New Puppy Mayhem

[sandgrubber]

I bought some of that spray that you put on the spot she goes and its suppose to deter the dog to return . . it was expensive and useless!

Return it to the shop and demand your money back!

I once bought some anti-chew spray. The pup chewed up the bottle of anti-chew spray. City Farmers returned my money.

[Mogda]

Hi to all. . . funny posts. . . I have noted the fast running as she always seems to know when ive dropped the leash whilst out walking and off shes gone fast as lightning!

Shes off to puppy school again tomorrow hopefully she will be a little better behaved this week. I'll give it a go returning the spray when I'm there. :)

[Staff'n'Toller]

Hi to all. . . funny posts. . . I have noted the fast running as she always seems to know when ive dropped the leash whilst out walking and off shes gone fast as lightning!

Shes off to puppy school again tomorrow hopefully she will be a little better behaved this week. I'll give it a go returning the spray when I'm there. :)

Honestly, if you have a hyperactive pup, you will get nothing out of a class where other dogs have off lead play. Particularly if she has to remain on-lead, it will just be seriously frustrating for her.

Find another better puppy school where the focus is on training and calm exercises in a safer environment.

[Leah82]

does this look familar mogda :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXqNl5bTCMU&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

[Mogda]

Hi to all. That youtube video was somewhat familiar. Mirana is starting to have some more calmer times in her day and the toilet training is working if I am absolutely diligent with the very regular visits outside. The jumping and the biting is still happening but we are very strong with letting her know its a very bad thing and slowly seeing some little changes with her responding to our voices and words.

I have another issue at the moment that I am struggling with and thought you may be able to offer a little info for me. We have very sandy soil and a family of possums that live in trees next to our front verandah/door and surrounding trees. I am told this causes a lot of trouble with fleas. Because of such regular visits outside with toilet training I have found that our pup is covered in fleas.

We have polished floorboards. I have set fleabombs in each room of the house and the pup has frontline plus treatment on. Today she was so itchy I have given her a capstar flea tablet appropriate to her size, I have washed all her bedding etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions as what else I can do to try and eradicate these horrible fleas and help the poor puppy to stop itching.

Mogda

[Steph M]

Frontline the possums? I kid, poor little piranha! :p

I know you can get yard sprays/powders, or chat to an exterminator?

Don't forget in your haze of crazy cleaning that pup needs to have been washed at least 24-48 hours before putting a spot on on, for years I popped it on straight after a bath and only recently found out I was wasting it... haha.

Maybe something to deter the possums might help?

[persephone]

Glad things are improving.

have you seen the fleas?

Are they the very visible/mobile dog fleas .. or tiny black ones clustered on bare skin areas ... the 'stickfast' fleas?

[aliwake]

We have possums all through our yard, and we've never seen a flea - sounds like you're being pretty unlucky! We used advocate from day1 though, and it seemed to be very effective for us.

Glad you're seeing some improvement with the behaviour issues though - there is light at the end up the tunnel, but make sure you pause and enjoy her puppiness occasionally too :)

[Mogda]

Yes poor little pup, alathough shes becoming less piranahaish

Yes I washed her 48hrs previous and I am aware you should not wash them too much so I know that's not a solution.

The flees are very visible and moving around very visibly. They are black and she has so many The frontline has not made any difference they have worsened over the last couple of days. I think the heat along with the humidity makes the fleas breed more.

[Mogda]

Many people have suggested possums are terrible for spreading fleas and apparently sandy soil, as it was in our yard, is also perfect breeding ground for fleas.

I definitely appreciate the calming times and make sure enjoy the puppy side until her jaws lock around my arm or she is aiming for my face.

She definitely has become far too dependent upon me so I am encouraging more away time on her own and will separate he into her sleep time in crate at night to be in a room on her own. Shes sleeping probably 3 hrs before needing to go outside so I am sure she will make herself heard.

[*kirty*]

I think Frontline is useless. I'd try Advantage instead.

[Mogda]

Yes it certainly hasn't made any difference. I will buy some advantage. Thanks

[Nic.B]

Poor little bug, though I feel more for you than Mirana atm :laugh:

Fidos flea and tick rinse worked well for me for rescues short term. I used it in a spray bottle every day (if needed) until things settled down. And them applied the spot on. Her bedding will need to be changed daily until there are no more fleas, perhaps give her a couple of old towels or small cotton blanket so they are easier to wash...

I agree frontline is useless, I was told particularly in NSW for some reason?

[Tassie]

Just saw this article on what I find a great site. Might be useful ... probably would have been more useful earlier :).

"What to do when potty training fails"

[sunny1shine]

Just posting to offer some lab puppy love

our lab pup ripper..er i mean River is now 1, we hadnt realised how much of a "all the things in my mouth" labs were. The good new is for Riv this has meant she loves toys and food. 1 year on and we still have 1/2 our lounge as a dedicated puppy pen with her crate in there and if we leave the house she goes in there.

Teething was the worst time, Riv loves ice though so just having ice cubes to soothe her gums worked wonders

/hugs for you and your pup

ps she is best dog i've ever had

[Sares]

I bought some of that spray that you put on the spot she goes and its suppose to deter the dog to return . . it was expensive and useless!

Return it to the shop and demand your money back!

I once bought some anti-chew spray. The pup chewed up the bottle of anti-chew spray. City Farmers returned my money.

agreed! We purchased the anti chew spray, instead puppy LOVED the taste of it. Not sure why because it tastes gross!

OMG - I am really feeling sorry for you and feel exhausted readying your posts! We have just got a frenchie puppy so she has a million times less energy than a Lab puppy. and we struggle keeping up with the Frenchie. I dont know how you do it. Stay strong, they are worth it! :)

[Mogda]

Hi to all again. Busy times in between posts but isn't that everyones lives these days.

