Help! My puppy has turned into an adolescent!

[Rebekah Hartman]

Okay, I have a laundry list of "issues" with our 5-1/2 month old pup and they are making life around our house a little tense to say the least. I have six books sitting next to me on the couch and I'm still having difficulty locating information on how to deal with all of it. Here we go!

- Stealing: Samson has taken to coming up to us, tables, wherever and swiping items (e.g., paper, pens, shoes) to chew
- Mouthiness: He is very mouthy - to the point of still actually hurting us - I've tried "Ouch!" and isolate, but as soon as I return, he's back at it. The initial "ouch" actually makes him more rowdy.
- Barking/Growling: When we tell him "no" or another command to stop something, he barks and/or growls at us and also jumps and nips
- Jumping: He is not a couch dog, but he's recently begun jumping up on the couches and playing, sitting, barking/growling, whatever he feels like doing. He jumps up at the countertops if he wants something or thinks something is there - he's never successfully gotten anything off of them, but continues to try. We've tried rewarding the correct behavior, "off" or "down", but he jumps right back up.
- Phone manners: He used to ignore me when I was on the phone, but now chases me around and jumps up nipping me to the point where I have bruises on my legs.

We do NILIF and he is learning a lot of things we do want him to do, but when he's wound up, he will not respond to these commands. We are always right there when this occurs (he's not left unattended unless in the crate), but nothing seems to help train better behaviors in place of what we're getting. What's more - it all kind of seemed to happen overnight (which is what I hear puppy adolescence is like). Due to some health problems (Parvo and then seizures), he hasn't been able to do Puppy classes yet though we're looking for one soon!

[Marsha]

The behavior sounds VERY familiar to me. Our puppy was doing those things, and the biting was to the point of thinking we might not be able to keep him. We had a behaviorist come in and work with us. He was a clicker trainer/behaviorist, and we had 5 sessions with him. He was wonderful, and it worked wonders for our puppy. I think it was a combination of things that helped, and probably the thing that helped calm Spanky down was the fact that working with the trainer helped me realize that Spanky was not becoming an aggressive/dominant dog. He just had play behavior that wasn't appropriate. Although we worked through the main issue of biting with the trainer, I think the whole experience and the fact that we viewed the puppy differently helped the most. I was no longer nervous around Spanky and nervous that he was going to be aggressive with people. In turn, I think Spanky became a more relaxed dog, and the behavior improved. Even the growly bark that he did seems to have gone away. I guess if he still does it, I'm confident that he's playing, so I don't even notice it anymore. He still steals things off tables and desks. He thinks it's the greatest game in the world to take something and run!! We're just trying to keep everything put up and out of his reach, but we tend to leave paper or magazines too close to the edge, and he gets them. He's 10 months old now. I don't remember when our last dog quit chewing our stuff up.

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Hi Rebekah!

Sounds like Samson is figuring out what works to get your attention. The more attention you give these behaviors the more fun it is for him.

- Stealing: Samson has taken to coming up to us, tables, wherever and swiping items (e.g., paper, pens, shoes) to chew

Try to keep items out of reach. When he does steal something don't say anything or make a fuss- act like you couldn't care less. Then quietly & calmly with out making eye contact walk up & take the item from him.

- Mouthiness: He is very mouthy - to the point of still actually hurting us - I've tried "Ouch!" and isolate, but as soon as I return, he's back at it. The initial "ouch" actually makes him more rowdy.
I hear the ouch/rowdiness problem all the time. So stop saying ouch. Are there certain situations when he is mouthy? Think about it & try to prevent the mouthiness before it happens. If that isn't possible then stop whatever you're doing with him when he mouths & Ignore him. When you come back to him get him involved with something else- practice obedience for example


- Barking/Growling: When we tell him "no" or another command to stop something, he barks and/or growls at us and also jumps and nips Can you give an example? It sounds like he's frustrated, (yes I know you are too :rolleyes: ) Is he getting reinforced for good behavior? If you're asking him to stop doing something more than you're rewarding him take a few steps back & try to figure out why. A +R training class might help out a lot here

- Jumping: He is not a couch dog, but he's recently begun jumping up on the couches and playing, sitting, barking/growling, whatever he feels like doing. Leave his leash on when you're with him. Use the leash to prevent him from jumping up in the first place. If he does jump up, don't say anything, just calmly & quietly walk over & remove him from the couch by his leash.

