Boots the Springer... One month in.

Abi90

Abi90

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Boots has been with us for a month already! And he's huge!

He's had to wait 4 weeks between his jabs, so I still have another week and a half to go before he can go out and about and he has so much excess energy and is beginning to drive me a bit mad! I'm painfully aware I shouldn't do too much with him but I'm longing for the day we can go out for little walks! I've been walking him around the big back garden for 15 minutes a day and practising recall, sit and stay but it doesn't have the same mental stimulus as exploring new things!

If anyone has any suggestions of how to keep him entertained in the house without playing hours of fetch that's not good for his little body, that would be gratefully received!

Anyway, pictures of the humungous pup!





 
If he's three plus ,months take him on the fields and let him blow off some steam...attach a long line to a harness if you worry about a good recall,but ,some hard running on grass will not hurt him at all..it's the repetive pounding on hard surfaces,eg pavements you need to avoid..
He will return tired and happy...then the next time ,you can take him again and begin training excercises which will tire him out far more than just running..
Retrieves for a toy...wait then come, seek and find and so on..
When a see a puppy pic , I normally think ahhh sweet pup....
....his photo made me think...ahhh live wire..what a face he has,intelligent and dying to get out there.
 
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I'm just waiting for his second jab then we will be over the fields! 4 weeks seems a long time, I know a few people who have got pups recently and all only had to wait 2 weeks before jabs. Must be a different brand?

Will the beach have the same low impact effect as the fields? There is one just down the road and I have a 20ft long line that I can attach him to!
 
Is he on three vaccs? I took mine( high energy schnauzer) out after the second,putting her down in low risk areas..we used novibac.
The beach should be fine,but obviously you will monitor the pup,who is obviously high energy and won't tell you when they are tired..you must decide for him, and say,after twenty minutes,,,"that's enough.."
 
I have never heard of a four week gap, although young lab had an extra parvo at 14 weeks, she could still go out after her 10 week one though.
 
Agree with chlodah..plus when a dog is climbing INTO the furniture,toy in mouth,it's time to get out..in all senses.you are both more than ready for your life adventure ahead......enjoy your pup!
 
Nope, 2 Vaccs only with a 4 week gap in between. And then vet initially said 2 weeks more until he could go out making it 6 weeks in total!

He's not naughty he's just stir crazy and there is only so much I can do with him inside to keep him entertained and burn off energy in the house and garden!

Thanks for your help!
 
I would hide bits of kibble and teach him to search. Let him sit in the room with someone holding him and see you 'hide' it, then use a command and let him loose, you can gradually make it harder and eventually move to hiding them while he isn't in the room.
 
they have changed the lepto protocol recently-my pup had two jags 4 weeks apart-could go out and socialise two weeks after the first one but had to avoid water etc for another week after the last one. mine was 10 weeks before the first one though. you can look on the nobivac site for confirmation.

he's lovely OP :) fwiw I take mine into a wee stock fenced paddock we have when he needs to run-great for recall training too. just for 10 mins or so.
 
Never heard of a four week gap. Weird. Take him anywhere he's allowed, new experiences tired mine out, even going to the supermarket and waiting in the car with me while the OH popped in for one thing.

Sit him on your knee outside supermarkets and get people to stroke him. He can visit friends' dogs who are vaccinated. I took mine to the pub, on my knee or is he too huge? Mine came to the yard and met people galore. Anything new wiped mine completely. The neighbour was a godsend, her GSD was very good with them.
 
He's got a bit big for my knee unfortunately, and he's a wriggler. The puppy party on a Tuesday is a godsend, he always comes back from that suitably tired even though he had 10 minutes on the floor with other puppies and then 20 minutes of being cuddled by other humans!

Mother of chickens - he's very lean at the moment, just had a growth spurt I think!
 
You can take him out, to low dog areas, supermarket car parks are good ones. The beach would be fine too, and you can carry him if needs be but he does need to get out and see things. He is lovely though, so handsome.
 
Roxylola said:
You can take him out, to low dog areas, supermarket car parks are good ones. The beach would be fine too, and you can carry him if needs be but he does need to get out and see things. He is lovely though, so handsome.
Click to expand...

Someone at the puppy party said that their vet said they could take their puppy to the beach after the tide had gone out on the newly washed sand, as it should be free from doggy germs at that point, is there any truth in that?

He goes to puppy parties once a week, we ad a small gathering at the house where he met some new people, he went to my friends house and met her puppy (puppy didn't like him) and he's been to a family gathering at my mum's house. he went to puppy classes for puppies between jabs as well, which was really good so he's getting some stimulation he's just getting big and needs more than the garden which he's explored to death!

Thanks for all the advice though, I shall be trying it all!
 
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We've been to the beach, just carried. Said hello to lots of people, said hello to some enormous st Bernards that had been vaccinated... Now exhausted and chewing his pheasant!
 
"Someone at the puppy party said that their vet said they could take their puppy to the beach after the tide had gone out on the newly washed sand, as it should be free from doggy germ"


The salt water will naturally disinfect the Beach so it's probably a lot safer than a grassed zone.
 
I feel your pain though- my pup is now 11 months old and was a total hooligan until we could start exploring further afield. He was a lot smaller, just hit 5kg now so easier to manage sat on knees out and about. I hid things for him to find and wrapped little treats up in paper for him to tear through. Still enjoys that game now :)

I took him to the beach just after the tide had gone out in late December/January. Was bracing to say the least. Carried him to the shore line, let him mooch about in the fresh washed sand and then carried him back. Made for a far nicer living environment.

ETA- he's very cute and looks like a bit of a handful :)
 
Thanks, I'll think I'll take him back to the beach tomorrow and carry him to the tideline so he can have a mooch for about 15 minutes then carry him back!
 
The 4 week gap is because the newish lepto vaccine has to be 4 weeks apart. However vets with their head screwed on are vaccinating for parvo again at 2 weeks so that a week or so after that (so at around 11 weeks) pups can start walking just avoiding water courses which could have lepto
 
Boots is gorgeous - and is definitely going to keep you on your toes :D

You have had some great advice already so I will try not to repeat, but I take my pups out from day one (whether that be 7 weeks or 8 weeks) to areas without heavy dog traffic and also to meet friendly vaccinated dogs that are already known to me. My pups come out in the car, sit in town centres, go to the beach, to fields (not where lots of other dogs go obvs). We do short fun training sessions from day one, as brain training at this age is as tiring as physical exercise. As he is a springer, he will love to use his nose. Hide tasty treats or toys in and around your house and garden and get him to find them. Lay short tracks with treats in your footsteps or treats/toy at the end. Fill a box with newspaper, old kitchen/toilet rolls etc and fold treats up in bits of paper for him to search for and rip open. Have someone hold him and go and hide yourself and get him to find you. There are loads of variations on the same theme, and games involving their nose seem to satisfy most spaniels.
 
Thank you workingGSD. We've just had great fun in the garden finding treats and kibble. I used some of his lunch to do it with so he's not being fed too much on top of that.

I had great fun too!
 
Thanks to all the suggestions. Much happier puppy and owner.

Went to puppy training tonight and did a "perfect recall", so proud.

Went to the beach the other day and he's so focussed on me! Sat on command despite the distractions!

 
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