What was your puppy like at this stage

[Puppybrain]

We’ve got a four months old golden retriever/ miniature poodle cross (golden doodle) and this is our first dog. I did plenty of research before getting a puppy, we go to puppy training classes with him and read as much as I can. But, as I’ve never had a puppy before, I’m still unsure about what is ‘normal’ behaviour he will outgrow and where should we put more training in now. On the plus side, he was house trained within a week of arriving, happily sleeps from around 9pm to 7am in his create and has fairly good off lead recall now when we’re out and there are no other dogs around. When I’m on my own with him during the day, he’s a calm happy dog, who likes following me around the house, but will also go and have a play in the garden or take himself off for a sleep. On the more challenging side, he’s very excitable in the morning when the kids get ready for school and for about 2-3 hours in the evening when everyone is home. During this time he’ll typically jump up on the kids, try to nip them, try to jump on the sofa as soon as we sit down, jump up at the table when we sit down to eat. We manage this by giving him lots of play time and adding short training sessions in the morning and evening, but it never seems enough. He has two walks a day. As I said he’s recall is quite good, but the minute he spots another dog, he’ll be off, jumping up on them trying to play. As not all dogs appreciate this, I keep him on the lead when other dogs are around, but this means he never gets the chance for ‘feedback’ from other dogs.
We try to manage the nipping and jumping up by ignoring (jumping) and ‘yelping’ or firm ‘no’ (nipping). This works quite well for me and DH, but not really for the kids.
We manage evening restlessness by going for a walk and then having a play session, followed by giving him a chew toy. This works up to a point, but still leaves lots of time for restlessness/getting overexcited.
Please tell me what your puppies were like at this age. How did you manage meal times, family time etc. When did your puppy learn to settle themselves whilst you all sat down. How was your puppy with your kids? Did you have a puppy that jumped up on other dogs? Was your puppy still trying to mouth/nip at this age?

[Hoppinggreen]

He was a vile little fecker ( Golden Retriever)
and I would have given him away to the first person who asked
Love him now though

[Puppybrain]

At what point did it start getting better? And do you think he just outgrew his issues or did you have to put in lots of training?

[QuietFin]

Our puppy is 9 months old now, he gets his dinner when we sit down to eat, which helps, when he was younger any time he nipped or got mouthy I put a smallish chew bone in his mouth to chew, he got bored after a while! When we were out walking he would get treats when we passed people and other dogs, the distraction technique seems to be working and we now only use treats when passing other dogs!
He's definitely got better in the last month or so! Puppy stage is like the toddler stage feels like it will last forever but they do out grow it!!

[Puppybrain]

One of the reasons I’m asking is because my kids outgrew lots of issues that (quite literally) kept me awake at night. I read every parenting book going, but with hindsight it wasn’t worth the worry and nothing I could have done would have made things easier. It’s just tough having toddlers. I don’t want to make the same mistake with the puppy.

[TropicPlunder]

Yes it sounds normal!! My 12 month-ish dog is still excitable in the morning and evening....but it's hot where we live and I think it could be temperature related! Is that a possibility for you? Or maybe excitement because everyone is together in the house at once. Not very helpful, but we often have a family run around in the garden before kid bed time then the dog gets a chew or kong while I put my daughter to bed.

[Puppybrain]

Thanks Quiet. I’ve tried the treats, when walking past other dogs. It works when they’re quite far away, but not when they run up to us for a sniff and hello! Maybe just need to persist.

[NameChangedAgain18]

Five months was the worst point in terms of the biting. I remember crying on Christmas Day because he was being such a little shit, and because I was covered in bruises. He got better shortly after that but, because he's he highly-strung spaniel, I still wouldn't exactly say he's grown up (ten years old this month), though he does at least sleep more. I wouldn't part with him for anything though.

[Panicmode1]

I have a golden retriever too. She's only just calming down now she is almost 4.....

I'm half joking. The first 6 months were hard work. I did lots and lots (and still do)of training with her, including some gun dog training, and although her recall is very good, she can still jump up if she's excited.

I have four children, the youngest of whom was four when we got her, and I found having lots of chew toys or a kong when I was trying to get the children through breakfast and out of the door to school helped otherwise she just got more and more excited.

It does get better. Just be consistent - "always or never" was my gundog trainer's mantra!

[Puppybrain]

Thanks Tropic. I’m glad to hear it’s not just us. Our puppy seems quieter and more relaxed with the heat, but sadly we don’t get too much warm weather.

