Hellllllp - Puppy!!!

[LOZHUG]

Ok my puppy is 13 weeks old now. Most of the time he is a good boy. Good with going to the toilet outside, no chewing anything in the house just my hand!! Which is driving me mad as it hurts!

BUT........

He has just started to dig holes in our garden. Now me personally I dont mind, but my dad has spent hours getting the lawns just so and the little poop goes and digs 2 holes in the lawn.

What can I do to stop this?

Oh an also when I walk him he tends to jump up the back of my legs but only mine no one else who walks him.

Please please help me!!!

Thanks in advance

 

[Cliqmo]

The jumping and biting sounds like a respect issue

perhaps when he does it you could try looking him square in the eye and saying 'no' assertively before clearly walking away and ignoring him (being ignored is normally the puppy equivalent of the naughty step

)... then you can call him over to you and praise him for coming to call -and so become friends again

Hole digging may be best treated by making a loud noise and soon as you see him do it (such as hitting a saucepan with a metal spoon, or hitting a bin with anything hard that comes to hand

) When he jumps (causing him to stop digging) call him and praise when he gets to you

 

[Shellfish82]

Hi! Firstly, at 13 weeks of age, I'd get your pup to a good puppy class ASAP to get some help, advise and a bit of socialising done, and the sooner the better! Pups are like little sponges at this age, but that window of opportunity for getting them out and about is very small, so the general advice these days is 'the sooner the better'! Look for someone who uses positive methoids and lots of rewards - punishment at best only suppresses problems and at worst causes untold fallout.

Secondly, the jumping up and biting just sound like over-excitable puppy behaviours! And the reason it only seems to be happening to you is probably beacvuse it's your puppy, so you're the one he gets the most excited about! With the biting I would try one of two things - when he bites hard, try squealing like you've been hurt (the idea is that this is what other pups would do, and theoretically your pup should stop biting, although in my experience it can actually wind the dogs up a bit instead!) or, when he bites hard, just quietly get up and move away from him for a few seconds (not minutes or hours!), and once he's calmed down go back to him. Hopefully he should learn that if he bites too hard the game stops and you go away.

There are two ways round the digging (I have to say that personally I don't really like the loud noise approach as you don't know what else you might be frightening him about - you may think it's the hole digging it's aimed at, he may think it's something else and suddenly develop a fear of something else in your garden). The first approach is to not allow him the opportunity to dig holes in the first place - if he's in the garden he should be supervised at all times or on a lead. The second approach is to give him a legitimate digging patch as dogs do love to dig! You could put in a sand box in one corner of the garden, and encourage him to use it by burying toys and nice things in there!

Good luck with your little one!
Shelley.
www.fourpawsonedirection.co.uk