My puppy is driving me insane

[zoladoll]

My five month old puppy is pushing me to the edge. I took her in as she was living in poor conditions and would go to a rescue otherwise. She's a staffy crossed with a greyhound.

I know that puppies are bouncy, but she does not listen at all. She jumps up incessantly and it isn't getting any better. She responds to "sit" and to "down" but that's mostly on her own terms.

She's also very destructive and has ruined my kitchen flooring as well as my sofa.

She wees and poos in the house constantly, 5+ times per day. She knows that outside is for the toilet as she often will go in the garden and go for a wee straight away. She did a wee on the sofa yesterday, right in front of me.

She is well walked/exercised and has toys and bones to chew on.

I feel bad and want to give her a loving home but she is driving me insane. Am I being to hard on her/expecting too much? I can't afford to keep replacing things and can't carry on having a house that stinks.

Someone please help me

How long have you had her?
Can you afford a behaviourist to give you some pointers to help?

I have had her for just over a month now, I should have mentioned that sorry.

Probably can't afford a behaviourist. I was thinking puppy classes but unsure if there's any point?

What are you doing to manage the destructive behaviour and the toiletting? Are you still giving treats every time she goes out?

A lot of puppy training is control and management.

So consider the behaviour you want and work from there.

So 3 main issues to work on
Jumping up
Chewing things she shouldnt
House training

Basic things to get you started
Jumping up - drop treats on the floor, she can not jump up if she is sniffing for food on the floor. If you do this everytime she will start to look to the floor rather than jump up at you.

Chewing
Can you make a safe area where she can be left when unsupervised. This area will not have anything in it except bed water and things she can chew. She does need to be able to have chew toys as it is a great destresser

Toilet training
You need to take her outside every hour on a lead and wait for her to wee or poo outside. Keep the door shut and make an effort to ensure you go out with her each time. Reward her when she wees outside

Clean you house with enzyme cleaner - there is no reason for your house to smell of wee.

Get in touch with a trainer (not behavourist) I recommend IMDT or APDT trainer - they can give you a zoom session that will save you loads of money and will put you on the right track very quickly. This would be better than puppy classes for you right now

I remember feeling very overwhelmed when we had our puppy 2 years ago.

We set an alarm every 30 minutes during the day and evening: lots of praise and clapping when she went outside. It's also really important to make sure they get quiet time as their behaviour massively deteriorates when they're over tired and over stimulated. Don't over do the exercise too - that can make things worse instead of better.

We found puppy classes a big help - just even to get some moral support from others going through the same thing! It does get better but you get out what you put in - it's 24/7 for the first 6 months of having them.

What training are you doing?

Puppy's need to be taught, otherwise they will just be puppies...

You need to go back to basics with the house training , just because she also wees outside doesn’t mean she knows that’s the correct place as you say she also does it indoors regularly . Take her out regularly and use a cue word so she knows to associate that with going . If it’s easier keep her on a house line indoors so she can’t sneak off anywhere to wee / poo . If you catch her mid wee/ poo run to the door shouting quick outside then praise like mad when you get out there .

I would say that if you can afford puppy classes then take that money and use it for 1-1 behaviour session instead.

I found both puppy classes I tried to be nothing especially useful. The behaviourist I got to do a house visit 1-1 for an hour was slightly cheaper than if I had paid for the block of puppy classes. And it was immensely helpful.

Only a month?! For gods sake. Read about rescues and how long it takes to adjust. If you can't handle it take her to a breed rescue. Don't get another animal.

I know that puppies are bouncy, but she does not listen at all. She jumps up incessantly and it isn't getting any better. She responds to "sit" and to "down" but that's mostly on her own terms.

It's not that she's not listening to you, it's that she doesn't understand what you're asking of her. You need to teach commands and reinforce them hundreds of times before a dog can "know" them. If you don't know how to train her, then you either need to get a trainer in, or take her to puppy classes. You could also try YouTube - KikoPup is really good at teaching basic obedience commands and tricks.

