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 no I think he’s just Mr Chill by nature! He’s not nervous or shy, I’d describe him as quietly confident. He more than holds his own around bigger dogs and is happy to try new things. He’s just happy doing his own thing and pottering about which is a good thing for the most part! To be fair his behaviour has been exceptional wherever we’ve been whereas Billy was always hard work to take out to eat. It’s important for us to remember that they’re just different dogs!

OK I spoke too soon about Rory being Mr Chill! I popped out to Sainsburys just now and DH went to the toilet while I was gone. While he was ‘busy’, Rory managed to escape the house 😵. My neighbour found him sat by DH’s car waiting for me! Fortunately we don’t live on a busy road but the only way he could have got out is by jumping on to the back of the little sofa, clearing a gap and jumping on to the window ledge and then jumping out of the window. He’s very lucky he didn’t hurt himself and after everything that happened with Billy, I am paranoid about jumping!

@LandSharksAnonymous sounds like a lovely morning! I really wish I was the kind of person who can get up and get on with the day at 6am but I am completely useless in the morning until after several cups of coffee 😂

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding he may well up his octane levels still? I remember taking Pablo out to sit on my lap in the pub beer garden before he was jabbed and he was so still and quiet and just sat on my lap the whole time. If I take him to one now, he wants to meet everyone , sniff everything, chew everything and just generally get involved with it all 😂 I think his confidence levels have increased a bit in the past two weeks (and I’m sure they’ll increase further as he gets older!) so now it’s not so much watching and taking it in, it’s more being excited by it all!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding just saw your update, that sounds so scary! Did he seem ok when you got back?

To be fair, my neighbour came back as I was pulling up so it’s not like I’d been looking for him. DH had only just opened the door to look for him so he can’t have been gone long. He’s absolutely fine, he’d enjoyed a visit to his doggy neighbour! We’ll be keeping that window shut now though!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding OMG Thank god he sat waiting by the car and your neighbour saw him. He could so easily have taken himself off for a little walk. I bet all the 'what if's' have been going through your mind.
I totally blame your DH. Everyone knows that for at least the first four months, you can't go to the toilet without a puppy sitting on your lap.

@VanGoSunflowers sadly, I am very used to it! I have to get up at 04:30ish when I go into the office 😫6 is basically a lay in for me!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding goodness! I don't know whether to be horrified by him getting out the window, or simply impressed by his good-boy-ness in waiting for you by the car. I bet your DH is going to superglue Rory to him going forwards!

@SpanielsGalore he always comes with me to the toilet! I’d have at least left the door open!

@LandSharksAnonymous I wouldn’t think he’d go far and it is a very safe street thankfully. It’s the jumping out of the window that I’m shocked about, I wouldn’t have thought it possible!

I read Rory's escape adventure with the Mission Impossible theme in my head. Clever but worrying, glad he didn't wander too far!

@widewomanofthevillage it should have been mission impossible! I’ve not idea how he managed to spring from the sofa to the window ledge!

Morning all, I pulled my usual trick last night of falling asleep on the sofa with Pablo and spending the whole night down here. For all my excitement of being able to go back to bed after spending the first 7 weeks on the sofa, you’d think I would be desperate to be in bed every night 😂
Even Pablo got up and wandered in to his crate and slept in there for most of the night so he’s probably thinking the same!

In other news, I’ve lost my bloody dog whistle again so probably going to need to order another one because I am useless.

What has everyone got planned for today?

My puppy is due for collection in 4 weeks got a boxer cant wait

So I have a question. Pablo seems to have ramped up the poo eating today 🤦‍♀️ he tried to eat every poo he came across on his walk this morning and ignored my ‘leave it’ and attempts to exchange for a treat. I will obviously be more vigilant and double down on the training but could there be something lacking in his diet?

I'm on about number eight now, @VanGoSunflowers . Every now and then I'll turn up at the dog park and find one draped over the fence where it's fallen out of whatever stupid pocket i thought it would be safe in. See also clickers. It costs me a fortune 🙄

@VanGoSunflowers dog poos or cow poos etc? TBH there’s probably nothing missing, he’s just a Labrador 🤢. Billy grew out of eating animal poos eventually!

