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.

She’s beautiful!

Someone with an older dog as well as a puppy told me recently that toilet training was a breeze as the puppy copied the behaviour of the older dog. Fingers crossed that is the case with your puppy because yes, it’s blooming cold outside. I cringe at the moment every time my 8 month old pup asks to go into the garden. Someone has to escort him each time because he has started digging 🙄

@TeenLifeMum Adorable! And yes, my friend with two WCS said the oldest pretty much trained the younger one - so hopefully it feels the same for you!

@mapleriver also gorgeous pup!

I am celebrating this morning as our morning walk was nearly pulling free this morning 😁I’ve been really focusing on heel walking on lead, but plenty of off leash time and practicing her recall and this morning felt the best yet. It’s good to feel like we’re making progress, particularly as the being alone does not feel like we’re making progress but I’m sure that will come!

Doesn't always work out like that, sadly. We had a male that was fully toilet trained by 10 weeks old, he was exceptionally clean. When he was 4 years old we got a female pup but she took until 5 or 6 months to be fully trustworthy. She was a bright girl but rather lazy. So it depends on the dog. Having had 4 of each I've found bitches are harder to toilet train, all our boys were easy, the girls all took longer with regard to weeing in the house....

Night one and I’m assuming she’s lulling us into a false sense of security. She slept in her crate 11pm to 7.45!

we have bells hanging from the back door for her to ring and in just 6 hours she’d figured that out and this morning rang them to go out for a poo. This feels amazing to me. She’s 8 weeks and 4 days old.

That's wonderful! Sounds like she's a super-bright dog. Just hope she's not too bright - my little sod discovered I would always get up from what I was doing to let him out if he rang the bells, so he started doing it when I was having dinner so I couldn't ignore him. Then instead of having a poo, he'd bring in a single piece of gravel and drop it loudly on the wooden floor, over and over again 😄

I’m expecting this to become the case 🙈😂

Wow! Is it too late to swap puppies? Mine is 32kg now, mind.

@Twiglets1 - it was just one night, not getting too comfortable.

Can I please join you all? 9 week old puppy here, gad him home a week, had to take him to vet today as thought he may have swallowed a small item, it seems he didn’t (vet induced vomiting just incase) we’re home now and he’s sleeping but I feel awful.

I had ensured the floor was clear, it was a room he hadn’t been in before but I hadn’t thought about items stuck to the wall at low level (the room was formerly a child’s room and hadn’t got round to removing them, I also hadn’t considered he’d be attracted to them).

He went from popping his front paws up on the wall and mouthing them to coughing/making strange noises. I just feel so bad for not thinking about this area being attractive to him and and then putting him through the vet visit.

I had similar but even worse as our 8.5 week old puppy got ill with sickness & diarrhoea after one night in our house! We think he ate something he shouldn’t have done in the garden, possibly a slug. His first morning he was very poorly and not eating or drinking. Had to take him to the vet to get rehydrated and he recovered very quickly after that. You feel terrible don’t you? Ours has never been sick since but we felt so awful about it.

Aww @Twiglets1 thank you for responding & for sharing! I am so sorry you went through this, that must have been so awful! I am glad to hear he recovered ok, you would never have expected that!

You do feel awful and there was no way of you knowing there was any issue at all in your case. How old is he now?

He's nearly 8 months now & a big, solid boy (Lab cross). Has a cast iron stomach now like most Labs!

Checking in! Welcome to all our new members – this is the best thread on the internet and has got me through some very overwhelming puppy blues! I’m still a novice – our Betty is nearly 17 weeks now so still very wee! – but I hope I can repay some of the kindness I’ve found here to anyone who struggles the way I did.

We had quite the adventure with Betty over Christmas. We stayed with my parents for two weeks which of course completely messed up her routine, not least because I have a new baby nephew so she had to be on the end of a long line quite a lot of the time, poor pup. Anyway, her toileting definitely took a step backward and we had quite a lot of accidents but it’s to be expected really and I’m sure we can get her back on track. She was an angel really – not at all bothered by the fireworks on NYE and handled two long car journeys with aplomb – a 15 hour marathon on the way over (plus 2 hours on the ferry) and 8 hours a day over two days on the way back. Lots of stops and treats and she did so well.

