# Sticky  Puppy support thread



## Guest

Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:

1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.

2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.

3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.

Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


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## shadowmare

1) I doubt it's the size of the kibble. The smaller it is the easier it should be to digest. What are you feeding her? It can also be the treats/ any other food that you give her. Are her stools looking ok? not too runny or weird colour? If not, then I wouldn't worry but would consider trying a different food. There is a very informative and a good thread about different brands of dry food in the dog health and nutrition section of the forum. 

2) If you're worried about her when you go to the shop or somewhere, just leave your laptop or phone with the camera on, go for a walk around the block for 20-30mins and look through the video when you come back. If she is unhappy in the crate during the day, give her a frozen kong or some interesting toy in the crate to keep her busy.

3) My dog is 4 and still does that.


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## Nonnie

Im only going to answer point one, cos im lazy.

If she is having indoor accidents, you probably arent taking her out frequently enough. All the time she is awake, then its out every 20 mins, and watching her like a hawk when inside so she simply doesnt have the opportunity to have an accident. Just think of it as great exercise, as you'll be up and down constantly.


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## ShibaPup

1) What are you feeding her? Lily goes around 2-3 times. If it's formed and firm I wouldn't worry. 
I'm using incontinence bed pads in Lily's room, she goes on them every time. When she is able to hold herself better then I'll work on house-training properly but living in an apartment I can't get her downstairs on time, every time. She is heavily rewarded when she does any mess outside.

2) Build up to shutting the crate, the amount of time she spends in there and you being out of sight gradually. 
Feed her in the crate and leave the door open. Once she is comfortable with that, give her a kong shove some kibble or food inside or a chew and let her work on that inside the crate. Shut the door for a few seconds, then open. You can steadily increase the amount of time.

3) When Lily is overly tired I put her in her own space behind a stair gate - pup free zones are a blessing!! That way she knows it's time to settle otherwise she would go until she dropped. She has toys and chews to entertain herself too.

My issue is the biting! :Arghh
At the moment I'm saying "owww" and ignoring her until she calms down then reward or for hard bites "owww" and walking away, I go back to her after a couple of minutes and try again.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> 1) What are you feeding her? Lily goes around 2-3 times. If it's formed and firm I wouldn't worry.
> I'm using incontinence bed pads in Lily's room, she goes on them every time. When she is able to hold herself better then I'll work on house-training properly but living in an apartment I can't get her downstairs on time, every time. She is heavily rewarded when she does any mess outside.
> 
> 2) Build up to shutting the crate, the amount of time she spends in there and you being out of sight gradually.
> Feed her in the crate and leave the door open. Once she is comfortable with that, give her a kong shove some kibble or food inside or a chew and let her work on that inside the crate. Shut the door for a few seconds, then open. You can steadily increase the amount of time.
> 
> 3) When Lily is overly tired I put her in her own space behind a stair gate - pup free zones are a blessing!! That way she knows it's time to settle otherwise she would go until she dropped. She has toys and chews to entertain herself too.
> 
> My issue is the biting! :Arghh
> At the moment I'm saying "owww" and ignoring her until she calms down then reward or for hard bites "owww" and walking away, I go back to her after a couple of minutes and try again.


She's on purina pro plan, which I'm gradually changing over to something called healthy option pet food which I get in my local pet shop. Yeah it's completely formed but just so often, I walk her on the grass but she doesn't do anything most of the time so I have to wait for her tell tale sign of darting back and forth but I don't always get her out in time as like you I'm in a flat.

ooh no problem with biting here yet. She catches me a lot when she's trying to bite her toy but doesn't intentionally bite me but I'm sure that's gonna come. You sound like you're doing the right thing with her though.


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## shadowmare

spamvicious said:


> She's on purina pro plan, which I'm gradually changing over to something called healthy option pet food which I get in my local pet shop. Yeah it's completely formed but just so often, I walk her on the grass but she doesn't do anything most of the time so I have to wait for her tell tale sign of darting back and forth but I don't always get her out in time as like you I'm in a flat.
> 
> ooh no problem with biting here yet. She catches me a lot when she's trying to bite her toy but doesn't intentionally bite me but I'm sure that's gonna come. You sound like you're doing the right thing with her though.


Personally, would look for a better quality food as the healthy option doesn't sound like it's worth the money IMO.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> She's on purina pro plan, which I'm gradually changing over to something called healthy option pet food which I get in my local pet shop. Yeah it's completely formed but just so often, I walk her on the grass but she doesn't do anything most of the time so I have to wait for her tell tale sign of darting back and forth but I don't always get her out in time as like you I'm in a flat.
> 
> ooh no problem with biting here yet. She catches me a lot when she's trying to bite her toy but doesn't intentionally bite me but I'm sure that's gonna come. You sound like you're doing the right thing with her though.


Healthy Option pet food seems to have white and brown rice as the main ingredient minimum 55%? Seems expensive for what it is!! Personally I'd look for a puppy food where the main ingredients are meat/fish - Star should have less frequent, more firm, smaller and less smelly stools as a result. Only saying because you seem concerned about the amount she is producing
Lily is fed Nutriment puppy formula for her meals and Akela kibble as treats which are suitable for all life stages.
If you want to look at better foods All About Dog Food is a good resource www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

Lily loves tugging on my clothes!  BUT she hasn't bitten my skin today yet so that's something!! :Smug


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## Guest

Yeah I just looked up the healthy option food and I didn't realise it was so high in carbs so I'll look at something else, thankfully I only bought a small bag so no loss really. I'm torn between james wellbeloved or burns for the puppy food. I want something I can buy in shops.


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## PawsOnMe

spamvicious said:


> Yeah I just looked up the healthy option food and I didn't realise it was so high in carbs so I'll look at something else, thankfully I only bought a small bag so no loss really. I'm torn between james wellbeloved or burns for the puppy food. I want something I can buy in shops.


Don't feel like you have to just buy puppy foods, most are the exactly same ingredients as the adult version and the only real difference is the price.


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## Guest

PawsOnMe said:


> Don't feel like you have to just buy puppy foods, most are the exactly same ingredients as the adult version and the only real difference is the price.


Oh ok thanks for that. Do you have any suggestions for dry food?. I had heard good things about Burns and JW but when I looked on allaboutdogfood.co.uk they don't have the best reviews.


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## PawsOnMe

spamvicious said:


> Oh ok thanks for that. Do you have any suggestions for dry food?. I had heard good things about Burns and JW but when I looked on allaboutdogfood.co.uk they don't have the best reviews.


There's a sticky thread in the health and nutrition section with a list of good dog foods. I quite like pets at homes wainwrights grain free, they go on offer a lot so it works out pretty good price wise and mine did well on it. Mine are now on Millies wolfheart trout and duck and they love it.

With food it's definitely a shop around trying different ones (buying small bags) to find one that suits your dog.


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## ShibaPup

PawsOnMe said:


> Don't feel like you have to just buy puppy foods, most are the exactly same ingredients as the adult version and* the only real difference is the price*.


Actually that isn't true.

The majority of puppy foods are more calorie dense - after all growing pups need more calories to support their growth and development. They also need more protein, fat, certain minerals and trace elements than some adult foods provide.

Large breed puppy foods also have the correct amount of calories and calcium since excess calcium intake has shown to have adverse effects on skeletal development in large breeds.

I would always feed an all life stages food or puppy food - follow the manufactures guidelines as to when to move onto the adult version.


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## shadowmare

spamvicious said:


> Oh ok thanks for that. Do you have any suggestions for dry food?. I had heard good things about Burns and JW but when I looked on allaboutdogfood.co.uk they don't have the best reviews.


http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/the-updated-dry-dog-food-index.255727/


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## ForestWomble

spamvicious said:


> Oh ok thanks for that. Do you have any suggestions for dry food?. I had heard good things about Burns and JW but when I looked on allaboutdogfood.co.uk they don't have the best reviews.


The best food is what your dog gets on with, your budget can afford and what you can get easily.

That said I really like Lovejoys.


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## Guest

shadowmare said:


> http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/the-updated-dry-dog-food-index.255727/


Yeah I've read that thanks. Everyone has different opinions. I think I'm gonna try her on Wainwrights, it isn't too expensive and seems to have good reviews.


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Actually that isn't true.
> 
> The majority of puppy foods are more calorie dense - after all growing pups need more calories to support their growth and development. They also need more protein, fat, certain minerals and trace elements than some adult foods provide.
> 
> Large breed puppy foods also have the correct amount of calories and calcium since excess calcium intake has shown to have adverse effects on skeletal development in large breeds.
> 
> I would always feed an all life stages food or puppy food - follow the manufactures guidelines as to when to move onto the adult version.


Its the calcium and phosphorus ratio that's utmost importance in puppy food and foods for giant breeds especially..

All lifestages food as you have already said adheres to the correct proportions although for giant breeds I would prefer a giant breed puppy food.

Feed whatever suits your lifestyle, your budget and your dog. Too much change on young puppies can make them fussy. The higher 'meat' content usually the feeding amount is lower.
Remember feeding guidelines are just that...usually generous..but a good starting point for puppies.


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## Jamesgoeswalkies

ShibaPup said:


> BUT she hasn't bitten my skin today yet so that's something!! :Smug


That is such a perfect comment for a puppy thread 

And so true as we wait for them to grow up.

My advice for food is relax ....and as has been said so well ...feed 'whatever suits your lifestyle, your budget and your dog'. *There is no one right answer.* I stay on puppy food until I think the majority of super fast growing is done (about 7 months of age). Some puppies are picky eaters. Don't worry ...they'll probably (not) grow out of it  but don't spend time (and money) stressing over it. Others are born hoovers.

J


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## PawsOnMe

ShibaPup said:


> Actually that isn't true.
> 
> The majority of puppy foods are more calorie dense - after all growing pups need more calories to support their growth and development. They also need more protein, fat, certain minerals and trace elements than some adult foods provide.
> 
> Large breed puppy foods also have the correct amount of calories and calcium since excess calcium intake has shown to have adverse effects on skeletal development in large breeds.
> 
> I would always feed an all life stages food or puppy food - follow the manufactures guidelines as to when to move onto the adult version.


I did say most not all. There's no reason for puppy food to be so much more expensive than their adult food other than them charging more because they know people will pay it.

There is a lot of good quality food where they don't do life stages food and their food is complete and appropriate for all life stages. So just looking at puppy food cuts out a lot of good food options.


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## lullabydream

PawsOnMe said:


> I did say most not all. There's no reason for puppy food to be so much more expensive than their adult food other than them charging more because they know people will pay it.
> 
> There is a lot of good quality food where they don't do life stages food and their food is complete and appropriate for all life stages. So just looking at puppy food cuts out a lot of good food options.


Regulations means if its suitable for lifestages it has to state it somewhere on the packet...

I used to think adult food was suitable till I read more into it...and its the calcium phophorus ratio that's important in it..

Hence why dog food companies do puppy food, and not all are more expensive.


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## mollymo

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


It must be difficult to toilet train if you have no direct access to a garden and it will take a little longer but it will happen.
Pooping 6 times a day is alot....My preference is Arden Grange puppy chicken and rice and Ellie will poop 2-3 times a day and will stay on puppy AG untill she is 7 months.
When I leave my pup she is crated as other adult dogs here and its not safe to leave her alone with them, she is left with a treat ball containing kibble and its a very small hole so entertains her for quite a while when I leave and I leave the radio on.
As for her sleeping during the day I do not tip toe around her but do all normal things and she just excepts it when she's tired as I just ignore her if she wakes.
Ellie is 6 months now and has grown into a lovely young lady and so will your star when you get through the young pup stage.


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## KPope

How we stopped our dog from having accidents in the house, we put her on a schedule. It took time and patients. If you stick to the schedule you come up with, your dog body will become clock work to it. You have to make sure you are in place to take your dog out at the scheduled time. Also, during your puppy teething stage, make sure you have plenty of chew toys and make sure you take your dogs on walks. Walking your puppy help get rid of some of the energy. It is true a tired dog is a good dog. If you dont walk your puppy enough and it gets bored, he/she will damage things around the house. Speaking from experience. Be patient and consistant and you will see things get better.


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## leisurely

For what it's worth, our 17 week old boy is loving pets at home own brand AVA puppy food for medium dogs twice a day and a raw chicken wing once. The thing he loves most in the world is the chicken. He poos two or three times, it's always formed and doesn't smell.
He was accused of being skinny last week by some ignoramus with an obese labrador. His ribs are covered and he is muscly underneath his shaggy coat. Silly moo.


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## evel-lin

KPope said:


> Walking your puppy help get rid of some of the energy. It is true a tired dog is a good dog. If you dont walk your puppy enough and it gets bored, he/she will damage things around the house. Speaking from experience. Be patient and consistant and you will see things get better.


The advice now is to limit the amount of on lead walking puppies get whilst their bones are growing. The guideline commonly given is 5 minutes on lead walking per month of age. Sniffing and exploring round a field off lead is different but "forced" walking for long distances isn't a good idea


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## Guest

I took Star to PetsAtHome today and they made a big fuss of her, even making her "dog of the day' on their facebook page. She enjoyed the interaction and slept when she got home. I bought her lots of toys today and she's spent all evening sleeping on a plastic storage bag I'm looking forward to Friday when I can take her on her first proper walk.


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## KPope

evel-lin said:


> The advice now is to limit the amount of on lead walking puppies get whilst their bones are growing. The guideline commonly given is 5 minutes on lead walking per month of age. Sniffing and exploring round a field off lead is different but "forced" walking for long distances isn't a good idea


I would never encourage force walking or long distance for a puppy. When Angel was a puppy, we watch her on how long and how far she could go. When she reached her limit we came back to the house. I was just encouraging walks to help to calm down the energy level. Its up to the owner to determine the time and distance.


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## Guest

@ashelia @ShibaPup how are you guys getting on?


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## ShibaPup

KPope said:


> I would never encourage force walking or long distance for a puppy. When Angel was a puppy, we watch her on how long and how far she could go. When she reached her limit we came back to the house. I was just encouraging walks to help to calm down the energy level. Its up to the owner to determine the time and distance.


Trying to tire out a dog physically isn't the best idea IMO. A dog should learn to settle with or without having exercise - otherwise you can end up with a super fit dog who can walk for hours but has no off switch!



spamvicious said:


> @ashelia @ShibaPup how are you guys getting on?


Still a human chew toy - I have blood, bruises, holes in clothes... the whole nine yards!! :Shifty:Arghh Yesterday she was much more frustrated but controlled her biting well; by well I mean she didn't cause me to bleed and no hard bites but stuffed kongs saved the day! Today well... we'll see 

Positives - She will sit before her meal and sits if she wants a fuss - it's kinda transferred to anything she wants she will sit and wait.
She is happy to be touched all over including tail, legs and paws - trimmed her nails and she was very relaxed about it. Gave her a little groom; not that she will need that much being short coated but gets her use to the process.
Happy to be by herself; doesn't cry when left or if I'm out of sight and keeps herself entertained with chews and toys.
Her walking is really improving; no more backing up on the lead - she is beginning to follow and recall is coming along well.
She is very gentle taking kibble out of my hand.
She has learnt how to get the food out kongs.

Fairly positive!!

Vaccinations will start in a couple of weeks then once complete Lily and I can join a puppy training class.

How are you getting on? What's your positives?


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Still a human chew toy - I have blood, bruises, holes in clothes... the whole nine yards!! :Shifty:Arghh Yesterday she was much more frustrated but controlled her biting well; by well I mean she didn't cause me to bleed and no hard bites but stuffed kongs saved the day! Today well... we'll see
> 
> Positives - She will sit before her meal and sits if she wants a fuss - it's kinda transferred to anything she wants she will sit and wait.
> She is happy to be touched all over including tail, legs and paws - trimmed her nails and she was very relaxed about it. Gave her a little groom; not that she will need that much being short coated but gets her use to the process.
> Happy to be by herself; doesn't cry when left or if I'm out of sight and keeps herself entertained with chews and toys.
> Her walking is really improving; no more backing up on the lead - she is beginning to follow and recall is coming along well.
> She is very gentle taking kibble out of my hand.
> She has learnt how to get the food out kongs.
> 
> Fairly positive!!
> 
> Vaccinations will start in a couple of weeks then once complete Lily and I can join a puppy training class.
> 
> How are you getting on? What's your positives?


Oh what do you use for the kong? I've been using doggy peanut butter and treats but she licks the peanut butter in seconds and can't be bothered getting the treats.

Star is doing much better. She now sits by the door if she needs to go out, not every time but most of the time so there have been much less accidents. Sometimes she just wants to go out to play though, the cheeky monkey. She's also good with being touched, I brush her coat every day and clean her as she isn't great at cleaning herself after a wee and is getting stained down there.

She's not eating much though which is bothering me, I put the food down and she'll have the occasional nibble but thats it. Then I'll pick it up after half an hour. She's not overly excited when I put it down but she does sit and wait. Also not great in the crate during the day. Though last night we put her in the crate while we ate and she settled straight away so I hope it's not a one off.

We can finally go out for walks on Friday so I can't wait for that and I'm currently trying to find a puppy class too. How long before you can go out for walks?.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Oh what do you use for the kong? I've been using doggy peanut butter and treats but she licks the peanut butter in seconds and can't be bothered getting the treats.
> 
> Star is doing much better. She now sits by the door if she needs to go out, not every time but most of the time so there have been much less accidents. Sometimes she just wants to go out to play though, the cheeky monkey. She's also good with being touched, I brush her coat every day and clean her as she isn't great at cleaning herself after a wee and is getting stained down there.
> 
> She's not eating much though which is bothering me, I put the food down and she'll have the occasional nibble but thats it. Then I'll pick it up after half an hour. She's not overly excited when I put it down but she does sit and wait. Also not great in the crate during the day. Though last night we put her in the crate while we ate and she settled straight away so I hope it's not a one off.
> 
> We can finally go out for walks on Friday so I can't wait for that and I'm currently trying to find a puppy class too. How long before you can go out for walks?.


I started with kibble - encouraged her. Now use her raw food and she will work at it. She had mackerel this morning which she really enjoyed.

That's fab she is doing much better!! See you are making wonderful progress 

Have you tried soaking the kibble? Might make it a little more interesting for her.

We are going out for walks - risky but a risk worth taking IMO. Mostly I carry her but the odd pavement plod too, we go into town and just watch the world go by. All good fun.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> I started with kibble - encouraged her. Now use her raw food and she will work at it. She had mackerel this morning which she really enjoyed.
> 
> That's fab she is doing much better!! See you are making wonderful progress
> 
> Have you tried soaking the kibble? Might make it a little more interesting for her.
> 
> We are going out for walks - risky but a risk worth taking IMO. Mostly I carry her but the odd pavement plod too, we go into town and just watch the world go by. All good fun.


Well I think you know the risks and know how to look after her. I take Star on some grass behind the the flat, it's not fully closed off but I'm pretty sure no other dogs have access to it so I'm taking a small risk too but she needs it to go to the toilet now as she won't go on the small patch outside the flat anymore.

What do I do with the kibble? just soak it in water?. When we had a dog many years ago we used to put gravy on her kibble but then we fed her bakers too. However it didn't do her any harm, I just know better now.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Well I think you know the risks and know how to look after her. I take Star on some grass behind the the flat, it's not fully closed off but I'm pretty sure no other dogs have access to it so I'm taking a small risk too but she needs it to go to the toilet now as she won't go on the small patch outside the flat anymore.
> 
> What do I do with the kibble? just soak it in water?. When we had a dog many years ago we used to put gravy on her kibble but then we fed her bakers too. However it didn't do her any harm, I just know better now.


Put some kibble in her dish and add a small amount of warm water, leave it to soak and once it's a bit softer then give it to her. Others use wet food as a topper to make kibble more appealing.

TBH I have never had a fussy or reluctant eater so can't advise much.


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## jessicapeige

spamvicious said:


> Oh what do you use for the kong? I've been using doggy peanut butter and treats but she licks the peanut butter in seconds and can't be bothered getting the treats.
> 
> .


You could try filling the kong and then freezing it, I find this lasts them a lot longer! Meat paste, squeezy cheese and mashed bananas are other things that you could try!


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## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> @ashelia @ShibaPup how are you guys getting on?


I have a few more scratches haha  but she's been walking on her lead a lot better and like your Star she's started going to the front door when she wants to toilet, although not _always._ She met her first doggy friends on the weekend, both old dogs but she was really good with them and just followed them around and sat by them.

I'm really glad to see things are gradually getting better for you! With the food thing sometimes Ruby will nibble at her food then leave then I have to remind her it's there, but I just take it as an indication that she's just not hungry at that time, as long as she eats her other meals I don't worry too much. Soaking it in warm water for a little bit might definitely help though! That's how I got Ruby to eat hers plus it gives them a little extra water too.


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## Rocco clough

Hi, totally off subject here but We've put a deposit down on a French bulldog pup and he is due to come to us in 5 weeks. I texted the breeder today to ask how he is going, he replied that he has been giving the pup puppy mousse as he has been getting pushed out at night by the other puppies. I ask the breeder was he ok and he said he's doing fine he just wants to give him plenty of extra.
Having not owned a dog before I'm abit worried that he has to top him up? I could be over reacting but was just after some advice/reassurance about this topic.

Thanks for any help


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## Guest

Rocco clough said:


> Hi, totally off subject here but We've put a deposit down on a French bulldog pup and he is due to come to us in 5 weeks. I texted the breeder today to ask how he is going, he replied that he has been giving the pup puppy mousse as he has been getting pushed out at night by the other puppies. I ask the breeder was he ok and he said he's doing fine he just wants to give him plenty of extra.
> Having not owned a dog before I'm abit worried that he has to top him up? I could be over reacting but was just after some advice/reassurance about this topic.
> 
> Thanks for any help


I'm no expert but I wouldn't worry too much, you might just have the runt of the litter. If the breeder is taking extra precautions to make sure your puppy isn't missing out then they're doing the right thing.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> I have a few more scratches haha  but she's been walking on her lead a lot better and like your Star she's started going to the front door when she wants to toilet, although not _always._ She met her first doggy friends on the weekend, both old dogs but she was really good with them and just followed them around and sat by them.
> 
> I'm really glad to see things are gradually getting better for you! With the food thing sometimes Ruby will nibble at her food then leave then I have to remind her it's there, but I just take it as an indication that she's just not hungry at that time, as long as she eats her other meals I don't worry too much. Soaking it in warm water for a little bit might definitely help though! That's how I got Ruby to eat hers plus it gives them a little extra water too.


yay for doggie friends. I need to trim Stars nails as they're sharp as well as her teeth. Oh if you guys have a pets at home near you they're doing some good stuff for puppies. If you join as a VIP member (which is free) they give you a card that entitles you to a free bag of food up to 3kg, 10% of purchases, a free grooming session and one more thing that I can't think of but it's all free.


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## lullabydream

Ooo it might be worth signing up to fish4dogs website...they used to send a puppy pack too for free but didn't advertise it as such. Putting your email address, address and registering with the website is worth it just for that!

Plus. I get occasionally the £5 charity bag thing, which is pretty much the puppy pack use the kibble as treats, the mousse is great for kongs. Few treats too in it...haven't bought it for a while might be more expensive now


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Ooo it might be worth signing up to fish4dogs website...they used to send a puppy pack too for free but didn't advertise it as such. Putting your email address, address and registering with the website is worth it just for that!
> 
> Plus. I get occasionally the £5 charity bag thing, which is pretty much the puppy pack use the kibble as treats, the mousse is great for kongs. Few treats too in it...haven't bought it for a while might be more expensive now


Ooh thanks I'll have a look and see if they still do it


----------



## Jamesgoeswalkies

Rocco clough said:


> Hi, totally off subject here but We've put a deposit down on a French bulldog pup and he is due to come to us in 5 weeks. I texted the breeder today to ask how he is going, he replied that he has been giving the pup puppy mousse as he has been getting pushed out at night by the other puppies. I ask the breeder was he ok and he said he's doing fine he just wants to give him plenty of extra.
> Having not owned a dog before I'm abit worried that he has to top him up? I could be over reacting but was just after some advice/reassurance about this topic.
> 
> Thanks for any help


Some puppies do get pushed out by the other puppies, especially as they get bigger. There will always be a degree of difference in strength, weight and personality and some puppies simply don't push. If the breeder has noticed that your pup is not always getting their fair share then that is a good thing. I don't know how old your puppy is (about 3-4 weeks perhaps?) but I suspect that they are close to weaning anyway. It doesn't mean that your puppy is small or weak or even the so called runt so i really wouldn't worry. Just keep chatting to the breeder ....

J


----------



## Guest

What do you guys think of these? http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...ppy-toppers-chicken-soup-with-chicken-3-x-60g I was considering getting them to entice Star to eat her kibble but I'm not sure if a) they're very nutrious and b)I'd be creating a bad habit.


----------



## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> What do you guys think of these? http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...ppy-toppers-chicken-soup-with-chicken-3-x-60g I was considering getting them to entice Star to eat her kibble but I'm not sure if a) they're very nutrious and b)I'd be creating a bad habit.


They seem expensive for what they are! Would you consider feeding her wet food or wet food and kibble? If Star is active and gaining weight I wouldn't be too worried.


----------



## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> They seem expensive for what they are! Would you consider feeding her wet food or wet food and kibble? If Star is active and gaining weight I wouldn't be too worried.


She's currently 4kg so I think her weight is ok. Maybe I'll wait to see how she likes the new food once I've finished mixing it. If not then I'll try adding some wet food in with it.


----------



## Rocco clough

Jamesgoeswalkies said:


> Some puppies do get pushed out by the other puppies, especially as they get bigger. There will always be a degree of difference in strength, weight and personality and some puppies simply don't push. If the breeder has noticed that your pup is not always getting their fair share then that is a good thing. I don't know how old your puppy is (about 3-4 weeks perhaps?) but I suspect that they are close to weaning anyway. It doesn't mean that your puppy is small or weak or even the so called runt so i really wouldn't worry. Just keep chatting to the breeder ....
> 
> J


Ye he will be three weeks. Thanks for that info, put mind a rest


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## Guest

Rocco clough said:


> Ye he will be three weeks. Thanks for that info, put mind a rest


Make sure you post lots of pictures, have you decided on a name?


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## LittleKrystal

Thanks for letting me know about this thread @spamvicious

I don't have any issues with my 5-month-old puppy atm, but I did go through everything you guys are all going through.

My tip for food is to not create a picky puppy. My puppy is very smart and sometimes tries to ask for something he likes by not eating his meals or picking at it. We take him for a monthly checkup, the vet basically told us he's trying it on, as he's completely healthy, and his weight is fine and he's developing well.

I have to do the whole tough love thing on my puppy, where I put down his food. Give him 30mins to eat it, if he doesn't then it goes away till the next meal. I give him the same thing every day. He went a whole day and a half without eating once as he tried so so hard to get something better. This is was all because we changed food a few times in the past when he didn't eat as we were worried so unfortunately, he learnt that behaviour and trying really hard to get us to do it again. I wish I didn't do that in the past as he'll probably remember this forever now and will occasionally try it on.

Do check with your vet first to make sure your puppy is doing well before you tough love it out on your puppy tho.

The vet told me that we create picky eaters, and they are not naturally picky


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## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> Thanks for letting me know about this thread @spamvicious
> 
> I don't have any issues with my 5-month-old puppy atm, but I did go through everything you guys are all going through.
> 
> My tip for food is to not create a picky puppy. My puppy is very smart and sometimes tries to ask for something he likes by not eating his meals or picking at it. We take him for a monthly checkup, the vet basically told us he's trying it on, as he's completely healthy, and his weight is fine and he's developing well.
> 
> I have to do the whole tough love thing on my puppy, where I put down his food. Give him 30mins to eat it, if he doesn't then it goes away till the next meal. I give him the same thing every day. He went a whole day and a half without eating once as he tried so so hard to get something better. This is was all because we changed food a few times in the past when he didn't eat as we were worried so unfortunately, he learnt that behaviour and trying really hard to get us to do it again. I wish I didn't do that in the past as he'll probably remember this forever now and will occasionally try it on.
> 
> Do check with your vet first to make sure your puppy is doing well before you tough love it out on your puppy tho.
> 
> The vet told me that we create picky eaters, and they are not naturally picky


Yay glad to see you here. Glad you're not having any issues, you can always give some tips. I'm having issues with Star's eating. She hasn't touched her breakfast so I am doing like you say, giving her half an hour and then picking up the bowl again. When it does down she doesn't seem interested though. I'm sticking to certain times of the day to feed her but she's never waiting or doesn't seem hungry.


----------



## LittleKrystal

Is she interested in treats? If not then you might want to get her checked out. If she goes crazy for treats or some human food then she is definitely trying it on!

I have mine on a raw complete diet, sometimes he's can't wait for it, sometimes he's not so interested. Mine is also in full teething mode at the moment so his general appetite isn't too good.

We did try Lily's Kitchen wet food a while ago when he wasn't eating his raw meals, he really loved that!

I'm glad to help! Puppy months can be difficult


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## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> Is she interested in treats? If not then you might want to get her checked out. If she goes crazy for treats or some human food then she is definitely trying it on!
> 
> I have mine on a raw complete diet, sometimes he's can't wait for it, sometimes he's not so interested. Mine is also in full teething mode at the moment so his general appetite isn't too good.
> 
> We did try Lily's Kitchen wet food a while ago when he wasn't eating his raw meals, he really loved that!
> 
> I'm glad to help! Puppy months can be difficult


Yeah she eats treats. She will eat cucumber and melon when I give her it so she is just trying it on I think. I'll just have to be tougher on the puppy dog eyes lol. I might start doing half wet and half dry if she carries on. She's 4kg though and has a podgy belly so I don't think she's starving haha.

I hope his teeth feel better soon. What's he called?.


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## LittleKrystal

His name is Kiba. What's yours? He will probably finish teething in a few weeks, he started really early! He started around 3 1/2 months.


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## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> His name is Kiba. What's yours? He will probably finish teething in a few weeks, he started really early! He started around 3 1/2 months.


Aw thats a nice name. Please post a pic  My puppy is called Star, she's a 11 week old cockapoo.


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## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> yay for doggie friends. I need to trim Stars nails as they're sharp as well as her teeth. Oh if you guys have a pets at home near you they're doing some good stuff for puppies. If you join as a VIP member (which is free) they give you a card that entitles you to a free bag of food up to 3kg, 10% of purchases, a free grooming session and one more thing that I can't think of but it's all free.


I swear Ruby's nails are sharper than her teeth so I'll need to do that too! Sadly the nearest one to us is about an hours drive away, one of the downsides to living in the middle of nowhere  but if we travel out there I'll definitely go in to check it out!


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> I swear Ruby's nails are sharper than her teeth so I'll need to do that too! Sadly the nearest one to us is about an hours drive away, one of the downsides to living in the middle of nowhere  but if we travel out there I'll definitely go in to check it out!


Star has some black lines in her nails so I'm worried about doing it myself incase it's nerves etc. Yeah it's worth it if you do pop in.


----------



## ashelia

I've been meaning to ask you guys about baby gates to block off Ruby from some parts of the house. I need to block off one half of our living room (the part that's carpet and has my dad's hi-fi stuff) and the dining room. We can put baby gates on the stairs and the entrance to the dining room but the gap in the living room is between a wall and small sofa (even without the sofa the gap is too big) so we can't put a baby gate there. So I was wondering if there's other alternatives? I tried stacking boxes but she learns fast and can climb up over them or squeeze between any gaps no matter how small (despite how chunky she is).

Not being able to block her from down there is setting back toilet training a little since when she dashes down there I can't catch her to take her out like I usually can.


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## Guest

We've been using cushions to block parts off, do you have any big cushions? Or big boxes?


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## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> We've been using cushions to block parts off, do you have any big cushions? Or big boxes?


Only ones on the sofas so we can't take those off and I've tried boxes but she figures out how to move them to get past  I've got two smaller heavy boxes stacked on top of each other to see if that helps but it's not too high so I think she'll be able to leap over them if she _really_ wants to. I was wondering if there's any kind of sliding doors or something but I dunno what to search for in Google.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> Only ones on the sofas so we can't take those off and I've tried boxes but she figures out how to move them to get past  I've got two smaller heavy boxes stacked on top of each other to see if that helps but it's not too high so I think she'll be able to leap over them if she _really_ wants to. I was wondering if there's any kind of sliding doors or something but I dunno what to search for in Google.


How about this? https://www.petplanet.co.uk/product...nder10_62876&gclid=CL--1_Lq59MCFSex7QodecIMQw


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## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> How about this? https://www.petplanet.co.uk/product...nder10_62876&gclid=CL--1_Lq59MCFSex7QodecIMQw


Thank you so much! That could definitely work! I'll measure it to see if it'll fit, I hope so it'd be perfect


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## LittleKrystal

We bought an animal playpen from Amazon for my pup. When we first got him, he would spend most of the time in the pen, we even sat in the pen with him and played with him there. We now use to block off areas we don't want him having access to.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> Thank you so much! That could definitely work! I'll measure it to see if it'll fit, I hope so it'd be perfect


I hope it fits!

How are your pups with crying?. Every time someone leaves the room she whines for a good few minutes. Even if someone is with her she still cries. Any tips for this or will she grow out of it do you think?


----------



## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> I hope it fits!
> 
> How are your pups with crying?. Every time someone leaves the room she whines for a good few minutes. Even if someone is with her she still cries. Any tips for this or will she grow out of it do you think?


I'll let you know how it goes!

From what Ruby does I think it's something they need to get used to and learn to do, being by themselves. If Ruby is left alone in her crate during the day while I have to shower and things she'll cry, but recently she cries a lot less as I've gradually left her for longer periods (from about 10 mins to 30 gradually). I leave chews and things for her to be occupied with too which does help.

As for why Star cries even with someone there I'm not sure? Sometimes Ruby cries if I leave but others are still in the room, so maybe it's something like that? Is she out of her crate when she does it?


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> I'll let you know how it goes!
> 
> From what Ruby does I think it's something they need to get used to and learn to do, being by themselves. If Ruby is left alone in her crate during the day while I have to shower and things she'll cry, but recently she cries a lot less as I've gradually left her for longer periods (from about 10 mins to 30 gradually). I leave chews and things for her to be occupied with too which does help.
> 
> As for why Star cries even with someone there I'm not sure? Sometimes Ruby cries if I leave but others are still in the room, so maybe it's something like that? Is she out of her crate when she does it?


It can be any time. For example we were in the car today and my mum got out to go into the shop and she was crying even though she was sat on my lap. My mum said she did the same when I left the car. She cries in her crate when we leave the room but she must settle down eventually.


----------



## Guest

I've just given Star a pizzle. Wow I wish I had heard of them before. She's been eating one for 20 mins with no signs of stopping. Gonna have to stock up on them.


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## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> I've just given Star a pizzle. Wow I wish I had heard of them before. She's been eating one for 20 mins with no signs of stopping. Gonna have to stock up on them.


Love Pizzles all my dogs do...but for a puppy they are mighty filling so take the pizzle into account when you feed her...

Zooplus has a great array of dead animal chews...mine love cows ears too as staples then whatever else I fancy in my basket!

Chewing is great for relaxing


----------



## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Love Pizzles all my dogs do...*but for a puppy they are mighty filling so take the pizzle into account when you feed her...*
> 
> Zooplus has a great array of dead animal chews...mine love cows ears too as staples then whatever else I fancy in my basket!
> 
> Chewing is great for relaxing


Do you mean appetite wise or nutrition wise?


----------



## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> Do you mean appetite wise or nutrition wise?


I was trying to find the poster I saw at my emergency vets...but I cannot.

It listed things like cows ears and how much part of the diet they can take up...a bit like on our food saying this has so much % of our daily food allowance. It was based on a medium dog at 18kg I think...as always any treat or chew eaten, part of their daily allowance of food should be removed.
For a puppy, a pizzle..could be quite a big chunk out of their food allowance. So if your puppy is happy to eat it all...no reason why not unless you get a runny bum in the morning. Then just be aware...it would never stop giving me them to young dogs, or my toy breeds who only need a few pieces of extra kibble and they could be barrels on legs. Everything in moderation is fine...and I find they help with teeth cleaning too.


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## lullabydream

Forgot to say...so yes it could affect appetite too


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> I was trying to find the poster I saw at my emergency vets...but I cannot.
> 
> It listed things like cows ears and how much part of the diet they can take up...a bit like on our food saying this has so much % of our daily food allowance. It was based on a medium dog at 18kg I think...as always any treat or chew eaten, part of their daily allowance of food should be removed.
> For a puppy, a pizzle..could be quite a big chunk out of their food allowance. So if your puppy is happy to eat it all...no reason why not unless you get a runny bum in the morning. Then just be aware...it would never stop giving me them to young dogs, or my toy breeds who only need a few pieces of extra kibble and they could be barrels on legs. Everything in moderation is fine...and I find they help with teeth cleaning too.


Ah ok thanks. I took it off her for an hour to have a break and gave her it back. She's chewed the end but I don't think she's actually eaten any of it yet.


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## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> Ah ok thanks. I took it off her for an hour to have a break and gave her it back. She's chewed the end but I don't think she's actually eaten any of it yet.


My 4 demolish them..3 toy breeds one with a fair few teeth missing too...although she takes forever!

Hope it helped to calm her though, and gave her time to relax, and you time to chill.


----------



## Guest

lullabydream said:


> My 4 demolish them..3 toy breeds one with a fair few teeth missing too...although she takes forever!
> 
> Hope it helped to calm her though, and gave her time to relax, and you time to chill.


It did calm her down, she's now snoozing. Thanks for all your help. I'm gradually getting better with all my anxieties.


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## lullabydream

You are doing well...Star sounds a typical playful normal puppy...and your just a typical new owner. Star is living up to her name and she has you to thank for that.


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> You are doing well...Star sounds a typical playful normal puppy...and your just a typical new owner. Star is living up to her name and she has you to thank for that.


Thank you. This forum has helped so much with its lovely members like you.


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## LittleKrystal

spamvicious said:


> It can be any time. For example we were in the car today and my mum got out to go into the shop and she was crying even though she was sat on my lap. My mum said she did the same when I left the car. She cries in her crate when we leave the room but she must settle down eventually.


That's totally normal. My puppy does that too. He'll whine for a bit when someone leaves the car, he basically wants to tag along. He also whines a bit when one of us leaves the room, probably again the same reason, he just wants to be part of whatever is happening. It's nothing to worry about. They'll all eventually get over it.


----------



## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> That's totally normal. My puppy does that too. He'll whine for a bit when someone leaves the car, he basically wants to tag along. He also whines a bit when one of us leaves the room, probably again the same reason, he just wants to be part of whatever is happening. It's nothing to worry about. They'll all eventually get over it.


That's reassuring thanks. Hopefully she'll grow out of it.


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## ShibaPup

GCDS Puppy foundation course all booked - we start in July!! :Bookworm


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> GCDS Puppy foundation course all booked - we start in July!! :Bookworm


oooh exciting. I'm currently looking for a course. I found one but they wanted me to go without Star for a 2 1/2 hour talk which I didn't see the point in.


----------



## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> oooh exciting. I'm currently looking for a course. I found one but they wanted me to go without Star for a 2 1/2 hour talk which I didn't see the point in.


Do you know what the talk is about?

I sat in and observed a couple of training classes on my own before booking with them - to ensure I was happy with them and their training methods.


----------



## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> It can be any time. For example we were in the car today and my mum got out to go into the shop and she was crying even though she was sat on my lap. My mum said she did the same when I left the car. She cries in her crate when we leave the room but she must settle down eventually.


She'll probably grow out of it I think from what others have said, Ruby is only 10 weeks and already she cries a whole lot less.

I'm glad to see Star likes pizzles! I'm hoping to find some tomorrow at our local pet store or garden centre


----------



## ashelia

ShibaPup said:


> GCDS Puppy foundation course all booked - we start in July!! :Bookworm


That's awesome! I booked a puppy foundation course for July too! Ruby will be 5 months by then, I'm hoping it's not too late to start but it's the only time I can get reliable transport


----------



## ShibaPup

ashelia said:


> That's awesome! I booked a puppy foundation course for July too! Ruby will be 5 months by then, I'm hoping it's not too late to start but it's the only time I can get reliable transport


Lily will be around that age when she starts in July - going on the estimate of her age.


----------



## ashelia

Ruby is fast asleep on my feet atm (attachment) but it reminded me to ask how does your puppy handle grooming? Ruby sees her brush as a toy and will try and grab it and chew it. She doesn't mind being groomed but she just wants to play with the brush  any tips how I could distract her long enough? Would trying while she's eating her dinner be a good idea?


----------



## ShibaPup

ashelia said:


> Ruby is fast asleep on my feet atm (attachment) but it reminded me to ask how does your puppy handle grooming? Ruby sees her brush as a toy and will try and grab it and chew it. She doesn't mind being groomed but she just wants to play with the brush  any tips how I could distract her long enough? Would trying while she's eating her dinner be a good idea?


Zoom groom is the best toy in the world for Lily - so are the nail clippers!!  Usually I give her a stuffed kong, a chew or a toy to keep her mouth occupied.

Currently working on Kikopup's upside down settle to help with nail trimmings as she gets bigger.


----------



## LittleKrystal

ashelia said:


> Ruby is fast asleep on my feet atm (attachment) but it reminded me to ask how does your puppy handle grooming? Ruby sees her brush as a toy and will try and grab it and chew it. She doesn't mind being groomed but she just wants to play with the brush  any tips how I could distract her long enough? Would trying while she's eating her dinner be a good idea?


Mine tries to play with it too. I use frozen yoghurt on a plate to distract him. It lasts for ages and ages, so we're able to brush him for a good 10mins.

Nail clipping is so hard to do so I just leave it to the groomers. He doesn't need it cut often since he is walked twice a day and the ground pretty much grinds his nails so they're always short.


----------



## LittleKrystal

ashelia said:


> That's awesome! I booked a puppy foundation course for July too! Ruby will be 5 months by then, I'm hoping it's not too late to start but it's the only time I can get reliable transport


It's not too late. Most important thing is that you attend the classes.

You should start socialisation asap tho if you haven't already done so. Your puppy needs to meet a new person every day and ideally new dogs too. You also need to introduce her to as much sound as possible. There are videos you can play with sounds that normally scare dogs if they're used to the sounds from young they'll be less scared when they're older. That was one of the most important things the classes taught us, and it's one of those things that's once you've missed out, you can't turn back time, whereas an old dog can always learn a new trick.


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> Ruby is fast asleep on my feet atm (attachment) but it reminded me to ask how does your puppy handle grooming? Ruby sees her brush as a toy and will try and grab it and chew it. She doesn't mind being groomed but she just wants to play with the brush  any tips how I could distract her long enough? Would trying while she's eating her dinner be a good idea?


I give her a treat while she's being groomed, especially as the pizzle is current favourite. Ruby looks gorgeous. Star is currently asleep on one of my tshirts after having her first walk in the real world.


----------



## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Do you know what the talk is about?
> 
> I sat in and observed a couple of training classes on my own before booking with them - to ensure I was happy with them and their training methods.


No it just says a talk without the dog. I don't want to sit there for 2 1/2 hours. The whole point is for Star and me to learn at the same time.


----------



## LittleKrystal

spamvicious said:


> No it just says a talk without the dog. I don't want to sit there for 2 1/2 hours. The whole point is for Star and me to learn at the same time.


I went for a class that's run by the Puppy School organisation, they're really good! The content is amazing, and we learnt a lot. You can see if there' one near you. http://www.puppyschool.co.uk/


----------



## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> I went for a class that's run by the Puppy School organisation, they're really good! The content is amazing, and we learnt a lot. You can see if there' one near you. http://www.puppyschool.co.uk/


Thanks for this, the closest one was an hour away so no good. I have however found another class and we start on Wednesday


----------



## ashelia

ShibaPup said:


> Zoom groom is the best toy in the world for Lily - so are the nail clippers!!  Usually I give her a stuffed kong, a chew or a toy to keep her mouth occupied.
> 
> Currently working on Kikopup's upside down settle to help with nail trimmings as she gets bigger.


Don't think I'll even attempt clipping right now haha  I had a bit more success last night while occupying her with a chew toy but it takes two people! I'll try food next time.


----------



## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> I give her a treat while she's being groomed, especially as the pizzle is current favourite. Ruby looks gorgeous. Star is currently asleep on one of my tshirts after having her first walk in the real world.


Sadly I couldn't find any pizzles in our local garden centre but I got some other beef chews she'll hopefully like and will keep her busy! Did she have a nice time out in the real world?  That reminds me did you just have two vaccinations for Star or three? I thought we only needed two but after getting her second one yesterday the vet said her final one would be in two weeks time.


----------



## ashelia

LittleKrystal said:


> Mine tries to play with it too. I use frozen yoghurt on a plate to distract him. It lasts for ages and ages, so we're able to brush him for a good 10mins.
> 
> Nail clipping is so hard to do so I just leave it to the groomers. He doesn't need it cut often since he is walked twice a day and the ground pretty much grinds his nails so they're always short.


Oh what kind of yoghurt do you use? I might give that a try!


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> Sadly I couldn't find any pizzles in our local garden centre but I got some other beef chews she'll hopefully like and will keep her busy! Did she have a nice time out in the real world?  That reminds me did you just have two vaccinations for Star or three? I thought we only needed two but after getting her second one yesterday the vet said her final one would be in two weeks time.


She's had a great time today, a visit to the pet shop and walk round the park. Star is having three injections, same schedule as you. She's had two and a final one two weeks later. I looked it up and they've added a third lepto injection. I'm also going to get her a kennel cough done as I want to take her to doggy daycare once we find a new place to move to.


----------



## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> She's had a great time today, a visit to the pet shop and walk round the park. Star is having three injections, same schedule as you. She's had two and a final one two weeks later. I looked it up and they've added a third lepto injection. I'm also going to get her a kennel cough done as I want to take her to doggy daycare once we find a new place to move to.


Sounds like she had a good time!  Are you planning on taking her to other places? Oh and does Star get carsick? Okay good I was a little concerned because most say they usually only have one injection, but my vet said the third one was to do with rats and other rodents? It might be to do with our area.


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> Sounds like she had a good time!  Are you planning on taking her to other places? Oh and does Star get carsick? Okay good I was a little concerned because most say they usually only have one injection, but my vet said the third one was to do with rats and other rodents? It might be to do with our area.


Yeah my vet said it was to do with water and rats, don't let Ruby near water until her third injection. Star doesn't get car sick but she whines sometimes and pants but she's been better the last couple of trips. I'm planning on taking her to the seaside soon. I took her to the park today and another dog approached her and she started screeching  I hope it's not the start of problems. How is Ruby doing?


----------



## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> Yeah my vet said it was to do with water and rats, don't let Ruby near water until her third injection. Star doesn't get car sick but she whines sometimes and pants but she's been better the last couple of trips. I'm planning on taking her to the seaside soon. I took her to the park today and another dog approached her and she started screeching  I hope it's not the start of problems. How is Ruby doing?


Ah okay! Will do, she's always trying to drink out of puddles outside but I tug her away since I didn't think it'd be great for her any way. Ruby pants, drools and whines then is usually sick  she hasn't had too many rides in the car yet though so I'm hoping she'll eventually get used to it if we build it up? Continue with shorter journey's then make longer ones.

I wouldn't think so? Ruby will bark a little when meeting new people and will seem nervous but she'll eventually approach them and get comfy. Maybe the more you gradually introduce her to other dogs she'll get better? If you find a good puppy class I'm sure that'd help as well.

She's been doing great!  I managed to block off half of the living room so it's been easier to keep an eye on her and I've noticed she calms down by herself a lot better now, and she's better on her lead now since I got her a harness. Like people said it does get easier, even though we have off days sometimes. Do you feel like you're coping better now?


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> Ah okay! Will do, she's always trying to drink out of puddles outside but I tug her away since I didn't think it'd be great for her any way. Ruby pants, drools and whines then is usually sick  she hasn't had too many rides in the car yet though so I'm hoping she'll eventually get used to it if we build it up? Continue with shorter journey's then make longer ones.
> 
> I wouldn't think so? Ruby will bark a little when meeting new people and will seem nervous but she'll eventually approach them and get comfy. Maybe the more you gradually introduce her to other dogs she'll get better? If you find a good puppy class I'm sure that'd help as well.
> 
> She's been doing great!  I managed to block off half of the living room so it's been easier to keep an eye on her and I've noticed she calms down by herself a lot better now, and she's better on her lead now since I got her a harness. Like people said it does get easier, even though we have off days sometimes. Do you feel like you're coping better now?


Oh no, maybe you'll have to get some travel sickness stuff from the vet as a lot of dogs suffer from it. Sounds more like sickness than actual anxiety. However like you say, the more you take her out the better she might be.

Today in the park a staffy came bolting over so I picked Star up and she wanted to go back down and greet her so I let her get down and she was ok. Yesterday two dogs approached at the same time so maybe it was that.

I'm glad Ruby is doing well. I put star in her crate earlier and went out for an hour. Before I would have felt massively guilty but I downloaded an app called Dog Monitor and you can watch a video of them if you have two iOS devices. It costs £4.99 which is a bargain. When I put it on, she cried for about a minute and then went to sleep. I'm doing better now it's not just me on my own. Now when Star has her devil streak, I can say to my mum 'Can you take over' and have a break for 5 mins. I hope you have the same.


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## Loops1988

Hi,
I hope you don't mind me joining 
I have a 5 month old bull dog male who is just adorable and getting on very well
He's learnt sit, paw, lay, fetch and his name so far
He's getting there with recal but so far i haven't let him off the lead out and about even though he is so chubby and lazy I'm sure he wouldn't run off anyway, I don't have to worry about him when answering the door or going to the bins as he just stands at the door anyway 
I have a yr old cat who he gets on great with although the cat tries to wind him up and they like to have a little tumble with each other where they take it in turns to pin each other down lol
I also have 2 kids, 7 and 4 who absolutely adore him. My 7 yr old has ADHD and autism so he is being a great help to her, their 10 minute of mad time and walks is directing her access energy quite well
Pup has someone at home all day except from 3 hours, 8-9, 12-1 and 3-4 for school runs and we have nearly stopped messing or wetting in the house at these times now and even when he does he's doing it by the back door. When we're at home he has no accidents now
I'm not against crate training but it's not something I personally want to do with him, ild much rather him being able to have peice on his bed and roam when he wants too and so far this is working very well - he's blocked from going upstairs when no one is home but allowed up on our room at night (not on our bed) but he sleeps 10pm till 5am without crying or messing/wetting so all good really 

He's fed now twice a day and on k9 optimum chicken and rice puppy food and now weighs 11kg which is great for his age 

He loves his walks and going to the pet shops, to people's houses with us and in the car, he's great when he meets other dogs and when he met my mums older dog who wasn't so keen on him (not nasty but gave a lot of warnings) he surrendered and walked away so clearly shows respect for his elders lol

He is overall an absolute joy and so much less stressful then my last pup going back 10 years ago 

We've only had him 4 weeks (he was imported from hungrey at 4 months) and it's like he has always been here now 

The only negative is him learning how to get into the living room when we're not here now which means toys are at risk lol 
We also have a massive floor standing rat cage with 2 rats who like to stick their tails out so I need to figure out a way of stopping him going in there just in case really


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## Guest

Loops1988 said:


> Hi,
> I hope you don't mind me joining
> I have a 5 month old bull dog male who is just adorable and getting on very well
> He's learnt sit, paw, lay, fetch and his name so far
> He's getting there with recal but so far i haven't let him off the lead out and about even though he is so chubby and lazy I'm sure he wouldn't run off anyway, I don't have to worry about him when answering the door or going to the bins as he just stands at the door anyway
> I have a yr old cat who he gets on great with although the cat tries to wind him up and they like to have a little tumble with each other where they take it in turns to pin each other down lol
> I also have 2 kids, 7 and 4 who absolutely adore him. My 7 yr old has ADHD and autism so he is being a great help to her, their 10 minute of mad time and walks is directing her access energy quite well
> Pup has someone at home all day except from 3 hours, 8-9, 12-1 and 3-4 for school runs and we have nearly stopped messing or wetting in the house at these times now and even when he does he's doing it by the back door. When we're at home he has no accidents now
> I'm not against crate training but it's not something I personally want to do with him, ild much rather him being able to have peice on his bed and roam when he wants too and so far this is working very well - he's blocked from going upstairs when no one is home but allowed up on our room at night (not on our bed) but he sleeps 10pm till 5am without crying or messing/wetting so all good really
> 
> He's fed now twice a day and on k9 optimum chicken and rice puppy food and now weighs 11kg which is great for his age
> 
> He loves his walks and going to the pet shops, to people's houses with us and in the car, he's great when he meets other dogs and when he met my mums older dog who wasn't so keen on him (not nasty but gave a lot of warnings) he surrendered and walked away so clearly shows respect for his elders lol
> 
> He is overall an absolute joy and so much less stressful then my last pup going back 10 years ago
> 
> We've only had him 4 weeks (he was imported from hungrey at 4 months) and it's like he has always been here now
> 
> The only negative is him learning how to get into the living room when we're not here now which means toys are at risk lol
> We also have a massive floor standing rat cage with 2 rats who like to stick their tails out so I need to figure out a way of stopping him going in there just in case really


welcome to our little group. What's his name?. It sounds like you have it sorted. Could you put a baby gate on the living room to stop him getting in and munching on the toys?


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## LittleKrystal

ashelia said:


> Oh what kind of yoghurt do you use? I might give that a try!


Just regular plain greek yogurt


----------



## LittleKrystal

Loops1988 said:


> Hi,
> I hope you don't mind me joining
> I have a 5 month old bull dog male who is just adorable and getting on very well
> He's learnt sit, paw, lay, fetch and his name so far
> He's getting there with recal but so far i haven't let him off the lead out and about even though he is so chubby and lazy I'm sure he wouldn't run off anyway, I don't have to worry about him when answering the door or going to the bins as he just stands at the door anyway
> I have a yr old cat who he gets on great with although the cat tries to wind him up and they like to have a little tumble with each other where they take it in turns to pin each other down lol
> I also have 2 kids, 7 and 4 who absolutely adore him. My 7 yr old has ADHD and autism so he is being a great help to her, their 10 minute of mad time and walks is directing her access energy quite well
> Pup has someone at home all day except from 3 hours, 8-9, 12-1 and 3-4 for school runs and we have nearly stopped messing or wetting in the house at these times now and even when he does he's doing it by the back door. When we're at home he has no accidents now
> I'm not against crate training but it's not something I personally want to do with him, ild much rather him being able to have peice on his bed and roam when he wants too and so far this is working very well - he's blocked from going upstairs when no one is home but allowed up on our room at night (not on our bed) but he sleeps 10pm till 5am without crying or messing/wetting so all good really
> 
> He's fed now twice a day and on k9 optimum chicken and rice puppy food and now weighs 11kg which is great for his age
> 
> He loves his walks and going to the pet shops, to people's houses with us and in the car, he's great when he meets other dogs and when he met my mums older dog who wasn't so keen on him (not nasty but gave a lot of warnings) he surrendered and walked away so clearly shows respect for his elders lol
> 
> He is overall an absolute joy and so much less stressful then my last pup going back 10 years ago
> 
> We've only had him 4 weeks (he was imported from hungrey at 4 months) and it's like he has always been here now
> 
> The only negative is him learning how to get into the living room when we're not here now which means toys are at risk lol
> We also have a massive floor standing rat cage with 2 rats who like to stick their tails out so I need to figure out a way of stopping him going in there just in case really


Welcome!! Your puppy sounds lovely and he's definitely giving you a really easy time 

You can start off leash training by having him on a long leash (10m) and treat him with special extra special when he comes back. That usually keeps them coming back even if you don't call them. It's always good to start early to get him use to it so he won't see it as too much of a privilege when he off leash in the future.


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## ShibaPup

Lily likes to observe people - today we are going to sit in our local town so she can people watch and practice bringing her attention back to me. 

She hasn't seen any other dogs yet; saw a few cats - she gets a little excited but will come back to me when called.

Having little 1-3 min short training sessions teaching "watch", "sit", "down" and "stand" - stand proving the most difficult as her default behaviour when she wants something is to sit... but we'll get there!


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Lily likes to observe people - today we are going to sit in our local town so she can people watch and practice bringing her attention back to me.
> 
> She hasn't seen any other dogs yet; saw a few cats - she gets a little excited but will come back to me when called.
> 
> Having little 1-3 min short training sessions teaching "watch", "sit", "down" and "stand" - stand proving the most difficult as her default behaviour when she wants something is to sit... but we'll get there!


Stand always is the most difficult because we get them to sit for everything.

At least she has mastered down...sometimes that's ridiculously hard to train in dogs and puppies and you end up running round with treats when they are naturally in that position at home!


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## lullabydream

LittleKrystal said:


> Welcome!! Your puppy sounds lovely and he's definitely giving you a really easy time
> 
> You can start off leash training by having him on a long leash (10m) and treat him with special extra special when he comes back. That usually keeps them coming back even if you don't call them. It's always good to start early to get him use to it so he won't see it as too much of a privilege when he off leash in the future.


Maybe not so with a puppy if 5 months..but in my opinion in safe areas the younger you let them off the lead for recall the better.

Have always started my pups when they are allowed out for walks.

You are a god like creature to your puppy, and they do not venture far at all.

When you call them to you, any treat will do. Simple kibble, as high value treats come in to their own when the terrible teens hit and training goes out the window!

When your dog recalls, hold the collar or harness for a minute, giving the treat and lots of fuss then release. This is essential you don't want check ins to be short and sweet, a minute is long enough to put a lead on whatever the circumstance. Although a minute seems forever, what you don't want is your dog to learn to check in quickly and go again. As this can lead to problems when you do need to put your dog on the lead. Sometimes you can clip the lead on, give praise then off and release too. So lead doesn't necessarily mean that is enough of my free time running.

Hope this helps somebody, even those just lurking.


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## Guest

I'm struggling with training Star. She does sit but that's about it. She turns her nose up at most treats, even when I try give her one after she's gone to the toilet outside. We've been doing "paw" when she sits but she's not getting it. Also whenever she does something wrong like her favourite thing of hanging onto my clothes by her teeth. If I say no, she stops for a second and then jumps right back on me which is really hard when I'm trying to walk her. I'm starting puppy classes on Wednesday so hopefully that will help. She only does recall half of the time


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## lullabydream

Your probably overwhelming her with treats..this is why its often best to get puppies to work for their food rather than extras.

No usually means very little to any dogs, but what Star is doing is actually saying I love you so much I want to play with you. Its not done with malice...my JRT used to do it all the time to me and I forgot how many jeans she ruined. Shes just very excited.


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Your probably overwhelming her with treats..this is why its often best to get puppies to work for their food rather than extras.
> 
> No usually means very little to any dogs, but what Star is doing is actually saying I love you so much I want to play with you. Its not done with malice...my JRT used to do it all the time to me and I forgot how many jeans she ruined. Shes just very excited.


Yeah I think that's the issue. She doesn't like her kibble though she'll only eat it with a gravy I make out of a little wet food so would be hard to use that as a treat.


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## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> Yeah I think that's the issue. She doesn't like her kibble though she'll only eat it with a gravy I make out of a little wet food so would be hard to use that as a treat.


I think Star would be an ideal dog who if given the opportunity would work for her meals...
Its not everybody's thing but it works for some.
Considering shes a mix two very intelligent breeds, she would be clever enough to eat and not starve. However, I wouldn't want your health to take a nose dive, so stick to what you are doing, and hopefully training sessions will help you immensely!


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## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> Oh no, maybe you'll have to get some travel sickness stuff from the vet as a lot of dogs suffer from it. Sounds more like sickness than actual anxiety. However like you say, the more you take her out the better she might be.
> 
> Today in the park a staffy came bolting over so I picked Star up and she wanted to go back down and greet her so I let her get down and she was ok. Yesterday two dogs approached at the same time so maybe it was that.
> 
> I'm glad Ruby is doing well. I put star in her crate earlier and went out for an hour. Before I would have felt massively guilty but I downloaded an app called Dog Monitor and you can watch a video of them if you have two iOS devices. It costs £4.99 which is a bargain. When I put it on, she cried for about a minute and then went to sleep. I'm doing better now it's not just me on my own. Now when Star has her devil streak, I can say to my mum 'Can you take over' and have a break for 5 mins. I hope you have the same.


I'll definitely look into it if it seems like she's not improving. Sounds like she's getting a lot more comfy with other dogs which is great!  I'm sure she'll keep improving too!

I might look into that I only put Ruby in her crate once during the day for about 30 mins and the past two days she's started crying a lot more than she used to, treats and Kongs don't distract her at all anymore. Glad you're doing better though! Luckily Ruby has her mad hour around 7pm so my parents are home by then so I don't have to deal with her nuttiness by myself. :Smuggrin


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## ShibaPup

lullabydream said:


> Stand always is the most difficult because we get them to sit for everything.
> 
> At least she has mastered down...sometimes that's ridiculously hard to train in dogs and puppies and you end up running round with treats when they are naturally in that position at home!


I can lure her forward into a stand but I am trying to get a nice kick back stand from a sit - perhaps I'm asking to much! :Shy

Spatial pressure isn't working; y'know shoving a treat towards her doesn't make her stand... Instead I'm teaching it through the stair gate or the garden fence - she can't step forward but can still take the treat when she is in position but the neighbours _might_ think I'm slightly odd  haha!


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> I can lure her forward into a stand but I am trying to get a nice kick back stand from a sit - perhaps I'm asking to much! :Shy
> 
> Spatial pressure isn't working; y'know shoving a treat towards her doesn't make her stand... Instead I'm teaching it through the stair gate or the garden fence - she can't step forward but can still take the treat when she is in position but the neighbours _might_ think I'm slightly odd  haha!


The positions people get themselves in to try and do down is mind boggling..fluid stand is lovely.

She's doing really well, so I would be really pleased..stand is commonly forgotten cue..and it is actually really important for things like vets visits.

My lurcher is the second dog who doesn't do 'sit'. My first never ever did a natural sit, he had a long body though, and Maisie has sat with 3 inches from the ground, and still no natural sit and she's been with us since the beginning of April, so stand is her go to stance..or give me a belly rub!


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## morphtastic

I just found this thread and had a good day with my pup so thought i'd join in. Leia is 7 months now, we went to our local park for a walk with all 4 of the dogs. They were all running around when Leia spots a few crows on the field and off she goes. My middle girl Tori chases birds and if you dont call her before she goes she ignores you. But Leia stopped as soon as I called and came straight back, I was so proud of her. Lots of treats for that!!! Then as we were making our way out of the field I noticed that she and our boy Bow were sniffing something, I called them and they came but she stopped about 12ft away from me and wouldn't come any closer, obviously she had something she didnt want to give up!! I could see something sticking out of her mouth and she was chomping on it, i took a step towards her and she took a step away. I put on my frowny face and said 'No. Leia come swap' and showed her a handful of kibble from my pocket. She wagged her tail and come over and dropped the nasty dead mole she had and took the kibble. Phew, it was horrid:Yuck. Then we walked on, she looked back at it once but left it when i said 'no, come on'. Clever girl.


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> I think Star would be an ideal dog who if given the opportunity would work for her meals...
> Its not everybody's thing but it works for some.
> Considering shes a mix two very intelligent breeds, she would be clever enough to eat and not starve. However, I wouldn't want your health to take a nose dive, so stick to what you are doing, and hopefully training sessions will help you immensely!


Thanks. She has puppy class tonight and for the next six weeks so I hope we can make some progress.


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## Guest

morphtastic said:


> I just found this thread and had a good day with my pup so thought i'd join in. Leia is 7 months now, we went to our local park for a walk with all 4 of the dogs. They were all running around when Leia spots a few crows on the field and off she goes. My middle girl Tori chases birds and if you dont call her before she goes she ignores you. But Leia stopped as soon as I called and came straight back, I was so proud of her. Lots of treats for that!!! Then as we were making our way out of the field I noticed that she and our boy Bow were sniffing something, I called them and they came but she stopped about 12ft away from me and wouldn't come any closer, obviously she had something she didnt want to give up!! I could see something sticking out of her mouth and she was chomping on it, i took a step towards her and she took a step away. I put on my frowny face and said 'No. Leia come swap' and showed her a handful of kibble from my pocket. She wagged her tail and come over and dropped the nasty dead mole she had and took the kibble. Phew, it was horrid:Yuck. Then we walked on, she looked back at it once but left it when i said 'no, come on'. Clever girl.


Wow well done. I'm envious of you lol


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> I'll definitely look into it if it seems like she's not improving. Sounds like she's getting a lot more comfy with other dogs which is great!  I'm sure she'll keep improving too!
> 
> I might look into that I only put Ruby in her crate once during the day for about 30 mins and the past two days she's started crying a lot more than she used to, treats and Kongs don't distract her at all anymore. Glad you're doing better though! Luckily Ruby has her mad hour around 7pm so my parents are home by then so I don't have to deal with her nuttiness by myself. :Smuggrin


I'm in all day so I've been making sure to go out for an hour a day and putting her in her crate. I use the app to watch her, she cries initially and then goes to sleep. She gets two short walks a day but she really pulls on her lead so need to get on top of that. I'm finding it hard to train her in general cos I'm already giving her too many treats I think.

I got some Wagtastic chewy chicken fillets that Ruby might like. They're supposed to be for over 4 months so I just give Star half, but she really likes them so she gets one very occasionally in the crate during the day.


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## Guest

Star got a bit wet on her walks yesterday. She loved puppy training, not as much as me though as they had "pass the puppy" so I got to hold and meet 20 odd puppies. The class splits in half next week though so that will be better. We learnt, down and stand last night all by using the treat but no vocal commands so I need to check when we start using them.


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## LittleKrystal

spamvicious said:


> I'm in all day so I've been making sure to go out for an hour a day and putting her in her crate. I use the app to watch her, she cries initially and then goes to sleep. She gets two short walks a day but she really pulls on her lead so need to get on top of that. I'm finding it hard to train her in general cos I'm already giving her too many treats I think.
> 
> I got some Wagtastic chewy chicken fillets that Ruby might like. They're supposed to be for over 4 months so I just give Star half, but she really likes them so she gets one very occasionally in the crate during the day.


I found it really difficult to train my puppy in the first 6 weeks of having him. Once he was around 3 1/2 month he was much better. His overall concentration level was higher and he wasn't so easily distracted. I think it took him a while to understand what training was. After 6 weeks he started to get bored of his surroundings as it's the same every day and became much more interested in me and trying to please me instead as I was the only thing that was interesting in the room. Over time he also learned that training means interaction and bonding time with me and that it doesn't mean that he can't go and play afterwards, whereas before he wasn't sure when he'll be able to play so he really just wanted to play and explore the room.

My puppy use to pull like crazy as well because he wanted to check out everything. What we did in the first few weeks was let him check out everything, we walked at his pace and let him sniff and look at his surroundings. We use to spend his walks just going up and down the street. We slowly progressed to going a bit further each week. Now he can go all the way round the block in under 20mins, where in the past it took almost an hour. Now that he's seen it all thousands of times, he isn't so interested and pretty much will walk normally. He will stop and pull to sniff at a few places that other dogs have peed on and that's pretty much it.

The puppy school taught us to stop and turn around if the puppy pulls, and they'll quickly learn that pulling means they're going to get further away from where they want to get to.


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## BrightOwl

Hi everyone! I've lurked the forums for a while but this thread persuaded me that it was time I got around to joining.  

My name's Jane and just over a month ago my partner Rich and I welcomed a 9-week-old sheltie boy, Comet, into our home. We adore him and he's doing really well (he's 14 weeks old tomorrow) - we think he's pretty much house trained now *crosses fingers*, he can sit, shake paws and lie down - but we are now definitely in the bitey/chewy phase, and he's discovering his voice...  This thread seems like a really good place to share questions and experiences (and see pictures of all your adorable pups!), so hope it's alright that I join in. 

We have our first puppy training class tonight - hope it goes as well as Star's!


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## LittleKrystal

BrightOwl said:


> Hi everyone! I've lurked the forums for a while but this thread persuaded me that it was time I got around to joining.
> 
> My name's Jane and just over a month ago my partner Rich and I welcomed a 9-week-old sheltie boy, Comet, into our home. We adore him and he's doing really well (he's 14 weeks old tomorrow) - we think he's pretty much house trained now *crosses fingers*, he can sit, shake paws and lie down - but we are now definitely in the bitey/chewy phase, and he's discovering his voice...  This thread seems like a really good place to share questions and experiences (and see pictures of all your adorable pups!), so hope it's alright that I join in.
> 
> We have our first puppy training class tonight - hope it goes as well as Star's!


Congrats on your new puppy! The photo of him on your profile looks so adorable! Love the bow tie. Always welcome to ask any questions here and we're always happy to help  We are all going through what you're going through.

And off course you're very very welcome to join in our puppy chat


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## Guest

BrightOwl said:


> Hi everyone! I've lurked the forums for a while but this thread persuaded me that it was time I got around to joining.
> 
> My name's Jane and just over a month ago my partner Rich and I welcomed a 9-week-old sheltie boy, Comet, into our home. We adore him and he's doing really well (he's 14 weeks old tomorrow) - we think he's pretty much house trained now *crosses fingers*, he can sit, shake paws and lie down - but we are now definitely in the bitey/chewy phase, and he's discovering his voice...  This thread seems like a really good place to share questions and experiences (and see pictures of all your adorable pups!), so hope it's alright that I join in.
> 
> We have our first puppy training class tonight - hope it goes as well as Star's!


Hi Jane, welcome! Comet is such a cool name! I hope you get to do pass the puppy as it's so much fun lol also it's good for the pups to meet new people.


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## ashelia

Ruby is 11 weeks old today and she celebrated it by digging a hole and getting herself covered in mud!  And having a staring contest with the cows again. Tomorrow marks the day I can finally take her out without carrying her! My arms will be thankful, she's so big already. I'm taking her to the woods and into the village, she's still unsure of cars so I figure the small traffic we get there will ease her into it.

@spamvicious Star looks absolutely precious! I'm glad you both had a great time and got to pet lots of puppies, sounds like a blast! I think as their attention spans get bigger than a gnat training will come easier, I noticed Ruby concentrates a lot better these days than she did when I first tried at 8 weeks old so don't stress too much! I've seen those Wagtastic chewy chicken fillets but I wasn't sure if I should get them since it said not suitable for puppies under four months, but I'll grab some next time I'm out and give her half, although I'm sure Ruby will devour it, she goes through chews quickly. 

@BrightOwl Welcome to the thread!  Comet looks stunning! Shelties are one of my favourite breeds. I hope you had a good and informative time at puppy class! Let us know how it went.


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## DaisyBluebell

SO glad you started this thread spamvicous, as soon as I have time I will read through EVERY post, so much to do before my little Emma arrives,counting down the days now, 22 today and she should be snuggled in my arms (hopefully not being sick on the drive home )


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## DaisyBluebell

Oh meant to say just love that picture of Star all wrapped up - hopefully you have printed that off of framed it ??


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> SO glad you started this thread spamvicous, as soon as I have time I will read through EVERY post, so much to do before my little Emma arrives,counting down the days now, 22 today and she should be snuggled in my arms (hopefully not being sick on the drive home )


awww doesn't time drag when you're waiting to bring her home!. I'm making a photo album of pictures of star like a proper mum lol


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## DaisyBluebell

I have a couple of little video's the breeder has done for me & a couple of pictures but I'm not sure how to add anything on here yet - will check out how to do it later. 
Love those PitaPatta signature things on peoples posts too, I did check those out but again couldn't work out how to add it once I had it made up - not a great techno person I'm afraid :-(


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> I have a couple of little video's the breeder has done for me & a couple of pictures but I'm not sure how to add anything on here yet - will check out how to do it later.
> Love those PitaPatta signature things on peoples posts too, I did check those out but again couldn't work out how to add it once I had it made up - not a great techno person I'm afraid :-(


It's hard to do the PitaPatta things, took me a while to work out how to do it. If you want me to do one for you and send you the code then just give me details and I can do one for you


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## Guest

Have any of our experienced owners had a dog with a UTI? I think Star might have one. I took her out and she had a wee and then seconds later crouched down for a second for another wee. I brought her back inside and within 15 minutes she'd weed two more times but when she wees its miniscule it's probably 1ml if that. I'm seeing the vet today but don't want to mention it if it's nothing.


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## PawsOnMe

spamvicious said:


> Have any of our experienced owners had a dog with a UTI? I think Star might have one. I took her out and she had a wee and then seconds later crouched down for a second for another wee. I brought her back inside and within 15 minutes she'd weed two more times but when she wees its miniscule it's probably 1ml if that. I'm seeing the vet today but don't want to mention it if it's nothing.


Tell the vet. If it is a UTI they can be very painful if left untreated.


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## Guest

PawsOnMe said:


> Tell the vet. If it is a UTI they can be very painful if left untreated.


Yes I'm going to as she was quite lethargic yesterday too, well apart from when she had her mad half hour.


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## ashelia

@spamvicious hoping star is OK!

Ruby went on her first proper outing today as she's vaccinated to meet other dogs and safely be on the ground now, and we met a lovely lady (who was also very informative) and her 4 beautiful dogs. Ruby handled it very well and made some friends! She's taken everything in her stride and she's really getting the hang of 'leave it', and we're progressing slowly on recall.
EDIT: (attachment) As soon as we got home and after she ate she passed out by the door, a happy pupper!

Are any of you guys thinking of doing any kind of dog sports with your pups when they're older? The lady we met does agility and it's something I'd love to try out along with canicross but unsure how to get involved in them.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Yes I'm going to as she was quite lethargic yesterday too, well apart from when she had her mad half hour.


Hope Star is feeling better soon!



ashelia said:


> @spamvicious hoping star is OK!
> 
> Ruby went on her first proper outing today as she's vaccinated to meet other dogs and safely be on the ground now, and we met a lovely lady (who was also very informative) and her 4 beautiful dogs. Ruby handled it very well and made some friends! She's taken everything in her stride and she's really getting the hang of 'leave it', and we're progressing slowly on recall.
> 
> Are any of you guys thinking of doing any kind of dog sports with your pups when they're older? The lady we met does agility and it's something I'd love to try out along with canicross but unsure how to get involved in them.


Well done you and Ruby!!

Kennel club have a search function on their website - you can find local training clubs for various sports http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/findaclub/activity/Default.aspx

If you take part in a kennel club registered activity Ruby will need to be registered with them - if she isn't on their breed register, you can register her on the activity register for a fee http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/registration/how-to-register-your-dog/dog-activity-register/

Canicross often have their own area website or FB group.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> @spamvicious hoping star is OK!
> 
> Ruby went on her first proper outing today as she's vaccinated to meet other dogs and safely be on the ground now, and we met a lovely lady (who was also very informative) and her 4 beautiful dogs. Ruby handled it very well and made some friends! She's taken everything in her stride and she's really getting the hang of 'leave it', and we're progressing slowly on recall.
> EDIT: (attachment) As soon as we got home and after she ate she passed out by the door, a happy pupper!
> 
> Are any of you guys thinking of doing any kind of dog sports with your pups when they're older? The lady we met does agility and it's something I'd love to try out along with canicross but unsure how to get involved in them.


Yay for Ruby's freedom, I hope she enjoyed her walks and met some new friends. I haven't thought of any sports yet. At the moment it's hard to get Star to do the most basic stuff so I'm feeling very frustrated. The vet took her temperature today when she had her final injection and said it was ok but go back if I had anymore worries. However Star is driving me mad with her biting and hanging onto clothes, I say "ouch" but it just has no effect on her and at times just spurs her on more. 

@ShibaPup how is Lily getting on with her biting?. If you have any advice then please help


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Yay for Ruby's freedom, I hope she enjoyed her walks and met some new friends. I haven't thought of any sports yet. At the moment it's hard to get Star to do the most basic stuff so I'm feeling very frustrated. The vet took her temperature today when she had her final injection and said it was ok but go back if I had anymore worries. However Star is driving me mad with her biting and hanging onto clothes, I say "ouch" but it just has no effect on her and at times just spurs her on more.
> 
> @ShibaPup how is Lily getting on with her biting?. If you have any advice then please help


Lily is improving; no recent bruises or bleeding - still bites my clothes and mouths but I'll take any improvement!! We have our good and awful days but I got some good advice on a thread I posted http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/puppy-biting-best-thing-to-do.448414/

Only advice I can give is always have toys or chews around to grab - tons of patience - consistency!

If she is over excited or tired - I leave Lily to amuse herself with toys, chews, frozen wet tea towel, ice cubes or a frozen kong.

I say "no biting" in a normal voice and for hard or persistent biting use a lead to put her outside of the room away from me or behind a stair gate - let her back in when she calms down. Gentle mouthing I just shove a toy or chew in her mouth instead and praise her for chewing on that.
If she is hanging on my clothes I say "no biting" and stand completely still ignoring her - not even looking at her. Once she stops I praise and give her a toy or something appropriate.

Any hands on with Lily or high pitched noises she would get sooo much worse!! House lead is helpful - keeps my hands out of the biting zone - easier to chuck her out the room.


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## DaisyBluebell

spamvicious said:


> It's hard to do the PitaPatta things, took me a while to work out how to do it. If you want me to do one for you and send you the code then just give me details and I can do one for you


Hows Star?
I had a go at the PitaPata thing got as far as a code but didn't know how to add it on here :-(
I've had n trained 7 dogs to a good standard over the years but they have all been rescues & the youngest 5 months old so a brand new 8 weeks old puppy is a whole new scary prospect n I haven't even got her home yet! Chek out Zak George Dog Training on YouTube for some good puppy training tipss by the way. I have Emma booked in for puppy socialisation classes & early training classes in July but I will start 5 minute training sessions with her in the garden asap. This is a great thread started by you spamvisous & so helpful for us new puppy owners to trade info. I'm noteing all little bits n pieces down for future reference. 
21 days to Emma pups arrival - exciting & scary at the same time !


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## ashelia

spamvicious said:


> Yay for Ruby's freedom, I hope she enjoyed her walks and met some new friends. I haven't thought of any sports yet. At the moment it's hard to get Star to do the most basic stuff so I'm feeling very frustrated. The vet took her temperature today when she had her final injection and said it was ok but go back if I had anymore worries. However Star is driving me mad with her biting and hanging onto clothes, I say "ouch" but it just has no effect on her and at times just spurs her on more.
> 
> @ShibaPup how is Lily getting on with her biting?. If you have any advice then please help


She had a great time! We took her into town for the first time today too and she met more friendly dogs and people, having a puppy is like a people magnet haha.  She's still unsure about cars passing by tho. I also finally found some pizzles! She's chewing one atm, I'll see how long it holds her attention. I'm glad the vet said Star was okay, hopefully she'll be fine!

I totally understand the frustration, I've only been able to do sit with Ruby so far in regards to the 3 basics. Maybe try working on something like leave it/drop it? What I do is get Ruby's tug toy, tug with her for a bit then hold the toy firmly so it doesn't move/becomes boring, then the moment she let's go (you might have to wait it out) I say 'leave it' then as a reward I throw it and she runs after it or we continue playing tug. Sometimes she brings it back and we repeat but if not I have a second toy to get her back and we do the same with that toy.

For her biting the ouch thing didn't seem to work for Ruby, higher pitched noises just excite her more! What helped with her was making a sharp 'ah-ah' sound then ignoring her for a few seconds. If she chewed on something she shouldn't I'd do the same noise then give her something she can chew on, and praise her for it. When she does it when super hyper then like people have said a time out might work.


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## ashelia

ShibaPup said:


> Hope Star is feeling better soon!
> 
> Well done you and Ruby!!
> 
> Kennel club have a search function on their website - you can find local training clubs for various sports http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/findaclub/activity/Default.aspx
> 
> If you take part in a kennel club registered activity Ruby will need to be registered with them - if she isn't on their breed register, you can register her on the activity register for a fee http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/registration/how-to-register-your-dog/dog-activity-register/
> 
> Canicross often have their own area website or FB group.


Thank you! :Shamefullyembarrased I'm really proud of her and how well she's handled everything so far! Passing cars are something we need to work on tho. How's Lily with cars?

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out. We live in such a rural area that it's hard to find places nearby that do these things, hopefully I'll find something tho!


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## ShibaPup

ashelia said:


> Thank you! :Shamefullyembarrased I'm really proud of her and how well she's handled everything so far! Passing cars are something we need to work on tho. How's Lily with cars?
> 
> Thanks for the links, I'll check them out. We live in such a rural area that it's hard to find places nearby that do these things, hopefully I'll find something tho!


She is alright - buses, vans, lorries, cars, motorbikes and bikes she doesn't seem phased by so far... Although a police car with the sirens on she attempted to chase!  weirdo!  she was on lead so no harm done.

I live by a busy road and we just approached it in Lily's comfort zone with her fave toys and lots of food.

Hope you manage to find something!


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## Guest

Glad to hear everyone is doing ok. Star is currently watching "the secret life of the zoo" and barking at the animals on the tv :Hilarious. I took her to the park today and some nobjockey was riding on the path on a motor cross bike. While it was very annoying, Star didn't even flinch which is a good thing. She's having her first grooming session on Tuesday, no hair cut though, just a bath and a brush. What have you all got lined up for your pups?


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## morphtastic

We're going to Leia's first sleepover dog show next weekend!! Put the tent up in the garden today and after initially being a bit apprehensive she discovered that the noise the base sheet makes when she runs in and out is awesome!!


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## ShibaPup

Well done Star!! Hope she enjoys her first groom 

Lily has her first vet visit and vaccination Friday - Hoping to get the vet to sign a referral for hydrotherapy; fun sessions to help keep her fit and trim and physiotherapy; get an exercise plan to help improve her co-ordination, agility and strength.


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## Guest

morphtastic said:


> We're going to Leia's first sleepover dog show next weekend!! Put the tent up in the garden today and after initially being a bit apprehensive she discovered that the noise the base sheet makes when she runs in and out is awesome!!


haha brilliant. I hope she has lots of fun at the dog show.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Well done Star!! Hope she enjoys her first groom
> 
> Lily has her first vet visit and vaccination Friday - Hoping to get the vet to sign a referral for hydrotherapy; fun sessions to help keep her fit and trim and physiotherapy; get an exercise plan to help improve her co-ordination, agility and strength.


Will your insurance cover the hydrotherapy? Do you have any concerns for Lily? or are you just being proactive?


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Will your insurance cover the hydrotherapy? Do you have any concerns for Lily? or are you just being proactive?


It would cover both but I won't be using her insurance. Since it will only be for fun and fitness really.

I was worried about her rear legs but after seeing videos of other pups similar to her - seems it might be a puppy thing but I'll see what my vet says.

Once she is more mature there is a canine athletics group nearby, I'd love to take her - where dogs can have ago at various things like; weight pulling, treadmill, lure coursing, high wall, long jump, A frame and hang tough.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> It would cover both but I won't be using her insurance. Since it will only be for fun and fitness really.
> 
> I was worried about her rear legs but after seeing videos of other pups similar to her - seems it might be a puppy thing but I'll see what my vet says.
> 
> Once she is more mature there is a canine athletics group nearby, I'd love to take her - where dogs can have ago at various things like; weight pulling, treadmill, lure coursing, high wall, long jump, A frame and hang tough.


Oh ok I hope it's not expensive for you then. Sounds like you have lots of fun activities planned for her!.

Star has today started humping my mums boots when she wears them! Not sure what that's about lol


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## ShibaPup

Started working on loose lead walking and it's killing my back haha!!

How is everyone and their pups? 

This is a great idea for a thread BTW - nice that everyone has the chance to have a moan or brag about their pups.


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## DaisyBluebell

I'm still waiting to get mine to moan/brag about ! Not long now tho till 9th June. Loved reading all the posts so far. Am watching all the puppy video's on YouTube n hope some of its sinking in. Long long time since I had a puppy to cope with!


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## Holliecat

Hi there... just jumping on this thread hope that's ok..
I have 14week lab pup, she is amazing, we all love her.yes she can nip at my youngest but we call it a love bite.
My only real concern is that she grumbles and growls at other puppies... and I don't know why.
I have another dog who is 5 and they play and chase, she is well socialised and is fine with other dogs. But last week st the puppy class was the first time she did it ( she is a mute at home doesn't cry, whine bark ) so I was shocked by this. And yesterday in the park we went to see another pup and she grumbled and growled again. Obviously I prodded her and said NO! Is this something I should worry about? How can I stop it. Any ideas? X


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## ShibaPup

Holliecat said:


> Hi there... just jumping on this thread hope that's ok..
> I have 14week lab pup, she is amazing, we all love her.yes she can nip at my youngest but we call it a love bite.
> My only real concern is that she grumbles and growls at other puppies... and I don't know why.
> I have another dog who is 5 and they play and chase, she is well socialised and is fine with other dogs. But last week st the puppy class was the first time she did it ( she is a mute at home doesn't cry, whine bark ) so I was shocked by this. And yesterday in the park we went to see another pup and she grumbled and growled again. Obviously I prodded her and said NO! Is this something I should worry about? How can I stop it. Any ideas? X


Was she on lead both times? What did the trainer at training class suggest?

Pups don't need to greet or like every dog they see; that's like expecting a human to shake hands and like everyone they see... it can actually create problems in the future.

Much better to have her focus on you and think other dogs aren't really important.

Growling is communication... we want communication. Telling her off and prodding her will only make the situation worse - she will associate the punishment with other dogs.

Might be worth making a thread in the Dog Training and Behaviour section of the forum for more experienced members to offer their advice - not everyone will look here.


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## Guest

Like @ShibaPup said, best not to react to her growling, which can be puppy for "play with me" and praise her when she's behaving well. I took Star to the park last week and she was approached by two dogs and she started screaming. I was worried she would have problems with dogs but I think it was just because two approached at the same time.


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## Holliecat

The trainer told me to prod her to stop her... and yes she was on a lead... where as usually in the park she is off lead. 
The trainer also implied it was because she plays with my other dog and told me to not to let them play rough - which they don't but they do like to chase and play bitey face but it's not aggressive play.


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## ashelia

I don't see why your puppy can't play with your other dog as long as the playing doesn't get out of hand. Ruby does a low growl sometimes when encountering new people and dogs, she acts very unsure yet inquisitive and once she realises everything is fine she'll stop and just wanna play or have her tummy rubbed.

And as ShibaPup said your puppy probably isn't going to like every dog. Ruby met a dog the other day who she wanted to play with but the dog wasn't interested and to let Ruby know to leave her alone she growled and made it very clear she didn't wanna play but it definitely wasn't aggressive. It's teaching Ruby that not all dogs are friendly and want to play, which is probably a good thing I'd imagine. Might be worth asking more experienced dog owners or trainers though to be safe.


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## LittleKrystal

Dogs growling and barking is their way of communicating with us and other dogs. It can sometimes be the first sign of fear and warning for others to back off, so you need to be careful you don't punish your puppy for that else he'll think growling to warn of danger is bad, then will go into barking instead and then eventually biting.

Watch the dog's body language. My puppy use to bark at other dogs and then jump straight into a play stance if they ignore him. At first, I was a bit nervous, but I learnt quickly that it's his way to say "hello friend, play with me please". If the other dog continues to ignore him he'll just stop and get the idea that they don't want to play.

This is a good diagram on body language: http://stories.barkpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/dog_body_language1.jpg

I was taught at puppy school that we should direct the behaviour to a different behaviour rather than punishing for the wrong behaviour, especially if you are unsure what your puppy is really trying to tell you. When I don't like my puppy's behaviour, instead of telling him off, I normally grab a treat and walk him a short distance away from whatever his attraction is on and tell him to do a sit. For me, this is usually with people as he sometimes barks at people that approach him too quickly or he feels uncomfortable around them. After the sit and the having a bit of food, he tends to calm down and he starts to think "okay that person isn't so scary" and he will eventually learn to be calm around whatever he wasn't calm about before.


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## Guest

Took Star to the groomers today, she's very fluffy now. They put a bow in her hair and I wasn't impressed lol my mum was trying to get me to keep it.


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## ashelia

@spamvicious Not going to lie the bow does look pretty cute haha  she looks like a very happy fluffy pup though! How did she handle being at the groomers?


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> @spamvicious Not going to lie the bow does look pretty cute haha  she looks like a very happy fluffy pup though! How did she handle being at the groomers?


I took it out after the pics!. She did ok I think, we could hear her crying as we left but the groomer said she was fine apart from the hairdryers. As I was paying she decided to do the biggest wee she has ever done in her life lol. We're having to miss puppy class tonight though as she's been vomiting today, if she doesn't improve I'll take her to the vets tomorrow.


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## ShibaPup

Hope Star is feeling better soon


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Hope Star is feeling better soon


Thanks. She's still drinking so that's ok. I wormed her yesterday so maybe it's just a reaction to that.


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## Guest

A couple of questions for you guys...

At night Star goes into her crate and doesn't whine at all however during the day she cries and howls when she's crated. I work from home so she has constant access to me so I make sure to leave her alone for an hour or two every day. At first she would cry for a few minutes then settle (I have a camera set up). Today she howled for 15 minutes before finally going to sleep. Should I be leaving her alone more?

Also at the same time every evening around half 6 she has a mad half hour where she goes...for what of a better word...evil. She bites and pounces on clothes and feet. We're giving her quick time outs in the kitchen but it's not really sinking in. Any tips?. Also for the past couple of nights after being bad she will hump my mums boots (while she's wearing them) after she does it, she calms down straight away and goes to sleep. Is it cos she doesn't know how to calm herself naturally and should we be discouraging it and if so how?


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## ashelia

@spamvicious I'm glad she handled it well! And hopefully she's not ill, Ruby has vomited a couple of times but I think it's because she eats too fast then bounces around the place, maybe it's similar for Star?

Ruby does the same thing, she's perfect at night but doesn't like being crated during the day, although she will wander into her crate sometimes to sleep with the door open. So now I confine her to the kitchen (there's nothing she can destroy in there or hurt herself with) I think she prefers having more space? Maybe you could try that with Star? Or maybe a playpen?

The mad hour is something I struggle with too haha. Ruby goes nuts at about 12 in the afternoon and then between 7pm and 8pm. I usually just let her ride it out, but if it goes on longer than an hour I'll do some basic training with her to focus her attention which will calm her down a little then I can shake off the rest of her nuttiness playing tug with her, practicing drop it and take it in the process. If Star likes tug of war you could try it? A structured game of tug is really good I think, it seems to tire Ruby out.


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## ShibaPup

What is everyone working on with their pups?

Lily and I have short training sessions, followed by a game (also training session), and repeat - engages her brain and gives her something positive to put her energy into!!
We are working on;
Recall - call her name, give her a handful of food for coming. Working on calling her away from distractions.
Touch - place a hand out and as soon as her nose touches it, click or "yes" and reward. 
Getting her used to being handled - A fuss all over - working towards checking her teeth, ears, eyes, picking up her feet; checking her pads and nails, picking up and messing with her tail. Kinda like a vet exam and I reward her.
Muzzle training - getting her comfortable with wearing a muzzle.
Drop - say "drop" - throw a load of food on the floor and point out all the food for the dog.
Default settle - anytime she is laying calmly - give her some food. Or I have her on a lead and when she _finally_ lays down or sits - calmly reward with food.
Eye contact and attention - she will only get something or be released to do something if she gives me eye contact.
Tug - "get it" - go fetch or ok bite it, "wait" - sit and wait for it back; give me eye contact and "out" - let go of the toy.
Sit - Stand - Down - Still luring these but eventually stick 'em on cue and then work on distance, duration and distraction individually.
Loose lead walking - 300 peck method. One step - food. Two steps - food. Three steps - food. If she pulls and the lead goes tight we restart so one step - food, two steps - food and so on.



spamvicious said:


> A couple of questions for you guys...
> 
> At night Star goes into her crate and doesn't whine at all however during the day she cries and howls when she's crated. I work from home so she has constant access to me so I make sure to leave her alone for an hour or two every day. At first she would cry for a few minutes then settle (I have a camera set up). Today she howled for 15 minutes before finally going to sleep. Should I be leaving her alone more?
> 
> Also at the same time every evening around half 6 she has a mad half hour where she goes...for what of a better word...evil. She bites and pounces on clothes and feet. We're giving her quick time outs in the kitchen but it's not really sinking in. Any tips?. Also for the past couple of nights after being bad she will hump my mums boots (while she's wearing them) after she does it, she calms down straight away and goes to sleep. Is it cos she doesn't know how to calm herself naturally and should we be discouraging it and if so how?


Do you give her a stuffed kong or even a chew while in the cage? How big is her cage? Does Star use the cage without you putting her inside? 
I don't use a cage with Lily - we have an XXL but it's always open; she has her own room and half the hallway. When I go out, she goes in her room.

Puppies are babies - they'll often go til they drop! When they are tired the biting gets a lot worse IME!! She gets put back in her area with a chew or stuffed kong until she settles or I'll completely ignore her.

Lily can get over excited - zoomies with biting :Arghh but I remain consistent and always have a couple of her favourite toys close by to shove in her gob! I praise her heavily for choosing to mouth her toys over me. Hard bites (now incredibly rare) = favourite human chew toy leaving her alone for a minute. Gentle mouthing I'm tolerating ATM but will up my criteria and not allow that. Biting clothes I say "no biting", she lets go, and I'll give her something more appropriate.

It's important they learn what they can chew and mouth. I'd discourage humping by distracting her with a toy.


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## Lexiedhb

CATASTROPHIC issue with this "puppy" thread...... 8 pages, and 4, just 4 pictures. What are you guys thinking? :Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop


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## ShibaPup

Lexiedhb said:


> CATASTROPHIC issue with this "puppy" thread...... 8 pages, and 4, just 4 pictures. What are you guys thinking? :Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop


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## ashelia

Lexiedhb said:


> CATASTROPHIC issue with this "puppy" thread...... 8 pages, and 4, just 4 pictures. What are you guys thinking? :Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop:Jawdrop


Not a picture but


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Do you give her a stuffed kong or even a chew while in the cage? How big is her cage? Does Star use the cage without you putting her inside?
> I don't use a cage with Lily - we have an XXL but it's always open; she has her own room and half the hallway. When I go out, she goes in her room.
> 
> Puppies are babies - they'll often go til they drop! When they are tired the biting gets a lot worse IME!! She gets put back in her area with a chew or stuffed kong until she settles or I'll completely ignore her.
> 
> Lily can get over excited - zoomies with biting :Arghh but I remain consistent and always have a couple of her favourite toys close by to shove in her gob! I praise her heavily for choosing to mouth her toys over me. Hard bites (now incredibly rare) = favourite human chew toy leaving her alone for a minute. Gentle mouthing I'm tolerating ATM but will up my criteria and not allow that. Biting clothes I say "no biting", she lets go, and I'll give her something more appropriate.
> 
> It's important they learn what they can chew and mouth. I'd discourage humping by distracting her with a toy.


She has a 30" crate, during the day she will go in for a few minutes but then will leave it again. She doesn't really care for Kongs, once she's got the easiest bit out she gets bored. I give her a chew or a treat but usually she doesn't even touch them cos she's so annoyed lol.

She's now started splashing all her water out of her bowl with her paw. She's a troublemaker lol


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## Guest

Star not enjoying the hot weather


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## ShibaPup

What a day!!!! :Arghh:Arghh:Arghh

Lily's first experience with a strange dog...
Terrier tied up outside ASDA - people trying to cool the poor thing down with water, decided to kick off at Lily as we passed and Lily stood looking rather confused at this strange dog barking at her. Encouraged her attention back to me, moved away and rewarded her heavily!

In the vets - a dog was whining at Lily but she did brilliantly and laid calmly at my feet while I fed her loads of kibble.

Lily had her first vaccination - It felt so rushed! My concerns weren't listened to and then I had to firmly tell the vet I don't want worming or flea treatment, despite their insistence - which ended up being a right hassle since they had to take it off my bill and the computer wasn't co-operating. 

All I wanted was her first vaccine :Banghead


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> What a day!!!! :Arghh:Arghh:Arghh
> 
> Lily's first experience with a strange dog...
> Terrier tied up outside ASDA - people trying to cool the poor thing down with water, decided to kick off at Lily as we passed and Lily stood looking rather confused at this strange dog barking at her. Encouraged her attention back to me, moved away and rewarded her heavily!
> 
> In the vets - a dog was whining at Lily but she did brilliantly and laid calmly at my feet while I fed her loads of kibble.
> 
> Lily had her first vaccination - It felt so rushed! My concerns weren't listened to and then I had to firmly tell the vet I don't want worming or flea treatment, despite their insistence - which ended up being a right hassle since they had to take it off my bill and the computer wasn't co-operating.
> 
> All I wanted was her first vaccine :Banghead


Well done Lily, you're doing really well with her!. Yeah our first vaccination we had a vet who was very abrupt and didn't want to answer any questions. The last two times we've been though it was a lovely nurse who made such a fuss of Star and gave her treat while she had her injection as well as checking for other stuff I was worried about.


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## Guest

How's everyone getting on?. Star has an introductory session for doggy day care today, she will go for an hour to see if she enjoys it and gets on with the other dogs. She won't be going regularly, it's just for the days when we have to pack up the house and move as it's impossible to pack while having to watch her too.


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## LittleKrystal

I think Kiba might be starting puppy adolescence but I'm not too sure. He's currently 5 months and 10 days and he is a small dog (only 3kg atm and will probably be 3.5kg, 4kg at most by the time he's adult size). 

Does anyone have any experience with it? Do you normally suddenly see a massive change or just small changes?

He's behaviour has always been ever changing so it's really hard to tell. 

Over the last 4 weeks, he's gone through a few phases, such as jumping at food toys or whatever he wants, barking at strangers and nipping at us a lot, refusing to come into the house from the garden, running out the front door (we had to chase him down the road, eventually he came back when my partner grabbed a bag of treats), potty accidents in his crate for a good two weeks. This weekend he whined a lot in his crate (when he normally settles within 5-10mins) and was also very vocal and barking at every little noise outside. These might just be general puppy behaviour but he's never been an "angel" so I hope that he is actually already in adolescence else I can't possibly imagine this getting worse!

He did lift his leg up to pee a few weeks ago...twice but then stopped.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> How's everyone getting on?. Star has an introductory session for doggy day care today, she will go for an hour to see if she enjoys it and gets on with the other dogs. She won't be going regularly, it's just for the days when we have to pack up the house and move as it's impossible to pack while having to watch her too.


Be careful about doggy day care - lots of them seem to be a free for all for dogs, which can be overwhelming for some dogs and not to mention they can pick up bad habits.



LittleKrystal said:


> I think Kiba might be starting puppy adolescence but I'm not too sure. He's currently 5 months and 10 days and he is a small dog (only 3kg atm and will probably be 3.5kg, 4kg at most by the time he's adult size).
> 
> Does anyone have any experience with it? Do you normally suddenly see a massive change or just small changes?
> 
> He's behaviour has always been ever changing so it's really hard to tell.
> 
> Over the last 4 weeks, he's gone through a few phases, such as jumping at food toys or whatever he wants, barking at strangers and nipping at us a lot, refusing to come into the house from the garden, running out the front door (we had to chase him down the road, eventually he came back when my partner grabbed a bag of treats), potty accidents in his crate for a good two weeks. This weekend he whined a lot in his crate (when he normally settles within 5-10mins) and was also very vocal and barking at every little noise outside. These might just be general puppy behaviour but he's never been an "angel" so I hope that he is actually already in adolescence else I can't possibly imagine this getting worse!
> 
> He did lift his leg up to pee a few weeks ago...twice but then stopped.


Seems like typical puppy behaviour IMO - he is gaining his confidence and becoming more independent.

Young pups are dependent on their owners but around 5-8 months that changes - training early on can help but it's still a difficult time and that's perhaps why many dogs are given up around that age.


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## LittleKrystal

ShibaPup said:


> Seems like typical puppy behaviour IMO - he is gaining his confidence and becoming more independent.
> 
> Young pups are dependent on their owners but around 5-8 months that changes - training early on can help but it's still a difficult time and that's perhaps why many dogs are given up around that age.


I'm totally prepared for it, so we've continued to do basic command training every day, daily walks, weekend long trips to somewhere new or he hasn't been to for a while. I'm just wondering when it'll hit me one day or if it has already started happening. He's a small dog and will be full adult size by 6-7 months and I've been told that small dogs tend to mature fast and will hit adolescence much earlier, so you don't really get the "angel" puppy as much. If it has started happening then I'm totally fine with that as we've been going back to basics a lot lately (especially to solve the sudden potty accidents and barking at strangers)


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## ashelia

@LittleKrystal As long as you go back to basics and stay as consistent as you are I'm sure you'll do just fine! It'll probably happen gradually I'd imagine? And it sounds like he might already be going through it, I've also been told smaller breeds mature faster.

@spamvicious I hope packing goes well! And that Star manages at daycare, I do hope it's a good place as I've heard some places can be pretty disorganised. 

Ruby has been doing really well, she's been more nippy and chewy but I think it's because she's started teething. Training is slow but steady, I've started training recall with a whistle now and with 'leave it' she's progressed to being able to leave the treat I hold out in my palm for 10 seconds and will give me eye contact. She's been going to new places and has met lots of different people and lots of nice, friendly dogs. She's a lot better in the car now, she can take a 25 min drive without being sick so we're gonna take her to the beach this week.

Today's shenanigans involved Ruby climbing up a hill of gravel we had delivered to become queen of gravel mountain!  She got very dirty though and we washed her outside which she didn't like at first but with some treats she was okay and dried off in the sun. Sadly I keep getting errors so I can't upload any pics.


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## Guest

They have a separate section for puppies and then they integrate them with the other dogs when supervised. However it's not going to be a regular thing, she is gonna go a couple of days while we move.

@LittleKrystal I hope you're through the worst of it and things start to improve

@ashelia I'm glad Ruby is improving in the car so you can go for trips


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## LittleKrystal

Last two days Kiba has behaved at home really well despite the crazy screaming and crying over the weekend. Since his potty training has gotten better again, we've reintroduced evening walks again. We had to stop that for a while as he drinks loads of water afterwards then will wet his crate overnight even if we take him out 3 times before bed to help him empty his bladder. Two walks seem to really make a difference, he seems calmer and content to sit and chew on something while we watch a movie.

@ashelia sounds like Ruby has improved a lot and doing really great! Hopefully, she'll be used to car rides soon and you'll be able to go on longer journeys.

@spamvicious doggy daycare will help Star socialise too, especially if it's only going to be for a few days.


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## Guest

So for next weeks puppy class, it's no dogs allowed, an hour of humans learning. Anyway I have to make some home made dog treats for the class as we're all gonna swap some. Does anyone know any simple but tasty recipes?


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## tantrumbean

spamvicious said:


> So for next weeks puppy class, it's no dogs allowed, an hour of humans learning. Anyway I have to make some home made dog treats for the class as we're all gonna swap some. Does anyone know any simple but tasty recipes?


Tuna or sardine cake is dead easy. An egg, 150 grams of flour, small dash of milk, pinch of garlic and a tin of tuna (drained). Mix together, put in a flat dish and microwave for a few minutes, then cut into squares. Works equally well with liver instead of fish and if you want a bigger quantity, just multiply the ingredients. I have stretched it before to 3 eggs and 450 grams of flour to a tin of tuna and they still loved it


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## Guest

tantrumbean said:


> Tuna or sardine cake is dead easy. An egg, 150 grams of flour, small dash of milk, pinch of garlic and a tin of tuna (drained). Mix together, put in a flat dish and microwave for a few minutes, then cut into squares. Works equally well with liver instead of fish and if you want a bigger quantity, just multiply the ingredients. I have stretched it before to 3 eggs and 450 grams of flour to a tin of tuna and they still loved it


Thank you!. I'm a terrible cook/baker so this is ideal.


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## LittleKrystal

tantrumbean said:


> Tuna or sardine cake is dead easy. An egg, 150 grams of flour, small dash of milk, pinch of garlic and a tin of tuna (drained). Mix together, put in a flat dish and microwave for a few minutes, then cut into squares. Works equally well with liver instead of fish and if you want a bigger quantity, just multiply the ingredients. I have stretched it before to 3 eggs and 450 grams of flour to a tin of tuna and they still loved it


I believe you can also use tinned salmon as well as I was told of a similar recipe.


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## Guest

Bumping so new members can see the thread


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## DaisyBluebell

I'm hoping to join in on a more regular basis spamvicious as soon as we get Emma. Not long now either this coming Tuesday or Friday. Been so busy preparing for her to come. Got Daisy's VariKennel out of loft along with ONE OF her beds. Cried my eyes out, although I had washed them all with disinfectant before they were put away, they still smelled of her it was truly heart breaking, I still miss her so much but keep telling myself getting little Emma will be a tribute to her.
I've been reading all the posts & enjoying everyones trials and tribulations and fantastic results so far.
Hope your move goes well and little Star enjoys doggy day care.
I went to a puppy morning session to check out what it would be like, in our local garden centre pets area, but it was totally unsupervised and one large lab puppy was lording it over a couple of other small puppies - no I don;t want Emma taught mistakes to start with so we will not be going there. I have booked her injection dates (the vet is a friend of ours which helps) & also her 6 week puppy training course. I have also inquired about the Dogs Trust classes which are run all over the country for puppies, Rescue dogs and adult dogs and there is one quite local to me so may go along to that as well if it doesnt clash with her regular classes. As a Beddy Whippet she will be very fast and probably have a high prey drive so a sound Recall is our priority, will start on that from day one.
Carry on the good work everyone,if I can manage to work out how to upload a picture the breeder has sent me you will see what she is like. I still haven't worked out how to add the PitaPata time line tho :-(
Pat


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## DaisyBluebell

EMMA Pup 5 weeks old, already changing since we saw her at 3 weeks - nose getting longer and the black turning lighter now hoping for more grey eventually.


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## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> View attachment 313276
> 
> EMMA Pup 5 weeks old, already changing since we saw her at 3 weeks - nose getting longer and the black turning lighter now hoping for more grey eventually.


She's so gorgeous, no wonder you cannot wait... My OH wanted to call Maisie Emma, but not for nice reasons. He wanted to name her after my very good friend whose always full of wind shall we say....the journey home was very fragrant with Maisie shall we say...hence the reasoning behind the name.

I do think Emma is a lovely name, and really suits her.


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> I'm hoping to join in on a more regular basis spamvicious as soon as we get Emma. Not long now either this coming Tuesday or Friday. Been so busy preparing for her to come. Got Daisy's VariKennel out of loft along with ONE OF her beds. Cried my eyes out, although I had washed them all with disinfectant before they were put away, they still smelled of her it was truly heart breaking, I still miss her so much but keep telling myself getting little Emma will be a tribute to her.
> I've been reading all the posts & enjoying everyones trials and tribulations and fantastic results so far.
> Hope your move goes well and little Star enjoys doggy day care.
> I went to a puppy morning session to check out what it would be like, in our local garden centre pets area, but it was totally unsupervised and one large lab puppy was lording it over a couple of other small puppies - no I don;t want Emma taught mistakes to start with so we will not be going there. I have booked her injection dates (the vet is a friend of ours which helps) & also her 6 week puppy training course. I have also inquired about the Dogs Trust classes which are run all over the country for puppies, Rescue dogs and adult dogs and there is one quite local to me so may go along to that as well if it doesnt clash with her regular classes. As a Beddy Whippet she will be very fast and probably have a high prey drive so a sound Recall is our priority, will start on that from day one.
> Carry on the good work everyone,if I can manage to work out how to upload a picture the breeder has sent me you will see what she is like. I still haven't worked out how to add the PitaPata time line tho :-(
> Pat


Awww Emma will be a lovely addition to your home. I'm sure Daisy will be happy that you have a new companion to give you love. She's gorgeous and is gonna give you so much love.


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## DaisyBluebell

Thank you, I just want her home now. I will report back as soon as she is home.


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## Guest

When do puppies start to calm down lol. After Star being ill this morning and me thinking I was gonna need to call the vets she then recovered and became the puppy from hell today lol. Biting, jumping up, running round, trying to steal food. My mum hasn't been well either today so it's been hell really. I'm guessing Star is teething as she's constantly panting with her mouth open. She's only just gone to sleep and it's nearly 10:30pm.


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## winterrose

Can this thread be for slightly older rescues too?  
Micheie is just out of the puppy phase, but still very much acts like one!


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## lullabydream

winterrose said:


> Can this thread be for slightly older rescues too?
> Micheie is just out of the puppy phase, but still very much acts like one!


How old is Michele? I don't think I have noticed her age in any thread.


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## Guest

winterrose said:


> Can this thread be for slightly older rescues too?
> Micheie is just out of the puppy phase, but still very much acts like one!


Of course, you're more than welcome


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## 8tansox

My puppy arrived on Friday. I've had plenty of dogs (I now own four) so I'm quite experienced with them, but just thought I'd pop in and say hi, and introduce you to Arwin.


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## 8tansox

I've been working on his recall, getting him to come in really close, teaching him to play with me with toys, as well as examination of toes, ears, mouth etc. He's a Rottweiler so he's already keen to focus on me and watch my every move so that just needs a tweak here and there. I'll be starting him off on a see-saw (agility) in a day or two, he has already mastered various tunnels.


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## winterrose

lullabydream said:


> How old is Michele? I don't think I have noticed her age in any thread.


Micheie is 18 months


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## Guest

8tansox said:


> I've been working on his recall, getting him to come in really close, teaching him to play with me with toys, as well as examination of toes, ears, mouth etc. He's a Rottweiler so he's already keen to focus on me and watch my every move so that just needs a tweak here and there. I'll be starting him off on a see-saw (agility) in a day or two, he has already mastered various tunnels.


He's beautiful. You can help us out with advice as you're experienced


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## DaisyBluebell

OMG Guess what people, breeder (in Norfolk) rang yesterday to say she is coming over our way (Nottinghamshire) TOMORROW & will bring Emma with her so we don't have to meet up with them at a dog show on Friday for the hand over - we will have her TOMORROW - sick with excitement now. Wish us luck, will report back WHEN I have time !


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## LittleKrystal

DaisyBluebell said:


> OMG Guess what people, breeder (in Norfolk) rang yesterday to say she is coming over our way (Nottinghamshire) TOMORROW & will bring Emma with her so we don't have to meet up with them at a dog show on Friday for the hand over - we will have her TOMORROW - sick with excitement now. Wish us luck, will report back WHEN I have time !


Wow bet you're so excited, how are you going to sleep tonight?!


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## DaisyBluebell

LittleKrystal said:


> Wow bet you're so excited, how are you going to sleep tonight?!


Possibly about as little as I anticipate I am going to sleep tomorrow night !!!


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> OMG Guess what people, breeder (in Norfolk) rang yesterday to say she is coming over our way (Nottinghamshire) TOMORROW & will bring Emma with her so we don't have to meet up with them at a dog show on Friday for the hand over - we will have her TOMORROW - sick with excitement now. Wish us luck, will report back WHEN I have time !


yay!! can't wait for all of the pictures!


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## DaisyBluebell

do you think she is going to stay still long enough to get any - maybe when she is asleep


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## AkiraMalamute

I always love reading this thread it's nice to read other peoples progress on similar age puppies 
My Malamute, Koda, is doing pretty well with training (he is now 4 months old). He knows sit, down (lie down), paw, off, leave it and I am currently teaching him spin and heel.
He is not having problems with house training but he will occasionally wee inside when he knows to do it outside. Annoying, but hopefully I can train him out of it.
Congrats @DaisyBluebell on your new puppy 
I was absolutely ecstatic the night before I got Koda. I did cry though before I left to go pick him up :Shy I got a bit overwhelmed. You definitely want to get your sleep though haha I was walking around like a zombie the first week. :Bag


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## Guest

AkiraMalamute said:


> I always love reading this thread it's nice to read other peoples progress on similar age puppies
> My Malamute, Koda, is doing pretty well with training (he is now 4 months old). He knows sit, down (lie down), paw, off, leave it and I am currently teaching him spin and heel.
> He is not having problems with house training but he will occasionally wee inside when he knows to do it outside. Annoying, but hopefully I can train him out of it.
> Congrats @DaisyBluebell on your new puppy
> I was absolutely ecstatic the night before I got Koda. I did cry though before I left to go pick him up :Shy I got a bit overwhelmed. You definitely want to get your sleep though haha I was walking around like a zombie the first week. :Bag


Star is a similar age, she's 15 weeks tomorrow. How does Koda do with you leaving?. Everytime me or my mum leave the room or car she screeches and cries. She stopped doing it for a week or so but it's now come back with a vengeance. She also does it now every time she goes in her crate, even if she can see us.


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## DaisyBluebell

Spamvicious, check out a book called The Happy Puppy Handbook by Pippa Mattinson, it is full of really good helpful things. Think I had better go to bed now, up early in the morning, sitting here at present looking at an empty crate, that will be filled tomorrow night with, please God, a sleeping Emma


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> Spamvicious, check out a book called The Happy Puppy Handbook by Pippa Mattinson, it is full of really good helpful things. Think I had better go to bed now, up early in the morning, sitting here at present looking at an empty crate, that will be filled tomorrow night with, please God, a sleeping Emma


Thanks I will. I hope tomorrow is amazing and we can't wait to hear all about it


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## AkiraMalamute

spamvicious said:


> Star is a similar age, she's 15 weeks tomorrow. How does Koda do with you leaving?. Everytime me or my mum leave the room or car she screeches and cries. She stopped doing it for a week or so but it's now come back with a vengeance. She also does it now every time she goes in her crate, even if she can see us.


Have you tried Kongs with Star to keep her occupied when she is in her crate that could help a lot.
Koda isn't really a whiner so when I leave him alone etc, he is alright with it. I'm sorry the only way I can think that might work is possibly a Kong toy and fill it with yummy treats so she associates her crate with good things.
I agree with @DaisyBluebell that book might have a few tips and tricks to help with the whining.


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## LittleKrystal

spamvicious said:


> Star is a similar age, she's 15 weeks tomorrow. How does Koda do with you leaving?. Everytime me or my mum leave the room or car she screeches and cries. She stopped doing it for a week or so but it's now come back with a vengeance. She also does it now every time she goes in her crate, even if she can see us.


Kiba is over 5 months and he still sometimes cries when left alone. He went through a massive crying spree two weekends ago. Don't worry too much about it as she will eventually get over it. She's still a baby after all. Do check to see how she acts when left alone, you usually can tell if it's anxiety or crying for attention.

Star's energy will increase week on week so that's probably also contributing to her crying in her crate as she probably just wants to play. Kiba's energy level has increased dramatically since he was 15 weeks old.

As for crying when you or your mum leaves the room, well Kiba did that for a long time when one of us left the room! He would stop whatever he was doing and basically bark and pace around the door till the other person is back. Now he takes his chew/toy near the door and sits there chewing while waiting, or sometimes he doesn't care and stays on his mat. What we did was distract him with treats and games when the other person leaves the room. Eventually, he got over it. Now that he's older and a bit more reliable with his chewing and toileting, we let him follow the other person out. He usually just finds a place to stand in between us, like in the hallway or top/bottom of the stairs till the other person is back in the room.

Regarding your comment about when do puppies calm down, well I've noticed that Kiba has calmed down a bit since he hit 5 months. He's less jumpy, less bitey too. He actually starting to feel a bit more grown up, although he still has his crazy moments. Well, he loves chewing on food so he can easily sit there and work on some sort of chew stick for a good hr or so.


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## DaisyBluebell

My perfect puppy of yesterday & last night has turned into an evil little so n so today :Arghh She has discovered the garden is not in fact just the large green patch of grass that she is put on to pee and poo but has hidden delights everywhere around it, lovely area where the bee's are nesting (good for fast chase across lawn after them), nice area thru the arch that houses the compost heap  good for a quick dig before I can stop her (a grass snake also lives in there), plants that could possibly be poisonous that are good to try anyway....... the list continues. Most of this discovered at 5am, yes 5AM when we went out for a pee and play!


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## lullabydream

Put Emma on the lead for her toilet time...
.It's ok my year old lurcher Maisie thinks 4:30 is a great time to get up have a wee and a play too...I got her when she was 10 months and she's very much still a puppy...just a very big one!


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## LittleKrystal

DaisyBluebell said:


> My perfect puppy of yesterday & last night has turned into an evil little so n so today :Arghh She has discovered the garden is not in fact just the large green patch of grass that she is put on to pee and poo but has hidden delights everywhere around it, lovely area where the bee's are nesting (good for fast chase across lawn after them), nice area thru the arch that houses the compost heap  good for a quick dig before I can stop her (a grass snake also lives in there), plants that could possibly be poisonous that are good to try anyway....... the list continues. Most of this discovered at 5am, yes 5AM when we went out for a pee and play!


Do you take her out on a leash to toilet? I always take mine with a leash so I can have control over him, especially during overnight toilet breaks.

Get yourself a long leash like 8m+ and let Emma run around the garden every day. Over time she will get bored of it as it's the same every single day. If you are worried about all those poisonous things, then make it safe by putting up barriers around the plants or maybe even get rid of the plants. As for the snakes...not sure what you can do there.

Welcome to puppyhood, word of warning, this is only the beginning.


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## lullabydream

LittleKrystal said:


> Do you take her out on a leash to toilet? I always take mine with a leash so I can have control over him, especially during overnight toilet breaks.
> 
> Get yourself a long leash like 8m+ and let Emma run around the garden every day. Over time she will get bored of it as it's the same every single day. If you are worried about all those poisonous things, then make it safe by putting up barriers around the plants or maybe even get rid of the plants. As for the snakes...not sure what you can do there.
> 
> Welcome to puppyhood, word of warning, this is only the beginning.


Have always used a normal short lead for dogs to focus on toileting, less likely to get distracted by anything, it's time to toilet and that's that. No time for running or jumping or games.

My dogs always find something fun in the garden to do...never get bored of going in the garden, whether a butterfly or bee excites them, they just want to zoom around, interesting smell is occurring.


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## LittleKrystal

lullabydream said:


> Have always used a normal short lead for dogs to focus on toileting, less likely to get distracted by anything, it's time to toilet and that's that. No time for running or jumping or games.
> 
> My dogs always find something fun in the garden to do...never get bored of going in the garden, whether a butterfly or bee excites them, they just want to zoom around, interesting smell is occurring.


Oh maybe it's just my puppy or my garden. He will go into the garden but he's generally bored after about 15mins of running around. He generally goes sniffing at the tree where he knows there are squirrels. Then he'll zoom around in circles, finds a twig play with it for about 5mins and come back in asking for a treat or something to chew on. Looks like your garden is far more interesting than mine!


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## DaisyBluebell

Thanks everyone, she is fast asleep on my foot at the moment, I love her already but I will try the leash bit for our 5am outings. I must say I was amazed that she went from just after Midnight to 5am without peeing in her crate! Not 8 weeks old till this Friday - first injection day - I shall feel sick if she yelps bless her. I already have my 50 foot lunge lead ready for recall training. Emma is a Beddy Whippet 1st cross lullabydream so I have already arranged a 1to1 training session, as a preempt of our training classes, on Sound Recall. My last Whippet cross was fast enough, I anticipate Emma is going to be even more so!


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## LittleKrystal

DaisyBluebell said:


> Thanks everyone, she is fast asleep on my foot at the moment, I love her already but I will try the leash bit for our 5am outings. I must say I was amazed that she went from just after Midnight to 5am without peeing in her crate! Not 8 weeks old till this Friday - first injection day - I shall feel sick if she yelps bless her. I already have my 50 foot lunge lead ready for recall training. Emma is a Beddy Whippet 1st cross lullabydream so I have already arranged a 1to1 training session, as a preempt of our training classes, on Sound Recall. My last Whippet cross was fast enough, I anticipate Emma is going to be even more so!


That's good!!

When we use to do late night toilet runs, we found that 4am was the latest break we could have before Kiba would wake up and not go back to sleep. If we wake him up at 5am, he won't go back to sleep. So you could try to do it a bit earlier to see if it helps her stay in a sleepy state. We use to do 9pm, 12am, 3-4am and 6am.

Can I ask if there was any particular reason you brought Emma home before she was 8 weeks old?


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## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> View attachment 313611
> 
> Thanks everyone, she is fast asleep on my foot at the moment, I love her already but I will try the leash bit for our 5am outings. I must say I was amazed that she went from just after Midnight to 5am without peeing in her crate! Not 8 weeks old till this Friday - first injection day - I shall feel sick if she yelps bless her. I already have my 50 foot lunge lead ready for recall training. Emma is a Beddy Whippet 1st cross lullabydream so I have already arranged a 1to1 training session, as a preempt of our training classes, on Sound Recall. My last Whippet cross was fast enough, I anticipate Emma is going to be even more so!


You have her at a young enough age, so you should be good to go...

You will be a good a god like figure for a good while, so I would personally have her off lead from day one!

Nice lurcher cross..my terriers have always been fantastic at house training...and Maisie the lurcher... well she's a learning curve first ish sight hound. Had a terrier cross who was built very sighthound ish..so maybe a tiny pocket lurcher!

Don't forget to you can carry Emma out and about now, take a blanket sit on a bench and watch the world go by.


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## MelodyM

Hello puppy people  my 10-and-a-half week old Lhasa Apso pup has just finished her jabs and will be able to go out on (little tiny) walks soon.... I am thinking of getting a harness for her but obviously she is very small, just wondering if anyone can recommend a suitable one? Thanks


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## ShibaPup

@DaisyBluebell - Emma is beautiful!!



MelodyM said:


> Hello puppy people  my 10-and-a-half week old Lhasa Apso pup has just finished her jabs and will be able to go out on (little tiny) walks soon.... I am thinking of getting a harness for her but obviously she is very small, just wondering if anyone can recommend a suitable one? Thanks


There are plenty of options - you could take her to your local pet shop to find one that fits with room for growth or measure her yourself and buy one over the internet; Zooplus sell a couple of small cheap ones and Ebay might be worth a look too.

Generally recommended to buy a relatively inexpensive one since she'll grow out of it fairly quickly - I didn't listen to that though and brought a £29 one haha.


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## Guest

AkiraMalamute said:


> Have you tried Kongs with Star to keep her occupied when she is in her crate that could help a lot.
> Koda isn't really a whiner so when I leave him alone etc, he is alright with it. I'm sorry the only way I can think that might work is possibly a Kong toy and fill it with yummy treats so she associates her crate with good things.
> I agree with @DaisyBluebell that book might have a few tips and tricks to help with the whining.


Yeah she's not interested. I just put her in the crate while we ate our tea as I don't have a table yet so she just jumps up. She just howled and cried the whole time we ate. She doesn't go in her crate at night anymore as she sleeps with me but she can stand to be away from us and especially me.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> @DaisyBluebell - Emma is beautiful!!
> 
> There are plenty of options - you could take her to your local pet shop to find one that fits with room for growth or measure her yourself and buy one over the internet; Zooplus sell a couple of small cheap ones and Ebay might be worth a look too.
> 
> Generally recommended to buy a relatively inexpensive one since she'll grow out of it fairly quickly - I didn't listen to that though and brought a £29 one haha.


Alternatively you can go to home bargains and they sell cheap but reasonable ones in there. Star has one of those that I use till she's stopped growing and I can get her a proper one.


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## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> Kiba is over 5 months and he still sometimes cries when left alone. He went through a massive crying spree two weekends ago. Don't worry too much about it as she will eventually get over it. She's still a baby after all. Do check to see how she acts when left alone, you usually can tell if it's anxiety or crying for attention.
> 
> Star's energy will increase week on week so that's probably also contributing to her crying in her crate as she probably just wants to play. Kiba's energy level has increased dramatically since he was 15 weeks old.
> 
> As for crying when you or your mum leaves the room, well Kiba did that for a long time when one of us left the room! He would stop whatever he was doing and basically bark and pace around the door till the other person is back. Now he takes his chew/toy near the door and sits there chewing while waiting, or sometimes he doesn't care and stays on his mat. What we did was distract him with treats and games when the other person leaves the room. Eventually, he got over it. Now that he's older and a bit more reliable with his chewing and toileting, we let him follow the other person out. He usually just finds a place to stand in between us, like in the hallway or top/bottom of the stairs till the other person is back in the room.
> 
> Regarding your comment about when do puppies calm down, well I've noticed that Kiba has calmed down a bit since he hit 5 months. He's less jumpy, less bitey too. He actually starting to feel a bit more grown up, although he still has his crazy moments. Well, he loves chewing on food so he can easily sit there and work on some sort of chew stick for a good hr or so.


Thanks for all this good information. Star is 4 months next Tuesday so still a while before she stops teething. She's like velcro right now, follows us everywhere and cries like she's being tortured when one of us leaves. We went to the park earlier and I forgot the poo bags so went to the car to get them and I could hear she cries 5 mins away. I do hope she grows out of it. She only goes in her crate now during the day and she cries the house down.


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## MelodyM

ShibaPup said:


> @DaisyBluebell - Emma is beautiful!!
> 
> There are plenty of options - you could take her to your local pet shop to find one that fits with room for growth or measure her yourself and buy one over the internet; Zooplus sell a couple of small cheap ones and Ebay might be worth a look too.
> 
> Generally recommended to buy a relatively inexpensive one since she'll grow out of it fairly quickly - I didn't listen to that though and brought a £29 one haha.





spamvicious said:


> Alternatively you can go to home bargains and they sell cheap but reasonable ones in there. Star has one of those that I use till she's stopped growing and I can get her a proper one.


Thanks  I'll look into it.


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## LittleKrystal

spamvicious said:


> Thanks for all this good information. Star is 4 months next Tuesday so still a while before she stops teething. She's like velcro right now, follows us everywhere and cries like she's being tortured when one of us leaves. We went to the park earlier and I forgot the poo bags so went to the car to get them and I could hear she cries 5 mins away. I do hope she grows out of it. She only goes in her crate now during the day and she cries the house down.


Did this all start after she started sleeping in your bed with you? If so, you might have to take a step back and put her back in her crate for bedtime. Are you always interacting with her or does she spend time by herself playing with toys and chewing on chews?

Have you ever let Star out when she's crying in the crate?

Other things you can do is, don't go back to her when she's crying. Stand on the other side of the door and wait, you might have to wait a long time but there will be moments when Star will pause and take a breath, you can go in and praise her at that moment. If you open the door and go back into the room when she's crying, she'll quickly learn crying means you'll return to her. Same for the crate as well, don't open the door for her when she's crying. We use to stand by the crate door, with our backs to Kiba and wait for silent. Then we turn and start opening the door, at any moment he makes a sound, we lock the door and go back to standing with our backs to him. Sometimes we could even walk a few steps away from the crate. He quickly learnt that crying = you will go away, silent = you come to him/her. Similar concept applies to you returning to the car.


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## lullabydream

LittleKrystal said:


> Did this all start after she started sleeping in your bed with you? If so, you might have to take a step back and put her back in her crate for bedtime. Are you always interacting with her or does she spend time by herself playing with toys and chewing on chews?
> 
> Have you ever let Star out when she's crying in the crate?
> 
> Other things you can do is, don't go back to her when she's crying. Stand on the other side of the door and wait, you might have to wait a long time but there will be moments when Star will pause and take a breath, you can go in and praise her at that moment. If you open the door and go back into the room when she's crying, she'll quickly learn crying means you'll return to her. Same for the crate as well, don't open the door for her when she's crying. We use to stand by the crate door, with our backs to Kiba and wait for silent. Then we turn and start opening the door, at any moment he makes a sound, we lock the door and go back to standing with our backs to him. Sometimes we could even walk a few steps away from the crate. He quickly learnt that crying = you will go away, silent = you come to him/her. Similar concept applies to you returning to the car.


A dog who sleeps in the bed with their owner, makes no difference whether or not they will have problems with separation anxiety.

Leaving a puppy to cry, often can leave to more problems in later life. Taking things slowly, at a dogs or puppy's pace rather than the owner usually ends up with the most confident of puppy and dog in the long run. Of course breeding can effect temperament too.

Spamvicious try slowly leaving Star for a few minutes at a time, but try not to make a big deal of her when you return. It's going to be really hard, because even a few minutes will seem forever, so she will be super excited.


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## LittleKrystal

lullabydream said:


> A dog who sleeps in the bed with their owner, makes no difference whether or not they will have problems with separation anxiety.


I only ask that because it happened to us. AKKs are very very prone to SA so the breeder started working on that and when he came to us at 10 weeks he was totally fine to be left alone for short periods of time and overnight for toilet breaks. Then I started playing with him in my bed and ended up falling asleep together, after a while he didn't want to sleep in his crate anymore and would cry when we left him. So I ended up having to go back to step 1 and work our way up by leaving him for a few seconds etc. Tbh, I don't know if those naps actually caused the issue as it just happened one day. I know lots of people do have their dogs sleep in their beds but we were told to not do that till they're much older, it could totally be a breed thing as they are particularly prone to SA.


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## lullabydream

LittleKrystal said:


> I only ask that because it happened to us. AKKs are very very prone to SA so the breeder started working on that and when he came to us at 10 weeks he was totally fine to be left alone for short periods of time and overnight for toilet breaks. Then I started playing with him in my bed and ended up falling asleep together, after a while he didn't want to sleep in his crate anymore and would cry when we left him. So I ended up having to go back to step 1 and work our way up by leaving him for a few seconds etc. Tbh, I don't know if those naps actually caused the issue as it just happened one day. I know lots of people do have their dogs sleep in their beds but we were told to not do that till they're much older, it could totally be a breed thing as they are particularly prone to SA.


There is no evidence to suggest where your dog sleeps is linked to separation anxiety...although it's a myth that often fly's round the internet

Many people do recommend never having a dog sleep in your own bed...my own breeder for chihuahuas classes that as 'spoiling' them. However she loves how I look after the chihuahua I got from her, and couldn't have asked for a better home...her words not mine, and apparently I have even taught her a thing or two...which I didn't do by suggestion just my ramblings on update emails...so for all the spoiling, my breeder is always open for new ideas, as I would say some ideas they have many may class as 'old school's.

The most confident dogs are the usually ones that have gone at their own pace being left, from an early age which is great that your breeder has. Continuity of being left, and the dog or puppy does not get worked up over his or her threshold


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## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> Did this all start after she started sleeping in your bed with you? If so, you might have to take a step back and put her back in her crate for bedtime. Are you always interacting with her or does she spend time by herself playing with toys and chewing on chews?
> 
> Have you ever let Star out when she's crying in the crate?
> 
> Other things you can do is, don't go back to her when she's crying. Stand on the other side of the door and wait, you might have to wait a long time but there will be moments when Star will pause and take a breath, you can go in and praise her at that moment. If you open the door and go back into the room when she's crying, she'll quickly learn crying means you'll return to her. Same for the crate as well, don't open the door for her when she's crying. We use to stand by the crate door, with our backs to Kiba and wait for silent. Then we turn and start opening the door, at any moment he makes a sound, we lock the door and go back to standing with our backs to him. Sometimes we could even walk a few steps away from the crate. He quickly learnt that crying = you will go away, silent = you come to him/her. Similar concept applies to you returning to the car.


No it was before then. I think we have to leave her alone more cos she spends nearly all her time with me. I don't let her out when she's crying but it's hard to implement if for example we're in the car and one of us pops to the shops for something as when she cries (we ignore her) then someone eventually does return when she's crying etc.


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## ashelia

Since it's been brought up, Ruby rarely goes in her crate during the day, she only goes in there to stash her chews and would much rather sleep on the sofa or floor around various parts of the living room, kitchen and even bathroom. And lately she's been a lot more whiny in her crate at night, especially last night; it seemed like she hardly slept at all. I know I didn't.  She's definitely not pining after us as she's perfectly fine to be left alone for _at least_ 20 minutes now (just not in her crate during the day) and her crate is right next to my bed any way.

So I was thinking if I could buy her a dog bed instead and put that in my room and have her on my bed, so she can choose either one, but have my door closed so she can't escape. My room is pretty small and since she was about 10 weeks old she's able to hold her bladder all night, which I thought was a bit unusual but I'd wake up to take her out but she'd be fast asleep, and I'm a light sleeper so I'd always wake when she did which was around the time we'd get up any way between 6-8am and she's never had any accidents in her crate.

