Puppy Survival Thread Autumn 2025 - all welcome!

[VanGoSunflowers]

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

I will be interested in the green lipped mussels. Old hound is 12 and he looks a bit stiff from time to time. And anyone else got an image of a cartoon mussel with pink lips when your say green lipped mussels? lol
Puppy is on about day 12 of her season and I would say it’s not been too bad, certainly not as bad as I imagined. She has kept herself clean. If it’s best to have a couple of seasons before spaying I could cope with this again.

Hi everyone! I thought it would be good to join the gang here as we welcomed out puppy home on Sunday and wow am I overwhelmed! So she was 8 weeks on Sunday, a jack russell and obviously she's gorgeous but tbh I'm struggling with how I'm going to manage not being able to walk her for at least the next 6 weeks! She loves our garden and I plan on using a sling to get her socialisation going etc but I just can't see how I'm going to get through! I also have a dh and 2dc but ultimately the hard puppy work falls to me as I'm mostly home. I didn't sleep the first night with keep taking out her and last night was a bit better but I'm still so tired. Sorry for the ramble, just after some solidarity! The cuddles are lovely but the rest of it is exhausting! Please tell me it gets easier or will I just adjust and this is my life now!

She is absolutely beautiful @Wobblyhousebuyer

Start doing some training with her (sit, down, wait, recall in the garden etc). Get her used to being touched. It's things like training, or being groomed, that really get them thinking and that makes them tired - which can mean they fall asleep a bit more easily.

Don't be tempted to use 'food games' because whilst they can work for some dogs, they very often just make the dog a bit more manic - it can overstimulate them and make them mouthier and more energetic.

On sleeps/nights, I wouldn't wake up unless she wakes you up and asks to go out. Ultimately, a few tiddles in the night - if she doesn't wake you up - are a price worth paying for good sleep. It's so much harder without sleep. Plus you'd be surprised how long dogs can hold their bladders for!

Also don't be afraid to leave her to her own devices with toys etc (don't leave her alone - she might swallow something) but don't feel you have to entertain her all the time. Remember, most puppies sleep about 20+ hours a day...it's just the 4 hours they are awake are awful.😊

It's worth it though.

I can't find the exact green lipped mussel chews we used to use (it was a long time ago to be fair) but they looked something like this and we gave them to our old Lab as a "special treat" - I think he was on 3 a day but it depends on their weight. He loved them anyway.

https://bugalugspetcare.com/products/hip-joint-supplement-chews-for-dogs?pr_prod_strat=pinned&pr_rec_id=347695ae7&pr_rec_pid=14879985729923&pr_ref_pid=15004185330051&pr_seq=uniform

Welcome @Wobblyhousebuyershe is so beautiful! Our puppy is 3 months so still very new. I took the advise to handle her lots and socialise her with lots of people which so far has been great! Establishing a bedtime routine early on has helped as she now sleeps through thr night. How is she at night? Congratulations on your new member of the family. Xxx

Welcome @Wobblyhousebuyer and your puppy is gorgeous.

You are at the worst stage of having a puppy in my opinion, and I'm not far in front of you (our Lab puppy is 11 weeks old on Friday).

I can totally relate to you feeling overwhelmed, I think it's normal with having a puppy and I can only (sort of) cope this time around as it wasn't that long since we raised our last dog so I can remember feeling desperate and crying with the stress of it all.

This time around I do just expect loads of accidents on my poor carpets and being bitten to death by a tiny vampire like creature. Night times are very hard too until they start sleeping through the night.

Overnight, my last puppy slept in the kitchen with the door shut as he didn't take to his crate. This one likes his crate so he sleeps in the living room but with the crate shut so he can't get out. Both time, we were very hard with them by leaving them to cry after the first night and they only cried for one or two more nights after that. I might have got lucky with my dogs or the breed, but just giving you my experience which is you could try leaving the puppy to cry it out and fall asleep. They do fall asleep within 15 minutes, again in my experience.

Our current pup is very good overnight now, he is quiet all night from about 9.30pm to 5.30am and doesn't poo in his crate. The other puppy that used to sleep in the kitchen, I used to come downstairs to a big mess for many weeks/months but at least we were all getting a good nights sleep so I considered it a small price to pay to have to clean my kitchen floor every morning.

