New puppy problems

hi i have a cocker spaniel x puppy who is 11 weeks old have had her for two weeks and need some advice on how to stop her chasing my 2 cats who we have had for five years also any advice on how to stop her biting and hanging off peoples trousers would be appreciated

buy some puppy training books.

keep her on a longline in the house so when she goes to chase the cats you can pull her back and tell her no.
how did you introduce her to the cats by the way?

does she pull on your trousers as you are walking past her?

If you have a crate have time out for her, if she chases the cats put her in the crate for 5 mins, she'll soon get the message...

surely then though the crate becomes a punishment? which is something you dont want.

Sounds like typical boisterous puppy play to me! Part of the solution is them just maturing, but training training and more training! unfortunately they aren't "tricks" so it doesnt happen quickly.

With the cats, its important puppy knows the boundaries - she will only be curious and is probably desperate to play which I am sure your cats dont appreciate! When I introduced our at the time 6 month old staffy to a new kitten we did things very slowly. Zulu was kept sitting or lying, and we brought the cat to him so he could have a good sniff and get that out of his system in a safe way. We kept things very calm and kept him on lead for a while. Each time he got a bit too forceful we gave him a very firm "Leave her" or "Ah Ah" and asked him to sit or lie down again. He was praised heaps for ignoring the cat and being gentle. Slowly he began to realise that the cat wasnt his new toy and we have never had a problem with them together. You do have to be very strict and it will be hard with a puppy so its a case of constant re-enforcement, and stopping the chasing before it happens (when you know she is going to do it) if you can.

With the biting puppies can be very rough despite their size. Is she biting hands and things as well as just trousers? Bite inhibition is a really important thing that puppies learn from their littermates and its important we continue that - its just their way of trying to get a game going not realising our skin is much more delicate than theirs. I personally went for ignorance - some people use a yelping method. A very firm "Ah Ah" again and redirecting the play into something positive more often than not did the trick for me, and if it continued he was ignored, if it still continued he had a couple of minutes time out seperate from us (thanks to baby gates) just to calm down and then was brought back in again. I have to say the play biting and mouthing didnt really ease up until about 4 months old, and then suddenly seemed to stop totally overnight.

I think it depends on how you put them in the crate. When we used ours for time outs it was literally a case of - okay getting a bit wound up, quite time in your crate now. Rather than actual punishment

Tbh with you - I'd let the cats sort the dog out - my neighbours cat sorted Louie out when he tried to be rough - now they can be in the same garden and he doesn't bother. I've even had Tonic (rabbit) tell Louie off for being to boisterous around him - rabbit bites hurt too - so he is now more gentle around them.
But that was how my dogs learn't - there are other ways as said above.. but there was no better teacher for my Uncles GSD than my aunt's cat Poppy - this tiny kitten took on this GSD and he never went on to chase another cat and even moved out of the room when Poppy came into the same room..

For the trouser problem, she probably needs more toys to chew on, a good thing to do is to soak a rope toy in chicken soup (unsalted) and freeze it - this will help with her teething and also keep her busy for a couple of hours.

I would also invest in some training books and a clicker and get right in there with the training. Louie has two of the most mouthest breeds in him so I worked pretty early on with the issue.. to stop him biting fingers I froze butter and rubbed it on my skin - therefore teaching him skin was for licking - you have to be careful not to over do this as you could get over licking as an obsession.

Remember she is a CS and if she is from working lines you may find her chasing instinct is particularly strong. A good training class will also be an asset to you, but make sure it is a positive class, spaniels can be senstive dogs so a gentle hand works best, I have been to kennels where the dogs have had a harsh upbringing (traditional gun dog methods) and they are so timid.

Good luck with her and remember she is a puppy, she isn't going to get it over night..

Hi this link should prove very useful re the biting:

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discu...c=64170.0;wap2

And this one should prove helpful re the cats

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/ca...troduction.pdf

Good luck, things DO get better!