Puppy Survival Thread Autumn 2025 - all welcome!

[VanGoSunflowers]

Hello everyone! Won’t tag you all as you know everyone is welcome 😊

Haha you are right we are nutters but you will forget how difficult the puppy stage was too one day ... maybe...

Happy Christmas!

I’m just catching up. @Twiglets1 and @VanGoSunflowers all this puppy talk is making me a bit broody, but I definitely couldn’t cope with another puppy.
I have daydreams when I’m walking along about finding a cardboard box full of abandoned puppies and keeping one.

My friend’s daughter found a puppy a couple of years ago which had been abandoned on the canal towpath. It was about this time of year so pretty cold. The vet reckoned it was about 5 weeks old. No one claimed it and it wasn’t microchipped so my friend was able to keep it. They already had an elderly spaniel and once the puppy was past the initial stages it has been the best thing for the older dog. They both chase each other around playing.

@Struckbylightning those ears are amazing!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding - Rory looks like he’s burst his christmas football, or is it wrapping paper?

As for us, I’ll be very glad when everyone has gone back to work and it’s quieter. The woods opposite us are full of rude dogs and owners. M growled at a dog today (I think he’s done it once before). It was a very exuberant golden retriever (about a year old) that was charging up to other dogs and bouncing all over them, with the owner trying to call it back with zero success. A couple of times it bounced over M, right in his face when he was sniffing. I asked the man to get his dog as it was clearly making M uncomfortable. His response was that his dog was allowed off lead and it was my dog’s job to tell it off. Err no! I suggested a longline would help but he wasn’t at all receptive to that idea. I can foresee this dog becoming a real menace.

We've had a few issues with rude dogs and owners over Christmas too @Nella68 . Yesterday it was a whippet off lead, running in circles around us and barking in Brie's face. She was on the lead but didn't respond. Later on, she also ignored a snarly Staff/husky mix. When they bark or grumble at her she has no interest but she'll happily make friends if they're quiet like her. She was quite submissive when she was young, but now, at 20 months, is becoming more aloof around dominant or boisterous dogs.

I'm definitely ready for a second dog, but I'm one of those weirdoes that finds puppies easy. It's early adolescence that I hate; that period between about 7 and 10 months drives me mad because they're big and strong in body but still have a puppy brain.

@Nella68 haha it’s wrapping paper with a penguin squishmellow type teddy inside. So far we’ve only had one destuffed donut toy.

I wish I could show you all the video of Rory waiting while DS threw all 6 donuts before being told to “go on”, he’s such a clever bean!

He’s smart and also that shows such self control & desire to please.

Dogs are always so happy with their Christmas gifts -we could learn a lot from them!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding what a clever boy.

When we get back from a walk M lies down and I ask him to wait and I throw several bits of rabbit ear around the room. I then I get out of my dog walking stuff, boil a kettle etc. He’s really good at it now and I can go to the loo and he’ll still be waiting. My husband did it the other day but didn’t say wait before he threw the ears. M shot off like a rocket for the ears, so I guess that means he understands the word wait and it’s not the ear throwing that’s the cue.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet part of me is wondering when I should be concerned about M growling at another dog. As I first time dog owner it’s all very new. My instinct is to assume that it’s because he is getting older and he was communicating to this younger dog that he was just too much. The rude dog was uncastrated too which probably didn’t help!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding what a clever boy.

When we get back from a walk M lies down and I ask him to wait and I throw several bits of rabbit ear around the room. I then I get out of my dog walking stuff, boil a kettle etc. He’s really good at it now and I can go to the loo and he’ll still be waiting. My husband did it the other day but didn’t say wait before he threw the ears. M shot off like a rocket for the ears, so I guess that means he understands the word wait and it’s not the ear throwing that’s the cue.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet part of me is wondering when I should be concerned about M growling at another dog. As I first time dog owner it’s all very new. My instinct is to assume that it’s because he is getting older and he was communicating to this younger dog that he was just too much. The rude dog was uncastrated too which probably didn’t help!

don’t know why that posted twice

Just popping up to wish you all happy Christmas @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding @GoodBones85 @Houndymumma! and anyone I’ve missed but I think you three and the beautiful Merry’s owner have been the main ones offering me advice and support!

@Struckbylightning how is Merry doing? I remember you saying you were really struggling?

Eris continues to be a handful, but I’ve been sticking to the adult dog thread as her issue isn’t one I can fix or one any other owner or trainer can fix…

Oh and @VanGoSunflowers but I wished you happy Christmas already!

