Moving back upstairs

[Pakman]

I am first time poster just looking for some advice on new 10 week old Labrador/Springer puppy.

So far he sleep downstairs in our dining room where I sleep next to his crate. One toilet break and there is no fuss out of him really. We'd have him in our room but the cat sleeps in there and he's already put out enough

when we brought him home 4 days ago he couldn't be left alone for even a minute and we have drawn it out a bit so hes getting more used to it with Kongs in the crate etc.

Is this good strategy all in all? I don't want to have him cry himself quiet and when we do experiment with time alone we only respond with boring toilet breaks for extended whining and then back in the crate.

Another thing is how do you deal with over excited and aggressive puppy. We are doing the yelp and ignore treatment. he doesn't seem too put out to be fair.

 

[splashgirl45]

welcome to the forum. there will be lots of different ideas put forward so you will need to see what works for your puppy..he shouldnt be in the crate for long periods of time during the day and you need to take him outside very frequently for toilet breaks so he gets the idea that he should always go outside, always praise him when he performs outside and dont react if he has an accident indoors just take him outside . the other thing tr his behaviour, .first of all, look at your body language and tone of voice when dealing with your puppy. try to keep calm and quiet if he is very excitable , give him something to chew instead of your hands and dont play tug of war games until he is a bit older and calmer. at 10 weeks old you could do a little training, simple things like sit and down to start with. oh and one other thing, it is a good idea to put a picture of your puppy as we all love to see the babies.....if you dont we will keep on nagging

 

[Pearlsasinger]

IME, Labs are usually very trainable. I certainly wouldn't yelp when he bites you, just remove your hand, while firmly telling him NO!, or he will think you are playing. You should give him a toy, instead. If you watch a group of puppies playing, you will see that one yelping won't stop the others biting and wrestling. The puppy's mum would NOT yelp if the pup bit her, she would put it firmly in its place. You need to be more like mum than a litter-mate. And yes, I know there is a school of thought which suggests that owners should yelp but I have had a lot of Labradors and I know what works with them. They usually want to please.
I think if you are sure that he only needs one toilet break per night, you should go to bed after that break. Unfortunately when you only have one dog, it has to get used to being on its own at night, unless you let it sleep in your bedroom (which I wouldn't do).

And of course we need pics

 

[CorvusCorax]

It's still very early days and you're doing a good job. I also don't subscribe to the yelping thing. You just sound like prey!
As mentioned, let him know that teeth don't belong on hands and divert to a toy.

 

[HeyMich]

We have a splab too! But she's 12 now so it's been a while since we had these issues. I do remember her whining at night, but we just mad esure she had plenty of exercise and toilet breaks and then left her to it. She soon settled. I also remember her beng quite nippy - plenty of chew toys and distractions when she nipped us and it soon stopped. Mind you, she did manage to destroy a leather clair and a carpet in the meantime...

Enjoy your splab!! And yes, pictures please!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

A splab, I'm dying! Never seen them called that before, it's brilliant! 🤣🐶

 

[pippixox]

That sounds like a fun mix- pictures please!
I have never had a puppy., only 2 year plus rescues, but they have had similar issues of whining when left downstairs when settling in. so we started in the bedroom, then they moved to just outside the bedroom door (yes these two phases pissed off our cat too!) then downstairs. within 10 days they were ok (this worked with a very stressed collie who now never tries to come upstairs, as normally that is our rule, but she would howl and soil when we first got her if we left her). it meant she knew that we were just upstairs rather than feeling we had left her completely alone.

my friend used to put a blanket over her puppies crate at night and they then seemed to settle somewhere dark and cosy