Puppy survival thread! All welcome!

[VanGoSunflowers]

Running on from our last one…

I won’t tag people because I will forget someone and then feel awful 😂

I have an almost 12 week old staff puppy, had him since 8 weeks. He is so bitey. Will jump at me and sink his teeth in and cling to my trousers legs as I'm walking I think that by redirecting to a toy I've inadvertently reinforced that biting means play, so now I'm walking away every time he does it (seemingly hundreds of times a day) I've added in enforced, calm chew time into his routine between naps so hoping that will work too. It's a good job he's cute really. Photo for puppy tax

I have bene very distracted by the Adolescent thread recently, so have some catching up to do 😀

@locket2009 welcome! He's a beauty. Is he a retriever?

@zobalina77 have you tried frozen tea-towels? They work wonders on teething puppies.

Hope everyone else's puppies are being good and the teething phase isn't too bad!

He won't entertain anything frozen apart from a licki mat. I tried him with a frozen flannel. He bit into it, started shivering and then jumped all around it. I've got a few different types of chew being delivered tomorrow, hopefully will find something he likes better than my leg.

Welcome to the newbies with your gorgeous pups 😍

Not sure if it's of interest to @Houndymumma or in fact anyone else with a girl who might be pondering when to spay, but my girl has started season 2 at 19 months. First was at exactly one year old. Spay was recommended after her third heat cycle, so we'll likely be talking late summer next year before that will happen. Looks like we'll be more or less grounded for firework season, which is no bad thing with a noise sensitive adolescent.

Thanks that’s helpful. Hoping I might get away with just one heat cycle before getting her done, although maybe it’ll be two. Not a bad time to stay in whilst the fireworks are around. Luckily my girl hasn’t even opened an eye when a few went off last week in our area. Obviously fireworks night itself might be a different case, but we’ll stay in with a box set and the curtains closed. My last hounds were never fussed so fingers crossed.

Looks like we’re slowly coming through the other side of teething, so for those with biting pups, hang in there, it does get better. My girl stole her first cup of tea yesterday! I had a friend over and luckily I noticed pup having some before my friend came back from the loo and drank it! My late boy loved a cup of tea, not sure if this is a Basset thing or if all dogs like a cuppa!

Hi to the newcomers! Loving the puppy pics!

Sorry, I started typing all this out earlier but then I had to work. Boooo.

Did anyone else experience the biting in this way?
I have no idea if this is even true or not but I always felt the biting was for different reasons and so had different ‘fixes’
The play biting calmed right down as soon as I got stricter on naps and as soon as he could get out for walks or when I upped training sessions. The ‘teething’ biting was more fixed with specific items he could chew as well as getting his adult teeth.
He still mouths sometimes now, it definitely seems more ‘playful’ than anything else and it is only rarely and never hurts.
Maybe that was just me or is a load of bollocks 😂

Our others were pretty much okay about fireworks too @Houndymumma , although our big boy did like to go out and have a bark at them if he got chance. Current girl is a lot more noise sensitive though and she wasn't very keen last year. We'll just stay in with curtains closed and put some music on.

Glad your girl seems to be getting through teething okay. It's an enormous relief when those needle teeth are gone!

Yup, I have a tea thief also. All of ours have liked an occasional drop of tea. I know it's supposedly not good for them, but it wasn't a regular thing and it didn't seem to do them any harm.

I'd say it was a similar pattern for us with the biting @VanGoSunflowers except that I never had to be strict on naps really, mine was always a good sleeper and still is. She is still mouthing a lot now (19 months) but we've had her teeth checked and the vets think she's just a particularly tactile dog ❤

@Aubrielle ahh it’s lovely that Brie is a good sleeper! Pablo requires me to be in the room during sleep time still 🤦‍♀️ but I don’t find it as restrictive these days. I think you just adapt don’t you? He will sometimes take himself off to the bed in the kitchen though. And he tends to stay put for longer if I leave the room before coming to see what I am doing. But it feels more FOMO fuelled rather than anything else!
The biting he does now is definitely play biting. I can tell by the look on his face when he does it! All in all though I did seem to escape the really bad biting that I know many experience so I’d say we were just very lucky!

I’ve been pretty lucky regarding biting as a whole. My pup has mostly been mouthing items with regards to just teething. Usually if I pop a dog toy/frozen tea towel her way it distracts her from the things I don’t want her to chew (cushions, furniture or my garden crocs) for a while anyway. She’s been chewing on those things like a lunatic!! But she doesn’t bite us as such. However my breed is not naturally much of a chewer/biter so I think we’ve got off lightly.

