Help!~"bad puppy" behavior upon first waking

[Shamas mom]

oooh I'm going to muzzle that dog. She's hit the crocapup stage. Hands, legs, furniture, SHOES. The only time she's not chewing is if she's got a pig ear, and those are expensive.

YIKES!

Finally resorted to Milkbones to distract her long enough for a moment's air...and I'm scouring Amazon.ca for enrichment toys. Suggestions welcome. Shamas is in distress, running along behind her, tattling every 3 seconds every time I let her play at all. Because it only takes 3 seconds for her to be bad lol.

And my Baby gates I used for Angel are useless, as she learned to scale them within a couple of days of coming in the house. So it's a long lead attached to a shelf(which she's now moving, so we're going to need a better option) or the pen to contain her if we can't have eyes directly on her.

Make matters worse...the training classes I signed her up for, she's the only one who signed up. SO now she's on "hold" for the next round. I might have to call the behaviorists. See if she's got classes starting soon. This kid NEEDS something to get her busy.

The worst time for me is the 1hour when I wake up. I need something to set her onto then. Everyone else is asleep, and I can't have her running around, causing Shamas to bark his head off tattling because she's doing things she shouldn't every time I turn my head. I hesitate to tether her directly to ME because she'll get frustrated and EAT me. She needs Mental games, I think. Something to focus her, instead of running amok at 5:30am

The base issue---I pen her at night. It's not a full crating, it's a crate with a playpen attached. But the result is enough room to move, and not get claustrophobic (all things pointed to that being the issue with early crate training) but not enough room to play. Her night setup looks like a hutch, with the cage at one end, and a 4foot by 2 foot run. She can see round the door frame, and into our bedroom so she knows she's not all alone, and we lashed baby gates to the top of the pen to make a roof because it took her a whole 20minutes to figure out how to scale it.

When she's let out of the pen in the morning, it's about an hour of terrorising the household

 

[Boogie]

Can you take her outside for lots of retrieving type play? They find it much easier to let off steam outside.

(Wear wellies to protect your ankles!)

 

[Shamas mom]

Can you take her outside for lots of retrieving type play? They find it much easier to let off steam outside.

(Wear wellies to protect your ankles!)

Most mornings we have 1/2 hour to 45minutes of outside time, where she runs circles in the yard. Or plays keepaway with Shamas. Then I feed her and let her back out to play.

She doesn't retreive, but she's got good recall. So we use that to run her back and forth up and down the yard. I usually go out too, and do poop patrol while she plays so every time I call her it's to a different point in the yard

This morning was different--5am saw me standing in the middle of the yard in the pouring rain, with a puppy who wanted to be outside even less than I did. so she took all that energy inside with her and was an absolute terror for 3hours straight until my husband got up and I handed her to him to handle. He took her outside now that it was done raining, and she ran off some steam. Then we went to do some visiting, and she puked in the car, then slept.

This car sickness is getting real old lol

 

[Lisa]

Sounds like a handful, alright! Can you do a mix of brain games and physical games? Feed her breakfast in one of those puzzle bowl things? Do some bursts of training, intermixed with play time with Shamas or play in the garden, a walk, etc?

Puppies are such hard work. You have my sympathy!!

 

[Boogie]

Yes, brain games are a lot more tiring than physical play for pups.

Little Ted is also car sick. It’s ages since I had a car sick puppy, I think Twiglet was the last - eight pups ago. I worry about our long journey down south when we move house.

Solidarity for us puppy mums @Shamas mom

 

[MrChew]

When Chewie was a pup I found that really short bursts of trick training (I'm talking like 5 mins teaching him to spin around or something) tired him out and calmed him more than running around. Obviously they need that too though and I appreciate that it must be really hard to keep her occupied while you're trying to get ready in the morning.

Pups are such demons!

 

[Shamas mom]

I found this: I'm going to buy it. I remember Angel was really bad at this age too

Trick training is mostly inhibited my shamas lol. I try to get Trixie to walk beside me, and Shamas shows up. He knows food is involved in training, and he LOVES training. so he gets in the way every time.

We're starting trixie on Tuesday next week...class of one because no one else signed up this round. She'll breeze through the curriculum with a private trainer lol!

 

[Boogie]

When I have a pup I train them both at the same time. What Ted does Tatze has to do too, even ‘tho it’s totally ‘old hat’ to her. Her Job is to do it calmly and show the pup the way.

