Hi there, I've been lurking here off and on since I got my puppy back in July and decided to post as I'm starting to struggle....a lot He's almost six months now and is attending training classes but there's still some stuff he's struggling (or me struggling to teach him) to understand. I guess the easiest way is to list the problems first then explain each in detail. 1. Biting when putting harness on Harnesses are relatively new to him as he didn't need one when he was younger as he could just sit on me in the car ( I'm not driving of course) . But he's now 25kg and him climbing on me is not only uncomfortable but also unsafe. So anyway every time I put the harness on he absolutely shreds my hands unless I give him nearly half a pack of treats and even then that's sometimes not enough as apparently my hands are more appealing to him to sink his teeth into. I do manage to eventually to get it on him about 10 minutes and 2042 bites later but would rather not have to use nearly a whole entire warehouse of food every week as I also use it for walks now as well as car journeys. 2. Being left in another room at dinner time So pretty much at around 6 or 7pm we leave him in the conservatory while we have our meal otherwise he jumps up at everyone trying to steal everyone's food and sometimes biting us. Anyway when he's in there he goes absolutely ballistic jumping up at the door with his mouth around the handle trying to open it. Whining excessively, chewing stuff he shouldn't, he's even tore some of the wall down leading all the way to the bricks. We've tried giving him Kong's, rawhide bones, proper bones which do work but if he gets bored of them or finishes them before we're finished ww3 breaks out again. 3. Too overexcited when let in the passage/hallway and the living room Basically when he's awake we have to keep him in 3 rooms in the house plus the garden as when he gets in the other areas of the house everything descends into anarchy as he looks to steal anything he can and then peeing himself in excitement once he's got his new found treasure. All I want him to do here is just enter these rooms calmly like he does in the others. 4. Counter surfing I've tried loads of stuff to stop him from doing this but he does it anyway. I've tried saying off in a firm voice, gently pushing him down, leaving the room, using a water pistol, putting him in another room. Absolutely nothing works. Of course there is some food on the bench but that's the entire purpose of a kitchen bench. I've shoved it as far back as I can. Anyway any help is appreciated and thanks for reading. Once these 4 problems are solved I have a perfect dog!
Hi Dave and a warm welcome from me and my two dogs . I had to smile reading your post ( sorry ) but it sounds like you have a typical lunatic Lab puppy on your hands and I know, it can be a job to restrain them . Six months is , I found , a difficult age , they are feeling their feet in a big way ! Regarding the keeping him under control when you are eating , I would suggest a large crate or a doggy play pen , many people have found these to be a sanity saver Re counter surfing , I find it hard to advise you as thankfully , none of my dogs have done this, but I would suggest some serious but positive training , so that when you tell him to get down , and he does, you reward the good behaviour , same re the harness, he needs to understand Sit.Stay . You will find information on here about Clicker Training , this could well be very useful to you although I admit to not having used clickers myself, but again , many people find them invaluable . Does he ( whats his name by the way ? ) have plenty of exercise ? I`m a big believer in keeping mind and boy occupied and training can be such a good way to achieve a more calm puppy ( is there such a thing ? ) It sounds like he is getting hyper excited when restrained in one room, the crate or playpen would help to stop him from trashing your house !
P.S. I would also recommend that you buy The Happy Puppy Handbook written by Pippa Mattinson , owner of this lovely forum ,
Biting when putting the harness on - Put a treat he love on a table so that he knows it's there. Put the harness on - he will most likely focus on the treat. Give treat.
Welcome Dave201 from me & my "Leaping Leo". My Leo will be 7 months on the 27th & we're having some of the same issues you're having. I purchased a Freedom No Pull Harness for Leo several months ago. We had a hard time getting it on him at 1st too. He would get overly excited whenever he saw it b/c he knew it meant going for a walk. He,would jump, bite, even grab it & run away w/it. We tried the treat thing w/him too. What worked for us was refusing to put it on him until he sat calmly. We would put it behind our back out of his sight & just stand there til he got the message. It has now gotten to where we no longer need to use treats b/c he's come to understand that when he's calm the harness/leash & the walk are his reward & to him that's much more rewarding. He's gotten better around meal time. Several things we do w/him are give him his meal the same time as ours. We give him all his meals in a Buster cube. While he's working on getting his kibble out of the cube it gives us time to enjoy our meal. There are times when we may have to put him in his kennel during meal time. Can't help you w/the counter surfing though as we are fighting that same battle ourselves currently...lol. One thing I'm sure of is you'll find & get lots of great advice here.
