I am beginning to hate my puppy...

[GunpowderTreasonAndDragons]

Don't get me wrong, he's not going anywhere because he is adorable and I also love him dearly but I am beginning to get really p*ssed off with him nipping people and housetraining is not going well.

I can't get to any of the sodding puppy training classes as they are all evenings etc when I have all 3 children to contend with.

None of the tactics for stopping him jumping and nipping work (yelping, ignoring etc ) but just drive him to further excited nipping. The children can't play with him much because of the nipping (thankfully they still love him and aren't scared of him) and I can't take him on the school run because he'll nip the children there too.

In other stuff he's great - he's learning to sit and will come when called (provided he's not distracted by other dogs/people) and he's great out in the woods off the lead. and did I mention that he's adorable?

I am just sick of all the nipping and chewing people and and...

I don't want miracle solutions (well, I do really) but just want a whine and a rant. I know he's a puppy (18 weeks) and he'll grow out of it (in about 10 years) but I'm tired, irritable and fed up with it. I can't even put his lead on without getting snapped at and chewed.

Have you tried scruffing him when he nips?

Firmly but gently, just enough for him to stop. That's what always works for me.

Housetraining should be getting there now - which times are the problem?

Bella is your woman here, but I just wanted to say that I was despairing of our pup (nearly 5 months) and her biting but she has been much better in the last few weeks. Some more teeth have come through and she has stopped chewing our chairs, too. We shout at her in a very growly deep voice. I've also done a bit of scruffing, too. We also make a big fuss of her when she's being gentle with us and give her treats.

She regressed badly on housetraining last week but we are wondering whether it was because she'd had a worming pill and needed to go more urgently than normal and wasn't used to needing to react and 'tell' us more speedily.

They grow out of it. Distraction with a favourite toy can work. My friend has a pup and when he kicks off she puts him in the hallway briefly and shuts the door. He whines,then she lets him back in. Usually he's calmer, if not, he's back out. It's like how you'd treat a child really, like a time out to reflect . It will get better, glad you're persevering, with good owners it always gets better.

By scruffing do you mean grabbing them by the scruff of the neck? Like the vet does when they have a jab? Just going through this with 12 week old puppy now so can sympathise!

You are not alone! I can sympathise with the ggrrrrr factor - took my 5 month old puppy to the vets this morning (follow up injection for a strained tendon, caused by too many puppy handbrake turns ), and he managed to cover the entire boot of the car with poo. The crate, the upholstered bit of the boot, the straps that hold the crate in, the vet bed, the toy I'd put in with him to calm him down... All this after carefully supervised bowel evacuation half an hour before. I swear he has an emergency tank of poo and wee that he can release at will. What should have been a simple half hour round trip has turned into a two hour dung-marathon - with him bouncing about, completely fine, as if I was doing it for fun.

(Incidentally, is v satisfying power hosing Vet bed - the poo comes straight out in visible 'Cilit Bang!'-like stripes.)

It does get better, honestly. You just have to be calm and consistent. The most useful part - I thought - of The Perfect Puppy was the bit where you have to 'instruct' your DH/DC to do something without words, to see how confusing it is for the puppy to understand what you want. It's a simple idea, but it's made me a lot more patient.

Thanks.

I have the Perfect Puppy book and am thinking of writing my own called the Imperfect Puppy. The one where the puppy learning to sit is not standing quietly looking at your fist-containing-treat, ready to sit when you move it over his head but is instead bouncing, jumping, nipping and generally trying to chew your arm off at the elbow to get the treat. The house in my book will be strewn with shredded newspaper, precarious piles of above-dog-height stuff and dust bunnies of pet bedding wafting abut where the Imperfect Puppy has spent 15 minutes pulling the stuffing out of their bedding.

