A message of hope

[fatbelly]

Hi , I am posting this as a ray of hope for anyone who is in the midst of bringing up a Pup.

Our Murphy is now 16 months old and mostly behaves like an adult dog but..........
Whatever you are experiencing with your Pup we went through with Murphy, my message is it does get better and whatever he or she is doing will eventually stop.

It took Murphy 5 months before he was clean and dry in the house and now he will go to the back door and whimper if he needs to go. He did start weeing in the house again at the age of 11 months for about 3 weeks , a poster on this forum said at the time that this can happen with an adolescent Pup and it would soon stop and they were right.

The play biting phase drove us to distraction, guests to our home wouldn't let him near them because he just nipped all the time. Yes we followed all the advice off this forum and the book we bought but it didn't stop him. Anyway he stopped play biting at 4 months old almost overnight. And now he is so gentle when we play with him and never play bites.

Chewing things he shouldn't, yes as you can guess Murphy was a chewer extraordinaire, it would take too long to list the things that he has chewed, he does still chew things he shouldn't but it is very rare and when we say no he stops.

Leaving him in the house when we go out is still a problem and we have to put him in his crate, if we don't then he scratches at the door and he has marked our kitchen door when  we 'tried' him the other week so we think he will be in his crate for another few months or so.

Night times  were not at all bad he cried for the first few nights and then he was fine, we did make a bad mistake when he was 6 months old and one night let him sleep in our room, we went to bed early and let him stay with us with the intention of taking him back down about 10pm but didn't. Consequently he does sleep in our bedroom and yes I know it's wrong and yes I know we should stop but  

At about 11 months old he began try to dominate male Pups who were younger than him and he appeared quite aggressive, he would try to pin them down and growl really badly, about one month ago he stopped this and now is almost fine with Male Pups, i say almost because last week he did try to pin a young Pup down but the Pup got out from underneath Murphy and thought it was great game and then Murphy began playing. At the time it was quite worrying, he never did it to female Pups or adult dogs of either gender just Male Pups, we emailed the owners of his brothers and sisters and all the male Pups were doing the same and now they have all stopped it.

So my message is whatever you are going through we and many others have experienced it and it will all stop.

[MolliesMom]

heehee - the joys of owning a cocker puppy ....
mollie sleeps on my bed and i dont think its wrong at all - if you are happy to have your dog in your bedroom or on your bed , its your choice.... I love having her on my bed , she snuggles up at the back of my neck and pretty much owns the other pillow..

[mlynnf50]

Hello and thanks for that, I have had my 12 week Selby for 1 week and at first he was really good, but now I think we are having a power struggle, with him I think winning although I am trying, by far the  worst thing is as soon as I sit on the settee he tries to jump up but only to bite me so I push him down and say a firm NO so than .... he attacks me and barks at me so I say NO again and then stand up and turn away from him and he stops until I sit down, and then it starts all over again, I try and distract him with his toys but its not  working, OH just sits and watches TV in total piece, If I am sat here a the computer he is good and goes and lies in his crate with the door open chewing his bone (Vanilla flavour) I must admit I have progressed from wine now to Gin and tonic, I dread the evenings. Unfortunately we don't have any puppy classes here in France, but I am trying clicker training and with that if i stop feeding his treats he barks and tells me off he has such a strong character. I will keep you in mind when all thees things are happening and hope that it will get better, cos he is really great and we love him to bits.

[Annette]

What an encouraging post. I think it should be considered as a "sticky".

Murphy sounds like a darling now.

That other post reminds me how awful it is when you seem to be just telling them off, over and over again, almost without a break.

The great thing is that they do eventually "get it" and you honestly do forget about it all,

[mlynnf50]

Thank you Annette for your comforting words, he is asleep now and he is soo lovely, he makes my life complete. It is just nice to know others have been through the same and I am not doing everything wrong, I hate telling him no all the time. thanks again

[suespaniel]

Hello Murphy sounds like my Archie, I went through exactly the same things, even the bed episode He is now 18thmths old ad the most loving attentive little man I could wish for and I love him to bits even though occasionally he can still be a little

[Trixie780]

This is a GREAT post! 
Having had a cocker previously I know how truly wonderful they can be.  However, this time we were "blessed" with a cocker boy with a tremendous amount of "personality".   
Tucker has tried our patience on every possible level.  He chews everything.  He still play nips when he gets excited though it is getting better.  He gets cross when you try to take his bone but he likes you to hold it when he chews it.     His favorite game is chase (usually when he has something he's not supposed to).    He sleeps next to our bed and usually ends up in it by 5:00 a.m.  He greets everyone who comes to our house with complete and unbridled joy and enthusiasm.   
That being said, he is also the most affectionate, loving, adorable boy......when he wants to be.     He tries our patience but every now and then we get a glimpse of the dog that he will someday be and we also hold out hope.