Time out help needed !!

[Rob an Nik]

Hi all this is our 1st post on one of the main boards after inroducing ouselves last week week on the intro board 

We need some advice on the best approach when Lola has her "crazy time"

She is 12 weeks old so only a baby really and we are not overly concerned but just want to get into good habits with her !! There are so many different styles and conflicting peices of advice and information out there , its mind boggling !!

When Lola decides its "crazy time" she just goes from one naughty place I.E behind the telly to chew wires to another !! like under the dining table to chew the chair legs 

There is no reasoning with her during this time and the "leave it" command that she does now understand has nil effect 

We end up having to remove her from the situation physically to prevent damage or harm to her or our home !! this often involves a chase which we understand is no good either, as she thinks its a game !!

When caught, we crate her for a time out period but as soon as she is locked in she flips out and goes beserk in a major tantrum 

Riving her bed, water bowl and anything else in there to bits and throwing herself at the door whilst screaming and yelping at the top of her lungs for up to half an hour 

This is quite distressing for us and her and also our neighbours !!

Are we doing the right thing by totally ignoring this behaviour ?? we didnt want to go down the aversion route I.E water sprays but we are really struggling with this at the moment !!

She is happy to be shut in her crate now for up to several hours when calm and we didnt want to undo this by her thinking the crate is a bad place where she is locked up for punishment

So confused at the moment 

Rob an Nik

[JennyBee]

Others will help with the timeout part but I suggest you get a houseline to deal with the wire chewing part of things - you can then gently lead her from whatever she's chewing and this will stop the need to chase which will only ramp up her hyper behaviour . As you say, she is still very young and she still will not have the self control to resist temptation, even if she does understand the command. Has she got plenty of things she can chew?

[Rob an Nik]

Thanks Jenny

Yes she has loads of toys of different textures, shapes and sizes !! But its almost like she knows that she will get a response from us by going to those "naughty" places 

Its just hard to leave her when she is destroying the house !!

Overall she is a little star and the obedience training is really good 

We just want to take the right,consistent,approach with her during the more testing times !!

By the way what is a houseline ??

[JennyBee]

Here you go: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Company-Animals-CLIX-Puppy-Training/dp/B003PNRW32/ref=pd_sim_sbs_petsupplies_2

It was a live saver when my girl was a pup - the rug and the coffee table were her main targets . The evenings were always the worst with Brodie, she used to go crazy . We did use timeouts for her but thankfully there was no tantrums about it - I suspect she is probably overtired and doesn't want the fun (for her lol) to end... With care and consistency they do grow out of it, thankfully . Hopefully someone else more experienced on this will have advice for you!

[Rob an Nik]

Ahh got it !!  Just like a long house lead 

Thanks

[GeoW]

We are at this stage now with William, who is eleven weeks of age.

In anticipation of such behaviour we invested in a sturdy play pen as well as a crate. Every time William gets bitey he is removed to the pen in a separate room for a very short time and when quiet is allowed back with us. This is done in a calm and kindly way but is sometimes necessary several times during an evening.

This can be very wearing when you just want to relax; puppies will be puppies but that is no reason to let them get away with anything, and consistency in approach is everything. The idea is that he will associate separation with his actions, and so far there is an improvement when he returns from a time-out, albeit sometimes short lived.

Tonight William has been in attack mode twice (us and the furniture) , but after his second time-out he calmed down for the rest of the evening until he was put in his crate for the night.

This is a phase we all have to go through and my advice would be stick with it, exhausting as that can be, things will get better.

[Rob an Nik]

Thanks for that 

I like the idea of a playpen, maybe in the hallway.

That way we wont have to put up with her loud protests and she wont associate her crate with punishment !!

I will look into it tomorrow

[Karma]

A time-out isn't meant to be a punishment, just an opportunity to calm down (and a brief stop to interaction, which can be reinforcing, even if that interaction is being told to stop something!).

The idea of a houseline is good.... as you really don't want to be in the habit of physically moving your pup (some pups can get resentful of this!)
But pups (and some adult Cockers) do have these manic moments (wall-of-death, as it's commonly referred to!) and need to burn off some steam - could you let her outside to run about, or redirect onto a special tuggy toy??  Once she has learned an acceptable outlet for this pent-up energy, she'll be lesss inclined to attack your wires... 

Your crate shouldn't really be used as a time-out location, as you really want her to have only  positive experiences of her crate.... as a time-out should really only be a few seconds, we found just closing a door between us was sufficient.

[julie1]

Please DON'T use her cage for punishment, that has to be her safe place that she loves 

[rubytuesday007]

Ruby is 11 months old and still has these moments and we were never in a position to shut her in another room, and as others say if you use her crate for this you will stop it from being her safe place.. we have always put ruby in the garden when she was a cockerdile we did it by leading her but if she was just being crazy we called her into the garden stood out there with her and let her go mad... usually in circles on all levels now but as a pup several laps of the garden the occasional leap up at us and she just flaked and now she knows not to go crazy in the house she requests to go outside and then proceeds to be a loony... spring/summer most ideal although when wet this results in a wet mucky pup.. but when faced with house or garden .. garden wins everytime

[Top Barks]

I found a puppy pen to be a god send with my last pup, wasn't used as punishment, just as a place where we could all have a bit of relaxation.

[jessandme]

It might be a good idea to think about 'puppy-proofing' your house - at least, the rooms where Lola has access. 

We blocked off all wires etc when Jess was little, we used sheets of cardboard and also some sheets of that thin insulating stuff that goes under floors - whatever we had available basically.  It made our sitting room look rather odd, but we did not get any wires chewed.  When she was past the chewy stage, we took all the bits of stuff away gradually. 

Something else that might be useful is to use some of that chew deterrent spray on things that really must not be chewed, where you cannot block access.  We found some stuff called Dog Training Spray by Beapharm at Pets at Home, it works well.



 

[Rob an Nik]

thanks for all the advice !!

We have made the living room as puppy proof as far as is practical and have used the repellent spray on our wooden furniture but that doesnt seem to make any difference to Lola 

I guess its just patience, perseverence and keep at the distractions and obedience training to try and keep her occupied

We need to remind ourselves that she is only a wee baby really 

[Jonnydog]

I used a playpen for all mine for time out and for the garden if I needed to restrict them. It's actually a child's playpen from Argos and was a godsend, albeit a short- lived one. It's been well- used though because I've lent it to a couple of folk and it's even had a child in it!