Puppy help please

[Jbarrie1]

Where to start I'm 26 weeks pregnant I also have a 3yo and a 5yo we have 3 amazing cats (1 with thumbs 😁) 11 weeks ago we got a puppy I didn't want a puppy as I was pregnant but my husband rescued her from an abusive home she was severely underweight and she had been left for days on her own. We think she is a greyhound x deerhound she's 22 weeks old now and she has been extremely difficult. She has shown aggression toward me and my children several times but not toward my husband she has snapped at my children nearly getting my 5yo in the face when I tell her no she barks at me when I try to get hold of her to put her in time out she growls showing her teeth and tries to bite. My cats won't come in the house anymore as she tired to chase them I can't take my eye off her for a second in case she gets to hyper you can't pet her as she just nips you my husband does help by taking her on long walks/runs 1-2 times a day but he works long hours i walk her as far as i can im currently on cruches as i have hip problems and she has access to the garden all day she is fine when the kids are at school it's when they come home she gets too hyper and the it turns into aggression my children are scared of her when she gets like that as am I. I have had trainers in and paid alot but all she does is sit sometimes when asked she is completely different when my husband is home which I don't understand why I'm at breaking point I don't know what to do please help has anyone experienced this will she stop bite the kids ps she has cut them several times when she bites/ nips

[GreyHare]

@jbarrie1 how are you getting on? I hope pup is settling and calming down.

[Jbarrie1]

@GreyHare thank you for the suggestion my husband purchased treat toys today hopefully she will get a better distraction I will also purchase rag to hide and seek tomorrow and get her to do brain work rather than just walks xxx

[GreyHare]

Do you have some Kong Toys as you can stuff them with food and peanut butter (make sure it is xylitol free, as that is poisonous to dogs) or you can use wet food or yoghurt and freeze them, and they should keep her amused for a while, or you could try a snuffle mat which is like a rag rug that you can hide treats in to keep her occupied and tire her brain out, the Kongs will help with her teething which she is probably going through at her age and the biting/mouthing can get really out of control at that stage.

[Jbarrie1]

@GreyHare she gets hyper and aggressive when the kids are around when they are at school she is a completely different puppy shes amazing but as soon as she see my children she goes hyper and tries to nip then gets aggressive when told no etc I'm trying treat training atm so when it's home time for my girls I give her a bone to chew on then we walk her we have only had one incident today as I have been distracting her with toys treats and short walks when It was cool enough also when's she's in the garden the children are in the house separate it's seems to have worked alot better today than any other day I have a behavioural councillor coming on Monday to help along side my trainer for her hopefully it will work x

[GreyHare]

Is her snapping and hyperness because she is over tired, my dogs when puppies became horrible little biting crazy over stimulated fluff balls and the only thing that calmed them was a gentle time out in a playpen/crate for them to fall asleep and become slightly less crazy when they woke up ready to cause mayhem again, Dogs Trust and RSPCA whilst well known rescue centres they rarely take dogs in as they are so busy, so looking at breed specific rescues or local smaller rescues may well be the way to go.

[Jbarrie1]

@adaline i never said my husband was an idiot and my puppy jump up at my daughter she never had her face in the dogs face I wouldn't let her do that I'm always around and that's why I was able to react quickly I'm not grabbing my puppy I am going Down to her level talking calmly and showing her my hands before approaching her I was told this by our trainer because if we back away from her and let her do that she will get worse I'm not a new dog owner who doesn't know what I'm doing I have had dogs before but not like this one i was looking for advice on how to deal with this situation not criticism i only want the best for her she had a bad start and has behaviour issues. After seeking lots of advice from the vets my trainer and a behavioural councillor we have realised that she is struggling to cope with my children and is struggling to find a fine line with was she can do hence the hyper to aggression issue as my vet told me some dogs struggle with children this is probably the background she came from but not her future.

Thank you to everyone for all their advice I have found the solution and I don't need any further advice thank you all again 😊

[adaline]

No need to get so defensive OP - @Chippyway has only said the same as lots of other posters.

You're clearly well out of your depth with this puppy. Grabbing it so it snarls and growls is such a bad idea - they're your warning signs to back off straight away. You don't carry on manhandling it out of the way and continue to do so on numerous occasions.

What training are you going to? We go to positive reinforcement and our trainer has never, ever suggested grabbing our puppy like that. You need him on a long line so you can lead him away from situations if he gets excited, grabbing an excited puppy like that is practically asking to be bitten!

You've said yourself you didn't want this puppy and your husband was an idiot for bringing it home and keeping it anyway. You're pregnant with two very young children, one of whom has been allowed to stick its face near the puppy so it's been snapped at.

You need to keep the puppy and children separate unless you are right there to remove the child if they do something silly. Children won't always behave perfectly around animals which is why you need to be there. Unfortunately if the puppy snaps or gets fed up and bites, she'll be the one who suffers for it - if she's given to a rescue because she's bitten a child, the likelihood of her ever being rehomed is tiny.

[Jbarrie1]

Chippyway I don't think you comment is very helpful!! and clearly you haven't read my post properly I have to pick her up to separate her from my children when's she's like that for their safety i(i was told to do this by the trainer)she has been well socialised with other puppies and dogs and has plenty of excercise and she has been to training session since we got her she get too hyper and gets aggressive how has my dog been failed please. If you don't have anything helpful to say don't comment thanks

[Chippyway]

I think the puppy is being failed once again. Sorry but I do

Why are you grabbing your dog to put it in time out?! No wonder it’s snapping at you! That then just means whenever your child approaches the puppy it’s gunna assume the child will grab it and react

Take it to training
Plenty exercise
Socialise it

Not very difficult. I don’t think your husband is a prat, but at least put the work and effort in

[Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten]

greyhound rescue centre

These are based in Oxford BUT have lots of fosters homes around the country worth giving them a ring

Tia rescue

West yorskhire rescue greyhounds/ lurchers

If these can not help you just say as there are more rescues available

[Kidssendingmenuts]

Try aireworth dogs in need based over in keighley near Skipton. They are really good at rejoining dogs x

[stayathomegardener]

We have a Deerhound x Greyhound he was about 8 before he calmed down appreciably.
He is 13 now and still slightly bonkers.

