Very cute Harley often sleeps on our wooden floors so I wouldn't worry about that. I would cut his meals down and start looking for a better kibble as this will helps
Thanks everyone he is using his cuteness to his advantage and being spoilt with toys and playtime We have solid poo I never thought I'd be so excited to see solid dog poo but we have decreased his food allowance to 40g per meal 4times a day and putting 100g away for treats and he is still not eating all of his 3rd and 4th meals but drinking plenty! Training wise he sleeps so much I am finding it hard to split training treats from meals is this a problem? Maybe that's why he won't eat all of his meals. He's very active in the morning and so tired in the afternoon and evening. Nighttime isn't too bad although I'm feeling the sleep deprivation in myself. He goes to bed at 11pm we are taking him out for a wee at 03.20am tonight will be 03.30 but then he is awake and desperate to play at 0530. This is too early and although fine for now but not forever, we would love to push bk to 06am does anyone have any advice on how to do this other than ignore him? we are going down the cold turkey route and he only cries for a max 30 mins after he comes back in at the 3am wee break (hopefully I didn't jinx it) Finally, Dexter cries the minute we leave the room, I've started closing the crate and leaving the room for 3 seconds click treat and repeat we are up to 10 seconds but id love to get bk to the gym/take a shower when OH is out at work at some point I know it's still early though but anything we can do now would be beneficial Thanks in advance for all your help I thought I was prepared for these things already but reading is not the same as real life haha
On the plus side Dexter didn't whine once last night until he heard my other half getting up for work at 0530 he did the let out and played with him until he left at 06.45 then he was back in his crate and whining again so I came down at 0700 and he's not stopped following me since...this is the first day someone hasn't been in the living room with him all the time...I need to wash up at some point but he keeps following me into the kitchen I'm reluctant to put him in the crate for 10 mins alone in living room because he will howl the street down, or should I introduce him to his first king and hope it distracts him in the crate?
You could just try washing up with him at your feet... Or yes, give him a kong on his crate. That should win you 10 minutes! I know it's hard at this time, but do remember he is just a tiny baby. He's not being naughty; he just needs to learn it is safe to be away from you for a few minutes! Another approach - you say he sleeps a lot later in the day. Then you could just leave all the household chores etc till then, and spend your morning playing and interacting with him. You can spend very short intervals doing training already - sit, playing fetch, etc.
Thanks karen, I'm more than happy for him to come wash up with me I love his company but I'm also keen for him to learn to be alone and occupy himself for short periods of time for when I'm back to work. you're right though he is still a baby and I understand his reluctance to be alone. We are doing very well with the house training no accidents in 4 days and sit for please is coming along nicely, as is recall although I'm not helping by automatically saying 'come' before he knows what it means. Fetch is non existent he is happy to chase but not return, I imagine that will come with time basically I'm thoroughly enjoying every second but very worried about returning to work and leaving him alone for 1 hour
I may be wrong, but I think by "washing up", Phoenix88 means go wash herself, as opposed to our British definition of doing the dishes? Some things can't wait until the puppy's asleep but, until you've done some separation training, being away from him for any length of time will cause whining and distress, so you have a couple of options for those things that absolutely have to be done; either take him with you, or distract him so he doesn't even realise you're gone. I used to take Willow into the bathroom with me when she was very little. Later on, I just left the door open and let her wander in if she wanted. We're in an apartment so didn't have to worry about stairs. She used to enjoy getting into the shower with me. Now, she thinks it is the work of the devil Actually, once you've done a bit of work on it and are past the few seconds stage, going to the loo and showering are quite useful for teaching separation because you're only in there for a short amount of time and the puppy can hear you in there. Even now, though, at a year of age, my two (especially Willow) like to sit outside the bathroom door when I'm in there
Hi Fiona, I am British too washing up and washing myself would both be an added bonus at this point haha! I will let him in the kitchen with me to wash up, his toilet training is good I think we can happily add another room into his life. In regards to seperation training do you have any tips? I am back to the office on Friday due to u foreseen circumstances! The doggy day care lady will be coming after 1 hour and staying then I have family coming for the whole afternoon but I'm worried about leaving him for 1 hour when I can't leave the room for 10 seconds? Daniella
Haha, sorry, I don't know why but I assumed Phoenix was the place you lived! Since time is of the essence, I would attack this with distraction. Try to tire him out before doing your separation training; play with him, and feed him a meal. Then, leave him with a kong - once he starts to chomp on this, leave the room for a short while. He'll probably be too absorbed to even notice. If he's OK, leave again for a bit longer etc etc. You may even find that he goes to sleep from being tired and having a full belly - this is brilliant and a good thing for him to learn to settle while you're gone. I spent days doing this kind of thing with Willow. I work from home, (although "work" is a pretty loose term for what I did in those first few weeks!) and so put my laptop in the bedroom and worked in there, with Willow in her crate in the living room. I started at a few minutes at a time, but quite quickly managed to build it up to an hour. Once she got the idea that me disappearing was normal, and that I was coming back, it seemed quite a quick process to up the time. She'd just go to sleep. For the first few days, because it's so soon, leave him with a lot of frozen Kongs. Put all his meals in them. That will hopefully keep him occupied for an hour. Good luck!
