Help please.... who do you teach a puppy to settle We are desperately trying to get Layla (16 weeks old) to settle when she comes into the front room with us in the evenings. She is fine for a few minutes with either a chewie, a kong or a marrow bone and then she starts causing chaos ... charging around trying to get hold of stuff she shouldn't etc etc (I'm sure you can imagine). Never had this problem before our other puppies just played nicely but Layla is a different story.... Any tips would be gratefully received
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP My boy was a lazy bones from the off , I didnt use a crate but I know that some people find them a great help for " time out " If Layla has been active during the day time , then she should really settle in the evening , they can easily get into the habit of continual play , expecting it on tap , so in your case , I think I would be tempted to use a crate to pop her into and calm her down , and for your sanity too
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP My boy never settled when he was young - he sounds exactly like your girl, and he only does now because we've taught him to go on his mat and stay there. I couldn't get him to do this until he was about 6 months. My solution was a puppy pen in the front room...
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP I'm having the same issue with my boy, he's 7mths today It doesn't seem to matter if he's been sleeping all day or running himself ragged he never settles in the sitting-room unless he has a rawhide to chew but as soon as he's finished he's up and about just as you say. I assumed this was puppy behaviour but you have given me hope now, he will lay on his blanket in the kitchen. Does your girl have somewhere in the house she will lay quietly? Maybe we could compare notes?
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP Yes think its important to teach them to settle. I over hyped my older girl with too much on tap entertainment when she was younger and it took a while to change things when she was older. Shes a very active dog anyway but I made things worse! I used the article on this website on teaching to settle but she was about eighteen months old when I decided I wanted my chilled evenings back so might be different with a young pup but cuilli was rewarded for calm behaviour and ignored for badgering behaviour. now because i know theyve had plenty of physical and mental stuff going on during the day at night i guard my evening chill time fiercely and after a post dinner quick game with them ill tell em time to settle guys, and both of them know what it means and hop onto the sofas and snooooooze. Did take quite a while with cuilli though so id nip it in the bud as soon as you can!!
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP Yes we've just got to the point we want to settle and watch tv without having one eye out for the 'black demon' If we put him back in the kitchen he'll just lay on his blanket and snooze, he obviously sees the living room as a play area. He just started jumping on the sofa, we have a long sofa with a curve at one end and he jumps on one end, runs along it and jumps off the other end. How did you 'train' to settle? Was it just keep asking him to lay on the mat? I often sit on the floor with him and make a fuss when he's laying down and stop as soon as he gets up. I have thought about rattling a tin full of stones every time he jumps on - but I was a little worried it might effect him when he's old enough for gun dog work? One loud noise for no and one for fun??? Prob not ??? He pays no attention to gun shot now and I don't want to ruin that Don't want to hijack your thread Jackie but I think we are looking for the same answers? Graham
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP I do think it's difficult for some young puppies. It's easier once they get a bit older. I taught Charlie to lay on a mat and stay there. But I started with 5 seconds and worked up from there. The duration takes a while to get, and then distractions takes another while (people getting up and down, people eating, laughing etc). A top tip from the forum was remembering to reward quiet - that is, don't always give your dog attention while it's being a pest, but ignore it when it is quiet. We have a tin of treats above Charlie's bed in the front room and if he settles down unprompted, he gets a treat. There is a great article here:http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=2742 but it says for dogs over a year. I think you can start basic stay on your mat much sooner though. I'm not a fan of noises or frights to discourage a dog from doing things - but this might just be me, I know others think this is a good idea. I worry about unintended consequences.
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP I must say this wasn't a big problem for us. Probably because Lilly is home alone a lot so used to "self-soothing" right from the off. If your pup will settle either in a crate or on a blanket either overnight or in another room, is it worthwhile bringing the blanket/ bed into the new room? I guess you would need a settle word already for the old place and try moving it. I think thats how we did it with Lilly but to be honest she was quite a bit older before she was regularly in our front room as we mostly use the "sun room" at the rear of our house particularly in the summer. She was probably 7 or 8 months before regularly being invited into the "posh" room. ;D
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP We are in a similar position, Widg is at home when we are at work and is happy to settle in the pen or kitchen even when we are in the room, we have only been bringing him regularly into the living room for about 6 weeks or so and started him off with a large rawhide so maybe he gets excited because he always has a bone or chew that he only has in the living room. Maybe we need to go through the pain barrier of not giving him chews, just treats for quiet behaviour??? Could it be he gets over excited by the bones and hide every night? Perhaps a water sprayer might be a better 'off the sofa' deterrent? Graham
Re: Teaching puppy to settle - HELP Thanks for all the tips and advice really grateful.. Layla will only settle down in her crate which is in the kitchen. To be honest she has got into the habit of going down at around 8pm and sleeping through until around 5am. We try to have her in the living room from about 6pm but as I said its impossible to get her to settle... perhaps I am expecting too much of her. The other thing she has just started doing in the last few days is constant yapping to get attention try and ignore it but it is really grating on the nerves.... am hoping it is just a phase. She is lovely though and we wouldn't swap her for anything.... lab puppies are certainly a breed of their own LOL
