a hard day as he snuggles right up to me; if he’s unwell, I don’t have to sleep on the sofa with him; and I feel it’s done wonders for the strength of our bond. Most of all, it just makes both of us very happy. I hadn’t intended to have him upstairs even 🙄

I think it has to be a decision based on what you know about your dog. They’re naturally social sleepers and, while every puppy is different, every one of them was sleeping in a big pile of puppies till we brought them home. Your puppy is probably lonely and scared, and perhaps you could all get more sleep while you’re sick if you slept in the same room for a couple of weeks, and then gradually moved the bed/crate further away?

She whined a bit initially (for the first half an hour) and then understood

This approach only works for some puppies. Others will work themselves into a complete state. It's worth trying, but might not be the answer depending on the personality of your pup. We had one that was fine with this approach and one that wasn't.

@DataPup totally and I'm sure for us it was luck! There was just no way I was having her upstairs overnight forever or at all, though she became very welcome in the day when she was old enough. As I've said here before I couldn't have coped mentally with not having any time away from her at night either.

I slept down for weeks with our pup, in fact I'm still sofa sleeping quite a lot at the moment (because of my spinal issues) but she sleeps in the kitchen, so the dog gate is between us. She knows I'm there though, and we're both reassured by each others presence. She's quiet as a mouse through the night, although she moves around quite a bit, as guarding breeds tend to, and that's another reason we have never crated any of them.

To be truthful, we have been exceptionally lucky that all our pups have been very calm and settled from the start. We've never really had disturbed nights; admittedly some 4am, 5am starts when they're tiny and need to go outside for a wee but they've all been easy to rear. I appreciate that that's not always the case though. All pups are different, all breeds are different and it's very much about feeling your own way and learning what works best for you and your puppy.

Unfortunately we're not really able to let her have free range of anywhere due to the layout of our home. I did try a warm hot water bottle, wrapped in a blanket, in her bed last night after I posted. She did sleep in her crate, alone from 1.30 until 6am. So I'm going to do the same again tonight and hope for the same result!

We had the same problem with our pup @ConsternationStation only she didn’t just whine, she also anxiety-pooped every time! In the end we gave up and moved her crate to our bedroom for bedtime. Once we’re back from our Christmas travels (she’s with us obviously!) we are going to trial moving her bed a little further away every night and see if we can get her downstairs. That said, I really really really didn’t want her in our bedroom, for lots of reasons, but actually it’s been totally fine and if she ends up sleeping in here (in her crate) forever I won’t mind too much.

How was your journey? I think I remember you saying you had quite a way to travel with her for Christmas. I hope it went well!

Thank you for asking @YorkshireFelix, that’s so kind! It was a mammoth one – 17 hours in the end! She was VERY good although it was frustrating having to stop so often – obviously she hasn’t learned to wee on command yet so we would stop, walk her about for 20 minutes, fail to get a wee out of her and then have to repeat the whole process anywhere from 10-50 minutes later! But we avoided any wees in the car. She did poo in the car though which was unfortunate – but we coped! She’s been very good while we’ve been here, even on Christmas Day which was obviously very hectic. It has definitely been more stressful having her here but also a joy. We’ve decided to break the journey back over two days so we’re stopping at a Travelodge just over halfway!

Hope everyone having a good festive season with their puppies! I must admit to struggling a bit, I had hoped that with everyone off around Christmas, I could focus on some increasing of alone time training, but it doesn’t seem to matter how short a time I leave her for, she’s upset. She hasn’t been by herself for longer than a couple of minutes since we got her 8 weeks ago - and I’ve started to feel I will never have any life! Please tell me others have experienced and this gets better - do I just need to toughen up?!

I think maybe you do need to toughen up and accept that she will cry when has some alone time, but will soon learn that you will come back quickly.

There's no easy way of doing it - you just need to leave the house and stay out for 5/10 minutes at first, then come back with no fuss, no petting of her, just a calm voice and matter of fact attitude. I would be losing my mind by now so you are calmer than me! You do need some down time so she will have to learn and it's best to just do it, in my opinion. I'm no expert, but my puppy was velcro with me too but coped surprisingly well when I just went out despite the sad face. By repeating the same process a few times you can then gradually build up to longer & longer periods of time apart.