# Dutch has been here 1 month, but my wife....



## mnadraus (Jun 7, 2015)

Ok Dutch is a wild lil puppy. 12.5 weeks old. 18.5 lbs. Loves nibbling with his teeth on us here and there. My 2 yr old cant run in the yard without Dutch trying to topple him. He starts puppy training in 1 week. He is a handful. Anymore ideas to calm this savage beast? When he snuggles at night on the couch we cant get enough, when he jumps on us and the kids and bites our feet we CAN get enough  Wife is getting a bit flustered trying to clean the house, redirect attention to the puppy and split her time. Any pearls of wisdom?

When can I expect him to simmer down from the shark attacks and puppiness. Ive heard 5-7 months. We dont mind the energy, he just needs to direct it to the proper avenues.


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## IndyGirl (Jul 19, 2015)

I don't know if I can provide pearls of wisdom but I can empathise. Some evenings when I'm tired and the zoomies start and I just want to relax with a glass of wine I do question why we decided to get a dog! Then in the morning when I get wiggles and snuggles and gorgeous attentive girl I am reminded why....

All I can suggest is repeat commands again and again and again; stay consistent; redirect Dutch to behaviour you DO want; take deep breaths and know that puppy jumping and biting will pass eventually.

I'm so pleased someone else doesnt have a 'perfect dog' !


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Crate time!

Puppies need activity...both mental and physical, so you should plan accordingly and set time for him so you can play and exercise him..puppy time, lots of attention and stimulation, maybe a meal...potty time...

Then, it's time for the crate.

That's ideal time for your 2 year old to run in the yard without you or he worrying about the beast knocking him over, or you doing whatever it is you need to do without interference. 

He needs to know he's a priority for you at set times. And then he needs to know that at other times he's not, and the separation from you is OK.

When he bites..recall that;s the way they communicate, it;s not aggressive...you should respond with a loud "OWWW!", which is similar to their yelp. V's are very sensitive and he'll quickly learn to associate your 'Ow" with "uh, oh", and he'll learn to inhibit his bite.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Crate time is essential- tag team your chores and family time. I often just turned my back on Dharma and walked away from her but then she often attacked my butt! You just have to be somewhat patient. It will eventually stop. Teach a soft mouth and redirection also helped when trying to stop the shark attacks.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I might also add that Dharma was less than perfect in the crate too! Consistency in how you handle a situation is very important- Don't give in to anything or you will eventually end up having to undo unwanted behaviours later.(my husband is very lax in enforcement and I get behaviours I don't want). Positive reinforcement is what I was taught with the trainer. Dharma was a very smart puppy but knew how to push the buttons and we seemed to survive!


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## pjcodner (Jun 1, 2015)

For us Chloe starts biting when she is getting tired. We have started doing tricks with her when the biting starts. We have her sit, down, turn around, play dead, close the kitchen cabinet doors, stay etc. We keep doing them until she loses interest and then shortly there after she is laying on the floor falling asleep. If that doesn't work then we put her in a timeout. We have a leash tied to the sliding door handle in our kitchen. We will clip her to that and she will sit there staring at us calming down.

The best advice is to redirect the biting with something else. I only use the crate at night when it is time for her to go to bed. We try to never force her into it. Usually it takes about 5 minutes for her to go in and then she lays down and falls asleep. Otherwise she is never in it.


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## Janders (Feb 27, 2014)

I totally understand not being able to even get the house clean when the puppies are young. I got so upset one time I actually took Gus to my parents house. I was in tears & told them I just couldn't take it anymore & needed a breather. They thought this was so funny. Of course, when I finally calmed down (after some alone time) and went to pick him up - they told me what a perfect angel he'd been. What?! It does get easier though. I did crate him while I was doing chores unless he could help.  He's over a year old now and we have a routine. That's not to say he doesn't still get a little out of hand. For us though - routine is the key to our relationship. He knows what he can and can't do at certain times of the day. Sometimes I wish he was a puppy again then sometimes I'm just thankful we all survived. It seems like he got in shark attack mode more when he was tired. We did a lot of training during this time. His favorite is hide and seek. He will look all over the house for his ball. If I hide it really well, I can do the dishes while he searching. Be patient - it really does get better. Good luck.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

mn - 4wks out of 16yrs is nothing !!!!!!!!! the forum always reassures you - it will get better with time - only if you WORK hard - so many posts & reply's on how 2 work thru every stage of their lives !!!!!!!!!!! search them !!!!!!


