Thank you for your lovely reply. He meets older dogs quite often and he's pretty good with them - he gets a bit excited but he doesn't bite them at all. I really hadn't thought of giving him raw bones - I didn't know you could, to be honest, but I've read up on them since seeing your comment - so I am going to give them a try. There is a butcher just down the road from me so I'm heading straight there after the school run tomorrow Thank you for the other suggestions too - I'll try them. I'm in the UK, so no Petsmart, which is a shame as that chew sounds great! I've already asked my local pet store to let me know when they have pizzles in - they sound worth trying too. Thank you once again for all your suggestions and advice. xx
This does sound like you are having a really tough time, I am sorry to hear that too as I found it frustrating myself as an adult but didnt have young kids to worry about! Everyone has suggested everything I would suggest having just been through this myself. The only thing that really cracked it with Huxley was lots of rest, and he also for some strange reason (that I know some people on this thread are opposed to) responded extremely well to a deep sounding Nooooo. To this day if he is about to do something in the house (like grab a vase off the shelf) and we tell him no, or if he is hanging onto our clothing, and we tell him no, he will leave it entirely. He looks unimpressed, but he seems to have grasped the word remarkably well. I wonder if you have tried this?
@Calbury if you buy bones, as I'm sure you've read up, make sure that they are not the hard weight bearing leg bones. Also don't be surprised if you have a soft poo after Nuggets had a good chew on a bone it happens sometimes when they first have a bone. Also don't be surprised if you see bits of white bone in the poo . I did see on Amazon last night that you can but pizzles through several sellers on there. I've never used them myself so don't which are the better products https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...ywords=pizzle+sticks&rh=i:aps,k:pizzle+sticks Hope today is a better day for you and Nuggetxx
It's not really the use of the word 'No', which to a dog could be any word and is just a word , it's the tone of voice that is used which forms the aversive that we try to avoid with our positive reinforcement training. Dogs respond as much to our body language, facial expression and tone of voice as to any word we use .
@Calbury, just came on here actually to find out how you were going. So sorry you are still having such a tough time. We still have nipping but it does seem to be less manic and crazed. I have been making sure she gets lots of sleep time, so that means if the kids are home she has to go in her crate. I have also been going to puppy training with her and doing a couple of short 10 minute sessions on the lead practising what we are learning and I wonder if this is helping her to listen more. I didn't use pads, I used the crate and quite quickly she went all night in her crate without having an accident.
I tried it after reading your post - it worked the first time, but not again. But thanks for the suggestion Thank you - sadly it was a very bitey day again but the butcher is saving bones for me on Friday and I've had some things delivered in big boxes, which means lots of box-shredding to satify his need to bite! I'm also going to look at the pizzles today - thanks for the link I'm so glad you are seeing some improvement. It's strange because Nugget will listen to everything else - he will sit and stay, for example, and I can walk far, far away before releasing him. He even does it in the park. But when the bitey mood takes him (every 20 mins or so!!!) then he won't listen to ANYTHING. Oh well, I will keep on trying. Thanks again everyone xx
@MaccieD Thank you for asking Not much improvement - actually, zero on the pee/poop. I started giving him his last meal earlier to see if it would help... but no luck yet. And he does LOADS of pee at night, yet I take the water up fairly early. Still hoping things will just magically start to improve. The biting is still a problem - still completely random. I ordered the pizzles and they should be here tomorrow - and the butcher should have some bones. So I'm hoping to keep him supplied with plenty of alternative things to chew this weekend. xx
@Calbury It can take a few days for a change to food and timings to have an effect on body functions. I've recently changed Juno's diet and she has now gone from 2 poos a day to only one, but at lunch time not after breakfast. Hopefully the time change will have some results very soon. One thought on the pee at night, do you take Nugget out for his last pee at night or leave him in the garden to pee? Just a thought as to whether he is peeing before bed, or perhaps not emptying his bladder fully if he gets distracted? Does he pee frequently during the day or can he go several hours without needing to? Sorry, lots of questions again Fingers crossed that the chews and bones will wear him out and reduce the biting. You may need to reduce his kibble a bit to allow for the extra chews and bones, but if his jaws have been busy he won't notice the difference
