A Day in the Life...

Hello everyone. Firstly, I apologise for making my first post so chunky. I'm just very keen to bring up a good, well-behaved dog and do everything I can to be a good owner. I very much appreciate the assistance people offer on forums, and I fully plan to stick around and help others with advice garnered from my own experience.

Yesterday, I decided to note everything that happened during what has become a pretty standard day with my puppy, a now 14-week old Hungarian Puli called Hank who arrived just over two weeks ago. I suppose it's quite a long post, but if you spot anything odd, have any observations or advice based on how my day pans out, then it would be great to hear from you as I still feel we have some niggling issues with him. You may just find it interesting, or that it helps you with your puppy some way.

Hank is kept overnight in a medium sized crate in our kitchen with a few T-shirts, a towel and half a bowl of water. During the day, he spends most of the time in the kitchen and goes out on two walks. He has around five chews to play with. He goes to the toilet a lot, but he's recently been communicating it a lot better by scratching the back door, although this only works when I am seated in the kitchen near said door. We've also stopped using puppy pads. Training consists of getting him to sit, lie down, off, leave it, look at me, and stay, which he does well when isolated, but terribly when distracted. I find it hard to get his attention, and my recall is suspect.

This is, roughly, how yesterday went:

- After putting Hank to bed at 1.15, he started barking at 8.15 (I'd put my alarm on for 8.30). When I went down, he'd soiled the crate quite badly, so I immediately took him out for a walk in the snow for 25 minutes, during which he had two pees. I put him in the adjacent room whilst I cleaned the crate and washed his bedding. I then fed him (he only ate a third of his dry food, which I removed after 15 minutes) and then took him out for toilets on the leash, although he just dug in the snow for 10 minutes. I gave him some training and fed him the rest of his food, which he ate. I took him outside and he peed immediately. When I came back in, he scratched the door, but when I took him out he just ate leaves and ran around so I brought him back in. He then went to sleep.

- An hour later (at 11.05), he was woken by next door's dog. I found pee from earlier, cleaned it up (I don't punish him, and I use water, vinegar, and a bit of Cillit Bang bleach) and took him out; he pooped quickly. I came back in and let him play with his bone. He went on a spree of scratching the door, but every time I went out, he just messed around. I played tug with him indoors and then went to do some chores upstairs, leaving him in the kitchen in the process. He barked, whined, and scratched for the full 45 minutes. When I returned, I ignored him, and cleaned up the pee he'd done on the floor. He tried to grab the kitchen towel; I just said 'Off!' He scratched the door, I took him out, and he peed. He then scratched again when we came back in and whined, but I ignored. He then slept. After around 30 minutes, I tried to sneak to the toilet, but he woke and followed. I took him out, he peed, scratched upon return, I ignored. He played with his toy, and then slept for another 30 mins.

- I then took him for a second walk at 14.30 and he had three pees and one poop. He zig-zagged a lot (the lead often gets tangled), and dragged me a bit on the home straight. Upon return, he ate most of his lunch (dry food again) before sleeping. He woke at 16.15 and played tug with me, but then he started tearing up the newspaper in his crate before going to sleep again. At 19.00, I had to go to the shops for 10 minutes, so I put him in his crate. When I got back, he was still barking, had torn the newspaper, peed, pooped, and eaten his own poop. I cleaned and then fed him, which he, eventually, ate half of. At around 20.00, he started misbehaving a little. He then slept for around 45 minutes.

- At 21.00, he woke, and this is where he became difficult, mixing up the evening with scratching the door only to run around in the snow, pooping and peeing indoors, going bonkers, chewing things in the kitchen, and son. I did feed him, but he only ate half. He slept for 30 minutes at one point, but continued misbehaving upon awaking until eventually being put to bed at 1.30. He barked for 15-30 minutes, then went to sleep.