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## Israrules (Apr 5, 2015)

Hi! When we get Sirah she was 8 weeks and she was the Tazmanian devil it self! We went through 2 weeks of no sleeping, waiking up like 4 times per night teacking her to pee in her place, her Shark attacks were every mornig and every night. Now she is 5 months and she is potty trained, when she don't goes for a walk she pees or poos in a place 20*10 inches. The Shark attacks got sooo much better and she is almost fully trained in basic obedience. What Someone said about routines is true, try to build routines and schedules, dogs are routine animals. For potty training we used treats when we put her in the right place an di her thing. In thi forum I read Shark attacks follows a pattern and they do, in Sirahs case waiking up and beefore bed, so at those momentos we were prepared with treats to hide and ask her to search them, usually that was enough to calm her, we try to redirect the bites to toys, we teached her to sit, to retrieve toys, to down and just aviod her when she bited us -I'll tell you get angry does not help AT ALL, just take a big breath-. Now is a thousend times better, it is not perfect but like 95% better in potty and 85% in Shark attacks, and she can do several tricks. Just remembet they are literaly little kids, I won't lie iit is really frustrating some times and they destroy things like every puppy -my wife's diary and my book about pointers that past 3 generation just last week :'(- but just like every other dog it will end.... Hopefully


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## IndyGirl (Jul 19, 2015)

MCD said:


> I might also add that Dharma was less than perfect in the crate too! Consistency in how you handle a situation is very important- Don't give in to anything or you will eventually end up having to undo unwanted behaviours later.(my husband is very lax in enforcement and I get behaviours I don't want). Positive reinforcement is what I was taught with the trainer. Dharma was a very smart puppy but knew how to push the buttons and we seemed to survive!


Yep - crate time doesn't always work either. Last night when I finally got sick of her boinging all over my guest I put her in her crate for downtime and she yowled and cried which was equally distracting. Next time I'm going to try putting her leash on in the house and sitting with her at my feet and my foot on the leash....


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

IndyGirl said:


> MCD said:
> 
> 
> > I might also add that Dharma was less than perfect in the crate too! Consistency in how you handle a situation is very important- Don't give in to anything or you will eventually end up having to undo unwanted behaviours later.(my husband is very lax in enforcement and I get behaviours I don't want). Positive reinforcement is what I was taught with the trainer. Dharma was a very smart puppy but knew how to push the buttons and we seemed to survive!
> ...


What is "boinging"?

Puppies can be frustrating, they are new to the world and don't quite get it just yet. Have patience, be consistent, and keep your expectations low.

The crate isn't magic, and surely at 10 weeks she's going to complain being left out of the excitement. Maybe it's a better idea to limit the visits to time that's manageable for both you and her and the guests rather than crate her...the crate is OK if you can tolerate her complaints...and surely much better than putting a lead on her and having her sit tightly at your feet...only the control freaks among the trainers even suggest this method.


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## lovemychickens (Aug 15, 2015)

I don't have my puppy yet, but I have been doing loads of research. Puppy Culture is a resource for training and raising puppies. The things that puppies do that we think are so cute, may not be so cute when they are adults. Did you try a puppy play pen for when you can't keep an eye on him and need to get things done? 

http://www.puppyculture.com/what-is-puppy-culture.html


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## mnadraus (Jun 7, 2015)

he can climb right over the fence in the pen


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