Tell me it gets better

[Mudmagnets]

Thankyou everyone, I took on some of your advice last night and Hattie had no accidents and I had a good sleep, so i don't feel like I'm rubbish at this,(this morning anyway).

No of course you are not rubbish at all. Having a first new pup about the place, is rather like having a first new baby - a bit of a shock to the system   and with a babe at least you can put a nappy on them .

Keep going - you'll get there, just don't expect too much too soon, like babes they all have different development stages   and.........IT GETS BETTER


for the record, no I don't have children - just going on instinct here, perhaps i should say 'must be like having'........

[badgeralbert]

We crated Maisy at night for the first couple of weeks and we didnt get up to her at night either, however, every morning she had poo'd in there and the whole bedding, and her was covered, sometimes she had poo'd twice.  She never cried in the night (that we heard).  As she hadnt had her jabs when I nipped out somewhere she couldnt come I would crate her then and come back and she had poo'd again, so sometimes her bedding was being washed 3 times a day and when there are 3 children here my washing machines non stop anyway - dont mind so much if I can get it dry in the sunshine, but hey you know how the weathers been too.

Badger has access to the whole of the downstairs but sleeps on the sofa every day mainly, so Maisy would have been able to see him from her crate.  Anyway, this pooing was beginning to get me down so we stopped using the crate and started using the kitchen at night.  We still have the odd accident but it doesnt matter because she hasnt walked in it and although she didnt appear to be stressed by it I wasnt sure if she was or not.

Badger does get a bit miffed with her sometimes and does growl at her, although it doesnt put her off, he is deaf and has cataracts so cannot see (I remember posting in a thread of yours before).  I think she would get the message if he could "put her in her place" but he is unable to.  He enjoys being on the settee and at the moment she cant get up there and if we put her up there with us she jumps down and would rather be on the floor.

Anyway, when she is annoying Badger too much he starts barking, so I then "rescue" him by distracting her away and outside to play.  I do in fact feel sorry for her because she just wants to play and doesnt understand why he wont play with her.  At times when she is like this I will take her in the garden and play, take her for a walk, or take her up to my mum and dads to play with their Westie for 1/2 hour.  Although it is HIM she wants to play with!

If I have to go out now and she cant come with me (which isnt very often) but like tonight my son has athletics after school and I want to go into school, I will shut her in the kitchen and badger is left with the living room and hall, I will not leave them unsupervised as I want to know they are safe and she may get too OTT with him as she is very excitable.

I dont know if its right or wrong doing what I do when I intervene but when I distract her I always say "Badgers had enough now, he's more of a great grandad to you than a big brother".  I wouldnt feel responsible leaving them when she is at him in her playful mood and this has worked for us from day 1.

Good luck 

[waggytails]

Sounds like I'm doing the same as you.  Millie has always been on the sofa its her comfy spot, Hattie's create is in the room we use all the time, so she is not separated from us, my kitchen is not very wide so isn't practical for her to stay in there.   I don't think she has a problem with her create as last night she went in there on her own and fell a sleep, I woke her at 12pm let her out for a wee and a poo and she did not stir until 4.30am.  I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do at that time, as she is a little live wire and wont settle when I put her back so I ended up giving her breakfast at 5am and playing with her, what would you do, give her breakfast and put her back in the create, no play. She does seem very hungry.  We play with Hattie on the floor, with Millie on the sofa and try and stop Hattie jumping up as Millie is a bit grumpy when she is trying to sleep and she keeps jumping in her face, they are never left alone as I'm not to sure how Millie would cope.  I don't know how people cope with children and dogs, I don't have children and I find this hard work, I think you all must work very hard.

[badgeralbert]

Well I dont have much experience, only learning as I am going along to be honest.

But, if she seems happy in there and will go in there to sleep of her own accord then she must like it.  We had to lift Maisy every time we wanted her to go in there and I got the impression she didnt like it because she looked at us like we were telling her off.  Far from it, but after a while we decided to use the kitchen instead, she still looks at us like we're telling her off, I guess she just doesnt like being left, she likes to be involved in everything which she is 90% of the time.

I have never got up in the night to Maisy, but I think you're supposed to carry her outside let her do her business and then put her back without talking???  Not really sure but I'm sure someone else will tell you.  Maisy would be hungry too at that time, in fact Maisy would be hungry 24 hours a day, and Badger too and he has always been like that.  The number of times I have changed my kitchen bin until I found one that is "cocker proof".

