Guys, really need your help. Max is now 3.5 months old. He is our first dog and we had not expected that it would be so challenging. We really love him, but things get a little unmanageable at times and we are not sure if we are handling things right. So really needed to know if we are on the right path. Max has been house-trained and crate-trained. Also, he understands the commands - sit/down/stay (when they are no distractions around). We both are working and have a full time help at home, who stays with us. At night, we keep his crate in our room and he sleeps in it. We let him out of the crate at 6 am. We then keep him locked in one room. After we both leave for work, our help (who thankfully loves him too) feeds him and keeps playing with him 5-10 minutes every hour. Also his 2nd meal is a treasure hunt game where she hides his food at different places in the house and he sniffs it out. Also, after every meal, she makes him sleep in his crate for an hour (i.e. 3-4 hours in the day). Max does not fuss on going to the crate because he either gets a kong filled with frozen kibble or a frozen carrot when he goes in the crate. For the rest of the day, he stays in one room where he can play with his toys. (though he seldom chooses to play with them and prefers biting on the sofa in that room) I come back at around 7 pm, take him to a 20 minute walk, feed him his last meal coupled with some obedience training and then from 9 to 10 leave him in the room. Finally at 10 he enters the cage and wakes up again at 6 am (there ofcourse is a bathroom break in the night). Last weekend we let him out of the crate in our drawing room and the bed room, but he created a havoc. He pounced on anything and everything that he saw from the show-pieces that were out of his reach to the speakers and telephone. I have heard that you should not take anything out of your lab's mouth and should rather distract him - but he just would not get distracted. He took our phone and sat at one corner trying to chew it. If we would do any more efforts to distract him, our phone would be dead - permanently. so we had to take it out of his mouth. We tried leaving him free in our bed room too, but he just won't listen and run around like Mad Max. Now i wont be able to thank you guys enough if you would help me with the below queries: 1. Is keeping a lab in one room (though that room is decently spacious - 200 sq ft) advisable? Is it tantamount to confining him? 2. His restless behavior, when left alone in other rooms is because of being confined in one room? 3. I read on forums here that this can continue upto he is 18-24 months old. So can i continue to follow the same schedule (except for increased walk timings) for the next 1.5-2 yrs? 4. Putting a lab in his crate 4-5 times in a day is advisable? (he rarely whines in there) 5. I read somewhere that you should keep the lab busy by continuously giving him frozen kongs. But his kong filled with frozen kibble does not last for more than 10 minutes. How many kongs can I give him to keep him busy? 6. Is there any way to train him to just sit quietly when we are sitting in the same room? 7. Max does not like cuddling at all. Though i have tried cuddling him and giving him treat when he does not resist, it has not helped. Is it with all 3.5 month old labs? Sorry for my lack of brevity, but I wanted to cover all queries. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. - Saurabh
Hi and welcome to the forum. I think you have already realised that the problem here is that your dog is too isolated and isn't getting enough company, interaction, mental stimulation and variety in his life. So, when he is let out into a new environment (other rooms in your house) he is overwhelmed and overexcited. It doesn't matter if the room he is in is not a small room, he is in there with no company for long periods. He's bored. Dogs need new experiences in their life. They need to get out and about and meet new people and dogs and see new places. This needs to be a big part of his life. Some things that will help: - give him a lot more exposure to the rest of the house (at first on lead and with a lot of treats) so he becomes more used to it and calmer - explore options that will give him time out of the house while you work, like dog walkers or day care - consider training classes to give him new things to learn and exposure to other people and dogs - put a larger pen in the area you spend time in at home so he can be with you and not so isolated. - if he takes something you don't want him to have then swap it for a food treat. Present the treat close to his mouth and he'll open his mouth to have the treat and drop the item he's taken, which you can pick up. - if there is anything you don't want him to touch then put it up out of reach or shut it in another room (instead of shutting the dog in another room). Hope that helps
