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 😂

@LandSharksAnonymoussorry I missed your reply early yes loads if people said he looks like a lab! He’s been okay I’ve been taking him out at 11:30pm and between 4-5am but hoping to knock the early morning on the head this week and just grip at 6-6:30 for a while we are up not long enough pre puppy anyway during week. He’s doing well in crate overnight but I WFH and he’s literally by my side and trying to jump all over me all day 😳😳

toilet training is going okay still a few accidents but he knows what to don when outside so hoping it comes soon. I’ve learnt him to sit and lay down and going to attempt stay soon . Has to admit though I’m feeling a little of the puppy blues today . Kids were off last week which helped during day but yesterday was full on on my own ! First vaccination today so every step closer to being able to walk him is a bonus to get me some respite in the day 😆😆

Hi all - I have been diligently reading all the posts as always, trying to soak up all the experience on here - but I’ve been rubbish at replying sorry 🤦‍♀️

Lovely to see all the posts from new people who have joined and pictures of your pups they are all gorgeous and have really made me smile. My boy is now 9 months so I should really be on the adolescent thread now but I’ve had such wonderful support and advice here I’m not ready to leave yet.

In the very early days with biting we found frozen carrots really helped, I got through loads!! And then once he was a bit older he loves natural chews, pigs ears and beef tendons being his favourites. Both really helped us redirect him when he was mouthing a lot.

@LandSharksAnonymous i am definitely buying W a giant cuddly sex toy - i think this is what he needs in his life as he is outgrowing the small cushion from his puppy bed that he currently uses 😂😂

@Struckbylightning at 9 months I’ve had to revert to the long line with my boy. He had really good recall in the early days and would faithfully follow me round the field on walks - but after an incident where he wouldn’t come back and approached another dog (didn’t do anything - just sat and watched him playing fetch with his owner desperate to join in 🤦‍♀️) I decided he has to be on the line until he can reliably come back. It’s just not worth the risk. I’ve used a local secure dog walking field since (as I know had already been suggested on here) to work on recall and I have bought a training whistle. I’ll report in progress!

Hope everyone is doing well today ❤️

There's no age rule really @GoodBones85 , my girl is 19 months and I still lurk here interjecting random irrelevances 🤓
The Adolescent Survival Thread has seemingly become dormant in recent weeks, which is a real shame as it used to be a good supportive thread.

Won't dare comment on recall as mine has none 😬but I hope the training whistle will be helpful for you with W x

Basset hounds are notorious for having no recall! Once they get a scent, they’re gone! So my expectations like with my previous hounds are low! 😂

Same for me. Only one out of our 8 Pyreneans had reliable recall 🙈

Thanks @Aubrielle I’ll hang around a bit longer then. I love random irrelevances ❤️😂 - but I only ever see you make excellent and helpful points on here!

My 9 week old puppy won't sleep. She will sleep fine until she needs a toilet break, but will not settle when shes back in. It has been 3.5 hours of non stop whining and crying. I am exhausted and on the verge of tears now.
She slept so well the first few nights in her crate, but the last two nights have been brutal.
I know shes just a baby - but how is she not exhausted after 3.5hours?!
Does anyone have any tips? I am myself with her, and i am finding a lot of advice conflicting. Please help!

What's your current set up? Do you sleep next to the cage or is she on her own?
I wouldn't be leaving a puppy in a cage to cry for 3.5 hours. She could end up with separation anxiety.
My puppy slept in a cage next to my bed. But if she'd cried, she'd have been on the bed with me. (Which is where she has been since 4 months old.) Or I would have been on the sofa with her.
It may not be ideal for you, but puppy days are hard enough with sleep. They're bloody brutal without!

Thanks for the reply.
She has been sleeping beside my bed in her crate. She only calms down if I take her out the crate for a cuddle. I would hold her until she nodded off again, but as soon as I put her back in her crate, she would start crying again.

@Daschy16 its really hard as you say because so much conflicting advice. What works for one person, doesn’t always work for another as there’s so many different factors like breed, home life, individual personalities. I’d try whatever gets you and pup some sleep to be honest. Mine have always adapted to their crate very quickly but there’s a lot of threads out there where people have struggled. I’d comb the internet for suggestions, often it’s trying different things and finding something that works for you. I don’t really think there’s a right or wrong way. Hope you start getting some sleep.

oh my days what a mucky pup! Also how do you manage to be that photogenic when covered in mud??

Indeed. Mucky or not, he's very handsome @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding

Good afternoon all! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Hope you’re all doing well with your pups 😊

Happy to report not a flinch from Pablo at the fireworks and some of them were incredibly loud!

