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 😂)

Exactly!

And don't try and train a dog who won't listen. If they're having a zoomie moment, or won't engage, just let them do their thing.

^ Advice I often give and yet fail to listen to.

@LandSharksAnonymous that happened with us a few times near the beginning - before I sussed out when the best times were to work on it!
He still has the odd one now where he clearly isn’t feeling it so as you say, I just leave him to it. Some days we do a fair amount, others not so much.

It’s as much for the owner as the dog, you’ll only risk getting frustrated if they won’t do as they’re told in that moment and they will pick up on that and you both end up in a spiral!

Training is important but I want us to enjoy each other as well! He won’t be a puppy for long.

I’ll join!

Bonnie is 16 weeks now so we’ve had her for 8 weeks which has gone so fast!

She’s started puppy classes and is doing well, showing off her poodle intelligence and toilet training is around 80% reliable.

Our biggest issue at the minute is the biting that shows no signs of letting up and she’s soooooo clingy! Can’t for a shower without her crying at the door. Going to try and work on some time alone over the next few weeks.

@BarkItOff Hi Bonnie 👋
I’m not convinced mine is old enough to have gotten to the truly bitey phase just yes at 13 weeks so that will be something to look forward to!

I have a development to share!! I’ve been working up very slowly with Pablo’s crate training and never left the room for longer than 2 mins while he was in there. It’s been tough but needs must and I didn’t want to push him and have been building it up slowly. Anyway, this afternoon he napped in there for 2 whole hours AND I was upstairs for most of them! And didn’t hear one peep out of him! Only his usual whine to let me know he has woken up and needs a wee!

Hi, this is my lab pup who is 4.5 months old. He’s just graduated from puppy class but we both have a lot to learn still. For starters, I never realised that it’s normal for puppies to have a bitey, witching hour. That’s made me feel a lot better. He is much better in the day with his biting but early evening he is a terror!

Photo fail - here he is

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We pick up out 11 week old lab Willow on Saturday. First time dog owners. Excited and nervous all at once.

Here she is 🐾

Same! Bonnie turns into a literal shark at 8pm! Running around and jumping at faces and biting etc. Since she got big enough to jump on the couch it’s been a nightmare at night. The kids now wear thick socks or slippers everywhere they go.

Meet Teddy the miniature schnauzer 🖤🤍 He doesn’t look entirely like a Schnauzer right now as he can’t be groomed until 6 months so he looks like a mixed breed (a gorgeous one) but my goodness he’s my little poppet! We love him so much 🐾 We lost our last Schnauzer in October and never thought we could love one as much again but wow this little boy is so so loving & affectionate and FUNNY! He’s the best
He was born 28th Feb so 5 months old now!

@Inastatus and @HealthAnxietyReallySucks yay! Fellow lab owners! Not to say everyone else’s dogs aren’t adorable and we won’t all go through the same stuff!

For us, we haven’t had a bitey witching hour for a while… until this evening! May be a change in routine as we met friends, had a short walk and went to the pub so it was stimulation city!

We WILL get through this 😂

@ButteredRadish what a handsome fellow 🥰

Lavender pup is going onto toilet training boot camp today!

She can go through most or all of the night in the crate next to me now, which is great. Either she wakes up and I take her out, or I wake and decide to take her out anyway. So clearly she has bladder and bowel capacity.

But in the daytime, she will wee or poo in the garden, but can do another small one (or more!) almost as soon as she’s back in the puppy pen and I’ve turned my back.

So longer spells in the crate today I think, rather than a lot of time in the pen. Hopefully I can break that habit 🤞

@Lavenderdog without wanting to be graphic…if her second poo is fairly close after and not as solid, it could be a diet thing! If it’s weeing then it’s a case of practice, but puppies can have very sensitive tummies re. food intake.

But she’s still very young, so even the grasp she already has is great! Plus she’s a small dog, and it does take longer with smaller dogs (at least from what I’ve seen)!

Not a puppy owner (3 year old cocker who broke out and ran riot around the countryside last night and is now snoring beside me)

but just to tell you all three things-

1. easy peasy puppy Squeezy is the best book EVER!!!!
2. Toys or teddies every time they go to nip (from quite young he learned to pick it up instead of going for a person’s hand!)
3. Watch me command- treat in right hand outstretched beside you, left hand point to your eye with your finger on your cheek pointing up. Say ‘watch me. When he stops looking at treat and watches you give treat. Have done it out in the wild and he’s missed a group of greyhounds walking by or a Doberman because he was watching my eye intently waiting for the treat!!

Best of luck to you all on the new additions and sorry for popping in!

@stayathomer - thanks for those tips. I’ll check out the book. We’ve just been taught ‘watch me’ at puppy school so will keep practising at home as it sounds like a good one to have in your arsenal!

15 week old staffie pup here 😊bitey little bugger! 🤣

Thanks for the tips @LandSharksAnonymous and @stayathomer

Much better day today, seems toilet training failures were due to a lack of focus on my part!

This is turning into a wonderful pack of pups!

Buddy got the all clear from the vet, abcess was definitely from an old littermate bite as we can now clearly see what looks like a scar from a vampire on his neck. He weighs 6.5kg at 16 weeks so definitely massive for a Cavapoo, let alone a toy one!

27 degrees today, we had an early walk where he was a monster then a late one where he was an angel. I've just brushed half the park and some sticks out of his fluff and now need wine!

Thanks @stayathomerdid watch me with Soupdog today and she caught on immediately in the house. Next stop the garden. She’s been very chilled today and had two park walks - one with a long lead spell working on recall. We’re doing lots of work trying to get better at loose lead walking. It’s going to be a struggle as her prey drive and desire to sniff everything at speed is high! Still, she’s charming everyone she meets and is getting a lot less jumpy up.

DPup managed to eat the rind off a slice of watermelon earlier. Google said it can be very difficult for dogs to digest and in worst case could lead to intestinal blockage. I had a chat with a vet online via my pet insurance who said just monitor him carefully but hopefully should pass uneventfully 🤞🏻

He’s enormous!!

Bonnie is pure Minature poodle and she’s 3.4kg at 16 weeks.

Her mum was 7kg as an adult.

That’s a monster Cavapoo…! How big do you think he’ll top out at?

Ours is 4kg at (coming up to) 17 weeks, and she’s already bullying our 6 kilo cat.

The vets are opening a sweepstake on how big he'll get so I have no clue! Funny how I originally wanted a bigger dog, changed plans to a little'un and may well have got this...