Troublesome "puppy"

Therickmachine

We have a dog who is half labrador and half collie. She is one years old and quite badly behaved. He parents were a lovely placid labrador and a beautiful farm collie! Both impeccably behaved. we had been on the lookout for a puppy with well behaved parents in the hope she would grow up to be like them.
When she was younger she was lovely and small and quiet enough, Then she hit 4 months and became a naughty nightmare.

Jumps on people, eats everything in sight (can t get a new kitchen as she ll chew it to bits), walls even have bite marks on them, constantly gets in the way and barks often (neighbours don t complain tho)

We turn her backs on her and don t shout when she jumps. Thats helped the jumping but not cured it for when it comes to strangers.

She also gets lazy and has accidents in the kitchen. I get very annoyed yet my mother says she is still a puppy. I think she is just lazy as these accidents often happen when it raining. She knows full well to go outside as she does that normally.
Some people suggested rubbing her nose in the pee but my mum thinks that just cruel and doesn t accomplish anything.

She was on her own with me for 2 weeks and there were no accidents. mainly because I don t let her in the house. Second my family get home the accidents start again.
My attitude is leave her outside. However if we do that, she destroys the garden, jumps in the pond and tears the lining :mad:

My mum maintains she is strict on her as she watched "its me or the dog" and follows the rules no shouting, lots of exercise and good diet.

I do love her but shes awfully annoying and its a pain cleaning after her accidents! Any suggestions on how to stop the accidents!

We have another older 15 year old dog, who is half collie and terrier. He is lovely and very well behaved in comparison to the little demon. They get on very well together.

Will the dog grow out of this? Is she still really a puppy at 1 years old?
If so how come I ve seen other dogs who are very well behaved and even younger than her. Trust us to get a little monster.

Therickmachine

Oh and I should add that she is neutered and her behaviour still hasn t dramaticly improved!

carwash_2006

How long ago was she spayed? How much exercise or training time does she get each day? Just because the parents are well behaved doesn't automatically mean the pup knows how to behave without having to be taught. A good long walk and a few short training sessions each day should help to keep the dog from being out of it's mind with boredom as it could be at the moment if it is not getting that.

You can expect that you will be shot down on here with an attitude like you are displaying in your post. I am going to try and give you the nice version first. You say your attitude to dealing with the problems with house training is to leavbe the dog outside, but then you give out because the dog wrecks the garden. By leaving the dog out it is getting little or no interaction with the family and will start to very quickly display far worse problems than destruction in the garden. You must be prepared to spend time and effort teaching the dog how to behave. The dog is not a person, but they are a sociable animal that need to be taught and given interaction of some kind, so how would you have liked it when you were about 4 or 5 if your parents had said he's a nuisance, he's wrecking the house and making a mess, we'll just stick him out in the garden all day and ignore him.

Your older dog may have needed less stimulation to keep them entertained, also the people doing the training may have been more consistent, but you can't expect them all to be the same. Try and remember that the dog is a living creature and think of them as a child that doesn't grow up in mentality and what you can expect of them. If you wanted a robot there are many types of robot on the market these days, but if you want a dog then expect it to behave like one. If it is badly behaved it is because you have not put in the effort.

I would recommend that you get the advice of a dog trainer that can assess your individual dog and give you advice on how to train it's individual needs.

Therickmachine

How long ago was she spayed? How much exercise or training time does she get each day? Just because the parents are well behaved doesn't automatically mean the pup knows how to behave without having to be taught. A good long walk and a few short training sessions each day should help to keep the dog from being out of it's mind with boredom as it could be at the moment if it is not getting that.

She was spayed at 5 months. Like our other dogs. She gets an hour walk a day. When I say walk I mean run. We take a ball throw it and she runs like the wind.

