Please help - 10 month cockerpoo

[Cuppasoupmonster]

We got our cockerpoo in April as a 10 week pup.

She’s lovely but very very excitable. We’ve tried dog training, using training methods ourselves, we’re consistent in our approach, but nothing works. When she sees somebody she doesn’t know, even just walking past us on the street, she goes mad jumping at them trying to lick them. Of course this means she is always on a lead, but it just won’t calm down.

A delivery driver just came to the door, our floor has recently been replaced so the porch door won’t close properly. She managed to slip past me and went wild jumping all over him and licking him. It was really embarrassing and now I’m worried he will make a complaint about her or that her teeth/claws accidentally caught him (they didn’t but I’m a huge worried).

I’m going to put a stair gate across the hall until the porch door issue is fixed. But does anyone have any advice that might help? She really is very gentle; has never growled/snarled or shown a moment’s aggression, she’s just very excitable. She gets 2 walks a day (to an enclosed field where we only let her off if no other dogs) where she gets a good run around. The general advice on cockerpoo Facebook pages is that she’ll calm with age but when?

*worrier

What mental stimulation and training does she get?

They start to calm down at two and then you have what youll
jave by three

shes a cockapoo though - that’s a combo of two enthusiastic breeds!

You would benefit from some sessions with a good trainer I’d say

i had a couple of sessions with a trainer street walking when my boy was young and it was really helpful

I wouldn't be taking her for a runaround. I'd be doing several,short training sessions throughout the day, of around 15 -20 minutes long, using her food as rewards and work on engagement.
A couple of structured walks, on lead, of 45 - 50 minutes a day.
And keep her on a lead at all times, especially around people, interrupt the behaviour before she jumps up, call her to you, mark and reward when she comes.

Can you try and reward when she keeps her paws on the floor? Choose a command and then try throwing some treats on the floor for her to sniff out and take when someone approaches her? Praise for not jumping, in effect. I’m pretty sure this is addressed in Pippa Mattinson’s Happy Puppy but I’m a bit baffled that your trainer hasn’t helped….

Thanks everyone. By way of mental stimulation, we bring a ball on walks and do a throw-and-retrieve game she enjoys. She has puzzle toys at home but doesn’t seem to have figured them out yet. We also generally play with her, tug of war, give her treats for learning new commands etc. We let her out into the garden a few times a day to potter and do a wee.

The trainer wasn’t one on one, it was puppy training classes. DH took her.

She just absolutely loses it when she sees a new person or when one of us arrives home. I’m going to have a look for some training techniques there because it’s her only issue - she’s not very destructive, toilet trained very well, not much of a barker etc

You can't train this by waiting for a person to arrive. You have to get a friend on board who will be happy to come in and out for an hour while you train ignoring, if that makes sense!

You wouldn't train recall next to a motorway, the stakes are too high, it's the same for trying to train when the postman arrives...

I would stop with ball throwing pretty much immediately - the same with run arounds unless you only do it occasionally.

For now, you need to work on her training and you can't do that when she's zooming around after a ball. It's also something that really raises adrenaline in some dogs and makes them obsessed and hyper.

Go back to basics - lots of training walks on the lead. You can use a harness and double ended lead for maximum control so she doesn't have the ability to jump and lunge. Start indoors and practice walking to heel, then move to the garden, then walks - slowly increase the distractions until she can walk nicely no matter where she is.

I would also work to find the distance where she doesn't react to people so you reward her when they walk by. Then slowly reduce the distance. If she reacts, you're too close and need to move back again.

You have a mix of two intelligent, working breeds, so you really need to focus on training or she'll run rings around you as she gets older.

You can’t beat a good sit command

Why do you only let her off if no other dogs?

Not always, if there’s already a dog in the enclosed field I’ll ask the owner if they’re okay for her to come in but emphasise she’s quite physical (but not aggressive). But usually it’s empty. She has a dog friend (another cockerpoo) she runs with now and then.

The first thing I would say is she's a teenager, I would never expect training to be rock solid at 10 months old.
You need to keep at your training, getting a friend on board is a good idea, but really 15-18 months is really when you would be expecting the training to be totally working in high excitement situations.
Ball throwing is not great for so many reasons it over excites them and it is a very common cause of orthopaedic issues as the leaping to catch the balls twists and puts pressure on joints. I restrict ball work to rolling along the ground.

