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.

Sending a solidarity fist-bump too,@Sparkler77. We also did loads of research but nothing prepares you for the reality of having an actual breathing, panting, biting and zooming puppy move in. It's a LOT. I'm coming through the other end of menopause and I can just imagine how overwhelming pup + menopause symptoms are, so it's good you are seeing your GP. HRT saved my sanity, especially where anxiety was concerned – if you're not already on it, it might be worth investigating.

@DowntonNabby glad to hear he's sleeping well!

It seems like we solve one problem then another one rears its head... Not sure if this would work but if you have enough space at the foot of the stairs, could you buy one of those metal pens which you can also use as a fence/one length? I use one to create an area outside of our back door so V can walk straight out into the pen, but not access the rest of the yard. It has a gate included on one of the panels. Hopefully you understand what I mean!

@DowntonNabby sorry she not he!!!

I do know what you mean, as we have a play pen already for her. We also have a crate that she hates – might see if I can dismantle it and use the side as a barrier!

We also have a temporary fence made from a puppy play pen, ours divides the orangery so pup can access the back door but the cat can use her litter tray in privacy at the far end of the room.

In the past we've had a few improvised stair gates, my parents house had a hilariously Heath Robinson affair that my dad had created from bits of an old cupboard...It kept the dog away from the stairs but was such an obstacle that the whole family needed to plan visits too the loo well in advance 😆

@DowntonNabby Glad you got your sleeping sorted!

We had a similar stairs dilemma as our stairs have a silly dog-leg in them and no safe way of installing a gate. We just closed doors and put gates elsewhere – over the kitchen and snug doorways – because the layout meant we could and she didn’t go upstairs until she was about eight months, or maybe older. Now she races up and down with no care for safety but I’m glad we were firm for a while. So in sum, gates, just elsewhere! All of these other ideas seem much more cleverer and more inventive than I ever was: it never occurred to me at the time to get her a pen!

Sounds like us at the moment @brushingboots . We have gates to stop Brie accessing the hallway; our stairs go up the middle of the house, so she can have access to the other three rooms but not the hall. At night she just has two rooms (kitchen/orangery) with the living room gate closed.
There is usually a way of working these things out even if it's only a temporary measure.

Bill sleeps with me, so I had to carry him up and down the stairs until he got too heavy and the vet gave me permission to teach the little chonk to manage them himself...

So much love for that photo - if you ever get sick of Bill I'll take him off your hands!

Vinny has learnt to go up and down stairs very recently (I'm surprised it took him to long!) so I had to install a baby gate as he's up there quick as a flash trying to steal dd's teddies.

@Bupster I looooooove Bill he's just too cute! How much does he weigh now?

We had an excellent walk in the woods today. I've been practicing his recall loads and whistled him back when he was mid-chase of a pigeon which I am quite impressed by. There's a few steep banks and he LOVES running up and down them repeatedly. It makes him so happy. It's so nice to see him growing in confidence 😍

Slightly rubbish picture because a black dog is so hard to photograph. He looks miserable but I swear he was ecstatic 🤣

I posted a video of him in one of the WCS Facebook groups earlier and he just looks so joyful! Wish we could share videos here.

We've got a stair gate as Roman not supposed to go upstairs according to Guide dog instructions.

My husband decided to remove the stair gate as the puppy never showed any interest in going upstairs anyway until ... the stair gate was removed.

He shot up there and then was too scared to walk down them (quite big steps). Husband had to carry him down but he's 20kg now at 5 months old 😂 Of course the stair gate is now fixed in place again.

Ohhhh. @Bupster He's so gorgeous. He looks velvety soft on that photo ❤

And Vinnie is so handsome @YorkshireFelix

@YorkshireFelix In the least creepy way possible I saw your video earlier – what a super boy! Watching them spaniel is truly the best thing.

I interviewed a gamekeeper from a big estate today who has 15 dogs! Of course they're all working but still, 15 is a lot! It made me chuckle when he was talking about how he still has to walk them, as I remembered Local Spaniel Man pompously telling me that he doesn't walk his dog because 'he's a working dog'.

Anyway, he said that of all his dogs, of many breeds, he loves his cockers the best, and his do still jump up at people, they do dig in the garden, and one of them can't walk on a lead at all, so that made me feel a bit better about our shortcomings here.