My girl has also just started taking herself off for a nap in her crate by herself (with the door open) so hoping we can slowly transition to her regulating her own naps over time, fingers crossed!

Sorry, I haven’t caught up with all the posts either, I’ve been really struggling with my SAD since the clocks went back 😭.

Rory has mostly stopped biting now at nearly 6 months old but one thing he’s started doing is taking my wrist in his mouth to lead me to where he wants to go. It doesn’t hurt though and I think it’s pretty clever!

DH asked a while ago when he’d stop following me from room to room and I said well Billy never did in 4 years 😂. Rory is actually more independent than Billy TBH.

Billy was terrified of fireworks to the point where he needed medication so I’m dreading next week especially as the pub at the end of the road have announced they’re having a display 😡. I think I’ll take Rory out for the evening as they’ll no doubt be very loud!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding
Sorry you're feeling so down. I know it can't be easy for you at this time of year.

Our previous boy used to lead me about by my wrist in the way that Rory does with you!
Brie is also very tactile and she holds my hand sometimes on the way back from our walk, which does elicit some funny looks from people at times 😂

I hope Rory copes okay with the fireworks. I'm dreading it because I imagine it being spread over two weekends in addition to the 5th this year 😬 It feels as if there will be no escape from it.

Thank you @LandSharksAnonymous no he’s a Patterdale but they defo look like mini retrievers

he’s currently asleep in his crate hopefully we are turning a tiny corner as I’ve spent the last three nights sleeping on the kitchen floor to help with his crying . Typical he seems better tonight as I managed to get a couple of hours from 6pm in preparation for another long night but he’s gone straight off so now I’m wide awake and he’s all tucked up 😆😆😆

Oh I am sending sympathetic thoughts to those who are still in the biting phase - god that was awful. Merry (5 month old border collie) still mouths a bit now, but it doesn’t hurt any more. It’s mostly when she is tired and cranky, a bit like thumb-sucking. Frozen towels never worked for her. What I feel did work was getting into a good routine of naps. I read somewhere that pups should be sleeping 18-20 hours a day, which was a revelation, so I researched how to teach ‘settle’, and that made a huge difference. The other thing was giving long-lasting chews like cow ears. She has one before bed and it calms her down and helps her realise that it’s sleepy time.

Another helpful thing for me was an article called The Lounge is for Lounging. So I started playing only in the garden or kitchen, only going into the lounge when she was getting ready for a nap. Longer walks and structured short training sessions also helped.

DH and I have booked a few days away in a dog-friendly holiday cottage. So pups first pub experience, and first time away at home. The pub went fairly well, apart from her jumping up at a man and catching him in the nuts. That was embarrassing. And this evening she has gone upstairs and done a runny poo all over the landing. Totally our fault as we were half asleep on the sofa and not paying attention. I think she just kind of forgot where the door was… not the most restful start to our mini break…

Hello. I'm a new and sleep deprived chocolate lab owner who has found my way here from a thread I started with loads of good advice given.

I will be switching from the crate in the bedroom up every two hours approach to crate in the dining room, lights out at 11 see you at 7am approach imminently. I'm nervous about the crying and being a dreadful person, but also loosing my mind with the constant waking and need to run a house and hold down a demanding job.

I'm going to the office for a breather tomorrow. DD19 will be holding the fort and has been doing a sterling job during the daytime shift.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding sorry to hear you’re suffering with the SAD and hope Rory copes ok with all the fireworks - same to you @Aubrielle with Brie.

@Struckbylightning glad things have calmed down with Merry and sorry to hear about the ahem, unexpected start to your mini break! The place looks lovely though and hope the rest of your stay is more restful!

@gotthearse hi and glad you found us! How was last night? I hope you managed to get more sleep than you have been getting!

For us, the first few nights I had the crate in our open plan kitchen/diner and we stayed on the kitchen sofa with her but she was reasonably happy. However I then moved it to the living room as we only use that room in the evening. It made daytime naps so much easier as initially she wouldn’t settle whilst she could see us. Plus whilst she was napping the family could use the kitchen as usual. I do now have a second crate in the open plan kitchen (with the door pinned back) and she’s started using that as a bed (along with the kitchen sofa). Because I’ve always had two dogs I’ve always had two crates as I would never crate together.