Is this a good idea? Or should I continue putting her in her crate? I'm resilient enough to ignore her whining but she throws herself around in the crate too and digs at her bed so I'd rather she be comfy and not stress herself out.


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## lullabydream

ashelia said:


> Since it's been brought up, Ruby rarely goes in her crate during the day, she only goes in there to stash her chews and would much rather sleep on the sofa or floor around various parts of the living room, kitchen and even bathroom. And lately she's been a lot more whiny in her crate at night, especially last night; it seemed like she hardly slept at all. I know I didn't.  She's definitely not pining after us as she's perfectly fine to be left alone for _at least_ 20 minutes now (just not in her crate during the day) and her crate is right next to my bed any way.
> 
> So I was thinking if I could buy her a dog bed instead and put that in my room and have her on my bed, so she can choose either one, but have my door closed so she can't escape. My room is pretty small and since she was about 10 weeks old she's able to hold her bladder all night, which I thought was a bit unusual but I'd wake up to take her out but she'd be fast asleep, and I'm a light sleeper so I'd always wake when she did which was around the time we'd get up any way between 6-8am and she's never had any accidents in her crate.
> 
> Is this a good idea? Or should I continue putting her in her crate? I'm resilient enough to ignore her whining but she throws herself around in the crate too and digs at her bed so I'd rather she be comfy and not stress herself out.


Crate training is a good idea... and you never know what the future holds. So getting a dog used to a crate is good in case of times if say they need to be created for at the worse case scenario they have an accident and need to be confined. Crates aid for a real secure place to for puppies and dogs.. some will become chewers and really bad ones and can last till 9 months plus...so a crate can be vital for times that they are left alone, as the older the get, the less puppy secure ones house gets.
Crates can also help in severe separation anxiety, and some dogs need a secure place as their crate for life, others find other hidey holes work fine. Dependent on the dog.

Many dogs can hold their bladders at 10 weeks...not that unusual. However near time of her season this may go backwards. It's up to you to leave if you remove the crate at night time...

Keep building up the time during the day. She should be left daily...even if it means leaving the house to sit at the front of the house and listen!

Sounds like you are doing really well. Congratulations.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> Since it's been brought up, Ruby rarely goes in her crate during the day, she only goes in there to stash her chews and would much rather sleep on the sofa or floor around various parts of the living room, kitchen and even bathroom. And lately she's been a lot more whiny in her crate at night, especially last night; it seemed like she hardly slept at all. I know I didn't.  She's definitely not pining after us as she's perfectly fine to be left alone for _at least_ 20 minutes now (just not in her crate during the day) and her crate is right next to my bed any way.
> 
> So I was thinking if I could buy her a dog bed instead and put that in my room and have her on my bed, so she can choose either one, but have my door closed so she can't escape. My room is pretty small and since she was about 10 weeks old she's able to hold her bladder all night, which I thought was a bit unusual but I'd wake up to take her out but she'd be fast asleep, and I'm a light sleeper so I'd always wake when she did which was around the time we'd get up any way between 6-8am and she's never had any accidents in her crate.
> 
> Is this a good idea? Or should I continue putting her in her crate? I'm resilient enough to ignore her whining but she throws herself around in the crate too and digs at her bed so I'd rather she be comfy and not stress herself out.


I say give it a try and if it doesn't work you can go back to the crate. One of the reasons I wanted star sleeping with me was because I was making myself anxious to get up in time to let her out, thinking she was suffering in her crate. Now she's sleeping on the bed with me, she licks my face if she needs to go out at night as I'm hearing impaired so wouldn't hear if she whined.


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## DaisyBluebell

LittleKrystal said:


> That's good!!
> Can I ask if there was any particular reason you brought Emma home before she was 8 weeks old?


We were due to get her this Friday when should would be 8 weeks old and that meant driving 3 hours to pick her up and then 3 hours home when she had never been in a car before & the breeder was coming our way to compete in a dog show so offered to bring her with the dogs she already lived with which we were delighted to accept as that meant she would be with every one she knew on the long first journey rather than alone & with us who she had only every met once when she was 3 weeks old.


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## MelodyM

Re harness - thanks for the Home Bargains suggestion - I went there today and got a small one for £1.99! It's still a little large as she is so teeny tiny, but not bad. Tried it on her just now and safe to say she was not impressed...

We have been lucky with the crate, she seems to love it and is happy to go in day or night (we keep it downstairs during the day and upstairs at night and she goes in of her own accord for naps). Toilet training however is still a struggle as she is not getting the idea at all. She is clean within her crate but seems to see everything outside it as fair game! Any tips would be welcome... doing the usual taking her out very frequently, praise and rewards, etc but she isn't making the connection yet.


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## Guest

MelodyM said:


> Re harness - thanks for the Home Bargains suggestion - I went there today and got a small one for £1.99! It's still a little large as she is so teeny tiny, but not bad. Tried it on her just now and safe to say she was not impressed...
> 
> We have been lucky with the crate, she seems to love it and is happy to go in day or night (we keep it downstairs during the day and upstairs at night and she goes in of her own accord for naps). Toilet training however is still a struggle as she is not getting the idea at all. She is clean within her crate but seems to see everything outside it as fair game! Any tips would be welcome... doing the usual taking her out very frequently, praise and rewards, etc but she isn't making the connection yet.


It might just take a while. We had Star for a good 3 weeks before it clicked for her. She now doesn't poo inside but still has the odd wee inside when she forgets. Glad you got a harness from HB, it's probably the same as Stars.


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## ashelia

lullabydream said:


> Crate training is a good idea... and you never know what the future holds. So getting a dog used to a crate is good in case of times if say they need to be created for at the worse case scenario they have an accident and need to be confined. Crates aid for a real secure place to for puppies and dogs.. some will become chewers and really bad ones and can last till 9 months plus...so a crate can be vital for times that they are left alone, as the older the get, the less puppy secure ones house gets.
> Crates can also help in severe separation anxiety, and some dogs need a secure place as their crate for life, others find other hidey holes work fine. Dependent on the dog.
> 
> Many dogs can hold their bladders at 10 weeks...not that unusual. However near time of her season this may go backwards. It's up to you to leave if you remove the crate at night time...
> 
> Keep building up the time during the day. She should be left daily...even if it means leaving the house to sit at the front of the house and listen!
> 
> Sounds like you are doing really well. Congratulations.


Thank you for the advice! She doesn't mind her crate _that_ much, she'll go in it without a fuss and likes to chew on her chews in there sometimes, it just seems like she prefers to sleep on the floor but I'd prefer she be comfortable in her crate too so I might consider getting her a slightly bigger one so she has a little more space as it seems like that might be why she's not liking it in there as much anymore? She likes being up against something but not _so much_ enclosed spaces? She's been fine on her own so far though, she'll often go in an entirely different room from us to nap and only whines for a few seconds if I leave her in a different room/go outside for a bit. Thank you!  Ruby has been doing very well, I'm surprised how easily she's settled.



spamvicious said:


> I say give it a try and if it doesn't work you can go back to the crate. One of the reasons I wanted star sleeping with me was because I was making myself anxious to get up in time to let her out, thinking she was suffering in her crate. Now she's sleeping on the bed with me, she licks my face if she needs to go out at night as I'm hearing impaired so wouldn't hear if she whined.


That's what I'll probably do, test it out tonight and see how it goes then maybe just get a bigger crate so she has a little more space as I think she's outgrowing her current crate, she's getting big so fast!  That's good that she's letting you know though! Luckily I'm quite a light sleeper so I think I'd wake up if I hear her whining, which is what she does when she needs to go, but she has been able to go through the night without needing to go, but that might be because of being in the confined space of her crate? I'm unsure if she'll hold it if she can have access to my whole room, despite how tiny it is.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> That's what I'll probably do, test it out tonight and see how it goes then maybe just get a bigger crate so she has a little more space as I think she's outgrowing her current crate, she's getting big so fast!  That's good that she's letting you know though! Luckily I'm quite a light sleeper so I think I'd wake up if I hear her whining, which is what she does when she needs to go, but she has been able to go through the night without needing to go, but that might be because of being in the confined space of her crate? I'm unsure if she'll hold it if she can have access to my whole room, despite how tiny it is.


I was worried that star would have accidents because she wasn't in her crate, she's only had one where she had an upset stomach so I think that would have happened even if she was in her crate. So I think Ruby should be fine if she has been holding it overnight.


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## ShibaPup

We have sit on a verbal cue.
She did down on a verbal cue for the first time today - no hand cue required! 
Stand - we are on hand cue.

Work on proofing those behaviours with the three D's; distance, duration and distraction.

Quite proud of Lily  even if she is my little snot, haha!

Really, really enjoy our brief training sessions together - Lily loves them to! She'd happily keep going after 3-5 minutes but I want to keep them short and positive for her.


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## LittleKrystal

lullabydream said:


> Crate training is a good idea... and you never know what the future holds. So getting a dog used to a crate is good in case of times if say they need to be created for at the worse case scenario they have an accident and need to be confined. Crates aid for a real secure place to for puppies and dogs.. some will become chewers and really bad ones and can last till 9 months plus...so a crate can be vital for times that they are left alone, as the older the get, the less puppy secure ones house gets.
> Crates can also help in severe separation anxiety, and some dogs need a secure place as their crate for life, others find other hidey holes work fine. Dependent on the dog.


I do like the crate. I would like to add another point to that (for info for others). It also helps the owners feel more relax as well so the puppy/dog will also feel it. Imagine returning back after a few hours out of the house and puppy has torn up your sofa, think about your reaction, your emotions...the puppy will feel that you're upset/stressed/angry and it won't know what's wrong and might even associate your return with those horrible emotions.

I've been told by friends and Kiba's breeder to not assume he'll be good with chewing and toileting till he's at least 8 months old. We should expect several down periods throughout those months while he's teething and moving into adolescence. So far, he's definitely been up and down.


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## LittleKrystal

MelodyM said:


> Re harness - thanks for the Home Bargains suggestion - I went there today and got a small one for £1.99! It's still a little large as she is so teeny tiny, but not bad. Tried it on her just now and safe to say she was not impressed...
> 
> We have been lucky with the crate, she seems to love it and is happy to go in day or night (we keep it downstairs during the day and upstairs at night and she goes in of her own accord for naps). Toilet training however is still a struggle as she is not getting the idea at all. She is clean within her crate but seems to see everything outside it as fair game! Any tips would be welcome... doing the usual taking her out very frequently, praise and rewards, etc but she isn't making the connection yet.


Oh that could take a while. At 5 months my puppy can still have accidents sometimes but it's always our fault as we weren't keeping an eye on him completely.

Make sure you're literally watching her like a hawk, don't take your eyes off her unless she's in her crate. You can also keep a colourful leash on her as well, that helps you track where she is, in case she goes under or behind something. Seeing as she's very young, she'll probably spend a lot of time napping, so when she's in her crate napping, you'll be free to do your own thing for a while. Take her out after naps, play, walks, meals, training and before crate time.

Do you have a schedule? that helps as well as she'll know when to expect a toilet break.


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## DaisyBluebell

Day 3 with Emma, at present does a nice sit when the food bowl is presented, loves her food and we thought it was great fun when she ate and then tried to pick the bowl up, which is a bit too heavy for her. Thought I would use her idea to train her to bring the bowl back to me after eating. Until just now when I realised the fact that the water bowl being the food bowl twin, both red on the outside does not register that one is food and one is water, with Emma ! Yes she has just attempted to pick the water bowl up  The mat it was standing on is now hanging on the line to dry & the new game is trying to get hold of the kitchen roll while I attempt to mop up the water. Water bowl now changed for totally different one. Yes I know some will say dogs are colour blind but recent evidence has suggested that this may well be incorrect. Time will tell for us - I will report back.
Off to vets now for 1st injection, do hope she does not yelp to much.


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> We have sit on a verbal cue.
> She did down on a verbal cue for the first time today - no hand cue required!
> Stand - we are on hand cue.
> 
> Work on proofing those behaviours with the three D's; distance, duration and distraction.
> 
> Quite proud of Lily  even if she is my little snot, haha!
> 
> Really, really enjoy our brief training sessions together - Lily loves them to! She'd happily keep going after 3-5 minutes but I want to keep them short and positive for her.


Still keep proofing hand cues...for distance...they come into their own on offlead romps when no amount of calling will work! Wind is awful alone for not allowing sound to travel.

I love Lily's progress. She is a complete star!


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## ashelia

Re crates I'm certainly not saying I'm never going to use one or anything as I know all their benefits, but Ruby has mostly outgrown her current one and she was just unhappy in it and honestly I was worried she was going to hurt herself the way she was throwing herself around in it, so until I get a bigger one I'd rather she be happy on her dog bed. She was fine in it until recently, I think it's just not suiting her now that she's bigger, hence getting a larger one soon. 



spamvicious said:


> I was worried that star would have accidents because she wasn't in her crate, she's only had one where she had an upset stomach so I think that would have happened even if she was in her crate. So I think Ruby should be fine if she has been holding it overnight.


She was! She settled down on her bed and slept most of last night, she only woke up to move positions and didn't have any accidents. I kept her crate in my room with the door open in case she wanted to go in there, but she preferred sleeping on her bed that's close to my bed.


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## Guest

ashelia said:


> Re crates I'm certainly not saying I'm never going to use one or anything as I know all their benefits, but Ruby has mostly outgrown her current one and she was just unhappy in it and honestly I was worried she was going to hurt herself the way she was throwing herself around in it, so until I get a bigger one I'd rather she be happy on her dog bed. She was fine in it until recently, I think it's just not suiting her now that she's bigger, hence getting a larger one soon.
> 
> She was! She settled down on her bed and slept most of last night, she only woke up to move positions and didn't have any accidents. I kept her crate in my room with the door open in case she wanted to go in there, but she preferred sleeping on her bed that's close to my bed.


yay. Star sleeps on my feet most nights apart from when she's extra wiggly and moves all over. I'm glad it's going well, here's to another successful night tonight.


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## MelodyM

LittleKrystal said:


> Oh that could take a while. At 5 months my puppy can still have accidents sometimes but it's always our fault as we weren't keeping an eye on him completely.
> 
> Make sure you're literally watching her like a hawk, don't take your eyes off her unless she's in her crate. You can also keep a colourful leash on her as well, that helps you track where she is, in case she goes under or behind something. Seeing as she's very young, she'll probably spend a lot of time napping, so when she's in her crate napping, you'll be free to do your own thing for a while. Take her out after naps, play, walks, meals, training and before crate time.
> 
> Do you have a schedule? that helps as well as she'll know when to expect a toilet break.


Thanks, that's basically what I'm doing, trouble is she is so quick that even watching her like a hawk she'll have bobbed down and done it before I have chance to whisk her outside! It's mostly wees - she's been pretty good at pooing outside (seems to have picked a favourite spot in the garden) but wees are another matter!

Anyway, first walk planned for today  exciting!


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## ashelia

It seems like Ruby's training has stalled or gone backwards lately and I think it's to do with other people I live with not being consistent? I'll be consistent with her throughout the day and I have set cues and hand signals for certain things, which I tell my parents about but they often forget when they come home.  An example was this morning when Ruby was climbing all over the back of the sofa my dad just repeatedly shouted at her to 'get off' as if she's inherently meant to know what it means and was clearly getting frustrated with her. I've been teaching her a command to get her off furniture and to stop jumping up, which I told them about/how to teach it to her but they keep forgetting so I'm thinking she's going to get confused as they'll yell at her to 'get off' while I use 'off' and I never shout at her. My dad always plays rough with her as well which always gets her super hyped up, and she basically has no manners around him and will chase after him and bite his trousers and shoes as he walks, she never does it to me and if she does she stops immediately when I tell her to, where she wont listen to my dad at all.

So I'm kinda worried honestly that her progress is being stalled or worse going backwards because of these mixed messages and it's pretty frustrating for me when I'm teaching her things only to have it all go to waste. Not to mention when she gets rowdy around _them_ I get blamed for it they'll say 'control your dog' and I'm just? :Banghead She behaves really nicely with me, they're the ones who shout and hype her up so she gets that way and they don't listen to me when I tell them what they need to do. I'm trying to teach her things and they expect her to know verbal commands after only a few days so they'll be telling her to do things via voice (for example saying sit 5 times before she actually does it) and she doesn't know them yet? So I'm concerned a lot of my cues are getting poisoned as well.

Sorry for the slight rant but does anyone else have this problem? I'm not really sure what to do except plaster dog rules all over the house.


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## DaisyBluebell

Oh ashelia, I so know where your coming from & how frustrating it is & I wish I had a solution for you. Hopefully lullabyedream may be able to help, she usually has good information. I struggle with getting my husband to be consistent with what I;ve ask him to do but its so difficult. As it will be so important for a sound recall for our Emma I have actually now inquired about 1-2-1 tuition with a local trainer & will get Gary to go with me in the hopes things will sink in a bit better then. I can only say good luck I wish I could help more.


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## lullabydream

ashelia said:


> It seems like Ruby's training has stalled or gone backwards lately and I think it's to do with other people I live with not being consistent? I'll be consistent with her throughout the day and I have set cues and hand signals for certain things, which I tell my parents about but they often forget when they come home.  An example was this morning when Ruby was climbing all over the back of the sofa my dad just repeatedly shouted at her to 'get off' as if she's inherently meant to know what it means and was clearly getting frustrated with her. I've been teaching her a command to get her off furniture and to stop jumping up, which I told them about/how to teach it to her but they keep forgetting so I'm thinking she's going to get confused as they'll yell at her to 'get off' while I use 'off' and I never shout at her. My dad always plays rough with her as well which always gets her super hyped up, and she basically has no manners around him and will chase after him and bite his trousers and shoes as he walks, she never does it to me and if she does she stops immediately when I tell her to, where she wont listen to my dad at all.
> 
> So I'm kinda worried honestly that her progress is being stalled or worse going backwards because of these mixed messages and it's pretty frustrating for me when I'm teaching her things only to have it all go to waste. Not to mention when she gets rowdy around _them_ I get blamed for it they'll say 'control your dog' and I'm just? :Banghead She behaves really nicely with me, they're the ones who shout and hype her up so she gets that way and they don't listen to me when I tell them what they need to do. I'm trying to teach her things and they expect her to know verbal commands after only a few days so they'll be telling her to do things via voice (for example saying sit 5 times before she actually does it) and she doesn't know them yet? So I'm concerned a lot of my cues are getting poisoned as well.
> 
> Sorry for the slight rant but does anyone else have this problem? I'm not really sure what to do except plaster dog rules all over the house.


Unless you live in a house of one or two adult household where you both are exactly on the same page to the tee, this happens all the time. So do not panic or worry about it and it's ok to rant.

The incident with your dad this morning Ruby means no malice to Dad, biting trousers actually usually is a sign of I want to play, and anything like this, needs to be nipped in the bud. Unfortunately Dad needs the training as he needs to leave the room to just let her calm. All Ruby is saying is let's play with me, so many puppy's here but Ruby isn't a sighthound, who usually prefer a softened voice, although my staffy did too..so shouting I don't but any noise can just get some dogs even more excited.

To help you on the practical side, think what you can teach Ruby that will be beneficial to help you live in peace, you have already named one which is off...off is more useful to you at this time as say sit, stand paw roll over,etc. Think practical, rather than what others are doing with their puppies. At the end of the day it's not a competition. Ruby is still learning about the world...and yes you can go on YouTube and see a puppy the same age doing a variety of tricks...but tricks are not practical to you. You need peace in your house and you can bond just as well with your Ruby as any other owner doing practical commands which are vitally important. I am on my second dog that doesn't actually sit...so there is no point me ever teaching her sit...so sit sometimes is neither here nor there.

One thing you can also work on is Ruby's name means something, and it's a strong response to her name. I am hoping you have covered this, but all my dogs stop straightaway if they here their name. So many people think they have taught there dog their name but haven't. My current dogs I have all came with names, but I changed them. It was easy to do because not one of them responded to their name...now they stop mid track in everything they are doing no matter how it's important to them because if I am calling them names it means something, and something positive. Could be walk, treat or just time for some attention. Ok one dog responds to everyones name because that's how good name calling is. This might help too.

Keep training short and sweet, use opportunities such as boiling the kettle to really proof things, hide in the house and call Ruby's name and if she finds you praise and treat...the list is endless. Start with lures, then less etc.

Just smile on YOUR achievements daily. If your parents are busy working and tired from work they may not be interested but if they are just show them one simple thing at a time.

Good luck, Ruby is doing well. I don't think you have much to worry about at all.


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## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> Oh ashelia, I so know where your coming from & how frustrating it is & I wish I had a solution for you. Hopefully lullabyedream may be able to help, she usually has good information. I struggle with getting my husband to be consistent with what I;ve ask him to do but its so difficult. As it will be so important for a sound recall for our Emma I have actually now inquired about 1-2-1 tuition with a local trainer & will get Gary to go with me in the hopes things will sink in a bit better then. I can only say good luck I wish I could help more.


Thank you for your kind comments...

I honestly think the best thing for recall is to let them off the lead asap.

At this age, when Emma is so young, they usually lack confidence, and really won't go far. In fact it's often so disappointing, that they don't actually go away from you. As long as the area is safe to do so.

It's when they hit their teenage years that they become ignorant and ignore. As a general rule.

Total recall is a brilliant book.

I have Maisie and I got her at 10 months and she's just turned a year old. She had been let off the lead prior and was good but the previous owners changed jobs and she was basically being left far too long. They couldn't remember the last time she was walked so we did a few gentle walks to remind her I had treats...she loves food and then let her off. She was good so far, but that could change and I rarely see other dogs but it would be people with her she would run to. She did chase a bird, but I knew it would fly off..so I didn't call when she took off, I didn't want her not to realise she could ignore me...so let her chase bird flew off...I called her and she came whizzing back. It's all initially to do with setting up not fail a recall, and giving check ins. Take time when they return, and release them. So holding the harness/collar for a minute and then letting them go again. You do not want a dog who thinks oh I only get to stay with my owner when my lead goes on and that's it. That's when you can get, you can't catch me dog at the end of a walk!

Have no idea how Maisie will be in a few weeks, a few months she's my first lurcher, mainly had terriers. Although having more problems with my youngest chihuahua at the moment so they all have their moments.

Hope Emma is settling in well still, she sounds lovely.


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## MelodyM

Cara's first walk yesterday went really well. She loved it! And walked very well on the lead for the most part, certainly better than I expected for a first walk.

Couple of questions.... is one walk a day enough for the moment or would two little ones be better? Or does it not matter? Is it important to stick to regular timing?



lullabydream said:


> I honestly think the best thing for recall is to let them off the lead asap.
> 
> At this age, when Emma is so young, they usually lack confidence, and really won't go far. In fact it's often so disappointing, that they don't actually go away from you. As long as the area is safe to do so.
> 
> It's when they hit their teenage years that they become ignorant and ignore. As a general rule.
> 
> Total recall is a brilliant book.
> 
> I have Maisie and I got her at 10 months and she's just turned a year old. She had been let off the lead prior and was good but the previous owners changed jobs and she was basically being left far too long. They couldn't remember the last time she was walked so we did a few gentle walks to remind her I had treats...she loves food and then let her off. She was good so far, but that could change and I rarely see other dogs but it would be people with her she would run to. She did chase a bird, but I knew it would fly off..so I didn't call when she took off, I didn't want her not to realise she could ignore me...so let her chase bird flew off...I called her and she came whizzing back. It's all initially to do with setting up not fail a recall, and giving check ins. Take time when they return, and release them. So holding the harness/collar for a minute and then letting them go again. You do not want a dog who thinks oh I only get to stay with my owner when my lead goes on and that's it. That's when you can get, you can't catch me dog at the end of a walk!
> 
> Have no idea how Maisie will be in a few weeks, a few months she's my first lurcher, mainly had terriers. Although having more problems with my youngest chihuahua at the moment so they all have their moments.
> 
> Hope Emma is settling in well still, she sounds lovely.


When you say asap do you mean right from the start? - she is quite good at coming when called but not sure I have the confidence to let her off the lead, I fear a really exciting distraction would override my call! The area is quiet and safe but there may well be other dogs and owners around.


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## Guest

MelodyM said:


> Cara's first walk yesterday went really well. She loved it! And walked very well on the lead for the most part, certainly better than I expected for a first walk.
> 
> Couple of questions.... is one walk a day enough for the moment or would two little ones be better? Or does it not matter? Is it important to stick to regular timing?
> 
> When you say asap do you mean right from the start? - she is quite good at coming when called but not sure I have the confidence to let her off the lead, I fear a really exciting distraction would override my call! The area is quiet and safe but there may well be other dogs and owners around.


I have only just started letting star off lead and she's 16 weeks old. I should have done it much earlier, if you're unsure you can get a 10ft lead and take her to a field or somewhere where there will be few people. Take some treats, (star loves cocktail sausages) and call her back, everytime she comes back to you either when you call her or voluntarily then she gets a treat.


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## MelodyM

spamvicious said:


> I have only just started letting star off lead and she's 16 weeks old. I should have done it much earlier, if you're unsure you can get a 10ft lead and take her to a field or somewhere where there will be few people. Take some treats, (star loves cocktail sausages) and call her back, everytime she comes back to you either when you call her or voluntarily then she gets a treat.


Thanks, I think I will give it a few days, arm myself with yummy treats, wait till it is quiet and then be brave and let her off lead for a short time!


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## lullabydream

MelodyM said:


> Cara's first walk yesterday went really well. She loved it! And walked very well on the lead for the most part, certainly better than I expected for a first walk.
> 
> Couple of questions.... is one walk a day enough for the moment or would two little ones be better? Or does it not matter? Is it important to stick to regular timing?
> 
> When you say asap do you mean right from the start? - she is quite good at coming when called but not sure I have the confidence to let her off the lead, I fear a really exciting distraction would override my call! The area is quiet and safe but there may well be other dogs and owners around.


Yes from day 1 is usually best. You are to your puppy a god like creature their everything...keep the area safe, and quiet and you should be fine!

Don't go it alone if you are nervous, just to take that plunge, but praise is usually more exciting than any thing else on recall returns at this age.


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## 8tansox

I've been working on Arwin's recall, sits, downs, hand touches and getting him to focus on me. 

We had a little drive over to a friend's house this afternoon to meet her, see her horses in an adjacent paddock and see some cows. Arwin wasn't fazed by anything at all. 

For those of you who are letting your puppy of its lead for the first time, the earlier the better I would say. Take plenty of high value treats AND, a special bonding toy. Treats have gone in seconds whereas a game with you and a toy can last as long as you want it to. I'm not a fan at this stage of a formal recall (where the dog comes back and sits in-front of you), personally, I want the dog to understand the reward is given for returning and NOT for a sit etc. Just a little something that may help. 

This is how I train my dogs and how I suggest my customers begin to teach a recall. I would also only ever call the dog to me if I knew for sure he was going to return, I try hard not to teach my dog he can ignore me or my commands. So recall training is started off in a boring area, a room indoors maybe, then move out to the garden etc. where there is a bit more excitement and stuff going on, then into the real world. 

Another thing I do when my dogs are off lead and mooching about, without any verbal clue from me, I change direction, I find this teaches the dogs to keep an eye on me and where I'm going rather than calling them and them relying on me telling them where we're going. It's their job to watch me, not the other way around (although to be fair, I do watch them like a hawk). 

Hope this helps some of you. There are plenty of ways of teaching recalls, this is how I teach my dogs to come back.


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## MelodyM

8tansox said:


> I've been working on Arwin's recall, sits, downs, hand touches and getting him to focus on me.
> 
> We had a little drive over to a friend's house this afternoon to meet her, see her horses in an adjacent paddock and see some cows. Arwin wasn't fazed by anything at all.
> 
> For those of you who are letting your puppy of its lead for the first time, the earlier the better I would say. Take plenty of high value treats AND, a special bonding toy. Treats have gone in seconds whereas a game with you and a toy can last as long as you want it to. I'm not a fan at this stage of a formal recall (where the dog comes back and sits in-front of you), personally, I want the dog to understand the reward is given for returning and NOT for a sit etc. Just a little something that may help.
> 
> This is how I train my dogs and how I suggest my customers begin to teach a recall. I would also only ever call the dog to me if I knew for sure he was going to return, I try hard not to teach my dog he can ignore me or my commands. So recall training is started off in a boring area, a room indoors maybe, then move out to the garden etc. where there is a bit more excitement and stuff going on, then into the real world.
> 
> Another thing I do when my dogs are off lead and mooching about, without any verbal clue from me, I change direction, I find this teaches the dogs to keep an eye on me and where I'm going rather than calling them and them relying on me telling them where we're going. It's their job to watch me, not the other way around (although to be fair, I do watch them like a hawk).
> 
> Hope this helps some of you. There are plenty of ways of teaching recalls, this is how I teach my dogs to come back.


Great advice, thanks 

Another very enjoyable walk today, have not let her off the lead as yet as we met lots of dogs (well, four) - including two enormous ones who must have looked like elephants to her - not that she was fazed in the slightest, as she was highly tail-waggingly delighted to meet them 

May try a short off-lead time tomorrow.....


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## JoanneF

When going off lead for the first time, do it before a meal so the puppy is hungry and treats will be even more appealing.


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## Guest

So I have three issues with Star:

1) she barely eats her food. Yesterday she had one meal and that's it. She did get some sausage when I was training her on recall but not enough to fill her up. She just looks at her food and then walks away. This morning she ate her breakfast but thats only cos she refused her evening meal.

2) Star goes to to door when she needs the toilet which is great but now she's worked out that the door means she'll get taken out so she's doing it all the time so we don't know when she genuinely needs the toilet or she just fancies going out.

3) The worst problem, She howls and yelps whenever one of us leaves the room/car. It's got a lot worse, we make sure to go out for one to two hours during the day and when we go down to the car we can hear her howling in her crate. She's quiet when we get back but she's anxious.


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## lullabydream

So tough love with Star works...if you don't eat your meal you get nothing till the next..
She really does not need the sausages. If you think training is hard now...the teenage stage is a million times harder.

Toilet training..back to basis, and put her on a short lead and only allow her to toilet not play. Have you used a cue to toilet yet? She should be by now recognising the cue if she has...if not cue as soon as she starts to go then praise. Millions of times this happens...Star will not be the first or last...you can also allow play in the garden as a reward for toileting. So release her from the lead...and that's her reward. Hopefully it twigs, as soon as I go, the quicker I get to play.

How did you start off leaving Star in the day? It needs to be started off gently then upped over time..
Is she left with a frozen Kong or a nylabone?
You need to probably start off gently again...leaving her for 10 minutes at first see how she goes. On your return please do not give her cuddles etc...she needs to feel like it's normal..just naturally one of those things....
I am really actually thinking you may have to go right back to basics with Star..
http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/velcro-more-like-superglue.450072/

Simply because I cannot bear to re write the whole thing again, but I have written a post on that thread in regards to preparing a puppy to be left...this might help Star a lot. Hope you read it and use it...


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## LittleKrystal

For recall for my Kiba, we vary it a bit, so he comes back to us and one of the following things happen:
1) treat > send off
2) hold collar for 10s > treat > send off
3) sit/down or a fun trick > treat > send off

For the moment, we keep a leash attach on him as we're not 100% confident.

Do people think this is a good idea or we should stick with just one action only?


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## LittleKrystal

Kiba is creeping up to 6 months old and that's the age where this breed tends to turn into a teenager, but it can often be earlier than 6 months. I'm a bit nervous that it'll hit me one morning and I'll feel lost despite trying to prepare for it. Sometimes I do wonder if he's already there or not as we've started to come across a few problems but they're not so bad that it seems like the nightmare teenage behaviour people describe. I don't want it to be worse than this as we've had to take a few steps back with a few things.

A few people around here have said to save some high value treats for those teenage months. I change the treats we use for Kiba almost daily ranging from low to high meat content treats. Should I consider reducing or even stop using the high meat content treats in preparation for this potential devil puppy?


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> So tough love with Star works...if you don't eat your meal you get nothing till the next..
> She really does not need the sausages. If you think training is hard now...the teenage stage is a million times harder.
> 
> Toilet training..back to basis, and put her on a short lead and only allow her to toilet not play. Have you used a cue to toilet yet? She should be by now recognising the cue if she has...if not cue as soon as she starts to go then praise. Millions of times this happens...Star will not be the first or last...you can also allow play in the garden as a reward for toileting. So release her from the lead...and that's her reward. Hopefully it twigs, as soon as I go, the quicker I get to play.
> 
> How did you start off leaving Star in the day? It needs to be started off gently then upped over time..
> Is she left with a frozen Kong or a nylabone?
> You need to probably start off gently again...leaving her for 10 minutes at first see how she goes. On your return please do not give her cuddles etc...she needs to feel like it's normal..just naturally one of those things....
> I am really actually thinking you may have to go right back to basics with Star..
> http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/velcro-more-like-superglue.450072/
> 
> Simply because I cannot bear to re write the whole thing again, but I have written a post on that thread in regards to preparing a puppy to be left...this might help Star a lot. Hope you read it and use it...


I have been giving her tiny pieces of sausage because thats what I was told in puppy training. Just when she comes back when called.

She always goes out on a lead because the area isn't secure (we're moving soon so that will be better). She has 'pee pee' as a cue word but she often is too distracted and wants to sniff and mooch around instead of going to the toilet.

We started leaving her for half an hour, initially she would cry for a couple of minutes and then go to sleep but now she's howling when left. For example, when we were unpacking stuff from the car into the new house, I tied her lead round a post in the garden so she could see us coming and going but was still howling. So my mum took her into the house and she carried on howling when I left. I'll have a read of the posts you've made about it


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## lullabydream

LittleKrystal said:


> For recall for my Kiba, we vary it a bit, so he comes back to us and one of the following things happen:
> 1) treat > send off
> 2) hold collar for 10s > treat > send off
> 3) sit/down or a fun trick > treat > send off
> 
> For the moment, we keep a leash attach on him as we're not 100% confident.
> 
> Do people think this is a good idea or we should stick with just one action only?


10 seconds is way too short...ideally it should be a minute...which seems forever but and it's a big but it's vital as a minute allows every eventuality of putting a dog back on the lead.... weather conditions for example can effect this and that is just one example. 10 second hold of a collar is teaching a dog too short a time to stay with you...when dogs are well trained and older and well past teenage stage I get this, but at this age you can well teach a dog a short stay, and not enough time to get the dog back on the lead.

Personally I only treat for recall...the treat for the sit..is for the sit or the trick. So bares no part in training recall in the pups mind at this young age.

Sending off a dog...I would rather let them go at their own speed, so I think there is no need for that treat at all. As long at the start of any walk you have shown your pup, you have treats, then that's ok in my opinion.


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## ShibaPup

Lily only gets kibble - cheap, easy and I don't have to watch how much I give her - it can replace her meals.


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## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> I have been giving her tiny pieces of sausage because thats what I was told in puppy training. Just when she comes back when called.
> 
> She always goes out on a lead because the area isn't secure (we're moving soon so that will be better). She has 'pee pee' as a cue word but she often is too distracted and wants to sniff and mooch around instead of going to the toilet.
> 
> We started leaving her for half an hour, initially she would cry for a couple of minutes and then go to sleep but now she's howling when left. For example, when we were unpacking stuff from the car into the new house, I tied her lead round a post in the garden so she could see us coming and going but was still howling. So my mum took her into the house and she carried on howling when I left. I'll have a read of the posts you've made about it


Toilet training start from scratch..as soon as she starts to empty use the cue word. Praise as normal.

The tying her up outside to a post..totally normal reaction. It's brand new to her. Have you seen those at activities with their dogs on tie out posts? You may have seen them on TV at say sled dog events...the dogs have training to do this, and not just tied to a post and hope for the best....which unfortunately is what many people forget to do when they take their dogs camping/caravanning...the buy a tie out stake and have an uncomfortable barking upset dog who will not settle on the end.


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Lily only gets kibble - cheap, easy and I don't have to watch how much I give her - it can replace her meals.


Brilliant advice...using meal replacement works...hungry dogs will more likely work for you.

The teenage stage can be a nightmare yes absolutely....or in my case my 3 year old chihuahua!

My last puppy was Tess, who I lost in April to a suspected brain aneurysm. She had no interest in treats out on a walk..so I only used a tuggy for recall. It worked perfectly.


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## LittleKrystal

lullabydream said:


> 10 seconds is way too short...ideally it should be a minute...which seems forever but and it's a big but it's vital as a minute allows every eventuality of putting a dog back on the lead.... weather conditions for example can effect this and that is just one example. 10 second hold of a collar is teaching a dog too short a time to stay with you...when dogs are well trained and older and well past teenage stage I get this, but at this age you can well teach a dog a short stay, and not enough time to get the dog back on the lead.
> 
> Personally I only treat for recall...the treat for the sit..is for the sit or the trick. So bares no part in training recall in the pups mind at this young age.
> 
> Sending off a dog...I would rather let them go at their own speed, so I think there is no need for that treat at all. As long at the start of any walk you have shown your pup, you have treats, then that's ok in my opinion.


I remember reading one of your posts previously that you said to hold the collar for 60 seconds. We're working our way up to that as he didn't like me holding it for long periods period...well he doesn't like waiting. He really loves food so he can become very impatient especially if it's a treat he really loves so we've been working on that. I do keep telling OH to hold his collar more, but he seems to like getting him to do a sit first. I'll mention to him that we should focus on recall and hold the collar and leave tricks for trick time.

I do show him we have yummy treats before letting him go.

I have noticed that he's becoming braver every week and he's wondering further and further. It's making me a tiny bit nervous. We let him off leash about once a week, usually at a quiet park with little distraction. We did let him off leash on a woodland walk once, it was scary but he did follow us nicely.

I think I might buy a long leash just so I can a feel a bit more relax as this is such a scary experience.


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## Gunner63

My puppy won't eat his dry food out of his bowl he tips it up then eats it of the floor. Anyone else have this problem.


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## ShibaPup

lullabydream said:


> Brilliant advice...using meal replacement works...hungry dogs will more likely work for you.
> 
> The teenage stage can be a nightmare yes absolutely....or in my case my 3 year old chihuahua!
> 
> My last puppy was Tess, who I lost in April to a suspected brain aneurysm. She had no interest in treats out on a walk..so I only used a tuggy for recall. It worked perfectly.


Lily is much more toy motivated - I mix things up! 
Sometimes she'll get a game of tug, or a handful of kibble or occasionally a big fuss made of her. Lily LOVES any attention - especially hands on attention.

Always on a long line though - she can run and do anything she could off lead but I have the reassurance that she can't actually bugger off and I can prevent her from creating bad habits like running up to people or other dogs.


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## JoanneF

Gunner63 said:


> My puppy won't eat his dry food out of his bowl he tips it up then eats it of the floor. Anyone else have this problem.


This is not unusual. He may have been fed from a shallow tray with his litter mates, some dogs also don't like that they have poor peripheral vision when their head is in a bowl. If you are happy for him to eat from a tray instead of a bowl then just let him then gradually wean him on to a shallow bowl on the tray, then by itself, over a few weeks.


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Toilet training start from scratch..as soon as she starts to empty use the cue word. Praise as normal.
> 
> The tying her up outside to a post..totally normal reaction. It's brand new to her. Have you seen those at activities with their dogs on tie out posts? You may have seen them on TV at say sled dog events...the dogs have training to do this, and not just tied to a post and hope for the best....which unfortunately is what many people forget to do when they take their dogs camping/caravanning...the buy a tie out stake and have an uncomfortable barking upset dog who will not settle on the end.


The tying up is for like 2 minutes but yeah I get what you're saying


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Lily only gets kibble - cheap, easy and I don't have to watch how much I give her - it can replace her meals.


LOL star barely eat her kibble when it's meal times so never mind using it as a treat


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## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> LOL star barely eat her kibble when it's meal times so never mind using it as a treat


A hungry dog will eat..hence using her food and nothing else would encourage eating.

She's ready shown you she will not starve herself, but she's also shown you, she has a preference to wait for something better.


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## LittleKrystal

We use to have issues with Kiba's eating where he won't eat his meals at all, we eventually tough loved it and it massively improved about a month ago.


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## ShibaPup

On a bit of a downer, y'know those days you just over think... 

Scared I'm not doing good enough for Lily - Never owned a dog before. Have I got myself too much dog? Ahh I dunno but we start GCDS puppy foundation 5th July - that should help :Happy


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## LittleKrystal

ShibaPup said:


> On a bit of a downer, y'know those days you just over think...
> 
> Scared I'm not doing good enough for Lily - Never owned a dog before. Have I got myself too much dog? Ahh I dunno but we start GCDS puppy foundation 5th July - that should help :Happy


I think that everyday! I think I'm not doing enough, not enough training, worry this will cause that behaviour, is he mentally stimulated enough, enough exercise...etc etc

We are going back for advanced puppy school in 3 weeks time. The initial classes we took really helped us get through the first two months with him. Something for us to work on each week, and someone experience to turn to for help as well.


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> On a bit of a downer, y'know those days you just over think...
> 
> Scared I'm not doing good enough for Lily - Never owned a dog before. Have I got myself too much dog? Ahh I dunno but we start GCDS puppy foundation 5th July - that should help :Happy


Nope you are doing fine...honestly.

In my opinion you are not overwhelming lily with socialising, taking that from afar, as far as your posts read.

Your training somewhat..little and often.

Interacting, mixing training up with rewards.

You are just worrying like everybody does..pretty normal if you ask me.

If you want advice on the good citizen many have done it here, but as @Sairy has just passed her gold she maybe able to put your mind at ease that it isn't too much of a trauma.


----------



## Sairy

lullabydream said:


> Nope you are doing fine...honestly.
> 
> In my opinion you are not overwhelming lily with socialising, taking that from afar, as far as your posts read.
> 
> Your training somewhat..little and often.
> 
> Interacting, mixing training up with rewards.
> 
> You are just worrying like everybody does..pretty normal if you ask me.
> 
> If you want advice on the good citizen many have done it here, but as @Sairy has just passed her gold she maybe able to put your mind at ease that it isn't too much of a trauma.


Hey @ShibaPup, what you are feeling right now is exactly what I felt (and still occasionally feel even now) when I first had Holly. You can read as many books and watch as many videos as you like, but there is nothing like hands-on experience and most first-time puppy owners feel overwhelmed when they get their pup, however prepared they may have thought they were. It is natural to feel like you are failing your dog from time to time (this is what I sometimes feel and it isn't a nice feeling at all), but the fact that you are feeling like that shows that you want the best for her and that in itself makes you a better owner than many.

The fact is you, like every other first-time owner, will make mistakes along the way and you will learn from them and improve upon things. The most important thing to Lily is that her basic needs are met and that she has you around as her companion. Everything else in terms of training is extra and will come with time and patience.

In terms of the GCDS, this is great fun and a really good way to learn the basics and practise them with other dogs around. It is also great to talk to other people and watch them with their dogs - you will learn good tips from some owners and what not to do from others! You may find that you and Lily are good at some exercises and not so good at others. Holly has always been good at stays and recall, but her heelwork has often left a lot to be desired!

Have you downloaded the puppy foundation information from the kennel club website? This will tell you what you will be doing for puppy foundation so you can get a head-start now. I imagine you have already done most of it anyway (sit, lie-down, stay, heel, come etc., among other bits) so this may make you feel more at ease.

If you want any more info (or someone to vent to on a hard day) then I'm always happy to talk


----------



## Sharonloumac

8tansox said:


> My puppy arrived on Friday. I've had plenty of dogs (I now own four) so I'm quite experienced with them, but just thought I'd pop in and say hi, and introduce you to Arwin.
> 
> View attachment 313329


Hi there,
He is so cute!


----------



## MelodyM

ShibaPup said:


> On a bit of a downer, y'know those days you just over think...
> 
> Scared I'm not doing good enough for Lily - Never owned a dog before. Have I got myself too much dog? Ahh I dunno but we start GCDS puppy foundation 5th July - that should help :Happy


Totally get this. People keep telling me Cara is a lovely pup, obviously well looked after by her breeder. And I immediately think "hope I don't ruin her"  Feels like it's such a crucial time and there are so many things which could go wrong! I'm also a first time owner so it is nerve racking. But hopefully we are doing fine and I'm sure you are 

We start puppy training early July too. Should be interesting!


----------



## ashelia

lullabydream said:


> Unless you live in a house of one or two adult household where you both are exactly on the same page to the tee, this happens all the time. So do not panic or worry about it and it's ok to rant.
> 
> The incident with your dad this morning Ruby means no malice to Dad, biting trousers actually usually is a sign of I want to play, and anything like this, needs to be nipped in the bud. Unfortunately Dad needs the training as he needs to leave the room to just let her calm. All Ruby is saying is let's play with me, so many puppy's here but Ruby isn't a sighthound, who usually prefer a softened voice, although my staffy did too..so shouting I don't but any noise can just get some dogs even more excited.
> 
> To help you on the practical side, think what you can teach Ruby that will be beneficial to help you live in peace, you have already named one which is off...off is more useful to you at this time as say sit, stand paw roll over,etc. Think practical, rather than what others are doing with their puppies. At the end of the day it's not a competition. Ruby is still learning about the world...and yes you can go on YouTube and see a puppy the same age doing a variety of tricks...but tricks are not practical to you. You need peace in your house and you can bond just as well with your Ruby as any other owner doing practical commands which are vitally important. I am on my second dog that doesn't actually sit...so there is no point me ever teaching her sit...so sit sometimes is neither here nor there.
> 
> One thing you can also work on is Ruby's name means something, and it's a strong response to her name. I am hoping you have covered this, but all my dogs stop straightaway if they here their name. So many people think they have taught there dog their name but haven't. My current dogs I have all came with names, but I changed them. It was easy to do because not one of them responded to their name...now they stop mid track in everything they are doing no matter how it's important to them because if I am calling them names it means something, and something positive. Could be walk, treat or just time for some attention. Ok one dog responds to everyones name because that's how good name calling is. This might help too.
> 
> Keep training short and sweet, use opportunities such as boiling the kettle to really proof things, hide in the house and call Ruby's name and if she finds you praise and treat...the list is endless. Start with lures, then less etc.
> 
> Just smile on YOUR achievements daily. If your parents are busy working and tired from work they may not be interested but if they are just show them one simple thing at a time.
> 
> Good luck, Ruby is doing well. I don't think you have much to worry about at all.


Sorry for the late reply! But I really appreciate your response, it really made me feel better. :Happy I've spoken to my dad and whenever she gets overly playful with him, he'll leave the room or I'll bring her into the kitchen with me (for some reason she acts much more calmly in the kitchen than in the living room). And at your suggestion I've been focusing more on practical training than tricks and less useful commands, and I feel a little more at ease by doing so. I guess I felt bad that others seemed to teach their puppies so many things so quickly and I was unable to (I'm a huge perfectionist which tbh usually hinders me rather than helps haha) and felt like I was failing her in some way, but you're right in that practical things are more important.

Some of the practical stuff I've been working on is handling. While she's pretty okay at being handled, doesn't mind her paws being touched ect it could be better (when I go to put her harness on she has the tendency to back her paws away despite being perfectly ok to wear the harness and having her paws touched and inspected) so I've been focusing on that, and she gives plenty of opportunity to practice 'off' too! She's also struggled passing by cows that are in the fields by us (she wants to dart in the opposite direction mostly) so I'm working on that too and have gotten slow but steady results in just a few days already.

She does respond to her name, usually if I call her she'll look up at me but it's not 100%. Is there a way to improve this? I whistle for her recall (my voice is often shaky/I sometimes stutter/forget the verbal cue) so I thought whistling would be more consistent so I've been conditioning it (whistle treat, whistle treat ect) and we've progressed to her being able to turn back and run to me while on walks when I whistle. Would I do the same to improve her response to her name?

Thank you very much for all your advice! I'll certainly try and celebrate the smaller victories more often, like today she walked past some cows that were right up by the gate and while she was unsure and still clearly didn't like them/didn't want to go past I got her to trot past and on the way back she gave them a passing glance then walked on! Which really surprised me.


----------



## lullabydream

ashelia said:


> Sorry for the late reply! But I really appreciate your response, it really made me feel better. :Happy I've spoken to my dad and whenever she gets overly playful with him, he'll leave the room or I'll bring her into the kitchen with me (for some reason she acts much more calmly in the kitchen than in the living room). And at your suggestion I've been focusing more on practical training than tricks and less useful commands, and I feel a little more at ease by doing so. I guess I felt bad that others seemed to teach their puppies so many things so quickly and I was unable to (I'm a huge perfectionist which tbh usually hinders me rather than helps haha) and felt like I was failing her in some way, but you're right in that practical things are more important.
> 
> Some of the practical stuff I've been working on is handling. While she's pretty okay at being handled, doesn't mind her paws being touched ect it could be better (when I go to put her harness on she has the tendency to back her paws away despite being perfectly ok to wear the harness and having her paws touched and inspected) so I've been focusing on that, and she gives plenty of opportunity to practice 'off' too! She's also struggled passing by cows that are in the fields by us (she wants to dart in the opposite direction mostly) so I'm working on that too and have gotten slow but steady results in just a few days already.
> 
> She does respond to her name, usually if I call her she'll look up at me but it's not 100%. Is there a way to improve this? I whistle for her recall (my voice is often shaky/I sometimes stutter/forget the verbal cue) so I thought whistling would be more consistent so I've been conditioning it (whistle treat, whistle treat ect) and we've progressed to her being able to turn back and run to me while on walks when I whistle. Would I do the same to improve her response to her name?
> 
> Thank you very much for all your advice! I'll certainly try and celebrate the smaller victories more often, like today she walked past some cows that were right up by the gate and while she was unsure and still clearly didn't like them/didn't want to go past I got her to trot past and on the way back she gave them a passing glance then walked on! Which really surprised me.


It really is practice makes perfect...so it's just continuous reinforcement on name calling,and a big deal when they respond.

Tricks are nice and all that, but practical things are better. In my opinion...and training is fluid so you have plenty of time for trick training.

The main thing is just enjoy the experience..which you are.


----------



## ShibaPup

LittleKrystal said:


> I think that everyday! I think I'm not doing enough, not enough training, worry this will cause that behaviour, is he mentally stimulated enough, enough exercise...etc etc
> 
> We are going back for advanced puppy school in 3 weeks time. The initial classes we took really helped us get through the first two months with him. Something for us to work on each week, and someone experience to turn to for help as well.


Nice to know it is fairly "normal" - good luck with the advanced puppy school! :Happy



lullabydream said:


> Nope you are doing fine...honestly.
> 
> In my opinion you are not overwhelming lily with socialising, taking that from afar, as far as your posts read.
> 
> Your training somewhat..little and often.
> 
> Interacting, mixing training up with rewards.
> 
> You are just worrying like everybody does..pretty normal if you ask me.
> 
> If you want advice on the good citizen many have done it here, but as @Sairy has just passed her gold she maybe able to put your mind at ease that it isn't too much of a trauma.


Thank you - feeling much better about things today.

Think I'd feel much better if her biting/mouthing stopped and her leash walking improved! But these things take time - lucky she's adorable!! 



Sairy said:


> Hey @ShibaPup, what you are feeling right now is exactly what I felt (and still occasionally feel even now) when I first had Holly. You can read as many books and watch as many videos as you like, but there is nothing like hands-on experience and most first-time puppy owners feel overwhelmed when they get their pup, however prepared they may have thought they were. It is natural to feel like you are failing your dog from time to time (this is what I sometimes feel and it isn't a nice feeling at all), but the fact that you are feeling like that shows that you want the best for her and that in itself makes you a better owner than many.
> 
> The fact is you, like every other first-time owner, will make mistakes along the way and you will learn from them and improve upon things. The most important thing to Lily is that her basic needs are met and that she has you around as her companion. Everything else in terms of training is extra and will come with time and patience.
> 
> In terms of the GCDS, this is great fun and a really good way to learn the basics and practise them with other dogs around. It is also great to talk to other people and watch them with their dogs - you will learn good tips from some owners and what not to do from others! You may find that you and Lily are good at some exercises and not so good at others. Holly has always been good at stays and recall, but her heelwork has often left a lot to be desired!
> 
> Have you downloaded the puppy foundation information from the kennel club website? This will tell you what you will be doing for puppy foundation so you can get a head-start now. I imagine you have already done most of it anyway (sit, lie-down, stay, heel, come etc., among other bits) so this may make you feel more at ease.
> 
> If you want any more info (or someone to vent to on a hard day) then I'm always happy to talk


Really, really appreciate this!! 

My worse thing is comparing Lily to other pups :Shy - a neighbour has a Staff pup who seems like an angel.

I have downloaded the GCDS puppy foundation info - we struggle with "stay"; When I stop she naturally waits in a sit or down anyway but if I move - she follows but she's a total PITA walking on lead - not pulling, just being all over the place but that's why we're going to classes so I can be trained haha!



MelodyM said:


> Totally get this. People keep telling me Cara is a lovely pup, obviously well looked after by her breeder. And I immediately think "hope I don't ruin her"  Feels like it's such a crucial time and there are so many things which could go wrong! I'm also a first time owner so it is nerve racking. But hopefully we are doing fine and I'm sure you are
> 
> We start puppy training early July too. Should be interesting!


Ohhh people tell me Lily is lovely - HA! She's a little devil in reality!! :Shifty I'm sure you're doing brilliantly

Good luck with your training class!


----------



## Sairy

ShibaPup said:


> Really, really appreciate this!!
> 
> My worse thing is comparing Lily to other pups :Shy - a neighbour has a Staff pup who seems like an angel.
> 
> I have downloaded the GCDS puppy foundation info - we struggle with "stay"; When I stop she naturally waits in a sit or down anyway but if I move - she follows but she's a total PITA walking on lead - not pulling, just being all over the place but that's why we're going to classes so I can be trained haha!


Yes it is natural to compare Lily to other pups, but the thing is they are all individuals and some are naturally 'easier' than others - the behaviour of the dog doesn't necessarily correlate with the work the owner has put in. I have recently started working towards being a dog training instructor and so have been helping out with various classes. There are a number of people in these classes whose dogs do things more or less perfectly, despite the fact that their owners are not natural trainers. These people are lucky to have dogs who are very responsive to them and don't need a huge amount of motivating, but I bet they would struggle with my dog as she is into everything and really needs a lot of motivating to keep her attention on me. I obviously don't know Lily, but perhaps she is similar?

How have you been training "stay" so far? The key with getting a really solid stay is building it up very gradually and setting the dog up for success. You want to avoid situations where your dog starts breaking the stay as this can become habit.

I would suggest getting her into the sit (or down), telling her to stay but not moving away from her. Get her to stay in one place (and in the same position) for a few seconds and then treat and release. Once you can get her to stay for about 10 seconds then try stepping out with the foot furthest away from her and lean away for a few seconds then come back and reward. That way you haven't moved away from her as the foot closest to her will still be there. When she is comfortable with this then you can try taking one step away from her, but do everything gradually. If she starts breaking her stay then you'll need to go back a step.

In the bronze test the stays are what people tend to struggle with the most and I think it is nerve-wracking because unlike the other exercises there isn't so much you can do if your dog goes wrong during the stay in the test.

The only other thing I would say is don't practise it too much as they can get bored of it. When we were working up to our bronze we did "a stay a day", which was enough for Holly and made sure she didn't get too fed up.


----------



## lullabydream

Sairy said:


> Yes it is natural to compare Lily to other pups, but the thing is they are all individuals and some are naturally 'easier' than others - the behaviour of the dog doesn't necessarily correlate with the work the owner has put in. I have recently started working towards being a dog training instructor and so have been helping out with various classes. There are a number of people in these classes whose dogs do things more or less perfectly, despite the fact that their owners are not natural trainers. These people are lucky to have dogs who are very responsive to them and don't need a huge amount of motivating, but I bet they would struggle with my dog as she is into everything and really needs a lot of motivating to keep her attention on me. I obviously don't know Lily, but perhaps she is similar?
> 
> How have you been training "stay" so far? The key with getting a really solid stay is building it up very gradually and setting the dog up for success. You want to avoid situations where your dog starts breaking the stay as this can become habit.
> 
> I would suggest getting her into the sit (or down), telling her to stay but not moving away from her. Get her to stay in one place (and in the same position) for a few seconds and then treat and release. Once you can get her to stay for about 10 seconds then try stepping out with the foot furthest away from her and lean away for a few seconds then come back and reward. That way you haven't moved away from her as the foot closest to her will still be there. When she is comfortable with this then you can try taking one step away from her, but do everything gradually. If she starts breaking her stay then you'll need to go back a step.
> 
> In the bronze test the stays are what people tend to struggle with the most and I think it is nerve-wracking because unlike the other exercises there isn't so much you can do if your dog goes wrong during the stay in the test.
> 
> The only other thing I would say is don't practise it too much as they can get bored of it. When we were working up to our bronze we did "a stay a day", which was enough for Holly and made sure she didn't get too fed up.


Sairy you beat me to it with the stay suggestion.

It really is..just one step to the side and return and built up from there. Tiny steps..but it's about being comfortable.


----------



## LittleKrystal

ashelia said:


> She does respond to her name, usually if I call her she'll look up at me but it's not 100%. Is there a way to improve this? I whistle for her recall (my voice is often shaky/I sometimes stutter/forget the verbal cue) so I thought whistling would be more consistent so I've been conditioning it (whistle treat, whistle treat ect) and we've progressed to her being able to turn back and run to me while on walks when I whistle. Would I do the same to improve her response to her name?


Yes, you should reward her for looking at you when you say her name. The way you say "Ruby" might not be the same every time so it will take time for her to learn all the different ways Ruby can sound, so set up name training sessions ("ruby" > she looks at you > treat etc) and try to say her name in lots and lots of different ways and tone of voice. You can also start to increase her focus on you and the amount of time she looks at you before she gets a reward.

Outside of a training session, don't call her if you know she's going to ignore you (e.g. when she's too busy with a new chew or toy so she's less likely to care about you) as it can teach her to ignore you when called. When you know she's likely to response to you, then call her and reward her with something positive (treat toys chews). Randomly do this every day, in different places.


----------



## ShibaPup

Sairy said:


> Yes it is natural to compare Lily to other pups, but the thing is they are all individuals and some are naturally 'easier' than others - the behaviour of the dog doesn't necessarily correlate with the work the owner has put in. I have recently started working towards being a dog training instructor and so have been helping out with various classes. There are a number of people in these classes whose dogs do things more or less perfectly, despite the fact that their owners are not natural trainers. These people are lucky to have dogs who are very responsive to them and don't need a huge amount of motivating, but I bet they would struggle with my dog as she is into everything and really needs a lot of motivating to keep her attention on me. I obviously don't know Lily, but perhaps she is similar?
> 
> How have you been training "stay" so far? The key with getting a really solid stay is building it up very gradually and setting the dog up for success. You want to avoid situations where your dog starts breaking the stay as this can become habit.
> 
> I would suggest getting her into the sit (or down), telling her to stay but not moving away from her. Get her to stay in one place (and in the same position) for a few seconds and then treat and release. Once you can get her to stay for about 10 seconds then try stepping out with the foot furthest away from her and lean away for a few seconds then come back and reward. That way you haven't moved away from her as the foot closest to her will still be there. When she is comfortable with this then you can try taking one step away from her, but do everything gradually. If she starts breaking her stay then you'll need to go back a step.
> 
> In the bronze test the stays are what people tend to struggle with the most and I think it is nerve-wracking because unlike the other exercises there isn't so much you can do if your dog goes wrong during the stay in the test.
> 
> The only other thing I would say is don't practise it too much as they can get bored of it. When we were working up to our bronze we did "a stay a day", which was enough for Holly and made sure she didn't get too fed up.


We are rubbish at "stay" because truth be told - I have been uber lazy and not really worked on it!  Been a bit unmotivated this week - I blame the weather!! Haha!

We are using the 300 peck method https://clickertraining.com/node/1057 - once she can get a bit of duration; 30-60 secs... I'll work on distance but reduce my duration expectation (I think that's right?) start half a step, a whole step, two steps or one and half whatever works for Lily and then some distractions but reducing my expectations for distance and duration.

We *will* get there  when I stop being lazy... :Shy


----------



## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> We are rubbish at "stay" because truth be told - I have been uber lazy and not really worked on it!  Been a bit unmotivated this week - I blame the weather!! Haha!
> 
> We are using the 300 peck method https://clickertraining.com/node/1057 - once she can get a bit of duration; 30-60 secs... I'll work on distance but reduce my duration expectation (I think that's right?) start half a step, a whole step, two steps or one and half whatever works for Lily and then some distractions but reducing my expectations for distance and duration.
> 
> We *will* get there  when I stop being lazy... :Shy


Just remember though...Lily is still really young too. Socialisation trump's most things at this age!

It's never to late learn obedience and manners...but key things like socialisation can never be caught up as well due to stages of development so it's OK to be lazy... everybody wants a well behaved adult. You will get there, or semi get there if genetics or something stupid gets in your way...but that's OK too because many dogs don't get any real opportunities to learn anything, where Lily has!


----------



## Sairy

ShibaPup said:


> We are rubbish at "stay" because truth be told - I have been uber lazy and not really worked on it!  Been a bit unmotivated this week - I blame the weather!! Haha!
> 
> We are using the 300 peck method https://clickertraining.com/node/1057 - once she can get a bit of duration; 30-60 secs... I'll work on distance but reduce my duration expectation (I think that's right?) start half a step, a whole step, two steps or one and half whatever works for Lily and then some distractions but reducing my expectations for distance and duration.
> 
> We *will* get there  when I stop being lazy... :Shy


Sounds like a good plan. I agree with @lullabydream in that obedience can wait as socialisation is more important. Let us know how you get on with your stay.


----------



## Guest

Today Star managed to get through the bush in the new garden and I was chasing her round the neighbours garden which she thought was a great game. How can I get her to come back?. She does it when we're out walking but in situations where its urgent that she comes back she often doesn't. Any tips?


----------



## DaisyBluebell

I am so glad I checked in a read the last couple of pages. It helps to know that I am not the only one with doubts & concerns. I have not been reading as I had got quite down with Emma's behaviour. I'm by no means a new dog owner but I am a new puppy owner. I've done the Good Citizen award successfully with my previous dog but Emma pup has thrown me into total doubt about any abilities I may have had. Emma is 9 weeks old tomorrow & in some respects is amazing but at one point we truly believed she was deaf (no joke) we are still quite worried about her hearing & I would appreciate some help. There are times when she is watching a bird or chewing a stick or playing with a toy that she is totally oblivious when I speak to her or clap my hands, not even a flicker of her ears ! Yet say the word 'dinner' from round the corner out of sight, & she's by your side like a whirlwind. Am I being over anxious for her? Her sit is brilliant, stand quite good, a short stay good, (all of which could go backwards I know), but this sometimes total non acknowledgement of us I am finding quite worrying. Any help would be much appreciated please as I am feeling quite overwhelmed & worried by it all.


----------



## Sairy

DaisyBluebell said:


> I am so glad I checked in a read the last couple of pages. It helps to know that I am not the only one with doubts & concerns. I have not been reading as I had got quite down with Emma's behaviour. I'm by no means a new dog owner but I am a new puppy owner. I've done the Good Citizen award successfully with my previous dog but Emma pup has thrown me into total doubt about any abilities I may have had. Emma is 9 weeks old tomorrow & in some respects is amazing but at one point we truly believed she was deaf (no joke) we are still quite worried about her hearing & I would appreciate some help. There are times when she is watching a bird or chewing a stick or playing with a toy that she is totally oblivious when I speak to her or clap my hands, not even a flicker of her ears ! Yet say the word 'dinner' from round the corner out of sight, & she's by your side like a whirlwind. Am I being over anxious for her? Her sit is brilliant, stand quite good, a short stay good, (all of which could go backwards I know), but this sometimes total non acknowledgement of us I am finding quite worrying. Any help would be much appreciated please as I am feeling quite overwhelmed & worried by it all.


Personally I think you're worrying too much. She is only 9 weeks old and has already learnt sit, stand and stay, which is great. As with any healthy puppy she is into everything and easily distracted. Have lots of fun with her and keep training sessions short. At this stage if she is really focused on something and you don't think she will respond to you then don't call her as she will get used to ignoring you, but when she is less distracted try calling her and when she responds give her a treat so that she learns that responding to her name is a good thing.


----------



## MelodyM

Cara has had a few off the lead sessions now. She loves it - it's adorable to watch! Not bad at coming back when called but I'm trying to only call her when I think she will respond, as suggested, then giving her a treat and a big fuss. She loves her walks and has now started getting excited when the lead comes out <3

The thing we are struggling with, still, is toilet training. She is not bad with the poos (has a favourite spot in the garden) but still doesn't seem to be getting the idea of the wees and will do them wherever she happens to be


----------



## JoanneF

MelodyM said:


> Cara has had a few off the lead sessions now. She loves it - it's adorable to watch! Not bad at coming back when called but I'm trying to only call her when I think she will respond, as suggested, then giving her a treat and a big fuss. She loves her walks and has now started getting excited when the lead comes out <3
> 
> The thing we are struggling with, still, is toilet training. She is not bad with the poos (has a favourite spot in the garden) but still doesn't seem to be getting the idea of the wees and will do them wherever she happens to be


Sorry if you have already read this advice elsewhere but -

Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set her up to succeed by taking her out even more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - once she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

Indoors if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.

I don't know if you are using them but i dont like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.


----------



## MelodyM

JoanneF said:


> Sorry if you have already read this advice elsewhere but -
> 
> Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set her up to succeed by taking her out even more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - once she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.
> 
> Indoors if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.
> 
> I don't know if you are using them but i dont like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.


We are doing literally all of this (not the puppy pads). She just does not seem to be getting the connection yet between the weeing outside and the treat!

I keep saying she is young, she will learn, but my husband is getting a bit annoyed feeling we have had her nearly four weeks and no progress  (He is not telling her off or anything but moaning about it!)


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## JoanneF

MelodyM said:


> We are doing literally all of this (not the puppy pads). She just does not seem to be getting the connection yet between the weeing outside and the treat!
> 
> I keep saying she is young, she will learn, but my husband is getting a bit annoyed feeling we have had her nearly four weeks and no progress  (He is not telling her off or anything but moaning about it!)


Timing is crucial. As soon as she toilets, treat and praise so the connection is clear.


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## MelodyM

JoanneF said:


> Timing is crucial. As soon as she toilets, treat and praise so the connection is clear.


I honestly do, I hover over her mid-wee praising her delightedly and give her an immediate treat! Indoor ones are cleaned up without comment.

She seems quick to learn in other ways so I don't know why this is taking so long :/


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## JoanneF

Sometimes it takes a while then one day it just clicks. At least it's not winter


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## MelodyM

JoanneF said:


> Sometimes it takes a while then one day it just clicks. At least it's not winter


Very true, we have had a few days of pouring rain and it is not fun standing outside waiting! - but mostly the weather has been fine.

I'm sure she will get there eventually. Thanks for the advice


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Today Star managed to get through the bush in the new garden and I was chasing her round the neighbours garden which she thought was a great game. How can I get her to come back?. She does it when we're out walking but in situations where its urgent that she comes back she often doesn't. Any tips?


In her view - new space, new smells and it's all rather exciting!!

Don't chase her - it becomes a fun game. Try running away from her, excited happy voice - she should follow.

Secure your garden or, use a long lead supervised and keep practising everywhere; even in your home - the more you practice in new AND familiar places the better she will be.

Set her up to succeed! Don't call her if you think she won't come back! If Lily is sniffing something - I don't recall her because she'll ignore me and I don't want her thinking recall is optional. Long leads are great because they can physically stop her in urgent situations.

What is Star really motivated by? Any foods or toys she'll go absolutely crazy for? If there are use those for recall - never use the rewards at another time. Lily has a tugenuff sheepskin tug that is her absolute fave but it's kept hidden and she only gets to play with it on walks - makes it an extra special reward for her - I still use kibble but I know Star isn't a huge kibble fan.


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## JoanneF

ShibaPup said:


> I still use kibble but I know Star isn't a huge kibble fan.


Sometimes it helps to keep the dog guessing what reward she will get on recall - toy, ear rub, verbal praise, kibble, or a higher value treat than kibble. I use liver cake for a good recall or a more challenging recall away from an interesting smell etc. The recipe is easy -

A pack of liver (supermarket packs are usually about 500 grams)
About 250 grams of flour - I use gluten free as some dogs are gluten intolerant
1 egg
A slosh of olive oil or salmon oil for a glossy coat (optional)

Cut the liver into pieces and use a hand blender to blitz it with the egg until it's a sloppy mess. Stir in the oil if using and the flour. It still should be a sloppy mess.

Turn into a parchment lined baking tray measuring about 6"x9". It shold be about an inch deep.

Bake at 170 degrees for about 15 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

When it's cold, cut into kit kat finger sized pieces - half them again for a smaller dog - and freeze them in a freezer bag. They freeze in separate pieces so you can take out one at a time and break into smaller pieces for training.

Dogs love it, it has no sugar, salt or other nasties and lasts for weeks. It also is cheap to make - a recent survey showed some dog treats to be more epensive, ounce for ounce, than fillet steak!


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## MelodyM

That just reminded me that someone suggested to me to use small pieces of cooked chicken as a treat. Is that a good idea? What's the best way to prepare it?


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## Sairy

MelodyM said:


> That just reminded me that someone suggested to me to use small pieces of cooked chicken as a treat. Is that a good idea? What's the best way to prepare it?


I use cooked chicken sometimes - it works well as a high value treat, particularly if it is still warm. I personally buy the frozen stuff that is cooked and defrost it in the microwave, which makes it warm too so it smells great, but you can do whatever, obviously avoiding anything that involves adding loads of fat (e.g. frying).


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## JoanneF

MelodyM said:


> That just reminded me that someone suggested to me to use small pieces of cooked chicken as a treat. Is that a good idea? What's the best way to prepare it?


It's a good idea for some dogs to have a hierarchy of rewards. With chicken, just make sure there are no cooked bones.


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## JoanneF

Sairy said:


> I use cooked chicken sometimes - it works well as a high value treat, particularly if it is still warm. I personally buy the frozen stuff that is cooked and defrost it in the microwave, which makes it warm too so it smells great, but you can do whatever, obviously avoiding anything that involves adding loads of fat (e.g. frying).


That's a good idea.


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## LittleKrystal

DaisyBluebell said:


> I am so glad I checked in a read the last couple of pages. It helps to know that I am not the only one with doubts & concerns. I have not been reading as I had got quite down with Emma's behaviour. I'm by no means a new dog owner but I am a new puppy owner. I've done the Good Citizen award successfully with my previous dog but Emma pup has thrown me into total doubt about any abilities I may have had. Emma is 9 weeks old tomorrow & in some respects is amazing but at one point we truly believed she was deaf (no joke) we are still quite worried about her hearing & I would appreciate some help. There are times when she is watching a bird or chewing a stick or playing with a toy that she is totally oblivious when I speak to her or clap my hands, not even a flicker of her ears ! Yet say the word 'dinner' from round the corner out of sight, & she's by your side like a whirlwind. Am I being over anxious for her? Her sit is brilliant, stand quite good, a short stay good, (all of which could go backwards I know), but this sometimes total non acknowledgement of us I am finding quite worrying. Any help would be much appreciated please as I am feeling quite overwhelmed & worried by it all.


Agree with @Sairy don't call her when she's likely to not respond. Don't call her name for something bad EVER, it should always be positive. She's been in your home for 2 weeks, everything is still new and exciting to her.

I found it really really difficult to train Kiba to do anything till he was about 3 1/2 months old but then it still took a while for him to understand "sit" and "down". This is just my experience so far with my puppy but I feel like it's getting easier and easier to train him as he has gotten older. I've noticed his focus on us has improved a lot since his first few weeks here with us.

So don't worry too much about it. I suggest not getting too worked up on rules and obediences.

I highly recommend you focus on socialisation instead, socialise her with people, animals, sounds, car rides, trains, grooming etc You can't take her out for a walk yet, so carry her and take her everywhere to see everything! Take her to the pet shop, cafe, parks, train stations, farms, etc etc Worry about manners and obediences later. Any dog can learn obedience at any age.


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## LittleKrystal

MelodyM said:


> That just reminded me that someone suggested to me to use small pieces of cooked chicken as a treat. Is that a good idea? What's the best way to prepare it?


You can use any meat (as long as there are no bones or extra seasoning, sugar or salt). I mostly buy chicken or turkey breast. Sometimes I save pieces of beef before I make a roast dinner and cook it separately and use as treats. My puppy has bad runny poo after eating pork as I think it's too fatty for him so we avoid that now.

I also make dehydrated meat or offal for my puppy. I use a dehydrator, but I believe you can make it in the oven. You can usually keep them for a while in an airtight container with one of those silicon pouches or you can freeze it.

100% meat is really really high value for most dogs so I usually use them when I need him to focus especially when we're outside.


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## LittleKrystal

MelodyM said:


> Very true, we have had a few days of pouring rain and it is not fun standing outside waiting! - but mostly the weather has been fine.
> 
> I'm sure she will get there eventually. Thanks for the advice


Word of warning for the future, expect some set backs on toileting. Teething and adolescence can sometimes cause set backs. Do you crate her when you're not able to watch her?

We thought that for Kiba as well for months, we thought he just wasn't getting it, and we had a few set backs and then suddenly 3 weeks ago he got really good with it. Sometimes he even stops chasing the bees and do his business when we say the cue for toileting.

11 weeks is definitely young. I've been told not to expect my puppy to be fully house trained till at least 8 months old.


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## ShibaPup

Landlord inspection day - Lily hasn't previously damaged anything...

Popped out to do the weekly shop and she has pulled up part of the vinyl flooring and ripped it to shreds! I feel so guilty - obviously it will be replaced asap but OH is very, very angry.

I pleaded with our landlord to allow us to have a dog - terrified about what he is going to say :Nailbiting


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## DaisyBluebell

Thank you Sairy & LittleKrystal for your replies and reassurances. I am going to try not to worry too much about it now. She's and angel & so clever in so many ways already. The vet has checked her hearing today as we had to go to the vets to do some paperwork, asked him about hearing and said nothing wrong with it - she's a puppy ! He has found she has a Grade 2 Heart Murmur but said not to worry over it as a lot of puppies have a slight Heart Murmur that may well disappear as she gets older but even if it doesn't don't fret about it - so I'm not. (A previous dog of mine had a bad Heart Murmur & lived with it to 12) He also said she could come to puppy socialisation class on Tuesday as she has had her first injections 2 weeks ago & he is happy for her to mix - its just 6 puppies so we will give it a go. We take her out everyday in a puppy sling to walk round the village and also in the car, which she is not happy with at the moment as she travels in a VariKennel on the back seat and can not see us so thinking of maybe trying her in a harness/seat belt & sitting beside her as she gets bigger any advice on that gratefully received.


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## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> Thank you Sairy & LittleKrystal for your replies and reassurances. I am going to try not to worry too much about it now. She's and angel & so clever in so many ways already. The vet has checked her hearing today as we had to go to the vets to do some paperwork, asked him about hearing and said nothing wrong with it - she's a puppy ! He has found she has a Grade 2 Heart Murmur but said not to worry over it as a lot of puppies have a slight Heart Murmur that may well disappear as she gets older but even if it doesn't don't fret about it - so I'm not. (A previous dog of mine had a bad Heart Murmur & lived with it to 12) He also said she could come to puppy socialisation class on Tuesday as she has had her first injections 2 weeks ago & he is happy for her to mix - its just 6 puppies so we will give it a go. We take her out everyday in a puppy sling to walk round the village and also in the car, which she is not happy with at the moment as she travels in a VariKennel on the back seat and can not see us so thinking of maybe trying her in a harness/seat belt & sitting beside her as she gets bigger any advice on that gratefully received.


I know you are not worried about the heart murmur, but can I put it out there, that so many puppies on there first or second vaccinations may have a heart murmur commented on...and the vet says don't worry about it...and guess what...owner doesn't only worries but panics like crazy, Google's everything and panics more. Many heart murmurs get picked up daily, on puppies especially, and some dogs. If the vet says there is nothing to worry about, there is nothing to worry about. Many do disappear on their own accord.

Definitely try another method of car transportation. Especially if you will be happy for her to be traveling in a similar way as an adult. Then you can go on many adventures together.

Sounds like you and Emma are having a wonderful time together, it's brilliant.


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## DaisyBluebell

lullabydream said:


> I know you are not worried about the heart murmur, but can I put it out there, that so many puppies on there first or second vaccinations may have a heart murmur commented on...and the vet says don't worry about it...and guess what...owner doesn't only worries but panics like crazy, Google's everything and panics more. Many heart murmurs get picked up daily, on puppies especially, and some dogs. If the vet says there is nothing to worry about, there is nothing to worry about. Many do disappear on their own accord.
> Definitely try another method of car transportation. Especially if you will be happy for her to be traveling in a similar way as an adult. Then you can go on many adventures together.
> Sounds like you and Emma are having a wonderful time together, it's brilliant.


Thank you lullabydream it helps to know these things. My sister Googled it and it said the same thing over and over again as you have said above and our vet said. The bottom line being, I love the little scrap and will give her the best life possible and not think about any problems she may or may not have in the future. All my dogs have stayed in lovely places all over the country & hopefully Emma will get used to the car soon enough and then we can start our adventures together - we have such plans for her and with her. We practiced on our car 'trip' today ignoring her when she screamed and as soon as she was quiet we started speaking, it worked a treat, so hopefully we will continue in that way & get good results. Cant wait to start giving her little walks, that will be so much nicer for her than just messing about in the garden.Feel so much more positive today, so glad I joined this forum.


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## MelodyM

Haven't cracked the car travel yet. We do have a carrier but she seems to loathe it with a passion and protests loudly. Will need to keep working on it as I doubt there is a car harness small enough to fit her at the moment!

Cara is loving her walks so much, especially when off the lead. It's so funny to watch her bounding along! We're very lucky to live right beside a safe walking area.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Landlord inspection day - Lily hasn't previously damaged anything...
> 
> Popped out to do the weekly shop and she has pulled up part of the vinyl flooring and ripped it to shreds! I feel so guilty - obviously it will be replaced asap but OH is very, very angry.
> 
> I pleaded with our landlord to allow us to have a dog - terrified about what he is going to say :Nailbiting


eeeek hope you can sort it out in time


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## ShibaPup

How is everyone and their pups?


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## 8tansox

Arwin had his second vaccination this morning, he traveled in the car on his own, in the back, not a murmur from him, met the nurse, weighed him (9kg) jabbed, back in the car, home, not a squeak from him. Well chuffed with him.


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## LittleKrystal

Kiba is doing good. His toileting has really improved and he needs much fewer toilet breaks now. When we're out on walks he's pulling less and he isn't putting absolutely everything in his mouth anymore. We've started to teach him some new manners around the house and he's picking that up pretty fast. 

His teething is at a high right now so I think this has caused him to want to chew on our hands all the time. He keeps trying to get at everything. 

I know I won’t be expecting him to slow down anytime soon, but I’m hoping his energy level will decrease a bit soon as I’m running out of ideas to keep him busy in-between walks. Not sure if it’s teething but he gets bored of chews and Kongs really quickly lately. He use to be able to chew on a bully for at least an hr, now he’ll only chew on it for about 15mins then wonders around and tries to chew something he shouldn’t. 

I miss the old days when he'll be fast asleep for 2hrs after a long trip outside and then be chilled for the rest of the day. Now he hardly naps, even after a long trip outside to see and do lots of things!


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## ashelia

Hope everyone and their puppies are handling the heat okay! Ruby took a dive into the pond and I honestly don't blame her. Although I don't think she realised it was water (its covered in plants and green stuff) as she charged head first in! But she was utterly unfazed and just swam back out wagging her tail.








This is her after she'd rolled around on the grass and gotten all the green stuff off, ready for some treats after her little swim.

Her new favourite thing is hiding her chews around the living room, she'll shove them down the sides of the sofa and come back for them later, so I've had my fair share of accidentally sitting on slobbery chews. Aside from that she's been really good, we play focus games mostly (she could play the Ping Pong game for hours if I let her) which really seem to help calm her when she's in a nutty mood and I think she's learning to settle really well too.

Although she's definitely started teething she's not been too bad yet, she hasn't destroyed anything (touch wood it stays that way haha) and when she does mouth us it's pretty gentle, she only nips when she gets too excited. We give her nylabones, pizzles and rawhide wrapped in chicken along with her chew toys and sometimes a chilled carrot, but she makes a huge mess with those! The frozen tea towel didn't really work, are there any other suggestions for things to give a teething puppy?

Her only 'issue' atm is using her lead as a tug when I take her out for walks or to toilet, so I've started taking a ball or frisbee to direct her elsewhere. Her problem with cows has gotten a lot better too, I can walk her past them quite easily now, but she does still bark at them. And we have puppy classes July 24th so I'm pretty excited for that!


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## LittleKrystal

ashelia said:


> Although she's definitely started teething she's not been too bad yet, she hasn't destroyed anything (touch wood it stays that way haha) and when she does mouth us it's pretty gentle, she only nips when she gets too excited. We give her nylabones, pizzles and rawhide wrapped in chicken along with her chew toys and sometimes a chilled carrot, but she makes a huge mess with those! The frozen tea towel didn't really work, are there any other suggestions for things to give a teething puppy?


You can try paddywack or chews made from salmon skin. I make flavour ice cubes for Kiba, usually yogurt with peanut butter or fruit. He loves it, it's soft and yummy but it doesn't last long tho. He can eat one in about 1minute.


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## LittleKrystal

I remember a while ago someone here had issues with brushing their pup. I can't remember who that was but if you still read this thread then that might help you.

I used this bucket game method to brush my puppy regularly: http://www.allpetseducationandtraining.com.au/the-bucket-game.html

It worked wonders on Kiba, and it only took a few sessions before he got the idea. He will comfortably let me brush his back and side.


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## Guest

Today is my birthday and kinda Stars too as she's 4 months old. We're celebrating by going to our last ever puppy class. I haven't been highly impressed to be honest, haven't learnt much. I hope everyone is having a good day with their pups.


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## DaisyBluebell

spamvicious said:


> Today is my birthday and kinda Stars too as she's 4 months old. We're celebrating by going to our last ever puppy class. I haven't been highly impressed to be honest, haven't learnt much. I hope everyone is having a good day with their pups.


Very Happy Birthday to both of you, it will be wonderful whatever you both do as you will be doing it together.
At least having the lesson means you will have an idea of things to do with your little angel & it will have been a good way of socialising so not a total waste of time and money I hope.


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## Sharonloumac

Wishing you both a lovely birthday. 
I'm struggling to be honest. George won't let me out of his sight, he cries and won't settle. He wasn't too bad today for my son, I didn't let George see me leave the house, I waited till he was preoccupied. It's mainly after work when I'm around the house, he's so clingy, what should I do? Any advice?


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## Kiay

Hi guys! Can I join? We now have two portuguese water dogs, Minion who is 2 and last weekend we picked up little Lunah who is 14 weeks old. Took 3 days for Minion to accept Lunah but they are now playing together nicely and Lunah is showing respect when Minion says enough. Our only issue at the moment is the crazy early mornings. Lunah cried at 4.30am this morning, so we took her out to toilet and then recrated her...she isn't taking so well to that and is just crying and Barking continously until our 2 year old son ends up waking and then everyone is up for the day! Hopefully she'll get the hang of it in the next few weeks!!!


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## Kiay

Here's Lunah!


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## Guest

Thanks for the birthday wishes guys. @Sharonloumac I have similiar issues with Star, she follows me everywhere unless she's in the garden. I'm not sure what to do either. She cries if someone leaves the room and howls when she's left in her crate.

@Kiay welcome to the thread. Luna is gorgeous. I hope you manage to get a bit of a sleep in later than 4:30am!!!


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## JoanneF

For a puppy getting clingy, you can build up time alone by walking out of the room then back in again. Do it while the puppy is not interacting with you, your absence will be less of a contrast. Go back before the puppy notices you are gone (maybe when they have a Kong or similar to occupy them). Very slowly increase the absence but try to go back before the puppy gets upset. Try to learn the difference between anxiety crying, and crying as a demand for attention. If the dog is crying for attention, wait for a break before returning so you dont reinforce that their demands bring you back. You can also do things like putting on outdoor clothes and shoes then NOT going out to break the association with these things meaning you are leaving.


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## DaisyBluebell

Welcome Kiay, my friend has portuguese water dogs, but she got them many years ago now but I do remember her saying they were super to train. I love the name Lunah. As regards the early mornings, welcome to my world. We have had Emma 3 weeks and two days today and I am still getting up at 5am each morning, actually that's a lie I had a layin this morning till 5.30 . I am trying to preempt the howling and so far so good. I go to bed by 10.30 so my husband has her at the end of the day when she is tired & he says how lovely she is then (yeah!) I get her when she is rested and up for anything and everything!

Sharonloumac & Spamvicious I can't offer any help as regards clingy puppies as I have the exact opposite - Emma is totally independent & I sometimes think she couldn't give a stuff if I were there or not :-( She does go nuts when I have been out & my husband brings her to the door to meet me tho so I guess she must at least like me.


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## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> Welcome Kiay, my friend has portuguese water dogs, but she got them many years ago now but I do remember her saying they were super to train. I love the name Lunah. As regards the early mornings, welcome to my world. We have had Emma 3 weeks and two days today and I am still getting up at 5am each morning, actually that's a lie I had a layin this morning till 5.30 . I am trying to preempt the howling and so far so good. I go to bed by 10.30 so my husband has her at the end of the day when she is tired & he says how lovely she is then (yeah!) I get her when she is rested and up for anything and everything!
> 
> Sharonloumac & Spamvicious I can't offer any help as regards clingy puppies as I have the exact opposite - Emma is totally independent & I sometimes think she couldn't give a stuff if I were there or not :-( She does go nuts when I have been out & my husband brings her to the door to meet me tho so I guess she must at least like me.


My last puppy I had was Tess, which we lost suddenly in April...which my OH said it was fate that I saw Maisie and had a moment of madness and suggested on bringing her home...she was a very aloof puppy. Considering she was a staffy cross I expected her to be a complete person centred dog...but very much liked her own space. Did enjoy interaction but sounds very much like Emma... however she totally changed at about 9 months old to a complete cuddle monster...so you just never know when they are puppies what they will be like...same is the dog you have at a year is usually totally different at 3 years.
Emma sounds brilliant!


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## DaisyBluebell

lullabydream said:


> My last puppy I had was Tess, which we lost suddenly in April...which my OH said it was fate that I saw Maisie and had a moment of madness and suggested on bringing her home...she was a very aloof puppy. Considering she was a staffy cross I expected her to be a complete person centred dog...but very much liked her own space. Did enjoy interaction but sounds very much like Emma... however she totally changed at about 9 months old to a complete cuddle monster...so you just never know when they are puppies what they will be like...same is the dog you have at a year is usually totally different at 3 years.
> Emma sounds brilliant!


Oh do you think so lullabydream, I wanted a bold dog as my beautiful Daisy was not as she had been dumped in the woods as a puppy and lived on what she could catch & she was always very wary of other dogs & people. Emma is just so bold & so far nothing seems to faze her I am a bit worried I will struggle when we start classes as she is so laid back.


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## LittleKrystal

Kiba has turned a bit more aloof lately. He use to follow us everywhere, into every room, and can't wait to get on our laps for a nap. Now we often find him wandering into a different room and playing with his toys by himself. Lucky he still has a brilliant recall and will come to us when we call his name. 

We have a new issue with Kiba and it seems to be getting worse. He used to be very afraid of people, so we worked on ignore people and walking pass them. We introduced him to our friends and family slowly and he seems to really like them. Now he keeps jumping and barking at people that he walks past. I really don't know if he's afraid or if he wants to interact with them...occasionally the stranger would say hello and give him their hand, Kiba will have a quick sniff then back off. When we see a stranger walking towards us, we distract him with a treat and tell him to heel till the stranger is gone. We sometimes stand by a place with people walking by and having him focus on us in a sit position and treating him for ignoring the strangers. Is that the right way to do it? I'm thinking he has become braver and bolder now that he's 6 months old.


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## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> Oh do you think so lullabydream, I wanted a bold dog as my beautiful Daisy was not as she had been dumped in the woods as a puppy and lived on what she could catch & she was always very wary of other dogs & people. Emma is just so bold & so far nothing seems to faze her I am a bit worried I will struggle when we start classes as she is so laid back.


She sounds confident now, and will become a loving cuddle monster as she ages.. terriers can be be slightly aloof and independent. Which is great, which sounds like Emma. Am sure she's going to be highly trainable, my aloof terriers I had from puppies were Tess and Poppy and although Poppy was from working stock JRT and excellent at catching rats she was brilliant at recall. When Poppy went to training classes, our instructor Sharon commented on how well she did all the time..so I think aloofness and confidence is a good thing. Poppy again loved cuddles in moderation...and I wanted a bold puppy with Poppy as our previous puppy was very nervous, and was his whole life really. Think it was his poor breeding as he was a rescue, and ourselves and the rescue gave him a great start. Just totally nervous.


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## JRB123

Hi there - just saying hi! We've got a 5 month old shih Tzu. He's very sweet and we really love him. However just been feeling a bit down. It's our first dog and I was expecting this breed to be quite high maintenance but he really has had loads of issues that I am finding a real struggle 

- he is extremely fussy with food - as soon as I think I have found a brand he likes he then goes off it. I'm trying to not give treats and to put his food down and if he doesn't have it after 10 minutes try again an hour later. The most success I had with him eating was with raw food - wolf tucker complete - but now suddenly this week he doesn't like that. Today he has had about 3 mouthfuls of food and that's it. He won't touch kibble and it is only 50/50 whether he will even eat home cooked food like chicken. You name it I have tried it. It's really getting me down and I am filled with worry about it that I am running out of options of what he eats - he seems to like less and less. I've tried bowls, hand feeding, different plates, cold, warming it, adding dog gravy - everything I can think of
- he is brachycephalic breed and I'm really worried about his panting and how he is struggling with this summer heat. We have pretty much been indoors all the time just keeping him cool. Take him for short walks in the morning and evening. and sometimes not even that as it's been too hot. The vet said when he is fully grown he may need to be checked if he needs surgery on his palate. He has one little play then seems to pant like crazy on his cool mat. I love him but I'm feeling really housebound taking care of him. My daughter thought he was going to die the other night as his panting and breathing was in such a state after being in the garden for 10 minutes. We just keep as calm as possible and he has cool jacket, paddling pool (which he hates) and fans all the time - ice cubes and lots of water
- he has quite thick black hair getting longer and I asked the groomer to see if she could cut it but she couldn't as he got so nervous, shaky, barking and she didn't want to traumatize him at such a young age. I totally understand and agree with her as it was a warm day and he was freaking out. So I am pleased she did the right thing and kept him happy. But it's a worry in this heat that he has such long black hair might make his breathing worse in this heat.
- he's already had ear infections and it is incredibly hard to keep his eye area clean as he bites or tries to eat the cloth. I do it every day though and groom him daily even though he tries to bite the brush!!
- taking him out is really hard as he will eat every leaf going and I have no idea if they are poisonous. So constantly trying to take leaves out of his mouth - yet he won't eat his food.
- I fell out with my extended family as they think I'm fussing too much over him! They see this cute little fluff ball and don't realize all the hard work that goes into looking after him. And I'm the one in my immediate family who does all the work as I'm at home more. My sister even said - send him back to the breeder, which I couldn't do. I do believe a dog is for life.

Sorry about the negativity - there is also so much good stuff too! He is the sweetest dog and has done well with his basic training and can be very affectionate and we all love him - just didn't expect all this worry - mainly the food issue. It's really getting me down. And I feel like we can't go out with him and do the things we used to enjoy as a family - like a day at the beach etc as I'm so worried about his overheating.

Am I depressed and worrying too much?
Any practical tips welcome - esp regarding eating as that's the main worry

I am hoping one day I can look back at this post and all these worries will be gone when he is older!

Thank you


----------



## lullabydream

JRB123 said:


> Hi there - just saying hi! We've got a 5 month old shih Tzu. He's very sweet and we really love him. However just been feeling a bit down. It's our first dog and I was expecting this breed to be quite high maintenance but he really has had loads of issues that I am finding a real struggle
> 
> - he is extremely fussy with food - as soon as I think I have found a brand he likes he then goes off it. I'm trying to not give treats and to put his food down and if he doesn't have it after 10 minutes try again an hour later. The most success I had with him eating was with raw food - wolf tucker complete - but now suddenly this week he doesn't like that. Today he has had about 3 mouthfuls of food and that's it. He won't touch kibble and it is only 50/50 whether he will even eat home cooked food like chicken. You name it I have tried it. It's really getting me down and I am filled with worry about it that I am running out of options of what he eats - he seems to like less and less. I've tried bowls, hand feeding, different plates, cold, warming it, adding dog gravy - everything I can think of
> - he is brachycephalic breed and I'm really worried about his panting and how he is struggling with this summer heat. We have pretty much been indoors all the time just keeping him cool. Take him for short walks in the morning and evening. and sometimes not even that as it's been too hot. The vet said when he is fully grown he may need to be checked if he needs surgery on his palate. He has one little play then seems to pant like crazy on his cool mat. I love him but I'm feeling really housebound taking care of him. My daughter thought he was going to die the other night as his panting and breathing was in such a state after being in the garden for 10 minutes. We just keep as calm as possible and he has cool jacket, paddling pool (which he hates) and fans all the time - ice cubes and lots of water
> - he has quite thick black hair getting longer and I asked the groomer to see if she could cut it but she couldn't as he got so nervous, shaky, barking and she didn't want to traumatize him at such a young age. I totally understand and agree with her as it was a warm day and he was freaking out. So I am pleased she did the right thing and kept him happy. But it's a worry in this heat that he has such long black hair might make his breathing worse in this heat.
> - he's already had ear infections and it is incredibly hard to keep his eye area clean as he bites or tries to eat the cloth. I do it every day though and groom him daily even though he tries to bite the brush!!
> - taking him out is really hard as he will eat every leaf going and I have no idea if they are poisonous. So constantly trying to take leaves out of his mouth - yet he won't eat his food.
> - I fell out with my extended family as they think I'm fussing too much over him! They see this cute little fluff ball and don't realize all the hard work that goes into looking after him. And I'm the one in my immediate family who does all the work as I'm at home more. My sister even said - send him back to the breeder, which I couldn't do. I do believe a dog is for life.
> 
> Sorry about the negativity - there is also so much good stuff too! He is the sweetest dog and has done well with his basic training and can be very affectionate and we all love him - just didn't expect all this worry - mainly the food issue. It's really getting me down. And I feel like we can't go out with him and do the things we used to enjoy as a family - like a day at the beach etc as I'm so worried about his overheating.
> 
> Am I depressed and worrying too much?
> Any practical tips welcome - esp regarding eating as that's the main worry
> 
> I am hoping one day I can look back at this post and all these worries will be gone when he is older!
> 
> Thank you


I take it the food issues began when you first got him...
What usually happens is puppy comes home and with getting used to his new surroundings lack of having his siblings around to eat, puppy lacking in confidence to eat alone...puppy refuses to eat. So everybody panics...oh my god puppy not eating he needs to can't possibly like the food...which in reality it's not about the food but having confidence to eat alone so swap and change food. Bingo puppy gets brave with confidence of change of food...and a vicious circle begins!

Fussy eaters are made and not born...if he tries to eat leafs on walks he's really not fussy. He just needed confidence, but now he's well trained you...the more your anxiety grows the more he may get something tasty.

From your post you have tried so much food in a space of such a short time, that you haven't given enough time for the food to really be given a chance. Don't worry you are not the only one..

If it makes you feel any better out of my 4 dogs, my lurcher has really struggled in the heat...compared to my chihuahuas and my Yorkie. Technically because the chihuahuas and Yorkie have a shorter snouts I would have thought they would have struggled but they really haven't...so many dogs have done with this freakish hot weather. Sounds like you have done everything right though, well done.

Why does you vet suspect a problem with your dogs palette? It's nice to be forewarned but not all need an operation and suffer.

Your puppy is still very young, and it can be really overwhelming, but shih Tzu's are cracking little dogs. Make great family dogs, have cracking temperaments and you will have fantastic days out with your dog. I just want to alert a fellow member who has to brachy breeds who she goes hiking with..so they can cope with a lot, and it's not always doom and gloom. @Aahlly can you share about your hiking with your two. I think it's relevant!


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## JRB123

Thank you so much! It's great to have some helpful advice and realize I'm not alone with this! 
I actually managed to have a break tonight and meet some friends while hub and kiddos took care of him - and it's done me the world of good! 
You seem to be spot on with the food advice too! It seems to make sense.He liked the wolf tucker for a good few weeks and it's only the last 2 days he's gone off it but I will persevere with it and not keep chopping and changing. It's hard when you know your dog isn't eating enough not to worry though. 
He just heard me when I came in tonight and we just had some cuddles and he really is a sweetheart. The reason we got a shih tzu was because of their lovely temperaments. I guess he's just a lot more hard work than I thought and I've been feeling anxious with some health things with him. 
He's got a very small nose even for a shih tzu. The vet said due to his breed it is likely he has a soft palate but she said to wait until he's fully grown before investigating. His nostrils are small but not pin pricks so they're ok luckily. It might be a teething thing too! He does snort, snore and sneeze a bit and has reverse sneezed once. 
The heat has been extreme hasn't it! I am normally a sun lover but this year I can't wait until it cools down! 
Thanks again! It's good to hear from more experienced ( and more relaxed) dog owners! 
Hope all your puppies are well! They certainly keep us on our toes!


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## lullabydream

JRB123 said:


> Thank you so much! It's great to have some helpful advice and realize I'm not alone with this!
> I actually managed to have a break tonight and meet some friends while hub and kiddos took care of him - and it's done me the world of good!
> You seem to be spot on with the food advice too! It seems to make sense.He liked the wolf tucker for a good few weeks and it's only the last 2 days he's gone off it but I will persevere with it and not keep chopping and changing. It's hard when you know your dog isn't eating enough not to worry though.
> He just heard me when I came in tonight and we just had some cuddles and he really is a sweetheart. The reason we got a shih tzu was because of their lovely temperaments. I guess he's just a lot more hard work than I thought and I've been feeling anxious with some health things with him.
> He's got a very small nose even for a shih tzu. The vet said due to his breed it is likely he has a soft palate but she said to wait until he's fully grown before investigating. His nostrils are small but not pin pricks so they're ok luckily. It might be a teething thing too! He does snort, snore and sneeze a bit and has reverse sneezed once.
> The heat has been extreme hasn't it! I am normally a sun lover but this year I can't wait until it cools down!
> Thanks again! It's good to hear from more experienced ( and more relaxed) dog owners!
> Hope all your puppies are well! They certainly keep us on our toes!


If it helps, after a long few months of searching rescues for my friend to find her ideal dog, unfortunately turning some down..she rehomed a 9 month old shih Tzu. Who had obviously been past from pillar to post because of behaviour issues...at 9 months she was perfect and a year on she's still great.

She also reverse sneezes quite a bit...when she first did it my friend thought she had stopped breathing or would do...and was all for rushing her to the vets. However now she's seen it in my dogs as well, she's not too worried.

Shih Tzu is also one of the breeds where there is a massive breed size for standard...so those who are just below or just under will have more petite or larger facial features.


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## JRB123

Lol! Thanks! Glad your friend has given her a great home. 
The reverse sneeze is scary! I was on the emergency line to the vets when he did it - then half way through I suddenly thought I wonder if this is a reverse sneeze?! And within a minute or so he was back to normal!! I felt a bit daft! 
Today is another day and the weather seems a bit cooler and hoping he should be hungry now after 2 days of barely eating. Going to try a different groomer today too to see if she can trim his hair a bit. Black hair just hasn't been great in this weather. He won't need a bath or nails or anything else done as that's all been done this week so he may be less stressed.If it doesn't work then at least I've tried. 
Here's a photo of him in the cooling jacket!! 
Thanks again!


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## MelodyM

He's adorable!


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## LittleKrystal

@JRB123 We made the same mistake with the whole food thing when we first bought Kiba home. He won't eat his meals, only some treats. We were panicking, thinking we're going to starve him and he's going to die! So we changed food like every meal! What a mistake that was. Eventually we went back to Nutriment (raw brand) which was what he was fed on at the breeders. We buy all the different flavours of Nutriment, divide it into 3 portions, and have him eat the entire 1/3 portion before we change to a different flavour even if it takes 3-4 days. He still gets some variety, but it's controlled by us, not him.


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## MelodyM

Cara had a bit of an encounter with another dog on her walk this morning while she was off the lead. Although she is so small she is very confident and friendly with other dogs. However this one was also young but a lot bigger than her and was a bit over exuberant in wanting to play - not meaning any harm, but Cara was clearly frightened and ran off with her tail between her legs. I picked her up and reassured her and the other dog was put on the lead and we encouraged them to approach each other calmly which they did do. Then we went our separate ways. I'm just a bit concerned if this upsets her and makes her more fearful of other dogs, and wonder if I should handle it differently? Previously I have picked her up or put her on the lead when I see another dog approaching but more recently I have let them approach each other which until now has been fine.


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## JRB123

LittleKrystal said:


> @JRB123 We made the same mistake with the whole food thing when we first bought Kiba home. He won't eat his meals, only some treats. We were panicking, thinking we're going to starve him and he's going to die! So we changed food like every meal! What a mistake that was. Eventually we went back to Nutriment (raw brand) which was what he was fed on at the breeders. We buy all the different flavours of Nutriment, divide it into 3 portions, and have him eat the entire 1/3 portion before we change to a different flavour even if it takes 3-4 days. He still gets some variety, but it's controlled by us, not him.


Thank you! Having a rough morning here again with no food! He's clearly hungry and jumping up to get it but whatever we offer he doesn't want. He had about 3 mouthfuls. Maybe it's the heat? Thanks for the advice and I will take it on board! Glad you got there in the end!!


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## JRB123

MelodyM said:


> Cara had a bit of an encounter with another dog on her walk this morning while she was off the lead. Although she is so small she is very confident and friendly with other dogs. However this one was also young but a lot bigger than her and was a bit over exuberant in wanting to play - not meaning any harm, but Cara was clearly frightened and ran off with her tail between her legs. I picked her up and reassured her and the other dog was put on the lead and we encouraged them to approach each other calmly which they did do. Then we went our separate ways. I'm just a bit concerned if this upsets her and makes her more fearful of other dogs, and wonder if I should handle it differently? Previously I have picked her up or put her on the lead when I see another dog approaching but more recently I have let them approach each other which until now has been fine.


Hope she will be ok. Glad nothing happened to her! Hopefully it will just be a learning curve to approach big digs carefully. It will be interesting when you next go out to see how she reacts! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!


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## LittleKrystal

MelodyM said:


> Cara had a bit of an encounter with another dog on her walk this morning while she was off the lead. Although she is so small she is very confident and friendly with other dogs. However this one was also young but a lot bigger than her and was a bit over exuberant in wanting to play - not meaning any harm, but Cara was clearly frightened and ran off with her tail between her legs. I picked her up and reassured her and the other dog was put on the lead and we encouraged them to approach each other calmly which they did do. Then we went our separate ways. I'm just a bit concerned if this upsets her and makes her more fearful of other dogs, and wonder if I should handle it differently? Previously I have picked her up or put her on the lead when I see another dog approaching but more recently I have let them approach each other which until now has been fine.


I don't think she'll be fearful from one experience. She might just be a bit more careful.

Kiba has been growled and snapped at by adult dogs before which is probably a lot scarier than a playful bouncing puppy. He was so scared he hid in a little hole, but he was totally fine the day after. I think he learnt not to jump at dogs and pull at their tail without asking.

As long as it wasn't an attack then she'll be fine.


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## LittleKrystal

JRB123 said:


> Thank you! Having a rough morning here again with no food! He's clearly hungry and jumping up to get it but whatever we offer he doesn't want. He had about 3 mouthfuls. Maybe it's the heat? Thanks for the advice and I will take it on board! Glad you got there in the end!!


Dogs will never starve themselves, so just pop the food down, let him eat what he wants (or not eat at all), take it away and offer the same thing again the next meal time. He's eating the 3 mouthfuls so he's shown that he won't starve himself.

Don't give in else he will try even harder next time.

Don't worry about it and don't think too much about it. Don't make a fuss over it like try to baby talk him into eating it, just take the food away after 10mins-20mins (whatever you like), no fuss.

Kiba acts like he's starving all the time but sometimes won't eat his meals. He'll eat it the next day as he knows he won't get anything else.

Later on, you can try to do what we do with Kiba and change protein once he's had a certain amount of the previous one. Variety does help to keep things interesting.


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## lullabydream

MelodyM said:


> Cara had a bit of an encounter with another dog on her walk this morning while she was off the lead. Although she is so small she is very confident and friendly with other dogs. However this one was also young but a lot bigger than her and was a bit over exuberant in wanting to play - not meaning any harm, but Cara was clearly frightened and ran off with her tail between her legs. I picked her up and reassured her and the other dog was put on the lead and we encouraged them to approach each other calmly which they did do. Then we went our separate ways. I'm just a bit concerned if this upsets her and makes her more fearful of other dogs, and wonder if I should handle it differently? Previously I have picked her up or put her on the lead when I see another dog approaching but more recently I have let them approach each other which until now has been fine.


To have a great dog, you need a dog who is dog neutral. Best achieved by allowing dogs to see dogs and accept their presence rather than meet and great and play...many people over exposure their puppies to this in the name of socialisation. This can work against you in various ways; your dog becomes desperate to meet all dogs in a 50 mile radius, to many dog encounters that causes your dog to be fearful. When fearful a dog does one or two things, s/he hides runs takes flight...this could be in the path of a car..or fight, so your dog becomes reactive on the lead, and maybe offlead. Having a reactive dog is no fun when it can cause injury to another dog, regardless of size..it can still be classed as a dangerous dog.

The best rule of thumb is dog walks are for you and your dog. Dogs are not social beings as people seem to think, and have this need for friends.

People who own multi dogs will tell you some are best friends, some just tolerate each other more than anything. That's all anyone should expect when they own multi dogs is they tolerate each other, anything else is an absolute bonus.

Too many bad encounters on a walk can add up to make a confident happy dog, into a one that loses their resilience easily. It doesn't have to be an attack but a dog who is too much in your dogs face, even though the owner thinks their dog is so friendly might be the straw to break the camel's back.

If you want your puppy to play with other dogs, only allow her to play with dogs who you know can tolerate puppies. Puppies are rude obnoxious things and many dogs will not tolerate them. The dog you need to know well, it's not ideal it's just someone you meet up at a dog walking area.

Unless your dog has solid recall when other dogs close by I would definitely encourage you to put your puppy on the lead, and play focus games so the emphasis is away from the other dogs and you as the owner are more important.

Always remember socialisation isn't about direct contact, but getting used to a dogs surroundings more than anything.


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## Kiay

DaisyBluebell said:


> Welcome Kiay, my friend has portuguese water dogs, but she got them many years ago now but I do remember her saying they were super to train. I love the name Lunah. As regards the early mornings, welcome to my world. We have had Emma 3 weeks and two days today and I am still getting up at 5am each morning, actually that's a lie I had a layin this morning till 5.30 . I am trying to preempt the howling and so far so good. I go to bed by 10.30 so my husband has her at the end of the day when she is tired & he says how lovely she is then (yeah!) I get her when she is rested and up for anything
> 
> Hiya! Your friend is right, they are an absolute dream to train, although sometimes too clever for theit own good! When Minion was tiny we taught her to ring a bell to ask to go outside as she wasn't vocal. She picked this up super quickly! A few days on she was ringing the bell every few minutes and then running out and squatting without weeing....and then running back for her treat!!  duped by a 10 week old pup!!


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## Kiay

Sorry...I did the quoting thing wrong!!
Your friend is right, they are an absolute dream to train, although sometimes too clever for theit own good! When Minion was tiny we taught her to ring a bell to ask to go outside as she wasn't vocal. She picked this up super quickly! A few days on she was ringing the bell every few minutes and then running out and squatting without weeing....and then running back for her treat!!  duped by a 10 week old pup!! 

I got a lie in until 5.30 this morning also!! Winning!


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## MelodyM

lullabydream said:


> To have a great dog, you need a dog who is dog neutral. Best achieved by allowing dogs to see dogs and accept their presence rather than meet and great and play...many people over exposure their puppies to this in the name of socialisation. This can work against you in various ways; your dog becomes desperate to meet all dogs in a 50 mile radius, to many dog encounters that causes your dog to be fearful. When fearful a dog does one or two things, s/he hides runs takes flight...this could be in the path of a car..or fight, so your dog becomes reactive on the lead, and maybe offlead. Having a reactive dog is no fun when it can cause injury to another dog, regardless of size..it can still be classed as a dangerous dog.
> 
> The best rule of thumb is dog walks are for you and your dog. Dogs are not social beings as people seem to think, and have this need for friends.
> 
> People who own multi dogs will tell you some are best friends, some just tolerate each other more than anything. That's all anyone should expect when they own multi dogs is they tolerate each other, anything else is an absolute bonus.
> 
> Too many bad encounters on a walk can add up to make a confident happy dog, into a one that loses their resilience easily. It doesn't have to be an attack but a dog who is too much in your dogs face, even though the owner thinks their dog is so friendly might be the straw to break the camel's back.
> 
> If you want your puppy to play with other dogs, only allow her to play with dogs who you know can tolerate puppies. Puppies are rude obnoxious things and many dogs will not tolerate them. The dog you need to know well, it's not ideal it's just someone you meet up at a dog walking area.
> 
> Unless your dog has solid recall when other dogs close by I would definitely encourage you to put your puppy on the lead, and play focus games so the emphasis is away from the other dogs and you as the owner are more important.
> 
> Always remember socialisation isn't about direct contact, but getting used to a dogs surroundings more than anything.


Thanks - where we walk is usually pretty quiet and we don't actually meet a lot of other dogs, and when we do can generally see them coming from a distance away. In future I'll pick her up or pop her on the lead if we see a dog hove into sight. Cara's recall is actually pretty good for her age, but I wouldn't want to depend on it 100% in a difficult situation.

The only dog she sees regularly on a social basis belongs to a close family member. I would say Cara adores him and he tolerates her despite her being highly irritating at times! (She usually settles down after the first few minutes though.)


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## DaisyBluebell

JRB123 said:


> Thank you! Having a rough morning here again with no food! He's clearly hungry and jumping up to get it but whatever we offer he doesn't want. He had about 3 mouthfuls. Maybe it's the heat? Thanks for the advice and I will take it on board! Glad you got there in the end!!


My old dog self controlled how much she ate in the winter and summer,they know how much they want, but I have to agree with lullabydream and as my vet says " no dog will starve itself"! Its so hard when you think they are hungry & you have to change to food but it really is self defeating. They really are just trying it on 9 times out of 10.


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## DaisyBluebell

Kiay said:


> Sorry...I did the quoting thing wrong!!
> Your friend is right, they are an absolute dream to train, although sometimes too clever for theit own good! When Minion was tiny we taught her to ring a bell to ask to go outside as she wasn't vocal. She picked this up super quickly! A few days on she was ringing the bell every few minutes and then running out and squatting without weeing....and then running back for her treat!!  duped by a 10 week old pup!!
> I got a lie in until 5.30 this morning also!! Winning!


LOL, love how clever they can be so young.
I too had a lie in this morning 5.40!!! what a treat, then the enjoyment of playing eat the stick to watch for another 10 minutes - the joys of puppy ownership a!


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## Aahlly

lullabydream said:


> Your puppy is still very young, and it can be really overwhelming, but shih Tzu's are cracking little dogs. Make great family dogs, have cracking temperaments and you will have fantastic days out with your dog. I just want to alert a fellow member who has to brachy breeds who she goes hiking with..so they can cope with a lot, and it's not always doom and gloom. @Aahlly can you share about your hiking with your two. I think it's relevant!


Yes, @JRB123 two of mine are brachy:










Roxy is a pug x lhasa apso and Ghost is mostly pug with 1/4 (grandmother!) chihuahua. I think one of the most important things with dogs like these is to keep the weight right down and keep them as fit as possible. People have a hard time guessing Roxy's cross when she is fully fit as she's lean and muscly which is not the usual shape for either of the two breeds! We usually have a chilled out winter (Roxy especially is not a fan of bad weather) and then we start fittening up around March every year in prep for a summer of hiking. If you have a dog that's already going to be at risk of breathing problems and you allow him/her to gain weight and become too unfit, then you're only making life harder. I know that your puppy is only young @JRB123 but as he gets older don't be afraid to get out there and do things with him! My little gang hiked up Ben A'an last week with no assistance. I think they would have been insulted if I had tried to carry any of them! I have always expected them to be capable and they are. Roxy is probably the most similar to your puppy in build and she's athletic and energetic and will happily spend five hours climbing a mountain. The only thing she draws the line at is swimming although Ghost will as I discovered last weekend! Don't think that a brachy breed can't do things other breeds can. Of course consult with your vet regarding possible soft palate, but try and keep him as active as you can.

There are misconceptions about these kinds of dogs because you so often see them round like little bubbles and struggling to breathe. But managing them carefully in terms of diet and exercise and not expecting less of them shows how much they are capable of.


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## JRB123

Thank you! There's hope! We just had his hair cut yesterday so that should help too with the heat here. 
No danger of him getting fat at the moment as he's pretty much stopped eating. It was slightly cooler here in the UK yesterday so he had a run around in the park ( hoping it would stimulate his appetite - but no) 
I've been up since 4am sick with worry ( about the not eating) and am getting really down. A family member had an eating disorder and I think going through this with the puppy is triggering all sorts of stress and anxiety here. My hub and kids tried to feed him yesterday too but no luck either. Just a few mouthfuls - about a tablespoon of food in total all day spread over several sittings. We usually put down some kibble on the floor for him to find and in the evenings he would have the zoomies and then run around and find it before going to sleep but he's not done that either - and totally gone off his raw food ( which was the one thing he liked) 
Looks like you and your dogs have a great life! I hope we get there one day! They're lovely strong looking dogs. It gives me hope.


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## ShibaPup

Lily had her second vaccination yesterday - think that's her lot now. Nobivac L4 + DHP, 4 weeks later Nobivac L4?

Anyhoo she was happier in the vets - 8kg 4 weeks ago and now she weighs 14.5kg... hoping she slows down growing a tad haha! 
Vet nurse gave her the vaccine - first one was inserted but the syringe popped off and the vaccine went over Lily's back so she had to have another, the nurse apologised and said it had never happened to her in 19 years! 

Outside the vets a little fluffy thing decided to bark at her - y'know I either live in reactive dog city or every dog takes a dislike to Lily  Every single dog Lily has saw so far has barked at her


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## 8tansox

ShibaPup said:


> Vet nurse gave her the vaccine


I have NEVER had a VN give any of my dogs their vaccinations or boosters. Is this normal now?


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## ShibaPup

8tansox said:


> I have NEVER had a VN give any of my dogs their vaccinations or boosters. Is this normal now?


I don't know?

My vet is only a small local vet - not really a great surgery, only been twice and felt really disappointed BUT they are close, which makes it convenient... they had never seen a hydrotherapy referral form before...  *shrug*

Vet gave Lily her first vaccine - didn't check her temp, didn't listen to her heart, didn't really check her over and I felt they didn't listen to my concerns so I was rather disappointed. Vet just banged on about spaying at 6 months, worming and flea treatment, wanted to give her a flea jab - which I declined. 
Vet gave her the first vaccine and said come back in 4 weeks for her second vaccine and kennel cough with the nurse.

Second visit a month later - vet nurse called us in, checked her temp, checked her ears and her coat and then gave her the second vaccine. Tried to get me to have the kennel cough vaccine - which I declined and again banged on about getting her spayed at 6 months - wanted me to book her in to get her spayed!

Would have preferred Lily to have a more thorough examination - not much I can do though.


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## lullabydream

8tansox said:


> I have NEVER had a VN give any of my dogs their vaccinations or boosters. Is this normal now?


I have never had a vet nurse, but my vets news letter always states that vet nurses can give vaccinations...has done for about 2 years.

If you think about it, many rescue centres administer their own vaccinations too.

However, I would prefer a vet always to check throughly over my dog to give him or her the all clear, as we can all say they are 'well' but we haven't got a stethoscope, and not everyone can take temperature, or notice subtle signs of pain like a vet should.

Stan's due for his vaccination so I will see if it's finally passed over to a vet nurse!


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## ShibaPup

Lily has a lump - it came up after we got home from her vaccination. 

It's not going down yet but doesn't seem to be bothering her in anyway - is it normal? Anything I can do?


----------



## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Lily has a lump - it came up after we got home from her vaccination.
> 
> It's not going down yet but doesn't seem to be bothering her in anyway - is it normal? Anything I can do?


If it's not hot to touch, it should be fine, but to err on side of caution give the vets a ring. Am sure they will say it's just from the vaccination and keep an eye on it, if it gets bigger have it checked out, or if it gets hot to touch...a phone call costs nothing for peace of mind. Vets are quite happy to give advice over the phone...like humans some dogs can get raised injection sites, some can turn nasty, some just go down in a few days...I have never experienced it myself. I would double check though.


----------



## MelodyM

Any thoughts on stopping nipping? - Cara has a tendency to nip when overexcited (I know this is a very common puppy thing) and also nip people's bare legs! I try to redirect her on to a suitable toy etc.The leg thing is quite difficult though as she is not easily distracted!

I've read you should yelp loudly or say "Ouch!" to get the message through. Is that worth a try?


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## JoanneF

MelodyM said:


> Any thoughts on stopping nipping? - Cara has a tendency to nip when overexcited (I know this is a very common puppy thing) and also nip people's bare legs! I try to redirect her on to a suitable toy etc.The leg thing is quite difficult though as she is not easily distracted!
> 
> I've read you should yelp loudly or say "Ouch!" to get the message through. Is that worth a try?


That can work, it could make it a more exciting game though. Many people find walking away helps, into another room. The puppy learns that nipping ends the interaction and that is no fun.


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## LittleKrystal

Kiba has become really jumpy and vocal at people when we're outside on the streets. 8 out of 10 stranger that walks by he'll try to jump up at them and sometimes even bark at them especially if they respond back. I hold the leash far enough that he won't actually physically touch the person. This started a few weeks ago and we started to notice it get worse so we began to work on this about 2 weeks ago. We call his name just before the stranger is at a distance that he will jump, keep his attention and walk pass the strangers and reward him once he's passed them. His attention on us is pretty good and will response 100% of the time. I hope he will eventually go back to walking pass and ignoring strangers.

He scared a young woman today as he jumped at her (there was about 10cm between them) and did a little bark, and she freaked out and started shouting at us and him. It made it worse for him as he thought she was responding to him and started wiggling his tail even more and trying to get to her. 

It does make me a little nervous walking him on streets with people (we try to avoid it and only go on streets with a few people walking by) as there are people out there that don't like dogs and are afraid of them.


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## JoanneF

LittleKrystal said:


> We call his name just before the stranger is at a distance that he will jump, keep his attention and walk pass the strangers and reward him once he's passed them.


Keep doing this, or even have him in a sit and keep popping treats until the distraction is past. This is a good time to discover the magic of squeezy cheese from a tube!


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## LittleKrystal

JoanneF said:


> Keep doing this, or even have him in a sit and keep popping treats until the distraction is past. This is a good time to discover the magic of squeezy cheese from a tube!


Good to know that this is correct. Am I assuming this is all normal puppy behaviour as they grow up and become more confident with the world around them?

He has also become very reactive to motorbikes and bikes and will lunge and bark loudly at them. He will even turn around all happy like he done something good afterwards. I think he thinks that by lunging and barking at it, he has scared it away. So we've practised ignoring them by going to a road that bikes and motorbikes often pass. We have him sit and focus on us as it passes us. It got better for a few days then this morning, it went back to square 1. I suppose we just keep at it and eventually he'll learn that keeping quiet and calm around them is the right behaviour.


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## lullabydream

Try not to tighten the lead, that can make reactivity worse...it's like they feel the anxiety and run with it


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## LittleKrystal

lullabydream said:


> Try not to tighten the lead, that can make reactivity worse...it's like they feel the anxiety and run with it


I do get a little nervous when a person walks by as I know he'll likely react, and I do tend to hold the leash a bit tighter. I'm aware that is rubbing off him so I'm going to be more relax and trust that he will focus on me and heel when told to.

The roads around here are generally very wide and not that busy, so even on the max length of the leash, there's lots of room for people to walk by. However, there is a small stretch just outside our house that is extremely tight.

I do worry that he will lose focus and pounce on the stranger, and as there'll be so much slack on the leash I won't be able to hold him back. Like earlier today he pounced towards the lady and freaked the hell out of her. We've encountered a few people that are very scared of dogs regardless of their size.

Fingers cross he'll get over this soon so I can relax on our daily walks again.


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## Guest

Star is being a little bugger at the moment. We used chicken wire to secure the garden until we can get it fenced off properly and she kept escaping even though we're usually sat in the garden with her so now she's gonna be a on a 15m lead at all times until it's secure. She's getting worse with her nipping and lunging. She doesn't do it all the time, usually half an hour in the morning and half and hour in the evening. I try distract her with a toy but she lunges over the toy to try bite me, so I put her in timeout but that doesn't seem to be working. She's also trying to hump me constantly. She's 4 months now and no sign of her teeth coming through as she still has all her baby ones. Her crying at being in the crate or when someone leaves is not improving either, I pray it's something she'll grow out of.


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## DaisyBluebell

LittleKrystal said:


> I do get a little nervous when a person walks by as I know he'll likely react, and I do tend to hold the leash a bit tighter. I'm aware that is rubbing off him so I'm going to be more relax and trust that he will focus on me and heel when told to.
> The roads around here are generally very wide and not that busy, so even on the max length of the leash, there's lots of room for people to walk by. However, there is a small stretch just outside our house that is extremely tight.
> I do worry that he will lose focus and pounce on the stranger, and as there'll be so much slack on the leash I won't be able to hold him back. Like earlier today he pounced towards the lady and freaked the hell out of her. We've encountered a few people that are very scared of dogs regardless of their size.
> Fingers cross he'll get over this soon so I can relax on our daily walks again.


I think your doing really well. I had one that used to lunge at cars bikes people - you name it. so every time anything was coming towards us I would turn round and walk a few paces back the way I came, treating, it instantly took her mind off what was coming, then turn again treating going the original way. In her case it worked but took time, worth giving it a go.


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## DaisyBluebell

spamvicious said:


> Star is being a little bugger at the moment. We used chicken wire to secure the garden until we can get it fenced off properly and she kept escaping even though we're usually sat in the garden with her so now she's gonna be a on a 15m lead at all times until it's secure. She's getting worse with her nipping and lunging. She doesn't do it all the time, usually half an hour in the morning and half and hour in the evening. I try distract her with a toy but she lunges over the toy to try bite me, so I put her in timeout but that doesn't seem to be working. She's also trying to hump me constantly. She's 4 months now and no sign of her teeth coming through as she still has all her baby ones. Her crying at being in the crate or when someone leaves is not improving either, I pray it's something she'll grow out of.


You had been doing so well with Star but you have now moved, its a whole knew world to you and to her, like the old life she knew didn't happen, along with all that good training you had been doing - if you think of it that way then really its a matter of going back to basics.
Emma has been doing the nipping and lunging at my hands and feet, from day two & I have been going out of my way not to be negative with her but today she really hurt me and I said very sternly NO & gave her a gentle tap on the rump, she was astounded (thats the only way I can put it) she ran & got her teddy and took it out on him instead and has not tried to bite me since! I know that's no guarantee she will not tomorrow morning at 5.30am but just goes to show sometimes I need to be a bit more assertive!


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Star is being a little bugger at the moment. We used chicken wire to secure the garden until we can get it fenced off properly and she kept escaping even though we're usually sat in the garden with her so now she's gonna be a on a 15m lead at all times until it's secure. She's getting worse with her nipping and lunging. She doesn't do it all the time, usually half an hour in the morning and half and hour in the evening. I try distract her with a toy but she lunges over the toy to try bite me, so I put her in timeout but that doesn't seem to be working. She's also trying to hump me constantly. She's 4 months now and no sign of her teeth coming through as she still has all her baby ones. Her crying at being in the crate or when someone leaves is not improving either, I pray it's something she'll grow out of.


We should start a "Bite Club" haha!!

With nipping - it's just about consistency! 
Lily has been biting and nipping for weeks - still no sign of her adult teeth  BUT I'm seeing improvements  
I will distract with a toy or chew but if she's over excited I'll simply go limp and ignore her completely; don't even look at her - found this much better than flinching, saying anything or giving her any attention but hard bites that really hurt - she gets put in time out until she is calm, then she is allowed back out.

I have noticed Lily will bite my OH for a reaction - he will push her away, shout "NO!", pull his hand out the way - then Lily has a great game! She goes after him more! When my OH actually listened to me; sat still and didn't even look at her - she nipped at him but quickly got bored and it didn't escalate.


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## DaisyBluebell

ShibaPup said:


> We should start a "Bite Club" haha!!
> 
> With nipping - it's just about consistency!
> Lily has been biting and nipping for weeks - still no sign of her adult teeth  BUT I'm seeing improvements
> I will distract with a toy or chew but if she's over excited I'll simply go limp and ignore her completely; don't even look at her - found this much better than flinching, saying anything or giving her any attention but hard bites that really hurt - she gets put in time out until she is calm, then she is allowed back out.
> 
> I have noticed Lily will bite my OH for a reaction - he will push her away, shout "NO!", pull his hand out the way - then Lily has a great game! She goes after him more! When my OH actually listened to me; sat still and didn't even look at her - she nipped at him but quickly got bored and it didn't escalate.


EXCELLENT reaction, well done you, from another member of the 'Bite Club'


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## LittleKrystal

DaisyBluebell said:


> I think your doing really well. I had one that used to lunge at cars bikes people - you name it. so every time anything was coming towards us I would turn round and walk a few paces back the way I came, treating, it instantly took her mind off what was coming, then turn again treating going the original way. In her case it worked but took time, worth giving it a go.


I'm going to try that, especially on the small tight stretch, I can turn back to the wider part till the stranger has walked passed. On some roads, I can walk him in between cars and distract him till the stranger is gone.

Lunging and barking at bikes, motorbikes and people started a few weeks ago but he has walked the same road every day since he was 13 weeks old and sees and hears them every single day. My breeder thinks it might have been his adolescent fear stage, so hopefully, he'll get over it soon with training.

I'm worried that the jumping and barking at strangers is due to fear but his body language doesn't say fear, as his tail is up, ears up, mouth relaxes and tongue out. He used to be afraid of people, so we taught him to be comfortable and calm in their presence. We introduced him to lots of friends and family with treats, toys, play and walks so part of me is thinking that he's starting to seek attention from people as he knows people are fun.


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## ShibaPup

We start GCDS puppy foundation Wednesday at 6:15pm until 7pm!  Need to arrive a little earlier to settle in. 

Had an email reminder - been advised to take food if we want to use that as rewards and her vaccination card.


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## 8tansox

ShibaPup said:


> We start GCDS puppy foundation Wednesday at 6:15pm until 7pm!  Need to arrive a little earlier to settle in.
> 
> Had an email reminder - been advised to take food if we want to use that as rewards and her vaccination card.


I started Arwin's last night. I think he had a great night, slept all the way home and all evening, result!


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## Guest

So I switched Star from Wainwrights puppy pouches to Wainwrights puppy trays as I read that the pouches weren't very good quality. Last night she had two bouts of diarrhea in my room. I didn't do the slow introduction as I thought it was the same brand so would be fine. What should I do now? Continue on the trays or go back on the pouches?.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> So I switched Star from Wainwrights puppy pouches to Wainwrights puppy trays as I read that the pouches weren't very good quality. Last night she had two bouts of diarrhea in my room. I didn't do the slow introduction as I thought it was the same brand so would be fine. What should I do now? Continue on the trays or go back on the pouches?.


Is she still ok in herself?
Got any pro-kolin+? Or pro/pre-biotics such as yudigest?

Pro-kolin+ is useful to keep in your cupboard, it keeps even after it's been opened and used - find it's great for stopping diarrhoea! If Star doesn't like pro-kolin+ paste - it is rather gritty then yudigest plus are sachets you can sprinkle on her food.

If she is otherwise ok - I'd keep her on the new food, give her some pro-kolin+ and, or pro/pre-biotics to help.

The new food might not suit her - so maybe best to change back if you don't see an improvement.

Obviously if she seems unwell or quiet - then a vet visit might be needed.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Is she still ok in herself?
> Got any pro-kolin+? Or pro/pre-biotics such as yudigest?
> 
> Pro-kolin+ is useful to keep in your cupboard, it keeps even after it's been opened and used - find it's great for stopping diarrhoea! If Star doesn't like pro-kolin+ paste - it is rather gritty then yudigest plus are sachets you can sprinkle on her food.
> 
> If she is otherwise ok - I'd keep her on the new food, give her some pro-kolin+ and, or pro/pre-biotics to help.
> 
> The new food might not suit her - so maybe best to change back if you don't see an improvement.
> 
> Obviously if she seems unwell or quiet - then a vet visit might be needed.


She's fine, no signs of being unwell. Where would I get Pro-kolin+?


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> She's fine, no signs of being unwell. Where would I get Pro-kolin+?


I think you can get yudigest tablets and yudigest plus sachets from pets at home.

Pro-kolin+ I order online.


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## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> I think you can get yudigest tablets and yudigest plus sachets from pets at home.
> 
> Pro-kolin+ I order online.


Ah thanks I'll go to PAH today and get some yudigest


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## DaisyBluebell

You could always just give Star a scrambled egg, that's usually what we do for diarrhea . Hope she's ok soon.


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## ShibaPup

How is everyone? Any updates or pictures?


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## Guest

We're doing ok apart from Star started chewing the skirting board of the new house earlier, so need to keep a closer watch on her. Any tips of improving recall? she's fine when there's no one else but if she sees other people/dogs she won't come back for anything. How's it going with you guys?


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## LittleKrystal

Kiba started advance puppy school which is awesome as it’s giving us weekly things to practice and something to keep his mind busy during the week. We’ve slacked a lot on his training, and things that we haven’t practiced much have definitely been forgotten so we need to pick that up again.

We’re still having issues with him barking and lunging at bikes and motorbikes but it seems to be getting better as I’ve caught him a few times just looking at the passing bikes and not reacting to it.

He has a weird thing about his harness, we have a few different ones. He runs away when I get any of the harnesses out, and when I put it on him, his ears are back, and he licks his lips a bit. He doesn’t like it, but it completely fine once it’s on him. We tried different styles one and still the same action, not really sure why


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## ShibaPup

Well training classes didn't work out - gotta find a plan b! *sigh*

Lily is finally losing teeth though  - can't even begin to say how pleased I am about that!! Hopefully means no more chomp monster in the next few months.



spamvicious said:


> We're doing ok apart from Star started chewing the skirting board of the new house earlier, so need to keep a closer watch on her. Any tips of improving recall? she's fine when there's no one else but if she sees other people/dogs she won't come back for anything. How's it going with you guys?


Ohhh skirting board seems to be a fave for nibbling - can't imagine it tastes great though! :Yuck

As for recall - keep her on a long lead, stop her from practising the behaviour and try to distract her with a toy, smelly treats or whatever ideally _before_ she spots the other people/dogs. You can work on engagement games too - help keep her focused on you.

Engagement games https://denisefenzi.com/2013/11/27/building-engagement-through-play/



LittleKrystal said:


> Kiba started advance puppy school which is awesome as it's giving us weekly things to practice and something to keep his mind busy during the week. We've slacked a lot on his training, and things that we haven't practiced much have definitely been forgotten so we need to pick that up again.
> 
> We're still having issues with him barking and lunging at bikes and motorbikes but it seems to be getting better as I've caught him a few times just looking at the passing bikes and not reacting to it.
> 
> He has a weird thing about his harness, we have a few different ones. He runs away when I get any of the harnesses out, and when I put it on him, his ears are back, and he licks his lips a bit. He doesn't like it, but it completely fine once it's on him. We tried different styles one and still the same action, not really sure why


Love Kiba's name!

