Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 3:58 pm Post subject: The Devil is in him today!
Cooper is approaching 10months now and for the majority he is a lovely dog.
He gets a 20 - 30minute road walk (stop starts with sniffing) in the morning before his brekkie. He is then crated while we are at work until midday when my husband goes home to feed him and let him out.
I get home for my lunch at about half 1 and we go out for a walk for about 30-40mins part on the road to get to the common area, where he can mooch about or has a play with dogs if any are around.
Now 9 and half times out of 10 on walks, he is a dream. he doesnt pull, he walks nicely. hes friendly to all other dogs, he doesnt jump up at people and we are working hard on recall.
So took him out today at lunch as normal, weather was pretty grotty so i was in my full waterproofs and wind was blowing a hoolie.
we had been for his play at the common and met a lovely old english sheepdog. On our way home along the road Cooper started jumping at my back and grabbing at my jacket with his teeth. So i stopped and made him sit. THen when he looked calm we stepped off again, only for him to jump again.
Each time he did this, it got worse and worse, him trying to bite me (my jacket). Kept stopping, correcting him and stepping off and praising when he walked nicely, but then without warning he'd do it again.
Got into the house, and he just launched at me, could not get him off me.
Now i must admit by this point i was frustrated and was yelling at him and telling him no. I couldnt physically walk away from him because i couldnt get away, he either had me with his front legs or with his teeth. and i couldnt leave him alone in the room we were in because its not secure if he wante dto get at the cats.
Finally managed to get him into the garden where i could shut him out. He stayed out there while got the waterproofs off (by this time i was so hot and bothered i needed a cold shower!).
Then i let him back in and he was nice as pie.
Now when he tries jumping and grabbing with his teeth (doesnt break the skin but leaves nasty bruises) we normally leave the room for 10 seconds and ocme back in.
We have been doing this for a few weeks now and it doesnt seem to be getting better. It did for a while, but it seems to be getting worse lately.
Is this him with the wind up his tail? his age and coming into sexual stroppiness? Just testing me?
Any advice? tips?
yelping when he bites makes him more exciteable,
A bit of 'time out' always works - they are so excitable and skittish when they are that age. If he gets too rough or goes a bit nuts, just shut him in his crate or in the garden until he cools off. Don't tell him off or anything - just calmly and quitely separate him. He'll soon get the message that if he get silly he will get ignored
Thanks Catherine.
I think because i was gettig so frustrated, like you say i wasnt ignoring the behaviour. But im just worried that his lack of bite inhibition has gone too far.
If we instigate putting our fingers or hands in his mouth, he is really gentle. We can easily look in his mouth, ears, see his teeth etc. and i hav done a lot of obedience with him (i want to compete).
BUt its this level of excitement that we nor him can control.
When he is devil dog he looks and appears quite aggressive. there is curling of the lips, teeth galore, wde eyes, and growling.
but when we get away and do time out, and come back in he will come for a cuddle straight away, so I know he isnt being aggressive as in he wants to hurt me.
But i want to sort this launching and biting when he is excited, wants attention or just out of the blue like today.
Do we just persevere and it will get better, and this is totally normal for a 10month old fella???
Its just part of the learning curve I think. Fin used to do this too, and he still occaisionally does in a fit of excitement. But because we persevered in ignoring him when he got too much he can snap out of it and he now calms down fairly quickly.
For instance yesterday - I brought him into the office for the day. We had a team meeting in the Boardroom so we just pulled all the chairs into a circle so it was more informal. Fin came in with us and went HYPER! Proper careering all over the place (not great when there are works of art hanging everywhere! Lol!). He kept on wandering up to everyone and insisting on attention, which only sent him giddy again. At this point I just said to everyone to just completely ignore him - don't touch him, look at him or talk to him. In five minutes he was asleep!
Now Fin is 20 months, so his hyperactiveness isn't quite as mouthy as Cooper's, but its the same thing really. What you describe sounds quite the norm really - they can really look quite agreesive but they're just getting a bit overexcited!
Just persevere and he'll get the message. Also if he hangs on to your coat when out and about use the same tactic - don't talk, don't look, don't touch. As hard as it sounds, if you don't react then there's no game in it and he will stop. It will get through to his little noggin eventually!!
Ooh - just had another thought. It might be on the days he goes nuts it might just be some pent up energy that he needs to release. You maybe need to up the anti and give him the same amount of exercise, but do something that will tire him out more. For example - hide and seek. Take a favourite toy and hide it - let him hunt it out. Or do some training out on the common area you walk him on. Mental stimulation tires them out much more than physical stimulation so you maybe need to find a favourite game that will get him thinking
That could well have contributed actually. Normally of an evening when we both get home from work we take him out and just do exactly that, with a ball which he will chase. and my hubby will run and hide and play with him like that. But the last few nights we havent because of the darker evenings and we were waiting on his flashy collar arriving in the post.
So i will add in some training on our lunch walks and send hubby out with the ball tonight!!
You can play hidee treats and toys in the house too - both of mine love this now! Tucker cottoned on to the FIND IT command really quickly when he realised it meant food! I keep him busy while I'm in the shower by hiding little treats all over the bedroom/landing/bathroom - stops him chewing the toilet roll... my shoes... a coathanger... a bottle of shampoo... a belt... my glasses....!!!!
Does your Cooper do 'bumtucks' ? Where they stick their tail between their legs and ruuuuuuuuuuun as fast as possible usually in circles! Luna was always a great one for bumtucking in great big circles when tired but needing to burn off that last bit of energy. She'd usually do it when returning home from walk or just before bed. Bring her in from the garden after a bumtuck and she'd collapse and not move for hours!
Tucker is different... he does tiny almost on the spot bumtucks that are seconds long and far more intense! Again at the end of a walk, just before collapsing to deep sleep!
It almost sounds like Cooper's 'bumtuck' could be to jump up and 'play' with you to burn off that last bit of energy. Shutting him out allows his adrenaline to drain and then he's back to being clam and placid.
I find the weather makes a difference with my 2 as well. Wind sends dogs and children wappy IMO!
Kenko did a fantastic "bumtuck scamper" on the way back from our walk this evening.He zigzags irraticaly all over the place...it's so funny !! The last part of the walk is down hill to my cottage,with cows in a neighboring field.The bumtuck scamper mesmerized the cows,they'd never seen anything like it !!!
The scamper was a sure sign that he hadn't used up enough puppy energy,so I did a bit of training with him in my garden.He's now plonked out!!
____________ Lots of labby licks,Julian and Kenko
"The loneliness of deception" Chimpanzee study 2011
Laura,
We do hide his food, and play hide and seek, but maybe we need to just do more with him.
yes he does bum tuck. Not sure if i could pin point it to a specific time of day tho'.
He loves being chased too, so we will stalk him and say "im comingggggggggg......... to get you!" and chase him. he loves it. That drains his energy too.
Last night he was so quiet. And kept sitting on my feet and looking at me sideways as if to say "sorry bout luncthime Mum"
I did some obedience with him and then he had a good brush and belly rub, and he asked to go to bed much earlier than normal. Which was wonderful, beacuse i was exhausted,
This morning on the walk, i did bits of training with him. heelwork, and sits and changing direction loads. He was good as gold.
So will persevere with the mental training (as in him using his brain, not me being crazy and overdoing it!! )
we hav obedience class tonight too, so he should be nicely brain tired.
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