Cannot keep puppy entertained... at my wits end !

[Didiplanthis]

I have a 5 month old whippet puppy.. she is driving me insane. I know this is a compulsory part of puppy ownership but ... if she is not asleep or on a walk she is just into and onto everything. She steals anything and everything just to get a reaction, I cannot move any more stuff out of her reach. She unzips and goes through the kids school bags she takes books off the bookshelf she clears the piles of paperwork, she steals laundry from racks and baskets.. She likes chewing what she steals but mostly she likes stealing it for attention. She has chews, toys, puzzles, kongs , snuffle mats etc.. but she just wants attention ALL the time. She hangs off my legs, she grabs my clothes. I ignore, I turn away but I do have to move and do stuff. She has stair gates she is shut behind and she howls and protest wees. We have done gradually increasing the time etc. At night she is great. She is crate trained and sleeps through with no accudents. We use the crate in the day successfully when we know she needs naps but she won't give in, when she is tired we pop her in with a kong and she passes out in about 2 minutes. She has 3 walks a day 20 -30 mins each and frequent runs in the very big garden.. someone is in most of the day every day. If we go out she goes in her crate and we time her walks to make sure she is ready for a rest. I know she is settled as I set up an alexa camera thing i can check when we are out ! I am literally paralysed by her .. I can do nothing as she is hanging off me or climbing on things and stealing.. what do I do ????? When she is not being a total bugger she is utterly gorgeous.

How much sleep is she having?
She sounds over tired and stimulated to me and hasn’t learnt to settle and switch off.
Do you do any training with her? With our pup mental stimulation tires her out more than any walks would
3 walks a day is a lot, but if it works for you that’s no issue
Our springer only has one walk a day but has. 3 x training sessions just short 5-15mins . Then she’s ignored (in a nice way) so she knows to go to sleep, but if she won’t settle then we would use the crate to enforce the nap when needed

She sleeps 8 hours over night and has multiple several hour naps in the day.. probably at least 4. we usually enforce a nap if she has been up for more than an hour and a half. And if she gets more bitey as that tells us she is tired. You are right though she hasn't learnt to switch herself off. We do short training sessions through the day too... I think I need to do more work on the ignoring but my god the noise and chaos !!! But you have confirmed my gut feeling so that's good.. i think I was losing my way a bit

They should sleep for 18-20 hours. We did not get our pup to sleep enough and she was chaos to start with.
We do a training session then minimum hour nap. Lots of stimulation makes her very tired.
Keep areas free of exciting things, if that means limiting where she can go so be it, no exciting toys etc either she needs to switch off and relax and not make mischief

I think you are giving puppy far more attention than you should. Puppies are like children, you also need to teach them that no means no and to wait for their turn.

Find her a safe naughty step where she can go if you have told her of no and she doesn’t listen. Once she gets that continuing to do something after you said no gives her a ticket to the naughty step she would improve. A small set of clear rules that are ALWAYS consistently enforced is just what you need (but remove any things that she can hurt herself with if left around)

She needs at least another six hours sleep per day. Four hours is nowhere near enough for a young puppy.

I would focus on increasing her sleep and cutting down on her exercise - she doesn't need that much running about each day. I would aim for maybe an hour a day, split across three walks, and try and make two of those walks focused on sniffing so she gets tired mentally.

Try and get her into a routine through the day so she has meals, walks and naps at similar times each day.

Greyhounds are kleptomaniacs too, I think it's just in their nature and not necessarily attention seeking. I've found all sorts in our old greyhounds bed, including a tub of margarine and a butter knife.

She needs a safe space where she can't get to things to steal or destroy. I'd recommend getting a dog pen big enough to put her crate in. You can put her in there and know she's safe whilst you get stuff done. It'll also teach her to amuse herself appropriately, so keep toys in there for that purpose.
Consider getting a waist lead too so that she's next to you when she's out of the pen. That way you can monitor her closely and reward good behaviour and discourage bad behaviour.

Great advice thank you ! I wasn't clear about the sleep. She gets 4x 2 hours so 8 hours in the day but its not enough. I see to remember getting in a similar muddle with my first child 🤣...although I never let them only settle on me for daytime naps. They were less warm and cuddly...puppy down time boot camp can start tomorrow !

Please can we see a picture of her ?

We bought a taller stairgate today to keep her safe in one room as she hops the standard one in one bounce.

Posting for a pic . I grew up with a whippet in the family and she slept like a champ. This stage will pass.

I'd second a pen for her, somewhere you can put her when she's over stimulated and she'll begin to associate it with down time. Also hoping for a pic

We used a baby playpen (babydan one) that opened out as a room divider. I'd use something like this to protect the bookcase.

Our cocker spaniel is 16 months and definitely still not trusted around clothes on airers so I think you'll need to move those.

Prevention is the key at this age really.

She sounds bored - making her own fun! Nina Ottosson puzzle toys were so helpful, gives them something "legal" to puzzle their way into instead of figuring out how to open cupboards etc

Does she have anything to chew on? I found pizzle sticks best for my then puppy, Ostrich bones are great too.

Active and sleepy !

Sorry, have I misunderstood? Potentially 1.5 hours walking a day- at five months? She sounds way way over exercised and overstimulated if so.

She has 3 Nina Ottosson toys..
She completes the hardest level 4 one in 6 minutes 🤣... yes lots of chews - yak sticks/split antlers etc. I think over stimulated and over tired is probably the key....

Whippet pups do have a reputation for being a handful but then become delightful adults. Hang in there! I have a 7 month half whippet and she was an incredibly difficult pup for multiple reasons (not my first pup either - my first was easy in comparison. I was NOT prepared for her). We did need to teach her to settle (I posted on here for similar reasons) and she has sort of transformed without me getting around to it (haha, maybe just posting helps) She is much calmer now at 7 months - sleeps most of the day, settles easily in the evening… and I was tearing my hair out and cried many times over how difficult she was.
Definitely recommend teaching the settle as others have recommended and know that the beauty of this breed is that they do become incredibly chilled at home in time.

It probably is less than 1.5 hours exercise. most walks are 25 mins ish but still too much..and I will cut down. I increased it very recently to see if she slept more she didn't.. as over tired.. !!

Oh she's so lovely! But yes that sounds like hard work.

My cocker (2 years) sleeps most of the time!

I'm doing short training sessions getting her to lie on a mat on the floor for when we are out and about as a 'safe' area. Maybe I can do more work on this sort of thing.

Oh my she's lovely! We had a whippet when I was growing up, she was an adorable (if destructive!) lady.

She pops over the Babydan playpen without a thought 🤦‍♀️.. I knew they were fast, I hadn't factored in vertical takeoff...

Ah you've got yourself a temporary velociraptor!

Whippets are absolute nightmare puppies. Honestly, I didn't see how I would ever possibly leave mine for more than about three seconds. I needed eyes in the back of my head. All the same issues. He got loads of sleep (still does - bed by 5pm and up at 10am, his choice) but the waking hours were intense!

He's 9 months now and he's still a total prick but he's much better. He still has a way to go, but he's getting there. I honestly felt like he was just wired wrong and that he'd be like this forever, but he's changing. So hang in there!

I'd read it could take until they're two until they're total coach potatoes, and that made me despair. But he gets better every month, so it's not like you'll be stuck with a twat for 19 months and then suddenly have a great dog. They change slowly and surely.

Also just to say, I use a brilliant daycare a few days a week. It's what got me through the 5-7 month period. I couldn't do any work if he was awake! He goes now more for him than for me - he absolutely loves it and it's been so good for him.