Glad the barking and lunging is getting better! Well done to you both 

Is it because it's going over his head? Could it be a fear phase? Have you tried bringing out his fave treats so he thinks harness = fave treats?


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## ShibaPup

Tonight I'm going to visit a dog training class ran at the local church - hopefully they are up to date! If I'm happy, I'll take Lily along next week.


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Tonight I'm going to visit a dog training class ran at the local church - hopefully they are up to date! If I'm happy, I'll take Lily along next week.


Fingers crossed it goes well for you..

My lot have their paws crossed too..

I bet you will be able to teach the dogs a thing or two already...but my motto is, there is always something to learn. No matter how small!


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## ashelia

I haven't been around in a while, but I've been reading what everyone has been up to.  Ruby also started chewing the skirting board in my room, but only one time and since then she hasn't bothered with it, but I'm keeping my eye on her any way in case she starts doing it again. She's responding to training so much better now, I can finally do basics with her and her recall is pretty good. She's officially booked in for a puppy foundation course on the 24th with Sue Cooper, really looking forward to it! Her toilet training has been a breeze, she lets me know when she wants to go out and she's really good around other dogs. She still wants to approach most dogs she sees and wants to play with them but she's not as over the top as she used to be, she'll give them a sniff and maybe do a play bow and follow them around but she'll follow us if we move on and doesn't try to pull back to continue playing. She's not as fond of people who visit our house, she does bark quite a bit at new visitors but after a bit she gets used to them. Sorry for the length I'm just happy that she's progressing quite well! Considering all the worrying I did that I'd do a bad job since she is my first puppy and all. I only hope her nipping and biting improves, she's quite a land shark!

I do have a concern though. Usually in the evening when everyone is at home she'll get over excited and jump all over my mum, nipping at her and she's scratched her quite badly with her teeth a few times. It seems like she's playing, but she seems to only really do it with my mum? She does start with me but when she does I stand up and ignore her and she'll usually leave me alone. When she gets like that we put her in the kitchen, her bed and all her toys are in there, and she can see us behind the baby gate. Is this an okay thing to do? My mum has a bad knee and our sofa is quite low down so she can't so easily get up and ignore Ruby every time she starts like what I do when she does it with me.


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> I haven't been around in a while, but I've been reading what everyone has been up to.  Ruby also started chewing the skirting board in my room, but only one time and since then she hasn't bothered with it, but I'm keeping my eye on her any way in case she starts doing it again. She's responding to training so much better now, I can finally do basics with her and her recall is pretty good. She's officially booked in for a puppy foundation course on the 24th with Sue Cooper, really looking forward to it! Her toilet training has been a breeze, she lets me know when she wants to go out and she's really good around other dogs. She still wants to approach most dogs she sees and wants to play with them but she's not as over the top as she used to be, she'll give them a sniff and maybe do a play bow and follow them around but she'll follow us if we move on and doesn't try to pull back to continue playing. She's not as fond of people who visit our house, she does bark quite a bit at new visitors but after a bit she gets used to them. Sorry for the length I'm just happy that she's progressing quite well! Considering all the worrying I did that I'd do a bad job since she is my first puppy and all. I only hope her nipping and biting improves, she's quite a land shark!
> 
> I do have a concern though. Usually in the evening when everyone is at home she'll get over excited and jump all over my mum, nipping at her and she's scratched her quite badly with her teeth a few times. It seems like she's playing, but she seems to only really do it with my mum? She does start with me but when she does I stand up and ignore her and she'll usually leave me alone. When she gets like that we put her in the kitchen, her bed and all her toys are in there, and she can see us behind the baby gate. Is this an okay thing to do? My mum has a bad knee and our sofa is quite low down so she can't so easily get up and ignore Ruby every time she starts like what I do when she does it with me.


Aww she's beautiful. Congrats on all the progress you're making and even more when you start training classes. Does your mum stand up like you do when Ruby gets over excited? if not then maybe Ruby knows she can get away with the behaviour more.

Star is doing really well in every aspect apart from being separated from me. We leave her for little amounts of time and come back but she still cries so we can't progress onto longer times. Yesterday my mum was with her in the car while I popped in to see my sisters new kitten and Star went berserk, crying, barking trying to scramble out of the car. Really not sure what to do.


----------



## Guest

ShibaPup said:


> Tonight I'm going to visit a dog training class ran at the local church - hopefully they are up to date! If I'm happy, I'll take Lily along next week.


How did it go?


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> How did it go?


Not brilliant but not absolutely awful either


----------



## LittleKrystal

ShibaPup said:


> Love Kiba's name!
> 
> Glad the barking and lunging is getting better! Well done to you both
> 
> Is it because it's going over his head? Could it be a fear phase? Have you tried bringing out his fave treats so he thinks harness = fave treats?


We have a Puppia harness, and two other non-over the head ones, exactly the same reaction. We're going to start arming ourselves with a treat in one hand, and another person putting the harness on him while he nibbles on the treat. His tail isn't down, just his ears are tightly back.



spamvicious said:


> Aww she's beautiful. Congrats on all the progress you're making and even more when you start training classes. Does your mum stand up like you do when Ruby gets over excited? if not then maybe Ruby knows she can get away with the behaviour more.
> 
> Star is doing really well in every aspect apart from being separated from me. We leave her for little amounts of time and come back but she still cries so we can't progress onto longer times. Yesterday my mum was with her in the car while I popped in to see my sisters new kitten and Star went berserk, crying, barking trying to scramble out of the car. Really not sure what to do.


Do you have a play pen or maybe a baby gate? How does Star react when place behind one? She's separated but she can still see you.

If you really don't know what you can do, it might be worth hiring a behaviourist to help you. It's best to work on it now rather than later as I'm told that habits and behaviours gets harder and harder to break as the dog practices the behaviour more and more.


----------



## LittleKrystal

ashelia said:


> I haven't been around in a while, but I've been reading what everyone has been up to.  Ruby also started chewing the skirting board in my room, but only one time and since then she hasn't bothered with it, but I'm keeping my eye on her any way in case she starts doing it again. She's responding to training so much better now, I can finally do basics with her and her recall is pretty good. She's officially booked in for a puppy foundation course on the 24th with Sue Cooper, really looking forward to it! Her toilet training has been a breeze, she lets me know when she wants to go out and she's really good around other dogs. She still wants to approach most dogs she sees and wants to play with them but she's not as over the top as she used to be, she'll give them a sniff and maybe do a play bow and follow them around but she'll follow us if we move on and doesn't try to pull back to continue playing. She's not as fond of people who visit our house, she does bark quite a bit at new visitors but after a bit she gets used to them. Sorry for the length I'm just happy that she's progressing quite well! Considering all the worrying I did that I'd do a bad job since she is my first puppy and all. I only hope her nipping and biting improves, she's quite a land shark!
> 
> I do have a concern though. Usually in the evening when everyone is at home she'll get over excited and jump all over my mum, nipping at her and she's scratched her quite badly with her teeth a few times. It seems like she's playing, but she seems to only really do it with my mum? She does start with me but when she does I stand up and ignore her and she'll usually leave me alone. When she gets like that we put her in the kitchen, her bed and all her toys are in there, and she can see us behind the baby gate. Is this an okay thing to do? My mum has a bad knee and our sofa is quite low down so she can't so easily get up and ignore Ruby every time she starts like what I do when she does it with me.


4 months was when things started to click with Kiba, and he started to respond to training around then.

Kiba barks are new people entering the house all the time, but we tell the guest to just ignore him (no eye contact). Once he's calm, we ask the guest to give him a treat and make a fuss over him. For us, this worked really help as we've noticed the barking has reduced from like 2 minutes to 30seconds. I think he's starting to understanding that if he stays quiet he will get a treat from the guest and if he barks, they ignore him.

In regards to the excitement in the evenings, Ruby might just have loads of extra energy to burn. Around 4 1/2 month was when I saw a massive increase in Kiba's energy and his lack of ability to be calm, jumping around all over people, nipping like crazy and becoming overly excited was an everyday thing!

What you can do is restrict Ruby's access to your mum till after she has been exercised and is pretty tired. Ruby will be tired and maybe less likely to go too crazy as she doesn't have much energy to use. Take her out for a walk and lots of play and training before allowing access to the rest of the family.

Another thing you can do is set up a separate isolation area that's very boring (no bed, no toys), and pop her in there for 2-3 months whenever she nips at your mum. It will take some time but she will eventually get it that if she nips she'll be put in a very boring place with nothing to do.


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## jamat

Not sure if this has been touched on but one bit of advice I'd like to pass on to all new puppy owners is this.....and I think it is extremely important


From an early stage handle your puppy....not just cuddling .....I mean spend. Five minutes at each play time running your hands over them, belly face ears and paws, get them used to someone touching their bodies in this way.

What it meant for me was Alfie never got scared with the vet examining him, he allows them to run thier hands over him because he has got used to it.

Also while out it allows me to check his paws for seeds and grass balls etc.... And when he gets thistles in his fur especially round his face.....Alfie will even come to me to remove them instead of trying himself.


Lastly knowing your dogs body by touch will allow you to quickly spot changes, lumps cuts etc easily and early which is only a good thing.

I check Alfie once a day near the end of his evening play.....it also relaxes him after play


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## ShibaPup

Wrong thread


----------



## jamat

ShibaPup said:


> Wrong thread


Hi are you referring to my post?


----------



## ShibaPup

jamat said:


> Hi are you referring to my post?


No - sorry, I typed up a big reply and posted it here accidentally when it should have been in my other thread.


----------



## Worrid much

shadowmare said:


> 1) I doubt it's the size of the kibble. The smaller it is the easier it should be to digest. What are you feeding her? It can also be the treats/ any other food that you give her. Are her stools looking ok? not too runny or weird colour? If not, then I wouldn't worry but would consider trying a different food. There is a very informative and a good thread about different brands of dry food in the dog health and nutrition section of the forum.
> 
> 2) If you're worried about her when you go to the shop or somewhere, just leave your laptop or phone with the camera on, go for a walk around the block for 20-30mins and look through the video when you come back. If she is unhappy in the crate during the day, give her a frozen kong or some interesting toy in the crate to keep her busy.
> 
> 3) My dog is 4 and still does that.


#2 is a brilliant idea. My 9 month old seems to be quite upset when I go out. Would love to see what she does when I'm not there


----------



## jamat

ShibaPup said:


> No - sorry, I typed up a big reply and posted it here accidentally when it should have been in my other thread.


OK no problem... Been there done that


----------



## Guest

So star has diarrhea again. Last night I was woken at 12:30am, 5:30am and 7am to the most horrendous smell which I then cleaned up. She's now been another two times since then. When do I know if she needs the vet?. The poo is very bad smelling and has mucous in it. Do I need to take her in or do I just wait till it clears up again?


----------



## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> So star has diarrhea again. Last night I was woken at 12:30am, 5:30am and 7am to the most horrendous smell which I then cleaned up. She's now been another two times since then. When do I know if she needs the vet?. The poo is very bad smelling and has mucous in it. Do I need to take her in or do I just wait till it clears up again?


Mucous is always a vet visit...and extremely bad smelling is not a good sign either


----------



## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Mucous is always a vet visit...and extremely bad smelling is not a good sign either


Ok thanks, I've just worked out this is the third time in a month she's had diarrhea so maybe she has something wrong with her gut?.


----------



## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> Ok thanks, I've just worked out this is the third time in a month she's had diarrhea so maybe she has something wrong with her gut?.


Quite possibly..

Various problems can occur due to bacteria and protozoa.

Most dogs have cast iron stomachs, some more sensitive...it could be that too.

Intermittent diarrhoea in my opinion should never be ignored as there is often an underlying problem.


----------



## ShibaPup

You could try Star on Yudigest tablets, they are a daily probiotic/prebiotic to help gut flora.

Lily has been having the odd case of diarrhoea but otherwise fine, no mucus, no blood, no awful smells, doesn't even last a day - I think with her it is just teething. Nothing else has changed.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Do see vet soon, too many times of diarrhea causes bad dehydration and thats not good particularly in a puppy.
Do hope she's ok soon.


----------



## Guest

Ringing tomorrow. I'm a bit worried in general at the moment. In the space of 12 hours she's also weed on both mine and my mums bed, while we were both in the rooms. It might be totally unrelated but I do wonder if she might have an infection as well as bowel problems.


----------



## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> Ringing tomorrow. I'm a bit worried in general at the moment. In the space of 12 hours she's also weed on both mine and my mums bed, while we were both in the rooms. It might be totally unrelated but I do wonder if she might have an infection as well as bowel problems.


Bowels would be the biggest concern in my opinion. Colitis which it sounds like can be a nightmare to treat and can leave many dogs malnourished due to their problems...the last thing you need is a puppy who is failing to thrive

UTIs although nasty, usually are a quick fix with antibiotics. No real detriment to health as bad as colitis can be.


----------



## Guest

Took Star to the vets this morning, she suspects either giardia or an infection. So she's been given Panacur for three days and Erythromycin for 5 days. We have to take her back in a couple of days if the diarrhea doesn't improve.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

so glad you got it checked out, hopefully the problem will soon be solved and little Star will be back to herself in no time - they are such a b##### worry aren't they, if only they could speak !


----------



## Guest

How is everyone else doing? Let's see some pics of how our bundles of mischief are growing.


----------



## ashelia

Thanks @LittleKrystal for your reply! She's definitely more excitable, her energy level is about the same, but she has more 'crazy' moments where she'll jump all over the sofa and everyone and get very nippy! She's even grabbed a hold of my hair that was tied up in a bun!  But when she does I'll pop her in the kitchen and pretty much every time she'll settle down after a few minutes. Thankfully we've started puppy classes so I've got more things to do with her now. But I took your advice and keep her with me doing things until she's calmer before letting her in with everyone else, hopefully that'll help!

@spamvicious Really hope Star will recover soon! I'm sure she'll be just fine.  Is she doing well aside from the infection? Ruby is teething big time, she's lost quite a few teeth already but she's _soooo_ nippy and bites so much my hands are so sore and red! I swear she's nippy 90% of the time, I'm hoping it's just normal puppy behaviour and nothing else.


----------



## Guest

ashelia said:


> @spamvicious Really hope Star will recover soon! I'm sure she'll be just fine.  Is she doing well aside from the infection? Ruby is teething big time, she's lost quite a few teeth already but she's _soooo_ nippy and bites so much my hands are so sore and red! I swear she's nippy 90% of the time, I'm hoping it's just normal puppy behaviour and nothing else.


She is doing better already, she's currently basking in the sun in the doorway. We've been very lucky that Star isn't too nippy, she just has odd moments when she's bored. She's lost both her lower canine teeth but already some new ones are coming through. It's always weird when you see them with blood in her mouth, she must have swallowed the teeth though cos I haven't found them. The only issue we're still having is her anxiety when we leave, oh and her barking every time someone comes past the garden. Some idiots keep bending over the gate to try stroke her which makes her bark even more.


----------



## ShibaPup

Glad everyone seems well!

I'm quite proud of my little mutt  you are probably sick of Lily pictures!!

Her first day and a couple months later!
















Down - wait









Sit - wait









Some scent work 









Ahhh biting is fun isn't it?  Lily and I are well versed in biting - one of her favourite things! It's a horrible, absolutely awful phase and I honestly thought she would never improve, let alone stop!

Consistency and patience are key - I would redirect her for milder bites but hard and painful ones, I would leave her until she calmed down. There were days I didn't even stroke Lily - sounds awful but I'm not being her human chew toy. It does get better eventually though!!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Emma still in biting mode and is obsessed with pigeon poo  Doing well at classes and today went to the kennels for an overnight stay in preparation for when we go away to the States in September. Luckily the kennels is 5 mins away and owned by my best friend.
I have to confess there are days when her pigeon poo obsession and biting really get me down. I really must start being harder with her as she is a very bold testing puppy. 15 weeks old tomorrow. If I don't get a bit stronger with her now I will have lost the main chance I have. We go away next weekend for a charity dog day in aid of Breast Cancer run by her breeder and where we will possibly meet up with some of her siblings - it will be good to exchange notes. 















On the run in the back garden and waiting at the back porch in the sunshine. Getting more silver every day now and legs getting longer!


----------



## PoppyPaws

I just wanted to say hi! We're bringing home our new puppy a week tomorrow, and I'm so excited! Hit me with your tips for making the first 24 hours as smooth as possible, please!

This is Teddy, he's a cockapoo.


----------



## JoanneF

DaisyBluebell said:


> obsessed with pigeon poo


Eating or rolling in it?


----------



## JoanneF

PoppyPaws said:


> Hit me with your tips for making the first 24 hours as smooth as possible, please!


Just send him to me. No problem, he is gorgeous!

But seriously, here goes, others may add more.

Get some water from his breeder, gradually mix it with yours (helps avoid tummy upsets).

Don't leave him by himself in a crate, or downstairs in the kitchen etc (especially at night). He has just been separated from mum and littermates so he will be very confused and lonely, so don't add to that by leaving him completely alone. Have him in your room at night - you can put a hand down to comfort him if he gets anxious, that will strengthen your bond and make him less likely to be clingy because he will develop confidence more quickly.

Toileting - 
Ideally you want him to not be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously. If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. As he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is reliably trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.

Indoors if you see him circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get him out fast.

I don't like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.

Socialisation - think quality, not quantity. Socialisation is not about everyone and every dog meeting him. Letting all and sundry (people and dogs) near a puppy can be overwhelming andfrightening - the opposite of what you want. Control the socialisation by being selective, especially with other dogs and kids. Look for calm role model dogs, and adults and children who can be trusted not to get over excited. Socialisation is not about plunging your puppy into everynew experience, but rather allowing him to see, hear and get used to people and situations calmly and from a safe position. But DO take him out in a carrier or a sling as soon as possible (before second injections) to experience the world from a safe place - as long as he doesn't encounter unvaccinated dogs or their poo, he will be fine and will build confidence quickly.

Buy a copy of 'The Perfect Puppy' by Gwen Bailey.

Post LOTS of photos here.

Any problems just send him to me, he is scrumptious!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

JoanneF said:


> Eating or rolling in it?


EATING


----------



## JoanneF

DaisyBluebell said:


> EATING


I know someone who has had success with her medium sized dog's poo eating by giving a dessert spoonful of live (natural, low fat) yoghurt daily. Smokeybear here thinks the stomach acids would destroy the good bacteria before they reach the gut but my friend swears by it. It can't do any harm - I don't know if it would work for pigeon poo but it has to be worth a shot? If your dog is tiny a teaspoon might be enough.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Puppy tips - all as JoanneF says plus 'start as you mean to go on' if you don't want him laying on your sofa or chairs or bed when he is an adult don't start letting him on them from day one. Dont give him your old trainers to play with as dogs cant distinguish between them & your brand new ones or a pair of Jimmy Choo's.
Remember a puppy to start with is a peeing, pooing, eating, biting machine however adorable looking he may be & the realities of owning one for the first time may not, to start with, match up to what you expect it to be like (first hand experience talking here )& watch the new programme 10 Puppies that started on BBC2 last night. 
Oh & be prepared for late nights & early morning starts & playing in the garden at 5am !
Having said all that expect a tear in your eye & the overwhelming joy the first time Teddy actually responds to his name & runs to you wagging his little bottom ;-)


----------



## DaisyBluebell

JoanneF said:


> I know someone who has had success with her medium sized dog's poo eating by giving a dessert spoonful of live (natural, low fat) yoghurt daily. Smokeybear here thinks the stomach acids would destroy the good bacteria before they reach the gut but my friend swears by it. It can't do any harm - I don't know if it would work for pigeon poo but it has to be worth a shot? If your dog is tiny a teaspoon might be enough.


Will give it a go thanks. None of my other dogs have ever done it but they have all been rescues from the age of 5 months & above, an 8 week olds antics came as a whole new experience :-o


----------



## bumbarrel

Can you 'sabotage' some poo deliberately making it taste nasty by putting a taste deterrent (like Bitter Apple) on some? That way the poo itself puts them off

I have used this with success: though finding several lots of pigeon poo might be difficult.


----------



## char&percy

spamvicious said:


> Yeah I've read that thanks. Everyone has different opinions. I think I'm gonna try her on Wainwrights, it isn't too expensive and seems to have good reviews.


The breeder was feeding Percy Royal canon dry puppy food, we continued this and then tried to switch to the wainwright grain free dry food by weening him into it and he really didn't agree with wainwrights. I don't know if perhaps we were introducing the new food too quickly but he vomited the second day and had really runny poos.

Pets at home normally have trained nutritionalists who are great to talk to so that you can get informed and then make a decision for yourself. Also, if you buy a food from there that doesn't agree with your dog they will exchange free of charge!!!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

bumbarrel said:


> Can you 'sabotage' some poo deliberately making it taste nasty by putting a taste deterrent (like Bitter Apple) on some? That way the poo itself puts them off
> 
> I have used this with success: though finding several lots of pigeon poo might be difficult.


Oooh that's a possibility, thanks, as they roost in around the same area's in our oak trees each night, have bought the yogurt as suggested (which she loves) but now to find some Bitter Apple or something similar that won't burn her mouth - suggestions please.
UPDATE found the Bitter Apples spray sold on-line for store pick up at Pets at Home. Have ordered some. Will report if it works.


----------



## ShibaPup

I know a few of us mentioned about recall and focus things - I posted a thread yesterday about focus games and got some really awesome help.

I thought this might help a few of you, it's a DVD - Leash Off, Game On and it contains 10 fun, really, _really_ easy and simple to learn games to help your dog's recall, focus and even loose leash walking. It's £5.95 and you will have a link sent to your email to download and watch it straight away - they do try to tempt you to purchase their other DVD - Naughty But Nice for £24 something but you can say no and just purchase the Leash Off, Game On.

https://game.absolute-dogs.com/leashoffgameon


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Gonna give that one a go ShibaPup our Emma Lurcher is distracted by everything once outside ! Thanks for the link, we can compare notes once I have it.


----------



## ShibaPup

Just letting off steam...

SO tired and fed up - sick of my own family saying stupid things about Lily, they have never even met her! I expected some comments from strangers but TBH that's all been very positive - "She's beautiful", "Gorgeous dog", "She is lovely", "Isn't she sweet", "You have a really nice dog"
Then I have my family - "If she ever locks her jaw on you, get rid", "If she turns on you, get rid", "Why did you have one of those dogs for?", "Why didn't you get a small cute dog?", "Be careful around her and stay safe", "Don't ever trust her, those dogs can turn", "Be firm with her and show her who's boss"

Seriously?! :Arghh:Arghh Instead of just :Finger the comments make me feel really crap 

My OH is constantly "Lily, NO!", "Lily, behave!", "What you doing Lily?!", "Oi, hope you're behaving Lily" - I'm telling him to leave her alone, stop using her name because he will devalue it, she's simply being a normal pup but I clearly don't have a clue! Now Lily no longer responds to her name :Banghead wonder why that is... 

Kinda feel like I am struggling with Lily ATM - I have zero motivation right now, everyone is telling me what NOT to do but no one is actually helping. Not sure what to do or where to turn. I tried a short training session with Lily yesterday but I ended up getting frustrated and had to walk away - I need some guidance and support, I know my training skills are really sloppy - my timing is awful.

I have tried contacting some dog trainers but after a week - not received any replies, even tried to make contact through FB.

Ugh! :Hurting:Arghh:Eggonface


----------



## JoanneF

ShibaPup said:


> Just letting off steam...
> 
> SO tired and fed up - sick of my own family saying stupid things about Lily, they have never even met her! I expected some comments from strangers but TBH that's all been very positive - "She's beautiful", "Gorgeous dog", "She is lovely", "Isn't she sweet", "You have a really nice dog"
> Then I have my family - "If she ever locks her jaw on you, get rid", "If she turns on you, get rid", "Why did you have one of those dogs for?", "Why didn't you get a small cute dog?", "Be careful around her and stay safe", "Don't ever trust her, those dogs can turn", "Be firm with her and show her who's boss"
> 
> Seriously?! :Arghh:Arghh Instead of just :Finger the comments make me feel really crap
> 
> My OH is constantly "Lily, NO!", "Lily, behave!", "What you doing Lily?!", "Oi, hope you're behaving Lily" - I'm telling him to leave her alone, stop using her name because he will devalue it, she's simply being a normal pup but I clearly don't have a clue! Now Lily no longer responds to her name :Banghead wonder why that is...
> 
> Kinda feel like I am struggling with Lily ATM - I have zero motivation right now, everyone is telling me what NOT to do but no one is actually helping. Not sure what to do or where to turn. I tried a short training session with Lily yesterday but I ended up getting frustrated and had to walk away - I need some guidance and support, I know my training skills are really sloppy - my timing is awful.
> 
> I have tried contacting some dog trainers but after a week - not received any replies, even tried to make contact through FB.
> 
> Ugh! :Hurting:Arghh:Eggonface


We probably all have been there. But you are doing a great job, hang in there. I actually think our dogs know perfectly well there is a difference between handlers so she will probably just tune out your other half and follow your cues. If it's any help, that's what Timber does - Mr F wasn't cut out for dog training either. And she will probably be very forgiving about your timing. Look on it as the two of you learning to be a team together. If you have an off day, just do something else and come back to it another day.


----------



## Sairy

ShibaPup said:


> Just letting off steam...
> 
> SO tired and fed up - sick of my own family saying stupid things about Lily, they have never even met her! I expected some comments from strangers but TBH that's all been very positive - "She's beautiful", "Gorgeous dog", "She is lovely", "Isn't she sweet", "You have a really nice dog"
> Then I have my family - "If she ever locks her jaw on you, get rid", "If she turns on you, get rid", "Why did you have one of those dogs for?", "Why didn't you get a small cute dog?", "Be careful around her and stay safe", "Don't ever trust her, those dogs can turn", "Be firm with her and show her who's boss"
> 
> Seriously?! :Arghh:Arghh Instead of just :Finger the comments make me feel really crap
> 
> My OH is constantly "Lily, NO!", "Lily, behave!", "What you doing Lily?!", "Oi, hope you're behaving Lily" - I'm telling him to leave her alone, stop using her name because he will devalue it, she's simply being a normal pup but I clearly don't have a clue! Now Lily no longer responds to her name :Banghead wonder why that is...
> 
> Kinda feel like I am struggling with Lily ATM - I have zero motivation right now, everyone is telling me what NOT to do but no one is actually helping. Not sure what to do or where to turn. I tried a short training session with Lily yesterday but I ended up getting frustrated and had to walk away - I need some guidance and support, I know my training skills are really sloppy - my timing is awful.
> 
> I have tried contacting some dog trainers but after a week - not received any replies, even tried to make contact through FB.
> 
> Ugh! :Hurting:Arghh:Eggonface


Bless you, puppy ownership can be tough, especially when people are on different pages. You live close to me and I would be very happy to meet up (with or without Holly) and help in any way I can. I am by no means a professional, but hopefully will be able to offer tips and advice with obedience training (sometimes it's helpful just to have an outsider tell you what you are doing right and what you can work on). Just let me know if you want to do this. X


----------



## ShibaPup

JoanneF said:


> We probably all have been there. But you are doing a great job, hang in there. I actually think our dogs know perfectly well there is a difference between handlers so she will probably just tune out your other half and follow your cues. If it's any help, that's what Timber does - Mr F wasn't cut out for dog training either. And she will probably be very forgiving about your timing. Look on it as the two of you learning to be a team together. If you have an off day, just do something else and come back to it another day.


Thank you! Means a lot.



Sairy said:


> Bless you, puppy ownership can be tough, especially when people are on different pages. You live close to me and I would be very happy to meet up (with or without Holly) and help in any way I can. I am by no means a professional, but hopefully will be able to offer tips and advice with obedience training (sometimes it's helpful just to have an outsider tell you what you are doing right and what you can work on). Just let me know if you want to do this. X


Ohhh - would absolutely love to!


----------



## Sairy

ShibaPup said:


> Thank you! Means a lot.
> 
> Ohhh - would absolutely love to!


Fab! I am away at a show next weekend, but should have some time the following weekend. That's assuming that weekends work for you.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Sairy , thats so helpful of you, poor ShibaPup I do know how she feels, had dogs all my life Emma is first puppy - I am at a loss sometimes and suddenly everyone is an expert giving me advice, some of which I know is totally wrong!!


----------



## Sairy

DaisyBluebell said:


> Sairy , thats so helpful of you, poor ShibaPup I do know how she feels, had dogs all my life Emma is first puppy - I am at a loss sometimes and suddenly everyone is an expert giving me advice, some of which I know is totally wrong!!


Yes people seem to think that it's their place to give you advice, whether you ask for it or not. I imagine it's the same when you have kids. The thing is, there are lots of ways to train a puppy - some good and others not so good. However, even with the good training methods there are usually several different ways of going about things. Sometimes it's best to shut other people out and perhaps just focus on advice from people you actually want advice from.


----------



## ShibaPup

Sairy said:


> Fab! I am away at a show next weekend, but should have some time the following weekend. That's assuming that weekends work for you.


That will be fine for me


----------



## Sairy

ShibaPup said:


> That will be fine for me


Awesome! Will PM you to arrange


----------



## PoppyPaws

Teddy came home last night - we're in love 

I'm just a little concerned about how little he's drinking - he's barely touched his water, but he definitely knows where it is because he's dunked his nose a couple of time. He's currently on raw food, could it be that he gets enough liquid that way? He's only peed twice since we got home at about 7pm last night.


----------



## 8tansox

PoppyPaws said:


> Teddy came home last night - we're in love
> 
> I'm just a little concerned about how little he's drinking - he's barely touched his water, but he definitely knows where it is because he's dunked his nose a couple of time. He's currently on raw food, could it be that he gets enough liquid that way? He's only peed twice since we got home at about 7pm last night.


You're quite right, raw fed dogs drink a lot less than kibble fed dogs, he'll drink when he wants / needs to, and I suspect you'll find muddy puddles are a great attraction too! He's lovely btw!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

As 8tansox says, our Emma was the same to start with when we had her on raw, its a lot different now we have changed her to Orijen Dry Puppy food.
Teddy looks beautiful, hope he is not as 'handy' with his little needle teeth as Emma!


----------



## ashelia

Does anyone have any experience with car chasing? Ruby does it and we had a bit of scare the other day!  ASDA delivery was about to leave and she escaped from the garden where she was with me, we're gonna put up some wiring so she can't get through the fence gaps, and she chased after the truck! Thankfully she responded to my recall and came back. But when we're on walks if a car passes I bend down with her and hold her collar but she pulls really hard wanting to get to the car and once she almost pulled me over with her. If the car is going in the opposite direction she wont chase after it and will continue on with me, but if its going in the same direction as us she'll want to chase and will pull like crazy! Even after the car is out of sight.

I would just avoid the road but where we live I have to go on the road to take her anywhere, its not a main road or anything, it's a very quiet, small country lane and most of the time I can go for a walk with her without seeing any cars, and cars drive slowly/slow down when they see us but its still a bit of a problem! She doesn't seem to want to chase when we've been by main roads, in town or in a car park so I'm assuming its because of the close proximity of the cars on our small lane?



spamvicious said:


> She is doing better already, she's currently basking in the sun in the doorway. We've been very lucky that Star isn't too nippy, she just has odd moments when she's bored. She's lost both her lower canine teeth but already some new ones are coming through. It's always weird when you see them with blood in her mouth, she must have swallowed the teeth though cos I haven't found them. The only issue we're still having is her anxiety when we leave, oh and her barking every time someone comes past the garden. Some idiots keep bending over the gate to try stroke her which makes her bark even more.


I'm a little envious!  Ruby is very mouthy but she has gotten better. I was a little alarmed the first time I saw blood in Ruby's mouth, she lost her canines first too and I found one on the living room floor! Thats annoying tho! That's where I'm rather lucky as we live in the middle of nowhere so we don't have people coming by too often, but Ruby does bark a lot when people knock on the door, and it takes her a little bit to trust new people in our house. Have you noticed a change in Stars energy level? Since Ruby got closer to 5 months she's definitely started to mellow out a little more, she still has her nutty moments but she hasn't gotten so crazy to jump all over my mum like she used to.


----------



## Harlequin_

How the heck do I get my dog to stop chasing damn cars. She nearly got run over this morning.


----------



## ShibaPup

For those asking about car chasing - have you done any work with a flirt pole? Both Lily and I love playing with the flirt pole - it's one of our faves!
Zooplus sell a cheap one with a squeaky lamp chop soft toy, Amazon sell one with a fleece tug and tug-e-nuff sell one with faux fur or sheepskin. Or if you are creative - you can make your own with a horse lunge whip and whatever toy you choose.

Gives them a safe release for that chase instinct but also helps their impulse control when you teach get it, release and wait cues. You can even add sit, down, stand, twirl, spin or any other cues over time to make it more of a challenge for the dog.

Obviously keep them on lead around roads to prevent them from practising the unwanted and dangerous behaviour - since it is self rewarding for the dog.

Some video ideas


----------



## DaisyBluebell

At long last Emma pup and I are truly bonding - its taken a while and a lot of tears from me - I found it truly hard. We had a wonderful few days away in Norfolk and she was an absolute star. We went to a Canine Charity day in aid of Breast Cancer and she was amazing with every dog she met. She even came 3rd in the Best Puppy under 6 months Class - we were very proud owners (see pic). We stayed in the most doggy friendly pup ever & she was petted by everyone and loved it. No problem laying quietly under the table while we ate either. First time on a beach, I thought she would dig her way to Australia, but not too keen on the sea. All in all a terrific time.


----------



## PoppyPaws

If anyone can give me some advice I'd be really grateful - I feel like I'm doing this all wrong and ruining a really lovely dog! 

I feel like we're going backwards with toilet training - within the first couple of days Teddy was doing really well, even asking to go out a couple of times. Today he's both pooed and peed in the house, and with the pee this evening he had been outside right beforehand, came back inside and peed right in front of me. It seems like sometimes, however long we stay outside he just wants to play (and eat the moss/leaves/sticks/stones/bird poo/plants...!) but doesn't do anything, even when he needs to. I don't interact with him particularly when we're out there apart from saying "do wee-wees", and remove whatever he's trying to eat! 

Also, he doesn't eat an awful lot. I've moved him onto dry food (Wainwrights) from the raw that the breeder was giving them and he eats it absolutely fine - he's drinking enough and isn't constipated or anything. If he's hungry he wolfs it down, so I think he likes it, but he only really seems to be hungry twice a day. I put food down four times a day, and generally at breakfast he wolfs it down, tea time (4pm-ish) he eats it but over the course of an hour but outside that he picks a bit but only eats maybe a quarter of the bowl at most. He's not getting a load of treats, so isn't filling up that way, and I don't want him to starve!


----------



## JoanneF

PoppyPaws said:


> I don't interact with him particularly when we're out there apart from saying "do wee-wees"


There is no point in saying this yet, until he knows what it means - you would be as well saying 'hippopotamus '.

Toilet training comes together when two things happen - the ability to hold his toilet, and the desire to hold it for the lovely reward he will get.

Ideally you want him to not be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously. If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. THEN, as he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is *reliably* trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.

Indoors if you see him circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get him out fast.

Don't stress - we all have been there and he will suddenly just 'get it'!

And he won't starve, dog food guidelines are just guidelines. Many dogs self regulate, just keep an eye on his condition. He probably preferred the raw - is there a reason you didn't want to continue? Also changes should really be done gradually, how long have you had him?


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## PoppyPaws

JoanneF said:


> There is no point in saying this yet, until he knows what it means - you would be as well saying 'hippopotamus '.
> 
> Toilet training comes together when two things happen - the ability to hold his toilet, and the desire to hold it for the lovely reward he will get.
> 
> Ideally you want him to not be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously. If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. THEN, as he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is *reliably* trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.
> 
> Indoors if you see him circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get him out fast.
> 
> Don't stress - we all have been there and he will suddenly just 'get it'!
> 
> And he won't starve, dog food guidelines are just guidelines. Many dogs self regulate, just keep an eye on his condition. He probably preferred the raw - is there a reason you didn't want to continue? Also changes should really be done gradually, how long have you had him?


Re. Saying wee-wees, I read that you should start saying your key word straight away as they're doing it, so they learn to associate the word with the action. I'all hold off on saying it, if it's confusing the situation. I take him out whenever he's eaten, played, slept etc, and up until today he's been really good. I've just spent the majority of today standing in the pissing rain only to give up after an hour and then have him immediately pee on the carpet! It's a bit disheartening, but hopefully it's just an off day

With the food, he's full of energy, looks bright and healthy etc. I'm not keen on raw for a variety of reasons, primarily at the moment because I don't have a freezer to store it, and I prefer the kibble. He's been with us since last Friday and today was the first day of being fully on the kibble, but the pickiness isn't just today, he's been that way since we got him - I was chucking away half the meals I put down because I didn't want to leave raw meat sitting around - I'm giving him a bit longer with the kibble but taking it up again after about an hour. I wonder if part of it is his short attention span!


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## JoanneF

PoppyPaws said:


> saying your key word straight away *as they're doing it*


I may have misunderstood your post; absolutely say the cue word while your pup is actually performing so they build the association. I thought you were giving the cue to prompt the toilet before the association has been cemented.


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## DaisyBluebell

Spamvicious (who started this helpful thread) has not been on here for a while, I wonder if all is well with her and her pup - any one been in touch with her?


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> Spamvicious (who started this helpful thread) has not been on here for a while, I wonder if all is well with her and her pup - any one been in touch with her?


Sorry, I've been having major life issues so haven't been around to cap it all off, Star was mauled by a dog this afternoon and I'm in shock, she's at the vets over night as she has puncture wounds and a possible broken paw. She's in shock and so am I.


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## JoanneF

That's awful, poor Star and poor you. I hope she is ok, let us know what happens. And do report to the dog warden when you can, it may not help Star but might prevent an attack in the future.


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## DaisyBluebell

spamvicious said:


> Sorry, I've been having major life issues so haven't been around to cap it all off, Star was mauled by a dog this afternoon and I'm in shock, she's at the vets over night as she has puncture wounds and a possible broken paw. She's in shock and so am I.


OMG I'm so sorry to hear that, poor you & poor little Star. What the hell happened? Please keep in touch. I was worried 'cause I always looked for your updates. Oh poor little Star but with the vets sorting her out & you to nurse her all will be well for her soon. Its such a bloody shock when something like that happens to your beloved baby.
Meanwhile I hope life gets better for you too very soon. Hugs n prays on the way to you now.


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## JRB123

Oh no - how awful for you both! Hope Star is recovering well physically and psychologically. Stay strong


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## ShibaPup

Hope Star is recovering well!

Yesterday we went for a walk earlier than usual - awful idea but I learnt I am not a sociable dog walker, everyone was out with their dogs :Arghh

We avoided the park and did a pavement walk but bumped into a Cocker Spaniel - that dog was positively bonkers, never known an animal to be so all over the place, it just couldn't sit still and then it started crying and yapping at Lily. 
Lily seemed unsure when the dog started crying and yapping - her fur went up on her back. She's bumped into dogs barking at her but she's never reacted that way.

Back to our usual 7-8pm walk.


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## Beth-and-co

I've just read all of this thread. Thank you so much for all the tips everyone and all your pups are so lovely!!

Objectively, I can honestly say having read it all that you have all made so much progress even though you sometimes feel you haven't.

I hope Star is OK - really have everything crossed for her, and hope you are doing well too @spamvicious


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## Guest

How's everyone doing?. Star is doing much better, her wounds are healing and she's not showing fear with other dogs. She's a bit more anxious in general but thats understandable considering. The police were hopeless, they spoke to the owner who was "so remorseful" and promised to help me with the vet fees....and he hasn't done that.


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## PoppyPaws

So glad Star is recovering, that sounds horrible! 

I'm just trying to find something that Teddy will actually eat. He's been having Wainwrights but eats very reluctantly - I've tried Lily's Kitchen this evening and that seems to have gone over quite well, so I'm going to try that again tomorrow and see if it's more than a one-off. He loves treats but just isn't keen on eating proper meals at the moment!


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## Guest

PoppyPaws said:


> So glad Star is recovering, that sounds horrible!
> 
> I'm just trying to find something that Teddy will actually eat. He's been having Wainwrights but eats very reluctantly - I've tried Lily's Kitchen this evening and that seems to have gone over quite well, so I'm going to try that again tomorrow and see if it's more than a one-off. He loves treats but just isn't keen on eating proper meals at the moment!


I have the same issue with Star, she used to be on wainwrights dry food with some wet mixed in but wouldn't eat it so we switched to the wainwright pouches. That went ok for a while but now she is barely eating, at the most we get her to eat 1-1 1/2 pouches a day and she should be on 4-5 going by the back of the box.


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## ForestWomble

spamvicious said:


> I have the same issue with Star, she used to be on wainwrights dry food with some wet mixed in but wouldn't eat it so we switched to the wainwright pouches. That went ok for a while but now she is barely eating, at the most we get her to eat 1-1 1/2 pouches a day and she should be on 4-5 going by the back of the box.


What it says on the back of the pouch is only a guide, for as long as Star is growing well and her weight is good, she is eating enough for her 

For example Bungo should eat about 120g a day of kibble, he eats 60g a day at the most and he has grown well and the vet is happy with his weight.


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## JoanneF

Have either of you tried Gentle? My fussy 6 year old loves it.
http://www.gentledogfood.co.uk/

And, he was fussy until he started on it about a year ago. Now he eats eagerly.


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## Guest

Animallover26 said:


> What it says on the back of the pouch is only a guide, for as long as Star is growing well and her weight is good, she is eating enough for her
> 
> For example Bungo should eat about 120g a day of kibble, he eats 60g a day at the most and he has grown well and the vet is happy with his weight.


Oh ok great. She weighs 8.2kg which is the normal weight for a cockapoo I think. She has stopped putting weight on though at 6 months, I thought she would continue to while she grows or will she just become leaner?


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## Guest

JoanneF said:


> Have either of you tried Gentle? My fussy 6 year old loves it.
> http://www.gentledogfood.co.uk/
> 
> And, he was fussy until he started on it about a year ago. Now he eats eagerly.


I haven't heard of this before, I'll check it out


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## JoanneF

spamvicious said:


> I haven't heard of this before, I'll check it out


It gets something like 4.9 out of 5 on www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk (I might be slightly off, working from memory) and I pay £4 per kilo, buying I think 8 k at a time. It's dearer from my supplier if you buy lower amounts because he delivers. It's cold pressed, and my dog really loves it.


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## ForestWomble

spamvicious said:


> Oh ok great. She weighs 8.2kg which is the normal weight for a cockapoo I think. She has stopped putting weight on though at 6 months, I thought she would continue to while she grows or will she just become leaner?


I can't remember when Bungo stopped gaining weight, so I can't help you there, sorry. Hopefully someone else will be able to answer your question.


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## ShibaPup

Bloody cats - I actually like cats but not when they jump outta nowhere and attack Lily :Banghead took us both by surprise and that's the first time I've heard her growl and saw her air snap. Not proud that I had to kick the cat when it tried to come back for another go as we tried to walk off.

Cats shouldn't be allowed to roam in built up areas. If that was a dog - it would be reported but there's nothing you can do about a cat.


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## Guest

How about a pic update from everyone? This is Star at 6 months. We're more and more convinced that we were in fact sold a labradoodle and not a cockapoo :Hilarious


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## PoppyPaws

spamvicious said:


> How about a pic update from everyone? This is Star at 6 months. We're more and more convinced that we were in fact sold a labradoodle and not a cockapoo :Hilarious


She's gorgeous!

Teddy has gone totally backwards in toilet training - he completely refuses to go outside at home, although will do it fine at my parent's house frustratingly! I'm currently sitting outside in my biggest coat, trying to outlast him, with some treats that he will normally sell his soul for! I don't know why all of a sudden he won't go, when he was starting to get the hang of it - he will do it at night, but no other time. Apart from that he's pretty cute, and normally only wakes up once a night for a wee, so could be worse!


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## Guest

PoppyPaws said:


> View attachment 323978
> 
> 
> She's gorgeous!
> 
> Teddy has gone totally backwards in toilet training - he completely refuses to go outside at home, although will do it fine at my parent's house frustratingly! I'm currently sitting outside in my biggest coat, trying to outlast him, with some treats that he will normally sell his soul for! I don't know why all of a sudden he won't go, when he was starting to get the hang of it - he will do it at night, but no other time. Apart from that he's pretty cute, and normally only wakes up once a night for a wee, so could be worse!


How old is Teddy now? Has something spooked him in the garden? It's odd that he will do it at night but not during the day.


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## PoppyPaws

spamvicious said:


> How old is Teddy now? Has something spooked him in the garden? It's odd that he will do it at night but not during the day.


He's 14 weeks. Amazingly enough, once I got him to do a wee outside last night and he got the good treats, he's been much more willing to do it outside today - he even took himself off to do a wee earlier, which is unprecedented! I don't think anything has spooked him, but if it had, he seems to be over it now.


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## ShibaPup

How is everyone?


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## Beccydoodaa

I am making my way through this entire thread and finding it very helpful. We've been having huge problems with our pup and I was at my wits end a week or two ago. Things still aren't great but I THINK I'm beginning to see tiny amounts of progress. It's good to see how others are doing with that puppies!


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## DaisyBluebell

Oh my goodness how Star & Teddy have grown! Where's your picture Shibapup? We have been away for the last few weeks and Emma has been in the kennel's and loved it there. We took her for a run up Clumber Park yesterday and she was excellent briefly off lead, on lead,off lead then on to walk back to car, ran off to meet & greet another dog (naughty) but returned when whistled (unbelievable!) I know we will have good days and bad days but we get back to training class this Sunday and have done a bit of heel work today. Big problem we have at the moment is if she picks something up when in the garden or off lead when out yet then she will not drop it or give it up & if approached in anyway will run off with it - no we NEVER chase after her but its a bloody pain and could be dangerous - any tips anyone??
Pics below :
New large size under table bed ordered! & watching TV on the settee (she was not going to be allowed on the furniture....)


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## Kate28

Hi! Can I join this thread? Brought my 8 week old border terrier pup home on Saturday. Loving it most of the time but other times not so much! Didn't know puppy's bites could be so sore! I knew a puppy would be hard work but it can be really difficult when you've been in all day with them and they can't be walked yet! I didn't realise how
Mental puppy zoomies were! X


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## DaisyBluebell

Kate28 said:


> Hi! Can I join this thread? Brought my 8 week old border terrier pup home on Saturday. Loving it most of the time but other times not so much! Didn't know puppy's bites could be so sore! I knew a puppy would be hard work but it can be really difficult when you've been in all day with them and they can't be walked yet! I didn't realise how
> Mental puppy zoomies were! X


When we first got Emma I found life with her very difficult, my arms looked like I was actually self harming the biting/nipping was so bad! The ankle/feet biting was almost as bad. I was so glad I found this forum & this thread started by spamvicious as it helped me understand what was happening was normal puppy behaviour & that my reaction to it & my 'puppy blues' was also normal. Had it not been for my husba d I would probably have given her back to the breeder - thank God I didn't! She us 6 months old tomorrow, still a pain in tbe bum on the odd occasion but now I would not be without her - love her to bits. Those awful puppy scalpel sharp teeth have now all been replaced by beautiful 'big girl' teeth so now the odd playful nip doesnt hurt at all. You will soon feel the same & the bad stuff will all be forgotten & forgiven. 
Pictures are required please so we can all coo over your new addition.


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## Kate28

Thanks so much for that reply. I've read the thread and feel much happier knowing this is all normal an I've not got a demon pup lol! He's so lovely the majority of the time, I just need to remember the nice times when he is hyper! 

It's great to know now there's light at the end of the puppy tunnel I've attached photos, he looks like butter wouldn't melt!


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## DaisyBluebell

Kate28 said:


> Thanks so much for that reply. I've read the thread and feel much happier knowing this is all normal an I've not got a demon pup lol! He's so lovely the majority of the time, I just need to remember the nice times when he is hyper!
> 
> It's great to know now there's light at the end of the puppy tunnel I've attached photos, he looks like butter wouldn't melt!


Oh what a cutie, my sister has two Border 's, they too look like butter wouldn't melt but can behave like mental cases sometimes especially when one wants the Kong teddy that the other one is playing with!


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## Kate28

Haha they can be a bit crazy! I'm looking forward to being able to walk Baxter once he's had his vacinations, burn some of the energy!

Another thing I was wondering is how old your pups were when you could leave them for an hour or so in their crates? Mu husband has taken 4 weeks off work so someone will be in at all times until he is 13.5 weeks but I wasn't sure if we should start leaving him in short bursts sooner?


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## DaisyBluebell

Make sure your husband is NOT with your pup all the time or Baxter will assume this is the norm and you will go backwards with him when life changes completely when you husband goes back to work!
Start TODAY by walking out of the room every now and again and totally ignoring the pup when you comeback in. Right from day one, and still now, I walked into the kitchen where Emma is in her crate & totally ignored her, put kettle on, open back door say good morning as I walk past her, make tea then open crate and take her to garden for a pee, I never make a big fuss and she has accepted this as the norm from the start. We started putting her in her crate, going outside and waiting for 5/10 mins to begin with then the two of us walking back in talking taking no notice of her again, opening up the crate and carrying on talking again not making a fuss of her. She now accepts these things as the norm. We work in the garden sometimes for an hour or so & she sleeps in her crate during that time & has never made a noise. It wasn't until she was about 4 months old that we both actually went to the gym together (leaving the radio on) so were out for about 2 1/2 hrs & again came home walked in chatting, put kettle on, opened crate no fuss & she never even bothered to get out of the crate straight away! Others on here I know have started from day one leaving their pups for a lot longer but its a case of what you feel more comfortable with, our way for us has worked really well & we asked neighbours to tell us if there is ever any noise from her when we have been out and no there hasn't. So far so good. She is 6 months old today and by no means an angel but a hell of a lot better than those first weeks, when I could gladly have given her back.......


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## ShibaPup

Ugh!! Lily has been a proper little gobshite the last week! :Shifty:Shifty

Pulling on the lead - I hate, hate, hate, HATE, walking her because of the constant pulling. 
We tried the giving into harness pressure by Kikopup, which is what we used before but the past week I have zero focus outside and I'm pretty sure Lily thinks she's pulling weight (me!) rather than having some manners on leash. Not sure what to try - I don't want competition heeling, don't mind her being out in front but I'd like to not be dragged around the streets. If I stop - she just sits so we don't get very far!

Anyway here is a picture of the little snot


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## DaisyBluebell

Oh that face does make me laugh, but I can understand perfectly what your saying, for some reason Emma has started pulling to the point I;m trying to hold her back and she is actually on just her two back feet only & still walking forward!! A harness only seems to make things worse as they assume that they are supposed to be pulling against it! We are having problems with Emma picking stuff up when off the lead and the moment you step forward saying drop it she runs off with what ever it is - bloody nightmare!


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Ugh!! Lily has been a proper little gobshite the last week! :Shifty:Shifty
> 
> Pulling on the lead - I hate, hate, hate, HATE, walking her because of the constant pulling.
> We tried the giving into harness pressure by Kikopup, which is what we used before but the past week I have zero focus outside and I'm pretty sure Lily thinks she's pulling weight (me!) rather than having some manners on leash. Not sure what to try - I don't want competition heeling, don't mind her being out in front but I'd like to not be dragged around the streets. If I stop - she just sits so we don't get very far!
> 
> Anyway here is a picture of the little snot


You sort already know by your post where you are going wrong...

To work on lead walking you need to be going no where in particular, and usually means you don't actually go anywhere very fast.

Most people make the mistake of trying to training lead walking whilst on a walk, so they have an aim on sight. They also, like you really are not keen on the pulling, but let it slide because...the aim of the walk is usually to get somewhere where your dog does not need it's lead manners, could be a safe secure off lead area.

If people are proofing a behaviour they would like, they spend time doing that behaviour in their chosen method. Might break it up and go to a play, then re visit. The likelihood is, you won't be setting your pup/dog up to fail by allowing the dog to practice an alternative, not required behaviour. Whereas lead walking, we often do. I say we, because it's one of those things we either focus on training and never have our dogs on leads at any other time...which is mighty impossible to say the least.

Yep..LLW can be the most boring thing to teach.


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## ShibaPup

DaisyBluebell said:


> Oh that face does make me laugh, but I can understand perfectly what your saying, for some reason Emma has started pulling to the point I;m trying to hold her back and she is actually on just her two back feet only & still walking forward!! A harness only seems to make things worse as they assume that they are supposed to be pulling against it! We are having problems with Emma picking stuff up when off the lead and the moment you step forward saying drop it she runs off with what ever it is - bloody nightmare!


Domesticated manners - teaching your dog to drop is excellent!

Lily started doing that - loving the attention but I walked away from her, completely ignored her and she'd soon drop whatever she was attempting to eat and come running to me.



lullabydream said:


> You sort already know by your post where you are going wrong...
> 
> To work on lead walking you need to be going no where in particular, and usually means you don't actually go anywhere very fast.
> 
> Most people make the mistake of trying to training lead walking whilst on a walk, so they have an aim on sight. They also, like you really are not keen on the pulling, but let it slide because...the aim of the walk is usually to get somewhere where your dog does not need it's lead manners, could be a safe secure off lead area.
> 
> If people are proofing a behaviour they would like, they spend time doing that behaviour in their chosen method. Might break it up and go to a play, then re visit. The likelihood is, you won't be setting your pup/dog up to fail by allowing the dog to practice an alternative, not required behaviour. Whereas lead walking, we often do. I say we, because it's one of those things we either focus on training and never have our dogs on leads at any other time...which is mighty impossible to say the least.
> 
> Yep..LLW can be the most boring thing to teach.


In theory I should start indoors - since there is nothing to excite or distract her.
Then when we've got that down, try elsewhere from scratch but yeah finding the motivation is tough. She just gets crazy excited by her lead. Then she's rude and obnoxious.

Need to stop putting it off and crack on with it.

Edited - I also hate people watching us train outside! So self-conscious.


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## Kate28

DaisyBluebell said:


> Make sure your husband is NOT with your pup all the time or Baxter will assume this is the norm and you will go backwards with him when life changes completely when you husband goes back to work!
> Start TODAY by walking out of the room every now and again and totally ignoring the pup when you comeback in. Right from day one, and still now, I walked into the kitchen where Emma is in her crate & totally ignored her, put kettle on, open back door say good morning as I walk past her, make tea then open crate and take her to garden for a pee, I never make a big fuss and she has accepted this as the norm from the start. We started putting her in her crate, going outside and waiting for 5/10 mins to begin with then the two of us walking back in talking taking no notice of her again, opening up the crate and carrying on talking again not making a fuss of her. She now accepts these things as the norm. We work in the garden sometimes for an hour or so & she sleeps in her crate during that time & has never made a noise. It wasn't until she was about 4 months old that we both actually went to the gym together (leaving the radio on) so were out for about 2 1/2 hrs & again came home walked in chatting, put kettle on, opened crate no fuss & she never even bothered to get out of the crate straight away! Others on here I know have started from day one leaving their pups for a lot longer but its a case of what you feel more comfortable with, our way for us has worked really well & we asked neighbours to tell us if there is ever any noise from her when we have been out and no there hasn't. So far so good. She is 6 months old today and by no means an angel but a hell of a lot better than those first weeks, when I could gladly have given her back.......


Great thank you! We have been going in and out the room for a few minutes at a time and he seems ok but that's when he's in his Doggy bed and not in his crate. He's not a fan of the crate during the day but is fine at night, so we need to start building his time up in the crate during the day!

Any suggestions for the biting? When he's having a zoomie he's started really biting and once he's got a hold he won't let go. I've tried distracting him with toys but when he's in that sort of mood there's no distracting him. I'm feeling really upset today because I feel nervous around him now and suddenly he will go from docile and affectionate to totally wild and will bite me and growl at me. Not sure what to do? Is this normal for them to properly bite (drawing blood?) i tried putting him in the crate for time out but he starts thrashing about and I'm scared he's going to hurt himself!


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## Ashleymua

My puppy is 9.5 weeks old and she comes across as a shy puppy. However I have noticed that she kind of quivers sometimes while sitting or lying down as if she is scared of something. Is this normal? She has only been her 3 days so is it that she still isn't used to her new surroundings?


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## Kate28

Ashleymua said:


> My puppy is 9.5 weeks old and she comes across as a shy puppy. However I have noticed that she kind of quivers sometimes while sitting or lying down as if she is scared of something. Is this normal? She has only been her 3 days so is it that she still isn't used to her new surroundings?


Hey! My puppy was quite shy when we first brought him home too. It's probably just that she is still settling in to her new home. My pup has only been with us a week but now is very cheeky compared to the shy pup he was when we brought him home!


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## DaisyBluebell

Kate28 said:


> Any suggestions for the biting? When he's having a zoomie he's started really biting and once he's got a hold he won't let go. I've tried distracting him with toys but when he's in that sort of mood there's no distracting him. I'm feeling really upset today because I feel nervous around him now and suddenly he will go from docile and affectionate to totally wild and will bite me and growl at me. Not sure what to do? Is this normal for them to properly bite (drawing blood?) i tried putting him in the crate for time out but he starts thrashing about and I'm scared he's going to hurt himself!


Kate your puppy is only doing what he would do if still with his siblings, its testing the ground and boundaries, the growling is puppy growling, wait till you see your pup 'play fighting' with other puppies ! the growling and biting that goes on is scary (well it was for me when I first saw it). Don't feel nervous around him, he is just testing. Decide how you want your lives to be with this new biting, pooing,peeing, at present, maniac & continue along those lines. Like children give them an inch & they will take a yard. When he does zoomies and bites your feet, ankles, say a sharp NO & turn your back on him. I found NO better than the often suggested yelp,that just got Emma going even more. Your puppy loves you, tho it may not seem it when those little needles draw blood, nothing is worse than being ignored. I avoided putting Emma in her crate to start with but realised I and she needed the space to calm down. When he is going mad or driving you mad, say not a word, pick him up (he will struggle) put him in the crate and walk out of the room for at least a minute,walk back in, ignore him for a second or two, no matter what he is doing, then open the crate & let him out. If he starts being silly again then do the whole thing over again he will soon get the message. This period, I have found having only just gone through it, will seem like its lasting for months, when in fact it goes so quickly I promise. Once the needle teeth start being replace with proper teeth things take a turn for the better. Oh and yes, as I have said before, my hands and arms did look like I was self harming for a few weeks, she even got a vein on my hand one day, boy did that bleed. Now all she wants to do is have a cuddle with me, still mouthing now and again but gentle mouthing now.


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## DaisyBluebell

Ashleymua said:


> My puppy is 9.5 weeks old and she comes across as a shy puppy. However I have noticed that she kind of quivers sometimes while sitting or lying down as if she is scared of something. Is this normal? She has only been her 3 days so is it that she still isn't used to her new surroundings?


Its very early days for your puppy Ashley, its just left everything it has ever known, its mum, its brothers & sisters and the only environment it has know from birth - how would you feel under those circumstances? Don;t make too big a deal, give your pup space, cuddles when it wants them not when you want them, all will come good, you will look back at your post when the biting, pooing, peeing zoomies start and wish you could go back to the start again!


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## Kate28

DaisyBluebell said:


> Kate your puppy is only doing what he would do if still with his siblings, its testing the ground and boundaries, the growling is puppy growling, wait till you see your pup 'play fighting' with other puppies ! the growling and biting that goes on is scary (well it was for me when I first saw it). Don't feel nervous around him, he is just testing. Decide how you want your lives to be with this new biting, pooing,peeing, at present, maniac & continue along those lines. Like children give them an inch & they will take a yard. When he does zoomies and bites your feet, ankles, say a sharp NO & turn your back on him. I found NO better than the often suggested yelp,that just got Emma going even more. Your puppy loves you, tho it may not seem it when those little needles draw blood, nothing is worse than being ignored. I avoided putting Emma in her crate to start with but realised I and she needed the space to calm down. When he is going mad or driving you mad, say not a word, pick him up (he will struggle) put him in the crate and walk out of the room for at least a minute,walk back in, ignore him for a second or two, no matter what he is doing, then open the crate & let him out. If he starts being silly again then do the whole thing over again he will soon get the message. This period, I have found having only just gone through it, will seem like its lasting for months, when in fact it goes so quickly I promise. Once the needle teeth start being replace with proper teeth things take a turn for the better. Oh and yes, as I have said before, my hands and arms did look like I was self harming for a few weeks, she even got a vein on my hand one day, boy did that bleed. Now all she wants to do is have a cuddle with me, still mouthing now and again but gentle mouthing now.


Thanks so much, this post has made me feel so much better. I'm actually feeling a lot better today and have realised that I'm expecting too much from a little puppy. I think I was taking the biting etc too personally whereas really he is just doing what he would be doing with his litter mates. I will continue tying with the crate for time out. I will also keep saying No because I've noticed the yelping makes him more excited, probably because he's a terrier!


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## DaisyBluebell

Kate28 said:


> Thanks so much, this post has made me feel so much better. I'm actually feeling a lot better today and have realised that I'm expecting too much from a little puppy. I think I was taking the biting etc too personally whereas really he is just doing what he would be doing with his litter mates. I will continue tying with the crate for time out. I will also keep saying No because I've noticed the yelping makes him more excited, probably because he's a terrier!


Like you I went from being totally sensible with the realisation 'this was a tiny being that bore me personally no grudge at all it was just being normal', to believing she hated me, I had made a dreadful mistake & I needed to return her so that someone else could actually love her! The 4/5am pee breaks didnt help me even tho I loved being out early in the summer with my old dog walki g across the fields, that was voluntary this was forced upon me! This morning its raining & only just got light, I'm up but Emma does nit do rain & has also decided she prefer's to lay in until offered a tasty morsel of aything to encourage her to go out & pee, having just been out we are now playing with a squeaky ball - lovely  YOu will get there I promise you, just start how you mean your lives to continue for the next possible 15 years!
Oh squeaky toy just been tossed aside in favour of the pillow frim her crate being flung around the kitchen - the joy of it all !!!!


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## Kate28

I know what you mean about the early morning pee breaks, I've been so tired since we got him! I start a new job tomorrow so think I'll be sleepy the first few weeks! We've had quite a good day today, only a few episodes of biting today. We did introduce Baxter to my friends adult dogs today but he was very cheeky and in their face. Unfortunately her dogs seemed to be submissive to him which seemed to make him more annoying towards them. I was kind of hoping the dog would tell him off for it so he would learn what is acceptable. but I'm really happy he felt confident being around the dogs. It was the first time I'd ever heard him bark too, he never barks in the house! 

That's so funny about the pillow, Baxter ran off with my husbands size 12 shoe today, it was bigger than him so no idea how he did it!


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## DaisyBluebell

Good luck with the new job, remember when you come home DONT make a big deal of fuss over Baxter, (no matter how much you want to have a cuddle)a hello boy n thats it. That way he will accept your going out n coming back later as the norm from the start. Fuss n cuddles later when he has totally forgotten you've even been out today.


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## Beth-and-co

Hi everyone! 

Finally I can stop being a watcher and now a contributor! 
Day 3 with Lily now and she's doing really well. One accident in the house, and as per usual, it's our fault! She was whining and we thought it was because she couldn't see us at the dining table. But it wasn't 
This morning has been more tricky - my first day back at work so left hubby to tend to her today. In the hour and a half before I left for work, I put together some lunch for myself, drank one cup of tea and washed my face... sorry colleagues, no shower for me this morning! 
We really need to start leaving her today. She can manage about 30 seconds by herself in the living room but she's not as keen on the kitchen yet which is where we would leave her with the baby gate. 
I just need to crack this. She needs to be left for 2 x 2 hour periods 3-4 times a week by 14 weeks (6 weeks time) as that's when we will both go back to work as normal. 

Anyway. I don't really know what the point of this was. We need to just put everything into practise that we've learned about in books. Separation anxiety/destruction whatever you want to call it, is 100% my biggest fear with her. 

Any tips greatly appreciated! 

And here's some more puppy pictures.
Lily at 8 weeks old


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## DaisyBluebell

Beautiful little girl. I know this is a long thread but if you go thru it you will find a few posts regarding leaving Lily, how to start, how long to do etc. 
Just walk into the room and walk out a minute later without even acknowledging her. Harsh tho that sounds thats the quickest way for her to learn that this is normal life. From day one (once she was reliable regarding peeing), the very first morning I walked into the kitchen (she in her crate) totally ignored her, put kettle on, walked out again, 1 min later walked back in, made tea, walked to back door & opened it, turned and said good morning to Emma,let her out of crate and walked to the back door & got her out to garden and thats the way we have continued. She makes no big deal first thing in the mornings when I come in, which is how I want it (much as I wanted to rush to her and have a cuddle to start with) but this is best for her, she accepts this as normal so its no big deal when either of us walk in & out.


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## Beth-and-co

@DaisyBluebell thank you! We are leaving her for a few mins here and there and then going in and praising her quietly, when she's quiet. It's horrible hearing her cry but I know that she knows we love her and it's for the best she gets used to it now! 
I need to get better at stopping her following me - but she's so fast she usually arrives where I want to go before I do!


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## Beth-and-co

Having a good day with Lily today, I think. 

So it's 5 nights she's been with us now. She's now sleeping on the floor around 4 ft from the bed in her crate having moved the crate from up next to us on some chairs. She settled for bed straight away the last few nights after a toilet trip and only got up once last night for a wee at 3.30am before getting up again at 5.45. She usually wakes around this time and we try and settle her down again for another 15 mins or so before we get up, which she does after a couple of whines. 

She's definitely grown in confidence: she's eating more and exploring by herself which is great. I managed to shower, get breakfast and get dressed and dry my hair all without her moving from her bed, just sat watching me run around from room to room! 

She's still not 100% about the crate but we will get there I think. She goes in there for a minute or two but won't sleep in there during the day. We will just persevere with the eating/treating/playing in the crate. 

I also went to the corner shop today after we went out for a walk/carry and she was tired. She didn't bat an eyelid and I was out the house for around 10 minutes so I was really chuffed with that. I left my phone and filmed her. 

She is settling herself as well which is nice, if I'm cooking or tidying, she will play etc. I still try and watch out for what she's doing in case she's leaving me presents though 

A few questions. They are probably silly. 

I love cuddling her. Is it ok to pick her up 3-4 times a day for cuddles? Sometimes I think I'm spoiling her. Also sometimes she likes to climb onto me to sleep. She does sleep on her bed too but should I discourage this? 

Also she doesn't mind being left alone in the living room but she's not as keen on the kitchen. The living room is more interesting I suppose because it's got French doors so she can see out and a table she runs around. I just don't want her climbing on the sofa and falling. Shall I try and get her used to being in the kitchen or can I stick with the living room?


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## Beth-and-co

Sorry for the essay


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## JoanneF

Beth-and-co said:


> I love cuddling her. Is it ok to pick her up 3-4 times a day for cuddles? Sometimes I think I'm spoiling her. Also sometimes she likes to climb onto me to sleep.


I would be concerned and trying to wean her off you *if *she was getting distressed when you leave, but as she is settling well and has the confidence to be alone, I say enjoy your cuddles - you are strengthening your bond.

Regarding the living room / kitchen, it's up to you. If you are concerned about her jumping on and off the sofa, either keep her in the kitchen when you are out or put something on the sofa to stop her getting on to it.


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## Beth-and-co

JoanneF said:


> I would be concerned and trying to wean her off you *if *she was getting distressed when you leave, but as she is settling well and has the confidence to be alone, I say enjoy your cuddles - you are strengthening your bond.
> 
> Regarding the living room / kitchen, it's up to you. If you are concerned about her jumping on and off the sofa, either keep her in the kitchen when you are out or put something on the sofa to stop her getting on to it.


Thanks. She's definitely settling herself 80% of the time now but sometimes when she's overexcited, having a cuddle calms her down and she falls asleep and I put her back in her bed after a couple of minutes!

I didn't think about putting stuff on the sofa  I can try that, but will also continue doing fun things in the kitchen so she likes it a bit more in there. Trying to split it between games and treats in the crate and the same again in the kitchen!


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## Beth-and-co

Feeling a bit despondent today. 
After a good day on Wednesday, she was less settled yesterday and I couldn't leave her for 5 minutes (while settled, while she was asleep, yes).
I went to work in the morning and OH had her and he had left her for 5-6 mins to go upstairs and she cried so I don't know if it was related to that. 
I know these things will take time and patience, but I suppose my endpoint is probably 5.5 weeks (it was going to be 3 but I don't think she will be ready) when we have to be able to leave her for either 2 hours with a dog walker or 4.5 hrs without. 
She's been with us a week so I know she's still settling in. Is this achievable? I know people do it sooner than that but I'm trying to use the method everyone says which is keeping her under threshold.


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## LittleKrystal

I say it really depends on the puppy. My puppy was okay to be left alone at home for short periods around week 5 but he doesn't like to be left alone in a room when we're at home. When we're at home, he has to follow us everywhere or at least see us (e.g. he'll stand around in the hallway if we're busy in a room tidying up/cleaning). If we shut the door on him, and he can clearly hear us doing things around the house, he doesn't like it.


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## Beth-and-co

LittleKrystal said:


> I say it really depends on the puppy. My puppy was okay to be left alone at home for short periods around week 5 but he doesn't like to be left alone in a room when we're at home. When we're at home, he has to follow us everywhere or at least see us (e.g. he'll stand around in the hallway if we're busy in a room tidying up/cleaning). If we shut the door on him, and he can clearly hear us doing things around the house, he doesn't like it.


We will just keep going and we will have to see what happens when the time comes. She's been left for 20 minutes today according to my DH with no issues. I think she was really tired so I think maybe I didn't do enough to tire her out mentally yesterday so she was probably still raring to go

Thanks for this!!! Xxx


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## Guest

How is everyone doing?. Things are a bit better for Star after a shit few months. I now walk her on an extending lead using a dogmatic to stop her pulling. This means she doesn't miss being off lead while we retrain her to not be so scared of other dogs. We're also seeing a behaviourist soon, just need to check it will be covered by our insurance. One thing I have noticed is that after a bring star back from her walk, which is an hour. She goes mental and is really badly behaved, humping, trying to bite my toes etc. Is she just over excited after her walk?.


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## lullabydream

spamvicious said:


> How is everyone doing?. Things are a bit better for Star after a shit few months. I now walk her on an extending lead using a dogmatic to stop her pulling. This means she doesn't miss being off lead while we retrain her to not be so scared of other dogs. We're also seeing a behaviourist soon, just need to check it will be covered by our insurance. One thing I have noticed is that after a bring star back from her walk, which is an hour. She goes mental and is really badly behaved, humping, trying to bite my toes etc. Is she just over excited after her walk?.


That sounds totally normal to me...not all dogs do it but I have many that have had a very energising walk, and come home and have raced round like loons and I have wondered...why did I bother!


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## Kate28

spamvicious said:


> How is everyone doing?. Things are a bit better for Star after a shit few months. I now walk her on an extending lead using a dogmatic to stop her pulling. This means she doesn't miss being off lead while we retrain her to not be so scared of other dogs. We're also seeing a behaviourist soon, just need to check it will be covered by our insurance. One thing I have noticed is that after a bring star back from her walk, which is an hour. She goes mental and is really badly behaved, humping, trying to bite my toes etc. Is she just over excited after her walk?.


Hi! We are doing quite good. Baxter has been pretty good recently but is having a few mad bursts a day where he constantly lunges and bites but definitely think it's to do with his teething! He also does that too when he gets in from his walks, is very hyper for about half an hour and then conks out. So think it must be quite normal


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## Guest

Kate28 said:


> Hi! We are doing quite good. Baxter has been pretty good recently but is having a few mad bursts a day where he constantly lunges and bites but definitely think it's to do with his teething! He also does that too when he gets in from his walks, is very hyper for about half an hour and then conks out. So think it must be quite normal


Baxter is such a good name . How old is he now?


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## Kate28

spamvicious said:


> Baxter is such a good name . How old is he now?


He's only 14 weeks so still very wee! how old is your pup? Has yours passed the biting stage yet? I definitely find that bit the hardest, his needle teeth are so sore!


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## Guest

Kate28 said:


> He's only 14 weeks so still very wee! how old is your pup? Has yours passed the biting stage yet? I definitely find that bit the hardest, his needle teeth are so sore!


aww bless him. Star is an oap puppy now, she's eight months. She stopped biting at about 5 months properly. She still does the occasional nip when she gets over excited.


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## Guest

Any of you guys that have lady doggies. What's happening with their season?. Star is nearly 9 months now and nothing yet, want to get it over and done with.


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## ShibaPup

spamvicious said:


> Any of you guys that have lady doggies. What's happening with their season?. Star is nearly 9 months now and nothing yet, want to get it over and done with.


Lily started her season 8th November - think that's what all the acting up behaviour was. Now she's spooking rather easily - not sure if that's hormonal too.

Keeping herself very, very clean - not really noticed any blood around.

Cannot wait until it's over in a months time!


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## DaisyBluebell

Emma 8 months next Friday, so far nothing & long may that continue as I am dreading putting her under the knife 3 months after she has her first season.
All my girls have been 'done' & I dread it every time & feel wicked and cruel but I know I am doing it for their health in the long run. 
I did check out all the info about the keyhole spaying that ShibaPup asked about & checked out the link about it but decided that as the link was really no more than a large veterinary practice touting for business plus I just don't really like the idea, then its not for us and we will have the full blown procedure that the others had. 
Just hope to God Emma has calmed down a bit when the time actually comes, as right now it would be SO difficult keeping her from wanting to do her every day zoomies 
Just reminded me I must buy one of those soft collars (rather than the Elizabethan plastic jobs) and or a body suit for her before they are needed so she gets used to them now.


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## Guest

We also looked into keyhole surgery but the only place near us charged nearly £300. I'm dreading star having her heat because we'll have to keep her in, there isn't anywhere I can take her thats dog free and she's nervous of other dogs at the best of times. We have a bodysuit that we got from the vets when Star was attacked so I'm hoping that it will still fit, how long do they grow for? Is it up to 18 months?. Star seemed to have stopped growing now.


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## DaisyBluebell

spamvicious said:


> We also looked into keyhole surgery but the only place near us charged nearly £300. I'm dreading star having her heat because we'll have to keep her in, there isn't anywhere I can take her thats dog free and she's nervous of other dogs at the best of times. We have a bodysuit that we got from the vets when Star was attacked so I'm hoping that it will still fit, how long do they grow for? Is it up to 18 months?. Star seemed to have stopped growing now.


Oh my gosh yes of course you would be. I remember, 16 years ago, when Daisy had her one and only season, I think I got some tablets or spray (others will advise of what I'm sure) & I was still able to take Daisy out and never ever got bothered by other dogs! Might be worth inquiring about for Star ?
I think we all know the puppy blues I went through when we first got Emma but now the thought of her 'growing up' upsets me, ridiculous isn't it !


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> Oh my gosh yes of course you would be. I remember, 16 years ago, when Daisy had her one and only season, I think I got some tablets or spray (others will advise of what I'm sure) & I was still able to take Daisy out and never ever got bothered by other dogs! Might be worth inquiring about for Star ?
> I think we all know the puppy blues I went through when we first got Emma but now the thought of her 'growing up' upsets me, ridiculous isn't it !


I'm actually looking into getting her spayed before having a season. I didn't want her to be done at six months but I'm reading up on the pros and cons of getting it done before the season. Apparently it's the old way of thinking to wait for a season and many rescue places do it when they're tiny. It's just whether they stall on the baby hormones or not.


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## ShibaPup

Key hole is more expensive and only certain practices are able to offer it. Here they are http://www.veterinarylaparoscopy.com/vets-offering-keyhole-surgery

Lily will be referred to a vets around half hours drive away to have it done IMO it's worth it, shorter recovery time and only a few days on restricted exercise instead of a couple of weeks. Plus less pain for the dog. The large incision for the traditional spay - terrifies me! 

Lily has so far coped well with her season, kept herself very clean. I might wait until she's 18 months or get her done at least 4 months after her season has finished.

Here are the pros and cons of waiting or not - http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf


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## Guest

spamvicious said:


> I'm actually looking into getting her spayed before having a season. I didn't want her to be done at six months but I'm reading up on the pros and cons of getting it done before the season. Apparently it's the old way of thinking to wait for a season and *many roescue places do it when they're tiny*. It's just whether they stall on the baby hormones or not.


Because it's a surefire way to ensure a rescue can't have pups, NOT because it's actually good for the dogs.

I don't see how it can be a good idea to spay or castrate a dog before their hormones have had a chance to do what they are designed for.

Seasons really aren't that much of a big deal, I think you're probably making it a bigger problem in your head than it needs to be.


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## DaisyBluebell

Have to agree with McKenzie as I know the vet who does the spaying at our local RSPCA & the bitches are done before they are re-homed to ensure they arent breed from whether they have had a season or not so its not for the actual health of the dogs its done when they are young.


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## ShibaPup

Need a place to rant - today I was one of _those_ owners.

Had to rush somewhere suddenly, was stressed, had Lily with me, it's dark - lady outside bus stop, Lily barked at her but then realised everything was ok as I tried to pass, I nearly tripped over :Arghh On the way back, same lady and another who was scared of Lily, thankfully she didn't bark but Lily goes towards people for a fuss - obviously not helpful! I actually tripped this time!! Lily went up to the woman scared of her. Absolutely mortified and so embarrassed all I could do was say sorry and leave quickly.

Hurt my ankle - it's swollen and turning a lovely purple

Came home, slumped down the door and tears just flooded down my face.


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## DaisyBluebell

So sorry you had such a #### day, happens to most of us now and again which is no help at all, but the pair of you are safe home again now & you can put a wet flannel on your ankle - do you have any Arnica you can put on it to bring the bruising out quickly? Give Lily a cuddle she will be worried about her mum hurting herself and crying - sending hugs


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## lullabydream

ShibaPup said:


> Need a place to rant - today I was one of _those_ owners.
> 
> Had to rush somewhere suddenly, was stressed, had Lily with me, it's dark - lady outside bus stop, Lily barked at her but then realised everything was ok as I tried to pass, I nearly tripped over :Arghh On the way back, same lady and another who was scared of Lily, thankfully she didn't bark but Lily goes towards people for a fuss - obviously not helpful! I actually tripped this time!! Lily went up to the woman scared of her. Absolutely mortified and so embarrassed all I could do was say sorry and leave quickly.
> 
> Hurt my ankle - it's swollen and turning a lovely purple
> 
> Came home, slumped down the door and tears just flooded down my face.


So sorry...

If it's any consolation I did once get tangled in my dogs lead and went straight to the floor once...I had so much blood pouring down my leg even I thought I would faint...and nothing like that phases me...

Maisie is being a complete idiot with other dogs now...no idea why! So I feel your pain! Before it was every human in sight! it

Better day tomorrow for us both eh!


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## kittih

Susie rainbow has kindly made this thread a sticky in dog chat


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## DaisyBluebell

EXCELLENT


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## Babybear

Hey guys, Mind if I join?

Bear is 16 weeks on Monday, he’s a total mixed personality pup. Some days he is so responsive and brilliant and other days he’s a bloody demon and I wonder what I’ve set myself up for lol

We start obedience training on the 28th and I’m very much looking forward to it.

One question if I may, how on earth can I stop him trying to eat stones? I can get them off him if he is on the lead but he seems to be deaf to the leave it command if he isn’t and thinks it’s a game? I know better then to chase him but then he will just sit there chewing on it as if to dare me to come closer and play.
At the minute all I can do is go get him some chicken and swap but it’s almost like he knows this is the end result? It feels like bribery


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## DaisyBluebell

Welcome to you & Bear.
The chicken swop IS bribery but you will soon learn if it works & gets the initial result then use it! 
I had a dog who did the same thing once & no amount of bribery worked on him, I found the only thing to work was to pray he didn't swallow the stone as I shouted 'bye' and ran or walked away from him. He would run after me carrying said stone but drop it in his concern to get to me, once he caught up it was over the top praise &a game if throw or tuggy. He did eventually grew out of the stone phase. 
This puppy thread is long but it's well worth taking the time to go through it you will find some amazing insights to puppy ownership & that your pup and initial life together is no different to what the rest of us experience or are experiencing now which is always a relief 
By the way photo's, especially puppy ones, are obligatory on here


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## Guest

Babybear said:


> Hey guys, Mind if I join?
> 
> Bear is 16 weeks on Monday, he's a total mixed personality pup. Some days he is so responsive and brilliant and other days he's a bloody demon and I wonder what I've set myself up for lol
> 
> We start obedience training on the 28th and I'm very much looking forward to it.
> 
> One question if I may, how on earth can I stop him trying to eat stones? I can get them off him if he is on the lead but he seems to be deaf to the leave it command if he isn't and thinks it's a game? I know better then to chase him but then he will just sit there chewing on it as if to dare me to come closer and play.
> At the minute all I can do is go get him some chicken and swap but it's almost like he knows this is the end result? It feels like bribery


Welcome to the thread. This place is a great for asking questions that you feel a bit silly for asking, we have people who have puppies at the moment, or older puppies (10 months in my case) and people that have lots of experience with dogs too.


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## Guest

Just a quick rant. Star has been a total dick the last couple of days. She hasn't eaten her new expensive food for three days now. All she's had is a bit of primula yesterday when working on her recall and a tiny bit of turkey when trying to get her out of the garden. Speaking of recall yesterday was the first time in months that we'd let her off. She was a bit patchy but in general did really good so I was feeling optimistic then today she was having none of it, didn't want any primula, wouldn't drop the ball for me to throw it and the ran onto some land full of rubbish. She only came back when we ran away shouting "bye"

Also last night for the first time in ages she just decided she wasn't going to bed. So her way of doing this is when I'm in my room she will scratch the carpets and bark at me knowing I will open the door as I can't get her to stop scratching the carpets otherwise. So I was sat downstairs with her being bitey as I was ignoring her, till 12am. I haven't done a permanent change of her bedtime routine because thankfully these nights are rare.

I adore her but shes really hard work at the moment.


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## DaisyBluebell

Strange Emma, who we have never had a problem with going to her crate for bed, has for the last two nights cried for just a few minutes ! Hope this does not last as it breaks my heart to hear her cry ! 
I can not believe she is 9 months old tomorrow - wish to God I could go back to the beginning with her again, knowing what I know now! I missed such a lot of her puppy hood because we didn't like each other for the first month or so......


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## Babybear

I’ve read the whole thread and my god I have a lot of work coming my way..lol
I think it’s the switch from everything is good to holy crap why has it all gone backwards that I’m going to struggle with!

And he’s getting bigger every day which frightens me slightly, I have my head in the clouds thinking he’ll be perfect by the time his fully grown. I’m tiny and I really need to know he will listen to me.


----------



## ShibaPup

Lily has been a joy - training has helped us a ton! Helped our bond as well.

Really proud of her :Shy


----------



## Drony

Hi, I hope it's ok that I join in. I've spent the past couple of days reading every post and it's so good to know we aren't alone and my feelings are totally normal when I'm not coping so well with puppyhood 

This is Marshall, my 11 week old golden retriever


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Welcome, he is so beautiful your very lucky


----------



## Drony

I've been into the local pet shop today to ask for advice on long lasting chews that are safe for Marshall's puppy teeth. He has given me pizzers and pigs ears, but I thought I'd read somewhere that pigs ears weren't good for dogs? Anyone know?


----------



## Siskin

I'm very picky about the pigs ears I will buy for Isla as the y are often really greasy and can cause an upset stomach. I usually get cows ears, but I've discovered the Zooplus pigs ears are non greasy dryer looking ones which seem to suit Isla, mind you she does have a cast iron stomach.


----------



## Mirandashell

I've found that as well. The ones from Aldi are very greasy but my local petshop does dryer ones and also dried cow tendons which George loves.


----------



## Drony

Thank you, I'll check them out in a bit, he just bagged them up, I didn't get much chance to have a look


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Do check that any thing you buy is not made in China as there have been a lot of problems with things for dogs from that country. Pizzles are good but remember never to leave your pup alone with chews & what ever you do DO NOT BUY Dentastix ! With what goes into those I am surprised a lot of vets seem to have them for sale!


----------



## Drony

Thank you, I tried him with a pizzer (is that the right name?) which he loved for a good 30 minutes before he choked on it! No harm done but too scared to give him anything else similar now...


----------



## Drony

Toilet training, he isn't even trying. I'm ignoring completely when he goes inside and giving lots of praise and treats when he goes outside. But he'll still just go wherever he is, he sniffs for only a second before going so it's really hard to get him out in time. Am I doing it wrong?


----------



## Siskin

Are you waiting until you see him looking as if he might go or are you taking him out regularly every hours or so?

You should be doing the latter. Take him out on waking, after a meal and after a playtime and at regular Intervals so that it's about hourly. Go out with him and wait until he goes. When he he actually toiletting then say a cue word, something like 'go wees' or 'busy, busy' or whatever you feel happy to say. When he's finished go to him and praise like mad like its the best thing in the world and maybe give a treat. I say maybe as Goldens are very food orientated and mine worked out pretty quickly to do pretend wees in order to get a treat so I stick with lots of praise and strokes.
The reason for introducing a cue word is so that the puppy associates the word with the action in time. It will mean you will be able to get him to toilet on command which can be very useful in the future. 

I wonder if you fancy a bit of reading to help you during the first year of puppyhood. I recommend 'The Perfect Puppy' by Gwen Bailey. You can download it if you have a kindle or the kindle app on a tablet


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Doing right not reacting to him going inside but Get him out before he actually wants to go. We took Emma outside every 30 to 45 minutes & then waited till she went (we were lucky as it was summer) & as soon as she started to pee said a key word (ours is pee pee) then when she finished, like your already doing, praised her like it was the most amazing thing any dog could do!
I assume Pizzer is actually Pizzle & they stink but dogs love them, Emma is only allowed the thick ones as I don't trust the skinny ones you get in the packages in case she swallows the last little bit (check on the Zooplus site for Pizzles, you can get most of the stuff you want on there at really good prices including dog food)


----------



## Drony

Thank you, been taking him out much more regularly and other than one at puppy class we've had no indoor accidents today. It's hard during the week when I have my 3 year old on my own to go out every half hour, though I'll try to do better.

Marshall done really well at puppy class today, he's been moved up a group so I'm pretty proud. His sit, lie, walking on a loose lead and recall is all going well


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Drony said:


> Thank you, been taking him out much more regularly and other than one at puppy class we've had no indoor accidents today. It's hard during the week when I have my 3 year old on my own to go out every half hour, though I'll try to do better.
> 
> Marshall done really well at puppy class today, he's been moved up a group so I'm pretty proud. His sit, lie, walking on a loose lead and recall is all going well


Sounds like he is doing better than my Emma but then again she has hit her teenage years and what was once excellent now has to be thought about as to whether she actually does it or not let alone how quickly she may condescend to actually do it :Arghh


----------



## Drony

Ah he isn't always so good, at home he'll quite often ignore me

Almost 8pm and no accidents in the house!


----------



## Guest

We do lambs ears here, I find them less greasy and they’re smaller so not so much of a meal!

Marshall is a real cutie.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

EXCELLENT news. Your both doing really well


----------



## Guest

Drony said:


> Thank you, I tried him with a pizzer (is that the right name?) which he loved for a good 30 minutes before he choked on it! No harm done but too scared to give him anything else similar now...


Pizzle, you weren't for off though just swap er for le.


----------



## Drony

We aren't doing so well today  my 3 year old son has decided to scream anytime I try to leave the room which is making Iife difficult! 

And Marshall won't wee outside when it's heavy rain. Is it bedtime yet?!


----------



## Guest

Welcome Drony, your little bundle is gorgeous. You've already had some great advice from the other guys. I tend to give Star pizzles as everything else she isn't really interested in. I always take the last bit off her though when it gets down to a size she could swallow whole. It's hard work having a puppy so to be doing that while you have a three year old is amazing. Remember to give yourself credit.


----------



## Guest

Star's behaviour has been amazing the past few days. Both me and my mum got flu and it meant that Star didn't get a walk for two days but she was great, we managed to do a bit of training and she seemed to know we were ill. She is chewing a lot though, could she be teething again, even though she's just turned 11 months?.


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## Drony

Aw I hope you are better now?  Well done Star!

We're getting nowhere with toilet training, Marsh is so good with all his other training but just isn't interested with where he wees! 

Sit, down, stay and paw are all mastered though. Recall isn't bad so far. So I've signed him up for the KCGCS puppy foundation which starts in a few weeks


----------



## Guest

Drony said:


> Aw I hope you are better now?  Well done Star!
> 
> We're getting nowhere with toilet training, Marsh is so good with all his other training but just isn't interested with where he wees!
> 
> Sit, down, stay and paw are all mastered though. Recall isn't bad so far. So I've signed him up for the KCGCS puppy foundation which starts in a few weeks


It's still lingering sadly. How often do you take him out?. I think you have to just accept there will be accidents initially and not worry too much, he will get it, it just might take a little longer. Don't put pressure on yourself or you'll just stress yourself out and he'll pick up on it. Maybe you need to try something really high value treat wise that he only gets when he toilets?. Something like liver that he can't resist? Good luck


----------



## KingPrawnNoodles

Can anyone please let me know what's a good quality treat for an 11 week old puppy? At the moment he's having wagg with chicken and yoghurt. Worried that he may be having too much of a bad thing. Also. He's very food oriented and keeps begging for more food, which in turn makes me feel awful for ignoring him. Thank you


----------



## Guest

KingPrawnNoodles said:


> Can anyone please let me know what's a good quality treat for an 11 week old puppy? At the moment he's having wagg with chicken and yoghurt. Worried that he may be having too much of a bad thing. Also. He's very food oriented and keeps begging for more food, which in turn makes me feel awful for ignoring him. Thank you


Wagg isn't the best for dogs. Try this recipe : https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/training-our-puppies/dog-treat-recipes/liver-cake/


----------



## DaisyBluebell

spamvicious said:


> Wagg isn't the best for dogs. Try this recipe : https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/training-our-puppies/dog-treat-recipes/liver-cake/


You can also substitute Tuna or sardines for the Liver - Love the ginger bickies on that website too Spam


----------



## KingPrawnNoodles

spamvicious said:


> Wagg isn't the best for dogs. Try this recipe : https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/training-our-puppies/dog-treat-recipes/liver-cake/


Thank you. Out of the ingredients listed I don't get why it says not for puppies under 6 months


----------



## Guest

KingPrawnNoodles said:


> Thank you. Out of the ingredients listed I don't get why it says not for puppies under 6 months


I think it would be fine as long as you're not giving your pup loads of it.


----------



## Babybear

So last night bear found a hole in my garden fence right at the back must be where the foxes have been coming from...

We was out there doing a little lead training and he just must have caught a scent. Ended up dragging me along the garden and into a thorn bush lol little shit it’s so hard not to scream sometimes!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Babybear said:


> So last night bear found a hole in my garden fence right at the back must be where the foxes have been coming from...
> We was out there doing a little lead training and he just must have caught a scent. Ended up dragging me along the garden and into a thorn bush lol little shit it's so hard not to scream sometimes!


Par for the course with a puppy - be careful being pulled sharply I have been suffering with Tendinitis for the last 6 weeks due to having been suddenly pulled when Emma attempted to do a runner before Christmas and believe me it really really hurts :Bawling


----------



## Babybear

Sorry to hear that DaisyBluebell, sounds painful :-(

In his defense I could have used the long line so was my fault really, I guess these things have to happen once for us to learn.
Will def start working on impulse control/ recall more I think.


----------



## lullabydream

DaisyBluebell said:


> Par for the course with a puppy - be careful being pulled sharply I have been suffering with Tendinitis for the last 6 weeks due to having been suddenly pulled when Emma attempted to do a runner before Christmas and believe me it really really hurts :Bawling


I missed you had tendonitis...it's horrible! Hope you feel better soob


----------



## Drony

Workman accidentally left the front door open. Then I realised that Marshall was nowhere to be seen, cue the panic... Found him out in the street playing football with the kids!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Drony said:


> Workman accidentally left the front door open. Then I realised that Marshall was nowhere to be seen, cue the panic... Found him out in the street playing football with the kids!


OMG thank goodness he was not run over or snatched - workman needs a good rollocking !


----------



## DaisyBluebell

lullabydream said:


> I missed you had tendonitis...it's horrible! Hope you feel better soob


Thank you, thought I had just pulled a muscle but after 6 weeks and hand starting to go cold or pins & needles thought I had better see the doctor "you should have come to me earlier" - yes hindsight is a wonderful thing. Now physio until it improves but go on holiday next week to a very snowy Quebec :Arghh


----------



## Babybear

I took some new pics today, I think it finally hit me how much he’s grown


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Oh my goodness he is so handsome, hasn't he grown. Looks a beautiful calm dog too, aren't you the lucky one! seems like he has fallen on his feet as well.


----------



## Babybear

He really is so calm, everyone comments on it lol. I’m paranoid but it’s like the calm before the storm


----------



## Drony

Oh he's lovely! Mine is definitely not calm


----------



## Guest

So I still haven't cracked the separation anxiety with Star. She is with me all the time apart from when she goes to doggy day care twice a week which she loves. I work from home so I am always forgetting to actively leave her alone regularly so I'm going to make a conscious effort to start doing this. I was just wondering though, whether to get rid of the crate all together, she only goes in her crate now as she knows she will get a treat for it, then she just comes back out. We have a baby gate on the kitchen which we often put her behind when we're eating and stuff and she will sit by the gate for about 5 minutes before she gradually starts to grumble. So I was wondering whether it would make more sense to make the kitchen her 'area' to stay in or the crate will be better?.


----------



## Lurcherlad

spamvicious said:


> So I still haven't cracked the separation anxiety with Star. She is with me all the time apart from when she goes to doggy day care twice a week which she loves. I work from home so I am always forgetting to actively leave her alone regularly so I'm going to make a conscious effort to start doing this. I was just wondering though, whether to get rid of the crate all together, she only goes in her crate now as she knows she will get a treat for it, then she just comes back out. We have a baby gate on the kitchen which we often put her behind when we're eating and stuff and she will sit by the gate for about 5 minutes before she gradually starts to grumble. So I was wondering whether it would make more sense to make the kitchen her 'area' to stay in or the crate will be better?.


I would. It may be she dislikes being so restricted. It will also make it easier to leave and return without too much fuss.


----------



## TeddyLou

Hi Everyone 

I have a 5 month bichon. And he's proving to be alot of work. He is peeing in the house because it' cold outside he won' go out! Also. He wont eat dog food! 

Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

He is crated when I am busy but when he is out he has the run of the house. If he does his toilet in the house he knows he' been bad and goes straight to bed (crate)


----------



## TeddyLou

TeddyLou said:


> Hi Everyone
> 
> I have a 5 month bichon. And he's proving to be alot of work. He is peeing in the house because it' cold outside he won' go out! Also. He wont eat dog food!
> 
> Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
> 
> He is crated when I am busy but when he is out he has the run of the house. If he does his toilet in the house he knows he' been bad and goes straight to bed (crate)


Also forgot to day he love weebox chub roll but I suspect this isn' the best food!!


----------



## Rachgeegee

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


Hi everyone I've just signed up to this forum so nice to meet you all! I have some similar questions to this as well but I don't know how to a post or thread?


----------



## Rachgeegee

Hi guys hope you are all well! So.... my two questions i have

Has anybody potty trained their puppy without crate training? She’s 11 weeks old this week, my partner doesn’t like the idea of crate training and my mum is very very against it for some reason! So trying to give it a go without the crate before my idea of using it? Don’t get me wrong she is doing well at 11 weeks she will go outside she does let us know with scratching door or a bark...but the night time we have no control over does this take time? 

My second question is she has been sleeping brilliant put her to bed at 10 not a peep out of her until I actually have to go wake her up between 7 and 8! But last few night the barking is unreal! Half 1 then again 4ish and I mean it doesn’t stop anyone experienced this? Could it be teething ?


----------



## Guest

TeddyLou said:


> Hi Everyone
> 
> I have a 5 month bichon. And he's proving to be alot of work. He is peeing in the house because it' cold outside he won' go out! Also. He wont eat dog food!
> 
> Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
> 
> He is crated when I am busy but when he is out he has the run of the house. If he does his toilet in the house he knows he' been bad and goes straight to bed (crate)


Don't use the crate as punishment. If he wees in the house then you shouldn't show any emotion. I know it's difficult and very frustrating but if you show you are angry then it could make him hide when he does need to wee. If he goes in the house then take him outside, don't shout at him or put him in the crate. Take him out every hour on a lead and wait till he wees, then give him huge praise and a treat. Webbox isn't good food for dogs, what do you feed him? wet or dry food?.


----------



## Laney_Lemons

TeddyLou said:


> Hi Everyone
> 
> I have a 5 month bichon. And he's proving to be alot of work. He is peeing in the house because it' cold outside he won' go out! Also. He wont eat dog food!
> 
> Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
> 
> He is crated when I am busy but when he is out he has the run of the house. If he does his toilet in the house he knows he' been bad and goes straight to bed (crate)


please don't punish your pup for toileting in the house, this is not their fault as frustrating as it is for us. Please look for signs ii.e. sniffing / circling etc and take him out immediately and also take him out more regularly i.e every hour to ensure you set him up for success.

I would take him a quick walk if hes not fussed in just going out the back or use treats to get him outside in the rain and make a big fuss when they go.

if he pee's in the house also use enzyme cleaner as you might find they find a particular place in the house where they like to go and can smell it .


----------



## Laney_Lemons

Rachgeegee said:


> Hi guys hope you are all well! So.... my two questions i have
> 
> Has anybody potty trained their puppy without crate training? She's 11 weeks old this week, my partner doesn't like the idea of crate training and my mum is very very against it for some reason! So trying to give it a go without the crate before my idea of using it? Don't get me wrong she is doing well at 11 weeks she will go outside she does let us know with scratching door or a bark...but the night time we have no control over does this take time?
> 
> My second question is she has been sleeping brilliant put her to bed at 10 not a peep out of her until I actually have to go wake her up between 7 and 8! But last few night the barking is unreal! Half 1 then again 4ish and I mean it doesn't stop anyone experienced this? Could it be teething ?


I only used my crate to ensure my pup was safe when being left alone...

To successfully toilet train you want to ensure your pup is not in a position to toilet indoors, set him up for success.. Take him out every 45 mins especially after food / play after a nap etc.

Where does he sleep at night? is there anything that could spook him? noise? neighbours?


----------



## Rachgeegee

Elaine2016 said:


> I only used my crate to ensure my pup was safe when being left alone...
> 
> To successfully toilet train you want to ensure your pup is not in a position to toilet indoors, set him up for success.. Take him out every 45 mins especially after food / play after a nap etc.
> 
> Where does he sleep at night? is there anything that could spook him? noise? neighbours?


She sleeps in the kitchen in her bed we baby gate the kitchen leave the hall light on for the moment and keep the tv on low been fine but last 3 nights I know I must pass but I'm that tired it feels like it won't ha! She's pretty much nailing it she is really good through the day not many potty mistake but it's night time when we are asleep she will go I know she's a baby I and their bladders aren't very big yet!


----------



## TeddyLou

spamvicious said:


> Don't use the crate as punishment. If he wees in the house then you shouldn't show any emotion. I know it's difficult and very frustrating but if you show you are angry then it could make him hide when he does need to wee. If he goes in the house then take him outside, don't shout at him or put him in the crate. Take him out every hour on a lead and wait till he wees, then give him huge praise and a treat. Webbox isn't good food for dogs, what do you feed him? wet or dry food?.


----------



## TeddyLou

TeddyLou said:


> Also forgot to day he love weebox chub roll but I suspect this isn' the best food!!


Thanks for your reply. Thing is he will.go to the door 99% of the time. Then tonight he pees on my bed with no warning! He will eat nothing onky chub


----------



## Pardis

6th night at home for Boris last night and for the first time he cried... basically every hour for about half an hour. Took him out once for a quick wee when he was quiet for a few minutes, otherwise ignored his screaming and hoped the neighbours won't kill us. He's fine going in and out of his crate during the day, also with the door closed if he's only 'half asleep'. I know we still have to train him to be comfortable and quiet in it while awake as well for certain amounts of time... We're working on that.

In the meantime I could use some reassurance though... Ignoring the crying is... right?


----------



## Laney_Lemons

Pardis said:


> 6th night at home for Boris last night and for the first time he cried... basically every hour for about half an hour. Took him out once for a quick wee when he was quiet for a few minutes, otherwise ignored his screaming and hoped the neighbours won't kill us. He's fine going in and out of his crate during the day, also with the door closed if he's only 'half asleep'. I know we still have to train him to be comfortable and quiet in it while awake as well for certain amounts of time... We're working on that.
> 
> In the meantime I could use some reassurance though... Ignoring the crying is... right?


I wouldn't ignore him as he is going to start associating night time = panic and distressing time, where is he at night? if hes not in your bedroom I would move him there immediately, being near you he will feels safe and you can easily reassure him if he gets distressed.. This doesnt mean he will be in your room forever just for a time and then you can slowly move him bit by bit out of your room to where you want him

if your not happy with the bedroom route i would then sleep on sofa, again near him so as he is happy and content.

once he builds up his confidence you can slowly start to put distance and he will before a confident puppy


----------



## Guest

TeddyLou said:


> Thanks for your reply. Thing is he will.go to the door 99% of the time. Then tonight he pees on my bed with no warning! He will eat nothing onky chub


My pup is nearly a year and still has the occasional accident especially if she's in my room (she sleeps on my bed) and she momentarily forgets where she is and wees on my bed. If he's getting it right most of the time then don't worry, you're doing something right. Try to laugh off the accidents. Remember no reaction if he has an accident inside and plenty of reaction when he goes outside. I still say 'good girl' to Star even now when she pees outside.


----------



## Drony

Just a couple of photos of Marshall as he has gotten so big already and is only 14 weeks old! 

He got moved up to the big boy training class today so we're pretty pleased! And he has had a couple times off the lead in an enclosed area and has just followed me walking with me. 

Toilet training is still slow


----------



## LittleKrystal

spamvicious said:


> So I still haven't cracked the separation anxiety with Star. She is with me all the time apart from when she goes to doggy day care twice a week which she loves. I work from home so I am always forgetting to actively leave her alone regularly so I'm going to make a conscious effort to start doing this. I was just wondering though, whether to get rid of the crate all together, she only goes in her crate now as she knows she will get a treat for it, then she just comes back out. We have a baby gate on the kitchen which we often put her behind when we're eating and stuff and she will sit by the gate for about 5 minutes before she gradually starts to grumble. So I was wondering whether it would make more sense to make the kitchen her 'area' to stay in or the crate will be better?.


I haven't been on here for a while!! Nice to see that you're still posting on here @spamvicious

You can try a larger crate or maybe a pen. Now that Star is almost 1, she's probably not chewing much then maybe you don't really need a crate. What does Star do while you're working? Is she by your feet the whole time?


----------



## ChesterOllieEllie

Hi there,
I'm looking for some advice, we have a six month old male cockerpoo pup called Chester. We decided that we would get him some company and rescued a 5 month old female "shorkie" (yorkie/shit-zu cross) called Ellie. 
She gets on fine with Chester and loves following him around and cuddling up to him, she even tries to cuddle up to Ollie our ginger Tom much to his dismay.
The trouble is, she's very reluctant to leave the safety of the sofa and visibly shy's away from people. To the point where she won't come past us if we are too close. She's also very difficult to get to eat, in fact it was 10pm this evening that we finally got her to eat anything this evening.
We've had her a week now and we know it's going to be traumatic for her in a new environment but we're seeing very little improvement in her and we are wondering if there is anything that we can do to help her settle in better and feel more comfortable?


----------



## Ibelive12

spamvicious said:


> Oh ok thanks for that. Do you have any suggestions for dry food?. I had heard good things about Burns and JW but when I looked on allaboutdogfood.co.uk they don't have the best reviews.


I am using royal canine dry food for puppies and she loves it!! It is a bit more expensive but I find it the cheapest on amazon.


----------



## Guest

LittleKrystal said:


> I haven't been on here for a while!! Nice to see that you're still posting on here @spamvicious
> 
> You can try a larger crate or maybe a pen. Now that Star is almost 1, she's probably not chewing much then maybe you don't really need a crate. What does Star do while you're working? Is she by your feet the whole time?


She's happy to be in the other room now which is progress lol.


----------



## Guest

ChesterOllieEllie said:


> Hi there,
> I'm looking for some advice, we have a six month old male cockerpoo pup called Chester. We decided that we would get him some company and rescued a 5 month old female "shorkie" (yorkie/shit-zu cross) called Ellie.
> She gets on fine with Chester and loves following him around and cuddling up to him, she even tries to cuddle up to Ollie our ginger Tom much to his dismay.
> The trouble is, she's very reluctant to leave the safety of the sofa and visibly shy's away from people. To the point where she won't come past us if we are too close. She's also very difficult to get to eat, in fact it was 10pm this evening that we finally got her to eat anything this evening.
> We've had her a week now and we know it's going to be traumatic for her in a new environment but we're seeing very little improvement in her and we are wondering if there is anything that we can do to help her settle in better and feel more comfortable?


You've had her a week and already have another puppy?.


----------



## ChesterOllieEllie

spamvicious said:


> You've had her a week and already have another puppy?.


No, we got Chester in October and we got Ellie last week


----------



## Guest

ChesterOllieEllie said:


> No, we got Chester in October and we got Ellie last week


Ah sorry I understand now. For some reason I was reading it as that you had Ellie first. I think you could try interacting her with treats. When she's on the on the couch place a treat in front of her and gently touch her quickly and then leave her. Gradually increase the time you touch her but always have treats.


----------



## lullabydream

ChesterOllieEllie said:


> Hi there,
> I'm looking for some advice, we have a six month old male cockerpoo pup called Chester. We decided that we would get him some company and rescued a 5 month old female "shorkie" (yorkie/shit-zu cross) called Ellie.
> She gets on fine with Chester and loves following him around and cuddling up to him, she even tries to cuddle up to Ollie our ginger Tom much to his dismay.
> The trouble is, she's very reluctant to leave the safety of the sofa and visibly shy's away from people. To the point where she won't come past us if we are too close. She's also very difficult to get to eat, in fact it was 10pm this evening that we finally got her to eat anything this evening.
> We've had her a week now and we know it's going to be traumatic for her in a new environment but we're seeing very little improvement in her and we are wondering if there is anything that we can do to help her settle in better and feel more comfortable?


A week is a really short time, and to be honest the biggest thing you can do to help is initially, do nothing...

If you have in the past week tried to approach her, touch her when she's actually not confident with it, with rewards or no rewards this could have set her back somewhat .

The best thing I can advise is for the next week do nothing. Ideally find her something which can be a safe space, which currently seems to be the sofa, and the same thing happened to my sofa when I rehomed a nervous ball of anxiety coming up to 2 years ago no...although she was more resource guarding it from everyone, dogs and humans a like. Eventually our bedroom became a safe haven too...however since your girl seems confident with the other pets, dog and cat then allow them if possible to interact. So she can learn about the house rules, ie toileting, where the food is, routine. Most dogs coming into multidog households take initial cues from their own species, then look to the owners I have found. Not always but many times. Doesn't mean you never get a brilliant relationship. It's just in rescue situations quite often they have relied heavily on their own species, but dogs truly prefer humans if given a choice and in that initial stage of rehoming are unsure of everything.

So for this next week, do very little to try and connect with her. If she does come towards you, and it's quite a possibility as once she knows it's on her terms then there is nothing wrong with offering her a piece of kibble per se...offering I mean gently throw it close to her or even if she's brave enough to sit on you very gentle strokes but I would err on the side of caution. Sounds wrong I know..I pet my dogs all the time subconsciously idly sitting watching television or doing nothing and there I have in my lap at least one dog on my knee, and I know I will automatically stroke them. My dogs adore it, I find it therapeutic too...however not all dogs do and many small dogs don't and for the simple fact is that small dogs are easy to move by picking up. So if people don't want them in an area, they need them some where etc they automatically pick them up. Something an owner of a medium or large breed dog wouldn't be able to do. So they use other means, they train alternative behaviours, and to be honest regardless of dog size we all should be doing. Small dogs continuously being picked up to be removed from what they see as fun, can make dogs detest being touched and held and for all dogs touch should be a pleasant experience in my opinion. It doesn't take much for dogs to grow wise to if s/he is picking me up fun stops, which can result in behaviour we do not want such as running away when an owner comes close at the very least.

I would also forfeit walks for a week..harness putting on can be quite stressful so keep stress low as possible and next week start by using lots of treats etc when out and about, and also whilst putting on the harness. So it becomes a good experience.

Speaking of walking try and do walks separate at times too. You want your dogs, who are very close in age to become independent and although like to be together be able to manage apart. Young dogs, usually puppies being brought up close in age often fall foul of litter mates syndrome and it can still happen even if not from the same litter, albeit not brought up from being tiny. At this age they are still in a critical learning age, and fear period so you want both to become confident independent dogs. Not reliant on each other and both listen to you. Although yes I said initially that it's helpful that your other dog follows the other, in time it's usually natural the dog looks to humans more. Close to age young dogs, just may not. So separate walks, and training are a must. Of course you can do both together at times. Also down time apart helps too...which helps with separate walking.

Good luck


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## LG2017

Look


spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


Looking for a bit of advice! Recently got a Westie pup (now 9 weeks old) and he took to his crate no problem for sleeping etc. However we are struggling with potty training... he gets fed 05:30-06:00, 12.15 and 17:30-18:00 and gets taken out straight after, sometimes he does his business, sometimes he doesn't but usually he will poop between 4-5 times in the day. He gets taken out at about 9ish latest and he will usually pee but nothing else. However he is pooping between 3-4 am most nights which is fine but tends to do it when he is in his crate and gives no notice. Even if you take him out to go to the toilet at 3 or 3.30 he will pee and just lie down to sleep. However within the hour he has had an accident in the crate and is then wide awake for the rest of the night and wants to play (or rip apart your slippers but that's another issue!)
I understand he is only little but the lack of sleep is driving us loopy! He can be fine one night and then off for 3!

Are we doing something wrong?


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## LittleKrystal

Some points to consider and try:

1) Clean the crate out completely! Use an enzymes spray, or if you don't have one use bio washing powder (make a paste and run it all over the crate base). Wash all the bedding with bio washing powder. This will get rid of any pee smell that we can't smell but he can. Any cheap bio washing powder from a supermarket is fine. 

2) You might need to take him out more frequently, maybe even every 2-3hrs. It's hard for the first month or two but if you can share the overnight potty runs then it's a bit better. When Kiba was small, we took him out at 9pm, 12am and 3am. He'll be up at around 6:30am. We were able to not do the 12am run after a week or so. Whenever he regresses, we go back to doing more frequent potty runs for a few days or even a week.

3) Do you have him on a leash when you take him outside? After he's had a pee, consider taking him for a walk around the garden (I know it's freezing outside), movement can help stimulate him to want to pee and poo. You can also wait a bit longer after he's had a pee to see if he needs a poo. 

4) Is the crate too big for him? Is he able to poo on one side and sleep on the other?

5) Are you rewarding him with loads of praise and treats when he pottys outside?


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## LG2017

LittleKrystal said:


> Some points to consider and try:
> 
> 1) Clean the crate out completely! Use an enzymes spray, or if you don't have one use bio washing powder (make a paste and run it all over the crate base). Wash all the bedding with bio washing powder. This will get rid of any pee smell that we can't smell but he can. Any cheap bio washing powder from a supermarket is fine.
> 
> 2) You might need to take him out more frequently, maybe even every 2-3hrs. It's hard for the first month or two but if you can share the overnight potty runs then it's a bit better. When Kiba was small, we took him out at 9pm, 12am and 3am. He'll be up at around 6:30am. We were able to not do the 12am run after a week or so. Whenever he regresses, we go back to doing more frequent potty runs for a few days or even a week.
> 
> 3) Do you have him on a leash when you take him outside? After he's had a pee, consider taking him for a walk around the garden (I know it's freezing outside), movement can help stimulate him to want to pee and poo. You can also wait a bit longer after he's had a pee to see if he needs a poo.
> 
> 4) Is the crate too big for him? Is he able to poo on one side and sleep on the other?
> 
> 5) Are you rewarding him with loads of praise and treats when he pottys outside?


Hey thanks for your tips! We have followed most of them, cleaned the crate and bedding etc.
We take him out at those times and he usually goes at 12 but not at 3 and then when we get up between 5 and 6 he has gone in his crate.
He is always on his lead outside, however we currently have about 2ft of snow and he won't toilet in it so we have resorted to puppy pads for the next few days but always with the same amount of praise as he would get outside.
We did all this last night and again came down at 5 am and he had pooped again, then today he deliberately ran into the crate and pooped in it in front of us!! He got taken straight out and the whole thing scrubbed again.
The only thing may be the size of the crate, however I think a small crate would be too confining for him.
I just feel like we are in a vicious circle with it all and I'm not sure how to break it.


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## LittleKrystal

LG2017 said:


> Hey thanks for your tips! We have followed most of them, cleaned the crate and bedding etc.
> We take him out at those times and he usually goes at 12 but not at 3 and then when we get up between 5 and 6 he has gone in his crate.
> He is always on his lead outside, however we currently have about 2ft of snow and he won't toilet in it so we have resorted to puppy pads for the next few days but always with the same amount of praise as he would get outside.
> We did all this last night and again came down at 5 am and he had pooped again, then today he deliberately ran into the crate and pooped in it in front of us!! He got taken straight out and the whole thing scrubbed again.
> The only thing may be the size of the crate, however I think a small crate would be too confining for him.
> I just feel like we are in a vicious circle with it all and I'm not sure how to break it.


Looks like he's having a poo somewhere between 3am and 6am. You need to narrow it down as you don't know when between 3am-6am he poos. As horrible as this sounds, I would suggest that you take him out one more time between 3am and 6am, say 4:30am. Hopefully he'll poo during the 4:30am session, or if you find poo then take him out at 4am or 4:15am. Basically, if you find poo in the crate, then you need to take him out earlier by 15mins or 30mins till you catch it.

The crate can't be too big else he'll sleep on one side and toilet on the other. The dog should just be able to stand, lay down and turn around else it'll too big. Take a photo of him in the crate and I can tell you if it's too big or not. Considering the size of a westie puppy, I would say an extra small crate would be fine.


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## LittleKrystal

If it really comes to it, you might need to take him out hourly after 3am just to catch it for many days. E.g. if he pees at 3am and poos at 4am every night for many nights, then you can consider slowly bringing it closer, like 3am and 3:55am for a few days, then 3am and 3:50am etc etc

We didn't have a good nights sleep for around 3 months. Puppies tends to sleep a lot anyways so we would nap during the day for 2-3hrs to make up for the lack of sleep. We took some time off work so you might want to consider a 2 week holiday so you can get some sleep.


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## Rafa

LittleKrystal said:


> If it really comes to it, you might need to take him out hourly after 3am just to catch it for many days. E.g. if he pees at 3am and poos at 4am every night for many nights, then you can consider slowly bringing it closer, like 3am and 3:55am for a few days, then 3am and 3:50am etc etc
> 
> We didn't have a good nights sleep for around 3 months. Puppies tends to sleep a lot anyways so we would nap during the day for 2-3hrs to make up for the lack of sleep. We took some time off work so you might want to consider a 2 week holiday so you can get some sleep.


Who on earth wants to be getting up every hour during the night to take a puppy outside?

There really is no need.

Napping during the day, taking time off work so you can be up and down all night with a pup is unthinkable to me and certainly not something I have ever done.

With a very young pup, I would make the last meal of the day around 9 p.m. I would have him in your bedroom very near you and, when you hear him waken up and move around, take him outside quickly and then back to bed.


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## Natalie898

Hi everyone 

My puppie is nearly 3 months and I’ve had her for two nights now. She was trained on the pads before I got her so we’ve had Zero accidents she will always go to the pad. She has a large crate separated into half for sleep and half has a pad. I also have some pads around my flat. 

I don’t have a garden to my self it’s communal but do have a large balcony. 

Even though there are pads around the place she has started just using the pad in her crate. 

My question is how to I start getting her to go outside. Do I start getting her to use the pads on the balcony and then transition to going in the garden. This would mean carrying her and taking her outside I am ground floor with a door the the garden right near my flat door.


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## Guest

Natalie898 said:


> Hi everyone
> 
> My puppie is nearly 3 months and I've had her for two nights now. She was trained on the pads before I got her so we've had Zero accidents she will always go to the pad. She has a large crate separated into half for sleep and half has a pad. I also have some pads around my flat.
> 
> I don't have a garden to my self it's communal but do have a large balcony.
> 
> Even though there are pads around the place she has started just using the pad in her crate.
> 
> My question is how to I start getting her to go outside. Do I start getting her to use the pads on the balcony and then transition to going in the garden. This would mean carrying her and taking her outside I am ground floor with a door the the garden right near my flat door.


Hi there 

It's very hard to toilet train using pads and most of the people on here would advise you not to do this. Obviously you're in a flat so it's not ideal. To toilet train you need to be taking her out every 45 mins to an hour on a lead (I assume she's had all her injections?), so if you can't take her to the communal garden you need to be taking her onto the balcony every hour. Also when she wakes up from a sleep or after playing. Then waiting till she pees, saying a cue word like "pee pee" as she does it, so she makes the connection. Then a huge fuss and treat and acting like peeing is the most amazing thing in the world. Good luck and lets see some pics


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## Guest

How is everyone doing? Most of the original posters will now have a dog around one years old. How did we survive :Wideyed. As for all the lovely people who are about to get a puppy or have a new arrival, we are here for you.


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## DaisyBluebell

Still here Spamvicious. Still worrying about my little Monster Emma who will be 1 tomorrow ! Where did all that time go? I look back now and wonder why I wanted to send her back to the breeder, was she really so bad that I actually didn't even like her! I so wish I could go back to those days knowing what I know now and how wonderful she would eventually turn out. Don't get me wrong she is still a real pain in the bum sometimes & I have tendonitis in my right shoulder and tennis elbow in my left arm to prove it,(pulling & zooming off whilst on lead) both of which I am having physio for. I will be happy once we start proper dog school but at present she cannot actually walk in a straight line let alone LLW. Partly my fault for being so lax with her training to start with and partly due to OH letting her get away with anything and everything despite my asking him to keep to the rules :Rage The saving grace being she is nuts about ball chasing & her retrieve is brilliant, to the point where we have to pace her play as she will run for ever (mad Lurcher) but she will even look but ignore any other dogs in the vicinity in favour of ball chasing - can I ask for more 
I'll post a picture of her on the forum for her birthday tomorrow - cant believe how she has grown!
Hope Star is ok & its just an easily sorted UTI she has at the moment.

I still never managed to get the PitaPata sorted so it shows the right age !


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## HJC

I am toilet training my puppy outside in my garden, he has already started walking round the door when he wants to go out, however......today he has developed an obsession with the grass and just wants to be out there chewing it, to the point where it makes him cough, I tried ignoring him and coming inside this doesn’t work, so In the end I have to pick him up and bring him inside, but then he sits by the door, I have to let him back out again incase he needs a wee (made the mistake of ignoring him and he peed on my curtains) it also seems to make his extra excitable and boisterous, I have received many ankle bites today!! Any advice would be amazing!!


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## DaisyBluebell

How old is your puppy HJC? Ankle, hands arms being bitten is par for the course with puppies - I looked like I was self harming! Try distraction when he starts, redirect his attention to something other than your ankles or where ever.
As for the grass eating it could be an upset, or uncomfortable, tummy. Has he had a noisy tum or runny poo's? Alternatively some dogs just love to eat grass!


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## HJC

DaisyBluebell said:


> How old is your puppy HJC? Ankle, hands arms being bitten is par for the course with puppies - I looked like I was self harming! Try distraction when he starts, redirect his attention to something other than your ankles or where ever.
> As for the grass eating it could be an upset, or uncomfortable, tummy. Has he had a noisy tum or runny poo's? Alternatively some dogs just love to eat grass!


Hey thanks so much for getting back to me. 
He's 9 weeks old today so a real bubba! 
I always try to distract but when he is fixated on something I can't seem to get him on to anything else, I resorted to ignoring him and that seems to work at the moment, as soon as his settles I praise him and if he starts again I go back to ignoring him and just repete the process until he stops biting, no idea if that's the right thing to do or not though. 
Nope his tummy has been fine, the last couple of days he is getting more treats/has been introduced to peanut butter (additive free and I have puppy peanut butter on its way) as I'm treating him every time he goes toilet outside, every time he settles himself in his own bed and also starting to get him focused on his kong as I start to get him used to being on his own, but his tummy and poos seem fine, a little firmer maybe (clay like texture). When we got him he farted loads but we switched the kibble to raw food and that stopped the gas straight away.


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## DaisyBluebell

If that's him in your Avatar he is just gorgeous what's his name?
Yes ignoring him (withdrawing attention) is very good too. At his age he is still very very young & those evil little teeth can be so painful - sadly you have quite a few more weeks of that to come but don't get too disheartened it does pass eventually. I look back now at the, sometimes still very naughty 1 year old, beautiful girl I have & wonder how I could have wanted to return her to the breeder so many times at first!
As long as he is eating ok (remember treats go towards his meal allowance, so cut down appropriately) his tummy isn't rumbling or bloated & his poo's aren't runny then you may have a grass grazer which may or may not last into adult life.
It is also obligatory on here to post pictures for us to coo over


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## HJC

DaisyBluebell said:


> If that's him in your Avatar he is just gorgeous what's his name?
> Yes ignoring him (withdrawing attention) is very good too. At his age he is still very very young & those evil little teeth can be so painful - sadly you have quite a few more weeks of that to come but don't get too disheartened it does pass eventually. I look back now at the, sometimes still very naughty 1 year old, beautiful girl I have & wonder how I could have wanted to return her to the breeder so many times at first!
> As long as he is eating ok (remember treats go towards his meal allowance, so cut down appropriately) his tummy isn't rumbling or bloated & his poo's aren't runny then you may have a grass grazer which may or may not last into adult life.
> It is also obligatory on here to post pictures for us to coo over


Yes it is, he's called Bertie, he's lovely but I am just dreading leaving him when I have to go back to work, I am preparing him as him as best I can trying to desensitise him to me putting my coat on and getting my keys by leaving the house and coming straight back, he just has no desire to work for his treats so looses interest really quickly. 
I'm sat in the kitchen with him at the moment ignoring him to try and encourage him to settle down or play on his own, tomorrow I will sit the other side of the gate! 
How do I work out how much I need to reduce his food by? 
What's your pooch called?


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## ShibaPup

If you are feeding kibble you can use that - just take it out of what you'd normally give him. Or you might need to find something he will work for but at the moment he's young and won't have much focus.

My pup didn't really eat out of a dish, always worked for her food either training or food toys like kongs - helps keep them entertained  We still do it now.


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## HJC

ShibaPup said:


> If you are feeding kibble you can use that - just take it out of what you'd normally give him. Or you might need to find something he will work for but at the moment he's young and won't have much focus.
> 
> My pup didn't really eat out of a dish, always worked for her food either training or food toys like kongs - helps keep them entertained  We still do it now.


Ahhh that's interesting, we are feeding him on raw food which he loves but I think this means he has to eat it straight away because it can't be left out, I put a little puppy peanut butter in his ball kong today and he loved that, kept him occupied in the kitchen whilst i pottered about.
After a mad half hour outside in the garden playing and then going for the ankle attack again he's just settled himself down in his bed with me the other side of the gate which is amazing!!


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## ShibaPup

HJC said:


> Ahhh that's interesting, we are feeding him on raw food which he loves but I think this means he has to eat it straight away because it can't be left out, I put a little puppy peanut butter in his ball kong today and he loved that, kept him occupied in the kitchen whilst i pottered about.
> After a mad half hour outside in the garden playing and then going for the ankle attack again he's just settled himself down in his bed with me the other side of the gate which is amazing!!


My dog is raw fed, I put it in kongs for her - you can even freeze them with the food in, makes it even harder. I leave her raw food out for her, in the summer only a couple of hours in a cool area and I try to make sure no flies go on it. She's also partially kibble fed, which I use for treats because she'll work for it.

Frozen kongs are great to cool them down and help pups when teething  wet a towel, freeze it - another great thing for teething pups and keeping them cool.

I'd also recommend having some pro-kolin+ in, it's a paste that helps stop diarrhoea - Lily had an upset tum quite often during teething, nothing serious she wasn't off colour, wasn't warm, no mucus or blood in it and that paste saved me! Always have it in now.


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## HJC

ShibaPup said:


> My dog is raw fed, I put it in kongs for her - you can even freeze them with the food in, makes it even harder. I leave her raw food out for her, in the summer only a couple of hours in a cool area and I try to make sure no flies go on it. She's also partially kibble fed, which I use for treats because she'll work for it.
> 
> Frozen kongs are great to cool them down and help pups when teething  wet a towel, freeze it - another great thing for teething pups and keeping them cool.
> 
> I'd also recommend having some pro-kolin+ in, it's a paste that helps stop diarrhoea - Lily had an upset tum quite often during teething, nothing serious she wasn't off colour, wasn't warm, no mucus or blood in it and that paste saved me! Always have it in now.


That's a such a good idea, if I freeze it that will help it last longer as well! He loves towels more than his blooming toys so I'm sure he will have so much fun with a frozen one. 
Amazing I will get some in incase he feels poorly! At what age do they tend to start teething?


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## HJC

I can’t belive how many questions I am askinnon here you must all think I am totally unprepared...so yesterday I started desensitising my pup to me putting on my coat and leaving he house, thismorning I did amit and he didn’t bat an eyelid so today I decided to try and pop out for a short walk, I settled him in his bed and left a kong with treats in by the gate in the kitchen (he had just been playing so was pretty tired), I left came back after 5 mins he was fast asleep so I went out again came back after 10 mins again fast asleep! I feel like I have won a small victory but as he’s asleep does it really count?? Or would a pup who hated separation have woken up instantly to stress about where I had gone?


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## ShibaPup

HJC said:


> That's a such a good idea, if I freeze it that will help it last longer as well! He loves towels more than his blooming toys so I'm sure he will have so much fun with a frozen one.
> Amazing I will get some in incase he feels poorly! At what age do they tend to start teething?


I cannot remember but I do remember Lily nipping me until she was around 6-7 months old - after that it gradually got a lot better and she's ever so gentle with her mouth now.

What worked for us was time outs - there would be a stair gate between us, so I could ensure she wasn't up to no good but she couldn't get to me until she calmed down.

The leaving thing is great - gradually build up time, as long as he is happy and content  You many well have hiccups where you'll need to go back a little but it's alright, he's constantly learning.


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## HJC

ShibaPup said:


> I cannot remember but I do remember Lily nipping me until she was around 6-7 months old - after that it gradually got a lot better and she's ever so gentle with her mouth now.
> 
> What worked for us was time outs - there would be a stair gate between us, so I could ensure she wasn't up to no good but she couldn't get to me until she calmed down.
> 
> The leaving thing is great - gradually build up time, as long as he is happy and content  You many well have hiccups where you'll need to go back a little but it's alright, he's constantly learning.


Thanks so much, I go back to work in 10 days and I am just so worried about leaving him so trying to do everything I can to prepare him (and myself) for it! Xx


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## TSK

Hi everyone newbie here. Day 6 of new 9week old Puppy and i just need to moan. Multi dog household
9yr old bull cross girl spayed
6yr old approx whippet cross rescue neutered
9week old lurcher.


So said puppy has been planned/discussed/thought over for a couple of years. Much wanted. Much prepared. Now hes here im lost, my 2 resident dogs seem unhappy and on edge. My girl will play with him ob her own terms but the rest of the time she tells him no by walking away with a growl/snap. All good learning. My whippet cross who is naturally edgy looks like hes in shut down, he is by no way aggressive he prefers to ignore other dogs and be ignored. Day before yesterday Puppy got up in his face biting and without the classic warning he just snapped. Floored the pup, lots of gnashing and screaming. Puppy screamed for a good 30 seconds after the telling off but wasnt hurt and no blood drawn. 60 seconds later hes trying to get up to his face again. Obv im a nervous wreck at this point, my older boy is looking at me as if to say "Get it away!" My energy will be affecting everyone. I use a crate for pup and other 2 have a bed upstairs to escape to if needed but i now feel i cant turn my back. This is hard. Puppy is great clean in the house, sits on command, will listen well fot a treat. I just am so nervy and edgy about my other dogs reaction im constantly following puppy going "no no ah ah come away!" This cant be right. I feel like my dream as become a nightmare. My 7 year old Son is feeling a bit left out as morn to night its dogs gogs dogs. Any support please x


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## ShibaPup

TSK said:


> Hi everyone newbie here. Day 6 of new 9week old Puppy and i just need to moan. Multi dog household
> 9yr old bull cross girl spayed
> 6yr old approx whippet cross rescue neutered
> 9week old lurcher.
> 
> So said puppy has been planned/discussed/thought over for a couple of years. Much wanted. Much prepared. Now hes here im lost, my 2 resident dogs seem unhappy and on edge. My girl will play with him ob her own terms but the rest of the time she tells him no by walking away with a growl/snap. All good learning. My whippet cross who is naturally edgy looks like hes in shut down, he is by no way aggressive he prefers to ignore other dogs and be ignored. Day before yesterday Puppy got up in his face biting and without the classic warning he just snapped. Floored the pup, lots of gnashing and screaming. Puppy screamed for a good 30 seconds after the telling off but wasnt hurt and no blood drawn. 60 seconds later hes trying to get up to his face again. Obv im a nervous wreck at this point, my older boy is looking at me as if to say "Get it away!" My energy will be affecting everyone. I use a crate for pup and other 2 have a bed upstairs to escape to if needed but i now feel i cant turn my back. This is hard. Puppy is great clean in the house, sits on command, will listen well fot a treat. I just am so nervy and edgy about my other dogs reaction im constantly following puppy going "no no ah ah come away!" This cant be right. I feel like my dream as become a nightmare. My 7 year old Son is feeling a bit left out as morn to night its dogs gogs dogs. Any support please x


You may want to post your own thread on this  Puppies are hard work - it does get better eventually.

With older dogs you do need to micromanage the puppy - they shouldn't have to get to the stage to tell the puppy off. As your puppy gets bigger - it may escalate into a fight so it's your job to keep the pup out of their way, when they don't want the pup bothering them.

Puppies are awful, they don't know when to stop, they bite and a lot of dogs aren't a fan until they grow some brains - it takes time.

A house lead can help - stair gates too, or somewhere the older dogs can go without the puppy annoying them.


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## Torin.

I do not have a puppy, so I'm a slight interloper. But Cadvan came to me at 16 months not housetrained and with some unhelpful behaviours surrounding what he had been taught. So I'm shoving myself in here because I need to just... talk about it... and this feels like the most appropriate place *shifty eyes* I have had advice all along from experienced friends, but sometimes you just want to share..

2 months later he's 100% fine during the day now, but nights are hit and miss. First method was sleeping downstairs with him to hear when he wanted out. Second method was going back to my own bed and setting alarms. He'll have a good patch and then a bad patch and who knows what the triggers are because I've logged it and there's no discernible pattern.

But now his and Moril's relationship is solidly good I've moved onto the third method of him in his crate by my bed. I know this is often the most recommended method for puppies, but I couldn't do this until now because my bedroom door doesn't shut. Moril sleeps on the landing outside my bedroom and usually comes in to join me in the early morning, so that could have left to high stress/ agitation and whatnot for both. I can now though, so that's good.

Moril came to see wtf Cad was doing just the once and they were both reasonably good with it, so that bodes well as me not having Terribly Misjudged Their Relationship Progress.









