I think I'm in need of a little venting and some advice too! My puppy is now 12 weeks old, we've had him home for exactly a month tomorrow. First I suppose I should start with what he's been doing well with. He's obeying "sit" most of the time when he's not distracted, responds to his name 60-70% of the time again with little to no distractions, and his potty training is going quite well as long as we stay on top of him- his only recent accidents have been as a result of us not paying attention. For example, we gave him a bully stick for the first time last night- he was occupied for nearly 2 hours which we were completely shocked by. Right as I was about to say, "we should take him out to pee"-- he peed on my kitchen floor. I've also been trying to get him to walk nicely on his leash during walks but that progress is completely dependent on who else is at the park! Now onto the part that's driving me literally mad. The biting/puppy attacks have barely slowed. One thing that he's started doing is he'll randomly just start jumping and lunging at us like crazy grabbing on to ANYTHING he can with his teeth so skin, clothing, whatever and pulls! He's broken my skin more times that I can even count and ripped holes in tons of clothing. It's making me insane. When he starts jumping at me I literally can't do anything- he doesn't respond to commands and will bite me HARD if I put my hands anywhere near him during that time. I try to leave the kitchen as calmly as possible but it's so difficult and frustrating. My kitchen is gated-- so this usually involves me running and leaping over the gate in pure horror. I have notice that it's when he's not getting attention and I'm doing something else- but he sometimes does it when I take him outside. When he's outside and on the leash I can sometimes kind of get him away from me by controlling the leash and he'll usually stop, but I can't imagine this will work for much longer as he grows. Along with biting my husband and I constantly, he also bites EVERYTHING ELSE. Furniture, carpets, any pillow or blanket, wires, curtains. Please tell me that he will grow out of this. I know that labs are chewers, but I would like to be able to have long curtains and pillows on my couches again at some point in my life! We would also eventually like to invite him onto our couches, but right now we definitely can't because he would destroy them. He has TONS of chew toys and other toys as well, it's actually been quite expensive! We've spent so much money on chew toys and other things for him. They work sometimes, sometimes they don't. Sorry for the terribly long post. I'm frustrated and just want to enjoy my puppy. He's really a sweet boy when he's not using your leg for tug of war.
And relax ... Let me assure you that you are not alone in going through this phase. Take a look at some of the other threads on the forum and you'll see that this is a common theme. Nor is it anything unusual or anything to worry about - we've all been through it and although it seems horrendous at the time it will pass. Puppies in general, but Labrador puppies in particular, need to go through this phase as its part of their development. It is nothing personal, your dog doesn't hate you, nor is it vicious or out of control. And yes, he will grow out of it That said, you can help to speed the process along a little. Take a look at the information here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/ I well remember when Harv was going through this phase. I mentioned it to our vet and he told us that even at this age your puppy has enough power in its jaws to crush the bones in your hand if it chose to. And have you ever heard of that happening? No, because your puppy is already demonstrating considerable self-restraint in his biting - he just needs to learn not to bite you at all! Keep at it, you'll get there
Twelve weeks is very young, fear not - he WILL grow out of it into the gentlest of dogs! (the biteyset always end up the gentlest ) My Twiglet is 18 weeks and barely out of the crocodile stage. But it won't be long before we have forgotten all about it.! Today I came down in my pyjamas, I usually get dressed in skinny jeans before I cone down - she was back to swinging on the trouser legs!! I had to grab toys to put in her mouth. We use bitter apple spray on furniture which needs protection (it needs re-applying every week or so).
Hi there.....I actually missed this horrific stage as Dexter was 5 months when he came to us but I feel like I lived it because soooooooooooooo many members write about it so that tells you something doesn't it?The Forum has even coined its own term The Croco-Pup Phase .... It will stop but it always sounds pretty awful while you are surviving it....the fact that you have Dexter separated by a baby gate gives you an area you can get away from which is good and will save your sanity .....Whilst you can't get through the biting mist that descends on him at the time when he is doing it....giving him plenty of short activities / training through the day will have an impact .....it tires them out mentally which is just as important as physically..... You do come through the other side and Whilst I'm glad you came to have a vent on the Forum,I'm sorry it has got you down so much,totally understandable and normal....Just remember how gorgeous he is................when he's asleep!
Hang in there, in a few weeks this phase will seem like a bad dream... Honestly, you are going to end up with a lovely, calm, gentle dog - though it seems difficult to imagine right now! I thought we had bought a vicious whirling dervish when we got our Poppy home... Now she is the most delightful dog you can imagine. The worst of the crocopup phase is over by around 16 weeks, so the end is in sight.
