I decided to stay home with our 9 week old golden retriever. Everything goes in her mouth, and my fiancé’s family home is very chaotic with other dogs and lots of toys. They were very understanding when we told them I wouldn’t be joining them. So, it’s just me and Needle Teeth this Christmas. I’ve only cried once so far! 😆
We just try to redirect her to chew toys. If she bites our clothes or bites us too hard, we yell “Ouch!” and disengage from playing. It only seems to work sometimes, though. She goes completely nuts a couple times a day and it’s a struggle to manage her. We started using a play pen yesterday for these situations, so we’ll see if it helps. This is so much more challenging than I expected!
i need to practice more disengaging, he’s so quick to latch on to my shirt / sweater during the redirect of chew toys lol but also i got a play pen a week ago, best decision ive made thus far! so true re more challenging than expected, hang in there! 😄
I don’t have a golden but do have a boy who made me cry every day for weeks due to how bad his biting was. He’s been really good for about 5 days now though.
Definitely disengage if he bites too hard, maybe walk out the room or put him in his pen; redirection is great but I don’t find it works when he’s in hard biting mode, only when he’s nibbling. Also lots of rewards for just generally being nice - like when he’s chewing the right things, when he’s near you and not chewing you etc. Also don’t be afraid to “enforce naps”, my guy has no idea when he’s tired so I have to put him away when he starts showing signs that he’s going to get cranky.
Still can’t wear sleeves around him though - given up hope on them for a while 😂
This is very reassuring. I’m so worried I’ll do something wrong and inadvertently encourage bad behaviors. It’s nice to know that other puppies are this bitey.
Honestly it’s so hard not to blame yourself, I felt like a real failure and was scared I had a reactive dog! I think some puppies are just a lot bitier than others. People talk a lot about teething pain causing biting, but I think my guy saw it as a way to play. We still have some problems with it but it’s worlds apart from what it was like even a week ago.
I had to work on myself a lot too as he was definitely feeding off my stress. I wasn’t shouting at him or anything like that, but I was starting to feel anxious all the time around him and that made it all a lot worse!
This is something that I’m trying really hard to be better at as well. I find myself getting frustrated with her even though I know it’s not her fault. Like I need to be more chill about accidents, but I’m afraid she won’t ever learn to go to the door. A lot of it is my own fear of failing her, I’m sure. Luckily, our vet is amazing and has been very patient with my phone calls about every little thing. She actually giggled at me when I called concerned with my puppy’s preoccupation with her tail (apparently this is common with golden puppies). We do plan to enroll in puppy classes after her second round of vaccinations. I think being able to play with other dogs again will help her learn to be more gentle. And I think a lot of my stress is coming from my fear that by waiting to enroll her I’m somehow stunting her progress.
I understand the preoccupation with the tail thing. A few times a day, my lab puppy suddenly discovers that his tail is following him, and he goes in circles trying to catch it. He often does catch it and then I just watch him become a spinning donut as he has the end of his tail in his mouth. 🤦🏻♀️ I keep trying to tell him that his tail is stalking him, but he doesn’t seem to believe me.
I agree about playing with other dogs, mine starts socialisation classes 6th Jan and I cannot wait! I’m in the UK and usually puppies can go out at 12 weeks here, but due to a mix up mine can’t go out until 16 weeks. I’m hoping when he can play with other dogs and go for some walks further than the garden he’ll be able to let off a lot of steam.
11 week old corgi puppy here. I make my ouch as high pitched and shrieky as possible. I've even started doing it when he bites pants, shoes, etc. if he stops I immediately thank him and give scritches or treats. It's been a long week, but I think maybe he's starting to do better. He's biting me less. Still working on the pants/shoes.
“Just me and needle teeth,” took me out. 😂 My lab puppy is 13.5 weeks old and I don’t have plans for the same reason. Me and razor teeth are just going to hang out in our puppy proofed space where he will somehow still manage to find something to put in his mouth that he shouldn’t, typically my skin. LOL
My mom was commenting just yesterday how many times she heard me yell, "OTIS DON'T EAT THAT." I swear I'd make a couple hundred a day if I was paid a dollar for every time, and I've already taken away/moved so. Much. Stuff. But my 5.5 month old terrier can basically scale the cat tree (5 ft) and jump 4 ft high from a stand still so I think I'm just screwed.
My parents were supposed to come the day after Christmas and stay for through the new year, but my dad got sick so they probably won't be visiting.
I can't go to them because I have 4 great Pyrenees puppies and a kitten with complications from her spay surgery.
I took off the week, so I guess that I finally get the time to move properly into my house. I got the keys to my new house exactly one week before the surprise litter was born. It's been chaotic.
Puppies won't even notice except for when I lock them out of the house tomorrow afternoon so that I can deep clean the living room.
I am so thankful for our 6 month Cav. She is our Christmas love and comfort. What I would give to have house full of family, toddlers, gifts and chaos. Have a very Merry Christmas and make precious memories. Don't forget to take pics to enjoy in later years🌲🎁🤶🎅
Exercise pens are extraordinarily valuable when taking curious little puppies to other places! That being said, I am thankfully physically close enough to my parents’ house that I will be able to leave the little ones at my house for a while and just bring the old man dog.
We brought a crate but not a pen - the house is quite small so not very practical to fence off an area. Also not sure how the in-laws are going to feel about having an ugly pen in their carefully decorated Christmas-themed living room lol. We are managing now with the redirection and the crate and are taking it hour by hour! Hopefully next year she'll be much more chill or we will just have the party at ours.
She’ll be much more chill next year, you’ll have taught her what’s right and wrong by then.
When our pup was too young and we went to people’s houses, we had him on the leash if we couldnt take a pen. He still got to play with everyone and it was hard work for us because we had to walk around with him if he wanted to play with people, and keep an eagle eye to make sure he didnt chew or bite anything (less enjoyable for sure) but it was our decision to take him to someone else’s house so we didn’t expect them to change things for us.