Obviously I'm posting here because I'm somewhat sleep deprived now. Not Cadvan's fault (he was very good, asked to get up for a pee twice and a poo once). But I find it super hard to fall asleep in the first place. I also missed my sleepy meds to make sure I actually was easy to wake up for when he asked very politely (I'm trying to teach him to be more vocal in his asking rather than a quiet whine) so as to start with low criteria for him. And that's obviously part of my problem. Going to see if I can take a half dose tonight and maybe not spend 6hrs lying awake in bed  And I'll be removing his water tonight too - I just wanted to ensure that the crate was a nice place for him to be for the first night.








(the scratching post I also moved further away a second after I took the photo)


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## lullabydream

@TSK

I am really sorry you seem to have hit the floor running with this puppy, and you just don't seem to have caught your breath.

To be honest, there is a couple of tweaks to change your mind set just slightly on how to handle this situation.

Honestly 6 days in, and your puppy sounds a dream as lurcher puppies go they are truly hard work and things like house training, learning commands sound a complete and utter joy.

However you have to remember that he is just a puppy, a young baby animal. Just like a baby of the human kind, they do need time and care and attention. So yes I absolutely get it that it feels like you are not giving your child time. However I am sure you can find child and puppy tasks to do together. Plus puppies grow in to adults pretty quickly, so although this week dog is needy now he will be less needy in a few months time.

Right your original dogs and the new comer...quite a common problem. Puppies have no manners, and I mean no manners. They have limited social skills raised correctly from Mummy dog if the breeder did their thing...but they have so much to learn and the best way the learn is repeatition. Just like children have to be told, and they do have to be told several reminders over and over again how to behave. So do puppies. However puppies brains, are so more black and white. So the more you allow this to happen...


TSK said:


> . My girl will play with him ob her own terms but the rest of the time she tells him no by walking away with a growl/snap. All good learning.


Having a memory of a sieve the puppy forgets and does it more...the telling off has escalated to snapping...and it's actually teaching him nothing apart from in a few months time when he's bigger and powerful that oh this is how you react to others if you don't get what you want...this is when fighting starts in multidog households with teenage dogs and older dogs.

What you need to do is to call him away exactly as you have been doing. If that's not working use a houseline to gently lure him away.

No resident dog should feel the need to stand up to a new puppy at all. You as owner should be in a partnership with the dogs so you can stand up for them and protect them if need be.

You mention use of the crate. What do you use the crate for, a crate should be puppies safe place to go. So if you need to remove him from situations then behind a baby gate is better. Or the crate becomes a negative place.

Do your oldest dogs normally go upstairs to their beds in the day...if they do that's brilliant. You can send them for some nap time after a nice walk or some play with them so you get time alone with your puppy. However, if they tend to only use their beds upstairs at night time then, it's not really the point they can go there as they probably do not want to. I have a dog who used upstairs as her safe space and would frequently go to the door to be let up. None of the other dogs did, and if I suddenly started to do it then it would be very strange.

I have probably agreed with all what @ShibaPup said but she put it better


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## Rafa

At 16 months old, your pup should be more than able to go right through the night. In fact, he isn't really a puppy any more.

How many times a day do you feed him and what time does he have his last feed?

Waking during the night can become a habit, rather than a need.


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## Torin.

Rafa said:


> At 16 months old, your pup should be more than able to go right through the night. In fact, he isn't really a puppy any more.


Did you miss me starting my post with "I do not have a puppy, so I'm a slight interloper"?  As I did say, I was mostly posting to grumble about my lack of sleep, as this seemed the most appropriate place to do so (wasn't really worthy of a whole new thread!).


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## Rafa

Is he getting you up during the night?


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## Torin.

I mean, you're clearly not reading my post so I think I'll leave this here.


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## Rafa

Torin. said:


> I mean, you're clearly not reading my post so I think I'll leave this here.


I did read your post.

Maybe you could learn to communicate a little more clearly rather than being so quick to take offence?


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## Torin.

We could blame the evident tiredness. But I did answer that question in my post, so *shrugs*. Anyway, bedtime for me and Cad!


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## TSK

Hi yes i think i will stick to teaching him manners myself. He does pick up very easy, he cant grasp the whole dog thing though, straight away this morning when he saw them he was like "Hiiiiiiiii im here!" :Blackalien. Haha thankfull no incidents since as hes been kept getting distracted by me and asked to sit to redirect his attention. Doing thos wont stop him learning about dog language though will it? Im a tad confused about that. 
My Son is an abosloute dream very dog savvy as obv our 9 yr old girl was here before he was born. Hes great at occupying puppy with fetch games when im taking a respite. He knows when puppy gets too rough stand up, turn away, ignore. This is working very well as pup now greets him at a steady trot with NO teeth or pouncing involved. Its just daft things getting to me all will be good...is it hard? Hell yeah...will it be worth it? Ab so bloody loutley.  Pup uses crate at night and when im out, busy ect which then serves as peace time for the other 2. Its full of toys and he is fed in there. The first couple of mins he objects but it is more like an annoyed bark as opposed to "im lonley" ..the other 2 have always had a bed upstairs which theyve used as/when they want during the day. A bit backwards but thwy dont go up there at night, as THAT is when they know the sofa gets covered and they use that. Our routines have served us well for 9and 4 years respectivley. Im sure this is one will too. I just got "puppy blues"


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## lullabydream

@TSK you will do everything right if you step in before hand..am not saying the odd telling off might not happen between dogs. Like you say being a mum, and insert all your other labels like dishwasher, window cleaner, medicine giver, partner...you have many we all do. It would be lovely to live in a Utopia where you can watch your puppy, give your son his every whim, and do everything work wise and to me that includes paid and un paid...but we don't things happen unexpectedly in front of us, just when we can't hold our bladder any longer and we checked not once but three times everything was child/puppy safe when we went for a speed wee!

Dogs are domestic and they actually prefer humans to their own species...hasn't your puppy showed you this with the excitement of saying hello! Don't get me wrong, it's lovely to watch some dogs who have good social skills play and have what looks a great relationship but the human always comes first. So unfortunately you doing the hard work benefits new dog, older dogs and just feels so exhausting! Their social skills improve ten fold because of it...there are too many dogs with bad dog social skills..let me explain.

Ever met the 'friendly dog' walks. It's the one paying no attention to his owners frantic plea to recall. Whose zoomed in on your dog. No recall so owner begins 'hes friendly' chant as they huff and puff to retrieve their dog. Dogs bounds over and is actually trying to jump on your dog, or no maybe that was hump..whatever is happening your dog isn't keen. A social friendly dog wouldn't just be in another's dog face, after running at full pelt but was so good at practicing this for puppy socialisation that they never learnt...hence good repeatitions matter....dogs have personal space, yeah they may forget humans have that too but humans are just too delicious and exciting to some!

I could go on...but way to many dogs don't get other dogs.

So yes my own tip is take charge, remember puppy socialisation is about sharing the world with others. So not meet every human you meet and every dog...ideal meetings are with calm confident dogs who actually will not necessarily play but maybe allow walking near sniffing etc...there's a lot to be said about watching the world go by at times to watch with a young dog. Ideally a dog would be dog neutral...meaning other dogs are neither here nor there so will happily ignore dogs on walk. Not many achieve it to be honest but a quick sniff and greet far better than prolonged.


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## HJC

Any good recommendations for puppy training treats?
He is on raw food but treats don’t necessarily have to be raw just not filled with nasties! I am struggling to find ones that are 1.suitable for a 10 week old 2.He finds ‘high value’ and 3.He can eat a reasonable amount of without a.getting a farty bum and b.effecting his diet to much, we are doing some pretty intensive training at the moment so there are a lot of treats involved. 

Thanks!


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## ShibaPup

HJC said:


> Any good recommendations for puppy training treats?
> He is on raw food but treats don't necessarily have to be raw just not filled with nasties! I am struggling to find ones that are 1.suitable for a 10 week old 2.He finds 'high value' and 3.He can eat a reasonable amount of without a.getting a farty bum and b.effecting his diet to much, we are doing some pretty intensive training at the moment so there are a lot of treats involved.
> 
> Thanks!


Try using a kibble - that's what I do. Akela or orijen here. Or cooked chicken breast.

Make sure they are tiny, tiny bits. Think half of a 5p or smaller. I even chop the kibble pieces into 4 - a little will go a long way


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## HJC

ShibaPup said:


> Try using a kibble - that's what I do. Akela or orijen here. Or cooked chicken breast.
> 
> Make sure they are tiny, tiny bits. Think half of a 5p or smaller. I even chop the kibble pieces into 4 - a little will go a long way


Thank you!! We tried roast chicken today and he loved it but stinks tonight haha, I have just orderd some kibble (much more cost effective than the treats) I was cutting the Good Boys chicken treats into four but just realised today that they aren't suitable for puppies under 4months they smell really rich too (like chorizo) so I donr want to over do it!


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## Guest

Some dogs simply do not go through the night. My dog gets up once for a pee each night, I know many other adult dogs that don't sleep all the way through.


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## Hayley Baines

Hi all. 
New to this and just got my first puppy a week ago tomorrow! She's 9 weeks old this coming Tuesday.. she is a Chihuahua x shitzu...
Anyway reason for posting here is it has been a massive shock to my system!! And I have been feeling awful and regretful the past week. I have had no appetite, felt sick, I'm so so tired and only just realised there is something called the puppy blues!!! Definitely suffering this here!! 
A little more about my pup, she's a gorgeous little thing and has taken really well to toilet training and having minimum accidents and wakes me up 2 times in the night for the toilet... this is one of the things I'm struggling with... the lack of sleep!! She also hates me leaving the house (school runs, errands etc) I think it's getting better as the last 2 times I've had to pop out when I've returned she has been quite in her bed in her crate.. I'm quite an anxious person anyway but this new puppy experience has made my anxiety a nightmare! I think what I'm trying to say is I'm so overwhelmed ahhhhhh!!!


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## HJC

Hayley Baines said:


> Hi all.
> New to this and just got my first puppy a week ago tomorrow! She's 9 weeks old this coming Tuesday.. she is a Chihuahua x shitzu...
> Anyway reason for posting here is it has been a massive shock to my system!! And I have been feeling awful and regretful the past week. I have had no appetite, felt sick, I'm so so tired and only just realised there is something called the puppy blues!!! Definitely suffering this here!!
> A little more about my pup, she's a gorgeous little thing and has taken really well to toilet training and having minimum accidents and wakes me up 2 times in the night for the toilet... this is one of the things I'm struggling with... the lack of sleep!! She also hates me leaving the house (school runs, errands etc) I think it's getting better as the last 2 times I've had to pop out when I've returned she has been quite in her bed in her crate.. I'm quite an anxious person anyway but this new puppy experience has made my anxiety a nightmare! I think what I'm trying to say is I'm so overwhelmed ahhhhhh!!!


First of all she is a little beaut!
I have had my little one 2 weeks today, and how you are feeling is completely normal!! Nothing else prepares you for how responsible you feel for this little thing! 
The toilet thing I am afraid will carry on until she can hold her wees longer, but this won't be forever, you will get into a routine of waking up wit her and once you feel less anxious you will sleep so much better (I was awake for hours listening to every breath and movement when I got Bertie) 
Try and desensitise her to you leaving the house, put on your coat get your keys leave Locke the door then unlock and come straight back in, do this throughout the day until she doesn't bat an eye lid at the nosies she associates with you leaving, you will feel like a mad woman but Bertie got this in a couple of days (obv every dog is different) by the sounds of it she calms herself once you are gone for a little while so this will probably really help, also do not acknowledge her when you leave or when you come home, you don't want her to think it's not a big deal (I felt awful but Bertie doesn't even get out of bed when I come home now haha) 
You will be amazed at the progress you make in a couple of weeks! 
I get all my advice on here at it has helped no end! 
My issue at the moment is the puppy play, I dead it because he bites and tugs on me and my clothes sooooooo much, I spend most of it putting him in time out!! 
Xx


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## Hayley Baines

HJC said:


> First of all she is a little beaut!
> I have had my little one 2 weeks today, and how you are feeling is completely normal!! Nothing else prepares you for how responsible you feel for this little thing!
> The toilet thing I am afraid will carry on until she can hold her wees longer, but this won't be forever, you will get into a routine of waking up wit her and once you feel less anxious you will sleep so much better (I was awake for hours listening to every breath and movement when I got Bertie)
> Try and desensitise her to you leaving the house, put on your coat get your keys leave Locke the door then unlock and come straight back in, do this throughout the day until she doesn't bat an eye lid at the nosies she associates with you leaving, you will feel like a mad woman but Bertie got this in a couple of days (obv every dog is different) by the sounds of it she calms herself once you are gone for a little while so this will probably really help, also do not acknowledge her when you leave or when you come home, you don't want her to think it's not a big deal (I felt awful but Bertie doesn't even get out of bed when I come home now haha)
> You will be amazed at the progress you make in a couple of weeks!
> I get all my advice on here at it has helped no end!
> My issue at the moment is the puppy play, I dead it because he bites and tugs on me and my clothes sooooooo much, I spend most of it putting him in time out!!
> Xx


Thank you for your reply

Last night was much better I went to bed about 10:20pm and she didn't make a peep until 1:30am and out for a wee and straight back in her crate and then woke just before 6am... feeling a bit more rested. 
She's getting a lot better at crate time and doesn't whine to much or follow my every move anymore so will try the pretend leaving and see if that helps.. I did have a little doggy cam going but have had to disconnect it as watching it and knowing she was howling was making me so anxious!! So I don't know how she is when I leave now but seems calm when I return. I usually leave her with a kong or stuffed toy when I leave and when I return I don't make a fuss for 5 mins or so and when she's quiet I let her out... puppy bites ate the worst aren't they!!! She seems to react well to me yelping and then ignoring her. Xx


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## HJC

Hayley Baines said:


> Thank you for your reply
> 
> Last night was much better I went to bed about 10:20pm and she didn't make a peep until 1:30am and out for a wee and straight back in her crate and then woke just before 6am... feeling a bit more rested.
> She's getting a lot better at crate time and doesn't whine to much or follow my every move anymore so will try the pretend leaving and see if that helps.. I did have a little doggy cam going but have had to disconnect it as watching it and knowing she was howling was making me so anxious!! So I don't know how she is when I leave now but seems calm when I return. I usually leave her with a kong or stuffed toy when I leave and when I return I don't make a fuss for 5 mins or so and when she's quiet I let her out... puppy bites ate the worst aren't they!!! She seems to react well to me yelping and then ignoring her. Xx


That's great, we have to get Bertie up every three hours to go out the the loo, if we don't he will wake up and just go, I wish he was a little more vocal about needing to go out so I didn't have to set an alarm!
I am the same, I would just be glued to it if I got one and let's face it if we are anxious every time we leave them they pick up on it and it makes them anxious.
It sounds like you are doing all the right things so I'm sure she will settle down after a week or two. I go back to work next week and I am just dreading leaving him.
I am covered in scratches and bruises, I am trying everything but once he latches on to me or my clothes there is just no stopping him, if I catch him before he gets too riled up it's not so bad but once he is fixated on playing with me no amount of toys in the world will distract him


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## Hayley Baines

HJC said:


> That's great, we have to get Bertie up every three hours to go out the the loo, if we don't he will wake up and just go, I wish he was a little more vocal about needing to go out so I didn't have to set an alarm!
> I am the same, I would just be glued to it if I got one and let's face it if we are anxious every time we leave them they pick up on it and it makes them anxious.
> It sounds like you are doing all the right things so I'm sure she will settle down after a week or two. I go back to work next week and I am just dreading leaving him.
> I am covered in scratches and bruises, I am trying everything but once he latches on to me or my clothes there is just no stopping him, if I catch him before he gets too riled up it's not so bad but once he is fixated on playing with me no amount of toys in the world will distract him


I'm in a flat so it's a but easier for me and one put a camp bed up in the hallway so I can hear her as I have to use earplugs to sleep next to my other half as he snores so bad haha and I was finding I wasn't hearing her and then she was waking everyone up! Things you have to do haha!! I was setting an alarm but stopped and thought I would see how she would wake me.. 
Your pup looks gorgeous!!! What is he?? 
Hopefully once the teething stage is over his bites will stop.
Xx


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## HJC

Hayley Baines said:


> I'm in a flat so it's a but easier for me and one put a camp bed up in the hallway so I can hear her as I have to use earplugs to sleep next to my other half as he snores so bad haha and I was finding I wasn't hearing her and then she was waking everyone up! Things you have to do haha!! I was setting an alarm but stopped and thought I would see how she would wake me..
> Your pup looks gorgeous!!! What is he??
> Hopefully once the teething stage is over his bites will stop.
> Xx


Haha tell me about it, Bertie got so stressed out he's in our room now moving him slowly out (we have got to bedroom door) just after the first three days he started crying ALL night from 10pm -6am so lots of people recommended that we tried that instead. 
I tried that for thismorning and woke up to a poo hahaha so we aren't quite there yet I will be so glad when we are though. 
Thank you, he's a Boston terrier, absolutely lovely and on the whole really chilled out which is great but when he's play fighting there is just no stopping him, currently on our 4th time out since 9am, it's just sad because I dread playing with him because I know it's going to a.hurt and b.be an hour of me saying No, Leave it and carrying him into time out whilst he's hanging off me! X


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## Hayley Baines

HJC said:


> Haha tell me about it, Bertie got so stressed out he's in our room now moving him slowly out (we have got to bedroom door) just after the first three days he started crying ALL night from 10pm -6am so lots of people recommended that we tried that instead.
> I tried that for thismorning and woke up to a poo hahaha so we aren't quite there yet I will be so glad when we are though.
> Thank you, he's a Boston terrier, absolutely lovely and on the whole really chilled out which is great but when he's play fighting there is just no stopping him, currently on our 4th time out since 9am, it's just sad because I dread playing with him because I know it's going to a.hurt and b.be an hour of me saying No, Leave it and carrying him into time out whilst he's hanging off me! X


People say it gets easier as time goes on haha. Xx


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## joolesd

Hi All,

I've just found this thread from another conversation.

What are peoples thoughts/feelings on when to take my puppy, Toby, for his second injection? He had his first at 8 weeks and I thought he would have his second at 10 weeks and be able to go for a walk one week after that. However, my vet said he could have the second injection at 10 weeks but they prefer to do it at 12 weeks which means he won't be able to go out for a walk until he is 13 weeks old. That also means having to keep him in for half term!!

I'd be grateful for any advice.

Julie


----------



## HJC

joolesd said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I've just found this thread from another conversation.
> 
> What are peoples thoughts/feelings on when to take my puppy, Toby, for his second injection? He had his first at 8 weeks and I thought he would have his second at 10 weeks and be able to go for a walk one week after that. However, my vet said he could have the second injection at 10 weeks but they prefer to do it at 12 weeks which means he won't be able to go out for a walk until he is 13 weeks old. That also means having to keep him in for half term!!
> 
> I'd be grateful for any advice.
> 
> Julie


Hey,
It's up to your vet really, my pup had his first injection at 8weeks, then his second injection at 10 weeks, a week after this he is allowed to walk round the block as it's low risk but worth it to get my pup used to being outside and socialised but we are not to go on fields or farm land. He has a third injection on the 11th of this month (I presume your vet is giving all jabs on the 2nd injection which is why he wants to wait) a lot of vets actually give the 1st injection at 10 weeks now.
I think that following what your vet recommends is probably the best option, if they felt that it was safe to provide the injections earlier then I am sure they would, and Vets will have their own procedure that they need to follow (hence why my vet differs from yours).
Hope this helps,
H


----------



## Annitta

Hello everyone, 
I've been on here for about a week and have posted on other thread categories for advice on out labradoodle pup, but have been kind of in denial about having to post on here because I feel a little guilty to do so.. I think I might be feeling puppy blues.. or lack of sleep induced puppy blues. I was the one with the idea of getting a puppy but my boyfriend wanted one also, we just didn't have the time for her until now. I've had a pup of my own when I was very young and still living with my parents, so I thought I was ready for this huge responsibility. However, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew right now. I've told my boyfriend this and he tells me to give it time because she will get better and we will get better at training her. I truly believe this because she's learned and changed so much already. I think the problem here is me honestly. I'm doing all sorts of research on everything like I'm trying to find a quick fix to her house training, socialization, and desensitization. I know it takes time, but I'm feeling so so so overwhelmed 
She's a great little pup. She was a bit fearful when we got her but she's doing so so much better and has now entered the biting stage of puppy-hood (it has been interesting haha). She enjoys being around other dogs and actually made the most progress after some friends came over with their two Golden retrievers, so that's leading us to believe that she's not so much fearful as she is an unsocialized pup. 
I love her, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed with her sometimes.. I know house training is process that requires a lot of patience, but it's quite frustrating when I take her out every 30-60 minutes and I find her going on her spare bed in the other living room! She has a bed just like that one in the dining/living room where we are most of the time, but only goes on that one and I don't understand why.. Maybe she has too much roaming freedom? For the most part she goes when we take her outside and have been using the phrase "go potty outside" when we are taking her out and "go potty" when she's out. 
I used to pride myself in how much patience I have for everything, but I might take my trophies away any day now.. 

Thanks for reading,
~Annita


----------



## HJC

Annitta said:


> Hello everyone,
> I've been on here for about a week and have posted on other thread categories for advice on out labradoodle pup, but have been kind of in denial about having to post on here because I feel a little guilty to do so.. I think I might be feeling puppy blues.. or lack of sleep induced puppy blues. I was the one with the idea of getting a puppy but my boyfriend wanted one also, we just didn't have the time for her until now. I've had a pup of my own when I was very young and still living with my parents, so I thought I was ready for this huge responsibility. However, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew right now. I've told my boyfriend this and he tells me to give it time because she will get better and we will get better at training her. I truly believe this because she's learned and changed so much already. I think the problem here is me honestly. I'm doing all sorts of research on everything like I'm trying to find a quick fix to her house training, socialization, and desensitization. I know it takes time, but I'm feeling so so so overwhelmed
> She's a great little pup. She was a bit fearful when we got her but she's doing so so much better and has now entered the biting stage of puppy-hood (it has been interesting haha). She enjoys being around other dogs and actually made the most progress after some friends came over with their two Golden retrievers, so that's leading us to believe that she's not so much fearful as she is an unsocialized pup.
> I love her, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed with her sometimes.. I know house training is process that requires a lot of patience, but it's quite frustrating when I take her out every 30-60 minutes and I find her going on her spare bed in the other living room! She has a bed just like that one in the dining/living room where we are most of the time, but only goes on that one and I don't understand why.. Maybe she has too much roaming freedom? For the most part she goes when we take her outside and have been using the phrase "go potty outside" when we are taking her out and "go potty" when she's out.
> I used to pride myself in how much patience I have for everything, but I might take my trophies away any day now..
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> ~Annita


I felt the same when I got my little one 3 weeks ago! How old is she out of interest?


----------



## ShibaPup

joolesd said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I've just found this thread from another conversation.
> 
> What are peoples thoughts/feelings on when to take my puppy, Toby, for his second injection? He had his first at 8 weeks and I thought he would have his second at 10 weeks and be able to go for a walk one week after that. However, my vet said he could have the second injection at 10 weeks but they prefer to do it at 12 weeks which means he won't be able to go out for a walk until he is 13 weeks old. That also means having to keep him in for half term!!
> 
> I'd be grateful for any advice.
> 
> Julie


You have to personally weigh up the pros and cons of habituation before vaccination.

Personally my puppy was on the floor from day 1 - kept away from other dogs and heavy dog traffic areas. Just explored the world at her pace, when she was comfortable. Sat outside supermarkets on a bench - give her treats and watch the world go by.
To me - getting her out experiencing the world was more important than the very low risk of her contracting something.
There is a map to see if there have been any Parvo outbreaks in your area recently - https://uk.virbac.com/parvoalert

They don't need to meet 101 dogs or 101 people - just observing from a distance and learning to ignore them is honestly a blessing.



Annitta said:


> Hello everyone,
> I've been on here for about a week and have posted on other thread categories for advice on out labradoodle pup, but have been kind of in denial about having to post on here because I feel a little guilty to do so.. I think I might be feeling puppy blues.. or lack of sleep induced puppy blues. I was the one with the idea of getting a puppy but my boyfriend wanted one also, we just didn't have the time for her until now. I've had a pup of my own when I was very young and still living with my parents, so I thought I was ready for this huge responsibility. However, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew right now. I've told my boyfriend this and he tells me to give it time because she will get better and we will get better at training her. I truly believe this because she's learned and changed so much already. I think the problem here is me honestly. I'm doing all sorts of research on everything like I'm trying to find a quick fix to her house training, socialization, and desensitization. I know it takes time, but I'm feeling so so so overwhelmed
> She's a great little pup. She was a bit fearful when we got her but she's doing so so much better and has now entered the biting stage of puppy-hood (it has been interesting haha). She enjoys being around other dogs and actually made the most progress after some friends came over with their two Golden retrievers, so that's leading us to believe that she's not so much fearful as she is an unsocialized pup.
> I love her, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed with her sometimes.. I know house training is process that requires a lot of patience, but it's quite frustrating when I take her out every 30-60 minutes and I find her going on her spare bed in the other living room! She has a bed just like that one in the dining/living room where we are most of the time, but only goes on that one and I don't understand why.. Maybe she has too much roaming freedom? For the most part she goes when we take her outside and have been using the phrase "go potty outside" when we are taking her out and "go potty" when she's out.
> I used to pride myself in how much patience I have for everything, but I might take my trophies away any day now..
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> ~Annita


Puppies require lots and lots of patience - there are no short cuts. Just grin and bare it - be consistent and it does eventually get better.

My dog mouthed and nipped me for months - wasn't until she was 6-8 months, around that time, I started seeing improvements. Until then my arms was bruised and cut.

My best advice - just think, tomorrow is another brand new day.


----------



## Annitta

HJC said:


> I felt the same when I got my little one 3 weeks ago! How old is she out of interest?


Hello,
She's 11 weeks and we got her when she was almost 10 weeks. I know we haven't had her for a while but according to the breeders blog the families that have her sibling are emailing that they're already house trained.. so I think I'm doing something wrong with her.


----------



## HJC

Annitta said:


> Hello,
> She's 11 weeks and we got her when she was almost 10 weeks. I know we haven't had her for a while but according to the breeders blog the families that have her sibling are emailing that they're already house trained.. so I think I'm doing something wrong with her.


Ahhh this is fab Bertie is 11 weeks today and we got him at 8 weeks! Please do not stress every dog is different and I have changed sooooooo many of the things I thought I was doing right to start out with! 
Bertie is running to the door when he needs a wee or poo but until the last few days he still had the occasional wee or poo inside so it will take time (remember we have had him three weeks already) I'm not sure what you are doing so I am just going to list things that have helped. 
1. High reward treat every time she goes to to loo outside, make sure you are stood with her so she knows what the treat is for (we got a clicker and Bertie responds really well to that) and get silly excited lots of love and praise. 
2. Get a specific cleaner for when she goes inside that gets rid of her scent, I would suggest putting the dog bed she keeps going in on a 60 degree wash (she might associate this as the place she goes to loo, Bertie did this with our front door mat but we got a spray of amazon and no accidents since) 
3. When she is up pop her out literally every 20 mins for loo 
4. If you have puppy pads get rid, they are just confusing for them, when we go to Work Bertie can't always hold it for 2-3 hours so he's in the kitchen and we can clean up easy. 
5. I'm not sure what you do at night but we actually get up with Bertie I set an alarm for every hour to start off with to see if he was up and now I do every 4 hours - we do have Bertie in our room at the moment so this does make that easier (we have had accidents though so that's normal when she twigs she's supposed to go outside she will hold on for longer) 
Please don't stress though on day five of having Bertie I cried my eyes out just thought what the hell am I going to do, cake on this site and then felt much better but very overwhelmed at how puppy training has evolved and what I needed to do but I started back at work this week and he's absolutely fine! 
Highly recommend desensitising her to you leaving, start by getting your keys and coat on, walk out the door but immediately come straight back in put your keys back and take your coat off, repete this throughout the day and I she will soon not associate those sights and noises with you leaving the house, once you think she is ready start by staying out side a little longer and then go for a little walk, it seems like it will never end but Bertie picked this up in a week and I could leave him for 2 hours no issue, he cried for 10 mins and stopped (all dogs are different though). 
When you leave ignore her, when you come home ignore her for a few mins - the idea is you want her to not feel that you coming and going is a big deal, the place that you are leaving her when you go out must be a positive place so lots of treats and nice things in here for her to associate the room with and never use it as an area for punishment. 
Anything else you want to ask please do and I'm happy to share my experiences with you, everyone on this page is soooooo helpful and will give you much better advice than me I am sure! X


----------



## Annitta

HJC said:


> Ahhh this is fab Bertie is 11 weeks today and we got him at 8 weeks! Please do not stress every dog is different and I have changed sooooooo many of the things I thought I was doing right to start out with!
> Bertie is running to the door when he needs a wee or poo but until the last few days he still had the occasional wee or poo inside so it will take time (remember we have had him three weeks already) I'm not sure what you are doing so I am just going to list things that have helped.
> 1. High reward treat every time she goes to to loo outside, make sure you are stood with her so she knows what the treat is for (we got a clicker and Bertie responds really well to that) and get silly excited lots of love and praise.
> 2. Get a specific cleaner for when she goes inside that gets rid of her scent, I would suggest putting the dog bed she keeps going in on a 60 degree wash (she might associate this as the place she goes to loo, Bertie did this with our front door mat but we got a spray of amazon and no accidents since)
> 3. When she is up pop her out literally every 20 mins for loo
> 4. If you have puppy pads get rid, they are just confusing for them, when we go to Work Bertie can't always hold it for 2-3 hours so he's in the kitchen and we can clean up easy.
> 5. I'm not sure what you do at night but we actually get up with Bertie I set an alarm for every hour to start off with to see if he was up and now I do every 4 hours - we do have Bertie in our room at the moment so this does make that easier (we have had accidents though so that's normal when she twigs she's supposed to go outside she will hold on for longer)
> Please don't stress though on day five of having Bertie I cried my eyes out just thought what the hell am I going to do, cake on this site and then felt much better but very overwhelmed at how puppy training has evolved and what I needed to do but I started back at work this week and he's absolutely fine!
> Highly recommend desensitising her to you leaving, start by getting your keys and coat on, walk out the door but immediately come straight back in put your keys back and take your coat off, repete this throughout the day and I she will soon not associate those sights and noises with you leaving the house, once you think she is ready start by staying out side a little longer and then go for a little walk, it seems like it will never end but Bertie picked this up in a week and I could leave him for 2 hours no issue, he cried for 10 mins and stopped (all dogs are different though).
> When you leave ignore her, when you come home ignore her for a few mins - the idea is you want her to not feel that you coming and going is a big deal, the place that you are leaving her when you go out must be a positive place so lots of treats and nice things in here for her to associate the room with and never use it as an area for punishment.
> Anything else you want to ask please do and I'm happy to share my experiences with you, everyone on this page is soooooo helpful and will give you much better advice than me I am sure! X


That makes me feel so much better.. 
We take her out throughout the day and once at night (every four hours) she usually lets us know by whining or a bark if we don't hear her wine. We take her out of her crate and directly outside and back inside the crate when she's done. Right now she has a lot of space to wander and I'm thinking that's our big mistake. I think we're going to get some more puppy gates to keep her confined to part of the living room and part of the kitchen. 
I'm thinking about just having enough carpet for her to have her bed and toys there and the kitchen part for her food. I'm hoping she doesn't go anywhere near the carpet and she's never gone on tile, so I don't think she will (at least I hope so!) I haven't done the high value treat when she goes because I forget to take them out with me (I know, shame on me ) I'll leave a little baggie hung up by the door to remind me. 
We haven't had her on a leash when she goes potty and now I'm wondering if we should get her on that, or is it too late?


----------



## HJC

Annitta said:


> That makes me feel so much better..
> We take her out throughout the day and once at night (every four hours) she usually lets us know by whining or a bark if we don't hear her wine. We take her out of her crate and directly outside and back inside the crate when she's done. Right now she has a lot of space to wander and I'm thinking that's our big mistake. I think we're going to get some more puppy gates to keep her confined to part of the living room and part of the kitchen.
> I'm thinking about just having enough carpet for her to have her bed and toys there and the kitchen part for her food. I'm hoping she doesn't go anywhere near the carpet and she's never gone on tile, so I don't think she will (at least I hope so!) I haven't done the high value treat when she goes because I forget to take them out with me (I know, shame on me ) I'll leave a little baggie hung up by the door to remind me.
> We haven't had her on a leash when she goes potty and now I'm wondering if we should get her on that, or is it too late?


I'm glad, just remember she is going through a lot of changes at the moment so she's probably still getting comfortable in her environment, one day it will just click! 
Having a smaller area will also help you keep track of her, it's great that she lets you know she needs to go out at night, that shows that she wants you to take her out, Bertie has only just started being vocal about needing to go to the toilet. It sounds like she has gone in her bed and keeps going there because she can smell her scent if she's not just going wherever she wants in the house, I would also encourage her to go and sit in the offending bed (once the scent has been eliminated) and treat her when she's in it, generally dogs are pretty clean and if they love an area or thing they won't go to the loo on it (in my experience, in the day Bertie will go to the toilet as far away from his bed as he can in the kitchen) 
I am not sure about popping her on a leash when she goes to the toilet I haven't looked into that as a method, I would think that at this early stage when she's indicating she needs to go she really needs to go so poping her on the lead may take to long, also if you find she really hates the lead she's less likely to be encouraged to go outside to go to the loo. 
Haha I was the same to start off with I have a shelf by the back door and I pop treats in a pot I have on it so I can grab it as go out and my pockets are always full incase I need them. 
X


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## Hayley Baines

HJC said:


> Haha tell me about it, Bertie got so stressed out he's in our room now moving him slowly out (we have got to bedroom door) just after the first three days he started crying ALL night from 10pm -6am so lots of people recommended that we tried that instead.
> I tried that for thismorning and woke up to a poo hahaha so we aren't quite there yet I will be so glad when we are though.
> Thank you, he's a Boston terrier, absolutely lovely and on the whole really chilled out which is great but when he's play fighting there is just no stopping him, currently on our 4th time out since 9am, it's just sad because I dread playing with him because I know it's going to a.hurt and b.be an hour of me saying No, Leave it and carrying him into time out whilst he's hanging off me! X


How's things going??
I'm feeling much better now. We are on the 5th night of sleeping 10:30pm-6am!! Yay!! Xx


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## Annitta

HJC said:


> I'm glad, just remember she is going through a lot of changes at the moment so she's probably still getting comfortable in her environment, one day it will just click!
> Having a smaller area will also help you keep track of her, it's great that she lets you know she needs to go out at night, that shows that she wants you to take her out, Bertie has only just started being vocal about needing to go to the toilet. It sounds like she has gone in her bed and keeps going there because she can smell her scent if she's not just going wherever she wants in the house, I would also encourage her to go and sit in the offending bed (once the scent has been eliminated) and treat her when she's in it, generally dogs are pretty clean and if they love an area or thing they won't go to the loo on it (in my experience, in the day Bertie will go to the toilet as far away from his bed as he can in the kitchen)
> I am not sure about popping her on a leash when she goes to the toilet I haven't looked into that as a method, I would think that at this early stage when she's indicating she needs to go she really needs to go so poping her on the lead may take to long, also if you find she really hates the lead she's less likely to be encouraged to go outside to go to the loo.
> Haha I was the same to start off with I have a shelf by the back door and I pop treats in a pot I have on it so I can grab it as go out and my pockets are always full incase I need them.
> X


I've gotten so much better at taking her treats with us, but my boyfriend figured something out about her potty habits. She is very good at going pee in front of us but she rarely goes poo unless she can't hold it anymore, she gets too excited and only wants to play, play, and play! So, he let her out on her own yesterday and she went straight to her spot and did her business! Then she came back to the door and sat (without whining) until she was let back in  And this morning after I got home and was doing chores the house was unusually quiet (a surefire sign she's up to mischief) so I looked for her and she was sat in front of the door waiting to be let out to go poo! she came back to the door and sat patiently to be let back in. She got a big high reward treat for that! 
I think what's helping her is that we did restrict her access to the rest of the house. Currently she's confined to the kitchen and the dinning/seating room. Both are areas we play and feed her in. I move her water bowl around so she associates the entire area as a no-potty-zone. I think free access so early was a big mistake, but we're much better now. My boyfriend and I are learning as much in her training as she is. You could even say we're training ourselves too. :Joyful Baby steps will get us there though. Thank you so much for your advice and help. I don't think you know how much it all really helped. I would give you a big hug if I could. 
Also, we got her signed up for Puppy Kindergarten Obedience classes to help with her socialization/desensitization. (I don't know if I mentioned the breeder had her some not very ideal living situation.. poor thing) However the trainer and her vet. are very hopeful of her being 100% socialized/desensitized and trained by the time the course is over. We have come to the conclusion that she's not fearful like we thought, just was never taken out of her living quarters. I'm very excited about it!
I'll keep you posted on her progress. 
~Annitta


----------



## HJC

Hayley Baines said:


> How's things going??
> I'm feeling much better now. We are on the 5th night of sleeping 10:30pm-6am!! Yay!! Xx


Hey, it's all going good here, it's amazing how much they pick up each day! We both went back to work on Monday and he has been a little star, coping really well and in his bed chilling when my partner gets home from work!
Haha you are having much better luck in the night than us, he gets up once for a wee at about 2am (tbh I think I might be being paranoid and getting him up to go to the loo) and then again when he wakes up at 5:30am - he had us up at 4am thismorning which was hell on earth but we went to bed earlier so we won't be making that mistake again! The nipping is still a work in progress 1 time out of every 5 LEAVE ITS he stops haha! 
How are you getting on with everything else? 
X


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## HJC

Annitta said:


> I've gotten so much better at taking her treats with us, but my boyfriend figured something out about her potty habits. She is very good at going pee in front of us but she rarely goes poo unless she can't hold it anymore, she gets too excited and only wants to play, play, and play! So, he let her out on her own yesterday and she went straight to her spot and did her business! Then she came back to the door and sat (without whining) until she was let back in  And this morning after I got home and was doing chores the house was unusually quiet (a surefire sign she's up to mischief) so I looked for her and she was sat in front of the door waiting to be let out to go poo! she came back to the door and sat patiently to be let back in. She got a big high reward treat for that!
> I think what's helping her is that we did restrict her access to the rest of the house. Currently she's confined to the kitchen and the dinning/seating room. Both are areas we play and feed her in. I move her water bowl around so she associates the entire area as a no-potty-zone. I think free access so early was a big mistake, but we're much better now. My boyfriend and I are learning as much in her training as she is. You could even say we're training ourselves too. :Joyful Baby steps will get us there though. Thank you so much for your advice and help. I don't think you know how much it all really helped. I would give you a big hug if I could.
> Also, we got her signed up for Puppy Kindergarten Obedience classes to help with her socialization/desensitization. (I don't know if I mentioned the breeder had her some not very ideal living situation.. poor thing) However the trainer and her vet. are very hopeful of her being 100% socialized/desensitized and trained by the time the course is over. We have come to the conclusion that she's not fearful like we thought, just was never taken out of her living quarters. I'm very excited about it!
> I'll keep you posted on her progress.
> ~Annitta


Yayyyyyyyyyyy I'm so glad you have had a better day it sounds like she's come on in leaps and bounds, the little changes can make such a huge difference, if she has come from not a great start it's no surprise she's taking a little time to adjust sounds like she is going to have such a wonderful life with you! You are more then welcome, I know exactly how you feel and I needed to hear someone tell me it was going to be ok for me to actually realise it! 
Puppy classes are such a great idea, we have Bertie signed up to one but there is a waiting list so I need to find out when he can start! 
Please keep me updated I would love to hear how you are all getting on! Xx


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## joolesd

Wow guys, I've just learnt so much from reading your posts!

I've had a wobble today and I feel like we're going backwards which is odd.

I will persevere and see how we get on.


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## HJC

joolesd said:


> Wow guys, I've just learnt so much from reading your posts!
> 
> I've had a wobble today and I feel like we're going backwards which is odd.
> 
> I will persevere and see how we get on.


That's normal, one day I will be celebrating because Bertie has gone to the loo outside all day and the next day he looks me in the eye and wees on the carpet hahaha!


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## Annitta

HJC said:


> That's normal, one day I will be celebrating because Bertie has gone to the loo outside all day and the next day he looks me in the eye and wees on the carpet hahaha!


Haha! That was Luna with me yesterday and for some reason I'm sure it will be us again tomorrow.. I wonder if this would qualify me as being psychic 
We'll get there though!!
Hang in there with us joolsed, it does get easier and it'll all be worth it!!


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## Veba

I get my pup tomorrow  I was just wondering if any of you gave the breeders a present? I know I'm paying hundreds of £ but I feel they've done so much for the pups and have been absolutely fantastic.


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## HJC

Annitta said:


> Haha! That was Luna with me yesterday and for some reason I'm sure it will be us again tomorrow.. I wonder if this would qualify me as being psychic
> We'll get there though!!
> Hang in there with us joolsed, it does get easier and it'll all be worth it!!


Of course you will, Bertie went all night with not needing the loo, thismorning he did a poo in the lounge and today he did three wees in the kitchen in 3 hours there is no consistency with it, one day it will just click though I am sure!


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## HJC

Veba said:


> I get my pup tomorrow  I was just wondering if any of you gave the breeders a present? I know I'm paying hundreds of £ but I feel they've done so much for the pups and have been absolutely fantastic.


I think it's a lovely idea, I was planning on getting mine a little something but we ran out of time so didn't manage it, we are friends on Facebook through so she can keep in touch and see how he is doing!


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## Veba

HJC said:


> I think it's a lovely idea, I was planning on getting mine a little something but we ran out of time so didn't manage it, we are friends on Facebook through so she can keep in touch and see how he is doing!


Thanks. I got some wine, chocolates and treats for their dogs I'm also friends with them on Facebook so they'll see how he is getting on. We also hope to meet up.


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## joolesd

Annitta said:


> Haha! That was Luna with me yesterday and for some reason I'm sure it will be us again tomorrow.. I wonder if this would qualify me as being psychic
> We'll get there though!!
> Hang in there with us joolsed, it does get easier and it'll all be worth it!!


Oh my word, it's been a rough couple of days! We are all having to try and remember why we wanted Toby in the first place.

I am seriously onsidering taking him to the park with a picnic blanket and some newspaper for him to go to the toilet as we've all got cabin fever. My poor children are desperate to go out and enjoy the sun.

Toby has slept in his bed in the kitchen every night since we got him and I know we've been really lucky. However, last night, we was having none of it and I ended up on the sofa with him all night.

I hope you're all having more fun than us.


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## Annitta

joolesd said:


> Oh my word, it's been a rough couple of days! We are all having to try and remember why we wanted Toby in the first place.
> 
> I am seriously onsidering taking him to the park with a picnic blanket and some newspaper for him to go to the toilet as we've all got cabin fever. My poor children are desperate to go out and enjoy the sun.
> 
> Toby has slept in his bed in the kitchen every night since we got him and I know we've been really lucky. However, last night, we was having none of it and I ended up on the sofa with him all night.
> 
> I hope you're all having more fun than us.


Oh no... I'm so sorry, I wonder why he's having trouble sleeping now. Luna has been good and sleeps through the night still but she's wearin an E-cone because she keeps liking herself and will not stop. Vet gave us some ointment and the cone to use for a few weeks. She did something weird last night where she would bark and howl like someone was hurting her. Either she was having a nightmare or she forgets she's wearing the cone. Either way it scared the living daylight out of the both of us
Her potty training is the same.. she'll let us know every once in a while so we keep taking her out all the time. 
She's still a little clingy and shy at the vet, but I'm not worried about it because she's still little. 
Hopefully Toby gets better! Hang in there!


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## HJC

Annitta said:


> Oh no... I'm so sorry, I wonder why he's having trouble sleeping now. Luna has been good and sleeps through the night still but she's wearin an E-cone because she keeps liking herself and will not stop. Vet gave us some ointment and the cone to use for a few weeks. She did something weird last night where she would bark and howl like someone was hurting her. Either she was having a nightmare or she forgets she's wearing the cone. Either way it scared the living daylight out of the both of us
> Her potty training is the same.. she'll let us know every once in a while so we keep taking her out all the time.
> She's still a little clingy and shy at the vet, but I'm not worried about it because she's still little.
> Hopefully Toby gets better! Hang in there!





joolesd said:


> Oh my word, it's been a rough couple of days! We are all having to try and remember why we wanted Toby in the first place.
> 
> I am seriously onsidering taking him to the park with a picnic blanket and some newspaper for him to go to the toilet as we've all got cabin fever. My poor children are desperate to go out and enjoy the sun.
> 
> Toby has slept in his bed in the kitchen every night since we got him and I know we've been really lucky. However, last night, we was having none of it and I ended up on the sofa with him all night.
> 
> I hope you're all having more fun than us.


The same thing happened with Bertie, it's really common for puppy's to be just to exhausted to cry on their first nights in their new home. We now have Bertie in our room with us and are slowly moving him out, you can do the same with Toby downstairs if you prefer, pop him in his bed next to you and then slowly move yourself back upstairs and him into the Kitchen or wherever you would like him to sleep! It depends on the dog but Bertie cried from 10pm - 6am almost non stop and a lady on here said to me you wouldn't leave a child to cry like that and it's the same for a dog, you are just creating anxiety and making the dog assosicate a room you want them to love and feel safe in with you leaving them and a horrible time, I honestly think that this along with me desensitising him to us leaving and slowly building up the time on his own is why he is not stressed when we leave him now! Xx


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## Annitta

Hello everyone! 
I just wanted to give a quick update. Luna had her first puppy training class on Monday and it went very very well. She behaved ok but only because she was hungry. They asked us not to feed her before class and the class starts at 6 which also happens to be her feeding time... She could smell the treats other puppy owners had so she was a little distracted. 
There was a tiny little thing of puppy that she ran to first and barked at him playfully. This little tiny dog barked back and scared the daylights out her! It was hilarious to watch. It didn’t scare her too much, just taught her a lesson about barking and picking on the little guy 
Her potty training is going good still. She’s sitting at the door a lot more now to let us know she wants out either to play with her outside toys or to go potty. 
The only issue that she has right now is barking playfully at someone when she wants to play. It does not stop until we put her in time out for about a minute. I know she’s a puppy and they do that, but I know plenty of adult dogs that still do this! We’re nipping that barking in the bud so she isn’t one of those dogs when she’s older. 
She’s still clingy but I think she’s just bored and wants to see what we’re up to. However, she has been going underfoot a lot and I’ve stepped on her so many times and have almost fallen over just as many times. Because of that she’s banned from the kitchen when I’m cooking or cleaning it until she stops liking the plates in the dishwasher lol. 
She’s so much better than even a week ago so I don’t feel as stressed out as before. I’m so happy about that! 
Still though, I’m still expecting some minor setbacks since she’s only 12 weeks. 
Hope everything is going ok with you guys! 
~Annitta


----------



## HJC

Annitta said:


> Hello everyone!
> I just wanted to give a quick update. Luna had her first puppy training class on Monday and it went very very well. She behaved ok but only because she was hungry. They asked us not to feed her before class and the class starts at 6 which also happens to be her feeding time... She could smell the treats other puppy owners had so she was a little distracted.
> There was a tiny little thing of puppy that she ran to first and barked at him playfully. This little tiny dog barked back and scared the daylights out her! It was hilarious to watch. It didn't scare her too much, just taught her a lesson about barking and picking on the little guy
> Her potty training is going good still. She's sitting at the door a lot more now to let us know she wants out either to play with her outside toys or to go potty.
> The only issue that she has right now is barking playfully at someone when she wants to play. It does not stop until we put her in time out for about a minute. I know she's a puppy and they do that, but I know plenty of adult dogs that still do this! We're nipping that barking in the bud so she isn't one of those dogs when she's older.
> She's still clingy but I think she's just bored and wants to see what we're up to. However, she has been going underfoot a lot and I've stepped on her so many times and have almost fallen over just as many times. Because of that she's banned from the kitchen when I'm cooking or cleaning it until she stops liking the plates in the dishwasher lol.
> She's so much better than even a week ago so I don't feel as stressed out as before. I'm so happy about that!
> Still though, I'm still expecting some minor setbacks since she's only 12 weeks.
> Hope everything is going ok with you guys!
> ~Annitta


Bertie is the same with the barking thing, he does it when we are trying to coax him down the stairs for some reason, I think just walking away and ignoring is the best reaction to it (if you can walk around without her hanging off your trousers like Bertie does) 
I think that they just miss us when we are gone so can be quite clingy when we first get back, last night Bertie took himself to his upstairs bed and slept for most of the evening even after his dinner he just went straight back up there which was mad as he usually just wants to be with us, I'm sure as soon as she settles and realises that even if you go out you will always come back it will just click and she will be a little more indipendant! 
There will always be ups and downs, Bertie was sleeping through the night and then last night he got me up at 3am to go to the loo, he's not had an accident in the house (whilst we are home) for over a week now and today I found a little puddle in the spare room! 
I am just waiting for the day that he nipping will stop it has been relentless the last few days. X


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## Veba

Bit of the puppy blues at the moment. We'e had him home 8 days and he's now 11 weeks old. Mostly I'm struggling with the fact that he has to be left alone (2x2 hours) a week tomorrow and he's nowhere near ready. He's happy enough in his crate but would rather snuggle up on my knee (I do try to keep putting him in crate).

We are a quiet chilled child free house and this is a huge culture shock! It's absolutely constant! We've read so much but still don't seem to know what we're doing.


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## HJC

Veba said:


> Bit of the puppy blues at the moment. We'e had him home 8 days and he's now 11 weeks old. Mostly I'm struggling with the fact that he has to be left alone (2x2 hours) a week tomorrow and he's nowhere near ready. He's happy enough in his crate but would rather snuggle up on my knee (I do try to keep putting him in crate).
> 
> We are a quiet chilled child free house and this is a huge culture shock! It's absolutely constant! We've read so much but still don't seem to know what we're doing.


How did it go with leaving him? X


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## Veba

HJC said:


> How did it go with leaving him? X


I've had to leave him for an hour the last couple of days and I think he was squealing the whole time. It's heart breaking We will keep working on it but I think it will be difficult as we have no option but to leave him. Everyone keeps telling us it's ok and he'll learn


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## HJC

Veba said:


> I've had to leave him for an hour the last couple of days and I think he was squealing the whole time. It's heart breaking We will keep working on it but I think it will be difficult as we have no option but to leave him. Everyone keeps telling us it's ok and he'll learn


I really feel for you it's so hard to leave them but I have some tips that could help; 
1. Start trying to desensitise him to you leaving, pop him in the space that he will be when you go, get your keys and coat leave the house and imediantly come straight back in, repeat that throughout the day, the aim is that eventlay he doesn't bat an eyelid at you leaving because he alwalways knows you are coming back. Then you can start building up the time you are leaving him. I know this isn't really helpful for the hour intervals you need to leave him so I highly recommend you get him to really love the area he is being left in, where do you leave him when you go out? 
2. Ignore him when you leave and when you return, the aim is for him not to see either as a big deal.


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## Lurcherlad

Veba said:


> I've had to leave him for an hour the last couple of days and I think he was squealing the whole time. It's heart breaking We will keep working on it but I think it will be difficult as we have no option but to leave him. Everyone keeps telling us it's ok and he'll learn


Can you get anyone to sit with him?

If he's not alone, but you've gone, it might help him adjust without getting upset.

Ask them to continue the separation training while they're there too by popping in and out a few times during the period.

I'd worry that being anxious and crying for an hour will just add to his anxiety or make him shut down.

I've never used a crate, but think that rather than putting him in it, it would be better to feed him in there and give all treats and filled kongs in there so he wants to go in for them, then hopefully have a nap.


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## Veba

HJC said:


> I really feel for you it's so hard to leave them but I have some tips that could help;
> 1. Start trying to desensitise him to you leaving, pop him in the space that he will be when you go, get your keys and coat leave the house and imediantly come straight back in, repeat that throughout the day, the aim is that eventlay he doesn't bat an eyelid at you leaving because he alwalways knows you are coming back. Then you can start building up the time you are leaving him. I know this isn't really helpful for the hour intervals you need to leave him so I highly recommend you get him to really love the area he is being left in, where do you leave him when you go out?
> 2. Ignore him when you leave and when you return, the aim is for him not to see either as a big deal.


We have been leaving him for short times and sometimes he is ok but others he isn't. I move from room to room and even if he's settled he'll follow me. First day I left him in his pen with his crate, toys, a chew and a bed he likes. I watched him on webcam  Yesterday I tried leaving him in just the crate in the room he's mostly in and couldn't cope with the webcam but he was howling when I left.


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## Veba

Lurcherlad said:


> Can you get anyone to sit with him?
> 
> If he's not alone, but you've gone, it might help him adjust without getting upset.
> 
> Ask them to continue the separation training while they're there too by popping in and out a few times during the period.
> 
> I'd worry that being anxious and crying for an hour will just add to his anxiety or make him shut down.
> 
> I've never used a crate, but think that rather than putting him in it, it would be better to feed him in there and give all treats and filled kongs in there so he wants to go in for them, then hopefully have a nap.


No, we don't know anyone who would sit with him. The puppy sitter we have booked for next week can't manage the times we needed this week. We do feed him in the crate, as well as the pen we have for him. He is ok in the crate for his naps and overnight.


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## HJC

Veba said:


> We have been leaving him for short times and sometimes he is ok but others he isn't. I move from room to room and even if he's settled he'll follow me. First day I left him in his pen with his crate, toys, a chew and a bed he likes. I watched him on webcam  Yesterday I tried leaving him in just the crate in the room he's mostly in and couldn't cope with the webcam but he was howling when I left.


Ok cool, so spend some time with him in his pen getting him to really love the space (my pup is 13 weeks and every morning after his walk he sits at the kitchen gate waiting to get in because he knows he gets lots of lovely things in there) 
go into his pen with the gate open and sit with him keep popping treats down, and inside his bed/crate (I used a clicker to start with Bertie's 
training, so click and treat, click and treat) then move outside the pen but leave gate open if pup is in the pen, keep chucking treats in, as soon as he leaves ignore and stop treating, when he goes back into the pen, treat again, then try with gate closed but this time treat when he's just pottering around not really paying attention to you, then you can start moving away (this is where the clicker is good because as soon as he settles or stops looking for you, you can instantly click and he knows he will get a treat) if at any point he cry's for a really long period (time this on your phone as 5 mins of crying can feel like an eternity) move back a step, I used to give Bertie 10 mins before making myself visible again, but do not really fuss him or let him out of the pen just gently tell him it's ok and calm him! It seems like a lot of work but I promise you a couple of days if this and you should see such a difference. I do agree with the previous comment though I would be concerned about him getting really distressed for a long period of time as he will start to hate the pen/crate and associate that with anxiety - this was one of the reasons we have Bertie in our room with us at night, he cried in the kitchen from 10pm-6am was hurling himself at the door and weed everywhere, I am going to slowly move his bed into the hall way once he can be trusted to get down the stairs without falling and I'm confident he will be ok with this! It's iust baby steps! What breed is your pup?


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## Veba

HJC said:


> Ok cool, so spend some time with him in his pen getting him to really love the space (my pup is 13 weeks and every morning after his walk he sits at the kitchen gate waiting to get in because he knows he gets lots of lovely things in there)
> go into his pen with the gate open and sit with him keep popping treats down, and inside his bed/crate (I used a clicker to start with Bertie's
> training, so click and treat, click and treat) then move outside the pen but leave gate open if pup is in the pen, keep chucking treats in, as soon as he leaves ignore and stop treating, when he goes back into the pen, treat again, then try with gate closed but this time treat when he's just pottering around not really paying attention to you, then you can start moving away (this is where the clicker is good because as soon as he settles or stops looking for you, you can instantly click and he knows he will get a treat) if at any point he cry's for a really long period (time this on your phone as 5 mins of crying can feel like an eternity) move back a step, I used to give Bertie 10 mins before making myself visible again, but do not really fuss him or let him out of the pen just gently tell him it's ok and calm him! It seems like a lot of work but I promise you a couple of days if this and you should see such a difference. I do agree with the previous comment though I would be concerned about him getting really distressed for a long period of time as he will start to hate the pen/crate and associate that with anxiety - this was one of the reasons we have Bertie in our room with us at night, he cried in the kitchen from 10pm-6am was hurling himself at the door and weed everywhere, I am going to slowly move his bed into the hall way once he can be trusted to get down the stairs without falling and I'm confident he will be ok with this! It's iust baby steps! What breed is your pup?


He is a show cocker spaniel. We've done what you've suggested but maybe not consistently enough. I've to leave him an hour today then we have 4 days with us here all the time so we'll have to be consistent. He has no interest in actual toys, just things we can't leave him alone with - plastic bottles, yogurt pots. Mostly he loves things he can't have - slippers, laces, hands.


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## HJC

Veba said:


> He is a show cocker spaniel. We've done what you've suggested but maybe not consistently enough. I've to leave him an hour today then we have 4 days with us here all the time so we'll have to be consistent. He has no interest in actual toys, just things we can't leave him alone with - plastic bottles, yogurt pots. Mostly he loves things he can't have - slippers, laces, hands.


Yeah you deffo need to do it consistently for a few days, they have a forgetful nature so repetition is really important! Also if you find he's following you around a lot i just spent one with Bertie in his room (in my case it's the kitchen) i completely ignored him whilst in there other than to say settle down, once he starts to drift of slowly remove yourself from the area, if he stirs stop and say settle down and wait for him to drift off again, you won't need to do this forever just to start off and getting him used to sleeping in his space without you! They are a needy breed so it will take a little time!


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## ErsatzNihilist

Speedy question about feeding puppy. Currently He’s eating Royal Canin as recommended by the breeder, but he’s not amazingly keen on it and the general consensus is that this food brand is average at best.

I’ve started lacing his food with Akela Small Paws, which has made him far, far more interested in his meals!

Am I alright transitioning to this food completely for an 11 week old puppy? Obviously phasing it in!


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## Annitta

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Speedy question about feeding puppy. Currently He's eating Royal Canin as recommended by the breeder, but he's not amazingly keen on it and the general consensus is that this food brand is average at best.
> 
> I've started lacing his food with Akela Small Paws, which has made him far, far more interested in his meals!
> 
> Am I alright transitioning to this food completely for an 11 week old puppy? Obviously phasing it in!


Hello!
We phased our Labradoodle from the Kirkland brand the breeder had her on to Orijen large breed pupp over the course of a week and a half. We had to keep her on Kirkland a bit longer because the Orinen was so rich it took her little GI tract longer to get used to it. We have now on the Orijen and she hours completely nuts over it. She's a very food motivated puppy now. I think it's the food and not because she's hungry all the time. I thought we weren't feeding her enough because she was constantly licking her bowl and winning when there was nothing in it. We gave her more during her feedings but it gave her super soft stool. The vet said we caused the stool by over feeding her. We now have her on three feedings a day at a little over 1/2 cup each time. Orijen is expensive but it's the only place she gets her nutrients, so we don't mind too much about the price. I hope this helps you! 
I've also read about people doing Acana because the food doesn't settle well with their pups stomach. I think we'll give it a try once she runs out of this first bag. 
~Anais.


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## ErsatzNihilist

That is helpful. I’ll be transitioning in over a longer period of time, as I’ve got a fair bit of the Royal Canin stuff to get through, so will slowly increase the mix!

Now I’ve just got to worry about him scoffing it all too quickly!

Thank you!


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## Annitta

ErsatzNihilist said:


> That is helpful. I'll be transitioning in over a longer period of time, as I've got a fair bit of the Royal Canin stuff to get through, so will slowly increase the mix!
> 
> Now I've just got to worry about him scoffing it all too quickly!
> 
> Thank you!


Luna is the same way and would throw up because she ate so fast. I ended up buying a slow feeder bowl that makes her work a little for her food. She hates the thing but her eating has slowed and she hasn't thrown up since we have started using it. This is the one we got for her, but there are different styles and sizes. We got her the large one since she'll be a larger dog:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FPKNRF0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

~Annita


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## Annitta

Hi guys! A little update on Luna and her house training:

We are taking her back to the basics because she still is too comfortable laying in her messes and started having potty accidents in her spare bed in the front room... She will go potty outside and then a second later plop right down on it and want to play :Banghead I started a thread in Dog Training and Behavior: https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/back-to-the-basics-for-luna-a-little-help.486226/
The short version is that we're taking her back to the basics to tackle that terrible problem. We're thinking her living situation at the breeders wasn't very clean..
So far today she has sat by the door to be let out and has actually gone wee. Lets hope this new schedule (posted on the thread) isn't overkill and actually helps her get out of that comfort level she's at with her poo and wee. 
Other than that she has been doing great in her obedience training. She's a very quick learner. However, she started doing something very odd and NOT ok. We currently have a friend of my partner staying with us until he finishes his medical residency next month. She has taken to bullying him. He will be sitting on a chair cheering to a basketball game and she will run and jump up the side of the chair and snap at his face. He moved out of the way fast enough that she didn't get him. She does this playfully, but it is NOT ok. I saw her do this last night and was able to grab her right before she did it again. She got reprimanded for that with a low and very stern "NO" and got a time out. She didn't do it again after getting in trouble. That was scary because if she had done it to a kid, like my niece or nephew, she would've bit their face. She's always played rough with our roommate because he plays that way with her (even though we've asked him not to), so she thinks it's ok to be that rough with him. BUT no no nononono. That behavior is not acceptable and I think our roommate realized what he caused by playing so roughly with her. Now he only talks to her soothingly and plays very softly with her. That's great BUT now I have to correct that behavior which I'm sure is going to show up every time she gets excited again :Arghh.
The vet told us that on average it takes a puppy six days to learn a new trick/command, but it takes 60 days to correct a bad behavior once learned... 60 days to correct that already on top of her nipping, barking, and house training... No wonder she's rebelling any chance she gets; I would too!! She'll learn her place in the pack though. Right now she's in her "You're not the boss of me!" stage. (Can't say I'm a big fan of this stage at the moment, haha). We'll get there though and I can't wait until we do, all this hard work will pay off .


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## Veba

When did you move the crate away from your bedroom/outside your bedroom at night?


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## DaisyBluebell

Annitta, the face nipping is due to over excitment, if your friend is getting excited at watching the basketball/baseball then Luna is getting extited at watching/hearing your friend & your/he is doing the right thing now by the sounds of it. Its the problem with children when they start playing and shouting and running about the dog reacts in two ways, excitedly joining in (which can be frightening for the children) or becoming afraid of whats happening and thereafter is 'shy/afraid' of children. Children and well as dogs have to be 'trained' when a new dog enters the family. Think of it as introducing a new child to the family.
Age & repetition will eventually work, it all takes time and constancy. Sounds as tho your going in the right direction tho.


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## DaisyBluebell

Veba said:


> When did you move the crate away from your bedroom/outside your bedroom at night?


We moved the crate nearer to the bedroom door/outside the bedroom door etc. two night by two night, if any cries then start again, for us it only took two weeks before Emma went from bedroom to kitchen but every dog/situation is different the big key is to take it very slowly with EVERYTHING you do, it will pay dividends eventually & become a happy family & happy doggie.


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## ErsatzNihilist

I have a housetraining question.

Generally Edgar is doing pretty well, but we’re having a few accidents. It’s to be expected he’s only 11 weeks old! Basically the accidents happen when I take my eyes off him - go to make a cup of tea, come back and there’s a poo. That sort of thing.

How serious are accidents in terms of puppy psychology? If we do 3 poos outdoors but one sneaks indoors, are we still making positive progress?

Is it worth giving treats for successful outdoor business? Thus far it’s just praise and fuss.


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## Annitta

DaisyBluebell said:


> Annitta, the face nipping is due to over excitment, if your friend is getting excited at watching the basketball/baseball then Luna is getting extited at watching/hearing your friend & your/he is doing the right thing now by the sounds of it. Its the problem with children when they start playing and shouting and running about the dog reacts in two ways, excitedly joining in (which can be frightening for the children) or becoming afraid of whats happening and thereafter is 'shy/afraid' of children. Children and well as dogs have to be 'trained' when a new dog enters the family. Think of it as introducing a new child to the family.
> Age & repetition will eventually work, it all takes time and constancy. Sounds as tho your going in the right direction tho.


That's what I was hoping to hear. Other than that behavior, she is ultra sweet and affectionate. I would hate for that change. We'll keep doing what we're doing with her and really emphasize to our friends to be gentle and soothing with her. 
Thank you!


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## Annitta

ErsatzNihilist said:


> I have a housetraining question.
> 
> Generally Edgar is doing pretty well, but we're having a few accidents. It's to be expected he's only 11 weeks old! Basically the accidents happen when I take my eyes off him - go to make a cup of tea, come back and there's a poo. That sort of thing.
> 
> How serious are accidents in terms of puppy psychology? If we do 3 poos outdoors but one sneaks indoors, are we still making positive progress?
> 
> Is it worth giving treats for successful outdoor business? Thus far it's just praise and fuss.


Hello!
I would definitely recommend giving high value treats when they go outside. It gives the puppy a reason to WANT to do their business outside. Luna was doing the same thing at 13 weeks, so we started tethering her. 
We take her out for potty breaks every 45-60 minutes, after a nap, and after playtime. We go crazy with petting her and give her treats if she goes outside. We also kept telling her "go potty" when we take her out for a potty break or if she's sitting by the door. If she doesn't go we tether her to the door and try again after 10 minutes. We don't let her off the leash until she has gone outside. It's only been one week and she's already got the hang of it. She knows that if she wees outside she gets treats and if she poos she gets her high value treats. 
It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. They don't know that it's bad to go inside or that they should go outside, but you can condition them pretty quick with treats. 
Hopefully this works for you!


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## ErsatzNihilist

Thank you! Will give the treats a go...


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## Veba

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Thank you! Will give the treats a go...


The advice I've read is not to give treats. They will think they are getting the treat for toileting and not be able to tell the difference. I've a nearly 13 week old cocker and the difference in nearly 3 weeks is huge. Rarely any indoor accidents and he often goes to the door to get out.


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## Little-blue-frenchie

Our boy is 5 months. I tried training initially without treats but as soon as I gave him treats when he went outside, we quickly cracked it and he’s fine now at home. 

We take him out with us everywhere (other than work). He is ok in cafes etc as he will sit on our knee or just lay there quietly. He gets a little bit confused in other people’s houses as he doesn’t know where to go to tell me he wants to go out so I’m watching him like a hawk (luckily just family at the moment so they are relaxed!) but I’m hoping that improves with time as he’s much better at holding it in longer.


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## Veba

DaisyBluebell said:


> We moved the crate nearer to the bedroom door/outside the bedroom door etc. two night by two night, if any cries then start again, for us it only took two weeks before Emma went from bedroom to kitchen but every dog/situation is different the big key is to take it very slowly with EVERYTHING you do, it will pay dividends eventually & become a happy family & happy doggie.


We don't really have a big hall upstairs and he's been out there since about Day 4 and run happily runs in to his crate in the evening. The next step is downstairs but he's still up through the night to be let out and I wouldn't hear him downstairs. I guess I could set an alarm.


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## Annitta

Veba said:


> The advice I've read is not to give treats. They will think they are getting the treat for toileting and not be able to tell the difference. I've a nearly 13 week old cocker and the difference in nearly 3 weeks is huge. Rarely any indoor accidents and he often goes to the door to get out.


I can see that happening with some pups at first, but they only get a reward for going outside not inside. So far it's worked for us without accidents inside, but every pup is different. Not all of them are food motivated so something else would work better.

The no treats training didn't work for Luna and since she's incredibly food motivated, she caught on quick. Little punk would sit at the door, go to the grass, sit and expect a treat without going potty! Of course she didn't get one unless she went potty. She did that to me a few times..
We haven't given Luna the chance to have accidents inside the house because I'm a total stalker and I watch her like a hawk.
I would suggest giving it a chance if the pup isn't catching on to potty training and see if it works for their pup. However, if something else is working for your pup I would keep doing that!


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## Anonymous1004

Hello,
So I just got a new puppy last Saturday She is an absolute joy but I am worried about her food intake and poo. She only 9 weeks old and is very alert and full of energy, however, I am worried about the food we are giving her as she has started to be sick in the nights or mornings, and her poos are very soft. We don't give her any human food, just the dry doggy food (we use the one the breeder was giving her) and give a few treats but we only use the dry dog food. I don't think it has anything to do with her health. At first we thought it could be her new environment that is upsetting her stomach but she seems very settled. We are going to the vet tomorrow morning and will raise our concerns then when she has her check up, but is there anything we can do now?


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## Rafa

A 9 week old pup should not be vomiting regularly.

You are wise to let your Vet see her.

For today, and most importantly, make sure she stays well hydrated. Encourage her to drink.

I would offer her 4 small meals today of plain chicken, fish or scrambled egg.

What food is she on?


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## Anonymous1004

Rafa said:


> A 9 week old pup should not be vomiting regularly.
> 
> You are wise to let your Vet see her.
> 
> For today, and most importantly, make sure she stays well hydrated. Encourage her to drink.
> 
> I would offer her 4 small meals today of plain chicken, fish or scrambled egg.
> 
> What food is she on?


Its Royal Canin, personally we aren't too fond of the brand and want to change her onto something else, but while she was settling in we thought it would be best not to add any more changes to her life so we've stuck with that.


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## DaisyBluebell

As Rafa says at that age its quite dangerous to be vomiting so often & if a pup becomes dehydrated it can be fatal. Hopefully the vet can throw some light on why its happening. I assume you have asked the breeder if the pup was vomiting with them as you say she was on the same food they had been giving her (assume you talking RC Puppy food). Assume its just the 4 small meals a day & that the pup is ok eating it. Any reason why you are not keen on RC food? The pup is not able to pick anything up without you knowing it I assume? At 9 weeks its too young to be out and about without its full set of injections without you knowing so I assume that's not it.


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## Anonymous1004

DaisyBluebell said:


> As Rafa says at that age its quite dangerous to be vomiting so often & if a pup becomes dehydrated it can be fatal. Hopefully the vet can throw some light on why its happening. I assume you have asked the breeder if the pup was vomiting with them as you say she was on the same food they had been giving her (assume you talking RC Puppy food). Assume its just the 4 small meals a day & that the pup is ok eating it. Any reason why you are not keen on RC food? The pup is not able to pick anything up without you knowing it I assume? At 9 weeks its too young to be out and about without its full set of injections without you knowing so I assume that's not it.


We always have water near her and encourage her to drink as often as possible.
The breeder did not notice any vomiting when she was under her care.
She loves dinner times and always eats it all.
The RC food is ok but we would prefer to give her something else, as we think they're are better brands out their.
She is only allows in the garden and kitchen. We make sure that their is no food on the floor and is under close observation if both garden and kitchen, so if she finds something we can take it off her as soon as possible.


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## HJC

Ok, so my little Bertie is not so little anymore, hes is now 16 weeks old and is growing right before my eyes! I am still struggling with a couple of things;
1. We seem to have taken a step back in his toilet training - when we are home he goes to the back door everytime and we have had no accidents inside on carpet for a couple of weeks now, he is in the kitchen when we are at work and was doing so well, holding on for a couple of hours and we would occasionally come home to one wee after 3-4 hours, but the last three or four days he has gone to the loo everytime i have gone out even if its for an hour and today I came home to 4 wees and a poo after 3 hours, what could the reason be for him taking such a huge step back? he used to be pretty clean with it as well, went behind the door to avoid his bed and toys but not he just goes where he wants. is it stress? or do i need to go back to rewarding him evertime he goes outside?
2. The nipping and biting has reached extreme levels (i have my partner to blame as he often played with him with his hands so now he thinks a hand is a toy) I did loads of work with him at the weekend with the "ah leave it" command and although i suffered many nips on my arms in the process he picked it up so quickly HOWEVER he has also picked up that if he pretends to go for my feet then sits down as soon as i say "ah Leave it" he gets a treat so as you can imagine this little routine can go on for a while, I dont mind if when he is actually in the mood to go for me i say leave it and he stops but I am just worried that i have done the wrong thing and made him worse by using this technique.

TIA


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## Rafa

Anonymous1004 said:


> We always have water near her and encourage her to drink as often as possible.
> The breeder did not notice any vomiting when she was under her care.
> She loves dinner times and always eats it all.
> The RC food is ok but we would prefer to give her something else, as we think they're are better brands out their.
> She is only allows in the garden and kitchen. We make sure that their is no food on the floor and is under close observation if both garden and kitchen, so if she finds something we can take it off her as soon as possible.


Was your pup wormed several times by the Breeder?


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## HJC

Anonymous1004 said:


> We always have water near her and encourage her to drink as often as possible.
> The breeder did not notice any vomiting when she was under her care.
> She loves dinner times and always eats it all.
> The RC food is ok but we would prefer to give her something else, as we think they're are better brands out their.
> She is only allows in the garden and kitchen. We make sure that their is no food on the floor and is under close observation if both garden and kitchen, so if she finds something we can take it off her as soon as possible.


I would deffo go to your Vets - Bertie threw up once in the morning and it was just bile so I have started to give him a doggy biscuit at bed time, my friend has an older dog who gets acid when going for long stretches without food and was often sick in the morning, maybe try this in the meantime?


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## DaisyBluebell

Berties, toilet training regression could possibly be he is letting you know you are out a bit to much and a bit too long for him to hold himself, at 16 weeks I'd be surprised if he was not weeing and pooing if left along for too long. I'd go back to toilet training from the start again & that fact that he used to go behind the door to hide when he went meant he knew that he shouldn't being doing it but just could not hold it any longer bless him.
Your right in what you say about the nipping and biting having been encouraged by your OH, your doing right in your "leave it" training but now he has cottoned on to the leave it, get treat, do it again idea, I would suggest as soon as you have said leave it and treated him when he does, if he goes to do it again then have a cue word (I use "enough" and cross my hands in a 'thats, its its over" motion) use cue word and get up and walk away. Remember to a dog whatever you say is encouragement to continue whatever they are doing, they don't speak our language so whatever your saying is paying them attention - nothing worse than being ignored is there! 
Emma never comes near me when I am eating because from the start I totally ignored her, even her head on my knee got not even a look at her from me, OH on the other hand, if she goes & stands in front of him if he is eating he will start saying "Emma, go away your not getting anything you know that etc etc........" to Emma that just means there is a chance she may get something cause dad is still talking to me, I don't know what he is saying but it must mean he doesn't mind me'bieing here, not like that miserable bugger mum who ignores me......


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## ChiweenieMummy

Annitta said:


> Luna is the same way and would throw up because she ate so fast. I ended up buying a slow feeder bowl that makes her work a little for her food. She hates the thing but her eating has slowed and she hasn't thrown up since we have started using it. This is the one we got for her, but there are different styles and sizes. We got her the large one since she'll be a larger dog:
> 
> ~Annita


This looks great. Our puppy gets through his meal in seconds then obsessively licks the bowl before tipping it up. He's only tiny and we've been measuring out his meals to make sure we're not underfeeding him, but he'll do anything for his kibble! We also have to take him out immediately after he's finished eating so that he doesn't "go" in the house so this would give me extra time to grab my trainers before any accident! I'll definitely be getting one. Thanks Annita!


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## HJC

DaisyBluebell said:


> Berties, toilet training regression could possibly be he is letting you know you are out a bit to much and a bit too long for him to hold himself, at 16 weeks I'd be surprised if he was not weeing and pooing if left along for too long. I'd go back to toilet training from the start again & that fact that he used to go behind the door to hide when he went meant he knew that he shouldn't being doing it but just could not hold it any longer bless him.
> Your right in what you say about the nipping and biting having been encouraged by your OH, your doing right in your "leave it" training but now he has cottoned on to the leave it, get treat, do it again idea, I would suggest as soon as you have said leave it and treated him when he does, if he goes to do it again then have a cue word (I use "enough" and cross my hands in a 'thats, its its over" motion) use cue word and get up and walk away. Remember to a dog whatever you say is encouragement to continue whatever they are doing, they don't speak our language so whatever your saying is paying them attention - nothing worse than being ignored is there!
> Emma never comes near me when I am eating because from the start I totally ignored her, even her head on my knee got not even a look at her from me, OH on the other hand, if she goes & stands in front of him if he is eating he will start saying "Emma, go away your not getting anything you know that etc etc........" to Emma that just means there is a chance she may get something cause dad is still talking to me, I don't know what he is saying but it must mean he doesn't mind me'bieing here, not like that miserable bugger mum who ignores me......


I think it more the fact that he has gone from doing the odd one or two to three or four in the same space of time, we try avoid going out without him at the weekend but even when left for an hour he has started to wee even for that short length of time, I am not worried that he goes in the kitchen as I know he cant possibly hold on all the time I just worry that the sudden change in behaviour is due to stress, although he dosent seem stressed when I get home, patiently sits and waits at the gate for me to let him out or is sometimes asleep in his bed, bless him I hate leaving him but hes on his own for a max of 3 hours during the week 4 on the very rare occasion.
Thank you, what you are saying makes total sense, I will start to impliment the "enough" as a cue word to nip it in the bud before he gets to carried away with it, really helpful advice thank you - I will deffo start the ignoring technique when we are eating, I have been putting him in the kitchen whilst we eat and hes not bothered by that but its not always an option (if we are out or at someone elses house with him) so getting him used to being around us when we eat and not pestering is really important.


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## Karen77

Veba said:


> The advice I've read is not to give treats. They will think they are getting the treat for toileting and not be able to tell the difference. I've a nearly 13 week old cocker and the difference in nearly 3 weeks is huge. Rarely any indoor accidents and he often goes to the door to get out.


I'm so happy to hear this, I have a 9 week old cocker and he couldn't possibly be peeing anymore! Everytime I take my eye off him, despite me being overkill and taking him out every half an hour


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## ErsatzNihilist

My experience is slightly different; we made huge improvements to going to the loo outside by adding treats. The odd indoors accident (normally when I relax and stop watching) all happen by the back door now.

That said, I do want to start dialing back the treats. Perhaps for poos rather than wees from here on out.


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## 24Rachy

Hi everyone! 

I’m a first time puppy Mummy to Millie my 12 week old beagle! Have had her since Friday and already I am worried about her. Had a vet check on Tuesday and all was fine. Had her first vaccination and then worming tablet/flea and worming spot treatment. Today she did a normal poo, then a slightly runny one with a spot of blood and then a phlegmy one with more blood. I contacted my vet who has proscribed some pro biotics. She took it well earlier but had the same again when she had a bowl movement. I am phoning vet first thing. I’d like to add that there has been no change in her behaviour, eating or sleeping habits. She was on eukanuba medium puppy food from breeder, I bought the same but have noticed the actually kibble is a little larger in size. But is the right one for my girl. I did gradually add what I had bought to the one the breeder supplied. 
Have any of you ever had this? 
Many thanks


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## lullabydream

ErsatzNihilist said:


> My experience is slightly different; we made huge improvements to going to the loo outside by adding treats. The odd indoors accident (normally when I relax and stop watching) all happen by the back door now.
> 
> That said, I do want to start dialing back the treats. Perhaps for poos rather than wees from here on out.


Leave the treats till it's proofed..so say it can go on command. 
It's just like teaching anything else..or another command. Once it's proofed such as sit you can sporadically change treat for praise or other reward or give treat etc every other time...then just the dog will sit for praise.


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## lullabydream

24Rachy said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> I'm a first time puppy Mummy to Millie my 12 week old beagle! Have had her since Friday and already I am worried about her. Had a vet check on Tuesday and all was fine. Had her first vaccination and then worming tablet/flea and worming spot treatment. Today she did a normal poo, then a slightly runny one with a spot of blood and then a phlegmy one with more blood. I contacted my vet who has proscribed some pro biotics. She took it well earlier but had the same again when she had a bowl movement. I am phoning vet first thing. I'd like to add that there has been no change in her behaviour, eating or sleeping habits. She was on eukanuba medium puppy food from breeder, I bought the same but have noticed the actually kibble is a little larger in size. But is the right one for my girl. I did gradually add what I had bought to the one the breeder supplied.
> Have any of you ever had this?
> Many thanks


Sometimes stress can upset tums when puppies move from their original homes to new homes. Hopefully the probiotic from the vet will help.

Try not to worry because you are doing everything right keeping things like the food the same for now.

Try not to stress your new puppy too much, so keep close at bedtime so no crying to sleep etc.


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## 24Rachy

Thank you. It’s so hard not to worry because I’ve never done this before. Bedtime has been a dream with Millie. We’ve had no problems there. She is very nippy however so I’ve been trying alsorts to help her teeth. Also she has a bit of a taste for grass. Is this usual at this stage? Thanks


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## lullabydream

24Rachy said:


> Thank you. It's so hard not to worry because I've never done this before. Bedtime has been a dream with Millie. We've had no problems there. She is very nippy however so I've been trying alsorts to help her teeth. Also she has a bit of a taste for grass. Is this usual at this stage? Thanks


Nipping is normal...walk out the room.be consistent and I know you will never be in the room but it works. Instagram way your puppy will be used to this because Mummy dog would do this..and most dogs who have good socialisation skills move rather than confront.
It usually gets worse before gets better...so old clothes are a god send!

Grass is sweet and nice so pretty normal this time of year! Does help to settle tums some say too. Many of us think we walk cows rather than dogs currently though because it does taste nice!


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## 24Rachy

Well I’ve had Millie at the vets and all will be well. He is happy with her in every other way. Thinks the bowls are down to stress of being in a new family, as you had said and the worming tablets. But he has prescribed her some antibiotics to help and to continue with the pro biotics. 
Also said to feed her chicken and rice for a couple of days to help. 
Thanks for your response. I’m feeling much better now. She’s currently out trimming our lawn!


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## HJC

24Rachy said:


> Well I've had Millie at the vets and all will be well. He is happy with her in every other way. Thinks the bowls are down to stress of being in a new family, as you had said and the worming tablets. But he has prescribed her some antibiotics to help and to continue with the pro biotics.
> Also said to feed her chicken and rice for a couple of days to help.
> Thanks for your response. I'm feeling much better now. She's currently out trimming our lawn!


My Bertie LOVES grass, always has, he's 18 weeks tomorrow and is going thought a hedious nipping stage so expect that to get worse before it gets better, it's natural and important for him to learn bite inhabition, we did lots of training with the command AH leave it and he has come on in leaps and bounds when he gets to excited and won't listen I separate us, although this seemed hopeless for a couple of weeks it's really making a difference now!


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## ErsatzNihilist

Proper knuckle biting morning this morning. Slept through the night, which was good! Let him out first thing to do his business - did a wee, so waited a little longer and no poop, so I brought him back in. While I was putting my cereal in a bowl he poo’d on the floor.

Fine.

Had to get ready to go to a meeting for a few hours this morning, so took him out again to the garden to make sure he was done. Stayed out 40 minutes - nothing - moment I bring him in and close the door, poo.

It’s difficult, and I’m not sure how to deal with this. In the garden, I have to play with him or he digs up and chews stones. But all the time we’re playing he doesn’t poop.

I’m really struggling to strike this balance, and I’m feeling guilty about it.


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## Veba

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Proper knuckle biting morning this morning. Slept through the night, which was good! Let him out first thing to do his business - did a wee, so waited a little longer and no poop, so I brought him back in. While I was putting my cereal in a bowl he poo'd on the floor.
> 
> Fine.
> 
> Had to get ready to go to a meeting for a few hours this morning, so took him out again to the garden to make sure he was done. Stayed out 40 minutes - nothing - moment I bring him in and close the door, poo.
> 
> It's difficult, and I'm not sure how to deal with this. In the garden, I have to play with him or he digs up and chews stones. But all the time we're playing he doesn't poop.
> 
> I'm really struggling to strike this balance, and I'm feeling guilty about it.


At you able to section a bit of the garden for toileting? We are lucky to have a bit at the back door that we've blocked from the "play" area.

When you take him back in carry him so he can't go then take him out again.


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## 24Rachy

Hi all. 

How often is too often for a13 week puppy to wee? It has been warmer today so Millie has drank more, I presume that plays a part. At what point would I worry it is too much? She has water down and available all day but I change it regularly so it’s fresh. 
We are at vets Tuesday for 2nd vaccinations so will keep an eye on it tomorrow and ask Tuesday. Just wanted to see what other people think it have experienced. Millie is my first puppy, my god I worry all the time about all the little things!! 

Thanks


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## HJC

24Rachy said:


> Hi all.
> 
> How often is too often for a13 week puppy to wee? It has been warmer today so Millie has drank more, I presume that plays a part. At what point would I worry it is too much? She has water down and available all day but I change it regularly so it's fresh.
> We are at vets Tuesday for 2nd vaccinations so will keep an eye on it tomorrow and ask Tuesday. Just wanted to see what other people think it have experienced. Millie is my first puppy, my god I worry all the time about all the little things!!
> 
> Thanks


Pups wee loads, at 13 weeks I had only just stopped getting up in the night with Bertie. How much is she going?


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## 24Rachy

Ive noticed her go more frequent today. She must have done 4 in half hour at one point, but then she hasn’t been now for 45 mins. So it isnt consistent. She doesn’t wee in her crate at night, so will watch out for that tonight. 
I’ve become such a worrier since having her. I don’t know what is right and what isn’t. So google everything ! 
Thanks


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## Little-blue-frenchie

That sounds fairly normal to me. Our boy can hold it and hold it then if he has a drink he can go a few times fairly quickly.....

Speak to the vet if worried though.


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## HJC

24Rachy said:


> Ive noticed her go more frequent today. She must have done 4 in half hour at one point, but then she hasn't been now for 45 mins. So it isnt consistent. She doesn't wee in her crate at night, so will watch out for that tonight.
> I've become such a worrier since having her. I don't know what is right and what isn't. So google everything !
> Thanks


Ahh bless you, it's normal to worry, I always worry about Bertie but as they get older it gets better I promise! I wouldn't worry to much I found that when Bertie was awake and playing he used to wee every 10-15 mins sometimes, just watch out for a uti so if you can see any cloudiness in her wee or it's extra potent, you would also notice her being a bit out of sorts with that as well, if you are worried call your vet, I know not all vets are the same but mine is amazing and I can ask the person over the phone if they think I need to take Bertie in or not based on his symptoms! Xx


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## HJC

I have had a disaster day today, gave my pup some Good Boy chicken and raw hide chews, he ate one earlier and loved it, I left him upstairs with my partner as he was hiding under the bed with it and not long after he was downstairs waiting for his food! We went for dinner at my sisters so I took these tasty treat with me to give him one to keep him occupied whilst we ate, he had it for 10 mins or so and all of as sudden the raw hid had disappeared and he was choaking on it (the bit left was 3-4 inches so god knows why he tried to swallow it whole and he is a small dog), thankfully he got it straight up and I threw it, and the remaining pack of treats in the bin, but this got me to thinking about the one he had earlier, I assumed he had left this under the bed but I have checked the whole house and it’s gone, I am now in a panic because there is a possibility he has swallowed a 3inch bit of rawhide down! He’s fine in himself and his tummy isn’t swollen or sore, he has had a normal poo and no sickness! In your experience do thy pass this of their own accord or should I be worried??


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## DaisyBluebell

HJC said:


> I have had a disaster day today, gave my pup some Good Boy chicken and raw hide chews, he ate one earlier and loved it, I left him upstairs with my partner as he was hiding under the bed with it and not long after he was downstairs waiting for his food! We went for dinner at my sisters so I took these tasty treat with me to give him one to keep him occupied whilst we ate, he had it for 10 mins or so and all of as sudden the raw hid had disappeared and he was choaking on it (the bit left was 3-4 inches so god knows why he tried to swallow it whole and he is a small dog), thankfully he got it straight up and I threw it, and the remaining pack of treats in the bin, but this got me to thinking about the one he had earlier, I assumed he had left this under the bed but I have checked the whole house and it's gone, I am now in a panic because there is a possibility he has swallowed a 3inch bit of rawhide down! He's fine in himself and his tummy isn't swollen or sore, he has had a normal poo and no sickness! In your experience do thy pass this of their own accord or should I be worried??


Just keep and eye on him, if he has already poo'd ok then it doesn't sound like its stuck anywhere, if he starts straining to poo or there is any blood in trying then take him to the vets. Raw hid chews are not really a good idea for either small dogs or puppies for that reason plus they are not a particularly good thing to give them & usually full or calories. Treat it as a learning curve. Never leave them alone to eat things like chews etc. & once something gets to possible swallowing size then remove it and throw away &1 a day is more than enough for a pup.


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## HJC

DaisyBluebell said:


> Just keep and eye on him, if he has already poo'd ok then it doesn't sound like its stuck anywhere, if he starts straining to poo or there is any blood in trying then take him to the vets. Raw hid chews are not really a good idea for either small dogs or puppies for that reason plus they are not a particularly good thing to give them & usually full or calories. Treat it as a learning curve. Never leave them alone to eat things like chews etc. & once something gets to possible swallowing size then remove it and throw away &1 a day is more than enough for a pup.


He has just pooed it out! Thank god, they are called chewy twists made with 100% chicken for puppies over 4 months, it was only when I read the ingredients I realised they were also raw hide, I should have checked though tbh, and lesson learnt about keeping bedroom door open so he can't hide under the bed where we can't see/get to him! 
I always throw out toys/treats that are too small for him/damaged just on this occasion he decided he would try and swallow it whole before it even got to that stage, silly boy, at least I know I have to take things away before that stage now as he looses patience and swallows it whole!
Any chews you would recommend?


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## DaisyBluebell

Yeah, good news. You have learnt a lesson that we all had to learn but believe me it will probably at some time happen again - I say no more 
Don't touch Dentastix! I am always amazed a lot of vet's sell them - not good ingredients! I'm sure others will have lots of other suggestions but we try to keep Emma having either dry (biscuit type) treats; Lily's stuff is good so is Pooch & Mutt stuff or she has Pizzles occasionally or split antlers both of which are always taken away from her when they get to a possible swallowable size. She is NEVER left alone when eating things like that tho. 
Oh just a thought, you may have already taught or be teaching giving & taking away, pretending to check something then giving it back to your pup. If you havent its a good idea too do so that if you do notice a chew or something is getting to swallowable size you can take it away before your pup swallows it in anticipation of you taking it away!
Don't beat yourself up over it. From reading your posts I'd say your doing really well & should be proud of yourself!


----------



## HJC

DaisyBluebell said:


> Yeah, good news. You have learnt a lesson that we all had to learn but believe me it will probably at some time happen again - I say no more
> Don't touch Dentastix! I am always amazed a lot of vet's sell them - not good ingredients! I'm sure others will have lots of other suggestions but we try to keep Emma having either dry (biscuit type) treats; Lily's stuff is good so is Pooch & Mutt stuff or she has Pizzles occasionally or split antlers both of which are always taken away from her when they get to a possible swallowable size. She is NEVER left alone when eating things like that tho.
> Oh just a thought, you may have already taught or be teaching giving & taking away, pretending to check something then giving it back to your pup. If you havent its a good idea too do so that if you do notice a chew or something is getting to swallowable size you can take it away before your pup swallows it in anticipation of you taking it away!
> Don't beat yourself up over it. From reading your posts I'd say your doing really well & should be proud of yourself!


Thank you so much, every day is a learning day with a puppy thats for sure. Yes I like lillys kitchen bits, he loves the bed ime biscuits and I use her puppy kibble during training. The split antlers look good, he has a normal one at the moment but cant really get his teeth into it so that looks much better.
Thats a great idea, I have been asking him to leave things in exchange for something else but of course when hes really into something he has started running away from me, so your suggestion is great, I will start to do that instead! 
Aw thank you so much, we have had him a little ovet two months now and I am honestly learning just as much as he is, this forum has been an absolute life saver and the advice I have received from you and others has actually kept me sane and Bertie would really not be doing as well as he is without all the little tricks and tips I have picked up so thank you!


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## DaisyBluebell

Just a thought if you fancy it, Lily's does a very good recipe book so that you can make up your own treats and freeze some, I used to make up stuff for Daisy & I had forgotten I had the book till I started thinking about things for you, so I am off now to check out things for Emma - see you have encourage me to do something I had forgotten about - Emma thanks you already


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## Biscuit123

Our cute little black and white puppy will

1. Need to pee every ten minutes literally although he will pee on command which is nice

2. If hes in his crate eating he'll and another dog gets fed in different crate near my he will scream so loud you can hear it from a block down.

4. He'll totally freak out if anyone leaves the room 

Classic puppy


----------



## Annitta

Hello everyone! 

I had to take a bit of hiatus due to some hospital volunteering and summer classes starting. It has been a crazy couple of weeks.. It’ll take me a minute to catch up on reading some of the older posts. 
A little update on Luna:
Her potty training is pretty much at 90% now. She lets us know when she really can’t hold it any longer (usually around the three hour mark.). We’re working on her holding it longer because I’m out of the house for around 4 1/2 hours because of summer classes this month. She hasn’t had an accident in just a little bit over a month. I’m so happy about that. 
Out next BIG hurdle is training with distraction. Man that is not a fun thing right now. Her training goes out the window if she sees so much as a leaf blowing on the sidewalk and she completely forgets the world when she sees another dog. It’s bad. I need to do some research now on how to tackle this. 
Any suggestions?


----------



## HJC

Annitta said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I had to take a bit of hiatus due to some hospital volunteering and summer classes starting. It has been a crazy couple of weeks.. It'll take me a minute to catch up on reading some of the older posts.
> A little update on Luna:
> Her potty training is pretty much at 90% now. She lets us know when she really can't hold it any longer (usually around the three hour mark.). We're working on her holding it longer because I'm out of the house for around 4 1/2 hours because of summer classes this month. She hasn't had an accident in just a little bit over a month. I'm so happy about that.
> Out next BIG hurdle is training with distraction. Man that is not a fun thing right now. Her training goes out the window if she sees so much as a leaf blowing on the sidewalk and she completely forgets the world when she sees another dog. It's bad. I need to do some research now on how to tackle this.
> Any suggestions?


Hi, glad to hear Luna me toilet training is going well, when we are home Bertie is fine goes out to the toilet but when I am out he is still going to the toilet in the kitchen even if its just for an hour or a little one that he could have held, no idea how to tackle this! 
I would start using the comand look at me at home say it until Luna looks you directly in the eye and then treat her, when we are out on walk now as soon as I notice something I say look at me and treat to distract him, it's not always 100% successful, (after all he is a puppy) but deffo helps


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## 24Rachy

I am just wanting to hear others experience. My pup 10 days ago was given another worming tablet as she was having diarrhoea and blood in stools. The next day I saw worms in her poo and over the next couple of days. Since then her poos have been fine but today the blood and diarrhoea has started again. She is fine in herself in every other way. I will be phoning vets tomorrow but int he mean time wanted to ask if anyone else had experience of this? I thought she would be clear, is it possible there were eggs in there which weren’t expelled? 
Thanks


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## DaisyBluebell

Yes quite possible, try not to worry too much (like none of us do!) but back to the vets just to set your mind at rest.


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## 24Rachy

DaisyBluebell said:


> Yes quite possible, try not to worry too much (like none of us do!) but back to the vets just to set your mind at rest.


Thank you for your reply. I feel less worried about it this time as it is exactly the same consistency/colour etc as before and she is eating playing and being her mischievous self. Will be phoning vets first thing. Can she be given a worming tablet again after just 10 days? Thanks


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Annitta said:


> Out next BIG hurdle is training with distraction. Man that is not a fun thing right now. Her training goes out the window if she sees so much as a leaf blowing on the sidewalk and she completely forgets the world when she sees another dog. It's bad. I need to do some research now on how to tackle this.
> Any suggestions?


You need to start training WITHOUT distractions well before adding distractions & take things very slowly.

Check out the following websites:

https://thehappypuppysite.com/dog-distraction-training-or-how-to-cure-selective-deafness/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5qsH5tjYA

Let us know how you get on please, it helps others at that stage.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

24Rachy said:


> Thank you for your reply. I feel less worried about it this time as it is exactly the same consistency/colour etc as before and she is eating playing and being her mischievous self. Will be phoning vets first thing. Can she be given a worming tablet again after just 10 days? Thanks


Sadly they can pick up worms so easily just from sniffing where another dogs has poo'd, but the vet will be the best to know what to do next. Just be careful to wash your own hands after handling anything that has come out her back end. 
Let us know how you get on.


----------



## 24Rachy

DaisyBluebell said:


> Sadly they can pick up worms so easily just from sniffing where another dogs has poo'd, but the vet will be the best to know what to do next. Just be careful to wash your own hands after handling anything that has come out her back end.
> Let us know how you get on.


Thanks. I'm not sure where she is getting them as she isnt allowed out into the open world till Tuesday and she has only met dogs of friends who I know are clear. No other dogs have access to my garden. Will see what he says tomorrow. 
We've already had worming treatment ourselves just to be safe! Ha! 
Will let you know


----------



## Annitta

DaisyBluebell said:


> You need to start training WITHOUT distractions well before adding distractions & take things very slowly.
> 
> Check out the following websites:
> 
> https://thehappypuppysite.com/dog-distraction-training-or-how-to-cure-selective-deafness/
> 
> www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5qsH5tjYA
> 
> Let us know how you get on please, it helps others at that stage.


Hello!

I totally agree! We're past the basic foundation training now. Luna is 18 weeks now so she's pretty much 100% set on training without distractions. She's very good at understanding what we're asking her to do and will do it. She does the basics like sit, stay, lay down, up, shake, bear hug ( my favorite!) and high five which is really an extension of shake..

What I've been working is training her with distractions for about a month once she had the basics down for a few weeks. Now we're having her stay put next to us instead of running to what she's interested in. She would stay laying down or sitting while kids were running wild around her, or during her puppy socialization class. She was great about it but three weeks ago she regressed a bit. That got me wondering what I'm doing wrong. 
I'll definitely watch the videos you posted links too. She might have developed selective hearing..


----------



## Annitta

HJC said:


> Hi, glad to hear Luna me toilet training is going well, when we are home Bertie is fine goes out to the toilet but when I am out he is still going to the toilet in the kitchen even if its just for an hour or a little one that he could have held, no idea how to tackle this!
> I would start using the comand look at me at home say it until Luna looks you directly in the eye and then treat her, when we are out on walk now as soon as I notice something I say look at me and treat to distract him, it's not always 100% successful, (after all he is a puppy) but deffo helps


Hello!

I will try that with Luna. I didn't think about trying something like "look at me". Thank you!
What we did with Luna's potty training to get her to hold it was putting her in the crate when we were gone for a couple of hours then rushed her outside when we got home. We would give her high value treats for going (she's extremely food motivated so she caught on quick! She will do anything for those treats). I think eventually she realized that we will take her out to go potty and started holding it longer. I won't lie though, it took a good a bit to get her to realize this but I stayed consistent. I watch her like a hawk when we get near the 3-3 1/2 hr mark, but so far no accidents in a while. According to the AKC & our vets a puppy can hold it one hour for each month of age they are. That's why we're working on getting her to hold it for 4 hours. 
We're also selling our home and moving to the new one in a few weeks and have decided to install a doggie door at our new house. I've heard it helps a great deal so I'm excited about it!


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## Rafa

24Rachy said:


> Thanks. I'm not sure where she is getting them as she isnt allowed out into the open world till Tuesday and she has only met dogs of friends who I know are clear. No other dogs have access to my garden. Will see what he says tomorrow.
> We've already had worming treatment ourselves just to be safe! Ha!
> Will let you know


It's highly unlikely your pup is 'getting' worms from somewhere.

It sounds very much to me as though your pup had a worm burden when she came to you. Whoever bred her should have wormed the dam during pregnancy and the pups every two weeks, starting at 2 weeks of age. It doesn't seem probable that was done.

Normally, you would worm your puppy every month up to six months of age. However, if she has a worm burden, your Vet may decide to worm her again. Take his advice.


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## 24Rachy

24Rachy said:


> Thanks. I'm not sure where she is getting them as she isnt allowed out into the open world till Tuesday and she has only met dogs of friends who I know are clear. No other dogs have access to my garden. Will see what he says tomorrow.
> We've already had worming treatment ourselves just to be safe! Ha!
> Will let you know


Well I spoke with the vet and he wasn't concerned. Said to keep an eye on her as she was her usual self. Didn't want to worm just yet. Touch wood since then there has actually been no bloody. However the following day there was a small stone in her poo. I do not know what else to do to stop her chomping on the stones!! So frustrating. I never realised there was so much to worry about regarding a puppy. I've had Millie three weeks and I feel like I'm a nervous wreck with her and not getting anywhere with her mouthing! I'm a tired puppy momma tonight and she doesn't even wake me in the night! Ha!


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## HJC

Annitta said:


> Hello!
> 
> I will try that with Luna. I didn't think about trying something like "look at me". Thank you!
> What we did with Luna's potty training to get her to hold it was putting her in the crate when we were gone for a couple of hours then rushed her outside when we got home. We would give her high value treats for going (she's extremely food motivated so she caught on quick! She will do anything for those treats). I think eventually she realized that we will take her out to go potty and started holding it longer. I won't lie though, it took a good a bit to get her to realize this but I stayed consistent. I watch her like a hawk when we get near the 3-3 1/2 hr mark, but so far no accidents in a while. According to the AKC & our vets a puppy can hold it one hour for each month of age they are. That's why we're working on getting her to hold it for 4 hours.
> We're also selling our home and moving to the new one in a few weeks and have decided to install a doggie door at our new house. I've heard it helps a great deal so I'm excited about it!


Yeah and you can practice that at home with no distractions then add a distraction like someone walking past her and then take it outside (don't get me wrong sometimes I have to tell Bertie to look at me a good few times if he's really distracted but he knows it means treat) 
So I have a problem in that the only thing that Bertie sees as high value is peanut butter so it's soooooooo hard to use this as a reward, meaning he goes out side gets distracted won't go to the loo then comes back in and if I don't let him out again straight away he will wee and he's also just not that bothered about holding on, I can't find peanut butter in tubes anywhere so I have purchased a squeezy tube that I can pop it in and he can have a teeny tiny lick when he goes for a poo and wee outside I know it's not the best thing for him but I have tried so many different treats and nothing keeps his attention like peanut butter!


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## HJC

24Rachy said:


> Well I spoke with the vet and he wasn't concerned. Said to keep an eye on her as she was her usual self. Didn't want to worm just yet. Touch wood since then there has actually been no bloody. However the following day there was a small stone in her poo. I do not know what else to do to stop her chomping on the stones!! So frustrating. I never realised there was so much to worry about regarding a puppy. I've had Millie three weeks and I feel like I'm a nervous wreck with her and not getting anywhere with her mouthing! I'm a tired puppy momma tonight and she doesn't even wake me in the night! Ha!


You and me both, I have had Bertie 13 weeks now and in that time he got bitten to shreds by bugs, had an op on his nose and throat, then got an infection in his nose, has had sickness in the mornings, has had sickness on his walks when he has chowed down his treats to quick, chocked on some raw hide, swallowed some raw hide whole and eaten an ear of his toy monkey! Not to mention despite me checking the garden constantly for things I know he will get his chops on he still manages to find something he shouldn't! But he has come out of all of these things unscathed and I have learnt soooo much because of it, you will feel less stressed as time goes on I promise! I really feel for you with the mouthing Bertie is terrible, if I can give you any advice is always play with a toy, my partner played with Bertie with his hands and he now thinks anytime I am on the floor I am inviting him to mouth my arms and that my hands are a chew toy, today has been a really good day though and as soon as he goes to nip me or my clothing I invite him to play with a toy and he has been more than happy to play fetch instead, this has been weeks of pulling my hair out with him though before we got to that stage as all the normal advice given for mouthing just didn't apply to Bertie because he was just to persistent and the normal reactions just spur him on!


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## Veba

24Rachy said:


> Well I spoke with the vet and he wasn't concerned. Said to keep an eye on her as she was her usual self. Didn't want to worm just yet. Touch wood since then there has actually been no bloody. However the following day there was a small stone in her poo. I do not know what else to do to stop her chomping on the stones!! So frustrating. I never realised there was so much to worry about regarding a puppy. I've had Millie three weeks and I feel like I'm a nervous wreck with her and not getting anywhere with her mouthing! I'm a tired puppy momma tonight and she doesn't even wake me in the night! Ha!


This sounds so familiar! I've now had pup for 6 weeks and couldn't tell you the last time he ate a stone. But that was all he did at the start. He calmed down with the mouthing but he's losing his teeth so back at it. I just keep standing up and facing away from him.


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## 24Rachy

HJC said:


> You and me both, I have had Bertie 13 weeks now and in that time he got bitten to shreds by bugs, had an op on his nose and throat, then got an infection in his nose, has had sickness in the mornings, has had sickness on his walks when he has chowed down his treats to quick, chocked on some raw hide, swallowed some raw hide whole and eaten an ear of his toy monkey! Not to mention despite me checking the garden constantly for things I know he will get his chops on he still manages to find something he shouldn't! But he has come out of all of these things unscathed and I have learnt soooo much because of it, you will feel less stressed as time goes on I promise! I really feel for you with the mouthing Bertie is terrible, if I can give you any advice is always play with a toy, my partner played with Bertie with his hands and he now thinks anytime I am on the floor I am inviting him to mouth my arms and that my hands are a chew toy, today has been a really good day though and as soon as he goes to nip me or my clothing I invite him to play with a toy and he has been more than happy to play fetch instead, this has been weeks of pulling my hair out with him though before we got to that stage as all the normal advice given for mouthing just didn't apply to Bertie because he was just to persistent and the normal reactions just spur him on!


I have tried so many different things. Turning away from her then encourages her to chew my ankles 'ouch' so at the moment she is out in a separate room with door closed 30 secs at a time. Don't seem to see any difference yet but I'm persisting with it. 
Although today we've had another sloppy & bloody poo so booked into the vets tomorrow afternoon for him to look at her. She is still fine in every way but the sight of blood still worries me


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## 24Rachy

Veba said:


> This sounds so familiar! I've now had pup for 6 weeks and couldn't tell you the last time he ate a stone. But that was all he did at the start. He calmed down with the mouthing but he's losing his teeth so back at it. I just keep standing up and facing away from him.


She is terrible with the stones! My garden looks terrible at the min, so many things laid across the stones to cover them. We've ordered slabs to replace the stones now. What's weird is she doens eat the white ones just the slate ones ??


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## Rafa

24Rachy said:


> She is terrible with the stones! My garden looks terrible at the min, so many things laid across the stones to cover them. We've ordered slabs to replace the stones now. What's weird is she doens eat the white ones just the slate ones ??


Have you told your Vet that she has eaten slate?


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## 24Rachy

Rafa said:


> Have you told your Vet that she has eaten slate?


She hasn't since she did the poo Sunday and there was one in there. She hasn't been able to get to them but I did mention it to him. She hasn't had any blood in her poo till today since Sunday


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## ErsatzNihilist

Hi, my name’s Alex and you’ll remember me from previous posts such as “I’m pretty sure my dog ate a stone”.

Well, I was pretty convinced I had seen him eat one, and then the next morning he had a sloppy poo and made some retching sounds.

“Ah, sod it, I was right”, I said to myself, hands on hips and I carted him off to the vet.

In the end we get an X-Ray to be sure, partially for my benefit because I’d n vet forgive myself if something happened to Edgar because I shrugged my shoulders.

It cost £200.

The vet explains to me that my dog just had really bad wind. So yeah, it’s a good job I love him so much! Now he’s got an eye infection, but we’re sorting this too.

I tell you what guys, while I suspect that soviet era nuclear reactors are probably the most stressful things to spend time with, Puppies have got to be running a close second.

Little monsters.


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## 24Rachy

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Hi, my name's Alex and you'll remember me from previous posts such as "I'm pretty sure my dog ate a stone".
> 
> Well, I was pretty convinced I had seen him eat one, and then the next morning he had a sloppy poo and made some retching sounds.
> 
> "Ah, sod it, I was right", I said to myself, hands on hips and I carted him off to the vet.
> 
> In the end we get an X-Ray to be sure, partially for my benefit because I'd n vet forgive myself if something happened to Edgar because I shrugged my shoulders.
> 
> It cost £200.
> 
> The vet explains to me that my dog just had really bad wind. So yeah, it's a good job I love him so much! Now he's got an eye infection, but we're sorting this too.
> 
> I tell you what guys, while I suspect that soviet era nuclear reactors are probably the most stressful things to spend time with, Puppies have got to be running a close second.
> 
> Little monsters.


I imagine this could be me tomorrow. She is absolutely fine in herself, it was just the blood in it which scares me. The way I feel at the moment I would never have another puppy again ha!


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## ErsatzNihilist

I think the thing to remember is that the vast majority of the time, the puppy is alright. I mean, dogs as a species did manage to pull through thousands of years without humans stopping them from eating stones.

On the other hand, I’m always happy to spend money on the Edgar at the vet if I’m worried.


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## SinneJ

Can I join you guys?

As some might know we adopted a young dog on june 10th (they think just under 2 yo, but we would estimate younger given his behaviour). So he is not a pup, but rescue dogs often need the same training as pups do, right?

I could use some puppy support as my parents just left for a weeks vacation that was planned before taking the dog and his care is now completely my responsibility. Hattur is adjusting very well, but hasn't been alone for longer than 15 minutes and tends to freak out when I am the last one to leave. I'm just gonna say it as it is: I'm his absolute favorite. I still have two exams and have asked my lovely neighbour to take him those two days (coming Friday and Monday) but studying I will have to do while taking care of the dog. It's pretty hard for me, I haven't slept much for 2 weeks now, even though my parent helped me with him, so I'm a bit anxious.

We already explored the neighbour's house and met her cats . I'm 100% sure that, when the first stress of me leaving is over, he will be fine there.

Still I'm pretty stuck here for the next few days. I have to test taking him in the car by myself, as I was always on the back seat with him before. Now I will be driving and he will have to learn to be okay with staying on the back seat alone. Maybe I'm overthinking it and he will make no problem of that, we'll see. Should it be a problem though, my mom stuffed our freezer with enough food for a month I think haha so I don't HAVE to go outside, but it would be nice, because I'm starting to go mad here.. I study 60% of the time and the other 40% I'm taking care of the dog or doing the actual exam, I need to see something outside of my house, a classroom or our neighbourhood. 

So I'm thinking it will be a challenging week.

I hope it's ok I posted this here.


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## DaisyBluebell

Oh course its ok you posting here, this is what it was set up for.
First thing & really most important thing - how will Hattur be restrained if you take him in the car alone? Is he in a crate or on a doggy seatbelt? If not restrained then he should be. The law now says a dog must not be in a position to distract or disrupt the driver & if he is not restrained by the sounds of it, you being his favorite, he is going to try to get over to you and sit on your lap even! The last thing you want is an accident or him going through the windscreen if unrestrained! 
Teaching a dog to be alone for any period of time really takes a lot of time (depending on the dogs temperament) It literally is a case of 2 mins out of sight back in, not reacting to the dog at all! coming and going as many times as you can and over days gradually increasing that time your out of sight, I cannot stress enough NOT making a big deal of it when ever you return! From the first morning Emma was left in her crate over night in the kitchen,I came out in the morning, no talk no eye contact and made a cup of tea put it on the table walked out of the room and came back 2 mins later, took a sip of tea then looked at her and said good morning & let her out of her crate & that is still what I do now and when ever I have been out and return. Emma accepts that completely & is the calmest of dogs when left alone for up to 3 hours which is the most we are usually out for for any reason. It really breaks down if a family member makes a big fuss when returning from anywhere sadly. Start practicing that now & you will be amazed how quickly you will be able to come and go without him fussing. 
Yes it will be a challenging week for you but its also a great week for you two to bond, have you started doing any training with him? Mental things are as stimulating and tiring to a dog as physical exercise so work on that, try teaching him to 'rest' on a mat or something so that you will be able to work with him laying beside you. There are plenty of video's on utube. Google 'teaching my dog calmness' by Kikopup you will find it fun to see the progress you make. It will also take your mind off your exams and going stir crazy being at home. Good luck, I look forward to hearing your progress with Huttar, pictures would not go amiss either


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## SinneJ

Thank you very much for the extended post!
We have a doggy seat belt and will at some point get a travelling crate instead (probably a good quality second hand). I was thinking about putting him in front of the passenger seat under the dashboard, so he can see me and I would clip him to the metal system under the seat. Would that be an okay alternative to the back seat? He's always restrained though, don't worry. I wouldn't dare to start the car if he weren't for the reason you just stated.

At night he is okay with us sleeping upstairs, but during the day he panics when I even leave the garden for a second. I'm just going to start by getting the mail without him, watering the plants while he is inside and so on. We'll see how he reacts and at what speed I can build up the 'alone' time.

I have started some training. He learned sit and down in a week time and I think with that I opened the door for more, because he starts to get the concept of rewards (he didn't at first). I will be working on some kind of 'settle' command like you suggested, that would be very convenient. Also just to keep it playful I'm throwing in some silly stuff like shake and play dead .
I walk him and we play in the garden. We just got back from a 1,5h walk (at his slow pace) and he is completely out atm so that's good.

And as requested some pics of the hairy monster. The fist one is from our walk earlier.


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## DaisyBluebell

Beautiful dog, is there some collie in there? Love the laid back 2nd picture. Lucky if there is, very trainable. Remember its still very early days and you are both still finding your feet together, obviously he has taken to you & with some encouragement you are going to have a wonderful companion there.


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## SinneJ

DaisyBluebell said:


> Beautiful dog, is there some collie in there? Love the laid back 2nd picture. Lucky if there is, very trainable. Remember its still very early days and you are both still finding your feet together, obviously he has taken to you & with some encouragement you are going to have a wonderful companion there.


Thank you! I have no idea what he is... it's a Spanish rescue that was brought in. He does seem very attentive and picks up new stuff really quick. He knew the sound of his harness being taken out of the closet in 2 days haha, he comes running whenever he hears it now.

We had a border collie before him that pretty much trained itself if you know what I mean. For example she picked up left and right just from hearing it during walks, when we would bump into her and say laughing "no no you go left". I'm thinking this one is pretty similar, so there might definitely be some collie in there.

Yes, you are right, he's only been here for 2 weeks. Lots of the little annoying behaviours, such as extremely focussing on food, went away by itself because he's starting to get the routine and trusts he will be fed. That will probably be the case for us leaving too, as he will soon realise we always come back to him


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## DaisyBluebell

Wow that all sound very encouraging. I am about to start teaching Emma Go Left & Go Right for when we have a go a beginners Agility, sounds like you might have one who would be interested in that too?
Try & get a bit of sleep & you will feel a lot less stressed, Xams & studying for them is a total pain in the butt & having him to look after look on as a release from them not a burden!


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## Annitta

Hello everyone,

Luna is on the naughty list today. It's really not her fault because we haven't taken her out to get her exercise in a few days due to my grandfather passing away earlier this week. My heart is heavier than it's ever been and life with Luna isn't making it any easier!

What do you guys do when you reach a point and can't handle your puppy's rowdiness/stubbornness? I've been doing something very selfish and putting her outside for 30 minutes for a little break. I feel bad doing that, but it's gotta be better than me yelling at her for trying to jump on the counter (that's her new thing BTW, it's been fun trying to reverse that behavior..) 

~Annitta


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## ErsatzNihilist

*Edit *- found a thread on here dealing with it!


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## DaisyBluebell

For anyone who has not already read this :

*I AM YOUR PUPPY*
I am your Puppy, and I will love you until the end of the Earth, but please know a few things about me.

I am your Puppy, this means that my intelligence and capacity for learning are the same as an 8-month-old child.

I am your Puppy; I will chew EVERYTHING I can get my teeth on. This is how I explore and learn about the world. Even HUMAN children put things in their mouths. It's up to you to guide me to what is mine to chew and what is not.

I am your Puppy; I cannot hold my bladder for longer than 1 - 2 hours. I cannot "feel" that I need to poop until it is actually beginning to come out. I cannot vocalize nor tell you that I need to go, and I cannot have "bladder and bowel control" until 6 - 9 months. Do not punish me if you have not let me out for 3 hours and I tinkle. It is your fault. As a Puppy, it is wise to remember that I NEED to go potty after: Eating, Sleeping, Playing, Drinking and around every 2 - 3 hours in addition. If you want me to sleep through the night, then do not give me water after 8 p.m. A crate will help me learn to housebreak easier, and will avoid you being mad at me.

I am your Puppy, accidents WILL happen, please be patient with me! In time I will learn.

I am your Puppy, I like to play. I will run around, and chase imaginary monsters, and chase your feet and your toes and 'attack' you, and chase fuzz balls, other pets, and small kids. It is play; it's what I do. Do not be mad at me or expect me to be sedate, mellow and sleep all day. If my high energy level is too much for you, maybe you could consider an older rescue from a shelter or Rescue group. My play is beneficial, use your wisdom to guide me in my play with appropriate toys, and activities like chasing a rolling ball, or gentle tug games, or plenty of chew toys for me. If I nip you too hard, talk to me in "dog talk", by giving a loud YELP, I will usually get the message, as this is how dogs communicate with one another. If I get too rough, simply ignore me for a few moments, or put me in my crate with an appropriate chew toy.

I am your Puppy; hopefully you would not yell, hit, strike, kick or beat a 6-month-old human infant, so please do not do the same to me. I am delicate, and also very impressionable. If you treat me harshly now, I will grow up learning to fear being hit, spanked, kicked or beat. Instead, please guide me with encouragement and wisdom. For instance, if I am chewing something wrong, say, "No chew!" and hand me a toy I CAN chew. Better yet, pick up ANYTHING that you do not want me to get into. I can't tell the difference between your old sock and your new sock, or an old sneaker and your $200 Nikes.

I am your Puppy, and I am a creature with feelings and drives much like your own, but yet also very different. Although I am NOT a human in a dog suit, neither am I an unfeeling robot who can instantly obey your every whim. I truly DO want to please you, and be a part of your family, and your life. You got me (I hope) because you want a loving partner and companion, so do not relegate me to the backyard when I get bigger, do not judge me harshly but instead mold me with gentleness and guidelines and training into the kind of family member you want me to be here.

I am a Puppy and I am not perfect, and I know you are not perfect either. I love you anyway. So please, learn all you can about training, and puppy behaviors and caring for me from your Veterinarian, books on dog care and even researching on the computer! Learn about my particular breed and it's "characteristics", it will give you understanding and insight into WHY I do all the things I do. Please teach me with love, patience, the right way to behave and socialize me with training in a puppy class or obedience class, we will BOTH have a lot of fun together.

I am your Puppy and I want more than anything to love you, to be with you, and to please you. Won't you please take time to understand how I work? We are the same you and I, in that we both feel hunger, pain, thirst, discomfort, fear, but yet we are also very different and must work to understand one another's language, body signals, wants and needs. Some day I will be a handsome dog, hopefully one you can be proud of and one that you will love as much as I love you.

Love,

Your Puppy


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## Kelly Rooker

Mayday....first night letting our 11 week old puppy sleep downstairs in his crate and he is crying and making the most horrible noises . Please tell me it is normal! I have read so many web pages telling me it is but I need someone else to tell me!


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## Rafa

He's distressed.

Bring his crate up to your room, next to you, then he doesn't feel so alone.


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## Kelly Rooker

So he stopped crying which was goos and then I had to pop down and he had pooped in the crate so I cleared it up. He was absolutely full of beans when I opened the door to clear it up! Decided to give it another go as he die stop eventually and he is crying again but not quite as badly. I will keep you posted. I am glad you are all here!!


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## Veba

Kelly Rooker said:


> So he stopped crying which was goos and then I had to pop down and he had pooped in the crate so I cleared it up. He was absolutely full of beans when I opened the door to clear it up! Decided to give it another go as he die stop eventually and he is crying again but not quite as badly. I will keep you posted. I am glad you are all here!!


Don't leave him crying. Take him back up or stay in the room downstairs with him. He's not ready yet. He pooped because he was anxious.


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## ErsatzNihilist

Edgar adapted to the crate overnight very quickly. My partner and I discussed that ultimately, we didn't want the dog in the bedroom with us, so he only spent his first night crated in our room - after that I slept downstairs for three nights in a camp bed in the same room with him, getting slightly further away every night. Finally, I slept in the room next door for the final night but he slept through and has been fine with it since.

If you call waking up at 5am fine, of course. But I'm assuming that's a puppy thing and we'll reach the giddy heights of 6am when he's grown up.


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## 24Rachy

My lovely Millie managed to get her chops on a dead bird yesterday. I did manage to prize most of it from her mouth. But she did manage to swallow some. So this morning when she is out she cried out I looked and she was pooing. She managed some and then stopped again to poo, she did this 5 or 6 times in various parts of the garden. Am I being hasty if I phone the vets first thing or should I see how she goes the rest of the day? She is fine in herself and wolfed down her brekkie.


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## Jamesgoeswalkies

24Rachy said:


> My lovely Millie managed to get her chops on a dead bird yesterday. I did manage to prize most of it from her mouth. But she did manage to swallow some. So this morning when she is out she cried out I looked and she was pooing. She managed some and then stopped again to poo, she did this 5 or 6 times in various parts of the garden. Am I being hasty if I phone the vets first thing or should I see how she goes the rest of the day? She is fine in herself and wolfed down her brekkie.


It doesn't hurt to call the Vet for advice but unless she is obviously in pain or doesn't manage to pass whatever it is that is there then at this stage there isn't much they can do. I would wait and watch to see if she poo's it all through to be honest. If you see any change in her behaviour (she gets lethargic/won't eat or tries to be sick etc) then definitely pop to the vets.

J


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## ErsatzNihilist

Well Wdgar definitely, 100% ate a bit of slate. I saw him pick it up so decided to do “drop it” and offered him a treat. He dropped it as he does and took the treat.

Before I could blink he darted back down and picked up the slate, and I guess swallowed it alongside the treat.

My fault for not picking up the slate first, I guess, but I wasn’t anticipating him to go for it again before he swallowed the treat.

I’m looking forward to my prescribed 48 hour period of no sleep, self recrimination and worry.


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## ladybird90

Hey everyone. I have a 13 week cockapoo puppy, Poppy. She’s a dream at night, happily sleeps in her crate and I don’t hear a peep from her unless she needs to go in the garden.

Current set up, crate in kitchen which is essentially her play pen, stair gate between kitchen and living room. If I’m sat in the living room with her in the kitchen for alone time (with plenty of chew toys with kibble and the odd treat), she will whimper and lay against the stair gate. As soon as I leave the room she howls and barks. The same when I leave the house, I can hear her barking from outside and it breaks my heart. I’ve tried to build this up slowly but I’m not sure what else I can do. I’m back at work now so I have no option but to leave the house, although my manager has allowed me 2 x 45 min breaks if I work an extra hour which allows me to come home twice to get her in the garden and check on her. This howling continues for at least 5 minutes, I’m unsure how long it goes on for but someone across the road heard her about 2.5 hours after I’d left her. Perhaps it’s the sound of the car?

I’m thinking of getting either a dog walker, or someone to come and check on her in the day so I’m able to resume my normal work day (I will still take a late lunch and come home to let her out).

I’m unsure which is best, I walk her early in the morning and someone comes in just to check on her and have a play, get her in the garden. Or I have her in the garden in the morning, and a dog walker comes in mid morning. 

I’ll be walking her in the evenings also

Does anyone have any advice on both how to structure her day and the howling?

Thank you!


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## Acidic Angel

Hello!

I've been reading this thread for a few days, it's taken me a while to get through it along with dealing with day to day life with a 9 week old pup... So I apologise if something I ask about has already been answered, I've probably forgotten over the days of reading 

Anyway!
So, as a few of you may know we recently got a 9 week old springer pup named Hazel.

So far, things are going... OK? Ish?

She settles into her crate at night no issue, and her toileting overnight seems to be pretty much set.
So much so that last night she accidentally went 6 hours between toilet trips as I had accidentally turned off my 3:30am alarm  I had taken her out at 00:30 as we were in bed by 9:30 last night(I was exhausted, she was exhausted, I also needed to get a bath so she was settled in her crate earlier than usual anyway), so I set my next alarm for 3:30am intending to do a 3 hour gap.. I woke up at 6:45am, cue me panicking and expecting a huge mess in her crate... Got up in a rush, opened her crate ready to take out a soggy pup only to find her and her crate bone dry. She was even still asleep in her bed until I woke her up.. Bless her she was desperate once awake though! I got her outside and she immediately squatted and did a mahoosive pee.

Anyway, so you could say she's doing very well in the dry overnight department. We've also not had a poo accident yet, all the accidents we've had have been wee's which in my opinion is good.
She's learnt "sit" very easily and we now use it to calm her down before meals(as she is very excitable with food!). I've been trying "paw" and "down" today, but we're struggling a bit with the concept of those so any tips would be wonderful!

"Leave it" is another we're struggling with, as usually she chooses to ignore me until she's eaten the leaf she's been nosing and then she comes to me and expects a treat for ""leaving it"".... So I've been trying not to do it unless I know she knows what I have is better as I don't want to teach her to ignore my commands.
"Look at me" is going well, preparing her for when she's out and I need her attention on me as much as possible. Sometimes she doesn't quite get it, but I'd say she's good with it maybe 85% of the time and looks at me immediately. The other 15% she does look at me, but it can take her a few seconds.

So, onto the current issues I'm having with her..

Puppy biting- WOW that hurts when she really gets going! I'm currently using the "ahh ahh" and ignore method with her, unfortunately at the minute this is just leading to ankle biting instead of realising she's being ignored, even though I continue to ignore through the ankle biting. Yesterday though I ended up standing looking outside for over 10 minutes and it didn't click with her, she just kept amusing herself with my ankles, and it hurts after a while even with "gentle" biting.
So it might be a case of going over the barricade between the kitchen and living room(open plan, but I don't want her wandering into the kitchen all the time as it's not always in my field of vision depending on where she goes) and ignoring her that way. Do you think this might help? Due to the open plan I can't really put her in a different room, so I need to work on me being the one that leaves her instead of moving her.

Bathing- She went digging in my plant pots(which have now all been moved, much to her dismay) and got filthy... Cue a bath, and her literal nightmare. She seems to have an all out fear of the bath itself, not the bathroom but the bath. How would I go about conquering this so that bath time is easier? It already takes both of us to bath her and she's only 9 weeks old and 5.2kg... I dread to think what it would take if she carried on being like she is when adult and around 20kg  I was thinking of maybe trying to slowly introduce her to the bath? Start with it being empty, and sit and treat her and reassure her while in there, maybe even sit in it with her at first with how bad she is? And build up to having water in there in stages. Does this sound good?

Collar, lead and harness- These are something she really is struggling to accept.
Collar we thought we had it sorted, and then she started biting and scratching at it again. Harness was a massive no from her, though being fair the puppy harness I bought her is a bit big at the moment so she has the opportunity to grab the front of it and bite it, which probably doesn't help too much.
As for lead... Ha! Try attaching one to her collar, I dare you. I keep seeing people say puppies should be on lead to toilet so that you can make sure you're near them, etc... I tried that, she spent the whole time biting the lead and when I blocked the lead biting she bit my hand, HARD.

Eating pebbles- Our patio, which is her toilet area, is all paving slabs except a border of about 3 inches wide which is loose pebbles. Unfortunately, she picked up on those very quickly and now continuously attempted to eat them. I'm forever taking pebbles out of her mouth and when I move her away from the pebble areas, she thinks it's such a fun game to run right back and pick another one up. Thankfully she hasn't started running away with them, she just sits and chews on them in one area, favouring pebbles over her chews and toys most of the time. It's also only certain areas of the border she'll pick pebbles up from, she doesn't just choose a random part of it to get pebbles from, it's always the same areas. So I've got things here and there blocking her "chosen spots", unfortunately this just leads to her choosing a new area to get them from :Shifty
My options are to somehow cover the whole border with something she can't chew through or move, or make them unpleasant somehow... Bitter apple maybe? But I'd have to reapply frequently as it would evaporate off/wash off in the rain(when we finally have some...). If she's not chewing the pebbles, she's trying to chew the slabs themselves! They aren't all perfectly even unfortunately, so some have little tiny mm's that are above the edge of the ones next to them, she's figured this out and now sits desperately trying to chew those edges.

I think that's it for now really... She's having her second set of vaccinations on the 23rd, so she'll be 11 weeks and 2 days when they're done, then we have to wait 5 days for her to be able to go out safely. Unfortunately this means she'll be at the 12 week mark when she goes on her first proper outing so I need to get her human socialisation done before then by carrying her, letting her meet people calmly, etc... Most of the neighbours are her friends now, out immediate neighbours patio joins on to ours and when they are out on theirs she sits at the dividing fence to say hello, etc.. Our neighbours on the other side have just got a 9 week old lab pup who has his second vaccs on Friday, the vet said they would be safe to meet on our patio since they are similar ages and he will then be vaccinated against the dog transmittable stuff. The vet also said we could introduce her to family and friends dogs that are up to date with their vaccinations, but it has to be done somewhere either in a private garden or with little to no dog traffic to prevent her picking anything up. So on Sunday we're going to a family members house as they have a little westie who is extremely calm around other dogs, so hopefully that will be a good start for her. We'll be doing calm introductions and teaching her to only interact politely and with permission, so that she doesn't learn that "another dog = RUN AND PLAY!" but also so she doesn't learn that "another dog = OMG DANGER!". Same goes for next doors little lab puppy(who is adorable!) as it will be as much a learning experience for him as it will for her, so there will be plenty of training and supervision.

Any tips regarding any of the above, or if you see something in the above that I could improve on, please let me know. The only puppy I've had before was a lurcher(rottie x whippet) and my mum did everything as I was about 6 years old... And even then my mum didn't do the best job, she was good I'd say 90% of the time but there were moments she snapped at things(mostly other dogs, strangers, etc.).

Oh, obligatory puppy photo for my membership to this thread  Not a new photo, a couple of days old, when we both first discovered frozen tea towels.


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## ErsatzNihilist

I can personally relate to a lot of this with my Cocker, although it's only recently occurred to me that I've not had to endure ankle biting at all - it's always on my arms and hands when we're playing, so while I definitely got a lot of pretty painful bites, I don't think I have what would be recognised as a particularly bitey dog.

Additionally I've bored the forum at length about stone eating as an issue; this too seems to have come under control in recent weeks as well and the dog has survived the process up until now. Sounds like you're doing well!


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## Elsa_the_lioness

Just popped in for a quick rant!
I’ve got a German shepherd pup who turned one last week. It’s like she has turned one and gone right back to being 8 weeks old again!! Argh! Today she can’t even remember sit... 2 weeks ago she was an absolute pleasure and now she is 30 kilos of crazy which is a lot harder to deal with than cute fluffy crazy of 8 weeks! 

I know I need to be consistent and keep going with the training which I have been but argh!!!


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## DaisyBluebell

Elsa_the_lioness said:


> Just popped in for a quick rant!
> I've got a German shepherd pup who turned one last week. It's like she has turned one and gone right back to being 8 weeks old again!! Argh! Today she can't even remember sit... 2 weeks ago she was an absolute pleasure and now she is 30 kilos of crazy which is a lot harder to deal with than cute fluffy crazy of 8 weeks!
> I know I need to be consistent and keep going with the training which I have been but argh!!!


Welcome to the world of owning a teenager ! Just keep up with the training, things will get better and she will remember all the stuff you taught her before this hormonal stage hit.


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## ErsatzNihilist

Dog ate my Birkenstocks. Have decided not to replace them until we’re past chewing things.

Also, I’m not sure if it’s the hot weather, but these weapon-grade puppy farts are just continuing. I’m powerless to fight back too because whenever I fart on him in retribution he just gets really excited and wants to sniff my bum.


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## Acidic Angel

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Also, I'm not sure if it's the hot weather, but these weapon-grade puppy farts are just continuing. I'm powerless to fight back too because whenever I fart on him in retribution he just gets really excited and wants to sniff my bum.


OMG :Hilarious:Hilarious

We've not had any from Hazel thankfully, just my partner as usual!