She doesn’t mind at all because - treeeeeeeeets!

 

[Shamas mom]

I do this at home, but some of the curriculum shamas can't figure out. However, he's all about the treats and gets in the way trying lol!

The plan is to have one person outside the training area eavesdropping and practicing with shamas

Unfortunately policy doesn't allow older dogs in puppy classes even if I am the only puppy enrolled in the class

 

[Candy]

Oooh! This takes me back! Hard to believe, I know, but my Joy was incredibly hard work as a small pup. I still have torn clothes as proof ( she used to jump up, grab hold of whatever I was wearing and swing off it) and my hands and arms looked like I was self harming! She also ate her lead if ever I stopped to talk to anyone when we were out. Then it stopped. I can't remember exactly when, but miraculously and no thanks to me it all just stopped and she became the world's sweetest and gentlest dog.
So keep the faith and remember This too will pass!
Pee Ess, you do have my sympathy though, it's all very well to look back on, but exhausting and stressful while it's happening.

 

[Shamas mom]

I seem to recall Angel got better behaved around 6m. And again after the first heat. It felt to me that the addition of the adult hormones settled her down.

Being able to go for decent walks made a huge difference. At this age, we can barely walk around the block without developing a little loose gait in the back legs. I don't like to see that loose gait, so I keep her mostly to our own street. Or we drive to walk. Or let her loose in the field we call a yard. It takes 150foot of cords, and 2hours to mow.

At this age, Angel was running around eating the house. The actual house. and we were pushing the vet for those last shots so we could take her places. The vet was adamant about keeping her home until she'd had all her shots.

This time, we only kept the puppy home till round 2. We've been going places with her to wear her out. she loves coming up to where I work, and watching the people go in and out of the grocery store. My coworkers fawn over her.

I DID dig out Angel's little muzzle...when she's too bitey, I say OW! no bite! and pop it on her. If she goes from my hands to a toy, I take it right off. If she doesn't go off to play, we move to training as a distraction instead, giving her plenty of treats while wearing the muzzle before removing it.

We've been doing the replacement thing, but she doesn't WANT a replacement--only our hands, feet, legs, pants, etc. It's literally a case of "I love you so much I could EAT you!" LOL

 

[Jacqui-S]

At this age, we can barely walk around the block without developing a little loose gait in the back legs. I don't like to see that loose gait, so I keep her mostly to our own street.

What do you mean by this? Not sure I understand.

Also, remember you need to teach puppy how to relax as well, not always having to be doing something.

 

[Boogie]

We've been doing the replacement thing, but she doesn't WANT a replacement--only our hands, feet, legs, pants, etc. It's literally a case of "I love you so much I could EAT you!" LOL

That's True of all pups everywhere

You have to be more determined than they are - and that’s VERY determined! Also, keep hold of the toy/chew/whatever while they chew it. They want to interact with you. I always pick them up and put them on my knee while they have a good chew. Once they get manic I pop them in the crate for a rest.

 

[Shamas mom]

What do you mean by this? Not sure I understand.

Also, remember you need to teach puppy how to relax as well, not always having to be doing something.

We saw it with Angel too--every time she went through a growth spurt, her legs seemed too long for her to use comfortably. She could move freely around the house and yard no problems, but the leash work seemed to put strain on the hind legs. It's where the bones grow, but the muscles haven't grown in to support them yet. When on a leash, and trying to pull, they're putting undue pressure on those growing joints. I've stopped putting Trixie's harness on her because she's trying to pull so badly on it...but she walks not too bad on a flat collar.

I also saw the same Gait in Midnight--the cat who was also emaciated and parasite ridden at time of adoption. I always felt it was to do with not having enough meat and muscle to line his skeletal system because he walked much better once he put meat on him. Trixie is putting weight on, but you can still clearly see her hips and ribs. She's not got nearly enough muscle on her yet to support growing joints in stamina work.

I'm considering putting her on the same supplement I use for Shamas joints, if the vet approves. And I'll have her Xrayed at about 6m or so if they think it's prudent. I've set her up with Trupanion already. I wasn't bring home a dog from a breed predisposed to hip and back problems without health insurance.

