Tussle

[brightncheerful]

Puppy has had her eye on the handkerchief I keep in the pocket of my trousers for sometime. It is not the same handkerchief all the time, i change it every few days but i always have a hanky in the same pocket. (useful for example, apart from nose wiping in cold weather, for cleaning the car windscreen or flicking an insect out of a window… other suggestions on a postcard, please.)

I know that when she occasionally nuzzles me she has an ulterior motive. i was in a hurry this morning to get our routine over promptly because i didn't have time to spare before travelling to the dentist. So of course puppy seized the opportunity to delay me via the handkerchief.

She isn't allowed on the sofa but that doesn't stop her: the word 'off' is on her selective listening list. She rushed onto it so I went over and sat next to her and set about trying to remove the handkerchief from her mouth, jaw firmly locked on it. Fortunately, a bit of the material was hanging out so I could get a grip.

As I gently pulled and she firmly resisted, she looked at me intently and attempted to deter with a bite. Finding that didn't work she stood up and with her getting on for 17kg full force pulled away so vehemently that I was concerned the material would tear. I tried to prise open her mouth but didn't want to use too much force, also by then the amount of material I was gripping was getting longer. For a split second I thought she was going to let go so I made the mistake of relaxing whereupon she grabbed more of the material. Good girl, i said, very clever.

(She's good like that. At puppy training class last week, I saw she had her eye on a pouch of treats that the instructor was wearing at waist level. Having tried to jump up to reach the pouch only for the instructor to step away, she followed through with plan B - which is to nip at the instructor's shoelaces in the hope that the instructor would bend down to stop her whereupon she could then reach the punch without having to jump up.)

It took about 15 minutes of tussle and mutual perseverance before she conceded. Mrs Bnc, watching from the sidelines, suggested we get some hankies for puppy. I said that would spoil her fun, also be boring. One thing we've learned about puppy is that she loves to chew anything that resists.

[brightncheerful]

ps - This morning, puppy grabbed my T-shirt off the bed where I'd left it. Took Mrs Bnc about 20 minutes to get her to let go.

[scotia]

ps - This morning, puppy grabbed my T-shirt off the bed where I'd left it. Took Mrs Bnc about 20 minutes to get her to let go.

I was going to add - towels, socks, and any other apparel - just when you are about to use them. And a newspaper is great fun - ripped to pieces and distributed around the house. And you can't be serious - not on the sofa!

[sg31]

The puppy thinks it's a game you both enjoy playing which is probably true. If you ignore the fact it has taken the item it may well lose interest. You playing the game just reinforces the behaviour. An alternative strategy is to distract it with a treat or toy, it will drop the iten to get the treat or toy.
If using a toy you can have a tug of war with the dog using that.

The puppy loves you and craves your attention, it's just using what's available to get that attention. Once you start training ' Leave it' should stop this behaviour.

[scotia]

The puppy thinks it's a game you both enjoy playing which is probably true. If you ignore the fact it has taken the item it may well lose interest. You playing the game just reinforces the behaviour. An alternative strategy is to distract it with a treat or toy, it will drop the iten to get the treat or toy.
If using a toy you can have a tug of war with the dog using that.

The puppy loves you and craves your attention, it's just using what's available to get that attention. Once you start training ' Leave it' should stop this behaviour.

Yes - all correct. My son mastered the training - but his Lab knew I was a soft touch, and never felt the need to pay too much attention to my commands - unless they were accompanied by the call "biscuit". So much so that our acquaintances thought the dog was called Biscuit.

.

[UncleEbenezer]

So much so that our acquaintances thought the dog was called Biscuit.

My hypothetical dog answers to Trouble.

Re: puppy: this story speaks of the joys of extreme youth, and of pure toys.

[brightncheerful]

An alternative strategy is to distract it with a treat or toy, it will drop the iten to get the treat or toy.

Doesn't work with our puppy. She knows she can eat later. In the meantime…

[sg31]

Interesting. I've never met a dog that can't be distracted by it's favourite food. I'm all for using treats as a distraction and an occasional treat, a much better treat is giving your dog positive encouragement.

Puppies are normally interested in 2 things, the person who feeds them and food. It's one thing really I suppose. The puppy wants your attention and food, which one is more important at any moment varies. The puppy has already worked out that when you say 'NO' you don't mean it.(Sofa, selective hearing)

By spending 15 minutes trying to recover the item it's grabbed hold of, you are positively reinforcing it's behaviour. The problem is you are reinforcing bad behaviour. (Bad as in behaviour you don't approve of). It's getting the attention it craves. If it finds it doesn't get any extra attention it will lose interest in the bahaviour. If it steals a hanky, let it have it, get another. The hanky may get chewed to shreds, ignore it, don't make a fuss or the puppy gets the attention it wants. A shredded hanky is part of the price of having a puppy.

