Being a little snot

[taxidermynerd]

Roxie has been such a little snot gremlin lately.

She's a perfect angel at the store, at the park, etc, but then we get home and she becomes a little gremlin. At the advice of the trainer we'll be going to (puppy classes in November now, because of the giardia and roundworm), we've started with timeouts when she gets to be a major butt, and we've started with the "Nothing in life is free" rule. She's caught on fast.

I have so many bite marks and scratches from her... what a little booger. It gets extra bad if she gets really excited.

I can't wait until she grows out of it...

 

[finchly]

Whew. Puppy stage is hard! Does she ever just snuggle with you?

 

[taxidermynerd]

Nope. Not a snuggle bug. I wish. She loves to sleep but not to snuggle.

 

[Marvel_ous]

She sounds so much like Connor, right down to being an angel away from the house! A lot of people tell me "Your dog is so well behaved!" Unless they've seen him at home.
Wear those marks with pride! I always get a little disappointed when they disappear, LOL. At least I have a scar from a shelter cat that I think is here to stay!

 

[taxidermynerd]

Currently have her in time out. Was being a petulant brat. Will go from chewing on a toy to chewing on my flesh. God I wish she'd sleep. She went to the local petstore, to a petco (one of the big ones), on a walk, on a car ride, and to home depot. She spent half an hour in the rain eating leaves. Christ Roxie, please sleep.

 

[taxidermynerd]

Oh, something I just remembered. Yesterday before we went to the park and Pet Supplies Plus we stopped at Speedway, just to get some snacks.

When dad ran inside, Rox was busy looking for him (and stealing his seat, lol). While she was trying to put her paws on the steering wheel, she accidentally turned on the turn signal! I have no clue how to turn it off, so I sat there laughing like a goon for 5 minutes. Roxie wasn't phased but I thought it was hilarious, lol!

 

[hrafn]

My puppy is the opposite. Generally an angel at home (except when she eats my pills), but a hellion in public.

Puppies. Gotta love 'em!

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Do you play games with her? Teach her how to fetch and tire her out... tired dogs usually put themselves in time out. Take her for a run or very log walk. Our little Riley chewed everything including the baseboards and chairs. He had to learn to chew on his toys only. So when you catch her chewing on something she shouldn't don't scold her but give her the proper chew toy and praise her for taking it. Tug-o-war is not a good game to play ... teaches them to chew on you or your clothes or if you grab and play with her muzzle. Just wondering how you interact with her in play. She's just a puppy so this is all she knows how to play. I'm so glad you've enrolled her in classes. It not only teaches her, but teaches you how to work with your dog. Since it's going to be a few weeks before you can start the classes google some videos on how to teach your dog to sit, stay and down, when she does and holds the sit, stay and down then reward with a treat. When she gets rambunctious put her through these motions several times to distract her from her rowdy behavior. Good luck!

 

[Ankou]

Puppies are very trying, stay strong. She will only get better and finding the right trainer helps so much.

Axel was a little turd too, enough to do was so important. Not just physical but mental too. Time outs didn't do any good if he was acting out because he had a bunch of pent-up energy.

I know you didn't ask for help but I know when I volunteered to watch Axel I needed all the help I could get. If you want I can post some of the stuff I did to get me through those 7 months I fostered Axel as a pup without completely loosing my mind. (He did have me in tears with frustration a couple times. And I would absolutely do it again if I still had the free time to raise my own shepherd.)

 

[finchly]

When she gets rambunctious put her through these motions several times to distract her from her rowdy behavior

This still seems to work with Cricket even though she is 2. when the 3 get rowdy (I have the never-leaving houseguest again, with dog) I start putting them all through their paces. Somehow mental work calms them, or as Andrea said distracts them, and they usually settle down after that. For a few minutes.

I also bought a pen like this, andn when I couldn’t take the needle-sharp teeth any more she went in here for awhile with a nice big chewie to keep her occupied.



Oh.... one of the best commands I know is ‘settle’.... or as we do it, ‘place.’ they have to go to a place and stay there. I use little bath mats. You teach this after she knows stay. Then you can send her to her place when the doorbell rings, and she doesn’t get out the door.

I also always teach fetch as well as releasing the toy once they bring it back, lol. And sit, stay, down, roll over, shake, sit pretty, heel, and find. I like to wrestle with mine, but I don’t allow jumping up so I have a signal (pretend you’re a bear, and you’ll have it) that says “now we can play wildly.”

 

[Ankou]

Okay, I was going through the pictures my mother took of baby Axel to relax tonight and found this gem.
I'm just going to... leave this here. I thought of you and Trinity with your difficult puppies.

I especially appreciate my thousand yard stare.
Ya'll have no idea how done I was with his play biting. Nothing worked (this is just a snapshot, I did my best to keep him from biting, reprimand, and redirect but if you touched him or he was bored he would bite you) until he was completely done teething at 7 months and then all the work I'd put in finally showed. (And he moved on to humping everyone a month later... )

It gets better, it really really does.

 

[taxidermynerd]

Okay, I was going through the pictures my mother took of baby Axel to relax tonight and found this gem.
I'm just going to... leave this here. I thought of you and Trinity with your difficult puppies.

I especially appreciate my thousand yard stare.
Ya'll have no idea how done I was with his play biting. Nothing worked (this is just a snapshot, I did my best to keep him from biting, reprimand, and redirect but if you touched him or he was bored he would bite you) until he was completely done teething at 7 months and then all the work I'd put in finally showed. (And he moved on to humping everyone a month later... )

It gets better, it really really does.

I think that's kind of what she's doing, in her mind she's just playing a fun game. Can't even touch her usually because she'll try to bite. I've caught her feining a yawn to maneuver her teeth around my hand... Sneaky butt!!

She's 14 weeks old now, I hope and pray she'll stop in the next few months...

Oh, we've also discovered she's the sock gremlin. Will steal any socks in a 5000 mile radius. So if you are missing a sock, you can probably blame her!