catandgrant

i wouldn't feed a cooked bone to any animal - they tend to splinter a lot more easily and then you can have issues (among others) of intestinal/bowel/stomach perforations and lots and lots of pain (to both animal and your wallet!). Thank you! I didnt think so but many people have told me they do. I will keep going with the raw one then! Thanks

When you say "BARF", does that include a lot of raw meaty bones? Actually my apologies he is on a product which is raw meats combine with bones etc. Cannot remember the name of it. I know it looks terrible!! We get it from a place called Big Dogs foods. It was recommended to us by a trainer. And he loves it! In addition to that he also gets chicken necks and the occassional raw bone to chew on. Question while i am at it, can we give him a cooked bone? For example if we have roast lamb and have the shank leftover, can he have that?

Wow MrsD, your dog and mine sound identical. Casper is very much the same. Hasnt started chewing the house as such yet thankfully. The outdoor furniture was probably the first. Great talking point when guests come over!! This dog will chew anything! He would be perfectly happy with a nice chcuk of wood or bark is his mouth as much as piece of meat. To answer your question poodlefan, we feed him BARF. He has been on this for quite a long time after switching from Royale canine. He also gets the occassional chicken neck and every day before i leave for work i load up some kongs etc to keep him occupied for a while. Looks like we are off to the pet store this weekend for a truckload of durable toys!

Thanks for the advice. I guess he has always been a bit of a chewer. We have tried to correct him in the past when we catch him chewing but majority of the time we find something that has been chewed already and the moment has passed to repremand him for it (he wouldnt know what he was in trouble for). For example a couple of days ago we found our ipod cable chewed to pieces on the floor but he was nowhere near it when we found it. He chews mostly when we are around. I guess he chews a bit during the day but as he is outside during the day he does not have many chewing options. Having said that we did find his trampoline bed things torn up last night! He really seems to enjoy chewing. We cannot leave a towel or blanket near him as he chews those also. He would sit chewing on a towel for an hour if he could! I didnt realise they went through a second teething phase. Thats quite interesting. We are being quite tough on him at the moment and trying all the advice. I guess its perserverance and patience and hard work!

Hello all, I haven't been on here for a while as our 1 year old cocker has been a great dog since his early puppy days. However.....recently he has taken to chewing anything he can get his little teeth around! He's always been a bit of a chewer but its getting to the point where he is destroying some very expensive items. To list a few he has chewed our very nice outdoor furniture and cushions, hubby expensive sunglasses, followed by his wallet, a couple of xmas presents, hoses, towels, his bedding and various cables. We've tried reprimanding him when we find him doing this but so often we find out after the fact so can't really rouse on him then. We do our best to put things up high and leave nothing lying around but there are times when we happen to leave something in his reach. He is alone during the day so i understand that i could be due to boredom but a lot of it happens when we are home and he has exercised and after play time. He also has many toys lying around. Just seems to find our things tastier!! Any ideas at all how to combat this?? It is costing us a fortune!! Thank you in advance!

no, ive never really known much about it but will check out this site. thank you

he has a mat and we have a cushion on order which we should get next week. I will start giving him treats for sitting on the matt tonight I just so worried he is getting aggressive. Even as i am soitting here he has just jumped up and put is paws on my lap. I have completely ignored him and then he started trying to bite! This is what is driving me crazy!

Vocally we use ah ah when he doesnt something bad or is clearly about to. We ignore him an aweful lot also No not check chain. Sorry, i dont know what AHT is?

We make those noises when he jumps on the couch. Its like he looks at us and laughs! We have now taken to having a lead on him so that if he jumps up we can get him off easily. If we dont have the lead he doesnt let us near him once he is on....growls etc. Putting him in the bathroom seems to work but only temporarily. But at least it works for a bit It feels like we are doing everything we are meant to do yet getting nowhere. Going backwards even. Where is our adorable puppy?!

I have him on a lead and he still goes psycho. He hasnt been as bad as he was today before. I got him to sit and crouched behind him to try calm him but he just snapped at me. Not a good idea clearly. As soon as i thought he was calm enough i let go and he started jumping straight away. Yes he knows sit very well. He just seems to ignore absolutely everything when he is overly excited. Its like everything goes out the window. He has a mat an he also has his crate. Again its the fact that he compltely ignores me. Its like he is in his terrible two's!!

