My labradale puppy goes hyper once out the crate!
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My labradale puppy goes hyper once out the crate!
What do i do with my 9 week old patterdale terrier x labrador retriever? Im doing crate training, and shes usually well behaved in her crate, but once i let her out she tends to go mad! Biting everything and everyone, she wont keep still, she gets moments where she completely ignores me and runs around biting and growling at everyone, pulling on clothes, jumping up, and if you pick her up she bites your face! We dont want to keep her in the crate very long, but once shes out we cant keep her under control! What do i do?
Re: My labradale puppy goes hyper once out the crate!
My dog had similar problems with her crate. She doesn't bite or growl, but would tear through the house, jumping on people, and at 70 pounds, that becomes a problem fast.
This helped me:
I put her in the crate, closed the door, and waited for her to be calm, then sat down in front of the crate, opened the door, and 'caught' her before she could get out. I kept putting her back into the crate anytime she tried to get out. Eventually she stayed in the crate, and just stared at me, as if wondering what exactly I wanted her to do. At that point, I started ignoring her. I folded laundry while she stood there and stared at me (continuing to push her paw back into the crate if she tried sneaking out).
Like half an hourish later she finally decided she wasn't getting out, and laid down, put her head down and became resigned to staying. Then I let her out. I only had to do that like twice or three times before she wouldn't even try to exit the crate when I opened the door, and from then on she managed to keep it together when she was let out.
I still have excitement issues with doors, but can't leave them open, or the cats will escape. I assume the same thing might work for door excitement as well, if you can keep your door open that long.
This helped me:
I put her in the crate, closed the door, and waited for her to be calm, then sat down in front of the crate, opened the door, and 'caught' her before she could get out. I kept putting her back into the crate anytime she tried to get out. Eventually she stayed in the crate, and just stared at me, as if wondering what exactly I wanted her to do. At that point, I started ignoring her. I folded laundry while she stood there and stared at me (continuing to push her paw back into the crate if she tried sneaking out).
Like half an hourish later she finally decided she wasn't getting out, and laid down, put her head down and became resigned to staying. Then I let her out. I only had to do that like twice or three times before she wouldn't even try to exit the crate when I opened the door, and from then on she managed to keep it together when she was let out.
I still have excitement issues with doors, but can't leave them open, or the cats will escape. I assume the same thing might work for door excitement as well, if you can keep your door open that long.
Re: My labradale puppy goes hyper once out the crate!
Shes a puppy, and a puppy who is a mixture of two pretty bouncy breeds, and terriers are bitey!
You have to make sure shes getting all the things she needs as regards to play, exercise etc, or the method Nilesta sets out will not work - its not fair to expect self control if the animal has no outlet for natural behaviours/needs.
So - provide plenty of suitable and appealing toys. Provide plenty of things she CAN bite, chew and rag on and plenty of opportunities to do these things in a controlled and sensible way. If you try to NEVER play bitey raggy games with her.. well you will fail, its like asking her not to breathe or be dog shaped. So make some rules and stick to them - the rules need to be that she doesnt bite human flesh or clothing, and that she stops when asked to do so.
As long as those are followed on both sides (no good if some members of family are encouraging her to do the things others are wanting to discourage!) then the games are all good.
Biting faces - perfectly natural and normal behaviour from a puppy to other pups and older animals. Not acceptable to humans so don't put your face where she can get it to start with, and also don't pick her up. Shes got legs, she doesnt need picking up.
Teach her self control (Check out the articles section and the video 'Its Yer Choice') and let her get her ya-yas out biting and ragging where it IS acceptable (big raw meaty bones, rope ragger toys, soft toys etc). Keep your face OUT of her range until she has self control (otherwise you are setting her up to fail), and shes learned that biting human flesh results in the end of a game.
At every possibly opportunity, redirect, distract and generally pre-empt behaviour and do something else with her - so you see shes in a bitey mood - stuff a toy in that mouth, tuck flappy sleeves and trouser cuffs away, wear shoes in the house so she wont find that biting toes is amusing. DONT wait for her to mess up and then punish it - if she does then use a 10 second time out, but dont rely on that as the be all and end all of training for these issues as it isnt, use it for the times you both stuff up and she gets to make those errors, but try wherever possible to set her up to succeed, not fail.
You have to make sure shes getting all the things she needs as regards to play, exercise etc, or the method Nilesta sets out will not work - its not fair to expect self control if the animal has no outlet for natural behaviours/needs.
So - provide plenty of suitable and appealing toys. Provide plenty of things she CAN bite, chew and rag on and plenty of opportunities to do these things in a controlled and sensible way. If you try to NEVER play bitey raggy games with her.. well you will fail, its like asking her not to breathe or be dog shaped. So make some rules and stick to them - the rules need to be that she doesnt bite human flesh or clothing, and that she stops when asked to do so.
As long as those are followed on both sides (no good if some members of family are encouraging her to do the things others are wanting to discourage!) then the games are all good.
Biting faces - perfectly natural and normal behaviour from a puppy to other pups and older animals. Not acceptable to humans so don't put your face where she can get it to start with, and also don't pick her up. Shes got legs, she doesnt need picking up.
