bozthepup

Yes, he's panting more in the crate, although he has been fine the past two nights since I first wrote this post. I am wondering if he was distressed being in there because over the weekend we were in the country and he slept in his crate outside - we didn't hear him until too late and he'd gone to the toilet in his crate, the poor thing. We were horrifed that we'd let that happen but it did so I guess we learned the hard way.Do you think he would 'forget' that he'd pooped in there eventually, thus the panting is subsiding. (all that said, when he came out for toilet in the night on the same night he was panting he drank GALLONS of water). thanks everyone

Boz 11 week old labbie is panting lots, particularly in his crate at night. It doesn't seem to be overly hot where he sleeps and when it is, we have the air con on so the room is cool. He does seem to drink like a fish when i get up during the night to let him toilet. Should I just put the water in the crate with him ? His toileting is reasonably well under control (once maybe twice a night he needs to be let out).

Thanks everyone. When Boz was 8 weeks he gulped down a whole chicken neck which absolutely freaked me, even though I was watching him. I have banned them for the moment so wings it is. Thanks for tips about fat etc.

It's a made up name for a cross breed, Pug X Jack Russel. Actually as I discovered, the puggle is a pug x beagle. Adorable.

thanks alot - I'll start searching !!!

Hi everyone I am wondering whether it's okay to feed my 11wk old lab chicken wings (as part of his balanced diet of course). And if so, how many would be a 'meal' (he is fed three quarters of a cup of food 3x per day currently)

Boz looks like he had a ball! Some big pups there at pre-school! Yes, there was a huge mastiff and a lab a week older than boz but bigger. The one that really came out his shell is the little 'puggle' (had not heard of that breed before) who was the smallest --- what a cutie ! Little border pup was small also for his breed. It's just a joy watching them - couple more pics if you'll indulge me !!!

Hi there There is heaps of fantastic info here - this is what I LOVE about DOL. Just to let you know, I empathise it can be overwhelming and information overload so I wanted to share my experience. My lab pup is now 11 weeks old - I know he's alot BIGGER than Stewie but we had the same crying problems when he was in the laundry, and also woke up to a laundry full of wee and poop ! We changed our tack and started to crate him - but we get up in the night to let him out. After 10 days of doing this, we still have him outside our room so he can 'see' us and he's quiet as a mouse - but we will slowly move him back towards the laundry (still in the crate). We will hopefully have a quiet pup and a clean laundry very soon ! His toileting is also improving fantasically. But it's taken time and alot of patience - he's still got such a long way to go on alot of things but I am sure you will see an improvement if you employ some of the great advice here. Good luck - Boz had his first day of puppy school on Saturday and it was fantastic !!!!

Hi Supersize Empathise ! Have a look through thread puppy biting, nothing working - I posted this initially and there are many helpful comments there. We take our 10 wk old on little walks where we control everything he sniffs, sees, etc - he 'chats' to a dog down the street when we meet him with his owner, but we know he's been vaccinated. We just don't go very far. They don't really need it just yet, we just like to get him out and used to noises, cars and the general world outside.

Hi Supersize Empathise ! Have a look through thread puppy biting, nothing working - I posted this initially and there are many helpful comments there. We take our 10 wk old on little walks where we control everything he sniffs, sees, etc - he 'chats' to a dog down the street when we meet him with his owner, but we know he's been vaccinated. We just don't go very far. They don't really need it just yet, we just like to get him out and used to noises, cars and the general world outside.

Hi everyone I am pleased to say there's been a bit of an improvement in Boz the past couple of days. He's still jumping on couch a bit but seems somewhat less determined and aggressive in his quest. Taking note of his worst 'up' times, where he gets easily over excited, has been very useful so that we don't exacerbate this time. Thanks to everyone for advice - and also to my newest best friend, the crate ! Boz's latest hobby is destroying my (home) office.

Yes, it's perhaps a balance of the two - a bit of training that will get some message through, but watching for him being over excited. He certainly doesn't improve when I sit or lie on the lounge and either ignore or push him away; and it's just to hard not to react because he bites and hurts me. His reaction is almost human like - first he barks like saying 'no !! I'm coming up whether you like it or not', then it's ' I'm getting up !', then it turns to a whimper like 'Awwww, I want to come up, not fair". The standing up works okay, but again, I feel like he's getting the attention he's seeking. Either way, the biting and rising agression seems to come when he's not allowed to go where he wants (eg on the lounge or a chair) - so perhaps we just keep him out of the loungeroom altogether until he gets a bit calmer. It's just hard coz we want his company ! (and I'm pretty sure he wants ours)

