The Puppy Diaries at 14 Weeks

Our little Herbie is now 14 weeks old. And I can’t help but notice that he’s not so little any more. I mean, he’s a miniature dachshund puppy so he’s far from huge, but he is so much bigger now than when we first brought him home. He feels heavier to lift up and he’s a lot longer. It’s so lovely seeing him thrive and grow.

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

Herbie the Miniature Dachshund at 14 Weeks Old

Training and Behaviours

Generally speaking, Herbie knows to go to the toilet outside. There are times that he’s regularly taken out and he understands what he needs to do. He’s praised when he does so and then continues on with his playing and exploring. However, at around 5-5.30ish, he likes to have an indoors poo. Why??! So we know this and this week have been better at preventing it and ensuring he’s outside when he needs to go. I am hoping that we are making headway breaking this habit.

I’ve not mentioned night times for a while, and I suppose that’s because they’re not really an issue. Herbie knows to settle down and nap after the kids go to bed and he’s then woken when we go up at around 10pm, and pops outside for the toilet. He then goes in his box by our bed and we don’t normally hear from him until morning. This has been the case for at least the last two to three weeks, maybe longer. ‘Morning’ varies, sometimes it’s 4.30am, sometimes 6am. If it’s any time before 5, I just pop him back to bed after going outside. If after 5 I give him his breakfast and then pop him back to bed. If after 6, I just get up and start the day. He always wants to nap again after breakfast anyway, so even if I get up, he’ll eat and then take himself off to his crate. He settles down quite well, so this seems to suit him. And I have young kids, so early starts are not a shock to my system!





At his puppy class yesterday, Herbie worked hard on learning a few new things. He enjoys his time there, he is excited to be in the room and see the familiar dogs.

At home, I am now seeing his training working in ‘real’ situations. He can easily perform a sit, stay, leave, heel and so on during a training session, and I am now seeing him following these cues outside of his sessions. It’s so good to see the training paying off, he is a clever pup.

Out and About

We’ve actually not been out and about that much this week. Little Man was poorly over the weekend so our plans for trips out went out of the window. The Husband and Boo did take Herbie into the town centre for a little stroll around lunchtime on Saturday, as we wanted him to get used to it when its busy. We’re very aware that his socialisation window is starting to close now, so we are cramming whatever we can in!

As always, Herbie has been on all of the school runs with us, safely tucked up in his bag. He gets so much attention from the kids’ friends, and then a few more people too. I think these runs alone exhaust him.

We’ve had visitors and Herbie is great when meeting new people. He isn’t nervous of approaching them, and does settle fairly quickly after he’s done so.

We attended puppy class yesterday, and then popped to my mum’s house afterwards. Herbie likes to explore new environments and he spent ages mooching about in her large garden.

Fun and Favourites

As the weather was so nice over the weekend, we popped the guinea pigs outside in their run. Oh my, did Herbie want to play with them! They ignored him and nibbled away at the grass and their dandelion leaves, whilst he was in full on puppy play mode, pouncing and jumping around the run and barking – he so rarely barks it still startles me when he does it.

Herbie is clearly teething this week as he has eaten through several of his toys that he’s has since he first came home. He has also managed to chew through a tote bag and a blanket – I have eyes like a hawk now!

A new culinary delight has been sampled, Herbie likes sardines. I mean, he really, really likes them.

Herbie likes my clematis. He has had great fun pulling it down from the fence, and it’s taken him a while as it’a very well-established clematis. Well, it was, as he has now managed to destroy it and I was careful to remove any bits from him as it can be poisonous to dogs. Farewell, beautiful clematis.

We have a stair gate to prevent him from getting upstairs so it’s all uncharted territory to him up there. As we were busy in Boo’s room over the weekend, the Husband brought him up with us – well, he now knows all about upstairs and he loves it! It was tricky to catch him again to take him back down and he has been very keen to get back up there ever since!

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

What do you think of Herbie’s week?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links

Sharing is caring!

2 thoughts on “The Puppy Diaries at 14 Weeks”

  1. Aww Herbie is so cute, I remember the teething stage with Bibi (our nearly 2 year old weechon). She chewed the skirting boards and everything. Luckily she is out of that now. Oooohh will have to try sardines with Bibi, she goes crazy for tuna and her mini roast dinner when we have one 🙂

    1. Oh no, not what you want at all! Yes, do, she’ll love them. Herbie loves tuna and a roast, too, so give them a try. Thanks! x

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *