Puppies

[GoofyPrincess]

Our pup just really isn’t interested in food (unless it’s licking the bloody dishwasher) so we’ve very much gone down the grazing route and measuring out her daily allowance and topping up as and when. I would love to get her into more of a routine (breakfast/dinner) but she’s just not interested. She is a super healthy weight though.

Our puppy is similar, he doesn’t seem interested in food much and I worried at first but is a healthy weight and has lots of energy.

I have recently started trying to make meal times a bit of a game which has encouraged him to eat more. I noticed he would eat his food when I would throw it around the room like a game (we use dry kibble) basically I would just throw a piece or 2 at a time to different areas of the room and say find it and he would bound off excitedly and eat it. It was making him eat more but it was a bit tedious for me having to stand there every meal time throwing his kibble around 1 piece at a time So I found a toy thing called Bob a lot which is like a spiny type toy which drops food out. I’ve only been using it a few days but it’s going down well so far and seems to be encouraging him to eat more.

 

[Be creative]

She has been awful to us, and the one thing I care more about in my life, apart from my oh, has been my dogs, am soo looking forward to tomorrow, I'll have to keep my anger in check, cos all I want to do is punch her, really hard!

I don’t mean this in a negative critical way, but perhaps she has a point about clean break. The puppy will recognise you, your scent etc, and in fairness to him, you no longer wanted him as your own dog, for justifiable reasons and again, no judgement at all, but I can see her point about a clean break. While he is adjusting, I wouldn’t willingly want to confuse him or upset him with previous known scents and people.

 

[Maid22]

I'm feeling quite upset today, I feel such a failure for giving up puppy, I really wish I could erase the last 3 months, hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think about him everyday, wondering what he's up to and what he looks like!

 

[VeryNiceVeryEVIL]

We are going to visit our Sprocker pup for the second time today!

 

[Lucie1001]

Hi there, I read this thread often but haven't commented until now.

Schnauzers are full of character, they're their own little person and it really can be exhausting at times.
In regards to him waking up early, is your boyfriend potentially waking him as you said he works early?

When it comes to the chewing the best advice I can give you is toys and lots of them, teething bones, Nylabones, Kong, teddies they can cuddle into when they do (eventually) settle for a nap.
Treat balls are also great for keeping them occupied for a while, try as many as you can and you'll naturally find the one your pup gravitates to the most.

Are you working at a desk or have a space near where you work to put a little bed for him? Schnauzers tend to just like to be with their owners even if it's just sat in the same room doing nothing, they're very annoying and very demanding but honestly the best little companions... hang in there.

Thankyou, yes schnauzers definitely have great personalities and are like little people
yeah my boyfriend has always got up early for work, which would disrupt him. He used to settle back down with me will about 7ish but he seems to be getting up earlier in the summer so I’m hoping in winter when it’s darker he may start to lie in a bit longer again
Before we moved house I used to sit at a table and he had got really good at taking himself to his bed under the table when he knew I was busy and couldn’t play with him. I think he’s just a bit unsettled at the moment as we are in between our new house (with it all being decorated and extended) and my in laws (who luckily are on the same street so it’s easy lol) and my also be going through an adolescent stage.
We do know he loves pizzle sticks and ostrich bones but seems to change his mind regularly about what he would prefer to chew on lol. Just had some new pizzle sticks delivered today and he chewed on one for about half an hour and is now asleep lol.
Despite my moans I have often said that I don’t think having a puppy was as hard as I expected and hopefully he’s just having a bit of an annoying phase! We love him to bits and he keeps things entertaining! (Apart from being very reactive on a lead which we need to try and work on )

Any tips for Schaunzer puppies and barking

Hahaha I feel you’re pain! I have tried to teach him ‘quiet’ but he doesn’t listen if it’s something he really wants to bark at

 

[Blond3g1rl]

Hi. 10 days in with puppy and going ok! Obviously had a few wobbles and 'what have I done' moments but day 10 certainly better than day 2!
Anyway, just looking for some advice about toileting at night. At the moment, he is in a crate in the room next to me. The last few nights he has only woken up once. He's then pee'd either in my room or the floor in his and gone back to sleep. I've woken up too late to get him outside so I've just gone back to sleep. Is it going to matter with his toilet training? I'm not allowing him to pee inside as such, I'm just not quick enough to get to him first! I'm loathe to set an alarm to let him out as I wouldn't know what time,and the fact he has settled himself the last few nights is a good thing I think,?

