Puppy Survival Thread Autumn 2025 - all welcome!

[VanGoSunflowers]

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

Hi, me again! I'm in tears this morning thinking I've made a huge mistake. I find mornings and evenings with the kids home super stressful with bitey pup. They just want to cuddle her but she's obsessed with their feet and faces. I know I'm not coping well with being sleep deprived and I feel I'm failing as a dog mum, its bringing back feelings of pnd which is horrible and I dont want to fail at this!

Very sorry to hear you are feeling so low @Wobblyhousebuyer

This may not be reassuring to hear but all puppies are very bitey (in my experience at least) until their baby teeth are replaced by their big teeth. So your puppy is normal in that regard, though normal can still feel awful I know. Our puppy bit my husband on the face yesterday. He thought they were having a nice cuddle! I try not to let him anywhere near my face but he bites my hands relentlessly. It’s so hard because puppies ask for cuddles a lot and look sweet & vulnerable. But they want to play like they would with other puppies at this stage which involves lots of biting. The only consolation is … they grow out of it.

You may do this already but remind the children to always carry a soft toy when the puppy is near so the puppy’s teeth can be directed to the toy not them!

Also @Wobblyhousebuyer you’re not failing 🤗

It’s just the hardest stage of dog ownership and the way I’m trying to get through it is just one day at a time. I’m not enjoying it. I’m fed up standing in the rain all the time only for the puppy to do a wee/poo when we come indoors. And fed up not being able to go out much. But previous experience tells me this isn’t my life now. This is just a stage and even by the Spring things will be a bit easier. And much easier by the Summer.

@Wobblyhousebuyer Sorry to hear you’re feeling so low! I think managing a puppy around children is one of the hardest parts until they learn each other’s boundaries. I know my 8yo DS and Pablo were similar with each other and I have moments of utter despair until DS learned to leave the puppy alone and the puppy learned how to behave around DS. I know this may not help you but I promise it does get easier! How old are your children? I had to be quite strict with DS about leaving Pablo alone while he is sleeping/trying to settle down and also that the consequence of winding him up was more biting!

Thank you! I keep telling myself it will pass and I have to get through this to get the family dog we really want. I think we will have to get some more toys so the kids can always have one on hand! I am so looking forward to the summer when hopefully the weather is better and we can all get outside and enjoy her. I'm also worrying about how we will manage when I go back to work in a couple of weeks which will mean the odd day where she needs to left with dh working from home and I'm worried she won't settle and will drive him mad all day! I know she will eventually settle in to our family but just can't see the wood for the trees right now!

Thank you! It really helps to know I'm not alone. My children are nearly 10 and nearly 12 so definitely old enough to understand. I feel like I cope really well in the day with naps and play and toileting etc but it just all goes to pot when they get home from school!

She definitely will settle and this will pass. I remind myself every day like a mantra 😂

My last puppy we collected in July and I have to say it was a LOT easier. We were outside a lot anyway plus had the patio doors open a lot and the puppy would just wander in and out, doing a lot of their business outside. Plus we could go to places like pub and cafe gardens and have the puppy sitting on our laps before he was allowed walks. It feels quite isolating having a winter puppy.

But yes, lots of different toys is a good idea, some chew ones some cuddly toys. They don't all need to come out at the same time.

You will probably enjoy going out to work and leaving puppy behind with your husband. I've certainly noticed my husband going into the office more since we got ours! With our last one he admitted that he chose to go into the office sometimes just to get some respite from puppy madness.

You saying that you feel you cope really well in the day just goes to show how far you and the puppy have already come with regard to understanding each other.

Take the small victories.

On day 1 you both probably had no idea how to spend time together but now you do.

The biting is awful but it will stop. A puppy at the classes I go to is 18 weeks and their owner says it's stopped now. I am counting down the weeks.

I have tried so much - teething gel, yak chews, puppy pizzles. I have found this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Benebone-Wishbone-Softer-Modest-Chewers/dp/B07YM49H5W/ref=asc_df_B07YM49H5W?tag=bingshoppinga-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80470713894416&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=41414&hvtargid=pla-4584070184940852&psc=1&msclkid=5ecaacf013291a12fb2ec574665f54c9

to be really good, I have to hold it for him but he will chew it for ages rather than my fingers

I'm trying that wishbone @NorwichMom got to be worth a try 😂

@NorwichMom you should earn some commission, we will all be buying one in the hope it will saves our hands and feet!

@Twiglets1 Yes work will definitely feel like a break and I work in emergency services so that's saying something! I can imagine a summer puppy being a joy spending so much time in the garden, I keep looking at the forecast and there is so much rain 😪.

I'm thinking a playpen might help for us to have somewhere safe to pop her when we need to get on or she needs a time out from being a shark! Does anyone else use one?

@Wobblyhousebuyer I took two weeks off when I got Pablo - I exclusively work from home (and there’s just me in the house apart from half of the week when DS is here) and I remember thinking how the hell am I going to be able to work with a ten week old puppy 😂 I got through it, and eventually one day you just stop and realise that you’ve had an easy day, or that you can’t remember the last time they bit you, or bothered you when you were working… it just ended up all falling in to place for us and very quickly too. Pablo is coming up to ten months old and he has been a dream in the house for months now. There was also a time when I dreaded having him and DS together at the same time but that’s something else I haven’t felt for what feels like a very long time. This too shall pass!