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I have definitely seen progress in Hank, but still finding the following issues stressful:

(1) He really misbehaves during evening time, which makes it impossible for me to relax.
(2) He barks and defecates whenever I leave the room, so I feel imprisoned in my own kitchen. If I go upstairs, I can still hear him, so I never get a break from him. I also know that when I come back, even if I only went to the toilet, I'm going to have to do some cleaning. I feel housebound, and as if my life is on hold whilst I babysit him 24/7.
(3) His peeing seems excessive. 22 pees and 6 poops by my count, and it is often more (on the pee front) on other days. It's hard work having to constantly watch him, take him out. In addition, when he's misbehaving he scratches the door just to mess around outside, so I rarely get any time just to do something interrupted like watching a TV show or eating my dinner.
(4) I'm exhausted. I can't sleep until he's stopped barking, so I only really get around 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep every night, which is making me tired during the day, which then makes me less tolerant when he's behaving in the evenings, and also less focused on my work, which I need to do to pay the bills. I'm also suffering from a mild case of the flu, so standing out in the snow and going to the park when it's this cold is just wearing me out, and making the days a genuine struggle.

There are other minor issues such as his occasionally runny poop, irregular eating habits, and zig-zagging during walks, but they are perhaps secondary to the aforementioned issues which, I feel, are controlling my life and making me a little depressed. If I can fix them, I will be much happier, because he's a great dog when he's docile, sleeping, playing by himself, or generally behaving.

If anyone can assist in any way, or offer any advice based on my routine and the issues stated above, then I would be forever grateful.

Thanks for reading. I hope it wasn't too long/boring/tedious.

if you had a baby, would you be surprised at the sheer amount of poo wee and sick? No. Pups are the same - they need to develop and you have to accept that there will be much crap along the way.
All dogs want to play in the evening. No idea why. Mine do and we`ve come to an arrangement in which I play with them for a bit then they settle. Ten minutes playing find the toy, then you can ignore them.
Your dog is a social animal. Nature has hard-wired him to want company. For a dog that is a survival trait. You can train them to accept being alone, but your puppy isn`t trained. I don`t see why he can`t be with you more. he would learn more and bond better. He won`t learn to be social and confident on his own.
He`s only been in the world for 3 months. I feel you`re expecting an awful lot of him. JMO. Others will no doubt have different opinions.
Why not get a good puppy bok and take a bit more time helping him grow?
You seem to be getting on pretty well atm - maybe your health and the weather are conspiring to make you feel down?

Puppies can be very hard work, that's a fact but the effort you put in now will pay off in the end.
Yes they pee and poop a lot but if you're vigilant and observant it really shouldn't be such a big deal.
To start with I do usually spend most of my day with them in area's with tiled floors so for us that's the kitchen, utility and conservatory, it minimises the stress. I also crate my puppies at night but I always sleep downstairs with them, gradually increasing my distance from them until I make it back to bed by around week 2 or 3. It stops them feeling so abandoned and I won't have them in the bedroom with me, it's also closer to the back door so if they need to go in the night I wake up as soon as they start to whine or move about, quickly pop them outside and straight back to bed.
During the day I start them off by disappearing for a few seconds at a time, gradually increasing the time they are left alone. I agree you should be able to have some time to yourself but it needs to revolve around the pup at first, so when he's sleeping you can get on and do stuff and when he's awake you do need to interact with him.
As for the madness of an evening, I always start off as I mean to go on and none of mine are allowed in the lounge unless they are behaving and chilled. I achieve this with pups by having them on a lead in the lounge so they can't run around being a pest, but they can still interact with me as I will sit on the floor with them and encourage them to be calm.

Is there a reason why he can't just play by himself in the garden some of the time?
Burn off some energy with puppy crazies?

Do you have a friend with a nice dog who would play with him too?