[Hoppinggreen]

I think I hated him less at around 8 months.
We had to do a lot of training - Goldies are big dogs and I’m sorry to warn you that unless yours is part mini poodle it may be even bigger than a Goldie, the one I know is - so with young dc it was very important he was well behaved. He had some resource guarding issues which he no longer has but at 2 he’s a bit of a dick around other dogs.
Goldies are good at working things out and poodles are clever too so you might need to do a lot of mental exercise

[Puppybrain]

Thanks Panic. I like ‘always or never’ and will use that. I’m now thinking I need to get some bigger kongs, as he’s done with the puppy ones in less than ten minutes.

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

I have a 17 week old puppy, so can comiserate! Luckily, we have an older dog who dutifully bears the brunt of his jumping and mouthing, and she tells him off when he gets too much! Our children are a bit older (14, 13 and 10) and have always grown up with dogs, so they're quite good at managing him too.

They do get better! His little teeth are falling out/ big teeth coming in at the moment, so he's a bit what we call Barky - Sharky! But he definitely is improving!

[Thesearepearls]

Relax and go with your instincts OP. It worked with your kids and it'll work with Ddog. Be firm about the jumping up - it's their way of saying how delighted they are to see you - but if you say "DOWN" firmly enough and often enough - they get the drift. The recall will improve and the mouthing/nipping just goes in time. You haven't mentioned endless pairs of shoes getting eaten so I guess that isn't happening. .

You'll get so much pleasure from your Ddog. Have fun!

[Puppybrain]

Thanks Hopping. Yes he’s part minature poodle, so not sure how big he’ll grow. I have been thinking that he needs more mental stimulation, as he loves training sessions. Maybe we need to do more of that.

[BiteyShark]

The more calmer the house the more calmer my dog was as a puppy so not surprised yours is jumpy etc when everyone is around. I had to often do enforced timeouts or sleeps when it was obvious he was over excited as at that age he couldn't settle himself.

They do grow out of it. Mine started to settle down around 5 months of age but from 6 months hit his teenage streak and was a pain in the arse until around 1 year of age.

[Puppybrain]

Thank you all, I was beggining to wonder if we had ended up with a rogue crazy dog (though we love him already and couldn’t give him up). It’s reassuring to hear that most of what he’s doing is normal and we just need to stick at it.
He does like shoes, insoles in particular, so a bonus has been that the rest of the family have rediscovered the shoe cupboard.

[Puppybrain]

The calmer the house, the calmer the dog is definetly true. I had somehow hoped I could teach him to settle on a bed on command when things are busy.
I now realise that’s as realistic as thinking I’d end up with babies sleeping through the night from day one, if I’m just consistent enough .

[adaline]

Mine is seventeen weeks old. He's generally very good - sleeps through the night from 10.30-7am, hasn't had an accident inside for a couple of weeks and inside he follows basic commands.

He bites but he's learning that it won't really get him anywhere as it stops play. He bays (he's a beagle) a lot when he's bored or wants attention but we're slowly working on that bit!

I would maybe consider whether you're overdoing it on the walks front. At sixteen weeks they only need a twenty minute walk and in this heat probably not even that. I only say that because mine goes bonkers when he's over-tired and it sends his behaviour over the edge.

[BabyHare]

This is fascinating as we are getting out Miniature Golden Doodle at the end of September! Is there anything you did or didn't do that you wish you had! Thank you in advance! :)

[TillyTadpole]

Hi OP. I have 2 cockapoos. The oldest is 9 months. Youngest is 4 months. They have a crazy 10 minutes where they do 'zoomies', every evening, around 6pm.

If you are a member of any of the FB poodle cross groups you will find they all do it. It's known amongst the groups as 'The Doodle Dash'. It's quite entertaining to watch (once you've all taken cover 😁).

Both mine were very mouthy as puppies. The eldest calmed down once her adult teeth came through around 5 months. The youngest has lost all the smaller puppy teeth now. Just waiting for the 4 canines to drop out - can't wait!!

Other than that they are very calm during the day. They have 2 walks per day, one morning and one evening. We also do short periods of basic training every day.

They are both very over excited in the morning. We don't interact with them until all four paws are on the floor.

They both sleep from 10pm until 7am and have done so from around 14 weeks old and toilet training took no time at all. One of us got up to let pup out the garden at 3am and straight back into their bed until 14 weeks old.

[almondsareforevermore]

It’s good for puppies to meet other dogs off-lead and play, it teaches them doggy manners and if an older dog doesn’t appreciate him then you can call yours away or put on his lead. It’s sad that you don’t let your puppy interact with others and will adversely affect how he reacts to others.