Ok, so I’ve got a puppy, and I’m much more used to kittens, so there’s stuff he does that I don’t understand at all.
He’s recently turned into a little maniac, chewing on everything, pissing all over the place, whining if he’s left anywhere alone… stuff like that.
My question is why? Is it a phase? If so, when do they grow out of it?
And here’s another one: after my sister gave him a bath last night he started doing these weird contortions all over my bed. I thought he was throwing a fit. He settled down a bit later and stopped but it was kind of freaky.
The real difference between dogs and cats? Cats are a LOT more low maintanence!
There are probably experts who can provide a more detailed answer, but I think you’ve answered it yourself: dogs are high maintenance. You’re going to have to TRAIN all those things out of him. Training a dog is long and slow, but it can be very rewarding. Peeing, fits of excitement, crapping, barking, and all that other doggy stuff needs to be controlled by you until the dog has the corect behavoiur memorised. There’s probably nothing actually wrong with him. You just need to get out of cat mode. Dogs need walks, baths, and a whole lot of attention. It can be a pain in the butt, but it’s worth it. Dogs are cool.
The contortion thing was because he could smell himself because he had been cleaned. Dogs like to have their scent camoflauged. If you had let him in the yard he would have rolled in the grass or perhaps something else to hide his scent. Keep in mind dogs are pack animals. They need companionship.
Yeah, we actually got him to keep our other dog company, but we got her as an adult from a woman who had to go into a nursing home, so she came pre-trained.
By a crate and keep him in it whenever your gone. I know it sounds cruel but they actually come to think of it as more of a den. It speeds up house-training too.
Basic obedience training is a must.
And yes he will grow out of it (it may take a couple of years :))
What breed is your puppy? I am more experienced with medium/large breeds, but I think my suggestions will work on any breed/size dog.
There are lots of good puppy books out there. I like Right from the Start by Drs. Foster & Smith. They also have a catalog of products you can buy via mail.
My dogs are around 3 yrs old and they still roll around and rub up against things after baths.
I strongly recommend crate training. It makes housebreaking a lot easier. Don’t even think about paper training unless you want a confused dog and soggy newspapers.
Chewing is easy to handle: get the pup some chew toys and some bitter apple spray. Spray the bitter apple on the items you don’t want him to chew. Make sure you don’t get any bitter spray on his chew toys. When you catch him chewing something inappropriate, offer a chew toy as a replacement.
Be patient, they aren’t puppies for long and when he’s grown you might find yourself missing some of the puppy behavior.
I’ll second what utilityplayer said about the crates. My SO of many years was a breeder and handler of show poodles. I spent much time living with anywhere from 6 to 25 poodles (and/or a few other breeds) in residence, usually most of them juveniles. And we had cell block H in full operation.
They come to think of the crate as their room, and will hang there for periods while the crate doors are all open. And it makes life much easier on both the pooch and the human.
Obedience training does not imply professionals - it’s just what you apply in small doses as the puppy goes through its daily dose of growing up.
They’re not as independent as cats. Mind you, you do not want a feral kitty. Cats do need some socialization efforts.
Dogs need a bit more attention. During my years as SO to the poodle maven, 1-2 hours a day were spent on not just dog maintenance, but dog socialization. I learned the joys of reading the Sunday paper with 13 poodle puppies.
And it was both necessary and worked. We never had a bad one. Admittedly, you’ve got to let the animal into your life - I’ve learned to wrestle over the years with the fact that some of my friends are efriends - not completely like IRL friends, but friends nevertheless. Well, a dog friend isn’t quite like a high school buddy, but some of 'em become your friends.
I’ll third this. And fourth it, too, if necessary. Your pup needs a crate.
Also, you say he chews a lot. Does he have enough chew-toys? Puppies need to chew, and they also can learn which things are theirs to chew on, and which things are not theirs. Good toys include Kongs and Nylabones. Another good toy is a Goodie-Ship. It is an indestructable rubber flying saucer that you can stick biscuits into. The pup will expend lots of energy getting the biscuits out. (Stay away from rawhide and natural bones for now.)
I think I’ll definately do the crate training… I am getting SO sick of running around the house with a bindle of toilet paper!
He got ahold of the end of a roll of toilet paper and ran through the house wiht it this morning. TP everywhere; I thought they only did that in dumb ads :).
Green bean: what’s wrong with rawhide bones?
Jack@ss: Tiny little Tibetan spanial/bishou. It’s really funny watching him try and keep up with our fully grown doberman when they go for runs.
