# Out of control puppy!!



## ibfreaky (Feb 12, 2012)

I have a 4 month old GS puppy that is driving me crazy! She is really sweet most of the time but then she goes in to her "puppy from hell" mode and theres nothing I can do to calm her down so I have no choice but to put her outside in the back yard. I hate doing that especially at night but I don't know what else to do. She has two more weeks til she gets her last vaccionations and until then I can't take her on walks or to the park to use up her energy. And when I get home from work i'm already so tired from my day that I need alittle time out for myself before I can effectively deal with her. She starts jumping up on me, biting at me, rips my clothes, and barks at me when I tell her no. When she's like this the only way to get her outside is to toss a treat out first then shut the door behind her real fast. I know this just sends her the wrong message and it makes me feel bad but i don't know what else to do. HELP ME PLEASE!!


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Is she a German Shepherd? That's usually "GSD" btw. High energy dog but a smart dog. 

Unfortunately for you, the dog has been resting the entire time you were at work. The dog will need immediate attention- first simply because if she has been cooped up in a crate or pen, then she likely needs to PEE badly. It is hard for a dog to focus on good behavior when their body is urging them to rush outside. So you don't get to have time to yourself when you first get home.
When you walk in the door, have her leash somewhere ready to go. Without any fanfare (don't make coming home any more exciting to the dog than it already is), quickly leash her and take her outside. Then spend a couple minutes encouraging her to run around (start playing fetch maybe) and then spend a couple minutes on training (sit, down, stay are the basics). I prefer to always end the crazy running time with a minute or two of training to get their focus back and calm them down before coming inside the house.

Start feeding meals (dry dog food meals) by hand- ask her to sit in front of you and feed the kibble a few pieces at a time (or single pieces for large kibble) ONLY when she is sitting. If she jumps or nips, close your hand and move the food behind your back. Bring it back when she is sitting.

Telling her "no" means nothing to her. It is just noise. You can make an "ah ah" sound as a correction but the key is redirecting her into what you want her to be doing rather than trying to stop what you don't like. If she's jumping, ask for (and reward) SIT. If she starts to chew on something, give her a dog chew and take away the item she shouldn't have. Etc. Reserving "NO" for very important things can be helpful because our natural reaction to a bad situation is to shout NO. So you want the dog to react immediately to "NO" (like, if the dog starts to run towards the street, you want to be able to shout NO and have the dog stop in her tracks)

Start teaching "Quiet" - when she barks, say "Quiet" ... IF she stops barking, even for just a second or two, give her a piece of kibble or a tiny treat. If she starts to bark again, say Quiet again and treat only on silence. Let her start to figure out what you expect of her. 

Mental training is tiring to dogs of all ages and will help you to end up with a well behaved adult dog in the future. 

She's having puppy "zoomies" in the evening, and needs to run off her frantic energy. It is just fine to let her run in crazy circles, but you should supervise her in the yard (esp. at night)


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## embedded (Feb 6, 2012)

4 months, yes in addition to high octane exercise, start with the tasking and develop social cognition.


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## Canaqua (Sep 27, 2011)

You most certainly can take her on walks before her vaccinations are finished, especially since she's already had the first two sets! It doesn't mean you have to keep her under lock and key, it just means that you should avoid interactions with possibly unvaccinated dogs...so no dog park. But there is no reason you can't take her for a good long walk around the neighborhood, no reason you can't play with her in the yard, no reason you can't make arrangements with people who have dog you know to be healthy and vaccinated for play dates. 

And, yeah, as with babies and children, dogs mean you don't get to relax when you first walk in the door. Even our 14 year old dog (let alone the 9 month old!) isn't having any of that...she needs attention, a walk and play time. I put down my laptop, go to the bathroom and then put on my coat and deal with the dogs, who are starved for not only exercise, but attention and human interaction at the end of a workday.


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## DustyCrockett (Sep 24, 2011)

"no touch, no talk, no eye contact" is difficult at first especially when they're grabbing at clothes, but it is incredibly effective at getting them to not jump up even when excited. When you see her about to rise, take a step towards her, meanwhile maintaining a totally neutral expression, relax your arms, don't pull away (that makes it a game). Seriously 1 or 2 days might do it, if you are consistently able to ignore her for those first few frantic minutes. At least it's better than rewarding the jumping up with a treat thrown out the door. Be advised that she won't transfer that lesson to other people, at least not at first, at least not at that young age.

Meanwhile, use the treat-out-the-backdoor as an opportunity to train her to go outside on command.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

The advice above is great. I would like to reiterate that having dog means no "me time" right after work. That dog needs to pee, exercise and get attention right away. While you've been at work, she's been bored and lonely and you're basically punishing her for it.

Also, how can you teach her how you want to behave if you won't interact with her? All she's learning is that she'd better cram all her attention into 20 seconds after you get home, because then you'll throw her outside and ignore her some more.

GSDs are high energy dogs with a huge need for attention and mental stimulation. What's her situation like when you're at work? Is she getting a frozen kong to work on, or anything like that? What are your plans for when she's vaccinated? GSDs NEED a job to do. She needs training, and not just the basic sit and stay, though that is where you start. I'd plan to work on agility or schutzhund or something to work her mind and body. You can build agility equipment at home and work on tracking and frisbee at home, too.


