Puppy madness

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Toad605

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Just got a puppy, border collie x German shepherd. She's doing amazing, already figured out the dog flap and takes herself to the toilet. She's eight weeks old.

She has never ending energy, which obviously I expected high energy with the breeding. But she literally does not stop from the moment she wakes until bed time. Bouncing off walls. Is this normal? Have had adult border collies and adult German shepherd's but never a puppy. She seems to have more go than her adult counterparts and I thought at such a a young age she may need more naps?! If she does nap it's all of twenty minutes at a time except overnight where she only wakes once needing the toilet.
 
Yep sounds pretty normal ;)

I got my older German Shepherd at 14 weeks and he can still go all day, he's nearly 8 and still has no self-regulation. He used to do the wall of death around the living room and we couldn't have cushions in the house or be able to leave him unattended until he was about 3.
Make sure all your handling is very calm and firm and be aware that as a mix of two smart and energetic breeds, she will learn the wrong things as quickly as she will learn the right ones :p
Good luck, I am sure you will have a lot of fun together!
 
blackcob said:
Whoever wrote that puppies sleep for 15-20 hours a day is a lying liar from Liesville. What they actually do is shark-attack you for 15-20 hours a day and spend the remaining 4-9 hours conserving energy and planning their next attack. :p
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Yup this! I have whippets. The laziest dogs alive and as puppies they are whirling dervishes. My poor OH had never had a puppy and was absolutely horrified when we got Floyd. He suggested 3 or 4 times that we might take him back and spent a lot of time asking if there was something wrong with him.
 
Besides that most puppies are quite energetic, most of them also had litter siblings to use up a lot of that energy on, before we bring them home to us. It can take them awhile to get used to needing less energy, than compared to when they had their sibllings always available to play with.
Please don't fall in the trap of thinking that all this energy means that you need to give her more proper exercise to get her tired.
It's about finding a balance between letting her get some of her steam out, but also trying to teach her that things doesn't have to happen all the time when she's awake.
 
Don't forget too that she is adjusting to an awful lot of new things and maybe finding it difficult to switch off, just like toddlers sometimes you have to insist on rest time.
Does she have the run of the house?
I have got a new pup, she is a collie destined to work, she lives in a house with a lurcher who will play a lot and a springer who is not at all interested in playing.
My partner has three kennelled working collies and a kennelled springer, he says he does not remember any of the other working collies he has had over the years having the stamina this one does.
I also have never known a pup like it and have been a dog trainer for about 20 yrs.
She is about 9 weeks old and is really struggling with house training, she came from a filthy place and I am sure she was younger than we were told, we saw mum and dad etc but the chap she came from was very confused and was having to get rid of all his kennel dogs so I think he was really just struggling.
This little one came out on the hill with us yesterday (carried a lot of the way) but 4 hrs of mental stimulation and a fair bit of running for one so small, just under 2 hrs sleep and she was up for play time with the lurcher- I ended up stopping the game and sitting with her for a cuddle.
She is often in the truck if we are working sheep and she came gathering in Friday too as it was about one and very local, again carried for most if it.
Pups do need to rest to grow and process things but no-one told them that.
 
FinnishLapphund said:
Besides that most puppies are quite energetic, most of them also had litter siblings to use up a lot of that energy on, before we bring them home to us. It can take them awhile to get used to needing less energy, than compared to when they had their sibllings always available to play with.
Please don't fall in the trap of thinking that all this energy means that you need to give her more proper exercise to get her tired.
It's about finding a balance between letting her get some of her steam out, but also trying to teach her that things doesn't have to happen all the time when she's awake.
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Very wise words ^^^ You need to teach the "off" switch, give her plenty of stimulation (mental especially), but then give her down time in her crate.
As my collie's breeder said to me - you can't tire out a border collie, they'll run all day and all night, so if you give her lots of exercise, all you'll end up with is a super-fit dog that needs tons of exercise. Added to which, it's not good for their joints to do loads of running around when they're still growing.
 
I think I got a freak with my collie puppy, compared to many he is super laid back (unless cats, horses, cars or birds were involved!). As long as he gets a few short play and/or training sessions he was happy to snooze a lot of the time. He has never bitten my hands or chewed up the house. He’s just coming up to a year old and gets just one walk of an hour a day, a few play and training sessions and the rest of the time he just hangs out and sleeps. I’ve been very careful not to over exercise him as I didn’t want a super fit puppy who expects tonnes of exercise, but we do a bit of nose work and tricks to entertain his brain.

Key for me was learning to lower the energy in the house, less TV, less hyper squeaky voices from humans, not greeting him in an excited when I come in the room. Once I mastered my own energy levels he chilled right out and today he has completely ignored me cuddling the cats, happily met some sheep and managed to not chase a bunch of cars (his very worst ‘thing’), so the calmness pays off all round.
 
Thanks guys.
Something else I'm struggling with. She sleeps in a crate next to my bed. Last night she awoke me for the toilet at 1am, fine. She then woke me at 4am, took her out, didn't go to the toilet, just pratted about chasing the leaves so back to bed. Come my 6am alarm she had wet her bed. The night before she slept right through seemingly but again had wet. I have her next to my bed so I can toilet her but it isn't working as planned. Do I need a smaller crate? Should I put her on a lead for toileting? Attach a run to the crate so she has a separate toilet area? I don't want to teach her that she can wake me for play time.
 
When you take her out to the toilet, you have to wait until she's been. All the time youre waiting, don't interact with her at all, you have to be very patient sometimes. As soon as she's been, make a big fuss and play with her, that way she learns that it's fun time as soon as she's been to the toilet.
You have to wake her up if she's not waking you.
She's 8 weeks old, you will have a lot of disturbed nights! I really don't think people realise how much hard work a puppy is.
 
