pipppy

I was wondering the same thing about christmas beatles!

Definantely sounds like dominance if doing it to the kids, our boy who was desexed at 9 wks humps our 13yr old daughter ocasionally, and I have to step in as she is too soft with him and has trouble asserting her dominance over him, we usually get her to do some obedience stuff with him to re-assert herself over him but after a week or so he starts again, our daughter like I said is very soft and loveley and has trouble being assertive, she gives him lots of cuddles and love but not much obedience so I think that is the problem. Also he will occasionaly hump his bedding and we always make sure he knows its not ok.....he also humped everything that moved at puppy school!

We have had similar probs with our 5mth when out and about, of course we only do very short 20 minute walks but he is so easily distracted, heeling works fantastic......when there is nothing to distract him LOL. I read the dog whisperer and his section on walking the dog was very helpful, its all about YOUR attidtude apparently you can send you fear, anxiety about his behaviour down the lead, go figure? Anyway I have tried to be much more confident with him and not fuss, just be firm and say come on lets go, and mean it when i say it, and it has actually helped a lot. I am sure if you can get an appointment with K9 that would be pretty helpful, wish I was in his area I would be there like a flash.

Curious, we give our pup ice cubes and i even freeze his kibble in a small container with enough water to cover it, i also freeze water with a bit of stock cube in it and fill his kong with penut butter and kibble and freeze that also.......compared to chewing on bones i would think ice isnt much different, gees i have never thought it could harm his teeth, just sooth his gums, maybe someonelse with a bit more experience could comment as to whether it could do damage? As for teething gel, i have no clue, we have not used it, chewing chewing and more chewing on suitable toys ( and frozen stuff) seems to help our little guy.

I have a whole set of goodies that I rotate when not at home so he doesnt get bored, Kong, treat ball, big marrow bones, a teething toy that i cover in peanut butter and lots of assorted chew toys, he never has these outside toys in the house so he is pretty happy to be outside when these are around.

Well you have lots of time to get him use to it and lots of time to make sure the yard is puppy friendly. Ease him into it, when you are out there playing with him back off after a while and let him have his own fun, slowly make the times longer that you leave him. If he whines to come in, i have read that you should never give into him as this will send the wrong message, we have been very lucky our boy never whines to come in....he actually seems to love it out there. Maybe just also have really fun special "outside" toys that he doesnt have in the house", if he is excited about new toys he will be less likely to notice you are not right beside him. Is there a covered area outside to protect him from the weather? We have a big pergola and we have his kennel and food and water under there and in all weather conditions he is very protected. I am sure your pup will be fine if you plan ahead.

Thanks for your comments, dogs teething looks so brutal, everyday there is something gone and something new in his mouth, and the poor little guy always seems to have a bit of blood somewhere, still continuing the ice and making sure he has lots of different things to chew on, poor fella even had to suck on the ice the other day, he seemed to not be able to chew he normally chews it madly but just mouthed it until it melted, and he went off his kibble a bit also But back to normal frantic chewing now though so all is good. His nipping seems to have settled a bit again...and i have noticed its not as hard now, but it feels like he could do more damage than before if he really wanted to, LOL. Tommy,yes, I have read before about people letting the pups bight to learn bite inhibition, its an interesting idea, and seems to work for many, and youre right their mouths are a main way of exploring, we just dont feel confident enough to trust he will know when to stop, especially when at one stage last week you couldnt even walk past him without him having a nip, the little devil And maybe if it was just me and hubby here - and not 3 teenagers also, we would of let it go but the 13yr old has a fit when he nips her and gets very scared, and you know her arms start flying around and she starts pushing him away which tends to wind him up even more, and as she is harder to train than th dog its best just to not let him do it at all at the moment, but hey thanks for sharing what works for you. Sort of on the same topic i was brave enough to cut his nails the other day and even though i had been handling his paws and nails everyday in anticipation of cutting his nails he had a bit of a go at me.....so i managed to get a few done, and am back to playing with his paws and nails and stopping him from bighting me whilst playing with them, as soon as I touch them now he instantly has a nip.....I will give it a few days and try and finish the job, it doesnt help that i fuss a bit trying to make sure i dont hurt him.......same problem with ear cleaning which he needs regularly, he lets me play with his ears, and have a poke around in them but as soon as he sees the drops he starts his nipping.....I assume i am doing the right thing getting him use to it but he still has a bit of a spaz attack as soon as its the real thing......any suggestions or am i on the right track? Thanks again.