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## Purley (Sep 7, 2009)

My friend has an eight month old GSD. My friend grooms dogs downstairs and the dog is upstairs in a crate, along with my friend's other dogs. When the big dog gets out, she is also totally over excited. She jumps on everyone and anyone. My friend has her in an obedience class and she also has a large fenced yard and the dog gets to run around there. My friend also has a friend that has her dog's brother and the two dogs get to play outside and work off some of their energy. I would love another big dog but I know that I am too lazy to do the work that is necessary!


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## ibfreaky (Feb 12, 2012)

Amaryllis said:


> The advice above is great. I would like to reiterate that having dog means no "me time" right after work. That dog needs to pee, exercise and get attention right away. While you've been at work, she's been bored and lonely and you're basically punishing her for it.
> 
> Also, how can you teach her how you want to behave if you won't interact with her? All she's learning is that she'd better cram all her attention into 20 seconds after you get home, because then you'll throw her outside and ignore her some more.
> 
> GSDs are high energy dogs with a huge need for attention and mental stimulation. What's her situation like when you're at work? Is she getting a frozen kong to work on, or anything like that? What are your plans for when she's vaccinated? GSDs NEED a job to do. She needs training, and not just the basic sit and stay, though that is where you start. I'd plan to work on agility or schutzhund or something to work her mind and body. You can build agility equipment at home and work on tracking and frisbee at home, too.


Actually my GSD puppy is never left alone. While my husband and I are at work she is with my mother in law all day and has axcess to her very own private backyard full of chew toys to romp around in. Also when my husband comes home around 3:00pm every day he spends at least 45 mins. to 1 hour playing with her and teaching her to sit,stay come and fetch a ball. So its not that she's attention starved or anything. When she starts in on her jumping and biting we've tried turning our backs to her and ignoring her but she just jumps on our backs or bites the back of our legs. When we try to go in the other room she just follows us barking and biting our ankles. Its hard to get away sometimes! If we do manage to get in the other room she runs through the house and purposely finds something she shouldn't have and starts chewing it up. Its like she saying.."I'll show you!"


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## Purley (Sep 7, 2009)

Sounds exactly like my son's Goldendoodle. My son was very strict with not letting him get away with things like biting and charging out the door in front of him, but he was just a hyper dog. He is now coming three and has cooled down a bit.


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## embedded (Feb 6, 2012)

I use social cognitive processes for children with my GSD and I see results. I do not use treats and believe in the time-out when he needed guidance as a pup. When being very juvenile, I would pick him up, place on the couch, place each hand on his face and state, "calm". Then I would instruct to stay in a deep, firm voice. Then I would deny him my attention.

This took about a week or so and his behavior improved. Being a task driven and emotionally driven being, I rewarded positive, healthy behavior with friendly contact and verbal praise.

I was diligent and consistent.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

In addition to taking her outside, as people have suggested, also look up the Sticky: The Bite Stops Here, teaching her Bite Inhibition, so that you can communicate to her not to nip you...


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

embedded said:


> I use social cognitive processes for children with my GSD and I see results. I do not use treats and believe in the time-out when he needed guidance as a pup. When being very juvenile, I would pick him up, place on the couch, place each hand on his face and state, "calm". Then I would instruct to stay in a deep, firm voice. Then I would deny him my attention.


That sounds like a good way to get bitten. Holding a dog's head in place, especially if combined with staring at him (which is sounds like since you say both hands on his face) is a very aggressive type body language to the dog. 

As for "social cognitive processes with children" for a dog... well, a dog is not a child. Some methods might cross over but dogs think completely different than children and your body language dealing with a dog is read completely different than by a child. 

Stating "calm" or "quiet" is good- although I would most certainly reinforce good behavior with treats as the stronger the positive association, the faster the dog will learn and the stronger the motivation to do the good behavior you are asking for.


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## ibfreaky (Feb 12, 2012)

Its kinda hard to pick up a dog thats running around like a tazmanien devil and the last place I want to put my hands is anywhere near her mouth! And just how do you place a dog in time out anyway?


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

ibfreaky said:


> Its kinda hard to pick up a dog thats running around like a tazmanien devil and the last place I want to put my hands is anywhere near her mouth! And just how do you place a dog in time out anyway?


What we did was keep a drag lead on in the house (or at very least keep it handy to clip on when needed) and we would hook her to a doorknob or close it in the door and go to the other room (and peek around the corner). She would howl and whine a bit then finally stop, we would give it a second or two of quiet then go get her. Trick is though, make sure there is NOTHING bad in the vicinity that she can chew! If it was for biting or nipping we would also make sure to give her something that was ok to bite or chew on. We always preceded the time outs with a warning of "NO" and then when it was time for the time out we would say "BAD" (all in a particular tone of voice). She of course didn't know these words at first, but clued in pretty quick that it meant "you did something wrong and you're about to get a time out for it". 
That's what we did for time outs, don't know if it helps any.


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## ibfreaky (Feb 12, 2012)

Greater Swiss said:


> What we did was keep a drag lead on in the house (or at very least keep it handy to clip on when needed) and we would hook her to a doorknob or close it in the door and go to the other room (and peek around the corner). She would howl and whine a bit then finally stop, we would give it a second or two of quiet then go get her. Trick is though, make sure there is NOTHING bad in the vicinity that she can chew! If it was for biting or nipping we would also make sure to give her something that was ok to bite or chew on. We always preceded the time outs with a warning of "NO" and then when it was time for the time out we would say "BAD" (all in a particular tone of voice). She of course didn't know these words at first, but clued in pretty quick that it meant "you did something wrong and you're about to get a time out for it".
> That's what we did for time outs, don't know if it helps any.


Actually this sounds like something worth giving a try, Thanks!


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