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## Dark Angel

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking for some advice. We have a 5 month old rescue pup, we've had him a few weeks, we are first time dog owners and read up loads before we started but we were not prepared for the amount of biting we're experiencing. We expected some but this turns into a frenzy and he has to be put into a time out space. 
I'm at a loss as to how to deal with it. There were other families that rescued at the same time as us and they're all having a lovely time with their pups so I don't feel I can ask any of them what I'm doing wrong. 
We aren't able to walk him at the moment, he has a digestive issue going on and it's contagious to other dogs so we've had to pull out of puppy classes too and the dog walker can't have him till he has the all clear. Is it likely to just be that because I thought things were improving but they've gone so far backwards it's ridiculous. 

Any thoughts? 
Thanks in advance 
Angel x


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## DaisyBluebell

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Also, I'm not sure if it's the hot weather, but these weapon-grade puppy farts are just continuing. I'm powerless to fight back too because whenever I fart on him in retribution he just gets really excited and wants to sniff my bum.


Usually a change of food is necessary in that case (for both of you!)


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## DaisyBluebell

Dark Angel said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm looking for some advice. We have a 5 month old rescue pup, we've had him a few weeks, we are first time dog owners and read up loads before we started but we were not prepared for the amount of biting we're experiencing. We expected some but this turns into a frenzy and he has to be put into a time out space.
> I'm at a loss as to how to deal with it. There were other families that rescued at the same time as us and they're all having a lovely time with their pups so I don't feel I can ask any of them what I'm doing wrong.
> We aren't able to walk him at the moment, he has a digestive issue going on and it's contagious to other dogs so we've had to pull out of puppy classes too and the dog walker can't have him till he has the all clear. Is it likely to just be that because I thought things were improving but they've gone so far backwards it's ridiculous.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> Thanks in advance
> Angel x


Sadly if you had read through which is admittedly a very long thread now, you would have discovered that what your experiencing is 100% normal puppy bite behavior & you and the pup just have to live through it. Think new born babies, they discover everything through putting stuff in their mouths, luckily they dont have the nasty sharp little teeth that puppies have. My hands, arms feet & even sometimes face looked like I was actually self harming with our pup & you think its going to last forever but I promise it does not. Whats the worst thing that someone can do to you as a human? Ignore you right! same goes for a puppy. When it starts, a sharp NO (NOT loud so it scares the pup) and either get up and walk away or turn away. Remember the pup does not understand our language so needs to get the idea that NO means you stop any interaction with him/her (nothing worse) you can also try substituting yourself for a chew toy for the pup to bite on no words needed.


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## ErsatzNihilist

Man, Ed pooped in the kitchen today. First indoor accident in absolutely ages, and 100% my fault. Got engrossed reading an article and clearly didn’t notice when he went to the back door to be let out.

I feel awful for letting him down but I suspect he’s not mad with me.

He’s 19 weeks today, so really still only a puppy, but he’s been so good with his toilet training I guess I forget we’ve got a ways to go yet.

Sorry Ed!


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## Veba

Never mind the farts … teething puppy breath is rank!


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## DaisyBluebell

Veba said:


> Never mind the farts … teething puppy breath is rank!


Wait till he starts eating cat poo that you hadn't noticed in the garden !


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## Veba

DaisyBluebell said:


> Wait till he starts eating cat poo that you hadn't noticed in the garden !


Been there, done that! Except I thought it was a stone and took it out of his mouth :Vomit


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## ErsatzNihilist

Puppies are just disgusting, aren’t they. Nobody likes puppies.


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## DaisyBluebell

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Puppies are just disgusting, aren't they. Nobody likes puppies.


That's the reason puppies are so breathtakingly gorgeous - your drawn into love before realisation of what revolting little evil creatures they really are :Jawdrop


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## Dark Angel

I had hoped it was normal but the lady that runs the puppy class we went to (when we could) said it was a learned behaviour from his time before us. I have no experience to go by so don't know the difference.

We are doing our best to work through it


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## Acidic Angel

Guys... I need to vent a little today.
Today I had one of those moments where I regretted getting Hazel 

We've had three accidents inside within the space of about an hour today, even though she's not exactly gulped water as it's not been too warm today. 
They coincided with me steam mopping too which annoyed me a bit, although I kept my calm and didn't get angry with her, shout, raise my voice, etc..

Basically, it started when I had just finished steam mopping the living room(she doesn't like the steam mop but will sit nicely in her crate while I do it), and she peed on the floor. I figured "OK, that's likely my fault. I lost track of time in between doing housework, etc. and it may have been a while since she last went out." - A quick check of the time confirmed it had been a while and she likely had needed to go out and I hadn't noticed the signs. Slap on the wrist for me.
Anyway, so she did a massive pee, I wiped it up with kitchen roll and took her outside and we sat outside for 15 minutes in case she needed to do anything else. She laid down for a minute or two, then started trying to eat pebbles or leaves, so I figured we were safe to come back in. When we came back in, I used an enzymatic cleaner on the spot she peed and then went over the floor with the steam mop again just to be sure.
Less than a minute after I finished steam mopping she came back out of her crate, and peed, again. Not in the same place, in a completely different area after I'd steam mopped. Again, I got the kitchen roll, dried the area and took her out. We sat out there for 20-25 minutes, again she just laid down for a couple of minutes and back to trying to eat things she could find. So again, in we came. 
Rinse and repeat for the third time basically 

I stopped using my steam mop after that, because it seemed to be something to do with the cleaner I use in the steam mop, since all three pees were done straight after I had used it. 
The thing that confuses me is this, I have used the same stuff in my steam mop the whole time we've had her, and while she is still unsettled by the steam mop, she no longer goes berserk trying to get away from it at first sight and will now take herself to her crate and lay down while I mop. She has never peed on the floor just after I've mopped or anything like that. I would like to be able to continue using my steam mop, but if she's going to pee on the floor after I use it I can't really :Arghh

On top of that, her biting has gotten severely worse today. Kind of feels like all the bite inhibition training we've been working on, which finally seemed to be working a little as she started licking hands/legs/feet instead of biting them, has gone out the window completely. She has drawn some serious blood on me today and no amount of ignoring has worked. I've spent more time telling her "ahh ahh" and walking away from her than I have being able to actually train or play with her today, and it's really got me down as she was doing so much better yesterday than she has today. 

The cats as well, she's been doing OK with ignoring them and leaving them alone, even if they run past her she had stopped chasing them. Today she's been on them non-stop, no amount of treats, toys, "ahh ahh" has stopped her. I've had to physically get her collar and move her away from them to give them chance to escape her. She only wants to play with them, but she needs to learn that chasing them is not acceptable and they don't want to play with her. Tiger swiped at her when she shot after him before I could get her and he caught her lip. She squealed in response and ran back to me, her lip bleeding a tiny bit after her encounter. 

I just feel like I'm failing entirely here and it's started making me regret her. I love her to bits, don't get me wrong, but I'm wondering if a puppy was really the best option or if I should have gone for an older, already partially trained dog that I could have worked with a bit.
She has her second vaccinations on the 23rd, and will be able to go out for walks on the 28th. I'm really hoping this will help a little bit in that she will be able to do more than go on the patio. We've been out with her while carrying her to get her used to sights, smells, etc. but it's all different for her when she can walk. Though at this rate she won't be able to be walked, she still won't entertain a lead at all and just constantly bites it. I tried distracting her with "leave it" earlier, as we've been working on that one and she's picked it up relatively easily. It worked for a millisecond, enough for her to get the treat, and then she was back to biting the lead.


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## Dark Angel

Could she be feeling under the weather? That's a lot of things to change all in one day


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## Acidic Angel

Dark Angel said:


> Could she be feeling under the weather? That's a lot of things to change all in one day


With her peeing so much I did wonder. But her general being hasn't changed, she's still lively, reacts well to things, we did manage a bit of training and she did wonderfully. She's eaten all her meals no issue.

It's just her behavior. I understand puppies are hard work, but with her regressing so much today I just feel like maybe it was a mistake getting her.


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## Dark Angel

Acidic Angel said:


> It's just her behavior. I understand puppies are hard work, but with her regressing so much today I just feel like maybe it was a mistake getting her.


It is hard sometimes, I've had one or two of those "what did I do" moments, but then he does something adorable and I'm back in the zone again. From what I've read it's perfectly normal to go 3 steps forward and 2 back in these first few months, doesn't make it any easier when it's happening though

Angel x


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## Acidic Angel

Dark Angel said:


> It is hard sometimes, I've had one or two of those "what did I do" moments, but then he does something adorable and I'm back in the zone again. From what I've read it's perfectly normal to go 3 steps forward and 2 back in these first few months, doesn't make it any easier when it's happening though
> 
> Angel x


Yeah, when she does so well with her behaviour or training I'm so proud. Recently I was extremely proud of her going up to 5 hours overnight already, despite only being 10 weeks and struggling to reach 3 hours when we first got her at 9 weeks. I'm still extremely proud of her for that, and for how well she's settled in to using her crate at night or during the day when I need to do stuff. She settles into her crate with little to no fuss during the day now, and at night she gets one of her Lily's Kitchen bedtime biscuits and settles down with that easily.

I'm a little less down today, so far. She's been OK and we had an accidental lie in this morning, I woke up about 9:30am and she was just waking up herself.
Her breakfast was 30 mins late because we both overslept, but that's no worry to her.


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## Veba

Acidic Angel said:


> Yeah, when she does so well with her behaviour or training I'm so proud. Recently I was extremely proud of her going up to 5 hours overnight already, despite only being 10 weeks and struggling to reach 3 hours when we first got her at 9 weeks. I'm still extremely proud of her for that, and for how well she's settled in to using her crate at night or during the day when I need to do stuff. She settles into her crate with little to no fuss during the day now, and at night she gets one of her Lily's Kitchen bedtime biscuits and settles down with that easily.
> 
> I'm a little less down today, so far. She's been OK and we had an accidental lie in this morning, I woke up about 9:30am and she was just waking up herself.
> Her breakfast was 30 mins late because we both overslept, but that's no worry to her.


Oh, what I'd do for that kind of sleep! Around about 5am every morning for me! He will settle for another hour or so after a toilet trip but after that he's raring to go. Everything else has got so much easier over the weeks (we've had pup 11 weeks this weekend).


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## Acidic Angel

Veba said:


> Oh, what I'd do for that kind of sleep! Around about 5am every morning for me! He will settle for another hour or so after a toilet trip but after that he's raring to go. Everything else has got so much easier over the weeks (we've had pup 11 weeks this weekend).


It was nice lol.
I think maybe catching up on some sleep may have helped my mood a bit too, as I was lacking sleep yesterday and felt like taking a nap throughout the day..


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## HJC

So.....I find myself back here again :Arghh, Bertie is 5 and a half months old, he is amazing in many ways (appart from his nipping/biting but I have saught advice on this seperatly and feel like i am heading in the right directions with this)
I have the following questions;
- Thoughts on tug of war? when he plays with us this is litrally all he wants to do (i have introduced drop to try and encourage fetch a bit more) any other more calming games i could introduce him to?
- When we get home from a walk he goes CRAZY zooming all over the place and despite him being absoloutly exhausted he will not stop, how do I tackle this? is there anything i should be encouraging when i get home from the walk?
- Should I play with my puppy everytime he comes over to me with a toy? or should i have more structured play time/encourage training when he wants to play?
- I am getting on really well with training him at home but the second I get into his puppy class its like he cant hear me, this sunday i actually cried when i got home he was that bad and my hands were raw from him pulling on his lead, he cant be moved up because he wont demonstrate in the class what he is capable of at home/walking with me he is just wanting to jump/play with the other dogs and this was litrally his only focus. He has been well socialised so i am not sure why all of a sudden this is happening. I would welcome any tips for helping him to stay focused on me despite distractions?

H x


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## Joanna Maciejczyk

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


Hey  
For 1st problem well whats i did with my dog is crate train him basicaly and he just kinda get it basicaly ignore the pup havig an accident and reward him when he does ot on the grass like make a big fuss of it like if he won an oscar or a grammy or whatever make sure you happy and the dog goes crazy happy about doing the poop outside, also dogs usuaaly move around more sniff around usualy to toilet, if you have carapets the pads are not a good idea when my dog was trained with their breeder he was doing it on rugs and carapet blankets clothes etc, also if you dog liked pads dont throw them eveywhere where your dog like to poop decrease the amount if them and reward him for doing it on the pad and decrease them and move them more either to the door or garden bt persoanlt this did not work for me for me what worked is the fuss when he done it outside and crate, dogs hate toilet in their "den" but they need to feel secure in them so it cant be too big it should be good enough for them to stand and turn 360 and maybe cover them with their blanket thats mayeb smells of you if you have a big cage make sure u reward him in the park aswell because my dog would never poop in the park as he though he is only allowd in the garden he suddently started doing it and i rewarded him so he is fine now and with the food i dont know maybe the oup have fast metablolizm is it like diahrea? Well my dig loves to poo 10 times on a walk small portion of it maybe go get check if its normal? But puppy metabolizm is fast as they grow they need a lot of food how much times do you feed the dog? The best thing is to learn the before behaviour withc is usualy nervously walking around sniffing around its suualy a poop signal it took me forever to learn thats with my dog but the pup will get it eventualy with the rewarding when its in the grass area, i recoments rewarding on the grass out outise because thats the main place you want the dig to do it.

Prblem 2 do you take yor dog out when he cries? The. He will do thats because he gets your attention but before putting him into the cage perhaps play with him and he always always needs water there i know a dude thats put his puppy full of energy without water and forced him to sleep on the pillow in a hot day.. i know idiot but water is esential but try and ignore the crying and make sure like in the problem 1 make the cage save and secure maybe put his toy in there make it dark? Try if thats work because cage is crutial because if u cant look after him when you i dont know bathing or going shop he needs to be in his cage for safety really dogs are den animals so he wont mind it to be there for 10 mins try and ignore the crying luckily i did not have thats problem with my dog but i got other problems of course evey dig is different your dog is probably just energetic and needy

Problem 3 well the pup must learn thats there will be noises and she needs to sleep you maybe she have energy thats you need to make her use up with play time some training perhaps, mental stimulation is a good thing give the pup a kong with their food in it or other toy thats the dog needs to think to get the food and they get tired, and dont worry your dog may wake up but i bet he will sleep a puppy needs aproximetly (i may be wring) 20 hours of sleep till they griw adult then they needs i think 16 so its fine if the pupps dont sleep at day all the time its fone he will sleep at night i just bwt your pupp is energetic and playful 
I hope it helped you a bit good luckx


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## Cayley

HJC said:


> So.....I find myself back here again :Arghh, Bertie is 5 and a half months old, he is amazing in many ways (appart from his nipping/biting but I have saught advice on this seperatly and feel like i am heading in the right directions with this)
> I have the following questions;
> - Thoughts on tug of war? when he plays with us this is litrally all he wants to do (i have introduced drop to try and encourage fetch a bit more) any other more calming games i could introduce him to?
> - When we get home from a walk he goes CRAZY zooming all over the place and despite him being absoloutly exhausted he will not stop, how do I tackle this? is there anything i should be encouraging when i get home from the walk?
> - Should I play with my puppy everytime he comes over to me with a toy? or should i have more structured play time/encourage training when he wants to play?
> - I am getting on really well with training him at home but the second I get into his puppy class its like he cant hear me, this sunday i actually cried when i got home he was that bad and my hands were raw from him pulling on his lead, he cant be moved up because he wont demonstrate in the class what he is capable of at home/walking with me he is just wanting to jump/play with the other dogs and this was litrally his only focus. He has been well socialised so i am not sure why all of a sudden this is happening. I would welcome any tips for helping him to stay focused on me despite distractions?
> 
> H x


I'm a new puppy owner so I can't help with much of this. However, when Dora goes into crazy-gremlin-from-hell mode, we crate her until she calms down. I read it in our puppy book and it does seem to help... that is if you're crate training.


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## Dark Angel

Does anyone have any tips to deter my five and a half month old puppy from humping us? This is a new "treat" for us, just in time for my parents visiting for the first time since we got him


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## Dark Angel

When we get home from a walk he goes CRAZY zooming all over the place and despite him being absoloutly exhausted he will not stop, how do I tackle this? 

My pup does this too. I put him in the garden to chill for a bit if it gets too much


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## ErsatzNihilist

Dark Angel said:


> Does anyone have any tips to deter my five and a half month old puppy from humping us? This is a new "treat" for us, just in time for my parents visiting for the first time since we got him


Don't dress so sexy?


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## Acidic Angel

Dark Angel said:


> Does anyone have any tips to deter my five and a half month old puppy from humping us? This is a new "treat" for us, just in time for my parents visiting for the first time since we got him


I think it's just part of them growing up.
Hazel has developed a tendency to hump my leg if I'm stopping her doing something she shouldn't, for example if she's trying to chase the cat and won't listen so I have to body block her. She used to just jump up and nip, but now she humps my leg. Only mine, she won't do it to my fiance.
It can get a bit embarrassing when she decides to do it while out walking... She basically throws a tantrum if I stop her pulling(not all the time, but sometimes) and will turn back and start humping my leg, or she'll jump up and nip(repeatedly). I try ignoring this behaviour but the nipping is harder to ignore than the humping unfortunately, especially now she's figured out that clamping down on the elbow really hurts me and usually makes me loudly say "Ow!"... I never intend to shout it or say it loudly, I intend to say it sternly, but she really can bite when she gets going so I can't always stop myself shouting it or saying it loudly.


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## Dark Angel

ErsatzNihilist said:


> Don't dress so sexy?


Lol. That made me laugh.


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## Dark Angel

Acidic Angel said:


> I think it's just part of them growing up.
> Hazel has developed a tendency to hump my leg if I'm stopping her doing something she shouldn't, for example if she's trying to chase the cat and won't listen so I have to body block her. She used to just jump up and nip, but now she humps my leg. Only mine, she won't do it to my fiance.
> It can get a bit embarrassing when she decides to do it while out walking... She basically throws a tantrum if I stop her pulling(not all the time, but sometimes) and will turn back and start humping my leg, or she'll jump up and nip(repeatedly). I try ignoring this behaviour but the nipping is harder to ignore than the humping unfortunately, especially now she's figured out that clamping down on the elbow really hurts me and usually makes me loudly say "Ow!"... I never intend to shout it or say it loudly, I intend to say it sternly, but she really can bite when she gets going so I can't always stop myself shouting it or saying it loudly.


He's doing it to my 12 yr old son too. Plus he's so determind that he just fell off the sofa trying to get to me and smacked his chin on the floor. He barely paused before trying again!!!


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## ErsatzNihilist

I remember that time that Ed and I were sitting on the sofa and he rolled on his back. Naturally I started tickling his tummy and he popped a boner.

Ed is my dog, obviously.


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## Dark Angel

The nipping is bad with ours too. I know he'll grow out of it, but it doesn't help when he gets the back of my thigh, so many bruises there now


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## Dark Angel

ErsatzNihilist said:


> I remember that time that Ed and I were sitting on the sofa and he rolled on his back. Naturally I started tickling his tummy and he popped a boner.
> 
> Ed is my dog, obviously.


I don't quite know how to reply to that


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## Acidic Angel

Hazel used to bite every single time a hand went near her. Not in an aggressive way, just in a puppy way. Now she is less enthusiastic about using her teeth unless she's being stopped from doing something basically. Getting her off the sofa has become a little hazardous now she's realised she can bite me for it, we're trying to teach her "Off" but the sofa has become high value to her somehow and now she won't come off it for anything. 
When we first started teaching her "Off" she would come off(with some hesitation) for a high value toy like her ball, now she won't come off for anything. She thinks it's a game we're playing and goes into a play bow, before realising we're not playing and just laying down on the sofa, avoiding eye contact and not looking at us. Almost like she knows she shouldn't be up there, but she's doing it anyway because why the heck not! So instead we have to resort to actually removing her from the sofa, I would prefer not to have to do this really as it means giving her hand contact which is a good thing in a puppies mind- So I'm a bit stuck on what else I could do.
Treats don't work, even inviting her outside doesn't work and normally she'll be at that door before I am if she even thinks we're going out. That's another issue, I have to hold her collar when we're coming in from the patio otherwise the first thing she does is run to jump on the sofa, and then we're sort of stuck in that cycle again(+ when she's been on the common and it's all wet and muddy....).


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## Dark Angel

Acidic Angel said:


> Hazel used to bite every single time a hand went near her. Not in an aggressive way, just in a puppy way. Now she is less enthusiastic about using her teeth unless she's being stopped from doing something basically. Getting her off the sofa has become a little hazardous now she's realised she can bite me for it, we're trying to teach her "Off" but the sofa has become high value to her somehow and now she won't come off it for anything.
> When we first started teaching her "Off" she would come off(with some hesitation) for a high value toy like her ball, now she won't come off for anything. She thinks it's a game we're playing and goes into a play bow, before realising we're not playing and just laying down on the sofa, avoiding eye contact and not looking at us. Almost like she knows she shouldn't be up there, but she's doing it anyway because why the heck not! So instead we have to resort to actually removing her from the sofa, I would prefer not to have to do this really as it means giving her hand contact which is a good thing in a puppies mind- So I'm a bit stuck on what else I could do.
> Treats don't work, even inviting her outside doesn't work and normally she'll be at that door before I am if she even thinks we're going out. That's another issue, I have to hold her collar when we're coming in from the patio otherwise the first thing she does is run to jump on the sofa, and then we're sort of stuck in that cycle again(+ when she's been on the common and it's all wet and muddy....).


I can't claim to have cracked "off" or "down" as I say, but the other day I got so fed up of being leaped on, at speed, so I blocked every part of the sofa apart from where I sit. I put dining room chairs in front of the rest and worked on "down" whenever he tried to jump up, treating when he got it right. The chairs were there for 2 days, I used a foot stool to block the path to me when things got out of hand. It seems to have worked for the most part, he isn't quite so sure of his right to be there it seems, if i insist on him getting down he does (mostly) and he is a bit calmer while up here with me or the family (again, for the most part) he definately chills out quicker when hes up on it too.

Extreme behaviour calls for extreme measures...................and yes, I do feel like I'm losing the plot


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## Acidic Angel

Dark Angel said:


> I can't claim to have cracked "off" or "down" as I say, but the other day I got so fed up of being leaped on, at speed, so I blocked every part of the sofa apart from where I sit. I put dining room chairs in front of the rest and worked on "down" whenever he tried to jump up, treating when he got it right. The chairs were there for 2 days, I used a foot stool to block the path to me when things got out of hand. It seems to have worked for the most part, he isn't quite so sure of his right to be there it seems, if i insist on him getting down he does (mostly) and he is a bit calmer while up here with me or the family (again, for the most part) he definately chills out quicker when hes up on it too.
> 
> Extreme behaviour calls for extreme measures...................and yes, I do feel like I'm losing the plot


One half of the sofa is blocked already and then there's the bit I sit on, but it doesn't matter if I'm there or not, she will leap up at me, if I block her she tries again at full speed- Usually mouth open and heading for my face.


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## ErsatzNihilist

Edgar has reached just over 5 months of age and we’ve had an absolute rash of “accidents” inside the house. Most still happens outside, but he’s weeing periodically.

Frustrating as he’s been fantastic for a while, so i guess I let my guard down, especially in this weather. Guess we’ll need to take a few steps back!


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## Acidic Angel

Today we have discovered, that Hazel is petrified of water.
I thought maybe it was the bath she had an issue with, due to it being slippery and enclosed on all four sides. No, it's water. She wouldn't even go near a light stream for a drink earlier, I had to gather some water in a bottle and pour it out into a small "dip" in the ground so she could drink...

I'm hoping this will get better as she ages, but right now she is absolutely petrified of water. There was a 4 month old springer out on the same walk as us, and she just dove straight into the water like it was nothing- Hazel cowered, shook and pulled backwards to avoid going near the water at all.
I've never seen a dog so terrified of being near water. I've seen dogs that hate going IN the water, but she didn't want to even be near it and kept a minimum distance of at least 8ft+ between her and the waters edge.


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## Puggy_dog

Hi! So glad I’ve found this forum and this post specifically as I thought I was the only one struggling and felt so bad complaining to any of my family members about the ‘cutest’ demon dog living in my house. 

He really is lovely though, and I don’t have much to moan about except my own frustrations as a dog owner! It’s been a shock to the system and I’ve had a few crying bursts (from me, not the dog) over the past three days. He’s doing well though, but it’s kind of one step forward two steps back with the housetraining at the moment. The nipping was a big issues yesterday and this morning but I’ve worn him out today with a visit to my mums dogs and he’s knackered and hasn’t been interested in biting at all. 

I was taking to a friend the other day who really scared me as she said that the puppy stage is nothing compared to the teenage stage so now I’m really worried! 

Anyway it’s comforting to see I’m not the only one feeling a bit down about the whole puppy situation.


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## Siskin

Teenage stage is different to puppy stage.
Teenage stage seems to occur when you think everything is tickertyboo. Pup has stopped biting, responds well to recall, loves training with you, toilets outside all the time and generally lulls you into a false sense of security. The next morning a Kevin in the shape of your dog has appeared in the kitchen.
He ignores you, has forgotten virtually all the training you painstakingly taught him, he disappears over the horizon and won’t come back when out on walks, in other words he becomes a teenage pain in the neck.

Best advice? Keep on a flexi lead or long lead for the duration and keep up with the training especially recall. One day you will come downstairs and find nice well behaved grown up dog has taken up residence.

In other words, don’t fret, you’ll cope when the time comes and there’s plenty of help to be had on the forum


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## DaisyBluebell

Acidic Angel is your sofa covered? i.e. throw or we have old sheet on at the moment. If yes when dog is on there n you want 'off' (don't use the word down as you will confuse the issue when you want to train a down) get hold of sheet behind where dog is laying & pull towards you, dog will start to roll towards you, continue pulling & dog will have no alternative but to roll feet first onto the floor, dog will by then be in a standing position & off the sofa - praise, treat & say 'off' - do it as many times as needed till dog gets the idea.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Acidic Angel is your sofa covered? i.e. throw or we have old sheet on at the moment. If yes when dog is on there n you want 'off' (don't use the word down as you will confuse the issue when you want to train a down) get hold of sheet behind where dog is laying & pull towards you, dog will start to roll towards you, continue pulling & dog will have no alternative but to roll feet first onto the floor, dog will by then be in a standing position & off the sofa - praise, treat & say 'off' - do it as many times as needed till dog gets the idea.


I had to take the throw off the sofa, as she was relentless in chewing it. I at first pulled it up out or reach, as she was chewing it when sat in front of the sofa, so she started jumping up to chew it instead.

The confusion issue is what I keep having to explain to my fiance. I've taught her "down" for laying down, and I'm using "off" to get her off things(sofa, people, etc.).. My fiance says this is confusing and keeps telling her "down" when she jumps up or when she's on the sofa


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## Rafa

Do not allow her on the sofa.


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## Acidic Angel

Rafa said:


> Do not allow her on the sofa.


We don't. Not by choice. She will jump up at me if I'm sat on the sofa, but I'm sure that's more trying to get to me rather than to get on the sofa.

She waits until I go to the kitchen(open plan, but with a barrier so she's limited to the living room but can see me) to jump on the sofa, or when we come in off the patio. If we've been on a walk, I keep hold of her lead until I'm in, then I sit on the sofa, get her to sit nicely in front of me and take her lead and harness off. If we've just been out on the patio she doesn't wear either lead or harness(she's still not keen on wearing them for walks, particularly the harness...) and she'll trot back in nice and calm, but once all four feet are in she breaks into a run and jumps on the sofa.


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## DaisyBluebell

In which case you are gonna have to change the words you use as your other half will never master the wording and its him who will continue to confuse her which is what I had to do as my OH is also unable to learn the correct words so it's easier for you to change as you will remember! It seems like it's going on for ever but trust me you pup will soon learn, be kind but firm as what you want her to do. Find the one thing she finds irresistible- took me a while to learn Emma is obsessed with a squeaky ball! Learn what yours loves n use it to get her off the sofa.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> In which case you are gonna have to change the words you use as your other half will never master the wording and its him who will continue to confuse her which is what I had to do as my OH is also unable to learn the correct words so it's easier for you to change as you will remember! It seems like it's going on for ever but trust me you pup will soon learn, be kind but firm as what you want her to do. Find the one thing she finds irresistible- took me a while to learn Emma is obsessed with a squeaky ball! Learn what yours loves n use it to get her off the sofa.


Thats the problem, I can't change the words. I went with words I know I will remember as I have always used them... I have terrible memory. He is struggling because he doesn't think "off" makes sense for getting _off _the sofa/people?? Which I can't understand, as it makes perfect sense to me?

The sofa is too high value, even above her ball now, which is(was?) the best thing in the world until recently.


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## DaisyBluebell

They just don't get the idea of the difference between off & down do they just shows we n the dogs are the more intelligent ones  You will just have to work in that one I'm afraid.
Have you tried, when the dog us on the sofa going out of the room n start making a silly voice fuss of a 'pretend' other dog/person? That usually gets them running to see what's happening, then full praise for coming? 
If it does turn into an obsession then your best bet is to find a good behavourist before it gets too out if control. I'm sure a few others will come on here to help or you could try posting a new thread about it as that may get more response than a post on the Puppy Support thread.
Just seen she is a Springer so will needs a lot of mental as well as physical things to occupy her. Have you tried a Kong Wobbler for feeding or puzzle feeder bowl or snuffle mats? All desired to occupy them mentally. See if you have Dogs Trust Training classes near you as they are brilliant for puppies & do 1-2-1 sessions if an hour for £25 which are really good.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> They just don't get the idea of the difference between off & down do they just shows we n the dogs are the more intellige nt ones  You will just have to work in that one I'm afraid.
> Have you tried, when the dog us on the sofa going out of the room n start making a silly voice fuss of a 'pretend' other dog/person? That usually gets them running to see what's happening, then full praise for coming?
> If it does turn into an obsession then your best bet is to find a good behavourist before it gets too out if control. I'm sure a few others will come on here to help or you could try posting a new thread about it as that may get more response than a post on the Puppy Support thread.
> Just seen she is a Springer so will needs a lot of mental as well as physical things to occupy her. Have you tried a Kong Wobbler for feeding or puzzle feeder bowl or snuffle mats? All desired to occupy them mentally. See if you have Dogs Trust Training classes near you as they are brilliant for puppies & do 1-2-1 sessions if an hour for £25 which are really good.


He does keep trying, I have to give him credit for that. And he does get it right sometimes, it's just those times he doesn't get it right. Bless her little heart if he says "down" she goes into a down for him, which is fair enough when she's jumping up at him, but when she's on the sofa it means she just lays down expecting praise, and he keeps repeating it and she just looks at him like "But, I'm doing it...". So I have to correct him, and at the same time praise her for doing as he's asked her to do.

I haven't tried making fussy noises over other things, but she really doesn't like it when I make fuss over the cats. She's still got an on/off relationship with the cats. She grew up with a kitten that wanted to play ALL the time, so now she thinks our cats want to play too, but our cats are older and less sure of her while she's got no self-control so tend to keep away and observe from a distance. I guess this frustrates her as she will look at them, and start to play bow and play bark at them and they ignore her, so she carries on and I have to distract her(the treats work well for that, or her toy, or just an invite to play with me instead, so I mix it up and do one at a time). So I could try making a fuss of the cats as that always gets her attention, even if it's fake fuss as soon as I say "Sox" or "Tiger" she wants to know why I'm talking to them and not her. That could work for getting her off the sofa.
So far today has been much better suddenly though! When we came through to the living room she went out on the patio for her morning #1 and #2, she got all excited and started bouncing all over, including on the sofa, but listened when I told her "Off" and jumped straight down and stood in front of me. I don't know where it's come from, but I hope it stays!! Of course I praised her heavily for listening and getting off the sofa.

The real test will come if I need to go into the kitchen to do something, as she jumps on the sofa when I leave the living room- I think this is my fault as I think I've inadvertently taught her that if she jumps on the sofa, I'll come back through to the living room to get her off it(because she wasn't listening when told off, wouldn't come off for a treat, toy, etc.).
I think this started because the sofa gives her a higher vantage point to see me from when I'm in the kitchen, even though she can sit and see me through the barrier(sometimes she will just sit calmly, especially for her food, she no longer bounces all over when I'm weighing her food out!).. And now it seems to have become a game to her, and she thinks I'm playing along so she gets more and more excited.

Yes, she does get as much physical and mental stimulation and exercise as possible. Being 13 weeks we can't take her up the Malvern Hills just yet, as it would be too much on her joints at this age, but we do take her out to the common and such. Unfortunately we're still working on her dog skills and the common is frequented by a lot of dogs, so I've been taking her to a quieter area for now. She has puzzle toys, we do multiple short training sessions in a day(usually only lasting around 10 minutes, as after that she gets bored and walks off/starts ignoring, so we stop the sessions before she reaches that stage), we have active play, she has zoomies over the patio before bed. Her daily life is training at the moment, as when we're out walking she's in training(training her not to pull, to ignore people, not to jump up if those people try to say hello, etc.). So she has a lot of stimulation, it's just finding that balance between just right and too much with her(some days we have to do less or more with her, it depends what sort of mindframe she's in).
When I say her "dog skills", it's weird. If she sees a dog from a distance, she will posture(chest forward, head up, legs straight, etc.), as soon as that dog heads towards us, she will cower and hide behind me, but then when that dog moves on(usually pretty much straight away after she starts cowering) she wants to go and say hello. She'll start wagging her tail, trying to pull towards the dog in a "I want to play now!" way. So I want to work on this in stages, this requires the other dog to stay at a distance for me so I can get her attention off the other dog and on to me with the dog at a distance- I've found most owners want their dogs to say hello to every dog they see though :Shifty Once I've got her glancing at but ignoring dogs at a distance I'll work on how she is with dogs coming up to her, unfortunately this is something I need to work on as I won't be able to avoid dogs walking up to her due to people letting their dogs run off lead and up to every dog around, etc.. And finally, once I've got that sorted, I'll work on how she acts when the dog moves away(though this may sort itself once she's calm with dogs walking up to her, I don't know).


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## DaisyBluebell

Well that all sounds excellent, have you started with "watch" or "watch me" very handy for getting attention on you and not anything else. Takes very little time to teach it but a lot longer to teach them to hold it for a period of time. As soon as they make eye contact IMMEDIATELY say "yes" & treat (or click if your using a clicker) it really does have to be immediate so that know they are being treated for the eye to eye watch. If you haven't already start giving it a go, only do it for a couple of goes and always leave on a high or you setting yourself and her up for a fail.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Well that all sounds excellent, have you started with "watch" or "watch me" very handy for getting attention on you and not anything else. Takes very little time to teach it but a lot longer to teach them to hold it for a period of time. As soon as they make eye contact IMMEDIATELY say "yes" & treat (or click if your using a clicker) it really does have to be immediate so that know they are being treated for the eye to eye watch. If you haven't already start giving it a go, only do it for a couple of goes and always leave on a high or you setting yourself and her up for a fail.


She knows "Look at me" and is perfect with it 95% of the time. The only time it fails is when she see's another dog.
She's even started doing it when she see's a person(before she wouldn't look at me if there was another person in view) while we're out walking and will put her attention on me. It's just dogs she has an issue with now.


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## DaisyBluebell

Just keep working on it you already have a good basis and the older she gets the better she will get at it.


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## Andrewnewbie

Please help me! 

Major case of the puppy blues. I didn’t know it was an actual thing until I looked on here. I’ve been wanting a dog for ages, and finally persuaded my wife that it was a good idea. Picked up a beautiful lurched collie cross yesterday. Almost as soon as we left the breeder, I was overcome with anxiety and remorse - I almost turned the car around and went back. The only reason I didn’t was shame and embarrassment. 

I’ve had a dog as a teenager at home, and had no issues. But now I’m just wondering why I even wanted a dog in the first place? There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s kind, well behaved and great with the kids. I just feel like I was the one pushing to get her and now I’m not sure I want her. 

Should I contact the breeder and ask if she’ll take her back? It’ll break mine and the family’s hearts, but I don’t know if this anxiety and depression will pass...

I know that a dogs not just for Christmas, so please be gentle with responses...


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## Garthsmum

Andrewnewbie said:


> Please help me!
> 
> Major case of the puppy blues. I didn't know it was an actual thing until I looked on here. I've been wanting a dog for ages, and finally persuaded my wife that it was a good idea. Picked up a beautiful lurched collie cross yesterday. Almost as soon as we left the breeder, I was overcome with anxiety and remorse - I almost turned the car around and went back. The only reason I didn't was shame and embarrassment.
> 
> I've had a dog as a teenager at home, and had no issues. But now I'm just wondering why I even wanted a dog in the first place? There's nothing wrong with her. She's kind, well behaved and great with the kids. I just feel like I was the one pushing to get her and now I'm not sure I want her.
> 
> Should I contact the breeder and ask if she'll take her back? It'll break mine and the family's hearts, but I don't know if this anxiety and depression will pass...
> 
> I know that a dogs not just for Christmas, so please be gentle with responses...


I fell your pain! I have had my puppy springer for just over a week and I spend most of my time sitting crying. I really don't know what to do because I'm alone trying to raise a puppy but I also go back to work on Monday. My family are happy to help when they can, but I just never expected him to be so clingy and hard work- previous puppy experience was a lot easier!!! He was fab the first few days but is now getting a lot bolder and he refuses to be alone or he'll go crazy. Bless you though, I feel so sorry for you, I'm still debating giving him into dogs trust... I wish you good luck with whatever you decide!


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## Veba

It will pass!!! I was the same (think I posted in here too) and it wasn't long before I was completely in love with my pup and couldn't imagine not having him. I didn't eat for about a week and I love food! What I found helped was attending puppy classes and learning properly how to train him (I didn't find videos worked for me). It gave us something to work on and bond over. I'm now struggling because he's on crate rest and I miss spending proper time with him, even miss him at my feet when I'm trying to cook!


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## Veba

Garthsmum said:


> I fell your pain! I have had my puppy springer for just over a week and I spend most of my time sitting crying. I really don't know what to do because I'm alone trying to raise a puppy but I also go back to work on Monday. My family are happy to help when they can, but I just never expected him to be so clingy and hard work- previous puppy experience was a lot easier!!! He was fab the first few days but is now getting a lot bolder and he refuses to be alone or he'll go crazy. Bless you though, I feel so sorry for you, I'm still debating giving him into dogs trust... I wish you good luck with whatever you decide!


Search Separation Anxiety and there is a lot of help out there. My pup was upset at being home alone for quite a few weeks but suddenly he got over it. He still hates being a different room if we're in the house so as soon as he's not on crate rest we'll be working on that.


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## Acidic Angel

Andrewnewbie said:


> Please help me!
> 
> Major case of the puppy blues. I didn't know it was an actual thing until I looked on here. I've been wanting a dog for ages, and finally persuaded my wife that it was a good idea. Picked up a beautiful lurched collie cross yesterday. Almost as soon as we left the breeder, I was overcome with anxiety and remorse - I almost turned the car around and went back. The only reason I didn't was shame and embarrassment.
> 
> I've had a dog as a teenager at home, and had no issues. But now I'm just wondering why I even wanted a dog in the first place? There's nothing wrong with her. She's kind, well behaved and great with the kids. I just feel like I was the one pushing to get her and now I'm not sure I want her.
> 
> Should I contact the breeder and ask if she'll take her back? It'll break mine and the family's hearts, but I don't know if this anxiety and depression will pass...
> 
> I know that a dogs not just for Christmas, so please be gentle with responses...


Honestly, I still have these moments with Hazel. We've had her nearly 5 weeks now and the first week I spent thinking "What have I done....". She was a joint decision between me and my fiance, I found her litter and contacted the breeder, arranged all the visits, etc... But that first week was hell for my anxiety(which I already suffer with, so it was heightened). Now we get along a lot better, but when she's really playing up I still have those moments.

I find it's best to try and imagine life without the dog. As much as some times I feel like getting her was a mistake, when I try to imagine not having her it breaks my heart. That tells me that my emotions are running high and it wasn't a mistake to get her. I usually give her some calm down time and put her in her crate(or, if you're not using a crate, give her a toy to chew or a natural treat such as a pizzle, chewing is a calming activity for dogs) and while she's calm, I use that time to calm myself down and basically restart my emotions 



Garthsmum said:


> I fell your pain! I have had my puppy springer for just over a week and I spend most of my time sitting crying. I really don't know what to do because I'm alone trying to raise a puppy but I also go back to work on Monday. My family are happy to help when they can, but I just never expected him to be so clingy and hard work- previous puppy experience was a lot easier!!! He was fab the first few days but is now getting a lot bolder and he refuses to be alone or he'll go crazy. Bless you though, I feel so sorry for you, I'm still debating giving him into dogs trust... I wish you good luck with whatever you decide!


We had(and still sometimes do have) this issue with Hazel. 
You've not had him very long and he's probably still adjusting. With Hazel I just acted like me leaving was a normal thing from day one, she still has moments where she will go a bit mad, but now it's all for attention rather than distress(there is a clear difference). A crate helps a great deal with this sort of thing and now I can do all sorts of stuff while Hazel is in the crate, including going across to the local shop, and she doesn't make a sound. She'll quietly watch me while I'm walking around or she'll just sleep. When I have to leave the house I give her a puzzle toy in her crate, this keeps her occupied while we leave and then once we're gone she just falls asleep and sleeps through until we come back without a sound(I've done a mixture of recording her and asking the immediate neighbours, silence and not distressed at all).

When you say he goes crazy if he's alone, what do you mean exactly? 
Can you leave the room or does he start barking and whining? Or do you mean you can't leave the house?

A lot of people in this thread recommend building time up slowly, and this worked well for us with Hazel. 
Starting slowly, mere seconds, and coming back before the puppy get's distressed, rewarding calm behaviour, etc..


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## Andrewnewbie

Thanks guys, it’s nice to know it’s not just me! Apparently I’ve been on the edge of anxiety for a while, and this has just tipped me over the edge. Went and got a crate yesterday which has helped as she can have some down time and I can relax a bit. We’ll have to see how it goes...


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## Garthsmum

Acidic Angel said:


> Honestly, I still have these moments with Hazel. We've had her nearly 5 weeks now and the first week I spent thinking "What have I done....". She was a joint decision between me and my fiance, I found her litter and contacted the breeder, arranged all the visits, etc... But that first week was hell for my anxiety(which I already suffer with, so it was heightened). Now we get along a lot better, but when she's really playing up I still have those moments.
> 
> I find it's best to try and imagine life without the dog. As much as some times I feel like getting her was a mistake, when I try to imagine not having her it breaks my heart. That tells me that my emotions are running high and it wasn't a mistake to get her. I usually give her some calm down time and put her in her crate(or, if you're not using a crate, give her a toy to chew or a natural treat such as a pizzle, chewing is a calming activity for dogs) and while she's calm, I use that time to calm myself down and basically restart my emotions
> 
> We had(and still sometimes do have) this issue with Hazel.
> You've not had him very long and he's probably still adjusting. With Hazel I just acted like me leaving was a normal thing from day one, she still has moments where she will go a bit mad, but now it's all for attention rather than distress(there is a clear difference). A crate helps a great deal with this sort of thing and now I can do all sorts of stuff while Hazel is in the crate, including going across to the local shop, and she doesn't make a sound. She'll quietly watch me while I'm walking around or she'll just sleep. When I have to leave the house I give her a puzzle toy in her crate, this keeps her occupied while we leave and then once we're gone she just falls asleep and sleeps through until we come back without a sound(I've done a mixture of recording her and asking the immediate neighbours, silence and not distressed at all).
> 
> When you say he goes crazy if he's alone, what do you mean exactly?
> Can you leave the room or does he start barking and whining? Or do you mean you can't leave the house?
> 
> A lot of people in this thread recommend building time up slowly, and this worked well for us with Hazel.
> Starting slowly, mere seconds, and coming back before the puppy get's distressed, rewarding calm behaviour, etc..


Hi! So I can't leave a room without him barking and whining and scratching at the door. I'm annoyed with the breeders, basically because he is such a soft, cuddly, (generally speaking) sweet natured wee guy, they told me they would just carry him about everywhere and cuddle him to sleep..: this is now resulting I me being unable to leave him, including bed time. I just don't know what to do.


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## Veba

Garthsmum said:


> Hi! So I can't leave a room without him barking and whining and scratching at the door. I'm annoyed with the breeders, basically because he is such a soft, cuddly, (generally speaking) sweet natured wee guy, they told me they would just carry him about everywhere and cuddle him to sleep..: this is now resulting I me being unable to leave him, including bed time. I just don't know what to do.


He is a puppy, this is normal. You have to work on it.


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## Acidic Angel

Veba said:


> He is a puppy, this is normal. You have to work on it.


As above, it's normal for a puppy to need comfort. However, it doesn't sound like his breeder has helped at all by codling him...


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## Veba

Acidic Angel said:


> As above, it's normal for a puppy to need comfort. However, it doesn't sound like his breeder has helped at all by codling him...


When I worried that I'd been too full on with mine I was told (by trainers) it wasn't possible to give them too much attention.


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## Acidic Angel

Veba said:


> When I worried that I'd been too full on with mine I was told (by trainers) it wasn't possible to give them too much attention.


It's entirely possible. That's part of how dogs develop separation anxiety, because they've never had to deal with being alone - AKA, too much attention.


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## Acidic Angel

So the sofa has become an even more fun game for Hazel now.

The good news- She now knows that "Off" means she gets off the sofa, whether that means jumping up at it or actually jumping up ON it.
The bad news- She thinks it's the best game ever to get off, have her reward for listening, and jump straight back up again. The cycle repeats 

Trying to figure out the best way to sort this... Obviously, I need to reward her for listening and behaving, which means rewarding her for getting off the sofa... But how do I deal with her immediately jumping straight back up? She gives a few tell tale signs when she's going to do it, trying to stop her with my foot leads to her biting my foot(new fun game has started) and saying "No" or "Ahh ahh" before she does it to break the thought before the action happens is around 50% effective.


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## DaisyBluebell

The good news is she now knows OFF - excellent. Now when you say off, I assume you are sitting on it yourself? As soon as you say off and she jumps off immediately get up yourself and walk away from the sofa to give her a treat for doing so, then play a game of something else to take her mind off of jumping straight back on, treat and run into another room if necessary but as you already know, timing is everything - give it a try. Alternative, put her bed beside you on the floor, say OFF, BED (now she knows OFF you can eventually drop that and just say BED) to start with as soon as she is on her bed treat her, continue that way eventually holding back the treat for longer periods of time, the longer she stays on the bed -ONLY give treat while she stays on the bed. 
You are already developing your own methods because you are starting to know Hazel more and more your doing really well.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> The good news is she now knows OFF - excellent. Now when you say off, I assume you are sitting on it yourself? As soon as you say off and she jumps off immediately get up yourself and walk away from the sofa to give her a treat for doing so, then play a game of something else to take her mind off of jumping straight back on, treat and run into another room if necessary but as you already know, timing is everything - give it a try. Alternative, put her bed beside you on the floor, say OFF, BED (now she knows OFF you can eventually drop that and just say BED) to start with as soon as she is on her bed treat her, continue that way eventually holding back the treat for longer periods of time, the longer she stays on the bed -ONLY give treat while she stays on the bed.
> You are already developing your own methods because you are starting to know Hazel more and more your doing really well.


Most of the time, yes I am sat on the sofa too. I'll try getting up and distracting her instead of remaining seated.

There are times when I'm stood up doing something, or I'm in the kitchen out of her reach where she still jumps up on the sofa. 
If I'm in the kitchen she comes off when told, runs to the barrier for her reward(I vary this between treat, fuss and general games as all three are roughly equal to her in terms of value), and will then run back to the sofa and jump up again. This time she won't listen when told "Off" and I have to come over the barrier or look like I'm about to go back over before she'll come off the sofa.

Her bed is in her crate, which is near but not directly next to the sofa(can't change that unfortunately) and she will go in when I say "Bed" now. Sometimes with hesitation, sometimes she goes in straight away. She always gets rewarded for going in her crate when I say "Bed".

Another issue we're having is her harness, except now it's a fear issue rather than an excitement issue 
As you probably know, we were having issues with getting her harness on as she kept biting it. After watching her behaviour I realised this was over-excitement that had developed because she was recognising that harness = going outside for walking!
Some work on her impulse control meant we managed to get to the point where she was no longer biting her harness, but was sitting nicely(albeit one leg shaking because she so desperately wanted to go, go, go!) while her harness went on then waiting by the door while I attached her lead.

This morning I got her harness and went "Hazel, come here." in a cheery voice, the same thing I always do and she usually comes right up to me, sits at my feet and waits. Oh no, this morning she went and sat in the back of her crate and wouldn't come out until I put the harness away, then she came up to me like nothing had happened? So somehow, overnight, she's developed a fear of her harness. I wondered if she was going through her secondary fear stage, but isn't it a bit early for that at 14 weeks?


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## DaisyBluebell

Re her bed, do you have a bed inside her crate? Can you remove it and put it down by your feet or in another area? The reason I ask is because as you can already get her to respond by saying bed you could start putting the bed in different areas to train her to do a send-away - another bit of mental stimulus without her knowing she is being trained. Put bed in a different area and try it.
re the Harness - Are you using the harness for any particular reason? A harness was invented to use to train dogs to pull stuff ! Hence put one on a dog and it will usually pull unless your using it with a double ended halty. Fine if you want to use one after you have trained a dog to loose lead walk with a collar, but if you go to training classes they will ask NOT to use a harness to train your dog. Does Hazel wear a collar in the house? Try using that instead of the harness when you go out. I put Emma in a harness when I first got her, never ever used one on my other dogs but it seemed to be what others were advocating to use nowadays. Having always attended training classes because I like the bond with my dogs, the first classes I attended asked me to remove it, which I was more than happy to do. When we left the Dogs Trust puppy classes & went to a local class I already new and the first night someone turned up with a Springer on a harness they too were asked to use a collar the following week for the very reason I have mentioned about pulling above.
As your dog is growing quickly now you may also find the harness she is wearing is not the correct size and could be rubbing her somewhere without you realising it., so she is reluctant to have it put on. I also think maybe Hazel is testing her boundaries with you already ! Your doing really well tho.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Re her bed, do you have a bed inside her crate? Can you remove it and put it down by your feet or in another area? The reason I ask is because as you can already get her to respond by saying bed you could start putting the bed in different areas to train her to do a send-away - another bit of mental stimulus without her knowing she is being trained. Put bed in a different area and try it.
> re the Harness - Are you using the harness for any particular reason? A harness was invented to use to train dogs to pull stuff ! Hence put one on a dog and it will usually pull unless your using it with a double ended halty. Fine if you want to use one after you have trained a dog to loose lead walk with a collar, but if you go to training classes they will ask NOT to use a harness to train your dog. Does Hazel wear a collar in the house? Try using that instead of the harness when you go out. I put Emma in a harness when I first got her, never ever used one on my other dogs but it seemed to be what others were advocating to use nowadays. Having always attended training classes because I like the bond with my dogs, the first classes I attended asked me to remove it, which I was more than happy to do. When we left the Dogs Trust puppy classes & went to a local class I already new and the first night someone turned up with a Springer on a harness they too were asked to use a collar the following week for the very reason I have mentioned about pulling above.
> As your dog is growing quickly now you may also find the harness she is wearing is not the correct size and could be rubbing her somewhere without you realising it., so she is reluctant to have it put on. I also think maybe Hazel is testing her boundaries with you already ! Your doing really well tho.


RE the bed- She does have a bed in her crate, but unfortunately I can't have it out of her crate without her ripping it up. If it's in her crate, she'll chew the edge of it but generally leaves well enough alone. If it's out of her crate she throws it around, pulls at it, etc... Treats it like a toy instead of a bed basically.

RE the harness: We use a harness on her and have since day one, she's worn the harness since she let me put it on her and has learnt not to pull while using it. When I take her out without it(like if I'm just nipping her out quickly) she pulls on the collar until she coughs, wearing just a collar doesn't work for her and the harness works nicely. I do use a double ended pup republic lead(basically a halti lead) for her too. 
I've checked the harness, if anything it's still too loose for her(I bought an extra size up so she could grow into it, it's always been a little loose but not loose enough to slip) and not tight at all.

I also think she's testing her boundaries with me, as there are certain things she knows full well she shouldn't be doing- When I take her out on the patio at night for her last wee she will jump up and bite at my top, hands, etc.. At first I turned away from her but she carried on jumping up at my back and has torn holes in things now. So instead I walk out the gate and turn my back on her, she soon realises I'm going to go away if she carries on but she only seems to realise for that night, the next night we start all over again. Which is why I agree it sounds like she's testing her boundaries, maybe hoping one day I won't walk away from her and will play with her instead.


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## Dark Angel

Hi guys

We use a harness too, for the same reason, he pulls on a collar until he's choking, he walks much better on the harness. 

We have a separate bed outside the crate, he does exactly the same as yours, he throws it around and biting and pulling at it, no major damage so I just let him get on with it. 

I'm really curious how people manage to keep their dogs off the sofa etc, I have zero chance of that. I don't know if it's because he was nearly 5 months when we got him or not but he's about as unruly as they get at times I think! (Definately not cracked that) Any tips?


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## Acidic Angel

Dark Angel said:


> We have a separate bed outside the crate, he does exactly the same as yours, he throws it around and biting and pulling at it, no major damage so I just let him get on with it.
> 
> I'm really curious how people manage to keep their dogs off the sofa etc, I have zero chance of that. I don't know if it's because he was nearly 5 months when we got him or not but he's about as unruly as they get at times I think! (Definately not cracked that) Any tips?


With how she rags hers around I'm surprised there's been no damage to be honest!

As for the sofa, when you figure it out let me know


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## Veba

I use a harness at puppy training and they've never said anything. He also wears a collar.

I think mine might become a sofa dog


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## Acidic Angel

Veba said:


> I use a harness at puppy training and they've never said anything. He also wears a collar.
> 
> I think mine might become a sofa dog


My issue is, I don't mind her being on the sofa... When she's been invited up. At the moment I can't even invite her up to cuddle because of her other sofa-related behaviour. Inviting her up would only teach her "Actually, I'm allowed on that!" right now because of how she is with it. Give an inch and she'll take a mile!


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## Dark Angel

J


Acidic Angel said:


> With how she rags hers around I'm surprised there's been no damage to be honest!
> 
> As for the sofa, when you figure it out let me know


If I ever figure any of this out I'll let you know. 1 step forward, 5 back. That's the way this works isn't It?

Our little cutie pie has a new trick, he walks fine wherever we go, but try and cross a road and he lunges for feet, ankles, knees. Whatever he can sink his teeth into! I've had to walk him by really busy roads and even though he hates vans or trucks he walks fine. Crossing anywhere though, even an empty road, and he has me. He actually steps onto the road, turns to face me and bam! Quick as a flash with no time to react.

What can have started that off? And how do we stop it? I was really enjoying our walks, but now it's awful, unless we go out in the car to a park or wood and then it's just the "after walk looney tunes" we have to manage (although its after1 every walk we have that)


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## GNeale1

My 9 week old Labrador has settled in relatively well. He is sleeping from about 11 to about 4. Today I tried taking him out on a lead in the garden at 3.30 to go for a pee. He did but when I put him back in his crate he barked and whined. After 30 mins or so I gave up and took him out again and he did a poo. BUT after that he was awake and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Is this the norm? I didn’t turn any lights on or talk to him either time I took him out. I have then played with him but very quietly so very little talking, with limited lighting and very quiet radio and now 45 mins later he has just got back in his crate. I’m going to see if he dozes off. I’m thinking that this is similar to a baby and he will cut this out when his bladder is bigger? When it’s not school holidays I get up at 5 for work anyway.
Am planning not to wake him tomorrow to see how long he can last. Anyway he has dozed off again so am going to see if I can go back to sleep for a bit too! Please let me know what you think


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## Dark Angel

I don't have any experience of that age but when we got ours he went to bed and got up to go out around 5 hours later, I just assumed that was him up and got up with him, behaving as normal with play etc. I've slowly extended that time over the last 6 weeks and now he easily manages 7.5 hrs over night. Personally I wouldn't try and put your pup "back to bed" after toileting because if you then give into the whine he will know to try it again.


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## Dark Angel

I also couldn't leave ours to see how long he'd last because he twice needed to go and didnt make a sound, he just went. I don't know at what point in the night it happened so we had to go back to 5 hrs and start again, he's not had another accident since.


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## Acidic Angel

Hazel definitely seems to be testing her boundaries today.

I've had a fair bit of housework to do today, laundry, washing up, etc. as well as caring for some of the other animals(spot checking and water replenishing on the reps, etc.). 
All stuff I've done plenty of times since we got her, stuff she is usually perfectly fine with me doing and will just lay and watch me. 
She's been getting better with "No" and "Off", learning that "No" means "Don't do that" and "Off" means "Get off the sofa/side/snake viv/person". So I stopped barricading the sofa when I went into the kitchen, and she was getting really good at staying off the sofa while I was in the kitchen...

Not today.
Today I have had to bring the sofa barricade back into play 
I stepped over the barricade into the kitchen, she immediately jumped on the sofa. I said "Off" and she just barked at me, so I repeated "Off" and she got down. She came to the living room/kitchen divider and I praised her for coming off the sofa then went back to what I was doing(washing the pots at the time). 
Two minutes later I looked over just in time to see her heading for the sofa at a leisurely pace, so I said "No" in a firm but level voice, she looked me dead in the eye and I swear she could have been mocking me. She took one paw and just put it on the sofa. So I repeated "No" and, I kid you not, while still looking me dead in the eye she just jumped on the sofa and then laid down like she was meant to be there. So I went "Off", she barked at me again and refused to move, "Off" with a bit more firmness in my voice, she grumbled at me and looked away but didn't get off. "Off!" with a stern tone, not shouted but a bit louder than before, and she finally got off and came to the divider again, so I praised her for coming off the sofa.
She has since done this twice, so I ended up bringing out the sofa barricade again, and after that came out she stopped even trying to get on the sofa and just laid down on the floor until I was finished doing what I needed to do.

She's also being a little more bitey today, and jumping up to bite my hands, top, etc. a lot more than usual. I've tried giving her a frozen tea towel, not interested. Frozen carrot, nope. Ice cube with treats frozen into it, ignored it. I tried playing with her with her toys, she didn't want them, she wanted my hands. And she's done a lot of damage to my hands today because she's been relentlessly biting them. I tried doing a short training session with her, she wasn't even interested in the treats and ignored everything I said :Banghead
Just feel a little like she's taking the piddle now, though I know she doesn't think that way and she's not mocking me or being annoying for the sake of it.. I just can't figure out what to do with her today.
I thought maybe she was getting a little overstimulated so tried doing some calming exercises and then putting her in her crate with a chew, she sat chewing on her crate door and pawing at it and barking at me(no whining today, JUST barking, at EVERYTHING!). 

She's far from perfect with the cats yet, but she's been doing really well learning to ignore them and focus on me, her toys, etc. instead... Today all that has gone out the window too, all she's done is bark at them today. What makes it worse(or maybe it's better, I don't know?!) is that her barking doesn't bother them, so they just sit there and ignore her, and she barks more and more and more, louder and louder and louder. She doesn't shut up or stop barking at them until they move away, no amount of "Look at me" or "No" works, she just carries on until they get bored and walk off to lay somewhere else. Mostly Tiger, Sox still doesn't trust her enough to stay still near her. Tiger will boldly walk past her, and if she ignores him he's fine, but if she gets giddy or barks at him, he will swipe at her.. I'm worried that the barking is just a predecessor to the next stage, biting. She won't go up to Tiger, she keeps her distance from him because she knows he'll swipe at her, I just don't want her to gain confidence and end up reacting or even worse just lunging for him one day. 

Sorry, I've sort of rambled on a bit there, I just needed to vent I guess... Though some advice on any of the above would be helpful :Shy


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## Flacob

Hi, I'm brand new and I didn't know where to post so apologies if this is the wrong thread. Me and my wife are just about to buy a Jackie Bichon (Jack russell cross Bichon frise) where both the parents are Jackie Bichon also. I was wondering if anyone could just tell me a bit about this breed and what they are like. I know being a crossbreed they can vary but if someone could let me know what they're like, what they're like to train, how much they shed, if at all, and just give me as much an insight as possible. Any help would be appreciated! Thank You!


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## Jamie19831983

Hi all just a question I would like a few people to get back to me on this 
My brother is getting 2 American akita on 8 th Sep my problem is the age the pups are allowed too leave there owners house at 1 pup will be 7 weeks 
And the other 6 weeks 5 days. He asked me too get some feedback on here as it says on Google it can be ok and same time says not ok 
Kind regards Jamie


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## ErsatzNihilist

Jamie19831983 said:


> Hi all just a question I would like a few people to get back to me on this
> My brother is getting 2 American akita on 8 th Sep my problem is the age the pups are allowed too leave there owners house at 1 pup will be 7 weeks
> And the other 6 weeks 5 days. He asked me too get some feedback on here as it says on Google it can be ok and same time says not ok
> Kind regards Jamie


This is a little too young. Why can't the breeder keep them until 8-10 weeks? I understand you won't have the answer to this, but it's absolutely worth finding out. One of the most important things about buying a dog is ensuring the breeder is reputable, and a reputable breeder shouldn't be doing that. There's also the issue of Littermate Syndrome, which again, a good breeder should have talked your brother through as it can be exceptionally difficult to manage. As far as I'm aware, good breeders will resist sending two puppies to the same home at the same time?

Somebody more experienced with that side of things may correct me on that.


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## Jamie19831983

ErsatzNihilist said:


> This is a little too young. Why can't the breeder keep them until 8-10 weeks? I understand you won't have the answer to this, but it's absolutely worth finding out. One of the most important things about buying a dog is ensuring the breeder is reputable, and a reputable breeder shouldn't be doing that. There's also the issue of Littermate Syndrome, which again, a good breeder should have talked your brother through as it can be exceptionally difficult to manage. As far as I'm aware, good breeders will resist sending two puppies to the same home at the same time?
> 
> Somebody more experienced with that side of things may correct me on that.


It's from 2 different owners it's not from the same litre


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## DaisyBluebell

GNeale1 said:


> My 9 week old Labrador has settled in relatively well. He is sleeping from about 11 to about 4. Today I tried taking him out on a lead in the garden at 3.30 to go for a pee. He did but when I put him back in his crate he barked and whined. After 30 mins or so I gave up and took him out again and he did a poo. BUT after that he was awake and wouldn't go back to sleep. Is this the norm? I didn't turn any lights on or talk to him either time I took him out. I have then played with him but very quietly so very little talking, with limited lighting and very quiet radio and now 45 mins later he has just got back in his crate. I'm going to see if he dozes off. I'm thinking that this is similar to a baby and he will cut this out when his bladder is bigger? When it's not school holidays I get up at 5 for work anyway.
> Am planning not to wake him tomorrow to see how long he can last. Anyway he has dozed off again so am going to see if I can go back to sleep for a bit too! Please let me know what you think


100% NORMAL, at that age I am surprised he is actually managing to last that long! for the first few weeks we took Emma outside everty hour to hour and ahalf and that included during the night, then we managed to get to 4am and that was it we played in the garden till she was tired, had peed and pood then we both went back in a laid on the settee till she settled and I was able to pick her up and lay her in her crate so she woke up in there each time.


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## DaisyBluebell

Jamie19831983 said:


> It's from 2 different owners it's not from the same litre


Have you abandoned all the answers to your question on the other thread?


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## Jamie19831983

No I don't think so I'm new on here


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## Wild With Roxi

Hiya everyone! I'm a bit late to start posting here, as we brought home our new pup 3 days ago 
She's a Collie mix pup, just over 8 weeks old. She's from Dog's trust! Her background is that her pregnant mom was saved from being put down t a pound, and she along with her 4 other siblings were born at the rescue. She's a gorgeous girl, really sweet and affectionate and loves people and other dogs (she can only meet fully vaccinated dogs in our home or their home atm) and she's so smart and willing to learn, loves food and super playful. Her and Mylo have been getting along great today, yesterday mylo was a bit annoyed with her and didn't entertain her behavior's like jumping on him or getting in his personal space..But now he's great with her since we've started re-directing her attention when she goes to do this. They have played all day, slept together, trained together and just hung out together! 
She's SO good, she sleeps all night, is great with training, has barely any accidents at all and none at night and she's just so good all round lol! I mean, I could be in the honeymoon stage, but she's just really really good.


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## Wild With Roxi

She sleeps from about 12 to 6


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## Re: Hope

Nonnie said:


> Im only going to answer point one, cos im lazy.
> 
> If she is having indoor accidents, you probably arent taking her out frequently enough. All the time she is awake, then its out every 20 mins, and watching her like a hawk when inside so she simply doesnt have the opportunity to have an accident. Just think of it as great exercise, as you'll be up and down constantly.


We had that issue with our Daschund when a puppy..just need to let her out more often and reward her for going outside..


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## DaisyBluebell

DaisyBluebell said:


> Have you abandoned all the answers to your question on the other thread?


So 'Pups leaving too early from mum' was not a thread by you then?


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## Acidic Angel

I've been a bit quiet due to some personal circumstances but I'm back because we're still having some serious issues with Hazel's behaviour and it's getting to me again 
She's 18 weeks tomorrow, so 4.5 months old, and I feel at least _some_ of the below stuff should be better by now...

*1.* She's still jumping up and biting at hands, clothes, etc.. More so when I'm doing something or walking, especially out on the patio. I don't mean she's just jumping up once and having a quick nip, I mean she's launching herself at you mouth open and making grumbling noises... If her tail wasn't wagging the whole time I'd think she was being malicious to be honest!
*2.* She does the same thing when I'm trying to pick up after her, and she tries biting the bag I'm using as well. In fact, it's got to the point where me getting a bag out gets her really excited and she starts trying to grab it out of my hands! This has lead to her now biting my face when I bend down to pick up her poo, which really hurts but short of holding her down by the collar I can't stop her doing this. 
*3.* The other night she bit my foot, out of nowhere, and made it bleed quite badly. I unintentionally shouted(and I mean *shouted*) "OW!" and she looked shocked at first, then thought I was playing so went to do it again. Thankfully I managed to move. Sent her to her bed(crate) and she went in, and I shut the door while I cleaned my foot up as she still won't stay in there with the door open- She will if she goes in on her own, if told to go to her bed she walks in, sits down in there at the door, and then walks back out after her praise. If I don't praise her in time, she just walks out and off and ignores me. Since that night she regularly tries to bite my feet because she thinks it's a game, a stern "No" doesn't work, moving away gets her all excited and she starts lunging at my feet instead, I can't move her without touching her because a houseline doesn't work. She shuts down when put on a houseline, won't move, won't eat, won't play, just lays there looking lethargic.
*4. *Walking... Or more, choking herself. So, since she doesn't like the harness too much, we've been trying to walk her without it until she's comfortable with it again(we're doing positive association with it and she's slowly improving). She's developed a habit of taking off full pelt forwards, but she doesn't stop so when she reaches the end of the line, she gets pinged back by the lead going taught. With a harness on, this isn't so bad because the pressure is spread across and not on her neck.... Without the harness, she just makes herself throw up from doing it. Three times on her walk yesterday she did it, and three times she threw up because the collar yanks on her neck when she does it. I don't know why she does it, she's never running after something, we were on an empty field, not even birds in sight. She does it in any setting, at any random time throughout her walk. Like she forgets there's a lead attached, and only rememebers when she reaches the end of it and gets yanked back. When she does it I have no time to react either, as by the time I've managed to say soemthing she's already at the end of the lead, there's no warning for when she's going to do it, she just sprints forward and then "YANK" and she's back at my feet after having been pulled back by the lead. She's done it so badlty before that she ended up actually back flipping from the line going taught when she got to the end... I'm terrified of her neck snapping one day when she does it, so unfortunately I've started putting her harness back on her for walks. I know this isn't going to help with her hatred of the harness, having it forced on her like that, but at the same time... The force with which she gets yanked back by the lead when she sprints forward is going to seriously hurt her neck... It's either she puts up with having the harness put on, or she doesn't go walking until she doesn't mind it again, there is no in between.
*5. *Being left alone. From day one we've left her for short intervals, extending the time slowly, and most of the time she's perfectly fine with it. But sometimes she acts like being left alone is going to kill her, particularly in a morning. When I wake up, I get up, go to the toilet, get dressed and then she comes out of her crate and we go out to the patio for her to do her business. She's been fine with this until recently, now when I go in the bathroom and shut the door(the same thing I've done since we got her at 9 weeks), she cries and does a high pitched bark and yip until I come back out of the bathroom, then she gets all excited and starts jumping about in her crate and wagging her tail. I ignore her and carry on as I would, getting dressed and waiting for her to calm down before opening the door, but it happens every morning now. 
*6. *Peeing when someone other than me shows her attention. At first this was understandable, she was young, with a slightly uncontrollable bladder, and she was getting excited that other people were greeting her. Then she started doing it with my partner, and now I have to make her go out and pee before he can say hello to her because otherwise she just jumps up at him and pees everywhere. She still does it to other people too, she cannot greet calmly unfortunately. We've tried from day one to get her to sit and wait and be calm... She'll sit, she'll sit until you reach towards her, then she goes straight into jumping up at you. Usually while also trying to bite your hands or top. When she does this we walk away and ignore her, and we've told other people to do the same and most of them will, but she doesn't seem to grasp that jumping up = getting ignored, and will repeatedly do it, no matter how much we ignore her. She also follows me into the kitchen and jumps up at the sides, she's jumping up at EVERYTHING. I'll tell her "Off" and she just ignores me and carries on until she's realised there's nothing up there for her, then five minutes later she'll jump up again. There's nothing left on the work tops or anything, there never has been in the hopes it would prevent her jumping up hoping for something, but it's done jack all to be honest. She's started just ignoring "Off" now for everything, including the sofa where she's NOT allowed. I was hoping we'd be able to teach her that she's allowed on when we say she can, but instead we've had to just teach her a blanket rule of "no sofa", and now she's stopped listening to that now.

Unfortunately puppy classes haven't happened as there was a mix up with the one she should have been going to. All I can hope is that we can get her in to the next one, but that won't be starting until she's around 6 months old, so she'll have to go in the 6 month one instead of the one she ideally *needed* to go in.


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## DaisyBluebell

At Hazel's age, which is still very very young and her breed makes her even younger mentally, the biting is 100% normal Emma was at the very least 8 months old before she started to calm down as regards the biting and grabbing at me (she still does it now and again, especially if I try to pick her up for whatever reason). But I really thin you should be looking at a behaviorist before all the things she is doing escalates as you are clearly needing some expert help with her. You are doing most things correctly but for whatever reason its not getting thru to Hazel. As mature dogs, Hazels breed at fantastic but they never seem grow out of the puppy stage sometimes & really do need to learn their boundaries. If you have a Dogs Trust Training School near you (sorry cant remember if it was there you were hoping to start classes with) they also do 1-2-1 classes which are excellent perhaps you could give that a try. Alternative you could find out if your dog insurance may pay for a behaviourist (if yes your vet could possibly refer you). Don't give up on Hazel, you have been doing so well so far, she is just a typical pup but obviously needs a little more than most as regards training.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> At Hazel's age, which is still very very young and her breed makes her even younger mentally, the biting is 100% normal Emma was at the very least 8 months old before she started to calm down as regards the biting and grabbing at me (she still does it now and again, especially if I try to pick her up for whatever reason). But I really thin you should be looking at a behaviorist before all the things she is doing escalates as you are clearly needing some expert help with her. You are doing most things correctly but for whatever reason its not getting thru to Hazel. As mature dogs, Hazels breed at fantastic but they never seem grow out of the puppy stage sometimes & really do need to learn their boundaries. If you have a Dogs Trust Training School near you (sorry cant remember if it was there you were hoping to start classes with) they also do 1-2-1 classes which are excellent perhaps you could give that a try. Alternative you could find out if your dog insurance may pay for a behaviourist (if yes your vet could possibly refer you). Don't give up on Hazel, you have been doing so well so far, she is just a typical pup but obviously needs a little more than most as regards training.


I couldn't find a Dogs Trust training school near us unfortunately 

As for a behaviourist, I was hoping to avoid that route if I could but it does seem like we may need one just because things don't seem to be clicking with her mentally, even though we're following all the advice I've received from posting on here. I'd have to have a look and see if there are any we can go to.
Ignoring her bad behaviour was working at first, now it just seems to make her more determined, and when she's biting "more determined" means biting harder and harder. She's drawing blood a lot more now than she was when we got her. In some parts of her behaviour, I look back and think "Wow! She's come along so well!" and then others seem worse now than they were then 

We took her to a "for fun" dog show thing last Sunday, it was a great day out and there was a positive based trainer present who we spoke to.
Hazel was well behaved at the show(it was held by Worcester Dog Rescue to raise money for their shelters and stuff), although she didn't win "Prettiest Girl" or "Best Condition" which were the only two we entered her in. When the trainer met her she got down on her level to prevent her jumping up and told us to ask everyone who greets her to do the same, so we did and she still jumped up at people. Even people who were just walking past, she'd try racing towards them and jumping up, pulling on the end of her lead until she was breathing heavily. Other than this, she was OK though.


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## KSvedenmacher

Hello, I just found this forum and am so glad I did! I have a 9 week old Pug puppy, Yoda, who has been with us for a week now. He’s really good, loves his snuggles but will settle down in his crate to sleep when we can’t give him attention. He is still up every 2-3 hours at night, but his crate is in our bedroom so I can hear him when he wakes up and I can take him down. He doesn’t seem to be able to settle in his crate right after a potty trip, I always have to snuggle him a bit before carefully transferring him into his crate. I have a feeling it’s because he is too cold when we come back from the outside even though he has a vet bed and a nice blanket. I don’t mind giving him a little snuggle before putting him back to bed as it usually takes less than a minute, but am I spoiling him too much? He’s just soooo tiny and I don’t blame him for not wanting to get back in a cold crate.


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## Veba

KSvedenmacher said:


> Hello, I just found this forum and am so glad I did! I have a 9 week old Pug puppy, Yoda, who has been with us for a week now. He's really good, loves his snuggles but will settle down in his crate to sleep when we can't give him attention. He is still up every 2-3 hours at night, but his crate is in our bedroom so I can hear him when he wakes up and I can take him down. He doesn't seem to be able to settle in his crate right after a potty trip, I always have to snuggle him a bit before carefully transferring him into his crate. I have a feeling it's because he is too cold when we come back from the outside even though he has a vet bed and a nice blanket. I don't mind giving him a little snuggle before putting him back to bed as it usually takes less than a minute, but am I spoiling him too much? He's just soooo tiny and I don't blame him for not wanting to get back in a cold crate.


I did this now and again and my pup (now 6 months) settled well after a few weeks. I'd suggest putting in a hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket too.


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## KSvedenmacher

Veba said:


> I did this now and again and my pup (now 6 months) settled well after a few weeks. I'd suggest putting in a hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket too.


I did try a hot water bottle, but Yoda hated it! He kept biting the blanket (which was his blanket, not a new one) and in the end he weeed on it which he has never done before. So I took it out.


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## DaisyBluebell

At 9 weeks old Yoda is still missing his siblings & his birth mum so you are doing exactly right giving him a snuggle then letting him settle & sleep as you are in effect his mum now & it's how you two will bond. Try to think how you pup will be thinking & feeling now & use that to take you in all the right directions. Yoda would get direction from his mum like cuddles when frghtened or cold & being told off if he gets too boisterous or bitey, but at 9 weeks old he has in effect gone from everything & everybody he has known & loved to everything & everybody he doesn't know so keep that in mind & basically be kind & loving which would seem you are doining & if he makes little mistakes pe3s or poo's in the house just remember they are your mistakes too you are both still learning.
A picture of this little wonder dog would be nice as soon as you can manage it


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## DaisyBluebell

Acidic Angel, I did have to smile at the last bit in you post about Hazel still pulling to people n trying to jump at them, Emma at now 15 months old is still doing that! They just assume that every living being they see or who gets near them wants to cuddle or play with them! I bet if Hazel is on the chair or laying on her bed as soon as she sees you approach her back leg lifts in the air for a tummy tickle? Its a hand tummy auto reflex, "you MUST be coming to give me a tummy tickle, everybody must want to give me a tummy tickle". Dogs Trust are are present teaching more trainers in order to roll out more classes so hopefully you will invtine ger something near you but mean time ask at your vets about trainers or classes, you May have to travel a bit mire than local but if Hazel is around other dogs like when you went to the fun day it would help. Hazel's breed is sometimes nutty as a box of frogs one minute but when things actualky click are super clever, a lot of our friends have gun dogs all of Hazel's breed & i have to say quire a few of them have them taught by specialist trainers for the job - that myst tell you something! 
As regards Emma's jumping at people I now hold her on a tight lead as we approach & as soon as she tries to jump I say "feet" & keep the lead down so that she can't jump, allow people to pet her then we walk on, I have to say it's even working when she is off lead now. It's really a case of finding what works for you & Hazel. The is no such thing as a quick fix, what works for one, dog/handler, doesn't work for another & you & Hazel have already come a long way, just re-read your original posts then your now posts! You two will hopefully have many years together & to learn each others ways together, every day new things to wonder & laugh about so stop fretting so much, Hazel will never be perfect but then again nor will you


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## KSvedenmacher

DaisyBluebell said:


> At 9 weeks old Yoda is still missing his siblings & his birth mum so you are doing exactly right giving him a snuggle then letting him settle & sleep as you are in effect his mum now & it's how you two will bond. Try to think how you pup will be thinking & feeling now & use that to take you in all the right directions. Yoda would get direction from his mum like cuddles when frghtened or cold & being told off if he gets too boisterous or bitey, but at 9 weeks old he has in effect gone from everything & everybody he has known & loved to everything & everybody he doesn't know so keep that in mind & basically be kind & loving which would seem you are doining & if he makes little mistakes pe3s or poo's in the house just remember they are your mistakes too you are both still learning.
> A picture of this little wonder dog would be nice as soon as you can manage it


Thank you, that is how I feel too. Poor Yoda is now all on his own so I don't mind giving him all the snuggles he wants. It's just that all the books I have been reading say I should just let him cry which seems like such a cruel thing to do. I never did that with either of my kids and they have turned out to be well adjusted children now.

So far we have had very few accidents (not even one a day on average) and they have all been because I didn't take him out soon enough so completely my fault. He gets lots of praise when he goes outside and I just clean up the accidents inside.


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## DaisyBluebell

OMG he is just gorgeous no wonder you don't mind giving him cuddles, if he wants more he can come and stay with me.....


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## KSvedenmacher

I know, we just love him! And he is so tiny, so it's easy to have him curled up on my lap.


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## Acidic Angel

So, despite my last post on here, Hazel has suddenly taken a turn upwards!!
One day things just seemed to click in her head and now she's much better.

Now that her "Off" and "Up" commands are more stable, she's allowed on the sofa for cuddles too  









She's currently reached the leggy stage of growth, so her gangly legs are everywhere right now, but her body is slowly catching up now.


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## Jamie19831983

Hi all I also hot pups age 11 weeks and 8 weeks


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## Jamie19831983




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## Jamie19831983




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## Wild With Roxi

Acidic Angel said:


> So, despite my last post on here, Hazel has suddenly taken a turn upwards!!
> One day things just seemed to click in her head and now she's much better.
> 
> Now that her "Off" and "Up" commands are more stable, she's allowed on the sofa for cuddles too
> View attachment 368561
> 
> 
> She's currently reached the leggy stage of growth, so her gangly legs are everywhere right now, but her body is slowly catching up now.


Omg the leggy stage is my favvvv


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## KSvedenmacher

Acidic Angel said:


> So, despite my last post on here, Hazel has suddenly taken a turn upwards!!
> One day things just seemed to click in her head and now she's much better.
> 
> Now that her "Off" and "Up" commands are more stable, she's allowed on the sofa for cuddles too
> View attachment 368561
> 
> 
> She's currently reached the leggy stage of growth, so her gangly legs are everywhere right now, but her body is slowly catching up now.


Nice that she's doing better and she is so gorgeous!

We are in the middle of moving house and starting from scratch again with housetraining. Yoda seems confused that we want him to go to the toilet outside our new house now. Very frustrating as he was doing so well at the old house.


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## DaisyBluebell

He will catch on don't worry. Hope your all very happy in your new home.


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## KSvedenmacher

DaisyBluebell said:


> He will catch on don't worry. Hope your all very happy in your new home.


 Thank you! At least we have a week to move, so Yoda is slowly getting used to the new place. And the neighbourhood is great with lots of lovely dogs.


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## Georgie_Paws

Hello everyone, new here! Picked up an 11 week German Shepherd pup about 10 days ago. I’m signed off work for a couple of weeks so home with him getting him settled, trained, into a routine etc. 
Are you all crating your dogs? Hunter has a pen basically in a slightly separate room to where I am currently spending most of my time. All I keep reading is that it’s good for them with toilet training, self-entertainment (to an extent) and I let him out every couple of hours or so (not left house much lately) for toilet breaks, and little walks round the garden. Thing is, I’ll be going back to work in a couple of weeks, likely only 2 days a week, and we’ll have someone come in at lunchtime so he’ll be alone 8am until roughly 12, then husband home at 4pm. So, as much as it feels mean keeping him in crate when I’m at home, it feels like it’s just good training and practise. He’s pretty good in there, mainly sleeps...whines at first but does settle. He’s fine in there at night (as long as walked round with him for about 30mins before bed to do his poo!!)
This is no easy undertaking!


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## Wild With Roxi

Hiya everyone! I just wanted to update you guys on Jess 
Her toilet training is going great, we went through a brief stage of puppy blues for 1-2 weeks but it's pretty much gone now!
She has only had one accident in the last week and that was completely my fault. She's so good.
Her pre-agility training is going amazingly well, she does 10 minute sessions every few days. She's allowed walk today and she's so good on walks, though she pulls a lot so that needs training  She has learned sit and up, and she's learning stay,lie down,paw and out. She's very food motivated and willing to learn, as well as eager to please. She sleeps at night without a fuss too! She's a bit of a a trouble maker, but she's generally a great pup. She just turned 11 weeks old today


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## KSvedenmacher

This week has been the week from hell and it’s only Thursday! We’re in the middle of our move and as we are moving all our stuff ourselves it’s a long, drawn out process. Yoda has understandably been out of sorts as we keep going between houses (we’re only moving up the road) and we seem to have regressed as far as housetraining is concerned. We were doing so well - days without accidents - but this week we have had at least one accident a day. I feel like such a failure because I can’t seem to get him outside in time and all he wants to do is sleep on me. To top it up I am exhausted from lack of sleep and everything feels bleak at the moment. 

Sorry, just needed to vent a bit. I love Yoda to bits, but would not recommend getting a puppy a few weeks before moving house. I’m sure it will be fine once we have moved in and at least he hasn’t had any accidents in the new house. Anyhow, glad this forum exists...


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## DaisyBluebell

Just a warning to be prepared for a few accidents in the new house while he 'marks' his new territory! Perfectly normal & no ones 'fault'. 
It quite understandable that he is unsettled and showing it by the odd accident with all the comings & goings and packing up etc and no usual sitting and cuddles for mum cause she is so busy and so tired at the moment.
Think forward to when its all done & you can all live a happy new life in a nice new home together & such an exciting time over Christmas to look forward to there!


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## KSvedenmacher

Well, we’ve been in the new house for two days now and Yoda seems to like it so far. He is a bit more fussy at night, which is understandable, so he gets a bit more snuggles when we have been out for a wee. Yoda has found his spot to do his business outside as well and so far no accidents have happened (knock on wood).


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## Kelly Marie

Hi

We got our new puppy last Sunday and she has settled in so well !!
I was after some advice, the breeder was feeding her on Asda’s own wet puppy food.Now I was talking to some who works at our local pet store and they pulled the most horrendous face when I told them why we were feeding her and told me oh gosh that is full of crap! Now my question is, is what have people found to be the best to feed there puppies on? He told us that the best ones they seem to sell a lot odnare wrainwrights and Harrington’s. I really don’t want to have to be spending a fortune so the cheaper ( but obviously not cheap rubbish) the better ! 
Sorry for the long post just want to be feeding her that’s good for her!!
Thanks for reading!


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## DaisyBluebell

Kelly Marie said:


> Hi
> 
> We got our new puppy last Sunday and she has settled in so well !!
> I was after some advice, the breeder was feeding her on Asda's own wet puppy food.Now I was talking to some who works at our local pet store and they pulled the most horrendous face when I told them why we were feeding her and told me oh gosh that is full of crap! Now my question is, is what have people found to be the best to feed there puppies on? He told us that the best ones they seem to sell a lot odnare wrainwrights and Harrington's. I really don't want to have to be spending a fortune so the cheaper ( but obviously not cheap rubbish)
> Sorry for the long post just want to be feeding her that's good for her!!
> Thanks for reading!


Hello Kelly & welcome. What breed, if she is a breed, & how old is your puppy? Has she had all her injections yet? Have you had her checked over by your own vet yet? Is she eating, peeing & pooing ok? It's still very early days for you both but if you can give a bit more info it would be helpful to know. Then a bit more advice could be given. It might be necessary to move this post to a thread of your own on the forum as those with older dogs would be able to give more helpful information. See if you get more answers on here tomorrow when you nave added some more information first tho. 
We like pictures & names of puppies on here too please


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## Veba

Check out www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk for an unbiased review of many foods.


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## Kelly Marie

DaisyBluebell said:


> Hello Kelly & welcome. What breed, if she is a breed, & how old is your puppy? Has she had all her injections yet? Have you had her checked over by your own vet yet? Is she eating, peeing & pooing ok? It's still very early days for you both but if you can give a bit more info it would be helpful to know. Then a bit more advice could be given. It might be necessary to move this post to a thread of your own on the forum as those with older dogs would be able to give more helpful information. See if you get more answers on here tomorrow when you nave added some more information first tho.
> We like pictures & names of puppies on here too please


Hi sorry I missed the most critical information out !! 
Nala is 9 weeks old, she is a Staffordshire bull terrier cross American bulldog. She has had her first lot of injections on Wednesday just gone and due her next lot in a couple of weeks! Vet has checked Nala over and she is very healthy and happy. Eating and pooing fine thank you for replying xx


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## nightmusk

Hi all im new here with a 13 week old cross pug male the only prob i really have is he wont be left in the kitchen even for a minute he has to be with us all the time
ive a child gate to keep in in the kitchen where his training mat and bed are and to give our cats their own space for a while each day but no matter how much we try he sits and whiles at the gate getting louder by the second dont get me wrong hes not in there long but im trying to get him to be left just for short periods at a time but no matter what we do he wont stay without crying and whining
This morning i tried keeping in in there for 10 minutes but after his crying getting louder i let him out for him to run in the lounge and pee on the carpet 
is this a normal problem or is it just him apart from that he is very lovable and friendly but i think im getting the puppy blues i keep hearing about
Lastly im back at work next week how the hell can i go out and leave him even though its only for 3 hours


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## Georgie_Paws

nightmusk said:


> Hi all im new here with a 13 week old cross pug male the only prob i really have is he wont be left in the kitchen even for a minute he has to be with us all the time
> ive a child gate to keep in in the kitchen where his training mat and bed are and to give our cats their own space for a while each day but no matter how much we try he sits and whiles at the gate getting louder by the second dont get me wrong hes not in there long but im trying to get him to be left just for short periods at a time but no matter what we do he wont stay without crying and whining
> This morning i tried keeping in in there for 10 minutes but after his crying getting louder i let him out for him to run in the lounge and pee on the carpet
> is this a normal problem or is it just him apart from that he is very lovable and friendly but i think im getting the puppy blues i keep hearing about
> Lastly im back at work next week how the hell can i go out and leave him even though its only for 3 hours


To be honest, as hard as it is, you need to let him cry it out to an extent.

From what I've read (we've been relatively lucky with the seperation anxiety thing, he cries for 10mins or so sometimes when he's just being a bit extra demanding then settles and sleeps and he's fine) you should set him up his own little smaller space - toys, treats, enrichment, and leave him in small increments - start with a couple of minutes while he is occupied with something else treat-led. Then come back, and don't make a big deal of it or make a fuss of him. He needs to know you'll come back without you needing to constantly reassure him I would say? Try to take him out every 30mins or so for a wee, then back in - no fuss. Increase it the next few days time wise and come up with a command when he does a wee (say it while he is weeing), then when you take him out when it's convenient for YOU use the command, 'good boy' and back inside with a treat.

Letting them cry out only works if they've slept and settled in the space on their own happily before, which ours has - many many times. This week we switched from a playpen to a crate and that's not worked so well during the day so I'm struggling with that, but about 10mins ago i took him outside to do his business, brought him straight back to his playpen (i put it back up this morning) and he's settled and now sleeping happily. He sees it as his safe space, not his "you're leaving me space".

I don't want to come across an expert, I'm not by any means, i've just been obsessively reading and panicking and that's what I've learnt and has kind of worked.


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## Georgie_Paws

Oh also, when you go back to him, don't give him any attention or enter the space again until he has sat and is quiet. If you go in when he's crying he'll relate him crying to being rewarded by you coming to him. No attention if he's crying. 

Tough love basically, it's hard, hang in there!!


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## ErsatzNihilist

Dog ate the TV remote. Well, not ate - just chewed up to the point of non-functionality; he's spent absolutely ages around the remote and never shown any interest in it - but hey, these things happen. Better get online and order a repla... *sprays tea all over the screen* £40? _£40?
_
Fine.

New TV remote arrives, and we keep it up high; today Edgar has managed what can only be described as an act of canine parkour to get to _this _remote and give it a good old chewing whilst I tried to get it off him. Thankfully, this one still works, but is a bit of a mess. I guess we'll put this on the list of destruction alongside my Birkenstocks and a number of lovely scarves.

IT'S A GOOD JOB I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.


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## Veba

@nightmusk

I don't have much time to post but please don't let him cry it out. He's just a tiny baby and needs to be with you. You need to build it up slowly so he knows that being with you isn't always fun and he's happy to stay where he is. He will have peed because he was anxious. At that age it's not likely separation anxiety but if you stress him out by leaving him it could turn in to that.

Also, I think 3 hours might be too much for a 13 week old pup. Could you get someone to visit him?


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## nightmusk

Thanks Velba ive decided to take him to work with me for a week or two ive got a cleaning job so i can have him with me and when i get home i will start by leaving him in small absences starting with 15 mins and increasing and when hes had his second lot of jabs start by walking him


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## Veba

nightmusk said:


> Thanks Velba ive decided to take him to work with me for a week or two ive got a cleaning job so i can have him with me and when i get home i will start by leaving him in small absences starting with 15 mins and increasing and when hes had his second lot of jabs start by walking him


You should start now and very, very slowly. Here is a good article (I'd recommend joining the page and reading all the files) to give you step by step.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/dog-...te-trained-do/998780573470833?hc_location=ufi

I wasn't consistent with my alone training and went through some stressful weeks, at one point I thought I might have to return him to the breeder. Although I wasn't consistent I did do a lot of what is mentioned in the article and now have a pup who is happy being left alone and often happy on his own when we are there.


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## Laura1985

I too got a pup in July, my last girl passed away in May this year and she was my little furry soul mate, i had an instant bond with her. She was 5 when she passed away i had basically been nursing her back to health for 4 years until it finally took its toll and it was no longer fair for her to be in so much pain. I got little missy moo quite soon after because i couldnt cope with the change in routine as i am autistic. I had so much love to give but i have to admit i am struggling, i really really like missy but im worried because we dont have the same bond that pixie and i had. I am just wondering will i ever have that bond with her, shes alot more dominant than what i am used to and bites me on my hands and face and draws blood at times. Shes teething at the minute so i know that plays a part and i spoil her too. Has anyone any tips on how to deal with this?


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## Jon Roff

Hi, we have 17 week old poodle puppy who was pooping in the house at random times, we now have a breakfast - walk - poop routine that works really well!


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## Acidic Angel

Guess who actually jumped into the bath of her own accord today!!

She still doesn't _like_ being showered, but since getting her one of those rubber textured mats you smear peanut butter or liver paste on she's gotten a lot better with them. She'll stand and lick the paste off the mat while I shower her and wash her, and then she'll stand in the bath to drip off a little bit before jumping out to be rubbed down with a towel  









She's also getting much better with her harness now, I haven't tried putting it on her again yet, but she doesn't hide when I pick it up now, she'll come over to see what I have.
Brushing her is getting slightly easier, she just wants to play with the brush and try to eat it though. Claw clipping is a doddle now, no issues at all with me clipping her claws. All in all, she's really improving now she's getting older and her impulse control and maturity is coming through nicely.

Also, what happened to my tiny pupper! She grew up so fast!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Excellent news - how fast that time has gone....


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Excellent news - how fast that time has gone....


Oh, she also has most, if not all, of her adult teeth now  So her biting and nipping is calming down a lot now her teething is coming to an end, she still enjoys a frozen tea towel or carrot though. 
I have to admit, as much as I was dragged down by her rambunctious behaviour as a tiny puppy, seeing how big she is now does make me miss the tiny puppy stage a little bit. Only a little bit though, life is a bit easier now she's not so misbehaved haha!


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Acidic Angel said:


> Oh, she also has most, if not all, of her adult teeth now  So her biting and nipping is calming down a lot now her teething is coming to an end, she still enjoys a frozen tea towel or carrot though.
> I have to admit, as much as I was dragged down by her rambunctious behaviour as a tiny puppy, seeing how big she is now does make me miss the tiny puppy stage a little bit. Only a little bit though, life is a bit easier now she's not so misbehaved haha!


Oh so know what you mean, Emma & I had not the best of starts to say the least & I so wish I could go back & start all over again & enjoy that puppy time; even my arms n legs that looked like I was self harming! The time does go so very fast.


----------



## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Oh so know what you mean, Emma & I had not the best of starts to say the least & I so wish I could go back & start all over again & enjoy that puppy time; even my arms n legs that looked like I was self harming! The time does go so very fast.


It really does... Thankfully, with her growing up less people are randomly walking up to her because although she's still adorable, she's no longer that tiny puppy that no one can resist lol.


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## LeahHoney24

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


----------



## NickyTommo

Hi, I was hoping to get some advice without starting yet another thread about my pup’s irregular bowel movements, and I thought Puppy Support sounded like a good place to go to 

Some info; Bucky has 16 weeks by now and goes through the day with potty breaks about every hour and a half, otherwise he starts crying and needs to rush out, so his bladder control isn’t the best yet but it’s a step-up from running outside every half an hour so we are proud of him! He is a mixed race, medium-big size and VERY rambunctious, constantly mistaking us for playmates who enjoy having their knees and legs and arms bitten but otherwise a tail wagging bundle of energy!

So here’s where I come to my question; we have recently managed to get Bucky to sleep through the night, by himself in his room. We put him to bed at 11.30pm with some music in the background, his favourite plushie and a couple of pads in case of accidents (he quite reliably goes on those if for any reason we don’t manage to take him out in time) and get him up again at 5.45am to pee and poop. He has gone two weeks without any over night accident if we stick to this schedule and we are pretty thrilled, but recently we thought, “how about we try to get him up at 6 instead” since he’s usually still very sleepy at 5.45am and barely wants to get out of bed, but we found that if we try to come in a bit later, he will (without having made any noise although during the day he’s quite vocal about going out) have peed and sometimes also pooped on one of the pads. 
I know this means we are asking too much of him to hold it 15 more lmimutes but is there anything we can do to gradually try and lengthen his overnight sleep? We’ve seen people say to try and lengthen the time by 5 minutes for every successful accident free week and we’ve also seen people say that this will gradually lengthen as he gets older anyway so we wanted to check with other puppy owners to see how you guys handle bed time and morning potty time, whether you think we should just stick to our 5.45 routine until he’s older or if we should try to gradually practice lengthening the time he stays in bed? 
I know this may seem like a completely unnecessary question, but as first time puppy owners we are of course paranoid about anything we might be doing wrong, and since we have read plenty about puppies who spend the night from 10pm till 6am sometimes, we are a little anxious about whether we are maybe not getting him tired enough before bed time or maybe even made a mistake in starting to wake him up at 5.45 and he now thinks this is potty time whether we are here or not, or if maybe we’re doing nothing wrong and he just simply can’t hold it for longer than this yet. Either way it’d be amazing to hear from you guys how you handle (non-crated) bedtime with your pups


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## Chrs

We are getting our first puppy on Saturday and I wanted to know about sleeping arrangements. 

Eventually he’s going to sleep in his crate downstairs but for the first couple of nights we will have the crate in our bedroom. How often will we have to get him up for the toilet and how will we know if he’s crying because he’s scared or because he needs the loo?
Thanks


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## Tracey3cats

Hi, I have a border collie, she's coming up for ten months now but at 16 weeks I was still taking her out during the night to toilet, about 2.30am. She then went through a stage of waking up at 4.30am to start her day!! But it was very light being summer. I felt like I never slept! I would advise you to be patient, he's still very young. 
I would go back to taking him out during the night. Invest time with him now to get it right and you'll save yourself trouble later and will have a happy house trained pup. I understand the lack of sleep but it won't be forever. Good luck!


----------



## Leanne & Rafal

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


We have just been through it with our Border Collie Dexie though managed to teach her quite quickly. At the beginning we used matts however this didn't always work and every time she peed or pooped we'd bring her by the door where the matt was. Eventually (2 -3 weeks) she associated the door however accidents still happened from time to time. After feeding time we would wait around 15 min before taking her out. We would also attempt to make a scary sound when she did it at home. Hopefully you will find something useful here. We have been feeding her a mixture of dry and tin puppy food.

Re leaving her in the crate have you considered giving her some delicious bites in there? so that she can associate this with food.

I would not worry about her sleep and just carry on with your normal duties. If she is tired she will just sleep anywhere and anytime. 
FittDogs.co.uk


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Leanne & Rafal said:


> We have just been through it with our Border Collie Dexie though managed to teach her quite quickly. At the beginning we used matts however this didn't always work and every time she peed or pooped we'd bring her by the door where the matt was. Eventually (2 -3 weeks) she associated the door however accidents still happened from time to time. After feeding time we would wait around 15 min before taking her out. We would also attempt to make a scary sound when she did it at home. Hopefully you will find something useful here. We have been feeding her a mixture of dry and tin puppy food.
> 
> Re leaving her in the crate have you considered giving her some delicious bites in there? so that she can associate this with food.
> 
> I would not worry about her sleep and just carry on with your normal duties. If she is tired she will just sleep anywhere and anytime.
> FittDogs.co.uk


Please note spamvicious started this thread back in May 2017 & her pup is now quite a lot older & wiser.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

NickyTommo said:


> Hi, I was hoping to get some advice without starting yet another thread about my pup's irregular bowel movements, and I thought Puppy Support sounded like a good place to go to
> 
> Some info; Bucky has 16 weeks by now and goes through the day with potty breaks about every hour and a half, otherwise he starts crying and needs to rush out, so his bladder control isn't the best yet but it's a step-up from running outside every half an hour so we are proud of him! He is a mixed race, medium-big size and VERY rambunctious, constantly mistaking us for playmates who enjoy having their knees and legs and arms bitten but otherwise a tail wagging bundle of energy!
> 
> So here's where I come to my question; we have recently managed to get Bucky to sleep through the night, by himself in his room. We put him to bed at 11.30pm with some music in the background, his favourite plushie and a couple of pads in case of accidents (he quite reliably goes on those if for any reason we don't manage to take him out in time) and get him up again at 5.45am to pee and poop. He has gone two weeks without any over night accident if we stick to this schedule and we are pretty thrilled, but recently we thought, "how about we try to get him up at 6 instead" since he's usually still very sleepy at 5.45am and barely wants to get out of bed, but we found that if we try to come in a bit later, he will (without having made any noise although during the day he's quite vocal about going out) have peed and sometimes also pooped on one of the pads.
> I know this means we are asking too much of him to hold it 15 more lmimutes but is there anything we can do to gradually try and lengthen his overnight sleep? We've seen people say to try and lengthen the time by 5 minutes for every successful accident free week and we've also seen people say that this will gradually lengthen as he gets older anyway so we wanted to check with other puppy owners to see how you guys handle bed time and morning potty time, whether you think we should just stick to our 5.45 routine until he's older or if we should try to gradually practice lengthening the time he stays in bed?
> I know this may seem like a completely unnecessary question, but as first time puppy owners we are of course paranoid about anything we might be doing wrong, and since we have read plenty about puppies who spend the night from 10pm till 6am sometimes, we are a little anxious about whether we are maybe not getting him tired enough before bed time or maybe even made a mistake in starting to wake him up at 5.45 and he now thinks this is potty time whether we are here or not, or if maybe we're doing nothing wrong and he just simply can't hold it for longer than this yet. Either way it'd be amazing to hear from you guys how you handle (non-crated) bedtime with your pups


NT at 16 weeks I am surprised you have got this very young pup to go through to the time you have, so very well done on that. Just one thing by leaving any form of puppy pad about you are actually encouraging your pup that its ok to pee inside! Those are not accidents they are what the pup thinks he is supposed to do (thats more information for the following poster who was asking questions about overnight peeing which I will follow up on after this).
Usually I take it with a pinch of salt when people say their very young pup is going through the night from 10pm to 6am at such an early age and would advise you to do the same, think how small a puppies bladder is ! it would be nigh on impossible to go all those hours without peeing! So the answer to your question is to be patient that extra 15 minutes may be a short time to you but its a hell of a long time for one so young to hold themselves.


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## Wild With Roxi

Hiya guys. I need help training jess to stop whining all the time. We can't leave her for a second and she's 5 months old.
it's getting very draining lol.


----------



## DaisyBluebell

Chrs said:


> We are getting our first puppy on Saturday and I wanted to know about sleeping arrangements.
> 
> Eventually he's going to sleep in his crate downstairs but for the first couple of nights we will have the crate in our bedroom. How often will we have to get him up for the toilet and how will we know if he's crying because he's scared or because he needs the loo?
> Thanks


You do not say how old your puppy is going to be when you get him? If its 8 weeks then think of him as a baby which is what he is. You will be taking him away from everything he has ever know in the last 8 week, the comfort of his mum & his siblings, so try to remember that when he cries, which he will. You will need to have him in his crate in your room for a lot longer than a couple of nights! If at all possible have his crate or even a large box to start with as near to your bed as possible so that you can reach out and touch him when he whimpers just to reassure him that he is not alone in the dark, as you would a baby. His little bladder will need emptying very frequently for quite a few weeks to come. If you use puppy pads at any time then you are telling your puppy that its ok to go inside (think like a puppy would) You need to get your puppy outside after every time he is fed or has a drink plus every hour to hour and a half to start with (we also did that during the night for the first few weeks - the upside of getting a puppy in spring/summer rather than later in the year). NEVER scold him if he has an accident in side, as he will, just clean up after him. When you take him outside your may well me out there for some time, so just be prepared for that & be patient.
After a week or so you can start to move his crate nearer to the bedroom door then into the hall & keep going like that eventually ending up where you intend his bed to be. Its a very very slow process but if you want a confident happy puppy, particularly when you want to start teaching him to be left when you go out (and thats a long process which you will also have to work on) then your efforts now will pay rewards in the long run.

Its obligatory to post pictures of puppies please, for the majority of us on here to coo over, when you get yours


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## Wild With Roxi

IMG_20180902_141619




__
Wild With Roxi


__
Sep 30, 2018








This was Jess at 9 weeks, she was tinnnyyy! Her ears were still floppy! Now's she's like three times the size of Mylo, super leggy and she's almost 9kg but she's slim  She's sooo cute I need to get some recent pictures onto this laptop!


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## NickyTommo

Hey you guys, I have one more question since I got loads of help with our Bucky on here!
We’ve been noticing that Bucky seems to go pee when we are home a lot more than anywhere else?
Example; today we have been to the city with him and he has not even tried to potty while we were out (and we took him to quite a few potty places and gave him his cue but he just stared at us and sat down) for more than five hours. He didn’t seem in any discomfort and didn’t whine for the bathroom at all. As soon as we got home he went to his spot in the garden and peed and pooped quite a lot before going to his room and into his bed. As puppy novices we would like to think that technically that means he can hold it for up to five hours, however when we are at home and only go on our scheduled three walks a day, he asks to go potty at least once every two hours. He does not ask to go out to play as he genuinely just does his business and then leads us back to the door again to go back inside. Partly we want to ignore when he asks to go potty for like half an hour, to increase the time between his potty breaks, but of course we also don’t want him to think that we don’t listen when he asks to go out and for him to just start going in the house again? 
We are getting some mixed information from our vet, online articles and friends with dogs, varying from “ignore him and only take him out for scheduled potty breaks” to “never ignore his cries or he will stop asking and just find his own solution to his problem”, so we wanted to know how everyone on here handles bladder control with their puppies?
Along with this post I just wanted everyone to see how proud Bucky is of the stick he found today!


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## niamh123

I would take him out when he asks as he is quite young,I understand what you are saying that he can hold himself for 5 hours,he obviousely has a toilet spot in your garden,our old dog who we lost 2 years ago aged 16 would never go to the loo unless in his garden


----------



## evie and co

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.





spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs


----------



## Acidic Angel

Ugh, I know it's been a while but things have been a little stressful round here and I've not been in much of a mood to post or even read much.

So we're still having some issues with Hazel, at nearly 7 months old I feel some of these issues should have at least improved by now 
*Disclaimer- *The following issues are issues I think a behaviourist could help fix, and I found a positive reinforcement behaviourist with good recommendations in the local area, who charges £25 for a session, and says typically young dogs should only need 3 sessions. My partner, who also complains about the following things, won't pay for it because he "doesn't feel she needs it". I am currenty unemployed for the foreseeable future, not by choice, so I am unable to afford it myself since I have zero income.

Issue #1- Chewing my washing when it's out drying. She has plenty of toys that are regularly rotated to prevent her becoming bored of them, but she _still_ chooses to chew my washing over any of them when I have the clothes airers in the living room. I've resorted to just not having the clothes airers in the living room at this point, because it does not matter how much I tell her "No" or offer her toys, she actively chooses to chew my washing. Obviously not exposing her to it and having her completely cut off from it means I also can't work on stopping her, but I admit I gave up trying to stop her and admitted defeat because she will not stop. I know puppies chew, but this is getting excessive now. To the point where she will straight up ignore everything I say or offer her to chew my washing.

Issue #2- Counter surfing, sort of. She is now tall enough when stood on her back legs to have her front paws on the kitchen counters and look up there, so her new favourite hobby is to do this day in, day out. We never leave food on the counters, washing up is done as soon as needed to prevent food-smelling plates being left. She doesn't listen when told "Off" or "Leave it" either, on the sofa the word "off" means "Get off" and she listens, on the counter it's useless. I've resorted to going "What's this?" in a really excited voice to get her off the counter but even that's started to lose effectiveness, because she caught on that all I'm doing is offering her a toy or treat and obviously the nothingness on the counter is more important.

Issue #3- Stinking of her own pee! I have absolutely no idea how she does it, but I'm having to bathe her daily at the minute to stop her smelling of pee. I've watched her, and she's very careful when she goes out to pee, she is mindful of where she stands and yet somehow she comes in, sits next to me on the sofa and all I can smell is dog pee. Sniff her and sure enough, she reeks! I wash the patio down daily, because admittedly she does go on the patio between walks and stuff, and I use pet stuff and enzyme remover on it to break down all the urine. I have tested it and stuck my nose pretty much on the patio floor after washing it all down, not a single hint of pee. So where is it coming from?! The only time I know why she smells is when she gets excited and pees down her own legs- More on that issue below.

Issue #4- Overexcitement and peeing when someone says hello to her. I was hoping she'd grow out of this as her bladder became stronger, and for a while she seemed to be improving, but now we're back to peeing at the slightest sign of affection from anyone but me or my partner. And unfortunately, this often leads to her peeing down her own legs because she stands on her back legs to stand against the patio fence...

Issue #5- The cats. Oh my word, the cats. My poor cats are currently resigned to living in the bedroom/hallway/bathroom area unless Hazel is out with my partner or in her crate. I've been trying since the day we brought her home to get her used to them, unfortunately she just gets too excited when they're in the room. One of them stands his ground and will swipe her, but she's not put off by it, it just makes her more excited. She gets herself so frenzied at seeing them that she barks non-stop at them. She wants to play, they don't, she isn't getting the message and it's made it so they can't be in the same room as her unless she's in her crate, as that's the only time she doesn't bark at them or get overexcited at seeing them. The best example I can give about how excited she gets about them, is that I let them in the living room earlier today to try and work on it some more. Tiger calmly walked in and laid down on the rug, just minding his own business and ignoring the dog, not even showing signs of excitement. Hazels reaction was to run up to him, bark at him repeatedly and then grab his tail when he didn't react, he reacted to his tail being grabbed that's for sure, and she got a swipe from him, she jumped back, but then went running back at him barking. Of course I don't want him to keep swiping at her, but she won't leave him alone. I've tried distracting her with treats, ball, other toys, training... It's useless. Her focus is solely on the cat in the room.

Issue #6- Dogs and people.... This is one of those things I really wanted to avoid, but it's happened despite my constant training with her. She sees a dog, she wants to run over to it. She sees a person, she wants to run over to them. Her recall is getting better, but her focus is completely shot if she sees a dog or person, or even a bird though this one is improving ever so slightly. I'm working on her recall daily with her, I try and avoid walking her when it's busy at the moment because I want to work with her with as few distractions as possible, but it's not always possible. While we were up in Sheffield recently visiting family and friends, I took her to meet my friend and her dog Penny. Hazel and Penny got on so well, and we took them out for a walk and went to an enclosed field so Hazel could run around with penny without running off. Turns out with Penny there I didn't have to worry about her running off, she recalled well but between recalls she just stuck by Penny, didn't even want to explore the field unless Penny was.

So since my partner won't fork out for a behaviourist for these behaviours, any tips please that could try and help? I keep saying to myself "Maybe it'll just come to her one day when her impulse control kicks in", but she's almost 7 months now, I'm losing faith in that and it's starting to make me miserable. I can't walk her without a headcollar on because she still chokes herself, I've followed Kikopup religiously and it seems to work for a very, very brief period and then we're back to square one, So I repeat the process, and it's just a cycle of repetition. I know she doesn't like the headcollar, she absolutely hates it, but my other option is don't walk her because her excitement and energy overtakes her and she will pull until she throws up, and then pull more when she's done. And for a working springer, not being walked to relieve some of the physical energy is not going to help, I know I can do a lot of mental stimulation at home but she still needs those walks to get some of the physical energy out. She can't live on the patio or indoors her whole life.

I'm honestly starting to regret getting her. When she's good, I'm glad we got her, and even when she's being naughty or misbehaved I couldn't imagine not having her now, but it's making me miserable at this point and I can't enjoy HER because all I'm getting is her bad behaviours. My partner complains about some of the behaviours, the ones he sees in his brief periods of seeing her, but he doesn't see the full extent of it because he works 40 hours night shift a week. So for 5 days of the week he's sleeping during the day and then 4 of those nights he's working(he sleeps Sunday's too even though he doesn't work Sunday nights, because he's understandably tired from working ten hours)... So he rarely sees her for long enough to see how bad she really can be, and it's left me picking up the pieces on my own.


----------



## Joanna Maciejczyk

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


1) i cannot help u with thats i had a problem withmy dog too and he is one year and a half now and he still have accidents out of fear of fireworks and he does not wanan go out often now so :/ not reallt sure

2) hmm i had no problme with crying when my Cody was a puppy, but u maybe put urs pup to crate when shes in full energy maybe play with her or let her run around and then crate her

3) the less she sleeps in the day the more she sleeps at night but even if she wakes up and go hyper when u move then because shes a pup i belive she will go to sleep or maybe when shes sleepy then u put her into the crate then? Maybe she needs more secure crate cover it with urs jumper or a blanket so she feels secure maybe thats the problme and make sure she is tired andu just walk around as she should get used to thats the more u dont make noise when she sleeps the more exited she will be eveytime just ignore her(keep eye on her) but ignore her and she get bored and she will sleep eventualy as pupies get tired quickly after beain hyper


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## Joanna Maciejczyk

Acidic Angel said:


> Ugh, I know it's been a while but things have been a little stressful round here and I've not been in much of a mood to post or even read much.
> 
> So we're still having some issues with Hazel, at nearly 7 months old I feel some of these issues should have at least improved by now
> *Disclaimer- *The following issues are issues I think a behaviourist could help fix, and I found a positive reinforcement behaviourist with good recommendations in the local area, who charges £25 for a session, and says typically young dogs should only need 3 sessions. My partner, who also complains about the following things, won't pay for it because he "doesn't feel she needs it". I am currenty unemployed for the foreseeable future, not by choice, so I am unable to afford it myself since I have zero income.
> 
> Issue #1- Chewing my washing when it's out drying. She has plenty of toys that are regularly rotated to prevent her becoming bored of them, but she _still_ chooses to chew my washing over any of them when I have the clothes airers in the living room. I've resorted to just not having the clothes airers in the living room at this point, because it does not matter how much I tell her "No" or offer her toys, she actively chooses to chew my washing. Obviously not exposing her to it and having her completely cut off from it means I also can't work on stopping her, but I admit I gave up trying to stop her and admitted defeat because she will not stop. I know puppies chew, but this is getting excessive now. To the point where she will straight up ignore everything I say or offer her to chew my washing.
> 
> Issue #2- Counter surfing, sort of. She is now tall enough when stood on her back legs to have her front paws on the kitchen counters and look up there, so her new favourite hobby is to do this day in, day out. We never leave food on the counters, washing up is done as soon as needed to prevent food-smelling plates being left. She doesn't listen when told "Off" or "Leave it" either, on the sofa the word "off" means "Get off" and she listens, on the counter it's useless. I've resorted to going "What's this?" in a really excited voice to get her off the counter but even that's started to lose effectiveness, because she caught on that all I'm doing is offering her a toy or treat and obviously the nothingness on the counter is more important.
> 
> Issue #3- Stinking of her own pee! I have absolutely no idea how she does it, but I'm having to bathe her daily at the minute to stop her smelling of pee. I've watched her, and she's very careful when she goes out to pee, she is mindful of where she stands and yet somehow she comes in, sits next to me on the sofa and all I can smell is dog pee. Sniff her and sure enough, she reeks! I wash the patio down daily, because admittedly she does go on the patio between walks and stuff, and I use pet stuff and enzyme remover on it to break down all the urine. I have tested it and stuck my nose pretty much on the patio floor after washing it all down, not a single hint of pee. So where is it coming from?! The only time I know why she smells is when she gets excited and pees down her own legs- More on that issue below.
> 
> Issue #4- Overexcitement and peeing when someone says hello to her. I was hoping she'd grow out of this as her bladder became stronger, and for a while she seemed to be improving, but now we're back to peeing at the slightest sign of affection from anyone but me or my partner. And unfortunately, this often leads to her peeing down her own legs because she stands on her back legs to stand against the patio fence...
> 
> Issue #5- The cats. Oh my word, the cats. My poor cats are currently resigned to living in the bedroom/hallway/bathroom area unless Hazel is out with my partner or in her crate. I've been trying since the day we brought her home to get her used to them, unfortunately she just gets too excited when they're in the room. One of them stands his ground and will swipe her, but she's not put off by it, it just makes her more excited. She gets herself so frenzied at seeing them that she barks non-stop at them. She wants to play, they don't, she isn't getting the message and it's made it so they can't be in the same room as her unless she's in her crate, as that's the only time she doesn't bark at them or get overexcited at seeing them. The best example I can give about how excited she gets about them, is that I let them in the living room earlier today to try and work on it some more. Tiger calmly walked in and laid down on the rug, just minding his own business and ignoring the dog, not even showing signs of excitement. Hazels reaction was to run up to him, bark at him repeatedly and then grab his tail when he didn't react, he reacted to his tail being grabbed that's for sure, and she got a swipe from him, she jumped back, but then went running back at him barking. Of course I don't want him to keep swiping at her, but she won't leave him alone. I've tried distracting her with treats, ball, other toys, training... It's useless. Her focus is solely on the cat in the room.
> 
> Issue #6- Dogs and people.... This is one of those things I really wanted to avoid, but it's happened despite my constant training with her. She sees a dog, she wants to run over to it. She sees a person, she wants to run over to them. Her recall is getting better, but her focus is completely shot if she sees a dog or person, or even a bird though this one is improving ever so slightly. I'm working on her recall daily with her, I try and avoid walking her when it's busy at the moment because I want to work with her with as few distractions as possible, but it's not always possible. While we were up in Sheffield recently visiting family and friends, I took her to meet my friend and her dog Penny. Hazel and Penny got on so well, and we took them out for a walk and went to an enclosed field so Hazel could run around with penny without running off. Turns out with Penny there I didn't have to worry about her running off, she recalled well but between recalls she just stuck by Penny, didn't even want to explore the field unless Penny was.
> 
> So since my partner won't fork out for a behaviourist for these behaviours, any tips please that could try and help? I keep saying to myself "Maybe it'll just come to her one day when her impulse control kicks in", but she's almost 7 months now, I'm losing faith in that and it's starting to make me miserable. I can't walk her without a headcollar on because she still chokes herself, I've followed Kikopup religiously and it seems to work for a very, very brief period and then we're back to square one, So I repeat the process, and it's just a cycle of repetition. I know she doesn't like the headcollar, she absolutely hates it, but my other option is don't walk her because her excitement and energy overtakes her and she will pull until she throws up, and then pull more when she's done. And for a working springer, not being walked to relieve some of the physical energy is not going to help, I know I can do a lot of mental stimulation at home but she still needs those walks to get some of the physical energy out. She can't live on the patio or indoors her whole life.
> 
> I'm honestly starting to regret getting her. When she's good, I'm glad we got her, and even when she's being naughty or misbehaved I couldn't imagine not having her now, but it's making me miserable at this point and I can't enjoy HER because all I'm getting is her bad behaviours. My partner complains about some of the behaviours, the ones he sees in his brief periods of seeing her, but he doesn't see the full extent of it because he works 40 hours night shift a week. So for 5 days of the week he's sleeping during the day and then 4 of those nights he's working(he sleeps Sunday's too even though he doesn't work Sunday nights, because he's understandably tired from working ten hours)... So he rarely sees her for long enough to see how bad she really can be, and it's left me picking up the pieces on my own.


Hello, oh reading urs comment is like reading mine i am not as educated im still on my first dog and i still have some problems when he is year and a half but maybe some of my advice would help,
1) my Cody loooooooove laundary... loved it i thinkstill if he had the oportunity he will eat dorty pants no matter how many toys he have he will choose the clothes... the thing u can do is hide the washing and like close the doors for the room they there, and u need to teach Hazel how to „leave" how i was teached it, is basicaly by playing tag of war(witha. Toy for a start) and then firmly (not agressively) leave and when she leaves give hee the toy back and play again... so the toy beain given back is a reward so she would learn thats when she leaves soemthing she get reward... and no squicky toys aswell they bad for a puppy because they are similar to a scream or shouting so whebevee u should or scream i dont k ow when she steals then clothes she gets mkre exited, dont try to tag out the clothes teach her to leave on command because if u try and pull it dogs love to pull and the it would be tag game for her.
2) ehhh most dog do it though when they have no respect, i never seen cody do it as my firm voice is scary for him lol, but maybe start to lock the kitchen like close the doors or something and do not ever feed her when u do the food never if u want to treat her its only when she sits down so she will learn thata if she sits calmy next to u in the kitchen she will be rewarded.
3) well dogs are wierd my cody did not learn how to pee like male till very late and he still has accidents at home or he pee himself while he sleeps... i may sugest u having wet wipes to clean her around the place and legs, maybe she walks over the pee? Not nececesary peeing on her self? But i think thw wipes would help to eliminate it and wile the pee off
4) the peeing while beain exited is the same thing as beain exited, so the 6th issue would I THINK would be solved all together, exitment cody has the same problme its because he did nkt get enoug socializtion, he did see dogs often but i guess it was not enough, i ddi had to send him to a dog trainer however long term his recall and calmess about dogs went away and he gets crazy if he was off lead he would never come back if he saw a dog, so he will have to be on lead all the time but thats fine, nit really sure how to work on the extimnet as i had to send my dog for 2 weeks to learn, but its a socialization problem and with people, i think for example urs guest and friends should give her less attention for example if they greet her when she jumps on them.. it shows hee thats she can be exited and out of control, but if urs friends or guests would only say hello to her when she calms down she would learn. Hopefuly but i would speak to a trainer about that and more socialization i would say 
5) cody also has a cat friend and my dog is a shepherd so he chases him when the cat runs away or attacks him he get exited about it the cats should get used to it, im not sure what urs dog breed is sorry, is it a gundog? Then it might be a hunting instinct? If the dogs is like shelherd ? Then the chasing is also instincual, but we found a way to make their life easier, the cat will always eat and walk on furntiyre high away from the dog , cody though wants to just lick the cats butt and ears lol
Also with my dog, and cat, when my parents where away these two where best friends they did not chase around like tom and jerry cody was not annoying the kitty, the kitty was so brave he walked right next to the dog wothout careing, but when my parents around they both crazy.. not sure why but it may be because if their reaction and energy they give to the animals thats they read in some way? 
Hope some of this could help and good luck


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## Acidic Angel

Joanna Maciejczyk said:


> Hello, oh reading urs comment is like reading mine i am not as educated im still on my first dog and i still have some problems when he is year and a half but maybe some of my advice would help,
> 1) my Cody loooooooove laundary... loved it i thinkstill if he had the oportunity he will eat dorty pants no matter how many toys he have he will choose the clothes... the thing u can do is hide the washing and like close the doors for the room they there, and u need to teach Hazel how to „leave" how i was teached it, is basicaly by playing tag of war(witha. Toy for a start) and then firmly (not agressively) leave and when she leaves give hee the toy back and play again... so the toy beain given back is a reward so she would learn thats when she leaves soemthing she get reward... and no squicky toys aswell they bad for a puppy because they are similar to a scream or shouting so whebevee u should or scream i dont k ow when she steals then clothes she gets mkre exited, dont try to tag out the clothes teach her to leave on command because if u try and pull it dogs love to pull and the it would be tag game for her.
> 2) ehhh most dog do it though when they have no respect, i never seen cody do it as my firm voice is scary for him lol, but maybe start to lock the kitchen like close the doors or something and do not ever feed her when u do the food never if u want to treat her its only when she sits down so she will learn thata if she sits calmy next to u in the kitchen she will be rewarded.
> 3) well dogs are wierd my cody did not learn how to pee like male till very late and he still has accidents at home or he pee himself while he sleeps... i may sugest u having wet wipes to clean her around the place and legs, maybe she walks over the pee? Not nececesary peeing on her self? But i think thw wipes would help to eliminate it and wile the pee off
> 4) the peeing while beain exited is the same thing as beain exited, so the 6th issue would I THINK would be solved all together, exitment cody has the same problme its because he did nkt get enoug socializtion, he did see dogs often but i guess it was not enough, i ddi had to send him to a dog trainer however long term his recall and calmess about dogs went away and he gets crazy if he was off lead he would never come back if he saw a dog, so he will have to be on lead all the time but thats fine, nit really sure how to work on the extimnet as i had to send my dog for 2 weeks to learn, but its a socialization problem and with people, i think for example urs guest and friends should give her less attention for example if they greet her when she jumps on them.. it shows hee thats she can be exited and out of control, but if urs friends or guests would only say hello to her when she calms down she would learn. Hopefuly but i would speak to a trainer about that and more socialization i would say
> 5) cody also has a cat friend and my dog is a shepherd so he chases him when the cat runs away or attacks him he get exited about it the cats should get used to it, im not sure what urs dog breed is sorry, is it a gundog? Then it might be a hunting instinct? If the dogs is like shelherd ? Then the chasing is also instincual, but we found a way to make their life easier, the cat will always eat and walk on furntiyre high away from the dog , cody though wants to just lick the cats butt and ears lol
> Also with my dog, and cat, when my parents where away these two where best friends they did not chase around like tom and jerry cody was not annoying the kitty, the kitty was so brave he walked right next to the dog wothout careing, but when my parents around they both crazy.. not sure why but it may be because if their reaction and energy they give to the animals thats they read in some way?
> Hope some of this could help and good luck


Hi, I had a bit of trouble understanding some of that, I'll try and respond as appropriately as possible, forgive me if I've misread something.

*1. *She knows the "leave it" command, and with her food, toys or treats she will listen and obey "Leave it". When it comes to washing, the cats or something she really, really wants she ignores the "Leave it" command. I could put her food in her bowl, tell her "Leave it" and walk away from it, she would just sit there and wait until I told her she could have it. If I tried this with washing she'd just ignore me and start chewing it.
*2. *I can't close the kitchen, it's all open plan in the living room/kitchen so there are no doors to close. The only two doors we have in the living room/kitchen are the patio doors and the door through to the hallway which leads to the bedroom. So the kitchen is open access to her at all times. She never gets fed when we're preparing food, and food is never left out, all her treats and food are locked away in a cupboard. She started doing it as she got bigger and realised she could put her paws on the edge of the counter, now she does it multiple times a day and won't get down until she's finished inspecting what she can see. 
*3.* She doesn't step in her pee either, and I wash the patio down daily so it's not left sitting there for days on end creating a smell that she happens to walk over. Logically there should be no way she smells of pee, except when she pees down her own legs in excitement and she gets bathed after that anyway.
*4.* People always wait for her to be calm before they greet her, because I tell everyone who sees her to wait until she's calm. She is only ever greeted when she's sat calmly, and if she starts to get excited they stop and she gets ignored until calm again. Even despite this from day one, she still gets overexcited at seeing the neighbours and other dogs, etc...
*5.* She is a gundog, yes, a springer spaniel. Her attention with the cats isn't a hunting instinct, it's not a prey drive thing. She wants to play with them, her behaviour is completely playful with them. She just doesn't seem to grasp that they don't want to play with her. I've been trying daily to let them come into the living room area, and she will be OK with them for a while, and then she'll suddenly get up and start barking at them and trying to play. It doesn't matter if they're running around or even moving, she will try and play with them when they are calmly sleeping and not paying her any attention at all. One of our cats will run away, but she doesn't really bother with that one as often because she doesn't get chance to when he runs off. The other cat will frequently stand his ground or even chase the dog off! This cat gets very stubborn and will lay on the rug refusing to move while the dog barks at him or tries to play with him, but he will stand his ground if he gets frustrated with her behaviour and this means swiping at her, this just makes her more excited. I think this may stem from her early upbringing from birth to 9 weeks old, as in that time she was allowed to play with a kitten that loved to play with her entire litter. So she grew up for those first 9 weeks believing that cats like to play, and then she's come to mine where both my cats don't want to play with her, and she's still not adjusted to that fact.


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## Barkingmad57

Hi there, we have a counter and dining table surfer! He is a 5 1/2 month old GSD cross, big enough to get his paws on both. We've had him two weeks, and it has been "down!" from morning till night, but this morning he seemed to have got it a bit and managed to be in the kitchen with me for a while lying down - until the bacon appeared, which was just too much! I know it seems like you're never going to get anywhere but hopefully keeping on with the "get down" message will get through.
We have now the tidiest house ever, just about anything Dylan can chew has been put away, and as I type my husband is putting up another dog proof shelf!! I haven't had a puppy before, and it is so full on - I have had several moments of feeling "what have we done" And I know springers can be very bouncy indeed!
Good luck with Hazel, this thread is a lifesaver, keep posting.


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## Acidic Angel

Barkingmad57 said:


> Hi there, we have a counter and dining table surfer! He is a 5 1/2 month old GSD cross, big enough to get his paws on both. We've had him two weeks, and it has been "down!" from morning till night, but this morning he seemed to have got it a bit and managed to be in the kitchen with me for a while lying down - until the bacon appeared, which was just too much! I know it seems like you're never going to get anywhere but hopefully keeping on with the "get down" message will get through.
> We have now the tidiest house ever, just about anything Dylan can chew has been put away, and as I type my husband is putting up another dog proof shelf!! I haven't had a puppy before, and it is so full on - I have had several moments of feeling "what have we done" And I know springers can be very bouncy indeed!
> Good luck with Hazel, this thread is a lifesaver, keep posting.


This thread has been very helpful from the start, when we brought her home at 9 weeks. 
I'm hoping that once she actually realises there is absolutely nothing on the kitchen side for her, she'll give up checking it multiple times a day. We're being very careful about not leaving things that might tempt her, no food, no treats, nothing even remotely edible or toy-like. I know that even leaving something tempting up there just once could cause this behaviour to carry on with the prospect of more stuff being there, so the side is always cleared. 
I know she's just expecting something nice to appear for some reason, maybe because she has seen us prepare our food up there even though she's never been allowed near the kitchen counter when food is being prepared. Unfortunately there's not a lot I can do about this, it's not like we can prepare our food elsewhere, aside from putting her in her crate whenever I'm doing any food at all it's something I'll just have to deal with.


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## Mabs

Norma is now coming towards 13 weeks and I am tearing my hair out. She's great, but some how things feel like they aren't getting easier. We've had her for 2 weeks. My husband has been sleeping next to her crate as she screams at night. 
She also hates us leaving her sight and tonight when we were putting the children to bed she howled. Putting our kids to bed is a two person job and Norma needs to be ok to be on her own but I don't know what to do to make this happen. We have stair gates so she can see us, well she hates those. I have a big assignment coming up ( mature student) and I need A) sleep and B) some time to go to the library or study quietly at home.
Help!


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## KSvedenmacher

Just need to vent a little. Yoda is now almost 6 months old and suddenly has decided he doesn't like his crate anymore. He has been crate trained since we brought him home and has always slept nicely in his crate whether at night or when we're out or at times during the day when he needs to be out of the way. Since the last week or so he has decided to whine and scratch incessantly when in the cage. He has a kong, toys and treats in the crate, but nothing helps. It just feels like I need to start from scratch with crate training and I feel so disheartened. 

Is this just due to the onset of teenage years? Nothing has happened to make him suddenly dislike his crate and he is left alone in his crate during the day for 2 hours at the longest. At night he sleeps in the crate next to my bed. He finally sleeps through the night, but wakes up at 5 and won't settle in the crate anymore after that. When I take him downstairs he happily settles in his doggie bed in the living room.


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## DaisyBluebell

There comes a time when you have to bite the bullet and take the chance of leaving the crate door open (with fingers crossed) we did it for Emma at about 9 months & the first two nights she never actually came out of her crate even though she could! We had made sure there was little she could do to hurt herself in the kitchen if she did come out. Third morning I came into the kitchen and she was sleeping on the chair so I made no fuss checked round and no damage done no pee no poo etc. Then we went out & had a coffee just across the road and again left the crate door open, kitchen door closed, for just an hour. Left her with a filled Kong & couple of little bickies and took a chance. Came in she was laying on the chair, we made no big deal told her she was a good girl gave her a little chew treat and that was it - I still do worry when I go shopping for a couple of hours but so far so good. Maybe Yoda is telling you he thinks he can be trusted? If you intend him to sleep in your bedroom normally then try taking his bed from the living room and see if he sleeps ok overnight, then take the bed back down to the living room so he gets the idea where that bed is is where he sleeps then for future reference you can take said bed away with you and hopefully he will settle in it where ever you go - have to try it some time perhaps this is the time?


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## Acidic Angel

Last night was the first night Hazel was allowed to sleep with her crate door open- And she did wonderfully!

She had a brief moment of excitement when we first went into the bedroom, because the cats were there and the bedroom is amazing anyway since she's not allowed in it freely(carpet, lots of chew opportunities normally with folded washing waiting to be put away).... But once I turned the light off and got into bed and said "Bed Time." she just got on the bed with me and settled down 

I woke up a couple of times during the night(actually one of the best nights sleep I've had for a while considering I was putting a great deal of trust in Hazel and was nervous!) and each time she was just laid on the bed with me asleep  She brought her toy to bed as well lol.
She and I both woke up at 8:30 when my alarm went off and she was ready to go out on the patio for her morning wee and then wanted her breakfast.

All in all, I'm very proud of her  I left her crate in the room with the door open so she could go in if she wanted, but she preferred to sleep on the bed with me and I'm perfectly fine with that. I love having a dog to snuggle up to at night.


