Hello I have 9 month old Labrador who is very lively and defiant. We are really struggling with behaviour on an evening he is very hyper and constantly pesters and is looking for things to chew, jumping up onto work tops to find things and generally getting into trouble. We do leave him in his crate during the day but he gets walked 3 times a day for up to 30-40 minutes a time. Some nights he is tired and well behaved but mostly he struggles to sit still and after repeatedly being told no and distracted with his toys we end up putting him in his crate. This makes me feel guilty and I feel like we are failing at managing his behaviour. I would appreciate any ideas for other strategies? He destroys any toys we give him only has a small Kong and a nyla bone left and no bed just a fleecy throw. Thanks Toots
A 9 month old puppy is full of fun and energy and walks alone are not sufficient to tire them out, not unless you're walking for a lot longer than 1.5 - 2 hours a day. Does he get off lead time on these walks or are they on lead? How many play sessions and for how long does he get a day? How much training a day do you do with him? Training tires them mentally. Most of us find our puppies are more manic, and poorly behaved in the evening just as you want to sit down and relax, so his behaviour is perfectly normal avid I suspect the more time they spend I a crate during he day, the more they want attention when out. It does get better as they get older
Hi Rosemary thanks for replying. He does get play time on an evening and walks off lead in the woods. We take him to dog training classes but hasn't been doing training every day I will try this and focus more on play to see if this makes a difference. Thanks again.
Hello, and a warm welcome to the forum It would be a bit tough on such a young dog if he's been crated all day, even if he has breaks for walks. Can you cut his time alone down? A good quality daycare a couple of times a week perhaps? (Not a free running daycare). I appreciate you don't say how long he is crated for, but 4 hour max would be my target for a 9 month old dog. If he is not crated too long, and he gets lots of quality time with you, and plenty of activities, then I'd have a look at these strategies for getting him to settle: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teach...ador-to-relax/ http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-t...pestering-you/
Hi Julie Luther was in his crate 5 hours yesterday but it varies depending on my husbands shifts. I work full time. We are getting a dog walker from January and looked at nursery but can't afford it five days a week. This is something I will have to look into though as we can't go on like this anymore. Thanks for the tips.
Although I'm at home all day with Juno I've always had an evening routine which goes afternoon walk, snooze (the dog, not me) feed the cats, cook and sit down for dinner, wash up, feed Juno. Toilet trip to garden and then play session for around 30 minutes playing fetch, find, hide and seek and a bit of training. After the play session Juno is told in her bed (in the lounge) treat for being good and settle for the evening. In the summer the play session is in the garden but that's the only difference. Even now at nearly 18 months she looks and waits for me to get on to the floor to play in the evening as it's 'our' time.
I can really understand how you feel, Ripple (7 months) has never really settled unless he is in his crate with the door shut. If I leave him to his own devices he will just keep going getting more and more tired and destructive. This is despite the fact he has two walks each day and several training sessions, some outdoors weather permitting. His training also includes finding hidden food as well as retrieves and recalls and games. This has meant he seems to spend quite a lot of time in his crate even when I'm here but he always has nylabones and stuffed kongs, however he does spend a lot of this time asleep. I am currently working to try and get him to settle beside me while I'm having lunch or sitting working at the table but it's a long struggle. After Christmas I'm going to also concentrate on being able to spend part of the evening with him out of his crate as currently by 7 o'clock he's turned into a biting jumping machine and needs the peace of his crate. I also have to consider my cats in all this as he is prone to chasing them if they dare to try and sit on the chairs in the room he's in. It's a long slow haul owning a Labrador puppy but I'm sure it's all worth it in the end .
Hi there Toots, welcome to you and Luther (great name) . As the others have said, try to break his day up some more, a good dog walker is a great idea. If you can get him to use his brain a bit in the evening, for instance with searching games (just hide tiny bits of treats around the house - you can even give him his whole evening meal this way!), then I think you will find he will settle better. I remember when Poppy was around the age you are describing she was very antsy in the evenings, and doing this searching game with her for 15-20 minutes saved both our sanities! Start off small (just a piece of kibble hidden somewhere easy to find) and progress to where he has to wait in another room while you hide things in more and more complicated places. Good luck - hang in there and let us know how you get on. Karen
Hi there Toots....reading different threads we've had over time this hyper behaviour in the evening is very common.We used to call it The Prowl.... Dexter would just get pesky ,getting himself into trouble ....trying to convince us he needed to go out when he just wanted to be destructive outside.....grabbing for things he would never try during the day...I'd always have said Dexter had plenty of excercise and stimulation too and he was still a little monkey! We used to take it in turns to occupy him ,me with games and training,My Husband used to hold a chew toy and he'd settle down and chew as long as it was being held...this was good for settling him down.......cardboard tubes/ boxes were great too with a bit of kibble in as we were sat in the lounge right by him so he we could watch him for eating the cardboard.....I don't think a bit of ingested cardboard is the end of the world though! X
That's everyone for your advice, I bought some more hard wearing toys and put them in a basket tonight Luther loved them. He has still stole and ate a bauble off the tree and very lively but we have tried to play and train him more. Steffis I feel better that you find it helpful to calm your dog by using the crate as I always feel like it's a punishment but most times we put him in he falls asleep proving he was overtired and restless. Looking forward to more relaxing evenings. Thanks again. Toots.
You do need to be careful using the crate when a puppy is OTT, it should be for a short time out only before they are released again. Best practice is to stop all play etc. and encourage a quiet period before becoming OTT, that's when some training can be very useful even if its only sit, down, stay, sleep etc.
I'm always careful to make sure it's not a punishment but more a place of calm with things to entertain him on his own. I try and get him to be quiet before he goes in there by stopping anything that is making him silly and bitey. Quite often I can now gauge when he needs a sleep and, as he just will not settle and sleep outside of the crate, I encourage him to go in the crate himself for a rest, I then shut the door after a few minutes otherwise he just keeps coming out and gets wound up again.
SteffiS I would open the door again once he's gone to sleep so he is free to come out and find you when he wakes. The only time the door was closed with Juno was at night or when we went shopping but then I was also lucky in that she would curl up to sleep anywhere during the day - by my feet, in her crate, in the cats bed .....
I am very lucky in the sense that i don't work at the minute and I'm around a lot of the time. However i do have 3 children and a husband as well as the 2 dogs. Rocco is a well settled beast who loves his sleep and being outside mooching about. because of his recent injury, I have to limit the crazy time he has with Piper. they sleep in the small study together at night (baby gate on door) and this is where she is penned through the day if I'm doing school runs, shopping, mopping floors. i find, personally, tiring their brains more effective than their bodies. i do lots of sniff and seek games, brain games, they're both fed from kong wobblers not dishes. whilst a 40 min walk is brilliant and tiring, i find they both recover quicker and look for entertainment quicker!! so in those walk times, tire his brain too xx
I am just looking forward to not having to follow him and watch his every move as he cant be left out of sight or he gets into Mischief. Also I can't leave him out even to go to the toilet I have to crate him as he will immediate do something naughty, grab keys or anything off the work top I think this is anxiety as he hates being left in the kitchen or any open spaces and prefers to be in his crate if you are going upstairs. I have started trying to play more games with him although he has chewed through most of the new toys I bought!