Gorgeous dogs but not the easiest.
You need a large house, plenty of room to exercise them away from roads because if they see something move they are gone.
I wouldn't trust ours an inch with cats.

Re children ours constantly knocked our daughter over by accident, would chase her if she ran, "STAND STILL!" was a constant then there was the humping...
Mix in that he was a bit mouthy and it was very hard to instil discipline DD was 8 so that helped.

I would in your situation definitely rehome, try asking on the Lurcher Facebook page, someone there will point you in the right direction.

[Jbarrie1]

Thank you I will try that while as well x

[adaline]

Please don't walk her for too long - she's calm afterwards because it's far too much exercise for such a young puppy. Although the 5 minute rule has been largely debunked they still don't need masses of exercise as such a young age. Longer walks are fine occasionally but not as a daily thing - she'll damage her joints but you won't know it's happened until she's much older. Hip/elbow dysplasia is so common in animals that were over-walked on a regular basis as puppies.

If you want to tire her out, use brain games. Feed her out of a toy or kong, train her regularly but in short bursts throughout the day - we do sit, down, leave and recall training with ours every couple of hours at home (he's 5 months) and it tires him out much more than walks do. Puppies love to learn and please you so training is a great way to do that and it will tire her out without the damage to her joints.

But despite all that she's not a good fit for your family. Puppies in general are hyper and bitey and they do need a lot of supervision and to be kept separate from children. She shouldn't have had the chance to snap at your 5yo's face because the 5yo shouldn't have been that close to her, let alone up near her face like that.

Please rehome her before someone gets badly hurt and the dog ends up being PTS through no fault of its own. You sound like very inexperienced owners and that combined with small children is a recipe for disaster with a young pup.

[SubtitlesOn]

Have you tried getting her to use her mind, to play?

Like hide and seek

Like get her a new toy like ragga (that is only used for hide and seek) start by hiding it where she can sort of see it like behind a table leg

Then make it harder each time

When she finds it, make huge fuss of her

Then hide it again a bit harder

Just do it about 3 or 4 times at a go, so she doesn't get bored

You could start doing it when children are in bed or at nursery/play school/school

When she has got hang of what "seek" means then you could try during day

After a few days you could try this before she does the aggressive stuff after your DH has gone back to work

It will get her to use her concentration and is fun

After she has learnt what to do then you could get 5 year old involved in hiding the ragga, obviously with you there too

Put the puppy in different room while child hides the ragga then open the door say seek

I realise you need to find a new home but this might help while you are trying to get a solution

[Torridon19]

I'm so sorry to say this, but your husband is a total, utter prat.

[SubtitlesOn]

Sorry I meant not fed properly before you got her not now

[Jbarrie1]

She doesn't food guard at all. And she's kept in a separate room when eating she does guard other stuff though like the kids paddling pool or some of the kids toys

[Jbarrie1]

Hi everyone thank you for all your advice
I live in leeds.
I'm the one that feeds her and I make sure she's in a separate room when eating she's now a healthy well fed pup it's when she gets too hyper she turns aggressive we have tried just walking her for half an hour 2x a day but her behaviour Is worse my partner takes her out for a walk that last around 45 minutes she's always alot calmer after that but hyper again about an hour later and once my husband has gone back to work she starts to get hyper/ aggressive again she's completely came when the kids are not around or if my husband is home

[SubtitlesOn]

The children do not to go near her when she is eating don't they?

If she wasn't fed properly she might be trying to guard her food, so perhaps set up a space like utility room to feed her away from the children, in peace.

If your DH is feeding her perhaps you do it for a while

[SubtitlesOn]

While you are waiting to find her a new home

Go to a pet shop and get her either a long line (not a retractable one) or a straight lead without handle loop. They are sometimes called house leads or lines

If the puppy has this attached to her collar during the day (but not in crate) it means that you can lead her into a separate room behind a high dog gate or crate without worrying about being bitten

What I mean is you can very gently and I mean make sure it isn't pulling and that your children don't pull on this lead or stand on it - move the puppy into the space or room or crate or wherever you want it to go

This will put a distance between you and puppy so the danger of biting is much less, there is a chance it might calm the puppy down and she will realise that you have gained more confidence as you aren't worried about being bitten

It must be gentle not pulling or aggressive though

Good luck finding a new home

[missbattenburg]

OP, without giving too much away can you let us know roughly the area of the country you are in. Folks may be able to suggest good, local rescues who may have more capacity to help rehome this dog.

[pigsDOfly]

Clearly this puppy needs to be rehomed.

But meanwhile please stop your DH taking a 22 week old puppy on two long walks a day before he causes the dog to have long term damage to her joints.

At that age a puppy shouldn't be walking more than about 2 x 25 minute walks a day.

Also over walking a dog or puppy and make them more hyper rather than helping to tire them out.

[Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten]

Well that was helpful MsAdorabelleDearheartVonlLipwig

OP I guess a talk is needed with your DH. If you want a list of local rescues to me just pm me the area you are in.

With training the dog will calm down but realistically it does sound like you have your hands full for the foreseeable future and will not be able to give time over to the dog.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Well at least your husband has learnt the dangers of bringing home an animal without thought, consultation or experience. Bloody idiot.