Hi Saurabh, I am very pleased that you found this forum, and that you love your puppy and want to do the best for him. I'm afraid that what you have described does not sound like an ideal situation for a 14 week old puppy, or even an adult dog to be in. Labradors need entertainment, exercise and companionship throughout the day. If I am correct in my interpretation of your day, he is either in a crate or a single room alone from 6am to 7pm, with five minute games during this time. So perhaps a total of an hour of interaction all day, spread out into tiny amounts? He then gets a maximum of two hours of your time in the evening before he is confined again? If my description above is correct, then I am really sorry but this is not good for your Lab at all. I will briefly look at each of your points for concern: 1. The size of the room is not as important as the fact he is alone, without entertainment and unmonitored. I am surprised that he isn't more destructive and is clean in the house. 2. This is almost certainly a contributing factor. All puppies are lively, mouthy, chewy and bouncy. One who has been deprived of stimulation to this extent I would imagine would be even more so. 3. My personal feeling is that this scenario cannot continue and must be altered. 4. The number of times your Lab is crated is not as important as the time he is confined for. At this young as he should not be left for long periods during the day. 5. Frozen kongs are great for temporary crate time, but they will not solve your problems. 6. Yes, but he's very young. Check out this article: Train your Labrador to relax 7. Most dogs don't actually like being cuddled in the human sense. Interact with him in the ways he wants, stroking and patting are generally preferred by dogs. I hate to be so negative, and I believe you genuinely want the best for your dog, but your setup is just not adequate. Have a really good read of the Puppy Section of The Labrador Site. This article will help you to get to grips with the right way to crate train. Here is some advice on what to do with your pup when you work full time. Best wishes, Lucy
Hi there, and welcome. I can tell that having a puppy is quite daunting to you at the moment although you clearly love him - and I will try to answer your questions. 1. Yes, confining him to one room is bad for him. He is like a small child, a toddler, and needs to be taken to meet people and other dogs, and have lots of stimulating experiences. Otherwise he will become bored and likely destructive by the time he reaches 6-8 months of age. 2. If you were confined to one room, don't you imagine you would go a bit crazy when allowed somewhere else, with all those new sounds and scents? You need to start slowly getting him used to being in other rooms, then out in the yard, and so on. Above all else, he needs COMPANY - dogs are social animals and keeping them pretty much solitary is very bad for them. 3. As I said, I think your schedule needs changing, with more time spent with your pup and with him having more change of scenery. 4. I wouldn't put him in his crate for too long or too often. Make it his safe place for when he is tired after a game or walk. 5. Frozen kongs are good, but they are not a replacement for human company and interaction. 6. Yes you can teach him to sit quietly with you, but it will take some time. Praise and pet him for being good and quiet. Remember his is just a baby!!! 7. Most lab puppies love to cuddle, but not all. Give him time! Instead of putting him in his room away from you, spend time playing with him, or just sitting with him. Where do you live? It doesn't sound somehow as though you are in Europe. Good luck with little Max, and do ask any questions and let us know how you are getting on with him.
Hi and welcome to the forum. I have to agree with the comments from Rachael, Lucy and Karen. Your puppy really needs more interaction with people, dogs and the big wide world. Lots of helpful advice and links already provided which I hope you will be able to use and make hour pup's life more fulfilling
Thanks a lot Lucy, Karen, Oberon and Maccie. Can't thank you enough for your words as this will help me correct my techniques. But I still don't understand what do I do about it. I and my wife do leave for office at morning 9 and come back at 7. Our help has to do household chores. If for e.g. she is in the kitchen and she brings max in the kitchen too, he will keep pouncing on her and not let her work. Not just that, if I am sitting on my bed and let him lose, he will bite the bed, the mattress, the cupboard, etc. etc. I am trying to use the off command and 'C&T' once he complies, but it has not stopped him from this. He does not chew his toys at all and rather explores what he should not explore. Although I have understood that what I am doing is wrong, i don;t know what do i do now...
Hi there, You need to arrange for him to spend more time in the company of others. This could just be that he is allowed to be with your housekeeper. Yes, she needs to do her chores and he'll be a pain at first, because he's not used to being out, but he'll grow out of that in time and will just settle down in her company. Other than that, you could look at someone coming in several times a day specifically to spend time with him. A dog walker or someone similar, who will play with him and give him some human contact. And/or look at using a well-structured puppy day care for him a couple of days a week. There are plenty of people on here who manage to work and give their puppies/dogs the attention they need, so it is possible. You're luckier than most because you do have that person at home all day that can be his main source of company, once he calms down a bit, which is simply a case of letting him get used to the environment and the company. Good luck.
Hello there You’ve had some great advice already. You can’t expect a young puppy not to pounce on people, or to lie quietly on a mat – young puppies are bundles of energy that want to play, explore, pick things up. It’s what they do (unless they are asleep of course). It sounds like you are expecting your tiny puppy to behave like a trained adult dog, and that’s just unrealistic. Particularly since he hasn’t even been allowed to explore the house yet. Rachael (Oberon) explained to you above how to start allowing him in the rest of the house. You are lucky that you have someone at home to care for your dog, but you can expect doing so to take up hours of time, particularly when a puppy is young. Best of luck with it.
