Puppy Help!

Hi everyone, :flwr:

Most of you probably know my little Ollie has been home for 2 weeks now. He is now 11 weeks and getting bigger by the second! Also a lot my confident and adventurous.

I have a couple of little issues that I'd like to hear your opinions and advice on.

When I'm playing with Ollie (usually tug of war) he gets very growly and can even nip my fingers on purpous! I try the yelping technique but it seems to make him more excited in these situations. If he is calmer the yelping works quite well. How can I come him down when he is just growling and jumping up at me? I try to ingnore him but he will just run out the door if I do that! :sl*p:


That's another problem. The door to my backyard has about 7 steps leading to it. Ollie is nw confidently climbing up and down these steps but he still slips a lot! I am so worried about his patellas when he does this but once he is off I can't get to him before he goes down them. When I take him outside to go potty all he wants to do is run around and play with plants etc. I usually wait for him but now I've been going back inside because it just takes SO long. That means Ollie has to go inside on his own, his quite capable but I'm worried about his joints. P.S We have a very secure backyard

I'm definately a worried new mother, I bet you can tell! After Ollie eats or drinks he makes like a little cough/hiccup noise. It worries me but not enough to ring a vet. Is this normal? He also sneezes a bit too but I haven't called the vet up because I don't know if it's serious. He only sneezes once or twice a day. His also sliding on our wooden floors a lot! :shock: I can't stop him because he has to get around some way but all the sliding and slipping must not be good for his patellas.

One last thing is that this morning I took Ollie outside and waited for almost 10 minutes and all he was doing was playing around. So I went back inside but when he came in he was VERY growly and biting me non stop. I sat him on the couch because he usually calms down and will have a rest but he was just growling and whimpering and trying to jump off every chance he had. This went on for quite a few minutes, just him growling and nipping. I gave him a toy but he was hadly interested. Could something had happened to him outside and hurt him or something? :?

OK long post! Lol A little good news on top of that.. Ollie is learning SIT and DOWN very wel and can even do them without treats! But he won't do it unless he is very calm at the time. He is also great with strangers, very friendly but also very nippy. I'd like to take him to cafes and places like that so he can meet new people but I'd have to take him in my arms. AH another problem, how do I get around this? Because he is soo wriggly in my arms I'm afraid he'd fall. He hasn't really met more then 1 stranger at a time. We're also going to enrol in puppy class next week or the week after.. if there are any spots left! :yikes

Thanks for reading my long post!

Emily

He sounds like a regular lil pup that just found out he is STRONG! I never play tug of war with a puppy because i think they all get a little too excited and it encourages them to get tough and growl. that is behaviour to use when playing with another dog, not me, has always been my thought. Now when my dog was older and had done the obedience training route, yes occassionally we did but she knew then what "ok enough" meant when I didnt want to play any more.

As for when he came in growling, I know there are a lot of experienced members and breeders here with knowledge on dog behaviour, so I will leave it for them to give their help.

Thanks Kody. I am the same, I don't like playing tug of war with him but it seems that the moment I pick up a toy thats all he wants to play. I don't know what other fun 'interactive games' to play other then chase the toy around the room. But that can also get him very worked up trying to 'kill' the toy and sometimes getting my fingers instead! :sl*p:

Same links I offered on a similar thread :

Puppy biting:

http://siriuspup.com/pdfs/08PuppyBiting.pdf
http://deesdogs.com/documents/teachingbiteinhibition.pdf

It's not just saying ouch or whatever -- ALL THE FUN HAS TO END. So a time out where you walk away and puppy gets no one to play with for some period of time -- some say short, some longish (30 secs to 5 minutes), or puppy goes into Xpen for a time out of similar duration.

Also: he is way too young to be expected to do more than some 'fun' training. Just getting him to a sit is a big deal for a puppy! Remember, he is just a baby at his age. It is like getting a toddler to sit down when asked, for a short while. Their attention span is too short to expect them to sit and stay.

If he is wriggly, then best advice is don't take him out and around except safely in a carrier. A dropped puppy can be a seriously injured or a dead puppy. I know a 6 month old that died from a 4 foot fall from a wall. Consider the height you'd be carrying him is like dropping a human child from about 12-15 feet up. :shock: A wriggly puppy that lands safely may well run into a street. So keep puppies safely contained in a carrier, and even then, always restrained in some way.

He has all his adult, trained life to go out and about in a more relaxing way for you and for him.

Thankyou Karlin! Can you tell that I'm a worried wreck? :lol:

I will try the biting technique thanks. :flwr:

I agree, I am very impressed that he can do sit and down so well! Hopefully puppy school will help push him along too.

I wonder what people think when I walk into a cafe with a cat cage, only to have a puppy inside! :lol: But beter safe than sorry

Thanks for all your advice

Emily

You can get good carriers from ebay. I got one for £15 including P&P and it was fantastic for Amber during that little tiny stage. Now she's outgrown it I use it as a doggy bag for transporting doggy things. I had her secured both to the bag and to me (both clips attached to her puppia) because I was paranoid about her wriggling out/getting into street etc. It worked well. Alternatively get a larger one. If you're in the UK zooplus do a great looking one that can be wheeled. In a few months I'm going to get on myself. I have a double crate on wheels, but there's only a handful of situations I'd use it in.

time out

For nipping (among other innoying bahaviors) my dog trainer suggested time outs where we hold our pooch away from our bodies facing outwards for about 5 seconds. She completely loses focus and stops nipping etc.