Hi all, sorry to be posting so frequently! While I think I'm almost out of my puppy blues (through a combination of Stampy learning to chill out, and myself learning to cope with my new, not-always-fun responsibilities), I still find myself occasionally anxious about a few things. I just wanted to ask if your pups "grew out" of barking for attention, and naturally learned to sleep later in the morning? And at about what age, if they did? All I read online is "dogs never grow out of habits, they grow into them" which is a bit daunting. However, my dog owning friends all say their puppies grew out of most barking with time, when they learned a bit of independence. So I suppose I'm looking for a few more real experiences, with labs specifically. Btw, Stampy just has periods of "can't be alone even for a second, play with me!" between 5-7am and 4-7pm, and we try our very best to only reward silence. He's by no means a 24/7 problem barker. I'm more just curious about whether or not puppies actually grow out of these behaviours with age?
Yes, they definitely learn to sleep later in the mornings as their bladders become stronger - well, all of mine have I think they are best trained not to attention bark. But there is one bark they seem to grow out of, in my experience, and that's the 'play with me, play with me' high pitched barking. All of mine have done it - mostly at Tatze - and all have grown out of it. I'd use Kongs, chews and treat toys for the shouty times if I were you. A cardboard box to destroy is a good one too. ...
They DEFINITELY learn to sleep later in the morning! I remember Brogan getting me outside at 6am every day because it was time to PLAY, momma, PLAY!!!! Somewhere along the line he turned into a dog who I had to pry out of bed for his morning walk and wee. He would gladly stay in bed until 3-4pm if given the chance. I actually enjoyed both stages - though I'm insomniac so 6am is actually pretty late in my morning and I was happy to have some company back in those days.
And I think it's great you are posting so much. I'm learning a lot too with both your posts and answers. Plus that avatar pic of yours just cheers me up.
Stanley grew out of barking and early mornings. Around the same time actually - he was about 17 weeks and it went from 5.30am to about 7-7.30am. He's 10 months now and it's around 8.30-9am. Now he only barks when someone knocks at the door. Sometimes if me & OH are upstairs he whines because he feels like he's missing out. Be he quietens down after a couple of seconds with a hmpfffff which lets you know you're in the bad books
OMGoodness - Coco (2.5 years) does this on a daily basis. Usually mid morning. I take it as a cue that he's bored, I have ignored him for too long and I do a bit of training or tug or fetch. He'll go to sleep then.
@deadandchocolatey (and @Skives19) I would say some of the answers saying they don't calm down are pretty scary when you're in the midst of dealing with a new pup, yikes! Puppy blues might not be permanently over so brace yourself but they do definitely grow out of the annoying small puppy things. By 5 or 6 months you'll likely have less: pouncing on everything, nipping everybody, trying to grab whatever you have, early mornings. By 6 or 7 months, less: chewing shoes and having to hide everything. By 8 months, less: jumping up, whining, dependence etc By 8 or 9 months it is so much more relaxing. Earlier than this really. That's where we're at, Libby is 9 months next week and I've gone from tearing my hair out, going insane, losing my temper with her, crying and very ready to give her away at 4 months to having a very calm, relaxed house and life with her. Shoes and remote controls can be left without fear, she's not scrabbling at the work surface anymore, I can load the dishwasher, empty the washing machine etc. By 10 months I'm hoping she'll stop being scared of the cat But I'm coming to Queensland for March so I'll have to come see your puppy! (cos Queensland's a very small place! )
That's really good to hear everyone, very comforting! @DebzC Interesting to note that 8/9 months is when things became relaxing, because I figure adolescence would be in full swing around then? Though to be honest, and this might be a bit naive, I'm sort of looking forward to the independence stage. We'll have obedience classes around the same time so I think less dependence on the humans will outweigh any training relapses that might occur. Again, probably quite naive of me to think adolescence will be that easy!
I can only go by my experience but no obvious adolescent nightmare yet! The only thing she did was chase some sheep a few weeks back but she returned after three calls, was put on the lead and hasn't done it since. Maybe the naughtiest small puppies have done their rebellion and an easy adolescence is the reward
