Summer 25 pups

[Lavenderdog]

Any other new puppy owners around this summer? Have been looking back at some of the old puppy support threads and can see how helpful it was for those posters to share their experiences.

9 week old mini schnauzer here - so toilet training and avoiding those needle sharp teeth are the current main activities here!

(And being tolerant of her determination to rid my garden of lavender plants. Hence my user name 😂)

@LandSharksAnonymous thank you, that’s very helpful. I’m sure I read somewhere or heard somewhere before I brought Pabs home to not give them 100% of your attention 100% of the time. I’m not built that way myself but it’s hard to get out of the mentality of ‘this is like having a toddler’ and I did find myself feeling guilty for essentially ignoring him for periods of time! So it’s good to know that this is good for him.

Im not sure what a snuffle mat is 😂
I only ever give him a kong when I have to leave him in the house but upon watching him, he does tend to make his own entertainment when he’s emptied the kong but I should probably think about phasing that out, maybe? It has his usual kibble in it with peanut butter in the end - I do feel better that it slows down his eating!

I tend to leave him to his early evening zoomies as long as I know he’s not hurting himself or being too much of a menace! Once done, he usually just conks beside me on the sofa for the evening. Which has fast become one of my favourite times of the day 😂

@VanGoSunflowers If it works for you and Pablo, there is no need to phase anything out. He's your dog.
What works for one person doesn't work for another. I let my three play, run and wrestle in the house. I can absolutely see why that wouldn't work for @LandSharksAnonymous for example.

I'm with @LandSharksAnonymous (as usual)

I'm a horrible meanie with my pups, I don't allow licki mats, Kong etc because I want them to switch off. Yes, puppies need a certain amount of stimulus, but not all the time. If you think they need to be constantly chewing/licking/chasing because otherwise they'll be bored, then you're making a rod for your own back. You end up with a dog that can never switch off and won't go to sleep.
They need to learn to settle and be calm and quiet from a young age.

But then as @SpanielsGalore rightly says, you also need to find what works for you and your pup. They all have different needs and energy levels. So trust your own instincts to some extent, rather than sticking rigidly to the rules.

As far as zoomies goes, Brie is still doing them on a daily basis at 15 months and approaching 50kg 😱

@SpanielsGalore can you imagine the absolute chaos my lot would cause if they zoomied together? 😄

I was picturing 5 goldies leaping on and off the furniture as I posted. 😂

Mine have a chew or licky mat every day. They last anywhere between 2 and 20 minutes. But I see it as a treat rather than a tool to help them settle/keep them occupied. They're perfectly able to entertain themselves or sleep when required.

Your 5, plus satan, plus 11 overstimulated tired puppies in the puppy witching hour 😂 You'd have no house left!

I'd pay good money to watch it though. 😂

Here's my puppy proving she can settle anywhere. (My NDN just sent me the photo.🤦‍♀️)

Just in case anyone's feeling a failure here, Bill at 15 months is only now just beginning to settle separately from me. Up until the last few days he would only settle at my feet, and nap touching as much of me as possible.

I did teach him to settle as a puppy during mealtimes (he registered his objections, as I've mentioned elsewhere, by dropping gravel on the floor, over and over, but eventually accepted it). But when he hit adolescence he went backwards on everything, including his capacity to settle and nap.

As he's easily disturbed by outside noises, I've been taking him up to the bed to nap during the day, and putting on the air conditioner, or brown noise - I decided it was more important to get him to sleep during the day than to worry about whether he could settle by himself.

However, there is hope - he is finally getting sick of my shit and he stomps off, protesting, when I do the washing up; I generally find him staring out of the window in the front room with a stuffed crocodile or large plastic bottle in his mouth, to the delight of passers-by.

Reading all of these, I really do need to just calm down a bit don’t I?
My apologies, I still have the odd say where I start thinking irrational thoughts such as “agh I am getting everything wrong!!” when I know I’m actually not, yes I make mistakes but who doesn’t!

