Puppy Survival Thread Autumn 2025 - all welcome!

[VanGoSunflowers]

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

My last puppy always targeted me ... the previous one targeted my son so I wasn't really expecting to be the target!

My dog targeted my son too- I think it was because he absented himself (teenager) and so he was a bit of a novelty for dog and therefore very exciting. It was a bit of a vicious circle- the more pup bit, the more the son disappeared and became even more exciting!

They’re best buddies now.

So this is known as puppy prison in our house and has been a god send. He’s only in it for 10-15 mins at a time but it means I can feed the 2 dogs separately, or nip upstairs to get changed or take older dog out for a ten min walk or have a shower and know he’s safe.

This was our puppy prison. We changed the panels to ones like you have. They attached to the crate so he could be contained in the pen with the door of the crate open. We used it mainly when we were eating our meals and it was set up next to our table.
He was so tiny. His favourite puppy toy (you can just see it in his crate) was as big as him!

@NorwichMom hope your older dog is ok now!

Rory has definitely been showing more adolescent behaviour. He came out to the bin with me yesterday and refused to come back in a went and ate the neighbour’s bird food instead 🙈. I tried doing the “ok bye” thing and closing the front door but he carried on munching and don’t give 2 shits that is gone. In the end I had to put him in air jail and carry all 25kg of him back to the house!

Check out the giant tube he found on his walk which he insisted on taking home with him. I was just telling him that he wasn’t allowed to take it in the house and we could leave it outside for next time when a lovely lady we see out walking her pugs walked past laughing at us 🤣.

Aren't they funny?

In adolescence my last pup took to picking up long sticks as we left the park and carrying them home, only for me to take them off him and put them in the garden waste wheelie bin once we got there.

I thought it was quite handy really as it stopped him sniffing all the way home. He never saw anything like that giant tube, but no doubt would have wanted that too!

What things can we teach our 9 week old puppy? We've been doing socialisation and have been in the car, alcarried her around the duck pond and school run. What behaviour or tricks should we be doing?

Their name, recall, sit, down, stay, wait are probably the basics.
Practice lead work in the garden. Heel.
And getting used to being handled - feet, ears, teeth checking.

Casper has learnt to sit. He got that really quickly. I want to start practicing recall in the garden next.

@sunshineandkindle 100% agree with @SpanielsGalore - definitely get them used to having their paws, ears and teeth checks. It's great having a dog that is well trained, but if they won't let people touch their balls (for example), then you're going to be in for a rough time at the vets!

Once mine have mastered commands inside, I teach them the commands outside in the garden - as that's very distracting and it's good to lock that in before you try and attempt commands out and about.

I also teach mind extended sits and down (starting at 5 seconds and going up to several minutes). That's because I do a lot of standing outside coffee shops after walks and the last thing I want is a puppy barking at me to hurry up or not being able to wait patiently.

@NorwichMom how is your older girl doing? How are she and Casper getting on?

We used to practice recall a lot. When he was rummaging around in the garden bushes I would randomly call his name. Being a puppy he ran back like a shot and got rewarded each time with a treat and a fuss. It was reinforcing that coming back immediately is a good thing.

We also practiced him sitting nicely and waiting for the OK command to begin eating when I put his food down, that was practiced 4 times a day.

We practiced that him jumping up gets him nowhere but that when he stops jumping up he gets a fuss.

We practiced him wearing a soft little collar and lead and "going for walks" round the garden on the lead, again with lots of treats when he walked nicely.

We practiced me taking things off him and replacing them with other good things to try to prevent future resource guarding. I touched him a lot too so he was happy with being touched/groomed and even while he was eating (brief touch on his head only).

We practiced him learning to self settle & develop resilience by being left on his own for a few minutes in the daytime while I went upstairs.

I agree with all those commands already mentioned, especially settle training. I regret not realising a bit earlier that puppies need help winding down and their behaviour deteriorates when they are overtired. Same as toddlers!

@sunshineandkindle as well as getting them exposed to outside things, getting them used to loud noises inside is also good. My pup hates the vacuum cleaner so I would do the downstairs vacuuming when he was outside on a walk. I am having to build up very slowly. I wish I had done more in the early days! Have you read about counter conditioning? I found it a really useful thing for helping pup to associate scary things with nice things.