I take him out and wait with him. He's not distracted - he has a small, boring area and he tends to just get on with it Yes he can go several hours during the day. The pizzles arrived today and I am amazed by how long they last. He gnawed on one for ages and there's loads left. Wish I hadn't chosen to give it to him in the car on the school run though - it stank! Plus the butcher saved me a huge bag of beef ribs. Hoping for much less biting this weekend. Thank you - hopefully taking the water up even earlier might help
@Calbury Ok, in theory Nugget's bladder should be empty at bed time and he should be able to go through the night - don't you just love theory , so I guess the options are to remove the pads and just mop as necessary, reduce the size of the pads until they are to small for him to use, pop him in the crate and close the gate and risk him messing in his bed (which is probably unlikely at his age) or hope that he cries to go out. Do you have a baby monitor you could rig up and perhaps hear when he starts fidgeting? Another solution is to get up early, pop him out n the garden and then settle back in bed - problem there is if Nugget doesn't settle but starts barking instead . Another thought I ha was whether he had a minor UTI which is causing the overnight pee problem. Might be worth considering a chat with the vet. It's void to hear that Nugget enjoyed his puzzle, even if it was smelly in the car. I think he's going to be a happy boy with all his new exciting chews and bones, and hopefully forgets the biting of his hooman family. xx
Well on Friday night Nugget was clean and dry - his last poo/pee was later than usual at 1am, but we got up later too, so he still went for quite a long time without doing anything. Yesterday, however, I gave him the beef rib. He loved it, but when I got up this morning there was a VERY soft poo in his pen. Clearly, he could not have held it. I think it was my fault because I gave him the bone fairly late in the afternoon - next time I will give one in the morning. But he hadn't peed. So taking the water away earlier is helping. The biting, however, is AWFUL today. Despite bones and pizzles, he's still trying to bite us and today he has been absolutely relentless since he got up. I don't want to give any bones, pizzles for a day or two until his stomach has settled so we are just trying to cope with the biting as best we can (time outs still have little effect). He is 19 weeks now so we are really hoping this won't go on much longer.
Good news on the pee/poop apart from the unfortunate accident Soft poop does sound as if it was the beef bone in the late afternoon having an effect. Just trying to think of options with the biting, I'm sure you've been through the distraction with toys (i.e .positioning in his mouth as he goes to bite), ignoring him, time out. How do you manage Nugget's time out? Have you tried the sharp 'ouch' when he bites - I was lucky and only had to use ouch with Juno and not very often. Just wondering as well whether 3 or 4 short training sessions a day would help by keeping his mind active whilst tiring him out, or some play sessions around him finding treats hidden in a room perhaps, or even games of fetch. Does he like tug games? Does he have a favourite type of toy? Trying to think of things to keep him active, but to try and re-direct his bitey play at the same time.
@Boogie We will be receiving our 8 week-old pup in a couple of months and I want to be prepared. My biggest concern about having a puppy is the nights. I have grown adult children and would find it very very difficult to get up in the middle of the night to take the pup out. I know that the pup has already been introduced to the crate and is pee pad trained. It has also been introduced to being taken out. So I was wondering if I could keep the pup in the crate with the door open into a pen with a pee pad at night, but do crate training during the day when I am there (ie., no peed pad during the day and only take him out). Since you have tons of experience, I would really appreciate your advice!
Not sure I get the connection here. Are you afraid of waking up the grown adult children?! The fastest way to toilet train a pup is for it to be black and white - outside is always the place to go, inside is never the place to go. If you allow and encourage toileting inside (ie at nights) then you are confusing things and this will set back your toilet training and likely mean it all takes much longer. My advice is to get up in the night and take the pup out and have this all over and done in a couple of weeks, rather than risk confusion and letting it drag on for months.
Thank you very much for your reply! I had just meant that with age, I have found it more difficult to get up in the middle of the night. But you are right. Better not to confuse the pup. A couple of weeks would be amazing. I had just heard of people getting up 1-2 times a night for several months which I would find very difficult.