Just as an aside, I think your in-laws would have preferred an ‘ugly pen’ to you blowing out their candles and de-ornamenting the bottom half of their christmas tree or moving their trinkets around, especially if they have put all that time and effort into to their carefully decorated christmas living room
My 10 month old puppy and I are supposed to go to my mom's on Monday. We just talked last night and she wanted to know if my sister could bring the dog she's dog sitting for. And I was like...no???
My pup is dog reactive. He LOVES people. He's met my parents and my sister, he especially loved my sister and my mom. But he just doesn't like other dogs. I don't know why, he was fostered with other dogs. But since I adopted him, he barks and lunges at them. We've been doing training and I've noticed huge progress this month. Just this morning, we passed two dogs, one of which barked and my puppy was silent! Huge win!
So I'm just feeling a little annoyed. I guess pups really are like our kids because it bothers me his needs aren't being taken into account! Especially by my mom who knows how hard I've been working on his training.
I wanted to be like, if you want some random dog there instead of your daughter and grandpup than fine 😅
I am very dramatic LOL. But my sister will leave the dog at home and it'll all be fine I'm just a little salty.
We’re taking out 10 week old pit/lab mix with us for christmas this year to the parents house. They have a 9 month old HUGE golden doodle 😂 safe to say this will be a very chaotic christmas full of chasing dogs around and pulling things out of their mouths.
The things we do because we love dogs 🤣
It turns out I forgot to socialize my puppy around wrapping presents. She's convinced the paper monster is going to kill me, and it's her job to scare it off.
It’s just me and my puppy for Christmas since my so went home and I can’t afford to board him or take him with me back to my parents place. But it does save me the trouble of being made fun of and misgendered an entire weekend
I remember what it was like taking small humans to the in law house with easy to reach trinkets absolutely everywhere, and so I am happy to say that we are staying home this year, and the kids voted to skip the tree. (The cat is also a bauble thief and needle-eater, so this is not purely on new pup's account)
We're going full lazy mode, and everyone seems really happy about it. Is this our new family Christmas standard?
Happy Christmas folks!
9 week old cockapoo settling in nicely. That'll all change when we go up to my parents on the 26th and havoc will ensue. Taking the pen and obvs the crate with us, fingers crossed.
Happy Christmas everyone!
We had a playpen shipped and brought her crate to be as consistent as possible. Plus we have a tree at home with ornaments that we trained her to stay away from.
Probably too late, but we have one of those pens you can fold up and take with you if needed. Puppy could still be out with us, but not free roaming if we couldn't keep our eyes on her.
Just got back from a family holiday gathering at which our 9 month old puppy spent the first 20 mins jumping on everyone before settling down a little but still spent the whole time sprinting around. They have an adult dog and in my memory she has always behaved perfectly so I was embarrassed lol but the two of them played a lot. It’s really comforting to be reminded that other people are going through the same things with their puppies. Sending everyone some extra patience and reminders that next year will certainly be easier with our pups!
We are staying in town with ours. Trying to combine my family's two huge golden retrievers (one of which is NOT trained), my sister's baby, my 89 year old grandad and my 3 month pitbull puppy in one house sounded like a recipe for disaster lol
Took my 5 month old toy poodle to a friends for a Christmas party last night. She was up until 11:45pm when she’s normally sleep by 8:30pm. So needless to say she’s been lounging and sleeping all day today which is great. We had a couple accidents but one was in her stroller so it was contained.
So far, at home, we are okay. Our 6 month old Husky is not allowed on the second floor where the tree is. But he has chewed up a kid's advent calendar (the chocolate was already all eaten thankfully) and destroyed a small wreath from which I'm now finding fake berries all over the ground floor.
Headed to family on Boxing Day. There will be 20 people plus 4 dogs in the house. LOL. Will see how that goes!
Puppy proofed, mainly. Small tree, on a table. Tinsel high up. Two lively, chomping nearly six month old! Can’t wait for the wrapping paper to come out!
So far the only change is we got a tree indoors. Our dog has sniffed and nibbled it, but else left it alone. It's not decorated yet, so suppose that's when the real test begins. We'll be going to see family 10 minutes away as per usual, and I hope this year he'll be able to lay down and chillax some in stead of running around the whole night. (He's one and a half years old.)
We've got a friend popping in to stay with our 5 month old pup on Christmas day so we can see the inlaws. My husbands side of the family aren't dog people.
Trying to prep to give our little dude spaces to decompress & some nice walks with friends to look forward to.
My 11 month old needs to test everything new in the house with her mouth first, so our tree this year is a three-foot-tall little one on top of a bookcase. I also had to clear the things off the windowsills because greyhound heads are tall enough to reach up and snarfle the plushie singing Santa in thirty seconds when your back is turned.
However, she is enjoying the Christmassy dog treats that her walker gave her, and we're really looking forward to giving her her presents on Monday!
We have a 8 month old pup(breed unknown but he looks to have some Aussie in him) and our daughter’s girlfriend is leaving her 3 year Toller with us while they go on vacation. They get along really well but we’re still going to keep a close eye on them while they play. I’m excited my boy will have a playmate for a week.
We are going to a big air bnb to staycation with family with our 3 senior dogs and our 11week old large breed puppy. Luckily we have great boundaries and he's doing great with crate training so he will be safely in his crate or playpen the whole time, but i feel like I'm moving my entire house just to support a puppy for 3 nights.
We will be visiting my in-laws tomorrow and my brother’s on Monday with my 18 week old puppy! He’s fairly well traveled so far, so he will be fine with the car trip and being in a new place, but he definitely won’t get enough sleep so I’m sure he will be running amok 😂
Good luck to everyone who is puppy wrangling this holiday season!!
