In despair over 4 and a half month old puppy

[Smai99]

As the title states really just at my wits end with the (lab/whippet/other) puppy I got as a family pet. After a couple of weeks of trying and failing to house train her I decided to crate train her. She will go to the toilet wherever she likes In the house and I feel I have to supervise her constantly to make sure she toilets outside and doesn’t chew everything up. She will go in the crate in the day and sleeps in her bed in my room at night.
However she will wake every night at 2am to play. This seems to be a new behaviour and she doesn’t want the toilet (I’ve tried) she just wants to play. I put her to bed with her own things to chew and treats but she still seeks out my sideboard and chews it every single night at 2am. It’s driving me nuts because she doesn’t play quietly.

She will not sleep in the hall/landing or any other room. I tried crating her At night which it seems she hates. She will bark and whine and howl constantly. The neighbours have complained about it so I had to put her back in her bed in my room. She will wander off in the night and chew stuff up if I leave her loose.
She is horrible to my four year old she snatches his food from him and jumps on him and knocks him over :(
She only listens to me unless she is having one of her crazy moments in which case she runs and jumps and knocks stuff over.
She is not food driven so there’s no guarantee treats will encourage her to behave and I try playing with her as reward but she snatches toys and the “flirt pole” and won’t give them back so I have to stop all games which she doesn’t seem bothered about. She just goes and lies down. She will whine and cry constantly and my mum has said she’s never see such a whiny dog. We had dogs as kids (Labrador) and I had a German shepherd in my 20’s who was so well behaved and willing to please.
I really dont know what else to do. If anyone has any help or advice to offer I’d be grateful because I’m seriously considering re-homing her. St the moment I feel it’s the only way, I get no help from my teens caring for the dog and I’m a single Mum also looking after my Mum who isn’t well and I would never make a decision to re/home an animal lightly but I’m not sure I’m able to give her enough :( there must be something I’m missing. Sorry for the long post.

Wow, I am sorry to read this, it sounds like hard work.

How much exercise does she get?

Can she start any puppy training classes? This may not help with the whining, sleepless nights etc but it may help with regards to her listening to you more.

I would try crate training her again throughout the night, can you move her cage away from the neighbours side of the house? I would let her whine (not if it effects the neighbours, of course)

As for toileting I would go back to basics, outside every morning, after every meal, if you can see any tell tale signs. I would say "clean girl" as she goes and maybe reward with a treat every time she toilets outside. If she wees inside I would just put her straight outside the second you see her going.

I would walk her often, short walks while she is still young, and train her basic commands in between to keep her stimulated. I would get her a lot of the toys she likes to chew on.

Can she go to day care one day a week to burn some energy, get some socialisation?

Hope this helps a little bit, my puppy is almost 7 months old now but we are incredibly lucky with him.

It will settle down with time. But fuck me you sound like you have enough to cope with without a loony toon puppy.

As a kid we had a greyhound who did exactly the same. To the point my dad dragged him to the vet to be pts. The vet bollocked my dad!

His take was the dog is attention seeking and unfortunately we (a d you here) are to blame. His advice was quite simple and very effective. The dogs behaviour changed completely within 2 weeks and until he was bitten by an adder he was a fantastic dog and lovely pet.

The advice was;

Ignore completely for 20 mins before you leave the house and for 20 mins when you come back in. Whatever she does completely ignore. Don't rise to It in any way.

Ignore the night time behaviour. Tell her "bed" and then ignore. Shut all the doors so she can't get in and chew

Longer walks with time to run are essential, they need hours to burn off energy, but they are renowned for being crap at recall so might be worth finding a local farmer who rents out secured fields or a doggy day care type place.

Hope the above helps!

Honestly, none of that sounds like anything other than pretty normal puppy behaviour. She's still a very small baby and I think you're expecting far too much from her at this point. Where did you get her from? Have you contacted either the rescue or her breeder for support?

I'd highly recommend joining this FB group, it's run by highly respected professionals who all advocate the use of science based, force free methods. You will get excellent advice on there and they can also point you in the direction of a trainer/behaviourist either for one to one help or classes. Classes would be very beneficial if you can get to them but do make sure they're good before signing up, a decent trainer should have no issue with you going along to watch a class before committing.

They also have loads of excellent information in the 'Files' section which is well worth a look through. I'd particularly recommend 'Congratulations on Your New Puppy'.

I'd also recommend having a look at Kikopup on YouTube, she has a variety of puppy related videos which may be useful.

Puppies are a lot of work and if you're not able to cope then it would be best to return her to either her breeder or the rescue she came from rather than trying to rehome her yourself. If she was from a less than ideal breeder then approaching a local rescue to help you find her a new home would again be preferable to you doing it alone.

You need to remember she is just a baby and she will learn if you give her lots more training and love, time and patience are the key.
I'd have a look at the puppy survival threads in the Doghouse section.

You need to get some help. This is all very normal puppy behaviour. You have had lovely calm dogs in the past but they would have been trained and older. She is very very young!!
Go back to basics with house training
Crate train her at night time
Ignore the whining - reward settled behaviour
Teach her to sit and stay, go to her bed, lay down.
She will chew - that’s what puppy’s do.
3 short walks a day - she is a mix of working dogs so needs a lot of exercise but is still young so little and often is good at this stage.
Make it easy for her - don’t let your child walk around with food - teach her to sit in her bed while he eats at the table at this stage. Once she’s use to that you can train her to ignore god he is holding etc.
You can not expect her to know what to do. You have to teach her!
I’m sorry if this sounds harsh but I had a very similar dog who was rehomed to me.