You can expect that you will be shot down on here with an attitude like you are displaying in your post. I am going to try and give you the nice version first. You say your attitude to dealing with the problems with house training is to leavbe the dog outside, but then you give out because the dog wrecks the garden. By leaving the dog out it is getting little or no interaction with the family and will start to very quickly display far worse problems than destruction in the garden. You must be prepared to spend time and effort teaching the dog how to behave.

I don t see why. She gets more than enough attention and love of the rest of the family. My mum has worked with an animal shelter and has trained dogs before.

The dog knows how to sit, stay and roll over and she does come back when called. My mother doesn t think there is a problem and puts her behaviour down to immaturity.

She is not my dog, but I have to put up with her behaviour.

The dog is not a person, but they are a sociable animal that need to be taught and given interaction of some kind, so how would you have liked it when you were about 4 or 5 if your parents had said he's a nuisance, he's wrecking the house and making a mess, we'll just stick him out in the garden all day and ignore him.

The problem is she makes a mess in the kitchen, Its really unhygenic. And its less annoying in the garden. I don t see why the kitchen has to be filthy and chewed to pieces.

Your older dog may have needed less stimulation to keep them entertained, also the people doing the training may have been more consistent, but you can't expect them all to be the same.

The older dog was actually a stray, but a well behaved one. My mother trained him with no problems.

Try and remember that the dog is a living creature and think of them as a child that doesn't grow up in mentality and what you can expect of them. If you wanted a robot there are many types of robot on the market these days, but if you want a dog then expect it to behave like one. If it is badly behaved it is because you have not put in the effort.

I would recommend that you get the advice of a dog trainer that can assess your individual dog and give you advice on how to train it's individual needs

She is getting the training. In fairness to her our neigbours puppy was much worse, but then there were 3 young kids constantly shouting and hyping up the puppy. Now its 2 years old and the behaviour has improved. Maybe our dog may mature with age like that one did.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop her accidents? (thats the big issue I have with her) Is rubbing the face in it cruel and unhelpful? Alot of people have told me they did that.

Sigma Force

Do NOT rub the dogs nose in it. That will not achieve anything.
A dogs behaviour is due to how it is raised having well behaved parents does not mean well behaved pups. The father is a farm collie so is probably out busy working all day or pottering around the farm so is busy and not bored.
Collies are working dogs as are labs I would prefer a collie over a lab anyday I personally find labs a lot of work but you have a mix of the two so you have a dog that wants to keep extremely busy. As the pup gets older he will settle down provided the proper training is given.


There is clearly some sort of problem here that could be easily sorted just have to find out what is causing it. The best thing to do i take her to training classes if your mother has worked in shelters she may have some contacts perhaps suggest to your mother that this might be a good idea.

I'm sure your mother cleaned up your mess plenty of times. The dog needs proper training not just a few tips from watching something on tv or reading a book the dog needs to see a trainer that can see the problems for themselves and help solve them. There are plenty of good dog trainers using humane methods.

From your post you just seem fed up and angry at the dog and want to punish it by pushing it's nose into the mess, dogs pick up negative body language and it could be possible that your frustration could be making the dog worse.

There is no super quick solution to this problem however it can be solved but go to a professional trainer some tips can be given on here but it's a lot more effective when you talk to someone who has dealt with this numerous times before. Training isn't the only thing to do the trainer will give you ideas of what types of food and toys the dog could have to improve behaviour and keep the dog busy.

Therickmachine

From your post you just seem fed up and angry at the dog and want to punish it by pushing it's nose into the mess, dogs pick up negative body language and it could be possible that your frustration could be making the dog worse.

I don t want to push its nose into the mess, but its been recommened to me as some people I know have done that. They say it works.

Thing is she is toilet trained (garden trained you know what I mean) Just when its raining she prefers the kitchen floor rather than outdoors. Is this normal?? Its really annoying to have to put up with that.

The dog is not as bad as the ones you see on that TV show. She is very excitable and likes to chew on everything, she also makes a ferocious mess in the kitchen.
All part of being a young dog according to my mother.
Her attitude is that she is still a baby at 1 years old and if she still has problems when she is older, then she ll take her somewhere. At the moment my mum and her friends don t see anything terribly wrong with her behaviour.

