We have just about survived the biting stage.. But only just lol.. Puppy Jason is now 16 weeks old and has started screaming at me in the evening when he wants to go out or just wants attention. It's shrill high pitched and he is relentless with it.. Im hoping this is a, short stage in his development.. Please advise how best to manage this.. Thank you
Is he doing this at a specific time? If so, can you beat him to it and take him out half an hour before he "demands" then pop him in his crate with a nice chew?
It might help you to reframe this in your mind not as demanding attention but as seeking a relationship. Puppies need lots of attention and I would plan to do something with your puppy for 10 to 20 minutes in the evening. It doesn't need to be going out. It could be a game of tug or fetching a toy or start to teach some simple tricks (putting front paws up on an upturned bowl, nose touch to your hand - which can be extended to nose touch to a post-it note stuck on different surfaces, go round a cone (or a chair if you don't have any cones) simple 'obedience' cues like sit, down etc.) Doing activities together will tire Jason and then he can be settled with a filled kong / chew. Puppies are tiring but doing things with your puppy or adult dog is really why we have them.
You’re not alone. My pup started to do this at around 20 weeks - he never really barked much and now he barks (Very high pitched and ear-piercing) when he can see me but can’t get to me - like when he’s gated I to the living room and I’m in the dining room. I’m trying to ignore him completely at those times, but it’s HARD and I’m not sure that’s working. I was doing some training with him in response originally, but that just rewarded the behavior so we’ll have to try a few things to see what works
Advice to engage your puppy in plenty of games and activities is great. Provide stuffed Kongs, chew toys, licky mats etc to keep your puppy entertained especially when you have to leave them alone. At the same time you can work on reducing the noise when it does happen. Temporarily removing visual contact often works well for noisy pups. So if your puppy is making a noise in their crate, pop a blanket over the top. Fold up the front when the noise stops, and drop it down again if the noise starts again. If the pup is behind a gate you can close the door for a moment and open it again after a second or two of quiet. Using a clicker can help, to pin-point for the dog the exact moment that the silence started, so that they realize that it's silence that is generating the rewards. Don't ask for long periods of silence before rewarding to begin with. Start small and work up
Hero has been through a seriously loud time of demand barking for anything and everything over the last few weeks but have followed lots of advice about covering crate, removal of self, etc., And am now hoping that he reached extinction burst at half an hour the other day as he finally seems to have learnt that quiet gets rewarded and the last few days the barking has lessened considerably. Some of it in the beginning was admittedly self inflicted thinking that 'oh he's barking to go out' and jumping up to let him out. Soon learnt that one the hard way. The worst time is when I go into the kitchen to prepare food and he is the other side of the gate but with catching the exact moment he stopped to take a breath and rewarding he has now learned to quite happily lay down an just watch from his side of the gate(we are open plan so no door to separate just gates). The high pitched 'I want attention and I want it now bark' has also gotten a lot less which is great for my head. Still get occasional outbursts but now I just walk away and he seems to be getting it. Neighbours have been great. Did speak to them when it got really bad but they have a dog and know exactly what it's like when they're young. Not sure what they thought when he dived in their pond for a swim the other day though, but we're pretty lucky they just seem to shrug the puppy stages off ok. But would like to say thank you for the advice you and other forum users give out. It has seriously helped us get through to 7 months without too many tears so far. Have entered the teenage 'Im not listening' phase but then that's the challenges of raising any child. At least a dog is a teenager for only a comparatively short time unlike the human child who gives you years of grief when they reach that stage of life.
Hi Chris, Whining is normal for puppies. The little puppy needs lots of attention, care, and focus. I used to take away the food several hours before bedtime and walk my pup over 25 minutes before sleep, so he would evacuate his bladder and consume lots of energy, which helps him sleep sound at night. However, a 4-month puppy may need to go potty every four hours because puppies are difficult to hold the pee or poo over a few hours before adulthood. They might whine and cry for walks at midnight. This is really frustrating in winter. Otherwise, they may get mental and physical health problems such as separation anxiety and bladder diseases, if we ignore their begging. I recommend to crate train your puppy, so he can build a regular sleeping habit and keep quiet when staying in the crate. Also, potty training can help your pup form a regular lifestyle-going potty regularly.