Play with your puppy but make training part of the play. Puppies learn really quickly but they learn good and bad things with the same enthusiasm. Your job is to reinforce the behaviour you want and redirect the behaviour you disapprove of.

There are some excellent You Tube videos on dog training. Try this one for a start. It's American but the trainer is excellent, I don't agree with all his techniques but he knows his stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pOCeWuCFTQ

[brightncheerful]

As luck would have it I read sg31's comments just before responding to the faint bark of puppy. I don't normally but Mrs Bnc isn't available and it's been left to me to look after puppy for a few hours.

Puppy wasn't supposed to have barked then, not in the instructions Mrs Bnc has left for me. Also I know from previous experience that barking out of time is often a false alarm. The morning however, I gave puppy the benefit of the doubt. It was raining on her trip to the garden first thing and puppy doesn't like to poo on damp or wet ground and didn't.

En-route puppy filched my hanky. On the strength of sg31, I decided to let her have it - despite concerns it would / will do her digestion no good - whereupon she paraded around the garden with it in her mouth before proceeding to chew and tear into shreds. I thought perhaps she would appreciate her isolated fun becoming a game so at great risk to my fingers I picked up a few shreds and stuffed them into the rubber ball that she enjoys chasing around. Once puppy began to realise I wasn't going to take the hanky off her she relaxed, warily. Stuffing the shreds into the ball then rolling the ball along the ground led to puppy running after it and returning near me with the shreds in her mouth. Nowadays she isn't into fetch and bring as much as when she was younger: mostly she applies the principle, you threw the ball, you go and get it.

With the rain resuming, I lured puppy indoors with the two towels we keep to dry her fur after rain. As she grabbed one I used the other to dry her coat whereupon she grabbed that one so i took the other and so on. When I was finished, I asked her to bring both towels into another room where she reluctantly let go as I took them off her one by one.

We are swamped with training advice in all its forms, books, youtube, puppy classes. Unfortunately classes were cancelled during lockdown. we are offered zoom instead -we don't have a spare room in the house let alone a portable computer and puppy's ability to sit still for 40 minutes unless asleep is rare, by the end of the session but one has since resumed. We have also have private bespoke training from an experienced reputable but that person has now decided unilaterally that we should be able to manage on our own.

Mrs Bnc's challenge is how to deal with puppy's unannounced biting of Mrs Bnc's legs and arms to bruise and blood. I have also suffered but somehow when summoned to rescue Mrs BnC I am finding it easier to restrain puppy without also getting bitten (adult teeth we are talking about) so it's as if an understanding between us is developing.

The thing about training is not that we are short of advice, but short of advice on what to do if and when something goes wrong. And equally how to avoid going wrong to begin with. I have had two puppies/dogs before but with current puppy, different breed, it is a steep learning curve. Her gregariousness exceeds our daily ability to satisfy. Steering her wild nature into non-destructive behaviour that she would prefer is akin to us wanting her to conform to our definition, not hers. The discomfort all or at least most dogs experience when learning to walk at their owners' pace is challenging for puppy as well. Personally I don't want to find puppy ends up looking like as resigned to her fate as most dogs I observe.

[UncleEbenezer]

En-route puppy filched my hanky. On the strength of sg31, I decided to let her have it - despite concerns it would / will do her digestion no good - whereupon she paraded around the garden with it in her mouth before proceeding to chew and tear into shreds. I thought perhaps she would appreciate her isolated fun becoming a game so at great risk to my fingers I picked up a few shreds and stuffed them into the rubber ball that she enjoys chasing around.

Between the two of you, you've devised a new game. Have you thought about re-purposing clothes that are past it - like those that have come to the end of their useful second life (e.g. gardening or decorating), or pants whose elastic is long gone - for that kind of game? Carry something like that around in the manner you have done with your handkerchiefs, and keep the real ones somewhere else.

Though cultivating a firm "No" tone of voice must presumably be somewhere on the agenda, too? And what about chemical deterrent: can your hankies be infused with a smell she'll recoil from but you'll be OK with?

The discomfort all or at least most dogs experience when learning to walk at their owners' pace is challenging for puppy as well. Personally I don't want to find puppy ends up looking like as resigned to her fate as most dogs I observe.

Only a very old or abused dog does most of their walking at human pace, even if the human is a fast runner. The lead should be reserved for when it's strictly necessary: most usually when in the presence of road traffic.

[brightncheerful]

The lead should be reserved for when it's strictly necessary: most usually when in the presence of road traffic.

It is so we are told not advisable to let a miniature labradoodle puppy walk off the lead in a public place unless he/she has excellent recall.