# Puppy testing me



## FrancoD13 (Aug 9, 2012)

Hi, I need some advice on how to keep my sanity here. I'm on my second V. The first one was an amazing puppy. Not very stubborn or mouthy. He learned very quickly what was allowed and acceptable and didn't really push the limits. Now, our new 15 week old couldn't be more opposite. While he is very smart and trainable, he keeps testing us. I'm having problems with how to deal with him. I'll give an example of my typical day with him and his and my reactions.

Start the morning with breakfast, then take him on a 45 minute off-leash walk in the woods in our backyard. He is generally really good off leash. during this time we will work on checking back, coming to me, putting leash on sometimes, sometimes just rewarding him. Treats and praise. However he eats everything and I mean everything. Dead mouse, garter snake, horse poop, mud, drinks wetlands still water. every tree or pine cone he can find. I try to avoid these areas, try to rush him past them, put the leash on him and get him past it, but very hard to do. When we head home I put the leash on him to walk the 30 feet to our house. He attacks the leash or lies down in the street (no cars ever as we are a secluded cul de sac) and refuses to come home. Now it is time for me to get to work, so after coaxing him with very high value treats and he doesn't come, I am forced to pick him up. He proceeds to bite and chew on my arms and fingers, and recently reverted to a submissive position in the street making it harder to pick him up or move him. I power through and get him in the house, play with him for 5 mins or do some fun training (return to basic sits, downs, leave it, etc.). then in his crate for a couple hours.

We take him out for 30 mins or so for a break around 10:30ish. he refuses to do anything but lie on the grass. A struggle to get him back in the house. sometimes I leave him in a safe spot outside but then he digs huge holes in my landscaping, chews holes in the side of my house, tears up my vegetable garden. After lunch, another long off leash hike. Same issues as before. The worst is he has diarrea now which I think is from everything he ingests...so I'm not even sure if I still have this outlet for him. Then around 3:30 he gets a 0.25M walk to my kids bus stop on leash. He will either pull like crazy (we are working on this) or again just lie down and refuse to go. He however loves this, as all the kids get off the bus and they all love him. The walk home is full of leash biting, dragging him, stopping the pulling. I'm sweating like I just went for a run by the time I get home. But here is the thing. I'm so frustrated. My arms and legs are cut up and ripped to shreds from him. I'm so frustrated I don't want to take him on walks or outside anymore. 

In the house, he jumps on the furniture. we tell him off, when he goes to his bed we reward him. Play with him. The second we go away he jumps on the couch again. After 3x of this, he goes in his crate to calm down. I just can't take this much longer. I know he is young, but he doesn't stop. He is destroying our house, our yard. He goes from one bad decision to another until we put him in his crate because we can't do anything more. 

Any advice on what I can do when he keeps going on the couch or jumping up on table, over and over again. Literally 5 times in 5 minutes he will do this. And we do a very good job of training him. He knows that he isn't supposed to do this, we do positive training, always rewarding him when he does things right. He gets attention and play time. He goes to puppy socialization/training classes (instructor is amazed at how well he knows his commands). I just don't know how to punish him/change his mindset from misbehaving for attention. Well I think he is doing these things in the house for attention.


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

Our first was a challenge., #2 we rehomed at 10 months so she was already" broken in"

#3 has been a bit of a challenge but not bad (#2 takes all the abuse)

Just like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get.
You should start to see a change at around 6 months for the better.

What you are describing is pretty well what most experience. You got lucky on your first!

Hang in there it will get better.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Your story gives me flashbacks, but seems you have it worse than we did in some regards. We never had to carry Ellie back home on a walk. All the other stuff, yep pretty normal. We tried the no sofa rule early on but we gave in on that one. Where we have no compromise is beds, she is not allowed on them. The sofa was finally gave in , seems common for V's to need snuggle time, and we figured the sofa is the best place for that. 15 weeks is too young to do any kinds of corrections. If i remember correctly that was some of the worse times with Ellie, we were at the point of discussing options of returning her.

Leash biting - normal - Redirect , ignore

Tantrums throwing on ground halfway through a walk (more like a pull) - normal - be a rock. Step on the leash as they thrash around. After some time goes and they get up , pick up the leash and continue on. Do not let your anger take over and start yelling/yanking/etc. Always be calm (well on the outside at least lol)

Eating everything like they have a mission to kill themselves - normal - They sorta outgrow this, or at least once you teach "leave it" it will get better. It is just constant policing and pulling crap (literally sometimes) out of their mouths. Bring wipes with you! Eventually you can graduate to using a water spray bottle with a spritz to the face to re-inforce your "NO" etc which drives it home. We had a terrible time with Ellie wanting to give herself an obstruction eating all our landscaping mulch.

If you have to pick him up and he's biting on you, get a pair of longish fireplace gloves. They are leather and will take what the pup can dish out. Keep on with reinforcing "no biting" when not carrying him by distractions with toys. We have two dozen toys around the house we'd keep near us, and pick up and shove in Ellie's mouth when she got sharky.

Leash walking will take a lot of time. Don't expect loose lead nice walking for awhile and it takes a lot of time. I'd use a harness for now , we learned a regular collar resulted in choking Ellie and would do nothing to stop her pulling but may hurt her. Use treats to teach being near you walking nicely is positive. It will only last for some time but you are building the foundation.

In addition to exercise, make sure he is getting plenty of nap time, sounds like he may already be doing that with his kennel time. But is he really napping when you are not there? Do you use a camera? Many of these behaviors can be a result of not enough exercise or not enough daytime nap time.

Hang in there, protect yourself, try not to get outwardly angry at the pup, be a rock / calm with the tantrums, redirect, ignore him if play gets too rough and it hurts, kennel time-outs (not discipline but for naps, try a kennel in a quiet part of the house if people are home so he can get rest). At 5ish months is when things started coming together for us. 6mos was night and day, and gets better by the week. Hang in there!


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