Hi everyone, Firstly, thanks so much for all the resources and advice I have received so far. This site is a blessing! Our black lab puppy Yalom is now 13 weeks old. Last week I felt we were making some progress, but this week everything seems super difficult again. In a lot of ways he's great - he's started semi-reliably letting us know when he needs to go out to the toilet, and he is a really fast learner (he knows his name, sit, down, leave, stay, and hand touch with his nose). However he is a major crocopup to the point that my husband barely wants to interact with him as he's fed up of being bitten and my arms look awful. He barely ever just settles down and is constantly on the go, despite use of Kongs and puzzles. I'm worried he will never chill out! Part of me is worried we are using his crate too much, but often it's the only way he'll stop. Our routine is: up and out for a wee at 6.15, then back in his crate with a Kong until 7.30. Then we go out and do some training and play for a while then play inside until about 8.15 when he gets fed. Then out for a wee and I let him play on his own until he crashes whilst I work for a few hours. Then again out for some training and play then playing inside for an hour or so, then we put him in his crate for a sleep. Then repeat this for the rest of the day basically, with a 15 minute walk to the beach in the afternoon, with some sitting and watching people halfway. I'm a PhD student and if I am in the office he comes with me, where he gets lots of attention and a walk in town for a change. We start puppy classes on Saturday. I think I'm worried he's in his crate too much, and I basically feel I'm doing everything wrong! I'm sure this is completely normal, but I guess I just wanted to get some feedback. Sorry for the essay!
Hi @RuthElizabeth I made the point elsewhere on this site that dog training is a mixture of hills, plateaus, and valleys. Please don't expect continuous improvement. Have you tried yelping when your dog bites you? Next step have a tug toy with you. The toy is not one he normally plays with. It's just used for motivating him to redirect his mouthy behaviour. As soon as he starts biting you redirect his mouth onto the tug toy. Praise and play with him via the tug toy. Try to keep him below threshold. That is dont play so hard that he loses all impulse control. Next step, if that doesn't work? If he still persists in biting you rather than tug toy. then time out. After 10 minutes or so try to again play with him with tug toy. If he bites you, then time out again.
Hi @RuthElizabeth, go easy on yourself, sounds to me you're doing everything right except you have a crocopup, which most lab pups are at this age. I really struggled myself at this age, in fact when my pup was about 12 weeks I seriously considered rehoming her. There is a lot of excellent advice on the site and you've got some great advice from @Michael A Brooks too. My own pup was more excited by the yelp but it works for others. The thing is, you just have to hunker on down at this stage, it's a really stressful stage (well it was for me) and if you can accept you will feel under siege for a few weeks more, whilst still carrying on in the same vein ( training, playing, walks, crating etc.) you will start to emerge through the other side. When my pup was 16 weeks things began to calm; slowly slowly but steadily. It still takes a lot of work and patience and training however. And sometimes just when you've got something licked, it re-emerges. Just keep going and embrace the positives. What I learnt early on was that dogs are a work in progress and I continue to train my nearly two year old and practise what we've already learned. Good luck.
Hi @RuthElizabeth , you've had great advice from @Plum's mum and @Michael A Brooks , I'm sure you'll find it helpful. The crocopup stage is truly awful, but it will come to an end eventually. I would also add that the yelping didn't work for me with Cassie, she just thought it was part of the game! I doesn't sound to me like you're doing anything wrong at all, or like he is in his crate too much. In fact it is important for a puppy to learn to be alone. It looks to me like your puppy has a great life
Well I’m hoping no one agrees on the ‘too much crate’, we put buddy in for every nap and it’s a really good time out for everyone and it ensures he gets plenty sleep and doesn’t get over tired. We are in a similar routine and I hope we are both doing the right thing, I’m sure we are. And as Selina says, they do need to be alone and this is the best and safest place to do that. From everything I’ve read it all seems pretty normal (no consolation I know). Buddy only really starts mouthing when my daughter plays with him and he gets a bit overexcited, and he’s biting his toys so doesn’t quite know the difference yet. We try to look for the signs and then do some training with high value treats, or calm him down a touch by maybe having some treats in hand and waiting until he sits down and we have his attention, then praise him with an antler smeared in cheese or whatever, or a crushed frozen plastic bottle, whatever works, this seems to occupy him for a decent amount of time...... his favourite thing that he absolutely loves and would play with all day long is his food bowl ha ha! Though I’m not sure how good an idea that is so we limit that. I’m expecting things to get worse with buddy as he’s only 11 weeks old but checking in on here is always good for ideas and support, I’m sure you’ll find something that works. Also someone on here posted a video and talked about rewarding calming behaviour. Perhaps when he slows down before a nap, and you’re stroking him and there’s no biting, and he’s nice and calm (this is what buddy does) drop him a few treats to reinforce the calm behaviour. I’m no expert by any means, I’m learning all the time but I hope some of what I have said is correct and helps somewhat.
Thankyou so much everyone for all your replies. The yelping hasn't worked for me - he just seems to get more excited by it! I'm going to try getting a tug toy that we can use for that purpose - any particular kind that you would recommend? Sorry, I'm not sure how to tag people individually. I think being reminded that training isn't a constant upward trajectory is really helpful too, so thankyou. I think you're right in that I just need to persevere through these stages and eventually things will improve. Thankyou all so much for taking the time to reply.
Ruth, it sounds like you are doing just fine and I don't think you are overusing the crate, from that description. It is very common to experience problems with puppy biting and a labrador puppy - they can be very bitey as puppies. Just be reassured that when he starts to get his adult teeth at around 16 weeks, it will all get better almost immediately because it just doesn't hurt - the puppy teeth are like needles. The one thing I think you could maybe improve on, in your daily routine, is having a socialisation trip in the afternoon instead of just going to the beach. Try to have a different destination or experience every afternoon - a different place to visit, will come with a whole package of different stuff. Has he met farm animals? Been in a lift? An escalator? Been to a cafe? A pub? A DIY store? A pet store? And so on. This will tire him out more, as well as being important for socialisation - and generally tired puppies are way easier to cope with....
Hi Jo, Thanks so much for your help and apologies for the delayed reply. I am hanging on for 16 weeks! Your advice about socialisation is great. We will definitely try and incorporate this into our daily routine, as you're right it tires him out more. Thus far he's been in a lift several times and to cafes and pubs, and to city parks, and universities, a playground, and a mental health clinic (random but it's where my husband works). We haven't taken him to a pet shop, so we will definitely do this, and we will find a garden centre/diy shop that accepts dogs to take him to as well.
Sounds good! Don't leave out skateboard parks because many dogs get very excited about chasing skateboards or bikes - so watching them to the point of boredom in puppyhood is quite good! Most garden centres that have a pet department accept dogs. Sounds like you are getting him out a lot though, which is great!
You are definitely not crating too much. Our 14 week old (tomorrow) and all of our puppies (there are five older dogs although one now lives with our daughter) were all crated for two 2 hour periods each day as well as at night. They go in with a frozen Kong and a Nylabone and all are quite happy with the time spent in there. It is for their safety as well as our sanity. I consider over-crating being four hour stretches or longer during the day-time. I have found that this limits the biting that most puppies go through and that some become extreme during; an overtired puppy gets "frenzied" and this frenzy (which is different than butt tuck running which is normal expulsion of energy) is typically what brings families to the point of considering re-homing the puppy. Puppies need to be able chew on things of different hardness or softness depending upon what they are feeling in their gums at any given moment; again I've found that providing different items during their crated rest time as well as their out and about time does help with the biting. Great job on the socializing!
