We’ve got a four months old golden retriever/ miniature poodle cross (golden doodle) and this is our first dog. I did plenty of research before getting a puppy, we go to puppy training classes with him and read as much as I can. But, as I’ve never had a puppy before, I’m still unsure about what is ‘normal’ behaviour he will outgrow and where should we put more training in now. On the plus side, he was house trained within a week of arriving, happily sleeps from around 9pm to 7am in his create and has fairly good off lead recall now when we’re out and there are no other dogs around. When I’m on my own with him during the day, he’s a calm happy dog, who likes following me around the house, but will also go and have a play in the garden or take himself off for a sleep. On the more challenging side, he’s very excitable in the morning when the kids get ready for school and for about 2-3 hours in the evening when everyone is home. During this time he’ll typically jump up on the kids, try to nip them, try to jump on the sofa as soon as we sit down, jump up at the table when we sit down to eat. We manage this by giving him lots of play time and adding short training sessions in the morning and evening, but it never seems enough. He has two walks a day. As I said he’s recall is quite good, but the minute he spots another dog, he’ll be off, jumping up on them trying to play. As not all dogs appreciate this, I keep him on the lead when other dogs are around, but this means he never gets the chance for ‘feedback’ from other dogs.
We try to manage the nipping and jumping up by ignoring (jumping) and ‘yelping’ or firm ‘no’ (nipping). This works quite well for me and DH, but not really for the kids.
We manage evening restlessness by going for a walk and then having a play session, followed by giving him a chew toy. This works up to a point, but still leaves lots of time for restlessness/getting overexcited.
Please tell me what your puppies were like at this age. How did you manage meal times, family time etc. When did your puppy learn to settle themselves whilst you all sat down. How was your puppy with your kids? Did you have a puppy that jumped up on other dogs? Was your puppy still trying to mouth/nip at this age?
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The doghouse
What was your puppy like at this stage
21 replies
Puppybrain · 03/07/2018 21:27
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