Hi guys, Me and my partner have recently taken home our lovely 9 week old fox red puppy bitch who has settled in well at our home. We've puppy proofed our garden and house pretty well, however I am slightly concerned about a step we have in our garden between a gravelled area and a turfed area which she seems to like to launch herself up / down given the opportunity, along with the sofa in our lounge which as it is fairly low given the chance she will climb up on to go to sleep / chill out. I'm not overly concerned about her actually being on the sofa, but moreover just that I don't want her damaging her bones / joints in the process of getting up / down on to sofa or going up / down the step in the garden. I just wanted to ask how concerned I should be about the fact that she is doing this if, whether it is likely to cause her any damage, and if anyone has ideas of how we can stop this behaviour if its best to stop it? I have read that if she goes up on the sofa on her own then we can stop this by taking her off, giving her the "off" command and rewarding her with a toy / treat when she is on the floor, however it might be a bit harder with the garden as the step is the only way that she can get on to the grassy area so the only thing we could probably do is to put up a small fence or something to block her way up. Step height is about 20 - 25 cms by the way. The other thing that I wanted to ask about regarding activities that may potentially cause damage to bones / joints is about how much free play I should allow her to have with another puppy. I only ask as we have a friend who just happens to also have a 9 week old labrador puppy and we met up yesterday at our house to have a puppy play date. The dogs got on very well and both seemed to love it, however at some times they were charging around the garden chasing each other and we are not sure if we should allow them to do this, or whether its ok for short periods of time? Thanks in advance for your advice. Rob
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Put a slope where the step is. A piece of sheet marine plywood, cut to size & placed there would do the trick very cheaply & effectively.
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Cheers Tom, seems like a great idea. Not sure why I didnt think of that earlier! I've spent quite a few hours using various pieces of wood blocking holes in fences etc so another 30 mins or so making a slope shouldn't be too much work hopefully.
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Hi and welcome to the forum from me and 13 month old fox red called Harley As for the sofa - as long as she isn't up and down constantly and is landing on carpet rather than wood floor, I wouldn't worry too much. Harley has always got on our sofa to cuddle up and snooze since day 1. As for playing in the garden with another pup - our neighbour got a lab pup a week after us, he was born on the same day as Harley we used to let them play for 15-20 mins then separate them to calm down for 10-15 mins then a final 10-15 mins play. Of course, if one becomes too rough then they do need to be separated fir a short time out. Next door used to get a bit rough with him being a boy and Harley a girl. We would give them both a drink and a few mins chill time. What is you girls name? We all love photos on her
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime [quote author=Naya link=topic=7948.msg111998#msg111998 date=1411406190] Hi and welcome to the forum from me and 13 month old fox red called Harley As for the sofa - as long as she isn't up and down constantly and is landing on carpet rather than wood floor, I wouldn't worry too much. Harley has always got on our sofa to cuddle up and snooze since day 1. As for playing in the garden with another pup - our neighbour got a lab pup a week after us, he was born on the same day as Harley we used to let them play for 15-20 mins then separate them to calm down for 10-15 mins then a final 10-15 mins play. Of course, if one becomes too rough then they do need to be separated fir a short time out. Next door used to get a bit rough with him being a boy and Harley a girl. We would give them both a drink and a few mins chill time. What is you girls name? We all love photos on her [/quote] +1 we require photos. Not had enough cuteness today.
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime I have a ramp (homemade) for the back door. Still using it at 5 months but could probably get rid of it now. I put cushions and blankets and soft things on the floor near my sofa but she didn't start going on it until about 14 weeks or so. I still lift her in and out of the car. How lucky to have a playmate the same size. Chepi didn't see another dog between 8 and 12 weeks; the earlier advice of a short play and a rest seems good. They will tear about, I guess you just need to step in when they start bowling each other over or one looks a little slower than the other.
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Our boys liked to jump off the sofa, esp if they want to catch the other one walking past! We discouraged this whenever it happened, and when they were on the sofa we held a hand on their back so that they gently slithered off, and this has now become the way they get off on their own. They do still jump off at mad times, which we try to stop, but can't always manage to as they are too quick! I think it's impossible to stop completely, but it doesn't happen often enough to be much of a concern. They are 18 weeks and spend a good amount of time chasing or running round the garden together, but it seems to be interspersed with long periods of laying in the grass together chewing the same toy or digging a hole together, or ripping branches off miniature trees or our hedges lol. We always supervise them, and if they get a bit too mad we distract them. Lou
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Thanks for all the replies guys. It just so happens that Amber's play mate was also born on exactly the same day as her as well Naya! Though they are both quite different from each other, him being quite chunky and Amber much more lean. I think thats probably why she is able to run rings around him already! Though they both start the play fighting equally the same as each other so must quite enjoy it. Think we will just have to keep an eye on things regarding the jumping. I have seen Amber this morning trying to learn to fly by jumping off the step in the garden at some speed so think that building a ramp will definitely be a good idea, but sofa wise will just supervise her and make sure she doesnt get up on their too often on her own if we can help it. Hopefully some photos of Amber on her own and Amber playing with Ted should be linked as requested! photo 5 photo 4 photo 3 photo 2 photo 1
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime I will be the first to say it. AWWWWWWWWWWW & on another note, please post thos lovely photo's here. http://www.thelabradorforum.com/index.php?topic=7664.0
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime She is totally gorgeous - lovely face and lovely colour
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Beautiful puppy! I lifted Gypsy off and on up to 14 weeks, but after that I couldn't stop her leaping around the garden steps like a little gazelle!
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Awwww, so cute her colouring is similar to Harley's at that age
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Beautiful girl! Welcome to the forum With the play time my main goal would be to teach them to have breaks and settle now and then, rather than worrying too much about joints. That way they learn to self-regulate a bit with other dogs.
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Hi Amber from an older fox red bitch also called Amber. We had the same issue with jumping off decking onto lawn, she knocked herself/landed awkwardly once or twice but soon she was flying off with style and ease so I stopped worrying. As for the sofa, she took a while to figure it out and now does a lovely mountain goat impression climbing along the back of it!! grrr. She's lucky she's so cute - currently trying to put an end to the climbing because at 6 months and nearly 20kg she's a bit big to have sliding off the back onto our shoulders!! As for playing, I have never limited her with other dogs, normally she comes to me and lies down when tired so I use that as my cue to pop her back on her lead and head home.
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Hi guys, Thanks for all your replies. Its definitely reassured us that a lot of puppies are doing the same thing as Amber and coming to no harm. She always lands fine so think as much as we can prevent it we will but wont worry about it if she does. If she keeps on throwing herself off garden steps now I wonder what sort of heights she will try to throw herself off when she is fully grown?!
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime Depends on the dog. Tatze is very cautious and thinks everything through, I tried her with agility, she did everything well and with precision - NO speed! She's happy to run around, of course - but give her an obstacle and it's 'easy does it'! My friend's dog, Zaba, the same age - throws himself off and on to everything at FULL speed! Gypsy flings herself with little thought too - here is an example Tatze is running, Gypsy is FLYING!
Re: Jumping up garden step / onto sofa / playtime [quote author=Boogie link=topic=7948.msg112894#msg112894 date=1411740102] Depends on the dog. Tatze is very cautious and thinks everything through, I tried her with agility, she did everything well and with precision - NO speed! She's happy to run around, of course - but give her an obstacle and it's 'easy does it'! My friend's dog, Zaba, the same age - throws himself off and on to everything at FULL speed! Gypsy flings herself with little thought too - here is an example Tatze is running, Gypsy is FLYING! [/quote] Gypsy using those amazing flying flappy dog ears again ;p