She's also very destructive and has ruined my kitchen flooring as well as my sofa.

Management is key here. If she's destructive, stop leaving her alone to be destructive. Crate training would be a good idea for a young puppy, or you could get a pen so that she has a bit more space to move around, but can't escape and destroy your house. Baby gates are also a good way of managing the dogs' space.

She wees and poos in the house constantly, 5+ times per day. She knows that outside is for the toilet as she often will go in the garden and go for a wee straight away. She did a wee on the sofa yesterday, right in front of me.

You need to go back to basics. Take her outside every thirty minutes while she's awake, as well as after sleep, play, eating, drinking and training. You need to go out with her (ideally pop her on a lead) and stay out there until she's been to the toilet. Then, lots of praise, fuss and a nice high value treat to encourage to her to go outside again. Accidents need to be ignored and cleaned up with a proper pet enzyme cleaner.

She is well walked/exercised and has toys and bones to chew on.

How much are you walking her? Young puppies don't need huge amounts of exercise - at 5 months, half an hour twice a day should be absolutely plenty for her. If you're doing too much more than that, she could be over stimulated and unable to calm herself down. I would try two walks a day, then encourage her to nap after each walk so she calms down.

I feel bad and want to give her a loving home but she is driving me insane. Am I being to hard on her/expecting too much? I can't afford to keep replacing things and can't carry on having a house that stinks.

Puppies are hard work and if she came from a poor environment, she may not have been well socialised or trained, which makes things even harder. You'll need to put a lot of work in but at 5 months she's certainly not a lost cause. Persistence is key.

I think I’m just going to start reporting posts like the one above. This board is awful. And are there even any breed rescues for greyhounds crossed with SBTs?

Massive apologies vanilla, obviously I did not mean you but the delightfully supportive post by squirrel

@Welcometonowhere

Massive apologies vanilla, obviously I did not mean you but the delightfully supportive post by squirrel

Haha, that's okay :)

I find it best to just ignore the judgemental posts. You can't ask for support on here without being vilified - it's just so unnecessary!

We have a 5-month old puppy. They are bonkers. I have to take her outside approximately 20 times a day otherwise she has an accident.

Every single time she she performs outside I give her a treat and lots of prayers. When she has an accident I completely ignore it and don't tell her off. She getting better very quickly.

how often are you taking her for walks? We need to take hours for 3 walks a day with lots of off lead stimulation, to lots of different places so she doesn't get bored. She's an still needs to be entertained quite a lot during the day and usually has a mad half hour in the morning and in the evening which involves tearing around the house.
we've got lots of different toys that we swap about so she doesn't get bored with them and things like a Kong which we stuffed with food, a lick mat, we play hide and seek games with food and ourselves
It is really fucking hard work but if you put it in now it gets much easier in about 6-months. With a rescue you need to put in even a little bit more you don't know what they've sperienced. A bored dog is a destructive dog.

@zoladoll

I have had her for just over a month now, I should have mentioned that sorry.

Probably can't afford a behaviourist. I was thinking puppy classes but unsure if there's any point?

Definitely a point! Puppy Foundation classes from the Kennel Club will take puppies up to 12 months.

Find classes in your area, it’s never too late to start

Tootsietootie has covered it all really I also feel Routine is very important
Its best when selecting a puppy to pick a breed that fits your life style, not always possible but all too often I see walking breeds that want to be out all day stuck inside.
I no nothing about Staffy crosses, but a few pointers.
We always crate our dogs from the day we get them, you can them have play time, food time sleep time, the dog will get used to this, We have a few local training places some better than others.
Never crate as punishment.
The Dog should be left for a couple of hours crated so it can be left if need be, we crate ours daily in lockdown so when we do have to go out she is fine.
None of this is easy but once you crack it you will have a life long friend, but occasionally we get dogs that just dont fit with a persons life so have to be re homed. Dont give up, back to basics, just ask as plenty of help on here