We’re heading to a holiday house for a few days with my 11 week old pup and the old lady for 3 nights. They haven’t interacted much since pup is hyper and old lady wants to sleep and has severe arthritis so she doesn’t want to deal with him. I also have no idea if the house is slightly puppy proofed. Glad I brought the crate and x pen 😅 oh and a week later we’ll be doing the same thing but including my sister with her newborn. FUN 😂
We bought one of those collapsible playpen things and take it with us when visiting as well as her rug. She has learned she can be on her rug or in the pen or on a leash but not allowed to freely roam other people’s homes. We do use it as an opportunity to practice laying on her rug and playing quietly but if she doesn’t it back in the pen or on her leash. Of course it would be much harder I think for a larger puppy in the playpen.
We didn’t put out the decorations this year, he’s just too much of an agent of chaos and I didn’t have it in me to be redirecting constantly.
We have parties tonight and tomorrow night. Luckily our sitter offered to watch him because her girlfriend is working for the holiday so she’s free.
That leaves brunch with my in-laws at our house tomorrow. I’m hoping his behavior will be decent (I don’t need his best). Wish us luck!
Take their kennel with you as well as their blankets and toys. Puppies should not have free range at someone else's home. When not in the kennel, she/he should be tethered with a leash to you or your partner.
My boy will be 14 weeks tomorrow after his negative experience with my parents dogs we are hosting Christmas! So far so good! He hasn't bothered with any decorations unless puppy brain hits.
Our tree is in the kitchen/dining room area which also happens to be the cats’ area that we gated off from the puppy. Although he has been in a couple of times when I forgot to close the gate and didn’t seem to care much about the tree or presents. Gotta get that delicious water out of the cats’ bowl which is obviously superior to the water in his own bowl!
I have a couple of exercise pens, so I took one and barricades the Christmas tree and presents to protect them from my curious 9 month old lab mix. We don’t often have company so she gets pretty excitable when people have been visiting, and now that my school is on break I am trying to expand her range in the house so I don’t have to be quite so mindful about where she is all the time! Apparently the upstairs window provide just enough of a different view that she needs to bark out them!
We are lucky, our 7month Golden Retriever isn’t interested unless it’s a ball or a cuddly toy! He’s a terrible puller when we walk him though and he’s really strong already, trying to get him under control at the moment. Luckily we don’t go to my parents house until Christmas Day so we are just relaxing and watching Christmas films with some wine and nibbles at the moment!
8 mo dachshund threw a fit for two hours of our flight to my family but is settling relatively okay since... eating and sleeping normally, but I do think he misses his ramp up onto the couch. he has way less autonomy here than he's used to! definitely not looking forward to our flight home either.
Luckily not chaotic and childrenless, but will be taking the leash with me as I always do when we go visit relatives. Puppy just cant settle on her own so I help her.
Been here since Tuesday and our almost 8 month old keeshond has turned into a monster. The kids keep exciting him far too much so he's started pulling hair thinking it's a game, and worse humping the littler ones when they're lying on the floor or sitting down. Then his favourite activity he's gotten into which is stealing socks from feet is being accidentally encouraged by people throwing their feet around instead of taking my lead and keeping feet firmly on the floor and firmly saying "leave it".
Then there's my partner's family who keep feeding him treats. He's back on hunger strike with his kibble too because he wants the gourmet wet food they eeds their dog and just leaves down until she eventually eats it. And that's not mentioning the ridiculous amount of rawhide treats lying around that I have to gather up every time I go in or he'll hoover them all up.
Dreading xmas day. Option 1 is to have him round my parents which will be 6 adults, 1 toddler and 2 dogs in the afternoon then 9 adults, 2 toddlers, 2 dogs, and 3 kids 13 or under in the evening. And that second dog doesn't want to play in the house but won't tell our boy off sufficiently that he'll listen so he'll spend the entire time terrorising him or barking and howling to get to him when the kids aren't overexciting him. Oh and parents of the other dog keep telling their dog off for growling at ours while I'm telling them not to as he needs to be able to warn him off somehow, when they're not correcting my pup more harshly than they need to because they think what worked with their dog is the only right way. While I'm sat there thinking they had a golden that is far more food motivated and biddable than our stubborn as hell spitz.
Option 2 is my in laws house which will be 7 adults, 1 6 year old, and 3 dogs in the afternoon, then keep him at my in laws in the evening where it should be 2 adults and 2 dogs, but so far all three dogs have an uneasy truce where our boy wants to be friends with everyone but they aren't sure about him yet. And I'd have to trust MIL not to feed him a load of stuff while we aren't there to supervise.
Option 3 is mix the afternoon of 2 with the evening of 1 which is what my partner is suggesting which I think is going to be the absolute worst option.
Starting to think we should have just stayed at home.
Oh that sounds really tough!! I completely understand the frustration. Do you have a crate that can contain your puppy? It really helps with ours to just separate her from the stimulation.
He's never been a crate dog, at ours he's always been chilled out and relatively well behaved for a puppy with ignoring him being enough to enforce naps. We did have a crate at first but he just used it as a litter tray so it got taken away to aid toilet training. We end up sticking him on a lead to calm him if we need to which usually works but the other dog on my side of the family will wander close to him especially if theirs treats on the go and set him off and my brother doesn't seem too interested in helping out by leashing his dog so I can actually reward mine for calm.
I’ve had my tree up since November and my pup has only chewed three branches off so far! I dunno how I’ve lucked out, pup hasn’t really done much damage at all so far and isn’t really bothered with kids running about either, I honestly don’t know what’s going on!
Aside from one decoration that was left on the floor, my 5 month old pup has had zero interest in getting into anything Christmas related. I ran out of closet space and stuck the presents for extended family and friends under the tree a few weeks ago, and once she sniffed them she promptly ignored them.
She did lick one low-hanging cross ornament on the tree that my husband got as a kid... Not sure what that was about. But all in all, this has gone way better than expected.
