Need help with new puppy.

[Swamp Donkey]

Jigsy needs your help!



I got a puppy about a month ago and he is well... ... a puppy. Not sure what kind of dog he is, I adopted him from an animal shelter. Vet thinks he might be some kind of pointer/bird dog, and I think he may have some kind of terrier in him. What can I do to make him stop doing these annoying habits.



1) Every time he comes running to me he jumps up with his paws. I always push him down and tell him "STAY DOWN" This does not seem to work.



2) While I am trying to pet him and keeping him from jumping on me he bites me. Not hard or mean, but is always biting. With this I clamp his mouth shut and tell him "NO" but he still bites me like I was an old juicy T-bone.



3) Tears up everything including garbage. The obvious solution is to move everything so he can not get into trouble. Just wondering if anyone knows a way of getting around keeping EVERYTHING hidden.



4) He is about 4 months old and lifted his leg and took a wiz on my tire. He is scheduled to be neutered in November. How does one teach his dog not to urinate on his tire?



Man I wish I still had my old Lab... ... ... .



I fully understand that puppies are a big responsibilty but he seems to be a little more than any I have encountered. I don't like to beat dogs... ... ... but if necesary I do and will give them a "spank".



Thanks guys... ...

 

[socal_rattler]

John,

Cheers to you for rescueing a dog from the shelter



Most of the behaviors are ones to be expected from a 4 month old dog, especially since you have no idea what training, if any, he got prior to the shelter. All I can do is suggest what worked for me with my Lab and Rat Terrier. Above all else, be consistent. This is the most important thing I can tell you.



1. When he jumps up, push him off and tell him "OFF". It may take awhile, but he will get it eventually.



2. All puppies will bite and chew... this is primarily because they are teething. Grasp the flap of skin on the back of his neck, shake him (gently at first) and tell him "STOP". Also have a chew toy or something that you WANT him to chew on and when he starts on you, give that to him instead. You WILL battle this to some extent until he finishes teething.



3. I also had to move everything I didn't want chewed up to a safe place. Make sure he has things available to chew on that you WANT him to chew on... spread them around the house. This isn't much different than having a two year old kid who will break your wife's cyrstal doodads.



4. Was the wizzing a one-time thing? He is a little young to be marking. Show him the tire, grasp neck as above and tell him "Leave it".



Try not to resort to spanking or striking him. This will only teach him to mistrust you and will not work in the long run. There are many books that talk about negative vs. positive reinforcement.



I would also recommend not using the word NO to correct him. Try to use other words that are appropriate for the situation, such as OFF, STOP, LEAVE IT, etc. I find that that they seem to learn a lot quicker this way.



Plenty of patience will work wonders. Find a 'puppy kindergarten' class for him and more importantly, you.



Good luck!

 

[HDH]

Puppies!

SwampDonkey;
On #1, Try Using a Squirt Bottle to Train Him not to Jump on People. I used this method when I trained all 3 of my GSD's. As soon as he Jumps on you, Squirt Him in the Face with the water. It works real well, And Is recomended by some radio Pet Talk Programs on the Am Dial.

On #2, You Can try the Squirt Bottle But, He Should out grow that habbit.

On #3, He Should out grow that habbit too, He is Teething, And will lose his Puppy Teeth Soon, Try And Get him tired by playing with him, So he will sleep!. Get him a chew toy!.

The Wizzing Thing Comes with the Puppy, He's a Dominant Male, So the way I Broke my Male GSD (Duke) Of the Habbit was to Rub his nose in it, The Spray the Squirt Bottle in face and said NO! No Bad Duke!.
This worked for me!, Hope it works for you.
Doug.

BTW, On the Squirt Bottle thing, Now all Three GSD's, Love the Water!, I can't even hose off the driveway or back patio without them right there at the nozzle biting at the water stream!. LOL!!

 

[Steve Campbell]

#1 Lightly (at first) step on his back foot and keep increasing pressure until he get down when his fronts are on your leg immediately AFTER saying NO! Maybe it will take 6 applications if everything is timed right.

 

['956Wheel]

Thanks for asking, so many people just give up and take a pup back... not good. My mom was right "your life will go to the dogs" . Love it.



I will answer in the format you asked them:



1. ) Consistancy will do it with this one, push him down HARD and with a negative tone say DOWN! He is happy to see you and is literally jumping for joy. If he is large enough a QUICK knee to the chest works well. YOU MUST PRAISE HIM WHEN HE DOES GOOD, remember all he wants to do is please you.



2. ) The biting thing is not so easy. He, more than likely is "mouthing" your hand as security, a mother pup thing. This is a pain, literally, as at 4 months of age he still has his milk teeth... little thornes! "Trade" his biting for a scratch behind the ear and kind sounding voice.