I think you need to accept that if your housekeeper is willing to become the puppy's carer, that she won't be able to do as much housework as previously. If she has the puppy with her for much of the time he will gradually mature and become calmer and this will also transfer to when you're at home. Alternatively you could employ someone to come in during the day to take care of your puppy.
Hi, I agree with all the advice above. I'm afraid dogs and especially puppies are quite a demand on your time. Although I personally think they pay you back tenfold with thier General loveliness Would it be possible that from now on (particular in the next few weeks) the housekeeper focuses more time on your puppy? Just to give you an example of how other people do it, this was my experience at this age: I work from home and when my girl was 14 weeks my day looked a bit like this: Up at 06:30: out of pen, out in garden for toilet, but of play while I hve a cuppa, out for 10 minute walk 7:00: breakfast then some training (10 mins) and self play until husband leaves for work. 07:45 she naps by my desk and I start work 09:00 toilet break and training (5 mins) then there is probably about 20 mins of swapping non chews (the chair and table legs, my arms) for actual puppy toys. Self play until she falls asleep again (usually around 09:30). 10:30 as above, sometimes I put her in her pen for this stage of day but I stay in same room. 12:30 lunch and out in the garden for a play. I got very little work done at this time as after food dogs like to play and at this age that means supervising at all times. I could do a bit of tidying or respond to emails but nothing that involves looking away from her for more than a minute at a time. 13:45 she sleeps I work 14:30 out for a 10-15 minute walk 14:45 she sleeps I work 15:30 toilet and leave her in her pen with a kong- I work 16:30 she wakes and we play, train, do LOTs of swapping and swearing (in my head) until about 7pm when she eats then sleeps for most of the evening (usually she gets another 30 mins play with my husband around 9ish). At this time she was only left alone when I leave the room to go upstairs - never more than 10 minutes at a time. It was relentless and my work and the housework did suffer a little but by making sure she was tired for a few stints during the day she would sleep and I could focus on work. If your housekeeper could take him for a little walk, play with him in the garden and generally spend more time with him then she will probably be able to leave him in her pen while he is sleeping (and maybe get about 5 hours of work done rather than 8). Just a suggestion but definitely have a think about how you could get more interaction with your pup. They are very sociable animals. Really hope this helps, good luck
You've had some great advice and I would add that we used baby gates to good effect. This doesn't alter the need for your pup to be in the same room with company but is an additional help to create a safe place whilst being able to see you. Some people also use puppy pens. This would allow your housekeeper some freedom to get on with things without shutting the pup away completely. I can't emphasise enough though that your pup must have proper company, be interacted with and trained as well as taken out and about to experience new things. Otherwise you run the risk of the world being utterly overwhelming for him.
Dear All, Firstly i want to tell you that you all are saviors in every sense of the word. You guys saved a lovable puppy from having a bad childhood. A parent from raising a fearful dog A beautiful relationship, which has not started blossoming. Though apprehensively, i tried your advice to the hilt and the results are phenomenal. In just 2 days Max became calmer around the house. In the past 5 days, except for a couple of stray incidents when he grabbed something that he shouldn't have, he has been an angel!! He now sleeps on my lap at times and follows me around the house. (i had taken work from home for 5 days) and even follows the 'leave it' command!! Not just that, his recall has improved and i think this is because he now feels a part of the family and not a captive anymore. I feel guilty of having kept him locked up in one room, but I will ensure that now he is well taken care of. Attaching a link of a pic of him sleeping by my side Thanks once again!!
He looks such a dear puppy and you can see by his expression that he was feeling blissful. I am so glad the problem seems to have been overcome.
Lovely to read, well done on changing things. I'm sure you'll both be happier now. Any other issues, please don't hesitate to ask
Thanks a ton guys! I have seen that though most of the times he behaves himself, there are times (maybe once or twice a day) when he just goes berserk. Starts running across the hallway, hits furniture, but that doesn't stop him, falls, gets up, runs and falls again... this happens maybe once or twice a day. at that time what should my approach be? Should i put him in the crate with a frozen kong to give him a quiet time that might relax him? I have tried giving him a chew toy, etc. but that hasn't helped as he stays excitable. He was being excitable so I put him in one room and he tore our curtains just now Thanks in advance!
This is normal! I would play with him until he gets too nippy or too OTT, a couple of crazy times a day isn't unusual at all Here are some good articles - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-cope-with-an-overexcited-labrador-puppy/ http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-play-safely-with-a-labrador/ .
Things are better....wayyy better!! i take him to a dog park in the morning.I walk him for 20 mins and he plays for 20 mins...rest of the day, except for a couple of stray incidents, he is an angel.. Thanks again all of you! I am blessed to have found this forum!