I wrote a really long reply and then it wouldn't let me post it arrr. I'll write it again after our walk in the rain.
As if by magic my copy and paste after not being able to post worked Hi, my puppy is the same but less of my bare skin now. He's 15 weeks old and his out bursts are definitely getting less, apart from the last two Monday's. What I have been doing, is once he's been fed and toileted, had his morning walk etc, I say on your bed, which is in his crate, he jumps in knowing that he gets a treat or two. This way he gets to have a really good sleep, I either then get on with what I have to do, which to start with was to quietly sit in the same room, reading or working on something quiet. Then we do some training and a bit of play before lunch. He is really really teething and I give him an ice cube to discourage the chewing of furniture. I measure out four feeds every night, I take out some and add water to mush the kibble and stuff three kongs to have one around 8.30am, as his first feed is about 5.30am once my husband has taken him for a little walk to the end of the road and back. The others I spread out during the day. His play at the park is around 9.30am. Lunch about 12 unless he's still asleep and he then has it when he wakes up. I do the same in the afternoon with training, play, etc, not another walk unless I feel a little training on lead for a few minutes will help. He often takes himself back to his crate so I give him a little treat close the crate and go upstairs for a nap or work upstairs quietly. I've digressed from the measured four feeds, I feed him three times a day and the fourth feed is spread out for training during the day with the odd treat treat. It's tiring but is working, I use clicker training, whistle training, verbal and hand signals. I feel a bit of a minger as I keep wearing the same few tshirts and leggings, skinny jeggings as I don't want all my clothes wrecked and due to my shoulder surgery have limited clothes I can get on anyway. He's not permanently in his crate but he does need quality sleep and I find that he gets this better in his crate a couple of times a day rather than getting up from a sleep out of it, where every time I go and get a drink or need the loo, he'd get up. He seems so much happier this way and is less over tired. It also helps as when I'm back working he will be in his crate whilst I do reflexology, massage etc on clients in my treatment room. Dexter would eat and train all day, every minute if he had his way, so I do do a lot but have to set limits. He use to jump and bite, tag on my clothes when I stopped. I now let him lick my empty hands saying all gone, go play, he's getting the hang of it, slowly but surly. He does sometimes do the tag on me when out on a walk but mainly if I've made him wait too long or I've got distracted but it's easier for me to stop this and sort us out again. Hope it helps to know you're not alone, and I do struggle too. It is getting better though as he got my bare arm the other day and he took his mouth off straight away leaving only a pin prick, he then went straight for my tshirt and leggings. I find the tighter jeggings better as harder for him to get hold of but I do get some spectacular bruises . There is light at the end of this very long tunnel though. We are now about 95.5% excellent and 0.5% crocodile. I can rarely get down to play with him due to my shoulder surgery and can't use that arm very much so getting him too excited I then can't stop him easily when he has hold of the only arm/sleeve that I have use of. Sometimes I'll lay on the floor right beside his crate when he's in there for a nap so that I'm still really close to him. One day I will again have my long curtains up and cushions on the sofa. I stay in the dinning room and kitchen with Dexter when I'm on my own which is most of the day. We have a big lounge and he goes mega silly in there and starts jumping up and biting the couch, I don't need this extra struggle so that's for when hubbies home and can take over or help me out. It's raining today so may be tougher for me to keep him occupied but it's nearly walk time and the rain isn't going to stop that .
I could have written your post Newlabpup myself 7 weeks ago (and probably did)! Loads of really good advice on here and just getting replies from everyone helped my sanity. Ripple is loads better now, although still occasionally has his moments. When he was overtired I found things were the worst so I adjusted his routine ensuring he had plenty of sleep (in his crate as he won't settle unless in his own private space), made sure I had plenty of frozen kongs available, and rotated the same torn and ripped clothes so I didn't get too many things ruined. On several occasions we felt like returning him to the breeder but now I feel we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. He has started a proper puppy training class this week and showed me up by playing the complete clown but this is so much better than the biting and nipping so I really believe we are now getting there.
I do sympathise those teeth can hurt, not what you want to hear but we seem to have the model puppy as he's not been bad at all with biting so far, maybe there is more to come or we are missing that all important stage?? He will be 4mnths old on saturday. Not sure if its been short lived with consistantly telling him 'No' or whether having another dog at home has lessoned that period or whether feeding raw gives him plenty of chewing opportunities without chewing on us or maybe he's just getting tired out? I'm sure it will soon pass.
I think it does help having another dog around, as they take the brunt of the biting and are often not averse to showing the puppy they do not like it!