My vet says it's ok to walk puppies a short way a week after they have had their second lot of vaccinations. I've also signed mine up for a puppy socialisation class so he can meet some other puppies. Vets can often direct you to puppy socialisation classes which they can go to very early even before they have had all their vaccinations where they stay indoors and just meet other puppies. We're attending one at the weekend because it does get very boring staying at home all the time!

@Wobblyhousebuyer i had my puppy vaccinated in 3 stages rather than 2. It means you can get out walking 2 weeks earlier

so he had first vaccination at 8 weeks, 2nd at 10 weeks, walking at 11 weeks and 3rd vaccination at 12 weeks.

hes lovely 🥰

That's the schedule we're on too though the first one wasn't until he was a bit past the 8 week point as the breeder didn't organise that while he was with her.

@Wobblyhousebuyer she is adorable!! And yes it does get much easier but agree with @TheHungryHungryLandsharks that getting a good nights sleep is half the battle. Where does she sleep at night and is she waking you up for toileting or for company? My lab pup (now nearly ten months) was in a crate for the first 3 months or so, I spent 7 weeks sleeping in the living room with him / first on a make shift bed next to his crate and then on the sofa just so he didn’t feel lonely and we both got a good nights sleep! I started letting him sleep in with me when he was around 5 months old - very personal decision of course - but haven’t looked back since!
Hang in there, they throw your world upside down for a while but I promise it does get easier x

@Wobblyhousebuyer it definitely gets easier!

I wrote a long reply, but walked away and lost it! Will try again…

I have been lurking on this thread since before getting our miniature poodle pup but have been so deep in the puppy blues that I haven’t managed to post anything until now! My boy is 6 months old and doing really well in all areas - he’s cuddly, calm and sociable, toilet trained and sleeps through the night now, but I have still found the adjustment enormous!

I spent the first few weeks sleeping downstairs and feeling like I had made a huge mistake getting a puppy. After support from a trainer, we made the decision to move the crate upstairs next to our bed and he sleeps in there from about 11-8am. He settles on my bed with a chew at night and I move him into his crate after about 10 minutes - he actually stands up for me to move him now and settles straight to sleep again. In the early days, when he woke up at 3/4am, he finished the night on our bed. This gradually pushed later until he was waking at 8am instead. We had planned to move the crate out of our room at some point, so that’s the next thing to think about. Also would like him to settle to sleep in the crate, but I guess that will take time too!!

It has taken me 6 months to feel like myself again and I am definitely enjoying our pup now. Doing most of the work is hard - I felt that the responsibility was all on me and this brought me a lot of anxiety and stress and feelings of being stuck as he doesn’t like to be left! Things are definitely different now - I enjoy the many walks, love, energy and fun that he has brought to the family and that we are all much more involved with his care these days!

I’ve only had my puppy five weeks and it’s easier now than the first couple of weeks. Being able to go out for walks makes a massive difference. But he sleeps longer, doesn’t have as many accidents. Not sure he’s any calmer yet!

But i remember in the first week thinking it was like having a newborn baby again. When he fell asleep on the sofa i didn’t even feel I could get up as then he’d wake!

That's where I am now.

I'm a prisoner to wherever the puppy falls asleep.

Which is often on the sofa despite he's not even allowed on the sofa. He's breaking all the rules as we watch helplessly.

@NorwichMom & @PoodleBip I'm longing to be where you are now. Though then I tell myself not to wish away the tiny puppy days because realistically I know they don't last long (just feel long!)

Thank you! She's sleeps in her crate in the living room which is where she has all her naps too. During the day she generally falls asleep on me and I transfer her to her crate. Last night she ended up sleeping in dh lap between 1900 and 2300 which was definitely a mistake! I've been sleeping on the sofa nearby and I just take her to the garden when she wakes and whines and then straight back in where she seems to settle herself with a bit shusshing! I took her out for a quick 10 mins walk in the sling this afternoon which was nice to leave the house with her! I'm worried about moving back to sleeping upstairs (I'm only on night 3) in case her whining wakes everyone else up and the trek downstairs to the garden is much more awkward and I think she will fully wake up and just not re settle well but I am a overthinker but I do miss my bed!

