Why's he doing this *gives up*

Lady La La

Lady La La

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Tyson... :mad::mad::o

We've been doing SO well. Cayla has been painstakingly 'tutoring' me through PM's and slowly my dog is learning to respect me and the 'house rules' but it seems that as soon as he does one good thing, something else gives.

Tyson has always been a good boy at bed time, he settles down in the evening and after I've let him out in the garden last thing at night he sleeps in his bed and I dont hear a peep from him till morning. Ever since I've started being a little stricter with him at home (not getting on sofas, only letting him out in the garden on a long line so he cant be a tit when I want him back in, training him to sit on a matt when the door knocks and not throw himself over anyone strange entering the house etc...) the quiet nights have stopped.
Hes taken to leaping around howling as soon as I go upstairs, taking things off the mantle peice and throwing them around. he chewed up my picutre of Starla last night. He has also stopped asking to go out, and will just wee on the floor, especially at night. I let him out last night and spent ten minutes trying to persuade him to pee. He wouldnt, so I went to bed, heard some banging and came back down to find Tyson had pi**sed everywhere and eaten two photo frames.

What do I do now? How can I stop this? I cant cage him over night as he spends 4 hours in his cage in the morning already.
 
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It sounds like he's hitting the rebellion stage most mals go through, go back to basics with the toileting and re enfiirce those rules you have taught him, you will come out the other side I promise.
I know Cayla will be giving you excellent advice but if you want a little extra support with the malamute side of him join www.icebaymals.co.uk/forums plenty of very friendly malamute and mal x owners who I know will be happy to help you too
 
I hate to tell you this but the GSD teenage phase can last between 12 months and three years :o

I would try crating him overnight actually, can't see what harm it would do. No smaller than lying in a single bed!

What is his exercise regime like these days, and how are the training classes going?

Oh and I know it's easy for me to say, but you know that very stressy, upset, feeling that is coming over in your post, and the possible sense of wavering, he'll pick up on that and it won't help either of you...in the nicest possible way, you need to put on your big girl boots and don't let a dog make you feel like that, hard I know, don't crumble, don't give up, he's just a dog, this shouldn't be a battle of wits - I've been there, he'll react better to certainty, uniformity and confidence.
 
CaveCanem said:
I hate to tell you this but the GSD teenage phase can last between 12 months and three years :o

I would try crating him overnight actually, can't see what harm it would do. No smaller than lying in a single bed!

What is his exercise regime like these days, and how are the training classes going?

Oh and I know it's easy for me to say, but you know that very stressy, upset, feeling that is coming over in your post, and the possible sense of wavering, he'll pick up on that and it won't help either of you...in the nicest possible way, you need to put on your big girl boots and don't let a dog make you feel like that, hard I know, don't crumble, don't give up, he's just a dog, this shouldn't be a battle of wits - I've been there, he'll react better to certainty, uniformity and confidence.
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You are of course, as always, spot on! He reduced me to tears again last night. I just wanted to sleep and he wouldnt let me.
His exersise now consists of 1/2 hr bike ride in the mornings before work, an hours walk on lead with Bryony too at lunch time and either an hours bike ride with me, or an hours walk on lead with OH in the evenings depending on who gets home first. He's crated from 7:30 to 11:30, then has his walk and then is left with Bryony and the run of the house until around 5ish.

The training is great fun and he actually seems to be enjoying the new things he is learning. He seems to thrive off the consentration and work that he is doing and it also helps to tire him out. I just cant create the same atmosphere at home for him, no matter how hard I try.

*wonders of mumbleing 'he is just a dog' he is just a dog he is just a dog he is just a dog...HE IS JUST A DOG *
 
How does he go in the car? I just drive around with B sometimes, if I am going to the shops I will bring him too, seems to tire him!

You could look into swimming him too.

Also, get some earplugs and dogproof the hell out of the room!
 
CaveCanem said:
How does he go in the car? I just drive around with B sometimes, if I am going to the shops I will bring him too, seems to tire him!

You could look into swimming him too.

Also, get some earplugs and dogproof the hell out of the room!
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All thats left in the bloody room now is a tv and two sofas!
He's OK in the car, until we get near somewhere he knows like the yard or my parents house and then he goes bonkers but thats excitement which i can totally cope with.

Swimming is his favourite, he LOVES being in water but his re call went all to pot and Im not brave enough to let him off the lead to go and swim any more. It used to totally tire him out, I loved it!
 
