# Advice needed please



## rideandy (May 13, 2009)

Hello all.

Ok Milly is just under 10 weeks and has been with us for just over 2 weeks. We have a few issues that we need some help/advice on.

Biting and chewing us and clothing ! How can we stop this? A firm no and a pull away has been used but this seems like a game to Milly and she bounces back with vengeance.

Milly is not responding to her name or the word no yet, is this normal for her young age?

Playing in the garden. Milly loves to pull on plants and bushes and chew/eat the leafs and twigs. Is this an age thing, how can we stop it? No plant in the garden is known to be harmful, we just worry that it won't be doing her any good.

Milly is on 4 feeds a day, when would it be a good time to cut down to three?

So its my last week off work with her,next week its back to normal with myself working full time . My partner also works full time but comes home at lunchtime and a family member will be popping in during the day.
This last week of my holiday I'm starting to get Milly use to being left on her own in her crate, yep she has been howling but I'm slowly building the time up and have been using the only go to her when she stops barking method. Its very hard hearing hear howl ,but our little girl has to learn.

All advice is very welcome.
Thanks for reading.


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Hi *Rideandy*,

All I could give you is my experience with Elza who's 7 months old now.
She was and still is a big scavenger. Picked up everything from the park and swallowed them too.  This is just the way it is. I did worry about it too but slowly she started to leave alone the rubbish and just carried on with the leafs and twigs. Nowadays it's only sticks... ??? She actually had inflammation in her colon twice by picking these things up, but that's what makes them stronger. 
What you can do with biting is replace your hand or whatever you don't want her to bite/chew with something it's ok to chew. Soft squeaky toys are good. Or rubbery things, flexibones. It will stop, but it's a slow learning progress. 

I have to say Elza new her name before we brought her home. We told to our breeder we want to call her Elza and she used it for her. 8 weeks old she would listen to her name and would sit too. You have to train her in 5 mins sessions with treats and repetition. But not by repeating the command 5-6 times. Try to say it once and make her do it with a treat. 
We never fed her 4 times, 3 times -- morning, afternoon, night time and that's it. 
Leave her some interesting toys in her crate, specially chewables are good. 

Good luck and keep us posted! ;D


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## dmp (Jan 23, 2012)

Good words from Adrino -

Our pup is going on 15 weeks; She bites and chews incessantly. Often when we replace, she goes back for our hands. 
The only thing we can do is wait. We see the goal - look around the forum to see fairly normal/non-crazy V's as adults. 

My Son once asked if our pup was part Shark, AND part Spider Monkey.


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## veifera (Apr 25, 2012)

Spray bitter apple on things that shouldn't be touched and reinforce with a firm and loud "no" a few times. Worked very well for me.

To teach name recognition I call her by the name when she's not focused on me. Just once and as soon as she looks at me (my eyes) I treat her. I did this a few days and it works. Just need to be consistent.


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## rideandy (May 13, 2009)

adrino said:


> Hi *Rideandy*,
> 
> All I could give you is my experience with Elza who's 7 months old now.
> She was and still is a big scavenger. Picked up everything from the park and swallowed them too.  This is just the way it is. I did worry about it too but slowly she started to leave alone the rubbish and just carried on with the leafs and twigs. Nowadays it's only sticks... ??? She actually had inflammation in her colon twice by picking these things up, but that's what makes them stronger.
> ...


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## rideandy (May 13, 2009)

veifera said:


> Spray bitter apple on things that shouldn't be touched and reinforce with a firm and loud "no" a few times. Worked very well for me.
> 
> To teach name recognition I call her by the name when she's not focused on me. Just once and as soon as she looks at me (my eyes) I treat her. I did this a few days and it works. Just need to be consistent.


Bitter apple where can I get this from?

I will defo try your advice on both.

Thank you.


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## veifera (Apr 25, 2012)

I got mine at petsmart. Also a small soft chew toy, I carried it around for nipping. As soon as she tried to bite I would say NO loudly and offer the toy right away as something that's acceptable. After a week or two she's only gently mouthing my hands, not biting anymore. Good luck and be patient, she's not doing it on purpose!