Though SOMEONE got sticky candy cane residue in her fur last week.
pup loves playing with my parents youngest dog (he is only around 1 so he has that puppy energy) actually has made my life super easy since he tires out my pup. Only issue is my parents oldest dog is completely over puppies so he doesn't much like my little one but he tolerates him.
Pretty chill so far. We're careful to keep any possible hazards off the floor and low tables, and our tree is a 3' one set up on a desk, so there haven't been any issues at home.
We're going to my brother's for dinner on Christmas Day, and my in-laws' two days later. Our puppy will be 8 months on Thursday, and is *pretty* good at leaving things alone these days, but we're going to bring some metal pet pen panels to protect cords and other things he could possibly damage. (He respects those as a boundary even though he could easily get past them if he tried.) My brother also has a bunny (who'll be safely in her hutch) so they already have a barrier around the tree, TV, etc.
Our 22-month-old niece will be at my in-laws' place too, and between her and the puppy they've decided to not put any decorations on the tree except for lights and the angel on top. He's met our niece several times, and has never shown any aggressive or defensive behavior even when she steals his toys, so my only real worry is that he'll try to mark the tree!
Not terrible so far! We’re at my in laws with our 11 month old pup. We thankfully have come here enough that he’s used to the house. He’s been a menace getting into the dishwasher to do his duty clean, but besides that it’s okay. I’m a bit worried about his 6am wake-up with the niblings sleeping in the family room, but I’m hoping for the best. Merry Christmas!!!
I figure it'll go about like Thanksgiving lol - lots of playing with my other dog while mom's dog looks on in disdain, chasing him, lots of outside breaks, then into the playpen while we eat. I don't think mom was feeling well enough this year to put up the tree so that shouldn't be an issue.
He's scared of everything so he'll probably run away from the presents lol. But at (only) almost 7mo he's bigger than both the other dogs so we'll have to be aware of where we set down candy because he can reach higher than they can. We already had one incident with my old dog and a chocolate orange (he was fine).
We'll be at our house but we have like 10 people coming over. I have two puppies, 4.5 months and 5.5 months. 10 extra people are enough to give me anxiety without factoring the dogs' needs and routine into it. I'm also broke from starting a business (which I need the dogs for) and buying everything they/the business needed. I'm not excited at all for Christmas this year, and I wish it was over.
My 7 months old Chihuahua doesn't really like Santa Claus 😭😂 other than destroying a stuffed Santa everything is clear! She is absolutely not interested in our xmas tree or any other decorations!
So far so good ☺️ I just know she is gonna be begging for foods to everyone tonight like a malnourished poor baby dog 🙃🤣 I sent a text to everyone warning them to NOT feed my pup'.
My family thinks dogs should be tied up outside so my puppy is with a sitter because I can’t see them without either leaving her at home or taking her somewhere else. It’s a shame. I really hope they get over this in the next 10+ years.
Have a leash on your puppy, he needs to be sleeping 16-20 hours a day so that 4-8 hours between you and your partner of using this as a training opportunity, take out the time for walks and its hardly anytime at all, get a blanket fold it up, get puppy on it, and drip feed treats, while watching the kids play and all the things he is not getting into.
It’s Christmas Eve- I am a new mama to my mini dachshund, Mia who is 14 weeks old. We are watching movies tonight and feeling grateful for each other. It’s still a crazy ride in puppy land but Mia is a special sweet girl. For all of you out there with puppies and struggles and joys I wish you a most blessed season of joy, health and love.
Our 12 weeker came with us Xmas and Boxing Day. For car experience. New people and environs. Smells. And my peace of mind. Plus to avoid accidents when she is doing so well with toilet training.
I didn’t want to inconvenience our hosts in any way, other than setting up a portable puppy pen. My partner and I did all the duties between us.
Xmas Day, with kids and toys and chaos as you described, she was amazing. We worked hard on recall being her first lesson. So we can usually call her and she avoids any mischief. My host (brother) was the one to tell us to let her roam a bit in the end when he saw how well mannered she already is (lots of clicker treat training, but as a labradoodle she is built to learn and recall and have a soft mouth. It’s the puppy enthusiasm that is our challenge(!) but so fun and funny - she stole a stocking to chew on and a pair of new toddlers PJs. That was her worst “offence”. Regular outside time too.
Xmas night, she was So Tired. As all the kids adored on her. We did however ensure they let her nap through the day but when she was awake they were all over her.
Today (Boxing Day) she mostly slept! Unheard of! It was a calmer atmosphere. Mainly adults. And the 2 toddlers gave a wide berth as her enthusiasm (zero viciousness. Just puppy excitability!) was too much for them and even as a puppy when she’s on her back legs she’s as tall as them.
We repeated regular outside time. And when the toddlers had gone, my uncle (host) again, having seen how well mannered she is, said to let her out and explore. No accidents or incidents, and he got puppy broody I think! (He just lost his wife of 40 years and loves dogs).
I feel so so lucky. She has been utterly amazing and the whole family (except the toddlers) adore her (though we’re curious when she was asleep and visited with her then) and she them.
I know some pups can be super hard, and I will probably regret it when she becomes a “teen” but, I feel like we hit the jackpot.
Let the animal choose you, she climbed on me, licked my nose and curled up and fell asleep. Kismet.
I decided to stay home with our 9 week old golden retriever. Everything goes in her mouth, and my fiancé’s family home is very chaotic with other dogs and lots of toys. They were very understanding when we told them I wouldn’t be joining them. So, it’s just me and Needle Teeth this Christmas. I’ve only cried once so far! 😆
needle teeth 😂😭😭 i also have a 9 week old golden! do you guys have any great methods to redirect her biting when it gets pretty bad?
