The Puppy Diaries at 10 Weeks

It’s our third week with Herbie, and this week the kids have been at home with him too. It’s meant routines are thrown out, but we’ve kept to his feed times and naptimes wherever possible, so things aren’t too strange for him.

You can check out last week’s update here, or pop to here for all puppy posts.

Herbie the Miniature Dachshund at 10 Weeks Old

Herbie’s confidence is riding high! This is not an anxious pup, he throws himself into everything and explores everywhere. I want to raise a confident dog, of course I do, so I have done all I could to encourage him in his developing confidence. But, but, there are times when I can’t help but think that a slower more cautious pup would be easier!

Training and Behaviours

Housetraining continues, and I’d say there are less accidents now though that’s more to do with his bladder holding for longer and us getting better at predicting when he’ll need to go. He has for the first time rang his back door bell a couple of times this week to ask to go out so he is starting to understand that if he noses that bell the door gets opened for him. Yesterday the back door was open more than normal as it was warm and he did get up from playing to go out there to the toilet so maybe something is starting to click.



Crate training is continuing and I am determined to remain patient and not rush this. I need him to love his crate so I want to get this right, but he is not really taking to it for long periods yet. Yet. I will persevere. I have rearranged his crate as now that I know him better I know how he prefers to sleep and since I did this he has definitely been going in there more often. He is not averse to his crate at all, he just prefers the kitchen floor for naps as the sun shines in there, or his bed in the living room if we’re in there. I need him to like it in the position that it’s in and I do think that when it’s just us at home so there’s no-one in the living room, he will take himself off there more often. We will see.

Our clicker training this week has centred on ‘Leave’, ‘Sit’, ‘Stay’ and ‘Heel’, the latter in readiness for lead training. Herbie’s making progress daily with all of these, he loves his training sessions. I always keep them short, just a few minutes a couple of times a day, and use his favourite treats – chicken and cheese.

Herbie is good at entertaining himself, going over to his toy box and grabbing things to play with. I’m really pleased he can do this, so I do ensure that keen as the kids can be to play with him, that they leave him to it for half an hours here and there as he is quite capable of keeping himself busy.

Herbie has started teething this week, but so far he’s managing to keep to his toys, chews and frozen carrots to take the edge off.

Herbie’s manners are improving all the time, with positive reinforcements and consistency. He sits automatically when he wants something, his way of saying ‘please’ and we are working on him not jumping up us when he wants attention. He has found his voice once or twice this week, it still startles me when he barks as he does it so infrequently! We are ensuring we don’t respond to barks, in the hope he’ll not get into the habit of barking for attention – we’ll see how that progresses!



Out and About

Herbie went to visit my family in Bewdley over the weekend, about an hour or so away from us. He did well on both journeys, sleeping through most of them. He was very friendly and confident whilst we were there, he flew into their house and loved all of the attention!

Herbie popped to his first Sausage Walk, a chance for him to see, hear and smell lots of dogs, all from his carrier. He was quite curious, though he did bury himself in his blanket once or twice – a large group of dachshunds are loud!! He was happy to greet other people and had a good look at the dogs. We will see how he gets on next month when we take him as he can be on the ground walking with them then, though only for a short time.

Herbie had his second round of vaccinations yesterday and a check up. He’s put on 0.6kg since we visited two weeks ago and all looks good. He has now had two lots of vaccinations so he can soon go out and about on the ground and start exploring the world on his lead.

Fun and Favourites

Herbie has discovered that he can now get up onto my raised garden. And one of his favourite things to do is to eat many of my plants – leaves or flowers, he’s not fussy. So yes, I have been out there digging up some plants this week, the ones that I know to be poisonous to him. Sigh. I hope he grows out of it, of course, but in the meantime I need to ensure he’s safe out there. He thinks it’s a brilliant game!

Herbie tried his Lickimat for the first time and he loved it! We’re using it most evenings now to feed him is dinner, along with his Kong and a puzzle ball.

As he’s now teething, he has started eating his tougher chews and so far he likes these Whimzees.

Herbie likes cottage cheese and mashed up banana and will devour them within seconds!

Herbie is starting to recognise regular visitors, as was apparent when my mum popped in a few days ago and he went mad trying to get to her. She does love him.

We have been playing a few games, using ‘find it’ as Herbie learned that one very quickly – it means there’s food somewhere for him to sniff out so he was very motivated to learn that one quickly! We use recycling to hide treats in and we’ve used little cups and bowls with treats trapped underneath. These games keep him happy and busy.

You can now pop over to my Amazon Best Buys for Puppies store now for recommendations of products that have worked for us or that Herbie has loved.

What do you think of Herbie’s week?

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2 thoughts on “The Puppy Diaries at 10 Weeks”

  1. I can’t believe I’m only just catching up with Herbie, he’s so so cute, and so tiny! It sounds like he’s settling in great, and I’ll be sure to pop back and find out how he’s getting on x

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