He’s all of a sudden letting the retriever in him show. He’s never been too bothered previously and for reasons already mentioned, I rarely used to throw balls or anything for him. But now - wow, he has one particular rope toy he loves and he has started to bring it to me to throw. The look of absolute drive and concentration on his face whilst he watches me waiting for the throw is something else!

Also on the recall/lead walking. I still let Pablo off the lead on every walk. His lead walking is patchy but improving. He still doesn’t wander too far from me, always staying in my sight and I still try and recall and put back on the lead when I see an on-lead dog approaching. I’ll get him to sit and stay as they walk past and he’s really good at this. But if he sees a dog before I do, he will not come back to the whistle or anything. Always goes straight over to them to try to make friends. His recall works every single time when there are no other dogs around. I still reward him for checking in or coming back to me even if I haven’t recalled him and the zone he stays in as I walk is a pretty small one - few metres at most. If I change direction he always follows and if I hide, he immediately comes to find me. Do you think we are still doing ok? Am I still good with off lead walking and only putting him back on if I see other on lead dogs? Or should I be putting him on a long line until he’s matured??
In all these months of walking I have never once lost him, he’s never bolted out of my sight - although that could change (he’ll be 7 months old on Saturday!) and I must admit, I really don’t want to put him on a long line if I can help it. But just interested to know what you all think!

A recent pic for you all!

@VanGoSunflowers what a handsome boy!

Midge is back on the longline (again). His recall was spot on until about 9-10 months, he would follow me etc. and then his ears became decorative. Out came the longline and after months of practice I thought we had it cracked. However he has been an absolute bugger this last couple of weeks. He’s not chasing after other dogs, but he has his nose to the ground constantly. And when he’s sniffing his ears become ornaments again. I hid today and it took him ages to realise I wasn’t there. He used to come haring back but today he could obviously smell where I was so he just started sniffing near me.
At least with the longline I can give him a little tug when I’ve called to remind him I exist!

I just can’t compete with his desire to sniff and follow trails. He wasn’t at all interested in his tug toy or JR pate, both of which usually work a treat. It’s very disheartening.

@VanGoSunflowers wow he looks so much like my Billy 🥰.

I don’t see why you’d need to have him on a long line, I think it’d just be a pain and get tangled! Plus it might actually make you more complacent.

Rory doesn’t have one and I was super proud of him today. We were walking towards 3 off lead dogs who were playing. I knew they’d be ok if he did run up to them (he never has before but I’m aware he is entering the teenage phase!) and he didn’t until I said “go on”. Even when he saw his friends in the park the other day, he didn’t go over til I said “go on” 🥰.

@locket2009 sorry you're feeling puppy blues! It's rotten isn't it? How are you feeling now? How long until the puppy can go out?

@GoodBones85 has the sex toy arrived for W yet? I tried to give Eris' Twatdogs earlier and she just looked at it, turned her snubby little nose up, and stalked off. You are more than welcome to what what @Aubrielle and I do and straddle both threads! I tend not to pop onto this one as much - simply as 4/5 of my dogs are over 3 years old now - but it is helpful to be in both, I've found!

@Daschy16 welcome! What breed is your dog? Some are really clingy when they first come home and, ultimately, being in your bed at night may be the best thing (as annoying as that might be...)

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding Rory is such a handsome little man! And he's gotten so big.

@VanGoSunflowers welcome back! At seven months, Pablo is starting to enter his 'I'm a big boy phase' (and doesn't he look so big - just like Rory!).

Personally, I wouldn't put him on a long-line. His issue is he is young - not that he's not trained. And you don't want him to forget his training by being leashed again. Possibly an unpopular opinion...but if a dog Pablo's age runs up to the wrong dog and gets told off (not attacked, but a firm rebuttal) it can be good for them. Any younger and I'd be worried but at 7 months they're robust and resiliant little things. Sometimes, the only thing that gets through to them is realising it's not a good idea to say hi to everyone.

@Struckbylightning how are you doing? How is Merry?

@Nella68 that sounds tough. He is a few months older than Pablo and I must admit, I am worried about his recall completely going out of the window. I feel like I can cope with anything else he may throw at me (although ask me that again in a few months time 😂)

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I think Rory and Pablo would have an excellent time running around together! Rory is such a handsome boy but of course I have a soft spot for Labs 😂
Rory is such a good boy. I would love to get Pablo to only say hi to other dogs if I told him he could but as soon as he sees one he’s straight over to them!

@LandSharksAnonymous that has been my thinking recently too. And he’s had a few dogs give him a telling off. He will back off and leave them alone when they do it but it doesn’t stop him trying to make friends with the next one! Luckily, all the dog owners I have met so far have been so lovely. If there dog tells him off they apologise, I explain they don’t need to say sorry and that he needs to be told sometimes. We stand and have a nice chat and they usually say something along the lines of “he’s clearly very friendly but still young, you’ll get there don’t worry” which is always reassuring. I feel fortunate to have such a confident and friendly dog at the end of the day. I just wish he wasn’t SO friendly 😂

Also hi to the newcomers! @Struckbylightning sorry you have been struggling recently. Hope you’re all good. We will all get through these phases I’m sure of it!