I would also not think twice about crating him over night.
You are doing fab, but you will get set backs.
Unless something has disturbed him then they do indeed go though restless/rebelious stages.
Keep an eye on his water works just to rule out any issues there (esp if he is always nipping clean)
 
It is the diffeence between him getting into a outine of thinking "oh, Im alone everyone is gone, I'm a going on a wrecking spree till they comes back":rolleyes:
OR
"It's crate time, and time to settle, as there is nowt to wreck, this is the time they are gone and I'm in me crate"

Obs he does not think this literally;):D he will just associate a routine "they are gone, I go in here (crate)" or "they are gone I'm free to chew down on summit without being disturbed"

Bed time is for sleep/quiet time (he just has to learn that now) with a routine.
 
Thanks Cayla, I will crate him at night, Just thought thought him being crated over night, and then all morning means when I leave him out of the crate in the afternoon my house will die - but I'll definately give it a go.

It just frustrates me, over night has been his saving grace, the one time he just shuts up and sleeps... and now even thats gone to pot :o

*i am not feeling sorry for myself, he is just a dog*
 
Repeat my mantra after me:

'It would be boring if it was easy, it would be boring if it was easy, it would be boring if it was easy...'

Wine also helps:D
 
We have the same thing with our young lab (We have 3) and infact the middle lab was the same.
We have a corridor we babygate her into over night. Last night she broke the babygate and ate a whole load of my dads work. Needless to say he was *****ting smoke about it!
She had her chance and tonight we are reassembiling the crate! When we are not there she will be in it!!
Sometimes they just can't help themselves!
 
I would crate over night too. B is crated overnight (Usually from 12-1 am till 6.30 am - I get no sleep!) then has a very quick walk (20 mins ish) and playtime / cuddles on the sofa and is then crated while we go to work. The longest she is left is 5 hours but she has been left all day once (we both thought the other one was at home!)

Remember just a dog!
 
Just a dog! ... just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog... :o

* A big, whiney, hairy PAIN IN THE ASS dog... :)
 
Lady La La said:
Just a dog! ... just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog just a dog... :o

* A big, whiney, hairy PAIN IN THE ASS dog... :)
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Haha Bless you! I am still in a paddy with B after her little rebellious outburst the other day, lets ship them off to CAYLA for bootcamp and have a party?? :P
 
I've been pestering Cayla for ages to let me send Tyson her way for 'assesment' but for whatever reason ...she seems to think I can manage it on my own ... :o:rolleyes::rolleyes::(
 
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CaveCanem said:
I swim mine on a harness and long line :o :o :o in a horse pool where they can't escape :p
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Well, I just phoned up a hydrotherapy for dogs place local to me and asked them if I could bring my dog there to swim just for exercise...

They said yes, but he mustn't do it more than once a week, and for a max of 20 mins :confused: I know swimming is hard work for a dog etc but when I take him to the beach he will swim and swim and swim and swim for hours if I let him.
I guessed from their reactions I shouldnt have been letting him...
 
B's kind of auntie-cousin-relative-dog-thing :p was up to 1200 metres a week and she looked like sumo dog with all the muscle. You can tell the ones at our club who swim, they all look amazing.
She is about five or six though, dunno if it was his age they were concerned about?
 
Yes, and he was suprisingly calm in the morning...

Just been back to let him out and do the lunch time walk, and he was bouncing off the walls as I was leaving... so I'll let you know what sort of a mess the house is in when I get home :o
 
I'd certainly go with the swimming once a week. They may put a max of that on it due to his age and also when he is in the sea he is prob not constantly swimming ie. can come to shallow points where he can stand whereas in pool he will have to float himself. One friend of mine has a neighbour who trains greyhounds and her Mal goes on the walker with them three times a week as well as his full exercise regime and really helps keep him settled!
 
amage said:
I'd certainly go with the swimming once a week. They may put a max of that on it due to his age and also when he is in the sea he is prob not constantly swimming ie. can come to shallow points where he can stand whereas in pool he will have to float himself. One friend of mine has a neighbour who trains greyhounds and her Mal goes on the walker with them three times a week as well as his full exercise regime and really helps keep him settled!
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He's going to have his little life jacket fitted and a splash around at a doggy hydrotherapy centre on tuesday... So we'll see how we get on.

This.Dog.Costs.More.Than.My.Horses... :o
 
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