Hyperactive/overexcited behaviour

[Carolanne]

It is becoming evident that we are unable to accept invitations to family gatherings anymore with our little five and a half month cocker Henry. When in company of lots of people or if children are present he just goes OTT. He jumps up at people knocking cups or glasses flying out of hands and gets so excited he starts biting/mouthing and trying to bite children's hair. Of course it's not all his fault as the grandchildren scream which makes him worse but they are unable to sit on the floor and play with him as he just goes bonkers. His mouth is permanently open when playing so he catches you on the hand even though he does not mean to.

When at home we are constantly reinforcing the "no biting" and we stop playing if he does not listen but within a few minutes he is doing exactly the same again. Though the biting/mouthing has improved to some extent it shows no signs of stopping. One of my grandchildren is frightened of him which is such a shame as Henry wants to play but the penny has not dropped yet that they don't want to interact with him as he is too boisterous and bitey. So they don't visit us so much.

Next weekend we have been invited to our nephews birthday lunch celebrations but one of us has to stay behind with Henry even though he is welcome to come (it's being held at their home) I know it will be too stressful trying to contain a very exuberant puppy with lots of people present and Henry doing his. 'I'm not listening trick'.

He can be such a lovable and funny little thing but he has always been very challenging and naughty and has caused us stress.

I guess he is still very young so I live in hope he will calm down one day but in the meantime would appreciate advice or to hear from anyone who has experienced similar in their cocker's behaviour. We believe in praise and reward for good behaviour and have been to training classes so at a loss to know how to train him to be less highly strung 

[twiceover2]

Pipa was like this until about the age of 2. She is still excitable but better around children and we find taking a longlasting chew or Kong with us helps her to settle.

[lescef]

Hi. The world is a very exciting place to a puppy and it sounds like Henry is not quite ready to party quietly yet!
Do you have a crate for him that you could take with you? He could then say hello to everyone then go and lie quietly, maybe watching from a distance.
To help him start to settle you could start making him lie by your feet for a short time. Use his lead to keep him in place. Over a period of time he will be able to stay there longer and then will be able to join the party. Good luck!

[Redked]

I haven't got any training tips except to say that Lescef's idea of taking a crate would be my advice too.  I just wanted to say that our granddaughter (Evie) and Bonnie couldn't be in the same room together at that age. Bonnie was so hyper and boisterous she would bite and jump and scare Evie to death. I was gutted as id wanted them to be friends but Evie was just so frightened of her. We had to go out if Evie was staying at ours or I'd be upstairs with her while OH was downstairs with Bonnie. Fast forward a few months (maybe around 6/7 months old) and things did settle to the point where they could be together. There was still the odd incident where Evie would get scratched as Bonnie jumped up but the biting had completely stopped by then so she became less scared. Their relationship then grew so strong, I swear Evie only comes to our house to see Bonnie! They really are best friends now, although Bonnie still gets very excited at first when Evie is here.

Patience and using a crate may be the only option now whilst he is so young but I'm sure it will all calm down naturally anyway as he grows and you will soon be able to go out without worrying about Henry. Plus your grandchildren will love him to bits as well, I'm sure 

[Carolanne]

Hi all and thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I have never crated Henry so that's not an option now but I do take on board what you have all said so thank you for that.

When the grandchildren come here he gets so excited that he scares them (like Redked said) with his jumping up and nipping at faces and hair etc and I think the more they scream, the more he just goes wilder so we usually put him in his pen for awhile until he calms down. He whines about it and barks a bit but then he seems to accept it and when he is let out, is usually a bit calmer. My 5 yr old grandson is desperate to play and stroke him but just can't as Henry's mouth is open in readiness so that results in grandchild jumping on the settee and sitting as high up on the back of the chair as he can get to be out of his way. Its such a shame as you can see that Henry loves them but has not got the maturity yet to be a bit calmer and to keep his mouth closed.

Our 2 year old grandaughter is amazing as he jumps on her to bite her hair if she is sitting on the floor playing and she just covers her face bless her whilst we restrain him. We then have to ask her not to sit on the floor which is ridiculous but necessary when Henry is about. On the other hand, our 7 yr old grandson thinks Henry is great and laughs all the more at his antics and then runs around hoping Henry will chase him so to be fair to Henry, it is not all his fault by a long chalk!

