normal puppy behaviour?

does anyone elses puppy act as crazy as otis? some nights he has a hyper hour. literally running lengths of the living room, barging anything that gets in his way. he becomes incredibly territorial - if you go near him when he has a toy he growls and tries to mouth you. He also jumps on the sofas even though he is not allowed to, and growls and mouths if you try and get him off. Im doing training with him and really trying my best- please tell me this is just a puppy phase or does otis think he is higher than me in the pecking order in our house?



jodie x

Yep - all perfectly normal! Frustrating as hell, tiring and bruising, but totally normal Try working out when at night it happens (Satch's used to be both 8am and 8pm - dangerous times for my clothing) and if you can, time a walk just before, or some play in the garden. Try to head him off at the pass, as it were

How old is Otis? Unless he's older than I suspect, he's not being territorial, he's playing up, hoping you'll chase him or play fight him.

Becs

yep Im going through it too although I usually take them both outside to play when it starts.

thanks girls, but is the biting bit normal? i am really worried about it. When otis is in a good mood he is the most loving little thing, but when he is like this he really mouths and tries to bite me. Don't want him to turn out to be an aggressive adult dog.

First things first, unless they have some sort of serious genetic default, puppies are incapable of feeling or displaying aggression - if this is going to happen at all, it's when they're older than Otis.

Many c-o-c-k-y, confident puppies mouth, nip and bite, especially when they're over-excited. It's all perfectly normal. Some naturally grow out of it, but if you want Otis to grow up knowing any kind of biting is bad - be it in play or frustration - it's something you can put a stop to.

Each puppy responds to a different method of chastisement. For some, a simple firm "No!" will suffice. For others, ignoring the behaviour, time-outs for very short periods (1-2 mins at a time), shaking a tin of pebbles or coins, squirting with water, or bite inhibition by squealing work better. If one method doesn't work, don't give up, just move on to the next method - but give each method a reasonable amount of chances to work. Everyone has their personal preferences for what works (PM me if you want my personal views on it), but it should be about what works for your dog, not what works for you.

Hope this helps.

Becs

Jake still has mad minutes from time to time, and he's 9 months! when he goes mad in the evenings, I'd put it down to attention seeking, 'cos boring mum and dad are sat on HIS sofa watching telly! He's usually happy to settle down again after a bit of a game.

he still does the mouthing thing. Thankfully very gently 'cos he's got great big teeth now, obviously! I know I should discourage that.

Oh yeah, perfectly normal, aw bless the little doggie. Loki still does this although it's best done in the garden now is so much bigger.

He still does mouth a bit but he has excellent bite inhibition now, still I do discourage it and still yelp, "ouch" as I don't want it becoming too habitual.

Poppy has a mad 15-20 minutes every evening, usually shortly after her dinner. She's a 14 week old CKCS. She does several circuits round the lounge, kitchen and garden, and finishes by jumping either onto the sofa or the armchair - likes most others, even though she knows she's not allowed to!

She bites when she gets overexcited too. We had a dog trainer come and do a home visit on Monday, and her advice was rather than a firm "No!", do a high pitched "ouch" or "shreek", take the toy away and ignore her for 20 seconds. The theory behind this is that her littermates would not have said "No!", they would have cried and stopped playing with her. We've started doing this, and I have to say it works, she stops dead when we shreek, and sits quietly watching, then she is a lot gentler when we start playing again.

We have 3 Alaskan malamutes that have a crazy half an hour every evening

We have to batten down the hatches Maddy usually joins in for a few minutes and then stands back and watches Delly and Hudson go for it

I can imagine your house at mad half hour time.