The question about your dog growling at another dog wasn’t directed at me. But my take on it would be that growling at other dogs is an early warning and normal dog behaviour. They are communicating in a language the other dog will understand that their behaviour is not ok.

As long as it stays with just growling rather than develops into physical attacks, a bit of growling wouldn’t concern me too much. Just something to monitor.

My previous puppy did start low key growling occasionally at other dogs who offended him by the age of one, yet I never saw him use his teeth to hurt another dog. If we tell them growling is wrong then they are losing that early warning system.

Hello everyone! We are picking up our new puppy on the 1st January and we are all very excited. I am a total novice so trying to prepare myself for thr first few weeks. Here is a photo of our little Maple 🍁

Welcome @sunshineandkindle and I’m looking forward to seeing the photo of Maple when MN authorises it, they just need to check photos.

We have a few days to get the house puppy proof.
How do you hide the cables?
Anything you wish you had done in the house before the puppy came?
Thank you 😊

@Nella68 I would say as long as your dog is growling in response to rude dogs then it's not something to worry about. If he was approaching other dogs and growling at them, I'd be concerned.
P has only growled once and that was at a cockerpoo that charged at her in a car park making a weird noise that was half yapping bark half squeal. At first she drew back with a WTF look on her face, then she growled at it. She's honestly the least aggressive, most submissive dog you could meet. Unless you are a rabbit, bird or deer.

I'm pretty much in agreement with @Twiglets1 and @SpanielsGalore as far as growling being communication @Nella68
Every dog is different, every situation is unique and only you know how far the other dog was pushing M before he warned it off.
As SG says, if he starts initiating trouble it becomes a problem, so for now I'd say just keep an eye on it.

None of mine have been growlers. Two of the girls would respond with barking if another dog had a go at them, but they never initiated trouble. The boys were very confident and aloof and would ignore any amount of posturing and growling from dominant dogs. However, as you know, mine don't run off lead with other dogs and they were all entire, so my experiences will differ from most.

My honest answer is that you can't hide all the cables or all the ways a tiny puppy could possibly hurt themselves. The first few weeks are partly fraught because the puppy seems hell bent on doing dangerous things, or at least that is my experience with Labrador puppies, maybe other breeds are more sensible. Our puppy even ate slugs in the garden and got poorly. The vet said it would have been worse for him if we used slug repellent though so instead my husband had the job of removing all slugs in the early mornings (probably not so much a problem at this time of year but maybe research plants that are poisonous as your puppy may lick them). Puppies explore everything with their mouths so it's unrealistic to think you can avoid every risk.

Just do your best to remove anything the puppy might chew when you are not in the room. This is one reason people use crates (or in our case put the puppy in the kitchen when we couldn't supervise him), it is best to put them somewhere safe from cables on the ground or other things they could hurt themselves with when not physically being watched, like overnight.

One thing I have seen posters say they wish they had removed are any rugs they really don't want subjected to puppy wee and poo - particularly any that are expensive or hard to clean. Also, wooden objects may end up with tiny bite marks on them so again, remove any wooden valuables until the puppy is more trustworthy after teething. Make sure there are no small objects lying around that the puppy could potentially swallow.

@Twiglets1 his impulse control is insane! Especially when food is involved. I think I’m going to take him to the pet shop tomorrow to get him a proper gun dog dummy if it’s open.

@Nella68 that’s really good!! DH also forgot to say wait last night and Rory ran straight after his ball, I think that’s really good though as it means he’s listening for the “wait” command and can distinguish between the two things.

There's no such thing as a sensible puppy @Twiglets1 , they all have a death wish 🙄
You've given great advice here, I don't think there is much I can add.

You do have to train yourself not to leave things lying around @sunshineandkindle because everything is fair game to a puppy. Like with babies, everything goes straight in their mouth, but puppies of course are a lot more mobile! In particular beware of them getting hold of gadgets, pens, don't leave shoes or socks within reach, anything of value should be hidden. Make sure they don't have access to bins because they'll eat food packaging.
It takes time to adjust to the million tiny ways that a puppy changes your life.

There are always people here to hold your hand on the difficult days when you'll feel like screaming. It does get much easier after the first big milestones of toilet training, lead training and teething.

@sunshineandkindle I think we just tucked the wires behind things. I remember going round on hands and knees looking to see what things he could possible get. Fortunately he’s never been much of a chewer so things like the remote, the children’s play station etc have escaped. He did have a nibble of a wicker chair and I used bitter apple spray on that. I think the house escaped lightly, and we don’t have any teeth marks on anything. If it did look like he was going to chew anything we would direct to a tug toy.

