Unruly Pup HELP!!

[bailey rules]

Hi all
We have had Bailey for 7 weeks now and he is now 3months and 3weeks old he have managed to teach him
sit,stay and he is house broken but he is getting very unruly by ripping up the kitchen tiles, biting hard and genreally
not taking a telling from me or my mum we have tried everything from time outs in the kitchen, ignoring him and shouting
at him he has lots of toys and goes on long walks but he never tires so we can never get a minute. We just don't know what to do anymore please help.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

thanx Nathan

[Joules]

Get a crate!  Honestly, they are a life saver and mean that you can get a bit of peace knowing he is not destroying the house or coming to harm.  If you do a search, there is lots of advice on here about crate training - if he is only 15 weeks he should adapt to it no problem.  Sounds as if you are doing pretty well generally if he is house trained already - he must be a clever boy.  Is he getting bored do you think?  If so you could try some interactive toys eg Kongs, treat ball or cube, even treats tucked into a toilet roll tube - anything that makes him think and work things out will tire him out as much as walks and it will keep him busy too! 

[dood]

I am NO expert but simply from what I've read on here -don't take him for walks that are too long -he's only little.
As everyone on here will tell you 5 minutes walk per month so he should be having 20 mins at the most but perhaps 3 or 4 of them. Could he be like my children used to get, overtired and bloomin' horrible!

I'm sure someone much more experienced will come along soon and give you proper advice!!
Good luck hope it improves.

[Joules]

I am NO expert but simply from what I've read on here -don't take him for walks that are too long -he's only little.
As everyone on here will tell you 5 minutes walk per month so he should be having 20 mins at the most but perhaps 3 or 4 of them. Could he be like my children used to get, overtired and bloomin' horrible!

I think this is a good point - he could well be overtired.  Pups will just go and go - they do not understand when they have had enough!  Maybe he needs more calm, quiet playtime at home then he will settle down and be less hyper in the house 

[Cob-Web]

Hi all
We have had Bailey for 7 weeks now and he is now 3months and 3weeks old he have managed to teach him
sit,stay and he is house broken but he is getting very unruly by ripping up the kitchen tiles, biting hard and genreally
not taking a telling from me or my mum we have tried everything from time outs in the kitchen, ignoring him and shouting
at him he has lots of toys and goes on long walks but he never tires so we can never get a minute. We just don't know what to do anymore please help.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

thanx Nathan

Young pups can be a huge shock to the system - especially as when they first come home, they can be really sleepy and/or overwhelmed, and it can take a few weeks for their true personality to show through   
He's not being deliberately unruly - he's just being a puppy 

Please don't shout at him - he is only a baby, and chewing (tiles, hands, toes, trousers) is a natural puppy behaviour  At this age ,you can expect him to forget what he learnt yesterday - and never assume he is trained; keep reinforcing the training, every day 

Young puppies shouldn't be exercised for too long - it can damage their joints and cause problems in later life - the recommendation if 5 minutes for each month of his life, twice or three times a day    You can do other things to tire him out though - training, hide a seek, or pop a bit of his food into a plastic bottle and watch him chase it around 

I agree with the idea of a crate or playpen - when you can't be with him to closely supervise, make sure he has toileted and tempt him in with a treat or toy - make it a fun safe place for him to go 

[James]

Another vote for the crate it calms stella sown a lot when she's got over exited also she used to chew on the seats, one broke (not her fault lol) so we kept two of the legs and she chews on them it stopped her chewing on the furniture and she berly *sp* chews the bit she's allowed to either now. good luck  

[scooby's mum]

Bailey is a similar age to Misty and tbh she's a dream compared to how Scooby was at this age.  I only have to reprimand her occasionally, I just use a firm "no" and place a toy in her mouth instead, it seems to have worked cause she very rarely playbites us now 

However, Scooby was a different matter altogether, he used to hang of the bottom of trousers and continually playbite everything and anything.  It was very stressful but he soon grew out of it, so don't worry - this is normal puppy behaviour 

Like the others have said, shouting at him won't help, and I found the "time out" method no use either.

Just to reassure you, when Scooby was a pup he completely ripped up the kitchen floor lino (so consequently we have had Amtico fitted as it's indestructible), chewed on all the skirting boards, and chewed all the breakfast bar chairs.

Does he only behave like this when left alone, or is it all the time?

[Tasha]

try kongs and ice cubes, you can also use chew toys and insides of loo rolls... under 6 months your puppy will be teething.  The biting and ripping things up should stop around then but some do make it into a habit.

General rule of thumb regarding walks is 5 minutes four times a day, increasing in increments of an extra 5 minutes per session with each month of age till they reach an age where their bone growth is settled usually around 18 months for larger breeds not sure for small breeds like the cockers.

[clairep4]

We have Zorro who is coming up to 5 months and definitely has his Dennis the Menace couple of hours each day (thankfully Bella takes the brunt of it for us, she is a patient little soul!  ). But we have noticed that he is far worse when he has been overstimulated, eg has had a new and exciting experience or is just over tired - he will then not settle down at all and goes on all evening. If he's being too much we stick him in the kitchen with a chew but other than that, once we've played with him or done a bit of training, if he still harrasses us he gets ignored as he needs to learn to settle down.

Bella was just full-on all the time, hanging off our trouserlegs, loads of mouthing and always wanting to be busy, I'm trying to remember what we did with her but I think it was just lots of playing and training - esp training as it used to tire her out with all the brainpower involved (she really, really concentrates!).

I think playpens are great, we used one for both of ours when there were a bit younger and it helped a lot. Zorro's a bit big to go in one now so he gets put in the kitchen with a chew or kong if he's being too much.