One thing I’d like to suggest is that if you can afford them, buy your pup a couple of “intelligent” toys. You put small food rewards inside of these and they tend to quickly discourage pups from chewing things which don’t offer the promise of a reward. Although the toys themselves are a bit pricey, they are a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing chewed shoes, clothing, and other items.
Some pups chew rawhide too quickly and swallow big pieces of it. That is really bad for their digestion. It can be fatal–it can cause intestinal blockage. If you do give him rawhide, monitor him to make sure he doesn’t swallow big pieces of it. Since you say you’re inexperienced, it may be better to be on the safe side.
The peeing could be a territorial thing, a need to void, or a sign of submissiveness. My WAG is that submissiveness urination is the toughest one for the dog to outgrow.
The chewing thing fades a bit over time. You have to keep all sorts of permissible chewy things on hand for the little guy. If he still has his puppy teeth, he could be trying to work them out. Iiko Puppy-Dog Boy is fast approaching 12 years old, and he gets several rawhide chews per day.
They definitely like to be where you are. That will fade a bit over time; still, you will have to spend significant amounts of time with the dog every day. A long walk (+/- 1 hour each night) should fulfill a good portion of your dog’s need to be with you.
I’m going to take a moment a clarify something, and I hope this is what the quoted posters were getting at.
Obedience training does not imply professionals for the dogs, but it does imply professional training for you, the dog’s master. Obedience training is about teaching the master to train their own dog, and about socializing the dog with other dogs and people. So, yes, training is best done by you, the master, but after you’ve been taught how to do it.
Then you just need to remember two things, be patient, and consistent.
You’ll both be happier in the long run, I know Loki (my year-old Great Dane) and I are.
Lots of great advice here! A little expansion on a couple of points, because I’m bored and have plenty of time to kill. . .
I couldn’t tell from this whether you were saying he does all these things primarily when he’s left alone, or that he does these things and also whines when left alone. Regardless, puppies need a feeling of security. Some more than others, certainly, but most do seem to have a pretty strong need for it. A big part of that is providing discipline and a routine.
In general, don’t go with the harsh discipline some people give to their dogs, but be firm. When you catch him in the act of doing something bad, scold him. If you don’t catch him in the act, just clean up and move on. He won’t understand what you are scolding him for if the act and the reprimand are separated by very much time. This means that you need to minimize the opportunity for him to cause trouble. Crate training works great for a lot of dogs.
Dogs tend to love a routine as well. Try to do things at the same times everyday (like feeding, walking, etc.), when possible. Play with your dogs everyday. Give him as many opportunities to be good as possible, and praise him for it.
Your puppy may be suffering from separation anxiety as well. The crate training can help with this as well. Other things to try are: leaving the radio or TV on so he can hear it, give him a little treat to distract him while you leave, don’t make a big deal of leaving or returning. You can find some good books on how to deal with separation anxiety if it continues to be a big problem. But remember that he is young, and he can’t be left alone for very long periods of time regardless.
I don’t think you mentioned how old your pup is. The urination could be due to several factors, as already mentioned. Puppies don’t have much capacity for holding, so to help with this, take him out at regular intervals. Try not to give him a chance to go inside at all. Take him to the same area to pee, and choose an area that is grassy if possible. I think dogs tend to associate to the surface as well as indoors/outdoors. Example: If he pees on concrete outside, he may think it’s ok to pee on concrete inside as well.
It’s pretty likely that his chewing will decrease over time, as he grows older. But he will always need good chews available. As Chrome Sport mentioned, he may be in the process of loosing his baby teeth as well. This can increase chewing and cause him to be extra whiny, because he’s in pain. We gave baby-aspirin to help with this, but consult your vet about appropriate medicine.
Reeder explained the rolling, contortion thing quite well. Dogs love to rub themselves in other scents. I will note that our two 5 year old dogs still roll around all over the floor after a bath. He may not grow out of it, just make sure he’s not destructive. He may have chosen your bed because he wanted to pick up your scent specifically. One of my dogs will readily pull down my bath towel and roll around on it if I don’t make sure it’s out of reach. Dirty laundry is also a popular choice for some dogs!
Both of my dogs will also go for paper like crazy. They will shred tissues or napkins if given the chance. Your pup may be the same way, as evidenced by the TP incident. They think it’s great fun! Anyway, all we were able to do was to scold them for doing it when ever we caught them, and keep paper products out of their reach the rest of the time.
