Please help!!!!!!!!!

[sophiesmom]

We have a black labradoodle that is 10 months old and I am not sure what to do! She is into EVERYTHING, jumping on the counters and will take my children's toys and run with them. She will run with anything from me such as blankets, decorations, clothes, etc. She also will not leave my children alone...she bites at them and there clothes and will pull them to the ground. She will sit and bark at me for upwards of 20 minutes for no reason. We have been unable to go on a date for some time because Sophie is so crazy that we can't have a sitter. The only time we had a sitter it was a disaster...she would not quit jumping on her, biting at her and taking her homework from her lap. I am at my breaking point...not sure what else I can do...I don't want to have to sell her to another family but at this point I am not sure how much more our family can take. Please help me so that we can keep our puppy!!!

[chocolab]

Hi

I would get a professional trainer involved as soon as possible. I had a few similar challenges with my labradoodle and she is now the best dog in the world. I actually found a place where she stayed for two weeks and came back another dog. Since then, I brought her back 1/year for a refresh. Sometimes all we need is a bit of help.

[chocolab]

if you leave anywhere close to CT or NJ I can send you a private message on where to go

[sophiesmom]

Thanks, we live in Indiana...not sure if there is something like that around here. I am beyond frustrated...

[browndog]

I know exactly what you mean. We had some serious problems with hyperactivity in our puppy too. She is also 10 months old now. Is your puppy on adult food yet? or is she still on puppy food? The puppy food has a way higher protein content and can cause hyperactivity in some dogs who are sensitive to high protein. Our dog was sensitive to high protein and it caused all sorts of other health issues and when the vet switched us to a hypoallergenic low protein food, the change was incredible. She was so much calmer, way less hyper and less aggressive and bitey. It was an amazing transformation. She still has a ways to go, but I must say it helped a lot and it is worth a try. Vet suggested that dogs who are sensitive to protein stay between 18.5 and 20% protein....and watch what is in the treats as well.
Dogdaycae helps with bite inhibition. Take her one to two days per week and you will see a big difference.
Good luck.

[SGP]

A couple things to make your life easier, the puppy needs a ton of exercise. So I am not sure if there is a dog park near you, if you're active, or if there is perhaps a reasonably priced dog daycare in your area, but the dogs needs to run and get tired out, especially younger ones. Personally I did the dog daycare thing b/c my LARGE Labradoodle Osborne was absolutely a hand full as a younger guy and it made him manageable, and I don't run, so that wasn't a viable option. Tired dogs are just plain easier to handle, but they are also easier to train. Also you need to establish, just like with children, how you intend to train and discipline your dog b/c if told different things the dogs gets confused.

I also kennel trained my labradoodle, 2 yorkiepoo's, and my yorkie. I realize some ppl think it's mean, but it's not, and if done correctly dogs don't mind it at all, obviously never for longer then 5 hours. Dogs are by nature cave dwelling animals and like to have a space that is just theirs, this may be an option for you so you feel safe leaving the house. ALSO NEVER put the dog in the kennel for punishment, if you do this even once, then the dog will NEVER want to go into it when you leave, I can't tell you what a common mistake this is.

She also sounds like she may be bored, poodle mixes are really really smart and like to be occupied. I would suggest getting a Kong toy, putting some peanut butter in it and freezing it. Some of the hide a squirrel toys, and the toys that are for helping intelligence work really well for curing this problem in a lot of the dogs I've worked with.

I also suggest talking to a trainer, you have to realize that dogs want to please you, thats pretty much your pups entire goal in life, so knowing that she isn't pleasing you is frustrating to her as well as you. Setting aside a certain time to work with her every day on sitting, laying down, no bark, off, no, etc. can be really helpful to both of you. Dogs have the intelligence level of a 2 year old child, so go into it with that mindset and realize it will require a serious amount of patience. Puppies are a lot of work, I personally will hopefully never have one again, opting for older rescue dogs, b/c puppies are just insane. However I can tell you as someone who has had 3 puppies, they do learn and grow out of bad habits as long as you work at it. They can't please you if they have never been taught how, and that will be much easier if you exercise her first and tucker her out and perhaps seek professional instruction on how to train her effectively.

Someone else also mentioned above setting a schedule, this is super important, just as it is w/ a 2 year old child. When they get into a routine and know what they are expected to do, in most cases, they will do it!

Please feel free to contact me via PM or via this thread if you need any more advise as I have truly seen and dealt with so many ppl in this same situation, it's fixable if YOU don't give up. As you realize it's not all about the dog but how you all are relating and communicating to the dog and there are easy fixes that will hopefully help y'all enjoy your new addition.

[deepnite10]

not the fault of the dog..10 mos. of lack to training is going to give the dog an opportunity to pick up alot of bad habits..

the dog does nt realize he s doing wrong..in his own mind he s doing good..

in this situation basic training is the place to start..
i agree with the post recommending obediance class s..if your not going to train..then don t expect the dog to understand what is desired of him..

dog s need to learn the ABC s of training befor learning what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior..just as you can t teach a child to spell without first learning the alphabet..

seen too many people talk with their dogs as though they re children and expect them to understand..

[Nikkiey]

Sophie's Mom, I've been there too, my doodle is now 14.5 months, but he's still a handful. I have never had a dog with SO much ENERGY. I was told that he would start calming down around the 6/7 month mark and when that didn't happen people told me that he would start calming down around the 10 month mark. Well that didn't happen either, but we were able to work through ALOT of our issues.

As for the counter surfing I suggest "the bomb." What we used was an empty, washed out BBQ sauce bottle and put about 10 penny's in it. Every time Juneau would jump up or put his front paws on the counter we would throw 'the bomb' at him. The important part of this was that your dog CANNOT see you throw it. If they do they can become fearful of you and that is not what you want. Once we would throw the bomb we would hide around a corner and wait till he ran away from the scene of the crime. When you pick 'the bomb' up you must be careful your pup doesn't see you or hear it cause again, it would be bad if they associated you to it. It only took Juneau 2 times of it being thrown at him and a few rattles of the bottle a couple other times and he completely stopped counter surfing and trying to lick the dishwasher.

I also want to clarify that when I say "throw it at him" I don't literally mean wind-up and chuck it at his head, even if it hit the floor 6" away from him, it was effective. We would always aim for his rump, but since I am no baseball player I would always miss and get the floor anyways.

As for the jumping and biting/nipping, have you tried time outs? Those were the only thing that got through to Juneau. We set his crate up in the middle of the living room and everytime he would nip or jump on us we would scream OW and he would go straight into his kennel for a 2-4 minute time-out. There were days where it felt like Juneau was always in his kennel, but it slowly got better.

If nothing seems to be working, get a trainer (even if it does seem to be working, getting a trainer is still a good idea). Dogs must be taught rules, boundaries and limitations, and if they aren't then they can become terrors.

[Ace's Place]

Exercise, excercise, excerise. One hour morning, midday, evening. Not just free range. Mix of that and structured walking....it is key that her energy is released. And it needs to happen consistently - day in., day out. Get on a schedule with that and you should begin to see a change in her ability to listen more, be more calm and less frustrated...It's tiring, for sure, but that worked in our case. Ace is usually a happy tired. Plus he has been trained - I think the two have to go hand in hand with this breed.....