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## niamh123

Well done Hazel


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## DaisyBluebell

Excellent news about Hazel, well done you to for giving her the chance to show she can be trusted (Its a hard thing to do sometimes!)


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## Danielle R

Hi I wonder if anyone can help I have a 10 week old labrador retriever puppy. Who is consistently biting it is uncontrollable he has loads of toys chew toys we tell him no we have put him in his crate when he does this also ignored him but nothing seems to be working. I'm really scared he's going to take this in to his adult years any suggestions


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## Veba

Danielle R said:


> Hi I wonder if anyone can help I have a 10 week old labrador retriever puppy. Who is consistently biting it is uncontrollable he has loads of toys chew toys we tell him no we have put him in his crate when he does this also ignored him but nothing seems to be working. I'm really scared he's going to take this in to his adult years any suggestions


It's very normal and will continue for quite a while yet. Distract him with chew toys. Or say ouch. Or stand up and walk away. Don't put him in his crate as he needs to see this as a good place. He won't understand no, you need to tell him what he should be doing


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## KSvedenmacher

Well done for Hazel! Yoda would totally sleep on the bed, but I was kinda hoping he would just sleep well in his crate. I know he loves being close to me, so maybe I just need to accept that he will need to sleep close to me. Mind you, he sleeps just fine when I am traveling for work and hubby is the only one home with him...


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## Woah

Ditto what Veba said.
It’s common for labs in particular to be mouthy. It is the way she played with litter mates and she will learn that her toys are for chewing not the humans! 
Use the technique Veba says and your dog will start to get the message but don’t expect her to cease within just a day or two. This will likely take a few weeks over which it will lessen and lessen. Ensure everyone in the family follows the same method especially children who tend to inadvertently encourage this by jumping about. Ensure you do not flap as this will be perceived as you being excited by her behaviour. Just calmly remove yourself by turning away and ignoring. Redirect to an appropriate toy. Remember she is teething so provide suitable things to chew on for a puppy her age, to meet that instinctive need.


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## Gabriellewyse

Hi fellow puppy owners. My two yorkies are 5 months old now - they are adorable and I’m just in love with them. Still having some issues with toilet training but I’ve heard yorkies are a stubborn breed my problem is they eat their own and each other’s poo when I catch them I pick it up straight away, however at times I let them out to the garden in their own, and this is when it can happen or over night. There poos are so unpredictable so I have real issues with catching them all the time. It’s not like the will poo half an hour after breakfast/dinner, on Friday they didn’t go for 6 hours then today 1 went 5 minutes after I’ve read loads of tips on it. Going to try and preserve with pineapple - I just wanted to know if anyone else had any experiences or success stories?


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## Amelia Petherbridge

Hi everyone.

I need some advice on my 6 month old Male Frenchie who has become aggrieve after he has eaten.

He is not aggressive with his food until he has finished. He will lick the bowl spotless then sit bolted to the ground and give me crazy eyes. If anyone goes near him after he is finished he growls and goes to bite you. So far the bites are more of a warning and not a bite but it is getting worse and more frequent. It takes him a while to chill out. 

I have tried different things such as putting my hand in the bowl while he is eating, taking it away from him then making him sit and giving it back, giving him treats as he eats. I also stroke him while he eats. All of this he is fine with. It is only once he is finished he gets nasty. My partner has also had the aggression starting now when he is given treats.

He eats super fast and barely chews. We feed him Raw food which he has been on since a baby. Could this be an issue? 

I am worried that when he gets bigger he will become more aggressive or he may go for a child.

Another note we are going to have him neutered soon could this help?


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## Jamesgoeswalkies

> Hi everyone.
> 
> I need some advice on my 6 month old Male Frenchie who has become aggrieve after he has eaten.
> 
> He is not aggressive with his food until he has finished. He will lick the bowl spotless then sit bolted to the ground and give me crazy eyes. If anyone goes near him after he is finished he growls and goes to bite you. So far the bites are more of a warning and not a bite but it is getting worse and more frequent. It takes him a while to chill out.
> 
> I have tried different things such as putting my hand in the bowl while he is eating, taking it away from him then making him sit and giving it back, giving him treats as he eats. I also stroke him while he eats. All of this he is fine with. It is only once he is finished he gets nasty. My partner has also had the aggression starting now when he is given treats.
> 
> He eats super fast and barely chews. We feed him Raw food which he has been on since a baby. Could this be an issue?
> 
> I am worried that when he gets bigger he will become more aggressive or he may go for a child.
> 
> Another note we are going to have him neutered soon could this help?


Hi -

My advice would be to get him a slow-feeder bowl so that he can't hoover up the food so fast. But i would also suggest that you move away from him whilst he is actually eating; touching him/stroking him/touching or removing his bowl will all make him more fidgety and less relaxed when eating. Depending on the raw food combination you are feeding him, I would also keep back some very enticing morsels (ie; a chicken wing) so that when he has finished his 'bowl' of food he comes to you (away from his bowl) for his 'treat'. This allows someone to step in and remove the bowl calmly without his seeing it as someone taking his food away. He needs to understand that his bowl when it is empty is quite worthless and not worth 'guarding'.

I would also get to work on his training (attending class/training each day etc) so that he learns some 'impulse control'.

Neutering isn't likely to make any difference to this behaviour.

J


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## Amelia Petherbridge

Thank you that is really helpful. 

A lot of people I know having dogs say to pet them while they are eating so they know you are not taking it away. The only this I worry about not b being near him while he is eating would be if someone (maybe a child) in the future going near him when he is eat in the future and him attacking them? 

Do you think after I have got him used to the bowl being worthless maybe later in training going back to the petting may help? I want him to know his food is safe when people are around. 

Yes training groups are on my plan! 

Thanks again 

Mia


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## Jamesgoeswalkies

By not going to him (petting whilst feeding) at this stage you are helping him relax around food and teaching him that he doesn't have to guard it. And by taking him away from his bowl to hand feed him something tasty, you are teaching him there is no point guarding his bowl either. Eventually with training he should be able to be relaxed enough not to be concerned if people are around when he is eating. And it isn't about a dog 'tolerating' being touched when eating (if someone tried to pat me on the head whilst i was enjoying my dinner i think I'd be ever so slightly irritated ) it's about a dog being relaxed enough around food not to worry who is there.

J


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## Amelia Petherbridge

Yes that makes complete sense thank you!


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## DaisyBluebell

This is the type of puzzle feeder that would help as Jamesgoeswalkies suggests its on Amazon for £5.99 .
*Smarterpaws Slow Eating, Fun Foraging Dog Bowl*
My Lurcher has this one & its very successful. Also as above would you really want anyone touching you or petting you while you were eating your dinner! No nor would I. To start whith when Emma had finished eating, I didn't go near her but made a massive fuss telling her how amazing she was and showing her a treat then did a 'send away' to her bed when/where she then gets the treat (she has never realised yet that the 'treat' is in fact just 2 pieces of a different type of kibble!). Now I dont have to do a send away she just finishes her food and goes straight to her bed waiting for her treat. Be consistent in what ever training you do & start training class as soon as you can. Plus everything else as JGW says above too.


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## Amelia Petherbridge

Thank you. I have been going back and forth over which one to get!


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## Acidic Angel

Well, Hazel is back to sleeping in her crate and I doubt I'll ever let her out again no matter how much noise she makes in protest.

I woke up at 4am to find she had purposefully dragged a plastic storage box out from under the bed, and then chewed up all my school documents for my grades and stuff- OK, half asleep me at 4:30am worded this weirdly. I mean all my GSCE papers and stuff, that I would need if an employer requested to see them in an interview. They are now invalid as far as I'm aware, because Hazel has chewed them all up.
I then went to go to the toilet and found she'd ripped up part of the carpet in our rented apartment.

So whether she likes it or not, she can sleep in her crate from now on. She's now proven I cannot trust her, even with multiple chews and toys in the bedroom at night.


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## KSvedenmacher

Oh, that is so frustrating! Good call putting her back in the crate, she clearly cannot be trusted. Hopefully she will grow out of it and can sleep outside of her crate when she’s a bit older and more mature.


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## Acidic Angel

KSvedenmacher said:


> Oh, that is so frustrating! Good call putting her back in the crate, she clearly cannot be trusted. Hopefully she will grow out of it and can sleep outside of her crate when she's a bit older and more mature.


As much as I'd love to let her sleep out of her crate, I love having a dog to snuggle at night, I don't think I can ever trust her again.
This is the second time she's done this now. 
The first time she pulled a calendar out from under the bed, I got that for Christmas, and ripped it up. I figured "OK, maybe that was my fault, it wasn't in a box or anything, it was just under the bed."- I thought it was too far under for her to reach it, but obviously not.
So she went back to sleeping in her crate for a couple of nights after that, including the night she did it because I woke up to her chewing it and ripping it up.

So last night I figured I'd give her another chance, made sure EVERYTHING was either in a plastic storage box or out of reach. And so instead she chewed up the carpet, bye bye deposit, and then pulled out and chewed on a plastic storage box until she got the lid off, then ransacked it


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## Boxer123

Acidic Angel said:


> As much as I'd love to let her sleep out of her crate, I love having a dog to snuggle at night, I don't think I can ever trust her again.
> This is the second time she's done this now.
> The first time she pulled a calendar out from under the bed, I got that for Christmas, and ripped it up. I figured "OK, maybe that was my fault, it wasn't in a box or anything, it was just under the bed."- I thought it was too far under for her to reach it, but obviously not.
> So she went back to sleeping in her crate for a couple of nights after that, including the night she did it because I woke up to her chewing it and ripping it up.
> 
> So last night I figured I'd give her another chance, made sure EVERYTHING was either in a plastic storage box or out of reach. And so instead she chewed up the carpet, bye bye deposit, and then pulled out and chewed on a plastic storage box until she got the lid off, then ransacked it


I have to ask how you slept through that bless you I'm such a light sleeper. My sister is an illustrator who creates bespoke pieces worth a lot of money Sox once ate one  she was not impressed!


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## Acidic Angel

Boxer123 said:


> I have to ask how you slept through that bless you I'm such a light sleeper. My sister is an illustrator who creates bespoke pieces worth a lot of money Sox once ate one  she was not impressed!


She's sneaky, she does it quietly, though she woke me up when she got carried away with it. The box she'll have got out easily as it was one that slides on the carpet because it's got a smooth base, so I would have been hard pushed to hear that when awake, let alone asleep. I've caught her a few times chewing things in the same room as me, but she's very quiet about it until she gets excited, then she loses all her ninja skills and I find out pretty quickly.
It doesn't help I've had extra trouble sleeping lately so I've been really exhausted as it is, the only time I will sleep through almost anything is when I'm completely 100% exhausted. Not just tired, not just regular exhausted, but at the point where if I don't sleep, I'm going to pass out somewhere.


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## Boxer123

Acidic Angel said:


> She's sneaky, she does it quietly, though she woke me up when she got carried away with it. The box she'll have got out easily as it was one that slides on the carpet because it's got a smooth base, so I would have been hard pushed to hear that when awake, let alone asleep. I've caught her a few times chewing things in the same room as me, but she's very quiet about it until she gets excited, then she loses all her ninja skills and I find out pretty quickly.
> It doesn't help I've had extra trouble sleeping lately so I've been really exhausted as it is, the only time I will sleep through almost anything is when I'm completely 100% exhausted. Not just tired, not just regular exhausted, but at the point where if I don't sleep, I'm going to pass out somewhere.


I suppose spaniel s are a bit more intelligent than boxers my lot make so much noise and bark at things if they are doing naughties! Don't feel bad about using the crate it's a safe space she is loved and looked after but you do need your sleep!


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## Alexandria

It's been a few years since having a puppy around so today has been hard work! I've a few things to ask about the basics with training and behaviour, a couple of which I haven't experienced with my last 2 dogs. 
1) He constantly walks around my feet while I'm walking about and I keep nearly stepping on him despite being careful. Will he just learn to stop? Is it because he's got so attached to me and is wary of the new environment?
2) Every time I change the puppy pads or clean up any accidents he dive bombs me and thinks its a game, trying to grab the kitchen roll in my hand and jumps around like a maniac. I've been pushing him to one side and saying a stern 'no' but he's relentless. I've started grabbing a toy and throwing it in the opposite direction to divert his attention while I quickly clean up.
3) I take him outside regularly to toilet. He's done 2 wee's and 1 poo out there yesterday but today he just constantly tries to sit on my feet or get between my ankles. I expect it's because it's freezing. Then when we go inside he goes nearly strait away. It's hard to catch him 'in there act' as he's so quick he's done it by the time I pick him up and put him on a pad. However he has gone to the pads a couple of times today. Should I concentrate on pad training him indoors (he's gone to the ones by the door 3 times today) with the weather being absolutely freezing or persevere with outside?
4) He cries every time I leave the room. He settled in his crate yesterday whilst I was with him so I left him in there in the kitchen last night. He cried but settled down after a little while. Today when I did the school run he cried when we left. When I got home 20 minutes later I stood outside to listen and he was quiet and lay down snuggled up when I came in. When I'm in the room, when he's had a play he lies on my foot the whole time and just sleeps. I did manage to go to the toilet today without him waking up and going mad. Will it just take time for him to realise I do come back and he doesn't need to panic.

We are only on day 2 but I just want to make sure I'm starting as I mean to go on as I know consistency goes a long way. When he jumps up and claws at me when I sit down, I gently push him down and say 'down'. Only when he stays down do I then make a fuss of him and then he settles down. So that seems to be having some effect.


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## Boxer123

Alexandria said:


> It's been a few years since having a puppy around so today has been hard work! I've a few things to ask about the basics with training and behaviour, a couple of which I haven't experienced with my last 2 dogs.
> 1) He constantly walks around my feet while I'm walking about and I keep nearly stepping on him despite being careful. Will he just learn to stop? Is it because he's got so attached to me and is wary of the new environment?
> 2) Every time I change the puppy pads or clean up any accidents he dive bombs me and thinks its a game, trying to grab the kitchen roll in my hand and jumps around like a maniac. I've been pushing him to one side and saying a stern 'no' but he's relentless. I've started grabbing a toy and throwing it in the opposite direction to divert his attention while I quickly clean up.
> 3) I take him outside regularly to toilet. He's done 2 wee's and 1 poo out there yesterday but today he just constantly tries to sit on my feet or get between my ankles. I expect it's because it's freezing. Then when we go inside he goes nearly strait away. It's hard to catch him 'in there act' as he's so quick he's done it by the time I pick him up and put him on a pad. However he has gone to the pads a couple of times today. Should I concentrate on pad training him indoors (he's gone to the ones by the door 3 times today) with the weather being absolutely freezing or persevere with outside?
> 4) He cries every time I leave the room. He settled in his crate yesterday whilst I was with him so I left him in there in the kitchen last night. He cried but settled down after a little while. Today when I did the school run he cried when we left. When I got home 20 minutes later I stood outside to listen and he was quiet and lay down snuggled up when I came in. When I'm in the room, when he's had a play he lies on my foot the whole time and just sleeps. I did manage to go to the toilet today without him waking up and going mad. Will it just take time for him to realise I do come back and he doesn't need to panic.
> 
> We are only on day 2 but I just want to make sure I'm starting as I mean to go on as I know consistency goes a long way. When he jumps up and claws at me when I sit down, I gently push him down and say 'down'. Only when he stays down do I then make a fuss of him and then he settles down. So that seems to be having some effect.


Hello I have a 14 wk old pup some suggestions;

Ditch the pads they are confusing for puppies. I had similar problems with him dashing in I thought it was the cold. A few weeks later he has got it. Still have accidents inside but much better.

His crate needs to be a safe space can some one stay with him overnight until he settles ?

They do try to play when cleaning up just redirect or pop him in his crate pushing away will probably rile him up more.

My four year old dog is constantly under foot can't help you there.


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## Alexandria

Boxer123 said:


> Hello I have a 14 wk old pup some suggestions;
> 
> Ditch the pads they are confusing for puppies. I had similar problems with him dashing in I thought it was the cold. A few weeks later he has got it. Still have accidents inside but much better.
> 
> His crate needs to be a safe space can some one stay with him overnight until he settles ?
> 
> They do try to play when cleaning up just redirect or pop him in his crate pushing away will probably rile him up more.
> 
> My four year old dog is constantly under foot can't help you there.


Thank you for that. I got the impression that me pushing him away was probably me making it into a game and riling him up more. 
He does settle in his crate when I'm in the room. It's when I leave the room, wether in his crate or not he cries and barks.


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## Alexandria

Also he’s started taking things into his crate like toys or like today when he stole a tea towel out of the washing


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## Boxer123

Alexandria said:


> Thank you for that. I got the impression that me pushing him away was probably me making it into a game and riling him up more.
> He does settle in his crate when I'm in the room. It's when I leave the room, wether in his crate or not he cries and barks.


The reason puppies are cute is because they are super annoying if I had a pound every time mine attacked the floor cloth. Try building up slowly pop him in crate with long leave for 30 seconds return make no fuss. Slowly up this. Mine isn't bothered when I go out but today cried his little heart out when I took my older boy out without him so not sure what to do there hubby was home !


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## Alexandria

Ha ha I was saying this today! It’s lime human babies. It must be a nature thing so we don’t just leave them when the going gets tough.


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## DamKri

Hey
1) every time I see him sniffing I know he will do a wee or a poo, I put the puppy Mat under his but whilst he does his business. Then I give him a treat. Now he knows if he does good things then good things will come. You have to first understand and recognise your puppies sign and behaviour just before he is about to.

2) crate. I have to put the crate in our door way so the puppy can see us. He does cry and winge but soon as I turn light off and sleep he does the same. He will cry in the middle of the night because he wants to do his business (and they normally don't poop where they sleep) so when he cries I get out and show him the puppy mat. I don't make too much contact or else he will think it's play time. Soon as he has done it I'll give him a treat and guide him back to his bed.

3. I feel guilty too but I know the best thing is for him to get used to this and understand this is his house, and the owners will come back for him. Mine howls for 20 min and then relax.


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## KSvedenmacher

DamKri said:


> Hey
> 1) every time I see him sniffing I know he will do a wee or a poo, I put the puppy Mat under his but whilst he does his business. Then I give him a treat. Now he knows if he does good things then good things will come. You have to first understand and recognise your puppies sign and behaviour just before he is about to.
> 
> 2) crate. I have to put the crate in our door way so the puppy can see us. He does cry and winge but soon as I turn light off and sleep he does the same. He will cry in the middle of the night because he wants to do his business (and they normally don't poop where they sleep) so when he cries I get out and show him the puppy mat. I don't make too much contact or else he will think it's play time. Soon as he has done it I'll give him a treat and guide him back to his bed.
> 
> 3. I feel guilty too but I know the best thing is for him to get used to this and understand this is his house, and the owners will come back for him. Mine howls for 20 min and then relax.


1) Reward based training is very effective, so well done for recognising this. I would caution against using puppy pads though, as essentially you are teaching your puppy to do his business inside. You will then have to teach him to do his business outside, so basically starting from scratch again. I would ditch the puppy pads and train him to go outside right from the start.

2) Well done for crate training him, once he is used to his crate and happy to be in it, it makes life so much easier!


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## DamKri

KSvedenmacher said:


> 1) Reward based training is very effective, so well done for recognising this. I would caution against using puppy pads though, as essentially you are teaching your puppy to do his business inside. You will then have to teach him to do his business outside, so basically starting from scratch again. I would ditch the puppy pads and train him to go outside right from the start.
> 
> 2) Well done for crate training him, once he is used to his crate and happy to be in it, it makes life so much easier!


Thank you!!! Every week I move the mat closer and closer to the door and eventually outside. Vet said I can't take him out until his second vaccination


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## DamKri

KSvedenmacher said:


> 1) Reward based training is very effective, so well done for recognising this. I would caution against using puppy pads though, as essentially you are teaching your puppy to do his business inside. You will then have to teach him to do his business outside, so basically starting from scratch again. I would ditch the puppy pads and train him to go outside right from the start.
> 
> 2) Well done for crate training him, once he is used to his crate and happy to be in it, it makes life so much easier!


I actually need ur advice on one thing though:
NEED HELP AND ADVICE !

I have a 9 week old malinois who is happy, well trained and we have trust in each other.
I recently had to go hospital for 4 days so I had to give him to a dog sitter. I have him back now and he was acting weird. Didn't seem to trust me, kept biting his paws and seems so sad. I took him to the vet and she said that he may be anxious. He doesn't listen to my commands anymore. What should I do go gain his trust again and make him feel at home. I love him so much. 
P.s why can't a post my own thread?


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## RowCae

Hi everyone I'm just place marking and introducing my newest addition, Skye, a 6.5w old lab  we bring her home in under 2 weeks!


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## Acidic Angel

RowCae said:


> Hi everyone I'm just place marking and introducing my newest addition, Skye, a 6.5w old lab  we bring her home in under 2 weeks!
> View attachment 399100


Welcome! Gorgeous little pup!!

A few notes which you may have picked up on, if you've read the thread(or the majority of it anyway)-
1. You may feel like you've made a huge mistake at some point in the first month or so after getting your little one, this is totally normal. Power through and you'll be fine, trust me  
2. Accidents are bound to happen, no matter how attentive you are. Overnight when your pup is still young you will need to be waking up frequently to take her out to potty.
3. Hide ALL valuable things! They will be found if not hidden well, and they will be chewed lol. One of my brand new shoes lost it's sole in the first week because I thought my girl couldn't reach it, and she proved me wrong :Arghh

Owning a puppy is much like a toddler, you have to tell them when to sleep, when to eat and when to play(and how to play!) 
It's rewarding though, to see them progress as they grow and learn.


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## Acidic Angel

So things have been going well for Hazel until maybe a week ago....

I'm starting to feel a bit defeated again with her behaviour.
About a week ago she started becoming really "misbehaved", I know that's the wrong word for it but that's how it feels. 

I thought we were good, but it's like she's reverted back to being a 9 week old puppy again at 11 months old...

She chose to pee in the house instead of outside two days ago, actively chose to come in and pee instead of going while outside. She's not had any accidents, etc. inside since she was about 5 months old! So for her to actively choose to do this really shocked me.
She went to the patio door to tell me she needed to go out, so I opened it and let her out. We were stood out there for a good 25-30 minutes, while we were out she went digging in my plant pots and started messing with my plants, and then after about 20 mins she went and stood by the door as if she needed to go in. I told her to go "wee wees" which is her cue word, and she walked around to where she normally pee's so I thought "Oh good, here we go" but she just turned right around and stood at the door again. I gave her another five minutes and nothing so we went in, she walked into the kitchen and looked at me as I shut the patio door.
Literally as my hand left the door handle, she walked to the middle of the room, squatted and peed.

And today she's chewed up a USB cable that was plugged in and charging my phone, it obviously slipped out when I nudged my phone and I didn't realise. She brought her hoof chew over and laid down in front of the sofa with it so I paid no attention because A. I thought my phone was charging and B. I thought Hazel was chewing her hoof... And then I saw the wire twitch, looked down at her and her hoof was discarded and she had the end of the wire in her mouth instead. Completely wrecked it, it was brand new 2 weeks ago... Again, she's not touched a wire for months. Of course, she was fascinated by them when younger, but she learnt that they were off limits pretty quckly after being shown that other things were much more fun(toys, namely)...

If todays chewing was a one off, I'd say maybe she's just a bit bored and needed some stimulation, but given the peeing and some other behaviours over the past week, I'm starting to wonder.. She's still not had a season, she's a late bloomer, so I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not, but it's really making me feel defeated again.

Is it possible she's just being a rowdy teenager given she's coming up to a year old? If so, I guess I just have to stick with her training and power through eh?


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## DaisyBluebell

She may well be coming up to her first season, Emma didnt have hers until 15 months I think it was, & her behavior changed to the extent I actually said to my OH I think this dog has either gone mad, having a phantom pregnancy or is coming into season - she was actually coming into season bless her and could not understand what was happening to herself, just keep an eye out for digging her bed up or going round and round before she lays down, I put white vet bed in Emma's bed so that I could spot any blood drips, she kept herself very clean once it actually started but I was able to spot a little blood so knew it was starting. 
If it is her season get yourself some Johnson's Bitch Spray, follow instructions (spray round nether region area) & you will still be able to take her out for walks but KEEP her on a lead if you do or she will be off looking for any good looking male she can find!
You have worked wonders with her so do not get discouraged now.


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> She may well be coming up to her first season, Emma didnt have hers until 15 months I think it was, & her behavior changed to the extent I actually said to my OH I think this dog has either gone mad, having a phantom pregnancy or is coming into season - she was actually coming into season bless her and could not understand what was happening to herself, just keep an eye out for digging her bed up or going round and round before she lays down, I put white vet bed in Emma's bed so that I could spot any blood drips, she kept herself very clean once it actually started but I was able to spot a little blood so knew it was starting.
> If it is her season get yourself some Johnson's Bitch Spray, follow instructions (spray round nether region area) & you will still be able to take her out for walks but KEEP her on a lead if you do or she will be off looking for any good looking male she can find!
> You have worked wonders with her so do not get discouraged now.


She does those behaviours(the digging her bed and going round and round before laying down) daily and always has, so they won't be telltale signs for her unfortunately.

I have to admit, I've been waiting for her first season mostly just to see if she matures a little bit after it. She's still very puppy like right now, a few people haven mentioned it may be due to her lack of a season, and that after her first one she might mature a bit.

She's not allowed off lead anyway, but I'll keep her on a short lead when in season rather than letting her on the long line as the long line still gives her some "distance" between her and me, so there's still room for error. Bitch Spray we already have in prep for her season  
Thank you for that reply, sometimes an outside perspective helps as I don't feel like I've worked wonders myself lol. I can see her improvement that's for sure, but I don't feel like I've worked wonders because she still has so many issues


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## Beckzorz

Hey guys,

Been reading this thread the past few days and it’s really calmed me down.

I’ve had my little guy for 2 weeks now and had some serious puppy blues.
I’ve barely eaten, barely slept and cried ALOT!!

My main anxiety is him not being able to be alone at all, he follows me or my partner everywhere. My partner works full time and I’m currently off sick so it’s just me and the puppy most of the time.
I’ve got a dog trainer who has said I need to let him follow me everywhere for a while so he ends up trusting me and knowing I’m not abandoning him, but also to train him by leaving some treats and walking to the door and coming back instantly and repeating until he gets bored. Which works as by the end he doesn’t follow me as long as I come back instantly so I’m hoping that will improve and I can increase the time.

I just really need some down time! It’s exhausting having a shadow to constantly keep an eye on, try not to trip over, clean up after and keep calm during the night. It’s all left me feeling very trapped 

Don’t get me wrong, he’s lovely and I don’t mean to be so negative but it’s just so over whelming not having any down time

Thanks for reading


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## Beckzorz

I forgot the obligatory picture,

Here is our little chewie


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## IvyInspired

Hi Guys, 

Finally read all 47 pages of this thread (woof!) and thought I would finally say hello. Me and my OH are bringing home an 8 week old blue Staffordshire Bull Terrier pup next Friday and I am so excited yet also so apprehensive for what's to come!

I already own 3 cats and at the moment the house is a very cat centred environment as a result. In order to ensure that they don't feel that their noses are being pushed out of joint too badly by the new arrival, we have converted our back bedroom into a cat play area, and have began feeding them in that room too. We will fit a baby gate to the bottom of the stairs so that the pup wont have access to their space, and our downstairs doors have glass panels so I'm hoping being able to look at each other through the glass and the cats can gain confidence that way without feeling threatened.

It has been my OH's idea to get the dog, as he has grown up with them (as have I) and misses the companionship of a dog, especially as with his shift work, he has blocks of days off work without me during which time he feels lonely as the cats generally ignore him for the most part. I really feel for his cause, and agree that a dog would benefit both of us in this way, but I really do worry about the impact of this on my beloved felines, so any pup/cat introduction advice would be brilliant, particularly if anyone has experience introducing a dog to a multi cat household.

Also I was going to ask - I have seen the general consensus on a bedtime routine for when you first bring a pup home is ideally to set his crate up in your bedroom so that he can be reassured in the night and not develop fear/anxiety at being left in his crate - however, currently the 3 cats sleep upstairs on our bed, and I wanted the upstairs of the house to remain their sanctuary away from him until they have been properly introduced, and particularly feel that their sleeping habits should not be disrupted as this could cause tensions between them and the pup. In this case then, are we best setting the crate up in the living room (its forever home will ultimately be our kitchen), and sleeping on the sofa where its easy to reassure him and let him out for toilet breaks, with the idea to slowly move his crate towards the kitchen and eventually be able to slip off upstairs and resume our own sleeping arrangements upstairs?
Any input on this would be extremely helpful!

Also, sorry for the newbie question but if anyone can direct me to the thread which explains how to add pictures to a post and I can show you all what he looks like!

Thanks for reading!


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## IvyInspired

Ignore my last question, just spotted the 'upload a file' button, which I'm pretty certain wasn't there last time I was on this site looking for kitten advice many years ago!

Anyway, this was Finn at 3 weeks old when we went to visit him:









​
And this second picture is a tad more grainy and is one of the pics we got from the breeder last week when he was 6 weeks :


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## Acidic Angel

What were we saying last week @DaisyBluebell ?

Guess who started her first heat cycle today >.<

Now the fun starts it seems!


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## DaisyBluebell

IvyInspired said:


> Ignore my last question, just spotted the 'upload a file' button, which I'm pretty certain wasn't there last time I was on this site looking for kitten advice many years ago!
> Anyway, this was Finn at 3 weeks old when we went to visit him:
> View attachment 399911
> 
> And this second picture is a tad more grainy and is one of the pics we got from the breeder last week when he was 6 weeks :
> View attachment 399912


Gorgeous pup. It is so important for the little one to feel loved secure and happy & not left alone at night having been living with his mum and siblings until 8 weeks + old as you have noted in previous posts. So yes if you really cannot have him in your room (worth trying even with the cats there as they may want to mother him) then please please be with him in whatever room, it may take a few weeks so be prepared for that, the other reason to be close is because their tiny bladders cannot hold for very long as you will probably know so being with him at night means you can get him out as soon as he starts shuffling about or squeeking meaning I want to/need to pee NOW. Doing it that way means he will be house trained much much sooner (Never use puppy pads its just means to them its ok to go inside!) Start how you mean to go on with the little one. Once our Emma was clean and able to be left overnight when I came in to the kitchen each morning I totally ignored her until I had made tea etc only then did I speak with her and let her out of her cage. So from the beginning she accepted that first thing in the morning meant no made rushing at the cage or peeing with excitment (yes its hard when you just want to pick them up and love them but it is for their own benefit as well as yours in the long term).
Looking forward to seeing the little one develop. Good luck


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## DaisyBluebell

Acidic Angel said:


> What were we saying last week @DaisyBluebell ?
> Guess who started her first heat cycle today >.<
> Now the fun starts it seems!


LOL told ya so......
At least now you know all is well with her. Just remember if you want to take her out keep her on lead and use the Bitch Spray - no need to exclude her from her walks.
If your not going to breed from her it is better for her in the long run to have her spayed in which case speak with your vet & get her booked in. 
Puppy Hazel in now a young lady - physically if not mentally! Emma is 2 this Sunday but you would never know it as regards her mentality


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> LOL told ya so......
> At least now you know all is well with her. Just remember if you want to take her out keep her on lead and use the Bitch Spray - no need to exclude her from her walks.
> If your not going to breed from her it is better for her in the long run to have her spayed in which case speak with your vet & get her booked in.
> Puppy Hazel in now a young lady - physically if not mentally! Emma is 2 this Sunday but you would never know it as regards her mentality


She'll still have her walks, just without her long line runs unfortunately. I'll have to up the mental stimulation for her to make up for it lol.

I would like to get her spayed, my fiance on the other hand wants to keep open the option of breeding her :Shifty
Either way, I won't be getting her spayed until she's fully done developing anyway, so once her growth plates are closed and such, usually around the 2 year mark.


----------



## RowCae

Hi everyone,

We brought Skye home today! She seems to have settled really well. She's had a few accidents indoors but also had a few successes outside. I'm nervous about our first night, but hoping it wont be too bad. Crate will be in our bedroom beside the bed for now and we are going to take her out a few times in the night, hoping it goes well! Wish us luck!


----------



## RowCae

One question I do have is when you take them out for a wee or poo do you always wait until they do something? How long do you leave it? Currently Skye is playing in the garden and hasn't performed (we've been out here for 15min)


----------



## Guest

RowCae said:


> One question I do have is when you take them out for a wee or poo do you always wait until they do something? How long do you leave it? Currently Skye is playing in the garden and hasn't performed (we've been out here for 15min)


Skye is super-cute!

Different people will tell you different things. The problem with playing in the garden is they tend to get caught up in what they're doing and forget to toilet. Personally I'd make toileting and playing two distinct things. For toileting take her out on a lead. If she doesn't go within 10 minutes, I'd take her back inside but keep a very close eye on her or keep her tethered to me and take her out again 5 minutes later. Lots and lots of praise and treats and playtime when she toilets.


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## RowCae

Thank you, I'll start doing that then! Our breeder recommended the slip not style leads, are these ok for 8 week old pups? Or should we get a small clip lead for the garden?

Also are these ok for puppies? It's sort of a hard bone chew (made of vegetable apparently)


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## DaisyBluebell

100% what McKenzie said about on lead in garden. 
Get a puppy collar ([email protected]) and leave it on her, she will then get used to wearing a collar which makes life easier when you start taking her out. You should be able to get two fingers underneath it - not too tight but not too loose. Then you can always catch her and put your lead on her. 
The trouble with slip leads is that a lot of people who use them don't seem to know the right way to put them on! So save that for if you actually want to use one at a later date.
She is super cute by the way.


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## DaisyBluebell

Re the chew bone, it may cause a tummy upset on such a young puppy. Get a puppy Nylabone for the time being. Also toys that they can chew on when their little teeth start coming thu.


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## RowCae

Thanks we've ditched the bone on advice of the vet too, the people in pets at home said it was safe for puppies!


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## RowCae

Skye seems to have settled really well. She went all day with no accidents and then suddenly did a wee and poo with no warning! 

My husband has decided to sleep in a different room with her for this week until she's a bit more settled at night.


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## Acidic Angel

Hazel is on day 5/6(it's that crossover period) of her first season now and we've hit a roadblock...

I want to go to bed :Arghh But whenever I put Hazel in her crate to settle down she whimpers and whines and won't settle even with reassurance, so we're currently sat in the living room and I just keep trying her every 30-45 minutes. If she won't settle soon then I'll just sleep on the sofa with her tonight, she's currently laid on the sofa next to me cuddling her bone, looking quite on edge bless her


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## DaisyBluebell

Poor girl, like adults these things take some worse than others, another good reason to think about having her spayed, not nice to have to go thru that each time. Hope she is better soon.


----------



## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Poor girl, like adults these things take some worse than others, another good reason to think about having her spayed, not nice to have to go thru that each time. Hope she is better soon.


She finally settled and I managed to get some sleep at last. 
I want to get her spayed once she's done growing and maturing basically, but my fiance wants to leave open the option of breeding her infuture  Originally this was my plan too, had she been able to prove herself a good worker like her mum, but she's not been trained for working or anything so there's no point in breeding her.

I'll just have to keep whittling him down to get her spayed at 18-24 months.


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## RowCae

So talk to me about the puppy blues. We are 3 days in and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with it. We've got two young kids and I thought I'd prepared myself mentally for essentially having another new born for a few weeks but starting to wonder if we've taken on too much. It doesn't help that everyone in the house has been hit by a sickness bug so even getting up to take her for a wee is a huge effort!


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## Beckzorz

RowCae said:


> So talk to me about the puppy blues. We are 3 days in and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with it. We've got two young kids and I thought I'd prepared myself mentally for essentially having another new born for a few weeks but starting to wonder if we've taken on too much. It doesn't help that everyone in the house has been hit by a sickness bug so even getting up to take her for a wee is a huge effort!


If you look a few posts up I had MAJOR puppy blues when I first got my little guy. Couldn't sleep or eat, so anxious all the time, wanted to give him back, I felt genuinely depressed!
But I'm almost a month in and it's SO much better. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect but it's better.

The things that helped me were 
- knowing that these feelings are normal, so many people get the puppy blues and it feels like it will never end but it does and it doesn't take too long
- getting some sleep!! Puppies are hard work, especially during the night so trying to get some sleep will really help, what are the sleeping arrangements at the moment?
- try and get some support, either from a partner, family, friends. Just get someone to look after the pup for a couple of hours every now and then so you can look after yourself for bit


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## Beckzorz

Even though I’ve just posted saying puppy blues gets better (which it does!) I still need a bit of help

How long does it take everyone’s puppy to settle at night?
At the suggestion of our trainer I have the puppy bed next to my bed, so I can comfort him if he needs it, and so far that’s worked really well, once he’s asleep, but getting him to sleep is another story!
Can take up to 2 hours every night to try and settle him down and no idea if this is normal, he’s 3 months now.
He cries and tries to get up on the bed with us (which he has never slept in so don’t know where he’s got that idea from)

I just don’t know if it’s normal to take them so long to settle so wondered what others peoples experiences were

Thanks


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## DaisyBluebell

RowCae said:


> So talk to me about the puppy blues. We are 3 days in and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with it. We've got two young kids and I thought I'd prepared myself mentally for essentially having another new born for a few weeks but starting to wonder if we've taken on too much. It doesn't help that everyone in the house has been hit by a sickness bug so even getting up to take her for a wee is a huge effort!


You are having a double bubble here, you have a puppy in the house demanding a lot of attention, you also have children and yourself who are all suffering from a sickness bug! You would be a superwomen/man to not feel overwhelmed with whats happening. Just think of it as having a housefull of babies who all need your attention ! You will get there as we have all done, once you start to feel better yourself it will fall in to place, just keep thinking ahead to how wonderful its going to be when your all well and Luna is settled more (remember she is coping with you as well as you coping with her) & you are all able to get out for a little walk together.
Did you get her a little collar yet?


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## DaisyBluebell

Beckzorz said:


> How long does it take everyone's puppy to settle at night?
> At the suggestion of our trainer I have the puppy bed next to my bed, so I can comfort him if he needs it, and so far that's worked really well, once he's asleep, but getting him to sleep is another story!
> Can take up to 2 hours every night to try and settle him down and no idea if this is normal, he's 3 months now.
> He cries and tries to get up on the bed with us (which he has never slept in so don't know where he's got that idea from)
> I just don't know if it's normal to take them so long to settle so wondered what others peoples experiences were
> Thanks


How long is a piece of string? They are all different, just like having children! You have done 100% right by having the pup in your room,the fact that he is trying to get on the bed means he is craving comfort from you a little more than just being in the room with you. My OH had his pup (rescued at 5 weeks old ) in a cardboard box on the bed with him and slept with his hand in the box on the pup! His girl lived to 18 and they were inseparable, she went to work with him every day too. I'm not suggesting it if that is not convenient but is there a possibility of you just having you hand on him next to you in his bed? Its just reassurance he is craving & to know that its safe to go to sleep as your there to guard him as his mum did. It will take as long as it takes but doing the above will make a bond between you that will last for life - its worth that isnt it!
Any pictures of your little one?


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## Beckzorz

Yeah I always try and comfort him, often have my hand down there if he needs it and give him lots of cuddles before putting him in bed. 
I just get worried reading about everyone having this 'perfect puppy' at 12 weeks who settles themselves and sleeps through the night and just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.
Thanks for your reassurance 

Here is a pic of Chewie!



DaisyBluebell said:


> How long is a piece of string? They are all different, just like having children! You have done 100% right by having the pup in your room,the fact that he is trying to get on the bed means he is craving comfort from you a little more than just being in the room with you. My OH had his pup (rescued at 5 weeks old ) in a cardboard box on the bed with him and slept with his hand in the box on the pup! His girl lived to 18 and they were inseparable, she went to work with him every day too. I'm not suggesting it if that is not convenient but is there a possibility of you just having you hand on him next to you in his bed? Its just reassurance he is craving & to know that its safe to go to sleep as your there to guard him as his mum did. It will take as long as it takes but doing the above will make a bond between you that will last for life - its worth that isnt it!
> Any pictures of your little one?


----------



## DaisyBluebell

OMG I'd have that little one cuddled up on the pillow with me - he's gorgeous!
The only ones telling you they had the perfect puppy at 12 weeks are probably either not telling the truth or have conveniently forgotten the actual struggle they had in the first place! Pay no heed to them. At 12 weeks they would/should only have had their pup for 4 weeks ! At 4 weeks our Emma although house trained (we put in 100% effort at that) Was a little nightmare & I even considered the idea of returning her to the breeder! At 2 she is almost perfect in ways I never dreamed she would be!
Your pup just needs that extra bit of reassurance in the scary dark night without her brothers n sisters n mum snuggled with her which they were for 8 weeks of her life just keep that in mind.


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## Ruthipegs

Hi all, 
Been flicking through the posts on this thread and they're making me feel slightly better I think.

Suffering with puppy blues big time. Did loads of research, but wasn't prepared for this at all. I think I'm at the stage where I feel that we'll never be able to go out or have a relaxing morning / evening again. And I'm struggling with that. I suffer from anxiety and depression anyway and feel all the tell tale signs creeping up on me.

We have a beautiful almost 10 week old pup (mini dachshund) called Herbert. He's a sweetie, very attached to me though - I can't even go to the toilet in peace! He's slowly but surely getting the knack of toilet training - at the mo we spend all our time watching out for the signs so we can whip him out, I know that will pass eventually.

I'd love some reassurance that this will get better and I won't feel like I do forever. It's scaring me and really affecting my bond with Herb. 

Thanks for listening


----------



## Veba

He's a cutie  

It really does get better! My pup wouldn't leave me alone, I even had him in the bathroom when I showered. Now he'll happily sleep at the bottom of the stairs if I have to go up for something. I used to cry on the way to work as he'd be upset in his crate/pen and now he'll sleep for 4 hours there happily. He sleeps all night and is happy to have lazy mornings. If we've been with him during the day we know we can leave him in the evening. 

The first time he goes to the door to ask out for a pee is amazing!


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## Guest

Hello, joining this thread. I have a huntaway/lab cross puppy girl named Nova. We've had her for almost 7 weeks now and she is 17weeks old. Experienced some major puppyy blues feelings within the first two weeks, but it has mainly subsided now.


----------



## Guest

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## JoanneF

Churl Shin said:


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----------



## Hlbx

Hi everyone  I’m a first time dog Mumma to baby Bertie. He’s a labradoodle and now 10 weeks old. We brought him home on Saturday. He has been such a good boy and has almost toilet trained himself. He also sits when we ask him to, and he’s getting the hang of crate training at night.
My question was relating to immunisations and socialisation. He has his first set of imms tomorrow, so I know that we probably won’t be going anywhere for the next 4 weeks. But I am going absolutely crazy in the house. I am majorly suffering from the puppy blues and have spent my days crying! I’m exhausted, sleep deprived and I’ve completely underestimated how hard puppies are. He is so energetic and playful and loves new people to give him attention. I think it would do us the world of good to go on a loooong walk as there’s only so many times we can run around the garden but obviously I don’t want him to come into contact with anything nasty because he’s obviously vulnerable without the imms.
Can you give me some ideas as to how you helped socialise your dogs in the early days without risking their health? 
Thank you all so much!


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## DaisyBluebell

Get yourself a Puppy Sling from Amazon, we found it an absolute boon when we got our pup. You just wear it over your shoulder with pup inside it and can go out walking to your hearts content. Socialising your pup doesnt only mean meeting other dogs (sometimes that's over stimulation) but getting him used to smells n sounds outside. Go sit on a bench with him in the sling so he gets used to the outside, the mental stimulation will also tire him so you can both get a well earned break.
He looks a lovely puppy, keep at it the time will go so fast & you will eventually wonder what your puppy blues where all about!


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## DanWalkersmum

Beckzorz said:


> Yeah I always try and comfort him, often have my hand down there if he needs it and give him lots of cuddles before putting him in bed.
> I just get worried reading about everyone having this 'perfect puppy' at 12 weeks who settles themselves and sleeps through the night and just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.
> Thanks for your reassurance
> 
> Here is a pic of Chewie!


Gorgeous pup! 
My pup is six month two weeks old and although he is abit more settled he is not perfect by anymeans! I have yet to meet one that is! He still takes a while to settle some nights and we have him in our room he will walk about and start to lick the side of the bed for ages, then scratch it, usually ends up with one of us getting up and going downstairs with him, when he will immediately curl up and go to sleep, on my pouffe! grrrr. We have had him since he was eight weeks old and he is worth all the pain and disturbance we love him to bits. 
It really does get better as your pup starts to settle in and understand you and your rules and routines. Good luck with him X Her's Dan by the duck pond in Foolow a couple of weeks ago.

IMG_20190405_125421.jpg


----------



## DanWalkersmum

Ruthipegs said:


> Hi all,
> Been flicking through the posts on this thread and they're making me feel slightly better I think.
> 
> Suffering with puppy blues big time. Did loads of research, but wasn't prepared for this at all. I think I'm at the stage where I feel that we'll never be able to go out or have a relaxing morning / evening again. And I'm struggling with that. I suffer from anxiety and depression anyway and feel all the tell tale signs creeping up on me.
> 
> We have a beautiful almost 10 week old pup (mini dachshund) called Herbert. He's a sweetie, very attached to me though - I can't even go to the toilet in peace! He's slowly but surely getting the knack of toilet training - at the mo we spend all our time watching out for the signs so we can whip him out, I know that will pass eventually.
> 
> I'd love some reassurance that this will get better and I won't feel like I do forever. It's scaring me and really affecting my bond with Herb.
> 
> Thanks for listening


He's lovely, we have one in puppy class just like him.
I did the same before getting our pup, a little history here:- 
Always wanted a dog, not had one since I left home and had to work full time so, nearing retirement (October 2018) decided this was a good time to commit, started looking a couple of months before and decided on the type of dog that should suit our lifestyle and budget (also had to look pretty for me). Retired at the end of October and found Dan in the next town (online) went just to look and fell hook line and sinker when he curled up on my shoulder and went to sleep. Picked him up a week later (December 10th) he was eight weeks old and then the whole thing hit home. I had the puppy blues big time, what had we done! He settled in quite well really, used puppy pads (mostly)with the odd accisent at the side of the pad. Had a few tummy upsets and feeding problems. He swallowed part of a toy and had to go to the vet. He ate goose poop in the park - anothe trip to the vet........We found that if we could try to stay calm and not make a fuss if he did something we don't like it makes things easier. He's just a puppy after all. But, we are boith retired and have loads of time for him and have taken to daytime naps/sleep catchup lol. Just like when our boys were babies (the lack of sleep I mean)
We have now had the carpet cleaned so hope no more accidents?/? 
Good luck with your pup. It really does get better and hopefully will get even better still in another six months.
We went to puppy classes (kennel club good citizen) it taught me a lot and not just how to get him to sit and stay, also how to be a responsible owner I can fully recommend it if you have any trainers nearby.


----------



## DanWalkersmum

Hlbx said:


> Hi everyone  I'm a first time dog Mumma to baby Bertie. He's a labradoodle and now 10 weeks old. We brought him home on Saturday. He has been such a good boy and has almost toilet trained himself. He also sits when we ask him to, and he's getting the hang of crate training at night.
> My question was relating to immunisations and socialisation. He has his first set of imms tomorrow, so I know that we probably won't be going anywhere for the next 4 weeks. But I am going absolutely crazy in the house. I am majorly suffering from the puppy blues and have spent my days crying! I'm exhausted, sleep deprived and I've completely underestimated how hard puppies are. He is so energetic and playful and loves new people to give him attention. I think it would do us the world of good to go on a loooong walk as there's only so many times we can run around the garden but obviously I don't want him to come into contact with anything nasty because he's obviously vulnerable without the imms.
> Can you give me some ideas as to how you helped socialise your dogs in the early days without risking their health?
> Thank you all so much!


Hello, gorgeous pup! I've also recently been where you are with the not being able to go out until we found that we could let him out in our own enclosed garden ( we did not realise this). We took him to visit family and friends (carrying him) by car., complete with bowls, pads etc on pre-arranged short visits. Took him to pets at home (again by car and carrying him.) I must admit though you are right it does seem like a very long time when you are going through it. Nearly broke me! You need to get someone else to look after him for a while so that you can go to the shops or visit a friend for a couple of hours, it will do you the world of good. By tje way you can only walk them for a limited time when they re pups as they are still growing! We didn't know this at first until puppy classes, first session without pup (kennel club good citizen ) it's five minutes per month of age of puppy - we re now at half an hour, twice a day. Apparently it's something to do with growth?


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## Guest

DanWalkersmum said:


> By tje way you can only walk them for a limited time when they re pups as they are still growing! We didn't know this at first until puppy classes, first session without pup (kennel club good citizen ) it's five minutes per month of age of puppy - we re now at half an hour, twice a day. Apparently it's something to do with growth?


On the right track  You don't want to over-exercise puppies because it puts excess strain on their bones and joints at a time when everything is moving and changing as they grow. The 5 month rule is 5 minutes per day (not twice daily) per month of age. However, this applies to on-lead, 'forced' walking where the puppy is walking at a continuous pace in one direction, e.g. walking your puppy straight down the road without stopping. Off-lead walking is different, because the puppy will inevitably stop and start, change directions, change pace etc. So while you don't want to do more than 5 minutes per month of age for forced walking, your pup can have as much off-lead walking as they want (within reason of course). Try to stick to soft ground (grass) as much as possible rather than concrete too.

Some people don't believe in this rule, but I think it's a handy way to ensure you're not over-exercising. It's not set in stone, of course!


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## DanWalkersmum

McKenzie said:


> On the right track  You don't want to over-exercise puppies because it puts excess strain on their bones and joints at a time when everything is moving and changing as they grow. The 5 month rule is 5 minutes per day (not twice daily) per month of age. However, this applies to on-lead, 'forced' walking where the puppy is walking at a continuous pace in one direction, e.g. walking your puppy straight down the road without stopping. Off-lead walking is different, because the puppy will inevitably stop and start, change directions, change pace etc. So while you don't want to do more than 5 minutes per month of age for forced walking, your pup can have as much off-lead walking as they want (within reason of course). Try to stick to soft ground (grass) as much as possible rather than concrete too.
> 
> Some people don't believe in this rule, but I think it's a handy way to ensure you're not over-exercising. It's not set in stone, of course!


Thanks for clarifying that , we were over exercising before we knew this rule, Dan would just keep going! He has calmed down a little bit now that we can take him to local country park so that he can burn off energy off lead as well, we still try to go for around half an hour (never an exact time but the various routes around take around that time) that seems to be enough for him now. He enjoys a good sniff as there are loads of smells for him to investigate - he loves it and it's great to see. We have met some new friendly dogs - lead on for safety and c ourtesy - Makes all the hard work so worthwhile for us and is a good mood lifter too! :Singing:Happy


----------



## Beckzorz

Hey guys,

So chewie is doing really well! But he loves a good chew (should have called him calmie) so I was wondering if anyone had recommendations of puppy teething chews? Either toys or chew sticks, just something that he can nibble at for a while

Thank you


----------



## Guest

Beckzorz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So chewie is doing really well! But he loves a good chew (should have called him calmie) so I was wondering if anyone had recommendations of puppy teething chews? Either toys or chew sticks, just something that he can nibble at for a while
> 
> Thank you


Our Nova should have been named Chewie  she LOVES it. At the moment bully sticks and carrots are the go to for me. I also use kong toys (I have the black ones, for 'extreme' chewers) and fill them up, pop them in the freezer, also exercises her jaw and chew drive and they're not easily breakable.

On the bright side for me - she is starting to sleep through the night, a few odd nights and now the last three nights she just slept from 9pm until 6:30am and on the weekends even until 7:45am sometimes. PURE bliss, I hope it continues.


----------



## Mandpat

I am a complete newbie on here but loving all these posts and feeling a little more reassured! We have a gorgeous 12 week old westiepoo who I love to bits. She is tiny, super cute and a proper cuddler . However I feel for every step forward we take, we do 5 backwards the main issues at the minute...
1. Chewing people's trousers/toes! (Kids are getting anxious as she is doing this more and more) 
2. She will toilet outside - we are taking her lots. Some days she has no accidents at all then others she goes out then pees inside! 
3. She poos overnight in her crate

I know that she is just a puppy but I am really worrying that we arent handling things properly and so not helping correct behaviour. (Plus we are so so tired and need a long lie!! ) 
I live her to bits but it is so much harder than I thought! She is gorgeous though!


----------



## DanWalkersmum

Hi there, what a very cute pup! We have a westipoo in the puppy training class we go to and he too is super cute. He is very vocal too! 
As a first time owner I can't recommend the good citizens puppy training classes (kennel club) enough My pup started at about 3 months old and has got through the foundation course, currently aiming for bronze award. Training you how to be a responsible owner as well as your pup to do basic commands and other stuff - legal requiremnts etc. They are not allowed off lead and they learn how to meet and greet calmly - eventually lol. If you have classes locally I'd advise booking.


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## Guest

Mandpat said:


> I am a complete newbie on here but loving all these posts and feeling a little more reassured! We have a gorgeous 12 week old westiepoo who I love to bits. She is tiny, super cute and a proper cuddler . However I feel for every step forward we take, we do 5 backwards the main issues at the minute...
> 1. Chewing people's trousers/toes! (Kids are getting anxious as she is doing this more and more)
> 2. She will toilet outside - we are taking her lots. Some days she has no accidents at all then others she goes out then pees inside!
> 3. She poos overnight in her crate
> 
> I know that she is just a puppy but I am really worrying that we arent handling things properly and so not helping correct behaviour. (Plus we are so so tired and need a long lie!! )
> I live her to bits but it is so much harder than I thought! She is gorgeous though!


Welcome  I have a Westie and she is just amazing, although not without challenges even at 8!

The chewing thing is a stage and to a certain extent you have to wait it out. Try offering her a toy to chew on when he starts this behaviour, ignore her, or remove yourself from the room - puppies hate being ignored! I remember when my girl was tiny she couldn't get onto the sofa by herself so when she started chewing or nipping me I would simply draw my legs up and stare at the ceiling!

Toilet training also just takes time. If you think she needs to toilet but won't go outside, bring her back in but tether her to you for 10 minutes (or crate her) so she can't sneak off and toilet inside and then try her outside again. She will get there.

Regarding the pooing overnight, where is her crate positioned, and how does she feel about being crated? Do you take her outside to toilet during the night at all? You can also experiment with meal timings.


----------



## bethany_hannah

Picked up my puppy today and already looking for support! At the breeders he was mainly going outside on the grass to toilet. I have a paved yard so obviously that’s different. I’m taking him out every 45 mins ish. I’ve tried out for 10, in for a few mins, out for 10. And as that didn’t work the first few times I tried playing with him outside for an hour presuming a wee would have to happen eventually! So far he’s just holding on until he gets inside and as soon as we walk through the door going on the floor bless him. I’m wiping it up with bio cleaner with no fuss. Obviously I’m not expecting him to get it yet I just want to make sure I’m doing the right thing! Any advice welcome


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## Guest

bethany_hannah said:


> Picked up my puppy today and already looking for support! At the breeders he was mainly going outside on the grass to toilet. I have a paved yard so obviously that's different. I'm taking him out every 45 mins ish. I've tried out for 10, in for a few mins, out for 10. And as that didn't work the first few times I tried playing with him outside for an hour presuming a wee would have to happen eventually! So far he's just holding on until he gets inside and as soon as we walk through the door going on the floor bless him. I'm wiping it up with bio cleaner with no fuss. Obviously I'm not expecting him to get it yet I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing! Any advice welcome


Congratulations on your new pup!

Are you wanting him to toilet on the paved area?


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## bethany_hannah

McKenzie said:


> Congratulations on your new pup!
> 
> Are you wanting him to toilet on the paved area?


Thank you! I'll upload a picture when he's still for 30 seconds! Ideally yes, as he hasn't had 2nd jabs yet so can't go onto the shared grass beyond the yard


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## Guest

Ah I see. Paving is not a very natural area for a dog to toilet on really so I worry you might be fighting a losing battle there, particularly since the puppy is used to going on grass. Or it may be fine if you persevere. I wonder if you could make a turf box for the puppy to toilet on? Anyway, your general technique is right. If you bring the puppy in and he hasn’t toileted it’s a good idea to either tether him to you or crate him so he doesn’t get the opportunity to toilet before you take him out again a short time later.

What’s his name?


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## WinterboiandXenoassc0de

My dog has trouble with whining but only in certain rooms ? In the dining room he will whine non stop until given attention however in the living room he couldn't care less where I am what can I do about this as he is a rottweiler and will get quite big I'd like to keep him out of the living room when were not here


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## DaisyBluebell

WinterboiandXenoassc0de said:


> My dog has trouble with whining but only in certain rooms ? In the dining room he will whine non stop until given attention however in the living room he couldn't care less where I am what can I do about this as he is a rottweiler and will get quite big I'd like to keep him out of the living room when were not here


Where do you feed your dog?
You say he whines in the dining room, do you eat in the dining room?
Where do you want to leave him when you start to train him to be left alone?


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## WinterboiandXenoassc0de

I feed him in the dining room his water and food bowl are next to his crate and I'd prefer to leave him in the dining room but if not ideal changes can be made


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## DaisyBluebell

WinterboiandXenoassc0de said:


> I feed him in the dining room his water and food bowl are next to his crate and I'd prefer to leave him in the dining room but if not ideal changes can be made


Is he whining after or before he has eaten or just every time he is in the dinning room? Does he whine whilst in there on his own or just when you are in there?


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## Lucythecockapoochismum

Good morning  My name is Jeni and i am the proud hooman mummy to Lucy an 8 week old Cockapoochi <3

We have had her for a week now and so far so good shes had a couple of accidents in the past day, mainly because my son has been watching her and not me ! anyhow my question is more to do with pooping and frequency  Lucy has a schedule which goes like this;

*3am - poop
6/6.30 - poop*
*7am - breakfast *
*8.30/9am - poop*
*11.30ish - poop
12 noon - lunch
2.30/3 - poop
5pm - poop (right after dinner)
8/830 - poop*

Now - am i wrong in thinking this is a whole lotta poop for a tiny wee puppy shes 1.5kg (mums a chihuahua and dad a mini cockapoo) she is on Lilys Kitchen food so it doesnt run right through her due to fillers etc her poops are rather perfect :Shamefullyembarrased just like her :Kiss

My worry is, and correct me if i am wrong, that doing the 3am wake up is wrong and that i am setting myself up for a fall that she gets used to a wake up call and wont hold it - do i extend gradually to 3.30 then 4 then 5 then 6pm when we all get up anyway (husbands silly work hours )

Many thanks for your advice and look forward to venting, sharing and becoming more clued up on our new baby

Much love Jeni and Lucy :Kiss


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## WinterboiandXenoassc0de

DaisyBluebell said:


> Is he whining after or before he has eaten or just every time he is in the dinning room? Does he whine whilst in there on his own or just when you are in there?





DaisyBluebell said:


> Is he whining after or before he has eaten or just every time he is in the dinning room? Does he whine whilst in there on his own or just when you are in there?


He never whines when I am there if I leave the living room he rarely whines normally if I get up ina rush for a toilet break or what not and dont want him coming with however in the dining room it seems he whines more as for food it makes no difference


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## niamh123

Lucythecockapoochismum your pup should be getting 4-5 meals a day,I would take puppy outside every half an hour throughout the day when he wakes take him straight outside after food after having a drink when I would take my pup outside I would tell him wee wee now at 8 months he will toilet on that command also your pup is going 14 hours through the night without food which is way to long perhaps you could give his last meal a good bit later


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## Guest

Hi everyone. Wow I haven't been on this forum for so long. I started this thread when I got Star as a puppy and suffered major puppy blues and I was very ill. Well now Star is two and such a lovely little dog. She is still very anxious in general and has separation anxiety but I think that was down to some mistakes I made in the beginning. So if I can offer any advice it would be to get them used to being on their own and don't feel guilty about. I'm so happy that this thread is helping people.


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## DaisyBluebell

WOW it's a day for old friends to come back on! Lovely to have you back, glad your both well & little Star is 2 now same as my Emma, doesn't the time go so fast !


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## Anne-Charlotte Pecher

Hello,
Would anyone have a policy for Dog at Work Day?
Many thanks


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> WOW it's a day for old friends to come back on! Lovely to have you back, glad your both well & little Star is 2 now same as my Emma, doesn't the time go so fast !


Thank you  I was reading the start of the thread and gosh I was so nervous. I think my anxiety might have passed on to Star, I hope not. Anyway now I'm a lot more laid back about stuff which is helping her calm down. I don't think she will ever be a huge fan of other dogs. She loves people once she gets to know them. Give Emma a big hug from me.


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## Stephen Harper

Hello @McKenzie 
Harry our Westie arrived on Sunday 12th and boy he's beautiful. He is though full of mischief and loves a chew on anything in his eye-line.
We had not had a young puppy (8 weeks) for many many years and it has been quite a shock and a trying week. 
His love of electrical cables has been a particular trial. He is good through the night and needs a surprising amount of sleep, to me anyway. 
He has a crate for sleeping and that has worked well. I'm not crate trained and find it a little cruel but I'm coming round to the benefits for ALL concerned.
My wife does all the heavy lifting with numerous all day garden tours due to my disability which last night happened to coincide with the Cricket.  Harry does go through the night from 10 -7am with just the odd mishap.


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## niamh123

Well done Harry sounds like your settling in really well


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## DaisyBluebell

Come on Stephen Harper we need pictures of Harry please not just the tempting one in your Avatar !

Glad its working our for you all, we had never crated a dog before but for Emma it has been a Godsend - we had hoped we could get rid of the crate at sometime but at 2 years old now, Emma actually makes a point of going in there when she wants US to go to bed!! They sure are a handful at that young age and boy to those evil little teeth hurt! I looked like I was self harming for some time till the little needles came out to be replaced by proper teeth !


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## DanWalkersmum

Stephen Harper said:


> Hello @McKenzie
> Harry our Westie arrived on Sunday 12th and boy he's beautiful. He is though full of mischief and loves a chew on anything in his eye-line.
> We had not had a young puppy (8 weeks) for many many years and it has been quite a shock and a trying week.
> His love of electrical cables has been a particular trial. He is good through the night and needs a surprising amount of sleep, to me anyway.
> He has a crate for sleeping and that has worked well. I'm not crate trained and find it a little cruel but I'm coming round to the benefits for ALL concerned.
> My wife does all the heavy lifting with numerous all day garden tours due to my disability which last night happened to coincide with the Cricket.  Harry does go through the night from 10 -7am with just the odd mishap.


Harry looks lovely and sounds like he is settling well we tried, and failed, the crate so well done on that. You'll need to keep your wits about you when he is awake though. My pup ate the tail off one of his soft toys, we thought he was just chewing on it as usual, until I noticed it an hour or so later, resulted in a visit to the vets, luckily he passed it and just needed antibiotics for a while. They do get into everything if you aren't watching


----------



## Stephen Harper

DaisyBluebell said:


> Come on Stephen Harper we need pictures of Harry please not just the tempting one in your Avatar !
> 
> Glad its working our for you all, we had never crated a dog before but for Emma it has been a Godsend - we had hoped we could get rid of the crate at sometime but at 2 years old now, Emma actually makes a point of going in there when she wants US to go to bed!! They sure are a handful at that young age and boy to those evil little teeth hurt! I looked like I was self harming for some time till the little needles came out to be replaced by proper teeth !


I'll get some pictures over tomorrow


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## Guest

Stephen Harper said:


> Hello @McKenzie
> Harry our Westie arrived on Sunday 12th and boy he's beautiful. He is though full of mischief and loves a chew on anything in his eye-line.
> We had not had a young puppy (8 weeks) for many many years and it has been quite a shock and a trying week.
> His love of electrical cables has been a particular trial. He is good through the night and needs a surprising amount of sleep, to me anyway.
> He has a crate for sleeping and that has worked well. I'm not crate trained and find it a little cruel but I'm coming round to the benefits for ALL concerned.
> My wife does all the heavy lifting with numerous all day garden tours due to my disability which last night happened to coincide with the Cricket.  Harry does go through the night from 10 -7am with just the odd mishap.


Thanks for the update @Stephen Harper ! Sounds like Harry is settling in really well. He will certainly keep you on your toes, but it's worth it <3 Looking forward to seeing some photos, I still remember my girl at that age - she was (and still is) a real monkey!


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## Stephen Harper

Harry
as promised

@DaisyBluebell


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## Guest

Stephen Harper said:


> Harry
> as promised
> 
> @DaisyBluebell
> 
> View attachment 404114
> View attachment 404115
> View attachment 404116


Well he's adorable! My girl had folded ears when she first came home too, so cute.


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## DaisyBluebell

OMG just how adorable can one pup be - just beautiful - thank you so much for sharing.
Now we can all look forward to seeing him grow. Enjoy every moment even the nasty biting ones - it all goes so very quickly.


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## Guest

What are the bonuses of leaving a puppy with mum longer? The puppy would be the only one left out of two puppies.


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## Guest

Udon said:


> What are the bonuses of leaving a puppy with mum longer? The puppy would be the only one left out of two puppies.


How long would puppy be staying at the breeder's for and how much longer would it be on it's own without the other puppy?


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## Guest

McKenzie said:


> How long would puppy be staying at the breeder's for and how much longer would it be on it's own without the other puppy?


Currently the other pup is going to its new home at 8 weeks. Both pups have been on puppy kibble for over a week and have numerous teeth, so they're not nursing from mum. She's apparently not going to them as much.

I'm worried that, during what seems to be an important time where behaviour and socialising should be managed carefully, my pup will not get much of a chance to practice bite inhibition etc, and might experience something negative that affects his behaviour later.

Don't get me wrong, my breeder is devoted to her dogs and happy to hold onto him for as long as I want. But as I can give him 1:1 attention all day, every day, I'm wondering if he'd do well being looked after and trained by me.


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## Guest

What age will your pup be coming to you then?

My boy was 10 weeks when he came to me as the breeder followed a programme called Puppy Culture which says the best age to rehome a puppy is 10 weeks. However, he had all his siblings with him and the breeder did extensive work with them (as dictated by Puppy Culture). 

If your puppy is going to be on his own (without his littermate) for a decent length of time, you really need to be sure that the breeder will be treating your pup like her own in terms of training, quality socialisation etc.


----------



## Guest

McKenzie said:


> What age will your pup be coming to you then?
> 
> My boy was 10 weeks when he came to me as the breeder followed a programme called Puppy Culture which says the best age to rehome a puppy is 10 weeks. However, he had all his siblings with him and the breeder did extensive work with them (as dictated by Puppy Culture).
> 
> If your puppy is going to be on his own (without his littermate) for a decent length of time, you really need to be sure that the breeder will be treating your pup like her own in terms of training, quality socialisation etc.


8 weeks old. And that was my worry, no litter mates. I know 8 weeks is normally deemed okay, but he's a toy breed.

However, our setup is that he will have a crate and playpen in my bedroom where I'll be most of the day. We can do training and toilet training throughout the whole day. No unexpected surprises. We'll do gentle socialising with people etc. Whatever he needs.

I know a breeder can do it all, but I have more time on my hands than she does. And when she's not focusing on him, he'll have no one to guide him. She does have four children, but they're more likely to spook him than give him consistent training I would have thought? They're only young.


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## Guest

Ah right, so the other puppy is going at 8 weeks and you are wondering whether you should take yours at 8 weeks or leave it longer?

I would have thought if there's no littermates, an extra couple of weeks with the mother isn't going to be particularly beneficial, but I don't know toy breeds. What do you think @lullabydream ?


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## lullabydream

Just seen this, I was torn picking up Harley at 9 weeks considering her cross as am an advocate for toy breeds leaving between 10-12 weeks.

It's not necessarily the training from siblings it's the training from mum per se, that's the most important part and it bugs me that some breeders do remove puppies too soon from mum whatever the size; puppy play with other puppies they can just get more hyper but mum removing herself when she's had enough of her ear being bitten, occassional tempts to feed. Pups learn better...of course some mum's just want to mum and would put up with teeth. Some will tolerate for some time but move and that's what you want. The movement..the ok I have had enough of said behaviour of any kind and I am going to move. Don't we all love and say it works well the moving away from puppy when biting,redirecting, some dogs can respond to ow in a high pitched voice but many it excites more.

I took how Harley reacted to mum, except wanting a milk bar, she was very human orientated. The milkbar lasted seconds, mum moved Harley went to get a drink. The others actually seemed perplexed. 

Physically her development is good..yep teeth still erupting but I remember being my JRT home at 7 weeks and her physical development was a bit behind. She struggled getting up the tiniest step, where Harley has excelled so that's probably where her Yorkie kicked in other than the chi. She mastered step in and out day one so that was a relief.

If you are looking at her physical development as in walking and she isn't too wobbly...YouTube shows 8 week chi's gone to their new homes and they can hardly balance. It's not the flooring

Am sure the puppy culture plan works on things as capturing calm, which is what you need to be doing rather than basic obedience especially with a toy breed at this age. Nice touch, introducing a brush especially for a pom! That sort of thing.

Obviously you met your puppy. Saw his behaviour, it's up to you.


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Am sure the puppy culture plan works on things as capturing calm, which is what you need to be doing rather than basic obedience especially with a toy breed at this age. Nice touch, introducing a brush especially for a pom! That sort of thing.
> 
> Obviously you met your puppy. Saw his behaviour, it's up to you.


This is what I'm most interested in; giving the puppy the best chances of the best experiences at the important stages of life. I am literally watching grooming videos now with my partner. I've no idea how to groom a Pom (learning!) but I was explaining about slow introduction to all the handling needed so there's a level of desensitisation and no fear.

So just offering some sort of combination of introducing the world, but in a safe way, with boundaries, and encouraging the good behaviours etc. And advice from toy breed owners would be very, very welcome.

When I met him he was 6 and a half weeks and running around fairly confidently. He was into chewing stuff, especially the blinds lol, and was rough and tumble with his brother. Mum was there but only overseeing them play. She seemed very tolerant when in the pen with them though. I'd say she seemed like a very calm and easy going girl overall. Unlike her live-wire babies lol. Until they just dropped where we they stopped to have a sleep


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## Beckzorz

Hey guys! I need a little advice.

My puppy has stopped eating out of his bowl? If it’s in front of the bowl or in his snuffle mat he will munch it all away, but as soon as it’s in the bowl he’s not interested!
Any ideas what this could be? Has anyone come across this before?

Thanks in advance!


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## Guest

Beckzorz said:


> Hey guys! I need a little advice.
> 
> My puppy has stopped eating out of his bowl? If it's in front of the bowl or in his snuffle mat he will munch it all away, but as soon as it's in the bowl he's not interested!
> Any ideas what this could be? Has anyone come across this before?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Could be lots of things. Maybe the bowl itself - e.g. too deep and he doesn't like sticking his head in, doesn't like what it's made from, does he have an ID tag that makes noise when it hits the bowl, maybe something happened with the bowl that he didn't like. Or maybe just that he finds bowls boring! Puppies can be funny about things and what's fine one day isn't fine the next.

Have you tried a different bow, or a platel? But I really wouldn't worry, lots of people here don't use bowls and there's lots of products out there that provide a more stimulating way to serve food. Or just stick with using the snuffle mat and scatter feeding.


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## Stephen Harper

Need some advice.
Our 16 week old Westie 'Harry' aka 'Devil dog' . He rarely stops biting except when he first wakes up after sleep in his cage.
We have so many toys and chews but he seems to gets bored so very quickly and starts using my Mrs and me as chews.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.


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## Charity

We've had our Labrador puppy just over three weeks now. In a lot of ways she is doing really well, toileting and eating are excellent, we're just getting into a better sleeping regime though when its very hot she is more unsettled. The one thing we can't seem to stop is her red mist moments, well, I say moments, it can go on for half an hour or more, when she starts lunging and biting us, occasionally with some growling thrown in, mostly when we're sitting down. I think the pressure of her bites has eased in that we're not getting "wounded" as much as we were but its actually quite upsetting and very tiring trying to keep her at bay for a long time. It just seems to come out of no where. She is getting bigger now which makes it harder. We try distracting her with toys and the one thing that does work is the frozen kong but we can't keep giving her that every time she does it. If you leave the room she will just start again when you come back so the only other answer is giving her time out in her crate which, of course, she doesn't like.

We've also started taking her out for short walks this week and she doesn't like the slip lead being put on her, she just wants to bite it and she just gets excitable and goes where she pleases despite us trying to keep her near to us. She's very strong, even for a puppy, which is quite hard for me. She is also a bit wary of cars when they pass us and we don't want that to escalate into a fear. Are we expecting too much seeing as its only been two days?

My OH seems to be coping less well than I am when I thought it would be the other way round. He is finding it very tiring which makes him tetchy. We have another couple of weeks before we start training classes. Has anyone else had this problem and can offer any advice?


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## Guest

Charity said:


> We've also started taking her out for short walks this week and she doesn't like the slip lead being put on her, she just wants to bite it and she just gets excitable and goes where she pleases despite us trying to keep her near to us. She's very strong, even for a puppy, which is quite hard for me. She is also a bit wary of cars when they pass us and we don't want that to escalate into a fear. Are we expecting too much seeing as its only been two days?
> 
> My OH seems to be coping less well than I am when I thought it would be the other way round. He is finding it very tiring which makes him tetchy. We have another couple of weeks before we start training classes. Has anyone else had this problem and can offer any advice?


I'll leave the biting for someone else to comment on as neither of mine were that bitey as pups.

Regarding the walking, at this age I wouldn't be trying to 'walk' her. Instead think of it as taking her out to see the world and have a play. Let her go where she likes (within reason), encourage her along with lots of praise and happy noises, if your partner goes with you you can play games like getting her to run between you (the beginnings of recall training) etc. As she gets used to 'walks' you can try getting her to walk with you for short periods. Puppies have the attention span of a gnat and everything is SO exciting so just be patient 

Elliot didn't like cars much as a young pup. I would avoid very car-heavy places and do a combination of distraction/praise/treating when cars went past.

Is there a reason you're using a slip lead?


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## Charity

She is going to be trained, when she's a bit older, as a retrieve dog in an outdoor working environment and the slip lead is the preferred option, so my OH tells me.


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## Guest

Charity said:


> She is going to be trained, when she's a bit older, as a retrieve dog in an outdoor working environment and the slip lead is the preferred option, so my OH tells me.


Ah I see. I don't know anything about gundog training but I would be a bit worried about his little neck. As you've discovered puppies are all over the place when they're on a lead and his neck and throat will be very delicate at this age so the inevitable jolts when he hits the end of the lead wouldn't be great for him. Personally I'd use a well fitting body harness and hold off on the slip lead until he's trained to walk on a loose lead, but as I say, I'm not an expert in the field.


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## Stephen Harper

Charity said:


> We've had our Labrador puppy just over three weeks now. In a lot of ways she is doing really well, toileting and eating are excellent, we're just getting into a better sleeping regime though when its very hot she is more unsettled. The one thing we can't seem to stop is her red mist moments, well, I say moments, it can go on for half an hour or more, when she starts lunging and biting us, occasionally with some growling thrown in, mostly when we're sitting down. I think the pressure of her bites has eased in that we're not getting "wounded" as much as we were but its actually quite upsetting and very tiring trying to keep her at bay for a long time. It just seems to come out of no where. She is getting bigger now which makes it harder. We try distracting her with toys and the one thing that does work is the frozen kong but we can't keep giving her that every time she does it. If you leave the room she will just start again when you come back so the only other answer is giving her time out in her crate which, of course, she doesn't like.
> 
> We've also started taking her out for short walks this week and she doesn't like the slip lead being put on her, she just wants to bite it and she just gets excitable and goes where she pleases despite us trying to keep her near to us. She's very strong, even for a puppy, which is quite hard for me. She is also a bit wary of cars when they pass us and we don't want that to escalate into a fear. Are we expecting too much seeing as its only been two days?
> 
> My OH seems to be coping less well than I am when I thought it would be the other way round. He is finding it very tiring which makes him tetchy. We have another couple of weeks before we start training classes. Has anyone else had this problem and can offer any advice?


Hi Charity
Our little devil is slowly improving lots of hard work and toys and chews (boy they smell).
Our Harry is four months and is enjoying walks and loves digging holes in our garden!
Your Lab, due to the size and power will benefit from those up and coming training classes I would hope.
We have been told by everybody that he will improve as he gets older


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## Jamesgoeswalkies

Charity said:


> She is going to be trained, when she's a bit older, as a retrieve dog in an outdoor working environment and the slip lead is the preferred option, so my OH tells me.


Yes, in a fully trained working gun dog who has been taught to walk on the lead but I would personally be very careful of using a slip lead on a 12 week old puppy who is going to dart and pull and not really understand what is expected. Like McKenzie has suggested, I use a more informal approach when starting out; I let my Labs relax and wander and explore first so that they learn to follow me and walk with me naturally rather than using correction.

As for the attention seeking and nipping, be patient and use distractions and 'time outs'. Keep pup calm if you can and maybe leave on a houseline (indoor lead) so you can lead her calmly away rather than get into a confrontation.

They do grow up - it's just that with labs it takes some time 

J


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## Charity

Thank you for the advice. We're in an in between stage at the moment as she hasn't had all her injections so, on the advice of our vet, we're just walking her near home and not where there is heavy dog use. We also live in the town so not in a position to let her off lead as not safe. In a week when she's had all her jabs we can then go further afield and where there are other dogs. She does appear to dislike anything you try to put on her whether a collar, lead, harness and tries to chew them so a houseline may prove another challenge. As people of mature years, time may not be on our side LOL .


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## Stephen Harper

Charity said:


> Thank you for the advice. We're in an in between stage at the moment as she hasn't had all her injections so, on the advice of our vet, we're just walking her near home and not where there is heavy dog use. We also live in the town so not in a position to let her off lead as not safe. In a week when she's had all her jabs we can then go further afield and where there are other dogs. She does appear to dislike anything you try to put on her whether a collar, lead, harness and tries to chew them so a houseline may prove another challenge. As people of mature years, time may not be on our side LOL .


I would persevere with getting her used to a collar of some sort ASAP. If you need to restrain her and there is no "grab point" like at the front door or when she gets too 'bumptious' as puppies all do, you will be in trouble.


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## Charity

She is wearing a collar most of the time, she just keeps scratching at it as she isn't keen on it.


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## JoshandDave

Hi guys, new to the forum after bringing home an 8 week old yellow Labrador named Dave. He's gorgeous, my wife and I love him to bits, but all the research and preparation didn't prepare me for being hit with the puppy blues! I feel a bit silly but it comes in waves where I could just cry, even when Dave is being a good boy. 

So we live in a town house with the kitchen on the ground floor, living room and office on the middle floor and bedrooms on the top. Because Dave can't use the stairs yet we decided to keep his crate in the kitchen. Every time we carry Dave upstairs he pees anywhere whereas in the kitchen he holds it until we let him out (roughly every 90 minutes at the moment). So his crate stays downstairs and for the last three nights, since bringing him home, I've slept down there with him and he's no trouble at all (although he snuggles up to me rather than sleep in his crate). I know this can't last forever so want to crate train him but the minute I shut the door he whines and howls with no intention of stopping. A friend suggested putting him in with a few treats and toys and going for a 15 minute walk and doing this a few times a day, gradually extending the time, do you think this is a good idea?

He's happy to be fed in his crate and occasionally takes himself in to chew on a toy but if the door is shut he makes a racket. Do I need to persevere? At the minute he's asleep downstairs on the kitchen floor and I have snuck away, the minute he wakes up and realises one of us isn't there he will start crying.


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## Stephen Harper

Dave sounds lovely and typical.
We are not experts.
I would not encourage sleeping with him as he may come to expect it.
Put him in the cage and leave him in there for a short time and then increase the length of times left.
Lots of treats and toys in the cage when you leave him.
Above all things remember he will improve.


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## JoshandDave

Stephen Harper said:


> Dave sounds lovely and typical.
> We are not experts.
> I would not encourage sleeping with him as he may come to expect it.
> Put him in the cage and leave him in there for a short time and then increase the length of times left.
> Lots of treats and toys in the cage when you leave him.
> Above all things remember he will improve.


Told myself after last night I wasn't sleeping with him anymore. Will just have to learn to ignore his cries and go for a quick walk or something and then at night hope he sleeps!


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## Stephen Harper

JoshandDave said:


> Told myself after last night I wasn't sleeping with him anymore. Will just have to learn to ignore his cries and go for a quick walk or something and then at night hope he sleeps!


Leave him in the kitchen during the day also and increase the times.
Go upstairs and put some music on.
We leave Alexa on in kitchen during the day for him to talk to , so it might be worth leaving a radio on at night for him?


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## Guest

JoshandDave said:


> Told myself after last night I wasn't sleeping with him anymore. Will just have to learn to ignore his cries and go for a quick walk or something and then at night hope he sleeps!


Your puppy is still very young and needs company and comfort. By leaving him by himself when he is stressed and afraid you risk creating an anxious dog. By helping him feel secure now, you are building his confidence so he can settle on his own happily. He won't require you to sleep on the sofa with him forever! Please don't ignore him if he is upset - often when people leave puppies to cry they will eventually stop, not because they are no longer feeling afraid or alone, but because they learn no one is there to comfort them and so they shut down.


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## JoshandDave

Stephen Harper said:


> Leave him in the kitchen during the day also and increase the times.
> Go upstairs and put some music on.
> We leave Alexa on in kitchen during the day for him to talk to , so it might be worth leaving a radio on at night for him?


Yeah will try that today. I'll start by taking a shower, then some housework and finally up to a short walk. He'll have to learn to be on his own for a bit.


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## Veba

Sorry but that's the wrong advice. Either keep sleeping in the same room as him or take him to your room in his crate. Comfort him in the crate and as he grows in confidence move the crate slightly further away from you.


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> Sorry but that's the wrong advice. Either keep sleeping in the same room as him or take him to your room in his crate. Comfort him in the crate and as he grows in confidence move the crate slightly further away from you.


What about through the day? I play with him until he falls asleep and then sneak off till he wakes up and then let him out. Rinse and repeat.


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## Veba

Don't just leave him for minutes at a time, if he cried after 10 seconds then that is too long. He should be with you at all times so he's knows you are there for him. This will build his confidence and he'll become more independent. 

My pup was in the bathroom with me for weeks when I had to take a shower. It's just one of those things!


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> Don't just leave him for minutes at a time, if he cried after 10 seconds then that is too long. He should be with you at all times so he's knows you are there for him. This will build his confidence and he'll become more independent.
> 
> My pup was in the bathroom with me for weeks when I had to take a shower. It's just one of those things!


I've read so many conflicting recommendations, from building up his alone time to not leaving his side!
There will be times in the future where my wife and I will overlap being at work and so he will need to be alone in his crate for a couple of hours, I feel if I never get him used to being alone then that will be impossible.


----------



## Veba

JoshandDave said:


> What about through the day? I play with him until he falls asleep and then sneak off till he wakes up and then let him out. Rinse and repeat.


That's pretty much puppy life! He should sleep quite a lot, 18 hours I think. Doesn't feel like that though!

It does get better and it's amazing to see the work you put in pay off. I used to be in tears going to work seeing my 14 week old pup upset in his crate (he was checked every hour and only left for 4 hours at a time, not every day). The other day he was sick in the morning so I put the camera on his pen to keep an eye on him. He slept all day with a little bit of zoomies after his walk with the dog walker.


----------



## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> That's pretty much puppy life! He should sleep quite a lot, 18 hours I think. Doesn't feel like that though!
> 
> It does get better and it's amazing to see the work you put in pay off. I used to be in tears going to work seeing my 14 week old pup upset in his crate (he was checked every hour and only left for 4 hours at a time, not every day). The other day he was sick in the morning so I put the camera on his pen to keep an eye on him. He slept all day with a little bit of zoomies after his walk with the dog walker.


So are you in the "get him used to being alone in his cage" or "don't leave him alone" camp?

Edit: ignore that, I'm running on no sleep and didn't link your previous message to this one. I will move his cage upstairs tonight to get him used to sleeping in it at night. I want him to be fine being alone during the day, will that come with time?


----------



## Veba

JoshandDave said:


> I've read so many conflicting recommendations, from building up his alone time to not leaving his side!
> 
> 
> JoshandDave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So are you in the "get him used to being alone in his cage" or "don't leave him alone" camp?
> 
> 
> 
> Both! Don't leave him alone as much as possible but in those times crate train him and build up the time so he's ready when you do have to leave him. With crate training you're not leaving him. I know it's probably not possible to not leave him before he's totally ready but keep building his confidence and it will hopefully be OK.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/374160792599484/ is a great resource for how to do this.
Click to expand...


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## Veba

Sorry, something went weird with that reply.


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> Sorry, something went weird with that reply.


Thanks, have requested to join the Facebook group. I love my little pupper so much and want the best for him whilst also being able to step out of the room for 10 minutes without him screaming the walls down


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## Charity

Hi, we've had a Labrador puppy for four weeks now and we felt (still do sometimes) just the same as you. Its all very overwhelming to begin with. 

Don't expect too much too soon, its taken us about three weeks to get her to settle to the point where we can get almost through the night without interruption and we still get the occasional blip. We started off with her in her crate with a large dog toy for comfort and puppies at eight weeks really need taking out to the loo about every half an hour to an hour unless you use puppy pads in the crate. They definitely need company for the first few weeks so either, like us, its a case of sleeping in the kitchen, or having them in your bedroom. We haven't been out and left ours alone, we've just gone out in the garden or been in another room and sometimes she will whine but then settles down to wait until we go back. 

They change and grow so fast, you will see a different puppy in a few weeks time.


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## lullabydream

@Charity might be give you some support @JoshandDave her lab puppy is 12/14 weeks (can't remember, then I can't remember how old my puppy is to be honest she's a little older) but she's felt her new addition like a whirlwind at times. However she's sticking at it, and her Purdey is a real sweetie at times.

Definitely in the camp here of don't leave your puppy to cry...very old school advice and you want a confident puppy/dog at the end of the day. Some of course will be genetics but some will be nurture.

My puppy is still on my bed with me but is using her crate happily in the day. Am a multi dog household so have other dogs on my bed at night, who are adults well rounded toy breeds.

I also have a lurcher technically a long dog, a cross of two sighthounds. She came to me at 9 months and no room on our bed so a few nights on the sofa for me with her. Like you say, a few weeks, months whatever it maybe to settle a dog to sleep independently at night is nothing in the big scheme of a lifetime of your dog.

Am also going to tag @puppymadness who has a gorgeous lab cross GSD, who unfortunately broke her leg after being in her new home not long at all. So she's had to cope with raising an injured puppy recovering from surgery but she's also done brilliantly.

I would tag myself I have Harley a chihuahua cross Yorkie. Who can be mad as a box of frogs at times but *touchwood* has been pretty much perfect except for her love of plants...and grass we just don't mention that!

So those are a few current puppy owners I can currently think of off the top of my head. All going through the stresses together!

Oh and by the way love the name Dave...my friends got a young lab called Dave too


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## JoshandDave

Charity said:


> Hi, we've had a Labrador puppy for four weeks now and we felt (still do sometimes) just the same as you. Its all very overwhelming to begin with.
> 
> Don't expect too much too soon, its taken us about three weeks to get her to settle to the point where we can get almost through the night without interruption and we still get the occasional blip. We started off with her in her crate with a large dog toy for comfort and puppies at eight weeks really need taking out to the loo about every half an hour to an hour unless you use puppy pads in the crate. They definitely need company for the first few weeks so either, like us, its a case of sleeping in the kitchen, or having them in your bedroom. We haven't been out and left ours alone, we've just gone out in the garden or been in another room and sometimes she will whine but then settles down to wait until we go back.
> 
> They change and grow so fast, you will see a different puppy in a few weeks time.


Thanks for your reply, just reading it helped a little! Will try having his crate upstairs in the bedrooms with us tonight. Dave is really good at holding it in when he's in the kitchen and about 90% of the time eliminates when we let him out (roughly every 90 minutes). That all goes out the window when I take him upstairs but hopefully he knows not to go toilet in his crate and he will settle for a few hours sleep at night and that that will transfer to being ok on his own in the kitchen


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## JoshandDave

lullabydream said:


> @Charity might be give you some support @JoshandDave her lab puppy is 12/14 weeks (can't remember, then I can't remember how old my puppy is to be honest she's a little older) but she's felt her new addition like a whirlwind at times. However she's sticking at it, and her Purdey is a real sweetie at times.
> 
> Definitely in the camp here of don't leave your puppy to cry...very old school advice and you want a confident puppy/dog at the end of the day. Some of course will be genetics but some will be nurture.
> 
> My puppy is still on my bed with me but is using her crate happily in the day. Am a multi dog household so have other dogs on my bed at night, who are adults well rounded toy breeds.
> 
> I also have a lurcher technically a long dog, a cross of two sighthounds. She came to me at 9 months and no room on our bed so a few nights on the sofa for me with her. Like you say, a few weeks, months whatever it maybe to settle a dog to sleep independently at night is nothing in the big scheme of a lifetime of your dog.
> 
> Am also going to tag @puppymadness who has a gorgeous lab cross GSD, who unfortunately broke her leg after being in her new home not long at all. So she's had to cope with raising an injured puppy recovering from surgery but she's also done brilliantly.
> 
> I would tag myself I have Harley a chihuahua cross Yorkie. Who can be mad as a box of frogs at times but *touchwood* has been pretty much perfect except for her love of plants...and grass we just don't mention that!
> 
> So those are a few current puppy owners I can currently think of off the top of my head. All going through the stresses together!
> 
> Oh and by the way love the name Dave...my friends got a young lab called Dave too


Thanks for this! After saying he's getting the hang of going outside for toilets he just weed in the kitchen, although on a pad so I guess it's progress!

I have always craved instant results so will have to recalibrate myself for Dave. I love spending time with him and he's absolutely gorgeous but with every blip I feel like I'm failing which I know is ridiculous after only a few days of having a tiny 8 week old fur baby!


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## JoshandDave

After reading the crate training post on the Facebook group that @Veba shared I've decided that it's probably best for our situation to keep crate training and overnight sleeping separate for now.

Dave loves to sleep with us but we've been on the kitchen floor, my concern with taking him up to our bed is that it's quite high (standard Divan but for a tiny pup it's quite a drop). Does your pup stay on the bed until the needs to go out @lullabydream ?


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## lullabydream

JoshandDave said:


> After reading the crate training post on the Facebook group that @Veba shared I've decided that it's probably best for our situation to keep crate training and overnight sleeping separate for now.
> 
> Dave loves to sleep with us but we've been on the kitchen floor, my concern with taking him up to our bed is that it's quite high (standard Divan but for a tiny pup it's quite a drop). Does your pup stay on the bed until the needs to go out @lullabydream ?


Yep she does stay on the bed she cried when she needed toilet now she makes it through till 5-6 am which is the dogs breakfast time anyway..
Obviously it depends on the dog though but a lot of puppies sleep with their owners and all is well. Obviously nothing in life is risk free...it depends what you feel works best for your situation. The main thing is don't let him cry himself to sleep, and be close by


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## JoshandDave

lullabydream said:


> Yep she does stay on the bed she cried when she needed toilet now she makes it through till 5-6 am which is the dogs breakfast time anyway..
> Obviously it depends on the dog though but a lot of puppies sleep with their owners and all is well. Obviously nothing in life is risk free...it depends what you feel works best for your situation. The main thing is don't let him cry himself to sleep, and be close by


Ok, thank you, will try bringing him up with us tonight with crate training during the day. Feeling a bit less stressed about the whole thing since joining here, thanks to all who have replied


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## Charity

I know we all want instant good puppy but it takes a lot of work on our part. Just get through the first few weeks and things will get better. I would suggest taking him to puppy classes once he's fully vaccinated as this should help. We start ours next week.


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## Veba

JoshandDave said:


> Thanks, have requested to join the Facebook group. I love my little pupper so much and want the best for him whilst also being able to step out of the room for 10 minutes without him screaming the walls down


It will happen! There is a great file in that FB group that explains the "flitting" game where you go from room to room and allow pup to follow. Eventually he'll get bored and settle himself.


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## Veba

JoshandDave said:


> After reading the crate training post on the Facebook group that @Veba shared I've decided that it's probably best for our situation to keep crate training and overnight sleeping separate for now.
> 
> Dave loves to sleep with us but we've been on the kitchen floor, my concern with taking him up to our bed is that it's quite high (standard Divan but for a tiny pup it's quite a drop). Does your pup stay on the bed until the needs to go out @lullabydream ?


Why separate? I can't remember everything in those files but our situations seem the same so can't think why you'd take him out at night? Where do you want him to sleep eventually? Ours went from crate upstairs, crate downstairs, pen downstairs and now has the hall and living room. Bed was never going to be an option!

For toilet training get rid of the pads as they will confuse him. Just take him out every half hour and after a nap, play and food. If he messes in the house just clean it up without any fuss.


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## DanWalkersmum

JoshandDave said:


> After reading the crate training post on the Facebook group that @Veba shared I've decided that it's probably best for our situation to keep crate training and overnight sleeping separate for now.
> 
> Dave loves to sleep with us but we've been on the kitchen floor, my concern with taking him up to our bed is that it's quite high (standard Divan but for a tiny pup it's quite a drop). Does your pup stay on the bed until the needs to go out @lullabydream ?


We had the same dilemma with our pup, our bed has a deep mattress and is very high. We went through the sleeping downstairs bit for about four weeks (taking it in turns obv.) and through lack of sleep, we decided he would have to come in the bedroom, started in the crate and created such havoc that we caved in and picked him up on to the bed! He settled immediately and found a space between the pillows and headboard, waking up early, snuffling, carried him down for a toilet break, and he slept for a few more hours. This went on for a few more weeks and eventually he decided he wanted to sleep on the floor by the side of the bed. First time he jumped off I nearly had heart failure! We've had the odd accident, (it's to be expected) but always put puppy pads down, he used them!
He's now nine months old and has the run of the house! Completely relaxed and no fuss, goes to bed and sleeps by the bed.
What I'm trying to say is, it takes time and, patience, some dogs take longer than others to get to this stage. It can seem like forever when you are sleep deprived and your lovely little furry pup is fast asleep all day! :Banghead


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> Why separate? I can't remember everything in those files but our situations seem the same so can't think why you'd take him out at night? Where do you want him to sleep eventually? Ours went from crate upstairs, crate downstairs, pen downstairs and now has the hall and living room. Bed was never going to be an option!
> 
> For toilet training get rid of the pads as they will confuse him. Just take him out every half hour and after a nap, play and food. If he messes in the house just clean it up without any fuss.


So the crate is a big, heavy metal job with a divider so it's big enough for him now but with room to expand as he grows. If I take the crate upstairs to the bedroom then it's not a great place to crate train as we spend our time together downstairs. He's not yet able to be shut in his crate without none stop crying so I'd have to leave the door open and I can't see him staying in the crate in the bedroom.


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## Veba

JoshandDave said:


> So the crate is a big, heavy metal job with a divider so it's big enough for him now but with room to expand as he grows. If I take the crate upstairs to the bedroom then it's not a great place to crate train as we spend our time together downstairs. He's not yet able to be shut in his crate without none stop crying so I'd have to leave the door open and I can't see him staying in the crate in the bedroom.


Ah, I see. Our first crate was small size (cocker spaniel) so we just took it up and down. Our crate is now at one end of the pen but I think he only uses it to eat his kong in.


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> Ah, I see. Our first crate was small size (cocker spaniel) so we just took it up and down. Our crate is now at one end of the pen but I think he only uses it to eat his kong in.


By trying to save money I've shot myself in the foot! Will try with his bed in our room tonight and report back tomorrow! (Albeit probably in the early hours )


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## puppymadness

Our puppy is 17 weeks today and she is a gsd x lab we got her at 10 weeks and she broke her leg on day 3! Thankfully after surgery she is healed!!! I think in order to raise a happy and confident dog he needs to be with you. We take Luna to bed with us and she stays in our room with us either on our bed or floor- her choice. When she was on strict rest she would spend time in the day in her crate. We were lucky we got the crate the day of her surgery so when she came home the next day she was sleepy and went in there no trouble. Now she only goes in with door closed if we feel she needs some time to chill out as she settles quickly in there. 
Maybe give him a filled Kong close the door and sit next to it he may associate the door being closed with good things. He just needs time and patience.


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## JoshandDave

puppymadness said:


> Our puppy is 17 weeks today and she is a gsd x lab we got her at 10 weeks and she broke her leg on day 3! Thankfully after surgery she is healed!!! I think in order to raise a happy and confident dog he needs to be with you. We take Luna to bed with us and she stays in our room with us either on our bed or floor- her choice. When she was on strict rest she would spend time in the day in her crate. We were lucky we got the crate the day of her surgery so when she came home the next day she was sleepy and went in there no trouble. Now she only goes in with door closed if we feel she needs some time to chill out as she settles quickly in there.
> Maybe give him a filled Kong close the door and sit next to it he may associate the door being closed with good things. He just needs time and patience.


Appreciate your advice and will definitely see how Dave fairs in our room tonight. If he's calm that will be one thing dealt with, next will be digging and eating stones in the garden!


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## DanWalkersmum

JoshandDave said:


> Appreciate your advice and will definitely see how Dave fairs in our room tonight. If he's calm that will be one thing dealt with, next will be digging and eating stones in the garden!


Oh the joys of a puppy! Wait till he start rolling in the poo inthe park - or worse - eating it lol!


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## JoshandDave

DanWalkersmum said:


> Oh the joys of a puppy! Wait till he start rolling in the poo inthe park - or worse - eating it lol!


Can't wait!


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## JoshandDave

puppymadness said:


> Our puppy is 17 weeks today and she is a gsd x lab we got her at 10 weeks and she broke her leg on day 3! Thankfully after surgery she is healed!!! I think in order to raise a happy and confident dog he needs to be with you. We take Luna to bed with us and she stays in our room with us either on our bed or floor- her choice. When she was on strict rest she would spend time in the day in her crate. We were lucky we got the crate the day of her surgery so when she came home the next day she was sleepy and went in there no trouble. Now she only goes in with door closed if we feel she needs some time to chill out as she settles quickly in there.
> Maybe give him a filled Kong close the door and sit next to it he may associate the door being closed with good things. He just needs time and patience.


Ended up on the kitchen floor! Took Dave up to bed and also had a dog bed with a couple of his toys up there. He settled in our bed instantly but started acting like he wanted the toilet so I took him out and he did a poo (he's learning!). When I got him back in our room though he wouldn't settle, he saw his toys and wanted to play and then peed all over his bed! My fault so I will try again tonight with no toys!

Slept like a dream in the kitchen with me though


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## DanWalkersmum

JoshandDave said:


> Ended up on the kitchen floor! Took Dave up to bed and also had a dog bed with a couple of his toys up there. He settled in our bed instantly but started acting like he wanted the toilet so I took him out and he did a poo (he's learning!). When I got him back in our room though he wouldn't settle, he saw his toys and wanted to play and then peed all over his bed! My fault so I will try again tonight with no toys!
> 
> Slept like a dream in the kitchen with me though


You will get there, it was just too soon for him, try again in a few nights time - keep sleeping in the kitchen a bit longer (not an order, just a suggestion!)


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## JoshandDave

DanWalkersmum said:


> You will get there, it was just too soon for him, try again in a few nights time - keep sleeping in the kitchen a bit longer (not an order, just a suggestion!)


I will do, I actually sleep quite well down there as it's cooler than the rest of the house!


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## Guest

The joys of puppyhood Our puppy Nova is almost 7 months old now. She slept with us in bed the first few nights until she settled. We actually moved one side of the bed against the wall and had her sleep on that side, so she couldn’t fall off. After a few days she was used to sleeping in the crate in our bedroom. When sleeping with us she woke us by licking my hand to go toilet. In the crate she would just put her paw against the metal. Now she hasn’t had a toilet accident in almost 3 months so she sleeps in her bed in the crate with the door open or on the bed with us, it is up to her. Interestingly she never had an accident in our bedroom or on our bed or in her crate.

Love having her at the age now where she just sleeps through the night and she never wakes up before us, just on the weekends sometimes so nice waking up to puppy snuggles. She always ends up on the bed but the nice thing is she doesn’t wake us up and just curls up under the blanket with us. Our cat is banned from the bedroom, she moves around too much and tries to play in the middle of the night and meows to get in and out and in and out...


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## JoshandDave

Kakite said:


> The joys of puppyhood Our puppy Nova is almost 7 months old now. She slept with us in bed the first few nights until she settled. We actually moved one side of the bed against the wall and had her sleep on that side, so she couldn't fall off. After a few days she was used to sleeping in the crate in our bedroom. When sleeping with us she woke us by licking my hand to go toilet. In the crate she would just put her paw against the metal. Now she hasn't had a toilet accident in almost 3 months so she sleeps in her bed in the crate with the door open or on the bed with us, it is up to her. Interestingly she never had an accident in our bedroom or on our bed or in her crate.
> 
> Love having her at the age now where she just sleeps through the night and she never wakes up before us, just on the weekends sometimes so nice waking up to puppy snuggles. She always ends up on the bed but the nice thing is she doesn't wake us up and just curls up under the blanket with us. Our cat is banned from the bedroom, she moves around too much and tries to play in the middle of the night and meows to get in and out and in and out...


That sounds like the dream! Hopefully Dave will be there in the next few days. Will keep trying him upstairs


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## Guest

@JoshandDave it is now but the first weeks were hard.

You'll get there and figure out what works best for you.


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## JoshandDave

Just wanted to say that just having some good advice and reassurance from you lovely people on here I'm already feeling so much better than I did over the last few days. 
We've had a couple of accidents today already and a bad case of "I'm going to find every stone in this garden and try to eat it" but I don't feel so overwhelmed about it now, love our little Dave!


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## puppymadness

JoshandDave said:


> Ended up on the kitchen floor! Took Dave up to bed and also had a dog bed with a couple of his toys up there. He settled in our bed instantly but started acting like he wanted the toilet so I took him out and he did a poo (he's learning!). When I got him back in our room though he wouldn't settle, he saw his toys and wanted to play and then peed all over his bed! My fault so I will try again tonight with no toys!
> 
> Slept like a dream in the kitchen with me though


Not sure if I said but at first once she had injured her leg we slept in the conservatory with her so if she needed a wee it was easy to get her out (didn't want any more injuries on the stairs) when we first moved upstairs she was crazy!!! Bitting, play growling and zooming! We started only taking her up once she had settled and was sleepy downstairs and took a chewy treat with us and now once finished her treat she settles quick. It all takes time and lots of patience x


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## DanWalkersmum

JoshandDave said:


> That sounds like the dream! Hopefully Dave will be there in the next few days. Will keep trying him upstairs


You will get there! Your dream WILL come true! lol x


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## DanWalkersmum

puppymadness said:


> Not sure if I said but at first once she had injured her leg we slept in the conservatory with her so if she needed a wee it was easy to get her out (didn't want any more injuries on the stairs) when we first moved upstairs she was crazy!!! Bitting, play growling and zooming! We started only taking her up once she had settled and was sleepy downstairs and took a chewy treat with us and now once finished her treat she settles quick. It all takes time and lots of patience x


Totally agree, not worth bothering going to bed until they are calm and settled, we still have a few late nights doing this even at nine months old! Not a problem though, if you don't mind it doesn't matter I reckon


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## JoshandDave

Anyone elses dog go crazy for a couple of hours every day?! My pup goes hyper at about this time and I can't tire him out, he gets a little over excited and although doesn't bite he definitely catches us with his teeth more


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## Charity

Ours does it just before bedtime unfortunately but she bites, I can show you the wounds. We've had a problem settling her down the last couple of nights but, hopefully, that won't last. She's had her last vaccination today so we can now take her out and about more.


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## JoshandDave

Charity said:


> Ours does it just before bedtime unfortunately but she bites, I can show you the wounds. We've had a problem settling her down the last couple of nights but, hopefully, that won't last. She's had her last vaccination today so we can now take her out and about more.


Yeah I've taken Dave out in my arms to try and tire him out with sensory overload, played tug of war and started training him the basics and he's still going nuts! Can't wait to finish his vaccines so he can hopefully tire himself out on a walk.


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## Veba

Zoomies! They are fun to watch but not with puppy teeth! If it gets too much would a lickimat or snuffle mat tire them out?


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> Zoomies! They are fun to watch but not with puppy teeth! If it gets too much would a lickimat or snuffle mat tire them out?


I've never heard of either but will definitely look into them! Thanks


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## lullabydream

Normal puppy behaviour am afraid...still can happen in adulthood but not usually at bedtime!


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## Veba

JoshandDave said:


> I've never heard of either but will definitely look into them! Thanks


In that case you need to join the Canine Enrichment group on Facebook. Lots of great ideas to mentally tire out dogs.


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> In that case you need to join the Canine Enrichment group on Facebook. Lots of great ideas to mentally tire out dogs.


I'll check it out! Thanks again


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## Guest

@JoshandDave Nova used to do this when we first got her at 2 1/2 months. If I tried to play with her to tire her out, she would get even 'wilder' , growling, barking and nipping. Then I figured out she was overtired and put her on a 'nap schedule'. She had trouble just settling down and going to sleep when she was tired. I taught her a cue to 'relax' and 'go to your bed', so I would send her to her crate to sleep when I noticed she was getting tired. Since then we hardly ever get this. Last night she started getting overtired though and wouldn't go to sleep, so I took her with me in the bedroom, turned all the lights off, she hopped on the bed with me and I just whispered to her and petted her and she went to sleep almost immediately. Overtired doggies ain't happy doggies :Joyful


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## JoshandDave

Dave was falling asleep in my lap, full on snoring, when I took him up but again after an hour he started whining and wanting off the bed and out the room. The minute we got into the kitchen he settled again and so that's where I slept!


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## JoshandDave

Last night was the same as the previous, settled down for an hour with us but then wanted out. Slept almost through the night in the kitchen with me, could be that upstairs is too warm for him


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## lullabydream

JoshandDave said:


> Last night was the same as the previous, settled down for an hour with us but then wanted out. Slept almost through the night in the kitchen with me, could be that upstairs is too warm for him


He's probably got used to sleeping downstairs, and that's normal for him. My lurcher doesn't settle up stairs on the few times she has had to sleep upstairs because she just prefers downstairs...it's not a bad thing at all if at the end of the day he will probably sleep there anyway. Just unfortunate for you, you have to sleep there too!


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## JoshandDave

lullabydream said:


> He's probably got used to sleeping downstairs, and that's normal for him. My lurcher doesn't settle up stairs on the few times she has had to sleep upstairs because she just prefers downstairs...it's not a bad thing at all if at the end of the day he will probably sleep there anyway. Just unfortunate for you, you have to sleep there too!


Yeah that's what I'm thinking, which would be totally fine only he doesn't like being alone yet! Hoping that'll pass soon but for now I'll join him in the kitchen


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## JoshandDave

A teeny tiny step in the right direction today; Dave had a nap in the living room! This is the first time he's settled in any room other than the kitchen so hopefully he'll be upstairs with us in no time!


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## Veba

If, in the long run, you want him to sleep in the kitchen then maybe you need to start moving further away from him (if that's possible)?


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## JoshandDave

Veba said:


> If, in the long run, you want him to sleep in the kitchen then maybe you need to start moving further away from him (if that's possible)?


Yeah that's what I was thinking of trying, definitely need him to be happy on his own!


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## JoshandDave

It's so demoralising when you think you're making good progress with toilet training and then Dave pees in the house 7 or 8 times. I take him out, nothing happens. I bring him in, he pees within minutes.

Edit: And another. After just peeing outside.


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## lullabydream

JoshandDave said:


> It's so demoralising when you think you're making good progress with toilet training and then Dave pees in the house 7 or 8 times. I take him out, nothing happens. I bring him in, he pees within minutes.
> 
> Edit: And another. After just peeing outside.


Patience and persistence..my perfect puppy has gone backwards with toilet training. My fault to some degree. Started to train her to come in too..so she's more interested in a piece of kibble to come in then fully eliminating...plus my son who watches her hasn't been letting her out enough..he's too busy working at his computer, or talking on his computer and it's too late!
New treats are out!

She's not too bad really emphasising the cue word, hoping the new treats will up the anti!


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## JoshandDave

lullabydream said:


> Patience and persistence..my perfect puppy has gone backwards with toilet training. My fault to some degree. Started to train her to come in too..so she's more interested in a piece of kibble to come in then fully eliminating...plus my son who watches her hasn't been letting her out enough..he's too busy working at his computer, or talking on his computer and it's too late!
> New treats are out!
> 
> She's not too bad really emphasising the cue word, hoping the new treats will up the anti!


He's been a _little_ better today with just a couple of tiny leaks. He woke from a nap in the living room and on the way down stairs to go out had a little accident so the next time I thought I'd carry him down and he had an accident in my arms, both times he finished outside though so I keep telling myself he's just too young to hold it in and it's not the end of the world

We started with kibble rewards for eliminating outside but I read that can lead to a puppy not finishing so they can earn more treats so moved to praise and fuss


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## lullabydream

JoshandDave said:


> He's been a _little_ better today with just a couple of tiny leaks. He woke from a nap in the living room and on the way down stairs to go out had a little accident so the next time I thought I'd carry him down and he had an accident in my arms, both times he finished outside though so I keep telling myself he's just too young to hold it in and it's not the end of the world
> 
> We started with kibble rewards for eliminating outside but I read that can lead to a puppy not finishing so they can earn more treats so moved to praise and fuss


It depends on the dog/puppy what motivates them. As long as you remain calm till they finish, and give them extra time outside it usually works. Labs tend to love food, and kibble out of their food allowance shouldn't be that high value per se, you'll need high value treats for a gregarious Labrador when he reaches teenage stage and thinks every dog is his friend, and every person and wants to rush to them. It's not what you want. You want a dog neutral dog really.

Excited praise also for a Labrador can be high reward to them, especially when you do it in such a high pitched voice makes them so happy! Though it can back fire as they can get over excited!

It really is what works for your dog, but at this age whatever you choose try and stick to it.


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## JoshandDave

lullabydream said:


> It depends on the dog/puppy what motivates them. As long as you remain calm till they finish, and give them extra time outside it usually works. Labs tend to love food, and kibble out of their food allowance shouldn't be that high value per se, you'll need high value treats for a gregarious Labrador when he reaches teenage stage and thinks every dog is his friend, and every person and wants to rush to them. It's not what you want. You want a dog neutral dog really.
> 
> Excited praise also for a Labrador can be high reward to them, especially when you do it in such a high pitched voice makes them so happy! Though it can back fire as they can get over excited!
> 
> It really is what works for your dog, but at this age whatever you choose try and stick to it.


Good advice, thanks! Will keep up with the squeaky praise and thrown the odd treat in to keep it interesting


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## Guest

Hope it keeps improving @JoshandDave

I had a nice moment with my Nova girl tonight. She woke up from a nap and I took her out to potty. She did a wee and I took her back inside. A few minutes later, she stood at the black door again and I thought ok probably just wants to go outside to have a nosey where our cat is at. I called her back to her bed on the couch and she settled for a few minutes and then she was back at the door again! So I took her out and she actually had to poop.

So happy she kept up with telling me she needed to go outside! Sometimes it's hard to distinguish in the day time if she just wants to go out to play but tonight it's raining and she normally doesn't want to go outside at this time of the day. And still myself learning to respond to her cues .

Anyway thought I'd shared something positive, the toilet training does get better with consistency and patience.


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## lullabydream

Kakite said:


> Hope it keeps improving @JoshandDave
> 
> I had a nice moment with my Nova girl tonight. She woke up from a nap and I took her out to potty. She did a wee and I took her back inside. A few minutes later, she stood at the black door again and I thought ok probably just wants to go outside to have a nosey where our cat is at. I called her back to her bed on the couch and she settled for a few minutes and then she was back at the door again! So I took her out and she actually had to poop.
> 
> So happy she kept up with telling me she needed to go outside! Sometimes it's hard to distinguish in the day time if she just wants to go out to play but tonight it's raining and she normally doesn't want to go outside at this time of the day. And still myself learning to respond to her cues .
> 
> Anyway thought I'd shared something positive, the toilet training does get better with consistency and patience.


Not all dogs show willing that they need toilet unless they are desperate...

My dogs get ample opportunities in the day to toilet and although not uncommon my chihuahua will wake me up in the early hours of the morning if she's had a change of food (I feed on rotation) to have a poo. Giving dogs opportunity you don't always get a desperate need to toilet per se unless ill. Also sometimes dogs especially puppies are more inclined to get your attention to open the back door so they can play...as gardens are always a different adventure every day!


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## Guest

lullabydream said:


> Also sometimes dogs especially puppies are more inclined to get your attention to open the back door so they can play...as gardens are always a different adventure every day!


Ain't this the truth! This is why I never teach/encourage my dogs to tell me they need to go out - instead they get let out when I am ready to let them out. Obviously I give them sufficient opportunities to go during the day so they're not busting, but they would absolutely take advantage of it if I let them out whenever they asked!


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## Guest

We give Nova lots of opportunities to go out during the day and evening too. I guess she just picked up that we always go through the back door when we take her out to potty. 95% of the time she does need to go if she stands at the door and if she does just want out for some fresh air or play, I also don’t mind that. In saying that this only happens a few times a week because normally we take her out often enough so she doesn’t need to let us know.


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## lullabydream

Kakite said:


> We give Nova lots of opportunities to go out during the day and evening too. I guess she just picked up that we always go through the back door when we take her out to potty. 95% of the time she does need to go if she stands at the door and if she does just want out for some fresh air or play, I also don't mind that. In saying that this only happens a few times a week because normally we take her out often enough so she doesn't need to let us know.


There is no right or wrong answer. It's honestly what works for you.

If your puppy/ dog was constantly asking to go out and doing zoomies in the garden, a spot of leaf chasing and not even thinking about toileting and toileting more in the house than outside, I would say a rethink on allowing them to ask is necessary. Usually toilet training problems are highlighted in homes come colder months...people have left doors open so puppies haven't encouraged their sphincter to hold, they haven't worried about letting the dog out, well nice weather its fun to watch a puppy playing in the garden owners too can get lost in that moment. Cold weather strikes and it's not fun realising you haven't cracked toilet training and it's not nice being dragged in the garden without a coat every 10 minutes to watch your puppy play when you want them just to toilet and come in the warmth!


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## Guest

Totally agree  I have a few friends who have puppies at the moment and everyone is doing the training a little bit differently because we all have different set ups and different pups.


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## JoshandDave

Ok here's one for you guys and girls. Moved Dave's cage upstairs and he's settling but only on the sofa next to me. He won't stay in his cage even though it's next to me, any advice?

Edit: Persistence paid off and last night Dave slept in his cage with the door shut and only stirred when he needed to go outside. Progress!


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## DanWalkersmum

JoshandDave said:


> Ok here's one for you guys and girls. Moved Dave's cage upstairs and he's settling but only on the sofa next to me. He won't stay in his cage even though it's next to me, any advice?
> 
> Edit: Persistence paid off and last night Dave slept in his cage with the door shut and only stirred when he needed to go outside. Progress!


How's it going with Dave?


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## JoshandDave

DanWalkersmum said:


> How's it going with Dave?


Another good night! He sleeps in his cage with the door shut with only a couple of minutes of half hearted whimpering before he's snoring away. I've progressed from the kitchen floor to the living room and once he's used to sleeping in there I'll start to move away from his cage until he's comfortable sleeping alone.


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## DanWalkersmum

JoshandDave said:


> Another good night! He sleeps in his cage with the door shut with only a couple of minutes of half hearted whimpering before he's snoring away. I've progressed from the kitchen floor to the living room and once he's used to sleeping in there I'll start to move away from his cage until he's comfortable sleeping alone.


Well done, good progress, remember to take it slowly though or you may need to go back to square one!


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## Charity

I've definitely got the puppy blues today, worst day so far. 

Purdey has been bringing up a bit of bile some mornings and this morning she brought back all of her breakfast. Is this a common thing with puppies?

Before breakfast, I took her for a walk. We started her on her new harness yesterday, she hates anything being put on her whether its a collar (she's just about got used to that) or a lead whatever, she falls over on her back so you can't put it on and tries to chew the lead. Having eventually got it on this morning, I took her out on my own. I have a permanent bad back so I wear a back support when taking her out as I find her pulling or me having to pull her back difficult. We got down the road and round the corner though she wasn't very keen to walk (possibly because my OH wasn't taking her) and then she started trying to chew the lead and rolling about on her back. Now, this is the difficult part for me as she would not stand up so I had to haul her up with the harness handle, which doesn't do me a lot of good now she's getting bigger, but she just lies down again. Unfortunately I forgot to take the treats so had no incentive to get her up. This went on for about five minutes and I was despairing how I was going to get her to continue walking and thinking of calling my OH to come and help. To make matters worse, an elderly man appeared on the other side of the road with his Jack Russell who barked. This stopped Purdey in her tracks and she got up to sit and look at them. I heard the man say 'oh, there's a puppy' and he started to come across the road to meet us but I asked him not to as she was in a hyper mood. Thankfully, I then managed to get her to walk back home.

She is also getting to see me as her daily personal punch bag, lunging and mouthing me which I'm finding hard to cope with. She will bring me toys to play with but will then start jumping up and trying to bite me. If I get up and turn away she nips as my feet or legs and its not soft mouthing so hurts. I end up usually putting her in her crate for time out. Sometimes, she'll just come and do it when I'm sat at the table and not even paying her attention. I was also out in the garden with her this morning throwing toys for her to chase when she suddenly stopped and turned her attention to me and started lunging, growling and going to bite. She does it to my OH as well but not so much. She's really good in a lot of other ways but this, in particular, is getting to me.

Tonight is our first puppy training session which I was looking forward to but I have to say I am not in the best mood for it as I feel quite defeated by things today.

My OH has since looked up a video on getting dogs to accept the harness and we realise we've done it completely wrong and gone at it like a bull in a china shop instead of taking things slowly so we will have to go back to square one. Don't know how to stop the lunging and biting though as the standard advice doesn't seem to be working, she just doesn't get that its not acceptable. I know its most likely the way I'm dealing with it but I don't know what to do.


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## lullabydream

Charity said:


> I've definitely got the puppy blues today, worst day so far.
> 
> Purdey has been bringing up a bit of bile some mornings and this morning she brought back all of her breakfast. Is this a common thing with puppies?
> 
> Before breakfast, I took her for a walk. We started her on her new harness yesterday, she hates anything being put on her whether its a collar (she's just about got used to that) or a lead whatever, she falls over on her back so you can't put it on and tries to chew the lead. Having eventually got it on this morning, I took her out on my own. I have a permanent bad back so I wear a back support when taking her out as I find her pulling or me having to pull her back difficult. We got down the road and round the corner though she wasn't very keen to walk (possibly because my OH wasn't taking her) and then she started trying to chew the lead and rolling about on her back. Now, this is the difficult part for me as she would not stand up so I had to haul her up with the harness handle, which doesn't do me a lot of good now she's getting bigger, but she just lies down again. Unfortunately I forgot to take the treats so had no incentive to get her up. This went on for about five minutes and I was despairing how I was going to get her to continue walking and thinking of calling my OH to come and help. To make matters worse, an elderly man appeared on the other side of the road with his Jack Russell who barked. This stopped Purdey in her tracks and she got up to sit and look at them. I heard the man say 'oh, there's a puppy' and he started to come across the road to meet us but I asked him not to as she was in a hyper mood. Thankfully, I then managed to get her to walk back home.
> 
> She is also getting to see me as her daily personal punch bag, lunging and mouthing me which I'm finding hard to cope with. She will bring me toys to play with but will then start jumping up and trying to bite me. If I get up and turn away she nips as my feet or legs and its not soft mouthing so hurts. I end up usually putting her in her crate for time out. Sometimes, she'll just come and do it when I'm sat at the table and not even paying her attention. I was also out in the garden with her this morning throwing toys for her to chase when she suddenly stopped and turned her attention to me and started lunging, growling and going to bite. She does it to my OH as well but not so much. She's really good in a lot of other ways but this, in particular, is getting to me.
> 
> Tonight is our first puppy training session which I was looking forward to but I have to say I am not in the best mood for it as I feel quite defeated by things today.
> 
> My OH has since looked up a video on getting dogs to accept the harness and we realise we've done it completely wrong and gone at it like a bull in a china shop instead of taking things slowly so we will have to go back to square one. Don't know how to stop the lunging and biting though as the standard advice doesn't seem to be working, she just doesn't get that its not acceptable. I know its most likely the way I'm dealing with it but I don't know what to do.


Don't beat yourself up about not going slowly over the harness, lots of people don't do this and dogs are fine. To be honest Maisie my lurcher loves having her harness put on because she loves her walks but she always has to have a quick chew on her harness as it goes over her head! Have tried to stop her with treats but she prefers a quick sneaky chew. Maisie is 3 by the way!

Am thinking due to your back issues would it be worth looking into getting a walking belt. I know some people think oh no that will make my back worse but in all fairness they are usually a god send for those who do suffer with bad backs, give a better centre of gravity!

Absolutely the best thing you could have done with the JRT to be honest. Well done.

@puppymadness is feeling your pain currently of biting puppy and being hard to manage. Harley is like a crocodile at the moment so is terrible but naturally being smaller she's not as hard to manage but I can remember how bad my terriers could be, clinging of my clothes. Maisie came to me at 9 months with no real bite inhibition and was attention seeking and the bruises were terrible, so yes I can understand.


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## Charity

I wouldn't mind the biting so much if I had done something but its all part of the game for Purdey I suppose. I probably wouldn't feel so bothered about it if my back was OK. Its not as bad as it was a week or two ago I must admit, a lot of the injuries come by accident rather than design. 

Not sure about the walking belt, never thought of that, would she not still chew on her lead? Will think about it.


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## lullabydream

Charity said:


> chew on her lead?


Chewing on the lead usually stops with maturity when excitement etc settles down a bit and they get hang of actually I like to walk...but of course there are always exceptions to the rule.

The walking belt will give you two free hands so more strength in some respects to guide her off chewing the lead!


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## Guest

I woke up this morning and Nova's blanket in the crate had two massive holes bitten in it and was soaking wet with saliva and all the little pieces were in the crate and on the floor. So weird! She slept in her crate last night and we leave the door open, so she can hop into our bed when she wants to. When we woke up, she was snuggled up with us under our blanket. 

She has done blanket chewing before when she was teething heavily, so for a while we stopped leaving any blanket with her in the crate when we're out. But over night she has never done this and also hasn't chewed on her blankets in the day time for the last two months. She has not even once chewed on anything in the house.

Nova will be 7 months tomorrow. I wonder if this is the start of her teenage phase :Nailbiting


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## Guest

ARGH...came home at lunch time today to walk Nova and she ripped her bed to shreds  ... even though she had a frozen kong *and* chew toy in there..


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## DaisyBluebell

Have you had thunder,lightning or heavy rain, overnight or today, that may be you would not have been concious of but with their acute hearing she may have heard? Try to think outside the box so to speak. What could/might have caused her anxiety? How long are you leaving her alone? At 7 months she is still a baby & needs to know you are around if something is frightening her. If you cannot think of what might be causing this episode a trip to the vets might be in order, she is obviously not a happy dog at the moment.


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## Guest

@DaisyBluebell thank you for your response. We had heavy rain and wind nearly every day over the last couple of weeks and maybe that was the cause. She was alone for an hour the day she ripped her bed apart.

And I checked with my husband and he said the other day when he was home with her and we had quite heavy rain and hail she was whining and growling. He managed to calm her down quickly and she snuggled up by him and went to sleep.

Over night her crate is always open and she usually goes to sleep in there and then after a couple of hours or in the early morning she jumps up and sleeps with us.

We never leave her longer than 1-2 hours usually and have videotaped her many times and she doesn't bark or cry when we're out. Usually we give her a good amount of exercise or play time before she goes into the crate and a chew toy or kong or chew stick that's safe and she goes to sleep.

Ps: we also leave some quiet music playing or a movie because she likes to have some noise on when no one is in the house.


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## DaisyBluebell

My old girl was afraid of nothing except when the wind blew and the curtains moved or the door creaked & she could not see what was causing this to happen and would get up and move as far away as possible from the evil thing that she could not see ! Sounds very similar to me & whilst heavy rain and thunder never wakes my husband up the slightest sound of either and I am 100% awake!


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## astro2011

Introducing Onto (name made up by my five year old daughter). He's eight weeks and two days old. Getting on great!


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## DaisyBluebell

Beautiful


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## Shona268

Hi 
Just wanted to introduce my 9 week old irish setter Rosie. 
Had her for 6 days now and it's been good.
She started of going outside really well but is now having a few accidents, only wee at the moment, in the house but from reading the posts I feel it may be because she is confused?
I had the creat out when we first got her then put it away as she just cried and cried when in it but after reading more on her breed I have decided to creat train her. What do people think is the best way to get her happy in there? 
I also have to other dogs both of them are shih tzu crosses and both are male, one is Cooper he is 7 and the other gruff he is 2. They are slowly sort of getting used to her but I am having a few problems with them snapping at her, I know they will correct her when they feel she has over stepped but sometimes it just seem like they want to have a go at her.
And to top it off we have discovered that she has/had fleas so now the boys have them, I am phoning the vet tomorrow to get some stuff for them but it's annoying because the boys are supposed to be protected from fleas as they get the pills every 3 months.
I love her and haven't hit any puppy blues yet I don't think maybe because I know she can't go back to the breeders I got her from as I wasnt happy with he set up they had and the condition Rosie was in when we got her home as she was only 2.8 kg which is pretty under weight for a setter. And also I love the wee bundle of energy and cant imagin her not being in the house even if the boys aren't happy with it yet, I know/hope they can adjust.


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## Guest

Shona268 said:


> Hi
> Just wanted to introduce my 9 week old irish setter Rosie.
> Had her for 6 days now and it's been good.
> She started of going outside really well but is now having a few accidents, only wee at the moment, in the house but from reading the posts I feel it may be because she is confused?
> I had the creat out when we first got her then put it away as she just cried and cried when in it but after reading more on her breed I have decided to creat train her. What do people think is the best way to get her happy in there?
> I also have to other dogs both of them are shih tzu crosses and both are male, one is Cooper he is 7 and the other gruff he is 2. They are slowly sort of getting used to her but I am having a few problems with them snapping at her, I know they will correct her when they feel she has over stepped but sometimes it just seem like they want to have a go at her.
> And to top it off we have discovered that she has/had fleas so now the boys have them, I am phoning the vet tomorrow to get some stuff for them but it's annoying because the boys are supposed to be protected from fleas as they get the pills every 3 months.
> I love her and haven't hit any puppy blues yet I don't think maybe because I know she can't go back to the breeders I got her from as I wasnt happy with he set up they had and the condition Rosie was in when we got her home as she was only 2.8 kg which is pretty under weight for a setter. And also I love the wee bundle of energy and cant imagin her not being in the house even if the boys aren't happy with it yet, I know/hope they can adjust.
> View attachment 412263
> View attachment 412264


Rosie looks very cute 

Regarding crate training, it needs to be done very slowly if she has already had a bad experience with it. Make it a great place to be - feed her in there, play games that involve the crate, give her a kong or chew in there etc. Don't shut the door yet, just make it a great place for her to be.

With your other dogs, some dogs (or a lot of dogs) just don't like puppies, and who can blame them - puppies can be really annoying!. If it's only been 9 days then you need to give them much more time to get used to her. They should not be put in a position where they need to tell her off - it's your job to manage her behaviour, not theirs. Make interactions short and positive and when you can't actively supervise them, keep them apart. Hopefully in time they will adjust to her.

With the fleas, you might find that the treatment you have your older dogs on requires the fleas to bite before they die, rather than repel them, which would explain why you are seeing them on. Talk to your vet but make sure you don't overdose them.


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## Shona268

McKenzie said:


> Rosie looks very cute
> 
> Regarding crate training, it needs to be done very slowly if she has already had a bad experience with it. Make it a great place to be - feed her in there, play games that involve the crate, give her a kong or chew in there etc. Don't shut the door yet, just make it a great place for her to be.
> 
> With your other dogs, some dogs (or a lot of dogs) just don't like puppies, and who can blame them - puppies can be really annoying!. If it's only been 9 days then you need to give them much more time to get used to her. They should not be put in a position where they need to tell her off - it's your job to manage her behaviour, not theirs. Make interactions short and positive and when you can't actively supervise them, keep them apart. Hopefully in time they will adjust to her.
> 
> With the fleas, you might find that the treatment you have your older dogs on requires the fleas to bite before they die, rather than repel them, which would explain why you are seeing them on. Talk to your vet but make sure you don't overdose them.


Thank you
Yeah I just rushed it the first few days, she wasnt in for long just a few minutes and ia reward her for quieting down but I had the door shut, she was being fed just outside the door and was happy with it, but yeha this time I will just go very slowly leave the door open try and entice her in with treat without tshutinf the door.
Im currently sleeping on the couch with her, so I'll just keep doing that till she's ready.

They ignore her for the most part and she trys to get them to play with her, I do intervene when she is hareasing them but when I read up on it, the site all said to let them correct her if she was over stepping the mark like getting to close to them and such, we obviously feed them in different places and have been rewarding the boys when they ignore her antis or when she runs past where they are sitting and lying. Should I be doing more with them, we never had as much of a hard time with introducing gruff our 2 year old to Cooper but gruff was a very timid little puppy who had had a bad start to life and it was almost as if Cooper knew that and was just very easy going with him but Rosie is very active and playful.
Should I be doing more for them other than the posive reinforcement?

That could be it but I did think it was a prevention medicine but I wil speak to the vet before giving anything else don't want to make them ill at all.


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## Guest

I'm not sure your adult dogs particularly need positive reinforcement, rather, they need space and time away from the puppy. I wouldn't be rewarding them for ignoring her, rather, I would be making sure she couldn't bother them by using crates, puppy pens, house lines, baby gates etc. The advice that older dogs should correct puppies is rather old school and not, IMO, the path to harmony.

Bear in mind as well that your puppy is soon going to be significantly bigger than your older dogs, and setters aren't known for being calm dogs. By showing your older dogs now that you will respect their feelings towards your puppy and keep them safe will hopefully reduce any anxiety they may feel towards her in the future as the puppy gets bigger and bouncier and more obnoxious.

My older dog took to my puppy very well and they are as thick as thieves, but there are still times, 3 years later, that he will be a dick and will charge at her (in play) when we are on a walk, which she hates (he is 3x her size). I don't reward my older dog for putting up with being charged at, I tell my 'puppy' to stop being an arse and put him on a lead. It's the same thing.


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## astro2011

Mind when I said all going great  (can't find a laughing face).

Absolutely knackered lol! He took to the crate very well, apart from when the door is closed. Tried closing the door when asleep, jeez he's noisy and difficult with a five year old haha!!

Will keep trying during the day today and gonna go get stuff for inside the Kong.

Picture to help it feel easier hahaha!


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## Guest

Lucky they’re cute huh! :Hilarious


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## astro2011

McKenzie said:


> Lucky they're cute huh! :Hilarious


I mean it's prob the only reason I'll tolerate the tiredness haha!!


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## Shona268

McKenzie said:


> I'm not sure your adult dogs particularly need positive reinforcement, rather, they need space and time away from the puppy. I wouldn't be rewarding them for ignoring her, rather, I would be making sure she couldn't bother them by using crates, puppy pens, house lines, baby gates etc. The advice that older dogs should correct puppies is rather old school and not, IMO, the path to harmony.
> 
> Bear in mind as well that your puppy is soon going to be significantly bigger than your older dogs, and setters aren't known for being calm dogs. By showing your older dogs now that you will respect their feelings towards your puppy and keep them safe will hopefully reduce any anxiety they may feel towards her in the future as the puppy gets bigger and bouncier and more obnoxious.
> 
> My older dog took to my puppy very well and they are as thick as thieves, but there are still times, 3 years later, that he will be a dick and will charge at her (in play) when we are on a walk, which she hates (he is 3x her size). I don't reward my older dog for putting up with being charged at, I tell my 'puppy' to stop being an arse and put him on a lead. It's the same thing.