Regardless of him settling himself you should be setting an alarm and waking up during the night.

 

[Padfoot]

Hope everyone has a safe Christmas and not to let puppies eat anything they shouldn't over the festive season!

 

[D.W's Library Card]

Any tips for Schaunzer puppies and barking

Ohh I hate to tell you this but that's part of their breed, they're very chatty dogs and every schnauzer i've ever met loves a good bark.
The obvious one is if he/she does bark then don't shout as it only encourages them or so they say, but I fully appreciate how utterly maddening it can be at times, it's just another little character trait they have. I think it stems from them being excellent little guard dogs.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

It all depends on breed imo. However the dogs I have are prone to seperation anxiety and like children the current advice is not to cry it out.

Any behaviourist or vet I have spoken to tends to agree.

I wouldnt leave my human children to cry it out so wouldnt take a pup from their parent and leave them to it.

However you need to do what suits you, no judgement from me, we all live with our dogs and know what works.

Edit - my dogs sleep independently now and have done from young. They can sleep in our bed if they choose but often dont. So it hasnt impacted us to a point they wont sleep alone in the end

2nd edit - puppies will often still need to toilet through the night particularly if theyre a smaller breed so without having them close theyd be no way of them alerting to us they need out. All of my pups have been reliably toilet trained within 3 to 4 weeks of coming into our house and not needed to go out overnight by about 12 weeks old. We are a no puppy pad, ALL toileting outdoors household.

 

[WilmaHun]

lose the partner, keep the pup

At times it seems like that could be the simpler option!!


On a more positive note - we've managed 3 nights in a row now with the puppy sleeping downstairs! After nearly 6 weeks of him in my room this feels amazing! As it was starting to get frustrating, now he's learned to jump he kept jumping into the bed whilst I was asleep which I didn't want! Last night he didn't start crying at the gate until 3am, previously it was every hour so that's fab, I went down, let him out where he did a wee and poo outside, he had a drink, I settled him in his bed again and he was fine until I went down at 5.30 for a bath! Finally feels like a breakthrough.

 

[Snippysnips]

When they bite its best to do a high yelp an step away from them, just like another puppy or dog would do with them, they don't understand that the bite hurts cause its just playing to them but you will find when a pup bites another pup it yelps an jumps back, its their language to say that it hurts an you don't want to play anymore, once you do that you should find that the pup will want to lick you, it's a way of saying sorry


Pups are incredible hard but consistancy an routine can help an they will eventually get better, the world's new to them an not being with mom is also new, but they do get better

 

[G_man]

When they cry during the night, best thing i was taught was to let them out of the crate, into the garden, no eye contact or play, let them do their business then straight back into the crate, do not talk to them. So they know if they cry during the night the only reason they are let out is to toilet and not play.

In regards to seperation anxiety, im a believer in they arent born with, its brought on stronger with the owner although i do agree some breeds are prone more, this isnt a pop at anyone on here as i dont know anyone but all you have to do is look on social media and you see these “fur babies” cuddled up to their owners when they are making a brew treating them like babies, basically telling the dog, dont worry, no matter where i go you can come with me. Then they are paying £90 an hour for a dog behaviorist because they cant even go to the hairdressers without the dog shaking in fear

 

[ScoutFinch]

Does anyone have any advice for stopping their puppy barking at other dogs?

We got the green light from the vet a few days ago to start taking the puppy out on walks now he’s vaccinated and he’s really bad at barking at other dogs. I think it’s out of fear as opposed to him wanting to engage in play with other dogs.

We had been carrying him on walks most days before this and found he was would start shaking a bit and then growling when we passed other dogs and we would try to comfort him, cuddle him, talk soothingly, give treats etc. Now he’s on the ground he goes wild barking and tries to lunge at every dog I try to crouch down, talk soothingly, offer treats etc but he’s so worked up it’s not working and he doesn’t calm down until the other dog is out of sight. I’ve taken to picking him up a lot of the time now when I see a dog approaching but not sure if this is the wrong thing to do as I know he needs to get used to being around other dogs.

