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 😂)

@Lavenderdog just read back through your posts and can see that she sleeps in a crate in your bedroom. Do you think she would sleep in there during the day if you weren’t up there with her? If not, could you bring the crate downstairs or get a second one?

This is where I have relied on the crate on occasion, nearly of Pablo’s naps during the day are on my sofa - I moved my desk down here so I work down here while he sleeps or if not working I have to stay on the sofa with him because if I get up, he wakes up! It reminds me of my son when he was a baby and would only nap on me so I had to prepare myself to sit still for two hours by going to the loo before hand, getting drinks and snacks 😂 (I personally think raising a puppy is harder than a baby!!)

Sorry, I digress - point I was going to make was when he has gone over tired and just won’t go to sleep during the day, that’s when I use the crate. He’s so used to that being a place to sleep he switches off immediately when he goes in there. And you know how a puppy starts behaving when they’re tired and hyped up! It’s a whirlwind!

@Lavenderdog sorry to hear you are having a bad time. I remember how I felt when M was that age- it’s hard, but it does get better.

Things that helped us:

• Toilet training. We did what you are doing and took M out regularly. This helped us control more when he goes out to the garden. My friend’s dog has completely trained her to let him out so she’s up and down like a yo-yo with her dog constantly asking to go out. M now will sit by the door when he needs the loo. If I know he has just gone and he just wants to bother the neighbour’s cats I will ignore him and he’ll go lie down.
• Biting. This was particularly challenging particularly in the evening and it we found ourselves jumping over the gate to escape him. We had a frozen likki mat (peanut butter and natural yogurt) which we would give him when the biting was particularly manic in the evening and this did help to calm him down.
• Sleep in daytime. Sorry I can’t help much with this as M was good at just flopping down and sleeping, but thinking back, I did ignore him and he would get bored of bothering me and go to sleep. We didn’t enforce the crate although it is always open. He will take himself in for a nap. At 4 months when my husband worked from home (when I was at work) he would be on his laptop in the kitchen with M. I was worried that he wouldn’t get any work done but he said M would sleep most of the day - the laptop being the signal to him that he wouldn’t be played with.
• Leaving M. We did this really slowly. I started by leaving him when he was asleep and going out and doing jobs in the front garden and gradually getting longer. He has never been distressed at being left. The other thing that helped was popping in and out of the room so he knew I would be going back. Have you got a camera to see what your pup is doing?
• Cars. He would whine constantly up until about 4 month. I think what helped was doing lots of very short journeys. He’s fine now and sleeps or looks out the window.

It will get better. I am a first time dog owner so was completely naive to the demands of a puppy and did have puppy regret. It was very hard work, but consistency paid off and he’s generally a delight now.

Thank you everyone for the support.
Have big non-puppy challenges at the moment, think it all got too much.

Its good to think I am at the worst stage of puppy rearing- even if it isn’t!

Just to respond to some points:

She sleeps really well at night in a crate but is reluctant to do so in the day time unless she is next to me whilst I work. Need to do more work obviously !

She can’t have free access to choose where she sleeps because of the other two dogs. Neither would appreciate close contact with her at the moment 🤣

Sleeping in my room at this age is not what I would choose but the only logistical option at the moment. Hope to sort that in the next month or so.

Some training is going really well, sit and down are great and she waits for release cue so that’s a good foundation.

@Lavenderdog that’s good that she’s sleeping when you are working- that suggests that she is getting ‘I am ignoring you’ cues. I spent quite a while in the kitchen doing chores so M got used to me ignoring him when I’m doing food prep etc. He was behind the gate to start but now he’ll just lie wherever.

I’ve just remembered another thing we did in the early months when he was too much in the evening. We cut rabbit ears into tiny pieces and would sit on the settee and lob them around the room for M to sniff out. It meant we could watch telly and the sniffing would exhaust him. As time went on we used this method to work on impulse control, release cues, place etc.

@Lavenderdog what are the issues you're having with your other dogs and the puppy? Is it just that the puppy is young and boisterous and winds them up?

Tbh I agree with others, it sounds like you're doing everything right. Everyone always says the first two months are hardest but I've always found months 4-6 to be the absolute worst because once they lose their puppy teeth they bite soo much harder, and they also have more energy etc.