3. ) Make a "crash can" ( Coke can with 10 or so pennies in it taped shut) if you ever see him chew toss the can up so it lands near him, he will associate chewing your stuff with a BIG scare! The can is used for a lot of mis-behavior you will encounter... DO NOT LET HIM GET A HOLD OF IT as his fear may diminish. Also red pepper flakes for outdoor stuff that you want him to stay away from. A few chew toys are a must, BUT DO NOT USE A SHOE or any other stuff that will confuse him... heavy duty chew toys, and when he uses them PRAISE HIM... A LOT.



4. ) Pepper flakes or cayene (sp) powder will keep him from peeing on your stuff... NEVER "PUNISH" HIM FOR PEEING. Crash can is good if you catch him, it must "come out of nowhere".



NEVER HIT HIM WITH YOUR HAND, as he will fear you forever. Praise is a LOT better than punishment as his whole life is centered around pleasing you... . it may not seem like it but it is so.



I have trained many dogs and currently show dogs as well as have a Delta certified dog, this is a dog that is allowed to visit folks in most rest homes and many hospitals, really cheers up the patients!



Mike



Hope this helps.



E-Mail if need be.



P. S. Rattler is right on the no word, use "specialized" words as well as the sound that your Mom (all Moms) made when you were bad... kind of a "uhh uhh throat grind thing", remember?

 

[merryman]

Ah, you got Pat McManus' dog "strange", you know the one he wrote about that after pointing a bird if the shooter missed, he would come over and pee on the shooter's boot. He talked of returning it to the pound, but they paid him to keep it.



Vaughn

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have always had good luck with crate training. When the dog must be left alone, other than chewing bedding and dumping water, there is not much trouble to get into when locked up. Give him something that he can chew on though. Let him out to do his business as soon as you come home. Even if he has made a mess, make a big fuss over him. Don't use the crate as punishment. Don't get mad over some incident and force him in there. I find as dogs get used to the crate, you can leave the door open and find them in there as it becomes a safe place. I use crates on older adopted dogs successfully too. Look into obedience training. That will help most dogs become better companions.



I agree with Mike's advise but would add not to hit him with the lease either. With puppies, sometimes a little shaking by the scruff of the neck similar to what mom would do is helpful. Depends on the age and maturity for that.

 

[hammersley]

Love will fix it....

I've been around dogs all my life, my grandfather, who raised me, raised dogs, beagles in North Central PA. For the past 35 years I've raised Labs. I've learned a few things about dogs - and my 1st recommendation is to get a book by Richard Wolters http://www.familydogs.com/richard.htm. He has a series of books on training mostly Hunting Dogs. He started with Water Dog, and then went to Gun Dog, Game Dog and Finally Family Dog. Check out this site - and whatever you do - GET HIS BOOK - and in your case probably Family Dog. Believe me, he has revolutionized training of dogs - he's a great writer, and if you love dogs, and you must as you went to a shelter, then you'll shed a tear or two if you read some of his books. I can't recommend his method enough - and it doesn't evolve around force training - it's simply wonderful, and will work. BTH - your dog wants to greet you, when he jumps up to se you - remember you're way up there, and he's way down there. You've got to be like an 8 year old with a rambunctious pup. Don't kill his excitement to see you - get down to his level and give him some attention and love, he'll get over it - but first let him know that you love and appreciate his attention. The biting - well you need to give them everything in the worked to chew - that won't hurt them.

 

[hammersley]

They Got Video's

After checking the site I told you about - I noticed that they have video's - probably a great idea.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will take the best of each of your suggestions and the ones that I think will work with me and Jigsy. Will have to get my wife on board to so everything is consistant.





My Dad always said a dog is only as smart as his owner. I think I have a smart dog, just have to bring it out!

 

[swamp rat]

Having raised some 21+ wolfdog crosses from birth to puppyhood to full adulthood and a few into senior lupine-hood, two stray mixed breed dogs, and 1 dumped pure breed dog, I wholeheartedly concur with Qrtrhrs. A wire crate and a multitude of toys does wonders for prevention of boredom which is the single most prevalent cause of chewing. I wouldn't stop with only one or two toys, preferably Nylabones of the proper size for the pup as he grows. Pig ears and rawhide toys are not the safest for a few reasons:



1. Rawhides made outside of the USA contains a certain amount of formaldehyde which is dfinitely not good for any animal much less a growing pup. Rawhides mfd. in the USA are free from formaldehyde uner an FDA requirement. Imported rawhides are mfd. not under this restriction.



2. Rawhides have earned a bad rep for becoming soft and being swallowed before they have been chewed into small enough pieces to safely pass thru the digestive tract. Hence they can cause choking and/or clog the lower tracts, causing bloat which can be extremely harmful if not fatal if not dislodged within a few hours meaning less than 48-72 max for a smaller dog a little longer for a larger dog. If the dog cannot pass the blockage normally or with massive laxatives, it will require surgical removal.



3. Pig ears and hooves have a nasty habit of shattering into small shards that can be razor sharp. While passing thru the digestive system they have been known to shred the intestinal tract exactly like glass would.