 

[Jacqui-S]

I'm not sure I agree with your argument @Shamas mom
Puppies all go through that gangly stage. Our muscles and bones benefit from exercise, it generally aids development, as long as it isn't excessive (stairs, jumping, hills etc).
If you feel that walking your puppy is putting your puppy's joints at risk, you really need to work on correct walking, and train this.
The proviso of course is not overdoing lead/harness walking of course. Is it still limited to 5mins per month of age? Obviously free play doesn't count.

 

[Shamas mom]

when we drive to walk, it's limited. SO we do this. Drive to a location, stroll around, stop to talk whilst rewarding sits. Walks in our area dont exceed the time, but she strains physically...that's where we run into that odd walk. I think she overdoes it pulling towards trees, posts, etc... and on concrete to boot. The other night she slipped on asphalt, and was sore. We're also having a lot of trouble keeping four on the floor. Maniac thinks she's half kangaroo! If she were older, and had already trained a bit, I'd halti a dog like this. But we'll see what hapens in class. I intend to do puppy, beginner at least with her at Petsmart (where we often shop) before deciding whether to move to a trainer who is focused on high energy dogs and can cater to her growing personality

Tuesday she starts Training-correct walking will be one of the key elements I'll have the trainer focus on with her, as we've already covered about half the curriculum at home.

We're doing the thing where you don't put the bowl down till they stay sit the whole way down...she jumps four-5 times while I walk to her pen to feed her.
and every time I let her out of the pen
and every time she wants to go somewhere outside of her living room tether range.
and every time I carry laundry
and basically every time something interests her.

Four on the floor is a BIG thing we need to learn. And it's one I'm not sure how to teach aside from rewarding the four on the floor and withholding the thing when she jumps for it

 

[Boogie]

Lead walking - it’s best to have no destination and plenty of treats. So the walk is all about not pulling. Give a stream of treats in the early days. Change direction often so that the pup is following you, not you following the pup. Stop and treat quite often too. Talk to them all the way. Keep it to ten minutes a walk so they don’t get bored.

I find Ted a bit harder than the bigger pups as he’s so low to the ground. Giving a treat-stream to the bigger pups is much easier! I use half the meal for this and do the walks straight after a meal. That way they aren't TOO eager for the food to concentrate.


Here is a video of Spencer’s first walk -

 

[Shamas mom]

Now I just need to get her over Hand=sit lol!

I think I should not have taught her sit first. now she thinks it's the key to all things. The second she sees a treat in my hand, she stops walking, and sits

I mean, it's great in all other circumstances...."Off" sits down "Leave it" moves away, sits down in front of me "Wait" sits down

All these times, the default sit is helpful....but when I offer her a treat lure to walk at my side, and she glues her bum to the ground...all I can do is laugh

I've taken to saying "walk with me" and walking away with the treat at my hip. In the house and yard. Perhaps she'll clue in

 

[Boogie]

Yes - Ted is the same!

But I think, as the walk gets more enjoyable for them, that will wane.

 

[Beanwood]

@Shamas mom

I am hearing a lot about "training" . Those early months should also, and predominately be about lifestyle skills, lots of rest ( actually mostly this..) learning to settle, fun boundary games especially if you have other dogs. Boundary games - where they learn that their bed/mat is a fantastic place to be is something you can do with both dogs.

Check out here for ideas and videos..

We're doing the thing where you don't put the bowl down till they stay sit the whole way down...she jumps four-5 times while I walk to her pen to feed her.

Why? Just let pup have her food - instead make it a game and add her name, or your recall cue. Don't ask your pup to wait for food.

Four on the floor is a BIG thing we need to learn. And it's one I'm not sure how to teach aside from rewarding the four on the floor and withholding the thing when she jumps for it

Reframe this, and think about the context of jumping up. What is your pup looking for? Connection? A game? Or just a bit of attention. Don't "withhold" anything, again, you are building the very thing you are trying to avoid.

Walks in our area dont exceed the time, but she strains physically...that's where we run into that odd walk. I think she overdoes it pulling towards trees, posts, etc... and on concrete to boot. The other night she slipped on asphalt, and was sore.

Here's the thing. Set your pup up for success, choose your battles and look for quieter places to take her. Think about what happens after a walk like this when you get home. Probably more of the same, an over stimulated puppy who is struggling to calm down and relax. The walks were you drive them and bimble around sound ideal.