Right okay so I'm going about it in the wrong way, I have been stopping her when she being's to bug them but not every time, it probably sound stupid when I say it on her but I really did think she would need to learn herself from them not to go near them. But I will start to intervene sooner hopefully that makes my boys feel better.

You are right and now I'm nodding my head like yeah this makes sense, cause she is going to get bigger she need to learn now.

Thank you


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## Shona268

Hey all 
So i brought the crate out and she is really good with it, she already wonders in her self, she's happy to have her food in there and she even wondered in for a nap earlier. 

I'm really needing advice for my other two dogs with her for the most part they are fine but Rosie won't stop wondering over to coopers basket to chew in the edge of it, iv been giving her a firm no and I'm sure that will take time, but gruff just had a go at her because she fell into him as she was playing. Again told him a firm no so he knows it's not acceptable to do that but now I just don't know if what I'm doing is the right way lol 
Anyone else in a multiple dog house with advice?


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## Guest

Don’t want to jinx it, but 94 days with no potty accidents yay


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## DaisyBluebell

Kakite said:


> Don't want to jinx it, but 94 days with no potty accidents yay


Excellent report, how is she with the bad wind and rain we are having? Any more scary whinney incidents?
You may still have the odd 'accident' but its all sounding much better.


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## astro2011

Sleeping is going well with Onto now! Having a couple accidents in the house, however no big deal. This weather is horrendous and he's a pampered poodle who doesn't want to get his hair wet haha!


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> Excellent report, how is she with the bad wind and rain we are having? Any more scary whinney incidents?
> You may still have the odd 'accident' but its all sounding much better.


Are you in NZ as well?

Yeah I don't expect her to have 0 accidents at all, can always happen.

She is much better with the wind and rain and now. Thank you! Happy little girl.


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## DaisyBluebell

No I am in the U.K. r u in NZ? We are having storms n gales n sunshine here


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> No I am in the U.K. r u in NZ? We are having storms n gales n sunshine here


Yes I'm in NZ, we kinda have the same weather today it seems! Will be colder here though, we have winter.


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## DaisyBluebell

Ooh lucky you, beautiful NZ, I used to live In OZ. Both beautiful parts of our world.
McKenzie is in NZ have you seen the lovely collars she makes?


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## Guest

DaisyBluebell said:


> Ooh lucky you, beautiful NZ, I used to live In OZ. Both beautiful parts of our world.
> McKenzie is in NZ have you seen the lovely collars she makes?


Yes, have seen her collars! They look gorgeous! Yeah I love living here, have been here for almost 7 years now and really enjoying it!!!


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## JamboMakaveli

First time dog owner here. Myself, my wife, and our sons (15 and 11).... it’s the first time any of us have ever had a dog.

We have a beautiful 11 week old shi-poo puppy. We got him last Saturday. His name is Tedi!

My wife and myself both agree that after having 2 kids... having a dog is more stressful. Lol.

We absolutely love him to bits. We’ve both completely fallen for him.

We just, as I’m sure a lot of people do... didn’t realise exactly what I would entail.

The first night... we slept on the couches in the living room with him, and he was ok.

The second night, we put him in his crate, upstairs, on the landing, in view of me in bed.

I have never ever heard noises like it... it literally broke our hearts. However, one week later, he’s going in at 11pm, and I’m having to wake him at 6am. He will then go out the back garden for a pee.

If I’m looking after him, I’ll give him plenty of opportunities... after waking, after food, a few other times... and he’ll do his business outside.

My wife however, on her watch... he tends to go in the house. That’s more to do with her not being patient enough, as he tends to get distracted outside and it can take time.


He’s literally one of the family, we’d be lost without him.

Nipping and biting, or mouthing, is plentiful, and sometimes painful lol.

Hanging off legs, and socks is also regular.

All in all, after 1 week, there’s definitely been progress in a lot of ways, I think he’s very comfortable here, happy, and is really loved.

I have a question for the community....

We will have to leave him occasionally in his crate, while we juggle work....

A Kong seems to be the go to toy...

I just worry they may be a little messy? With all that food spilling out?

Can anyone reassure me that isn’t the case.


Looking forward to being on here, and interacting with other people. Seems like a really great community.

Lastly... Tedi has his last injections tomorrow... so I think, or rather I’m hopeful that when we can walk him in a few weeks, things will be a bit better. At the moment, there’s a bit of a cabin fever feel, with him not being allowed out, and we’re anxious to leave him for anything other than work commitments.


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> First time dog owner here. Myself, my wife, and our sons (15 and 11).... it's the first time any of us have ever had a dog.
> 
> We have a beautiful 11 week old shi-poo puppy. We got him last Saturday. His name is Tedi!
> 
> My wife and myself both agree that after having 2 kids... having a dog is more stressful. Lol.
> 
> We absolutely love him to bits. We've both completely fallen for him.
> 
> We just, as I'm sure a lot of people do... didn't realise exactly what I would entail.
> 
> The first night... we slept on the couches in the living room with him, and he was ok.
> 
> The second night, we put him in his crate, upstairs, on the landing, in view of me in bed.
> 
> I have never ever heard noises like it... it literally broke our hearts. However, one week later, he's going in at 11pm, and I'm having to wake him at 6am. He will then go out the back garden for a pee.
> 
> If I'm looking after him, I'll give him plenty of opportunities... after waking, after food, a few other times... and he'll do his business outside.
> 
> My wife however, on her watch... he tends to go in the house. That's more to do with her not being patient enough, as he tends to get distracted outside and it can take time.
> 
> He's literally one of the family, we'd be lost without him.
> 
> Nipping and biting, or mouthing, is plentiful, and sometimes painful lol.
> 
> Hanging off legs, and socks is also regular.
> 
> All in all, after 1 week, there's definitely been progress in a lot of ways, I think he's very comfortable here, happy, and is really loved.
> 
> I have a question for the community....
> 
> We will have to leave him occasionally in his crate, while we juggle work....
> 
> A Kong seems to be the go to toy...
> 
> I just worry they may be a little messy? With all that food spilling out?
> 
> Can anyone reassure me that isn't the case.
> 
> Looking forward to being on here, and interacting with other people. Seems like a really great community.
> 
> Lastly... Tedi has his last injections tomorrow... so I think, or rather I'm hopeful that when we can walk him in a few weeks, things will be a bit better. At the moment, there's a bit of a cabin fever feel, with him not being allowed out, and we're anxious to leave him for anything other than work commitments.


Hello and welcome! Ted looks so cute no wonder you've all fallen in love with him.
I can't help with the crate thing as we did not persevere with it, and as we don't have to leave our dog it hasn't been a problem. Sure someone else will be along to help with that one.
I can tell you that you will find things easier when you can walk him outside though, especiallty the first walk of the day (my OH does this one). Doesn't have to be too far at first though and also puppy training classes - take the kids to get them involved if you are able. For us as first time owners it proved to be a good investment we learned so much from them even if you just do the first classes. 
Good luck with your pup, look forward to seeig updates and more photos too!


----------



## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> Hello and welcome! Ted looks so cute no wonder you've all fallen in love with him.
> I can't help with the crate thing as we did not persevere with it, and as we don't have to leave our dog it hasn't been a problem. Sure someone else will be along to help with that one.
> I can tell you that you will find things easier when you can walk him outside though, especiallty the first walk of the day (my OH does this one). Doesn't have to be too far at first though and also puppy training classes - take the kids to get them involved if you are able. For us as first time owners it proved to be a good investment we learned so much from them even if you just do the first classes.
> Good luck with your pup, look forward to seeig updates and more photos too!


Thank you for your help. Regarding puppy training, I'm not sure... we may be going to that, I'll have to double check.

The vet we have signed him up to, well every Friday evening, they run what they call puppy parties. Here, the puppies can socialise with other puppies, and there will also be a talk every week on different subjects... nutrition, behaviour, and other stuff.

So I'm not sure if this is what your referring to?

Or are you talking more one to one proper training?


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> Thank you for your help. Regarding puppy training, I'm not sure... we may be going to that, I'll have to double check.
> 
> The vet we have signed him up to, well every Friday evening, they run what they call puppy parties. Here, the puppies can socialise with other puppies, and there will also be a talk every week on different subjects... nutrition, behaviour, and other stuff.
> 
> So I'm not sure if this is what your referring to?
> 
> Or are you talking more one to one proper training?


That sounds really good, wish we had that here Dan would have loved it. No I'm talking puppy training classes, lead work sit, stay, etc.Kennel Club Good Citizen, taught us loads and the guy and his wife who ran them have four very well behaved dogs. There were a couple of owners there who brought one of their children with them and it was lovely to see them working with their pup.


----------



## Guest

@jambomakaveli I was worried about the mess too with the kong toys and never had this happen once... my pup cleans up very well after - no tiny bit of food gets left behind


----------



## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> That sounds really good, wish we had that here Dan would have loved it. No I'm talking puppy training classes, lead work sit, stay, etc.Kennel Club Good Citizen, taught us loads and the guy and his wife who ran them have four very well behaved dogs. There were a couple of owners there who brought one of their children with them and it was lovely to see them working with their pup.


That sounds great!

I'll have to see if I can find something like that locally, as it would absolutely benefit everyone.

How was your puppy with nipping, biting, or
Mouthing rather?

Did that settle down on its own ever? Or is that something that really needs to be trained out?


----------



## Guest

We did a puppy class to which was a mix of socialising and basic training, and we are starting another 6week class that is more advanced “Good manners” training - actually super excited


----------



## JamboMakaveli

@Kakite

For some reason it won't let me reply to you. Apparently it's spam, or inappropriate?

Thank you for your help, I'll certainly try the Kong, and am hopeful he'll enjoy the puppy parties!

A good manners class sounds great... would this cover... stop biting my feet and hanging off my socks when I walk? Lol


----------



## Charity

JamboMakaveli said:


> First time dog owner here. Myself, my wife, and our sons (15 and 11).... it's the first time any of us have ever had a dog.
> 
> We have a beautiful 11 week old shi-poo puppy. We got him last Saturday. His name is Tedi!
> 
> My wife and myself both agree that after having 2 kids... having a dog is more stressful. Lol.
> 
> We absolutely love him to bits. We've both completely fallen for him.
> 
> We just, as I'm sure a lot of people do... didn't realise exactly what I would entail.
> 
> The first night... we slept on the couches in the living room with him, and he was ok.
> 
> The second night, we put him in his crate, upstairs, on the landing, in view of me in bed.
> 
> I have never ever heard noises like it... it literally broke our hearts. However, one week later, he's going in at 11pm, and I'm having to wake him at 6am. He will then go out the back garden for a pee.
> 
> If I'm looking after him, I'll give him plenty of opportunities... after waking, after food, a few other times... and he'll do his business outside.
> 
> My wife however, on her watch... he tends to go in the house. That's more to do with her not being patient enough, as he tends to get distracted outside and it can take time.
> 
> He's literally one of the family, we'd be lost without him.
> 
> Nipping and biting, or mouthing, is plentiful, and sometimes painful lol.
> 
> Hanging off legs, and socks is also regular.
> 
> All in all, after 1 week, there's definitely been progress in a lot of ways, I think he's very comfortable here, happy, and is really loved.
> 
> I have a question for the community....
> 
> We will have to leave him occasionally in his crate, while we juggle work....
> 
> A Kong seems to be the go to toy...
> 
> I just worry they may be a little messy? With all that food spilling out?
> 
> Can anyone reassure me that isn't the case.
> 
> Looking forward to being on here, and interacting with other people. Seems like a really great community.
> 
> Lastly... Tedi has his last injections tomorrow... so I think, or rather I'm hopeful that when we can walk him in a few weeks, things will be a bit better. At the moment, there's a bit of a cabin fever feel, with him not being allowed out, and we're anxious to leave him for anything other than work commitments.


Ted is beautiful. We have a 16 week old Labrador puppy which we've had for eight weeks now. We've had a dog before but a puppy is something else and much harder work than either of us anticipated.

With regard to the weeing in the house, going outside at that age, especially as he's new to your home, needs to be often. We have a particular small area where ours goes, not the whole run of the garden, and we just keep saying "widdle" if she doesn't go immediately. Yes, we've had a few accidents indoors but that's usually our fault because we're not paying attention, not hers.

Ours sleeps in a crate, we give her a frozen kong every night about half an hour before bedding down time which she loves and then she mostly just settles and goes to sleep until we get up in the morning. Believe me there won't be any mess with the kong as they lick every single bit.

As for leaving him in the crate when you have to go out, just practice leaving him for a little time while you're indoors, say 5-10 minutes, then maybe go outside and leave him in it and gradually extend the time until he is happy being left. He may whine or yap to begin with but, hopefully, he'll settle. You could leave a radio on if that helps. We are retired so we don't go out and leave her for very long periods.

Mouthing and biting - my favourite subject. We had a serious issue with this as ours was hard mouthing regularly and breaking the skin so, in the end, we called in a behaviourist and she hasn't done it since. You could try keeping a long toy nearby so if you get up to move around and Ted follows and nips, you dangle the toy and hope he prefers that to your leg. You aren't supposed to discourage mouthing totally when they are young puppies as this is part of their learning process but they need to be learning to do it softly rather than taking chunks out of you and eventually stop doing it as they grow.

I would recommend training classes as it helps them lean the basic things and they are socialising with other puppies at this stage. You will also learn about what makes your dog tick as well which is good, especially if you haven't had a dog before. We joined up with Dogs Trust initially.

Now we're two months down the line and things are a lot better. Still working on one or two issues but we're getting there and its a lot easier than in the beginning.

Look forward to hearing more about Ted and how he is getting on. I love hearing how other puppies are doing.


----------



## JamboMakaveli

Charity said:


> Ted is beautiful. We have a 16 week old Labrador puppy which we've had for eight weeks now. We've had a dog before but a puppy is something else and much harder work than either of us anticipated.
> 
> With regard to the weeing in the house, going outside at that age, especially as he's new to your home, needs to be often. We have a particular small area where ours goes, not the whole run of the garden, and we just keep saying "widdle" if she doesn't go immediately. Yes, we've had a few accidents indoors but that's usually our fault because we're not paying attention, not hers.
> 
> Ours sleeps in a crate, we give her a frozen kong every night about half an hour before bedding down time which she loves and then she mostly just settles and goes to sleep until we get up in the morning. Believe me there won't be any mess with the kong as they lick every single bit.
> 
> As for leaving him in the crate when you have to go out, just practice leaving him for a little time while you're indoors, say 5-10 minutes, then maybe go outside and leave him in it and gradually extend the time until he is happy being left. He may whine or yap to begin with but, hopefully, he'll settle. You could leave a radio on if that helps. We are retired so we don't go out and leave her for very long periods.
> 
> Mouthing and biting - my favourite subject. We had a serious issue with this as ours was hard mouthing regularly and breaking the skin so, in the end, we called in a behaviourist and she hasn't done it since. You could try keeping a long toy nearby so if you get up to move around and Ted follows and nips, you dangle the toy and hope he prefers that to your leg. You aren't supposed to discourage mouthing totally when they are young puppies as this is part of their learning process but they need to be learning to do it softly rather than taking chunks out of you and eventually stop doing it as they grow.
> 
> I would recommend training classes as it helps them lean the basic things and they are socialising with other puppies at this stage. You will also learn about what makes your dog tick as well which is good, especially if you haven't had a dog before. We joined up with Dogs Trust initially.
> 
> Now we're two months down the line and things are a lot better. Still working on one or two issues but we're getting there and its a lot easier than in the beginning.
> 
> Look forward to hearing more about Ted and how he is getting on. I love hearing how other puppies are doing.


Thanks so much for taking the time to give all that advice and information. Very helpful.

I appreciate it a lot.

If you wouldn't mind, complete novice here...

Could you talk me through the frozen Kong please. How it works, what to do etc.

As it thaws, doesn't it leave liquid everywhere?

He has a mattress in his crate, so that would get soaked as it melted?


----------



## Charity

JamboMakaveli said:


> Thanks so much for taking the time to give all that advice and information. Very helpful.
> 
> I appreciate it a lot.
> 
> If you wouldn't mind, complete novice here...
> 
> Could you talk me through the frozen Kong please. How it works, what to do etc.
> 
> As it thaws, doesn't it leave liquid everywhere?
> 
> He has a mattress in his crate, so that would get soaked as it melted?


Don't worry, I'm a *puppy* novice myself. I had to laugh when you said 'as it thaws...'. It won't get time to thaw believe me, the food will be gone in no time and puppies will lick up everything they see so I promise you there shouldn't be any mess, it just might make any bedding a bit damp. We use a medium size puppy kong and fill it with wet food, we have Nature Menu,and then put it in the freezer for several hours. Whenever you want to give it to Ted to keep him occupied, not just at night time but perhaps if you have visitors, you are busy and don't want him under your feet or when you go to work, give it to him in his crate. The kong itself is practically bullet proof so he can't chew that up. He will love it. Just don't give too many in a day.

While on frozen food etc., one tip I have learnt recently, if the weather is hot, don't give a dog ice cubes to chew thinking it will cool them down, it doesn't, it apparently makes their body heat rise which can have serious consequences.


----------



## JamboMakaveli

Charity said:


> Don't worry, I'm a *puppy* novice myself. I had to laugh when you said 'as it thaws...'. It won't get time to thaw believe me, the food will be gone in no time and puppies will lick up everything they see so I promise you there shouldn't be any mess, it just might make any bedding a bit damp. We use a medium size puppy kong and fill it with wet food, we have Nature Menu,and then put it in the freezer for several hours. Whenever you want to give it to Ted to keep him occupied, not just at night time but perhaps if you have visitors, you are busy and don't want him under your feet or when you go to work, give it to him in his crate. The kong itself is practically bullet proof so he can't chew that up. He will love it. Just don't give too many in a day.
> 
> While on frozen food etc., one tip I have learnt recently, if the weather is hot, don't give a dog ice cubes to chew thinking it will cool them down, it doesn't, it apparently makes their body heat rise which can have serious consequences.


Thanks again for all your help!

I shall order him a kong tonight. Then I'll leave you be until delivery... then annoy you with various please help questions! Lol.

Thanks again.


----------



## Guest

@JamboMakaveli Hope your pup enjoys the kong. About the mouthing and biting - funnily my puppy stopped doing this after a couple of days - I just completely ignored her and left the room when she nipped while playing. My husband on the other hand was playing with his hands with her and it took him a good couple of months to stop her nipping - nothing worked but leaving the room and redirecting to toys and obviously not using his hands to play with her. Interestingly she never nipped other people or visitors either.

Nova will be 8 months next week, can't believe how fast they grow :Smuggrin


----------



## Guest

Mum I found a stick!


----------



## JamboMakaveli

Kakite said:


> @JamboMakaveli Hope your pup enjoys the kong. About the mouthing and biting - funnily my puppy stopped doing this after a couple of days - I just completely ignored her and left the room when she nipped while playing. My husband on the other hand was playing with his hands with her and it took him a good couple of months to stop her nipping - nothing worked but leaving the room and redirecting to toys and obviously not using his hands to play with her. Interestingly she never nipped other people or visitors either.
> 
> Nova will be 8 months next week, can't believe how fast they grow :Smuggrin


Good advice! I will try the leaving the room.

It's a funny one....

It's like he has a Jekyll and hide thing. Lol.

He has a mood where maybe he's a bit more settled, maybe even tired, and I can smooth him, tickle him etc....

Then there is the other side where putting my hand within a mile of him ends up with him trying to have me for dinner. Lol.


----------



## JamboMakaveli

Mmmm! Grass! Lol


----------



## Bella XxX

H


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> That sounds great!
> 
> I'll have to see if I can find something like that locally, as it would absolutely benefit everyone.
> 
> How was your puppy with nipping, biting, or
> Mouthing rather?
> 
> Did that settle down on its own ever? Or is that something that really needs to be trained out?


Yes it was a real pain - physically and mentally! You need to be very firm - he still tries to mouth when he's over excited, but a firm "no bite" seems to do the trick and he will lick instead. The art seems to be not over stimulating him as the rest of the time he's lovely.


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> @Kakite
> 
> For some reason it won't let me reply to you. Apparently it's spam, or inappropriate?
> 
> Thank you for your help, I'll certainly try the Kong, and am hopeful he'll enjoy the puppy parties!
> 
> A good manners class sounds great... would this cover... stop biting my feet and hanging off my socks when I walk? Lol


you might need a bit more than that to be honest - time and patience etc... LOL


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> View attachment 413113
> Mmmm! Grass! Lol


He is gorgeous! Lovely looking pup bet he is very cuddly too! 
I meant to say about the eating of other species poos...... first time we took Dan to the park he hoovered up the goose poop before we had chance to stop him ...it's everywhere and it's green. Visit to the vets for treatment as he had quite a bad tummy upset.... I know that others have problems with horse, fox, rabbit poo to name a few so please beware, grass is a usual favourite snack too :Wacky


----------



## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> Yes it was a real pain - physically and mentally! You need to be very firm - he still tries to mouth when he's over excited, but a firm "no bite" seems to do the trick and he will lick instead. The art seems to be not over stimulating him as the rest of the time he's lovely.


I have been persevering with no bite everytime he bites me. It's frustrating, because as I said earlier... take today for example... he's been great pretty much all day.. the odd playful mouth, but no clamping, just holding fingers in there.... and then now, from 9pm to 9:30pm.... he's possessed. Lol. Literally tried to have my feet for dinner... jumps up on me, bites my chest, bites my hands.

Then... collapses and goes to sleep. I'm starting to think this sorta phase is him burning off excess energy, as it always seems to be around 9pm.

I'll persevere with no bite, and hopefully he may get the message eventually. Lol


----------



## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> you might need a bit more than that to be honest - time and patience etc... LOL


Yeh I can absolutely see that time and patience is going to be needed, and I'm fine with that. You have to always remind yourself... he's a baby, and doesn't know what's what and is just learning. I think, or at least hope that in a general sense things will improve when we can talk him on walks, go to puppy parties, etc.

I have faith. Lol


----------



## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> He is gorgeous! Lovely looking pup bet he is very cuddly too!
> I meant to say about the eating of other species poos...... first time we took Dan to the park he hoovered up the goose poop before we had chance to stop him ...it's everywhere and it's green. Visit to the vets for treatment as he had quite a bad tummy upset.... I know that others have problems with horse, fox, rabbit poo to name a few so please beware, grass is a usual favourite snack too :Wacky


He is very cuddly. Lol. As soon as we saw him we all said he looks like a little teddy bear. So we named him Tedi. Changed the spelling for a bit of uniqueness, and being in Wales it seemed to fit better.

He's terrible for sniffing out other poo, and that's just in the garden. Whether it's a cat or a fox, etc... he'll find it. Lol.

Thank you for the warning, I'll try and be extra vigilante. Although like you say... they have a habit of being extra speedy when it comes to doing something wrong. Lol


----------



## lullabydream

Bella XxX said:


> Hi our Chihuahua is 7 and a half months old she is constantly coming in after being outside weeing and pooing around house even looks at you while doing it she can get snappy with both kids and our cats she runs after out cats snapping at them
> We let her out every 20 mins she is crate trained and walked 3 times a day running out of ideas what to do with her as its hard letting her out crate


How often has she been picked up? What for?

She sounds like an absolute bundle of nerves if am honest. Chasing cats and snapping at them because she's weary about them, same with the children.

Toileting in the house, house training hasn't been successful so it needs to be started from scratch, with accidents cleaned up with no words. Doors kept closed, taken out frequently to give opportunity. Fed regular meals so have some regularity in her digestive system too.

You say she's crate trained, is she going in willingly or are you putting her in? At her age she should be going in willingly when asked this might just be a gentle tap on the cage or telling her to go in the cage. If she's not doing this, am afraid that's probably another source of anxiety too. Which leads to an overall anxious dog

How is she out on walks?


----------



## Guest

JamboMakaveli said:


> and then now, from 9pm to 9:30pm.... he's possessed. Lol. Literally tried to have my feet for dinner... jumps up on me, bites my chest, bites my hands.
> 
> Then... collapses and goes to sleep. I'm starting to think this sorta phase is him burning off excess energy, as it always seems to be around 9pm.


Often when puppies are really bad with biting it's because they're over stimulated or over tired. When you see him starting to get really bitey, be proactive and get him to settle in his crate or on his bed with a nice chew or kong. Puppies aren't very good at managing themselves and sometimes we need to help them out by providing 'enforced rest'.


----------



## JamboMakaveli

McKenzie said:


> Often when puppies are really bad with biting it's because they're over stimulated or over tired. When you see him starting to get really bitey, be proactive and get him to settle in his crate or on his bed with a nice chew or kong. Puppies aren't very good at managing themselves and sometimes we need to help them out by providing 'enforced rest'.


Thank you. Reading that, it all makes a lot of sense.

It reminds of when my kids were younger, and they were over tired. You knew they needed and wanted sleep, but just couldn't go off. And the longer the went, the worse they got.

He always always seems to just tire himself out and then just collapse in a heap. Lol.

Ride out the storm and then all is good. Lol


----------



## Guest

McKenzie said:


> Often when puppies are really bad with biting it's because they're over stimulated or over tired. When you see him starting to get really bitey, be proactive and get him to settle in his crate or on his bed with a nice chew or kong. Puppies aren't very good at managing themselves and sometimes we need to help them out by providing 'enforced rest'.


Great advice @McKenzie and so true. It works wonders helping them to settle down and is so important.

Someone told me in the beginning puppies will just fall asleep when they're tired... led me to cry in the first week we had Nova because she needed our help to settle down and nap. They seem to be full of energy but they sure need a lot of sleep!


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> Thank you. Reading that, it all makes a lot of sense.
> 
> It reminds of when my kids were younger, and they were over tired. You knew they needed and wanted sleep, but just couldn't go off. And the longer the went, the worse they got.
> 
> He always always seems to just tire himself out and then just collapse in a heap. Lol.
> 
> Ride out the storm and then all is good. Lol


Good advice about the kong - Dan seems to need to chew before he settles - a dog biscuit or two before bed time and a dog chew seem to have helped him to settle as Mackenzie has said, they get overtired and need help to settle and the chewing seems to be calming. I think he may just have been a bit hangry (hungry and angry cos he was hungry) It did take some time though and frustration to work it out though lol! forgot to say a tummy rub too!


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## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> Good advice about the kong - Dan seems to need to chew before he settles - a dog biscuit or two before bed time and a dog chew seem to have helped him to settle as Mackenzie has said, they get overtired and need help to settle and the chewing seems to be calming. I think he may just have been a bit hangry (hungry and angry cos he was hungry) It did take some time though and frustration to work it out though lol! forgot to say a tummy rub too!


Something I always neglect is the fact that if an animal isn't quite right, we don't really know about it. If I have a headache, or feel ill, I'll have a moan and let everyone know. Lol.

Yesterday Tedi had his first injection, and also had flea treatment and worming treatment at the vet, so I'm sure all that took it's toll somewhere. All that being told... he had his spell from 9pm until around 9:45pm... and then went to sleep. And even when putting him in his crate at 11pm.. he went off straight away, and had to be woken this morning at 7am.

I always try to be aware that if he does t seem right, it could be because he's not, lol. Even though I don't actually see it, or hear him say it. lol.

I can defo relate to the hangry! That's a good word, and I'm sure he's been that a few times!


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## Guest

@JamboMakaveli yeah vet visits can be quite stressful and/or exciting. Lovely to hear how Tedi is getting on. He looks so cute!


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## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> Something I always neglect is the fact that if an animal isn't quite right, we don't really know about it. If I have a headache, or feel ill, I'll have a moan and let everyone know. Lol.
> 
> Yesterday Tedi had his first injection, and also had flea treatment and worming treatment at the vet, so I'm sure all that took it's toll somewhere. All that being told... he had his spell from 9pm until around 9:45pm... and then went to sleep. And even when putting him in his crate at 11pm.. he went off straight away, and had to be woken this morning at 7am.
> 
> I always try to be aware that if he does t seem right, it could be because he's not, lol. Even though I don't actually see it, or hear him say it. lol.
> 
> I can defo relate to the hangry! That's a good word, and I'm sure he's been that a few times!


LOL! Seriously though Dan is usually off it for a day or so after the flea and worm treatment, if I remember right he was when he had his injections too.
Soon be out on the lead with Tedi now he's had his last injections though so look on the bright side


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## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> LOL! Seriously though Dan is usually off it for a day or so after the flea and worm treatment, if I remember right he was when he had his injections too.
> Soon be out on the lead with Tedi now he's had his last injections though so look on the bright side


Yes, we're all looking forward to being able to get out for walks with him. It opens up so many doors. Long walks on a Saturday, etc.

I'm just generally tired of him eating crap in the garden, it's incredible the amount of things he can find and put in his mouth. Lol. A walk will be a lot less stressful than trying to pull slugs out his mouth or broken clothes pegs etc.

Still, no matter what he does, when that little face looks up at me.... lol.


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## Guest

JamboMakaveli said:


> View attachment 413524
> 
> 
> Yes, we're all looking forward to being able to get out for walks with him. It opens up so many doors. *Long walks on a Saturday, etc. *


Not for quite some time though. Are you aware of the 5 minutes per month of age guideline?


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## JamboMakaveli

McKenzie said:


> Not for quite some time though. Are you aware of the 5 minutes per month of age guideline?


No I wasn't.

So Id say when we are able to start walking him he will be just over 3 months, so that's 15 minutes walking time.

In that time, is that solely gentle walking, or if we were on say a beach, and he's on the lead, can I run with him? Like he can exert himself?

15 minutes is 15 minutes, or is it all dependent on what you're doing?

Just getting him out, into different surroundings, will be good for all of us. There's definitely a bit of cabin fever. Lol


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## Guest

JamboMakaveli said:


> No I wasn't.
> 
> So Id say when we are able to start walking him he will be just over 3 months, so that's 15 minutes walking time.
> 
> In that time, is that solely gentle walking, or if we were on say a beach, and he's on the lead, can I run with him? Like he can exert himself?
> 
> 15 minutes is 15 minutes, or is it all dependent on what you're doing?
> 
> Just getting him out, into different surroundings, will be good for all of us. There's definitely a bit of cabin fever. Lol


It's 'forced' walking - e.g. on a lead, walking in one direction at a consistent pace. If your puppy is just mooching around, stopping and starting and going in different directions, that doesn't count but should still be in moderation. He can run by himself because he is in control of it. Running with you, where you are encouraging a pace or encouraging him to continue running, wouldn't be a good idea.

Realistically when you first start taking a puppy out it's about seeing the world rather than 'exercise' or trying to get from point A to point B.


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## JamboMakaveli

Yeh that all makes a lot of sense. And is good information. Thank you. 

Don’t want it to seem like I’m counting the hours to drag him on a marathon. Lol. 

When he’s in the garden, he loves to run, his speed is pretty incredible. So I just assumed when we were out, if the situation was right, he’d be the same. But I completely get what you’re saying. Exploration is key. Lol. 

Plenty of time for some good exercise when he’s a good bit older.


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## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> View attachment 413524
> 
> 
> Yes, we're all looking forward to being able to get out for walks with him. It opens up so many doors. Long walks on a Saturday, etc.
> 
> I'm just generally tired of him eating crap in the garden, it's incredible the amount of things he can find and put in his mouth. Lol. A walk will be a lot less stressful than trying to pull slugs out his mouth or broken clothes pegs etc.
> 
> Still, no matter what he does, when that little face looks up at me.... lol.


I know- those puppy dog eyes......


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## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> I know- those puppy dog eyes......


You hear that saying throughout your life, then you get a puppy... and the penny drops. Oooh that's what the saying means. Lol.

He does this other thing... where he stares at you... and then he'll tilt his head to the side. Like he's posing. Lol. Gets me every time.


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## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> Yeh that all makes a lot of sense. And is good information. Thank you.
> 
> Don't want it to seem like I'm counting the hours to drag him on a marathon. Lol.
> 
> When he's in the garden, he loves to run, his speed is pretty incredible. So I just assumed when we were out, if the situation was right, he'd be the same. But I completely get what you're saying. Exploration is key. Lol.
> 
> Plenty of time for some good exercise when he's a good bit older.


It's a steep learning curve when you get a puppy! We were over exercising Dan (not intentionally) until we went to puppy classes, we didn't know anything really. Subjects covered were all about being a "good citizen" a kennel club scheme, which I'd fully recommend to anyone especially if you are new to the doggie world. The course ran for about six weeks and covered the absics and you get a rosette at the end of it if your dog gets to the required standard (all dogs in my group passed). Also if I'd found this forum when we first had Dan it would have been even easier! Lots of good advice here.


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## JamboMakaveli

Yes this forum has been a very good source of advice. It’s very much appreciated!

With regards to puppy classes... (complete novice here), what should I be looking for?

Is that like behaviour classes? Training classes?

We are scheduled to go to ‘puppy parties’ every Friday, which are run by the vet. We can go after he has his last injection, but I think these are more about just socialising with other puppies, as well as benefiting from a speaker giving information about different dog subjects every week.


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## DanWalkersmum

DAN WITH HIS ROSETTE
If you google the Kennel Club Good Citizen you may be able to find a class nearby. We had to go on a wating list, we got Dan at the beginning of December and had to wait until the end of January as classes were full. There were many different breeds ther which was good to see how different breeds of pup behave, some are very bouncy, some a bit more plcid but all absolutely gorgeous!
As you're already signed up for Friday socialising you may get the knowledge from these sessions that you need.
There was nothing like that locally for us to access though and I was keen to learn how to care for and train my dog (I was clueless!) still don't now everything by any means but a lot more confident


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## JamboMakaveli

Ill


DanWalkersmum said:


> View attachment 413529
> DAN WITH HIS ROSETTE
> If you google the Kennel Club Good Citizen you may be able to find a class nearby. We had to go on a wating list, we got Dan at the beginning of December and had to wait until the end of January as classes were full. There were many different breeds ther which was good to see how different breeds of pup behave, some are very bouncy, some a bit more plcid but all absolutely gorgeous!
> As you're already signed up for Friday socialising you may get the knowledge from these sessions that you need.
> There was nothing like that locally for us to access though and I was keen to learn how to care for and train my dog (I was clueless!) still don't now everything by any means but a lot more confident


I'll definitely have a look! Thank you.

Dans lovely!

I notice the coal fire... Tedi has had a few sniffs around ours. I'm surprised I haven't seen him running around with a big lump of coal hanging out his mouth yet. Lol


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## Veba

JamboMakaveli said:


> View attachment 413524
> 
> I'm just generally tired of him eating crap in the garden, it's incredible the amount of things he can find and put in his mouth. Lol. A walk will be a lot less stressful than trying to pull slugs out his mouth or broken clothes pegs etc.


Sorry, hate to be the be the one to say it but it might not get better for a while! I had a stones, sticks, bees, snails, strawberry, paint eater in the garden. It just changed when he got out on walks - apples or anything that fell from trees that looked edible, cigarette butts, any dropped bit of food, plastic bottle lids, elastic bands … he once came out of long grass with a whole open packet of cigarettes 

He's 18 months and grew out of everything except food, he's all about anything edible! Spent Christmas Day at the vets as he ate a suet ball that a bird had dropped in the garden.


----------



## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> Ill
> 
> I'll definitely have a look! Thank you.
> 
> Dans lovely!
> 
> I notice the coal fire... Tedi has had a few sniffs around ours. I'm surprised I haven't seen him running around with a big lump of coal hanging out his mouth yet. Lol


Thanks, he is! and .....Yes he did that too (lump of coal) ! Luckily it's a gas fire with fake coals that we haven't had to light since we got him LOL. This was a while ago now, he still had his puppy coat then, he's changed such a lot. When he gets something he shouldn't have he stops, looks at you, then runs behind the sofa, and the chase is on, out the other side up stairs, down again behind the sofa......! He loves till receips, discarded tissues, botttle caps.... etc...etc...etc. Only thing that gets 'em off him is a promise of Webbox, it has to be unwrapped and within sniffing distance though LOL! Still makes me laugh, he's so predictable!


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## DanWalkersmum

Veba said:


> Sorry, hate to be the be the one to say it but it might not get better for a while! I had a stones, sticks, bees, snails, strawberry, paint eater in the garden. It just changed when he got out on walks - apples or anything that fell from trees that looked edible, cigarette butts, any dropped bit of food, plastic bottle lids, elastic bands … he once came out of long grass with a whole open packet of cigarettes
> 
> He's 18 months and grew out of everything except food, he's all about anything edible! Spent Christmas Day at the vets as he ate a suet ball that a bird had dropped in the garden.


Ah the visits to the vets for tummy upsets! Goose poo in the park was my first one, he's hoovered up loads of it before I even knew, he was so poorly with that


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## JamboMakaveli

Veba said:


> Sorry, hate to be the be the one to say it but it might not get better for a while! I had a stones, sticks, bees, snails, strawberry, paint eater in the garden. It just changed when he got out on walks - apples or anything that fell from trees that looked edible, cigarette butts, any dropped bit of food, plastic bottle lids, elastic bands … he once came out of long grass with a whole open packet of cigarettes
> 
> He's 18 months and grew out of everything except food, he's all about anything edible! Spent Christmas Day at the vets as he ate a suet ball that a bird had dropped in the garden.


Oh god! He sounds like Tedi!

It's like everything he finds is treasure to him. lol. In the mouth it goes.

At least with walking on a lead I'll hopefully the tiniest bit of control over him.


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## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> Oh god! He sounds like Tedi!
> 
> It's like everything he finds is treasure to him. lol. In the mouth it goes.
> 
> At least with walking on a lead I'll hopefully the tiniest bit of control over him.


Ha ha ha ... you'd think so......


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## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> Thanks, he is! and .....Yes he did that too (lump of coal) ! Luckily it's a gas fire with fake coals that we haven't had to light since we got him LOL. This was a while ago now, he still had his puppy coat then, he's changed such a lot. When he gets something he shouldn't have he stops, looks at you, then runs behind the sofa, and the chase is on, out the other side up stairs, down again behind the sofa......! He loves till receips, discarded tissues, botttle caps.... etc...etc...etc. Only thing that gets 'em off him is a promise of Webbox, it has to be unwrapped and within sniffing distance though LOL! Still makes me laugh, he's so predictable!


The chasing! Cracks me up.

What makes me laugh is when he has something... tries to do a runner with it, then accidentally drops it... the sheer panic in his face as he tries to quickly pick it back up! Hilarious!


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## JamboMakaveli

DanWalkersmum said:


> Ha ha ha ... you'd think so......


Yeh, as I wrote it, I wasn't even believing it! Lol


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## DanWalkersmum

JamboMakaveli said:


> The chasing! Cracks me up.
> 
> What makes me laugh is when he has something... tries to do a runner with it, then accidentally drops it... the sheer panic in his face as he tries to quickly pick it back up! Hilarious!


Yeah I know that one well too, they do get better at holding on to it though


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## DaisyBluebell

Sounds like you both need to read the sticky above for future reference :

*Poisonous Items for Dogs - This could save you dogs life*

Chewing Gum one of the worse & seems to be an abundance of that around on the pavement !


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## DanWalkersmum

DaisyBluebell said:


> Sounds like you both need to read the sticky above for future reference :
> 
> *Poisonous Items for Dogs - This could save you dogs life*
> 
> Chewing Gum one of the worse & seems to be an abundance of that around on the pavement !


Thanks DaisyBluebell - I'm on it!


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## Acidic Angel

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I posted in here(or on the forum at all really) and I know Hazel isn't exactly a "puppy" anymore at over a year old- But I have to ask for some help here 'cause DANG she's driving me up the wall today! 

A couple of nights ago she started humping her bed, really grabbing it and holding it too like a male would when mounting a female... So I figured maybe there was some smell on it that was just exciting her, washed it all, etc.. Just given it back to her and the first thing she tried to do was hump it. 
On top of that, she has been driving me nuts all day. We've been up since 9am, had a bit of a lie in this morning, first thing we did was check the weather, and went for a walk to the local field where she was able to run for a while, get some morning energy out, etc.. 
I also gave her breakfast in a puzzle toy today, to get that extra mental stimulation, but I do this at least three times a week anyway so it's nothing new to her. 
And then since it's gotten warmer, and realistically too hot for her to be out running around for ages or walking... We've had a good short flirt pole session in the garden, followed by some indoor training...

And yet I'm sat here going bonkers because she just WILL NOT STOP misbehaving. Trying to chew my shoes, I tell her "no", I tell her "leave it.", I physically BLOCK her, she's determined she's having those shoes. I offer her multiple toys, no. I offer her food and distraction, no. The shoes are the only thing she wants. So I've removed the shoes from the situation, and she's turned her attention to other things. I've been removing things from the living room all day because she won't stop. She then turned her attention to the rugs, and I've gotten fed up and now have her tethered to me so stop her, so now she's turned her attention to me. My arms, my legs, my hands, everything. I swear, it's like she's gone back to being a 9 week old puppy again and I'm really struggled to keep it together.


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## DanWalkersmum

Acidic Angel said:


> Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I posted in here(or on the forum at all really) and I know Hazel isn't exactly a "puppy" anymore at over a year old- But I have to ask for some help here 'cause DANG she's driving me up the wall today!
> 
> A couple of nights ago she started humping her bed, really grabbing it and holding it too like a male would when mounting a female... So I figured maybe there was some smell on it that was just exciting her, washed it all, etc.. Just given it back to her and the first thing she tried to do was hump it.
> On top of that, she has been driving me nuts all day. We've been up since 9am, had a bit of a lie in this morning, first thing we did was check the weather, and went for a walk to the local field where she was able to run for a while, get some morning energy out, etc..
> I also gave her breakfast in a puzzle toy today, to get that extra mental stimulation, but I do this at least three times a week anyway so it's nothing new to her.
> And then since it's gotten warmer, and realistically too hot for her to be out running around for ages or walking... We've had a good short flirt pole session in the garden, followed by some indoor training...
> 
> And yet I'm sat here going bonkers because she just WILL NOT STOP misbehaving. Trying to chew my shoes, I tell her "no", I tell her "leave it.", I physically BLOCK her, she's determined she's having those shoes. I offer her multiple toys, no. I offer her food and distraction, no. The shoes are the only thing she wants. So I've removed the shoes from the situation, and she's turned her attention to other things. I've been removing things from the living room all day because she won't stop. She then turned her attention to the rugs, and I've gotten fed up and now have her tethered to me so stop her, so now she's turned her attention to me. My arms, my legs, my hands, everything. I swear, it's like she's gone back to being a 9 week old puppy again and I'm really struggled to keep it together.


Hi don't think I can help but didn't want to leave you hangin'. 
Is she about to come into season by any chance? Sounds like a complete nightmare, think I'd be tempted to take her out for a walk to get out of the house.


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## Acidic Angel

DanWalkersmum said:


> Hi don't think I can help but didn't want to leave you hangin'.
> Is she about to come into season by any chance? Sounds like a complete nightmare, think I'd be tempted to take her out for a walk to get out of the house.


She *could* be entering her second season, but it's a little soon really as she was only in season in April. I know dogs vary but from talking to other owners and breeders over the years the typical time between seasons is about 6 months, so she'd be about 2 months early. Especially when she didn't come into her first season until she was almost a year old anyway.

Unfortunately walking her right now isn't something I can really do  The sun is beating down and there's hardly any breeze, it might only say it's 21c outside but it feels a heck of a lot warmer to me, so I can't imagine how she'd feel walking around in it. Not to mention the temperature of the pavement around us as it's mostly dark pavement.


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## DanWalkersmum

Acidic Angel said:


> She *could* be entering her second season, but it's a little soon really as she was only in season in April. I know dogs vary but from talking to other owners and breeders over the years the typical time between seasons is about 6 months, so she'd be about 2 months early. Especially when she didn't come into her first season until she was almost a year old anyway.
> 
> Unfortunately walking her right now isn't something I can really do  The sun is beating down and there's hardly any breeze, it might only say it's 21c outside but it feels a heck of a lot warmer to me, so I can't imagine how she'd feel walking around in it. Not to mention the temperature of the pavement around us as it's mostly dark pavement.


When my pup is acting up and it's hot, we have a cool coat that seems to calm him down, maybe she's hot? Grasping at straws here. If not then a damp towel draped over her and a cuddle (if she'll let you).


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## Acidic Angel

DanWalkersmum said:


> When my pup is acting up and it's hot, we have a cool coat that seems to calm him down, maybe she's hot? Grasping at straws here. If not then a damp towel draped over her and a cuddle (if she'll let you).


I have a fan going in the living room(which she also tried to eat :Arghh ) and I've rubbed her belly and paws down with a cool damp towel, she herself doesn't feel very warm but although she's normally an extremely cuddly dog, she doesn't want anythign to do with me today.


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## DanWalkersmum

Acidic Angel said:


> I have a fan going in the living room(which she also tried to eat :Arghh ) and I've rubbed her belly and paws down with a cool damp towel, she herself doesn't feel very warm but although she's normally an extremely cuddly dog, she doesn't want anythign to do with me today.


Well it sounds like she's having a really off day, is this where a more knowlegable member might say you should take her to the vet in case it's something medical maybe? Good luck, hope things calm down for you both soon x


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## Acidic Angel

DanWalkersmum said:


> Well it sounds like she's having a really off day, is this where a more knowlegable member might say you should take her to the vet in case it's something medical maybe? Good luck, hope things calm down for you both soon x


She's finally, for the first time all day, settled down for more than a minute and is currently just chewing her buffalo horn.


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## DaisyBluebell

Sounds like Hazel (welcome back by the way ) is coming into season again


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## Acidic Angel

DaisyBluebell said:


> Sounds like Hazel (welcome back by the way ) is coming into season again


Typical 
Makes me wait and worry until she's nearly a year old for her first one, only to appear to be coming into season 2 months bloomin' early for her second!! :Shifty


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## Guest

Sounds like a teenager! Elliot has days where he just would not settle down and he was so much more naughty than when he was a puppy.

By the way my nearly 9 year old spayed bitch likes to have a good hump of her bed, complete with biting and head shaking. I just let her go for it!

Fun times!


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## Acidic Angel

McKenzie said:


> Sounds like a teenager! Elliot has days where he just would not settle down and he was so much more naughty than when he was a puppy.
> 
> By the way my nearly 9 year old spayed bitch likes to have a good hump of her bed, complete with biting and head shaking. I just let her go for it!
> 
> Fun times!


I did wonder if maybe she was just being a teenager, which would make sense given her age.
Hazel only recently started the humping behaviour(she did it for a short period as a young pup, but that was back when she was 3-4 months old and a side effect of overexcitement I think).

For the record, the earlier calm lasted about an hour. And just now, literally as I'm typing this, she's decided 10pm is the perfect time to chase the cats around barking at them :Shifty Someone shoot me, before my neighbours do, because I cannot get her to shut up. I'm literally on the verge of crying because I've been dealing with her being a pain all day, she finally settled, when she got up again it had cooled so we went for another walk and some play in the field, and while she's been a nuisance after that walk, she's not been *as* bad as she was before she settled... Up until now.


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## DanWalkersmum

Well hope you all don't mind me sharing. Had a bad night with Dan last night, he was restless at bedtime and kept going downstairs to be let out. Didn't make it in time and there was a pool of poo by the backdoor (luckily it's washable vinyl). Cleaned that up and he settled for 20 mins then started to heave, was sick at the top of the stairs, so decided to bring him down and sleep on the sofa. He went outside and was gagging again with white foam coming up (about a tablespoon), came back in seemed to settle and another pool of pooh the colour of blood, very liquid, by this time (about 3am) I was worried but he again settled and when I woke at about 6 there was another pool of bloody coloured poo. He seemed a bit sorry for himself but came to me wagging his tail as usual and looking a bit brighter. Took him to the vets to be on the safe side as soon as I could this morning (lunchtime), vet gave him an anti sickness injection, some antibiotics and probiotic paste. He was as lively as anything in the vets and as good as gold as if last night never happened! Vet said he's in very good condition (always good to know), gave him a thorough examination, and a course of antibiotics to be on the safe side as there was blood.
OH has now gone out and left me dog sitting - we had planned on going out today - Dan is fast asleep (think I might join him) and I am £70 odd pounds lighter of pocket! 
But as long as the little man is okay I don't begrudge a moment or a pound spent. I was so worried must be karma for talking about the things they pick up! Hope fully we won't have to go back and the medicines given will do the trick:Inpain


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## Guest

@DanWalkersmum Hope Dan feels better soon. Nova had a similar tummy upset just after her spay and she got similar treatment and was back to normal quite quickly (her and the pooping )

We've really worked on drop it and leave it and it has helped so much- she hardly picks up anything on walks now and if she does she will drop it when asked. It was worth the effort though as sometimes people throw stuff on the ground you might not be able to see before puppy spots it.


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## DanWalkersmum

Kakite said:


> @DanWalkersmum Hope Dan feels better soon. Nova had a similar tummy upset just after her spay and she got similar treatment and was back to normal quite quickly (her and the pooping )
> 
> We've really worked on drop it and leave it and it has helped so much- she hardly picks up anything on walks now and if she does she will drop it when asked. It was worth the effort though as sometimes people throw stuff on the ground you might not be able to see before puppy spots it.


Glad to hear Nova is now back to normal it's reassuring
Update on Dan - no sick or poop all day yesterday and he ate a bit and had a bit of playtime and slept all evening settled down for the night and at 1.30 ish woke up and came downstairs then he was up and down and could not settle, OH slept downstairs with him and he was sick in the night and had a watery poo this morning, managed to get some bio paste down him and the tablets (with a struggle), he's having a quiet moment now growling at the animals on tv lol. Will have another quiet day today I think, if he's no better tommorow he'll be back at the vets! I don't know that he ate anything while we were out as he never goes far from us and was within sight all the time so maybe it was something else, he is getting better with the leave it command though.


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## julioperaza

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


When the puppy will control this?


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## Guest

julioperaza said:


> When the puppy will control this?


Control what?


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## JamboMakaveli

Haven’t posted for a little while, but having run into an issue, this site spring to mind. 

With it all being new to us... and is being worriers...

We’re slightly worried that the last few times his poo has had specks of black through it. 

His poo is the right colour I would say, but is very soft. Not diarrhoea, but... sorry to be graphic... but mushy. 

The black spots... there are a good few throughout. 

He is bad for eating dirt in the garden, as well as slugs. I try to stop him, but when it’s pitch black, it’s hard to see before it’s too late. 

Thanks for any help or advice anyone can give.


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## lullabydream

Firstly if he's prone to eating slugs... What worming tablet have you on? This is slightly more worry habit to me as he's at risk possibly from lungworm. Good news he's young so should be wormed monthly.. So certainer wormers used monthly cover lungworm.

How much are you feeding? I would stop feeding treats and just use part of his daily allowance of food for training. See if this helps on the mush of his poo.
Of course if you Google black dots in poo am sure you would come up with blood and its an emergency. However I can't see how a young puppy per se would have an internal old bleed that's caused this..not impossible but not likely. So it could be could be anything


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## JamboMakaveli

When we were at the vets last week we explained about the eating slugs, and they confirmed that the worming he was given a few days prior covers lungworm. 

Their advice, just try and stop him from eating them. 

So a common scenario.... 10 minutes ago... he’s by the back door, scratching. Ok, good boy... he wants out for the toilet. 

Me and my wife both go out with him, both with torches equipped...and within around 5 seconds.. he’s found a slug, and has chewed and swallowed it. 

Then we bring him in, and a few minutes later, he’s peed everywhere in the house. 

Just an impossible situation. 

With regards to feeding, I’ll be honest and admit, it’s somewhat variable. He will have food around 6/7am, then around lunchtime, and then at 5/6pm.

He will have dry food, with a little wet in it, or sometimes just dry. 

Treats vary... sometimes now and again, sometimes in a kong.

So yes, I’ll hold my hands up and say that’s something I really need to improve on. Getting him on a really good routine with food. 

I had heard to feed puppies only twice a day, but 6am when he’s up, and then say 5pm... that doesn’t seem much?

He has his final injections Tuesday, so we shall ask the vet about the black spots, see what they say. 

Thank you for replying, and for your help. It’s very much appreciated.


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## lullabydream

No puppies need little and often feeding.. 

8-12 weeks 4 meals a day
12 weeks- 6 months 3 meals a day
6 months plus, and hopefully for lifetime 2 meals a day. 

If you are not feeding small appropriate meals, this could mean that you are over feeding per meal which can lead to problematic poos. 

Also feeding guides are usually generous too. So the amount you feed per meal might be less. 

I would start teaching a drop and leave. 

Your pup has taught you well to show you he wants to go outside. Rather than toilet. 

To get him more focused on going to toilet I would use a lead with him. Gardens are really exciting with lots of outside smells, things that move like slugs and it helps if you have your puppy on the lead if they have too much interest. It might mean you pop in and out the house to refocus at times.


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## Guest

Puppies get easily distracted. Nova is 8months and I still take her out on a lead to toilet and then let her off to explore and play in the yard.


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## Donna 578

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


My beau is exactly the same, she could be fast asleep and as soon as I even breathe differently she is up and ready to follow me. I also find myself not dareing to move so as not to wake her.


----------



## KayMarie

Hi, 

This I've only been on here for about 19 minutes so I don't even know if I'm chatting in the right bix, but here it goes. 

I decided to get a puppy to train as my ESA for a while. I watched the videos, read books, bough all the supplies, ect. I was ready and honestly still believe that if I was living on my own then I would be fine. But, I'm living with my long time boyfriend and I believe the puppy is tearing us appart. 

We got a 4 month old pot mix on Thursday. I new eveeything would be hard. Potty training, biting, and all the other stuff that brings on the puppy blues. As I type this he's sleepong on my stomach while my bf is in our bedroom sleeping. 

I feel like I made a bad decision. I love my puppy, but I feel like I have no time with my bf anymore. I feel like a failure with potty training. And I've cried every night since we got him. I feel like I should give him back. He's still young enough to find a good home but I think doing so would be betraying him. I took him home and he's already so attached to me. And I love him. But I don't think it's worth losing my relationship over. 

I just don't know what to do. I guess I should have gitten an older dog, but I thought I could handle it all. But I don't think I can. 

I also don't want to go through the shame of returning him either. I hate myself for keeoing him and I would hate myself for giving him back. I'm just so lost. I wish I would have just looked for an older dog.


----------



## Donna 578

KayMarie said:


> Hi,
> 
> This I've only been on here for about 19 minutes so I don't even know if I'm chatting in the right bix, but here it goes.
> 
> I decided to get a puppy to train as my ESA for a while. I watched the videos, read books, bough all the supplies, ect. I was ready and honestly still believe that if I was living on my own then I would be fine. But, I'm living with my long time boyfriend and I believe the puppy is tearing us appart.
> 
> We got a 4 month old pot mix on Thursday. I new eveeything would be hard. Potty training, biting, and all the other stuff that brings on the puppy blues. As I type this he's sleepong on my stomach while my bf is in our bedroom sleeping.
> 
> I feel like I made a bad decision. I love my puppy, but I feel like I have no time with my bf anymore. I feel like a failure with potty training. And I've cried every night since we got him. I feel like I should give him back. He's still young enough to find a good home but I think doing so would be betraying him. I took him home and he's already so attached to me. And I love him. But I don't think it's worth losing my relationship over.
> 
> I just don't know what to do. I guess I should have gitten an older dog, but I thought I could handle it all. But I don't think I can.
> 
> I also don't want to go through the shame of returning him either. I hate myself for keeoing him and I would hate myself for giving him back. I'm just so lost. I wish I would have just looked for an older dog.


Please don't give up, I also had days when I cried with frustration and I also wanted to take my beau back. She is my first puppy and I didn't realize how hard it was going to be. The toilet training just kicks in, they get it in the end, some are quicker than others. My beau is 8 months old now, she's still a little Tasmanian devil but my life is so much richer with her in it. Just have patience the puppy stage will soon be over.❤


----------



## Megan Elizabeth

Hi everyone, my name is Megan, me and my partner collected our new golden retriever puppy Shelby on Sunday and he is just gorgeous. 

I want to know as I’ve never owned a puppy before only rescue dogs, he is 9 weeks old and we have tried since Sunday night to make him comfortable in his crate(located in our kitchen) Except, every single time he is in there he screams bloody murder. We have tried covering the crate, putting our clothing inside, feeding his meals in there, placing kong toys in there, making his bed really cosy and putting the radio on too. He isn’t too bad at staying in the kitchen behind the stair gate on his own, but as soon as the crate is involved he gets so worked up and it really upsets me. he had a wee in there last night too and I wondered if this might be cos of the stress which is really upsetting. I have even been a bit poorly this morning from the stress of it all. 
Can anyone help? Because I so don’t want him to hate the crate, he’s very clingy already and follows us everywhere. We have 3 weeks off in total with him and after that we are both back to work so ideally I’d like him in the crate as I want to know he is safe.
Please, any suggestions are so welcome! 
Thanks, Megan


----------



## DanWalkersmum

Megan Elizabeth said:


> Hi everyone, my name is Megan, me and my partner collected our new golden retriever puppy Shelby on Sunday and he is just gorgeous.
> 
> I want to know as I've never owned a puppy before only rescue dogs, he is 9 weeks old and we have tried since Sunday night to make him comfortable in his crate(located in our kitchen) Except, every single time he is in there he screams bloody murder. We have tried covering the crate, putting our clothing inside, feeding his meals in there, placing kong toys in there, making his bed really cosy and putting the radio on too. He isn't too bad at staying in the kitchen behind the stair gate on his own, but as soon as the crate is involved he gets so worked up and it really upsets me. he had a wee in there last night too and I wondered if this might be cos of the stress which is really upsetting. I have even been a bit poorly this morning from the stress of it all.
> Can anyone help? Because I so don't want him to hate the crate, he's very clingy already and follows us everywhere. We have 3 weeks off in total with him and after that we are both back to work so ideally I'd like him in the crate as I want to know he is safe.
> Please, any suggestions are so welcome!
> Thanks, Megan


Hi Megan welcome to the forum. Just wanted to say congratulations on your puppy he's lovely. I can't help with the crate problem as we gave up on it! I think the general rule is to take it slowly and make the crate a secure safe place for your pup - I'm sorry to say I couldn't bear the stress of it, my gut told me it wasn't for my pup.
Other members will be along soon no doubt who have made the crate process work for them. Good luck I know it can work.


----------



## Guest

And just like that we have a 9 month old


----------



## Willowy

Hi Megan. We got our lab puppy at just under 9 weeks old in July and initially had crate issues too. Luckily night times were fine but she didn't want to know the crate during the day at all. Is yours a day or nighttime issue? How long do you leave Shelby in there for? Are you nearby (which might make him more noisy in order to get your attention)?

At first we'd only put Willow in the crate once she fell asleep whilst napping during the day. She'd wake up in the crate with a toy and I'd usually be nearby too, making for positive associations. We'd hide treats in her crate to make her go in during the day as well but she never really wanted to stay in there. In the end we kind of cheated and got a puppy pen which we attached to the crate. She took to being in there more easily and that's where we keep her now when we go out.

We had about 5 weeks to get Willow ready to be left alone for any length of time. She didn't like being left initially and usually had someone near her for the first week and a half (until we got the puppy pen). She gradually stopped being our shadow once she started to be really settled here. Is your puppy used to you leaving the room yet? We started off with baby steps where we'd literally leave the room and come back after 5 seconds. She learned quickly that we always returned and we extended that time more and more. At that point we'd just leave her in the room, not in the crate/pen yet (we only did that once the time alone had increased and we started leaving the house). My advice would be not to rush it. We were keen to get her trained to be alone but almost overdid it early on and returned to a stressed out puppy.


----------



## Willowy

KayMarie said:


> Hi,
> 
> This I've only been on here for about 19 minutes so I don't even know if I'm chatting in the right bix, but here it goes.
> 
> I decided to get a puppy to train as my ESA for a while. I watched the videos, read books, bough all the supplies, ect. I was ready and honestly still believe that if I was living on my own then I would be fine. But, I'm living with my long time boyfriend and I believe the puppy is tearing us appart.
> 
> We got a 4 month old pot mix on Thursday. I new eveeything would be hard. Potty training, biting, and all the other stuff that brings on the puppy blues. As I type this he's sleepong on my stomach while my bf is in our bedroom sleeping.
> 
> I feel like I made a bad decision. I love my puppy, but I feel like I have no time with my bf anymore. I feel like a failure with potty training. And I've cried every night since we got him. I feel like I should give him back. He's still young enough to find a good home but I think doing so would be betraying him. I took him home and he's already so attached to me. And I love him. But I don't think it's worth losing my relationship over.
> 
> I just don't know what to do. I guess I should have gitten an older dog, but I thought I could handle it all. But I don't think I can.
> 
> I also don't want to go through the shame of returning him either. I hate myself for keeoing him and I would hate myself for giving him back. I'm just so lost. I wish I would have just looked for an older dog.


Hi, how are you feeling today? I felt exactly like you during the first two weeks with our 9-week-old puppy. Hubby was the same. The toilet training was relentless and unbearable. The chewing never-ending. Then there was the constant demand for attention, whining when being left alone, early mornings etc. It all fell into place after about 2 weeks though. She went outside to go potty, started becoming more independent and played on her own for a while too. Now she's slotted into our lives nicely and the first few weeks are (almost) forgotten. I hope things have improved for you too.


----------



## Jubbliful

KayMarie said:


> Hi,
> 
> This I've only been on here for about 19 minutes so I don't even know if I'm chatting in the right bix, but here it goes.
> 
> I decided to get a puppy to train as my ESA for a while. I watched the videos, read books, bough all the supplies, ect. I was ready and honestly still believe that if I was living on my own then I would be fine. But, I'm living with my long time boyfriend and I believe the puppy is tearing us appart.
> 
> We got a 4 month old pot mix on Thursday. I new eveeything would be hard. Potty training, biting, and all the other stuff that brings on the puppy blues. As I type this he's sleepong on my stomach while my bf is in our bedroom sleeping.
> 
> I feel like I made a bad decision. I love my puppy, but I feel like I have no time with my bf anymore. I feel like a failure with potty training. And I've cried every night since we got him. I feel like I should give him back. He's still young enough to find a good home but I think doing so would be betraying him. I took him home and he's already so attached to me. And I love him. But I don't think it's worth losing my relationship over.
> 
> I just don't know what to do. I guess I should have gitten an older dog, but I thought I could handle it all. But I don't think I can.
> 
> I also don't want to go through the shame of returning him either. I hate myself for keeoing him and I would hate myself for giving him back. I'm just so lost. I wish I would have just looked for an older dog.


Hey - I know this post it old but as you hadn't had many responses, I thought I'd say hello. 
We have a 10 week old Bernese pup and we felt exactly the same. It felt like all our freedom had been taken away and she was biting me so hard that it drew blood and bought me to tears. My husband said he regretted getting her. 
We have just come to the end of week 2 with her at home and things are getting easier. She has settled into a little bit more of a routine and, other than moments of madness where she barks, runs and bites, she is becoming a very good little girl. I just spent time watching training videos, writing a plan of what I wanted to achieve / do with her that day etc - I just reminded myself that she's only a baby and needs all the help and support and kindess we can give her.

I am still very much learning and I am struggling to find the balance of 1-1 attention, just being in the room and letting her get on and leaving her alone completely. We haven't been able to let her into the living room yet as she immediatly pees and poos!

I hope things are getting better for you


----------



## Jayne 2019

Hi guys, I have a 16 week old Labrador puppy. I'm wondering how many times you feed your pups. I'm still feeding mine four times a day. Vet said she's happy with that but from what I've read three times is normal at that age.


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## Jayne 2019

Must add. He's had tummy upsets when I've tried to increase his food so four works fine. When should I start feeding him three?


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## Lolz2898

Hi everyone!

I'm new here and since I am no expert and recently got my first puppy, I need some advice please!!
I have a 12 week labradoodle puppy and he is amazing apart from the biting, he scratches at the door when he needs to pee, doesn't pull on the lead - fab pup! anyway, he is sleeping in a crate and will sometimes take himself in there for sleeping and gets up 3-4 times a night for toilet...the issue is that I have not slept in my own bed since I got him, I've been on the sofa downstairs so I can hear him crying, so I'm just wondering if anyone had any advice on how I can get back to sleeping in my own bed while still managing to let him out for wees or reduce the amount of times he needs to go out? 

Thanks


----------



## lullabydream

Jayne 2019 said:


> Must add. He's had tummy upsets when I've tried to increase his food so four works fine. When should I start feeding him three?


Most of my puppies have guided me.. If he's had tummy upset keep him on 4 for now which will be gentler on his digestive system. 
Some people never go down from 3 to 2, it's really about individual choice.

I like feeding adult dogs twice a day, as this in my opinion helps with blood sugar stability which I think is important.


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## lullabydream

Lolz2898 said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> I'm new here and since I am no expert and recently got my first puppy, I need some advice please!!
> I have a 12 week labradoodle puppy and he is amazing apart from the biting, he scratches at the door when he needs to pee, doesn't pull on the lead - fab pup! anyway, he is sleeping in a crate and will sometimes take himself in there for sleeping and gets up 3-4 times a night for toilet...the issue is that I have not slept in my own bed since I got him, I've been on the sofa downstairs so I can hear him crying, so I'm just wondering if anyone had any advice on how I can get back to sleeping in my own bed while still managing to let him out for wees or reduce the amount of times he needs to go out?
> 
> Thanks


Patience. He's still very young. He will get there, and you will be back in your bed soon. I know it seems an eternity sleeping downstairs on the sofa, but it's so worth to have a confident dog, and helps with house training. Rushing the stage now and things might go wrong.

Your puppy will soon be able to hold for longer soon, and especially over night.


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## Guest

I tried to cut back to two meals a day for nova but ended up in her spewing and getting tummy upsets. She is still on 3 meals a day and it’s ok for us as we are home to take her walkies anyway.


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## Charity

We reduced our Lab puppy's meals from 4 to 3 at just over 3 months, she's now 6 months so we'll be down to 2 meals soon.


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## Jayne 2019

Thanks all for the advice. I'm waiting to hear back from the vets to rule out Gardia. I'm sure it's the food and there's a good chance I was feeding him to much.


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## Jade Ouimet

Hi all,

We just welcomed a new puppy , an 8 weeks old Pomeranian . She arrived last week and I must say it is harder than I expected . I have raised a basset hound years ago , but I didn’t remember how challenging it can be in the beginning ! She is adorable and really playful , but she bites absolutely everything: our hands , legs , feet etc . Any advice on how to stop this ?

We are also exhausted because she wakes us up to go potty every 2-3 hours . I think it is normal in the beginning . She currently sleeps in our room in a crate . She falls asleep quickly without crying but then wakes up very often . From others experience , when do they start waking up less often during the night ?


----------



## MargaretJavier

You may have heard about dog insurance, but you may think it is only necessary if your dog is of a potentially dangerous breed. It is true that in these cases it is mandatory, but this does not prevent whoever wants to insure your pet cannot do so. If you wonder if you should make insurance for your dog, see this information.


----------



## Jayne 2019

Jade Ouimet said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We just welcomed a new puppy , an 8 weeks old Pomeranian . She arrived last week and I must say it is harder than I expected . I have raised a basset hound years ago , but I didn't remember how challenging it can be in the beginning ! She is adorable and really playful , but she bites absolutely everything: our hands , legs , feet etc . Any advice on how to stop this ?
> 
> We are also exhausted because she wakes us up to go potty every 2-3 hours . I think it is normal in the beginning . She currently sleeps in our room in a crate . She falls asleep quickly without crying but then wakes up very often . From others experience , when do they start waking up less often during the night ?


An 8 week old pup can't hold them self for more than two hour. At 12 weeks you'll have to let her out of her crate every three hour to go toilet. Four hour at 16 weeks and five hour at 20 weeks. A six month old pup will be able to hold themselves for six hours.

I got my pup at 10 week old and he'd be awake until I went to bed at 3am and would wake up when my mum got up at 9am. He'd try and wake her up to play until I went to bed. I have puppy training pads though as I can't wake up to take him outside as I'm on sedetives so sleep 12 hours but he's good at holding himself now. He's 16 week old and trys his best to go outside but will pee on his training pad if I don't get up to take him out. My mum doesn't stay with us now so he's having to hold himself for longer. I reccon he can hold himself for five hours through night.


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## Claire Scarborough

I Feel your pain I was exactly the same my friend suggested I set up my camera to record what she was like while I was away even for 30 minutes. I watched that video back my little dog whined for 2 minutes then fell asleep in the chair until she heard my car she ran back to the door and started whining !! I find if you hide random yummy treats in the bed and favourite chew toy or filled Kong it does help keep them distracted. Dogs pick up on your energy if you seem upset the dog will worry. RELAX. I spent the first 8 months of my dogs life thinking I was traumatising her cause I went to shop without her. Your dog will adapt to your routine be patient 
As for toilet schedule. We take her out for a good run early morning lunch time quick 5 min toilet day late afternoon walk quick pee before bed... but I was still stood out in the freezing rain at 4am because she has eaten something gross and got the runs


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## Lolz2898

Hi all,

So I'm having a few issues with my 16 week old labradoodle puppy. He was very well toilet trained a few weeks ago, scratching at the back door to go out or barking etc. But the past few weeks he has started just peeing anywhere he likes with no indication, this morning I spent a long time out in the garden with the door open however he chose to go inside 10 minutes later. The other issue I'm having is he keeps barking and biting our 4 year old German shepherd, we tell him to stay away and move them apart however, he will go back and continue to do it! Does anyone have any advice for these 2 issues as I'm starting to feel very hopeless about the whole thing, thanks ♡


----------



## Alexliu

Territorial and security alarm barking occur when my dogs see or notice something that arouses their focus . The quickest trick to stop barking on the windows or perhaps in the garden is always to handle the surroundings. Prevent your dog’s sightline to potential barking activates.

Inside the garden, use privacy fencing to cut off sights to neighboring back yards or even the neighborhood. Commercial grade level of privacy testing installs over your existing fence and may be allowed in your leasing system. In the event you personal your home and seek out a lengthy-phrase, eye-catching choice, think about planting privacy hedges to both beautify and bark-resistant the backyard.

Inside, depart the curtains or window blinds closed, or use squirt-on window coating or removable plastic-type movie that creates windows opaque. This inexpensive fixed cling window motion picture lets the sunshine in but blurs and obstructs points of interest from outside.


----------



## SHSmith

I'm having similar issue with my 15 week old puppy and our 2 year old existing dog. I'd love them to be friends but the puppy keeps pulling on her tail and ears and generally being obnoxious. Sorry I can't help you, but I'd be interested to here if other people can. X


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## Jayne 2019

Anyone want a free £62 bag or Acana large puppy? I ordered it a month ago, picked it up three week ago and it only lasted five minutes in my house before my cat clawed an hole in it. It'll still be fresh. I was gonna give it my puppy as Origin was to rich for him but decided to put him on James wellbeloved instead. You'll just have to pay postage. Its an 11kg bag.


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## Rose1989

Hi everyone. I’m new to this forum and hope I am not breaking any rules by replying with a question of my own. I have never posted on a forum before and do not know the etiquette. 
I have an 11 week old Golden. I grew up with Labs and we always walked them last thing at night before bed so that they can do their business, have a sniff around and wind down before bed. 
My Golden is very hyper from around 5pm-8pm then is fast asleep after that. When I wake her around 9pm to go for a short walk she is very reluctant and sleepy and sometimes refuses to walk, she just finds a nice place to sniff and lies down refusing to move. 
So my question is...would it be sensible to take her for her evening walk earlier in the evening, say around 7pm when she’s still active then just let her out into the garden last thing to do any business before bed? 
As she is a puppy, I’m sure her routine will change but for now would it be better to change our routine to fit her?
Thanks


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## Eevee boo

That sounds like a great idea rose1989. That’s the same routine we’ve always had with our dog.


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## Rose1989

Eevee boo said:


> That sounds like a great idea rose1989. That's the same routine we've always had with our dog.


Brilliant, thank you very much for your reply


----------



## Petter Hansson

Hey hows it going dog/puppy owners, now we have a soon 6 months old german shepherd. 
He is so calm in our house when it's just us at home and are available to relax and are generally really calm. 

The problem is when there is guests coming over he goes mental when they come through the door, he does not bite but barks like crazy. He is very curious but also very insecure so he goes up to them barks and backs away then he does the same thing again and again. When they are inside and have been here for a while he usually calms down but barks now and then if they move around. How should we train this behavior away? How can we get him to accept guests more?
Should we have everyone that's visiting to give him treats. 

This is our first german shepherd so any tips related to the breed would be awesome.


----------



## Mitchell Perry

I see you are struggling with some of the most common puppy training problems. Luckily for you, dogs are never too old to train and probably get easier to train as they get older. But, anyway, I have learned a lot about training dogs as we have had around 8 dogs since I was little. Something I have learned is that they do need consistency from you for them to understand what is right and wrong. If they are pooping around the house, you need to keep them close by at all times and learn the signals of when they are going to poop. Usually, they sniff and walk around what appears to be aimlessly. Soon as you spot these signs take them to the garden waiting for them to poop. As soon as they do you can say a word to them, such as "go". Soon as they have finished you can reward them with a treat and some fuss. They will begin to associate pooping outside as being a good thing that pleases you and will begin to go out of their way to try and do that for you. I know that dogs learn best from positive reinforcement training methods and learn little to nothing from being shouted at or hit. That just leaves them feeling confused. I found out a lot of this information at a site called Graduatedogs.
There's also an article on that website about dog psychology, which explains a lot about the positive reinforcement in dog training and proof of how it works.


----------



## Hamza Hussain

spamvicious said:


> Seeing as there's a few of us here who have young puppies I thought It would be a good idea to have somewhere to vent and ask questions which more experienced members can help with if they want to. The things I'm struggling with at the moment are:
> 
> 1) Star has no routine with her pooping, it can be any time of day up to 6 times a day. I take her out after she's eaten but I can be out for half and hour but nothing will happen. So she's having accidents in the house. I'm wondering if its the food I'm feeding her?. The kibble is very small so maybe it's not being digested properly?.
> 
> 2) Whenever I crate her during the day she cries and howls so I find it really hard to do. At night she will go in voluntarily to sleep so I can just close it and it's not an issue. It's making me feel really guilty if I do go out for an hour as I just imagine she's crying.
> 
> 3)When she goes to sleep at random points during the day, if I move or do something she wakes up and springs into action mode so I find myself just sitting around so I don't disturb her. I know it's the wrong thing to do but then I worry she's not getting enough sleep.
> 
> Feel free to add your own issues or solutions.


 do you mind giving me advice on getting a puppy?


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## Guest

What sort of advice are you looking for?


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## Hamza Hussain

I'm getting a puppy and I'm gonna keep him in the yard, the shed is warm and insulated, but I wanna know how much time i should be spending with him. when I'm put or something I'd keep him open outside and not put him in the shed, I have a garden.


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## Labradoodledoo

Hi, I’m wondering if this is the right place to ask for puppy help??? I have an almost 11 week old labradoodle, we have had for for two weeks yesterday. Since arriving she has seemed anxious and with lockdown starting almost immediate after she arrived she has myself,my husband and three teenagers to shower attention on her. We have had the usual problems with toilet training but she is doing really well with that. Any accidents in the house are down to us. 
She struggled with the crate at first and we have worked hard on that, she is now sleeping happily in the crate in our bedroom and if she needs a wee in the early hours ( around 5am, not always) she gets carried to the garden and has a wee and then will settle straight back to bed.
I have two things I’m struggling with: her biting and ‘zoomies’, in the morning she is a lovely affectionate puppy, really pleased to see me, lots of kisses and snuggles likes to sit on your lap for a little nap, some mouthing but easily distracted with a toy shoved in her mouth or being put down off the couch.As the day goes on, we have periods of crazed behaviour, jumping, uncontrollably biting us, running on furniture and barking. Nothing stops her, not distraction or toys. If she is told no, she has started barking and almost pretend snapping at us. It’s horrible and making me really worried that I’m going to have an aggressive dog. It’s not endearing her to my husband who didn’t want a dog in the first place. 
My other issue relates to the barking. Ideally I want her to sleep downstairs but anytime she is left alone in the crate apart from if she is asleep, she barks and howls the house down! Even if I sit in the room and lock the door she will bark and create, and being more poodle than Lab, she has a bark that can shatter eardrums. Today I put her in the crate for time out as I just needed to control her behaviour and to be honest I’m surprised you couldn’t all hear her!!
I don’t know what to do for the best? I’m worried about her being aggressive or is this just puppy behaviour? I need to control her but can’t and I need her to happy to be left alone because when lockdown is over ( if it ever is! ) we will all be going back to work and school.
Obviously there are no puppy classes to go to at the minute, she can go out on Wednesday and I have been carrying her to different places during the day so she can experience different sights and sounds, today she was horrible, biting and carrying on, trying to get my hands she didn’t seem to notice she was outside!! 
She is fed 4 times a day on James Wellbeloved puppy food (dry)
Any advice welcome. I feel absolutely rubbish today. I love her to bits and was desperate for a puppy after my old beagle died at Christmas. But I can’t remember my old dog being like this and she certainly never barked at us or snapped. The difference between having an old dog and a puppy is something I underestimated sadly. Really struggling,


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## Boxer123

Labradoodledoo said:


> Hi, I'm wondering if this is the right place to ask for puppy help??? I have an almost 11 week old labradoodle, we have had for for two weeks yesterday. Since arriving she has seemed anxious and with lockdown starting almost immediate after she arrived she has myself,my husband and three teenagers to shower attention on her. We have had the usual problems with toilet training but she is doing really well with that. Any accidents in the house are down to us.
> She struggled with the crate at first and we have worked hard on that, she is now sleeping happily in the crate in our bedroom and if she needs a wee in the early hours ( around 5am, not always) she gets carried to the garden and has a wee and then will settle straight back to bed.
> I have two things I'm struggling with: her biting and 'zoomies', in the morning she is a lovely affectionate puppy, really pleased to see me, lots of kisses and snuggles likes to sit on your lap for a little nap, some mouthing but easily distracted with a toy shoved in her mouth or being put down off the couch.As the day goes on, we have periods of crazed behaviour, jumping, uncontrollably biting us, running on furniture and barking. Nothing stops her, not distraction or toys. If she is told no, she has started barking and almost pretend snapping at us. It's horrible and making me really worried that I'm going to have an aggressive dog. It's not endearing her to my husband who didn't want a dog in the first place.
> My other issue relates to the barking. Ideally I want her to sleep downstairs but anytime she is left alone in the crate apart from if she is asleep, she barks and howls the house down! Even if I sit in the room and lock the door she will bark and create, and being more poodle than Lab, she has a bark that can shatter eardrums. Today I put her in the crate for time out as I just needed to control her behaviour and to be honest I'm surprised you couldn't all hear her!!
> I don't know what to do for the best? I'm worried about her being aggressive or is this just puppy behaviour? I need to control her but can't and I need her to happy to be left alone because when lockdown is over ( if it ever is! ) we will all be going back to work and school.
> Obviously there are no puppy classes to go to at the minute, she can go out on Wednesday and I have been carrying her to different places during the day so she can experience different sights and sounds, today she was horrible, biting and carrying on, trying to get my hands she didn't seem to notice she was outside!!
> She is fed 4 times a day on James Wellbeloved puppy food (dry)
> Any advice welcome. I feel absolutely rubbish today. I love her to bits and was desperate for a puppy after my old beagle died at Christmas. But I can't remember my old dog being like this and she certainly never barked at us or snapped. The difference between having an old dog and a puppy is something I underestimated sadly. Really struggling,


First of all I'm going to let you into a secret, puppies are horrible they are so cute because otherwise no one would have one ! The good news is when you get through it you have a best mate for life.

The evening behaviour you describe is very normal. That said you want to teach calmness. When pup starts biting leave the room. Keep doing this. Kongs are your friends. Stuff them and freeze them equally with cold teething rings.

The crate you are going to fast you need it to be a safe space. Either take the crate upstairs or sleep downstairs door open and comfort every time pup cries. Don't shut pup in unless they are happy.


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## Guest

Totally normal puppy behaviour in my opinion - the zoomies, nipping, barking and general crazies. Nothing to do with aggression. Our pup did the same thing and only thing that helped was a regular nap schedule for her, before she even got to the state of going nuts, because for her it was mainly when she got overtired. If it's over excitement, I left the room for 20-30 seconds and came back, so she knew every time she barks/nips at us for 'rough play', the fun stops. It's good to really learn and observe your dogs body language and you'll pick up signals when they're getting into the state of being overtired/overly excited.


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## Labradoodledoo

Thank you for your replies. I just hope she will grow out of it soon as it’s really horrible! 
Has anyone any advice on getting to be alone? She has kongs and treats in her crate but not really interested in her frozen Kong as she loses patience with it. She is very attached to me and follows me everywhere, if I go somewhere she can’t follow she will bark and cry, today I went outside to do my ‘lockdown workout’ and even though she was inside with my daughter she went absolutely ballistic! Crying, throwing her self at the door and refusing to be distracted. not sure what to do and definitely harder in lockdown as we are in all the time.
Any advice gratefully received?


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## niamh123

She is still a young pup and will still be settling into her new home and to her you are her safety net,I would try her outside with you when you are doing your workout I would think it would be good for her socialisation wise ,as she will realise people don't just stand ,sit and walk quietly ,she will probably be very excited the first couple of times you take her out to the garden with you but she will soon get used to it.I compare having a new puppy to bringing home a new baby but with the baby you know where the baby is at all times.When I bring a new puppy home they are with me 24/7 .As for leaving her on her own I would leave the room for 10 seconds and then return to the room when she is happy with this (no crying etc) you can start building up the time slowely


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## Pupmom

Hi, it’s my first post here and I’m absolutely at the end of my tether, so I’m hoping someone can reassure me or offer some advice. We have a 6 month old greyhound/whippet puppy and he is so wilful and stubborn I don’t know what to do, he has also shown some resource guarding (not food but items he’s stolen) and has bitten me and snapped at my husband. Luckily we don’t have children. He’s become reactive around cars (he didn’t used to be) and even more so if a bicycle comes past us. 

My husband seems about ready to give up on him but I don’t want to do that - despite everything I do love the pup and we committed ourselves to him when we got him. He was 16 weeks old when we got him. 

We’ve tried all sorts of positive reinforcement with him and he will follow some commands - he sits about 80% of the times he is asked and he will give a paw, high five and wait for treats if instructed. 

It’s the snapping and going crazy on the lead that we need to sort I suppose, and with the lockdown we can’t access our usual trainer (we had a few really helpful one to one sessions when he was small.)

I’m hoping for some nuggets of wisdom! Thanks in anticipation.


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## Boxer123

Pupmom said:


> Hi, it's my first post here and I'm absolutely at the end of my tether, so I'm hoping someone can reassure me or offer some advice. We have a 6 month old greyhound/whippet puppy and he is so wilful and stubborn I don't know what to do, he has also shown some resource guarding (not food but items he's stolen) and has bitten me and snapped at my husband. Luckily we don't have children. He's become reactive around cars (he didn't used to be) and even more so if a bicycle comes past us.
> 
> My husband seems about ready to give up on him but I don't want to do that - despite everything I do love the pup and we committed ourselves to him when we got him. He was 16 weeks old when we got him.
> 
> We've tried all sorts of positive reinforcement with him and he will follow some commands - he sits about 80% of the times he is asked and he will give a paw, high five and wait for treats if instructed.
> 
> It's the snapping and going crazy on the lead that we need to sort I suppose, and with the lockdown we can't access our usual trainer (we had a few really helpful one to one sessions when he was small.)
> 
> I'm hoping for some nuggets of wisdom! Thanks in anticipation.


Where did you get him from ? With pinching stuff this does tend to be a puppy thing try swapping with something higher value. When you say bite and snap my boy was very mouthy and still is it might be seen as an extension of play. (It's hard to say without knowing the circumstances. )

With the bikes and cars dogs can go through a second fear phase I would try and gets as much distance as possible and give treats.


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## Pupmom

Boxer123 said:


> Where did you get him from ? With pinching stuff this does tend to be a puppy thing try swapping with something higher value. When you say bite and snap my boy was very mouthy and still is it might be seen as an extension of play. (It's hard to say without knowing the circumstances. )
> 
> With the bikes and cars dogs can go through a second fear phase I would try and gets as much distance as possible and give treats.


Thank you. He came from a family/home based breeder. He'd been raised with little kids.

Yes, we are swapping items - I do know now that I approached it totally wrongly when I tried to take away what he'd stolen - I ended up with quite a nasty nip on my arm but I don't really blame him if you see what I mean. The mouthiness I am sure is usually in play - he jumps and snaps at toys, but toys are in hands.

Thanks for your comment - you've reassured me to an extent that what we're dealing with is normal and that we're doing the right sort of thing. I had a bit of a meltdown with my husband last night about his approach, and we've both been much calmer round the pup. So far he's been a delight today. It's all about patience I guess.


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## Munchkin1991

Labradoodledoo said:


> Thank you for your replies. I just hope she will grow out of it soon as it's really horrible!
> Has anyone any advice on getting to be alone? She has kongs and treats in her crate but not really interested in her frozen Kong as she loses patience with it. She is very attached to me and follows me everywhere, if I go somewhere she can't follow she will bark and cry, today I went outside to do my 'lockdown workout' and even though she was inside with my daughter she went absolutely ballistic! Crying, throwing her self at the door and refusing to be distracted. not sure what to do and definitely harder in lockdown as we are in all the time.
> Any advice gratefully received?


Hi, I have a 11 week old pup, and when I first tried frozen kongs, and she would get very frustrated and give up when they were properly stuffed, so I changed to fill them with her kibble and then just plug the big hole with peanut butter. I have slowly increased the amount of 'tricky' filling, but she gets the reward of the loose kibble once she gets through that first part, and it's really helped.

I am really struggling with the puppy blues myself. My pup can be so lovely, and then so evil. She has earned the name Tiny Terrorist. I live in a flat and we have shared green space so I can't let her run loose yet, and she just has so much energy. I have taken to doing short walks with her on the pavement where it's clear and I can see that she isn't getting into anything she shouldn't be, but I worry I am putting her at more risk than is necessary. I don't know how you know you're doing a good job with a pup. It's a really hard job!


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## Boxer123

Pupmom said:


> Thank you. He came from a family/home based breeder. He'd been raised with little kids.
> 
> Yes, we are swapping items - I do know now that I approached it totally wrongly when I tried to take away what he'd stolen - I ended up with quite a nasty nip on my arm but I don't really blame him if you see what I mean. The mouthiness I am sure is usually in play - he jumps and snaps at toys, but toys are in hands.
> 
> Thanks for your comment - you've reassured me to an extent that what we're dealing with is normal and that we're doing the right sort of thing. I had a bit of a meltdown with my husband last night about his approach, and we've both been much calmer round the pup. So far he's been a delight today. It's all about patience I guess.


My boy used to always pinch stuff still does then has fun running around with it. I pretend I'm not interested and try and drop tasty food if I really need it back. Puppy's are hard work but worth it in the end.


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## Elly Tee

This is Dixie, she is 4 weeks on saturday can anyone tell me what they think these spots are on her face before I arrange a video consultation with the vets? I thought maybe milk spots or something


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## Labradoodledoo

Munchkin1991 said:


> Hi, I have a 11 week old pup, and when I first tried frozen kongs, and she would get very frustrated and give up when they were properly stuffed, so I changed to fill them with her kibble and then just plug the big hole with peanut butter. I have slowly increased the amount of 'tricky' filling, but she gets the reward of the loose kibble once she gets through that first part, and it's really helped.
> 
> I am really struggling with the puppy blues myself. My pup can be so lovely, and then so evil. She has earned the name Tiny Terrorist. I live in a flat and we have shared green space so I can't let her run loose yet, and she just has so much energy. I have taken to doing short walks with her on the pavement where it's clear and I can see that she isn't getting into anything she shouldn't be, but I worry I am putting her at more risk than is necessary. I don't know how you know you're doing a good job with a pup. It's a really hard job!


Thanks - I was making her Kongs too hard, I've just changed them.
It is such a hard job, this week her second jabs have kicked in and we have been taking her out and she has been much much better in the evenings since. She even let me clean my teeth this morning, leaving her alone for two minutes! However sleeping is still an issue and I'm sleeping on the sofa with her next to me and knackering my back! Don't know how I'll ever be able to leave her alone to sleep without her howling the house down!


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## Libby Kerman

Hi!
We are welcoming our new boxer puppy Arlo into the family in 2 weeks time! I was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some essentials we need to get in (we already have a variety of toys such as Kongs, antlers etc, as well as a crate and a bed) and have been looking at getting a 'Julius' harness for him but not sure what size to go for!
Any training tips for this breed would also be appreciated as our family have never owned a boxer before, but we are really excited for the challenging yet rewarding journey ahead!

Thanks in advance


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## Munchkin1991

I have had a few really bad days with my Jack Russell, she is 13 weeks tomorrow, and has been with me since 8 weeks, and we had got into quite a good routine. 
I have tried to keep her in the same routine I will have when lockdown is finished, so we get up and get ready for day, have breakfast, go for a little walk, and then when I would leave for work, she is left while I work in a separate room. I will put shoes on and play with my keys to get her used to all that as well. She does fairly well with this, and where I can I will actually leave the flat so that she gets used to that as well, and it takes her a little while to settle but she is okay after maybe 10 minutes. 
So all in all we were doing well. Cos I live in a flat, I had to use puppy pads because I didn’t want to risk her in the shared garden without her jabs, and she got fairly good with that, but since we have started outside toilet training, she has become a disaster inside. I can deal with the peeing on the floor - it’s not great but it’s manageable, but she has started to wee on the sofa too, which is very frustrating. I find that it’s the sofa accidents that really cause our day to end badly. Which feels like a really daft thing, but after four weeks of it going well it’s so demoralising. I don’t want to dislike her, but as soon as she goes to sleep at night I feel so relieved. 
She is doing well with other training and I try to focus on that, I just don’t think I was prepared for the regression to this extent


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## lullabydream

Libby Kerman said:


> Hi!
> We are welcoming our new boxer puppy Arlo into the family in 2 weeks time! I was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some essentials we need to get in (we already have a variety of toys such as Kongs, antlers etc, as well as a crate and a bed) and have been looking at getting a 'Julius' harness for him but not sure what size to go for!
> Any training tips for this breed would also be appreciated as our family have never owned a boxer before, but we are really excited for the challenging yet rewarding journey ahead!
> 
> Thanks in advance


Am going to tag @Boxer123 and a new member @Jim40 who is knowledgeable on boxers to explain everything boxers to you.


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## Libby Kerman

lullabydream said:


> Am going to tag @Boxer123 and a new member @Jim40 who is knowledgeable on boxers to explain everything boxers to you.


Brilliant, thank you!


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## Aaron103

Hey,

Thought id pop in and introduce myself, we're getting our first ever puppy in 2 weeks, Benji a Miniature Dachshund pictured below.

If anyone has any advice I'm all ears


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## Guest

Aaron103 said:


> Hey,
> 
> Thought id pop in and introduce myself, we're getting our first ever puppy in 2 weeks, Benji a Miniature Dachshund pictured below.
> 
> If anyone has any advice I'm all ears


What a cutie  @SusieRainbow 's our resident Dachshund lady


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## Boxer123

Libby Kerman said:


> Hi!
> We are welcoming our new boxer puppy Arlo into the family in 2 weeks time! I was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some essentials we need to get in (we already have a variety of toys such as Kongs, antlers etc, as well as a crate and a bed) and have been looking at getting a 'Julius' harness for him but not sure what size to go for!
> Any training tips for this breed would also be appreciated as our family have never owned a boxer before, but we are really excited for the challenging yet rewarding journey ahead!
> 
> Thanks in advance


Hello and welcome i do believe every home should have a boxer in times of crisis. I have two boxers and both have been very different with regards to training.

My youngest is 18 months and he has been a challenge (a fun one). once lockdown is lifted do go to classes. My boys respond well to food and squeaking toys they pick up tricks quickly.

They truly are the clowns of the dog world and can get over excited with life in general.

Try and encourage pup to learn to be calm kongs and interactive toys are useful. They are very people oriented so be careful with letting them jump up as puppies as this can continue when they are older.

My boys are in a perfect fit it is difficult normally I would say go to the shop and try them on. Remember they grow quick. My boy slipped out of his julius and ended up streaking across a pub naked.

Finally we must have puppy pictures.


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## Jim40

lullabydream said:


> Am going to tag @Boxer123 and a new member @Jim40 who is knowledgeable on boxers to explain everything boxers to you.


Hello, training with our boxers has been a pleasure for us. All have been quick learners re their behaviour and toilet training. What we have found is be consistent. We have always trained our dogs to the clicker. (Click, treat. Click treat). All our dogs would never stop eating so don't give in to the long looks and the drooling in front of you. When adults we have found their daily food split into two meals.(btwn 7 & 8 and 5 & 6) keeps their stomachs confortable through the night. Obviously your boxer will adapt to your lifestyle quite easily. We have never used the julius harness. The one we have is a three peaks from pets at home. Measured at the deepest part of the chest. Personally we have never had our puppies in harnesses. Very inquisitive dogs. Hope that is a start for you. Maybe @Boxer123 will give you some info as well. Enjoy your dog. Hope you have many years of companionship


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## Jim40

Hello again @Libby Kerman. Maybe @Boxer123 will relate to this with loky and sox. Our trixie has just stolen two rich tea biscuits from a table when we were out of the room. Our own fault. Just brings home the point we were both making about always after food. Can't say much if you don't catch them in the act. Delta wasn't in the room either.


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## fmc4

We recently got our gorgeous new puppy Brodie. He is a 9 week old Cockapoo. He has been home with us for just under a week. He is doing great - toilet training is going well (a few accidents, but generally when we're not quick enough to pick up on his toilet signals!) and he is sleeping through the night pretty well - up twice a night to go to the toilet in the garden, and then goes back to sleep after just a couple of whines. He is currently sleeping in his crate in the bedroom so he is not alone, whilst he adjusts, and then we'll gradually move the crate. 

He has decided very quickly that I am his favourite person. He wanders around after me and has a cry when I leave the room (although he quickly settles provided someone else is still there). 

He hasn't yet had all his vaccinations, so we can't walk him yet, although we have a garden which he loves to play in (and where we are toilet training him).

I have just joined this forum as I was hoping to get some reassurance from others who are further doing the line than us, about the "puppy blues". I did lots of research in advance of Brodie coming to us - I read books, did preparation, spoke with friends who've had puppies for advice etc, and yet I really didn't have any concept of how hard it would be. He is being such a good boy, and I adore him, but I am also exhausted from the disrupted sleep and feel quite anxious about him adjusting, getting him to have "alone time" (currently he cries whenever he is left alone), and whether we are doing things "right" for him. I have moments of panic when I wonder what we have done, whether we've made a huge mistake and whether life will ever feel "normal" again - right now everything is focused on him and it feels like life has just been turned upside down. I feel such a weight of responsibility for him. It has had me in tears the last couple of days. 

Any advice (or just reassurance that I am not crazy for feeling this way!) would be so appreciated.

Thanks


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## Libby Kerman

Boxer123 said:


> Hello and welcome i do believe every home should have a boxer in times of crisis. I have two boxers and both have been very different with regards to training.
> 
> My youngest is 18 months and he has been a challenge (a fun one). once lockdown is lifted do go to classes. My boys respond well to food and squeaking toys they pick up tricks quickly.
> 
> They truly are the clowns of the dog world and can get over excited with life in general.
> 
> Try and encourage pup to learn to be calm kongs and interactive toys are useful. They are very people oriented so be careful with letting them jump up as puppies as this can continue when they are older.
> 
> My boys are in a perfect fit it is difficult normally I would say go to the shop and try them on. Remember they grow quick. My boy slipped out of his julius and ended up streaking across a pub naked.
> 
> Finally we must have puppy pictures.


Hi! Thank you so much for your response, I will definitely take your advice on board! I have ordered a cheaper harness for now and will get him a Julius one once we can take him in to get properly fitted just in case! I can't wait to share lots and lots of photos and stories of him as soon as possible! Thank you so much again


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## Libby Kerman

Jim40 said:


> Hello, training with our boxers has been a pleasure for us. All have been quick learners re their behaviour and toilet training. What we have found is be consistent. We have always trained our dogs to the clicker. (Click, treat. Click treat). All our dogs would never stop eating so don't give in to the long looks and the drooling in front of you. When adults we have found their daily food split into two meals.(btwn 7 & 8 and 5 & 6) keeps their stomachs confortable through the night. Obviously your boxer will adapt to your lifestyle quite easily. We have never used the julius harness. The one we have is a three peaks from pets at home. Measured at the deepest part of the chest. Personally we have never had our puppies in harnesses. Very inquisitive dogs. Hope that is a start for you. Maybe @Boxer123 will give you some info as well. Enjoy your dog. Hope you have many years of companionship


Hi! Thank you so much for your reply! I will definitely look into order a clicker tonight, sounds like a brilliant idea! It's good to hear some people having a positive outlook on training boxers, as some others we have spoken too haven't been so optimistic! We are very much looking forward to welcoming him into our home. Thank you again!


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## Boxer123

Libby Kerman said:


> Hi! Thank you so much for your response, I will definitely take your advice on board! I have ordered a cheaper harness for now and will get him a Julius one once we can take him in to get properly fitted just in case! I can't wait to share lots and lots of photos and stories of him as soon as possible! Thank you so much again


Also I don't know if your crate training but baby boxers do need a cuddle at night so best to have them close the first few weeks.


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## Libby Kerman

Does anyone have any recommendations on brands of dry foods to feed puppies, (in this case a boxer pup)! We are unable to get our hands on what the breeder is feeding him at the minute so wondered if anyone has any recommendations on what worked for them? I understand this may differ with


Boxer123 said:


> Also I don't know if your crate training but baby boxers do need a cuddle at night so best to have them close the first few weeks.


We have bought him a crate just in case but have heard many mixed reviews! If he starts crying would you recommend just taking him out and having him near us at the beginning? Or moving the crate closer and just try to get through the cries (hopefully we will develop will power if this is the recommended option)! Also, do you have any recommendations on food brands to feed a boxer pup, we can't get our hands on the specific brand the breeder is currently using with him (wolf), so was looking for any other suggestions? Thanks again this advice is all very appreciated!


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## Boxer123

Libby Kerman said:


> Does anyone have any recommendations on brands of dry foods to feed puppies, (in this case a boxer pup)! We are unable to get our hands on what the breeder is feeding him at the minute so wondered if anyone has any recommendations on what worked for them? I understand this may differ with
> 
> We have bought him a crate just in case but have heard many mixed reviews! If he starts crying would you recommend just taking him out and having him near us at the beginning? Or moving the crate closer and just try to get through the cries (hopefully we will develop will power if this is the recommended option)! Also, do you have any recommendations on food brands to feed a boxer pup, we can't get our hands on the specific brand the breeder is currently using with him (wolf), so was looking for any other suggestions? Thanks again this advice is all very appreciated!


Crates are useful as long as you use them properly. My boys sleep where ever they like but puppies can get up to mischief. Loki has always been in my bed. Sox has the sofa in the spare room now (his room)

It is up to you either have the crate in your room or you sleep on the sofa with them by you so you can comfort it also makes things easier with toilet training. Don't close the door until the are comfy it should be a safe space.

mine are raw fed Loki has been since 8 weeks I believe @Jim40 does as well. I do mix in kibble and they have kibble in their kong wobbler I use Arden Grange.


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## Libby Kerman

Boxer123 said:


> View attachment 437499
> 
> 
> Crates are useful as long as you use them properly. My boys sleep where ever they like but puppies can get up to mischief. Loki has always been in my bed. Sox has the sofa in the spare room now (his room)
> 
> It is up to you either have the crate in your room or you sleep on the sofa with them by you so you can comfort it also makes things easier with toilet training. Don't close the door until the are comfy it should be a safe space.
> 
> mine are raw fed Loki has been since 8 weeks I believe @Jim40 does as well. I do mix in kibble and they have kibble in their kong wobbler I use Arden Grange.


Perfect thank you I'll look into that! I think we will start by having his cage next to the bed and then I'll move onto the sofa if that doesn't work! I'm guessing it's just trial and error with some aspects! Your pups are just beautiful!! Making us even more excited!


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## Boxer123

Libby Kerman said:


> Perfect thank you I'll look into that! I think we will start by having his cage next to the bed and then I'll move onto the sofa if that doesn't work! I'm guessing it's just trial and error with some aspects! Your pups are just beautiful!! Making us even more excited!


You will have a great time they are fun dogs.


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## Jim40

Libby Kerman said:


> Perfect thank you I'll look into that! I think we will start by having his cage next to the bed and then I'll move onto the sofa if that doesn't work! I'm guessing it's just trial and error with some aspects! Your pups are just beautiful!! Making us even more excited!


Hi boxer123. I'm reading your previous post wrong, no problem. I don't feed my two girls raw food. We have fed our two boxers Burns lamb and rice kibble with naturo or harringtons. However as you know because of various illnesses and reactions I have mentioned before we now have to source prescription diets. We mix in some naturo or harringtons but not chicken derivatives


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## Libby Kerman

Jim40 said:


> Hi boxer123. I'm reading your previous post wrong, no problem. I don't feed my two girls raw food. We have fed our two boxers Burns lamb and rice kibble with naturo or harringtons. However as you know because of various illnesses and reactions I have mentioned before we now have to source prescription diets. We mix in some naturo or harringtons but not chicken derivatives


brilliant thank you!


----------



## Jim40

To @Libby Kerman. There is so much different foods out there. It must be difficult for a new owner. We have the benefit of owning dogs previously. If you do change foods during his lifetime i'm sure you know to change over gradually to the new food. Can your breeder give you some food to tide you over until you change. Don't worry. Everybody has their own ideas of what's good and bad. Everyone on pet forums will always be ready to help.


----------



## Libby Kerman

Jim40 said:


> To @Libby Kerman. There is so much different foods out there. It must be difficult for a new owner. We have the benefit of owning dogs previously. If you do change foods during his lifetime i'm sure you know to change over gradually to the new food. Can your breeder give you some food to tide you over until you change. Don't worry. Everybody has their own ideas of what's good and bad. Everyone on pet forums will always be ready to help.


There really is! We have are going to continue with the breeders choice of 50/50 dry food and raw. We picked up a range of raw foods today so we can explore which he likes best (the whole concept is completely new to me)! The breeder is giving us a bag of his current kibble so we can make a smooth transition onto our new brand! Thank you so much for all your help, there are so many things to read out there, with so many of them counteracting each other making it very confusing haha! It's much appreciated. Just counting down the days until he arrives now!


----------



## Boxer123

TBH my boys would eat anything it’s luck of the draw sometimes.


----------



## Aaron103

McKenzie said:


> What a cutie  @SusieRainbow 's our resident Dachshund lady


Thank you, Any advice is welcome


----------



## Lara Harding

spamvicious said:


> She's on purina pro plan, which I'm gradually changing over to something called healthy option pet food which I get in my local pet shop. Yeah it's completely formed but just so often, I walk her on the grass but she doesn't do anything most of the time so I have to wait for her tell tale sign of darting back and forth but I don't always get her out in time as like you I'm in a flat.
> 
> ooh no problem with biting here yet. She catches me a lot when she's trying to bite her toy but doesn't intentionally bite me but I'm sure that's gonna come. You sound like you're doing the right thing with her though.


I'm in a flat too and really struggling with toilet training my puppy Bó she's a Bull-Spaniel, 11 weeks old. This is my second week with her, she pees outside sometimes but sometimes in the house too, but will not poo outside at all. I no her signs of when she wants to go so I pop the lead on her and go downstairs to the driveway, I've no garden and nothing happens so we go back upstairs to the flat and she pops a squat inside the flat every time, she's so quick I don't even have a chance to pick her up and bring her out and believe me, I have tried, she just ends up pooing on me and it falls on the ground and I walk in it creating an even bigger mess ‍♀


----------



## Aaron103

Hey guys, 

Our puppy is getting his first injection this week and I'm collecting him next Sunday, I called my local vet and they said they aren't doing any vaccinations while in lockdown. i've read that its between 10-12 weeks old for his 2nd one? not sure what to do or if we can leave him without it until the vets are able to do it? Ideally i want his 2nd injection asap so i can get him out walking

Any advice would be appreciated, Thank you


----------



## Lara Harding

Aaron103 said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> Our puppy is getting his first injection this week and I'm collecting him next Sunday, I called my local vet and they said they aren't doing any vaccinations while in lockdown. i've read that its between 10-12 weeks old for his 2nd one? not sure what to do or if we can leave him without it until the vets are able to do it? Ideally i want his 2nd injection asap so i can get him out walking
> 
> Any advice would be appreciated, Thank you


Hey! I live on the Wirral, and was concerned about wether I would be able to get my new puppy vaccinated during lock down, I literally had to ring every vet on the Wirral, eventually I found one vets that would do her first injection, they said when she is due her second injection just to call the week of and see if they can do it. For now I am taking her on my drive way on the lead and walking her up and down the road, being careful that she isn't eating anything or licking anything she shouldn't. just so she gets used to being on the lead you know? I think you should be fine to do that, as long as you aren't letting her go near other dogs or to parks and beaches. Keep it simple. Do you have a garden? Having the puppy in the gardens is fine, even put the pup on the lead in the garden and practice walking with her so she'll be ready when you do go to actually bring her for proper walks. Just keep an eye on what they are eating.


----------



## Aaron103

Lara Harding said:


> Hey! I live on the Wirral, and was concerned about wether I would be able to get my new puppy vaccinated during lock down, I literally had to ring every vet on the Wirral, eventually I found one vets that would do her first injection, they said when she is due her second injection just to call the week of and see if they can do it. For now I am taking her on my drive way on the lead and walking her up and down the road, being careful that she isn't eating anything or licking anything she shouldn't. just so she gets used to being on the lead you know? I think you should be fine to do that, as long as you aren't letting her go near other dogs or to parks and beaches. Keep it simple. Do you have a garden? Having the puppy in the gardens is fine, even put the pup on the lead in the garden and practice walking with her so she'll be ready when you do go to actually bring her for proper walks. Just keep an eye on what they are eating.


Thanks for the reply, We've sorted it now  Going to use the breeders vet as we only live around 45 mins away until all this lockdown has ended and we can use a more local vet  We have a large back garden so he'll have to run around in the as well for now.


----------



## Lara Harding

Aaron103 said:


> Thanks for the reply, We've sorted it now  Going to use the breeders vet as we only live around 45 mins away until all this lockdown has ended and we can use a more local vet  We have a large back garden so he'll have to run around in the as well for now.


That's great to hear, good luck with puppy training ☺


----------



## StormsMum2010

My old dog was on Forthglade and it's a very good food, so my puppy and rescue dog will be go onto the same.


----------



## Libby Kerman

Our 8 week old boxer pup Arlo came home yesterday! He has been amazing, all accidents have been outside (so far) and he has already created many laughs! Nighttime was a bit stressful, but I know he should calm after a few days! We are so in love already and can't wait for the adventure that lies ahead!


----------



## Jim40

Libby Kerman said:


> Our 8 week old boxer pup Arlo came home yesterday! He has been amazing, all accidents have been outside (so far) and he has already created many laughs! Nighttime was a bit stressful, but I know he should calm after a few days! We are so in love already and can't wait for the adventure that lies ahead!
> View attachment 438619
> View attachment 438618


I have to say ...what a beautiful boy. I wish he was mine. From the second photo you have here I think he is going to be a big boy. He will grow up to be a very loyal companion. Enjoy your new member of your family. Keep us all updated with his progress. 
Welcome Arlo. Delta and Trixie also send you lots of big WOOFS


----------



## DanWalkersmum

Libby Kerman said:


> Our 8 week old boxer pup Arlo came home yesterday! He has been amazing, all accidents have been outside (so far) and he has already created many laughs! Nighttime was a bit stressful, but I know he should calm after a few days! We are so in love already and can't wait for the adventure that lies ahead!
> View attachment 438619
> View attachment 438618


Aww that face! I can't resist, he's gorgeous!:Kiss


----------



## Boxer123

Libby Kerman said:


> Our 8 week old boxer pup Arlo came home yesterday! He has been amazing, all accidents have been outside (so far) and he has already created many laughs! Nighttime was a bit stressful, but I know he should calm after a few days! We are so in love already and can't wait for the adventure that lies ahead!
> View attachment 438619
> View attachment 438618


Oh look so gorgeous! I'm boxer puppy broody now.

PS boxers never calm down


----------



## Boxer123

@Libby Kerman how is everything going ? Has little Arlo settled in ?


----------



## Aaron103

I Get my puppy tomorrow at 10am "Benji" Excited is an understatement


----------



## Boxer123

Aaron103 said:


> I Get my puppy tomorrow at 10am "Benji" Excited is an understatement
> 
> View attachment 438899


We are having a bit of a cute puppy overload at the moment. Gorgeous.


----------



## Aaron103

Update on Benji,

I'm impressed with him so far. He's only made 1 mistake in the house and that was his first night but he already at 8 weeks and 1 day old knows to wait at the back door for the toilet or cries at night for it. He sleeps for 2/3 hours plays for 30 mins then he's out cold again lol

Do they have needy moments? as today he always wants to be picked up and won't sleep until he's on our lap 
Also how can i stop him jumping off things? as he's a miniature Dachshund and don't want him to suffer back issues

Seems to be loving life lol


----------



## Lynn87

Hi guys!

I could do with some advice or reassurance please! I have a 14 week old bulldog, who is amazing, learning quick and has a great personality but a couple of things I am unsure of!
He is pretty much potty trained during the day, he tends to sit by the back door, or we notice him heading that way and let him out for a wee/poo and then he gets lots of praise. The problem is at night, he is not crate training and has the run of the kitchen with a baby gate. He goes to bed no problem, but is still up every 2 -3 hours. I try and set my alarm to fit around the previous night but he sometimes gets there first. He will cry which wakes me up and then I shoot down as fast I can, but he will have done a wee first!! I think he gets up, has a wee, then a cry... hes bed is really comfy, i leave a jumper and teddy in there to keep him company and have low music on for him. I'd love any suggestions on how I can encourage him to sleep through the night / not wee in the kitchen! it is very exhausting up every 2 hours. He can hold his wee for 4 hours in the day!

Secondly, my poor pup is not enjoying his walks. He is ok if i carry him to the local park, we run around and he seems to love it! But he refuses to walk on the pavements and just sits down. But on the way home, he walks lovely all the way home.
Do i just carry him to the park? I throw treats down and he will run to them on the pavements - should I carry on throwing treats? Or just pick him up and carry him?

Thanks for any advice!


----------



## Ralphieandus

Hello everyone,

First time puppy owner here. Last Sunday my husband surprised myself & our children (Daughter 8 & son 3) with my dream dog. Frenchie pup, Ralphie. He is absolutely gorgeous but he’s really setting my anxiety off and I was looking for some advice.

I have never owned a dog but have dogs in the family, always wanted one of my own so this is a real dream come true for me but he’s started to growl occasionally which is really stressing me out. Im finding it all quite overwhelming and have been in tears most days which sounds absolutely ridiculous as he’s so tiny. This is something I wasn’t expecting and it’s thrown me. How can I nip this behaviour in the bud? 

Thank you


----------



## Boxer123

Ralphieandus said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> First time puppy owner here. Last Sunday my husband surprised myself & our children (Daughter 8 & son 3) with my dream dog. Frenchie pup, Ralphie. He is absolutely gorgeous but he's really setting my anxiety off and I was looking for some advice.
> 
> I have never owned a dog but have dogs in the family, always wanted one of my own so this is a real dream come true for me but he's started to growl occasionally which is really stressing me out. Im finding it all quite overwhelming and have been in tears most days which sounds absolutely ridiculous as he's so tiny. This is something I wasn't expecting and it's thrown me. How can I nip this behaviour in the bud?
> 
> Thank you


It's quite normal to feel overwhelmed. It's a big change getting a pup. Dogs do growl when they play in what context is he growling ?


----------



## Ralphieandus

Boxer123 said:


> It's quite normal to feel overwhelmed. It's a big change getting a pup. Dogs do growl when they play in what context is he growling ?


Occasionally when being picked up/moved when he doesn't want to be. We've just been dealing with it by giving him a firm no! Generally very tolerant but I guess he's still getting to know us as we are him. I think I'm just worried that the behaviour will increase not subside.


----------



## Boxer123

Ralphieandus said:


> Occasionally when being picked up/moved when he doesn't want to be. We've just been dealing with it by giving him a firm no! Generally very tolerant but I guess he's still getting to know us as we are him. I think I'm just worried that the behaviour will increase not subside.


Ok that's normal most dogs do not like being picked up. This is quite normal. Either use a house line or treats to get them where you want them. One of my boys always takes forever to get out the car I once picked him up when he was little got a little growl. I didn't do it again he wasn't comfortable with it.

Dogs don't understand 'no' you want to listen to a growl it's a form of communication.

Ideally you would go to puppy classes but obviously lock down you can't. Some are holding online sessions though.


----------



## Harry Cooper

Ralphieandus said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> First time puppy owner here. Last Sunday my husband surprised myself & our children (Daughter 8 & son 3) with my dream dog. Frenchie pup, Ralphie. He is absolutely gorgeous but he's really setting my anxiety off and I was looking for some advice.
> 
> I have never owned a dog but have dogs in the family, always wanted one of my own so this is a real dream come true for me but he's started to growl occasionally which is really stressing me out. Im finding it all quite overwhelming and have been in tears most days which sounds absolutely ridiculous as he's so tiny. This is something I wasn't expecting and it's thrown me. How can I nip this behaviour in the bud?
> 
> Thank you


Growling is pretty normal, I remember my pup hated being picked up or woken up, so don't worry, it reduces with time. A new puppy can be a very stressful time, hang in there because they will take all of that stress away all their life


----------



## KatW85

Hi all
I have an older springer (15 next month) and we have recently got a puppy patterdale terrier (9 weeks old) 
To be fair to her she’s doing really well in some aspects.. goes into her crate at night and sleeps through (most nights Bar a few of needing a wee in the middle) 

but I feel like I’m hitting a wall in other aspects! It’s early days and she’s young so I’m assuming it’s normal.. some days I can say No to something and she seems to get it, other days however like today it was a battle of the wills I’m not introducing too much to start with, and I’m being consistent with the NO. If she does something I don’t want encouraging E.g. mouths a little too hard, jumps up the sofa then a firm no is given, until she backs off and then I praise her. Today however she was terrorising the older dog, the mouthing was harder and she was stubborn.. please someone tell me it’s normal for pups to have stages like this
She’s starting to recognise her name and does 95% of her poo/pee outside, I’m leaning towards she’s stubborn and testing out what she can or can’t do.. so I just keep being consistent? Or is there something else I should be doing?
Thanks in advance


----------



## lullabydream

KatW85 said:


> Hi all
> I have an older springer (15 next month) and we have recently got a puppy patterdale terrier (9 weeks old)
> To be fair to her she's doing really well in some aspects.. goes into her crate at night and sleeps through (most nights Bar a few of needing a wee in the middle)
> 
> but I feel like I'm hitting a wall in other aspects! It's early days and she's young so I'm assuming it's normal.. some days I can say No to something and she seems to get it, other days however like today it was a battle of the wills I'm not introducing too much to start with, and I'm being consistent with the NO. If she does something I don't want encouraging E.g. mouths a little too hard, jumps up the sofa then a firm no is given, until she backs off and then I praise her. Today however she was terrorising the older dog, the mouthing was harder and she was stubborn.. please someone tell me it's normal for pups to have stages like this
> She's starting to recognise her name and does 95% of her poo/pee outside, I'm leaning towards she's stubborn and testing out what she can or can't do.. so I just keep being consistent? Or is there something else I should be doing?
> Thanks in advance


No literally means nothing to a puppy. They learn best when given an alternative behaviour..
So if she's mouthing or teeth hit the skin leave the room. It's a clear signal everything stops. Terriers love to play and can be really mouthy to hands and ankles so old clothes useful too

If she jumps on the sofa, lure her of with some kibble and praise her and shower her with kibble when she hits the floor. As she's the act of getting off, use the word off, which will eventually be a que. Down is a different que altogether and is often taught with sit and stand in training classes.

It's really not a battle of wills just no communication between you yet.

Keep using her name sporadically. If she even flicks her ear in response toss her a treat. Having a good response to a name because after all most time you call a dogs name good things happen then she will pick it up quick. It's actually sad when dogs don't know their name, and many don't in reality.


----------



## KatW85

Is there anything I can do to stop her biting the older dog? We distract and ignore when we can with us, and reward lots for good behaviour


----------



## Ek123

Hi I have had my Malshi pup for 2 weeks now he will be 10 weeks old tomorrow. In most aspects he is amazing we are really getting there with crate training and toilet training however, our situation with the biting just seems to take away from it all. It is making me extremely anxious and I have been in tears most days I’m on my own with him during the week. He just constantly bites your feet at times it is really quite painful and he will lung and growl and just keep going for them and it is making the experience of having him really unenjoyable which is really upsetting. We feel like we have tried everything and nothing works.


----------



## Guest

Ek123 said:


> Hi I have had my Malshi pup for 2 weeks now he will be 10 weeks old tomorrow. In most aspects he is amazing we are really getting there with crate training and toilet training however, our situation with the biting just seems to take away from it all. It is making me extremely anxious and I have been in tears most days I'm on my own with him during the week. He just constantly bites your feet at times it is really quite painful and he will lung and growl and just keep going for them and it is making the experience of having him really unenjoyable which is really upsetting. We feel like we have tried everything and nothing works.


Unfortunately biting is part and parcel of the puppy experience. It's probably one of the most frequent topics on this forum.

Biting is how he played with his littermates. You've only had him 2 weeks, and you've already tried 'everything', but biting does require a consistent, sustained approach.

Generally the best approach is to remove yourself when he starts biting - have some baby gates around so that you can leave him alone for 30 seconds. He needs to learn he will get no attention if he bites. With my small breed puppy I would often just put my feet up on the sofa and stare at the ceiling, completely ignoring her - she hated being ignored so learnt fast!

Also pay attention to when the biting is worst - usually when they're over-tired - so be proactive and settle in him in his crate/bed with a tasty chew or kong BEFORE he reaches croco-puppy status.


----------



## KinoaKiki

My puppy is the same


----------



## Sunday

Hi everyone. New here.
I got a frenchie puppy 4 days ago.
There’s just me and my daughter at home who I mainly got the puppy for.
I just have extreme anxiety over the puppy with the fact that I feel so trapped at home!
Not that I went out much anyway but it’s making me sick with worry. i don’t deal with change well so this is a big big change.
I know everyone says things will get better but I just can’t see it at the moment.
But I’d be the worst mom in the world if I rehomed her.
Any advice or has anyone else felt this ill with anxiety before.
I’ve got my own business to run too and I just cannot concentrate on it. And I feel like my daughters not having as much of my time because I’m just stressing over the new puppy all the time.
Even when the puppy’s asleep in the crate I just can’t relax. 
Please help


----------



## Boxer123

Sunday said:


> Hi everyone. New here.
> I got a frenchie puppy 4 days ago.
> There's just me and my daughter at home who I mainly got the puppy for.
> I just have extreme anxiety over the puppy with the fact that I feel so trapped at home!
> Not that I went out much anyway but it's making me sick with worry. i don't deal with change well so this is a big big change.
> I know everyone says things will get better but I just can't see it at the moment.
> But I'd be the worst mom in the world if I rehomed her.
> Any advice or has anyone else felt this ill with anxiety before.
> I've got my own business to run too and I just cannot concentrate on it. And I feel like my daughters not having as much of my time because I'm just stressing over the new puppy all the time.
> Even when the puppy's asleep in the crate I just can't relax.
> Please help


No you won't be the worst mum in the world. But first take a breath the puppy stage is all consuming but passes quickly like children they need a good routine. It sounds like you have the puppy blues. 4 days is nothing I would always recommend taking a couple of weeks of work to settle the pup. How old is your daughter can she help? If you give it time you can get back to normal but you do need to build up going out. Finally if you do decide to rehome please return to the breeder do not privately rehome.


----------



## Sunday

Boxer123 said:


> No you won't be the worst mum in the world. But first take a breath the puppy stage is all consuming but passes quickly like children they need a good routine. It sounds like you have the puppy blues. 4 days is nothing I would always recommend taking a couple of weeks of work to settle the pup. How old is your daughter can she help? If you give it time you can get back to normal but you do need to build up going out. Finally if you do decide to rehome please return to the breeder do not privately rehome.


Thank you. 
my daughters 6 so I have to supervise her with the puppy really. 
I think it's the finding the new routine that's stressing me out.
I would, I had her off a friend and she said any problems and she'd have her back.


----------



## Boxer123

Sunday said:


> Thank you.
> my daughters 6 so I have to supervise her with the puppy really.
> I think it's the finding the new routine that's stressing me out.
> I would, I had her off a friend and she said any problems and she'd have her back.


That's good. I always find once they have had their jabs and can go out a lot easier the first few weeks are crazy with poop everywhere and bity puppy.

I would set your self a deadline and if your not feeling better consider returning the puppy. There is loads of advice on this forum and you are not alone. I would recommend puppy classes and if they allow take your daughter.

Honestly my youngest pup drove me mad when he was little had me in tears a lot. However 18 months on I have a best friend who I couldn't love any more.


----------



## Stan&Sully

Sunday said:


> Hi everyone. New here.
> I got a frenchie puppy 4 days ago.
> There's just me and my daughter at home who I mainly got the puppy for.
> I just have extreme anxiety over the puppy with the fact that I feel so trapped at home!
> Not that I went out much anyway but it's making me sick with worry. i don't deal with change well so this is a big big change.
> I know everyone says things will get better but I just can't see it at the moment.
> But I'd be the worst mom in the world if I rehomed her.
> Any advice or has anyone else felt this ill with anxiety before.
> I've got my own business to run too and I just cannot concentrate on it. And I feel like my daughters not having as much of my time because I'm just stressing over the new puppy all the time.
> Even when the puppy's asleep in the crate I just can't relax.
> Please help


Hiya!! I too have a new pup, and last week had the puppies blues soooo badly. He's 5 months old and a rescue. It was a huge shock to the system when he arrived and I was panicking a lot about everything. The blues have actually eased this week a bit. The crazy thing is, I have been through this before, and I know it DOES get better. However, it is really hard to see it at the moment. You don't get much sleep, all your time is taken up with a new puppy, and to be brutally honest they are really annoying :Hilarious

I also have a four-year-old terrier, Stan, who I had from 8 weeks, and he is now my absolute best friend. Training classes were a godsend - the more work you put in now, the more it'll pay off and you'll have a friend for life. Sully (the new pup) is currently enrolled in some online puppy classes, and it's great for a little reassurance and tips.

Don't worry, it does get easier. But I am totally with you on this right now - it's HARD!


----------



## Jamey Perks

Hi! 
First time poster. 
We got our Border Terrier pup on Sunday. He’s 8 weeks. I’m probably a bit mad, as I also have a 10 week old baby! My other kids (13 & 11) are taking on responsibility for the dog, taking it in shifts to look after him. 
My question is, how often should we be letting him out? He’s going out in the garden a lot but still having frequent accidents in the house. Will this just take time? We’re doing everything we should. If we catch him doing it, just carry him outside. If he does it outside, loads of praise etc. One of the problems is, it’s so hard to tell when he’s weeing as he’s so little and there doesn’t seem to be any pattern. He’s going out after sleeping, eating playing etc. We are having pees and pops outside too. I don’t know if I’m over thinking it. 
Many thanks


----------



## Mum03

Hi I'm very new to the puppy stage I hope someone will help me 


so I'm new to owning am 8 week springer spaniel mum and dad were worker dogs so they have alot of energy. I have 3 children 11 month 3 and 4.

When any of them are on the floor playing he's a bit to playful and pinches them and bites. My two older ones know a bit better not to roll about the floor when he's still a pup cause he wants to play. But my 11 month doesn't and he will pinch or nibble his face ears head anything at all when he crawls by. I could be playing with him (baby) and he comes and sits on my lap or trys to eat the toys. I've got him on a training lead just now to be safe but my baby is starting to get scared. I've tried bring his toy over when he does it but it takes alot for him to come away. Never marks him or bruises or draws blood just really looking for advice. I have some trainer coming in a few weeks but wanting to start something just now in the mean time. He's awaiting on his 2nd jag so can't go anywhere till then so he's still in the house.

Thank you so much. Any advice giving would be great


----------



## tabelmabel

Hello puppy owners 

This came through to my in box and, if you scroll to the bottom of it, you will see lots of handy resources. I havent checked them out as i dont have a puppy but im guessing there will be some good stuff here:

https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2020/08/puppy-preoccupation/


----------



## Ellen’s puppy

Hi everyone, I have a 12 week old GSD puppy who is doing really well apart from nipping and biting which we are working on.
Yesterday I picked her up to carry her inside as we were in a rush and she nipped my neck it gave me a huge shock and I dropped her.
It was on short grass/ dirt in my garden she yelped for about 10 seconds and then seemed fine. no limping and didn’t seem dazed etc. 
I feel awful she seems fine but now I’m thinking what if it’s going to cause anything long term etc. Thoughts?


----------



## kimthecat

Ellen's puppy said:


> Hi everyone, I have a 12 week old GSD puppy who is doing really well apart from nipping and biting which we are working on.
> Yesterday I picked her up to carry her inside as we were in a rush and she nipped my neck it gave me a huge shock and I dropped her.
> It was on short grass/ dirt in my garden she yelped for about 10 seconds and then seemed fine. no limping and didn't seem dazed etc.
> I feel awful she seems fine but now I'm thinking what if it's going to cause anything long term etc. Thoughts?


How is she today? Im sure she will be fine. Accidents happened, Ive trodden on my dogs paws sometimes and it doesn't seem to affect them.


----------



## m0t

My cockapoo had hit 16 weeks old today and has undergone a bit of a transformation in the last week and not for the better.

He has become extremely clingy to the point of sitting at the bottom of the stairs barking and crying if one of us goes up (he ignores whoever is downstairs until the person upstairs comes back).

Refusing to walk and just sitting down and needing to be carried home.

Going completely loopy in the evening, I thought I'd seen zoomies before but this is another level.

He's also started biting much harder.

I'd thought it might be teething starting but nothing has changed in his mouth so far?


----------



## Daheff

Our almost 12 wo JRT is getting to be a bit of a handful (We've had her a month now). She's getting very aggressive bitey with my wife (mainly), but a little with the kids.

We've tried redirecting, ignoring and even timeouts (with us leaving the room for a while).

There are a number of small kids in our area and we're worried if she bit one of them when she was in an angry mood.

At this point we're thinking we should return her to the breeder(they said they'd take her back if we wanted).

What are people's thoughts?


----------



## Boxer123

Daheff said:


> Our almost 12 wo JRT is getting to be a bit of a handful (We've had her a month now). She's getting very aggressive bitey with my wife (mainly), but a little with the kids.
> 
> We've tried redirecting, ignoring and even timeouts (with us leaving the room for a while).
> 
> There are a number of small kids in our area and we're worried if she bit one of them when she was in an angry mood.
> 
> At this point we're thinking we should return her to the breeder(they said they'd take her back if we wanted).
> 
> What are people's thoughts?


The important thing to remember is she is not being aggressive she is being a puppy it's what they do. I used to get up and walk out fun is over. It was boring but they do grow out of it.

Jack Russell's are intelligent busy little dogs have you signed up to puppy class?

Really there is no shame in returning pup to the breeder it's good they are willing to do this.


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## Daheff

Boxer123 said:


> The important thing to remember is she is not being aggressive she is being a puppy it's what they do.


Not 100% agreeing with you on this. She has normal puppy biting, but she has times where she is aggressive and effectively attacking 



Boxer123 said:


> Jack Russell's are intelligent busy little dogs have you signed up to puppy class?
> 
> Really there is no shame in returning pup to the breeder it's good they are willing to do this.


We have signed up to puppy classes , but because of Covid lockdown they're rescheduled to Jan. We've found a trainer who does some training over zoom in the meantime.

Don't really want to return her as when she's calm she's a lovely sweet dog.


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## Boxer123

Daheff said:


> Not 100% agreeing with you on this. She has normal puppy biting, but she has times where she is aggressive and effectively attacking
> 
> We have signed up to puppy classes , but because of Covid lockdown they're rescheduled to Jan. We've found a trainer who does some training over zoom in the meantime.
> 
> Don't really want to return her as when she's calm she's a lovely sweet dog.


Honestly the attacking and biting is normal I promise. My boxer Loki when he was a puppy would have mad sessions jumping on me and my other dog. My older dog used to walk around with Loki attached to his neck fur.

Often puppy's can get like this when over tired. Is she crate trained? How much sleep/ exercise is she getting. When does this happen ?

Do you have kongs ? They saved my sanity when Loki was a puppy.

Tagging @Kaily as she has Jack Russells. Also tagging @ShibaPup as I think her dog was a bit of a land shark as a puppy.


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## ShibaPup

What makes you think it's aggression?

Lily was very mouthy until she was 6-7 months old-ish. She bit me once when she was 8-10 weeks old and decided to try and play tug with my finger - that was painful! I didn't own clothes at the time that didn't have holes or love bites :Hilarious I was scabby and bruised! Puppies are cute for a reason!! :Hilarious:Hilarious

It *DOES *get better... _eventually. _They do grow brain cells and bite inhibition. I can laugh about it now - at the time it did worry me, I posted many threads about her biting on this very forum.

Ensure your pup has access to plenty of safe long lasting chews - various dried animal parts, pigs ears, beef scalp etc... redirect biting to suitable chews or toys.
Frozen kongs - fab to occupying pups and helping painful teeth while they're teething.
Frozen wet tea towels - again I wet fleece tugs and old tea towels twisted them into a toy froze them so they are cold and offered them.
Time out is fine - I used stair gates to provide a safe space so I wasn't a constant chew toy, ensuring Lily was comfortable and safe.

Training - mentally tire them out, trick training works wonders for building a bond, communication and general good behaviour. You don't have to physically tire them, it can seem tempting but over tired puppies tend to get much more bitey. Same for if they're overstimulated/excited by play - they can get a little carried away so at that point it's better to stop until they calm back down.

Biting tends to be fun for puppies - it makes people give them attention or makes humans make fun noises, or makes them move. They've also been practicing their biting skills on their litter mates so it takes a little while for them to figure out humans aren't great for that.

Be consistent, have patience and it does get better


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## Daheff

@ShibaPup

She's has 2 types of biting.... reasonably calm snappy/puppy biting...and when hyped up (for what ever reason), it's angry snarling biting.

It's usually in the mid afternoon that it happens. She may have woken up from a sleep or just had food. Then can get hyper and angry....at least with being tired I can understand the angry...but after a sleep and after food I can't understand it.

We try redirecting, or release for a treat, but when she's in that mood it's like her brain has disengaged and she can't listen.


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## Lurcherlad

I really doubt she’s angry - just hyper.

Although, with kids in the mix make sure she isn’t being over stimulated and handled or tormented.

Look at kikopup, positively.com and thecanineconsultants.co.uk for tips on training and dog psyche.

Have you read through this thread (I haven’t as I don’t have a puppy) but I suspect there will be many posts like yours (other threads on the subject) with relevant advice, guidance and progress (and hopefully success ) reports.

Make sure any trainer you use is not into Alpha, Dominance or Pack Leader theories as they will just make matters worse.


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## kahvi

I knew having a puppy would be hard work, but I thought since my partner and I both wanted a dog and agreed to go into this 50/50 it would make things easier to manage. Also he grew up with dogs so I thought that meant he'd understand how much time and attention she needs. But he's just been slacking and so mistakes keep happening.

I've been taking her out most mornings and until recently I've been the only one taking her out at night. When he's home in the evenings and on weekends I'm still the default person for taking her out and he only does it if I ask him to. I'm not upset by the fact that Nuka needs to go out so often or that she needs so much attention. I just feel a bit let down by my partner. But we talked about this and he agreed to help more.