If we could just sort out the bathroom habits I would be fine. I could overlook her chewing and hyperactivity.

carwash_2006

Yes she is still a baby and will calm down a lot over the next year or so.

Please don't rub her nose in it. It is not a nice thing to do to a dog and is unlikely to be helpful. If you catch her in the act then take her gently but firmly outside, if you don't catch her doing it there is nothing you can do as she will not know what any punishment is about at that stage. Best thing is to take her outside regularly, stay with her until she goes and then praise her. This weather is likely to make them a bit lazy.

I'm glad things aren't really as bad as you made them sound in your first post. I presume that the older dog was not a young puppy when your mother got him so that explains why he was better behaved.

As long as the dog is up to date on worming, you are cleaning the floor when accidents happen and you aren't in the habit of preparing food on the floor :pac: , then you really needn't feel that it is any more unhygienic than say going for a walk in the park and then coming home and walking around the house in your shoes.

~Thalia~

She's just a pup and she has collie in her so she has a brain and she wants to use use use it

Have you ever considered doing agility classes or something like that with her? Collies can be a lot of hard work if they are not given a job to do but they are VERY eagar to please and if they have a purpose there is no better dog.

Give the agility a try and best of luck!

mary123

My dogs are the same especially one, she will not go out into the rain, she hates it. Cant blame her really. Then i have 2 who loves the rain. Why dont u try like i did, its probley the lazy way out, but for my girl that hates going out, and she is 13 not by anyway a pup, I lay down a puppy pad for her. At least then she can go and not cause distress to her self and i have a place im happy for her to relieve herself.
The rest of the time she will happily go outside. And before any one gives out to me for doing this, she is on tablets to make her pee alot because of her heart.

leopardus

we had been on the lookout for a puppy with well behaved parents in the hope she would grow up to be like them.

Genetics has very little to do with your dogs behaviour, the training it's recieved as a puppy does. I only say this so you realise that your puppy is behaving badly because you have trained it badly, don't blame the dog.

barks often (neighbours don t complain tho)

You have very good neighbours then, but it's not acceptable in my opinion to expect them to put up with the dogs barking.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop her accidents? (thats the big issue I have with her) Is rubbing the face in it cruel and unhelpful?

Rubbing it's nose in it's own excrement is counter-productive and cruel; the basis on which you should housetrain your dog is the fact that dogs have an aversion to fouling the area they sleep and eat and positive reinforcement.
I can only suggest what has worked for me. Find a treat that your dog really likes, hot dog, freeze-dried liver, cheese, chicken, find something she'll do anything for.
First thing in the morning (after meals is another good time) let her outside and hang around until she needs to go (she may have already learned not to eliminate in your presence depending on how you have reacted previously, so this may take some time to begin with), when she goes immediately act as if she's just won a gold medal, praise in a high pitched voice and give her some treats. Play with her a bit before going inside (This is so that the dog doesn't associate eliminating with the subsequent departure of her favourite persons). Keep this up until the dog catches on that great things happen when she goes outside.
Never scold the dog for eliminating in the house unless you catch her in the act. Scold the dog verbally if you catch her, bring her immediately outside and go overboard with praise if she eventually goes in the right place.
Accidents will still happen while the dog experiments with various behaviours, but as long as you are patient and consistent it should work. Eventually you can reduce the frequency that you reward the behaviour, but don't get lazy as dogs unlearn behaviours as well.
Make sure the dog is never left excessive long without having the opportunity to go outside.

Thats helped the jumping but not cured it for when it comes to strangers.