OMG rotflmho.....that is the funniest thing, and I loved the creative crime report.....have you ever considered writing (fantasy) crime stories for a living. LOL

Billy is nearly 5 mths, he has a lot of tooth action happening, some falling out and lots seem to be comming through, cant get over how quick they sprout. It all looks OK (for what I would know), but we have noticed a little bit of blood on his chew toys, I am assuming this is normal? I have been giving him his normal lunch frozen, also ice cubes and frozen stock water during the day (and in the heat) and he usually has a good bone going to chew on also. Anyways, he has started nipping at us again, I am assuming he is wanting to test out some of his new teeth, or do they sometimes regress a bit on the biting and we have to start all over again with the yelping and dicipline associated with it? At the moment a very firm NO is working but he seems more determined this time around to get a good grip, and usually has a couple of goes before he stops, even when given a diversion toy to chew on he will still try and have a go at us first.

a game of hide and seek is good, position yourselves hidden around the house or yard, one person calls him and when he finds that person he gets the treat, our pup loves it and will play for ages going from one person to the next, he only gets the treat from whoever calls him,if he goes to the wrong person, no treat, and it has helped with getting him to come more often in a normal situation as he thinks it is a game.

Our 4.5 mth old does the same thing, running around in circles and diving at your feet, its very hard to turn the other way when he does that, and he has had me "trapped under the clothesline"a few times LOL We have started good brisk 20 minue walks every morning, and I cant tell you what a difference it has made to his behaviour during the day, it took us a while to get the whole walking thing really happening due to some fear issues, but i am stunned at the difference it has made to him during the day. When he does get in that running around crazy mood, he either goes outside, or if already out there we come inside and leave him to settle for a little while before going out again, but it has decreased a lot in the last week or so. For what my humble opinion is worth i would never play along, yeah we thought it was funny at the very beginning, but he is a crazy little fellow when hyped up like that and he drew blood a few times and that was it, not funny anymore. LOL

In my vast experience with these things.....nah....just kidding, although our pup is a germshep x cattle so add circling around and around to the biting of the shoes and pants and OMG its hard to stop it or get out of his way. LOL. Billy loves my dressing gown of a morning he is out of control biting and tugging on me, and running around and around me in between biting. In all seriousness what we have found helps is the water spray bottle, a good fast spray whilst telling him to STOP, it usually does the trick if he sees the bottle now he tries very hard to behave himself. Have you tried the water spray for anyother dicipline? Its a good technique, especially for biting and tugging because really the only other way we found to stop him once he gets going is to physically use your hands to remove him from your clothes or shoes, and then you can have the double whammy of them nipping at your hand cause they think you are playing their game. You can also use the sit command and get them to sit as soon as they start the bad behaviour, with billy we have to give that command quite early as he soon gets outof control excited once he gets hold of something and he wont sit, he wants to play tug......does your pup sit yet? Distraction with another toy can also work, but I have found that once he sets his heart on our shoelaces or pants nothing will stop him form his true mission. Well I am sure others will be along shortly with some suggestions, but these things have worked for us, just be prepared, dont find yourself at their mercey and the spray bottle on the kitchen table out of your reach. LOL.