@brushingboots FIFTEEN DOGS! I can't even imagine it. The breeder we got V from has 6 cockers and I thought that was a lot. I don't know how people do it. I think if I could walk Vinny off lead forever we would both be happy 😂

@YorkshireFelix Think of all the food! And the chews! And just the stuff, everywhere. They do live in kennels to be fair so I guess a lot of it isn't in the house but it's just a lot.

Same haha – we didn't use the lead at all on either walk today and it was lovely but alas not wholly practical 14 times a week. Perhaps one day when I win the lottery that I rarely enter.

@YorkshireFelix he was 18 kg last time I weighed him - we're at the vet for his six month check up on Thursday so I'll see if he's still chonking. He had second breakfast like a hobbit today, and a second dinner, because the poor tragic puppy was starving to death 🙄so I'm guessing yes.
@PyreneanAubrie he is exactly as soft and squidgy as he looks. I keep waiting for him to fill out all those floppy chops but he never does. And you can forgive pretty much anything when that soft little chin is resting on your lap (or indeed across your head, even at 6am).
@Twiglets1 I'd never sell him. At least not while he's asleep. As soon as he's awake, I'm weighing him up for kebabs 😄
Thank you all for being lovely about my darling boy. Yes, he's fast asleep right now, how did you guess?

Please can I join, puppy has been with us a week … sleeping through the night so far, toilet training a work in progress. The thing I’m struggling with most is the biting/chasing/excitement induced humping - he only does it to me, I’ve been putting him in his playpen to calm down and trying again in 10 mins but no difference. I can’t seem to play with him without it getting out of hand, and then I feel guilty for the time in his play pen 😢

Who feeds Wolfworthy? Is it you @Bupster ?
Someone has just mentioned it on a food discussion thread and I recall it being mentioned here a while back...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/5184208-what-food-do-you-buy-your-ddog

Thanks again everyone! We do have a gate blocking door between hallway and lounge so we will just make sure it’s closed as much as possible (pup’s pen is in the lounge for now).

Welcome @JohnNutLips

It’s good your puppy is sleeping through the night. Toilet training takes most of them a while to master. Roman used to come IN from outside just to do his business sometimes but he gradually got the hang of it. Two steps forward one step back all the way.

The biting & chasing does get better I promise you. And Roman was always worse towards me too than anyone else. I feel it’s kinda like a compliment because they must think we’re the most fun to play with 🤷🏼‍♀️

No, not me, @PyreneanAubrie ! He’s on a slightly mad mix of Eukanuba grain free (because it has more meat than the grain stuff), Millie’s Wolfheart gundog mix, which is great for him but he won’t eat on its own, and Forthglade wet as a topper - duck whole grain right now as he’s refusing the lamb - plus extra hobbit meals of wet Pooch and Mutt or Lily’s Kitchen, both of which he adores but I’m suspicious that he’s a little intolerant of, as (like 80% of puppy wet food for some bloody reason) it’s mostly chicken. Plus his own weight in treatos, and various chews he will only eat if I’m holding one end of, and the liver and salmon paste I use to persuade him off the dog park in emergencies, or stuff ‘orrible ‘orns with so I can eat my dinner in peace. Bet you wish you’d not asked now 😄😄

That all sounds really good @Bupster .
Must have misremembered, sorry but could have sworn someone here feeds Wolfworthy...

Welcome @JohnNutLips

What breed is your pup? I agree it does get better and I know that's not really helpful when you're in the thick of it. The weeks simultaneously went so slow and fast at the same time for us. The good thing about puppies is that they progress quickly so the awful stages don't last forever (unlike babies and toddlers!!). I am with mine on my own 90% of the time and I am his chosen thing to bite unfortunately. I'm not sure if there's any sort of science between main caregiver and getting the brunt of the bad behaviour but I'm sure there must be...

Yes, @YorkshireFelix , @Twiglets1 I'm putting my hand up as another main caregiver who seems to bear the brunt of the bad (well, silly/excitable) behaviour. I'm pretty sure Brodiepup has said something similar also. It does seem to be a thing... I just think it means they trust us 😊