Early on I fed her in the crate and I occasionally sprinkled some kibble in as a game, so she had positive thoughts about the area. Sleep deprivation is the worst and the anxiety you feel when you first start crate training is horrible even if they’re quiet. My girl only whined a bit to begin with but wasn’t very distressed luckily, AirPods became my friend for the first 15 mins to take the edge off even though she was a gentle whiner. After about a week she then went in fine and goes to sleep. As others have said, I found behaviour improved hugely when she had enforced naps and wasn’t overstimulated. Plus the enforced naps gave me my sanity in the first few weeks. Now she’s 20 weeks she’s starting to self settle either on the kitchen sofa or in the open crate so in those cases I leave her be. In my opinion, the week to 10 days whilst they adjust to crate training can be brutal on our mummy hearts and sanity, but once they’re happy, it’s such a useful tool. It’s meant I can pop to the supermarket (DH is away half the week with his job) or I can get dressed, knowing she’s safe & secure and she now just sleeps. Good luck @gotthearse

She only woke once at 4am which is a first, but I'm still dreading leaving her in the crate downstairs tonight. It's a heavy duty fabric one, similar to upstairs but different and I'm worried she will panic and scratch when she wakes up and no one is there. I'm a big softy, I know. It's the whimpers, they get me every time. I am quite happy for everyone to keep reminding me it's for the best, for her and me.

I’m planning for pup coming home, even though he’s only 2 weeks old at the moment( I like to be as prepared as I can be!) Ive bought pretty much everything I can think of, puppy care books and researched training. My main concern ( apart from having a new member of the family!) is nighttimes. The plan at the moment is to have 2 crates, one downstairs for during the day and one upstairs for nighttime. But I’m not sure of what the nighttime procedure should look like. Do you hopefully settle pup and leave him to sleep as long as possible. Or do you wake every hour or so and take him outside for a toilet break? How long ( roughly) before pups sleep through the night. Any tips gratefully received😊

Just found the bed routine thread! Shall read carefully😊

@spanieleyes definitely don’t wake up every hour! Rory woke about 4 for a wee at first but now he sleeps all night (in bed with us).

@VanGoSunflowers thank you, I am definitely struggling even more than usual this year 🙁.

Rory has got himself a girlfriend! She’s a 6 month old German Shepherd and they adore each other 🥰. Going to have to be careful though as our friends brought their dog round last night who’s just coming off heat and Rory was definitely interested 🙈. She was small enough to be picked up so we could keep them separate.

My last two puppies slept in crates by my bed. When they woke up and whined, I took them outside for a wee. Then they went back in the crate until morning.
I can't remember how long P took to sleep through the night, but it feels like months. And she was up at 6 a.m. every day.
K only woke up on the first night and has slept through until 8 a.m. every day.

ETA - definitely don't wake up every hour. You'll all be knackered. I never set an alarm with any of mine. If they sleep next to you, you'll hear them whine and can let them out then. Both of mine only needed letting out once, around 3 or 4 a.m.

Our current girl was a 5am waker for weeks, but she was a spring puppy, so it was June/July and I think that makes a difference. She was also born on a farm and the pups had been breakfasted at 5 there. Bedtime is usually 10pm and she now sleeps until 7, when we get up.

I'm definitely in the minority here because I neither crate pups nor do bedroom sleeping, but we never had many disturbed nights with any of them. They have two rooms from 8 weeks old, we leave doors open and have puppy gates up so we can hear if they wake. They've all been good sleepers from the start.

Thanks all. I’m an insomniac so it’s likely I will be waking puppy rather than him waking me! I will plan on bed at 10, sleep until he wakes up, toilet, back to bed, repeat if needed and up at 6ish. When he can sleep through the night I aim to move him to his downstairs crate and see how we get in then!

Love this thread, has anyone ever used residential training? Good, bad, terrible idea?

We have been considering some residential for our 7 month retriever. We have 3 other adult dogs so happy to train him etc it’s just that I’ve just had some emergency surgery and my DH is now having to travel to care for emergency situation with elderly parents.

So the smart bright pup is being essentially trained by the adult dogs.

I can get back to him individually and fully and training in about 4-5 weeks but concerted I’m missing key stages here.

He is fully house trained, recall is good a bit patchy if he sees people, but a training lead sorts that, he’s just got stacks of energy and I feel is a bit feral with our others at the moment.

We have acres here so he’s out digging, playing busy busy all days having a grand old life. But my ability to one on one train is out the window.

any thoughts? Ride out the recovery, and fix issues later on at 8-9 months? Or pack his bags and send him off for 3 weeks?

@spanieleyes my girl woke up at 3am for a wee for about the first 10 days. But literally started sleeping through with a dry bed after that (10.45pm - 7.30am). My late boy was the same when a puppy so not sure if we’ve been fortunate or if thats fairly normal, so I agree with the others, don’t get up and wake her every hour or so as it might not be needed and you’ll be totally wrecked.