Hey everyone just a quick update, 1st off K9 I only saw your post today so it was too late for me to consider your recommendation....but not to worry hopefully no damage done. Well i just basicly sat in the front yard with him on leash for a few days and let him dictate how far he wanted to go, and he is a fair bit improved, cars going past he is interested but no longer shaking and freezing, other dogs barking, well again he is a bit cautious but no shaking and freezing. People in the street, all the neighbours came out to say hello at some stage, now he is sooooo excited to see them, jumps about crazy and happy, so no fear there now. Another dog walking on leash past, well he wanted to go and say hi, crazy with excitement again but i kept him away as the owner said her dog was not too friendly with little tykes. Yesterday we got to the end of the street, and a dog was barking crazy, he coped ok and today when we got there and the dog wasnt barking he went up to the fence with his tail wagging and ears up looking for the dog, it was nowhere to be seen but geez he must have a good memory. So we will continue to take it slow and i suspect my next question will be how do I stop him being so excited and uncontrollable when out walking??????LOL> Ps I am thinking of getting a halti to walk him in as he pulls like crazy , forward, back sideways, and i am worried about hurting his neck/throat. I think I will ask the question in the training section? Thanks

I just assumed that they wouldnt get it, you learn something every day! Good explanation that it is like humans getting the flu vaccinations. Thanks Bea.

awww what a cute pic, they have the same colour hair!! I didnt know they could get it after vaccination against it, what is the point of vacs then? Do they get a milder dose of the illness if vaccinated???

Hi bigbug, how old is your puppy? When he walks away/ignores you does he look scared or just uninterested? Does he have a fave chew toy that he will chew while you pat him, do you play games with him, do you ever try holding a treat in your hand and calling him, trust me if you do that enough he will start paying you lots of attention. Give a bit more info i am new here too and the lovely people here have given me lots of help, even just surfing through all the other threads i have learnt so much.

wow, thankyou all for the suggestions. I feel a bit more confident now. Tangerinedream what you said about not getting him to sit or give him treats makes a lot of sense when put that way, at the time i was just at such a loss what to do and i was trying to show him i was there and in control and all was good, i will avoid doing that again and leave out all the obedience stuff for now. He wouldnt take the treat anyway, which really hammered home how scared he was, so hopefully not too much damage done. We were just so excited about getting him out and about, we will back off a bit. He is such a complicated little thing, wanting to rule the roost one minute, confident and a bit over cocky, and being a littly scaredy cat the next, i really just assumed that he would bound out into the world and say look out here i come, make way everybody. LOL You learn something everyday with a pup around. :D

ok I will take it back a step or two, sitting in the front yard on leash for a bit might be a better idea, maybe i could do his leash training in the front yard instead of the back yard after he feels a bit more settled. Poor little fella he has looked so sad since his little excursion. Its funny because when we attended puppy school he just showed no fear of anything, even being outside the vets office waiting to go into puppy school with traffic zooming past he was fine....just excited, oh well wish i could read his little mind. Thanks for the comments so far.

Has he been training on a leash? Has he been socialised before now? Lots of people, car rides, puppy kindergarten etc. ? Yes puppy presechool Yes car rides Yes lots of people, familly of 5 here and has taken to visitors well after an initially very excited few minutes And yes to backyard leash training (with mixed results using treats to get him to heal and listen), but he doesnt mind having the leash on at all. It seems like everything went out the window. He is a very easily excitable little fellow, his breed is a mixed bag of germshep x cattle dog x who knows. we got him at 9 weeks from RSPCA. I am most concerned about his fear and how to help him overcome this as if we can get past the fear I am fairly confident I can handle the other issues of lead pulling etc.