Yes, and his crating has really improved (I need to give the poor fella some credit !!! He is a beautiful and very smart boy which makes him all the harder to outwit !). I have popped him in the crate a couple of times when he goes silly - and he's calmed right down, I probably need to do that more often (and earlier in the training session). I just hope he remembers what we go through until he gets too carried away (ie that we're making headway). thanks again

I guess there would be many ways to teach it... for us, if she jumped up on us, we just brushed her off firmly with our hand/arm. If she jumped on the couch, we removed her physically, or pushed her back off if it was just her front feet, and also a firm "OFF". If she was on a leash at the time, we would pull her of with the leash and use the command. Be very firm in your command.. don't ask, demand Re jumping on people, it can also be useful to teach them to lay down and stay until they are told they may get up and greet the new person .. obviously a little/long way off since he is only so little, but useful! Oh I miss having a little puppy.. gosh I forget sometimes how much training you really have to do! So we've had a couple of 'off' couch training sessions, which are combined with biting sessions. This is very very difficult because if I push him calmly and say 'off', he just gets more and more excited and keeps it going (and bites) If I ignore him, he does pretty much the same, although seems a little better ... but he barks, won't get down and keeps biting me - and at this stage of his teeth development I cannot leave myself exposed because he'll hurt me and / or draw blood. This is getting very exasperating, albeit I need to keep at it. He just doesn't show one sign of abating. Or should I say abiting.

That's so funny - and cute ! I wish Boz was at that stage.

Agh. thanks, yes it does help. My problem is he's got a nice combo of biting and jumping going - it's hard to ignore ! But I just started tonite with the treat in closed fist and he's getting better. We tried ignoring, we tried removing him quietly but he got bitey and more excited. Yes - exhausting !!

HI - feels like I am everywhere on this forum as I'm new - but figured this is best place to post this particular question. What is the best way to teach 'off' command - 10 week old lab, very dominant. We want him primarily 'off' couches and 'off' people that come to visit - but I'm sure we find other uses very very quickly. thanks !

So now that it's cooled down a bit we had some playtime and there are a few things I noted. The worst behaviour is associated with him trying to jump up on the lounge. We would like to be able to have him in the loungeroom but don't want him on furniture so now we're kind of in a double whammy situation - the 'off' command plus no biteys. That meant I ended up trying to teach him the 'off' thing at the same time as trying to stop him biting. I experimented with the off command; not sure if i did this right but had kibble in a closed fist - when he jumped up I told him 'off' and when he jumped down, rewarded him. I alternated with a treat and a closed fist with nothing but loads of praise. He got it - a bit. The only (other) issue was he actually was pretty rough with his teeth when I gave him the treat. Gawd ! So much to try and remember (for us) and learn (for him). Any suggestions ? Probably need to get the off rule sorted first - or perhaps alleviate the biting and not let him in the loungeroom for now, until we get the biting figured out (or in loungeroom in his crate at any case).

Thank you ! Yes, he's enrolled to start Saturday. Because he was too young before xmas and the holidays were here, we couldn't get him in until now.

Hi All I bought some chicken necks for (then) 8 wk old pup - I googled it and read to supervise him while eating. I physically sat down next to him while he ate it, looked away for 2 Seconds and he'd swallowed whole. It freaked me, I rang the vet and she roused on me for giving him necks. Anyway, now I have a bag full of necks which I'm sure he'd love, albeit it they only cost me 3 bucks. I cut them one into three bits yesterday which he could work with, but then the 'exposed' small bones were very sharp. Is this okay ?

Thank you !! The only real question I have is the timing between scolding for biting me, and praising for taking permitted objected; is this not going to confuse him with a quick change of 'attitude' ?