It's great that you have a sociable dog that obviously likes strangers; it's a credit to how she's been socialized. I would train the dog that he never gets attention, of any sort, when he exhibits undesireable behaviours; jumping up or barking. Dogs are smart and adaptable. Eventually she will stop jumping up and experiment with different behaviours to get attention, such as sitting. When she does this give her a treat and attention. Train your guests ( and furnish them with treats) to do the same, ignore the dogs bad behavior until it sits quietly then treat and praise. Be consistent and patient and you should get the desired result.

Chewing is more difficult, dogs love chewing. Wrecking your stuff by getting his gnashers into it is an enormously rewarding behaviour for the dog. I would suggest offering as many acceptable alternative to your dog, toys with different textures, toys stuffed with peanut butter, stuff all of the dogs food into Kongs to keep him occupied. If you see him start to chew on something unacceptable to you, verbally scold him and offer him an attractive alternative. Short-term confinement in a crate may be a solution if the problem persists; you should look into crate-training if you want to down that route.
Hope these suggestions help in some way. I always find it helpful when trying to train my dog to blame myself for any mistakes he makes; it helps focus on a dog-friendly solution.

Therickmachine

Thanks for all the replies.
In fairness to the dog her accidents are the only real huge problem she has. The other complaints are not out of control.. When she barks it tends to be because other neighbours dogs are barking (I don t think the neighbours would have a leg to stand complaining about our dogs, when their own bark as much;))

Its not like she isn t trained, she is. She s still immature, I cant expect her to behave like the older dog at age 1.

When watching "its me or the dog" I realised that she really isn t that bad.
She is a very sociable dog and she doesnt bite and just loves people. Some visitors don t appreciate her affection.

I probably am being too hard on her. She has improved so much in the last few months, I am just finding the toilet training thing irritating. But its good to know that other dogs sometimes react like this to the rain.

Also the chewing thing at 1 years old. Is there anything that can be done about that? She has improved in that now all she chews are her toys and her bed linen in her basket (I keep replacing the linen ) This is a big improvement as she used to chew everything. Shes a big dog so she has quite a strong chew.
Is it as my mother says wait til she grows out if it ?

carwash_2006

Get yourself one of the Company of Animals Kong toys. Don't get any imitation makes, the The proper kongs are really durable and are great for giving destructive dogs something to chew that isn't yours. Other than that bones, pigs ears, cows ears and any other chews that will keep them busy for a while are great.

Rayven199

My dog sounds exactly like yours! The only thing she doesnt do insude anymore is go to the toilet.

The way we got her to stop was by watching her all of the time when she was younger, when she was inside we would bring her outside regularly every 20 mins or so as puppies (young puppies up until about 4 months) will go to the toilet about 20 mins after drinking and about 40 mins or so after eating.

When we caught her in the act of going to the toilet we would scold her (no slap or sticking her nose in it) but we would say NO! and then bring her outside for a few mins.
We did this for months and she eventually learned.

Another thing that helped was putting her to sleep in a cage at night, we would take her(and still do) outside to the toilet right before bed time and let her out after no longer than 8 hours(they cannot hold it any longer than that until they get a good bit older!)

This method forces them to hold it in as they do not like to mess where they lie. Its important that they do not have a wholt lot of room in the cage, just enough to turn around/lie down comfortably.

Thats how we got our dog house trained and she hasnt gone to the toilet inside for months!

Rayven199

Also, our dog does the same thing with the chewing, she eats anything and everything, cant get her to stop! We have given her pig hides/chews EVERYTHING and she has eaten them all. Including her bed. Im at a loss about that one im afraid!

kerrysgold

Have you considered training classes? Also, Collies/collie x's are very smart and like to have a "job" so you could also consider taking her to classes to learn something like agility?

locking her outside definitely isn't the answer anyway, to make sure she is 100% sociable you should try and get her to mix with as many people and dogs (friendly ones!) as possible to avoid aggression/fearfulness.

try and work on her training every day, persistence usually pays off with hyper dogs. even if you just practice getting her to sit and stay for a while each day or work on her lead training or whatever she needs to improve on.