House training is getting there. He can go all night (roughly 9pm -7am maximum) without pooing or weeing which is fabulous and generally he won't have accidents if he's been out and about. The stumbling block we've hit now is that he won't give any indication that he needs to go, he'll just shit on the floor somewhere. I've got smell erasing stuff etc but he's not got a favourite spot. He's rewarded when he goes outside instead and clearly gets this because when he's been out alone and weed, he'll come bounding in and sit expectantly by the treat pot. He doesn't do this if he's not been.

It's tricky to make a fuss of him when he's been gentle and good because it happens so rarely and fleetingly! By the time you've got to reward him, he's chewed someone else.

I do fantasise about how easy life would be without him In fact, we went for a walk near the police dog training ground nearby and I fleetingly thought about handing him in for them to train (he's a spaniel).

However, we all wanted a dog and I got him in the full knowledge that it was for life and I was going to be the one doing the work. I didn't expect it to be so much work for such little result. Slow and steady progress would be fine, I'm not expecting him to behave like the Perfect Puppies in the book. Yet.

On the bright side, he's not managed to cover the car in poo yet.

Sympathies - the pooing would drive me nuts.

Have you managed to catch him in the act? i.e. interrupt him while the poo is still coming out and get him out to the garden?

Perhaps I was just lucky but I did this once with pup and she never pooed inside again (rivers of pee, but no pooing...)

Also, is there a routine with his feeding and therefore pooing? We are now at the point where we can mostly predict when she will need to go.

Our pup is 7 mo now and mostly doesn't nip - she gets excluded and told 'no' very firmly when she uses her teeth and it's only when she is very excited. I don't know why it has taken so long because we have always been v consistent with nipping. I suppose it just depends on the individual pup.

I get fed up too, you're not alone. I have fleeting thoughts about how simple life would be without her.

It's the evening poo which seems to be the problem one. I have shouted at him and hurried him out when I've caught him in the act but he's still done it again.

Yes, you see - he is getting there

He sounds like a bright little spark.

Thanks, abra1d - not true, but thanks Could well have been the worming in your pup's case.

Back to Op - they don't all give you warnings when they need to go - is it more of a problem when he hasn't been out so much? You should be starting to see a routine in how many poos he does and when, and be able to work round that. They almost always need one within an hour of eating, so take outside straight after food, and in less than an hour later too.

Once he's got the hang of 'sit' or whatever you can phase out the food treats, and just give them intermittently.

Also try feeding treats from the floor, so he's less focussed on your hands.

Make sure he never gets the treat out of your hand himself, and is only rewarded when he is still and calm.

Teach the 'leave it' command - that will help too in all sorts of areas.

Spaniels often work best for a favourite toy. Is he a springer?

HTH

Yes our pup never used to "tell" us when she needed to go. She has now started to sit by the back door looking hopeful but only started doing that at about 6.5 months.

it might be a bit unkind but we resorted to Time Out to stop our spaniel nipping - 1 minute behind a closed door for every month of life, it worked v quickly where all else failed

Sorry, should add in my pup's defence that his poo was down to motion-sickness/dirty protest at being taken to the vets on a Monday morning. He's generally fairly reliable (for a hound puppy) about pooing in the right place. Is amazing how tiny bits of salami concentrate the canine mind.

On the other hand, he has now learned to jump up and get things off counters, which is the Irksome Habit of the Week.

I had a brief flashback this morning to how freewheeling and simple my life was before dogs. I felt a bit wistful, I must admit. But I do love them, and that's the price you pay.

He's a cocker. Although he does appear to have springs in his legs

Gunpowder I will buy The Imperfect Puppy! Do you want some extra illustrations? Sounds like an Xmas bestseller to me...

Am still trying to work out how to teach 'leave it' with a treat hidden in one hand, and a treat on hand nearby to a dog who can smell treats from 50m away, and goes ballistic if there's the slightest chance of food. He learned 'sit' in two minutes flat, but anything more complicated means his stomach overtakes his brain.

