9 week old puppy over excitement

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Phill_b
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:08 am

9 week old puppy over excitement

Post by Phill_b »

Hi, had our border terrier pup for one week and whilst she has brought us so much fun and love she has a tendency to get over excited. It usually starts with her licking hands or trying to get up and lick faces, which leads to mouthing. We have distracted her with a chew toy at these points to try and take the teeth away from us and onto something of hers, but she seems to ignore and get very excited very quickly. If she is on our knees and starts this we pop her onto the floor but she will leap at us and start pulling at clothes, growling and yanking away. We originally tried ignoring her and sitting on the sofas, for her only to run off and start chewing either the sofa or something she shouldn't be chewing, so then we moved to taking her off the clothes which would result in barking and snapping at our arms and hands, but now we are trying leaving her to it and when she decides to stop it we are praising her. She is very food motivated so treats work well as a distraction (only giving them to her when she stops chewing the clothes) but we are concerned firstly that we are giving her the wrong messages, but also that she's eating a lot of treats! If she gets very bitey and barky I have been picking her up and saying "no" whilst making eye contact, then moving her into the hallway for a time out. It usually takes around 2 or 3 time outs before she is calm enough to play nicely again...but again we worry if this is teaching her the wrong or right way.

We are trying to crate train her so don't want to use the crate as punishment, but starting to struggle with other ideas. She is still crying and howling when we put her in her crate at night, but usually settles down after about 30 mins to an hour.

The main concern is the over excitement. We are quite relaxed as people so haven't been trying to wind her up or playing too rough with her, she seems just to build it up herself. Are there any ideas as to calm her before it gets too far, or if she hits peak madness how to calm her down?
Thanks In advance.
JudyN
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Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: 9 week old puppy over excitement

Post by JudyN »

She sounds absolutely normal to me :lol:

Try to deflect her mouthy attacks with soft toys, or by throwing balls for her. Continue with the timeouts but don't make eye contact and don't say 'no' - just put her out of the room without saying anything (or take yourself out of the room). You only need to leave her out for, say, 10 seconds. Any longer and she'll forget what she did to cause it and either get upset or find some other mischief. There's more info about timeouts here: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=13934 If you're getting stressed about holes in your clothes, simply wear clothes you don't care about - maybe get some from a charity shop - so you can stay calm when she's hanging off them.

Start working on training sit, stay, etc., though in very short bursts. I'm a great fan of teaching impulse control, because even when a dog knows what he 'shouldn't' do he needs to have the control to stop himself doing it. Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc Obviously, your expectations should be low. She's the equivalent of a child looking at a picture book and learning to recognise a few individual words so don't expect her to do the equivalent of reading :wink:

You will need to reduce her meal size to compensate for her treats. If you're feeding kibble, you can actually use a portion of her meals as treats. Chopped up carrot and cucumber can also make very good low-calorie treats.

Is she sleeping in your room at night, or in another room? If the latter, it may be better to have the crate in your room - she may well settle better there than when shut away from you. It's possible to transition the crate to elsewhere when she's older and more settled, if you should want to. It also helps if she sees the crate as a good place to be during the day - leave the door open, make sure there's a comfy bed in there, and encourage her with treats to settle down in there when she's tired.

Like toddlers, sometimes they get overexcited when they're overtired - it can help to teach 'settle', and encourage her to do this when you think this might be the case, but that's going to be a bit of a work in progress for some time. I think much of the time we just used to ride it out, armed with toys, and wait for the crash.

Do try to enjoy her zoomies. It's hard, and there were times I thought I'd gladly let my pup eat my hand off up to the elbow if I could just sit and rest while he got on with it, but it doesn't last.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Annabellam
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 9:26 am

Re: 9 week old puppy over excitement

Post by Annabellam »

I think a bit of mental and physical stimulation would help. The toys as well as a bit of exercise. Do you ever take it for walks?
HBFarl
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2017 4:26 am

Re: 9 week old puppy over excitement

Post by HBFarl »

My parents had a similar problem when they first got a puppy a couple of years ago, and it was a matter of training and giving the dog time to realise that this wasn't the right way to act. They made sure not to make eye contact, as this can be a source of stimulation... I think they also used to cry and whine when he used to bite them a little too hard (i guess like a dog would) to let him know that it hurt, and then they'd wait till he had calmed down before giving out a treat. I don't know if these are the kinds of things you're after, but let us know how you get on!
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