To stop the hand biting/nipping you could get a rope toy and get him to play tug-o-war with you, but make him stop when you want him to stop not when he wants. Also, it isn't a good idea to leave a ropetoy within reach of the pup when unattended, and should be discarded when heavily worn. Nylabones shouldn't be left within reach after they have been chewed to a size where they might be swallowed as is true of any toy.



As an aside, if you would like to minimize certain allergies, skin & coat problems, and possible internal illness, I suggest never feeding a feed that contains BHA, BHD, and especially Ethoxyquin (which I believe has been banned by FDA) as preservatives. Mixed toccopherols or Vitamin E is the only way to go, and can be found in realatively inexpensive feeds most notably regular Purina Dog Chow and all Diamond feeds. VItamin E is especially good for highly active sporting or working dogs. Check below to see what Iditarod Vets have to say about Vitamin E.



http://www.iditarod.com/vitamine.html



BTW Swamp Donkey, in case it hasn't been said enough in this thread you are a good person for saving a "throwaway life"!



^5 to you and anyone else who saves a life from certain death at the regular shelters, and a hearty ^10 to those who support NO-KILL Shelters.

 

[WOWZY]

My Beagle just lost all of her canines thank God!! I've been breeding dogs most of my life and have never seen a dog like my Beagle that had teeth as sharp as hers. The 2 top canines were like hyperdermic needlesand would cut you with just the slightest touch. I even thought about using my Dremmel tool to round 'em down a little. My daughters clothes have holes all in them. Finally the last one came out 2 days ago with a little help from my needlenose pliers.



A neighbor of my parents was having trouble with a dog coming by his front screen door, hiking his leg and peeing through the screen all over his carpet. He is an animal lover and didn't want to shoot the dog, but wanted to discourage it from coming back. I never asked him what he used, but it had something to do with some screen wire and an Electric Fence Box

 

[DaveN]

Chewing on things

I've got a lab, she's 5 1/2 months now, and I've had the same problems that you've explained. Basically all of the advice that has been given is good, but the biggest thing that you have to do is have patience (of which I have very little unfortunately... ) They will learn eventually, but unlike children, it's much more difficult to communicate with a dog. One of the things that really helped us was that you have to establish a "pack heirarchy" with the dog, he has to understand that he is below you in the pack, and that you are the alpha dog. This is how dogs behave in the wild, and even domesticated dogs have a heirarchy. This heirarchy can be established in a number of ways, you can do a search on the internet to find it, but the way we used was that when the puppy would jump up, and we would tell it NO, and it would still do it, we would push the dog down on the ground (so as not to hurt it, but forceful enough so that it knows you mean business), partially lay down on the dog (don't put your weight on it, but keep the dog under control), hold the dog's mouth shut with your hand while your face is in the dogs face. This places you in a position of maximum dominance, and the dog in the maximum submissive posiiton. You have to hold this position until the dog quits fighting you, eventually he/she will "submit", meaning that he/she quits squirming. Now, you're probably not going to want to do this in front of the neighbors, they're going to think that you are right out of the loony bin, but it worked for us. We had to do this probably once a day for a couple of months, but it definitely helped with the training.



With respect to the chewing on everything, you have to puppy proof your house. It's just like with kids, if you absolutely do not want the dog to touch it, get it out of it's way. Thier nature want's to play with everything and anything. One of our friends used a "bitter apple" spray on some of the items that they didn't want their puppy to chew on, they reported that it worked well. They also said that it worked for some training issues (jumping up, etc. ) also.



After 5 1/2 months, our dog is just now starting to get out of the puppy phase. I'm not saying that what we've done is the best way, but it's what we did, and it seemed to work.

 

[The patriot]

John, my pup is 4 months old now.

She knows it's OK to jump on me, but my wife dont like it. The dog will figure it out soon. Now she just kind of jumps in front of my wife, not on her. He's just happy to see you, give it time, and he'll figure it out. I think my wife just said "NO!" and tapped her on the nose. This worked.

Mine dont tear anything apart ( I got her plenty chew toys) but she digs like a groundhog. Be happy yours dont do this!! I got gopher holes all over the yard.

Eric

 

[hammersley]

A Dog Question

Hey guys - Here's a question my old grandad's barber use to ask ... "What does a dog do on it's day off?"

 

[Lhotka]

Good advice from Swamp Rat. You may also want to try the big femur knuckle bones you can get from the grocer or animal food warehouse. Knuckle bones are great for their teeth and won't splinter when chewed. They crumble instead. Providing something for your dog to chew on helps distract it from undesirable behavior and releases stress. The dog is young and some bad behavior is to be expected. He should be able to comprehend the concept of "No" or "Stay Down" early on. Have patience.

 

[Doc Tinker]

One thing I've been told, but haven't tried yet. Use mousetraps in the garbage and on stuff that the puppy likes to chew. Onces he's been snapped a few time, he'll supposedly stay away.



Doc

 

[QRTRHRS]

Mousetraps underneath some newspaper sometimes help to keep dogs off the furniture. Course', old sheets thrown in the wash once a week work well too.