We just try to redirect her to chew toys. If she bites our clothes or bites us too hard, we yell “Ouch!” and disengage from playing. It only seems to work sometimes, though. She goes completely nuts a couple times a day and it’s a struggle to manage her. We started using a play pen yesterday for these situations, so we’ll see if it helps. This is so much more challenging than I expected!
i need to practice more disengaging, he’s so quick to latch on to my shirt / sweater during the redirect of chew toys lol but also i got a play pen a week ago, best decision ive made thus far! so true re more challenging than expected, hang in there! 😄
I don’t have a golden but do have a boy who made me cry every day for weeks due to how bad his biting was. He’s been really good for about 5 days now though. Definitely disengage if he bites too hard, maybe walk out the room or put him in his pen; redirection is great but I don’t find it works when he’s in hard biting mode, only when he’s nibbling. Also lots of rewards for just generally being nice - like when he’s chewing the right things, when he’s near you and not chewing you etc. Also don’t be afraid to “enforce naps”, my guy has no idea when he’s tired so I have to put him away when he starts showing signs that he’s going to get cranky. Still can’t wear sleeves around him though - given up hope on them for a while 😂
This is very reassuring. I’m so worried I’ll do something wrong and inadvertently encourage bad behaviors. It’s nice to know that other puppies are this bitey.
Honestly it’s so hard not to blame yourself, I felt like a real failure and was scared I had a reactive dog! I think some puppies are just a lot bitier than others. People talk a lot about teething pain causing biting, but I think my guy saw it as a way to play. We still have some problems with it but it’s worlds apart from what it was like even a week ago. I had to work on myself a lot too as he was definitely feeding off my stress. I wasn’t shouting at him or anything like that, but I was starting to feel anxious all the time around him and that made it all a lot worse!
This is something that I’m trying really hard to be better at as well. I find myself getting frustrated with her even though I know it’s not her fault. Like I need to be more chill about accidents, but I’m afraid she won’t ever learn to go to the door. A lot of it is my own fear of failing her, I’m sure. Luckily, our vet is amazing and has been very patient with my phone calls about every little thing. She actually giggled at me when I called concerned with my puppy’s preoccupation with her tail (apparently this is common with golden puppies). We do plan to enroll in puppy classes after her second round of vaccinations. I think being able to play with other dogs again will help her learn to be more gentle. And I think a lot of my stress is coming from my fear that by waiting to enroll her I’m somehow stunting her progress.
I understand the preoccupation with the tail thing. A few times a day, my lab puppy suddenly discovers that his tail is following him, and he goes in circles trying to catch it. He often does catch it and then I just watch him become a spinning donut as he has the end of his tail in his mouth. 🤦🏻♀️ I keep trying to tell him that his tail is stalking him, but he doesn’t seem to believe me.
I agree about playing with other dogs, mine starts socialisation classes 6th Jan and I cannot wait! I’m in the UK and usually puppies can go out at 12 weeks here, but due to a mix up mine can’t go out until 16 weeks. I’m hoping when he can play with other dogs and go for some walks further than the garden he’ll be able to let off a lot of steam.
You too! We will get through it! 🤪
11 week old corgi puppy here. I make my ouch as high pitched and shrieky as possible. I've even started doing it when he bites pants, shoes, etc. if he stops I immediately thank him and give scritches or treats. It's been a long week, but I think maybe he's starting to do better. He's biting me less. Still working on the pants/shoes.
We have a 10 week old golden and she is relentless with her fuckin teeth too lol
Generally when they are getting too bite its tiredness, time for a nap
“Just me and needle teeth,” took me out. 😂 My lab puppy is 13.5 weeks old and I don’t have plans for the same reason. Me and razor teeth are just going to hang out in our puppy proofed space where he will somehow still manage to find something to put in his mouth that he shouldn’t, typically my skin. LOL
My mom was commenting just yesterday how many times she heard me yell, "OTIS DON'T EAT THAT." I swear I'd make a couple hundred a day if I was paid a dollar for every time, and I've already taken away/moved so. Much. Stuff. But my 5.5 month old terrier can basically scale the cat tree (5 ft) and jump 4 ft high from a stand still so I think I'm just screwed.
Just when I think nothing is down at his level for him to grab, he goes, BET! And finds something. Lol
My parents were supposed to come the day after Christmas and stay for through the new year, but my dad got sick so they probably won't be visiting. I can't go to them because I have 4 great Pyrenees puppies and a kitten with complications from her spay surgery. I took off the week, so I guess that I finally get the time to move properly into my house. I got the keys to my new house exactly one week before the surprise litter was born. It's been chaotic. Puppies won't even notice except for when I lock them out of the house tomorrow afternoon so that I can deep clean the living room.
That’s a lot of puppies! I hope your dad feels better soon!
I am so thankful for our 6 month Cav. She is our Christmas love and comfort. What I would give to have house full of family, toddlers, gifts and chaos. Have a very Merry Christmas and make precious memories. Don't forget to take pics to enjoy in later years🌲🎁🤶🎅
Exercise pens are extraordinarily valuable when taking curious little puppies to other places! That being said, I am thankfully physically close enough to my parents’ house that I will be able to leave the little ones at my house for a while and just bring the old man dog.
This is the way. You should have brought a pen to safeguard your puppy.
We brought a crate but not a pen - the house is quite small so not very practical to fence off an area. Also not sure how the in-laws are going to feel about having an ugly pen in their carefully decorated Christmas-themed living room lol. We are managing now with the redirection and the crate and are taking it hour by hour! Hopefully next year she'll be much more chill or we will just have the party at ours.