Teach her self control (Check out the articles section and the video 'Its Yer Choice') and let her get her ya-yas out biting and ragging where it IS acceptable (big raw meaty bones, rope ragger toys, soft toys etc). Keep your face OUT of her range until she has self control (otherwise you are setting her up to fail), and shes learned that biting human flesh results in the end of a game.
At every possibly opportunity, redirect, distract and generally pre-empt behaviour and do something else with her - so you see shes in a bitey mood - stuff a toy in that mouth, tuck flappy sleeves and trouser cuffs away, wear shoes in the house so she wont find that biting toes is amusing. DONT wait for her to mess up and then punish it - if she does then use a 10 second time out, but dont rely on that as the be all and end all of training for these issues as it isnt, use it for the times you both stuff up and she gets to make those errors, but try wherever possible to set her up to succeed, not fail.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: My labradale puppy goes hyper once out the crate!
Emmabeth has given you good advice as she always does, I do feel these days that owners come to rely too much on crates to control their dogs, this isn't fair on the dogs. Crates do have a use, but is only a small part of having a dog.
What do you feed your pup on? Food can make them more hyper than pups usually are.
What do you feed your pup on? Food can make them more hyper than pups usually are.
This is normal puppy behaviour just as small children do this, they will often race round the house playing games, they even jump on people at times as well, especially if they have nodded off in a comfy chair.Nilesta wrote:My dog had similar problems with her crate. She doesn't bite or growl, but would tear through the house, jumping on people, and at 70 pounds, that becomes a problem fast.
This will confuse her, you haven't set her up to succeed but to fail, you haven't said how old she is but a pup, think of pups as babies then toddlers, they do the same things for the same reasons. This isn't fair to your pup, she did what you wanted stayed in her crate but you continued to punish her by ignoring her and pushed her back in but didn't tell her what you wanted.This helped me:
I put her in the crate, closed the door, and waited for her to be calm, then sat down in front of the crate, opened the door, and 'caught' her before she could get out. I kept putting her back into the crate anytime she tried to get out. Eventually she stayed in the crate, and just stared at me, as if wondering what exactly I wanted her to do. At that point, I started ignoring her. I folded laundry while she stood there and stared at me (continuing to push her paw back into the crate if she tried sneaking out).
Half an hour is far too long to punish a dog for, she didn't understand what you wanted or why she was being punished. In fact punishment has no place in dog training. We have better brains than dogs but we don't use them, all we thing about is control, we have to control everything even pups.Like half an hourish later she finally decided she wasn't getting out, and laid down, put her head down and became resigned to staying. Then I let her out. I only had to do that like twice or three times before she wouldn't even try to exit the crate when I opened the door, and from then on she managed to keep it together when she was let out.
So your method hasn't worked yet you are recommending it to someone else, if it hasn't worked for you it won't work for them either. Maybe you should follow Emmabeth's good advice as well. It is much easier and stress free if you keep a closed door between your pup and the front door. Life is so exciting to puppies, everything should be fun, there are things that need to be taught but overloading them when too much training when often just closing a door will do the job, is asking far too much of pups.I still have excitement issues with doors, but can't leave them open, or the cats will escape. I assume the same thing might work for door excitement as well, if you can keep your door open that long.
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Re: My labradale puppy goes hyper once out the crate!
I agree with Mattie! Your pup is so young and has so much energy! I think it's almost to be expected that some pups will just need to let that pent up energy out!
And, Nilesta has a good idea, but I also think it's not really fair to the pup. She mentioned that her pup did, at some point, look at her like she was confused and didn't know what was expected of her. I think, unless you're actually teaching her what you want her response to be, with a verbal cue or something, than it's just unrealistic to expect a puppy to know that they keep going back in the crate because they're too hyped up....you're not letting her know what you want!
Give her lots of exercise, and lots of mental stimulation! Puzzles and things that make her think, and training, too!
And, maybe you could work it into your schedule that after she comes out of the crate, it's play time or walk time, so she can expend some energy! As a teacher, I structure my day with my students so that they have a mixture of low energy activities and high energy activities! When they have a test where they have to sit still and quiet for some time, we often take them out for recess even if it's not actually recess time, because we know that lots of other activities we have planned might not work until they get rid of some of that energy!
And, Nilesta has a good idea, but I also think it's not really fair to the pup. She mentioned that her pup did, at some point, look at her like she was confused and didn't know what was expected of her. I think, unless you're actually teaching her what you want her response to be, with a verbal cue or something, than it's just unrealistic to expect a puppy to know that they keep going back in the crate because they're too hyped up....you're not letting her know what you want!
Give her lots of exercise, and lots of mental stimulation! Puzzles and things that make her think, and training, too!
And, maybe you could work it into your schedule that after she comes out of the crate, it's play time or walk time, so she can expend some energy! As a teacher, I structure my day with my students so that they have a mixture of low energy activities and high energy activities! When they have a test where they have to sit still and quiet for some time, we often take them out for recess even if it's not actually recess time, because we know that lots of other activities we have planned might not work until they get rid of some of that energy! 