Wish we had never bought new puppy.

[Babyroobs]

Bought a new puppy 4 months ago, he's now 6 months. I feel like it's the biggest mistake ever. Him and my 6 year old dog still don't get on, there's a lot of fighting and jealousy. I have developed a bad back and struggling to walk them together, puppy is strong and just pulls constantly, so having to do four separate walks a day, although other family members do help. I try to keep him out of certain rooms but he just throws himself at doors and manages to get them open, when shut in the Kitchen for a short time he whines and scratches woodwork. He has pulled wallpaper off 2 rooms in the past week, caused £200 worth of damage to trainers and coats etc ( despite reminding teenagers not to leave shoes where he can get them ). He constantly whines to go out and no sooner has he come in but wants to go out again- I can't not let him out in case he wants to wee. I am constantly up and down. Tried to have a one hour lie in this morning after dh had left as I have been on nightshifts over the weekend but even then I couldn't as he was whining and scratching the kitchen door. Our other dog is miserable, I am miserable, just don't know what to do.

I felt the same about our longed for, puppy, when he was about the same age, I really thought 'what on earth have I done'
He was walked , played with & never left above 1 hr, but this was exhausting..
I does get better & we crated him at night & when left, so minimum chewing.
castrated at 10 months though this made no difference to his behaviour at all.
He is 2 now & a completely lovely dog..

Hang on in there... & yes i'd second getting a crate.

I have no real helpful advice, but sympathy. I’ve had my spaniel almost a year and it is hard. Knowing intellectually that you aren’t going to get a lie in doesn’t make you stop wanting one!

I am a big fan of throwing money at the problem, if possible. We do weekly obedience classes and scentwork classes, recall class and 1-1 agility every 2 or 3 weeks (because more often would bankrupt me...) I’d like to do gundog training as well but I can’t find anyone near enough to be practical. Plus he has a walker who takes him out for 1.5 hours minimum every week day. It has made a difference - even if only because hearing other owners saying that they find things difficult or his trainers saying ‘no, it’s not just you, he is challenging’ helps, and it helps you feel a little bit more in control.

Thanks so much for all the supportive suggestions, I'm certainly going to look into training - by formal training do you all mean going to a training class rather than just training yourself at home?
I realise we got the wrong breed for a busy household. He was the last one in the litter ( that a friend had bred) to have a home and he was an impulse decision, I realise my stupidity now so I don't need any more flaming for it. His mum is a working cocker who works on the moors collecting pheasants on shoots so yes he is bound to be high energy.
He has a crate but we don't shut him in it really - he goes in voluntarily for ( rare) daytime naps . He has dry food , and has interactive toys where we put treats in and it takes him ages to shake it about and get the treats out.

Yes formal training = group or 1-1 with a trainer. It really helps having someone in real life seeing how your dog interacts with you and correcting your mistake because it's nearly always something you are doing unintentially or not doing that affects their behaviour. It's sometimes only when someone watches you and points it out do you realise what is happening and why.

Thanks Bitey - I will definitely look into that.
To the person who mentioned dogs breaking their necks with halti harness's and retractable leads ( sorry I can't find the comment now), is that the same for any type of harness?
Once again thanks to everyone offering helpful suggestions, I'm definitely feeling a bit more positive !

We also have a puppy and an older dog.. Fortunately the 2 dogs get on great (both male), but maybe because our older dog really is old ie 14!

With the pup - all the destructive behaviours sound familiar, as well as the early mornings etc. It does get better though as our pup is now 11 months old, he's a lot more settled in the evenings and daytime, and less 'chewy' . He has stopped howling/yipping and scratching the door frame when we leave the room.

One thing that helped, was a quick walk in the evening after supper, this is in addition to his two walks in the woods a day.

First walk - we take both dogs. Second walk - sometimes both, sometimes just pup, and third walk, just pup.

Stick with it - and you will get there, it is hard. I would joke with ours that we would send him back to Romania if he didn't behave...

Shoes etc ALL kept in another room now.

Sounds like you do need to head to some decent training classes. Is there one of these near you? www.dogstrustdogschool.org.uk/

We do ‘special needs’ training classes (they do them for dogs who can’t cope with all the noise and stimulation of a regular class - mine loses his mind like a 5 year old boy showing off at a party) - it’s so helpful, there are 4 dogs and 3 trainers, and they step in at the point when dog and I are both getting frustrated.

Hi there ,I've 10 month old pup...and I've had 4 kids ..the kids are easier.i find understanding my dog hard...this is harder than any of mine being 10 months old...so I do totally understand....this is how I see it...my girl is a new member of our family,with needs and wants..my job as mum / owner is to work out these needs / wants,..mine has 2 walks a day ,one of them off the lead running the whole time ,chasing balls.we go to the same place ,meet the same dogs...so she gets some doggy play time and doggie interaction..as well as that she has about 15 toys we throw down the hall and she retrieves.garden too muddy at mo...we play tug of war and fetch in the hallway.i clear it for her...if we can take her with us ,wherever we are going ,we do.shes not allowed in bedrooms..she has a 9 o'clock bedtime,which she knows and goes to bed when I do the same routine each night..we have never put her in a cage in the house,but I have one in the car she travels in...I see her like having another child,and I make sure her needs are met...she has puppy pads down every night incase I don't hear her needing to go out..they are rarely used....if my dog is happy she won't be a problem,and she has destroyed absolutely nothing..done no damage to the house ,but if I'm home I'm with her,and I've never left her home alone for more than 3 hours ,most days she's never left for more than an hour...but I've found this very hard work...I know I will never have another dog again...and I know I wouldn't of coped with her if I had had young children at home..

