Hi All! This is my first post on the forum so I hope I am doing this right . My wife and I just brought home our new lab mix puppy, Mellie (after looking at her siblings we are pretty sure she’s is a black lab/German Shepherd). We have had her for a week now and are suffering from some real puppy blues. I know it will get better, but the biting ( oh the biting!) and constant attention is a hard adjustment. I am working from home until at least the end of April and my wife doesn’t start her new job until the end of June. It feels like every moment either of us has needs to be spent with the dog. We thought about it and decided a schedule would help both her and us. We know she needs nap time and unless we enforce it she doesn’t seem to want to nap during the day. Anyway, long preface aside, I would love any advice on the schedule we mocked up. Are we really supposed to be spending this much time with her playing and training? Would love any other advice as well thanks! 6:00am - wake up 6:00am-7:00am - potty, play, train, eat, potty 7:00am - 8:30am - nap time 8:30am-9:30am - potty, play, train, potty 9:30am-11:00- nap 11:00am-12:00pm - potty, play, train, eat potty 12:00pm-2:00pm nap in crate 2:00pm- 3:00pm: potty, play, train, potty 3:00pm-5:00pm: nap 5:00pm-7:00pm: potty, play, train, eat, potty 7:00pm-8:30pm: nap 8:30pm-10pm: potty, play, train potty 10pm - bed 11:30pm- last call potty 2:30am - potty
Firstly congratulations of you new puppy! Luna is nearly 10 months now and I can still remember the first month when I was thinking 'what have I done'! I am presuming that Millie is now 9 weeks if you picked her up at 8 weeks old. With all the will in the world you can have a schedule but your wee girl will fall into one herself. At 9 weeks she will sleep for about 20 hours a day and will most likely be awake for 45 minutes max at a time. For the biting stage it feels like it is never going to end then all of a sudden its over. Redirect her to toys to chew on - frozen kongs, frozen rope toys, soak facecloths and freeze them. The coldness helps numb the pain and with being frozen last a bit longer too. She will also need to pee about every 20 minutes when she is awake and worth keeping that in mind for taking her out. Millie will want to be with you all the time if you are in the house. We made Luna a little bed in what ever room we were in next to us. In the kitchen we had a corner where she would lie and the living room until she could get on the sofa was a blanket at our feet. You will know when she gets tired and this is when you will need to encourage quiet time and sleep. You are right that you will need to enforce this as she will keep going and become 'a mini crocodile' Good luck and enjoy the early stages as they grow up so fast!
Thanks for the post Christina! I’ll have to try some of those biting techniques. Good to hear that it does eventually end! To clarify, we adopted Mellie from a shelter so we aren’t exactly sure what her age is, the vet and shelter seemed to think she is now 11 weeks old. The thing we struggle with is when it’s time for a nap we try to keep her in the same room as us and we stop playing with her so she will settle down, but sometime she decides that’s the time she wants to chew on furniture . We are thinking about putting her in her crate/pen area when it is time for nap. What are your thoughts? If she doesn’t nap neither my wife or myself feel we can get anything done. Thanks!
My girl took most of my attention and supervision for a good few months. I think that’s how it is with many pups I’m afraid, even though this little one was more demanding than any other dog I’ve had. She was hard work as a young puppy and a little crocopup! Getting things done was indeed tricky , it will get easier over time. It can be exhausting and emotional! Keeping her busy was important and you could get around 45 mins with a frozen kong! She had , and still has, all of her meals in food dispensing toys or works for it. Chews are good too , such as safe wood chews, but many chews you need to check the age appropriacy . She can occupy herself with her toys now but this took her a while. I only use a crate at night but many on here use them for some day time too, it’s so important that your pup is happy in there. Lots of advice on here regarding appropriate and successful crate use. All the best with your pup!
The key to the biting is constant redirection. We had toys all over the house for as soon as she starts or thinks about biting give her a toy and then praise and fuss over her. Another technique is to turn your back on her, walk away and put a barrier between you. This teaches her that the fun stops when she starts to bite. When we were trying to calm Luna after play time we done a couple of simple training - sit, paw, lie down - as this calmed her from the energetic play time. If she is going to start chewing give her something to chew instead of the furniture (something that has been soaked in water and frozen), she should then lie down and chew this until she has had an enough then fall asleep. Treats you can use for chewing is antlers, frozen carrot/banana and yak chews. We bought an antler in November last year and still have it, Luna loves it and will happily chew on it for a good half hour a day minimum. Another thing that was great for us was a liki-mat. We would spread some puppy peanut butter and banana on it, freeze for about 5-10 mins and would give us about 20 mins we didnt need to worry about her, great for getting a shower! We haven't used a crate at all for Luna, we tried it the first couple nights but she was so bad as soon as we took her out curled up with us and fell asleep. I did a post when once we had Luna for 17 weeks and highlights some of the issues and challenges we were faced with, hopefully this link works. https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/17-weeks-with-our-puppy.27869/#post-396107