Oh, another thing, our pup would get barky when he heard the neighbours children playing. We spent a while counter conditioning to the general outside noises that would startle him (fireworks, noisy vehicles, dogs barking etc). I still keep a packet of treats next to my seat so if something does startle him I can lob him treats. The only thing it’s not worked for is cats fighting!

Evening all! Junior Spartan is doing very well at home. I have a few question that I’m hoping you wise fellow puppy owners might have ideas on!

poo- pup’s poo has got better but it’s very soft, not diarrhoea, just soft - any tips on firming it up, or it that normal for puppies?

night times - he is in his crate at night, from 10pm, cries about 3 or 4 am I get up he goes out to toilet then back in crate until about 7am. Will there come a time he will sleep through or do you find that it’s the habit of waking and there will be a point I’ll need to ignore the night wake and let him settle? (He is 13 weeks) Thank you

Regarding the crate, our boy was exactly the same in the early days (same times/routine) but now goes straight through from 10/11pm ish to 7am in the crate. We don’t hear a peep from him.

He is 11 months now and I’d say he stopped the 3am ish wee from about 4 months old?

@spartanrunnergirl what type of food is pup having? Mine had slightly runny poo until I switched him from chicken to lamb puppy food. Also agree with @GoodBones85 they grow out of night time
wakings really early. Pablo is 9 months old now and will easily go 12 hours overnight. He sleeps from 8ish until I get him up to come to bed with me and sleeps until whenever I get up.

I went out last night, left dh in charge. Got home in the small hours to find puppy in his crate with the crate door wide open. Questioned dh this morning and he had left puppy asleep on the sofa 🤷‍♀️. He’s a good boy and had taken himself off to his crate at some point 😁

@spartanrunnergirl M’s poo is softer if he is fed too much. I slightly reduce his feed and it sorts it out.

@spartanrunnergirl I agree with gradually changing the food. My last dog never got on with kibble and a wet food diet sorted his poos right out. Rory also has wet food so I couldn’t say if kibble would be an issue for him.

Rory still sometimes wakes up between 3 and 4 for a wee and my last dog always wanted breakfast at that time. I think there’s something about 3am but I’ve no idea what 🤷‍♀️.

@NorwichMom that is too cute, what a good boy 🥰.

Thanks all, he managed until 5:30 this morning! Then slept again until 7 am 🎉 I have him on dry kibble with a bit of wet mashed in. He is getting massive amount of treats too for training so I’m going to try him just on cooked chicken for training (his fav) and see if this helps.

so cute @NorwichMomhe took himself to crate! Mine has started to go there in day time now sometimes with door open for a rest 💗

How is everyone coping with the slippy conditions?? I was worried Pablo would pull me over but he seemed to follow my cue when I tentatively walked reeeeally slowly over the ice bless him!

@VanGoSunflowers lovely to see Pablo looking handsome as ever!!! He's getting so big now 😍

Can't advise on the ice as if it gets really bad, I just don't go out or I take them out the back-gate into the fields and thus avoid the ice 😃Even with mine all walking to heel, I still won't risk icy pavements...

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I know I am
biased but I think he’s a stunning little thing 😍

I should probably take a leaf out of your book! How I have managed to stay upright I couldn’t tell you 😂

How is Eris getting on?

@@VanGoSunflowers he really is handsome!
I took Merry to a remote spot in the woods on Wednesday, intending to use the dreaded long line, only because she is in season. But it was like an ice rink. It had clearly thawed but then frozen again. I ditched the lead, but I still ended up on my arse. Twice! So I can also answer the question which you (or someone else?) asked some time ago about what would your dog do if you fell over. Merry lay down on the floor and watched me with a quizzical look on her face. She maybe thought I was buggering about and spoiling her walk…

@Struckbylightning oh she’s had her first season? How is she with it? They’re all growing up too quick! Pablo started cocking his leg to wee last week! Not quite the same as having a season but I read somewhere that’s another marker of a boy dog maturing!