Are you attending training classes - I think chatting to other puppy owners would help and also make him some new mates

Also they do grow up, I think way too fast but the pooping and peeing does usually become much less of an issue. They are usually reliable by about 20 weeks or so.
The other thing is even my lot are having a bit of a mental in the snow, they want to play in it all the time and even they forget what it was they went outside for just now, so are asking to go out again 5 minutes after coming in because they forgot to poo so I can fully understand a puppy would also get a bit side tracked by it all.
You do sound very down by it though and maybe you need to go out there with him and just play in the snow for a bit, I could be wrong but it all sounds a bit regimented and not a lot of fun so I'd try to up the fun element of your day.

1.) It is normal. Dogs are crepuscular by nature, which means they are most active at dawn and dusk. Most pups need a lot of guidance if you want them to settle. What I did with mine when I wanted to relax in front of the TV in the evenings was have them on a collar/lead and physically sit on the floor (put the puppies bed on the floor) with them. Then every time the pup tries to move away, guide them back onto the bed with the 'ON YOUR BED!' command. Lots of praise any time they are sitting/lying on the bed and being calm.

2.) Is normal. Your pup won't have built up enough confidence to be alone yet -- this comes with time and training. If you have leave him alone to go out or upstairs, pop him in his crate. He will feel far more secure (and be less likely to soil) in the crate than he will loose in the kitchen. If you leave a young pup alone in a big open space, they really don't know what to do with themselves and almost panic a little because they feel vulnerable.

Before you leave him in his crate, DON'T leave him if he was wide and awake and full of energy. Sit with him for 5 minutes beforehand, talking to him calmly, until he relaxed. When he is calm and about to fall asleep, that is your cue to quietly to leave the room.

3.) Is normal. Again, pop him in his crate while you eat.

4.) Is part and parcel with owning a puppy I'm afraid. Unlike people, puppies don't 'do' sleeping for long time periods -- 8, 9, 10 hours. They sleep for a couple of hours, then have lots of energy, then crash, then repeat. If your puppy is sleeping for 6 - 6 1/2 hours every night, then you are actually quite lucky! try having a puppy that would NOT sleep any more than 5 hours at a stretch, every night, for 6 months.

What is your bedtime arrangement for him?

ClaireandDaisy

No, I've never had a baby, but I'm are they poop a lot. I'd say Hank pees around 20 - 35 times a day. I was just wondering if this was normal, or whether I should take a urine sample to the vet.

To avoid confusion, I should emphasise, that I spend the entire day in the kitchen with him, and try to do plenty of training and playing with him.

I think the stress of Xmas is also getting me down.

Trouble…

Night time doesn't seem to be a problem. He just barks for 15 mins, then settles. It's during the day where the issue lies. If we need to do something upstairs for 10 minutes, whether we leave him in the kitchen or in the crate, he just goes bonkers and barks constantly, which means that can't even have a toilet without a lot of drama and cleaning to do when I get back. I've tried your disappearing technique, and will keep at it so hopefully he can get used to being alone for a few minutes at least.

Muddiwarx…

He just eats the plants if he's not on the lead outside, a couple of which are poisonous.

Unfortunately, we don't have a friend with a nice dog, but he does, at least, get to meet some on his walks.

Yes, I've attended two training classes, which, although, in my opinion, aren't great, at least give him a chance to meet other dogs.

Labradork…

(1) Did you find at all that when you had them on the lead in the lounge that they rebelled and started getting angry or chewing the lead? How did you respond? Also, he doesn't have a bed in the living room, because he chews in, and tries to fight it. We tried enticing him with other chews, but he'd give up on them after a a minute and go back to ambushing his bed.

(2) He seems to react the same in his crate, just constant barking, and often peeing, even if his bedding is in there. I do think crate is best though for the reason you suggest.

(3) Should we do this even if he just barks whilst we're eating. Also, do we have to wait until he's stopped before we let him out, as he just doesn't seem to stop (unless it's bed time), so we could be waiting for ages. I don't want him to think that barking works.

(4) We put him to bed at 1.30am and wakes around 8.00am.