Anyway, I shall try and keep my anxiety in check in future 😂🤦‍♀️

Also - I did try a licky mat with Pabs in the earlier days but he was really frustrated by it, pawed at the contents and subsequently trapsed it all through the house 😂

Don't be daft! It's perfectly understandable and we all go through it.
I'm getting stuff wrong and Brie is my 9th puppy. And I'm still anxious about messing up! So I'm in awe of you - I really think you're doing an incredible job with your boy.
But there is always more to learn (even forty odd years in...) and it pays to ask what others are doing, because sometimes the tiniest little things can make all the difference.

Some really interesting discussions re "settle"!

I have to confess we do use a lickimat, preferably frozen, for all three of pup's main meals (just normal wet food spread across the mat). This is to give us a sliver of a chance to eat our own food in the same amount of time it takes him to eat his dinner. Previous to the lickimat we'd been giving him his food in a bowl and literally ten seconds later he'd be done. I swear he was inhaling it.

We are in parallel working on training him not to be an absolute pest when we're eating dinner and he is unoccupied, but with two small kids he unfortunately gets a few inadvertent rewards in the form of dropped food/unguarded plates, so it's a slow one...

Thank you @CoubousAndTourmalet that means a lot! x

Seconding @CoubousAndTourmalet, @VanGoSunflowers – you and P seem to be doing really well. Like I always say, you can only train the dog in front of you and they’re all different. Pupsy mastered daytime settling super quick because she had to – I had to work and also try and function without having a mental breakdown so she got with the programme. I can’t really remember how I did it apart from that she learnt the phrase ‘go and lie down’ pretty much first and she got ignored if she didn't do as she was told (and she didn't need anything else). The result is that she now settles everywhere pretty much instantly and generally mirrors what I'm doing – if I'm sitting, she's lying down/asleep usually. I've been up in my office all afternoon sorting out paperwork and she just lay under my desk asleep.

Evenings were another matter and I cried a lot when she couldn't/wouldn't stop attacking me on the sofa and all I had down the phone from my partner who works away is 'she's just a puppy, how hard can it be?' I didn't realise until she was about 16 weeks that if I put her in the baby-gated kitchen in her bed, within five minutes she'd be asleep. Even a few minutes of that encouraged evening calmness and then she'd be ready to join me. Now she begs me for sofa time in the evenings and it is truly the best time of the day.

I have a couple of licky mats and kongs but I haven't used them for ages now. When she was tiny I did put some of her wet food on a mat the other night or so and it definitely had a calming effect. For five minutes, and then she'd be racing about again. Because she was a baby.

All the horrors pass and then you end up with a lovely two-year-old and want a puppy again.

@VanGoSunflowersI could have written your posts when SoupDog was 15 weeks. I was frantically buying things, trying lots of things dog owners suggested, worrying constantly that we would mess up big style with SoupDog. Me and DH were both knackered and struggling with the early, early mornings. You seem to be doing brilliantly, much better than I was at that age. Now SoupDog is 22 weeks it’s getting much easier because we’ve relaxed, realised this is a marathon not a sprint and that little and often with the training is working. Also that phrase, you can only train the dog in front of you, really helped too. Our family circumstances, our dogs, are all different, one size doesn’t fit all. If someone had told me at the 15 week stage that 7 weeks later I’d have a Sunday where I had a great 50 minute early morning walk and play in the park with SoupDog and then she’d chill for the rest of the day, including when we left her to go do a half hour shop, I’d have never believed it. We’ve just had 10 minutes out in the garden with a ball and she’s now chilling on the sofa while I sort out dinner! We will have a sniffy walk for 20 minutes later and then cuddles on the sofa until bed time. You’ll get there too.

@brushingboots and @soupmaker thank you so much for your posts, I find them very encouraging! You are correct - it is a marathon and not a sprint and I am sure we will get there!