So when we woke up today he agreed to take her outside so I could go for a shower because I have an important meeting today. Instead of taking her out, he went to the bathroom first and spent half an hour on twitter and she peed in her crate. I don't get why he keeps doing things like this. I was then left to clean her crate because he had to leave for work. We talked about it and he said he'd be better going forwards, but I feel like we have this discussion on an almost daily basis at this point.

And it's not just about housetraining either. I'm there trying to lay down the foundations for recall and good walking habits and teaching Nuka her name and he's there forgetting to reinforce things and saying her name angrily when she bites him and using her recall cue willy nilly in different situations. Don't get me wrong, I've made mistakes too but I just feel like he doesn't see her as a priority.

I'm sorry for venting on this forum. I'm just a worried about how much harder everything is and will be because of the lack of consistency and all the mistakes that keep happening. And I really don't know what to do about my partner because we just keep having the same conversation over and over and I can feel that he's starting to get annoyed with me


----------



## Boxer123

kahvi said:


> I knew having a puppy would be hard work, but I thought since my partner and I both wanted a dog and agreed to go into this 50/50 it would make things easier to manage. Also he grew up with dogs so I thought that meant he'd understand how much time and attention she needs. But he's just been slacking and so mistakes keep happening.
> 
> I've been taking her out most mornings and until recently I've been the only one taking her out at night. When he's home in the evenings and on weekends I'm still the default person for taking her out and he only does it if I ask him to. I'm not upset by the fact that Nuka needs to go out so often or that she needs so much attention. I just feel a bit let down by my partner. But we talked about this and he agreed to help more.
> 
> So when we woke up today he agreed to take her outside so I could go for a shower because I have an important meeting today. Instead of taking her out, he went to the bathroom first and spent half an hour on twitter and she peed in her crate. I don't get why he keeps doing things like this. I was then left to clean her crate because he had to leave for work. We talked about it and he said he'd be better going forwards, but I feel like we have this discussion on an almost daily basis at this point.
> 
> And it's not just about housetraining either. I'm there trying to lay down the foundations for recall and good walking habits and teaching Nuka her name and he's there forgetting to reinforce things and saying her name angrily when she bites him and using her recall cue willy nilly in different situations. Don't get me wrong, I've made mistakes too but I just feel like he doesn't see her as a priority.
> 
> I'm sorry for venting on this forum. I'm just a worried about how much harder everything is and will be because of the lack of consistency and all the mistakes that keep happening. And I really don't know what to do about my partner because we just keep having the same conversation over and over and I can feel that he's starting to get annoyed with me


Vent away it's what the thread is for. What breed is your puppy? It is very difficult in the early days especially if it's all you doing the work. Can you set up a bit of a timetable to get other half going ? He may well get annoyed but you are within your rights to get grumpy as well. Once a bit older it's so much easier but as you say you want to lay the ground work now.


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## kahvi

Boxer123 said:


> Vent away it's what the thread is for. What breed is your puppy? It is very difficult in the early days especially if it's all you doing the work. Can you set up a bit of a timetable to get other half going ? He may well get annoyed but you are within your rights to get grumpy as well. Once a bit older it's so much easier but as you say you want to lay the ground work now.


She's a working cocker spaniel so she's just a wriggly little ball of energy. We have a bit of a schedule going in that he agreed that we'll take turns taking her out at night and some evenings he says he'll look after her so I can work late or just relax but it doesn't always happen.

I do love the puppy stage she's in right now but I must say I am looking forward to getting to a point where I can sleep a bit more. On the whole she's settled into our routine so well and she's such a little ray of sunshine.


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## Boxer123

kahvi said:


> She's a working cocker spaniel so she's just a wriggly little ball of energy. We have a bit of a schedule going in that he agreed that we'll take turns taking her out at night and some evenings he says he'll look after her so I can work late or just relax but it doesn't always happen.
> 
> I do love the puppy stage she's in right now but I must say I am looking forward to getting to a point where I can sleep a bit more. On the whole she's settled into our routine so well and she's such a little ray of sunshine.


Tell him you will be re homing him if he doesn't help  I think it is a shock to the system the amount of work.

PS we must insist upon puppy photos.


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## kahvi

Ha, maybe I will tell him that!

This is Nuka. It's the only "good" picture I've managed to get of her where she isn't sleeping! She's always on the go so she appears as a blur in all other photos :---D


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## DexterBM

Hi all, I am new to this forum but not a new dog owner. I have had dogs/puppies all my life and recently lost my Bullmastiff at the age of 10.

A week ago we got a new puppy, he is very playful and nippy like all puppies. However I have some concerns that he may be showing signs of aggression that is beyond just regular puppy play.

He seems to be very obsessed with nipping one of our 3 children. Today for example we were walking in the hallway and the pup went by me without acknowledging my presence and jumped straight up to nip on my toddlers leg. He then wouldn't let go of his trouser leg I had to literally drag him off.

Also today he was chewing at furniture so I removed him he then snarled and bit my finger. My partner was in the garden with him and he was tugging at her trouser leg so she removed him, he snarled and launched at her and bit her leg, she removed him again and he repeated this.

A few minutes ago my partner was on the floor playing with the pup and his toys and he then turned his attention to the sleeve on her arm, she removed him from that and once again he snarled and tried to bite. That's 4 times he has done that just today. He is 9 weeks old, has loads of toys is literally never alone as both myself and partner work from home.

Aggression or playfulness? Your opinions please. I don't want to risk an aggressive dog around my kids.


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## Chocfudge

Hi everyone,

It’s my first time posting here and I’m after some advice please.
We’re getting our first puppy (a cockapoo) in 4 weeks. I’ve grown up with dogs (Labradors and collies) but it’s my first dog with my husband and he’s never had a dog.

My questions are:

We live in a three storey house. The living room and kitchen and upstairs. Should I feed the dog in the kitchen upstairs or in the utility room downstairs so he’s closer to the back door to get out?
Will toilet training be more difficult as I imagine I’ll be carrying him down to the garden for a while until he can manage the stairs? And will he then realise that this is how he gets outside if he’s not walking there himself?

I’m seeing mixed reviews about puppy pads. Are they a help or a hindrance??

Thank you so much for your time and any responses!


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## mcmidget

Puppy first walk in 6 days, it's cold on the ground. What do you reccomend for her paws? Shoes? Balms? Anything else?


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## Boxer123

mcmidget said:


> Puppy first walk in 6 days, it's cold on the ground. What do you reccomend for her paws? Shoes? Balms? Anything else?


She should be fine maybe a little jumper if she's really cold. The worry is the summer when pavements heat up always check with your hand.


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## mcmidget

Boxer123 said:


> She should be fine maybe a little jumper if she's really cold. The worry is the summer when pavements heat up always check with your hand.


 I get up early so will probably be walking at 5ish. Thank you for getting back to me.


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## Emlar

Had a mad dash to pick up this little one a day early after Wales lockdown rules were announced....so far he's madly run around the lounge, peed on the floor 3 times and now zonked out under a blanket :Woot 
Have read through lots of advice on here and hoping he settles in well :Happy


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## LittleMow

Emlar said:


> Had a mad dash to pick up this little one a day early after Wales lockdown rules were announced....so far he's madly run around the lounge, peed on the floor 3 times and now zonked out under a blanket :Woot
> Have read through lots of advice on here and hoping he settles in well :Happy


He's very sweet, what's his name?


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## Raisy

Hello, I have a Welsh Corgi Pembroke puppy. At what age can I send my puppy to dog school?


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## Emlar

LittleMow said:


> He's very sweet, what's his name?


His name is Rufus 
He's been here two nights and seems to have settled in! I mean....he refuses to use his crate but you can't win them all.....right?!


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## rona

What do you mean send?
Aren't you going too?


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## Happy Paws2

Raisy said:


> Hello, I have a Welsh Corgi Pembroke puppy. At what age can I send my puppy to dog school?


If you mean Puppy Club after they have all vaccinations.


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## Rustylab1

Hi all, feel like I could get some honest feedback from here, I’ve wanted a dog my whole life (30+years) and this finally became a reality, but it’s been 2 weeks now and this dream has not been at all as expected, I absolutely love dogs, so why don’t I feel the same about my own puppy!? Relatively speaking, he’s very good, he’ll run to the back door for toilet, sleeps plenty, is friendly with all, but something is stopping me at present feeling a true bond with him, has anyone else here had a similar reaction to having their first puppy!? I’ve read plenty online about this but would love to hear some reaction from actual people! My other half tends to get upset when I say I’m not really reacting to him the way I feel I should be, thank you


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## Guest

Rustylab1 said:


> Hi all, feel like I could get some honest feedback from here, I've wanted a dog my whole life (30+years) and this finally became a reality, but it's been 2 weeks now and this dream has not been at all as expected, I absolutely love dogs, so why don't I feel the same about my own puppy!? Relatively speaking, he's very good, he'll run to the back door for toilet, sleeps plenty, is friendly with all, but something is stopping me at present feeling a true bond with him, has anyone else here had a similar reaction to having their first puppy!? I've read plenty online about this but would love to hear some reaction from actual people! My other half tends to get upset when I say I'm not really reacting to him the way I feel I should be, thank you


For a lot of people it takes a lot longer than 2 weeks to develop a bond with a puppy. It's totally normal to be able to see how cute your puppy is, what a good pup they are, how smart they are etc without feeling an emotional connection - that takes time.

Just continue to spend time with him, playing and cuddling, and the bond will come


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## Emlar

I can see this. We've had Rufus for a few days now and as much as I am happy we decided to get him, and love having him around.....he is hard work. Had a good old cry this morning after he'd had me up since 4.30 am and then bit me so hard my hand bled. I think it takes different people different amounts of time to bond, and they certainly aren't always just cute bundles of joy


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## SHSmith

Rustylab1 said:


> Hi all, feel like I could get some honest feedback from here, I've wanted a dog my whole life (30+years) and this finally became a reality, but it's been 2 weeks now and this dream has not been at all as expected, I absolutely love dogs, so why don't I feel the same about my own puppy!? Relatively speaking, he's very good, he'll run to the back door for toilet, sleeps plenty, is friendly with all, but something is stopping me at present feeling a true bond with him, has anyone else here had a similar reaction to having their first puppy!? I've read plenty online about this but would love to hear some reaction from actual people! My other half tends to get upset when I say I'm not really reacting to him the way I feel I should be, thank you


Errr it's a big fat yes from me! We have two dogs now and I even got that feeling with our second puppy after I already knew what dog ownership is all about. Turns out every puppy is different and they each bring their own unique challenges.

I would advise simply giving it time. Yours won't be a puppy for long (it feels like it at the time, but when you look back I'm sure you'll see how quickly puppyhood passes). Just spend time together, try not to worry about doing everything 'right'. As in parenting, the concept of the 'good enough' parent applies it, you only have to get it right some of the time, not all of the time. Thankfully dogs are very forgiving. And that's why we love them, right?


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## Rustylab1

Thanks for the replies, felt a lot better today after reading the feedback! Will continue to work hard with him and hopefully reap the rewards in the future


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## rona

Rustylab1 said:


> Hi all, feel like I could get some honest feedback from here, I've wanted a dog my whole life (30+years) and this finally became a reality, but it's been 2 weeks now and this dream has not been at all as expected, I absolutely love dogs, so why don't I feel the same about my own puppy!? Relatively speaking, he's very good, he'll run to the back door for toilet, sleeps plenty, is friendly with all, but something is stopping me at present feeling a true bond with him, has anyone else here had a similar reaction to having their first puppy!? I've read plenty online about this but would love to hear some reaction from actual people! My other half tends to get upset when I say I'm not really reacting to him the way I feel I should be, thank you


You can own a dog in a week but it takes a lot longer to make a bond, a friend.


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## Linaria

Emlar said:


> I can see this. We've had Rufus for a few days now and as much as I am happy we decided to get him, and love having him around.....he is hard work. Had a good old cry this morning after he'd had me up since 4.30 am and then bit me so hard my hand bled. I think it takes different people different amounts of time to bond, and they certainly aren't always just cute bundles of joy


This was me yesterday morning. I'd barely slept, was bleeding from my hand and the puppy was just barking at me while I was crying. It is such hard work, and I'm really glad my boyfriend and I are together about it. She's stunning, and I love watching her sleep, but sometimes she can be a little piranha, and I have quite a few bruises now. I find a lot of comfort seeing that a lot of people go through the same though. I'd read every dog book I found since I was a child, and I thought I had a plan, but reality is so different.


----------



## Emlar

Linaria said:


> This was me yesterday morning. I'd barely slept, was bleeding from my hand and the puppy was just barking at me while I was crying. It is such hard work, and I'm really glad my boyfriend and I are together about it. She's stunning, and I love watching her sleep, but sometimes she can be a little piranha, and I have quite a few bruises now. I find a lot of comfort seeing that a lot of people go through the same though. I'd read every dog book I found since I was a child, and I thought I had a plan, but reality is so different.


You sound exactly like me! I'd read everything and thought I was totally prepared. Then he arrived and most of it went out the window. I've definitely had moments of....what have we done?! But this weekend I managed to clean the house, take the Christmas decs down and we even played a boardgame! Felt like i was winning at life :Joyful we both breathe a sigh of relief in this house when he naps! Also hard when we see other people who have taught their pups about 5 different cues and they are fully house trained and sleep through the night....but I suppose its the same with kids and you shouldn't compare....!!


----------



## Linaria

Emlar said:


> You sound exactly like me! I'd read everything and thought I was totally prepared. Then he arrived and most of it went out the window. I've definitely had moments of....what have we done?! But this weekend I managed to clean the house, take the Christmas decs down and we even played a boardgame! Felt like i was winning at life :Joyful we both breathe a sigh of relief in this house when he naps! Also hard when we see other people who have taught their pups about 5 different cues and they are fully house trained and sleep through the night....but I suppose its the same with kids and you shouldn't compare....!!


No, comparing seems like a bad idea. We're good in some areas, she looks at the door when she needs to poop and almost sleeps through the night, but she bites so much! We can go out for walks tomorrow, and we're meeting a friend with a new puppy as well, so I'm hoping it will take some energy out of her.


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## LeanneNiah

Hi, just going to jump on this thread! I have a 13 week old cavapoo named autumn. She is a absolutely beautiful but I am exhausted. Completely underestimated the work involved, I have three children (two with additional needs) I’m struggling with the following areas

1) she will sleep in her crate (with the door open) perfectly fine next to my bed from 11-6am, most of the time I wake up to wee’s and poo’s on the floor but that’s fine, I guess. However if I try and carry the crate downstairs to put her in it during the day for quiet time she won’t entertain it, I bought her a day bed to go in the kitchen but she just wants to sit on the sofa next to us all day, I’ve moved the day bed in front of the sofa but nope! She still won’t go in it. I don’t get any space, 
She just barks at me until I put her on the sofa with us, she can’t self soothe, not interest in kongs she just licks the topping of, I bought her snuffle pad but she isn’t interested in that either. She doesn’t like dog treats, she only likes small pieces of Turkey or beef. 

2) she cries if I leave her downstairs even for 5 minutes to go to the loo, mornings are a nightmare when I’m getting the kids ready for school as I take her down at 6am to go outside to toilet then put her breakfast out and try to get ready and get the kids ready but she cries and barks at the bottom of the stairs, I go down to reassure her but by the time I’m getting ready to leave the house with the kids and go to work I’m exhausted from being up and downstairs. I don’t want to give in and bring her up with us as I feel ill be feeding the problem and letting her dominate. My mums having to come and dog sit during the day as I’m scared to leave her. I think she has separation anxiety? 

3) the biting is relentless, no matter how much distraction I offer she prefers feet. 

sorry if that’s all over the place. She is my first pup and we live her dearly but my anxiety is through the roof and I feel I’ve done everything wrong.


----------



## Emlar

LeanneNiah said:


> Hi, just going to jump on this thread! I have a 13 week old cavapoo named autumn. She is a absolutely beautiful but I am exhausted. Completely underestimated the work involved, I have three children (two with additional needs) I'm struggling with the following areas
> 
> 1) she will sleep in her crate (with the door open) perfectly fine next to my bed from 11-6am, most of the time I wake up to wee's and poo's on the floor but that's fine, I guess. However if I try and carry the crate downstairs to put her in it during the day for quiet time she won't entertain it, I bought her a day bed to go in the kitchen but she just wants to sit on the sofa next to us all day, I've moved the day bed in front of the sofa but nope! She still won't go in it. I don't get any space,
> She just barks at me until I put her on the sofa with us, she can't self soothe, not interest in kongs she just licks the topping of, I bought her snuffle pad but she isn't interested in that either. She doesn't like dog treats, she only likes small pieces of Turkey or beef.
> 
> 2) she cries if I leave her downstairs even for 5 minutes to go to the loo, mornings are a nightmare when I'm getting the kids ready for school as I take her down at 6am to go outside to toilet then put her breakfast out and try to get ready and get the kids ready but she cries and barks at the bottom of the stairs, I go down to reassure her but by the time I'm getting ready to leave the house with the kids and go to work I'm exhausted from being up and downstairs. I don't want to give in and bring her up with us as I feel ill be feeding the problem and letting her dominate. My mums having to come and dog sit during the day as I'm scared to leave her. I think she has separation anxiety?
> 
> 3) the biting is relentless, no matter how much distraction I offer she prefers feet.
> 
> sorry if that's all over the place. She is my first pup and we live her dearly but my anxiety is through the roof and I feel I've done everything wrong.


I feel for you! Me and my other half have no children, and we are still exhausted looking after our puppy. They are intense! I can't imagine what its like having one with children in the mix as well. I'm sure you aren't doing anything wrong, and your puppy is just being a puppy! Rufus will only tolerate being in his crate if he has something to eat  and still doesn't sleep through the night without peeing or pooping. He will whine if we leave him unless he's going down for a nap. And he still bites us!


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## The Snow Woman

Deleted post after being up for over 24 hours with no replies, looks like no one can help.


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## Becca99

I need a bit of advice!!

So we have a 4 month old staffy cross and we're having issues with getting her to walk from the front door. She loves going out in the garden and sniffs around and walks around. She also likes going for walks when we take her to the local park and starts walking as soon as she is out the car. 

However, she just does not like walking from the front door and sometimes won't even leave the house!! If we carry her a little down the road (I know not great to do this but it's the only thing that works), she will then start walking! It's so bizzarre!! I have tried with treats but she stops as soon as she gets the treat. 

Anyone got any advice?


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## Lorimer

Hello. Just come across this forum. Wr have a 9 week old Cockapoo. Never had a dog before, our daughter wanted one for ages and we gave in. We thought we were prepared but I just want to cry, we cant cope. Such hard work, the weeing and the pooing is getting me down, the biting and being up at night and just the general smell of him and his food turns my stomach. Also our daughters promises of looking after him have completely disappeared. We have been so niaive,stupid and just failed miserably. We are totally knackeref and only had him a week. I constantly dream about rehoming him which i know is really awful but i cant help it.


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## Emlar

Lorimer said:


> Hello. Just come across this forum. Wr have a 9 week old Cockapoo. Never had a dog before, our daughter wanted one for ages and we gave in. We thought we were prepared but I just want to cry, we cant cope. Such hard work, the weeing and the pooing is getting me down, the biting and being up at night and just the general smell of him and his food turns my stomach. Also our daughters promises of looking after him have completely disappeared. We have been so niaive,stupid and just failed miserably. We are totally knackeref and only had him a week. I constantly dream about rehoming him which i know is really awful but i cant help it.


Its okay! I thought we were fully prepared for having a puppy, I'd done all the research, knew that id have sleepless nights, he would bite and chew everything, etc.... but the reality of it was still really hard.

It does get better! Slowly but surely our pup is learning about us and we are learning about him. He actually listens to (some!) of the things we say. Being able to take him out for walks has definitely calmed him down in the house.

You haven't failed, he is a puppy and it is hard.


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## SingingWhippet

Lorimer said:


> Hello. Just come across this forum. Wr have a 9 week old Cockapoo. Never had a dog before, our daughter wanted one for ages and we gave in. We thought we were prepared but I just want to cry, we cant cope. Such hard work, the weeing and the pooing is getting me down, the biting and being up at night and just the general smell of him and his food turns my stomach. Also our daughters promises of looking after him have completely disappeared. We have been so niaive,stupid and just failed miserably. We are totally knackeref and only had him a week. I constantly dream about rehoming him which i know is really awful but i cant help it.


Hi @Lorimer, puppies are hard work and it's not unusual for people (even very experienced ones who have been planning for a puppy's arrival for a long time) to be hit by the "puppy blues" and be asking themselves what the hell they have done bringing this little monster into their lives. It's particularly hard early on when you're sleep deprived and feel like you're constantly either being bitten by your puppy or leaping up to take them outside.

Ultimately the puppy stage is transient. The weeing and pooing inside will stop, as will the biting and night waking. However, the feeding and cleaning up after him in general isn't going anywhere plus he will require more input in other areas. You've picked a cross likely to be quite bright and active (particularly so if he's from working cocker stock) so you'll need to provide adequate exercise and mental stimulation. He'll need grooming (both professional, unless you're handy with a set of clippers, and at home), his nails doing regularly and his teeth looking after. You need to look beyond the puppy stage and decide if you're prepared for the dog that will come after, not just in terms of whether it's what you really want but whether you can (and will) meet the needs of that dog for the next ten to fifteen years.

If you do decide that this isn't just a case of the puppy blues and you really have made a mistake then it's better to rehome sooner rather than later but it's very important to do it responsibly. If the puppy came from a decent breeder then they would be your first port of call. Failing that, a good rescue (either a national one like the Dogs Trust or a local one) would be able to help. Obviously you would probably have very little difficulty simply selling the pup however unless you'd be willing to really put in the effort and screen potential buyers in order to find the right home then it would be a risky approach, at least for the puppy.


----------



## ECT

Lorimer said:


> Hello. Just come across this forum. Wr have a 9 week old Cockapoo. Never had a dog before, our daughter wanted one for ages and we gave in. We thought we were prepared but I just want to cry, we cant cope. Such hard work, the weeing and the pooing is getting me down, the biting and being up at night and just the general smell of him and his food turns my stomach. Also our daughters promises of looking after him have completely disappeared. We have been so niaive,stupid and just failed miserably. We are totally knackeref and only had him a week. I constantly dream about rehoming him which i know is really awful but i cant help it.


I know how hard the puppy stage can be. And the 'puppy blues' is definitely a real thing. I can only agree with the others that have given you advice in saying that this part does pass and it does get easier. 
I just try to find a little bit of good in each day and (slowly) that good will start to outweigh the bad.


----------



## Monkeypuppy

Lorimer said:


> Hello. Just come across this forum. Wr have a 9 week old Cockapoo. Never had a dog before, our daughter wanted one for ages and we gave in. We thought we were prepared but I just want to cry, we cant cope. Such hard work, the weeing and the pooing is getting me down, the biting and being up at night and just the general smell of him and his food turns my stomach. Also our daughters promises of looking after him have completely disappeared. We have been so niaive,stupid and just failed miserably. We are totally knackeref and only had him a week. I constantly dream about rehoming him which i know is really awful but i cant help it.


Hi, I could have written this post myself a few weeks ago but I think it's fairly common to feel like this and it does get easier. It's still not exactly easy but we have worked out that when he gets really bitey it's usually either because he needs the toilet or is overtired. Do you have a crate for him? Ours is a godsend, he wouldn't just chill but when we put him in his crate he will go to sleep and we've got him into a bit of a routine which definitely helps.


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## Mandpat

So I totally know my post is ridiculous but I just need to hear practical ideas from others who have been there. We brought our pup home today - in my head this would be an amazing experience but in actual fact its been awful. I know this will pass - the poor wee thing just needs time to adjust but there are a couple of things I would love your thoughts on....

1 - He has cried literally all day (his tail wags when crying) I am aware he must be confused so I have given him lots of hugs to reassure him- am I doing the wrong thing though as I'm rewarding him for the constant whining? 
2 - he just wants constant attention. Again, it's day 1 so maybe he just needs reassurance, I guess I'm just worried about starting bad habits that will lead to a demanding dog. He wants lots of cuddles (wonderful!) but then falls asleep on me. I do move him into his crate but then he comes out after 5 mins and the whole process starts again.

3 - we decided to keep him in the kitchen as we have easily cleanable flooring there. However this has been mentaly tough for me as I have spent all day in there (there's no TV or anything) If I leave the room, he cries (he cries when I'm in the room too) Do you think limiting him to this space is a good idea? I'm just worried its not natural for us so doesn't really introduce him to family life properly 

I think I've just emptied all my worries on here. I do appreciate it's very early days, I'm just really aware of what I'm doing just now and want to get things as good as I can for both him and us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


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## Emlar

Dont panic!

Puppies need constant attention. This was the hardest thing we found having a pup. For the first few weeks we couldn't really do anything for ourselves as his attention span was so short and they can't occupy themselves, you have to occupy them! Also try not to see it as rewarding him for whining, you are comforting his crying. He will become more confident knowing that you have got his back.


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## DanWalkersmum

Mandpat said:


> So I totally know my post is ridiculous but I just need to hear practical ideas from others who have been there. We brought our pup home today - in my head this would be an amazing experience but in actual fact its been awful. I know this will pass - the poor wee thing just needs time to adjust but there are a couple of things I would love your thoughts on....
> 
> 1 - He has cried literally all day (his tail wags when crying) I am aware he must be confused so I have given him lots of hugs to reassure him- am I doing the wrong thing though as I'm rewarding him for the constant whining?
> 2 - he just wants constant attention. Again, it's day 1 so maybe he just needs reassurance, I guess I'm just worried about starting bad habits that will lead to a demanding dog. He wants lots of cuddles (wonderful!) but then falls asleep on me. I do move him into his crate but then he comes out after 5 mins and the whole process starts again.
> 
> 3 - we decided to keep him in the kitchen as we have easily cleanable flooring there. However this has been mentaly tough for me as I have spent all day in there (there's no TV or anything) If I leave the room, he cries (he cries when I'm in the room too) Do you think limiting him to this space is a good idea? I'm just worried its not natural for us so doesn't really introduce him to family life properly
> 
> I think I've just emptied all my worries on here. I do appreciate it's very early days, I'm just really aware of what I'm doing just now and want to get things as good as I can for both him and us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


First of all welcome to the forum.
A new pup is quite a shock to the system isn't it? 2 years ago last December we picked up a bundle of fluff, bought him home and then the fun began. He was going to be in the kitchen, not allowed on the furniture, not upstairs or on the bed (of course he does all this now). Nothing can prepare you for the next few weeks/months of constant attention to the puppy's needs, the sleep deprivation, the floor mopping, the visits to the vet etc,etc. 
We started by taking turns sleeping on the sofa with an area of the living room blocked off to the kitchen where we used puppy pads just in case we were not quick enough, it seemed to work for us and limited the mopping up process. 
But you will get some good advice here from those of us who have gone through all this and come out the other side/survived most of whom will tell you it's worth putting the work in to get a happy well balanced dog. If you have the time when he's asleep you could look back through this thread an you may get some reassurance from other members who have gone through similar. 
We would all love to see puppy pics and hear more about him, does he have a name yet?


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## CallMeCoey

Mandpat said:


> So I totally know my post is ridiculous but I just need to hear practical ideas from others who have been there. We brought our pup home today - in my head this would be an amazing experience but in actual fact its been awful. I know this will pass - the poor wee thing just needs time to adjust but there are a couple of things I would love your thoughts on....
> 
> 1 - He has cried literally all day (his tail wags when crying) I am aware he must be confused so I have given him lots of hugs to reassure him- am I doing the wrong thing though as I'm rewarding him for the constant whining?
> 2 - he just wants constant attention. Again, it's day 1 so maybe he just needs reassurance, I guess I'm just worried about starting bad habits that will lead to a demanding dog. He wants lots of cuddles (wonderful!) but then falls asleep on me. I do move him into his crate but then he comes out after 5 mins and the whole process starts again.
> 
> 3 - we decided to keep him in the kitchen as we have easily cleanable flooring there. However this has been mentaly tough for me as I have spent all day in there (there's no TV or anything) If I leave the room, he cries (he cries when I'm in the room too) Do you think limiting him to this space is a good idea? I'm just worried its not natural for us so doesn't really introduce him to family life properly
> 
> I think I've just emptied all my worries on here. I do appreciate it's very early days, I'm just really aware of what I'm doing just now and want to get things as good as I can for both him and us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


hi! I hear you!! 


Mandpat said:


> So I totally know my post is ridiculous but I just need to hear practical ideas from others who have been there. We brought our pup home today - in my head this would be an amazing experience but in actual fact its been awful. I know this will pass - the poor wee thing just needs time to adjust but there are a couple of things I would love your thoughts on....
> 
> 1 - He has cried literally all day (his tail wags when crying) I am aware he must be confused so I have given him lots of hugs to reassure him- am I doing the wrong thing though as I'm rewarding him for the constant whining?
> 2 - he just wants constant attention. Again, it's day 1 so maybe he just needs reassurance, I guess I'm just worried about starting bad habits that will lead to a demanding dog. He wants lots of cuddles (wonderful!) but then falls asleep on me. I do move him into his crate but then he comes out after 5 mins and the whole process starts again.
> 
> 3 - we decided to keep him in the kitchen as we have easily cleanable flooring there. However this has been mentaly tough for me as I have spent all day in there (there's no TV or anything) If I leave the room, he cries (he cries when I'm in the room too) Do you think limiting him to this space is a good idea? I'm just worried its not natural for us so doesn't really introduce him to family life properly
> 
> I think I've just emptied all my worries on here. I do appreciate it's very early days, I'm just really aware of what I'm doing just now and want to get things as good as I can for both him and us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


Hi! We got our pup just over a week ago. So I 100% get how you feel. I have been swinging from feeling absolutely delighted to omg I'm doing this all wrong! But, just a week in to it and we feel much better already. I have also had a vent on here and got some reassurance and support. We will be fine :-D


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## Bracken&co

We are picking up our puppy on Sat! Eek!
I'm epileptic and my memory is terrible because of it. Now the time is fast approaching I have completely forgotten all the research I have done on raising a puppy!


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## Bracken&co

Can I get some recommendations on training treats and puppy safe chews?


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## Emlar

Katie Harker said:


> Can I get some recommendations on training treats and puppy safe chews?


Good luck! Make sure you post a picture when he comes home 

We use the wagg treats as they are suitable from 8 weeks and cheap,(which was important as we used ALOT when Rufus was small ) but I'm sure there are 'better quality' treats out there. As for chews we struggled as a lot said they weren't suitable for puppies, and as we weren't sure what the reasoning was, we didnt risk it. When he was small, Rufus liked the puppy nylabones to chew on. And he liked chewing on rope toys and rubber toys.


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## Miss S

Hi everyone,
Just had a skim though the thread and come on to introduce myself. I have a 9 week old spocker boy called floyd. Have had him a week now and he’s doing great. He’s already learnt to sit and will sleep in his crate no problem during the day and at night. At the moment I’m sleeping in the same room as him but am slowly moving his crate out of the room. Xxx


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## Miss S

Bracken&co said:


> We are picking up our puppy on Sat! Eek!
> I'm epileptic and my memory is terrible because of it. Now the time is fast approaching I have completely forgotten all the research I have done on raising a puppy!


 What breed is he/she?


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## Bracken&co

Miss S said:


> What breed is he/she?


He's a Staffordshire bull Terrier.

We set out a little after 8am yesterday. About halfway into the trip, there was a clunk from a wheel, which concerned my OH. It started making an irregular clunking/grinding noise so we pulled over and he took the wheel off. No obvious warning signs so we carried on.
It gradually got worse and by the time we got to the breeder the car was painful to listen to. Oh thinks its the wheel bearing and is concerned the wheel could fall off. We complete the transaction with breeder and headed to an eatery very close by that had a car park, called the AA and went for breakfast while we waited. The eatery was happy for puppy to come in with us so we had him in his carrier at the side of the table.
So a somewhat stressful day and the pup has had a ride in a recovery van! He was good and quiet during breakfast and the ride home.

He has cried a little when put in his pen to rest but he has quieted after a short time. I spent most of the day in that room with him, present but not interacting all the time, but coming in and out for various reasons.

We had to go out for 30 mins and when we got back we could hear him crying loudly from outside. He seems uninterested in treats so far so I have not been able to reward him for being quiet when we leave the room - giving praise and attention as the reward for being calm and not needing attention seems a little counter-intuitive?

We have had a few accidents in the house. More accidents than successful outside toilets actually but we are learning - we have had rescue dogs but he is our first puppy. He pooped at 14:45 and didn't poop again until 07:40 this morning, after breakfast, which I thought was odd? 3 meals a day (nutriment), as advised by breeder but he is a touch underweight so I might increase that. We were out with him several times during the night but he didn't toilet. OH did 2 am and 4 am trips but it was raining and I can't be certain he waited outside long enough but when I got up at 6 am, I didn't see any mess in his pen. His crate is fabric and I haven't checked in there yet.

We have had a few play sessions, in the house and in the garden. I know you are supposed to tire them out brain and body but I have no idea how much actual play that entails - are a few 15 min sessions through the day sufficient? We came back in from his toilet trip this morning and I expected him to be up and raring to go but the lazy thing has gone back to bed again!


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## Miss S

Bracken&co said:


> He's a Staffordshire bull Terrier.
> 
> We set out a little after 8am yesterday. About halfway into the trip, there was a clunk from a wheel, which concerned my OH. It started making an irregular clunking/grinding noise so we pulled over and he took the wheel off. No obvious warning signs so we carried on.
> It gradually got worse and by the time we got to the breeder the car was painful to listen to. Oh thinks its the wheel bearing and is concerned the wheel could fall off. We complete the transaction with breeder and headed to an eatery very close by that had a car park, called the AA and went for breakfast while we waited. The eatery was happy for puppy to come in with us so we had him in his carrier at the side of the table.
> So a somewhat stressful day and the pup has had a ride in a recovery van! He was good and quiet during breakfast and the ride home.
> 
> He has cried a little when put in his pen to rest but he has quieted after a short time. I spent most of the day in that room with him, present but not interacting all the time, but coming in and out for various reasons.
> 
> We had to go out for 30 mins and when we got back we could hear him crying loudly from outside. He seems uninterested in treats so far so I have not been able to reward him for being quiet when we leave the room - giving praise and attention as the reward for being calm and not needing attention seems a little counter-intuitive?
> 
> We have had a few accidents in the house. More accidents than successful outside toilets actually but we are learning - we have had rescue dogs but he is our first puppy. He pooped at 14:45 and didn't poop again until 07:40 this morning, after breakfast, which I thought was odd? 3 meals a day (nutriment), as advised by breeder but he is a touch underweight so I might increase that. We were out with him several times during the night but he didn't toilet. OH did 2 am and 4 am trips but it was raining and I can't be certain he waited outside long enough but when I got up at 6 am, I didn't see any mess in his pen. His crate is fabric and I haven't checked in there yet.
> 
> We have had a few play sessions, in the house and in the garden. I know you are supposed to tire them out brain and body but I have no idea how much actually play that entails - are a few 15 min sessions through the day sufficient? We came back in from his toilet trip this morning and I expected him to be up and raring to go but the lazy thing has gone back to bed again!


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## Miss S

Hi 
He’s lovely. What have your called him? 
My pup is the same he doesn’t like me leaving him even to go to the toilet. I’m crate training him. He has all his daytime and nighttime sleeps in a crate and I have him on a timetable so food and sleep. I’m slowly starting to move the crate further away during his sleeps. It’s hard work but he’s so amazing he’s worth it!


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> He's a Staffordshire bull Terrier.
> 
> We set out a little after 8am yesterday. About halfway into the trip, there was a clunk from a wheel, which concerned my OH. It started making an irregular clunking/grinding noise so we pulled over and he took the wheel off. No obvious warning signs so we carried on.
> It gradually got worse and by the time we got to the breeder the car was painful to listen to. Oh thinks its the wheel bearing and is concerned the wheel could fall off. We complete the transaction with breeder and headed to an eatery very close by that had a car park, called the AA and went for breakfast while we waited. The eatery was happy for puppy to come in with us so we had him in his carrier at the side of the table.
> So a somewhat stressful day and the pup has had a ride in a recovery van! He was good and quiet during breakfast and the ride home.
> 
> He has cried a little when put in his pen to rest but he has quieted after a short time. I spent most of the day in that room with him, present but not interacting all the time, but coming in and out for various reasons.
> 
> We had to go out for 30 mins and when we got back we could hear him crying loudly from outside. He seems uninterested in treats so far so I have not been able to reward him for being quiet when we leave the room - giving praise and attention as the reward for being calm and not needing attention seems a little counter-intuitive?
> 
> We have had a few accidents in the house. More accidents than successful outside toilets actually but we are learning - we have had rescue dogs but he is our first puppy. He pooped at 14:45 and didn't poop again until 07:40 this morning, after breakfast, which I thought was odd? 3 meals a day (nutriment), as advised by breeder but he is a touch underweight so I might increase that. We were out with him several times during the night but he didn't toilet. OH did 2 am and 4 am trips but it was raining and I can't be certain he waited outside long enough but when I got up at 6 am, I didn't see any mess in his pen. His crate is fabric and I haven't checked in there yet.
> 
> We have had a few play sessions, in the house and in the garden. I know you are supposed to tire them out brain and body but I have no idea how much actual play that entails - are a few 15 min sessions through the day sufficient? We came back in from his toilet trip this morning and I expected him to be up and raring to go but the lazy thing has gone back to bed again!


He is adorable! Glad you got him home safe 

Puppies need around 18-20 hours sleep a day, so it will seem like he is sleeping a lot! Short play sessions are great to start with.

He is still a baby and just been taken from his mum and siblings, so try not to leave him alone much just yet. He needs reassurance and company so he knows that he is safe and secure in his new home


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## Bracken&co

Miss S said:


> Hi
> He's lovely. What have your called him?


We decided on Bracken a few days before we collected him.



Emlar said:


> He is adorable! Glad you got him home safe
> 
> Puppies need around 18-20 hours sleep a day, so it will seem like he is sleeping a lot! Short play sessions are great to start with.


Should I wake him through the day for play or just let him sleep until he is ready?


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## Bracken&co

I was knackered by 5pm yesterday and that was only day 1!


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> Should I wake him through the day for play or just let him sleep until he is ready?


No, just let him sleep and he will wake up when he's ready to go again! You'll be grateful of the times when he is sleeping


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## Miss S

Bracken&co said:


> I was knackered by 5pm yesterday and that was only day 1!


Hahah I know the feeling! Floyd has been here a week and I'm exhausted!! I have put him on a schedule and I really think it helps.


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## Rafa

Bracken&co said:


> 3 meals a day (nutriment), as advised by breeder but he is a touch underweight so I might increase that. We were out with him several times during the night but he didn't toilet. OH did 2 am and


I'm assuming your pup is around eight weeks old?

He needs at least four feeds a day - three a day means he is going too long between meals.


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## Miss S

I just give Floyd 3 feeds a day because I find if I give him 4 he eats a lot less. The vet advised this. At the moment I’m feeding him burns dry with a little butchers wet mixed in.


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## Bracken&co

Rafa said:


> I'm assuming your pup is around eight weeks old?
> 
> He needs at least four feeds a day - three a day means he is going too long between meals.


I thought as much so will be increasing his meal regularity.

My OH's schedule changes a lot. When he is going to be up late/all night, should we still be aiming for the pup to be sleeping regular hours through the night? He will be missing out on some bonding time with pup I feel we would be best served training the pup to sleep at night.


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## Miss S

Bracken&co said:


> I thought as much so will be increasing his meal regularity.
> 
> My OH's schedule changes a lot. When he is going to be up late/all night, should we still be aiming for the pup to be sleeping regular hours through the night? He will be missing out on some bonding time with pup I feel we would be best served training the pup to sleep at night.


I try to keep Floyd to a schedule I think it really helps. I put him in his crate at regular times during the day so he can sleep. I also give him his food at set times. At the moment he goes to bed at 10pm and sleeps until 2am has a toilet break then back to sleep until 6am. I don't usually hear a peep from him. I also found he's more nippy when he's overtired so having a regular schedule helps with that too. How have you found the first few days? Floyds been here over a week now and I'm exhausted. Xx


----------



## Bracken&co

Miss S said:


> I try to keep Floyd to a schedule I think it really helps. I put him in his crate at regular times during the day so he can sleep. I also give him his food at set times. At the moment he goes to bed at 10 pm and sleeps until 2 am has a toilet break then back to sleep until 6am. I don't usually hear a peep from him. I also found he's nippier when he's overtired so having a regular schedule helps with that too. How have you found the first few days? Floyds been here over a week now and I'm exhausted. Xx


Its been ups and downs. We only had 1 toilet accident yesterday because he had pooped outside, came in and had his dinner about 30 mins later. He then pooped within a few mins of eating - I had thought there would be more time before he needed to poop again.
He was allowed to settle a little early and we had some crying through the night. He was taken out at 1 am, 3 am and then wouldn't settle when we left the room. OH got up about 40 mins later and allowed me to go back to bed but I didn't really sleep after that. I am thinking about crating him in our bedroom tonight.
What I don't get about having their crate in the bedroom is you are supposed to desensitise the dog to the crate - this takes time surely? So how can I then just put him in the crate the first night potentially and expect him to be content?

How many treats are too many treats? He is a lot more interested in treats today and I have been incorporating treat giving for successful toileting outside and started trying to engage him in teaching sit command.


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## Rafa

Miss S said:


> I just give Floyd 3 feeds a day because I find if I give him 4 he eats a lot less. The vet advised this. At the moment I'm feeding him burns dry with a little butchers wet mixed in.


I'm afraid I do not agree with your Vet.

Such a young pup needs four meals a day.


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## Rafa

Bracken&co said:


> I thought as much so will be increasing his meal regularity.
> 
> My OH's schedule changes a lot. When he is going to be up late/all night, should we still be aiming for the pup to be sleeping regular hours through the night? He will be missing out on some bonding time with pup I feel we would be best served training the pup to sleep at night.


You absolutely should aim for your pup to sleep through the night.

You must not keep him awake so that your OH can spend time with him. That would be inadvisable to say the least.


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> Its been ups and downs. We only had 1 toilet accident yesterday because he had pooped outside, came in and had his dinner about 30 mins later. He then pooped within a few mins of eating - I had thought there would be more time before he needed to poop again.
> He was allowed to settle a little early and we had some crying through the night. He was taken out at 1 am, 3 am and then wouldn't settle when we left the room. OH got up about 40 mins later and allowed me to go back to bed but I didn't really sleep after that. I am thinking about crating him in our bedroom tonight.
> What I don't get about having their crate in the bedroom is you are supposed to desensitise the dog to the crate - this takes time surely? So how can I then just put him in the crate the first night potentially and expect him to be content?
> 
> How many treats are too many treats? He is a lot more interested in treats today and I have been incorporating treat giving for successful toileting outside and started trying to engage him in teaching sit command.


Does he sleep in a crate at the moment? 
Crate training can take a while. I'll be honest, we gave up on it after a couple of days with our pup because he just hated it and we didn't have the heart to keep trying!

Our puppy ate a lot of treats when he was little as we rewarded him for anything we liked. But we do break them up into smaller pieces if possible. Dogs prefer quantity to size :Smuggrin You can just reduce his food if you think he's having too many. We didnt do this though and he was fine. They use so much energy at that age we figure he was burning them off!


----------



## Miss S

Rafa said:


> I'm afraid I do not agree with your Vet.
> 
> Such a young pup needs four meals a day.


When on 4 he eats very very little but now he's on 3 he eats more. He has the correct amount for the day but when he was on 3 he didn't even eat half the amount.


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## Miss S

Bracken&co said:


> Its been ups and downs. We only had 1 toilet accident yesterday because he had pooped outside, came in and had his dinner about 30 mins later. He then pooped within a few mins of eating - I had thought there would be more time before he needed to poop again.
> He was allowed to settle a little early and we had some crying through the night. He was taken out at 1 am, 3 am and then wouldn't settle when we left the room. OH got up about 40 mins later and allowed me to go back to bed but I didn't really sleep after that. I am thinking about crating him in our bedroom tonight.
> What I don't get about having their crate in the bedroom is you are supposed to desensitise the dog to the crate - this takes time surely? So how can I then just put him in the crate the first night potentially and expect him to be content?
> 
> How many treats are too many treats? He is a lot more interested in treats today and I have been incorporating treat giving for successful toileting outside and started trying to engage him in teaching sit command.


hi 
What worked for me was I slept with him in a crate in the livingroom. I've was right next to me. I popped my fingers into the cage when he cried. He hardly cried at all though. Each night I have been moving him closer and closer the the kitchen. He has a T-shirt in with my scent. I'm still on the sofa a week on and he's in the kitchen but he just wakes up for a pee at around 2. 
To desensitise him I feed him in his crate and hide treats in his crate during the day. I also use dog calming music during the night. Seems to work. Xxxx


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## Miss S

Getting closer and closer to the kitchen each night xx


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## Emlar

Miss S said:


> Getting closer and closer to the kitchen each night xx


So cute! :Joyful


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## Mandpat

This may seem like a silly question but novice dog owner here. Our wee Bruar is 11 weeks old. The evenings are usually delightful with him as he has his playtime, mad zooming and then settles down dozing on and off. The last couple of nights though he has been an absolute nightmare. He is crying on and off, biting everything, having a few wee accidents and just generally very unsettled. He is constantly on the go and doesn't seem to be able to chill in the way that he has been doing the last few weeks. Is this typical puppy behaviour? It's just really different for him (I should add he does sleep all night and so is great when in the crate for bedtime, it's just the evenings which have suddenly changed)


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## Cortza

Hi folks, first time poster and proud new puppy owner of my miniature labradoodle called Angus. This is the first time either my wife or I have ever had a dog in the house and I have to admit that the first 3 and a bit days have been exhausting, emotionally draining and entirely overwhelming. I'll post the main things we have learnt in our first 3 days and any advice would be greatly appreciated!

1) Surprisingly to us, he sleeps extremely well in his crate at night. The first night he was a bit fussy but with his crate on my bedside table, I was able to reassure him that everything was ok and he just rolled over. So far, we've had 3x nights of reasonable sleep and no in crate accidents...at night.
2) This leads me on to my second point and our greatest struggle at present. Puppies sleep...a lot! Today is the start of proper crate training for Angus and by that I mean spending a prolonged time in his crate, away from me as I'm working from home. By prolonged, I mean an hour or two at a time, after which I'll make a big fuss, play etc. This has been easier said than done however! We drew up a schedule last night and I took him outside to go potty before crating session number 1...no potty. Took him in, put him in his crate and he peed almost immediately...*sigh*. Took him out of the crate, cleaned him up, cleaned the crate up and put him back in. At the start he cried for about 20 mins, settled and is now crying and settling intermittently which I assume is a sign that he is learning to self soothe. Honestly, I'm shooting into the wind a little bit following any and every advice I can find on the likes of YouTube etc. so any advice or encouragement on this would be greatly appreciated!
3) He's barely 8 weeks old and is already starting to chew, bite and scratch at the sofa which fills me with an impending sense of doom and wallet pain going forward! At the minute, I'm simply telling him "ahh ahh ahh" or "leave" then praising him when he shows good behaviour rather than disciplining bad...he's a puppy at the end of the day and doesn't know any better.
4) He ran out of the back door on his own last night to pee outside which was hugely encouraging! However, he takes an age to poop which leads to me standing around for ages. Is it better to give up after a period of time, bring him inside and watch him like a hawk for the nose going to the floor? Thankfully we've only had one code brown (albeit on our rug) which is a positive...the rug has now been removed lol.

So now that I've got the main points out of the way, I've 69 pages of learning to do. Any help, tips, advice or pearls of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


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## Miss S

Cortza said:


> Hi folks, first time poster and proud new puppy owner of my miniature labradoodle called Angus. This is the first time either my wife or I have ever had a dog in the house and I have to admit that the first 3 and a bit days have been exhausting, emotionally draining and entirely overwhelming. I'll post the main things we have learnt in our first 3 days and any advice would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> 1) Surprisingly to us, he sleeps extremely well in his crate at night. The first night he was a bit fussy but with his crate on my bedside table, I was able to reassure him that everything was ok and he just rolled over. So far, we've had 3x nights of reasonable sleep and no in crate accidents...at night.
> 2) This leads me on to my second point and our greatest struggle at present. Puppies sleep...a lot! Today is the start of proper crate training for Angus and by that I mean spending a prolonged time in his crate, away from me as I'm working from home. By prolonged, I mean an hour or two at a time, after which I'll make a big fuss, play etc. This has been easier said than done however! We drew up a schedule last night and I took him outside to go potty before crating session number 1...no potty. Took him in, put him in his crate and he peed almost immediately...*sigh*. Took him out of the crate, cleaned him up, cleaned the crate up and put him back in. At the start he cried for about 20 mins, settled and is now crying and settling intermittently which I assume is a sign that he is learning to self soothe. Honestly, I'm shooting into the wind a little bit following any and every advice I can find on the likes of YouTube etc. so any advice or encouragement on this would be greatly appreciated!
> 3) He's barely 8 weeks old and is already starting to chew, bite and scratch at the sofa which fills me with an impending sense of doom and wallet pain going forward! At the minute, I'm simply telling him "ahh ahh ahh" or "leave" then praising him when he shows good behaviour rather than disciplining bad...he's a puppy at the end of the day and doesn't know any better.
> 4) He ran out of the back door on his own last night to pee outside which was hugely encouraging! However, he takes an age to poop which leads to me standing around for ages. Is it better to give up after a period of time, bring him inside and watch him like a hawk for the nose going to the floor? Thankfully we've only had one code brown (albeit on our rug) which is a positive...the rug has now been removed lol.
> 
> So now that I've got the main points out of the way, I've 69 pages of learning to do. Any help, tips, advice or pearls of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


Hi 
Not sure how much help I can be but I can tell you about my experience. I have a 10 week old spocker boy. 
For potty training I take him out lots of times during the day. Something like every 20mins. He sleeps in his crate for all naps and also eating his food and has his water in there. I also hide treats in there so he wants to spend time in there. Are you in the room with your puppy while he's crated? Floyd just cries when I leave the room he has to always see me. We are working on this slowly. I'm trying to desensitise him to me leaving so just go in and out the room several times during the day. As for chewing Floyd is a little shark chews everything and anything. I think it's just something they will grow out of. When he's in a really hyper chewy mood I try to distract him with toys and chews or take him in the garden also a stuffed kong is my best friend now.


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## Miss S

Mandpat said:


> This may seem like a silly question but novice dog owner here. Our wee Bruar is 11 weeks old. The evenings are usually delightful with him as he has his playtime, mad zooming and then settles down dozing on and off. The last couple of nights though he has been an absolute nightmare. He is crying on and off, biting everything, having a few wee accidents and just generally very unsettled. He is constantly on the go and doesn't seem to be able to chill in the way that he has been doing the last few weeks. Is this typical puppy behaviour? It's just really different for him (I should add he does sleep all night and so is great when in the crate for bedtime, it's just the evenings which have suddenly changed)


Floyd has a witching hour as night where he's a little horror all training out the window. I think it's a mixture of being over tired and having lots of energy in need of release


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## Cortza

Miss S said:


> Hi
> Not sure how much help I can be but I can tell you about my experience. I have a 10 week old spocker boy.
> For potty training I take him out lots of times during the day. Something like every 20mins. He sleeps in his crate for all naps and also eating his food and has his water in there. I also hide treats in there so he wants to spend time in there. Are you in the room with your puppy while he's crated? Floyd just cries when I leave the room he has to always see me. We are working on this slowly. I'm trying to desensitise him to me leaving so just go in and out the room several times during the day. As for chewing Floyd is a little shark chews everything and anything. I think it's just something they will grow out of. When he's in a really hyper chewy mood I try to distract him with toys and chews or take him in the garden also a stuffed kong is my best friend now.


Thanks for the reply Miss S! How did you get Floyd comfortable being and sleeping in his crate and is this with the door closed? Do you have a bed or anything in there with him?

No, unfortunately not. The crate is in the kitchen whereas I'm in the living room, turned temporary office space! I may have to move my temporary office to the kitchen now!


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## Miss S

Cortza said:


> Thanks for the reply Miss S! How did you get Floyd comfortable being and sleeping in his crate and is this with the door closed? Do you have a bed or anything in there with him?
> 
> No, unfortunately not. The crate is in the kitchen whereas I'm in the living room, turned temporary office space! I may have to move my temporary office to the kitchen now!


Hi 
I slept on the sofa with his crate next to me the first night then started moving him further and further away. He's now in the kitchen. I'm still on the sofa a week and a half on. I'm taking small steps. I work in a school in Scotland but am isolating due to contact tracing so am off until school starts back in august so I am lucky that I can have the time to take small steps with him. 
He has a T-shirt with my scent on it with him in his crate I also play puppy calming music on YouTube. Also I don't put him in until he's really tired and ready to go. In between crate time I keep him active . Pictures of him getting closer and closer to the the kitchen.


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## Emlar

Cortza said:


> Hi folks, first time poster and proud new puppy owner of my miniature labradoodle called Angus. This is the first time either my wife or I have ever had a dog in the house and I have to admit that the first 3 and a bit days have been exhausting, emotionally draining and entirely overwhelming. I'll post the main things we have learnt in our first 3 days and any advice would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> 1) Surprisingly to us, he sleeps extremely well in his crate at night. The first night he was a bit fussy but with his crate on my bedside table, I was able to reassure him that everything was ok and he just rolled over. So far, we've had 3x nights of reasonable sleep and no in crate accidents...at night.
> 2) This leads me on to my second point and our greatest struggle at present. Puppies sleep...a lot! Today is the start of proper crate training for Angus and by that I mean spending a prolonged time in his crate, away from me as I'm working from home. By prolonged, I mean an hour or two at a time, after which I'll make a big fuss, play etc. This has been easier said than done however! We drew up a schedule last night and I took him outside to go potty before crating session number 1...no potty. Took him in, put him in his crate and he peed almost immediately...*sigh*. Took him out of the crate, cleaned him up, cleaned the crate up and put him back in. At the start he cried for about 20 mins, settled and is now crying and settling intermittently which I assume is a sign that he is learning to self soothe. Honestly, I'm shooting into the wind a little bit following any and every advice I can find on the likes of YouTube etc. so any advice or encouragement on this would be greatly appreciated!
> 3) He's barely 8 weeks old and is already starting to chew, bite and scratch at the sofa which fills me with an impending sense of doom and wallet pain going forward! At the minute, I'm simply telling him "ahh ahh ahh" or "leave" then praising him when he shows good behaviour rather than disciplining bad...he's a puppy at the end of the day and doesn't know any better.
> 4) He ran out of the back door on his own last night to pee outside which was hugely encouraging! However, he takes an age to poop which leads to me standing around for ages. Is it better to give up after a period of time, bring him inside and watch him like a hawk for the nose going to the floor? Thankfully we've only had one code brown (albeit on our rug) which is a positive...the rug has now been removed lol.
> 
> So now that I've got the main points out of the way, I've 69 pages of learning to do. Any help, tips, advice or pearls of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


I wouldnt let him cry in his crate. You want him to see his crate as a positive experience where he is settled and comfortable, so if he is left to cry in there he will see it as a bad scary place where he is left alone. You need to build up the time he is in there slowly, even minutes at a time if thats all he can tolerate. Can he be in the lounge with you when you're working?


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## mortifiedpenguin

I feel like I hate my puppy. I suffer from really poor mental health (depression and anxiety) and I feel like getting a pup has made this 100X worse. We bought a miniature dachshund who is now 12 weeks old, we have had him for 3 weeks, and I sit here with realisation that I am completely unequipped to handle looking after a puppy. My girlfriend and I done a ton of research on dachshunds prior to getting him and felt completely ready. I could not have been more wrong. He will not stop doing the toilet in the house despite me being here all day every day, taking him out when he shows signs and treating and praising him when he goes outside. Sometime there are no signs. He will give one quick sniff of the floor, giving you absolutely no chance to catch him, and then does a massive piss. He follows you everywhere and the second you leave him alone he whines and throws himself against the door or scratches at the back of it. He constantly tries to chew the corners off the lovely bowl set we got him, as well as the corners of the skirting boards despite the plethora of different chew toys we have given him, including a coffee wood bone to satisfy his desire to chew wood. Despite us praising and rewarding him for playing with his toys he still wants to chew other items. Yesterday, after a decent day in which we actually managed to get him to walk more than 10 feet on his leash, as we cooked dinner he was whining and jumping up the back of my legs trying to get attention, which we ignored. He then proceeded to go into the next room and chew the corner right off of a skirting board. I flipped out completely. I have now spent the entire morning in my bed leaving my partner to look after him because I can't face him. I really love him, and I feel awful for feeling the way that I do. I realise he is just a baby but I am finding so much harder than I ever anticipated and I don't know what to do.


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## Emlar

mortifiedpenguin said:


> I feel like I hate my puppy. I suffer from really poor mental health (depression and anxiety) and I feel like getting a pup has made this 100X worse. We bought a miniature dachshund who is now 12 weeks old, we have had him for 3 weeks, and I sit here with realisation that I am completely unequipped to handle looking after a puppy. My girlfriend and I done a ton of research on dachshunds prior to getting him and felt completely ready. I could not have been more wrong. He will not stop doing the toilet in the house despite me being here all day every day, taking him out when he shows signs and treating and praising him when he goes outside. Sometime there are no signs. He will give one quick sniff of the floor, giving you absolutely no chance to catch him, and then does a massive piss. He follows you everywhere and the second you leave him alone he whines and throws himself against the door or scratches at the back of it. He constantly tries to chew the corners off the lovely bowl set we got him, as well as the corners of the skirting boards despite the plethora of different chew toys we have given him, including a coffee wood bone to satisfy his desire to chew wood. Despite us praising and rewarding him for playing with his toys he still wants to chew other items. Yesterday, after a decent day in which we actually managed to get him to walk more than 10 feet on his leash, as we cooked dinner he was whining and jumping up the back of my legs trying to get attention, which we ignored. He then proceeded to go into the next room and chew the corner right off of a skirting board. I flipped out completely. I have now spent the entire morning in my bed leaving my partner to look after him because I can't face him. I really love him, and I feel awful for feeling the way that I do. I realise he is just a baby but I am finding so much harder than I ever anticipated and I don't know what to do.


Have you enrolled in any puppy classes? These might help. And try and remember that he is just a baby who doesn't know what he should and shouldn't do. He is trying to occupy himself if you are ignoring him, he doesn't know the difference between a chew toy and a skirting board at that age. Try and continue with lots of praise and treats when he gets things right, and he will learn. Puppies are biters and chewers! But they also have a very short attention span and need help to keep occupied. Is he crate trained? Or could you get a puppy pen to keep him away from things you don't want him chewing?


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## Rafa

mortifiedpenguin said:


> I feel like I hate my puppy. I suffer from really poor mental health (depression and anxiety) and I feel like getting a pup has made this 100X worse. We bought a miniature dachshund who is now 12 weeks old, we have had him for 3 weeks, and I sit here with realisation that I am completely unequipped to handle looking after a puppy. My girlfriend and I done a ton of research on dachshunds prior to getting him and felt completely ready. I could not have been more wrong. He will not stop doing the toilet in the house despite me being here all day every day, taking him out when he shows signs and treating and praising him when he goes outside. Sometime there are no signs. He will give one quick sniff of the floor, giving you absolutely no chance to catch him, and then does a massive piss. He follows you everywhere and the second you leave him alone he whines and throws himself against the door or scratches at the back of it. He constantly tries to chew the corners off the lovely bowl set we got him, as well as the corners of the skirting boards despite the plethora of different chew toys we have given him, including a coffee wood bone to satisfy his desire to chew wood. Despite us praising and rewarding him for playing with his toys he still wants to chew other items. Yesterday, after a decent day in which we actually managed to get him to walk more than 10 feet on his leash, as we cooked dinner he was whining and jumping up the back of my legs trying to get attention, which we ignored. He then proceeded to go into the next room and chew the corner right off of a skirting board. I flipped out completely. I have now spent the entire morning in my bed leaving my partner to look after him because I can't face him. I really love him, and I feel awful for feeling the way that I do. I realise he is just a baby but I am finding so much harder than I ever anticipated and I don't know what to do.


Whilst it is normal to feel overwhelmed by a new pup to some degree, your reaction is not typical.

It does sound to me that your situation is causing you immense anxiety and it may well be that now is not the time for you to be going through this.

Have you considered speaking to his Breeder, with a view to her/him taking him back and finding him a new home?


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## mortifiedpenguin

Emlar said:


> Have you enrolled in any puppy classes? These might help. And try and remember that he is just a baby who doesn't know what he should and shouldn't do. He is trying to occupy himself if you are ignoring him, he doesn't know the difference between a chew toy and a skirting board at that age. Try and continue with lots of praise and treats when he gets things right, and he will learn. Puppies are biters and chewers! But they also have a very short attention span and need help to keep occupied. Is he crate trained? Or could you get a puppy pen to keep him away from things you don't want him chewing?


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## mortifiedpenguin

Emlar said:


> Have you enrolled in any puppy classes? These might help. And try and remember that he is just a baby who doesn't know what he should and shouldn't do. He is trying to occupy himself if you are ignoring him, he doesn't know the difference between a chew toy and a skirting board at that age. Try and continue with lots of praise and treats when he gets things right, and he will learn. Puppies are biters and chewers! But they also have a very short attention span and need help to keep occupied. Is he crate trained? Or could you get a puppy pen to keep him away from things you don't want him chewing?


We have bought him so many chew toys and even puzzles which release food, once he's completed those it is back to following you everywhere. He sleeps in his crate at night, and if you crate him I'm during the day he will cry for about 5 minutes and then settle but he never goes to bed of his own accord he always wants to fall asleep on you which we are trying to avoid in order to avoid separation anxiety further on down the line. We have a playpen for him but he is still not fully house trained yet despite all of our best efforts and he took to soiling the playpen constantly.


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## Miss S

Emlar said:


> Have you enrolled in any puppy classes? These might help. And try and remember that he is just a baby who doesn't know what he should and shouldn't do. He is trying to occupy himself if you are ignoring him, he doesn't know the difference between a chew toy and a skirting board at that age. Try and continue with lots of praise and treats when he gets things right, and he will learn. Puppies are biters and chewers! But they also have a very short attention span and need help to keep occupied. Is he crate trained? Or could you get a puppy pen to keep him away from things you don't want him chewing?





mortifiedpenguin said:


> We have bought him so many chew toys and even puzzles which release food, once he's completed those it is back to following you everywhere. He sleeps in his crate at night, and if you crate him I'm during the day he will cry for about 5 minutes and then settle but he never goes to bed of his own accord he always wants to fall asleep on you which we are trying to avoid in order to avoid separation anxiety further on down the line. We have a playpen for him but he is still not fully house trained yet despite all of our best efforts and he took to soiling the playpen constantly.


 Hi
He sounds like a normal puppy to me. He's doing really well sleeping in his crate. Remember he's just a baby and will want to be near you. 
I have Floyd a 10 week old spocker. He's the same sleeps in is crate day and night but he has to be able to see me or he will cry. I'm working on desensitising him to being alone. So I walk in and out the door while he's in his crate so he doesn't get anxious. I'm planning on building it up leaving for 2 minute coming back in ect. 
Floyd is also a little shark and much prefers to eat my shoes rather than all the chew toys I have him. Remember this is a stage and it will get better. Xxx


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## Bracken&co

I have just been out in the Garden with him for 40 mins after his dinner, waiting for him to poop. 
I had to give up and come in. How long should I wait to give him time to toilet after meals?


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## Emlar

mortifiedpenguin said:


> We have bought him so many chew toys and even puzzles which release food, once he's completed those it is back to following you everywhere. He sleeps in his crate at night, and if you crate him I'm during the day he will cry for about 5 minutes and then settle but he never goes to bed of his own accord he always wants to fall asleep on you which we are trying to avoid in order to avoid separation anxiety further on down the line. We have a playpen for him but he is still not fully house trained yet despite all of our best efforts and he took to soiling the playpen constantly.


Dont worry, you won't cause separation anxiety by letting him sleep on you. But its up to you whether you allow this or not. Sometimes our pup loves to snuggle in with us on the sofa and have a snooze. These are some if my favourite moments with him 
Puppies have very short attention spans. It took a while before our pup would entertain himself for any length of time or stick with one toy or activity for longer than a couple of minutes. 
It is really hard. We found it so hard at the beginning and its such a shift from being able to do what you want when you want. And its okay to find it hard. 
Our puppy continued having the odd toilet accident up until about 6 months. Luckily we don't have carpet so it was just a case of buying a good supply of paper towels and simple solution cleaning spray!


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> I have just been out in the Garden with him for 40 mins after his dinner, waiting for him to poop.
> I had to give up and come in. How long should I wait to give him time to toilet after meals?


 Maybe try waiting with him outside for a bit, then going back in and trying again in half an hour? Could just be that he wasn't ready to go!


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## Miss S

Bracken&co said:


> I have just been out in the Garden with him for 40 mins after his dinner, waiting for him to poop.
> I had to give up and come in. How long should I wait to give him time to toilet after meals?


Hi 
Floyd doesn't seem to poop at regular times I just take him outside on waking up, after eating , after playing and ever 30 mins in between. Sometimes I'm lucky at catching him sometimes not. I give him loads of praise when he goes outside. He never pees or poos ok his crate but don't think he really understands the difference between indoors and outdoors yet.


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## Miss S

I took my pup for his second jag today. He’s a bit more sleepy than usual. He is also crying when I pick him up. He’s eating and drinking normally. Is this a normal reaction to jags?


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## Bracken&co

How long does it take for a puppy to start understanding we want him to pee outside?
I don't mean how long does it take to house train fully - I understand a puppy can only hold his bladder for so long.


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> How long does it take for a puppy to start understanding we want him to pee outside?
> I don't mean how long does it take to house train fully - I understand a puppy can only hold his bladder for so long.


Can take a while. Depends on the pup and the trainer I think!


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## Nicola234

Bracken&co said:


> How long does it take for a puppy to start understanding we want him to pee outside?
> I don't mean how long does it take to house train fully - I understand a puppy can only hold his bladder for so long.


They are all different, I've had pups that took 6 months to be fully house trained and then my current dog who has never had an accident in the house other than excited pee dribbles when you come in from work, I really does differ from dog to dog the key is consistency


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## Miss S

So proud of my fur baby might not seem like a big deal but I’ve been working on separation anxiety and he’s happily staying in his crate for 10 minutes when I’m in the garden.


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## Bracken&co

My sweet, sleepy puppy has turned into a Tasmanian devil :Inpain


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Hey everyone. Another new puppy owner here. Reading your posts has made me realise I’m not the only one going through this less than surefoooted so I thought I’d share my tales of woe! Otto is almost 10 weeks old. Has slept in the crate overnight since the first night with only a tiny bit of whimpering the first couple. He’s fairly good at sleeping through, usually he goes to bed about 10/11 (cannot get him to toilet after this time for love nor money) and I get woken about 4 for toilet then he’s up and ready to get going around 6. Counting my blessings there. Issues I’m experiencing to help others realise they’re not alone…and also in case anyone has tips:
- he doesn’t know when hes tired. At all. Basically zooms, bites, nips, jumps, wees everywhere, until he’s at the point of exhaustion and collapses. The nipping and biting are really difficult to deal with and distract him from. He gets quite gnarly which concerns me. I’m sure he’s not getting enough sleep but am at a loss about how to de-escalate the situation. Ignoring him doesn’t work, he redirects from us to the nearest sofa/rug/plant. Kong toys don’t hold his attention for long at all.
- toilet training seems to work some days and others…not at all. Last few days have been awful but almost always because its during one of his over tired sessions, which seem to be getting more regular. 
- he’s eating so many things and really freaking me out: leaves, bits of carpet, dirt. I’m worried that I may be overreacting and turning it into a game. But I’m so paranoid he’ll pick up something that will hurt him or make him sick.

Also. Is anyone else finding they’re on a puppy diet? I’m down to pretty much one meal a day. It’s so hard to do ANYTHING.


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## Emlar

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Hey everyone. Another new puppy owner here. Reading your posts has made me realise I'm not the only one going through this less than surefoooted so I thought I'd share my tales of woe! Otto is almost 10 weeks old. Has slept in the crate overnight since the first night with only a tiny bit of whimpering the first couple. He's fairly good at sleeping through, usually he goes to bed about 10/11 (cannot get him to toilet after this time for love nor money) and I get woken about 4 for toilet then he's up and ready to get going around 6. Counting my blessings there. Issues I'm experiencing to help others realise they're not alone…and also in case anyone has tips:
> - he doesn't know when hes tired. At all. Basically zooms, bites, nips, jumps, wees everywhere, until he's at the point of exhaustion and collapses. The nipping and biting are really difficult to deal with and distract him from. He gets quite gnarly which concerns me. I'm sure he's not getting enough sleep but am at a loss about how to de-escalate the situation. Ignoring him doesn't work, he redirects from us to the nearest sofa/rug/plant. Kong toys don't hold his attention for long at all.
> - toilet training seems to work some days and others…not at all. Last few days have been awful but almost always because its during one of his over tired sessions, which seem to be getting more regular.
> - he's eating so many things and really freaking me out: leaves, bits of carpet, dirt. I'm worried that I may be overreacting and turning it into a game. But I'm so paranoid he'll pick up something that will hurt him or make him sick.
> 
> Also. Is anyone else finding they're on a puppy diet? I'm down to pretty much one meal a day. It's so hard to do ANYTHING.


Sounds exactly like us when we first got Rufus. But don't panic. It does get better (even though it may not feel like it!). 
They need to almost forced to rest sometimes. Will he settle and chew something yet? Although I dont think Rufus would at that age. The first time Rufus actually settled and chewed something for half an hour we almost cried  we didnt crate train ours, but will your pup settle in his crate in the day for a snooze?
As for toileting, it just takes time. We would think we'd cracked it and then Rufus would have an accident. Just keep going with reinforcing the outside toileting and ignoring the inside and he'll get it eventually. Things just seem to click at some point.
As for the eating random stuff....yeah. same. We were told try not to react as often they will just swallow whatever they have if you try and take it away from them so that they get to keep it. Just try and have a whale of a time with something else and hopefully he'll drop whatever he has to come and join you.
We used to take things out of Rufus's mouth when he was little, and now he is a bit of a resource guarder with certain things, and not sure if it stems from us doing that.


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## Sarah Alice

Hi all

Come across this forum today and have done a lot of reading, some of which has made me feel a little better, but unfortunately far from enough. 
We picked up our Maltipoo puppy max 5 days ago, a puppy that myself and my boyfriend have wanted for a long time and I _*thought *_I was well ready to raise, I can now admit I was incredibly naive. 
From day two I've felt the most intense anxiety and depression I have ever felt (I've suffered for other reasons in the past but not like this) and I'm truly starting to regret ever getting him. 
My cats are struggling having him around and it's ruined our relationship with them. A relationship which I so greatly miss and worry will never return. 
The first night my boyfriend slept downstairs with him and ended up falling asleep on the sofa (we now realise this was probably a mistake). We're trying to crate train but max just doesn't like being left alone. He will cry for ~ 15 mins before falling asleep and this happens every time we get him up for the toilet (which is the one thing he's already getting good at going as soon as we take him outside)
I work from home so max spends all of his time with me and it's making me feel so trapped like I can't live a normal life or do anything I would normally do without him following me. I'm scared I'm not entertaining him enough throughout the day and thats on me for being naive. But then he doesn't sleep enough at night, I don't sleep enough at night and then can't entertain him the next day because I'm on the verge of breaking down. 
My boyfriend comes home and is so good at entertaining and training him all evening to tire him out. 
From this forum I understand this may just be a case of the puppy blues but right now I cannot carry on like this, I have no appetite, I've barely eaten in 3 days, I feel sick and I'm exhausted. 
I also have professional exams coming up and I'm so concerned about studying for that also. my boyfriend does understand my feelings but thinks we should give it more time, I somewhat agree but also know that if we need to rehome him, sooner is better than later.

I don't even know what I hope to gain from posting this, perhaps just an opportunity to get it all out!


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## Emlar

I think if you're feeling that bad about your mental health, you're maybe right in thinking that this wasn't the right time for you to get a puppy.

Saying that though, it does get better. I promise. There were times when our boy was little and I honestly felt what on earth have we done?! But I love him to bits now and wouldnt change it for the world.

In terms of him sleeping and in his crate, please don't let him cry. They cry because they are scared and alone. Sleeping downstairs with him was absolutely the right thing for your bf to do. Little puppies are clingy because they have just left their mum and siblings and want company. He will become more independent as he gets older and more confident, but right now he is a baby that needs reassurance.


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Sarah Alice said:


> Hi all
> 
> Come across this forum today and have done a lot of reading, some of which has made me feel a little better, but unfortunately far from enough.
> We picked up our Maltipoo puppy max 5 days ago, a puppy that myself and my boyfriend have wanted for a long time and I _*thought *_I was well ready to raise, I can now admit I was incredibly naive.
> From day two I've felt the most intense anxiety and depression I have ever felt (I've suffered for other reasons in the past but not like this) and I'm truly starting to regret ever getting him.
> My cats are struggling having him around and it's ruined our relationship with them. A relationship which I so greatly miss and worry will never return.
> The first night my boyfriend slept downstairs with him and ended up falling asleep on the sofa (we now realise this was probably a mistake). We're trying to crate train but max just doesn't like being left alone. He will cry for ~ 15 mins before falling asleep and this happens every time we get him up for the toilet (which is the one thing he's already getting good at going as soon as we take him outside)
> I work from home so max spends all of his time with me and it's making me feel so trapped like I can't live a normal life or do anything I would normally do without him following me. I'm scared I'm not entertaining him enough throughout the day and thats on me for being naive. But then he doesn't sleep enough at night, I don't sleep enough at night and then can't entertain him the next day because I'm on the verge of breaking down.
> My boyfriend comes home and is so good at entertaining and training him all evening to tire him out.
> From this forum I understand this may just be a case of the puppy blues but right now I cannot carry on like this, I have no appetite, I've barely eaten in 3 days, I feel sick and I'm exhausted.
> I also have professional exams coming up and I'm so concerned about studying for that also. my boyfriend does understand my feelings but thinks we should give it more time, I somewhat agree but also know that if we need to rehome him, sooner is better than later.
> 
> I don't even know what I hope to gain from posting this, perhaps just an opportunity to get it all out!


Hey Sarah

You've probably seen from my posts, I'm literally a week or so ahead of you so I can't offer much in the way of advice, but just wanted to let you know that I'm in the same boat. My family had dogs all my life and I really wanted one for years. Finally have my own flat and can afford to keep one so went for it…but the first week and a half have been trickier than I could have imagined. I totally lost my appetite too, and that plus not sleeping properly is not a good head space. I started a new job the same week as getting Otto and now realise that was such a stupid idea. But what I can tell you is that literally every day it gets better. Are you training him yourself too? For me, that's keeping me going. Seeing him learn stuff day by day means he is capable of it and at some point will be ok to leave alone and I'll be able to go out and lead a normal life again. But yeah, these first few months will be tough. But day by day I'm seeing improvements and also starting to understand his cues - when he's tired, when he wants the toilet, when there's nothing I could possibly do to calm him down so just need to let him run it out.

Do you take him out for (carried) walks or anything? That seems to tire Otto out quite a lot, you could give it a go before bedtime. Re crate training, there is a word doc doing the round on this forum by a lady called emma Judson. I'm following that and it's going well, so much improvement in a few days. It doesn't talk about nighttime and I know that's one issue you're having. We had Otto in the room the first night and gradually moving him further away. This weekend is the big one, when we'll move him downstairs. I assume that will be awful but needs to happen.

Puppies will always get rehomed so I think you should remove the deadline you have in your head for that and give the little guy a few more weeks to settle in and get to know each other.

Not sure what to say about the cats, I haven't got that added complication, but I'm sure someone here can offer some suggestions.

Keep going, you've got this!


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## Sarah Alice

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Hey Sarah
> 
> You've probably seen from my posts, I'm literally a week or so ahead of you so I can't offer much in the way of advice, but just wanted to let you know that I'm in the same boat. My family had dogs all my life and I really wanted one for years. Finally have my own flat and can afford to keep one so went for it…but the first week and a half have been trickier than I could have imagined. I totally lost my appetite too, and that plus not sleeping properly is not a good head space. I started a new job the same week as getting Otto and now realise that was such a stupid idea. But what I can tell you is that literally every day it gets better. Are you training him yourself too? For me, that's keeping me going. Seeing him learn stuff day by day means he is capable of it and at some point will be ok to leave alone and I'll be able to go out and lead a normal life again. But yeah, these first few months will be tough. But day by day I'm seeing improvements and also starting to understand his cues - when he's tired, when he wants the toilet, when there's nothing I could possibly do to calm him down so just need to let him run it out.
> 
> Do you take him out for (carried) walks or anything? That seems to tire Otto out quite a lot, you could give it a go before bedtime. Re crate training, there is a word doc doing the round on this forum by a lady called emma Judson. I'm following that and it's going well, so much improvement in a few days. It doesn't talk about nighttime and I know that's one issue you're having. We had Otto in the room the first night and gradually moving him further away. This weekend is the big one, when we'll move him downstairs. I assume that will be awful but needs to happen.
> 
> Puppies will always get rehomed so I think you should remove the deadline you have in your head for that and give the little guy a few more weeks to settle in and get to know each other.
> 
> Not sure what to say about the cats, I haven't got that added complication, but I'm sure someone here can offer some suggestions.
> 
> Keep going, you've got this!


Thank you for replying, It really does help to know others are in the same boat and I'm not just an awful person!

I do try to do some training with him and it definitely feels good when he's starting to pick things up.

with the crate training and any training for that matter it's hard because obviously everyone says something different we've had a lot of people telling us to let him cry it out and on the other hand lots are saying to go and sleep with him, it's hard to know whether what you're even doing is right at all! I will hunt down that word doc so thank you for that

I must remind myself he is just a pup and essentially a baby!

I'm definitely going to persevere and my bf is thankfully being very understanding of how I'm feeling


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## Emlar

Sarah Alice said:


> I'm definitely going to persevere and my bf is thankfully being very understanding of how I'm feeling


Aw, I'm glad! I hope you didn't think I was saying that you should give up at the beginning of my post. But I equally wanted you to know that it was okay to say it was too much


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## Sarah Alice

Emlar said:


> Aw, I'm glad! I hope you didn't think I was saying that you should give up at the beginning of my post. But I equally wanted you to know that it was okay to say it was too much


not at all, it was also nice to hear someone say that that's ok if that's what we choose to do. I think there will be many people around us who disagree but we will do what is best for us and for max


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## Emlar

Sarah Alice said:


> not at all, it was also nice to hear someone say that that's ok if that's what we choose to do. I think there will be many people around us who disagree but we will do what is best for us and for max


Oh good  please stay around the forums, I find them really helpful and supportive. Our puppy is 8 months old now, still causing mischief and mayhem but he's also the best.
Do you have any photos of Max??


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## Sarah Alice

Emlar said:


> Oh good  please stay around the forums, I find them really helpful and supportive. Our puppy is 8 months old now, still causing mischief and mayhem but he's also the best.
> Do you have any photos of Max??


You'll think I'm even more crazy when you see how adorable he is
I see your picture is a cat, it he yours too and is he around your puppy? How has that been?


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## Emlar

Sarah Alice said:


> You'll think I'm even more crazy when you see how adorable he is
> I see your picture is a cat, it he yours too and is he around your puppy? How has that been?


Oh my goodness. He is adorable!
Its funny, I look back at picture of our dog Rufus and think he was so tiny and cute....how did I find it so hard?! But it was. I wish I'd enjoyed him a bit more when he was tiny.

Yeah, Melvin is our cat. She's not impressed with the puppy! I think she was waiting to see when he was going back to where he came from... shes never been a super cuddly or playful cat anyway. So she pretty much has the run of the upstairs and the dog has the downstairs. They meet occasionally in the garden or when one ventures into the others zone. The puppy just wants to play, but Melvin is having none of that! She isn't scared of him, but would just rather not be bothered by him. We're hoping once the puppy chills out a bit around her they will tolerate relaxing in the same room. Baby steps!


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## Sarah Alice

Emlar said:


> Oh my goodness. He is adorable!
> Its funny, I look back at picture of our dog Rufus and think he was so tiny and cute....how did I find it so hard?! But it was. I wish I'd enjoyed him a bit more when he was tiny.
> 
> Yeah, Melvin is our cat. She's not impressed with the puppy! I think she was waiting to see when he was going back to where he came from... shes never been a super cuddly or playful cat anyway. So she pretty much has the run of the upstairs and the dog has the downstairs. They meet occasionally in the garden or when one ventures into the others zone. The puppy just wants to play, but Melvin is having none of that! She isn't scared of him, but would just rather not be bothered by him. We're hoping once the puppy chills out a bit around her they will tolerate relaxing in the same room. Baby steps!


My bad took him out yesterday evening to give me a break from having him all day every day and it definitely helped, just overwhelmed I think!

that's good to hear about your cats, my cats are my world and I'm so nervous or making them unhappy. They just hate when he bounces over to him so we are trying to train this away. We also give our cats free roam of certain places that he can't get to so that they can get away from him when they want/need to


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## Sarah Alice

Sarah Alice said:


> My bad took him out yesterday evening to give me a break from having him all day every day and it definitely helped, just overwhelmed I think!
> 
> that's good to hear about your cats, my cats are my world and I'm so nervous or making them unhappy. They just hate when he bounces over to him so we are trying to train this away. We also give our cats free roam of certain places that he can't get to so that they can get away from him when they want/need to


I meant my BF not my bad


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## Libby Sloan

Hi everyone! We recently picked up our puppy cockerpoo. I’ve never had the responsibility of keeping anything alive and despite doing lots of research I can’t help be an anxious puppy mum that I’m doing anything right, I’m constantly questioning everything. How do I help my puppy anxiety as I just love him and want what’s best and I can imagine being anxious won’t help. Thank you Libby


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## Sarah Alice

Libby Sloan said:


> Hi everyone! We recently picked up our puppy cockerpoo. I've never had the responsibility of keeping anything alive and despite doing lots of research I can't help be an anxious puppy mum that I'm doing anything right, I'm constantly questioning everything. How do I help my puppy anxiety as I just love him and want what's best and I can imagine being anxious won't help. Thank you Libby


Hi Libby, I can't do much in the way of advice at the moment but perhaps a bit of reassurance? We got our boy home a week ago and if you read a few posts up you'll see I was extremely anxious! This is slowest starting to get better (very slowly but surely!) 
The number one thing that has been helping me is to really focus on even small achievements, don't be disheartened by things maybe not going how you wanted or how you may have hoped,
They are puppies after all! 
Secondly, I would really recommend not to read TOO much, read and research definitely but don't put too much pressure on yourself, I found that researching too much was too much pressure. You will learn to know your puppy (just like you would a baby!)


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## Bracken&co

We are 3 weeks in now and so far it has not been too bad.
We have been using a pen for him; he gets scheduled exercise sessions and naps and we get to relax with him not being under our feet.

We haven't made much progress in house training though.
He is taken out regularly and he hasn't pooped in the house since the first day but he is still peeing inside.
I took him out last night and when we came back inside I let him have a little play and freedom in the room. Within 25 mins of him peeing outside, he had peed on the floor again. Oh well. He is only 11 weeks; am I expecting too much in seeing some sort of progress there?

We took him to his first puppy class yesterday and we took him to a local garden centre that is dog friendly. He met a few dogs and the staff were all coo - ing over him.


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## Bracken&co

I have been setting alarms throughout the night to take him out to toilet. Should I be waiting till he cries to go out?


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> We are 3 weeks in now and so far it has not been too bad.
> We have been using a pen for him; he gets scheduled exercise sessions and naps and we get to relax with him not being under our feet.
> 
> We haven't made much progress in house training though.
> He is taken out regularly and he hasn't pooped in the house since the first day but he is still peeing inside.
> I took him out last night and when we came back inside I let him have a little play and freedom in the room. Within 25 mins of him peeing outside, he had peed on the floor again. Oh well. He is only 11 weeks; am I expecting too much in seeing some sort of progress there?
> 
> We took him to his first puppy class yesterday and we took him to a local garden centre that is dog friendly. He met a few dogs and the staff were all coo - ing over him.


I dont think our pup was 100% toilet trained until about 6 months... not sure if that is normal or not! I mean, he was pretty much sorted just had the odd accident.

We used to set alarms to get up in the night for him to wee, and then slowly stretched those times out until he was going all night. It worked for us!


----------



## Libby Sloan

Sarah Alice said:


> Hi Libby, I can't do much in the way of advice at the moment but perhaps a bit of reassurance? We got our boy home a week ago and if you read a few posts up you'll see I was extremely anxious! This is slowest starting to get better (very slowly but surely!)
> The number one thing that has been helping me is to really focus on even small achievements, don't be disheartened by things maybe not going how you wanted or how you may have hoped,
> They are puppies after all!
> Secondly, I would really recommend not to read TOO much, read and research definitely but don't put too much pressure on yourself, I found that researching too much was too much pressure. You will learn to know your puppy (just like you would a baby!)


Thank you so much for your reply! It's relieving to know I'm not on my own with the puppy worry. I definitely just want to get it right and do what's best but sometimes that just creates more worry! Thank you again for your advice it's definitely helped


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## Miss S

Hi, 
I have a 13 week old sprocker. He’s doing really well with his training. I’m wondering what other people use as training treats? At the moment I’m using very small bits of chicken and cut up sweet potatoes chips. I want to work on recall so want something high value.


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## Bracken&co

Emlar said:


> I dont think our pup was 100% toilet trained until about 6 months... not sure if that is normal or not! I mean, he was pretty much sorted just had the odd accident.
> 
> We used to set alarms to get up in the night for him to wee, and then slowly stretched those times out until he was going all night. It worked for us!


I'm not looking for 100% trained, just an indication he is starting to develop a desire to toilet outside.
As it is I don't know if we are doing the right thing!


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> I'm not looking for 100% trained, just an indication he is starting to develop a desire to toilet outside.
> As it is I don't know if we are doing the right thing!


As so long as you are heaping on the praise and rewards for outside toileting right at the point it happens, and ignoring anything inside, you're on the right track and it'll click at some point


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Hey everyone with little ones… just wondering what everyone’s night time rituals are? Otto is 12 weeks now. He sleeps in a crate, pretty easily as long as he’s already fully asleep when we put him in. Currently our ritual is that my boyfriend goes to bed whilst I either sit in silence and in the dark until Otto falls asleep, or cuddle him until he does. Then I pop him in the crate and go to bed. It doesn’t feel too sustainable and I’m sure can’t be good for potential future separation issues…. So just wondering what everyone does with theirs? Where do they sleep, what do you do when you want them to go to bed, etc. Nights are getting later but almost always a toilet wake up about an hour after he goes to sleep ‍♀


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## Emlar

Im probably no help here I'm afraid. Our pup is coming up to 9 months and one of us sits downstairs in the dark with him until he falls asleep and then goes to bed


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## CallMeCoey

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Hey everyone with little ones… just wondering what everyone's night time rituals are? Otto is 12 weeks now. He sleeps in a crate, pretty easily as long as he's already fully asleep when we put him in. Currently our ritual is that my boyfriend goes to bed whilst I either sit in silence and in the dark until Otto falls asleep, or cuddle him until he does. Then I pop him in the crate and go to bed. It doesn't feel too sustainable and I'm sure can't be good for potential future separation issues…. So just wondering what everyone does with theirs? Where do they sleep, what do you do when you want them to go to bed, etc. Nights are getting later but almost always a toilet wake up about an hour after he goes to sleep ‍♀


I'm definitely no puppy/dog expert- but for reassurance we started by popping him in the crate when he was asleep and we were ready for bed. We would then have alarms to wake us to get him up for a wee and we just stretched these times out. But now 8 weeks in we wake him at about 9.30pm (he generally goes to sleep about 8ish on the couch or his bed) for his last wee, then he settles down again and when we are ready for bed I just nudge him and say bed time and he potters to his crate, sometimes he is really tired so I just pick him up and plonk him in. He sleeps from about 10.30 to 6ish as that's when we are up anyway. So 8 weeks in we are doing ok I think. It's routine- doing the same thing at the same time every night that's helped us. It's seems like you will never get there but you will. The evening zoomies get less as well. We found a little walk about 7pm and then 5 mins of training burns a bit of energy It's exhausting isn't it? But it does get easier! I'm still exhausted but on a more manageable level


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Thanks both. That does reassure me a lot! We’re only 4 weeks in (though feels like I haven’t slept in about a year ) so hopefully we’ll find our way to a more sensible routine soon. I wouldn’t mind if he would settle in the living room so I could be comfy at the same time but if I don’t pay him enough attention he takes it out on the sofa/rug/etc. At least in the kitchen there are limited destruction options!!


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## CallMeCoey

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Thanks both. That does reassure me a lot! We're only 4 weeks in (though feels like I haven't slept in about a year ) so hopefully we'll find our way to a more sensible routine soon. I wouldn't mind if he would settle in the living room so I could be comfy at the same time but if I don't pay him enough attention he takes it out on the sofa/rug/etc. At least in the kitchen there are limited destruction options!!


He will start to settle better in the evening soon! But we have a rule that once 8pm comes- there's no faffing (my husband is a faffer and cannot keep still!!!) It's walk, training, settle (dog as well as the husband)


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Hmm that’s not a bad shout, I think I’ll steal this approach!


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## Sarah Alice

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Thanks both. That does reassure me a lot! We're only 4 weeks in (though feels like I haven't slept in about a year ) so hopefully we'll find our way to a more sensible routine soon. I wouldn't mind if he would settle in the living room so I could be comfy at the same time but if I don't pay him enough attention he takes it out on the sofa/rug/etc. At least in the kitchen there are limited destruction options!!


I'm obviously not sure of your set up but we tend to always dim the lights in the lounge and sit with the TV on a bit more quiet for half hour or so before we intend to put him to bed just to calm him down


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## DanWalkersmum

We used to do that when Dan was a pup, surprising how it worked too.


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Thank you! Had some success with this last night. We dimmed lights, watched quiet tv and bought a couple of his soft things in (rugs and towels). Having his own things meant he left my furniture alone so didnt get as much attention from us that way and we were able to watch a whole episode of something on tv as he dozed. Then we popped him in the crate and had the best nights sleep possibly since he came. Which was great timing as I got double jabbed yesterday and was feeling very sorry for myself


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## Sarah Alice

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Thank you! Had some success with this last night. We dimmed lights, watched quiet tv and bought a couple of his soft things in (rugs and towels). Having his own things meant he left my furniture alone so didnt get as much attention from us that way and we were able to watch a whole episode of something on tv as he dozed. Then we popped him in the crate and had the best nights sleep possibly since he came. Which was great timing as I got double jabbed yesterday and was feeling very sorry for myself


Amazing! So glad that helped you


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## DanWalkersmum

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Thank you! Had some success with this last night. We dimmed lights, watched quiet tv and bought a couple of his soft things in (rugs and towels). Having his own things meant he left my furniture alone so didnt get as much attention from us that way and we were able to watch a whole episode of something on tv as he dozed. Then we popped him in the crate and had the best nights sleep possibly since he came. Which was great timing as I got double jabbed yesterday and was feeling very sorry for myself


That's good to hear, it's an easy thing to do and I remember it seemed to calm Dan with the lights dimmed and tv turned down. Hope it continues.


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## Bracken&co

Our puppy is now 4.5 months old. For the most part, he has been good. We have been working on recall and all the usual commands and tricks. He completed a 5-week puppy course 2 weeks ago and he did really well with that. We have had no issues at night, other than 1 night his feeding schedule got a little mucked up due to a day trip and he only got 3 meals - he must have been hungry when we tried to go to bed so he started whining. We have him another meal, took him out to toilet again and he settled fine after that. Up until the last few days we have been doing 2 am and 5 am toilet breaks through the night (bed time was generally midnight). I had thought he could go longer in recent weeks but these outings were strategic - I didn’t want to risk him needing to toilet later and then I would likely not have been able to get more sleep.
Last few days I have been getting up between 3-4:30am - my partner gets home about 7:15 and takes him out then. This seems to be fine for the pup - does 4 hours sound ok for a 4.5 month old pup?

Other than that he has started to be a bit more difficult around the house in the last few weeks. We use a pen during the day when we need him to be safe and contained but I think the more freedom he has been given recently makes him a little more unsatisfied to be in his pen. For example, yesterday he had been fed twice, toileted’d several times and had 2 short walks by mid day, had a rabbit ear chew but still started barking when put in his pen for a nap. A really annoying, high pitched bark. He did it while I was in the room with him or not. He has previously been fine and happy in his pen.
It’s driving me mental!


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> Our puppy is now 4.5 months old. For the most part he has been good. We have been working on recall and all the usual commands and tricks. He completed a 5 week puppy course 2 weeks ago and he did really well with that. We have had no issues at night, other than 1 night his feeding schedule got a little mucked up due to a day trip and he only got 3 meals - he must have been hungry when we tried to go to bed so he started whining. We have him another meal, took him out to toilet again and he settled fine after that. Up until the last few days we have been doing 2 am and 5 am toilet breaks through the night (bed time was generally midnight. I had thought he could go longer in recent weeks but these outings were strategic - I didn't want to risk him needing to toilet later and then I would likely not have been able to get more sleep.
> Last few days I have been getting up between 3-4:30am - my partner gets home about 7:15 and takes him out then. This seems to be fine for the pup - does 4 hours sound ok for a 4.5 month old pup.
> 
> Other than that he has started to be a bit more difficult around the house in the last few weeks. We use a pen during the day when we need him to be safe and contained but I think the more freedom he has been given recently makes him a little more unsatisfied to be in his pen. For example, yesterday he had been fed twice, toileted'd several times and had 2 short walks by mid day, had a rabbit ear chew but still started barking when put him in his pen for a nap. A really annoying, high pitched bark. He did it while I was in the room with him or not. He has previously been fine and happy in his pen.
> It's driving me mental!


I would suggest at his age he can go to 3 meals, i think its from around 4 months they drop to 3 meals and then from around 6 months they drop to two.

Also 2 walks before mid day sounds like a lot, is that what you normally do?

It could have just been that he was over tired and wound up. Does he nap during the morning? Puppies need lots of sleep!


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## Bracken&co

Emlar said:


> I would suggest at his age he can go to 3 meals, i think its from around 4 months they drop to 3 meals and then from around 6 months they drop to two.
> 
> Also 2 walks before mid day sounds like a lot, is that what you normally do?
> 
> It could have just been that he was over tired and wound up. Does he nap during the morning? Puppies need lots of sleep!


No, we usually only do 2 walks over the whole day but as he had not been settling I took him out again.
He used to nap fine but, as I said, recently, when I put him in his pen to have a nap he just barks and yelps at me.

As we are getting nowhere with toilet training! We have just been out for 20 mins and he peed outside. Come in and within 10 mins he pees on the floor again, no signals to me he needs toilet!


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> No, we usually only do 2 walks over the whole day but as he had not been settling I took him out again.
> He used to nap fine but, as I said, when I put him in his pen to have a nap he just barks and yelps at me.
> 
> As we are getting nowhere with toilet training! We have just been out for 20 mins and he peed outside. Come in and within 10 mins he pees on the floor again, no signals to me he needs toilet!


Hmmm...not sure on the napping front then. Is he able to have free range and nap where he likes? Or is that not possible?

Keep at it with the toileting. I found with Rufus it just seemed to click eventually. Lots and lots of praise and treats for toileting outside, and ignore the inside.


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## Bracken&co

Emlar said:


> Hmmm...not sure on the napping front then. Is he able to have free range and nap where he likes? Or is that not possible?
> 
> Keep at it with the toileting. I found with Rufus it just seemed to click eventually. Lots and lots of praise and treats for toileting outside, and ignore the inside.


We aren't able to let him free range fully now as we haven't puppy proofed and we have 2 cats he would terrorise. We are giving him more and more supervised free time though.


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## PegsMum

At that age he might not “nap” but he definitely needs quiet time have to tried teaching him the settle technique? It’s a chore first few days but once they’ve got it it’s very effective


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## OttoTheCavapoo

Any advice for when a puppy hates the rain? Two fold really! 

We have never used puppy pads so he only goes outside. Literally the last week it’s clicked for him and I was thrilled but worried this might set us back! Moreover, he’s stopped using our courtyard for the toilet and will only go on walks. But as soon as we get out of the block he refuses to move if it’s rainy.

Secondly, temperament wise he is definitely more poo than cava. He needs his exercise else all those bad puppy habits come out and he’s a nightmare. But on day like today (it’s grim here) I have no idea what to do with him!

Any tips or tricks greatly appreciated, I’ve already ordered a rain coat today….never thought I’d be a ‘clothing for dogs’ kind of owner


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## Burrowzig

OttoTheCavapoo said:


> Any advice for when a puppy hates the rain?


Golf umbrella, covers you both.


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## Ashypie

I have two Westie puppies and they are on Beta puppy kibble, I can go between the chicken and the lamb and they love both flavours. They always eat it and there toilet habits on this has been great, so might be an option, it’s good as they do options for small breed, regular and large breed puppy dogs. My issues are that one of the pups literally hiccups all the time, she eats really fast so I have bought a slow feeder, but she literally has them after dinner, after playing and when sleeping, everyone I spoke to and the vet says it’s fine but it still stresses me out worrying it’s not normal to have them so much


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## Emlar

Ashypie said:


> I have two Westie puppies and they are on Beta puppy kibble, I can go between the chicken and the lamb and they love both flavours. They always eat it and there toilet habits on this has been great, so might be an option, it's good as they do options for small breed, regular and large breed puppy dogs. My issues are that one of the pups literally hiccups all the time, she eats really fast so I have bought a slow feeder, but she literally has them after dinner, after playing and when sleeping, everyone I spoke to and the vet says it's fine but it still stresses me out worrying it's not normal to have them so much


Our boy had hiccups loads when he was little too. I think its common for puppies. He doesn't get them at all now.


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## Ashypie

Emlar said:


> Our boy had hiccups loads when he was little too. I think its common for puppies. He doesn't get them at all now.


Thank you, I had heard they can get them but was concerned at how often she has them, they definitely don't seem to bother her right enough, thanks so much made me feel better


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## Bracken&co

Thought we were finally getting somewhere with house training at nearly 6months old.
I was just getting reward treats to take him outside when he peed on the kitchen floor.
Guess not :Arghh


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## Bracken&co

And 45 mins after toileting outside as well as peeing on the kitchen floor, he has just peed on the office floor!


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## CallMeCoey

Bracken&co said:


> Thought we were finally getting somewhere with house training at nearly 6months old.
> I was just getting reward treats to take him outside when he peed on the kitchen floor.
> Guess not :Arghh


Had a similar problem with Trig a couple of months ago (he's just 6 months now)! It was like he clicked "wee = treat" so if he heard the treat cupboard open, he peed in the kitchen. Keep the treats outside now in a Tupperware tub. Now it has clicked "wee outside = treat". Or maybe it was a coincidence who knows, but might be worth a shot. It will click, so please don't get disheartened. It's taken us 6 months to get to this point, and that's not him being left alone.


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## Burrowzig

CallMeCoey said:


> Had a similar problem with Trig a couple of months ago (he's just 6 months now)! It was like he clicked "wee = treat" so if he heard the treat cupboard open, he peed in the kitchen. Keep the treats outside now in a Tupperware tub. Now it has clicked "wee outside = treat". Or maybe it was a coincidence who knows, but might be worth a shot. It will click, so please don't get disheartened. It's taken us 6 months to get to this point, and that's not him being left alone.


Treats can so easily distract a pup from what they are meant to be doing - i.e. going outside to pee. If they're not in your pocket, attached to you or in your hand when you take pup out, they can cause the opposite of what you want. Also the time taken to get them can stretch pup's holding capacity beyond what they can hold on to.
I caused such an incident with my current pup, it was her last pee in the house (so far) but she's been very good and the easiest one I've had - I stopped to get the treat pouch from under a newspaper in the kitchen, and she came back towards me and peed. 
That was a month ago, and she'll be 15 weeks tomorrow, There's been a total of 3 indoor pees (at least one caused by one of my other dogs blocking her from going out of the door, and growling at her), and no poos. When I got her, I thought she might be a tricky one to house train as there were puppy pads laid down when I first saw the litter, but she just takes herself out when she needs to go. I won't be putting the living room rug back down for a while yet though!


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## Bracken&co

Burrowzig said:


> Treats can so easily distract a pup from what they are meant to be doing - i.e. going outside to pee. If they're not in your pocket, attached to you or in your hand when you take pup out, they can cause the opposite of what you want. Also the time taken to get them can stretch pup's holding capacity beyond what they can hold on to.
> I caused such an incident with my current pup, it was her last pee in the house (so far) but she's been very good and the easiest one I've had - I stopped to get the treat pouch from under a newspaper in the kitchen, and she came back towards me and peed.
> That was a month ago, and she'll be 15 weeks tomorrow, There's been a total of 3 indoor pees (at least one caused by one of my other dogs blocking her from going out of the door, and growling at her), and no poos. When I got her, I thought she might be a tricky one to house train as there were puppy pads laid down when I first saw the litter, but she just takes herself out when she needs to go. I won't be putting the living room rug back down for a while yet though!


He's 6 months old today so he should have been able to hold his bladder for an hour but he peed on the floor again last night, just over 1 hour after I had taken him out. One minute he was chewing on a yak stick at my feet next he walked to his bed and peed next to it. No treats involved with that one.


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## Burrowzig

Bracken&co said:


> He's 6 months old today so he should have been able to hold his bladder for an hour but he peed on the floor again last night, just over 1 hour after I had taken him out. One minute he was chewing on a yak stick at my feet next he walked to his bed and peed next to it. No treats involved with that one.


I'd have him checked for a urine/bladder infection.


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## Bracken&co

Burrowzig said:


> I'd have him checked for a urine/bladder infection.


Even when he has never shown any sign of house training? It's not like he was making progress then regressed.


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## Burrowzig

Bracken&co said:


> Even when he has never shown any sign of house training? It's not like he was making progress then regressed.


Yes. They can be long standing and it's possible he's had one all along.
By ruling that out, you can put in place a more rigorous regime that should help him learn.
Some pups do take a hell of along time.


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## Bracken&co

We are still struggling with our 7month old biting and chewing on our hands. 
I'm pretty sure he has finished teething now. 
Is it normal at his age to still be mouthy or have we failed miserably at teaching him bite inhibition?


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> We are still struggling with our 7month old biting and chewing on our hands.
> I'm pretty sure he has finished teething now.
> Is it normal at his age to still be mouthy or have we failed miserably at teaching him bite inhibition?


Rufus is 1 year and still sometimes tries to bite or mouth. So I dont think you've failed! Also he'll be hitting teenage stage now, so often half the things you've taught them goes out the window


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## DaisyBluebell

Bracken&co said:


> We are still struggling with our 7month old biting and chewing on our hands.
> I'm pretty sure he has finished teething now.
> Is it normal at his age to still be mouthy or have we failed miserably at teaching him bite inhibition?


Short answer is Yes it is still normal. He is still a baby. just stop and walk away or turn your back when he gets mouthy. nothing worse for a puppy than being ignored when they do that, they soon get the idea, its not a game you want to play. It all takes a lot of time so be patient. You have teenage years to come yet & they can be another trial, all part of dog ownership


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## Bracken&co

Bracken cocked his leg for the first time this morning! My little puppy is growing up!

He has started jumping and grabbing at clothes again in the last few days. He hasn't done this for ages. Is this the start of the dreaded teenage phase?


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## Emlar

Bracken&co said:


> Bracken cocked his leg for the first time this morning! My little puppy is growing up!
> 
> He has started jumping and grabbing at clothes again in the last few days. He hasn't done this for ages. Is this the start of the dreaded teenage phase?


Haha, well done Bracken! We were weirdly excited when Rufus first did this too :Joyful

Possibly. They do appear to go backwards when the teenage stage hits. We had one lovely month when Rufus was about 5 months.... :Hilarious


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## Annie Corbett

I have an eight week old miniature dachshund puppy who refuses to sleep in her own bed and will only sleep in mine


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## Boxer123

Annie Corbett said:


> I have an eight week old miniature dachshund puppy who refuses to sleep in her own bed and will only sleep in mine


Remember she is a baby separated from her mum and siblings. It takes time to get pups in their own bed they need lots of comfort initially. I've always had pups in with me at first. Are you using a crate ? This should be introduced slowly.

(puppy photos of the mini sausage please )


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## Annie Corbett

We aren’t using a crate at the moment


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## Boxer123

So cute that’s fine you have to do what works for you and pup. Mine have always been in with me no separation issues. You can try putting her bed by yours after a while and comfort her. I do believe dachshunds are famous for liking to be with their people.


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## Emlar

Annie Corbett said:


> I have an eight week old miniature dachshund puppy who refuses to sleep in her own bed and will only sleep in mine


Shes only a baby. She doesn't know what is her bed and what is your bed. She just knows that that's where you sleep so that's where she wants to sleep! I would sleep downstairs (or where ever her bed is) for the first week or two while she settles in. We had to train our dog to use his bed as the sofa/our bed was more comfortable and where we are! He doesn't use it much still, but he will go there if asked.


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## margy

Can anyone suggest a good book on puppy training I could read? I've looked back a bit on this thread but couldn't see any suggestions. There seems to be lots of videos on line but I'd rather have a book I can keep referring to.


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## Emlar

margy said:


> Can anyone suggest a good book on puppy training I could read? I've looked back a bit on this thread but couldn't see any suggestions. There seems to be lots of videos on line but I'd rather have a book I can keep referring to.


I really like the "Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy" by Steve Mann


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## margy

Thanks I've bought it. Times have certainly changed since our first pup a show cocker we got in 1982. His first bed was a cardboard box recommended because of chewing and have to say it served the purpose as all that was left in the end was the base! He did go onto a posh grown up bed. He was called Pierrot but unfortunately had to be pts at 18 months with kidney failure. It was 6 years before we got another dog. I can't believe how training has changed for the better I have to say. Here he is


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## Emlar

margy said:


> Thanks I've bought it. Times have certainly changed since our first pup a show cocker we got in 1982. His first bed was a cardboard box recommended because of chewing and have to say it served the purpose as all that was left in the end was the base! He did go onto a posh grown up bed. He was called Pierrot but unfortunately had to be pts at 18 months with kidney failure. It was 6 years before we got another dog. I can't believe how training has changed for the better I have to say. Here he is
> View attachment 483542
> View attachment 483543


Aw, he was very handsome! Hope all goes to plan with your new pup. They are a handful for sure, but worth it in the end


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## Louise Ridout

Hi everyone! New here and looking for some reassurance!

we have an 8 and a bit week old Labrador Retriever who has been with us a few nights, and he is not liking nighttime sleeping! In the day, he naps fine and will go to his crate independently to play etc, but come nighttime he barks and barks for attention. It’s definitely attention seeking as he has everything he needs, and he cries differently for toilet needs. Takes him a good 30 minutes/an hour to settle before going to sleep, and it’s heartbreaking to hear him bark like that! (Luckily neighbours can’t hear him!) 

I know we’re only a few nights in, and can take weeks/months, and in general he’s a really fun, well rounded pup, he just hates to sleep! Anyone else in similar situation? Any great ideas? Thanks!


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## Emlar

Are you sleeping with d


Louise Ridout said:


> Hi everyone! New here and looking for some reassurance!
> 
> we have an 8 and a bit week old Labrador Retriever who has been with us a few nights, and he is not liking nighttime sleeping! In the day, he naps fine and will go to his crate independently to play etc, but come nighttime he barks and barks for attention. It's definitely attention seeking as he has everything he needs, and he cries differently for toilet needs. Takes him a good 30 minutes/an hour to settle before going to sleep, and it's heartbreaking to hear him bark like that! (Luckily neighbours can't hear him!)
> 
> I know we're only a few nights in, and can take weeks/months, and in general he's a really fun, well rounded pup, he just hates to sleep! Anyone else in similar situation? Any great ideas? Thanks!


Are you sleeping either downstairs with him, or have him upstairs with you? Most puppies need a lot of reassurance at night because they just aren't used to sleeping on their own. He probably slept all cwtched up with his siblings, and now is somewhere new and has to sleep on his own.


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## Louise Ridout

Hey, yeah we've been taking turns to sleep in same room as him so he can see/smell us, and he has a blanket with mum/siblings scent on. He just takes ages to settle and barks for quite a while. Know it'll take time for him to feel settled properly at night but it's just hard hearing him bark!



Emlar said:


> Are you sleeping with d
> 
> Are you sleeping either downstairs with him, or have him upstairs with you? Most puppies need a lot of reassurance at night because they just aren't used to sleeping on their own. He probably slept all cwtched up with his siblings, and now is somewhere new and has to sleep on his own.


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## Corners268

Hello. New member here and new to puppies. I am definitely feeling the puppy blues. I have a 17 week old mini goldendoodle puppy. I felt totally overwhelmed when he first came to us at 8 weeks with the biting, but although it has eased a bit it is starting to really get me down. Whatever interaction I have with him it always involves his teeth on my flesh, whether this is brushing him, putting on his harness, clipping on his lead, picking him up, trying to pet him, playing with him, or just trying to sit down for a minute, he will just start nipping me. I've been trying to desensitize him to the brush, harness etc since we got him, but even after nearly 10 weeks there is no improvement at all. I also feel so overwhelmed with the training and feel I am totally failing. My husband is getting frustrated with him and has too high expectations of him at this age. I've never had a dog before and am the person doing all the training and feel totally out of my depth. I just started a 6 week training course and he was by far the worst behaved puppy there. He wouldn't do one single thing I asked him to do, even though he can do them perfectly well normally. He just wanted to run about and play and when he couldn't he just barked. All the other puppies were angels by comparison. I am so exhausted keep getting cross with him, which I know I shouldn't and feel really bad afterwards and am scared I am ruining our relationship but sometimes I don't even like him very much when he's in full on shark mode. I am also going through the menopause which I am sure is half the problem. Sorry for the vent, just really struggling right now


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## m0t

Corners268 said:


> Hello. New member here and new to puppies. I am definitely feeling the puppy blues...


This sounds a lot like our experience of getting a cockapoo.

With the biting it helped us to think about it a bit differently. We were looking at it like the dog was either disobeying us or trying to hurt us, it wasn't this at all. He was nipping because he was getting over excited and didn't know how else to express himself and hadn't understood the impact (it's our job to teach him). He did it more to my wife than me because as a puppy he was desperate to play with her constantly.

There are lots of tips to calm the biting but the one that worked for us was crossing our arms and completely ignoring him. Stopping the nipping isn't an immediate thing though, it will take weeks of training and reinforcement until one day you'll realise it hasn't happened in a while.

Some dogs don't take to group training, ours didn't as a puppy. You could try a one on one session instead and introduce one or two dogs later on, at the moment it sounds like the play is just too exciting.

I would recommend your husband gets involved in the training as well. My wife didn't for ours and would confuse the dog with slightly different commands. It's also a really good bonding and play experience for them.

The main thing to remember is that this is all normal and the dog will grow out of it.


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## Corners268

m0t said:


> This sounds a lot like our experience of getting a cockapoo.
> 
> With the biting it helped us to think about it a bit differently. We were looking at it like the dog was either disobeying us or trying to hurt us, it wasn't this at all. He was nipping because he was getting over excited and didn't know how else to express himself and hadn't understood the impact (it's our job to teach him). He did it more to my wife than me because as a puppy he was desperate to play with her constantly.
> 
> There are lots of tips to calm the biting but the one that worked for us was crossing our arms and completely ignoring him. Stopping the nipping isn't an immediate thing though, it will take weeks of training and reinforcement until one day you'll realise it hasn't happened in a while.
> 
> Some dogs don't take to group training, ours didn't as a puppy. You could try a one on one session instead and introduce one or two dogs later on, at the moment it sounds like the play is just too exciting.
> 
> I would recommend your husband gets involved in the training as well. My wife didn't for ours and would confuse the dog with slightly different commands. It's also a really good bonding and play experience for them.
> 
> The main thing to remember is that this is all normal and the dog will grow out of it.


Thank you for replying. If we ignore him he attacks our legs. It's not as full on as it was at the start, and he doesn't bite quite as hard, but it's non stop and now the weather is better I don't want to be wearing trousers all the time so he really catches the skin. There's just so many things to train that I am struggling. The crate training is going badly during the day and I can't leave him at home yet so I feel quite restricted. He hates the car and just barks the whole time he is in there, even though 99% of the time it's only a 5 minute drive to the park. You would think he would realise that he gets something good when we get there. I watched a ton of training videos before we got him so thought I had a good idea but I really feel overwhelmed. The only positive is he sleeps really well at night and has done since day one. My husband works but Im home during the day which is why I am doing the training. Thanks for your support x


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## Boxer123

Corners268 said:


> Hello. New member here and new to puppies. I am definitely feeling the puppy blues. I have a 17 week old mini goldendoodle puppy. I felt totally overwhelmed when he first came to us at 8 weeks with the biting, but although it has eased a bit it is starting to really get me down. Whatever interaction I have with him it always involves his teeth on my flesh, whether this is brushing him, putting on his harness, clipping on his lead, picking him up, trying to pet him, playing with him, or just trying to sit down for a minute, he will just start nipping me. I've been trying to desensitize him to the brush, harness etc since we got him, but even after nearly 10 weeks there is no improvement at all. I also feel so overwhelmed with the training and feel I am totally failing. My husband is getting frustrated with him and has too high expectations of him at this age. I've never had a dog before and am the person doing all the training and feel totally out of my depth. I just started a 6 week training course and he was by far the worst behaved puppy there. He wouldn't do one single thing I asked him to do, even though he can do them perfectly well normally. He just wanted to run about and play and when he couldn't he just barked. All the other puppies were angels by comparison. I am so exhausted keep getting cross with him, which I know I shouldn't and feel really bad afterwards and am scared I am ruining our relationship but sometimes I don't even like him very much when he's in full on shark mode. I am also going through the menopause which I am sure is half the problem. Sorry for the vent, just really struggling right now


It's all normal puppy behaviour. You just need to ride it out and keep consistent. Try not to get cross just go into another room and scream into a pillow. My younger do was the world's worst puppy. He terrorised me now I can't imagine life without him.


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## lucy_calico

Hi all,

We have a 9 week 5 day old Sprocker Spaniel puppy and I'm currently tearing my hair out! We already have a 1 year old Sprocker who was mostly a pleasant puppy apart from a few tummy troubles, the usual mouthing etc but he is now absolutely wonderful and perfectly crate trained.

This puppy however is a complete nightmare with everything and I'm losing the will to live at this point. We have a good routine with my older dog and I'm hoping eventually when puppy is allowed outside for walks things will settle but currently we're having a lot of issues with pup. Firstly, the separation anxiety is REAL. To the point he's crying, howling and screaming even when I'm home! He won't go into a pen/crate at all without throwing a hissy fit and he will get himself so worked up that he poops EVERYWHERE. We have been trying to leave him in short bursts to get him used to being apart from us but even with my other dog in the room, he goes nuts and just screams the whole time. In fact he's probably crying 95% of the day. We play with him, spend time with him and he plays with our other dog most of the day, we have puzzle toys too to stimulate his brain but nothing works. We've tried leaving a shirt with our scent, a hot water bottle... everything. My partner and I have not slept in the same bed since we got him at 8 weeks as he will just poo everywhere if left and there's no way he's coming into our bed so partner has been sleeping on the sofa. The issue is my partner is going away with his work this weekend for the week and I'm going to be here having to deal with working from home, the puppy, my other dog and a 7 year old with ADHD and I'm already dreading it.

Secondly is the biting. I know this comes with the territory, it was pretty bad with our first sprocker but during the day we would have times where we can pet him without him biting us. This puppy bites CONSTANTLY and he will go for anything, the only time he isnt biting is when he's either sleepy or asleep. There have been occasions where I've fallen asleep on the sofa with him and he's woken me up by biting my face and going for my neck. I've tried the "puppy yelp" and putting him away each time, but the puppy yelp excites him more and putting him away causes pooping.

Thirdly, car rides. Again, the same issue. He cannot be "put away" as he poops and screams constantly. I've tried a car crate, a cat bag carrier, a puppy sling, my son holding him... its just impossible. Like I said, leaving him causes a quite literal sh**storm, but taking him places for example to pick my son up from school in the car is not really an option either now.

Honestly, I'm finding it really difficult to enjoy him in this stage. I would happily skip the puppy stage to be honest.

Any advice would be great or any natural remedies that may calm him? I really don't know what else to do. We have had loads of dogs and this is the first who has been this challenging and it's making me feel so miserable.


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## Emlar

I would say for all of those things he is very young, and very new. It's not separation anxiety at that age, it's just they are babies that want to be with you and don't like being left alone. Can he not follow you around? I'm guessing the reason he doesn't want to go into the pen or crate is because he knows you're going to leave if he goes in there. Our puppy hated being apart from us too and just wanted to spend all his time with us. You need to build it up from super short times, like a couple of seconds, and ideally return before he gets upset.


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## DanWalkersmum

lucy_calico said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We have a 9 week 5 day old Sprocker Spaniel puppy and I'm currently tearing my hair out! We already have a 1 year old Sprocker who was mostly a pleasant puppy apart from a few tummy troubles, the usual mouthing etc but he is now absolutely wonderful and perfectly crate trained.
> 
> This puppy however is a complete nightmare with everything and I'm losing the will to live at this point. We have a good routine with my older dog and I'm hoping eventually when puppy is allowed outside for walks things will settle but currently we're having a lot of issues with pup. Firstly, the separation anxiety is REAL. To the point he's crying, howling and screaming even when I'm home! He won't go into a pen/crate at all without throwing a hissy fit and he will get himself so worked up that he poops EVERYWHERE. We have been trying to leave him in short bursts to get him used to being apart from us but even with my other dog in the room, he goes nuts and just screams the whole time. In fact he's probably crying 95% of the day. We play with him, spend time with him and he plays with our other dog most of the day, we have puzzle toys too to stimulate his brain but nothing works. We've tried leaving a shirt with our scent, a hot water bottle... everything. My partner and I have not slept in the same bed since we got him at 8 weeks as he will just poo everywhere if left and there's no way he's coming into our bed so partner has been sleeping on the sofa. The issue is my partner is going away with his work this weekend for the week and I'm going to be here having to deal with working from home, the puppy, my other dog and a 7 year old with ADHD and I'm already dreading it.
> 
> Secondly is the biting. I know this comes with the territory, it was pretty bad with our first sprocker but during the day we would have times where we can pet him without him biting us. This puppy bites CONSTANTLY and he will go for anything, the only time he isnt biting is when he's either sleepy or asleep. There have been occasions where I've fallen asleep on the sofa with him and he's woken me up by biting my face and going for my neck. I've tried the "puppy yelp" and putting him away each time, but the puppy yelp excites him more and putting him away causes pooping.
> 
> Thirdly, car rides. Again, the same issue. He cannot be "put away" as he poops and screams constantly. I've tried a car crate, a cat bag carrier, a puppy sling, my son holding him... its just impossible. Like I said, leaving him causes a quite literal sh**storm, but taking him places for example to pick my son up from school in the car is not really an option either now.
> 
> Honestly, I'm finding it really difficult to enjoy him in this stage. I would happily skip the puppy stage to be honest.
> 
> Any advice would be great or any natural remedies that may calm him? I really don't know what else to do. We have had loads of dogs and this is the first who has been this challenging and it's making me feel so miserable.
> 
> View attachment 492211


That's a very cute pup you have there
It does sound as if he's a very anxious though. Not sure if they are suitable for puppies but there are calming treats out there - pooch and mutt do biscuit ones and also soft treats too. (Just checked they are suitable for puppies and have good reviews) May be worth a try? They do break up pretty small for training treats too. Stocked inPAH as well as online direct from website and Amazon.


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## Nieri92

Hi, I am new to this site! I was hoping someone could help and give me some advice or tips! We have had our 11 week old puppy( GSD Cross Husky) for a week and he is fantastic although can be stubborn with recall. Unfortunately he is still VERY unsure of my two girls an 11 year old and a 10year old. His behaviour with them isn't consistent which makes it difficult. He hides from them and has started growling when they enter a room or move too fast. We have tried to build a good bond with them by them giving him treats and calmly giving him a fuss which he's fine with. I mean they've helped with training and he'll follow commands but if he is playing with toys and they show up, he stops dead and watches them or moves to his bed. I know it takes time but is there anything else I can do to help him be more confident and see that they aren't going to hurt him?

Thanks in advance!


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## LittleFox

Nieri92 said:


> Hi, I am new to this site! I was hoping someone could help and give me some advice or tips! We have had our 11 week old puppy( GSD Cross Husky) for a week and he is fantastic although can be stubborn with recall. Unfortunately he is still VERY unsure of my two girls an 11 year old and a 10year old. His behaviour with them isn't consistent which makes it difficult. He hides from them and has started growling when they enter a room or move too fast. We have tried to build a good bond with them by them giving him treats and calmly giving him a fuss which he's fine with. I mean they've helped with training and he'll follow commands but if he is playing with toys and they show up, he stops dead and watches them or moves to his bed. I know it takes time but is there anything else I can do to help him be more confident and see that they aren't going to hurt him?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Welcome @Nieri92 , your pup sounds gorgeous.

It really seems like you need some solid advice to make sure both this specific situation with your children doesn't get out of hand, as well as just general advice moving forward as your pup sounds a wee bit nervous.

The puppy support thread doesn't tend to get a lot of traffic - it might be better to start your own thread in dog chat where more people will see it


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## Emlar

Nieri92 said:


> Hi, I am new to this site! I was hoping someone could help and give me some advice or tips! We have had our 11 week old puppy( GSD Cross Husky) for a week and he is fantastic although can be stubborn with recall. Unfortunately he is still VERY unsure of my two girls an 11 year old and a 10year old. His behaviour with them isn't consistent which makes it difficult. He hides from them and has started growling when they enter a room or move too fast. We have tried to build a good bond with them by them giving him treats and calmly giving him a fuss which he's fine with. I mean they've helped with training and he'll follow commands but if he is playing with toys and they show up, he stops dead and watches them or moves to his bed. I know it takes time but is there anything else I can do to help him be more confident and see that they aren't going to hurt him?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


For the first bit, dogs aren't really 'stubborn'. He either doesn't understand what you want, or the thing you are trying to recall him from is more interesting. You need to start recall when there is little distraction and build it up. Don't let him off lead until the recall is solid.

As for the growling at your daughters, has he been to puppy classes? It might be worth having a trainer observe and see what they can advise as I feel it's difficult to advise with things like that without seeing the behaviour etc.


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## Nieri92

Emlar said:


> For the first bit, dogs aren't really 'stubborn'. He either doesn't understand what you want, or the thing you are trying to recall him from is more interesting. You need to start recall when there is little distraction and build it up. Don't let him off lead until the recall is solid.
> 
> As for the growling at your daughters, has he been to puppy classes? It might be worth having a trainer observe and see what they can advise as I feel it's difficult to advise with things like that without seeing the behaviour etc.


Yes his recall is still very new as we were just trying to get him accustomed to the new environment.

Unfortunately he hasn't been to any puppy classes as he hasn't had his second jab yet. We are carrying him out and trying to get him as socialised as we can until he's been fully vaxxed and has been around family dogs. Hes nervous around people more than dogs, but the kids are the only ones he's actually growled at. Hence why I'm at a loss.


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## Nieri92

LittleFox said:


> Welcome @Nieri92 , your pup sounds gorgeous.
> 
> It really seems like you need some solid advice to make sure both this specific situation with your children doesn't get out of hand, as well as just general advice moving forward as your pup sounds a wee bit nervous.
> 
> The puppy support thread doesn't tend to get a lot of traffic - it might be better to start your own thread in dog chat where more people will see it


Thank you, I have made a thread as you suggested! He is quite nervous but I'm hoping once he's had his second jab and we're able to take him out properly(not being carried) he can grow some confidence


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## Bee41

Hello,

I just posted in the forum then saw this and would like some advice. My 12 week old puppy had her second vaccines last week so shud have been due to go out next week, but when I took her she was able to have her dhp, but they said they didn't do the lepto 2 that she'd have and only did the lepto 4, which they gave her then told me she wud have to have the second in 4 weeks and not be able to go out for another 2 weeks after that, by which time she will be 18 weeks before she's been able to get out. I queried this and reluctantly she said she cud go out, but not to fields, woods or water, two weeks after the dhp. She didn't seem that convinced so I phoned bk and was then told that she cudnt go anywhere there had been dogs including the street. I asked to speak to a vet twice, wasn't available, someone then phoned me bk to say that they did give the lepto 2, they just hadn't ordered it in for her like they shud, so it was their mistake that she'd been put bk and basically take her along the pavement only. What can I actually do with this puppy if anything because they seemed reluctant to say she cud go for walks until 2 weeks after the lepto4, but she'll be 18 weeks by then? Is it safe to take her for walks or not?

Any advice wud be welcome, as this puppy is going out of her mind stuck in, but I don't want to put her at risk by going out if I shudnt.


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## Richk84

Can anyone help me - we brought our puppy (9 weeks) home on Monday and I feel like life has imploded. I feel like I’m going to break my lovely children's’ heart by not being able to continue with this. Can anyone help please xxx


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## Boxer123

Richk84 said:


> Can anyone help me - we brought our puppy (9 weeks) home on Monday and I feel like life has imploded. I feel like I’m going to break my lovely children's’ heart by not being able to continue with this. Can anyone help please xxx


Is your family helping ? What do you think the main issues are ?


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## Richk84

Boxer123 said:


> Is your family helping ? What do you think the main issues are ?


Yes they are helping - it’s not being left to me and I’ve been upfront with my husband and children about how I’m feeling and my anxiety.
I’m not sure specifically, he absolutely hates his crate so we have had so much howling and crying at night we are thinking of not continuing with the crate. I think just a complete realisation that life has changed entirely - we had a good routine with our other dog and I feel like it’s imploded. I’m so so sorry for sounding like this - I really appreciate everyone’s advice x


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## Boxer123

Richk84 said:


> Yes they are helping - it’s not being left to me and I’ve been upfront with my husband and children about how I’m feeling and my anxiety.
> I’m not sure specifically, he absolutely hates his crate so we have had so much howling and crying at night we are thinking of not continuing with the crate. I think just a complete realisation that life has changed entirely - we had a good routine with our other dog and I feel like it’s imploded. I’m so so sorry for sounding like this - I really appreciate everyone’s advice x


Ok so i would really recommend not leaving him to cry. He is just a baby have someone stay with him and slowly move away.


I know what you mean about routine I really struggled when my youngest was little as life turned upside down. it will go back to normal. Pups are hard work and irritating but so blooming cute we forget. 

Is pup from a good breeder who will have him back if it goes wrong? I would give it a few days I wanted to drive my youngest back the next morning. I’m glad I didn’t now. However if you do your children will understand I’m sure.


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## Richk84

Boxer123 said:


> Ok so i would really recommend not leaving him to cry. He is just a baby have someone stay with him and slowly move away.
> 
> 
> I know what you mean about routine I really struggled when my youngest was little as life turned upside down. it will go back to normal. Pups are hard work and irritating but so blooming cute we forget.
> 
> Is pup from a good breeder who will have him back if it goes wrong? I would give it a few days I wanted to drive my youngest back the next morning. I’m glad I didn’t now. However if you do your children will understand I’m sure.


Thank you, and thank you so much for being so lovely and understanding. I haven’t contacted the breeder yet - I think I’m too scared to admit to anyone x


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## Richk84

Richk84 said:


> Thank you, and thank you so much for being so lovely and understanding. I haven’t contacted the breeder yet - I think I’m too scared to admit to anyone x


Would you recommend contacting the breeder anyway, to let them know how I am feeling or not? I feel like I’ve lost all sense of what I should or should not be doing x


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## Boxer123

Richk84 said:


> Would you recommend contacting the breeder anyway, to let them know how I am feeling or not? I feel like I’ve lost all sense of what I should or should not be doing x


You can do if you think they will be helpful. Honestly I think it’s normal and lack of sleep doesn’t help. Once they have their jabs it gets easier. I think most of us have that, what have I done moments. What does hubby think?


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## Lovemyboy

I have just posted on your other thread but I will tell you what happened with my pup and the crate. She was meant to go in the kitchen like my other dog did, we set it up all nice for her and first night she was good, second night she howled and cried and i ended up sleeping in the hallway, 3rd night we got a crate from a friend and had it on our room. Omg what a change. It lasted a few weeks and then she had the run of the house as I would hear her wake and take her outside and then back to bed. 
Where is your pups crate? Ideally in the bedroom I know it’s not ideal but it’s only for a few weeks.. lack of sleep will be making you feel worse. Try not to beat yourself up, you need a good nights sleep. I am not saying that will fix how you feel but it will be a good start.


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## Richk84

Boxer123 said:


> You can do if you think they will be helpful. Honestly I think it’s normal and lack of sleep doesn’t help. Once they have their jabs it gets easier. I think most of us have that, what have I done moments. What does hubby think?


Hubby is fantastic, he is more laid back than me - said it will take time and he is so supportive. I am really lucky to have such a fab partner x


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## Richk84

Lovemyboy said:


> I have just posted on your other thread but I will tell you what happened with my pup and the crate. She was meant to go in the kitchen like my other dog did, we set it up all nice for her and first night she was good, second night she howled and cried and i ended up sleeping in the hallway, 3rd night we got a crate from a friend and had it on our room. Omg what a change. It lasted a few weeks and then she had the run of the house as I would hear her wake and take her outside and then back to bed.
> Where is your pups crate? Ideally in the bedroom I know it’s not ideal but it’s only for a few weeks.. lack of sleep will be making you feel worse. Try not to beat yourself up, you need a good nights sleep. I am not saying that will fix how you feel but it will be a good start.


Thank you for the crate info - so crate is currently downstairs but I will move it upstairs tonight and see what that does. Last night I gave in and he slept on the floor next to our bed and slept from 12am - 6am x


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## DanWalkersmum

Sometimes you just need to go with your gut feeling. I half heartedly tried the crate, but it didn't work for us, and we ended up using it as a barrier blocking part of the living room off and took turns sleeping on the sofa so we could let him out, eventually taking him to bed with us. From the first night he slept soundly, we only had a few broken nights. This was 4 years ago. A good nights sleep does help you cope with the puppy blues.


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## Emlar

Richk84 said:


> Yes they are helping - it’s not being left to me and I’ve been upfront with my husband and children about how I’m feeling and my anxiety.
> I’m not sure specifically, he absolutely hates his crate so we have had so much howling and crying at night we are thinking of not continuing with the crate. I think just a complete realisation that life has changed entirely - we had a good routine with our other dog and I feel like it’s imploded. I’m so so sorry for sounding like this - I really appreciate everyone’s advice x


Don't feel bad. Puppy blues are real!

Is there anything you specifically need help with?

Crates need to be trained. You can't just put puppy in there, by themselves, and expect them to be okay and settled. Just think of the puppy as a baby who has been taken away from their Mum and siblings to somewhere new and strange with random people. They need comforting. Can puppy be in bed with you? Or someone sleep downstairs with puppy?


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## Lovemyboy

@Richk84 how was your night? Hopefully the crate in the bedroom helped slightly.


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## Richk84

We brought him upstairs with us last night and he slept on the floor. We got up at 3am to let him out for a wee. He has been getting into his crate a little more so we are rewarding that. He has woken up this morning and not sure if he is teething now but the chewing has started - he wants to chew everything.


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## Lovemyboy

Did you manage to get any sleep? How are you feeling? Oh yes the chewing 🙈 put anything up you don’t want him/her getting hold of. Pups chew to explore the world. Have you got any pup chews or toys you can swap when he/she chews anything they shouldn’t be?


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