Puppies

[Caffeine Fiend]

No cockapoo! Thanks again everyone - just trying to navigate myself through everything as we own our house etc … I’m hoping it’ll all be ok in the end x

Your little pup will look after you. Cockapoos are so intuitive and will know youre sad. Mine always does and is such a support to me.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

French bulldogs are very expensive to buy , often seem to get stolen , can have breathing problems and struggle in hot weather.

Labradors are great dogs but they shed a lot of hair , if that would be an issue .

I don't know much about beagles, but locally there is a pug / beagle cross .

I do find it patronising that some people are discouraging towards people looking to buy their first dog ( in real life , not on here)

Im a firm believer in that there is a dog for everyone.

Not every dog will suit everyones individual lifestyles but there is definitely a dog for everyone if you have the means to support it. I.e if you work full time you can afford a dog walker.

 

[Elle Woods]

Those puppy teeth are like razor blades when they get you aren't they! I always think aww I'd love to get my boy a little brother to play with then I remember the biting during the puppy stage and think.... maybe not

 

[carblife]

We’ve just chosen our little puppy she’s not ready to come home until the start of September. Can’t wait! Will be reading over this thread for advice etc!

 

[Former_Antelopee]

A staffy

Love staffys so much better than a frenchie

 

[S4buk]

it’s tricky, he loves her a lot now that I’ve trained her and dealt with the difficult puppy stage. She’s so well behaved and literally can’t go anywhere without being stopped by people asking to stroke her. I also feel like she’s a bit of a showpony for him because he takes her out when he’s seeing people with kids etc…I think there’s just a lot of resentment there which culminated in my dog. But I live and breathe her so she gets the most love in the world.

I’m pretty sure I said in the early days if she was naughty ‘don’t shout at her, shout at me’ because then I could deal with her in a more calm way to try and make her understand. I have no doubt in my mind that she picks up on energy/atmosphere so I’ve always shielded her from that - and she’s the happiest pup ever.

 

[jayne2240]

My 5 month old pup snatched a brownie out my hand a few days ago emergency vets, injection to make her sick & £300 later… she’s fine thankfully!! It was dark chocolate which had me panicking! She’s so fast I didn’t even see her coming, acts like she’s not fed

Absolutely happens to the best of us! I’ve had 3 dogs now and my eldest 2 have both eaten lots they shouldn’t have and thankfully nothing ever came of it. I’m certain they find food you don’t even know is in your house! Don’t feel too guilty, they’re sneaky little bastards especially when small x

 

[GoofyPrincess]

I've been very glad and thankful to read the last few posts this morning as I'm having a particularly bad day with our puppy already and it's not even lunchtime yet.

For some reason he just seems really agitated today. He keeps trying to bite me more so than usual, use my legs as a scratching pole and keeps barking at me when I try to tell him to sit etc. The barking at me is a new thing so I'm really hoping it's just a bad day and not the start of new bad behavior.

It is so hard some days and sometimes I feel like I'm such a bad puppy mum and am letting him down But it's so reassuring reading all your posts and I know it'll be worth the pain in the long run.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

If you want a medium sized non shedding dog

Minature poodle, standard poodle (albeit bigger), Portuguese water dog, Schanuzers (dont shed loads) bedlington terriers.

Poodle crosses will have less sheddy coats but there is always the risk the dog takes after the shedding parent. I have 2 x poodle crosses who dont shed.

Non shedding dogs will usually require daily brushing and also grooms. Mine cost £48 every 6-8 weeks.

It is totally worth it to me as I don't want to deal with dog hair

 

[Nosymum]

He is 10 weeks. Obviously he’s still so young, he’s not allowed out so I’m hoping when he’s allowed out next week it will be a bit easier as we can go walks to burn his energy. Did anyone notice a difference at this stage or not really?

I haven’t booked any puppy classes but we’ve been looking into it. The issue is loads have set days every week and I work shifts. With the training we’re doing in the house he is learning and I can see an improvement but I definitely am going to take him to puppy classes.

We have both been getting puppy free time which definitely helps! I’ve been trying to find the best toys to keep him stimulated while he’s confined to the house. We have loads of chew/rope toys, hide and treat mat, kongs, lick mats, snuffle mats. Are there any toys anyone would recommend?

Can’t thank you all enough. So helpful and it’s great to get first hand experience

Hi lovely are you aware (apologies if you are) that puppies should only be having very short walks or it can affect their bones. I know it’s tempting to ‘tire them out’ believe me I’ve been at my wits end with one of my girls and I bred her she came out screaming I should have known at that point! But a very young puppy should only be having 5 mins per month of age up to twice a day so 15 mins max when he’s 12 weeks.
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He is 10 weeks. Obviously he’s still so young, he’s not allowed out so I’m hoping when he’s allowed out next week it will be a bit easier as we can go walks to burn his energy. Did anyone notice a difference at this stage or not really?

I haven’t booked any puppy classes but we’ve been looking into it. The issue is loads have set days every week and I work shifts. With the training we’re doing in the house he is learning and I can see an improvement but I definitely am going to take him to puppy classes.

We have both been getting puppy free time which definitely helps! I’ve been trying to find the best toys to keep him stimulated while he’s confined to the house. We have loads of chew/rope toys, hide and treat mat, kongs, lick mats, snuffle mats. Are there any toys anyone would recommend?

Can’t thank you all enough. So helpful and it’s great to get first hand experience

For teething I use frozen carrots alongside toys a lot for them to chew on, I’ve currently got 4 5 week old puppies so am also in the thick of teething here!

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Anyone got experience of Border Terriers? I love a terrier and my fav is Jack Russell but I have children now and so going to pause on the JRT’s as they can often be quite nippy. I’ve said to my boyfriend once the kids are grown up I’ll be back to my beloved Russell’s .