I think it sounds like you're doing a great job (sorry that probably sounds very patronising). It's hard with puppies, as it always gets so much worse before it gets better - and you do begin to resent them and wish you had never got them! So please don't feel bad, and do rant if it's helpful!

Do you have someone who might take her off your hands for an hour or so? Give you a bit of time with your other dogs? 😊

@LandSharksAnonymous thats an interesting one about 4 - 6 months being the hardest. Pablo is 4 months old this week and I have noticed quite a difference in him in the past few days or so. It’s hard to articulate but it seems to be a levelling up of maturity and/or increased confidence? On the one hand, he seems to be more consistent with responding to commands and confident with what I am asking him to do but on the other hand, he seems to be asking for more attention from me than before. It’s not a negative thing as such, just like he is getting bored more easily.

Just a change in him that I’ve noticed that maybe would be very subtle to other people but because I’ve been around him so much I can tell? I imagine there will be lots of these phases as he grows in to an adult dog for but for the first time since getting him, I’ve thought “oh wow, you really are a working line breed” 😂

Weirdly, I like it though. He challenges me to think harder about everything! I may not be saying that when he gets to the teenage phase though!

@VanGoSunflowers It's exactly that.

I've found that once they begin to get more confident - they've had enough walks that things like ducks, or bins, or cars, don't scare them, and they've made 'friends' with other dogs and people 'pat them' and are nice - that they get a bit too confident. What provided them with lots of stimulation to start with...no longer does.

It's like reading a book for the third or forth time, you still enjoy it...but it's not exciting anymore. Or it's like going from a child on their first day of nursery, needing that reassurance and finding everything overwhelming, to teenagers who think they know everything overnight and want more than they can reasonably handle.

They also get more energy. They develop that much faster - both mentally and physically (see p.17 of the Adolescent for Twatdog at 4.5 months).

By four months, they've lost or are losing all their puppy teeth and gaining their adult teeth. But they often still don't understand just how powerful their jaws are - Goldies are particularly awful for this tbh - and where their baby teeth just make you go 'ouch' their adult teeth can actually cause damage. So although they're not technically biting harder...they are.

I often think that even though they're not capable of going on hugely stimulating walks or doing extensive periods of training it's what they need it at 4-6 months. But at that point their needs outstrip what they are capable of (if that makes sense) and they need so much more than they can really be given (or handle). It's awful.

It's what makes it most challenging, because you have all that energy and intellect building up and no real way to give them an output...and that ends up with one thing: manic, bitey, chaos demons.

@LandSharksAnonymous thats a perfect description, thank you! And makes a lot of sense - and certainly articulates well what I am beginning to see in Pablo!
On the one hand, it seems such a wonderful thing to see your pup growing in confidence (and wonder if it’s down to all the positive experiences during that socialisation window which they say shuts at 16 weeks?) but on the other it makes life harder for you!
SO similar to having a child- when you make your child secure it’s a wonderful thing but then that in itself creates push back on you. It’s like “ah, I think I know now what the boundaries are - so now I want to know how I can test them” 😂

Ive noticed it around the house more than anywhere else - if I was particularly busy at work then skipping a lunch time training session occasionally was no big deal but the house is now boring so he is pestering me to give him something to do. And when I say pestering, I mean he’s either biting me or my hair (had a comedy moment on a work call yesterday where he jumped up from behind and clamped his teeth around my pony tail and pulled my head right back 🤦♀️) or just generally trying to get my attention. Luckily it seems a 15-20 minute training session did the trick today but I can only imagine that those needs will increase!

@VanGoSunflowers I’ve found it (the boundary pushing and attention seeking)has got a lot better as M has got older. He did push the boundaries and I used to do several short training sessions throughout the day. I do think that one of the most important skills (for my sanity) was for him to learn to be bored and switch off, rather than ragging me. That came with age and a certain amount of ignoring him.
I think the more you stimulate them (with training/ games/ activity) the more stimulation they need. Having an off switch is just as important.

@VanGoSunflowers It's really hard, and as @Nella68 says you need to teach them to settle as well. 4-6 months are so hard for that because they do have sooo much energy that you just can't find a reasonable output for. Once they get that bit older, training them to settle becomes easier. But when they're so young they just cannot understand the idea of being calm....

