5 month old cockapoo - is this normal?

[Marm24]

We have a 5 month old cockapoo who has been a dream so far, trains really well, walks really well, eats well, toilet trained well, we’ve been very very lucky.

However over the last 6 weeks he has become incredibly hard work in some ways, if he’s not eating, on a walk, or actively playing with someone he just whines all the time.

We walk him 2 x 30(ish) minutes a day, we give him lick bowls, tie treats into blankets, all the ‘stimulation’ games that are meant to be good for them, we play with him a lot. But obviously there are times he just has to ‘be’, but he just whines the entire time and follows me about, whining. Or attempts to find stuff that isn’t for him and then whines that he can’t have it. I do not remember this stage with my previous dogs. What can I do?

No toy seems to entertain him for longer than 5 minutes. He is crate trained but ideally this is only for when we’re out the house or eating, I don’t want him to have to be confined to this whenever he’s not getting 100% attention.

Needs to learn to settle - Karen overall relaxation protocol. Do it religiously.

make sure hassling you doesn’t get your attention and thus get rewarded. Ignore barking at you etc.

Instead give 2 mins an hour of meaningful positive interaction eg training for treats. Teach him a cue that this time is finished and scatter remaining treat crumbs for him to find.

he will learn!

But just to check, are you sure there aren’t any medical reasons he can’t settle?

Watching with interest.

We also have a cockapoo and as a complete novice I made the mistake of giving him lots of attention and activities but forgot the down time. I now have a routine for the day and that includes sleeping, so I started by teaching sit and ‘on the mat’ which is his cue for settle. I rewarded that and then gradually extended the time he was to stay sit or stay on the mat. I also gave the cue word quiet when he was being quiet, and then rewarded that so he associated me telling him to be quiet with a treat. I built up the time away from him as well and treated when I returned to him.

Your pup is very young still - hang on in there, it does get better!

Ignore him. As long as his basic needs are met (toilet, food, water, exercise) then just don't respond to it.

I know it's hard (as the sound is awful) but if you give in and give him any kind of attention or reinforcement, all you'll teach him is that whining is the way to get what he wants.

Remember also to reward the good behaviour - the calm and the quiet and the nice manners.

Two thirty minute walks would not be enough for my cockerpoo.
She needs a walk of at least an hour with lots of running off lead.
plus one or two 20/30 minute walks or 2 sessions of about 15/ 20 minutes of chase and fetch in the garden.
If she has enough exercise she is no trouble and will entertain herself, sleep and play with our cats.
Just in case anyone is worried about the cats they can easily find parts of the house that the dog is not allowed in but they prefer to be with her.

@MmedeGouge this is a five month old puppy - two half an hour walks is plenty at that age.

Max 5 mins of on lead walking per month of age, twice a day, until 6 months to protect joints

I think based on age they still have to have short walks…is it 5mins per month, so at 6 months it’s 30 min walks?

mine is a cocker and at 8yrs she follows me everywhere but has never whined

cockers are Velcro dogs. the whining would be annoying, but a bit like a little one is it hunger/boredom/needs a cuddle?!

I think he’ll be happier when he’s old enough to go on proper walks. It’s a bit like kids when they’re limited to crawling - can be frustrating and doesn’t scratch the exercise itch enough.

Cockerpoos are high energy dogs and soon he’ll be up for a couple of hours’ exercise with some proper sprinting in the mix. He will be nicely tired and more satisfied then.

There is absolutely no scientific justification for the '5 minutes per month of age rule'. Just don't hammer the pup with loads of lead walks on pavements, and avoid stairs and too much bending/twisting.

I'd make sure he got off-lead time to run around and explore, a couple of short training sessions, and as PP have suggested, is taught to settle. Reward the sort of interactions that you want repeated, and if he's being a pest put him gently in his bed and reward him for staying there. He can learn 'stay' at the same time which is a really useful command.

Agreed 100%. If I was short of time I used to just play a game of Fetch with a ball with my cockapoo for 10 minutes 5-6 times a day to wear him out. Plus at least 30 walk off the leash everyday. Otherwise he was a complete nightmare . He is coming up to 2 years. One hour walk once daily off the leash is enough for him now.

Joints problems are caused by poor breeding and overfeeding, not exercise

Excessive exercise can exacerbate joint problems though - especially inappropriate exercise like ball chasing.

Cockapoos are mixed breed, less problem with inbreeding. Joint problems are caused by poor breeding and overfeeding. Dogs are direct descendents of wolves, you can still get a viable offspring from mix breeding. I can't imagine there are many wolves with poor joints despite doing a lot more rough playing and running compared to modern dogs

Wolves don't live in houses, run around on hard pavements or chase balls lobbed by ball throwers either. Comparing the two makes absolutely no sense.

I am not suggesting playing a ball game in the carpark. The young pups do a lot of rough play with their siblings

Correction... I am not suggesting

I know that, but they're still two very different activities and put very different strains on the joints.

Controlled play with siblings in the garden or a park isn't the same as the intensity of chasing a ball (on any surface) where the dogs run, stop suddenly and do lots of twisting and turning.

Personally I don't think ball throwing is great for young joints (or even older ones), but charging around on grass should be fine.

Joint issues in later life are known to relate to breeding, diet and neutering - the data on exercise in young dogs is mixed.

I specifically said ON LEAD. Did wolves walk on leads?

Unfortunately people think cute cockerpoos don’t need a lot of stimulation/exercise when in fact you’ve got 2 intelligent breeds that want a lot of mental attention, especially spaniels who were bred to be working dogs. We’ve got a border collie and boy he was/is hard work, but at around 5 months old he began to self settle. I worked part time at home so when I sat at my computer, he knew it wasn’t play time. I think by 6 months old you can start doing longer walks, that helped with us. My dog is nearly 6 years old and will still follow me everywhere.

Cocker Spaniel in our house definitely needed to learn to chill. An afternoon nap in her crate whilst I worked was essential. YouTube calming dog music really helped. She now pops herself in her crate and self settles. Most spaniels and cross spaniels are real Velcro dogs. I do whole zoom meetings with her asleep on my lap.

Walks are not long enough.

Not necessarily true about healthier due to being a mix
This mix would have genetic loading for luxating patellas and hip dysplasia from both the cocker and poodle sides.

Like breeding two flat faced breeds will still create a dog that might have brachy issues.

Doodles are also much less likely to have gone through hip scores as recommended for both breeds if being bred

You're definitely reaching adolescence time.
It's completely normally for dogs to regress when they reach teenhood and become more more interested in the world around them.

They do come through it though

@Marm24 you haven't mentioned what training you do. You have a cross breed containing 2 high energy breeds. Cockers are working dogs and therefore you need to meet their natural instincts.
So training rather than increasing length of walks + lots of sleep.
Do not give in to whining etc. Our WCS knows in the house = chill + sleep and outside house = activity, walks and training.