PITA

For those who don't know, PITA is an acronym for Pain In The @$$... Forgive my language, but this lil puppy has been getting the best of me. I am a new puppy owner. While I have grown up with dogs and have a good background in behavior principles (I am a psychologist after all!) this little puppy is testing my limits. I love her. I do. From her little ears that fold over to her tail that she chases, she can be wonderful company. Those teeth though!!!!!! Which leads me to my concerns. Any and all ideas would be welcomed!!

1) I know. Labs bite. I know. They chew. I know. They mouth. I know, I know, I know. But my goodness. I had no idea it would be SOOOOO much. I substitute a toy as much as possible. Give her a firm "no" when she chews on me and then praise and play when she chews on the toy. Works fairly well. When she gets overexcited she can cause some damage that I have not found a good solution for. She usually gets a good bite in before i can move away and have a "time out". Once she calms down, she's usually pretty good. I think we are making progress with the word "no". She used to not respond at all, but is starting to at least sometimes stop whatever she is doing. Yelping worked for about a day and she doesn't care anymore so rather than an inhibition approach I've been going for abstinence. How long does this last??? And she chews on EVERYTHING. She is making small gains, again the "no" word comes in handy. But her water bowl is still one of her favorite toys...

2) We are learning to walk on a leash. There are days where all she cares about is getting fixated on the grass, sticks, things on the sidewalk only she can see, anything and everything on the path. She doesn't want to move when I want to. At times she wants to take off in a dash (with this usually if I stop she eventually comes back to me). I think I need to bring some treats with us to encourage movement. Can never tell when we will have a difficult time.... any ideas?

3) I am gone mon-fri 7-5ish. Poor pup is stuck in the bathroom. She usually does pretty good.. (I put puppy pads down which she doesn't even always seem to use...odd... But she does like to rip them up)... Would a crate help with the separation? Some mornings I hear her bark or cry a bit as I leave. It is too long to keep her in a crate the whole time, but I've read that sometimes just having them might be comforting. I know she likes the bed in there, not sure if it has the same effect....(I am looking into a dog walker but they are super expensive).

4) Potty training is probably my least concern. The bell is wonderful and she usually does pretty good, I'm not expecting this to be perfect yet... At what point do they make it through the night though? She sleeps with me (probably not the best, but she's alone most the day, I don't want her alone at night too) and lets me know by pulling my hair, tugging my ear, or whining at the side of the bed that she has to go out which works well... BUT if she is not on the bed and in her bed on the floor, she has no way of telling me...

5) simple commands: I've been starting to work on sit and lay down, but this has been tough. When I use treats she gets SOOOOOOO excited that she starts trying to chew on me/jump up. Behaviors I want to avoid. Been debating clicker training. Maybe that would be reinforcing but not as stimulating for her? Then I could use it for walks too.

Sorry for the length! I realize many of my questions are found elsewhere, but it makes sense to me to have them all together. This pup is exhausting. Adorable, but exhausting!!! I really want to amp up the reinforcement, I know that it is the best way to get more desirable behaviors, but she gets so darn excited. I feel like there are times where all I'm doing is telling her no which can't be good for our relationship... Though she doesn't seem to mind. Just as cuddly as ever once she's calm...

 

Re: PITA

Hello there,welcome to the forum,your puppy sounds lovely and just like a normal healthy Labrador puppy!how old is she?
I missed this hard going bitey stage and the toilet training as Dexter came to live with us at 5 months ,but how you describe the play biting and mouthing sounds really common to other Members threads I've read.
Dexter was a cruncher....his favourite crunch items were stones we live in Dubai and it was getting very hot at this stage in his life so we remodeled the garden and gave him Ice cubes and frozen kongs have been a fantastic distraction,he's 17 months now and we still give him them now....more to keep him 'busy' if we need him to be doing something rather than bothering the carpenter etc!
Your puppy will grow out of it but it's horrible while they are doing it, in the meantime all the things you are doing are teaching her how to behave around humans and their skin,it does click,if the yelping and no aren't working effectively enough I'd out her in a timeout and then when she is calm she is allowed to rejoin you.a crate might help with this too.
She does spend a lot of time alone for a youngster,but you know that,this has been discussed on another thread very recently.I personally don't think she should be crated for that amount of time.is she really suffering from separation anxiety?the antics she is getting up to,chewing,ripping up her pads could equally be put down to puppy boredom?you'd need to tell me a bit more about what she is doing....is she barking,howling,whining while you are gone?has she got plenty of safe toys to play with?the kongs would also help with this ,you could freeze he breakfast allowance in a few and leave them for her to work her way through while you are gone.
At 5 months dexter was interested in every bird,tissue,scrap of paper,carrier bag,plaster,leaf on our walks,every item he encountered was amazingly interesting.....this will stop,my limited experience of dogs can tell you that,the pulling and lunging WONT stop though without training.the sooner you can start to train loose lead walking the better,Labrador puppies get big and strong very quickly ;D There are lots of resources on the site and threads where we've discussed this which will help but having treats with you is a great idea.Dexter is very food focused : and he's my first dog,our relationship wouldn't have survived without my treat bag ;D i have it on my hip rather than my tummy so that he doesn't jump up to 'mug' me if I am doing something front on with him,treats are easy to get to for me when I've clicked then but not him.the clicker is a marvelous tool,it's really helped me .Pippa has written a lot about clicker training on the main site and if you can look up a lady called Karen Pryor ,her beginners book really helped me.....it's never to soon to start training the basics and it gives you a lot of pleasure to be able to reward your puppy for doing well rather than feeling like the 'fun police' telling them off all the time !
I've got to dash now,other much more experienced members will reply to you I know good luck
Bfn
Angela x