So was considering if there was a terrier better suited to family life and I think borders are so cute with their old men faces

Edit - I prob should have caught up on this thread! Ha ha can’t believe I posted this after borders were mentioned! @Nosymum would love to hear more about your border

I have two borders and they are great, we also had another before these two. mine are old now 15years and 13years. When we were looking for our first dog, me and my sister were young, my parents phoned the vets and asked what breed they’d recommend for a family and they said border terriers or staffies.

 

[vanilla cupcakes]

Thanks so much, this thread has helped me so much! Using lots of positive reinforcements but sometimes it just feels like he’s not taking anything in. I keep telling myself one day we’ll look back and it’ll seem like forever ago it was so hard so it’s reassuring to know this will be the case!

 

[S4buk]

We were quite strict. She went to bed around 10pm and then covered the crate with blanket. I think she cried or woke up early the first few nights but we just ignored it after a while. She now sleeps until one of us wakes up, loves her crate (make it feel like her bedroom/own space). She will take herself off to bed most nights if we stay up later than 10pm (which upsets me as I don’t get my goodnight cuddles!) but yeah, stick with it.

 

[Felix08]

I think rescue standards for homes are too high. Surely it’s better for that dog to be in a home than in a kennel. I don’t agree with the always adopt anyway, I’ve said before on here it should be adopt or but from a reputable breeder. At the end of the day some people like you try to rescue, cannot but have a perfectly good home for the dog, so go and buy a dog instead. So I guess inadvertently rescues are helping breeders as they their rejections force people to then go and buy from a breeder. Yet they’ll preach not to buy and just to adopt.

Agree! Luckily my family could adopt two dogs without having a garden. But after that Its was way harder to adopt because we didnt have a garden. However We walk our dog a min of 4 times a day and I know of people who just dump their dog in the garden and dont walk them.

 

[maltybiscuit]

I definitely had a phase of OMG what have we done. It is hard.

Once you’re out of the puppy phase and they know what to do/where to poo etc it is much better. I think after about 6 months of age the dog starts to calm down. I think you would regret giving her up.

This. Puppies are shitbags when you first get them - and nobody tells you. Everyone knows how hard having a newborn baby is, but I feel like puppies being hard work and needy is some big secret nobody talks about.

Ours calmed down after about 6 months, but he drove us both to the edge with attention seeking, yapping and peeing for a while. He’s a terrier though and they’re notorious!

He’s 5 now and I am so glad we didn’t give him up, he’s my absolute life.

 

[S4buk]

Weirdly enough, my cockapoo loved the pub! There’s so many smells, different kinds of dogs, humans, kids and I think it really helped her social skills. I’ve known people who don’t take their pups out in these social situations but it really turned a corner for me, it takes a good few tries because she wanted to play with everyone but now she’s so comfortable.

not sure if you’re crate training, but another tip from tattler is make sure that their crate is their bedroom and safe space. I would never go into her crate or try to handle her whilst she’s in there, that way she knows if she doesn’t want to play or is fed up she can go in there and won’t be bothered. I locked her in at night for the first couple of months but now she just sleeps on the sofa - but I would definitely recommend crate training - she loves it.

 

[SleepyDibillo]

I think the vomitting and panting in the car is a normal reaction for some dogs, some can be anxious of travelling in the car or suffer car sickness. Our puppy is like this and we’ve read to take it slowly with car trips building up slowly over time to get them used to the motion etc.

Feeding a human diet to a puppy on the other hand is definitely not being a responsible dog owner!

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Get the best you can afford is my advice and also ask your vet who will pay them direct.

I like petplan but theyre not cheap. Look at all of life cover and as high an annual limit as it allows. Something like a bad broken leg can cost in excess of £6k.

The supermarkets are generally not bad Tesco / Sainsburys.

 

[Bleurghgram]

@Former_Antelopee it’s not that I don’t want to leave her cry (she’s been alone in a kennel for 6 months, I suspect I’d be better leaving her to settle herself rather than getting used to me coming) but I’m end of terrace and I don’t want to disturb my neighbour. The first night she made it 3 hours before barking and last night 4 so I’m hoping she’ll build it up. Both nights I’ve walked in the room, set a bed up on the other side and told her to go to her bed away from me with no fuss or reassurance. Both times she’s slept in her bed quietly until I’ve invited her to come to me at 8am 🥹 so I’m trying to be as harsh as I can without annoying next door.

 

[strawberrysunshine_x]

My pup is 6 months old but he's still currently having 3 meals a day as the vet said to keep it that way until 1 year. The last few days he's just not interested in his breakfast or lunch at all. I walk him early morning then give him his breakfast after, but he just isn't interested. But in the evening after his walk he'll scoff it all down. I wondered if he'd decided to be picky about his biscuits so I tried him on a handful of different ones and he ate them but wasn't particularly bothered - it took me a few minutes of waving them under his nose. I boiled some chicken and gave him that with a handful of his usual biscuits which he scoffed down. Could it be that he's just being picky, or gone off the biscuits we were giving him? I know you shouldn't change a dogs biscuits suddenly, but if he's not eating them I don't know what to do? Or could this be his way of telling us he no longer needs 3 meals?

He seems fine in himself, really playful etc. I get access to an online vet service through my insurance so I think I'm going to speak to them tonight as I can see on the camera he's still not touched his biscuits from breakfast but I just wondered if anyone had experienced similar or had any thoughts?

I don’t know if someone has said this but can you leave the dish down all day so he can graze? Our dog does this I’ve never know a dog to leave food before our collie . Well offer it and he will only eat half or so sometimes and then he goes back to it around 11 am. Or sometimes later on. But he always eats his tea in one go