Need advice with hyper puppy!

[TwitchXk90]

Hello.

We recently added a Border Collie x Petit Basset to our family. He is 9 weeks old and have had him for about a week, and I feel like we are going backwards with him. When we went to see him and on the first few days he was very well behaved. But now it seems like he is became worse and worse and I feel like I am failing him as an owner.

We started walking him 3-4 times a day to help burn off his energy (as we know Border Collies are very active) Once we have walked him we let him eat and after that we play with him. This is normally tug-of-war or we let him run around with a toy while we interact with him. We also use this time to try and train him. (Normally with no results) Then we let him try and relax abit before he has his nap. When he wakes up he goes out to use the bathroom and we play till it was time for his next walk or till he settled down.

This worked for the first few days but now he doesn't want to walk. He always sits at the door. I am able to praise him out only for him to sit down and refuse to walk every time I start the walk. When playing he can get rather nippy, so I yelp and try to move away. But this sometimes makes him bite down harder. We try to calm him but sometimes he will jump up and begin to bite some more.

Finally when we got him we didn't have many potty accidents. Now all of a sudden he does. I'm not sure if they is due to needing more training, excitement or something else.

Either me or my wife are home so he is never alone. And we are trying to train him the best we can but he always seem to misbehave. He also has a large veriaty of toys but seems disintrested in most now and would rather just chew on a wooden stick from the garden(Which we have read is bad to let him have)

We honestly can't think on what to try tro help our puppy. Can anyone give me any advice as to what I am doing wrong? I just want my puppy to be happy but feel like I am not doing that.

[Dibbythedog]

Don't panic! He sounds like a normal puppy. He is only nine weeks so dont expect too much. have a look through the forum to see what advice their is about puppies and look at the old threads. It is hard work caring for a puppy and it gets worse before it gets better.

First , don't make your puppy go out if he doesn't want too , he could find it over whelming or too tiring . Puppies are like youn g kids they get over tired and over stimulated. Puppies need their rest so after a walk or play and a meal , I would avoid playing with him again, give him a chance to settle in a play pen or crate.

Nipping is typical puppy behaviour , I would carry on saying ouch and move away because he needs to know that he has hurt you ( bite inhibition) If he carries on them you leave the room for a minute so he learns that if he nips and hurts you then you wont play with him.

Toilet training , take him outside after he wakes up , after every meal , after a play time and generally every hour .

taking him to a well run puppy class would help him socialise with other pups and you can ask for advice.
he is teething so you need to find the right chew toys for him to chew on .

Thats great you are with him all the time but he needs to learn to cope with being alone so perhaps you start leaving him for a very short times , five minutes to start with .

[TwitchXk90]

Thanks for the advice and reassurance. I'll let you know how things go.

[delladooo]

I agree with Dibby - sounds like typical puppy behaviour. He is possibly being overstimulated so possibly try doing one thing and then having some time to chill, this should also help with teaching him to settle and be calm in general too. When you say you're trying to train him what are you trying to teach? Whilst puppies are very clever and like little sponges, don't introduce too much at once as it can lead to confusion.

Also, when you say you're taking him out do you mean out on walks in public or just practising having him on a lead in somewhere like your garden? If it's the former and he's hesitant then he's probably either overwhelmed with the environment or unsure about the lead. There are loads of threads on puppy biting but if high pitched yelping doesn't work for you then just try something different, I know for our boy a yelp made him much worse. It seems hard work, and it is, but you'll get there

[Erica]

At 9 weeks old, walks should be 10 minutes twice a day at most. 5 minutes per month is the general rule, to protect their joints from damage before they're done growing.

I also wonder if pup might be overtired? Tired puppies can get hyper and snappy; make sure pup has rest times too. A crate or pen can be a good way to signal "it's time to chill now."