I have to vent. I am really getting close to my wits end!! Casper seems to be getting progressivly worse as the days go by. If he is not jumping on the couch he is jumping on people so much that they cant stand it. Her is starting to get quite bitey now also, I just had a friend over for the first time and casper just went nuts. He jumped all over her even when she did not acknowledge him and completely ignored him. By the end he started getting bitey with her. Not aggressive but going way beyond the point of it being acceptable. We have a trainer coming in 2 weeks time to try sort this out. I just dont know how i am going to last till then. I am close to tears and am almost frightened to go near him at times. Other times he is adorable and the perfect puppy. He is now nearly 5 months old. He has done puppy school and we have kept up all that we learnt. I just dont know how to deal with these new ones. Give me strength!!!

Yes, he is a cocker, 18 weeks. Thanks everyone. Back to the collar and lead tonight! I guess he will one day learn when we keep stopping and starting and not giving him what he wants. There is a very small light at the end of the tunnel.

We used to walk him just collar and lead until he started pulling so much he made himself sick. We got tipos from our puppy trainer and she suggested everytime he started pulling stopping and walking in the other direction until he starts pulling again and keep repeating. We did this so many times and he just didnt seem to get the jist. The only reason we bought the harness is so he didnt make himself so sick. So many people have raved about halti's and how they make walking a much better experience. Has anyone had a good experience with them?? Sorry, this started as a post about our couch and has now turned to walking!!

he finished puppy schoolm about 3 weeks ago. We are now looking at obedience training just to keep his training up. We also cannot walk him at the moment as we are waiting on a halti. He pulls so much on both collar and harness so halti is our last option at the moment. Has been pulling so hard he loses his breath. Oh dear. Bring on obedience classes! We play as much as we can with him and make him run around till he is ragged. So it could be a mix or stubborness and boredom. Mostly boredom.

yeah, he has his crate which has his toys etc in it. He can sit happily in there for ages and then he suddenly comes rushing at the lounge and jumps up. Really out of the blue. Its like he gets bored and suddenly gets a burst of energy! He goes at the lounge with so much force. He clearly must be demonic!

Thanks huski. We have been trying the treats. Sometimes it works and other times he just makes himself perfectly comfortable and won't budge! Will probably try the lead tonifght just as a back up if all else fails. I dont want to force him but if we have no choice maybe that is the way. tell me they grow out of this??? Do you find when they have been desexed they settle down a bit? i'm kinda counting on that at the moment!!! 1 month to go!

Wow, it just keeps getting worse. He has now taken to jumping up when we are not there and then when we go to put him down he is starting to growl and attempt to bite us! I really don't know what to do when he does this. I don't want to keep at him when he is like this as clearly i dont want to get bitten but at the moment is he ruling the roost! Doing my head in. I just want my lounge back

Hi Catandgrant- This is actually very easy to solve. When he jumps on the couch, don't make a fuss and yell at him (that's just excited dog barking to him). Certainly, don't offer treat as an incentive to get off, as he will interpret that as you rewarding his couch jumping in the first place, and may end up jumping on the couch to get you to give him a treat (they're very good at training us humans!!). What is happening is that (like any puppy) he is challenging your authority, so you need to do what the pack leader would do should a junior pup try to take over the pack leaders resting spot. You sit down on the couch, and spread. You keep spreading out until you take over the entire couch, and there is no room for him. You don't need to make eye contact, you don't need to speak to him (infact, the pack leader would never do that - just ignore and spread!) - all you need to do is take over the entire space. He will be forced to move off the couch; and will understand that as pack leader, that's your spot. You may have to do this several times before he gets the idea that is YOUR couch, and NOT his. This method has worked a treat on my two former couch potatos who decided they wanted couch time when they wanted (and not by invitation only!); and the added bonus is that its an easy, non aggressive method but still reinforces the fact that I am pack leader (and has all the responsibilities for food, shelter and saftey), and that they are pack followers (which don't have to worry about these things) - its a benevolant dictatorship, if you like . Try it - and be persisitant (it can be a battle of stubborness sometimes). Just remember that yelling doesn't help (although growling sometimes does....!) - be calm and assertive, and remember that you are in charge! This is fantastic advice! I know when we are sitting spread out more than usual he doesnt try as hard to jump up. Its normally when we get up to go do something he tries to jump up. I guess its just being consistent. I know he just want to be with us and thats lovely but we spend plenty of other time with him. This is our human time! Thanks again for the great advice. Will try this out tonight!

