Puppy is naughty!

[Whyisitdarkalready]

Our 5 month old Cockapoo is so affectionate, no aggression, playful and just the most loveliest bundle of fluff and joy.

However! She is causing destruction wherever she goes. She pulls books off bookcases, stretches up to our desk and pulls papers off it and chews them. She's ripped my sons maths textbook cover, shredded paper that had just come out the printer and has even pulled posters off the wall. She comes back from the garden with an endless supply of stones and leaves. Any pencils, phones, tablets or glasses cases left lying around get stolen and she runs off with them. She also does the obvious stealing of socks and pants from the wash basket. She has discovered how to climb onto her cage in the kitchen and uses this vantage point to steal washing off the radiator.

Please tell me that they just grow out of it!! Our previous dog was an angel in comparison. Our puppy has lost about 3 teeth over the weekend so I know she's teething, it just seems relentless, despite having loads of chew toys and other fun things to play with. I've bought a licky mat to try to give her something else to think about.

Can anyone sympathise!?

She’s a puppy. Its what they do. Ours was worse when overtired. Yes she’ll grow out of it, but some stuff that helps. Good sniffy walks tire them out mentally. Snuffle mats, hiding treats in egg boxes or boxes, play with her, train her.

praise the good, ignore the bad. If they are playing with something inappropriate swap for a toy. Try not to make the bad stuff a game or a way she can get attention.

so there’s a bit of age, a bit of possibly boredom, and more stuff that’s hers to play with.

Thank you. Yes, I think she thinks running off with our stuff is fun and we love it as we chase her. But not much you can do when she runs away with your phone or a twix! You have to chase.

I know her behaviour is perfectly normal for a puppy. I was just looking for reassurance that it will get better. Fingers crossed.

Our lab was a pain in the backside. !! Agree try to praise what you want, ignore what you don't want. Are you doing training? sit , drop etc will help. Also to make like easier on yourself think about your environment. Move things you don't want destroying higher up and out of reach until she settles a bit. Our lab once chewed a switch controller 😩😩

I slightly change the view that BarrelOfOtters said. I prefer

Reward the good and prevent the bad.

So training to me is preventing things from happening. eg put things out of reach, only leave dog toys in reach, only take puppy in to the garden when supervised, move crate, get a stair gate to prevent access to laundry baskets etc.

I would teach a drop cue , I have explained it on here before but it always causes an uproar and I cant be arsed to answer this today but use drop method. It is really really easy (despite the MN doubters and works for nearly all dogs!)

However I do understand in real life it is hard. This stage will pass. In the meantime is allowed to survive.

Thanks everyone, I will take all of your advice on board. I must say, the licky mat has worked a treat. I was able to do my washing up while she licked her doggy peanut butter on it. Brilliant.

The thing is your puppy is a mix of two very intelligent, high energy dogs. As puppies go she's going to be hard work.

She needs constant training and some good brain work to keep her from doing the things you don't want her to do and keep her mind busy on other things.

As pp said, prevent her getting into things she shouldn't have.

That phone, those socks, that Twix should be in places (high up, in cupboards@) that she can't access.

She will calm down, eventually. But training is the key.

Some puppies are much more interested in chewing forbidden things than others. My current dog used to chew paper or occasionally steal socks when he was a young pup. This behaviour was always attention seeking in his case. He just wanted us to see that he'd grabbed something he shouldn't have. I always tried to react calmly and trade a treat for whatever he'd stolen. But he never attempted to chew anything other than paper or socks, and mostly he just grew out of it.

However, when he was about 10 months old he suddenly had a few instances of destructive chewing. It was a huge shock since he'd never done that before. Fortunately, it was a phase that didn't last long. But I just wanted to warn you that as your pup becomes an adolescent, the chewing may increase.

The best advice I ever received when mine was younger was "Set your puppy up for success". In simple terms, that means managing your environment, puppy-proofing your house and rewarding her when she's good.

Basically - use child locks, baby gates and closed doors so that she only has access to a limited amount of space (unless directly supervised), and make sure everything is put away and out of her reach - in drawers, locked in rooms, in locked cupboards etc.

The rule in our house was "If the dog destroys your stuff, it's your fault for not putting it away properly"

As you've learnt, the difficulty with leaving stuff out is that it turns into a game - they steal it, you chase them and it becomes THE BEST THING EVER in other words, you've unintentionally trained your dog to steal stuff because it gets her attention lol.

As well as all the above, I would keep going with the chews - lots of natural chews with different tastes and textures, frozen Kongs with lots of yummy fillings (feed her meals out of them to keep her occupied for even longer), frozen carrots, tea towels dipped in doggy gravy, knotted and frozen etc. As much variety and flavour as you can possibly get is best.

It does get better! I noticed a big improvement at around 18 months but he calmed considerably at three. He'll be five in February and is now generally really chilled around the house, but he still gets a chew everyday to keep him busy after his walks. Good luck

Thanks for the advice. It's tricky when you have 2 kids who leave things lying around. We are trying to keep everything out of reach as best we can.

