So I've made it through almost two weeks with our Cocker Spaniel puppy! I meant to wrote sooner but have just been too tired
. We bought a crate straight away and put soft blankets and cuddly toys inside. I also rubbed a small blanket on the mother dog for her scent and put that in the crate too. By the end of the first week she was going into the crate on her own to sleep at night, once she's asleep we do latch the crate door.
My hubby has been on night duty, sleeping on the sofa next to the crate. She's down to having to go outside just once during the night, usually early morning about 3-4 am.
I tried putting down puppy pads but she chews them immediately, same with newspaper - she shreds it up so we quickly gave up that idea and just take her outside.
I've been taking her outside at least once an hour, more often if she looks like she's smelling around too much. I have her poos timed fairly well but the wees are totally inconsistent so as often as I take her there are still accidents. Sometimes there might only be 15 minutes between wees. Tonite after sitting with her outside for 20 minutes she wee'd on the kitchen floor immediately after bringing her inside so she obviously doesn't understand yet! So that was a bit frustrating.
We also have a big problem with her play biting right now, especially with our 8 year old son. We are trying the method of giving her a toy to play with or giving her a disapproving "no" but neither are really working.
She has also created what I call her "chewing corner". This is where she grabs things and takes them to chew. So when a sock or shoe, or for example today one of the coasters was missing off the coffee table, we check the "chewing corner" and can usually find it there. This little girl is awfully fast, I feel like I watch her like a hawk but somehow she is still able to sneak naughty things she shouldn't have into the chewing corner!
I had flower plants coming up in the garden but they've all disappeared now, Stella has taken care of all my plants
(I guess I'd rather plant new ones that I can be sure are dog friendly anyway.)
So does this all sound pretty typical for a cocker spaniel puppy in the first weeks??