If you watch dogs who get on well playing together it's nearly all mouth and teeth. The problem for us is that puppy teeth are sharp and we don't have thick fur! The first picture is Tatze and Twiglet and the second is Tatze and Gypsy
my 11 week old male puppy pees everywhere but outside. i restrict water...and feel bad about that. I take him out every hour. and have had him vet checked. any ideas before my husband throws the (wet)towel in??? please and thank you
Hello Ernie's mom and welcome to the forum. Please don't restrict water from your puppy - that's not going to help. It sounds like you need to start again with a fresh routine. If you have a crate then you can use it to help toilet train your dog. There is just about every article you could need on the subject here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/house-training-your-labrador-puppy/
Hi Ernie's mum. He won't be doing it on purpose, try to remember that as you wade through it all. I don't think restricting water is ok as we are always told to have water available and he could easily become dehydrated and then you'll have vet fees to add to your problems. Taking him out every hour is not enough. Go back to taking him out every 15 mins as he needs to relearn where it is ok to wee. Lots of praise and high pitched "you're such a good boy"s. Every 15 mins without fail to start with AND straight away when he wakes up, you cannot delay even seconds. Then after he drinks and after he eats. Also, buy some pet pee stuff that you wash the floor with to take away the smell because that draws him back to pee there. A bit of hard work but it will be so worth it. There's probably articles about it on this site. Welcome to you and Ernie!!!!
I am so thankful for this post. So so so thankful!!! Willow will be 10 weeks on Sunday and I am just desperate to know when all these puppy things she is doing (biting, chewing everything/everyone....) will end, so it's very good to know that it does end or most things end anyway! So anyway thank you from another happy forum member who desperately needed to see this post!!
Well you are not on your own. When Chepi was very young I found it helpful to know that her behaviour was typical of a puppy and the biting became gentler and progressed or regressed (?) to no biting at all but for her it happened over several months. The same with her snatching at clothes like long cardigans and blouses and floaty trousers. She is very gentle now, having reached 15 months. They are all different, Willow may get through it quickly or she might take a bit longer but it's all ok so don't fret (just cover up your arms). You still have a while to go so keep up with things to distract: toys, cardboard boxes etc and enjoy the puppy stages
Hello everyone. Well at last we have our new member of our family Myfanwy Buttercup! Myfi for short. We have had her a week now and she will be 9weeks tomorrow .everything is going well so far. The socialising is coming on a treat,gentle exercise in the garden is good too and she is able to come to us on her name ,so her recall is also coming along. There is one problem though and i am sure that all of you guys will suggest us to keep at it,but how can we toilet train her through the night and after she has had her moment of biting mental moment almost jeckel and Hyde moment,crazy lady looniness! Ha! How do we recognise the cry for take me to the toilet? . It's been four years since we had Jack as a puppy ,so I think we are doing ok so far but then she throws us a curved ball! First night was grand she did not soil her crate once.this was because we had set our clocks for every two hours to take her to the toilet through the night. Then we got cocky and lengthened the time between toilet times. Did we shoot ourselves in the foot? any advice would be good. She is beautiful though and we love her. Peggy (maggie)
Hi all! Ever since getting our new pup Mahina (she's half lab half german pointer) 2 weeks ago, I've been browsing this forum for some type of help. This is our first pup that has part lab and she is definitely 10x more difficult than we thought. She just hit 10 weeks old on the 16th and she has been a complete handful for the 2 weeks that we have had her. I went/possibly still going through a short period of the 'puppy blues' because I've never dealt with such a hard dog. She's got tons of different types of toys around the house, the only time she is unsupervised is if I have to crate her to run to the store (1-2hrs tops). I do take her to walk twice a day and sometimes take her to the dog park where she plays with other dogs. She bites constantly, and no matter how hard we yip, say 'ouch', say 'no' or try to substitute her toys for our hands; she still comes for our hands, feet, ankles, whatever. She has drawn blood on many occasions. She goes after clothes if you walk by her and when outside she goes after the straps of our flip flops. I've got her on a decent schedule to go out to potty after eating and drinking but she still has accidents in the house. When we do take her out, after she takes care of her business, she begins to bite/yank her leash as if we are playing tug-o-war. I've tried dropping the leash and showing no interest in her and she'll pick up the leash herself and starts trying to play chase. We do crate her for the majority of the night and we normally don't see and problems with her around bed time. As much as we try not to associate her being bad with her crate, we do sometimes need to put her in her crate so she can settle down. We let her howl and bark till she tires herself out then we bring her back out calmly. She does try to bite onto furniture such as the chair legs and couch and we instantly put a chew toy in her mouth and to get her to stop. I know that her mouthing period is still in full-swing but it seems that her bite is getting harder and harder. We understand that she's a puppy and she's bound to be excited and mouthy but sometimes it feels that she constantly thinks we're playing a game with her when we are constantly telling her 'no'. I spend most of the day with her since my husband works during the day and she normally isn't all that bad until my husband comes home. She goes after him more than anything and my husband feels like he's made a mistake getting her. I keep trying to reassure him that this is only going to last for a little but sometimes her behavior leaves me feeling that he's right. She seems to have a problem coming to us when we call her by her name unless we have a treat. We have started clicker training her and she responds to it but I'm not too sure whether she's responding to the clicker or the treat afterwards. I'm sorry this is so long but my husband and I seem to be at our wits end. Any advice would be awesome. - Mahina's Mom
I come back to read this thread over and over again, taking comfort from the descriptions of everyone's 'crocopup'. Today Ripple (16 weeks) has alternated between a really good boy, following commands, playing with toys, laying looking soooo innocent in the typical Labrador pose, to an absolute horror biting my legs really hard and jumping up snapping at me; there has been nothing in between and no warning of the sudden change. He has also taken to laying down when he is walking if I won't go the way he wants to go, today's walk in the park consisted mostly of me standing still waiting for him to get bored and get up. On the positive side he went into his crate on his own today for the very first time without me asking him.
