Puppy Advice (merged)

happytails

i agree with georgina, dont use either of them and get straight to teaching your dog to go outside

I dont leave my dogs with a water bowl at night unless its really hot, i always have the window open (even a small bit in winter) to help keep them cool, never had a problem.

suki1964

Neither.

Keep puppy in rooms that have hard floors till you learn how to tell the signs and puppy can hold a bit longer. None of my pups made it into the living room for a few weeks and then it was only when we were there to supervise.

Hard floors make clean up easy and has the benefit of not teaching pup that toilet indoors is ok sometimes and also makes you more determined to work at the toileting

suki1964

Just hope you haven't been conned into spending a lot of money for a "designer dog" when you are really buying a cross breed

That aside to bring home a pup you need
Travel crate for car
Old towels - loads off
Dog blankets (try charity shops)
A banana box - as first bed - all pups chew and all pups chew their beds - boxes are ideal this age unless you are going to be buying a crate then the crate will also double as bed
Two bowels - water and food - stainless steel and not too deep for now
Collar and lead - get the expanding nylon puppy one from wilkinsons for a couple of quid - will last a few months
bristle brush
Comb
baby wipes (no need to bath a pup - a wipe down with a baby wipe will be enough to keep wee drips and food mess at bay)
kitchen towel - loads off - for all those accidents around the house
I also found a lemon spray cleaner was handy
Soft toys (charity shops)
Chews - rawhides,pigs ears, jerky etc - loads

and of course the food that hes been weaned onto

Enjoy

glitterycloud

we have just got a lab puppy and we take him out after each meal, after sleeping, after playing and anytime he looks like he is looking for a spot to go. so far so good, ok he has had the occasional accident but thats ok as its my fault. He goes outside before bedtime and he sleeps in the hallway on a dog cushion. He doesn't wail for us and only attracts us when he needs the toilet by whimping or scratching at the door (not something we want to happen) and i take him out what ever time it is, tho last night hubby took him out in early hours and he did a wee but no poo, then he was put back into the hall and walked into the bathroom and promptly pooed there!!!
I think hubby didnt take him to his usual spot for pooing so he didnt know where to go! i hope it isnt something that continues as he has been so good with his toilet training.

daveyliver

daisykinn1 wrote: »

DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE.

Oh really? How many dogs have you bred and for how many years? My friend breeds bullmastiffs and bulldogs, The advice was from her she has had many winners in dog shows and people come from miles around for her pups and pay top dollar!

Ok if your bone idle and leave the dog alone for x amount of hours overnight then dont follow this advice but you shouldnt own a pet either

Raksha

i_am_really_rich!! wrote: »

You will probably find if the crate is not too big that she won't go overnight in the crate. Dogs don't usually like to toilet in their beds. I had my puppy in a cardboard box next to my bed for the first couple of weeks until he got too big and i never had a night time accident. Just had to get up really early for a while until he learned to hold it.

A puppy is like a baby, and until it is physically able to 'hold on' it will wet where ever it happens to find itself. By keeping a pup in a small crate, you are encouraging/teaching it to wee in the crate - this is not 'crate training'.

Be prepared to get up once, possibly twice in the night to let the puppy out and reward it for going outside rather than indoors (but don't forget the relief it will feel just 'going' is a reward too.)

Please don't leave your puppy without water for any length of time, especially if feeding it a dry complete food - their whole system, including that for digesting and the nervous system depends on being sufficiently hydrated. The damage may not be visible in the early years, but how many dogs have 'kidney problems' in later life?

SallyUK

I really need some help with this please.

We are on the lookout for a new puppy. We know the breed that we want.

We were given the contact number for a lady who lives in Gloucestershire and when I rang her to enquire, she was very, very pleasant and offered lots of info over the phone. To cut a long story short, we arranged to travel down to Gloucestershire last weekend.

As soon as we walked into the house, we should have turned and walked back out again, the conditions were absolutely diabolical. There was faeces and urine everywhere. She had 12 puppies, four adult dogs, one adult Newfie, and two cats, one with three legs and a labrador which she admitted would attack the puppies if she allowed it in beside the puppies.

The boy puppies were in one room, the girl puppies were in another - both rooms were extremely small and cramped. Again, everything was absolutely filthy. Both Mums were present and looked in quite good condition, although their coats didn't feel very good. The puppies themselves were very lifeless, the ones that did decide to move, were extremely unsteady on their feet and seemed to find it difficult to walk even a few steps. Others (the ones that did venture out of the pen) were hiding out of sight in behind items of furniture and behind the fireplace. We spent over three hours there, and not one puppy became fully awake or wanted to play in all that time. There wasn't much sign of much food in their dish and very little water.

They just didn't behave like healthy puppies should and I've seen lots in my time!

We had taken some pictures of one little girl pup and when I got home I sent the pictures to a breeder friend of mine. As soon as she seen them, she was on the phone and crying her eyes out. She told me that this little pup was showing signs of having a hereditary eye condition that leads to blindness and that I should not consider buying this pup.

I've since found out that this breeder has a very bad reputation, and has actually had people go to see her before and they've turned and walked straight back out again. She has apparently also been reported to the RSPCA, but they have said that as long as the pups have food and water, then there's little they can do.

She even said to me that if she didn't sell them all by the time they were 12 weeks old, she'd just get rid of them!!!!

I have contacted the RSPCA again and was told they'd pass it to their resource centre, but when I asked what would happen to the pups, she told me she didn't know!

I also contacted the Environmental Health people for that area, but again, I've still to hear back from them.

I've also contacted the Editor of K9 magazine who has agreed to run a story, but this isn't helping the dogs in the meantime.

I can't sleep properly for thinking about these poor dogs.

I wondered if there was anyone on this forum who perhaps lived in the GL15 area and who would be willing to help me find out how the puppies are?

Thanks,

Sally
x

tbain

Well thank you for all the advice. We collected our Shih Tzu puppy today and I am going to start as I mean to go on and use neither newspaper or pads. I am going to just let her out into the garden every hour or two for the next few weeks . So far today she has done her business in the garden 3 times only only peed in the house once! I know there's a lot of work ahead but that's a promising start.

chocolatepennyfarthing

Keep us posted. Collect my puppy in 4 weeks so keen to hear how things go.

daisykinn1

daveyliver wrote: »

Oh really? How many dogs have you bred and for how many years? My friend breeds bullmastiffs and bulldogs, The advice was from her she has had many winners in dog shows and people come from miles around for her pups and pay top dollar!

Ok if your bone idle and leave the dog alone for x amount of hours overnight then dont follow this advice but you shouldnt own a pet either

I've had dogs all my life. As a family we also fostered dogs for the RSPCA. At one point we had 7 in the family and all the family dogs have had full lives living 16yrs+. I also have a degree in Animal Science. So my opinion is correct, like it or not. Depriving a dog access to water is neglect, does not aid house training and can lead to serious kidney problems later in life.

And no he isn't left alone but thank you for the concern. He's just shown his appreciation by doing an audible fart!!!

Btw do you think your 'friend' is responsible to be breeding this type of dog? Do you know how many unwanted mastiffs are currently in shelters? Just a thought