Oops sorry 3.5 mths

OMG you guys are horrible and yet sooo funny! :D

Well the day finally arrived, all vacs done and waited the apropriate time period and off we went for walk. He was scared witless the whole way of everything. Tale between his legs, hair up on his back. Is this normal for 1st time? At puppy school he was lord of the dogs, no fear at all. I had been practicing heel in the back yard on his leash, he was doing sort of ok with that in the back yard but will give up easily and lose interest and just want the food reward, but out in the big yonder he showed nearly zero interest in any food treat, and i had zero control,i even held a treat right up to his mouth and he wouldnt even eat it, didnt even sniff it just kept looking around, normally he will do ANYHING for treats. So a dog barked, he ran the other direction, i got him to sit, said good boy and then got him to continue on, a car went past and he froze, tail between his legs, again got him to sit with some encouragement and wouldnt take treat so called him to continue on, with much encouragement he continued, antoher dog barked and his hair was up on his back and tail between his legs and shaking, at this stage I just encouraged him as best I could, didnt baby him, gave him a quick pat and kept encourageing him. We only walked for about 10 minues, just around the block. When we met someone i knew along the way he went absolutely crazy jumping all over them and going nuts with excitement, and I had no control at all, then he went back to being petrified once we started out again. Getting him to heal was the last thing on my mind at this stage, and when he was walking he was pulling and sitting and stopping and starting, what a disaster. I thought we had done some good leash work preperation and expected pulling etc but the fear i was not expecting. I tried turning and walking in the other direction everytime he pulled but (becasue he would normally listend to me if i had a treat, but he didnt give a rats) i got tangled up a zillion times and just confused him more. It was quite hillarious to watch and I am sure all the neighbours enjoyed the show LOL. I am afraid that he will be scared all the time now. HELP. What should i do in this situation, continue on tomorrow or try a whole new approach, or carry on as today and it should get better. Maybe others could share if they had similar experiences on their first walks with puppy. I am not sure what to do from here.

aww poor thing...our pup had his vac's and nose drops last week, all good though. Please report back how she goes. awww.

1st question Our 3mth germ shep x cattle has his last vaccination in 2 days, is it like when kids have thier vacs, could the pup feel off at all or will there be no side effects? (Also going to get the vet to clip his nails, I just cant get up the courage to try it) 2nd question Excited that we can walk him in the big wide world soon, but how far/long can we walk him for at first, I have been reading that pups shouldnt be over exersiced, bearing in mind that this is one active puppy we dont want to over do it, but i suspect walking Billy will soon become very popular in our house and I dont want to "over exercise" him and do damage, but I do want to make sure he gets lots of exercise to wear off some of his energy. 3rd question I have been practicing in the back yard walking on lead, he takes to the lead fine no probs with just the occasional little hissy fit wanting to run in the other directin, but, trying to get him to walk beside me, aaagghhh, tried holding a treat in my left hand to keep him in position, but, he jumps at it constantly, if i move it to my right hand he runs around me in circles to get it, when he jumps i stop and tell him to sit (with no treat) and we start again, but i dont feel i am getting anywhere, and thats just in the back yard with no distractions. I have also tried getting him to walk beside me without a lead with similar results ie jumping and running around me in circles.

Geez guys thanks sooo much for all of your usefull comments. I have read them over a few times and i am feeling a bit more confident we can get on top of the door rushing behaviour. Continuity is a bit of a problem here with 5 eager puppy lovers, so i see we must all continue to try and be consistant. That TOT, I read that the other day and thought it very interesting, I have printed it out and will deffinately give it some thought, I never really thought about the dog looking at you in that way. I am so out of the dog loop with these things but it is lots of fun learning. We have not had a dog in about 7 years, and even the dogs we had as kids were never trained to do anything much, just showered with love and bad behaviour tollerated, I am sure this is going to be a much better way to go for us and for him. We intend to do some further training classes with him when puppy school is over and setting up a little course for him in the back yard sounds like a fantastic idea!!!!! (now I am off to read all I can on further training). Well he is having a bath as we speak, I am trying to stay away as the kids (teenagers) are having a ball with him, they decided he was smelly, but i think they just wanted an excuse to pamper him, he's not barking, and all I can hear is "you are so good, you are so cute, you are so wet, good boy, good boy. Its a shame i will have to clean up the mess in the laundry afterwards. LOL. Thanks again, and I am sure I will have more questions to come at some stage.