New puppy thread, where new puppy owners can come for help and advice and hopefully clever people like minimu, midori et al will check regularly (please) to help us...

[Happymm]

Exactly what it says on the tin really. Kings idea, that we have a thread where we can all come and ask for help, advice, support or just to vent and that the much more experienced people will come and help us out :)

BCBG Thanks so much for those tips. They are great and will definitely put them in place straight away.

We are only into our second week of puppy ownership and I feel like I am getting the hang of things but at some points it all comes to a head and I feel ready to explode!

Having said that I feel that she is also getting the hang of things too - she will sit when I ask her to (majority of the time) and isn't jumping up quiet so much at the DCs.

We have the utility room as the dogs room where I put her when I am not with the DCs/trying to cook/she needs some quiet time/leave the room etc so i will use that a bit more. I put her in there tonight while I put DD in bed to find her on top of washing machine eating dry cat food, with the poop I've been waiting for her to do all day on the floor.....rearrange stuff in there tomorrow then!

They were only expecting 5 puppies!

That does make sense. She's 11wks. Had second jab today, so a wk till can go out out. Have been doing lead work in garden 2x 5mins a day. Do do fair amount of retrieving work, (she's a lab so loves it) she loves fetch, not so good at drop! Have to carefully manage her sleep though.

Clam, you big show off, she gorgeous. Loving the dog strap in the car!

Alp, we use our utility room for the dog and the rabbit! Is good for downtime, so sounds like we're similar to you.

Summer is good at many things. Sleeps all night in her crate 10-7 without crying. Whines to go out for poo, though not wee yet. Is a friendly girl. Just need to sort the jumping and the BITING!

Wow, just did the scruff of the neck thing-was jumping up and biting me on the sofa. Wouldn't calm down and stop-every time I tried to calm her she bit me, so did as suggested. Went limp immediately so let her go. She then sat up and licked my hand calmly so gave her lots of praise and stroked her.

Will remember that one!

Clam - mine did neither on his first walk today. Also did a big poo in puppy class

Went well again and he was doing what I asked of him which was nice! Fast asleep now so hopefully he won't wake as early tmrw...

Or maybe not...just was going mad again, just jumping up and biting. Did the neck thing and as soon as I let her go she did it again... :(

Well done Kings. Very jealous of all these well behaved puppies. Worried am doing something wrong :(

No, Happymm, you got the right reaction the first time! Don't worry that it didnt work the second time,,,,you need to persevere with the technique so that she learns you are NOT fun when she steps out of line.. The second time I would have said OUT loudly, and taken her by the collar, shut her out and returned to what I was doing. She is trying to play with you at the wrong time, and in the wrong way. If you let her back in the room with you, give her something like a Kong with a tiny smear of peanut butter on the inside so that she uses up her energy chewing on that, not you. It may also be that you are giving her too MUCH one to one attention during the day: she needs to learn to lie down quietly when you are sitting, or doing other things. The Kong or similar toy will work wonders then. IMHO 2x5 mins leadwork is far, far too much for an 11 week old puppy: if you have unrealistic expectations of her at too young an age you will cause training problems and setbacks for yourself. I would aim for one car ride a day, to minimise sickness issues, a couple of calm play sessions with a ball, sit command training during the day as and when (mealtimes are the best time to start) and LOTS of just letting her learn to mooch around you without interaction. The lead can wait until next week, when you are ready to take her out. If you have a handy wood, take her there when you do go. Dont be afraid to let her off the lead: she needs to learn to recall. Call her, and walk off purposefully. Like a little duckling, she will follow you because you are mum. If she straggles, dont go back to her, because this teaches them the 'lets run off' game: instead, hide behind a tree and wait for her to panic. Many is the time I have been regarded suspiciously by other walkers as I have spied on a puppy from behind a large tree, but I promise you it works!

Happy - seriously mine is totally NOT that well behaved. He still nips and still gets far too over excited when he sees new people and I just hold him on lead or ignore until he calms down and stops jumping. He does still jump and nip honestly!

I gave up, and put her to bed. She wouldn't stop launching herself at me and biting. Was completely over excited and wouldn't calm down even when did the neck thing. She just waited till I let her go, then did it again. Had marks all over my forearm so not just gentle nibbles either. :(

Will keep her away from the DC today. Have found a behaviourist guy quite locally so going to give him a call later.

Hope all ok with everyone else.

Sorry to harp on about this but am awaiting the poo of the century! Nothing, to my knowledge, for about 18 hours. Although he did disappear off behind the shed last evening when DS was "on duty" so is possible something happened then.

We've been outside with him for 3 lots of 20 minutes this morning already. A good few wees but nothing else.

Happy - I do that quite often - crate her when manic. It's the only thing sometimes.. Poor you.

Have you noticed any pattern to when she is manic? Can you pre-empt? Also do you let her nibble you at all/ bite and then yelp when it's a bit hard, then do it again and yelp again if it gets too hard? Like Ian Dunbar advises as then she learns to bite less hard if she does bite if you see what I mean? And then phase out the biting altogether?

The Bite Stops Here

Our pup still up at 5:30 due to weekend sitters - not bothering to try and sort too much as he is going back this weekend so a waste of time! Next week will crack it though. At least he goes back in for at least 2 hours with kong.

Hope everyone else okay!

happy I'm so sorry you are having these problems. reading back though your posts it looks like the evenings are a really bad time for you. If she has had her second jab I would consider taking her out for a walk in the evenings round the street or whoever you live and then crating her with a kong or similar treat. Just break the pattern, first of all. I hope the trainer has some good advice for you.

