Help - New Puppy
This is a great site - so much information. We picked up 8 week old Gumbo 3days ago  . She's beautiful and we love her. We are trying to crate train her and would appreciate any tips / it worked for us.
Also, my 7 year old daughter is becoming afraid of her  because of her constant nipping of body parts, clothing, etc. Any tips?
We were soooo smug after owning a great OES for 8 years - BUT, we got her fully grown. This puppy stuff is a little overwhelming. Thank you so much everyone! |
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| I agree, it can be overwhelming! Like you, I got my other dog when she was an adult (and an angel) so I was also not accustomed for this puppy stuff.
My OES Clyde is almost 6 months old and most of his really annoying and destructive habits have ceased or slowed immensely. There's another thread about crate training that you'll probably find helpful if you haven't found it already: http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=2689 As oyu will see in my reply, I don't have a crate lover but many others do. I say you listen to them
They just covered the kids with puppy thing in obedience class last week. Our instructor has the top 2 trained Mastiffs in the nation and she offered this advice: tell your daughter to act like a tree when the puppy approaches her, which should encourage the puppy to calm down because there's nothing exciting going on so she'll get bored and leave your daughter alone. She stressed that kids should never run around puppies because that just makes them want to chase and play. I do not know if these methods work as I do not have children but it makes sense. I feel for your daughter though. Clyde has calmed down a lot but there was a time when I was a little afraid myself-- more about getting nipped and it scaring the heck out of me. There were quite a few times I never saw it coming! Good luck, you'll find lots of helpful people on the forum. |
Welcome to the forum! 
Puppies, especially of herding breeds, do tend to nip. I found the most successful way to curb it is to give a firm no, or yelp as if hurt, and put something appropriate in the pups mouth, like a toy, or chew thing, and praise the puppy. |
| The good news is that it should only last a few weeks. It is VERY important to discourage the nipping--always keep a chew toy around. If there is one inparticular that your pup likes, buy a few of the same item and leave it in different rooms.
Mouthing is ok at this age, nipping not so much. Make sure your daughter is ALWAYS supervised when with the dog. Obviously you know this dog will be bigger than your daughter in a matter of months, so have her be a care giver also--she should feed Gumbo so Gumbo knows who's the alpha. VERY important--there should be a lot of laughter when playing with the pup and your daughter--remember, you have to train them both! |
| Even though we got Bentley when he was 20 months old, his old owners never took the time to teach him not to nip as a puppy. It's kind of like trying to teach a teenager to say please and thank you if they didn't learn it as a child.
I have a 9 year old daughter and a 5 year old son. My son walks around here as if he owns the place and the dog never bothers him. My daughter was doing fine, but then all of a sudden she's acting scared of him. We're having an awful time trying to get her to stop running past him. She and my husband have been having a mini training session every night. Now she isn't so afraid. Another thing that has helped is having her brush him. He really likes this and calms right down. We have had them feed the dog since we got him. They have him sit, then down, then stay. Then they take his food to the bowl and bring the cup back. Only when the kids tell him to BREAK is he allowed to eat. This has worked really well. I know that your puppy isn't trained like this yet, but if he knows that he will only eat if it comes from your daughter everyone is right, he gets the idea that they are bigger in the pecking order. I dont' mean to ramble on, but I know how frustrating it can be when you get a dog and your child is afraid. |
| Wow,
Thanks everyone for the advise . I will have my daughter feed Gumbo for certain. Today she went for a car ride with daddy and Gumbo. Since dad had to drive she was very apprehensive about being the one to watch her. From what I hear it went very well.
Gumbo seems to be getting a little better. Thank goodness puppies are so cute - it helps to bear the pain. I guess she's more mouthing eveyone than nipping but it certainly is annoying at best  .
Thanks again everyone!!!!!! |
| Hi Welcome to the forum!
Great advice from everyone so far. Pups often see kids as their siblings and will tend to do more nipping, bitting and herding to establish dominance in the pack. Have a gazillion toys readily available that each time the pup nips..you immediately give them the toy...then praise and lots of it. The pup will get the idea quickly of what is it exactly you want them to do. Also they are used to yelps from a sibling if they play too rough or mom comes over to investigate. So in a nutshell...whine sound from your daughter...(easy enough as pups have razor sharp little teeth) give toy and praise. Hand feeding is great too as it will establish your daughter is dominant over the pup. Good luck! Marianne and the boys |
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