Puppy Advice (merged)

callywally

Try leaving a radio on low on a station with lots of talking or gentle music and maybe a light on over night. Try a stuffed kong toy stuffed with some of his own food this may distract him for a while if he is interested in food. take him for a walk last thing at night to get him tired so he settles.

Try leaving him for a couple of minites and when you come back ignore him for a while.dont make a big fuss before you leave him or when you come back. If you make a big deal of leaving and coming back it will only reinforce his behaviour if you are laid back about it he will slowly realise its ok.If you leave him for acouple of minites several times a day in this way and gradually increase the time you leave him he should begin to realise that its no big deal. It may take quite a long time but he should slowly settle if you dont make it a big issue. hope this helps

foreign_correspondent

callywally wrote: »

Try leaving him for a couple of minites and when you come back ignore him for a while.dont make a big fuss before you leave him or when you come back. If you make a big deal of leaving and coming back it will only reinforce his behaviour if you are laid back about it he will slowly realise its ok.If you leave him for acouple of minites several times a day in this way and gradually increase the time you leave him he should begin to realise that its no big deal. It may take quite a long time but he should slowly settle if you dont make it a big issue. hope this helps

exactly what I was going to say - keep going and coming back all the time during the day so he gets used to being left and believes that you will return - you say you are working - is he being left alone in the day?

foreign_correspondent

no, not directed at you at all - sorry if it came across that way - I know lots and lots of people do feed dogs this - but I cannot see any reason why once they are able to eat solid food, or why this is a common practice!?!
To me it does seem stupid and pointless - because Weetabix has no properties that make it a particularly good dog food and is not particularly cheap either, and the added salt and sugar is not really a good idea.

Hintza

You haven't said how old they are?

But regardless I agree with most of the posts on here. Way too much is being fed.

But at the end of the day their requirements will also depend on the activity levels. Our 18 month old springer is on one meal a day mixture of broke and still puppy food complete (I would prefer to feed twice a day but he can be a bit of pain with his food at times and is popped into his cage until he has finishhed). To the eye he is probably a couple of kilos under weight and weighs 20kg. The suggested weight for him is 22-25kg but he is the fitest dog I have had in many years and will start working again when the shooting season starts.

The big plus point of keeping him on the slim side is he can get the scraps thrown his way without me having to worry. Most spaniels (all breeds) tend to be way overweight in this country.

Cut them back, treat them as dogs and then you can fine tune it as you go.

Paparika

Mine is crated when we leave the house and pup howls the house down.

i popped to the corner shop a few days ago and seeing as i can't trust him, i popped him in his crate, when i came back i could hear him half way down the street.

As for bed time, OH made the fatal mistake of allowing him up on our bed, and now its my bed or DS bed for him at night, as he will not stop the crying at night either.

Shortie

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

no, not directed at you at all - sorry if it came across that way

Cool, sorry if I mis-read what you wrote xx

campbell87_2

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

you say you are working - is he being left alone in the day?

Well by working I mean we need our sleep, my brother goes to college every day and Im back at uni now so will be gone most days too and work all weekend. My dad works mon - sat so is usually only around early mornings and evenings and my mum works 2 nights a week. Generally mum is always home but there are times when she and dad will go out on his days off or she will pop out with friends for a few hours during the week, plus she needs to get her sleep when she comes in off a night shift.

We will definatly be trying to leave him periodically over the next few days and increase it until he settles, its just a case of buying some ear plugs I think hah!

foreign_correspondent

thats cool, I can see why you read it like that - sometimes we write stuff quickly on here without reading it back carefully!

Shortie

Hintza wrote: »

You haven't said how old they are?

Yes that would have helped, lol

Our b*tch is 7 months and dog is 6 months old.

Regarding excercise they get a 'walk round the block' every day (15 mins) and a good run down the park twice a week. At the weekend we all trot off to the local woods for a good session (even in the rain, the dogs must hate me then as they're real tarts and won't go in the garden in the rain). Oh and they have contstant access to our garden (~100 foot long?) even when we're not as they easily fot through the cat flap

One probably very daft question... the quantities the dried puppyfood give are by dog's 'breed size' and age in weeks... is this per meal (they get fed twice a day) or for the whole day? It looks tiny if spread across 2 meals (once I've taken 25% off the amount quoted but I think it would be too much if it was per meal... if that makes any sense?

BridgetJones_2

Please get them neutered.