@Wobblyhousebuyer with regards to the playpen, I tried one once but as Pabs is a lab he was already big enough to climb out of it and that’s exactly what he tried to do the minute I put him in! I ended up using it instead to run around a corner of one room to block the curtains/wires/book shelf.

Others may have had more success but the best purchase for me was a large baby gate to separate living room and kitchen

I did the same thing, also with a Lab puppy. They are boisterous puppies and just see a playpen as a challenge to climb over or smash through. They might work with smaller puppies though, I don't know.

I also ended up using mine to protect a corner of the room where wires were and where the little darling had taken to chewing the woodwork.

i have a play pen, cost me £35 from Tesco. I got an 80cm high one and puppy is a small terrier. He settles in it nicely and I put him in for short periods if I need him somewhere safe or if he’s getting a bit too much and he needs to calm down. Ultimately when I go back to work (part time ) next week he will be in it for longer periods. I’ve found it a god send.

This is the pen. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/325574204?seller=trn:tesco:seller:uuid:4bcb8297-5838-4424-972b-0144ab1bedc7&_gl=11lqxwby_upMQ.._gaMTQ5Nzc1OTQ1NC4xNzcwMjk1Njgx_ga_33B19D36CY*czE3NzAyOTU2ODEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzAyOTU2ODEkajYwJGwwJGgyMzMzMzAzMjg.

Thank you for that I will have a look. Pip is a Jack Russell, currently only weighs 1.7kg so that might work well. We have a large open plan lounge/diner with a separate kitchen so would be good to have somewhere safe to put her for a short while whilst I'm in the kitchen as she seems to have taken a liking to wee under the dining table which is just a pain to get to and clean up! Can't hurt to give it a try plus will be useful for when dh is trying to wfh whilst I'm out at work as dont like the thought of her being shut in crate when he has meetings etc. Thank you everyone for their help and reading my ramblings, really is helping me today. 🥰

@Wobblyhousebuyer we had a pen that could attach to the crate. It had several panels so we could make it bigger or smaller as needed. It could also be opened out to block off half of the room. It was a game changer. Most of the day it was in the open position and just used to partition the room and at teatime it was attached together as a pen.
I don’t know if my pup is a bit dim but he never made any attempt to scale or escape the pen, and he’s not exactly small!

My children are older, but pup ‘attacked’ my 14 year old son on a regular basis. His clothes were full of holes where small teeth had taken hold. It was much better when his baby teeth had fallen out!

@Wobblyhousebuyer
You are definitely not failing!. You are still in the early days and getting to know each other and being a puppy mum is so so hard! I completely get your feelings and can remember the many tears and feelings of regret. My teens have all adored our pup from the start, which also added to my feelings of guilt as I struggled with my new responsibility and changed life. When I went back to work, I definitely felt much better and more like myself, but it has been a 4 month rollercoaster of emotions! Over Christmas, my hands were a mess and my clothes filled with holes… now he’s come through the teething and has stopped pulling at my clothes and things feel much better. You’ll get there soon too.

We had a Pawhut pen from Facebook marketplace and have now used it to section off a part of our open plan living / kitchen area to keep him contained when we need to!

The weather is dreadful right now - I can’t wait for spring and summer and I’m sure things will feel better in the sunshine.

@NorwichMom thanks for mentioning the Benebone Wishbone.

Got one for my puppy now and he loves to chew it. Makes a change from biting us!

Hope everyone is doing ok. I took B to a puppy socialisation class and it was lovely to see him interacting with the other puppies, and they were all crazy so that was nice too to see it's normal.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I didn’t know whether to tag you here or the adolescent thread but hope you and Rory are all good and you’re feeling bright about the nights’ drawing out 😀

@Twiglets1 glad the chew is working. It’s worth its weight in gold to us. 😁

@VanGoSunflowers hello 👋 sorry I’ve been trying to reduce my screen time and at the risk of sounding like a total dick, Rory just doesn’t feel like a puppy, I’m sure he’s really about 3 years old 🤣. He’s doing great though, hope you and Pablo are too. I’m… well I’m surviving and starting to see glimmers of spring! I will check out the adolescent thread but I’m a bit scared from why I’ve heard about it on here 🤣.

Here’s Rory doing his new thing of lying down for his ball to be thrown. No idea where he’s got it from and he does it so reluctantly when it’s muddy but no one’s ever told him he has to lie down for it 🤷‍♀️. Maybe he’s part collie??

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding no need for sorrys, I was just thinking about you (as my lab adolescent buddy and fellow spring lover!)

Rory was just born a good boy wasn’t he bless him! He’s so handsome 😍 Pablo is doing all good but definitely in the throes of adolescence hence me mainly posting on the other thread, glad to see you’ve popped up on there too!

Hope everyone else and their puppers are surviving (hopefully thriving!)

@VanGoSunflowers he was I think bless him 🥰. I was just wondering if he ever gets sick of being called “good boy” 🤣🤣.

The only bad thing is the muddy paws, roll on spring pleeeeease!