Help needed! 6 mo lurcher lost her mind

[Moo2019]

Hi everyone,
I really need some help. I’ve adopted a lurcher about a month ago and she’s been an angel - walking well on the lead, not crying at night etc. We felt soo lucky.
Then she’s hit 6 months and she’s like a different dog. She’s ripped the carpet off our stairs and chewed the stair, destroyed her bed, she keeps jumping at our faces and she’s targeting one of my 4 year olds really constantly. She’s constantly chewing on his feet and jumping at him. I feel like all of a sudden I cannot take my eyes off her and I feel anxious and on edge.
i walk her twice a day but she is soo lazy and resists the walk - I basically have to drag her around a field. I have kong treats, ropes, etc. I just don’t know what else to do. Please help!

She sounds either under exercised or anxious. Have you tried a dog field where she can have a good run about?

I'd also keep a short lead on her in the house so you can use it to stop her jumping up.

Was she in kennels long? Maybe 2 walks is too stressful right now. . Over stimulation..

So with an animal that’s showing unexpected behaviour it’s a good idea to brainstorm what could be going on, then slowly work through them, ruling things out as you go.

if she doesn’t want to be exercised, this indicates to me she might be in pain. Also this would tally with the sudden lashing out at you/your child. (Protecting her body for fear of more pain, or trying to tell you she has a problem)

do you have a good vet? If they can assess her thoroughly, if they can’t find anything sometimes they will agree to a ‘pain relief trial’. This is where you give pain relief for a week or two and see if the behaviour improves. If they don’t suggest it, you could bring it up.

is she six months old? If she is, reaching sexual maturity could cause her pain/hormonal issues )just like us!

Be aware that not all vets are great with pain stuff (sadly much like human doctors!!) so if you don’t click with the one you’re given, it’s worth asking for another vet or even trying a different practice.

Once pain is ruled out (definitely pursue that route first) I would search out a good dog behaviourist to come and observe her at home and chat through her circumstances.

I really hope you can figure it out, dear thing, sounds like you are great owners so there’s hope :) x

Look up the 3/3/3 when rescuing dogs..three days, three weeks, three months…
Plus I would cut down to one walk a day plus brain work.. research settle mats and get them chewing, lots and lots of chewing ( I use pork rolls)

At six months, she's on the brink of adolescence so it's very normal for their behaviour to go "backwards" while they test their boundaries, but from the other parts of your post, it sounds like there could be other things going on too.

You say you have to practically "drag her" round the field - that's really not the way to go - if she's not enjoying her walks at six months then there's something else going on, be it physical (pain) or mental (anxiety, stress, fear). I would recommend a thorough check over at the vets to make sure there's no underlying issues, and if she's okay, start to look at why she may not want to go out.

Is she wearing a properly fitting harness or collar, for example, or has something happened while on a walk that she doesn't like? Could she need a coat now the temperature is starting to drop?

Her behaviour indoors sounds like a mixture of anxiety, over-arousal and just general teenage "knobbishness". Lots of boundaries are needed, and make sure she has a safe space to go away from your children (and of course, never leave them alone unsupervised). If needs be, she'll need to be on a house lead or in a crate/separate room for now while you work on her training.

Thank you - I just wanted to say these answers are really helpful and constructive and I really value the opinions. I think I’ve been trying to force the walks thinking she had too much energy, but I think reading these is making me realise she’s overstimulated and I have actually been stressing her out. I feel awful! But I can make changes!

What mix of lurcher is she op? Our saluki cross had fragile legs for a good year. Maybe too long a walk op.

Also interested in what mix your lurcher is - they vary a lot depending what the non-greyhound bit is.

Ours, also Saluki Cross, was not remotely interested in walking. Wanted a run or nothing.

She’s part greyhound and part German shepherd apparently

My lurcher cross will when overexcited jump at us and mouth us, and she's 2 in December. What stops it is meeting her needs (tired brain and enough exercise) and not triggering it by being too erratic around her (my children running sets her off, but they are older than yours is and can handle it). They are hunting dogs who can expel huge amounts of energy in a short burst. They can be very exuberant players. Destructive behaviour suggests either overstimulation or boredom. My girl seems to get a lot more enjoyment from natural treats than stuffed kongs and they really calm her down.

Lurchers are also easy in a lot of ways so i hope I don't sound too doom and gloom. Mine likes to sniff a lot on walks so she can seem quite reluctant compared to some dogs marching alongside their owners, but if I let her get her sniffs in then she's very chilled for most of the day. Do you have a place your pup can run? Puppies are hard and teenage dogs are hard, so you're in the thick of it. Good luck!

@Unluckycat1 thank you this is really helpful. She seems to love just sniffing around as well! Can I ask what natural treats you have?

@Potentialmadcatlady i hadn’t heard of 3/3/3 and that’s really helpful - thank you! It’s good to know we are still in a transition phase

In terms of natural treats we buy paddywack from pets at home, as I’ve not got the stomach for the more recognisably “organ/body part” things like chicken feet and tracheas. I think it’s cow ligament so takes an awful lot of chewing. I always give one to mine when I can sense they are getting antsy and it’s not walk/run time.

Also meant to ask, does she get the chance to run in a secure field? That tires mine out on another level compared to a walk. So chilled and snoozy afterwards.

Cow hooves are truly long lasting for us. The ostrich bone is too, though she's lost interest in it a bit. She loves all kinds of ears, rabbit, cow, pig, lamb etc. Chicken feet. Tripe. Anything slightly gross and stinky basically 😅 I also get her a marrowbone occasionally from morisons which she loves.

I'd avoid dried bones, we had a bad experiences with lambs legs. They really splinter! But all the above (including the ostrich bone as it doesn't splinter) should be good.

@Unluckycat1 ooh great idea! Thank you

She seems to love just sniffing around as well

I really recommend doing a Scenting course with her, if you can find one near you. We have our Spaniel sniff out slivers of Kong all around our house now and it calms/tires her out really well

It’s really normal for a rescue dog to start “playing up” after a few weeks, it’s when they start to relax a wee bit

I’ve also found when adopting an older puppy they tend to display little puppy behaviours

and…

Even without any of that, chewing stuff and mouthing when excited is still well within normal for a 6 month old puppy.

About 90% of puppy training is basically preventing them from doing stuff until they learn what it is you do want them to do.

We have a lurcher that’s part Shepard and 6-12 months was rough, I look back at the pictures of distraction and laugh now… not at the time. Like yours, mine seemed tired a lot, was very lazy (still is). A trick we found was to get one of the filled bones, let him eat it then refill with wet dog food and freeze into a dog ice Lolly. Kept him occupied. We loved the treat kong toys too for brain puzzles. I feel like he cleared the teenage/destructive stage quickly, hopefully that’s your experience too.

Sounds like she needs some off lead time twice a day

In case you’d like a laugh. It does get better, and did fast for us, but that couple of weeks was messy…

Thanks all - I woke up and she’s been relatively good overnight but has done a wee and poo on the sofa and torn up all her puppy pads. She
never once went on the sofa until now!

Why are you using puppy pads? They will just be teaching her that it's okay to toilet in the house.

At six months old, she probably still needs someone to come and let her out during the night as well. Are you doing that?

@sunsetsandboardwalks because of her age and the fact she can’t hold her bladder overnight yet.

Puppy pads make housetraining loads harder, because it just confuses them about where is ok to toilet.

Also, she probably could hold on overnight

It’s real normal for an unhousetrsined dog to go to the toilet through the night as that’s what they’re used to doing and they haven’t yet learnt any different