She has had an upset tummy for a few days though, which initially we put down to her getting more treats – both from us and from my parents! – but yesterday on the ferry she had a really horrible poo – it sort of got “stuck” and DP had to try and help her get it out. There was definitely something hard in it although it was hard to tell if it was just a matt of fur (unfortunately she still has some form her time in the shelter, despite our best efforts to get them out – Shih Tzu fur + a terrier’s love of digging does not mix – can’t wait until she can have her first puppy groom and we can trim her back to a manageable length!). Anyway she seemed okay after that but today she was sick and had bad diarrhoea (on my cream rug of course!). We took her to the emergency vets immediately – our last pup that we lost when he was 4 had an episode of diarrhoea the day before he died so we’re pretty cautious about it. Anyway they ran lots of tests and decided she was fine and an x-ray wouldn’t be justified at this stage, but they gave her some Buscopan for her sore tummy as well as a probiotic, and £600 later (!) we headed home! Thank goodness for pet insurance is all I can say!

So that was an adventure! She is fine tonight, normal poo and other than being a bit sleepier than usual she’s her normal self. Currently asleep on the sofa next to me with her head hanging off the edge as usual. I had a few wobbles while we were away but I’m feeling much better now we’re home. Will be good to get her back into routine though and start her training in earnest. She’s doing really well with settle/sit, and not too bad with leave and drop. And we’ve been doing a lot of flitting which does seem to be helping with her separation anxiety. Fingers crossed!

Puppy tax… here is how she prefers to sleep!

Wow! Sounds like you’ve had quite stressful time of it @peachgreen! though your little girl has done so well with all the change and travel, that’s amazing!!! You must be so pleased to have had her seen, particularly given your previous experience. Less so about the bill, but as you say, thank god for pet insurance!!)

I’m certain the cream rug has seen better days, but look how happy and chilled that pup is!!!

Am very grateful to have found this thread, I am brand new to this so it’s so helpful to be able to talk about all things pup. Hope you are all doing ok, it’s quite the rollercoaster.

Wow @peachgreen you've been through a lot and so has Betty. Impressed she coped so well with all that travelling, we thought ours did well coping with a 4 hour drive recently but that's nothing compared to your mammoth trip.

Vet bills are mind blowing. Anyway, thanks for paying the puppy tax - best tax ever - and hope you get Betty back into a good routine at home soon.

RIP - cream rug. Also RIP, my nice lawn (full of holes now) and the lovely smell of my new car (quickly replaced by the smell of wet dog mixed with mud)

@peachgreen that sounds so stressful. Belle had a really dodgy tummy one night over the festives - which I put down to a mix of over excitement and too many treats! Straight back to normal, but it is a worry.

She’s been out today loving the snow!

last night was not as good as night one and dh and I were up twice each. I did the morning wake up (which actually wasn’t until 8am) and let dh sleep in until 10am (which he was hugely appreciative of).

Meredith is getting more bitey and poor ddog1 got bitten on his balls! He rightly told her off and she stepped back. We also took her to pets at home for some extra bits… she slept in my arms through the whole experience. Despite the biting, she’s so snuggly.

Back to work Tuesday (dh wfh and I wfh 3 days a week) so that’ll be interesting. Dh has some leave to book so he’ll see how it goes and choose when to book.

We're fully back to normal tomorrow and I'm curious to see how N will be without DH and DC in the house. I'm guessing there'll be a lot of whining and sadness as she completely adores them. I'm a SAHM with a small business so at least she'll still have me, even if I have a lot I need to get on with. I essentially took the whole of December off (I have a craft business), stopped accepting custom orders and only sold pre-made so it'll be interesting to see how much I'll be able to get done with N about.

I'm also trying to build up walks as she's only been allowed out a week - and only had a couple in that time. She's going to have to do the school run with me as we haven't quite built up enough time leaving her alone in the crate (other than overnight). So that's another thing I need to work on with her. We've just bought a camera so I'll be able to see how much it stresses her out to be left alone at all.