No need to feel sorry for me its just what happens with owning a very strong willed and energetic young female pup. But thanks for the encouraging thoughts though Sares.

Toileting is still about the same . . . shes good if I take her out very regularly . . . but if I am busy with something and not outside as regularly she will just go wherever shes standing. . . so its really just catching it still. . but its good not mopping up and wrapping smelly droppings all day.She is so very clever though as a few times each day she will actually go to the door as if she needs to go out and then when we do go outside she will squat and pretend to go to the toilet, nothing comes out, but will really only want to play!

She is growing a lot and has learnt to jump up on the lounge as soon as Im out of the room! She has also learnt how to do the stairs very well and has become a great escape artist when Im out trying to put the washing out. So much stacking of things across stairs now until I can work out a way of blocking them off. But she is an amazing jumper with her strong back legs and fast pace!

She sleeps better now at night with some encouragement to stay asleep when she wants to go out early hours. She wakes with the sun and is ready to really go to sleep about 11pm.

She still has my two daughters up on the lounge with their feet tucked under when they come over. Although now that she can actually get up onto the lounge the girls aren't feeling quite so safe anymore. We are yet to find a way of calming her when people come to visit. We have tried giving the visitor treats to get her to sit down calmly but as soon as the treats run out shes up and off again. So she usually ends up in the crate having time out. She doesn't really calm down until the visitor/visitors leave.

The visitor problem, biting and very poor leash/walking behavior will hopefully be addressed by some expert training to help us with these issues . . .and I'm sure it will make her a much happier pup not being in trouble so often :)

[raineth]

Hey Mogda, my recommendation, just until you see the trainer, is to put her in the crate the moment visitors arrive. She may then come out of the crate if she is calm to greet the visitors. It sounds as though once she has met the visitors she is too aroused and can't come down from that.

By putting her in the crate, you are clearly ying to her that it is your call about who comes in the house, it's not a job she has to worry about :)

[Mogda]

Thanks that sounds like a great idea. I have been suffering a silly reluctance with the crate and feel a great guilt when putting her in but I do know its for her best and that's how I came to use it as time out. I could see when she loses the plot she just cant help herself as she just simply cant calm down and her crazed behavior goes from bad to worse. I was always worried I might ruin the idea of the crate being a good place for her if I used it for punishment too and then she wouldn't settle in it at night.

But people have to be able to visit and not be harassed by our very enthusiastic and energetic young pup, so I will definitely put her in the next time someone comes and before I actually let them in. If once she settles in the crate I let her out . . do I then just put her back in if the behavior continues?

Mogda

[persephone]

..actually, I'd have her on a (chainlink) leash ... otherwise, very soon , she will try & avoid being collected and crated - and you may teach her yet another bad behaviour.

If you are doing lots of very short sessions of leash work inside/in backyard .. she should by now be fairly relaxed onlead. ONLEAD = treats..and learning, and pats ..and company .. so it should all be good!

keep her onlead when people come ..and TELL them to TOTALLY ignore her . have her with you .. and away from the touchy-feely /treat feeding intruders ...let her know that having visitors does NOT equal extra attention ..it is just boring. .....

How are you going with the Nothing In Life Is Free routine?

NILIF stands for Nothing In Life Is Free. This is the attitude that you should take when training and interacting with your dog. When your dog runs to you, don’t pet him, give a sit command and when he complies, then give him what he wants, praise. If he ignores the sit, go back inside ignoring him.

Dogs are “hedonists”, this means, “pleasure seeking, pain avoiding”. This works very well in line with training, by incorporating this ideal, we can introduce discomfort when the dog will not comply with a command and we can in turn provide pleasure in the form of attention.

Although the above method may sound harsh, it is how pro dog trainers all over the world train and live with their own and other people’s dogs, and one of the main reasons why we get results many times faster than a novice.

When you start to adopt the above example, you will find the dog running to you and sitting without being told to, happily. Meaning he has learned to sit when he greets you, not jump up on you.

Many dog owners have a similar complaint, which is, the dog jumps on people, and he just won’t stop doing it. Why is this so? Dogs don’t jump on other dogs, so it’s unnatural for them to do so. Well, humans are to blame, as with most things… When we get a new dog or even a puppy, we encourage the dog to jump on us; we actually train it to do so. The training goes like this; you call the dog, when he comes to you, put out your hands to catch his paws. When he does jump up, you reward him with praise and petting. You have trained him well; this reward based training is very firm in the dog’s mind, very hard to reverse.

The NILIF program can be adapted when teaching any command; because dogs are Hedonists (pleasure seeking pain avoiding) they will soon learn how to please you in obedience work. By being consistent with your praise for good work and correcting for non-compliance, the dog will remain happy in the fact that he can avoid correction and get his pleasure with compliance. Making a clear line between right and wrong will make a happy, well-balanced dog.

The main idea of this program is to teach the dog that he must work for what he wants, dogs that come up and stick their head in your lap, paw you or jump on your for attention are “gaining their own success”. Whilst you may think you have smart dog, all your teaching the dog is how to make you do what he wants.

taken from HERE

there is also this CLICK HERE. I like this bit ;)

What your puppy wants to know is who's a puppy and who's not. The answer determines the type of mouthing or nipping: soft or playful. Usually, everyone gets categorized as a puppy. Why? Well, for starters, most people pull their hands away when nipped. To a human, drawing back is self-defense; to a pup, however, it's an invitation to play. Even if you were to correct your young puppy, she wouldn't understand (it's like correcting a one-year-old baby for pulling your hair). So what should you do? Your approach depends on your puppy's age.