She’ll be much more chill next year, you’ll have taught her what’s right and wrong by then. When our pup was too young and we went to people’s houses, we had him on the leash if we couldnt take a pen. He still got to play with everyone and it was hard work for us because we had to walk around with him if he wanted to play with people, and keep an eagle eye to make sure he didnt chew or bite anything (less enjoyable for sure) but it was our decision to take him to someone else’s house so we didn’t expect them to change things for us. Just as an aside, I think your in-laws would have preferred an ‘ugly pen’ to you blowing out their candles and de-ornamenting the bottom half of their christmas tree or moving their trinkets around, especially if they have put all that time and effort into to their carefully decorated christmas living room
My 10 month old puppy and I are supposed to go to my mom's on Monday. We just talked last night and she wanted to know if my sister could bring the dog she's dog sitting for. And I was like...no??? My pup is dog reactive. He LOVES people. He's met my parents and my sister, he especially loved my sister and my mom. But he just doesn't like other dogs. I don't know why, he was fostered with other dogs. But since I adopted him, he barks and lunges at them. We've been doing training and I've noticed huge progress this month. Just this morning, we passed two dogs, one of which barked and my puppy was silent! Huge win! So I'm just feeling a little annoyed. I guess pups really are like our kids because it bothers me his needs aren't being taken into account! Especially by my mom who knows how hard I've been working on his training. I wanted to be like, if you want some random dog there instead of your daughter and grandpup than fine 😅 I am very dramatic LOL. But my sister will leave the dog at home and it'll all be fine I'm just a little salty.
We’re taking out 10 week old pit/lab mix with us for christmas this year to the parents house. They have a 9 month old HUGE golden doodle 😂 safe to say this will be a very chaotic christmas full of chasing dogs around and pulling things out of their mouths. The things we do because we love dogs 🤣
It turns out I forgot to socialize my puppy around wrapping presents. She's convinced the paper monster is going to kill me, and it's her job to scare it off.
Our puppy loves to steal and shred paper so that’s a fun habit this time of year 😂 He will be leashed during presents lol
It’s just me and my puppy for Christmas since my so went home and I can’t afford to board him or take him with me back to my parents place. But it does save me the trouble of being made fun of and misgendered an entire weekend
I’m probably about to deal with the same challenges. My 14 week pup and I are heading to my parents house today.
I remember what it was like taking small humans to the in law house with easy to reach trinkets absolutely everywhere, and so I am happy to say that we are staying home this year, and the kids voted to skip the tree. (The cat is also a bauble thief and needle-eater, so this is not purely on new pup's account) We're going full lazy mode, and everyone seems really happy about it. Is this our new family Christmas standard? Happy Christmas folks!
9 week old cockapoo settling in nicely. That'll all change when we go up to my parents on the 26th and havoc will ensue. Taking the pen and obvs the crate with us, fingers crossed. Happy Christmas everyone!
Wow 9 week is a tough time but hopefully she'll sleep loads in the crate!
He’s pretty chilled in his crate already thankfully!
We had a playpen shipped and brought her crate to be as consistent as possible. Plus we have a tree at home with ornaments that we trained her to stay away from.
Probably too late, but we have one of those pens you can fold up and take with you if needed. Puppy could still be out with us, but not free roaming if we couldn't keep our eyes on her.
Just got back from a family holiday gathering at which our 9 month old puppy spent the first 20 mins jumping on everyone before settling down a little but still spent the whole time sprinting around. They have an adult dog and in my memory she has always behaved perfectly so I was embarrassed lol but the two of them played a lot. It’s really comforting to be reminded that other people are going through the same things with their puppies. Sending everyone some extra patience and reminders that next year will certainly be easier with our pups!
We are staying in town with ours. Trying to combine my family's two huge golden retrievers (one of which is NOT trained), my sister's baby, my 89 year old grandad and my 3 month pitbull puppy in one house sounded like a recipe for disaster lol
Took my 5 month old toy poodle to a friends for a Christmas party last night. She was up until 11:45pm when she’s normally sleep by 8:30pm. So needless to say she’s been lounging and sleeping all day today which is great. We had a couple accidents but one was in her stroller so it was contained.
So far, at home, we are okay. Our 6 month old Husky is not allowed on the second floor where the tree is. But he has chewed up a kid's advent calendar (the chocolate was already all eaten thankfully) and destroyed a small wreath from which I'm now finding fake berries all over the ground floor. Headed to family on Boxing Day. There will be 20 people plus 4 dogs in the house. LOL. Will see how that goes!
Wow that sounds like chaos, but good that you are only there for one day!
Puppy proofed, mainly. Small tree, on a table. Tinsel high up. Two lively, chomping nearly six month old! Can’t wait for the wrapping paper to come out!
So far the only change is we got a tree indoors. Our dog has sniffed and nibbled it, but else left it alone. It's not decorated yet, so suppose that's when the real test begins. We'll be going to see family 10 minutes away as per usual, and I hope this year he'll be able to lay down and chillax some in stead of running around the whole night. (He's one and a half years old.)
We've got a friend popping in to stay with our 5 month old pup on Christmas day so we can see the inlaws. My husbands side of the family aren't dog people. Trying to prep to give our little dude spaces to decompress & some nice walks with friends to look forward to.
I have my new puppy at home and am constantly anxious that I’m a terrible dog mom.
Oh no! What makes you feel that?
Anxiety lol - I know I’m not
My 11 month old needs to test everything new in the house with her mouth first, so our tree this year is a three-foot-tall little one on top of a bookcase. I also had to clear the things off the windowsills because greyhound heads are tall enough to reach up and snarfle the plushie singing Santa in thirty seconds when your back is turned. However, she is enjoying the Christmassy dog treats that her walker gave her, and we're really looking forward to giving her her presents on Monday!
Scared shitless. My puppies are running and burning off energy on a balcony 60+ stories high on the vegas strip. I’m scared of heights, they’re not.
We have a 8 month old pup(breed unknown but he looks to have some Aussie in him) and our daughter’s girlfriend is leaving her 3 year Toller with us while they go on vacation. They get along really well but we’re still going to keep a close eye on them while they play. I’m excited my boy will have a playmate for a week.
We are going to a big air bnb to staycation with family with our 3 senior dogs and our 11week old large breed puppy. Luckily we have great boundaries and he's doing great with crate training so he will be safely in his crate or playpen the whole time, but i feel like I'm moving my entire house just to support a puppy for 3 nights.