Thanks BCBG for taking the time to help. Can't walk her for another wk but will def try that when we can. When I've put DC down tonight think I'll try some retrieval work, as she likes doing that and might wear her out!

Will try your thoughts to Kings, though still bearing last night's marks, so you can tell how hard she bit me then! :(

Clam - poo?

Yay! Two this evening - outside!! - thanks for asking.

DH and DS have taken him to the park to play! What if they lose him????????

He might float away if he's that light! :o

Took Summer on the school run in the stroller again. Again mobbed by kids and adults. Took it in her stride. Didn't bite them-reserved for special family obviously

Gave her a big kip in her crate after, then up for dinner, a poo and a play. She managed a bit without biting but then let herself down by coming up and giving me a massive bite in my side. Immediately yelped, stood up, took the toy with me and went inside. Later went outside to play again. Same thing happened when she got too excited. Bit my forearm, so took toy and went in again. We shall see.

Have found a local behaviourist who seems to have all the right credentials and then some, he is even covered with our kennel club insurance under the complementary treatments :)

Now she's snoring away-hope that continues tonight!

Well you are doing all the right things, and it does sound as though it is an unrestrained/uninihibited play issue, so should be easy to train out of her. Meant to ask..does toy have a squeaker? I NEVER, EVER allow my dogs a toy with a squeak: if necessary I pierce the damn thing with a needle . It teaches bad prey habits IMO and overexcites gundogs and terriers in particular. Just a thought.

Glad to report they all returned home safely, Monty carrying a large pine cone as a prize.

(Please don't tell me they're toxic!)

No-no squeakers. They annoy the hell out of me too! :o

Was just doing retrieval work, playing fetch really with a stag bar that she thinks is a stick and a golf ball and a sock thing. Have done what you said though and eliminated treats completely. She just gets praised and stroked when behaving.

Is a little calmer so far, but DH has her pinned down with strokes! Starting to chew though. Vet said had to wait a wk before walking outside :(

Thanks for all your help and support ladies :)

Had to do quite a lot of discipline :( was going mad again with the biting and jumping. So took her outside in the garden. Had a mad 5mins and a poo. Came back in, she tried it on again, so did the neck thing. Gave her a stroke and praise when she got up and didn't relaunch herself. Is now asleep at my feet. :)

Happy but sounds like you cracked it just now? V common for puppies to have a mad half an hour or something apparently and usually food related I am told. Surge of energy following food apparently...Also our trainer at puppy class mentioned too much protein can make the puppy manic but think you might be feeding pro plan which I haven't heard has a v high protein content actually.

I will be interested to see if she is any better once she can go for walks.

Missed your post earlier about your daughter and the face bite - that's rubbish - poor you and poor her.

Mine hasn't really nipped my daughter for a few days but it's because he is in his play pen or garden quite a lot and she is obv with me, or we are out on a walk and he pays her little or no attention, or he is crated for sleep, or he is around her but v closely supervised, possible attached to me on lead - I have one which is long enough that you can actually put it across body over your shoulder and then you have puppy v near and both hands free (and actually he might be getting the message finally a bit). We have the play pen down one wall to make a pen so we can all be in the same room but just with the puppy in his own space/cage! Can't remember your set up though...

Sounds like the behaviourist might be great!

Went to park twice today and he spent the entire time playing with other dogs, which didn't make for great recall...(but he did stay nearby and come back eventually) and he did a massive, slightly squatty poo all over the grass. Nice.

Have been reading this thread with interest as I have a puppy 2. She's 5 months so a fair bit older than some of yours, but still displaying a few of the same problems, oh dear...

Just thought i'd say that we feed her (as recommended by breeder), a raw diet (Natural Instinct), mixed with Royal Canin. The breeder said that her dogs did really well on it and people are always commenting on her dogs' glossy coats. I guess it makes sense to feed raw as its what they would have in the wild, so more naturally. Maisie absolutely loves it too, which is big bonus! Our previous dog, Jasper, had dry food but was so fussy that he had the dry food, with cooked chicken, rice, cooked cabbage and carrot! was ridiculous really!

The 'biting' thing has actually got a lot better (you will be relieved to here!) I think some of her adult teeth have come thru (altho they look small still) so i guess they r less sharp. N maybe shes also growing out of it...hmm

The main problem we have atm is weeing indoors. She only does it occasionally but sometimes the door is wide open so we dont know what shes thinking! I take her out frequently n give command 'do a wee-wee hurry up' n she does it but she often catches us out inside. Any advice?

Happymm Sorry to hear that biting is still an issue. Our pup does have mad moments and I am still working out how this starts. It usually coincides with me needing to be wanting to get on with something else!

Jomorgan it's good to hear that the biting stops/or slows down at least! You are our little glimpse into the future!

I had a HUGE strop this morning culminating in me shouting at everyone (including half the street I think )
ITS NOT JUST MY DOG!!!!!!!!!!! after I had taken her out, changed nappy on DS, made breakfast, made tea and delivered it to DH in bed made packed lunches, fed the dog, stopped dog jumping up, cleared up a poop in lounge 5 mins after I had taken her out......

Anyway feel better now

Oh dear Alp.

Quiet evening so far, fingers crossed! Though has bitten my youngest as he played outside on his tractor bless him.

Hope everyone had a better day,x

Def getting better at biting/jumpng here - I make such a noise if he even tries with my daughter that I think he is finally getting the message. They spent quite a bit of time together today and he was actually pretty good!

BUT (and there always is one) - he weed twice tonight inside. My fault as he needed to go out (just been in crate and then had just eaten) but door was open so I sort of got complacent - that'll teach me

Happy hope your son is okay...