Sorry everyone in advance. I am feeling so out of my depth tonight. I cant get Penny ( nearly 24wks) to calm down. I cant believe how much of a failure i feel. She has nipped..bitten and scratched me since i came in tonight from work. I know she is excited to see me but its relentless tonight. I can feel myself getting so frustrated and i am sorry to say but angry at her..i actually want to cry. She has also distroyed my skirting board in kitchen because she was left for about 1hr until i came from work. I just needed a rant and as i am on my own i am afraid all you lovely lab people are having to put up with me. I just want to have a cuppa and relax after work tonight and she wont let me. I know she needs my attention but its the relentless biting i am finding hard to cope with tonight. Sorry for the long rant
I sympathise with you... Why are lovely Labradors such difficult pups?! It will get better, is my mantra
Sorry to hear that it's all going a bit wrong tonight. It's hard when all you want is a little break. You are definitely not a failure. We all find these things a bit much at times and want to just wave it all away with a magic wand. Just a few thoughts here about what you can try: - if she has one pop her in her crate for 5 minutes with a food treat while you have a sit down for a minute then... - try a short 5 minute training session with her, with lots of rewards and praise. Alternate between more energetic or active things and calm things (like lying down). A short training session can be enough to settle them down, giving you a bit of quiet time afterwards. And if she's doing 'legal' stuff for rewards/attention she's less likely to bite for attention. - then have a cup of tea. If you don't have a crate just try going straight to the training session. I know it's the last thing you feel like but it will be time well spent and then you can have your cuppa. When you're feel up to it have a think about (or start a thread about) things you can do so that in future you're not going to come home to this challenging situation. But don't worry about that just now. Hang in there! Everything will be ok in the end.
Is there anything you can give her that she can chew on rather than you like a kong with something tasty smeared on the inside, at least that would give you the chance to have a cup of tea. Keep at it I'll wager it won't be long and you'll look back and laugh, well maybe not laugh but at least be relieved that this stage is in the past.
I have never known her like this for so long..i always have to ay with her and let her chew on her kong or rope for a short time but i cant get her to stop lunging and trying to bite me tonight...just feels a bit off tonight ..she is generally boisterous but just feels a bit more frantic with real aggression. I know its not and it still surprises me how hard the puppy stage is. It a rollercoaster if emotions
Just another point..i have never had a crate and she is brilliant sleeping at night i kitchen ..i suppose if it had been earlier i could have let her blow off some steam running about at the park but its too dark. She has literally just lay down to sleep after a hectic 2 and a half hrs. Ah well tomorrow is another day. Just feel drained ..night all
Monty is very mouthy and likes to use me as a chewing board every time he tries I put a toy In his mouth. It seems to be working for me anyhow now on my roommte lol that's another story ..
I also use a crate if he gets too excited and won't calm down usually after 15 min he relaxes and has a 2 hour nap works well
Keep going, it does get better honestly. I know after a hard shift when I get home (usually early hours of the morning) Bailey goes absolutely crackers - which now ends up with him grabbing a toy in his mouth and taking a flying leap onto me to sit on my lap for cuddles. When he was younger and in his crocopup stage he used to get so excited he would bite - and yes it does hurt, a lot. I started making sure I had a toy in my hand that I could put in his mouth as it was coming for my hand or arm - eventually (and it was not in a day or two) he picked up a toy himself before coming onto my lap or next to me on the sofa - and he still does it now. The other difference is now when he gets on my lap I get well and truly squashed! Although he is quite light for a Lab (28kg) having that land on you together with the wildly wagging backside and him not knowing if he wants to sit facing me for kisses or with his back to me for cuddles leaves me feeling like I've just gone 3 rounds with Mike Tyson! Bailey does calm down after a few minutes and will then get off my lap to lay beside me on the settee with his head and front legs on me and so long as I am stroking him he is quite happy to lay there. You will have a beautiful calm dog one day - just not today
Hope you ended up getting a good night’s sleep Just like Samantha says, she will grow up to be a lovely calm dog. The puppy stage can be a trial though, that’s for sure.
It sure is and if you are doing all this alone it must be tough. Also I think very brave. I hope you got a good night’s sleep. Have you tried putting her lead on when she is hyper and then get her to settle on a mat with a frozen kong whilst you anchor her with your foot on her lead? I did this a lot when I was trying to get my two labs together in the evenings (the older one didn’t want to have anything to do with the younger one and the younger one just wanted to jump all over the other).