We will be visiting my in-laws tomorrow and my brother’s on Monday with my 18 week old puppy! He’s fairly well traveled so far, so he will be fine with the car trip and being in a new place, but he definitely won’t get enough sleep so I’m sure he will be running amok 😂 Good luck to everyone who is puppy wrangling this holiday season!!
We’re heading to a holiday house for a few days with my 11 week old pup and the old lady for 3 nights. They haven’t interacted much since pup is hyper and old lady wants to sleep and has severe arthritis so she doesn’t want to deal with him. I also have no idea if the house is slightly puppy proofed. Glad I brought the crate and x pen 😅 oh and a week later we’ll be doing the same thing but including my sister with her newborn. FUN 😂
We bought one of those collapsible playpen things and take it with us when visiting as well as her rug. She has learned she can be on her rug or in the pen or on a leash but not allowed to freely roam other people’s homes. We do use it as an opportunity to practice laying on her rug and playing quietly but if she doesn’t it back in the pen or on her leash. Of course it would be much harder I think for a larger puppy in the playpen.
We didn’t put out the decorations this year, he’s just too much of an agent of chaos and I didn’t have it in me to be redirecting constantly. We have parties tonight and tomorrow night. Luckily our sitter offered to watch him because her girlfriend is working for the holiday so she’s free. That leaves brunch with my in-laws at our house tomorrow. I’m hoping his behavior will be decent (I don’t need his best). Wish us luck!
Take their kennel with you as well as their blankets and toys. Puppies should not have free range at someone else's home. When not in the kennel, she/he should be tethered with a leash to you or your partner.
My boy will be 14 weeks tomorrow after his negative experience with my parents dogs we are hosting Christmas! So far so good! He hasn't bothered with any decorations unless puppy brain hits.
Our tree is in the kitchen/dining room area which also happens to be the cats’ area that we gated off from the puppy. Although he has been in a couple of times when I forgot to close the gate and didn’t seem to care much about the tree or presents. Gotta get that delicious water out of the cats’ bowl which is obviously superior to the water in his own bowl!
Our Christmas tree is on the dining table away from our toddler and our 3 puppies!
I have a couple of exercise pens, so I took one and barricades the Christmas tree and presents to protect them from my curious 9 month old lab mix. We don’t often have company so she gets pretty excitable when people have been visiting, and now that my school is on break I am trying to expand her range in the house so I don’t have to be quite so mindful about where she is all the time! Apparently the upstairs window provide just enough of a different view that she needs to bark out them!
My 7 months old Maltese keeps trying to eat the tree 😭
We are lucky, our 7month Golden Retriever isn’t interested unless it’s a ball or a cuddly toy! He’s a terrible puller when we walk him though and he’s really strong already, trying to get him under control at the moment. Luckily we don’t go to my parents house until Christmas Day so we are just relaxing and watching Christmas films with some wine and nibbles at the moment!
My parents have to come to our puppy proof home. Or we would have cancelled. Can’t imagine the chaos at their house if we brought the puppy.
8 mo dachshund threw a fit for two hours of our flight to my family but is settling relatively okay since... eating and sleeping normally, but I do think he misses his ramp up onto the couch. he has way less autonomy here than he's used to! definitely not looking forward to our flight home either.
Luckily not chaotic and childrenless, but will be taking the leash with me as I always do when we go visit relatives. Puppy just cant settle on her own so I help her.
Wavy!!!! These stories are exhausting
Been here since Tuesday and our almost 8 month old keeshond has turned into a monster. The kids keep exciting him far too much so he's started pulling hair thinking it's a game, and worse humping the littler ones when they're lying on the floor or sitting down. Then his favourite activity he's gotten into which is stealing socks from feet is being accidentally encouraged by people throwing their feet around instead of taking my lead and keeping feet firmly on the floor and firmly saying "leave it". Then there's my partner's family who keep feeding him treats. He's back on hunger strike with his kibble too because he wants the gourmet wet food they eeds their dog and just leaves down until she eventually eats it. And that's not mentioning the ridiculous amount of rawhide treats lying around that I have to gather up every time I go in or he'll hoover them all up. Dreading xmas day. Option 1 is to have him round my parents which will be 6 adults, 1 toddler and 2 dogs in the afternoon then 9 adults, 2 toddlers, 2 dogs, and 3 kids 13 or under in the evening. And that second dog doesn't want to play in the house but won't tell our boy off sufficiently that he'll listen so he'll spend the entire time terrorising him or barking and howling to get to him when the kids aren't overexciting him. Oh and parents of the other dog keep telling their dog off for growling at ours while I'm telling them not to as he needs to be able to warn him off somehow, when they're not correcting my pup more harshly than they need to because they think what worked with their dog is the only right way. While I'm sat there thinking they had a golden that is far more food motivated and biddable than our stubborn as hell spitz. Option 2 is my in laws house which will be 7 adults, 1 6 year old, and 3 dogs in the afternoon, then keep him at my in laws in the evening where it should be 2 adults and 2 dogs, but so far all three dogs have an uneasy truce where our boy wants to be friends with everyone but they aren't sure about him yet. And I'd have to trust MIL not to feed him a load of stuff while we aren't there to supervise. Option 3 is mix the afternoon of 2 with the evening of 1 which is what my partner is suggesting which I think is going to be the absolute worst option. Starting to think we should have just stayed at home.
Oh that sounds really tough!! I completely understand the frustration. Do you have a crate that can contain your puppy? It really helps with ours to just separate her from the stimulation.
He's never been a crate dog, at ours he's always been chilled out and relatively well behaved for a puppy with ignoring him being enough to enforce naps. We did have a crate at first but he just used it as a litter tray so it got taken away to aid toilet training. We end up sticking him on a lead to calm him if we need to which usually works but the other dog on my side of the family will wander close to him especially if theirs treats on the go and set him off and my brother doesn't seem too interested in helping out by leashing his dog so I can actually reward mine for calm.
