Naughty and not listening

[frater5]

Hi

Am sure most of you have been through this stage  , devil dog .

Our May is just over 6 months , I am at home most of the time and 70% of the time
she is a normal puppy with normal puppy behaviour but then

she turns into a monster , she terrorises the cat who doesnt have the intelligence unfortunately
to stay out of the way so chaos reigns .
She guards her chews , running up and down barking at every one and of course she bites , she has never
been allowed to get away with the biting but now of course it hurts .

Any expert advice would be gratefully received .

[Murphys Law]

Murphy was the puppy from hell until we realised that he was over tired (he just wouldn't have a sleep)
We started giving him enforced time outs in his crate where he would fall asleep in minutes. This helped tremendously with his erratic behaviour.

[PennyB]

Its not really nortiness to be honest, she's still learning and as she gets older is pushing boundaries like any young animal (or human) - as she gets older she's also getting more confidence - be patient she's hitting her teens

Best way through the next 18 months or so is to carry on - do lots of short training exercises with her (anything really that will increase your bond with her so she listens) - it won't happen overnight, which is why it needs patience

Like any teenager she doesn't always want to listen to sense and like any teenager thinks they know best, pushing away from you wanting to do things her way - training exercises help re-focus her on you

PS: the other 'monster' behaviour is quite normal for a youngster but its behaviour that's not acceptable and needs addressing

[GeoW]

I looked back to see how William was at that age, and you may feel it all looks familiar.

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=98001.msg1446047#msg1446047

My wife reckoned she suffered  from Post puppy depression, the cocker equivalent to PND.

I hasten to add that Wills has developed into a great companion dog.

[Redked]

I looked back to see how William was at that age, and you may feel it all looks familiar.

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=98001.msg1446047#msg1446047

My wife reckoned she suffered  from Post puppy depression, the cocker equivalent to PND.

I hasten to add that Wills has developed into a great companion dog.

Totally agree with this. The post puppy depression I definitely relate to! But we now have a gorgeous, loving and (mostly) well behaved little lady who was worth it all. We very often now get people stop us to say what a beautifully well behaved dog she is....she makes us very proud but sometimes we do wonder how we got through it 

Just keep up with the training, fun games to occupy the mind and lots of patience and you will get there xx

[frater5]

I know what you mean , cocker puppies are definitely a challenge but
also lovely at the same time .
Our madam is very spoilt .

My new regime is that I put a lead on her when we have visitors who are not partial
to having a dog sit on their head and chewing on their ears

We didnt crate train so am working on time out , we do have baby gates to protect
the cat , so here's hoping

[Koslg]

Hope it's going well. We have Humbug nap times afte lunch - made him stay on the sofa for a nap. Still does at 4. 

[MIN]

sound to me like you have got yourselves a cocker spaniel puppy 

[its.sme]

Keep calm and carry on

I remember talking to my girls breeder about this issue, she learnt her name and other words like sit very quickly, could she learn the word NO  ,

It will get better, be consistent and make sure they have plenty to keep there minds active, plenty of walks ( 5 min rule ) etc and possibly most important is sleep.

A over tired dog is not much fun and nether is a bored one    

[frater5]

Thank you for your replies , she is currently standing on my
shoulders as i write this .

When we are home alone she is very good but the minute any one
else comes in especially people she doesn't see very often she becomes
a lunatic , we get super zoomies and it doesn't matter who or what is in the way.

Obviously not everyone appreciates this  so I do put her on the lead if neccessary .

The issue that i can't make any progress with is when we come in , she goes potty jumping up
and it takes a while to get her to calm down , it doesn't matter if you have been out 10 min or 2 hours
she reacts the same way .

I really need to find a way to calm her down as Christmas is busy in our house , so it's gonna be extra
fun this year.

[LurcherGirl]

Sounds just like a normal puppy that needs to learn some manners and self-control - like they all do at that age. 

Are you going to puppy classes? We teach various bits and pieces which helps with these things in our classes, e.g. how to greet nicely, how to teach self-control etc.

And yes, owners (especially in busy house holds) sometimes forget that a puppy still needs quite a bit of sleep. I would definitely make sure that she gets a good nap a couple of times a day. I used to crate my pups for about an hour or so after each meal so they never got overtired.

Many puppies will get the zoomies in the evening even if they are not over tired. The easiest thing to do is anticipate it (is it always at around the same time?) and either settle her in her crate for a little while before it starts, or preferable give her something to do instead. This can either be a bit of training, search games or interactive toys like a stuffed kong for example. Perhaps the evening meal could be fed from a stuffed frozen kong instead of a bowl, this will use up some time, tire him out mentally and physically and he gets a whole lot of chewing a licking done which puppies like to do and which is calming in itself. 

[frater5]

Hi

Some good ideas there .

We do try to get her to rest but she is one determined miss but as I have mentioned if i feel that she
really needs to stop i do sit with her on her lead , I have never crate trained any of our dogs , its just not
for me but i do know other people get on great with it .

We did go training classes but I didnt like the methods used , training sprays & rattle tins .
She will learn , we just need a lot of patience and a sense of humour .

[LurcherGirl]

Shame about the training methods in those classes, especially in puppy classes. 

[Patp]

Hang on in there!

The only thing I would try is putting up a baby gate so that she learns that if she races around when you have a visitor, she has to go the other side of the gate.

The other thing I would do is get a small mat or blanket that she sits on next to you (you will need to use a lead at first) and perhaps she could have a special chew or kong filled with treats?  Also useful if you take her to the pub etc 

Wait for her to be sitting calmly before she gets the prize.

[frater5]

Baby gates are in place . We have one on the kitchen to save the cat who
she thinks is a toy and one on the front room .
I do use the front room one to seperate her when she is being extra naughty
but as it then blocks access to garden door i dont use it for long .
Will persevere , patience is a virtue