So basically I think you need to do little playing sessions, training sessions and get a playpen and put him in there with a nice chew to keep him busy, and really praise him for lying down chewing something he's supposed to.

Also with the reprimanding, we've found with both ours that shouting just excites them more, they respond much more to a stony look and a low, grumbly, very firm "Nooooo". Zorro is a fiend for jumping up at the moment (on us, on the sofas, you name it) so he gets told "Nooooo" and then "Floor" (which means all 4 feet on the floor) and then praised as soon as he does what we've asked. Also try anticipating his moves, so if he's about to go and chew something he shouldn't, do a sharp "AH-Ah" and quickly give him something he IS allowed to chew.

Other than that, you just have to ride it out I'm afraid...

[Krisdt]

Loki went through this when he started teething but he is calming down alot now (still have the odd hyperactive spat) but he is not 6 months yet. He knows what he can/not chew on and will try and sneak a sly chew when he thinks he is being ignored. We built up our walks and he has 2-3 25 minute walks aswell as several quick loo break walks (max 5 mins) we also play loads of fetch and tuggy wrestling games in the house and I give him loads of thinkgs to keep him occuppied (chews, stuffed kong, loo rolls with treats inside, ice cubes, plastic bottles with treats in etc etc oh and a treat ball) it keeps him happy when I have to do housework etc. I also use a crate especially if I have to go out (no ore than an hour or so) or when I am cleaning out the rat cage.
Just try some of the advice given above and things will get better 

[bailey rules]

thnx for the advice we have got a crate for bailey but he just seems to cry to get out and wont let up until he gets out and thnx fo rthe kong idea i have been at my mum to get him one for ages but she wouldn't get him one until she read it yesterday so thnx but when bailey has eaten all the treats from it he loses interest and goes bak to wat he was before he was playing with it.  He seems to only chew things when we are in the house as even when my mum goes out he goes quiet and goes to sleep alhough he only does this with my mum and when i leave.
thnx for the advice but more would be apprecited

thnx nathan

[PennyB]

Sometimes they need to get used to a crate --- put the kong in there or an item to chew but keep the door open, then when you close it just do it for a short time, and just build up from there. Mine love the crate as its like a den --- it has a blanket over 2/3 of the sides so its quite cosy for them

[dexter and dillon's mum]

Oh no....i walked my boys for an hour and 15 mins today...they too are only 17 weeks old....whoopsss.....won't do it again!!  I wondered why they were sooooooooo hyperactive tonight!!
Naughty mummy.......only 20 minute walks from now on!!

Kongs are fantastic....my two love them, you can get special puppy one where the rubber is especially for teething.  We also bought some teething toys that you put in the freezer to soothe their painful teeth and gums, they love those too.  Its funny because I've noticed that my boys are favouring the softer toys at the moment whereas i thought they would want to chew on hard toys.
I check their teeth everyday to see if more have fallen out!! Only the teeny tiny front ones at the moment but the grown up teeth have replaced the gaps already!! 

[Janice-Dylan]

Hi, Dylan's 16 weeks and I know exactly how you feel. I too made the mistake of over-exercising him in the hope of tiring him, this made him worse.20 mins three times a day-offlead if possible so he can let off steam. I swore I would never have a crate, but after reading all the advice on her I gave in.I use ours differently tho.He loves his crate now, he has free run of the kitchen when we're out, he sleeps in his cage but we never close it unless he's misbehaving as he too whined continuously. The door only gets shut for a minute at a time. Dylan doesn't tend to destroy the house tho, he only bites people- and hard. There's nothing in the kitchen to destroy when we're out. (Pets at home have sprays to stop them chewing things but I don't know anything about them) I've found the best way is not to let him bite at all, even in play- it's too confusing at this age to say he can bite as long as it's not hard. If he bites at all, I get up and walk away. If he then bites my ankles/trousers  I prise his mouth off, saying "Leave it"in a low stern tone, never shouting as it does make things worse. If this doesnt work, I say "Bed" and put him in his cage and lock the door. We usually have to go thru this a good few times before he gets the message. We've had to do this for weeks and it's only just taking effect. Another mistake we made was to keep saying "Well that doesnt work" and try something else. Persevere for weeks with one method, all do the same thing, and he'll eventually get the message. I've started puppy training and I'm training him every day, so I'm finding if he's trained in all these other things (especially the lie-down) he will accept you more and more as boss. Just in the last couple of days "leave it" has started to work, but it must be exactly the right "I mean business" tone, he won't do it for the kids- they havent mastered the tone yet- their voices are  too squeaky! They take the mickey outof my put on deep voice! He gets a treat if he does leave it when told and lots of praise. He is improving extremely slowly, a combination of getting older and being trained I think, but he still has daily "berserk" times when I have to lock him up, but less and less often. Hark at me like I'm the expert! Only been at this a few weeks! Good luck and keep me posted

[PennyB]

He is improving extremely slowly, a combination of getting older and being trained I think, but he still has daily "berserk" times when I have to lock him up, but less and less often. Hark at me like I'm the expert! Only been at this a few weeks! Good luck and keep me posted

Is this 'locking up' meant to be a timeout --- you have to be careful of the pup associating the crate as a punishment (crates should never be used as a punishment --- they should be perceived as safe havens where a pup/dog sleeps or eats a chew/kong in there where they are out of harms way. If a pup requires a timeout then its best to do them in places other than a crate and only for a few moments (you may have to do more than one) then once they have calmed down may be place them in the crate with a toy or chew