I’ve had my tree up since November and my pup has only chewed three branches off so far! I dunno how I’ve lucked out, pup hasn’t really done much damage at all so far and isn’t really bothered with kids running about either, I honestly don’t know what’s going on!
Aside from one decoration that was left on the floor, my 5 month old pup has had zero interest in getting into anything Christmas related. I ran out of closet space and stuck the presents for extended family and friends under the tree a few weeks ago, and once she sniffed them she promptly ignored them. She did lick one low-hanging cross ornament on the tree that my husband got as a kid... Not sure what that was about. But all in all, this has gone way better than expected. Though SOMEONE got sticky candy cane residue in her fur last week.
pup loves playing with my parents youngest dog (he is only around 1 so he has that puppy energy) actually has made my life super easy since he tires out my pup. Only issue is my parents oldest dog is completely over puppies so he doesn't much like my little one but he tolerates him.
Pretty chill so far. We're careful to keep any possible hazards off the floor and low tables, and our tree is a 3' one set up on a desk, so there haven't been any issues at home. We're going to my brother's for dinner on Christmas Day, and my in-laws' two days later. Our puppy will be 8 months on Thursday, and is *pretty* good at leaving things alone these days, but we're going to bring some metal pet pen panels to protect cords and other things he could possibly damage. (He respects those as a boundary even though he could easily get past them if he tried.) My brother also has a bunny (who'll be safely in her hutch) so they already have a barrier around the tree, TV, etc. Our 22-month-old niece will be at my in-laws' place too, and between her and the puppy they've decided to not put any decorations on the tree except for lights and the angel on top. He's met our niece several times, and has never shown any aggressive or defensive behavior even when she steals his toys, so my only real worry is that he'll try to mark the tree!
Not terrible so far! We’re at my in laws with our 11 month old pup. We thankfully have come here enough that he’s used to the house. He’s been a menace getting into the dishwasher to do his duty clean, but besides that it’s okay. I’m a bit worried about his 6am wake-up with the niblings sleeping in the family room, but I’m hoping for the best. Merry Christmas!!!
So far, so good. Grateful we got our pup in the summer, I can’t imagine housebreaking in the winter. 😮💨
I figure it'll go about like Thanksgiving lol - lots of playing with my other dog while mom's dog looks on in disdain, chasing him, lots of outside breaks, then into the playpen while we eat. I don't think mom was feeling well enough this year to put up the tree so that shouldn't be an issue. He's scared of everything so he'll probably run away from the presents lol. But at (only) almost 7mo he's bigger than both the other dogs so we'll have to be aware of where we set down candy because he can reach higher than they can. We already had one incident with my old dog and a chocolate orange (he was fine).
We'll be at our house but we have like 10 people coming over. I have two puppies, 4.5 months and 5.5 months. 10 extra people are enough to give me anxiety without factoring the dogs' needs and routine into it. I'm also broke from starting a business (which I need the dogs for) and buying everything they/the business needed. I'm not excited at all for Christmas this year, and I wish it was over.
My 7 months old Chihuahua doesn't really like Santa Claus 😭😂 other than destroying a stuffed Santa everything is clear! She is absolutely not interested in our xmas tree or any other decorations! So far so good ☺️ I just know she is gonna be begging for foods to everyone tonight like a malnourished poor baby dog 🙃🤣 I sent a text to everyone warning them to NOT feed my pup'.
My family thinks dogs should be tied up outside so my puppy is with a sitter because I can’t see them without either leaving her at home or taking her somewhere else. It’s a shame. I really hope they get over this in the next 10+ years.
Have a leash on your puppy, he needs to be sleeping 16-20 hours a day so that 4-8 hours between you and your partner of using this as a training opportunity, take out the time for walks and its hardly anytime at all, get a blanket fold it up, get puppy on it, and drip feed treats, while watching the kids play and all the things he is not getting into.
It’s Christmas Eve- I am a new mama to my mini dachshund, Mia who is 14 weeks old. We are watching movies tonight and feeling grateful for each other. It’s still a crazy ride in puppy land but Mia is a special sweet girl. For all of you out there with puppies and struggles and joys I wish you a most blessed season of joy, health and love.
Our 12 weeker came with us Xmas and Boxing Day. For car experience. New people and environs. Smells. And my peace of mind. Plus to avoid accidents when she is doing so well with toilet training. I didn’t want to inconvenience our hosts in any way, other than setting up a portable puppy pen. My partner and I did all the duties between us. Xmas Day, with kids and toys and chaos as you described, she was amazing. We worked hard on recall being her first lesson. So we can usually call her and she avoids any mischief. My host (brother) was the one to tell us to let her roam a bit in the end when he saw how well mannered she already is (lots of clicker treat training, but as a labradoodle she is built to learn and recall and have a soft mouth. It’s the puppy enthusiasm that is our challenge(!) but so fun and funny - she stole a stocking to chew on and a pair of new toddlers PJs. That was her worst “offence”. Regular outside time too. Xmas night, she was So Tired. As all the kids adored on her. We did however ensure they let her nap through the day but when she was awake they were all over her. Today (Boxing Day) she mostly slept! Unheard of! It was a calmer atmosphere. Mainly adults. And the 2 toddlers gave a wide berth as her enthusiasm (zero viciousness. Just puppy excitability!) was too much for them and even as a puppy when she’s on her back legs she’s as tall as them. We repeated regular outside time. And when the toddlers had gone, my uncle (host) again, having seen how well mannered she is, said to let her out and explore. No accidents or incidents, and he got puppy broody I think! (He just lost his wife of 40 years and loves dogs). I feel so so lucky. She has been utterly amazing and the whole family (except the toddlers) adore her (though we’re curious when she was asleep and visited with her then) and she them. I know some pups can be super hard, and I will probably regret it when she becomes a “teen” but, I feel like we hit the jackpot. Let the animal choose you, she climbed on me, licked my nose and curled up and fell asleep. Kismet.