Tips for enjoying our puppy-behaviour problems

PuppyLove

We got our cocker/beagle puppy from our local rescue 5 months ago. She was 8 weeks old and unfortunately had not been well looked after before being left in the shelter, she was very under nourished, a very bad ear infection and severe mites etc. After alot of Vet visits and TLC she is now a hardy little lady but has a few behaviour issues still that I seems to be hitting a wall with so hopefully someone here might have a few tips that will help us along.

Walking: She is a real puller when it comes to walks, her main problem is her nose is in the ground the whole time sniffing out everything and anything and when she gets a scent she likes she's off like a shot dragging me behind her, she currently weights 14kg so she is pulling about 5 times her own weight so that can't be good for her. We've tried her on a harness and while it stops the choking sounds from her it gives her even more freedom to sniff her way along. Following on from training classes we are now using a halti and while it has helped me immensly in controlling her it does tend to ride up around her eye so I don't think it's a long term solution, I have also bought an easy leader which seems to be more padded but even the small size is too big around her face.

Jumping Up: Again another issue we have is that once you greet her or when she's let in the house she's jumping up into your face or her paws up on the counter top etc. She spends alot of her time on just her hind paws. I have tried bending down to her level but when I do she tends to nip on my face or if I ignore her when I go out to her she jumps up and nips at my arms to play with her but she is marking my arms and this week left marks on my face. I don't believe any of this is done to hurt me it's probably more excitement but it's not acceptable behaviour especially when you have visitors and she's jumping on the couch across their heads. She is sleeps indoors at night but spends most of the day outside unless the weather is bad then we tend to bring her in more often.

Chewing: She has chewed through almost every toy that we have bought for her, she is constantly chewing the pebble dash off of the outside wall and anything else she can find that will fit in her mouth and if you try take it off of her she will swallow it. She has no interest in the KONG toys, maybe because she can't tear them assunder as easily as the others.


She's a lovely little pet and we adore her but there is no way you could leave her uncrated with anyone in the same room and she would be up in their face trying to get at their ears and hair and there is no way you could try sit and eat anything in the same room as her or she's jump straight for it. I want as a family for us to be able to take her out for walks and for it to be enjoyable for us all and for it to be a positive experience for us all.

I would welcome any feedback or recommendations or comments on any aspects of the leash walking, jumping or chewing. Oh and she is Royal Canin Sensitive Control Dog food, just incase it may be a contributing factor and has been spayed. Thanks in anticipation.

mymo

She's still a pup and it will get better, but you will need a lot of work and patience.

When you come in the house ignore her until she calms down, get on with taking off your coat, shoes, etc, even go put the kettle on or something. When she is calm (if she is calm, if not wait for the first mad rush to wear off, then make her sit quietly), then say hello calmly, if you show excitement she will get worse.

For the jumping, I was told years ago that when you see the jump coming, raise your knee to deflect it, pushing the dog aside, then praise when all four feet are on the ground(calmly again, just a pat and good dog). The aim is not to hit the dog with your knee or hurt her, just to deflect the jump and put her off balance so she will go back to all fours.

Keep up the training classes, they will help.

For chewing I get nylabones or astrobones, pet mania sell them, they are hard but can be chewed, just get bigger ones if she's a serious chewer, less chance of her devouring chunks.
Do you stuff the kongs? I stuff them and freeze them, when the dogs were teething I didn't feed breakfast, just gave them stuffed, frozen kongs instead.

Royal canin is a good food, I feed both mine on it, but it could be affecting your dog, every dog is different. Maybe try another food for a few weeks(at least 8-10 weeks to see results), possibly a lower protein.

Does she get enough exercise?
Cocker and beagle are two seriously energetic breeds(I've had a cocker, mad but lovely), the pent up energy can come out as the crazy jumping behavior.


Just seen you say as a family, do you have kids?
If so its vital that they learn the rules too, and make it a game of who can get her to sit and be calm. Teach them to be calm around her too, she will pick up on it.
Kids get a great sense of achievement from training a dog, I know my girl loves it, even has the dogs jumping through a hula hoop, and doing tricks.

Cherry Blossom

My dog was litterally bouncing off the walls on Royal Canin :rolleyes: She is doing a lot better on Hill's but I'm still not completely happy with it, she'll be getting spayed in a few weeks time and I'm going to try one of the Burns adult foods once she is over her op, she'll still be only 6 months old but I don't think puppy food is doing her any good. I found a good way of keeping her from bouncing all over visitors is to give her a piece of pigs ear as soon as they come in and this keeps her distracted long enough for the novelty of the visitor to wear off. She is improving all the time and has been a lot better since she got all her teeth. Good luck with it, you will find the dog gets better as she gets a bit older and the worst of it should be behind you at this stage, I would try a different food though as this is what has made the biggest difference in my pup.

PuppyLove

Thanks guys will put some of those suggestions into action, have bought up the nylabones, she finds them boring so far because she can't chew bits off of them, she loves the peanut butter in her kong so that keeps her occupied.

The jumping is still an issue although I've tried the knee thing she thinks its a game and has taken to jumping up more to get a reaction.

Would love to give her more exercise than she just drags me along it's too stressful for us all, I was at our local pet store today and they suggested the Petsafe Trainer Collar as an alternative to buying a selection of head collars and harnesses, anyone any feedback on them?