@PoodleBip thank you for going to the effort of re writing all that for me, it really helps to know I'm not alone in my feelings! The adjustment is huge, it's giving me flashbacks of bring my first baby home over 10 years ago, minus all the pain and hormones 🤣. I'll definitely feels better once we are settled into a routine and I know we will have her whole life to enjoys the lovely walks! Any tips on trying to help the inevitable biting, it's not too bad yet but know we have worse to come?!

My 13 week old has never been that bothered by her food. She sniffs it and walks off. Sometimes she comes back to it but often she doesn't. So we either put it back in the fridge and or throw it out.
Any ideas? This isn't new. Today she ate a small amount for breakfast and nothing at 1pm even though she went up sniffed it and walked away.

Should I change puppyfood?
She is a cavapoo
How often would u feed a 13 week old?

I fed three times a day from 12 weeks to 6 months old. Then dropped to twice a day.

My youngest wouldn't eat the food she came home on, so I switched to something else and she wolfed it down.
My 4 year old was so fussy. I tried wet, dry, raw, cooked. Different bowls and plates. Hand feeding. Making a game of it. She eventually decided she would eat a cold pressed food, but she was about 9 months old at that stage.

I think poodles and poodle crosses are notoriously picky eaters though. My friend has a 5 year old cockerpoo and still struggles to get her to eat.

@SpanielsGalorethank you thata really reassuring. What does everyone feed their puppy?

My mini poodle is on raw. Some days he doesn’t eat loads and others he eats everything and wants more 🙈. He’s 6 months old now and, after a big breakfast, hasn’t eaten lunch today, so I think we’re close to dropping to two meals a day. I discovered that he likes his raw meat frozen, so I chop it up small and that’s how he gets it! If he doesn’t eat it quickly, it has often defrosted by the time he eats it. I find he likes the variety and I can mix what he’s having each day and day to day to keep him interested. He does also have some kibble as training treats and with his food, depending on how much he’s eating.

I fed K Orijen Puppy dry food. It's ridiculously expensive, but at the time it scored 85% on the All About Dog Food website and I wanted to give her the best start I possibly could. It's slipped down to 70% now, so not sure it's worth the extra money anymore.
I switched her to Country Kibble at around a year old, as that's what P is on.

I've been mainly sticking with what the breeder gave us up until now - it's a complete dry food called Chapel farm (not a well known one, I think it's mainly for gun dogs).

4 meals a day, but we've just switched to wet food on 2 of those - Fourthglade puppy wet food. He shows more excitement for the wet food but being a Lab, wolfs everything down anyway.

Switching to 3 meals a day from about 3 months and will probably also switch to Royal Canin dry food for puppies when the Chapel farm stuff runs out, as that's what we fed our last pup on and he had a nice coat etc.

I feed scrumbles kibble, it scores quite highly.

I've just been looking at different foods on that All About Dog Food website you mentioned and I've changed my plans as a result.

I'm going to stick with Chapel Farm for the dry food as they score much higher than Royal Canin (& cheaper too).

Fourthglade wet food scores highly so I will stick with my plan of doing 50/50 wet and dry food.

Thank you for mentioning this website 😀

@Twiglets1 I'm so glad you have decided that. I did look them both up myself and was debating whether or not to say anything. There's a fine line between giving unsolicited advice (however well intended) and being an interfering cowbag. 😁

I can imagine your dilemma! I would feel the same way.

I'm very happy anyway that I was pointed in the right direction at such an early stage and puppy B says thank you 😁

Agree with this regarding poodles and poodle crosses.

W, my cockapoo only really eats once a day at 12 months. I put food down more regularly but he sniffs and then walks away until evening time when he will then finally have a proper meal.

For this reason after trying every type of food going I’ve gone back to dry food. It’s easier if he rejects it to just put it down again later that day, and it always gets eaten late in the day.

Honestly @sunshineandkindle i wouldn’t worry too much they are just like this I think. In my experience changing the food (multiple times 🤦‍♀️) made no difference.