I've been doing the drop training with her following the video a PP posted on here. She has responded really well and is now dropping her ball when playing fetch in exchange for a few kibble. I'm going to keep working on this, then maybe she will drop the stolen item instead of it becoming a game.

One thing which isn't helping is she is fighting naps in the day so I think there's definitely an element of over tiredness. I'm at home all day with her and she constantly follows me round so unless I sit still for an hour, she won't nap.

Thanks everyone, hopefully all your tips will help me stay sane!

@thelobsterquadrille We have a kong, what would you suggest I put in it before freezing? I only have some doggy peanut butter, kibble and dog biscuits. We tend to just put kibble in and it tumbles out for her. But I think a frozen kong would keep her going. Any suggestions gratefully received xx

They do eventually stop following you round, honest. We did quite a bit of training her to go to her bed, with treats. We’d also leave the room for a few seconds and come back…flitting…so she eventually realised that fun stuff didn’t always happen when we moved. And built up the time. Also found a bit of training or chewing something allowed would calm her down.

it does get better, but you do have to train and reward calm.

My parsons chewed a hole through the kitchen wall into the living room, teared apart a box of red wine and drank it , and many other awful things.

He grew out of it in the end

OMG @XJerseyGirlX So maybe my puppy isn't THAT naughty!!! Thanks for sharing xx

Prime Puppy Chewing Stage.

She's also part poodle so may have inherited the poodle intelligence, in which case she might need more mental stimulation.

Stop chasing her! You will only succeed in making her resource guardy. She's a cocker cross, they're definitely prone to it.

So, do as others say. Set her up for success by clearing anything from where she is. Gates etc.

Then teach her to bring things TO you with loads of praise and treats and fuss. Then when she steals things she will not leg it and shred, she will trot to the treat cupboard and await her finder's fee.

Mine is infuriating as he steals the remotes which is our fault for leaving them out but he doesn't chew now, just heads for the treat tub 🤣

If you mix her kibble with warm water it'll turn into a paste and you can use that ☺️

My dog also loved plain Greek yoghurt, Philadelphia (only a little bit though), wet food mashed up, mashed potato or mashed up veggies or mashed bananas!

If you can cope with the smell, we used to buy cows hooves, stuff them and freeze them for his dinner - it would take him a good hour or two and he was always exhausted after 🤣 but I will warn you the hooves absolutely stink 🤢

We use kibble mixed with sardines, then freeze. That’s always been a winner with my pups. I like to fill it right up, then freeze a layer of kibble into the top hole that they need to gnaw their way through to reach the stinky sardines, that really slows them down.

You mentioned you already have dog safe peanut butter and smearing some of this around the inside then shaking some kibble about so it sticks to it will also work for shorter periods of time.

Kong wobblers and/or treat dispensing balls are also great fun for them, although can be noisy if you have hard floors.

Your puppy should start to calm around 18 months and be definitely calmer at 3 years.

I had Irish Setters, 2 or 3 of them at once, different ages and always a puppy included so I sympathise with you. One of our pups learned how to open the fridge and would raid it until we fitted a lock.

Definitely agree the best route is prevention and also 2 or 3 longish walks each day. It does get better over time.

They do grow out of it. Our lab chewed up 4 Sky remotes (at £30 a time as DH wouldn’t buy the cheap ones). He started to calm down at 1 year old and now at 18 months he’s delightful 🥰.

Corn beef goes well in the king and yes lick pads and snufgle mats are great as is hiding treats / balls on walks. Mental tiredness helps calm them .

Well, I won't be using the doggy peanut butter again. Poor pup has had diarroeah and vomiting this morning. She's perked up now so hoping she's got it all out of her system.

I think, going forward, I will use her kibbles and mix them with water, like suggested.

Thanks everyone for your fab suggestions! I needed you all to help me change my mindset about her behaviour. I appreciate now that we have unintentionally been rewarding her for being cheeky! Things will be different today.

Are you sure it was the peanut butter that made her unwell? She hasn't accidentally eaten some human food that she shouldn't have done?

It can only be the peanut butter. We are really careful with our food and she is put in her crate when we eat our meals. The twix incident was a total one off and even then it was still in its wrapper.

She seems to be over it now thankfully.

I used to freeze some salt free stock in water - like meat bits scraped off the bottom of the pan and frozen in an old yoghurt pot. She'd lick away at that for ages.

Or damp an old tea towel, put a couple of treats in, twist it up and freeze it. Frozen carrot is good when they are little too or the stalk end of a broccoli. Frozen uncooked chicken wings are OK to give them too - or defrost them and give them to them. It's OK if they are uncooked. Not too many as it bungs them up.l

My 9year old spaniel hasn’t grown out of it. Always rips something up if he feels he wants attention.