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.

The fighting with your older dog... how bad is it? Because I’m a firm believer in letting dogs sort themselves out if there’s no blood. They’ll establish a pecking order and pups are used to being put in their place. It’s how they learn dog manners. Obviously this doesn’t apply if lives are at risk - theirs or anyone else’s...

My dh (who has never had dogs) gets alarmed when mine fight, or when the male play fights with other dogs on walks, but there’s never any real aggression there. Just snarling and rolling around.

Do you think the older one would hurt the pup? Because it will be difficult to solve jealousy problems if they are kept apart.

OP I started a similar thread last week... it really is hard! Like a previous poster said, 2 dogs are greater than the sum of their parts. (Also laughing at pp who said ‘poodles aren’t working dogs’ - our relentless pup is a poodle, and they were originally bred to retrieve game)

Your puppy is still very young and he will mature. He is probably about 12-14 years old in human terms; so, hormones are just kicking in, he’s testing boundaries and giving backchat... and just like a teenager he needs lots of physical exercise, mental exercise, firm boundaries.

I think your idea of sending him to the dog walker will mentally wear him out, and give your older dog a break.

We’ve just spent another £40 at the vets, and DDog1 is now booked in for a biopsy (£250) as we cannot find a reason for his chewing... the only positive thing (if you can call it that) is we now think that the new puppy may not be the only cause of FirstDog’s stress. He was already neurotic and getting another dog just tipped him over the edge.

This too shall pass.

You need to buy a book called The Pet Gundog. It's on amazon as a physical book or ebook

Read it from cover to cover when you get it and then start working your way through it with the dog. It's got lots of Gundog-specific training techniques, which it sounds like you aren't doing.

I wouldn't take the pup to a general puppy/dog training school. The dog is too clever and bored for this.

You need to book some one-on-one with either a Gundog trainer, or a general trainer with specific gundog experience.

As others have said and as the book will explain, their brains work differently and you have to

1. understand this And 2) harness it to overcome their neurosis, boredom and impulse drive

Clever dogs need firm but gentle training and they will spot and exploit a weakness with you, which is why working one on one with a trainer will be invaluable

Really tenbob? An Amazon reviews says this 'Good insight into the wolf/pack mentality of dogs'. Sounds rather outdated to me.

I don't remember reading anything in there about wolf pack theory but I've leant my copy to someone so can't look it up

It has a lot about how to harness the natural impulse control and impulse drive which has been bred into gundogs for years, and how to manage it in a pet setting.

It is nearly all positive-reenforcement based training (but she does suggest things like flicking a lead of a dog pulls, which someone like Victoria Stilwell wouldn't)

I just think it's a very useful book to help people see the world through the eyes of a gundog and therefore train and manage them accordingly with several how-to guides on training various commands, and training out various bad habits

I've just looked that book up on amazon, and the 'look inside' function allowed me to read a bit of it.

There is a lot about pack theory.
I am assuming I have the right book - The Pet Gundog, by Lez Graham?

The bits about traiing etc looked good though, but I coudl only see a little bit!