Thanks @Twiglets1 @ComeTalkToMe @Kateboosh – hugely appreciated! It was a stressful time but she really did handle it pretty well, all things considered, especially the journey.

Sounds like we're in the same position @ConsternationStation! DP works in the office two-three days a week and DD is at school until 2 so it's me and pup at the moment. As predicted, there has been a lot of whining and, unfortunately, a poo on the floor. Since we got back from our trip she seems to have really regressed with her toilet training and she has decided my rug is her poop spot! Since we got back, she's pooed there at least once a day – we're watching her like a hawk but she goes literally mid-play session so it's very hard to catch in time! Plus since her stomach upset her schedule is all confused so her predictable poo timeslots are a lot less predictable now... We're going back to basics for a few days – out every half an hour – and hoping she gets her head around it again. To be fair, I feel like I'm struggling to remember how to do normal life so no wonder she's having to readjust!

I'm coping a bit better with my solo time with her than I was although work is in full swing and the balance is already a struggle. My job is very demanding and can be quite time sensitive which isn't easy when you're trying to train a puppy. I've set up a calendar and blocked out timeslots for her walks etc so hoping that will help...

Right there with you on the flying solo front @peachgreen my DH works out of the house but has one day off during the week when I go into the office and he’s taken another couple of days off this month for other meetings I need to go into for.

DD is back to school tomorrow so I will be flying solo, I think blocking out the diary is a good idea and will schedule some for myself also. I’ve been WFH today but as DD is here she can entertain him when he needs it. I suspect I’m in for lots of whining tomorrow.

It's tricky, isn't it @Kateboosh ? I keep trying to remind myself that lots of dogs get left alone all the working day, but it doesn't seem to assuage my guilt when I'm having to ignore her! It was fine with our older dog as he was happy with his scheduled playtime and walks, and then content to just chill with his toys, potter and snooze all day, and we knew he wouldn't get up to any mischief so could just let him wander free. Betty would be a lot happier if she could do that too, I think, but we can't puppy proof the office – too many cables which are one of her favourite things to chew! – and as mentioned, she likes to poo on the rug, so she has to be in her pen for most of the day. It's pretty big and has her bed and lots of toys, but still, she doesn't like being confined.

Having said that, she has been pretty good today since she got used to the idea that Dad isn't going to be around, and I took her for a fairly long walk at lunchtime which seems to have knackered her out so the afternoon has been fairly peaceful...

Sounds like she’s done really well today @peachgreen you are totally right about the adjustment, they will soon get used to it. Am sure we’re just so conscious that it’s a big change coming out of the holidays and people always being around.

I will be in a similar boat tomorrow, the pen if very big but he also hates being locked away. Though even with my DD home today he ended up behind bars a couple of times today, the nipping was unreal. So when it gets too much we’ve taken to popping him in his pen to keep him safe and give a break for 5 minutes. It’s really tricky to get the balance of playing, without getting him too overexcited as the nipping goes through the roof when he’s overexcited or tired (of course!)

@Kateboosh so glad to hear others are using ‘time outs’ Lola also gets nippy when she’s over excited/over tired so we pop her away from harm for literally 5 minutes and it seems to reset her and allow her to calm down. I’ve been mostly on my own all day WFH, fortunately she’s napped for the calls I’ve had (more luck than judgement!). I’m in the office tomorrow so DH is flying solo…

We find when Betty’s getting nippy it is 100% a sign that she needs a crate nap!

@peachgreen oh dear, your poor rug. Hopefully going back to basics for a few days gets her back into the swing of things before your rug is ruined completely! N is doing a decent job at telling me when she needs out now. She'll sit by the back door and wait so as long as I'm in the kitchen or aware that she is we are getting out in time. She doesn't whine or bark though so I have missed it a couple of times in the last week.

Today went really well with N. I managed to get a couple of hours of work done during her naps or when she was content, pottering about and chewing on toys. I even managed a quick spot of housework before having to get DC. I obviously spent a whole bunch of time with her, playing, cuddling, training, getting into the garden and took her on the school run for her walk. It was such a lovely day. Absolutely adore the company she gives. I really missed that after we lost our previous dog in July.