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

Bitter apple never worked for us. We tried. Luna ate everything, regardless.Can you try some nyla bones or heavy rope toys (small enough for her to chew)? I basically tried to substitute the things she shouldn't have have been chewing with things that were ok to chew. 

I've attached a photo of her eating leaves the day we took her home. It was a constant struggle to get her to not put everything in her mouth. Truth be told, at one year, it's still going on though not as bad. 

In terms of stopping from biting us, it was tough! Out vet suggested that when she bit our hand, to push your hand far into her mouth/throat she she would release her jaw (not choking her though, but far enough back to make her release). It sounds mean but it really wasn't. When she was biting we also covered her teeth with the fleshy parts of hew jaw so that when she bit, she was actually biting herself, and it would force her to stop. It never worked very well though. Both of these sound mean but they aren't really. Also, my husband would growl at her, a low growl like her momma would have done, to let her know it was not ok, since she was still too little to understand "no".

I don't quite think she knew her name that young either. 

Be patient, it will get better. It takes time. 

As for food, we only ever did 3 times/day (per breeder) starting at 7 weeks. 

As for the barking in the crate, all i can say is it will get easier. I know it's hard though.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

I think your doing just fine - everything you have described sounds exactly the same as most of us have been through so don't worry.

I found replacing my hand with a soft toy (not hard) worked a treat. I was very anxious when my pup started eating everything in the garden. Even ended up spending 24 hrs at the vets after eating something that made him vomit several times. Must be a V thing as none of my other puppies did it. I think they are just like toddlers - everything has to go in their mouths but it does get better and as long as you have nothing poisonous in your garden, don't panic. I just had to cut all the heads of my lillies off yesterday - good thing I'm not a keen gardener.

Adrino's post was full of good advise - I would just add be patient.

Normally you can go to 3 meals a day at 12wks but a lot of folk do it earlier as puppies do have to fit in with your life style. The puppies tummy has to be big enough to cope with the 4th meal being added to the other three. Our puppy just used to vomit it up so had to stay on 4 meals until he was 16 wks. I would just clarify this by saying we had some issues with the kibble he came home on and by the time we got that sorted he was quite thin so we were feeding larger quantities than your pup is currently getting. We are going to start going from 3 to 2 in another week( he will be 6 months then), but have been advised by a V vet who we walk with to do it over several weeks to make sure his tummy can cope with the extra food. Sounded good advise to me.

PS Enjoy your little rascal (sharks teeth and all) - they don't stay small for very long


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Me and my partner are working silly hours so we feed Elza at 10am, 4pm, 10pm. Last break is 11:40pm latest then her next one is between 5-6 am during the week. Now obviously she's older she can hold it for longer period. 

I think you shouldn't leave too many toys in her crate but maybe 3 different kind. You also can change those regularly, so she has different toys but not all at the same time. That way she won't get bored with them. 
Elza had a few she really liked so we stuck with it. Like the Flexibone, it's a softer plastic bone so it doesn't hurt their baby teeth and gums. She also likes to threw those around or put one foot on it and slide around the room like that. : it's pretty funny actually. ;D


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

My pup is 15 weeks also and is the sister to dmp's pup. Our Haeden is quite mouthy still, although I will say that the first 2-3 weeks were HORRIBLE with mouthing/biting. His first instinct was to go for your hands or arms and chomp down. We did the same method of giving him a toy to take his attention off of our hands. When he would bite we could push his head away, say no as we were doing it and then insert the toy. Eventually he started to pick up on the fact that we didn't want him to bite and also what no meant. Now we can use "no" whenever he's getting into something we don't want him to and he drops it and looks at us. If giving them a toy doesn't work then get up away from their level and turn away from them. Eventually they get the hint or get bored with you ignoring their bad behavior.

As far as the name- try to say it as much as possible in positive situations like "good potty, Milly." Also, I would also suggest the exercise of calling her name and when she looks at you then give her a treat. If you're using a clicker then use that with the treat as well. This was step 1 in our puppy class that Haeden's in and it seemed to work wonders. Not only is the getting associated with their name but understanding that the clicker is a good thing.

