Manic Puppy!

[JennyBee]

I just wanted to note that Tucker is now one and we have noticed a major change in his behaviour lately.  He is still crazy, still nippy, still a cocker but we are noticing more quiet moments in him.     Tucker is still battling some anxiety issues and we are working with our vet on that, but we are starting to notice less craziness and more normal dog behaviour.  He is incredibly bright and needs a lot of stimulation.  I have to wonder if that wasn't part of the problem.  Our last cocker was so well-behaved and so loveable but not have as bright as Tucker is (I don't mean that in a bad way!).  Tuck is just incredibly smart....perhaps too much for his (and our) own good.    We walk him a lot and need to spend more time on training as it seems to be what really keeps him on his good behaviour.  He also knows "no bite" now which is a HUGE acheivement for him.  Mind you, when he's playing it seems like his brain turns off completely at times and there are moments when he's got a hand in his mouth and we're yelling "no bite" where you can almost see him come out of his crazy world and realize what he's doing.     We never thought we'd make it through that first year and we're on the other side now and looking forward to the next, good and bad. 

Sounds so much like Brodie! It took her months and months to learn not to mouth, it was so frustrating at times but we eventually came out the other side. Well done for all your hard work, it will be worth it!

[ludo]

My boy was exactly the same  we tried all the usual things - the only thing that worked eventually was a cooling off time in his crate - just pick him up quietly once you have extracted him from whatever bit of you he is hanging from and quietly place him in his crate for his time out - true he attached himself to our trousers, shoe, sleeves or sweater as soon as he had had a sleep (he never touched skin only clothing) but it stopped after a few weeks of us being used as a tuggy toy    He is 26 months old now - still a lively boy but he's made a really nice dog - he has great bite inhibition and is a big softie.

Just hang on in there it will seem like you have the dog from hell for several weeks then you'll find it starts to settle down.

In the meantime it'd be worth having a look at the Ian Dunbar article on bite inhibition on here