Puppies

[AladdinSane]

Does anyone have any advice regarding crate training and/or alone time?
It's the biggest thing our puppy struggles with. Even if we leave the room to go to the bathroom, he cries and cries.

Any advice would be so so appreciated!

 

[AladdinSane]

Do you guys recommend the same method when teaching a puppy to be by themselves? Our issue is he's perfectly distracted by the food/enrichment/chews etc. But as soon as he's finished, he barks/wants attention/won't settle. Any ideas would be amazing! He's 7 months and we've only ever been able to leave him for an hour whilst he sleeps before

 

[Purple star]

Sorry I'm no expert, when does he growl at you?

If we go near him some days..If you take something of him he shouldn’t have..And if he’s relaxing on the couch and my 8 year old comes down the stairs he starts to growl as soon as he hears the movement..

 

[WilmaHun]

Could he be chewing as hes anxious? The fact he's only doing it when youre out and the fact its a new thing would indicate this.

Cockers are dogs that thrive on human contact and it wouldnt be unusual for them to have seperation anxiety. Usually its the floor / skirtings / doors that get the chomping.

Whilst restricting the space may stop the chewing, if it is separation anxiety, it could manifest itself in other ways like howling, barking, crying, toileting.

Do you have a camera on when youre not there? What is he doing before the chewing starts.

Yeah I did wonder about anxiety

I do have a camera! Generally he'll just be laying in his bed, or playing with toys then he'll take to the door frame etc. I check the camera very regularly and he never barks/whines when we're not there (unless he is being snouty out the window and spots our neighbours cat on the fence!)

He did chew the door frame once when I was at home, but I caught him, moved him to where his toys were and he's not done it with me around since.

 

[Snowjoke]

How long after a dogs first season should they be spayed?

It can depend on breed and also the vet, our vet recommended 12 weeks after first season

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Thank you so much. Yes she does have spaniel in her as she’s a cockapoo, same as my older one. I will take all of your points on board and join the fb group also.

I know she’s doing well as 2 days ago she wouldn’t even go in the crate and now she happily sleeps there in the day as long as someone is nearby - she learned that really quick so I do have some optimism but it’s just hard when the whole house is moody and sleep deprived!

My partner is going to stay on the sofa for a few nights. Any idea how to then break away from this and eventually get her into the kitchen?

Ok so I also only ever had cockapoos and honestly they are sooo needy its the cocker spaniel in them.

Some of mine are very needy, some independent and Ive treated them all the same. All happy to be left though tey are notorious though for being very full on. Sounds like your older one was a dream though.

Its hard when youre exhausted. My youngest is 8 months and is still getting up at 5am every day morning when none of my others have did this

 

[Padfoot]

yup! she's really good in the day and can go four hours if we need to pop out. it's only really been like this since we put the clocks back.

 

[Saddlesoap]

We do have some friends who once we said we were getting a dog wanted to puppy sit luckily my boyfriend will have the 6 week holiday coming up so we should be OK for 6 weeks. His parents live in the same town I work in so we're planning to see if they can support one day a week. Pup will be fully vaccinated when he comes to us.

Honestly I don't know how people did it when we didn't work from home. It's crazy how much you have to think about.
My boyfriend thinks I'm overthinking things but I just want to make sure everything is right and we do the best by the puppy and the cats that we already have.

How old will he be when you get him if he's going to be fully vaccinated? It's going to leave you with a small socialisation window, so maybe ask the breeder if they are doing any.

 

[AladdinSane]

Has anyone had any experience with kennel cough?? As if my poor boy hadn't been through enough today (he has a swollen eye from banging his head!), he now seems to be starting with kennel cough. He's hacking a lot and wheezing every so often. I feel awful as we had him out in the cold this morning and I think that's started it off! I'm calling the vets first thing tomorrow morning to get him seen but does anyone have any home remedies that will help?


He's had honey this evening and that seems to have soothed him a little. But I think it's going to be a very restless night! We're worried about our cats getting it now as it seems it can cross between both species!

