I'm new to the forum and was hoping to get some advice, and hopefully hear I'm not the only one struggling! Apologises in advance for essay. We have a 6.5 month old lab pup who I love to pieces but sometimes I wonder if he even likes me... We've struggled since day one to get him to chill out and sleep in the house, which meant early on restricting him just to the kitchen because the living room was a battle ground. He was very much a pup who would battle on, zoomie around the garden and bite you rather than just go to sleep. It took us probably longer than it should have to recognise the over tired behaviour. Even now, he will rarely sleep unless he is put in his crate and left alone in the room. I feel like I'm just locking him in a cage and abandoning him half the time. Plus we've had to remove almost everything from his crate because he kept chewing and eating the beds and blankets we put in there so no wonder he doesn't chose to go to bed there... And every time I try to put a new mat in to make it comfier, that's so insanely exciting and then he just wants to dig and chew it. We've tried to get him into the living room and have a mat we're trying to train him to use as his space but he gets so excited by going in there that getting him to calm in there is almost impossible. Puzzle feeders and kongs will keep him amused until he finishes them. Watching TV on mobile phones at the kitchen table has become the new norm. Then there's people and other dogs. He was poorly socialised during those first few months (thank you lockdown) so thankfully he's not scared, he just finds people and dogs so insanely exciting that he bounces around all over the place, rears up and jumps on anyone and everyone he can and will often get mouthy to top it all off. We tell people to ignore him but it doesnt seem to help. Then if he gets over stimulated or tired because of people / dogs / play / new experience then he jumps up, bites and tries to hump my leg. Even us wearing new clothes is exciting and often ends up in a nibble. He'll often pant like crazy around the house and sometimes backs away from us or goes to bite us if we go to pet him so I worry he's stressed and hasnt bonded with us, but then when we do training in the garden, he can be so attentive and his bum wiggles like hell when we come into the room. We've been doing weekly puppy classes to help with the training but sometimes I worry that I've let down my puppy by not looking after him properly. He gets walked 3 times a day and every meal time involves training and scatter feeding to work both brain and body. I don't know what else I can do? Basically: Have other people had lab pups like this? (And if so - will he grow out of it?) And any tips for getting him to calm and stop getting so excited by everything on the planet?
Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum Whilst you're awaiting some more responses, take a look at this article on over-excited puppies by Pippa, I hope it helps!