@VanGoSunflowers Ahh you love his friendliness really! Even if it forces socialisation on you 😀

Most people tend to be pretty good about young puppies needing to learn boundaries - and they'd rather the dog learnt than was kept on a lead forever more.

Sometimes I think Twatdog could have done with some strange dogs telling him off when he was younger as it might have controlled his idiocy a bit.As it is, dogs have never been his kryptonite...it's humans for him. He's been teaching Eris his secrets and several times recently on walks they've tarted up to strangers and sat in front of them expectantly. It's quite embarassing - people are going to begin to think I don't give them any fusses. At least I can count on Clem to be a miserable old anti-social hag...

@LandSharksAnonymous ha you’re probably right. I have had some lovely chats with people on our walks so it’s probably been a good thing really. There’s one elderly lady who doesn’t own a dog as she decided she wasn’t in the best health anymore - but she walks around the nature reserve every morning so she can greet everyone else’s dogs and give them a fuss. She’s really lovely. I have even met some really nice ‘gun dog’ men, always walking Labs or Spaniels and will chat and give advice with no condescending tone 😀

That’s so sweet about TD and Eris wandering up to people to say hi! I would love that if they did it to me 😊

The group chat for the rest of Pablo’s litter started up again yesterday and they were all saying the same about their pups. They’ve all got very similar temperaments by the sounds of it.

My DH took our pup to her weekly dog training session last night, and during the recall exercise she used it as a chance to mingle with all the other dogs and sniff every corner of the hall. Completely ignored him! Luckily the trainer is well aware of a scent hound's (Basset’s) limitations here and very good, previous trainers have often expected a Basset to act like a spaniel. My last boy would just go to whoever had the best treats in their pocket no matter how well they were hidden! Completely led by their noses and why I rarely have them off lead except when they got older and slower! 🙄

Hi @Daschy16
I don’t have any advice I’m afraid, but am in the same boat as you with our 14 week old poodle pup. He’s in a crate next to my bed and his sleep is now stretching to 5.30/6 wake ups. He was at 2am wake ups last week, so it’s a great improvement! I haven’t mastered getting him back in the crate after waking and instead he finishes the night in our bed. I’m just hoping he wakes later and later, which does seem to be happening. Friends told me they left their pup to cry the first night and then they slept through after, but I just haven’t managed to do this!

He has grown so much!! Handsome boy 😍

Just after a quick bit of advice.

Our lab Freddie turned 4 months old on Thursday. It’s been a rough journey so far in some respects. For a good few weeks recently he was struggling with really bad diarrhoea. We took him to the vets and they tested for giardia which came back negative. We stopped all kongs and extra food and gave him less food per meal and it has cleared up itself. The working hypothesis from the vet was that we had either been slightly over feeding him or he had an allergy.
We are now in the process of switching him on to a different food and for the last 8 days or so we have had normal poos from him which is great.
However, with us giving less food per meal now he is just constantly ravenous. He is still on four meals a day and I’ve been told by this age he should be on three. I have no idea how to manage this.
He is currently fed at 6am, 11am, 4pm and 8.15pm. However about an hour before each meal time he is clearly getting hungry and starts pacing about and standing in the kitchen waiting for his meals, usually whining as well.
I don’t know how to even start transitioning him on to three meals. I’m aware we’d need to give him bigger meals at each time and stretch him longer between these times to move on to three.
The last few days he’s been waking up at 5.15am ravenous so I’m not sure how we are going to knock the supper off his meal schedule.
looking for advise from people who have puppies a similar age and what their feeding schedules are. And how to best transition from four meals to three with a very hungry lab.

@JuicyDrop my lab is 7 months old and still gets four meals a day. I’m in no rush to drop down to three. He eats extremely fast - so that’s a factor in me giving him smaller meals more frequently.
Labs are renowned for being constantly hungry! Mine is obsessed with food! I go by the look of him as to whether he is getting enough, he has a slight waist and I can’t see his ribs but can feel the bottom two if I run my hand over his chest. I’ve found it a balancing act in the past too, not enough and they don’t gain weight quickly enough and too much and they get the runs!

He gets treats too, for training. And the occasional ear to chew on (not mine, although he tries sometimes 😂)

I wouldn’t worry about cutting another meal out if it doesn’t work for your pup.
I sympathise, mine had the runs recently for a few days and I discovered it was the treats I was using at the time - they had fish in them so he must have an intolerance. I switched to turkey ones and he’s been fine since.