Puppy Adolescence, Aarrrgghhh!

[WinGus]

I think we've reached the "terrible twos" with my 5 1/2 mo baby! Some of the things below have been happening gradually, but have all been building up these last two weeks since we got back from her first weekend away.

1. She's been really nippy lately although we think that could also be a result of her teething?!? She doesn't bite hard, but still her teeth are sharp!!! Her favourite game at the moment is nipping at our fingers and play growling when we're sitting on the floor with her. We have tried taking our attention away, and it will quiet her. Normally only happens once a night then she'll stop once we have stopped the play. Doesn't seem to remember it for the next night though!!! My worry is that she likes to do this with other people too. I don't want anything to happen.

2. She's starting to hate the leash when we want to practice obedience training at home. She will chew on it and try to run from it by pulling on it. But we find that she's pretty good when going for walkies on the leash?!?! Occasionally she will pull but she won't try to pull away from us, it's more pulling to try and get to whatever has her interested! At obedience school, she is okay, but when she's had enough, she will play up and start to chew on the leash and pull around a bit.

3. She lives in our laundry and there have been some days before the holiday when her bedding has been pulled out of her crate and the covering towel strewn on the floor. That wasn't so bad, but the Monday after our trip, she was feral!! She ripped up her puppy wee pad out of its holder and shredded it and really strew her bedding, towel and toys all over the place!!! Maybe this was due to boredom as she did get lots of stimulation and attention from us on the holiday and I'd get feral too if I was locked up in a laundry after that much fun!!! I'm not sure what to do about her boredom though because she will only play with her toys when we play with her, she is not interested in her toys when she's by herself!! I use kongs and treat balls, but if I make it too easy, she finishes them in a second. If I make them too hard, she loses interest really quickly. I'm really at a loss as to what to do to keep her entertained. ;)

4. Last night was the first night she didn't want to go to bed. Normally she knows when it's bedtime and will go to the door, especially when we make bedtime preparations, but last night she just stuck her head in the laundry door and then ran away, doing zoomies all around the house, almost like she was running away or trying to get us to chase her. She tried to hide a few times under the dining table, but we eventually caught her and put her to bed. Funny thing was that once we got her into the laundry, she went into the crate all by herself, thrashed her snuggle puppie around a bit then settled down, just as she normally does?!?!?!? ;)

Sigh. I'm sure this is not the end of it, and I probably have it easy if it's just these few items!! I'm not too concerned about it all and hopefully with some consistency from us, we'll all get through this!!!!!!!!!

She gets desexed this Thursday, do you think that will tone down some of this behaviour?!?!

Sorry for the long rant!!!! ;)

[Poodle wrangler]

Desexing certainly won't hurt. Can help calm tensions and hormones.

Nipping- train her not to. Give her raw bones for her teeth and a chew toy. No nipping fingers- it's not something they grow out of, they have to be trained out of.

Hate the leash? Keep on-leash training very short. Is it just excitement? If so, play a short game before you start to burn off a bit of energy. Are you using a light leash for a pup?

With pulling- allow her to pull for any reason and you're sending mixed messages- she'll think it's OK all the time. Keep up the training to heel (or walk on loose leash) and reward with treats for her being next to you.

Trashing the laundry- I agree with you, she's bored. Chew toys are cleaner than a raw bone and some you can stuff with food. Apart from that, walks are good for tiring pups. Can you do twice a day? I found even a 10 minute walk would settle our pup way out of proportion to the amount of exercise involved- lots to see, sniff etc.

[sas]

1. She's been really nippy lately although we think that could also be a result of her teething?!? She doesn't bite hard, but still her teeth are sharp!!! Her favourite game at the moment is nipping at our fingers and play growling when we're sitting on the floor with her. We have tried taking our attention away, and it will quiet her. Normally only happens once a night then she'll stop once we have stopped the play. Doesn't seem to remember it for the next night though!!! My worry is that she likes to do this with other people too. I don't want anything to happen.

Pop her outside for a 2 minute time out each time she does it, see how you go with that, different methods work for different dogs and if you've tried all the gentler methods sometimes you need to up the level of dicipline to get the message across, not beating the dog of course.

2. She's starting to hate the leash when we want to practice obedience training at home. She will chew on it and try to run from it by pulling on it. But we find that she's pretty good when going for walkies on the leash?!?! Occasionally she will pull but she won't try to pull away from us, it's more pulling to try and get to whatever has her interested! At obedience school, she is okay, but when she's had enough, she will play up and start to chew on the leash and pull around a bit.

She's not a puppy pupppy anymore, there's no reason you can't give her a correction for it, but puppies do have a short attention span, so when training at home keep it to under 5 minutes.