Both dogs are cuddled around each other in the basket, like Yang and Yang. I need moments like this as a mental screensaver, to hypnotise myself with whenever the wee mop needs to come out.

Well, I hope some of what I said helped anyway

Any advice helps!

The books all make it seem so straightforward, what with their perfect puppies standing waiting for instructions etc. It's all "oh, you just blah blah blah and voila!"

I am trying not to be a grumpy old woman maybe I am hormonal but saying you are beginning to hate your puppy is a bit sad.

Your children will be naughty and need to be showed how to behaviour for about 18 years and you are expecting a pup to know what to do after 18 weeks!

If the dog poos or wees inside it is generally the owners fault for not giving the dog the opportunity to go out enought times. Once the dog has pooed inside you have to be extra vigilant in taking it. Yes every hour even at 18 weeks if he is still pooing inside. Most pups get the hang of performing outside very quickly but that is very different from them asking to go out.

Re the nipping if he reacts to your sound in an excited manner then just remove him from teh situation. Pick him up and put him in another rooom and say nothing. When he is quiet and still then let him in and quietly praise him. He should only get any interaction from you when he is quiet and all four feet are on the ground. The minute he gets excited and jumpy quietly move away. HE will learn very uickly if you are consistant.

Spaniels are great dog and the busy excited mood is something you will learn to love once he knows the boundaries of his behaviour. Also when he is busy and able to be fully exercised things will get better.

Re the school run I would take him but don't let people stroke him but the more he can experience at this age the calmer he will get.

Can you just get used to touching him when he is calm. At the moment I guess this will be hard but have him standing or sitting whichever is easier for him and he needs to stay in that posistion when you are stroking him. Initially this will be a millisecond but if you do it several times a day he will get the idea really quickly.

Again clicker training is great for this when he is still and quiet click and give him a treat, reward the calm behaviour.

Re the walking and tripping you up I would again use the clicker when pup is in the right place you may need to lure him to the right place with food then click. His brain will soon realise that if I am here I get food and not treaded on - this is where I want to be!

Good luck do hope today is a better day . Puppies do take so much of your time can other people help you out with other chores as if you concentrate on pup for a month things will be so much better.

If I sound grumpy at the beginning of the post my blood sugar is back to normal now so I apologise! I do remember how hard it is with a young pup.

shown!

Yes wildfig - what no one explains is where you keep your supply of treats so the Imperfect Puppy doesn't sniff them out, wrestle you to the floor and scoff the lot at once.

However, the Delectable Dill is curled up on his stuffing-less bedding and blanket in his half eaten wicker basket fast asleep. Looking good

"saying you are beginning to hate your puppy is a bit sad."

Clearly you didn't read the bit where I said we love him dearly and that he's not going anywhere

We've tried lots of things with our puppy (about 20 weeks now) and I really like the dog whisperer (Cesar Millan) way of doing things. He's a dog psychologist and what he does really works, he works with dangerous dogs that actually bite too and is wonderful at turning them around.

If you think about how cockers are used as drug dogs, and how intelligent they are, you'll understand that's the way he is.

Gawd - I sound grumpy too now but I don't mean it like that

I just mean you have hugely intelligent pup with an astounding sense of smell who wants to be very busy - you have to channel that into something constructive - like lots of playing and training.

I did read that bit but the thread heading was very emotive.

I feel this may be my last post on mumsnet and I will flounce away! - so in for a penny Caear Milan is frowned upon in the educated dog circles. His methods are cruel and old fashioned. In Italy there is a campaign to ban his program from the TV. He uses electric shock collars and even his sssssh command is thought to be a conditioned response to an electric shock collar. The aplha roll has been proven to be cruel and unneccesary in training dogs and does cause them distress. The dominance theory has been disproven for many years. Certainly not the way I would want to treat my dogs.

There are loads you can do to get your spaniel working for you. How about hiding the treats for him to find. Work his brain and his natural instincts.

Noooo minimu - don't leave!!! You're too useful on this topic board.