Baby unless you specifically have a no pull harness you could potentially be giving him more to pull on. Because a harness is across the chest it gives them something to lean into as they pull. A halti goes across the nose which is a rather sensitive area for a dog so they don't like pulling against it. Definitely avoid extendable leads with anything such as a halti, so dangerous

OP - a halti goes around the muzzle, unlike a harness which os on the back.

Our 3 year old springer rescue came with a halti and a long lead. He hated it, but was impossible to walk without it, he pulled so hard, that he nearly had me over a few times, and I am quite hefty.
After 2 weeks I made the decision to lead train him and get rid of the halti, we did it in 2 stages, short lead on harness with strict lead training to park and then long lead and halti. Once he had got the hang of that, we dropped the halti altogether and did lead training on the long lead as well.

We have had him for 7 weeks, and I've been training him for 5, and he is now a million times better to walk (well, for me, on a famililar walk) It has been really hard work, and walks were a pain (stop start etc) but it has worked.

I am really interested in the person who said spaniels don't walk well on a lead because they zig zag - can you post more info, or a link? That is certainly true of ours, he constantly swaps from left to right, even if he isn't pulling.

It sounds so draining! My pie-in-the-sky suggestion is to buy a treadmill, and dot odd smells onto it, so the dog runs while sniffing!

I have known owners use treadmills for dogs.....so, might be worth a think about??

I would use a harness at all. That encourages them to use their full body weight so then pull you along, a halti goes over their nose and round the back of their head so when they pull it pulls the snout down it's fab. Instantly stops pulling. I'd stop using the harness straight away in all honesty.
You'll get there, puppy's are worse than babies ha ha x

A good harness like a mekuti or perfect fit with two points to attach a training lead won't encourage pulling.
You can't use a halti with an extending lead. And you should never use an extending lead by a road or other hazards.

steppemum I don't have a link unfortunately as I found that out in our gun dog training sessions. You see all the retrievers, labs etc walking nicely and the spaniels struggling (well those that haven't mastered the lead training).

Spaniels love hunting as that's what they 'do' so if you watch them they zig zag trying to pick the scent up. Lovely to watch when you hunt with them e.g. they are trying to find the ball you have hidden. I love it when he's on the hunt and zig zagging about and then finds the scent and just aims straight for it. I learnt so much going to a gun dog training group about how he behaves and I am still learning as he is a great hunter but his retrieving needs lots of work

Yes ours is certainly doing the zig zagging when walking I'm constantly switching the lead from hand to hand. It would be impossible to walk them both together although dh seems to manage it !

Bitey that is so true! My folks have a working cocker & off lead he will zig zag almost eratically. On lead he tries. He's 11 & still hasn't quite mastered the art of not doing it on lead, resulting in lots of tangled feet 😂

It is hard .

I'm sorry you've had such an unsympathetic response on here. Personally I found two dogs far greater than the sum of their parts and harder to train the second, plus you are worrying about the first.

You need to bond and fall in love! Training out of the house can be nice as there is a social element and it is so rewarding when something clicks and you realise you are communicating with your dog. In your shoes I'd sign up for agility when old enough, but you need the basic training there first (recall, wait etc).

I'd work its nose by hiding food rather than just putting in a bowl as this really tires them out.

Good luck. I started the original puppy survival thread and I'm madly in love with our batty hound now but it took time.

Harnesses don't encourage pulling, lack of training and wanting to get somewhere does.

Lil a harness gives a dog more scope to pull, makes it easier. Hence why sled dogs have chest harnesses because it makes pulling easier for them.
The only thing that will stop pulling is training but some tools discourage it more than others 🙂

Maybe I should start another thread about spaniels!

How do you train them to hunt for something? Like a PP was saying she hid a ball and told him to find it. Mine will go after a ball I throw, but of he drops it, I can't get him to go and find it.

Do it Steppe i'd be so intrigued to see different spaniel stories! Fwiw our working cocker sucks at 'find it' 😂 He isn't food or toy orientated...unless it moves he doesn't give a stuff. Highly entertaining to watch him going batshit at the squirrels from the window, i swear they tease him

There is a difference between pulling harnesses and walking harnesses.

All work on the same basis tho. A lot of dog walkers & trainers, as well as rescue groups, don't advocate harnesses until a dog is lead trained not to pull (medical issues notwithstanding of course!).

I have two Springer spaniels and yes they try to knit me up when i walk them on the lead

I use a gencon lead which is different to a halti as it's self regulating.
They will still pull a bit with a halti but not at all with the gencon