He jumps up at the countertops if he wants something or thinks something is there - he's never successfully gotten anything off of them
Good make sure he doesn't. & try not to leave tempting stuff up there. Also open the drawers a few inches & see if that stops him



- Phone manners: He used to ignore me when I was on the phone, but now chases me around and jumps up nipping me to the point where I have bruises on my legs.

Wow. What a smart cookie he is. He's learned that you are completly distracted when you are on the phone. What about putting him in his crate (with an awesome toy) when you're on the phone?

We do NILIF and he is learning a lot of things we do want him to do, but when he's wound up, he will not respond to these commands. We are always right there when this occurs (he's not left unattended unless in the crate), but nothing seems to help train better behaviors in place of what we're getting. What's more - it all kind of seemed to happen overnight (which is what I hear puppy adolescence is like). Due to some health problems (Parvo and then seizures), he hasn't been able to do Puppy classes yet though we're looking for one soon

Good! Just make sure the class is +R, I personally like clicker training best. Hang in there & let us know if you need anything else.

[Rebekah Hartman]

Thanks for the input!

We are doing clicker training at home. I think it's great, too! All of the trainers I've considered are +R trainers. We've just had a hard time finding the right trainer with the right schedule. I definitely want a class with a couple other pups (not private), so he gets socialization, too. Dr. Ian Dunbar says that the ultimate reason for puppy kindergarten is to learn bite inhibition. We aren't having too much luck there, so I'm hoping other doggies might be able to get the message across.

We do leave his leash on most of the time inside since he's always monitored (so he won't get tangled or choked without us seeing it happen and fixing it).

I tried putting cookie sheets on the countertops so that if he jumped they'd clatter if he knocked them (booby trap), but he actually jumps up just under the edge of the counter, so he misses touching the sheets. I hadn't thought of leaving drawers open, though - even the movement might make him uncomfortable enough to not try it again. He does jump up on the dishwasher, oven and back side of the island, though - none of which have drawers. I'll see if I can at least crack the DW & oven door.

[Chris Smith]

Hi Rebekah,

Nalu is just reaching 8 months now so I was in your shoes not too long ago...Melissa's advice is GREAT so first off, I would follow all of that.

Nalu has done everything you mentioned. He still does some of it, but much less frequently and I have control over it. It definitely sounds like he is doing everything he can to get your attention. So some of the stuff just has to be ignored without the "No's" and "stop", etc since that is still giving him attention. Simply lift him off the couch without saying anything. Take away the pen, newspaper, towel or whatever he is stealing. But don't make big deals of it. Just keep quiet and calm and control it.

Nalu used to love to grab my slippers. And I would run after him and tell him no, drop it, etc. It was such a fun game to him. One day I decided to risk destruction of the slipper and ignore him. Well, he lost interest in my slipper real quick when I could care less that he had it. He really wanted me - not the slipper. So when he came back to me to see why I wasn't chasing him and telling him no, I slowly walked over to the slipper, picked it up and removed it from his reach.

One other thing - make sure Samson is getting enough exercise and mental stimulation. If he is tired out or focused on something good for him, he will have less energy to spend on getting your attention.

And...it does get better :)

[Marsha]

Also, the old saying about it gets worse before it gets better.....
In the case of ignoring his behavior, it can get worse before it gets better but persevere. This was hardest with the nipping. He was used to getting attention from his nipping, and when we started ignoring him, he seemed to do it more and harder I guess figuring that we hadn't noticed him yet. I mean, we'd always given him attention for nipping before, so he must just not have gotten our attention yet. And he worked hard to be sure we weren't going to give him any attention before it started dying down. But it did work. Of course, we had gates up, and we would have to step across the gate sometime to ignore him!!

[Rebekah Hartman]

I don't know what I'd do without DoggieBag! Thanks for the encouragement. I think ignoring is going to be key because I think I've tried just about everything else.

I try to give attention when he's appropriate, but sometimes that just prompts him to do inappropriate behaviors, so I even have to be careful about that.

Hopefully we'll be able to start a class soon, too, which I know will only help us along.... It's great to know it gets better! That helps me remain more patient when he's driving me up a wall!

[Grace Erick]

I'm no behavorist, but rewarding him for getting his paws off the counter is actually rewarding him for bad behavior. When you tell him to get down, then he knows everytime he goes up with his paws on the counter, he will be told to get down and get affection or a treat. I would just tell him to get down and ignore him.

I guess that's the plus side to owning a tiny dog, they can't reach up on the table or counter with their paws. My dog can't even jump up on the couch:), but she's allowed there anyway, so I pick her up.