I can understand his excitement with noisy children, but I still do not like the way he never plays with his mouth closed. He sometimes challenges me at home and snarls and snaps at me jumping back and forth if I try to tell him off. I have to put him in the pen on these occasions as it is the only thing that calms him down but must confess I am not a fan of this slightly aggressive trait in him. 
He has to be fair had health issues, ranging from itchy skin and food allergies so its been difficult to get him settled anyway and lots of trips to the vets and my husband and I think the world of him but if he ever bit one of the children....... does not bear thinking about.

Well I guess we just have to hope that in the future both of us and Henry can attend family gatherings without worrying about what Henry will do next

Thanks again everyone for listening to me rambling on.
Anne

[lescef]

I think if he has a pen then you should be able to introduce a crate. Give him a kong or chew to hrlp him get used to it and keep him busy.
We have our grandson one day a week for the whole day. Bramble is a guarder and as dogs don't understand children's movements, the day can be quite stressful! Maddie jumps up and knocks him over and they both want to lick him to death. It is worse becsuse they seem him infrequently, whereas if they lived with young children all the time they would jusr see it as normal.
My two spend a lot of the childminding day in their crates, with chews or kongs. If I take Myles out the dogs get the house to themselves for a while. I decided this was the best approach as it's far less stressful for me and the dogs. I hope as he gets older and not so much at their level we will be able to mix more.

[Koslg]

When Humbug encounters a new strange excitable scenario I usually keep him on a short normal walking lead. We try to go somewhere a bit quieter and then he sort of disks up the excitement and calms down. Often falling asleep! Then we reintegrate but move back if we get too excited. I take a good toy and tasty treats too. Sometimes we go for a walk in the middle to burn energy.

[Joules]

Coco can still be quite excitable around visitors (she is 9  ) and she used to be a bit of a nightmare with children.  Not really surprising that kids can be very exciting to a young dog - the more they scream, run around and wave their arms about, the more excited they will get - this is pretty common tbh.

When my friends bring small kids here, I just tell the kids to stand perfectly still and straight like a soldier and not to look at her.  She very soon loses interest in them.  If you can train small kids to do this, they will eventually learn that it is the best way.  Now when my friend brings her grandson, as soon as he sees her coming towards him, he stands stock still and looks away    It works a treat. 

In the meantime, the only thing you can really do is to keep kids and Henry separate - can you not just take a playpen with you when you go visiting?  Then you can supervise interaction and allow Henry to have time out when necessary. 

[Geordietyke]

I used to take 5/6 panels with me when visiting relatives when I had Odie, my previous cocker.  He hated his crate and preferred his pen so it was easier taking them to keep him calm and secure.  He was always very reactive around my daughters and Archie my current one, is in his terrible teens at present so I'm facing some very stubborn, challenging and naughty behaviour from him.  I've been tying a long line to me and clipping him on it if he goes too far....

[PennyB]

The other alternative is to may be get someone to look in on him throughout the day or may be look after him while you're out

Its not a copout but I worry that you may set him up to fail if he's not happy with the arrangements while you're there and then you spend all your time worrying about him especially as you may only have a few days to put things into practice

[karenl]

Sorry to hear of your problems with your puppy, I just thought back to when our dog Amber was young she was a nightmare around our two little grandchildren ,
I think Amber was really scared of them we used to put her in the kitchen behind a stair gate but if she heard the babies cry or saw them crawling towards her she would go ballistic .
The whole time I was a nervous wreck which didn't help at all.
We decided against stressing the dog any more or frightening the babies of dogs ,to make a run out in the garden Amber could settle and the babies were safe.
Gradually as the children grew we allowed Amber to lay next to grandad when the children came round.
Now the children are four and a half and they throw balls for Amber and she seems to have accepted them , I don't yet trust her fully so don't have her wandering fully around the house when they are here,
We have a nine month old grandchild now and we just don't let Amber in when I look after her,
Amber is five years old now and we have learnt over the years what she is happy with and what upsets her .
Good luck with your puppy !

[Carolanne]

Some good advice especially the idea of taking his pen with us on visits. Thanks everyone.