Probably the method that's acheived the best (relatively speaking) result so far is distracting him to another toy - this works for periods of 30 secs up to a few minutes. I tried this again last night but wasn't 100% sure about the timing between scolding saying 'no', when he bites us, and praising when I shove the acceptable toy in his mouth or throw it for him. I thought perhaps the short time between scolding and praising might confuse him. And when he's really excited he'll take the toy but immediately drop it and latch onto us again. I'm afraid he did this in a really bad way last nite and bit OH badly, OH got very angry at him. We put him in his crate and OH stared him down while he yelped in crate - I thought it was more appropriate to walk away and ignore him. When OH and I both walked away (while OH put dettol on his bleeding hhand), he settled down and fell asleep about 7 mins later. Ahhh .. raising children ! The other thing I didn't mention through other threads is he left his litter at 6 weeks - as first time puppy owners we know NOW that this was probably a little early, despite his independence. Hi Bozthepup, have you been able to try any of the alternate suggestions today? Getting angry and prolonging 'punishment' due to anger isnt likely to acheive what you want, and (with such a young pup) you run the risk of making him fearful or adverse to certain circumstances - particularly if a fear period sets in. Can you and hubby go over the suggestions posted, and write down what you are going to do when he mouthes (or mouths too hard) and agree to stick to that for a few weeks. If anger is getting the better of your OH it might be time to consider a behaviourist. If your hubby stared at Boz as a show of dominance, or thought that Boz would know why he was being glared at, he (hubby) probably doesnt understand why Boz behaves like he does, so it would be good to focus on getting this information and learning how to effectively deal with Boz's unwanted behaviour. Another suggestion (to add to the list!) you mentioned Boz being worse when he is "really excited". If this happens after a period of play or interaction, you could interrupt the play before you know he will reach that stage, and give him a few mins of down time in his crate with a chew toy. Being able to "calm down" is an important lesson for pups (I wonder how many acheive it!) and sounds like it will help you. I've started doing this to my own pup, as I noticed that after prolonged play he was getting a bit silly and carrying on and biting the other dogs, so now I let him play for five mins, then he gets cuddles and calming signals (tummy rubs etc) untl he calms down. I also put him away to have naps as he will get overtired and be silly too. ETA some suggested reading: The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs. Jean Donaldson OR The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs ,by Patricia B. McConnell (Author) Also: On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals (Paperback) by Turid Rugaas Thanks BittyMoo, this is fantastic. It's 40 degrees in Sydney today so Boz has done NOTHING ! He's been mooching about trying to keep cool, although we had a little play in his pool and he just pranced about, no biting. When the witching hour comes a little later into the evening, I'm going to continue with the replacement of my skin with a toy and praising him. Your crate / calm down suggestion is also a great one, thanks. The books look good as well - and we're learning very quickly that the human relations and behaviour is what's going to make the difference. Are you a marriage counsellor also ??

10 week old Boz loves chasing his kong when it bounces around, so we thought he'd be ecstatic when we stuff it with yummy chook and veges - we froze it and eagerly anticpated his reaction - nada .. or very little. I think he just needs / wants something UNBELIEVABLE to get into it. Does he play with other toys in pen ?

Probably the method that's acheived the best (relatively speaking) result so far is distracting him to another toy - this works for periods of 30 secs up to a few minutes. I tried this again last night but wasn't 100% sure about the timing between scolding saying 'no', when he bites us, and praising when I shove the acceptable toy in his mouth or throw it for him. I thought perhaps the short time between scolding and praising might confuse him. And when he's really excited he'll take the toy but immediately drop it and latch onto us again. I'm afraid he did this in a really bad way last nite and bit OH badly, OH got very angry at him. We put him in his crate and OH stared him down while he yelped in crate - I thought it was more appropriate to walk away and ignore him. When OH and I both walked away (while OH put dettol on his bleeding hhand), he settled down and fell asleep about 7 mins later. Ahhh .. raising children ! The other thing I didn't mention through other threads is he left his litter at 6 weeks - as first time puppy owners we know NOW that this was probably a little early, despite his independence.

I have just discovered DOL forum and loving it - so please excuse my barrage of questions ! Our lab is 10 weeks old, a very fesity boy and biting biting biting. He has probably one bad session a day, or maybe every other day. It generally starts as mouthing and usually during playtime although is sometimes an extension of him not getting his 'way' (eg .f I'm sitting in a chair he likes to try and jump up on or as a reaction to the 'off' command when he jumps). During play, he will just drop his toy and latch onto feet, legs, anything - and he has drawn blood, albeit a small amount, from both me and OH. We distract him again with toy and he sometimes picks it up again but we always seem a better option. We've tried the following and it always ends up with hims more excited, :crouching up and jumping at our face (if we're closer to his level) and barking and whining nonstop. Our list includes- 1. puppy yelping and whining - doesn't work 2. firm 'no' - doesn't work 3. growling at him and standing over him - doesn't work 4. holding his muzzle gently - the second we let go, he's off again, more excited 5. walking away - this works temporarily obviously, but he's almost always in an area that we want to be so even after waiting 30 secs - 1 minute he's back at us. We don't want to put him outside or in the crate as this may create negative association with those areas. We've tried a couple of 'toilet time outs' - smallest room in the house where he can't chew or hurt himself. We've left him there for 3 - 5 mins; he just goes crazy the whole time. Our most recent method as been putting him on his back and gently holding his neck - he squirms and squeals and gets very hysterical. Calms after a little while but when we let him go, is back up again, and at it. We're keeping calm when he's in the 'act' but it's really upsetting.