laram
Well-known member
Hello all!
I am new here :flwr: . I just got a 10 week old ruby cavalier puppy called Samwise 4 days ago :d*g: . He is very cute, but quite a handful. He's my first dog, and though I have read a lot about puppy training, there are a few things that I'd like to ask for some advice on - if someone has had similar issues.
Sammy is very friendly and brave with new people, which is great. But he has a kindof embarrassing habit of humping their legs :sl*p: . Especially when guests come over, he gets quite compulsive about it - which is such a pity because they would like to fuss over him but instead we have to keep telling him off. He also does that with me sometimes when I take him outside. Does anyone know what this means in such a young puppy? Is it a dominance thing - showing the guests that this is his domain? He does the same thing to his stuffed toys when there is a guest over. Could it just be out of excitement or nervousness?
Another thing is that most of his waking hours he spends trying to play fight me. I'm sure he'll calm down eventually, but he can be very stubborn about it, so I'm afraid he'll develop bad habits if I don't get it under control. I keep stopping him and trying to distract him with other toys, but he's usually only distracted for half a minute at most. I've also tried yelping and ignoring him when he bites hard. That surprises him at first, but if I ignore him, he just goes on biting me and tugging on my clothes. I've also tried the 'reward for behaving well' thing, but he has such a short attention span (a matter of seconds) that by the time I've rewarded him, he's back to fighting me again.
Anyway, he is such a little fox and very cute (especially when he's sleepy). But is this behaviour typical? Is it just a stage?
Thanks!!
Laura
I am new here :flwr: . I just got a 10 week old ruby cavalier puppy called Samwise 4 days ago :d*g: . He is very cute, but quite a handful. He's my first dog, and though I have read a lot about puppy training, there are a few things that I'd like to ask for some advice on - if someone has had similar issues.
Sammy is very friendly and brave with new people, which is great. But he has a kindof embarrassing habit of humping their legs :sl*p: . Especially when guests come over, he gets quite compulsive about it - which is such a pity because they would like to fuss over him but instead we have to keep telling him off. He also does that with me sometimes when I take him outside. Does anyone know what this means in such a young puppy? Is it a dominance thing - showing the guests that this is his domain? He does the same thing to his stuffed toys when there is a guest over. Could it just be out of excitement or nervousness?
Another thing is that most of his waking hours he spends trying to play fight me. I'm sure he'll calm down eventually, but he can be very stubborn about it, so I'm afraid he'll develop bad habits if I don't get it under control. I keep stopping him and trying to distract him with other toys, but he's usually only distracted for half a minute at most. I've also tried yelping and ignoring him when he bites hard. That surprises him at first, but if I ignore him, he just goes on biting me and tugging on my clothes. I've also tried the 'reward for behaving well' thing, but he has such a short attention span (a matter of seconds) that by the time I've rewarded him, he's back to fighting me again.
Anyway, he is such a little fox and very cute (especially when he's sleepy). But is this behaviour typical? Is it just a stage?
Thanks!!
Laura