Sorry to hear you had a tough evening yesterday. The dark evenings don't help - I'm already looking forward to the spring and being able to have evening walks again or gardening with the dogs 'helping' too! Tuppence enjoys games of hide and seek, so perhaps try getting Penny to sit and wait while you hide a toy and then send her to find it. You can then make the hiding places more challenging, so you have a bit more time to drink your tea in between 'finds'! Both of mine still have their hyper moments (usually when I'm tired!), but Tuppence is the one who takes a flying leap onto my lap (as Bailey does with Samantha) or throws her ball onto my lap, then nudges it repeatedly until I give in and play, so I feel your frustration! I hope things are better today!
Hi there, so sorry you had a bad evening... I so sympathise about these dark evenings, not easy with a young dog... My evening routine is to get home, get changed, and take the dogs out for 20-30 minutes, no matter whether it's light or dark, and no matter what the weather is. If it's dark we do an on-lead walk; if it's light we go into the woods. This is just what we do, and it helps the dogs to calm down. After that they have their evening meal, and sometimes if Merlin is still wound up I play some games with them in the house - mostly searching games. When Merlin has been very rambunctious I have resorted to giving him a cardboard box filled with newspaper and a few pieces of kibble inside. This keeps him busy for ages and gets rid of a lot of destructive energy. Meanwhile, I can have a nice cup of tea (or glass of wine)... Of course, I have to clear the bits of ripped up cardboard up afterwards, but it is well worth it!! Hang in there, life will get better!!
Sorry you had a hard evening! My boy was like this when I adopted him at 7 months, and I promise it does get better. He would bite so hard I had bruises on my legs. And I remember feeling so disheartened about it because it just didn't seem like it was ever going to get better. The best thing I found was to be consistent. I tried lots of different things, but when I stuck with one thing (for me turning around and leaving the room, because he bit so hard it was hard to stand still!), he then realised that it wasn't working. I also would only leave the room for a second or two, so it wasn't too much of a punishment. We called it the "witching hour" because 7-8pm he would go crazy! Our solution was stuffed kongs or hiding treats in the living room for him to find. If you hide one treat at a time they have to search the whole room - or even the whole house - every time for just one treat - so it's really tiring. And you can sit on the sofa and relax.
That’s a great idea, Karen. At the moment we hide kibble or other treats round the lounge room as a ‘buying wine time’ strategy but the ‘newspaper kibble box’ is a much better solution!!!
Its a new day. I have been out this morning and ran the legs off her for 30mins playing fetch. She then had her breckie. She is happily chewing a stuffed bone at my feet. Thanks everyone for talking me off the ledge last night . I feel i need to tell some possitive stories about my beautiful whirling dervish. I have never regretted for one minute getting her and i know things will improve..she is so clever and has been a dream with sleeping at night on her own and how quick she toilet trained. I actually couldn't believe how easy that part was as i know by reading this forum that lots have dogs that cant get that part so easy. I dont have a partner ( divorced 7yrs) i live with my 17yr old daughter ( who Penny adores and vice versa) who goes to college 3 days a week. She is there some of the time. I am a senior nurse manager in a nursing home with elderly people with sever dementia its a stressful job (13-14hr shifts) and i work 3 days a week ( thats why i am shocked at how a 6mnth pup can have me in so shatteted lol) My dad lives next door so i have him looking after her too so that she is only left on her own for short periods throughout the day. I am so greatful for this forum just to get tips and read similar stories and know that i am not on my own. Also i realise that she will be teething and her gums will be tender. I have a kong freezing as i need to go out later (need to buy more she has lost one ???). I still feel she is super bitey just now but its easier to deal with during the day time. Her energy levels have definately increased as it normaly doesnt take as long for her to settle. I am in this for the long run not just for the easy bits so i will power through. Aw well just an off night for both of us and i was probably increasing her hyper actvity trying to calm her. I will be taking her for a walk on her lead soon thats another story lol
Glad to hear that today things are looking brighter. If we could only hook these young Labradors up to a battery storage system we’d solve the world’s energy crisis....! Enjoy your walk
She might be coming into season! It was one of the things that I didn't enjoy about having a puppy, when I wanted to sit down in the evenings, he wanted to run up and down the living room playing, he was a winter puppy so it was dark outside. However, take heart, these mad, evening times will soon stop, I found 6 months the magic moment
I can completely empathise with how you're feeling. A few months ago, I had sooo many times where I would get extremely upset because our pup loved to bite us and wouldn't settle. Her over excitement, biting, desire for attention mixed with my lack of sleep and trying to juggle a full time job too, was really difficult and at times it felt like it would never get better. I felt like I was doing a very good job with her and that I was a failure. I am glad to say however that it does improve, just like people tell you. She has calmed a lot and is like a different pup. Yes we still have occasions where she gets over excited or over tired and is a bit mouthy but it is manageable and we can stop her, whereas before it felt out of control. She has a great routine now, is much more willing to play calmly and will settle on an evening as well as sleep in on a morning. I'm really proud of her. I promise it will get better and the frustrating times will reduce.