Thanks again for the advice.

mymo

I just looked the collars up, there's a lot of threads on here about different types of these collars. If you take a look you should find some info.
There are people that swear by them and others hate them and think they should be banned.
Personally I don't like them, you are basically hurting the dog (its an electric shock, that will hurt otherwise it would get a reaction from the dog)when it does wrong, you may as well be hitting it. I know there are extreme circumstances where they may be a last option, but I don't think I could use one.
How are the training classes going?
Does the trainer have any advice?
Have you tried getting a trainer to call to the house?
And lastly, is there any place you could bring her in the car maybe, and let her off the lead to run off some energy?
Please remember that 7 months she's still a pup.

Wolfe Tone

Choke Chain works well, unless your dog is a silly billy and will choke himself anyways.

shelly_g

Hi

Have you looked Dogmatic head collar for walking ... i have a very stubborn strong Golden Retriever that I couldnt walk ... we are using a dogmatic now and his head is up and he is walking beside me ....he gets his time to sniff and than its back to head up .... go have a look at them they are great ...

http://www.dogmatic.org.uk/

the halti is a cheaper version and might be a good start but the Dogmatic is a better fit and very good quality

As for the jumping ...you should totally ignore the dog when she jumps .... you only encourage her if you tell her to get down or put your hands up to stop her ... Stand still and cross your arms and turn away from her ...once she settles give her lots of praise ..be patient she will soon cop on

as for visitors - tell all people incl yourself that on entering the house the dog does not get their or your immediate attention ...... i leave a bucket of treats at my back door and get certain visitors to treat him when he is settled and behaving ....

My fella will chew everything too ...i got all hard wearing rubber toys and they have survived ...anything cloth or rope like is a waste of time .... he also has a Kong and tbh his favourite toy is a stone :rolleyes:

When you catch her chewing on somit she shouldn try to distract her to somit she should be chewing on ... Kongs are fantastic and my guy loves his with peanut Butter or even lumps of carrot .... a bored doggie is a naughty doggie ...

be very patient ...my fella is no angel and we are constantly reinforcing the above with him

sorry for the long post but i hope it helps ... i had alot to learn when I got my doggie ....

Graces7

A wonderful and effective aid is a garden "mister" spray bottle.. in the face when there is need. Soon all you have to do is pick up the bottle.. worked with the collie here...

PuppyLove

Thanks for all the replies, don't know what I'm doing wrong but I keep loosing my post after typing it up so I'l do a quick reply incase it happens again.

Delighted that the Dogmatic was recommended I had read alot of positive reviews about it but given I have spent so much on all the others I was apprehensive of forking more money out for something that didn't work. Our puppy loves chewing the stones too, I clear the patio every evening and the following day she has another patch of grass dug up and a new collection of 10 or so stones on the patio, all about the size of a 2 euro coin.

The dog lessons have finsihed up until after xmas, she was the same at the lessons and that is why the trainer recommended the halti but once the halti was on she pretty much did not move at the training, the trainer recommend persevering with it hoping it would get better.

Have used the spray bottle at her, it worked for all of a month, now when we pick it up she tries to lick it, however if a visitor to the house holds it in their hand it seems to stop her from jumping.

Having read up on the Safepet Trainer I don't think it's for me, I love her too much to be shocking her as much as her behaviour frustrates me, it is something I will keep as a last resort. I think I'l order the dogmatic and in the mean time just bring her to the park and let her run, I have a long lead rope and that allows her a good bit of freedom, unfortunately if I was to let her off I'd say she'd never come back, she's a bit like a toddler,the more you call her the more she runs the opposite direction and I would die if she went missing.

Thanks again for all the replies, it has helped me understand that this is fairly normal, sometimes I forget she's so young. Have a feeling it's going to take time and alot of patience but it will be worth it.

Cherry Blossom

Whereabouts are you OP? Some parks have an enclosed area you can let your dog run loose in without the worry of them disappearing off into the sunset :rolleyes:

LucyBliss

We have a two year old dog who will jump up like a lunatic when you come in. I ignore her when I come in and gradually she calms down. I use the water spray bottle and when she sees it, she immediately stops the jumping. She is extremely tenacious and will hassle people when they come in if allowed. The keyword is persistence. It can seem like it's sucking all the fun out of having a dog but it's very worth it. My other dog used to pull constantly on the lead, I absolutely hated walking him because it was like a battle royale. But I stuck with it and decided to work harder on just enjoying it and he has calmed down immensely. I use the slip leads that fit just under their chin so it's like you're leading them at a show. It was recommended by a friend who did it with her German Shepherd pup and it worked a treat. It took some practise but he's a great walker now.

Oh, and as regards the Nylabones, my three love them. In fact, I found two under the couch the other day that were bitten down to sharp points. It was like they were making themselves a shank! Those bones got binned and I'll replace them later in the week.

Best of luck with the dog training. Beagles are great for using their noses though. At the very worst, maybe you can train her to find missing keys or something! ;-)

PuppyLove

Adrenalin Junkie we live half ways between Kilkenny and Waterford, we usually travel into the Kilkenny Park on the Castle grounds, it's fairly big in acres but alot of people walk their dogs there, it's surrounded by a wooded area so would have no chance in finding her if she got off on us. The other one is the people's park in Waterford but there's alot of children around there so it's not really suitable and again we could drive out to tramore for the beach but she'd still need to be leashed, maybe it's time to start doing a bit of local research to see if there is somewhere that's fairly much enclosed.

Lucybliss I think you may be spot on about going on the walks, I'm so worked up before we even go because she's springing around it's hard to get anything attached to her collar that she picks up on it and ends up as wound up as me,which believe me is not a good thing.

Again thank you all for your advice it's given me great ideas to try out so hopefully will aid us all.:)