Like this No he is not allowed on the bed. There are 2 places in the house he is not allowed. One on the bed and the other on the lounge. I was hoping to avoid the blanket on the lounge if possible. Would like him to realise it is out of bounds. is this a bit too much to expect? I just think there are some places you have to keep to yourself. This is the place for us to snuggle and have alone time. Does that sound corny? Think will have to invest in something on the floor. Though he seems to love just lying on the tiles with nothing underneath!

Hi All, Our beautiful boy Casper is doing so well and getting soooo big! He is great in almost all respects (as much as an 18 week old puppy can be!) but he has started to jumping on the lounge. He first started by putting his paws up but has now realised he can jump all the way up and settle himself there quite easily. We have no problem with him being in the house but do not want him on the lounge. Ojne place i do not like. Plus we have a nice new seude lounge, his hair shows like you wouldnt believe!! We constantly say no everytime he tries to get up, we uh uh at other times and we also get down on the floor with him and offer treats when he does get down. This doesnt seem to be stopping him. Does anyone have any great tips for keeping a cheeky puppy off the lounge? casper_4.doc

Hey guys, Well, caper is now 14 weeks and in almost all respects doing great. His biting has subsided and he is really coming into his own. He's such a gorgeous little cocker!! We now have a bit of an issue. Everytime my other half leaves the house, whether it be for work, to put the garbage out etc, Casper goes crazy. Well, maybe crazy is a bit extreme. He starts off by crying at the door, this then turns to his scratching and crying at the door and then into full blown barking. Until either i distract him somehow or until he comes back into the house. Whenever i leave the house he cries a little but doesnt fret as much as when oh leaves. Any suggestions? We have tried leaving through different doors and I have tried distracting him but to no avail. Cheers

Thanks everyone. Over the weekend we thought he had made a major improvemnet but night night he was back to his ways again. Its like he thinks its funny to watch me squirm and walk away from him. The thing i am worried about is if i am walking away from him is this telling him that he has won? I can't exactly walk away calmy as half the time is is attached to my leg so sometimes i have to make s small dash for the door. Im just really worried he is feeling dominant over me. If we yelp, growl or shout etc he doesnt take any notice. In fact soemtimes it makes him worse! God, is there an end in sight??!!

Wow!! Thank you so much. That really is great advice. The thing i love about this forum is knowing other people have been in the same boat and that it can be fixed. I tried the yelping last night and it still didnt work. My other half did the growling and it worked a treat. Didnt for me though. I just cant get it right. I think i will try the ouch again tonight because no doubt he will try it on again. I had him almost hanging in the air this morning as he was attached to my shoe! Luckily he is so adorable it is forgiveable Also, trying to put a pic on but its not working. Any ideas? Apparently i am "not allowed to upload this type of file"!!

Hey! Thanks so much for the advice. Silly question but how do you growl specifically? Do you growl like a dog would? I must practice this!

Hello All, As I received so much great advice and encouragement from my last post i thought i'd have another crack at it. My 9 week old cocker, Casper has over the past few days started to get quite bitey. When we pat him he starts of gentle but then starts mouthing and then trying to nip. Hi tried my hands or arms first. I say no and move away and then he actually comes after me. He will basically chase after me nipping at my legs or anything else he can get his teeth onto! I have tried a few things. Saying no in a low tone voice. This didnt work at all. It actually made him more determined. I have tried yelping as if in pain. This maybe worked the first time but after that the novely wore off. And now i am not sure what to do. It seems to be only me. My partner just seems to get all the love with no bites. I was so upset this morning i had a small cry. It really feels like he hates me. I would really like to nip this in the bud asap. We certainly dont want this escelating into something bigger. Thanks in advance guys