I think eating everything or putting it in their mouth is an issue that every V owner deals with. I don't know that there's any way to perfectly deal with it but I think as time goes by it starts to happen less and less.

One suggestion that I have with the crate is find a toy that your pup loves and only give it to them when they get in the crate. For us we use a kong and fill it with some of the kong yogurt filling. Haeden absolutely loves his kong and knows he only gets it when he goes in and sits in his crate like a good boy for us to close the door. It gives him something to look forward to and it's a positive experience for him.

Overall, as most other posts have mentioned, it takes patients. Your pup has been with you for 2 weeks so you're still building a relationship and trying to understand how to communicate with each other. Over time it comes naturally and you'll realize that your pup is learning your cues and is responding better. These are all things that have worked with us and our pup. I don't claim to know everything about training a puppy but these are the things that have been successful along our journey thus far. Good luck ;D


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

Gotta love that awful biting phase....I do not miss that at all. That had to be the hardest part for us during the puppy phase. I would literally cover my legs with bitter apple spray because Ruby would attack me (playing) and I bruise very easily. I did the redirect thing, gave her every toy under the sun, pretend like I was hurt, everything this forum suggested and nothing worked some days. My husband would come home from work and I would just hand him to her and go lay in bed in silence to get a break.

BUT...every week she got older, the better she got. It is definitely a phase. She lost all of her puppy teeth by 5 months old and after that all was good.

Now at 18 months I couldn't even imagine her doing that attack. The only attack now we get are with kisses ;D

Hang in there....it gets better.


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## rideandy (May 13, 2009)

hotmischief said:


> I think your doing just fine - everything you have described sounds exactly the same as most of us have been through so don't worry.
> 
> I found replacing my hand with a soft toy (not hard) worked a treat. I was very anxious when my pup started eating everything in the garden. Even ended up spending 24 hrs at the vets after eating something that made him vomit several times. Must be a V thing as none of my other puppies did it. I think they are just like toddlers - everything has to go in their mouths but it does get better and as long as you have nothing poisonous in your garden, don't panic. I just had to cut all the heads of my lillies off yesterday - good thing I'm not a keen gardener.
> 
> ...


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

hotmischief said:


> I think your doing just fine - everything you have described sounds exactly the same as most of us have been through so don't worry.
> 
> I found replacing my hand with a soft toy (not hard) worked a treat. I was very anxious when my pup started eating everything in the garden. Even ended up spending 24 hrs at the vets after eating something that made him vomit several times. Must be a V thing as none of my other puppies did it. I think they are just like toddlers - everything has to go in their mouths but it does get better and as long as you have nothing poisonous in your garden, don't panic. I just had to cut all the heads of my lillies off yesterday - good thing I'm not a keen gardener.
> 
> ...


ditto!!


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## rideandy (May 13, 2009)

KB87 said:


> My pup is 15 weeks also and is the sister to dmp's pup. Our Haeden is quite mouthy still, although I will say that the first 2-3 weeks were HORRIBLE with mouthing/biting. His first instinct was to go for your hands or arms and chomp down. We did the same method of giving him a toy to take his attention off of our hands. When he would bite we could push his head away, say no as we were doing it and then insert the toy. Eventually he started to pick up on the fact that we didn't want him to bite and also what no meant. Now we can use "no" whenever he's getting into something we don't want him to and he drops it and looks at us. If giving them a toy doesn't work then get up away from their level and turn away from them. Eventually they get the hint or get bored with you ignoring their bad behavior.
> 
> As far as the name- try to say it as much as possible in positive situations like "good potty, Milly." Also, I would also suggest the exercise of calling her name and when she looks at you then give her a treat. If you're using a clicker then use that with the treat as well. This was step 1 in our puppy class that Haeden's in and it seemed to work wonders. Not only is the getting associated with their name but understanding that the clicker is a good thing.
> 
> ...


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