I think Pablo is probably very similar to the Goldies I've had though [bloody retrievers]. 10-20 minutes training just tires their brains out enough that they stop wanting to pester and instead take themselves off to chill. Eventually they learn to do it themselves, but it takes time.

I stuck Purple [who I have now named - she will be Eris, because it fits her so well and I can start a new era of 'names'] in the kitchen with me earlier and left DDs in charge of the other 10 puppies. It was total carnage. She's so used to having 10 littermates and four older dogs to play with or keep her entertained that she was just a destructive little wotsit until the point at which she crashed and burned - on her back, with the tea towel she had stolen out the tumble drier [not sure why she felt the need to take a clean one rather than a dirty one...] still in her mouth.

Super proud of Rory’s wait and recall today. He’s never even heard wait before but he sat, waited while I waked back 5 steps and came to me as soon as I asked him to 🥰. He’s definitely been here before!

He was pottering in the garden earlier though while my sister visited and came back with a green face 😂. I’m used to a black dog where the dirt doesn’t show up. He looked like Shrek 😂.

@Idratherbepaddleboarding what a good boy! My pup has sit mastered, but wait is far too complicated for her!

I'm beginning to get over the puppy blues I think. Since I've been taking pup out for walks she has been much calmer around the house, and less like a tiny biting whirlwind.

It's lovely to see her keeping a close eye on me when we're out and about, and running back when she needs reassurance. It has made her feel like my dog, rather than just a small creature I'm looking after for some reason.

I need to get back to the office in September, just 3 half days a week, so pup will be going with a small group of dogs (up to 6) to an enclosed field while I'm out - assuming the trial this Friday goes well (if not, I might have to take extremely early retirement).

I'm very worried about this, but I think pup will love it. She's very sociable. She is desperate to play with all the big dogs we meet, but so far they've all been more interested in their balls and sticks. I feel quite sad for her! Hopefully she makes a friend in the group walks.

@Nella68 Yes, very good advice thank you. I guess it’s about finding a balance isn’t it? It seems to be like that with everything to do with puppy ownership! I think that’s been one plus point of me being the only person in the house. If I’m not giving him attention he can’t go to anyone else for it! I must admit I’m ’buckling in’ for the next two
months 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous its like an age where their reaction to any stimuli takes over what you’ve taught them! We went for another walk with my friend and her greyhound last night and I remember thinking that there was just no point in telling him to heel because he was too excited to listen to me 😂 he did go out of sight for a minute - I think he got slightly disoriented after flirting with a couple of girls and ran in the opposite direction to where I was but he recalled to the whistle first time so I was pleased about that.
I love the name Eris ❤️ and that sounds like a comical scene although I bet it wasn’t at the time! Did you get any pics of this sleeping baby with a tea towel in her mouth? 😊

@Idratherbepaddleboarding you’ve got such a clever pup 😍 that’s amazing! I did laugh at the shrek comment, that’s hilarious! God knows what Pablo is covered with half the time - he is a black lab and I kind of feel like if I can’t see the dirt that means it’s not there 😂

@Unmute Im so pleased for you, I bet that’s a huge relief! Really makes a difference when you can tire them out doesn’t it?
Im thinking that at some point I might need to enlist the services of outside professional help in case I am ever called in to the office for meetings. I work from home all week but sometimes I do get asked to go in. Haven’t thought that far ahead yet though! Where did you find your dog walker?

@Lavenderdog hope all is well with you this morning x

@VanGoSunflowers I found the dog walker through a Facebook community group, but it also turns out I know someone who uses them. I'm in Glasgow and it seems like everyone around here has dogs, so there are plenty of dog walking services to choose from.

My last dog had solo walks because she hated all other dogs, most men, medium sized children (ok with tiny and large), anyone wearing hi-vis...the list goes on...but I'm determined this pup is going to be less antisocial!