3. She lives in our laundry and there have been some days before the holiday when her bedding has been pulled out of her crate and the covering towel strewn on the floor. That wasn't so bad, but the Monday after our trip, she was feral!! She ripped up her puppy wee pad out of its holder and shredded it and really strew her bedding, towel and toys all over the place!!! Maybe this was due to boredom as she did get lots of stimulation and attention from us on the holiday and I'd get feral too if I was locked up in a laundry after that much fun!!! I'm not sure what to do about her boredom though because she will only play with her toys when we play with her, she is not interested in her toys when she's by herself!! I use kongs and treat balls, but if I make it too easy, she finishes them in a second. If I make them too hard, she loses interest really quickly. I'm really at a loss as to what to do to keep her entertained.

Sounds like boredom, if this is during the day can you not have her outside? Small rooms are good for wee puppies when you bring them home and for a few months but they're not an ideal place for a dog long term.

4. Last night was the first night she didn't want to go to bed. Normally she knows when it's bedtime and will go to the door, especially when we make bedtime preparations, but last night she just stuck her head in the laundry door and then ran away, doing zoomies all around the house, almost like she was running away or trying to get us to chase her. She tried to hide a few times under the dining table, but we eventually caught her and put her to bed. Funny thing was that once we got her into the laundry, she went into the crate all by herself, thrashed her snuggle puppie around a bit then settled down, just as she normally does?!?!?!?

You played the game with her that she was trying to play, I would just ignore her, you may have to wait it out, then put her on a lead and take her outside to toilet.

She gets desexed this Thursday, do you think that will tone down some of this behaviour?!?!

*shrugs* I wouldn't put money on it, sounds like she has you wrapped around her little paw.

[WinGus]

Thanks for your advices Poodle Wrangler and SAS.

She does like rawhide sticks, and goes for those quite readily. We do try and give her something else to chew rather than our fingers, but she still does like to nip. For some reason now, she turns to nip me whenever I touch her. This has only happened recently, although I can still touch her when she's calm. Normally I would just ignore her, but when I'm trying to teach her a "stand" and have to hold her and she nips me, it does get quite painful and frustrating. It's hard to just stop training midway through.

We normally do no more than five minutes on the leash. She's fine at obedience school (for the first half hour), but this week has been quite bad on the leash training. Wonder if she's getting bored of this too? We do try and vary the training.

We still have a bit of work to do to secure the yard so that she doesn't escape, so at the moment we can't let her roam around outside, but I think it might be time to get a move on and fix up the fences! Might try walking her for a short period both in the morning and at night to tire her out.

SAS, you're completely right. She definitely has us wrapped around her paws, all four of them!!!

[kirbydog]

Thanks for your advices Poodle Wrangler and SAS.

She does like rawhide sticks, and goes for those quite readily. We do try and give her something else to chew rather than our fingers, but she still does like to nip. For some reason now, she turns to nip me whenever I touch her. This has only happened recently, although I can still touch her when she's calm. Normally I would just ignore her, but when I'm trying to teach her a "stand" and have to hold her and she nips me, it does get quite painful and frustrating. It's hard to just stop training midway through.

We normally do no more than five minutes on the leash. She's fine at obedience school (for the first half hour), but this week has been quite bad on the leash training. Wonder if she's getting bored of this too? We do try and vary the training.

We still have a bit of work to do to secure the yard so that she doesn't escape, so at the moment we can't let her roam around outside, but I think it might be time to get a move on and fix up the fences! Might try walking her for a short period both in the morning and at night to tire her out.

SAS, you're completely right. She definitely has us wrapped around her paws, all four of them!!!

I think it is time to assert yourselves as a leader in this pack. Nipping when you touch her? Now this is totally unacceptable. Training is always good, but you have to make sure that your dog knows that you are the pack leaders. The way you do this is to establish rules, boundaries and limitations which you enforce consistently. Only give affection when the dog is calm and submissive, because that is the state of mind you want to enforce.

Destroying stuff is definitely boredom. At 5.5 months your dog needs exercise. Drain her energy in the mornings and afternoons, but remember that on the walk she is meant to walk next to you or behind you. Walking means working not necessarily for the dog to go around and do whatever she likes. Heel work needs concentration and will help drain energy even quicker. Best to apply these rules Exercise - Disciplines and then affection.

Most importantly of all! Stay calm and assertive. Envision how you would like your dog to be and work towards this goal consistently. You will see that you will get results quite quickly.

Good luck with everything.

[WinGus]

Thanks for your reply kirbydog.

I thought I had been setting up boundaries and limitations and enforcing them, but maybe not enough. I also do not give any attention unless she is calm. I know this helps her submissiveness/fearfulness too. Of course with both of these things, I have absolutely no idea if I'm doing something unconsciously, which no doubt is happening.

She just got desexed last week, so monitoring her to see how the behaviour goes! So far so good, but that could just be because she's been recovering over the weekend! We'll see what happens this week. I know I've got a lot of training to do still, but torn because perhaps I'm trying to push her too fast too soon? ;)

Thanks again! :rolleyes: