Jekyll and Hyde

[Murphys Law]

Murphy is just over 5 months now and turning into a lovely dog.

However, for one hour every evening he turns into a devil dog. At around 7pm it is like a switch has been thrown and Murphy goes on the rampage. Shoes, pants, tops are all targeted. He also tears around the house jumping onto chairs and trying to destroy all the cushions. Then he will fly around the garden at top speed for about ten laps (I don't mind this bit)

Then, at about 8pm, the switch is thrown again and Murphy either crashes out or just returns to being a normal well behaved dog.

Is this normal and is it just a case of battening down the hatches, grin and bare it until he grows out of it?

Please tell me he will grow out of it 

[JennyBee]

Yep, it's the mad half hour/hour . Brodie used to go crazy at 8pm every evening when she was younger, including doing the Wall Of Death round and round the living room . She doesn't do it so much now, but 8pm is still our main playtime and she still gets quite excited then.

[JamiesGirl]

Yep its normal  my 8 year old puppy has play time when OH gets back from work and then i wonder why i bothered tidying the front room as his toys get strewn everywhere and the sofa cushions end up on the floor. I'm sure next door must think we're so noisy as Jamie is very vocal during playtimes now 

If OH is late home Jamie turns into a whining machine  and proceeds to run all around the house looking for Gaz 

[Murphys Law]

I don't mind the tearing around the house bit but the biting, which has pretty much stopped at any other time of the day, wears me down in the evenings. To me it is almost as if he is doing it on purpose to get a reaction.

[JamiesGirl]

I don't mind the tearing around the house bit but the biting, which has pretty much stopped at any other time of the day, wears me down in the evenings. To me it is almost as if he is doing it on purpose to get a reaction.

could it be that he is over tired? and this last burst of energy is a bit of frustration? do you have a crate or cage you can put him in so that he settles, you might then find he goes to sleep rather than being able to bite you

[Murphys Law]

Yeah, we use a crate.
Will try it tonight but he doesn't like being left in it if he knows we are in another room.

[Murphys Law]

We thought it might be over tiredness because he won't sleep in the day unless everybody in the house are also settled which is very rare in our house.

But we tried altering when and for how long his walks are and it seemed to be working but the last few days have been back to normal.