Puppy won't settle, driving me to distraction please help
Lou |
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| welcome.
wow at that age they have lots of energy. I used to walk my two for a couple of miles every morning, send them to day care and have to play a couple of games of fetch after dinner to quiet them down at night. I don't remember watching a lot of TV then. 
Some obedience practice where they have to use their brains will tire them out as well. Its ahigh energy breed that needs a lot of exercise, especially for their minds. |
| How much exercise dooes she currently get? |
| She gets a walk probably only once a day at the moment, but we are trying to do a walk in the morning then one at night when I get in from work. My husband works from home so is with her all day. She follows us everywhere in the house, its lovely but can be annoying at times, is that normal and do they grow out of it? |
| Have you tried giving her a chew toy, such a a nylabone , when you want to sit down & relax? My dogs will chew for quite a long time when they see I am occupied otherwise. But then, I really never sit down to watch TV. TV is watched while I groom. But mine will lay down & chew bones or sleep for quite a while when I need to work on the computer or do housework. |
no. sorry they are called velcro dogs for a reason. they can however be trained to stay in specific areas with the use of baby gates. My dogs are confined when they are wet and/or muddy, when we eat meals and when we aren't home. otherwise they are competing to see who can get closest to me all the time  |
| Some will grow out of it, some won't. Our current dog is mostly tied to Joan's hip. When we are together in the house, about 95% of the time he lies down in the office. If he isn't with us we worry about what he might be getting into!
Sometimes I wonder if they receive some basic military or Secret Service training as part of their hereditary herding package: When we're apart but both inside the house, he will frequently lie down in a hallway between us so that neither prisoner can escape or reconnoiter the kitchen without his knowledge. When one of us is out he is also in that central spot to monitor the door. Our previous boy was a little less clingy as I remember it now, but time has passed. He was less mischievous, but much more of a counter surfer so it was easy to keep an ear on him as the kitchen is tiled and the rest of the house is carpeted. His perch was designed to keep an eye on the door and the comings and goings of people inside and outside the house. He was very alpha/protective. Both dogs move(d) with their charges. If we move(d) about they whisper(ed) something up their sleeve-radios and follow(ed) us closely. Especially near that dangerous, dangerous kitchen. |
| Do you work outside your home, and do you come home at basically the same time every day? Dogs are amazing animals - They have digital alarm clocks hard wired into their brains, and if you do come home at the same time very day she's probably been ramping up the excitement level for a while before you walk in the door. Mine start to pace and get excited a good half an hour before someone is due to arrive home, and if the person doesn't show up on time they stay agitated for a while before they give up. For a puppy, it's almost impossible to turn that off - It needs to be released.
Do you walk her in the evening? Try snapping a leash on and going for a short walk as soon as you get home - It will give her the chance to work off some of the crazy energy and bond with you one on one. It doesn't have to be a marathon, just puppy and mommy alone time. I know that's probably the last thing you want to do after a long day, but you'll be amazed at how calming it is for both her and YOU. I treasure my alone time with Loki on our walks and he's far less clingy than he used to be (100 pounds of lap dog all the time  ) Your husband is home all day and she's not lonely - She's just really happy to see you. |
| well, I have to tell you. I have a one year old and she is the paciest dog!!!!
She almost never settles. SHe's very high energy. We take her EVERY DAY for AT LEAST two run/walks. Some days (if she has to be in the crate more than normal for example) she gets a third bike/run. Just a couple of weeks ago I posted about this exact thing. It was getting to me  I pulled out one of our books on OES's and found that it says not to get an OES if you don't like the idea of having a woolly shadow. Yup, that's our sheepie. A woolly moving shadow. |
| Wooly shadows who when they do go down, are blocking the doors, making you step over them, around them or push them aside to get by. Woe be if you are stepping over them and they stand......some basic training avoids that, "Stay" or else you are riding them down the hall.
I suspect the wee one is frustrated Dad isn't giving him enough attention so you get double the dose when you get home. In mean time, look at all the exercise you'll get! Weekends often include hikes or other dog expending adventures. |
| You may find 15 minutes of intense play periods in the house when getting annoying is enough to occupy the mind and body between walks, and then if anything like Archie he'll settle chewing a bone for hours on end.
I think I have sussed Archies door guarding, he isn't keeping an eye on us to check on us as such, I believe he does it to see when we have dropped our guard and he can sneak off to snaffle the cats food without us noticing |
| My Frankie is the same way. He goes to daycare all day and comes home goes outside and runs around his acre fenced in yard. Comes in when it's time for us to eat dinner and he paces with his stuffed zebra in his mouth and wont settle. If I put him in his crate he'll lay right down and take a nap, but I don't know if thats the proper way to handle that. I had a trainer in class tell us he's part of the family he should be in the dining room with you when you eat. We give him a chew toy called bullie sticks he loves them, and when we sit down to relax for the evening he ususally will chew on them sitting on one of our feet. He chews until he falls asleep, then outside for last potties and in his crate for bed time. We gave him run of the house for about a month at night he is 7 mos old almost 8 mos. Then all of a sudden he started peeing sometime at night, so we started crating again and he seems very content. [/b] |
| Thank you to all for your advice, we are making sure that Holly gets at least 2 walks a day. We bought a harness for her yesterday as she pulls terribly on the lead, it seems to be helping.
She is definitely a woolly shadow, its just typical Old English behaviour, they like to be with their family all the time  As a girl I grew up with an Old English Sheepdog and remember our old dog was just the same.
Hey Archies Slave, I see your location is in Dorset, so are we!! |
| When Winnie started pacing as a puppy it meant one of two things: Either she hadn't had enough exercise OR she needed a nap.
We didn't realize how much sleep puppies need - about 16 hours a day! So, we have a crate that she naps in (sometimes enforced naps for a 2 hour time span, one in morning and one in afternoon) and that she happily sleeps in at night. Just some thoughts.... |
| If summer wouldnt settle in the evening I used to put her on a short leash in the front room and tell her to lay down, after a few times of doing this she realised quiet time meant just that. She still has mad minutes but is calmer now. |
| ha I agree with if they aren't with you especially a puppy what are they up to! If I don't see Langley it is never something good.
For example the other day I noticed he wasn't in the room and it was awfully quite went to check he was pulling the insulation out of a tube. |
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