In regards to obedience training. Definitely don’t just hand him over to someone to train. It really is best to train him yourself. However, you may need some training yourself on how to train first. The ‘Puppy Kindergarten’ classes where you go with your dog and you both learn at the same time can be very valuable. They can also help your dog learn to socialize with other dogs in a nice way.
So, welcome to the wonderful world of dogs! Good luck. . .
Some good advice so far. Having just gone throught this myself I’ll add my $0.02 anyway.
Crate Training:
Definitely a good idea. As already mentioned do not confuse crate training with paper training. In general paper training is a bad idea. The dog needs to learn NOT to go potty in the house. Once paper trained it can be difficult to get the dog to learn to go outside instead.
Get an appropriate sized crate. The dog should be able to stand inside without hitting its head (or at the very least its back). They should also be able to lie down on their side with legs outstretched and not scrunched. Remember your pooch will grow so try to take its full size into account or you might find yourself buying another crate. Too big is also not a good idea. Dogs naturally don’t want to go to the bathroom where they live. If the crate is too big it is possible that your pooch might consider a corner of a big crate far enough away and mess its crate.
The crate should NEVER be considered a penalty for bad behavior. If you need to give your dog a timeout somewhere do it anywhere but its crate. You want the dog to think of it as its home and a safe place and not something to be feared or worried about.
To start try not to force the dog in there. Throw toys in there and feed the dog in the crate. Don’t force anything but let the dog explore it on its own. You also might consider throwing something in there that smells like you or your family (an old t-shirt you don’t care about for instance…wear it awhile first though).
When coming home do not go straight to the crate and release the dog. Indeed, ignore the dog completely for a minute or two no matter how much it whines. When it does come time for release force (or ask) the dog to sit and not spaz at the crate door. Don’t let it out till it complies. Once it does comply let the dog out and ignore for another minute or so. The idea here is if you fuss all over the dog upon release it will equate release with being a desirable thing and go bonkers to get out. Basically you want the going in and out of the crate to be no big deal and just a normal, boring part of everyday life.
Done right your dog will seek out its crate to sleep in even without prompting. Our dog got used to it in just a day or two but your mileage may vary.
Chewing Things:
Get LOTS of chew toys. The more durable the better. Kongs and Nylabones have already been mentioned and are excellent. If you catch your dog chewing something discipline it (firmly but not violently) and give it an acceptable chew toy to play with instead. Our dog still occasionally trots a sock out but 99% of the time she sticks to her toys (and like a little kid she will usually manage to bring ALL of her toys out over the course of an evening).
Rawhide bones are generally not very good. As already mentioned they can be eaten and cause all sorts of digestive issues. Our dog gets the runs from these things but that’s just her (although it’s not uncommon). Instead go to a good pet store that sells real bones and other chew items. A store near us has bins filled with all sorts of disgusting things including pig ears and bull’s penises (dried). Our dog LOVED the bull’s penis but it was just too disgusting to have around and see her munching on so no more of that. We also got a joint bone and a leg bone that she adores. A little greasy to start the bones were quickly licked clean and are nearly indestructible. She has been enjoying the same bones for several months now.
House Breaking:
When your dog goes to the bathroom in the house go find a newspaper, roll it up tightly and hit yourself in the head with it because it is YOUR fault (this was advice given by a dog book I have…Good Pets, Great Owners I think).
Get your dog on a schedule for appropriate potty times and stick to it. If the dog still has accidents in the house then shorten the time between walks. When the dog has an accident don’t yell at it but rather clean up the mess and then take the mess and the dog to the appropriate potty spot outside. Put the smelly material on the ground there and place the dog there with it and let it sniff around. Do this even if you walked the dog ten minutes earlier. Praise the dog for going potty where it is supposed to and consider having a treat ready when it does go potty in the right place.
When cleaning up accidents get some special cleaner from a pet store. Many household cleaners have ammonia in them and guess what is also in pee? You might see the spot as clean but Rover smells the ammonia and thinks that’s where it’s supposed to go. The cleaning stuff from the pet store covers the potty scent in a different manner so the dog won’t identify places cleaned by it as an acceptable place to go.
Finally…
Remember, your dog aims to please. It doesn’t take any great effort to train a dog for the basics. Just be consistent and everything should be great. A dog definitely takes some attending to but I promise a dog well treated will return your efforts many times over and be worth your time.
I disagree. I believe anyone with the right attitude can train a dog using the proper method. You don’t have to take a class and you certainly don’t want ship him off to someone else to train. You need to build that trust and bond between you and your dog.
There are several good books out there that one can use to train their dog. My personal favorite is by a guy named Koehler, but there are others.