So the gun dog training guy called me earlier. I’m not sure I was overly enamoured with his tone if I am completely honest. I think I am going to go for a 1:1 lesson - they’re going to come back and let me know availability. But I did feel a little like he was patronising me for not starting with it sooner.

He asked how old he was, I said he would be 15 weeks on Tuesday and he said “so you’re already out walking him then?” And I of course said yes. He said “and is he walking on a loose lead and looking up and engaging with you?” (Again, in a patronising tone) And I said - he does it about 80% of the time - so we are getting there. He said “Hmm - I thought you were going to say no” and then started giving me a car analogy about trying to drive a car with no brakes or steering or some such and said that I shouldn’t walk him again until I come in for our first session because I am bound to be teaching him bad habits. And essentially, that I should stop taking him anywhere at all until then and just play with him in the garden and chuck a ball to tire him out. Im not going to do that.

The guy I spoke to won’t be the one that’s doing the training, thankfully. But the tone of arrogance really puts a dent in your confidence. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to develop a thicker skin!

Sorry for another rant 😂

@VanGoSunflowers oh my god, chuck that one back! I'm not sure I'd go and have a lesson with him/them on that alone. Very rude, not supportive, 0/10. These are the people that give gundog work a bad reputation.

Yes you can start at 8 weeks but you definitely don't need to, even if you're going to work them full time! What a load of rubbish.

A good trainer should be able take on a dog of any level and any number of 'bad habits' and also not patronise keen, enthusiastic people down the phone. Ugh that has annoyed me.

@VanGoSunflowers ps, yes a thick skin is useful but no one should have to put up with men (for it is always they) being rude to them about doing their bloody best with their dog!

@YorkshireFelix and I have discussed the professional Spaniel Men (TM) before and there are certainly plenty of professional Labrador Men (TM) out there too!

Sorry @VanGoSunflowers
I'm not clued up on gundog training, I admit, but if you're being told not to walk him that'd be a no from me. You're still in that vital window of socialisation, and that's important. Pablo is first and foremost a pet, not a kennel dog, so I'd say fuck what "gundog man" thinks are bad habits, when he hasn't even met you!
(Sorry if this is in any way inappropriate to say...)

@VanGoSunflowers I agree with @brushingboots and @CoubousAndTourmalet .
I wouldn't go.
I have read gundog training books that say you shouldn't put a lead on a dog until it can walk to heel without one, never take it for a walk as everything should be about training and never let it chase anything.
Great if you want to work your dog, I guess. But it's not for me as a pet owner.

I took P to gundog lessons. She must have been a year old when we started, so would have had loads of 'bad habits'. The trainer works on the estate and enters and organises trialling competitions in my area. Just saying this to show he's a 'proper' gundog man. He didn't say anything like that. We had a 1-to-1 lesson first so he could assess P and probably me, then we joined a training class. He was also perfectly fine with me using a harness instead of a slip lead and treats instead of nothing.

And you don't need a thicker skin. You need to do what you instinctively feel is the right thing for Pablo.
Apologies if you feel we have pissed on your bonfire.

Yeah I would tell him to get fucked and look for a female trainer!

@brushingboots, @CoubousAndTourmalet and @SpanielsGalore - thank you all so much (again!) you’re confirming my gut feel about it and none of you have pissed on my bonfire at all nor said anything inappropriate. I think you’re right, I need to find another one don’t I?

Agh, why do they have to be this way? I feel like saying to them - yes, you have way more knowledge around this than I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be coming to you in the first place, but do you have to speak to me like an idiot little woman? Are you interested in what we have done so far? Are you annoyed that I have managed to make a little bit of progress without you? And, well, I’m here aren’t I? I’m trying to do the best I can and I think we are making pretty good progress. I bloody love my dog and I just want the best for him and want someone to show me how to do that.

I wouldn’t mind but the first thing I said to him was that he is a family pet and I was interested in getting in to gun dog training as a hobby further down the line. Not that I was expecting to raise a field trial champion!

I love this - succinct and to the point 😂

Rebel girls unite 😉

💪 ❤️