People go and get trendy breeds without thinking about the characteristics of the dog and this is what ends up happening.
You need to work on getting the dog to sit to get attention. It’s standard puppy training. Any jumping behaviour means you ignore the dog and turn away so that your dog learns to quickly sit to get attention and fuss using your voice and touch, and treats ( at first).
jumping = ignored.
bottom on ground = hood girl/boy! Pats, rubs ( while dog still in ground).
waiting the the dog matures is lazy and May not work anyway.
Failing that you can pay someone to train the dog for you

I would
also take the dog to a puppy park or area where there are younger dogs around so it can play/chase/wrestle with other dogs who are up for it. It’s great stimulation and will help get energy out.
but you have a breed that will always need work, training, and re-enforcing rules.

Yep, two very exciteable breeds mixed in!
Does she have low key toys at home like lickimat, antlers, yakkers chews, stuff in kongs etc cos that can help.
Whats actually really helped with our cocker is an interrupter 'noise' that is used universally for 'stop that'. Even though ours is responsive to voice command there's something about the 'Ah' noise that gets through. Also then praising when she stops what she's doing, or if she's ignoring you on recall for example, then does come back eventually, we praise the coming back.
Ours is also very exciteable (pure cocker) but she is getting better as she ages (18 months) but that has come with us physically holding her by her collar and saying 'down' with arrivals - she absolutely hates being held by her collar so it gets the message across. She literally doesnt hear commands when she's that excited and she LOVES EVERYONE SO MUCH hence us resorting to physically holding her in place! Cockers are very loving dogs and spaniels in generally are very very bouncy, so its a common issue!

My daughter’s cockatoo is 7 and is still like this despite extensive training when he was a puppy. He doesn’t jump now as much, on a lead the lead is shortened to stop him jumping at people. They are a friendly active dog

People go and get trendy breeds without thinking about the characteristics of the dog and this is what ends up happening

Not at all, I’ve previously had a doberman and DH had a Labrador, we were aware anything cocker would be a high energy breed and I think we’ve done well with her so far - she’s toilet trained, doesn’t bark much and isn’t destructive around the house. It’s just this one issue, and she’s still young.

Thanks for the advice everyone I’m taking it all on board and sending to DH.

We had this problem when our Terrier was a similar age. At the age of two she will happily walk by people 99% of the time, it's now only game over if they talk to her/make kissy noises and even then sometimes she will ignore or auto sit.

The first thing we did was not walking by people close by. Every time she jumped she self rewarded, so we took the opportunity away. It felt antisocial constantly crossing the road to avoid people but it was needed. Once on the other side of the road we asked for eye contact until we had "passed" and then treated. At the beginning it was a constant stream of treats. If you can't cross the road I would move to the side and ask for eye contact (I don't like asking for a sit in this situation as my dog springs from a sit more easily!). Treat constantly until the person passes.

Whilst you're training I would say you want to avoid people saying hi to her as much as possible. If they ask, say no. I'd recommend an "in training" lead or sign to attach to your lead.

We're still working on the people coming to the house calmness, but asking for a sit or go to bed is starting to introduce more calmness. We also utilise a stair gate and our front door is never opened unless she's behind it. I also have a sign on the door which points that out as her bark is loud and quite often delivery drivers are cowering at the end of the drive.

Thank you, noted, yes it’s annoying she’s very cute and fluffy so members of the public (mainly school kids) rush over to fuss her and the cycle continues!

Yes I agree with this - that’s why I asked if there was a reason you don’t let her off around other dogs.

Young dogs need / love this stimulation. It will get a lot of her energy out! Do you have any acquaintances with dogs the same age that you could walk together so the dogs can play and tumble as they walk?

‘It’s just this one issue, and she’s still young.’

jumping up uncontrollably at that age just means someone has t taken the time to train her properly.

Well, we took the time to toilet train her, train her to sit/come/stay, trained her to stop excessively barking, trained her not to chew the furniture. It’s not inconceivable that a 10 month older puppy isn’t yet a star pupil in every area is it?

You haven’t taught her to sit properly. If you taught her to sit, she’d sit at people’s feet for attention not jump up. Or in the odd occasion she did jump up you could give her the sit command to remind her and she would.
Doesnt sound like you e taught her proper recall either if you cannot get her back when she jumps.
it takes time and patience, and yes it’s a bit boring a repetitive but it has to be done at home, at home with distractions, in the garden, outside… their smart dogs so that’s not an issue.
there’s lots of great training videos on YouTube that show how to get these basics right early.

Does she get enough sleep?
Dogs need 2 hours sleep after a run otherwise you get something akin to an over tired toddler