Thanks Fiona I will give that a try, I introduced him to a king this morning with some kibble frankfurters chicken and a bit of peanut butter but he just ignored it. I tried to make it into a game which caught his interest a bit but then he got frustrated and gave up maybe the puppy size I got is too small for his mouth. On the plus side he is currently snoozing in his crate with the door open so I can get on with some chores
Gorgeous! I would go easy with the treats, their puppy tummies can be very sensitive at this age. Kibble is fine for a few weeks. Be sure to give it slightly soaked and from below, not above. A few puppies have been lost due to choking on dry treats, their swallow isn't quite efficient yet. Skinner's salmon and rice is a great food - no iffy ingredients and a very good price
Thankyou Boogie I was going to ask for some food reccomendations I had no idea that pedigree wasn't great as it was what the breeder was feeding him! We met the doggy day care lady yesterday and she recommended science plan? Talking of which, the doggy day care lady was a police dog breeder and 2 of her own Labradors were police dogs so very very well trained I was so impressed and Dexter got along with them great and was playing and licking them within minutes but then he took it too far and one of the adult labs went to bite him - there was no contact but the sound was horrible and Dexter came and sat behind my legs the rest of the time we were there although before we left she save the other lab a quick lick goodbye. I hope this hasn't been an awful experience that will affect him in the future!! Leaving him in his crate is a million times better today, a few whines seconds after I leave but then settles. Still not impressed with soggy kibble filled kongs and not food motivated at all!
I am so slow checking in with you to congratulate you on the safe arrival home of another Dexter and to see how things are going.He is a little cutie,Dexter didn't come 'airmail' to us until he was 5 months so I didn't know real puppy Dexter so it's lovely to meet yours!its lovely to meet all the puppies to be honest x
I'm sure he won't have been affected by being told off by the other Lab. It's important he learns manners around other dogs, and that's all that was happening. It can sound horrible sometimes. Dogs are very good at sounding terrifying when it's really only a warning. It's nice that he trusts you to protect him from the horrible grumpy old man My two were on Science Plan as puppies. It was OK. They seemed to do well on it. I found it a bit greasy and the pellets were too small to use as treats. Ask about diet and you'll be given a million different answers. As long as your puppy has good, firm poos and lots of energy, sparkly eyes and shiny coat, you're not going too far wrong.
Don't worry about the older dog telling him off, it will do him good. My Tatze doesn't do enough of it and I often have to intervene to stop the pup harassing her. When my friend's Lab visits us he won't stand for being jumped all over and Twiglet knows the boundaries really well with him. It sounds worse than it is and the sooner they learn to speak DOG the better
Jura got a telling off from my mum's collie at 8 weeks old (and has since too!) and it hasn't affected her at all, she still loves the collie to pieces! It sounds horrible but it was just a warning that she was getting a bit over the top and to calm it down.
Thanks everyone that puts my mind at ease! He met my mums dog a lovely beagle yesterday and was absolutely fine only problem was he got very tired very quickly and the beagle still wanted to play so we made sure he had somewhere to go and rest for a little bit! Few accidents in the house over past couple days after none at all since being home, our own fault though he's doing so well we are becoming complacent with wee duty. Bed time at 10pm and we shut the curtains last night we are still doing the 3am toilet trip but other than that he slept through too 06.15 so very happy with that! Daniella
Not sure if anyone has responded to your question about hiccups but it's very normal for a puppy They tend to grow out of it as they get older but our boy Obi is 3 and stil has the hiccups sometimes. Dexter is so cute! Welcome, Dexter
Hi everyone, Sorry for the lack of updates on Dexter we have been very busy he can now sit (very well) lie down (not really learned cue yet) toilet training and sleeping in crate is really good and he sits for please very well we have also started the 'no mugging' rule and he's picked it up nicely. Oberon I'm glad to hear hiccups are normal he seems to constantly hiccup after meals but it is very cute he manages to calm himself down. I have a whole round of new questions! Dexter is very good with children even when they try very nicely to stroke him and end up patting (face palming him) on the nose or pushing him away he doesn't get angry at all but he has started nipping toddlers fingers- not a huge problem as we don't have kids but our friends do so we would like to nip it in the bud - pun intended! We have been doing some recall in the garden and generally it's good if there are no distractions at all but he loves digging up the bulbs in the garden at eating them!? I really struggle to stop this! Finally when we are doing recall I'm struggling to differentiate it from walking to heel as he ends up following me around the garden- which means there's not enough space between us for him to 'come to me' as he's already always there! Should I only be walking to heel on the lead?