@VanGoSunflowers I’m still finding the reaction to new stimuli a challenge- as in I struggle to get his focus back on me. I’m hoping that new things will get less exciting with age. An example was at our agility class last night; M has got used to the dogs and handlers in our class, and I can get him to focus and listen to instructions. An unfamiliar dog came into the area to show us something and all of the dogs in our class went crazy. I’m glad to say that they all lost their focus so it didn’t feel like I was the only one trying to wrestle a kangaroo!

@Idratherbepaddleboarding what a clever pup! He really seems receptive and eager to learn. Sitting and waiting is one thing M is quite good at but it’s taken quite a lot of work!

@VanGoSunflowers photo attached! Sadly not one of the little Wotsit sleeping as she seems to have an uncanny ability to realise what I’m doing and wake up!

She’s back in with her littermates today as I have some more future owners coming over for viewings and it’s good for her to be cuddled by strangers 😊She’s a sweetie though - and fully house trained already. She went and sat by the kitchen door every time she had to pee yesterday. And this morning woke me up crying, alongside Miss Yellow, to go do morning wees (and then the rest of the brood followed them!!).

Oh bless Pablo! I bet he was so excited when he found you again! He’s such a star for his age 😍Are you still thinking about proper hi dog classes for him?

That should of course say 'gun-dog' and not 'hi dog'.

Sigh. Puppy brain.

@LandSharksAnonymous every time I try and type gun dog it corrects to fun dog!

She is a little stunner isn’t she! And she suits her name, too! And so clever. I still haven’t been brave enough to test how Pablo would react to me leaving the kitchen door closed. I need to work on that at some point! So is the rest of the litter departing this weekend? I bet you have some very excited owners!

So I took him for that 1:1 session with a gun dog trainer a good few weeks back now. She said every three weeks would be the most she would recommend for now so I haven’t booked in another session with her yet. I think my approach for now is to stick with the few commands he knows, so heel (on and off lead) sit/stay/release (which is now just sit/release) lie down/stay/release (still yet to turn that in to just lie down/release) recall (and variations on it such as ‘left’) and retrieving (and building in ‘wait’) and just keep working on them, moving on to more distracting environments as we progress and then see how we are getting on in the next couple of months and incorporating the whistle for a some of those. I figure they’re all a good foundation for gun dog training but also for a family pet so they kind of cross over?

I would still like to do ‘proper’ gun dog training with him in the future because I think he would honestly love it, he definitely has it in him!

@VanGoSunflowers she is lovely (although all the litter are). She's almost the spitting image of Twatdog was at her age. Although her sire was Twatdogs half-brother [the son of his sire], and obviously they share the same mother...

Very excited owners! I've had one couple over twice this week already and they're coming again on Friday before they pick up on Sunday. It's really lovely to see how excited and happy they are.

I think your approach sounds a sensible one! He is very young still and of course it makes more sense to master the basics before you go further. Have you tried teaching him 'stop'? That's when he's running toward you and you yell a command (or hold up a hand) and he stops moving instantly - really useful skill for if something comes between you and him!

@LandSharksAnonymous do new owners tend to keep in touch and send progress pics/updates after they’ve taken their pup home? I can imagine it would be lovely to see them thriving after they’ve taken their leave!

I haven’t got to stop yet but sounds like a good one to teach! I think that’s one pip on the whistle isn’t it? Might add that one in too. He knows ‘wait’ but that’s slightly different as he’s by my side or walking away from me when I give that command?

@VanGoSunflowers Some of them do, but some don't! Typically it's the ones who either live nearby, or think they might want another puppy from me in the future, who stay in touch.

I do a hand signal for mine for 'emergency stop' but everyone elses uses the whistle! Tbh Twatdog has always been a lot better with hand signals over voice commands, or even whistle commands, so I tend to throw my hand straight up in the air and he skids to a halt - but I can only do that with emergency stop as when he's returning to me his eyes are locked on me and so he's 100% focussed on what I am doing.

He's a nightmare to be honest, he'll respond to a flick on my wrist to throw himself down onto the floor in a 'down' at 50ft away, but if I yell 'Twatdog, down' he just runs around like a muppet. He's a living reminder to me that every dog is different...

But yes, wait is different to emergency stop 😀Some people use 'Stay' instead of 'Wait.'

We do stay and wait as different things. Stay is stay there until I come back and release you. Wait is wait there until I tell you to do something else. IYSWIM