Hello and welcome to the forum You're not alone! My Willow was like that every evening, but at 6pm, not 8. When she was really young, I used to take her for a carry around the village at that time, which settled her, and then when she was old enough, I started to coincide her walk with the witching hour. It definitely helped
Oh yes Lynn - this is 100% normal, all four of my pups have had crazy evenings! I find it best to take them out for a carry at loopy time when tiny and a walk when vaccinated. They grow out of it around 10 months old, some a bit sooner ..
Yes, Judy gets really hectic in the evening, usually between 6-10pm. Not for a full 4 hours but for a good chunk of that time. It's hard, I'm always trying to think of ways to keep her occupied but reasonably calm. She's 16 weeks now and has calmed down a bit since 14 weeks. Worst bit of the evening is when the cat shows up and Judy wants to maul him and lick his face. That's when my stress levels go right up because even though the cat is tolerant and doesn't run away most of the time, I'm seeing a clumsy, heavy puppy with big paws and sharp teeth trampling on my lovely cat. The encounter might be really short but it's definitely stressful for me and must be for the cat. The other worst bit is when I take Judy for a walk (to wear her out) and the cat invites himself along too and does things that Judy's not allowed to, like trespassing and climbing fences. The walk descends into lead pulling, jumping, biting, getting tangled, treat spillages and general chaos - we're a local spectacle. You're definitely not alone, Lynn!
Thank u Karen. Its very nice thread dear. It would be very helpful to all new dog owner like me. Thank u
Ahh you start to think you're over the worst of it and they come back 10 times more devious. In the past 24 hours Stanley has ran away on his walk and refused to come back, which resulted in me chasing him through thorn bushes and nettles. Needless to say, the OH was pretty shocked at my disheveledness on my return. He then pulled the washing off the line and has put holes in 3 items of clothing. And then to top it off.. He's eaten a mouse! I dread to think when it's going to make its return! Some days I really don't like my puppy, it's a good job he's adorable. Although I don't think we'll be having many cuddles tonight..
Aww sounds like a tough day. We have all had them. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better behavior and sweeter cuddles
Ah, they do try us at times! Was it a live mouse? If it was, I wouldn't worry at all. If it was dead, though, I'd be concerned about the chance of poisoning - keep a very close eye on him and take him to the vet immediately at any sign of problems. The first spring we went through with the pups, Willow was a nightmare for eating dead bluetits which had fallen from their nests. I never realised how many there were until she started gobbling them up, left, right and centre!
So bar a couple of mad half hours each day when I could happily give her away I thought we were doing ok. I've tried the whole praise stuff, got cross a few times but just like you do with toddlers. We had a good clicker/treat session today on staying off the furniture and then just now I found her up on the sofa doing a massive wee!!! I lost my cool and shut her in the garden while I cleared up. Sometimes I just think I can't actually cope with this!!! I want to cry
Don't give up hope. You are certainly not alone. Tears have come to most of us I think. Just remember it's a phase.....be consistent and keep going it WILL get better x
My puppy is 12 weeks old, you are not alone. She has two super-crazy times: 6:30am and in the evening anywhere from 6:30 to 8pm. We just finished the morning one. I am NOT a morning person. It is so exhausting. Luckily I have a 7yo labradoodle who plays with her and tires her out, but even he gets annoyed with her at times. She will not relent. I'm working hard on crate training for the other times I can't leave her loose in the house (yet). My labradoodle was really good this way; he never ate or chewed anything he wasn't supposed to, and housetrained fast, so I could leave him loose in the house quite young.
We can hold each other's virtual hands! All the lunch ration went on training today, which I think is now the way to go. This is far more exhausting than teaching!
@DebzC - how are you holding up? I have good days and bad days. Today was a bad day. I'm sick with a nasty cold and really needed to simply lie around and do as little as possible. I did get a nap in, but I still feel really awful, and after the nap, I dealt with hours of the puppy-crazies! And she seems to be more resistant to any time in the crate again. At the same time, she's been better about going outside to pee/poop, she's not chewing as much inappropriate stuff, and she's generally maturing. And she's only 14 weeks. I think today was a lot of me not being able to play with her or give her as much attention as usual. And my other dog has been feeling icky (I think from Nexgard, I'm never giving it again!) so he hasn't been as willing to play with her, either. Right now I'm hungry but she's asleep on my legs (yup, on my legs!) so I don't want to get up...ha!