We’ve been taking him to puppy socialization classes already but they’ve not been a huge success so far. Our puppy seems to be super timid and is really small compared to all the other puppies in the class and he just keeps hiding between our feet and seems scared of the other dogs in the class

So actually I’m probably looking for advice for timid dogs and barking out of fear!

My dachshund was terrible for barking at other dogs. We took him to a behaviourist who told me that by reassuring him and offering treats when he was going mental, I was essentially rewarding the bad behaviour.

We started him with sitting whilst out and treating him with a ‘tch’ type tongue click noise. When approaching other dogs, I’d sit him and do the noise and distract him with the treat. If he barked he didn’t get it and we carried on, but if he maintained eye contact with me he’d get the treat. We progressed to walking past other dogs and doing the same thing. Now when we walk him I just make the noise and he comes to heel when another dog is passing. I hope that makes sense. It did take a while but it was so worth the effort!

 

[Lucie1001]

I’ve had a breakdown this morning with my 1 year old mini schnauzer. I thought it had got a lot easier but we have just moved house and getting it all redecorated and he is constantly chewing everything! He wants to be up at 5.30 every day and my boyfriend goes out to work early and I just feel like I can never sit down in the morning because I’m constantly running around stopping him from getting up to no good. I was sitting on the floor this morning at 6am crying. I know my boyfriend thinks I have an easy life working from home but he doesn’t realise what it’s like. Sometimes I wish I was the one going out to work everyday

 

[Padfoot]

Mine is going in to get spayed tomorrow morning and now I am getting nervous and having second thoughts. I am sure it will be for the best but just feel so bad for her, especially since she is oblivious about what's coming!

it's definitely best for her! if you aren't going to breed from her can also remove threats of tumors and womb infections! we will be doing it for our girl when the times ready! need to wait three months first as she's just had her season!

I'm sure your girl will be fine!

 

[WilmaHun]

Very common. How old is he now, 8months? He's pushing boundaries. Go back to basics with the recall, remember there will always be something interesting around, so you've got to be the most interesting thing around (easier said than done, mine still chases birds on the beach).

He's just 6 months so I know he's still young but it really does feel like a step backwards. Puppies are hard work Thank you though, I will start from the beginning again!

 

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

Are they ok with her being older and bigger than the other pups? Isn't ideal really. Although I'm on the fence about puppy classes, depending on the format they can do more harm than good.

We took ours to puppy classes and she was the oldest, immediately did a big shit in the middle of the village hall

 

[AladdinSane]

He’s insanely clever and already sitting, fetching and paw when asked. Crate training is going ok apart from the poo at 4am in there this morning- he has not went out at 3! He then slept till 8 thought so can forgive his little face. He’s a bit bouncy for my boys atm and the cats don’t like him lol. OH isn’t well (we’ve all got this cough/cold) but so far not too overwhelming.

He's adorable. Good luck with the cats our puppy is 7 months old and we're finally at a stage where they can all be in the same room. I'm currently working on the sofa with a puppy on one side and a cat on the other.

Lots of treats and fuss for your kitties and they will come around

Also don't be put off if you have a day/week where you feel like you've made the worst mistake ever. They do calm down and they do stop biting and they make the most loving pets.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

My dogs 14 in June and he still had his crate. Doesn’t get locked in at all but he still loves it and will lie in it a lot. He also has a bed in the living room but barely uses that it’s either the sofa, a chair or his crate. Even if you’re sat in the living room he’ll go and lie in his crate.
I also think it’s good that dogs are crate trained and always used to a crate incase they ever need surgery or crate rest as it’ll cause them less stress if they ever need that.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Please help me! I haven’t slept since we got our pup a few days ago. First few nights she was in a pen in our room but hardly settled so we tried crate training today - managed to get her to sleep in there but tonight when she was so tired she couldn’t even open her eyes we put her to bed in the crate and we’ve had 2 hours of screaming even when we took her out to comfort her. I’ve been in tears myself. Everyone I speak to has different advice.

Put the crate next to your bed and put your hand through it if shes unsettled.

Ive trained all of my dogs this way and its worked.

I personally dont leave my pups to cry, never have done and theyve all grown into great dogs that are happy to be left. Right now your pup has been taken away from their mum and siblings and is probably feeling really insecure so lots of love and reassurance.

They will sleep eventually. If shes next to you now at night she should be able to alert you that she needs the toilet too.