We play with Maisy everywhere, she's outside now with the children but they'll be in in a minute cos they're trying to play football, and she is too  so it'll be "mum, can Maisy come in with you now".

[waggytails]

Thankyou for your help and advice its good to here how you all cope with your puppies, I don't feel like I'm doing it all wrong.  Although its not as easy as I thought it would be.

[badgeralbert]

Course you're not doing it wrong, after all is there a right and wrong way??  I sometimes wonder if I am doing it wrong, but no I am learning as I go along, as we all are.

I have just made my hubby take Maisy for a walk, and guess what, she didnt want to go with him, it is the first walk he has taken her on, although he does work long hours etc and wouldnt make a habit of it anyway.  But I guess we've done that wrong, we should've taken it in turns, oh well, we've learnt the hard way and will now make it right - as best we can!

[JasperPop]

I am sure you are doing a wonderful job!

It will all just click one day and you will forget you felt this way. 

I might have missed it, but has anyone asked what time you are giving her last feed?  If you arent already then you could try making her last feed a bit earlier so that her tummy has has a bit more time to process it and get rid    Also I would be removing water overnight at this age.  Stick with it and she will be fine, she is still very young and it is rather like having a baby for a while but it soon passes honestly

[waggytails]

I give her last meal of the day at around 5.30pm or 6pm. I do remove her water, for the last 2 nights I have woken her up at 12am to go for wee wees and then she wakes up at around 4am for toilet.  When she wakes at this time I put her back in her bed/create but she is so giddy and just wants to play she wont settle. Am I supposed to be a little harder with her and let her cry, if so for how long, Its a bit tyring getting up and playing at this time. Any advice on this as me and husband not quite sure the best was to deal with it/

[tiamaria]

I think i was lucky, as Charley really didnt want to soil his crate, so did cry when he needed to go - which for me was good as i was always planning to wake up in the night with him. His crate was only 24 inch or something, so he didnt have the room to do it. I dont know if this helped? If i remember rightly he did cry at first when he woke in the night for a wee, but i just ignored him, he soon settled as i was on the settee next to him.

I does get better honest - just pick a way and stick with it! 

[happydog]

and then she wakes up at around 4am for toilet.  When she wakes at this time I put her back in her bed/create but she is so giddy and just wants to play she wont settle. Am I supposed to be a little harder with her and let her cry, if so for how long, Its a bit tyring getting up and playing at this time. Any advice on this as me and husband not quite sure the best was to deal with it/

I would treat it as though it was the middle of the night    and minimise interaction at this time. Act as if you were still half asleep . I used a different quieter tone of voice at this time and introduced a few key words and phrases such as 'back to bed' and 'night night', then left her and went back to bed, even if it was only for half an hour. If she was still crying I got up and repeated the actions. ie I took her out into the garden with minimal interaction and the same quiet tone of voice. . It took a couple of days for her to cotton on that if she did cry at that time then all she got was the oppertunity to have a wee. As soon as I got up my tone of voice made it easy for her to interpret that this was the time the fun began and not before.

[PennyB]

a 13 year old dog, would be and can be too set in his/her ways., and can find a new puppy very tiresome, just let your older dog have a space she /he can retreat too if he/she feels the need to get away from a young bouncy puppy.

i would'nt seperate them, as this could cause problems in the long run, as long as you can supervise them, i think you need to let your dogs bond with each other, an  older dog will tell a new puppy off, this is normal, as long as you supervise them, i'm sure they will all get on great, but can take a little while while everyone gets used to each other.

I agree and sometimes it sounds like they've ripped a limb off the noise a pup will make and while this needs to be checked out to make sure the pup is OK I usually do this once the pup has stopped whinging about it (not at the time as this can also set up a scenario where pup will become whingy full stop and pander to this) and more often than not they're fine. I recently fostered a very confident pup and my two would grumble at him if he stepped over the mark and got quite forceful if he didn't listen but he soon learnt not to be such a pain in the neck. I will often leave them to it but supervise and only crate the pup or separate them if I go out the house until I'm happy things are OK.

I also agree that if you get up in the night to minimise any interaction with the pup as they can learn this is a good way to get attention --- I don't even give eye contact mainly as I don't really want to open my eyes too much as I stumble around to let a pup out so I can go back to bed as quickly as possible.