My daughter has been struggling a bit with her 16-week old puppy, too. She lives in New York City, which is quite a challenge with a puppy. I had her crying on facetime the other night - the puppy peed on the floor (he doesn't like the rain, and they'd only just come in from a walk), and she lost her cool and shouted at him. He ran away and hid from her. When I spoke to her they were both sitting on the floor in a puddle of pee, cuddling and she was crying... She said she is exhausted, and that she felt like the worst puppy owner ever, but I told her about all the people here on the labrador forum, and how EVERYONE struggles with a new puppy; that made her feel a bit better. Of course yesterday when I spoke to her all was good again, and Alto was being a very good boy cuddled up on the couch in a nest of cushions - not chewing, please note, just snuggling . It's always three steps forward and one step back, isn't it? But as I told my daughter, it DOES GET BETTER. Just hang in there.
Ahem, some days we have trouble achieving ANY steps forward, we are pretty good though, Molly and me at several steps back any old day
Yep, here too! Thanks b&blabs for asking. I had total meltdown on Saturday with my parents here when Libby damaged my phone. My dad just said "your mum used to do that with Ria". We had a no rules cuddle/film day on Sunday and much better since. This morning though she suddenly decided to jump up on the spare bed and do a wee. I lost it then as there was just no need. All very well 'ignore the bad, praise the good' but they're so exasperating you have to respond!! Find me a "oops, never mind" new puppy owner! First thing this morning she brought her lead and kept shoving it on my feet which was kind of lovely. We went for a walk right then Karen, is your daughter not on the forum? She should be! She's so not a bad owner, bet she's fab.
Alto is SO CUTE! NYC would bring its own challenges, I would imagine. I have 25 acres and a 7yo labradoodle for Bessie to run around with. They do tire each other out, which was part of why I got a second dog, and I'm grateful he seems to like her (the first few weeks were iffy). One of the other adopters of one of this litter is in my puppy class and said she lives in a condo with her pup, who also screams in the crate. Then I realized I'm pretty lucky; I'm not pissing off any neighbors when I let her howl in there. Hope your daughter feels better. I lost my cool last week and yelled at Bessie while she was screaming in the crate while I was trying to shower and get out of here. That was after an exhausting morning trying to put electric netting (not plugged in) around the compost pile to prevent her from eating it. While she was trying desperately to eat it and getting herself stuck in the netting over and over again. It was like some kind of bad comedy sketch. Once I got it up, she quickly figure out how to bum-rush it and push it down, tumbling over the top, and was able to get in to it within about three seconds. I suppose I should just take it day by day, but right now the idea that it will be like this until she's 2 or 3 years old is causing me to wallow in a pit of despair. But, she just fell asleep in her crate after barely a whimper. So, there's that. I got her a soft crate thinking she might like it better. She does, but she also likes EATING it. Even when it's open. She's obsessed with gnawing on the mesh door, the velcro bits, the zipper when I opened the top. Sigh. So she's in the wire one for the most part, but the cloth one is also taking up living room space, just so she hopefully starts to think of it as her den. I will need it for visiting friends, but she needs to stay in it without eating it. Also on the hunt for a used spare wire one to travel with in case the eating doesn't stop. She's sweet and smart and loving and good, but she's also devilish and exhausting and her care can be all-consuming. Welcome to life with a puppy?
Ah, whoops, I missed this, probably because I was replying when you were! Awww, sounds so similar, the ups and downs! As I said above, I had a huge meltdown last week, so I get it. It is REALLY hard to ignore all the bad. Bessie's been doing her darnedest to counter-surf and I am constantly catching myself saying "no" and "off" and "uh-uh." And sometimes it's just too exhausting to get out the treats and do the training --while prepping dinner, etc.