 

[S4buk]

Always make sure you have a chew toy and stay calm. Ours used to nip constantly but seems to less now - just constantly squeaks her bloody toys

 

[snapdrag0n]

We used to scatter feed ours when they were younger. But when 2 years old we switched to entirely raw diet and one meal a day (works for them but vets can be funny about raw so ignore them if you go that way). Anyway… scatter feeding can really encourage them to use their nose and brain a bit, also helps with tiring them out if they’re a bit bouncy!
The vet will always recommend what’s in the guidelines but by 6mo we’d moved to two meals a day and it didn’t do ours any harm doing this. I think it’s as much taking the advice and also seeing what your dog(s) like.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Also if he has seperation anxiety and youd like to keep him, could you try and find a good behaviourist to help out? Only use one who uses positive reinforcement though.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Start off really slowly would be my advice. Seconds initially and once hes quiet go back and reward.

Slowly increase the time you leave him gradually.

Also you could try licky mats/kongs to engage the brain.

The breed I have are really prone to seperation anxiety and this was the advice I was given from a trainer. We were told not to leave them to cry as pups as it could make separation anxiety worse. Again though the breed I have is prone to it so advice may be different.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Another I like are Tibetan terriers

Yesss I forgot about these love them too.

 

[Bobbleowl90]

Our cockapoo gets matted SO easily we shave/cut him at home as he had a bad experience with a dog groomer once (she was awful, cut him and made him bleed and he’s petrified since) but he’s getting really matted no matter what we do. Is there some miracle spray I’ve missed or anything? Or does anyone have any tips for grooming at home?

 

[S4buk]

For me and our cockapoo pup socialisation was the key. She’s now six months but we started taking her out for short walks once she had her jabs (I think about 3 months). She now loves every human, dog, cat and pub! It’s exhausting for us but also for the pup as she’s constantly learning, sniffing etc… and then very calm in evening apart from the odd bursts (make sure there’s a toy nearby). I live in Brighton so pretty much everywhere is dog friendly and plenty of puppy parks.

I’m not sure how to get around the neediness though, as I can’t leave a room without her whining.

 

[37BBL]

I have had three labradors and they are the best! Exceptionally intelligent, loving and eager to please. They are food motivated too which helps with training but they also just want to make you happy because that makes them happy. The main problem you have is keeping them entertained mentally when they are too little to walk far because they work out the knack for puzzle feeders etc in rapid time.

Thank you - really useful advice. We're really lucky that we have a huge garden so I am hoping we can try and entertain a puppy outside until we can walk it.

Whats everybody's view on crates? Some videos I have watched recommends crate training whereas some don't?!

 

[Snowjoke]

Our puppy is crate trained and happily goes into his crate at night and sleeps all night til about 7am but wakes up howling and crying. It’s absolutely ear wrenching. He does the same howl and cry when we leave him and also the same when we take him for a walk and if for example myself or my partner goes to the loo whilst out or takes our toddler on the swings (dogs not allowed in play area) he will cry and howl and howl and howl. It’s awful and quite embarrassing how do we overcome this? The sound is depressing especially first thing in the morning, it makes me not want to come downstairs. Thank you

How old is your pup? The morning is prob boredom and wanting out to see you! Have you ever tried leaving the radio on at night through to the morning? Hot water bottle for comfort at night and Toys in the crate at night to keep them occupied aswell, I would recommend the kong ones - keep them busy for ages!! With regards to being out and about and the crying it’s just going to take time to break that habit, both need to be firm with her/him and if continues back to the car or back home no treats. It’s hard to be firm but they don’t be long learning when they arent getting rewarded lol

 

[Snowjoke]

When did everyone remove the crate for puppies? Ours is 10 months old and wi happily stay in his crate overnight but it gets to 6am and he wants out to go sleep.on the couch downstairs. We're thinking of just biting the bullet and letting him sleep downstairs but any and all advice is welcome

If getting on ok take the crate away and just leave a bed for him where the crate was. Test the water and see. We done crate training with all our dogs and now they aren’t in the crate and sleep in a bed downstairs instead.

 

[S4buk]

Thanks guys, will do - I’ve done a million of the online calculators which looks at her weight and size against the type of chocolate (milk) and it looks like she’ll be fine. This happened a few hours ago and she lapped down a lot of water afterwards and then went on a long walk - nothing out of the ordinary at the moment but just lots of energy! Will keep monitoring her to see any changes.