How to teach dog to settle in the flat?

[jacquettalux]

We have a 5 month old Italian Greyhound x Whippet. He is a delight in so many ways and we have done a lot of training with him.

He has an off lead walk once per day and then an on lead walk once per day.

He is crated at night and at intervals during the day. He will not rest for a second unless crated in the day. Once in his crate, he drops off within seconds and will sleep for between 1 and 3 hours!

The issue I’m having is that when he’s out of the crate during the day, he will not settle for a second. By settle I mean he won’t potter around, play with toys, lounge on the sofa, cuddle etc. He literally cruises the space we have causing trouble. He scales furniture, pulls books off the shelf and shreds them, takes soil from the plant pots and eats it, steals things from the coffee table, knocks over ornaments with his nose, pulls recycling out of the basket. We are now at a point where we are stripping the flat bare to remove possible things he can damage. We no longer use the coffee table, have tried to cover plant pots, removed ornaments etc.

As cute and clever as he can be, I’m beginning to wonder if we are taking the right approach? My husband has now suggested I remove my books from the shelf after he shredded the cover of a favourite when left for literally 20-30 seconds as I ran for a wee! He’s confined largely to the lounge / kitchen / diner as there’s just no way we can puppy proof the whole flat.

We have kongs, licky mats, snuffle mats, toys, long lasting chews etc. but we can’t entertain him every second he’s not crated. Even when we are with him in the space and there’s the option of interacting with us, it’s like he’s crazed and trying to find trouble.

Are we making the problem worse by trying to fill his time and by removing all possible points of interest?

We love him so much and want to get it right, especially as we have a baby coming next year. If this is normal puppy behaviour then we will just accept it and do our best as we want to have realistic expectations of him.

Thanks in advance for any help / advice. We will speak to our dog trainer in due course but wondered if anyone on here could help in the interim.

Are we making the problem worse by trying to fill his time and by removing all possible points of interest?

Yes, sorry. Your post and example is a prime reason why I always say dogs should never be plomped in front of chew toys and kongs etc. when they are young and pestering for attention because it’s not teaching them to settle or relax. It’s teaching them that they get free entertainment, and food, whenever they bother people.

You cannot remove everything. What you need to do is spend a good week, or two, teaching him to relax without stimulation (kongs etc) and outside the crate. Crates should, IMO, only be used at night - not constantly throughout the day - unless the dog is actively choosing to go in there for naps because otherwise you risk the dog just ending up only associating the crate with sleep and everything else as play time.

Personally, I’d go back to basics. No crate during the day for naps - leave it open so he can go in if he wants to - and no food toys to entertainment (regular toys are fine). Remember - food = energy. Instead, tire him out by teaching him new commands and get him used to relaxing outside his crate. Let him have free range of the flat and use positive reinforcement (treats and interaction with you) to encourage him not to destroy things.

How much attention (learning commands, fusses, general interaction) does he get throughout the day? He sounds very bored.

TBH none of this is your fault - everyone bleets on about Kongs and Crates and when you’re a new owner, it’s easy to get suckered in - and it’s good you’ve recognised the situation isn’t sustainable.

Italian Greyhounds are very high energy dogs, why you would get one when you live in a flat is beyond me.

I gave my pup loads of attention when she wanted it, on demand and just for fun. No enforced naps. I also rewarded when she settled. I now have a 2 year old who is more than happy to amuse herself, or play with us and is in no way demanding at all. She chills out all day whilst the DH works. I never withheld attention. It did not create a demanding dog - quite the opposite.

He's a baby and will be very hard work for some time to come. It all sounds very normal.

Thanks for your response!

He gets lots of attention. We spend short periods training him throughout the day. When he’s out of the crate he’s always with us and gets lots of fuss etc. He gets two walks. However, I appreciate now, having read your post, that he might not be getting the right attention. Thanks for all of the advice, we will take it on board!

Thanks for your completely unhelpful response. Please don’t reply again unless you have anything valuable to add.

Thanks for the reassurance that it’s normal! I guess that’s partly what I was seeking. We want to be realistic in our expectations of him. He’s currently cuddled up in my lap under a blanket, looking totally angelic!