 

Re: PITA

Hi, Im Otis's mum, who is a year old chocolate labrador so have just been through all this. Ive been at home all the time though, so he has been lucky in this respect. It sounds like your pup is being left alone far to long, dog walkers are expensive, but you could try this site, borrow my doggy, which might be a good solution, you will find lots of people on there willing to walk your pup for free, just because they love dogs. Have you tried leaving him with a stuffed kong, and lots of interesting chew toys. Its not forever the mouthing phase, once his big teeth come through, he should calm down. Do you go to puppy classes, where he can get socialised ? This is really important, and going to the park where he can play and meet other pups, dogs. Its lovely you have him with you at night, but he does need company during the day, that would be the first thing Id think about. Are you teaching him bite inhibiton when he mouths ? Really important , too, so his bite gets increasingly softer. Maybe give him some ice cubes to play with to soothe his teething as well. It can be really stressful having a young pup, with your arms feeling like pin cushions, but honestly it dosent go on forever. A big raw carrot, is another great chew. And a piece of soft shammy leather, I found great , you can get a piece at halfords. He could be getting really bored and lonely all on his own all day, so I would look to solutions for that, any neighbours , friends relatives who can pop in, would also help. Training is a really bonding experience, and will help stop the boredom, teach him to concentrate, and give you control over him, have you taught him to sit ? Get his favourite tasty treat, bit of cheese maybe or hot dog sausage, and this should really help, lots and lots of praise when he gets things right. Most of all enjoy him, it is tough, this time but you will get through it. Maggie x

 

Re: PITA

You are doing all the right things with the biting Edible chew toys might provide another outlet (eg. rawhide chew for when you can keep an eye on her, frozen filled Kong when you can't keep an eye) and plenty of cheap soft toys for her to shred). It just takes patience and persistence. Hang in there!!! It will pass.

Do persist with the formal training of sits, downs, wait to eat, sit for a pat. Training (using positive methods) establishes trust between your puppy and you, gives them confidence, provides a way for you to communicate and generally teaches the puppy what the point of the human is (other than being a food source and chew toy) Try doing training after a play session with a toy, to take the edge off the excitement. Always keep the training fun and never get cross in any way. Training needs to be 100% Good Times!

With clicker training you still make use of a food reward. The clicker is a 'tag' or 'marker' that pin points what the dog did right (followed by a treat). A clicker is a communication device: "What you did then was great!!". It might be helpful for you because it increases the clarity of communication with your pup, and dogs like clarity. So it'd be worth reading more about it and there is a lot of info on this site (any questions, though, just ask! ).

I agree that it'd be worth arranging some company or entertainment for your pup during the day. Do you know any retired people or students who might pay her a visit and have a play? Or a pet minding company? I suspect that some of the energy you are dealing with would be dissipated a bit if she wasn't alone so long. It is an extra expense but it won't last forever

With the walking on lead - what I'd do is teach her a cue that means 'let's go!' (for a treat) so you can call her on with you. Kind of like a mini recall. Teaching this off lead is ideal as you can run away from her, saying 'let's go' and acting excited, which elicits the response of the puppy tearing after you (when she catches up give her a lovely treat and lots of praise). She will learn that 'let's go' means 'catch up with human for a treat'.

 

Re: PITA

Sorry you are feeling so stressed about this.
It will get better.
Its tough leaving your new pup at home. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could get "new puppy leave"? Or take them to work with us?
There is loads of useful advice here already.
From a working mum I would highly recommend the crate and frozen kong approach too.

 

Re: PITA

Hi there, you sound a bit frazzled Raising a small crocodile can be exhausting at times. Your puppy sounds very normal if that is any comfort, and there is a lot of information about biting on the main site. This article is a good place to start, and links to several others.

You may have gathered that leaving pups all day is quite a contentious topic, and I have started a new thread for us to discuss the best ways to do this. Rather than commenting on individual cases. But I would say that if you are leaving a puppy all day, you definitely should not crate him. But rather have a pen set up like Julie describes here

Will comment on the training questions in another post

 

Re: PITA

Thank you all!!! I did read these posts the next couple of days, but was unable to respond from my phone :/ Finally at a computer and not at work! Let me start off with she is making SOOOOOO much progress. Also, I know leaving pups alone for so long is NOT in their best interest and when I first was offered her my dad was going to be coming by during the week, but then his shift had changed. I already told my co-worker I would take her so didn't want her in a bad spot trying to find another home... anyways.... While I am a tad frazzled at times, she is doing so good. She still chews some, but now if I say "toy" she stops and looks around for a toy (so cute). We have mastered sit and lay, though not for more than a few seconds (stay is next on the list ). As is finding a strategy for getting her in her area as I leave in the morning. She does not go voluntarily, though she has mostly stopped fussing as I leave. Those Frozen toys were a great idea, she loves them! When we walk, I started making sure she was behind me which fixed a lot of the difficulties we were having. I have a ton more questions, but I have seen threads that already exist that address them. At the moment she is sick so I am going to go back to cuddling with her. Thank you all! I'm sure I'll have more questions

 

Re: PITA

Really great to hear that you have been making progress with your little girl Great work! Sorry to hear that your pup isn't well at the moment - hope she is feeling a lot better soon!