Help, please! 5 mo. old Puppy chewing laces while my shoes are ON

Hi everyone,
So..... for the first time, Leela, my 5 month old, is experiencing me getting new shoes. I put them on, she sniffs them. I think, "Ok.. she's curious... I'll let her smell them".. then she starts chewing my laces (something she hasn't done since she was about 10 weeks old) while my shoes are on. Her excitement escalates and I can't even get out of the house. I crated her so we could both calm down. She's getting big now.. she was 32 # at her last visit, so it's getting a little difficult to control her.

Of course, this is the week that our trainer is on vacation.

Any advice? She was too overexcited to redirect at that point, so I didn't know what else to do besides crate her. This morning, I tried training her using the clicker.. hoping it would help. She is fixated on these sneakers now, as well as the broom, and the towel. The second I put them behind the baby gates, she tried to go after them. The trainer suggested that I leave these items out out so she can see them, in the hopes that she will think they are no big deal. I'm thinking it'll be a couple of days until I can wear these new sneakers around her without her trying to bite them.

Just wondered what you who are more experienced have done in this situation? at this age?
Eager to wear these new sneakers because the old ones, well... stink. LOL

Thanks in advance,
Leela's (tired) Mom

 

We have a 4 month old puppy and the laces on my slippers are constantly being undone, she just fascinated with the laces.

 

Hi it isn’t easy I know stuck with it be consistent and she will get fed up with them. We spent couple weeks just waiting and encouraging a positive behaviour such as a sit with a treat and he finally got the message. She is still young and she will learn soon enough

 

she's still young?!?! Good grief.. I love her, but we got her at 8 weeks... she's at 21 weeks now and this has been the longest 3 months of my life!! LOL

And.. when my pup is obsessive like that, redirecting her or distracting her has not helped.

 

Yep, she's still young, very young!
Have you tried distracting her by giving her something else to do?

 

Do you change her toys every day or two? If she's stuck with the same old rubber bone for weeks on end, she will find herself something more interesting to do

 

My pup used to do this, especially to my son when he was putting his school shoes on! Like @selina27 says, we distracted her or I would just pick her up. She didn't do it for long.

 

In my husband's words "being annoying and loveable is the definition of a puppy." All you can do is distract. I know how frustrating it is, my 20 week old pup has his crazy moments and can be extremely annoying.

Distract with another toy or a mini training session. And laugh about it, because what else can we puppy parents do.

 

I really appreciate all of your comments and encouragement, especially the bit about laughing about it. Leela is easily overexcitable, and we had been able to curb it a bit with on-leash walking. However, last week, she developed giardia, and the Panacur made her hyperactive/obsessive again. Today is her last day on the meds, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she will be more manageable in the coming days. It will be much easier to laugh about it then. LOL

 

I know it is and I’ve come out the other side and all that hard work has paid off. Suppose some puppies stay puppies for longer lol.

 

Some people too!
I feel for you - I remember going through several "OMG what have we done" moments with Pongo. But it will pass, it will pass. Tough it out, and come back here when you need to vent!

 

Oh no! I'm sure a sick pup makes it so much harder. To be honest, I do try to laugh, but I also cry at times! It's quite the emotional rollercoaster.

 

Poor you! My first Rottie was really obsessed with laces, but at a much younger age. The advice I got was to stand still until he got bored and gave up. It did work, but it took me ages to walk across the house! And as you've already said, she's so obsessed that standing still doesn't sound like it would do anything for you. So just sending you my sympathy and also get well wishes. Ghiardia is nasty.

 

It's nice to hear you've come out on the other side. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can stay sane while we travel to the other side. LOL

 

Yes, I have definitely had more of my share of "what did I do?" moments!

 

Oh, please, standing still would give her more time to chew the laces. My trainer told me to leave the things she is obsessed with out where she can see them. (broom, towel, now my sneakers). She is now reaching through the baby gates to get at them. Barking at them because she can't play with them. The trainer said that she is talking to them... now THAT I think is hysterical. "Woof! Woof! I wanna play with you!"

Good heavens, giardia is a beast! It's not even the giardia.. it's her reaction to the meds that is the hardest part for us. We had a pup with giardia before.. gave her the med.. no big deal. This puppy? Panacur makes her almost unbearable. Last week, she was in her crate while I cooked dinner. Took me 40 minutes. She was hungry and barked at me THE ENTIRE TIME. Can you imagine? I was trying to ignore her so that she would see that barking did not work. Poor thing.. she just couldn't turn herself off.

the good news about last week was that because of all the extra walking we did to burn off her energy, I was actually in contention on my fitbit challenge. LOL For the first time, I broke 100K steps over the work week and I STILL came in 3rd. LOL

 

You will too I know you will. Don’t give up keep going and your puppy will grow into an even better dog.
Fingers crossed lol and just come on the forum we can chat

 

Yes, I can see that being the case! I don't know, sounds like you a tough little girl in a lot of ways, but this too shall pass. And in the meanwhile you are killing your Fitbit challenge.

 

Hi Everyone,
I still haven't put those sneakers back on.. mostly because the weather has been so wet lately. However, I did wear a pair of slippers Leela hadn't seen before, and she was trying to chew the decorations. I did try redirecting her with a toy, and that WORKED!!! *shocked* LOL


Thank you all of you more experienced Lab parents!! will do more training with her so I can wear new sneakers, if we can get through one day without a soaking rain. We are in New York, and this has been the wettest August I remember.

 

Fantastic news, well done you!
Maybe you could advise me on things