Hi, we have a 16 week puppy and all the training we did in the early weeks has pretty much been forgotten by our black lab Murphy. It's largely our fault as I don't think we have been consistent and with juggling work (we work from home mainly) and lack of sleep, we haven't followed a formal training schedule and probably making loads of basic mistakes. He sits when asked (often when not but he knows a treat is on offer) and his toilet training is great, almost always asking to go out and sleeps in his crate from 10pm til 7am. I know we are really lucky on the latter. But he seems to have a very short threshold before he starts being very bitey, jumping up to bite, tearing off in the garden to eat plants, mud or stones and jumping on the sofa. And then he really resists going into his crate for naps, although he does nap eventually. Anyway, I thought would start again and have the book so started with the hand touch (he did this great weeks ago) and after one go he started biting my hand when I presented it. He seemed otherwise calm and had recently had a nap. Any advice on how I reset? I'm so tired and overwhelmed, I feel like I don't know where to start. It also doesn't help that we can't feed him high value right now due to bout of colitis or similar we are getting investigated by the vet so makes it really hard. Any advice welcome Thank you
Firstly don't be hard on yourself, you still have a very young pup. No training at that age is proofed, all still needs consistency and reminders. They are bright dogs, but will be well over a year old before you get the settled family dog you want. I would say keep doing what you are doing, be patient and consistent. Get to some obedience classes to if you can. They made a huge difference to us keeping us focused and supported in those early days. They make you realise everyone is in the same boat and they really help when adolescence comes along.
My puppy is about a month older and he has also just went through a period of backsliding on things he had been doing well or improving on. Honestly I figured we just hit the teen years (and he is acting a bit like my human almost teen). I just started reinforcing basics again and it seems to be helping him remember he has to listen to me.
Thank you, we have seen a marked improvement in the last week, just from being consistent. We did try the puppy obedience classes but he got ill in the middle and missed a bunch but we picked up some helpful tips.