I expect disturbed nights I just would have expected her to wake me specifically needing the toilet, where my concern is that she actually is more fussed on playing and less concerned if she toilets her crate.

I have had puppies but only whippets and lurcher who were much easier.
 
Agree with the above. Puppies have tiny bladders and little control over them. So if she didn’t go at 4pm because she was playing then it’s because she ‘forgot’ she needed to go, but you can guarantee that once things get boring back inside she will need to go and can’t physically hold it. Keep on her lead if you need to, I mooched around quietly and didn’t interact until he went. And to be honest at night I didn’t then make a big fuss, we just came quietly back in and went back to bed. If you didn’t want to wait for her to go, I would have taken her back out again 30mins later. I was mega lucky with mine, most nights he slept right through, but in the day when he was awake I would take him out (not let him out but go out with him) every 45mins. Tiring but so worth it, he house trained incredibly quickly. Although he was 11 rising 12 weeks when I got him so a little further ahead.
 
Toad605 said:
I expect disturbed nights I just would have expected her to wake me specifically needing the toilet, where my concern is that she actually is more fussed on playing and less concerned if she toilets her crate.

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she's only 8 weeks old, you can't expect her to be housetrained already. JB's advice is spot on.
 
OP, in your first post you say she’s worked out how to use the cat flap to go to the toilet so could that not be a possibility for night times as well ? I hate the use of cages for puppies, if they need to go you are leaving them no choice but to wet their bed. I would try leaving your dog in the kitchen instead.
 
I was thinking similar, the night time rules are quite different from the daytime, daytime if you need to go out you use the dog flap, night time you need to wake your human and 'ask'.
 
And she is taken out after every nap, feed time and hourly in the day. She isn't just expected to use the dog flap and sort herself out, although she has figured it out and will take herself out.
 
Toad605 said:
Yes three dogs
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From my experience a pup will follow what the other dogs do, it’s a big help as long as they are well behaved ? My recent dog just fitted in with my old collie, he had free run downstairs with her from the start and was fine. He never wee’d in the house
 
each pup is different, my little terrier used to be let out in the garden and when he came in he would wee' in his bed which was inside his crate!!!!! i had never come across this before as all of my previous dogs had been easy.... in hindsight i think he was a bit worried out in the open and felt more secure in the house. he was in a large pen in the kitchen at the breeders and didnt get taken outside to pee.... i had to stay out in the garden for ages and once he had performed i gave him a treat and he soon got the hang of housetraining....
 
My pups are shut in their crate all night from day 1. I need my sleep. They go in at maybe 11 and I get up at maybe 6 for the first couple of weeks and then I gradually lengthen it. I personally wouldn't have her in the bedroom, if you even turn over she will hear you, but put her downstairs (blackout curtains are needed!) and leave her to it.
Lots of people do advocate having them in with you but I think they need to learn to sleep alone aswell. I will add mine have an adult dog in the room with them, but not in the crate.
 
Toad605 said:
And she is taken out after every nap, feed time and hourly in the day. She isn't just expected to use the dog flap and sort herself out, although she has figured it out and will take herself out.
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This might be part of your problem, she hasn't learned to ASK when she wants to go out.
The biggest breakthrough I had was when I spent time showing my pup the toilet training bells, it was like she suddenly understood that she had to tell us when she wanted to go out. Haven't had an accident since.
 
JennBags said:
This might be part of your problem, she hasn't learned to ASK when she wants to go out.
The biggest breakthrough I had was when I spent time showing my pup the toilet training bells, it was like she suddenly understood that she had to tell us when she wanted to go out. Haven't had an accident since.
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OMG! Floyd is 2 and hes clean in the house but he never asks to go out. You can tell he needs to if you know him but otherwise he just waits till we let him out. We've always said how weird it is he doesnt ask. I've literally just this second realised I have never taught him to ask! I bought one of those bells things last week though so i will get it put up tomorrow and show him how to use it. I feel really, really stupid now!
 
My lot don't ask to go out, per se, but they have very strict routines imposed when they were babies, so after every meal, they go to the door, they have key words and a knock to get them back in. It's never occurred to me to teach them to ask: isn't it a pain if they 'play' with the bell?

We got rid of the dog flap, I'd never trust the werewolf with overnight access, although he can't escape and wouldn't want to (I think!) anyway. They still try to take the mickey out the front and had a quick pelt round the green the other week but came back just as quickly.
 
I don't have the pup in with me but I do sleep on the couch in the same room (pup in crate) for the first few nights. Then I let them out as late as possible (around 11pm) and at 6am and I keep that up for several months. I expect them to be clean by 14 weeks but also expect accidents for the first 12 months-their bladders are not mature before then-and then some breeds are easier than others.

I don't expect an 8 week old to have worked out how to ask to go out-I've never taught a dog to ask tbh, as their housetraining progresses, when they start to look restless and you rush them out, they learn at some point to go to the door (not saying its a bad thing, just have never done it). Fitz, who was kennel kept until he was 7 months was harder because his behaviour on wanting to go was way more subtle. He now rattles the keys in the door, Quarrie comes and asks me but mostly they know when they are going out.
 
Congrats on your new puppy. My 10 week old puppy sleeps on a dog bed next to mine and as I’m a light sleeper I hear if he needs to go out in the night. It was three times initialiy but now down to two. I’m knackered (I need my sleep lol) but it’s not forever and he hasn’t had an accident at night for a while now.
 
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