Puppies and dogs are cognitively similar to children. So you'd not expect a toddler to sit still for long - a pup can't either. You can reward settling and calm behaviour - I did this in our training classes for example - but you can't really expect it reliably until they mature and that can be 18 months to 2 years and longer for some breeds. Mine had the maturity and self control to settle herself increasingly from 9 months and then at 18 months or so she really changed. Still playful and fun but more more on demand. It's why they struggle to be alone as pups - they just don't have the maturity and NEED input.

Thanks so much. This is really important for me to remember.

Puppies are generally insane - it's why they're so cute 😂

We found the tethering technique really helpful to teach ours to be calm in the house - so when he was going bonkers, we would put a lead on him to physically stop the behaviour - he then had no choice but to stop and lie down (eventually) which we would reward with a quiet "settle - good boy" and a fuss.

After a while, we could just remove the lead and say "settle" and he would jump up on the sofa and settle on his blanket. Even now (at seven) we use the command when he's a bit over-excited with guests or something - it was such an invaluable thing to teach him.

What does a flat change compared to a house? A puppy, especially not an italian greyhound in the winter, isn't going to run around the garden on its own.

Also I wouldn't class the italian greyhound as high energy past puppyhood.

That’s really helpful! Will definitely try implementing it. Sounds like it worked really well with yours.

Another thing to remember is that if a dog chooses to do something then it’s much more valuable than if you enforce it. So that’s why management is so important. You can manipulate the environment so the dog chooses to settle then reward.

That’s how good alone training works. Dog follows and gets nothing. Dog soon learns to choose not to follow as it’s unrewarding so when you eventually make it out of the door the dog doesn’t want to come. Dog is invited ‘walkies!’ for example and oh cool stuff is gonna happen.

If you can enable your dog to make the choices you want to achieve then that is more powerful than any training.

In response to the post that said Italian greyhounds are high energy dogs > Yes, they love their zooming, but like other sighthounds they will probably want about an hour of working off their energy and the rest of the time they'll be asleep. Sighthounds are built for speed, not for stamina. I've owned one (was also a whippet cross) and greyhounds. They've all been the same. Most of the time you might as well not have a dog, as they're asleep 🤔. Only owned one puppy (all of our dogs were rescues), and that was a revelation. Takes them quite a while to grow up so don't worry OP, I'm sure things will settle in time. None of our sighthounds were particularly interested in toys. In time you'll work out your pup's personality and know how to work with him. I'm envious of you OP; I absolutely adored our Iggie and was devasted when we lost him.

Spend some time watching the behaviour he does that you find most frustrating and then give him loads of safe alternatives. If he rips up paper, give him paper bags or toilet roll tubes with one or two bits of kibble or biscuit inside, hide them around the flat and let him find them and shred them. Some people give dogs a lettuce to shred but I think Amazon packaging works best.
If he likes to chew, get some safe natural chews like beef tails he can enjoy. If he likes to chase, think about flirt poles.
It's really worth checking out predation substitute training too predation-substitute-training.com/about-simone/ and identifying your dog's particular predation needs - and satisfying them.

He’s a puppy, it’s normal! I know 3 Italian greyhounds & they were similar when younger & very relaxed now!

He is still very young! I think most pups are like this, mine certainly was. She didn't have a crate but I puppy proofed our lounge as best I could and she spent much of her first few months in there. I put everything she wasn't allowed up high or somewhere else.

When really young she'd chew corners of tables, the skirting, wires etc, which obviously we couldn't remove but would just cover if poss. Then she stopped doing that and it was mainly shoes. Always on the go, looking for more mischief! She'd counter surf too, by 3 months (she's big!).

I can't remember exactly when she started to chill out and settle more - perhaps around 6 months? She's as good as gold now but would still nick (and swallow!) a sock if given the chance. Also sometimes the odd shoe! She very rarely counter surfs or jumps up to steal things anymore though and can mostly be found snoozing the day away somewhere very awkward, mostly against the fridge freezer 🙄

jacquettalux

You sound like a really caring dog owner. Thats nice. I too am very new to this ,have a 14 month Labrador living with us for the last 3 wks, as we are gude dog training fosterers. I too am questioning many of the things that you have mentioned. I care too and I know im doing my best yet still have soo much to learn. How can I get it right the first time!? Helpful post, thanks! :)

Thanks everyone for your reassurance, support and advice! It’s good to hear we aren’t alone!

We have started using the crate less this week and providing less stimulation, just having him live alongside us. At first it was difficult because he’s not used to it, but now he’s settled a lot more and has been resting and snoozing on the sofa, chair and beanbag whilst we have been working.