We’re having a bit of a lazy morning! Rory woke me up at half 6 wretching again which I’m pretty sure is hunger sickness although I’ve been giving him a bed time snack. We got back in the spare bed and went to sleep about half 8 and the next thing we knew it was 11am 😵. So now all my plans are messed up and it’s already too hot to go for a walk! We ended up having a BBQ with friends in the garden last night, so he had a very busy day yesterday and he’s going to my friend’s later as we have a 50th wedding anniversary party. He’ll love that as he enjoyed visiting a week or so ago.

Rory is currently killing and empty plastic milk bottle 😂.

@Bupster that makes me feel better! I’ve ordered another two just in case 😂

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding all varieties of poo from whatever animal. The only thing he doesn’t ever do is eat his own do at least I’m thankful for that! Keep thinking I need to revisit swapping his food but I have spent hours and hours looking at all the different ones and then I get overwhelmed and think I will just leave it until there is enough of his current food left to use to transition over to a new one. I know @MonCoubousMonTourmalet suggested moving to lamb to help with stinky wind 😂 so I will start there, with higher protein content than what he has now but not too high and maybe grain free I guess. I’m waffling again sorry.

Ah bless Rory, so he’s not actually bringing anything up? I hope you enjoy the party!
It’s sunny here today but only 19 degrees so it’s perfect 😍

@VanGoSunflowers no just retching, Billy used to do it too but I don’t really know how they could be hungry as neither is/ was underfed by any stretch of the imagination even though they may think they are!

It’s perfect again here, warm enough that Rory and I can sunbathe in the garden but not too hot that he can’t be outside. Plus his lighter fur makes such a difference! There’s a lovely breeze too 🥰.

What’s Pablo on currently? Rory is all switched over to wet food now, the puppy Butchers one as there doesn’t seem much choice of wet foods for puppies. He also gets plenty of suitable human food so a good variety.

@Bupster and @VanGoSunflowers Do you not wear your whistles on lanyards round your neck? I've had mine for about 18 years. (You watch. I'll bloody lose it now.)

@VanGoSunflowers K is a poo eater. She started at about 4 months old. Hers is mainly other dogs. She was so bad at one point, she'd stand next to her sisters as they performed and try to catch it before it hit the ground. 🤮 She's not so bad on walks now, as she's more interested in following scents. But I still have to go into the garden with them everytime, so I can pick up before she gets to it. I have tried training leave it, but it is hit and miss as to whether she responds. I also tried muzzling her for a short while, but felt cruel. And lastly I have tried telling her she's a disgusting bitch, but she doesn't care. 😂 I have tried to reconcile myself to it's just something dogs do and it's my problem, not hers. Still find it totally gross though.
Oh. And I read it's only a dietary problem if they are eating their own poo, which K doesn't do.

@SpanielsGalore yep, I always wear it around my neck when I use it but then I tuck it into
my T-shirt so it’s out of the way, forget, and only remember when I go for a shower… put it somewhere ‘safe’ and then forget where that is. So it’s probably in the house somewhere!

That’s useful info about the poo eating, thanks! I’ve also tried ‘leave it’ and ‘what the hell is wrong with you??” But that didn’t work either 😂
Do you think I should just let it be then? And it won’t cause him any harm if I don’t manage to get him away from every single one he tries to go for? And continue to stop him licking my face afterwards 😂

On the subject of things you say to your dogs, has anyone ever accidentally trained them to understand what a word means? What I mean by that is, Pablo kept jumping up at the dining room table yesterday and whilst asking him to get off and sit on the floor nicely, he ignored ‘off’ which I had tried to teach him but instead kept responding to an exasperated ‘DUDE’ 😂

@VanGoSunflowers I've kind of given up and accepted it now. Some dogs grow out of it, so there's still hope. Weirdly, I don't have a problem with them eating other species' poo. It's only dog poo that turns my stomach. And human! That's worse.
My dog with IBD eat human poo on more than one occasion. The first time, I stomped off telling him he'd never have a normal poo if he kept eating shit. And the next day he produced the best stool ever. So it clearly did him no harm. His breath was disgusting though. 🤢
Hopefully your whistle will turn up. I thought you were losing them from out of your pocket on walks.
Laughing at Pablo responding to dude. 😂