Hello, and a very, very warm welcome. I know that loads of other people will be along with loads of support and advice (as those above have already posted) so I'll just add one big tip, which I SO wished I'd had when I had a hyper puppy. Buy a Train and Treat. Ok, ok, I'm so taken with this product I should be on commission (I'm not!) but it's the most wonderful thing for communicating to a dog that the best idea in the whole world is to park his bum on the ground and shut up. For a long time if that's what you want..... It comes with full instructions.... http://drsophiayin.com/treatntrain
Thanks for the advice everyone, forgot to mention that his name is Kodi haha he's got me too tired. As for exercise he has 3 walks a day, 2 of which he is let off lead and plays fetch/chases birds/hunts for sticks/dives into puddles. Both these walks last roughly an hour each then the third walk at night is only about 10 or 15 minutes on lead. He also plays a lot indoors ( more toys thans toys r us yet his favourite things to play with are a brush, a plant pot and a blanket). I'm not sure how much exercise he should be having at this age really but when he gets back from the hour walks he usually jumps on his seat and falls asleep there if I don't put him in his pen. I have got him a wobb a lot treat dispenser, I might consider putting his meals in there when we have ours. That train a treat looks interesting as well. I tried putting his pen in the conservatory once. He pushed it all the way to the door and tried to climb on the handle. The whining was defining albeit quite funny to watch him try some sort of great escape act.
Welcome to the forum The general rule for unwanted behaviour is to show the dog what you want instead. That means training an alternative behaviour. So if your dog jumps up, train and reward for sitting, standing or lying down (ie all paws on the floor). If your dog harasses you at meal times, train him to sit on a mat (that device that Julie linked to would be invaluable here). When dogs do what we don't want the temptation is just to tell them not to do it, but we forget to show them what we want instead.
We've gotten lucky with the harness acceptability and it was completely by accident. We bought one solely for walks, so every time we put his harness on (which he would bite at first) he got to go for a ride in the car, a nice walk and lots of attention and treats from us. Within a few weeks he happily started standing calmly while the harness went on..... I'm thinking probably because he has such positive things connected with it. I would definitely clicker train with the harness to build up a positive relationship with the harness so that he's calm enough to get it on happily. As far as whining during dinner..... I recently bought him a rubber mat which has a designated spot near (but not close enough to beg) the dining area. First, we taught "on your mat" which means lay on your mat until I say so. During dinner, I have him go to his mat and if he lays there quietly he gets 1 single piece of kibble tossed to him every couple of minutes (I hope to spread out and then eliminate the treats eventually). If he gets up to come bother us we ignore him and he almost always goes back to his mat and lays down. I'm very interested in the train and treat! Just trying to talk myself into spending the money!
Chiming in with my two cents on the counter surfing....really, the only thing that will work is not to have food on the counter (sorry). You will have to be very strict with this. My pooch came to is with this habit fully ingrained, and as much as I found it very irritating, we learned that we just couldn't leave food out on the counter. I will say that as he has gotten older this is getting better....once and awhile if I forget I often find that Simba has left the item alone. But not always . So resign yourself to spotless counters and you will not have to worry about this behaviour.
Eric is nearly 6 months and sounds the same as Kodi He's our first pup so we are getting by with a trainer, this forum, and some tears haha! Harness: Eric hated the first harness. It popped over his head which I think freaked him out. This harness is 'perfect fit' from doggames. It doesn't go over his head but around his upper body. He still wasn't over the moon to begin with but soon accepted it. To begin with we used to click and treat but now he's happy to stand and have it put on. Dinner time: Oh we used to have a nightmare with this. tried clicking and treating but in the end we decided to use the crate. He goes in with either a Kong, carrot or just a variety of toys. I fully expected a tantrum from him but he never has! he just goes in when asked and when we've finished we open the crate. sometimes he goes to sleep lol. rooms: during the day he's mainly confined to hall way and dining/kitchen along with garden. He comes into living room on an evening when he's a bit more tired. I've shifted most things out of reach and only have a couple of soft toys. Its a definite chill room. he does still try to be a loon sometimes but we ignore him and don't give him the 'play' he wants. we do have a chewed fireplace :/ but that seems to be stopping. As I type he has snook in early (hasn't had last meal yet) and has plonked himself on sofa to sleep To begin with we only used to let him in half hour before bed. he's usually in from 7.30 ish now counter surfing: Oh my! Eric is king at reaching anything! we've had to move everything and never ever leave food out ... its too much temptation. He's up ALL of the time. We are working on this with a clicker. Everytime he jumps down, click and say 'off' He's beginning to associate teh word with the action. I did say 'off' earlier and he did it straight away Also managed to chop the veg earlier and he never jumped once. So i clicked and treat a few times and he was happy with that Look forward to hearing how you get on
There is something about a lot of this just being 'puppy behaviour' too, you know. I'm not saying don't train - no way, otherwise what starts as 'puppy behaviour' continues to being an adult habit. But mostly I reckon, so long as you gentle discourage (eg don't reward) behaviour you don't want, and reward behaviour you do, it sort of all works out. Charlie used to be the world's worst counter surfer. He once got my Dad's home roasted chicken and mayo salad lunch sandwiches - I honestly thought that was it, and he'd be a world champion counter surfer forever. He does still counter surf time to time, and he'll always nick the oven glove given half a chance, but he's not too bad. It did sort of wear off (once everyone learned not to leave chicken mayo sandwiches within reach - it's partly about the dog training the humans too!).
I'm a big fan of feeding entire meals in some sort of treat dispenser or (Wob a lot). I actually have 3 different kinds and split his meal between all three. My favorite is a Starmark Everlasting Treat Ball. I don't use it for the big treats that come with it, I slip his food into the smaller holes. It holds quite a bit and he does have to work to get it out. But he will work at these for about 15 minutes before all is gone. Every meal.