Please please help! Our 11week lab girl,seems to save all her pooping until maybe 20 00 at night and then the rest just before we go to bed. Last night she did three in quick succession .then still managed another in her crate at 0330 this morning! Then nothing all day , What are we doing wrong? Please advise.
Her last feed is at 2100 at night and they are firm to start with then the last one in crate is soft.
I I would go to last feed 7pm. We feed Twiglet (14 weeks) at 7am 12:30pm 4pm and 7pm we are slowly decreasing the 4pm meal and upping the others to get her on 3 meals a day. I would also feed slightly less in the evening and slightly more in the morning.
Hurrah! Hurrah! Myfi has excelled herself. Two nights running and a clean crate. We are so proud of her,she is a clever lass. This morning out walking with her and took her off the lead for the first time and she was brilliant and stayed by me and her recall was great. I did this down a quiet country lane just for a short distance gently gently catchy monkey I say! Will do more tomorrow and gradually extend the distance. I am so proud of her. She is sleeping now ! Dreaming about doggy adventures I think.
Well done Myfi and well done to you for being brave and letting her off the lead. It's a big step but it makes a huge difference long-term
Thanks Fiona,I'm looking forward to tomorrow to do it all again. Myfi is very bright,quick on the up take so we don't want to loose any of that window. This site and Pippas puppy hand book is a big big help. Anyway will keep you all informed on her progress. Maggie
Hi, we are first time puppy owners. Dexter settled in with us really well when he was 8 weeks old. He can go for his first walk on Saturday. He crate trained straight away, has never soild in it. My biggest problem is that he thinks my fleecy jacket, dressing gown etc is a tug toy. We don't play tug with him as he may be used for retrieving game when my husband goes beating. A week ago I had surgery on an old shoulder injury and can now only use one arm for about 4 to 8 weeks. I was hoping to have stopped this biting before my surgery but every time I thought I'd found the solution, the next day, it didn't work. It happens when he gets over excited, is stopped from doing something he really shouldn't be doing. First I managed to stop him by sqealing like a puppy when his bite was too hard, worked like a dream for one day, then the next day made him worse. Some days he doesn't do it, he loves learning and is very food orientated, as he grasps what I'm teaching, I reduce the treats. He doesn't do this to anyone else only me. I can get him to leave the mat alone now, he can leave a treat on the floor for about 10 to 20 seconds before I tell him to get it. He sits when told, can stay in several different scenarios around the house and garden. He walks nicely on and off lead around the house and garden but I can not get him off my sleeve once he's got it. I give him time out but have to end up scruffing him or getting him to the kitchen hanging off my sleeve and I hate doing it this way. Today has been particularly trying, I thought I'd try using some food treat and he left off as soon as I said his name to get his attention, followed by leave it. The only trouble is, he kept doing it so that I'd say leave it and good boy when he did, to get a treat. When my husband is here, if I need to, I ask him to calmly remove Dexter to his crate or kitchen for time out, which helps as Dexter's not being wound up by me struggling to stop him. He's not vicious as I found out by reading the posts on here and in the Happy Puppy book. I still refer to that book and I'm also working through Total Recall and have the next book on pre order. To be honest I think I made the mistake when he first did this to me of being a bit nervous, I calmed down when I realised it was normal puppy behaviour but also I didn't want a wound and then not be able to have my surgery either. Other than this, at the moment, he is an absolute dream puppy. Oh another trigger is about an hour before his feed time but not every meal. If anyone can give me advice I'd be very grateful, please don't judge me too harshly for scruffing my boy but sometimes I don't have an option, I know it's wrong and need advice from people who are experienced as I am not. I have plenty of time to work with Dexter as I'm off work, when I do work, I work from home. Please please help.
Today has been good so far, leave it is working for more and more items. Dexter wasn't so good with his lead walk around the house and garden but we got there by giving commands he knows, good boys and treats of varying sizes and types. I'm off to buy some chicken to cook as on his first outing tomorrow my husband will be with me and Dexter will definitely have some off lead time as long as there are no other dogs or distractions. As far as my jacket goes, when he's got hold of it today, I just remove my self from it, and walk away from him, turn my back, leave the room etc, if my first leave it does not work. So far it stopped him getting more hyped up. Luckily I wear the jacket over my sling with the sleeve reversed so doesn't hang loose and I can get it off easily. Again, I could be doing the wrong thing but at least I can distract him easier to regain my jacket and stay calm. Last night I read every single thread on this post and was reassured I have a normal crocopup or gatorpup. What do you put in Kongs and freeze? I do use a kong with a kong biscuit or puppy bonio in it but doesn't last long, Dexter loves it though. He also loves an ice cube, sounds great when he's crunching on it and must help sooth his gums. I tried to post a photo but it didn't work so will try again in a bit. Donna