I used to get annoyed when pupsy ate a, let’s say, dead field mouse or vole or something, and when she was about Pablo’s age I mistakenly told the vet this, at one of her puppy checks. I got a stern telling off – ‘what if the mouse was poisoned?!’ etc – before reporting back that given we were only finding these mice in fields a considerable distance from the kinds of houses that poison mice, that seemed unlikely. She will snaffle on a bit of deer or rabbit poo occasionally but I don’t fuss over it. If at a distance I shout ‘leave’ at a pile of horse poo she always leaves it but none of it has ever done her any harm and I just avoid being licked until she’s had a few drinks of water.

@VanGoSunflowers My mum trained pupsy to understand the phrase ‘what do you do?’ to mean ‘sit’ because that’s what she says to her own dogs, so I can often be heard asking her that question to produce a sit. I chat away to her using all sorts of silly words and think it’s really about tone of voice. Every day she has a new nickname. Recently she’s become ‘poogy’ or ‘my little poogs’ for some reason which she responds to as if it’s her actual name.

@SpanielsGalore I’ve said to Pablo a few times “this is why you were so sick the other week!”
except he hasn’t been sick since. And I convinced myself it was the Primula that caused that and have been too scared to give it to him since. Even though he eats actual shit 😂 I suppose if it doesn’t appear to be causing any ill effects 🤷‍♀️ I’ve never stressed too much about cow poo. I don’t think I have ever come across a human poo in the wild 😂 maybe it came from a human with an impeccable diet?

@brushingboots of course it’s totally logical that they won’t have been poisoned miles from anyone’s house! I guess with some things I perhaps need to be a bit more ‘dogs will be dogs’ although my friend did clear her garden for us of her greyhound’s poo before we got there (they have a huge, long garden so sometimes they miss the odd few) and emptied the ‘shit pale’ lest Pablo have a poo buffet 🤢

I want to share with you the attached wanted poster that my friend sent me the other day that made me laugh 😂 fairly topical as I’ve been playing Red Dead Redemption in the evenings lately because I can’t seem to focus enough to read a book these days (looking forward to getting yours through @brushingboots - its not long now is it?? Are you excited?)

@brushingboots also to add, the evolution of names 😂 made me smile.
Pablo gets called Pabs, Pablovian, pupper, pabby, Pablo Pants and I often tell him to ‘grow up’ or ‘make better choices’ in a neutral tone of voice. He has no idea what I’m saying obviously but it amuses me so I do it anyway.

Our first Pyrenean pulled the exact same stunt as Rory @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding - over the back of the sofa, out through an open window, over the garden wall and off down the road with me and my Dad in pursuit. Although we ran through the gate rather than vaulting over the wall, obviously.
I'm very glad that The Great Escape ended safely for you, as indeed it did for us. Sometimes we learn the hard way.

@VanGoSunflowers
With regard to lamb kibbles. Although I would highly recommend lamb as a digestible protein - all ours have been fed on it, always had good firm poo and no flatulence - it is not easy to find a good quality lamb puppy kibble. Most of the better puppy kibbles seem to be poultry or salmon based.

The best lamb puppy food I could find for Brie was Calibra Junior Large Breed and she has got along really well with it. However, it is not grain free because it contains rice. I bought it from Viovet.

After she reached 1 year I started introducing some adult lamb based kibbles which are grain free:
Millies Wolfheart Countryside Mix
Essential Estate Living
Jollyes Lifestage lamb.

I would not recommend switching to adult food too early. You need the fat levels of puppy food if you want to maximise the growth potential. Brie is 16 months now and I still feed the Calibra Junior alongside the adult grain free foods.

There is some debate over a link between pea protein and increased risk of DCM, so grain free food is slightly controversial. It really is going down a rabbit hole once you start researching it all.
I don't want to take over this thread with a zillion links to puppy foods, but if you want to continue feeding chat just ask - either by pm or on the adolescent thread is fine. SpanielsGalore is very clued up on feeding also.