The garden was a bit more of a challenge. When he was tiny he was in a pen. We have a laburnum tree which was a worry but fortunately he didn’t eat any of it. The worst things were fallen apples and plums and these would give him the runs. This year he wasn’t interested in any of the fallen fruit. My nephew’s German Shepherd puppy ate a lot of rotting apples and wasn’t very well. The vet said he was drunk!

Thanks all for your growling advice. I do think it was due to a large enthusiast dog with no manners jumping all over him when he was trying to sniff. He hasn’t growled unprovoked as yet.

You're lucky @Nella68 that your puppy didn't target the remote.

Our first puppy that we had many years ago had a thing for the Sky remote and because we also had young children at the time who were careless with it, we got through about 3 in a month.

His favourite toys were remote controls and my daughter's soft ballet slippers. I was always screeching at finding another one in his mouth or in his bed.

Yes that's when my dog growled, when another young dog would approach him too roughly and with no manners.

Quite ironic really considering he had no manners himself as a puppy - but then again other dogs told him off at that time on occasion.

@Nella68 that is impressive! No way Merry would wait that long. When we do that game, sometimes I can see her literally quivering with the strain of self-control!

I agree with the others about growling. It’s just how they communicate, right? Merry got growled at by an elderly collie today. She went up to say hello, and it clearly just told her to bugger off. So she buggered off . So far she has only growled once, when the other dog was trying to take her ball. It was clearly a ‘bugger off’.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks thank you for asking. I was struggling, and I’m a bit hesitant to say that we are doing much better, because every time I say that, she seems to engage in some other tomfoolery. But I will be brave and say that she seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds. She has decided that she will sleep by herself, downstairs, which I have decided is a sign that her confidence and independence is growing. While off lead she definitely responds to me. She does recall, but not perfectly - she comes back to me, but doesn’t want to have the lead clipped on. I guess that is not great, but it’ll do for now. If I tell her ‘down’, she will greet people without jumping at them. (If they fuss her and she then jumps up, that’s their own damn fault).

She’s good with other dogs, wants to greet them all and is submissive until she has sussed if they want to play or not. But if I have a ball or a toy, or even a stick, she will be completely focused on me/ it. That’s pretty useful for controlling her.

Honestly I would rather stick pins in my eyes than even think about another puppy right now. However, about the same time as we got Merry, unbeknownst to me, I was entering menopause. I now have no idea how much of my hellish summer was because of the puppy, or because of me going mental. I guess I will never know. Puppies are really hard work, but I think I would have coped much better if I was more balanced at the time. Poor puppy!

@sunshineandkindle welcome and best of luck with your pup! Don’t listen to me about puppies! In my recent experience, puppies are basically suicidal and will try to chew anything at least once. Shoes and slippers still live on top of the fridge. Houseplants, remote controls, books, blankets all had to be put away. Our coffee tables and hearth surrounds have been chewed at the corners. Things are now (she’s 7 months) being returned to their rightful homes, but she will still go in the bathroom to look for loo rolls, so they still live on a shelf. She never chewed wires, even though she did often wriggle behind the telly. In fact she was a bit of a ferret, constantly squirming into tiny spaces. Total weirdo!

Hi everyone, I’ll be a new puppy owner in a few days! We lost our lovely 13 year old golden retriever in December and his breeder has a little boy available, earlier than we’d planned but I’m ready for a new little one.

i’ve moved house since we last trained a puppy, we used to stair gate them into our utility room however I don’t have a utility room anymore. I don’t really want to crate train. I was thinking about getting a pen for the first few weeks at least and then using the kitchen as his base. Any advice on this? Feels like such a long time since I trained a puppy and I’ve forgotten everything!

Hi @spartanrunnergirl . Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog 😔

I'm sure having a new puppy will be quite a comfort.
I'm pleased that you don't want to crate your new pup, I don't think it's healthy for larger breeds, but I know that going free range from the start needs consideration.

I don't crate my giants, I rear my pups in the kitchen with tall dog gates on. We did get a play pen when we got our current girl, but it wasn't really sturdy enough to use as anything but a room divider. I suspect with a male GR, even at 8 weeks, he'll be too big and strong for a playpen to really be a safe option. Is there any way you can puppy proof your kitchen enough to use gates? If not, can you do as myself and @VanGoSunflowers did and use a playpen in a slightly different way to block an area?

I'm going to cheekily earburn the resident mn Goldie expert @TheHungryHungryLandsharks to get her thoughts on this. She's on holiday and may not be online now, but hopefully she might see this tomorrow...