Do y'all have any suggestions on how to stimulate an unruly puppy? - eviltoast

I have a very smart 4 month old goldendoodle who loves getting into everything. She has no interest in her toys or chews. I’m at my wits end. She won’t respond to any correction or redirection. I puppy proofed tf out of my house but she still finds shit to get into. Idek where she gets some of the stuff she finds.

I can’t give her super flavorful bones because my beagle tries to fight her over them. That’s the only thing that has held her attention recently, but my beagle is a dick when it comes to bones.

I brought home like a dozen new toys yesterday but she doesn’t want them. She also doesn’t really care for treats when training. She’d just rather be called a good girl and get head pats.

My beagle isn’t nearly as smart as her, so it didn’t take much to stimulate him. Now he just wants to nap all the time lol.

  • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    You need to exercise her before you try to get her attention. Those dogs have absolutely insane amounts of energy. Think about trying to get the attention of someone who just did 5 lines of pure Columbian cocaine, that’s what life is like for your puppy. Get a little backpack for her and put a couple of water bottles in it. Then go play catch at the park for 30-40 minutes. Or go for a run. Or put some roller blades on and let her pull you around (with a proper harness, not a collar). After one or more of those activities is the proper time to train her.

    Have you considered separating the beagle and her while she gets to chew on a flavorful bone? Also, discipline the beagle. He needs to understand that he can’t just steal things from her. This isn’t anthropomorphism, dogs can learn not to steal from each other. Regardless, she should get some time to chew without worrying about defending herself. Chewing is a natural instinct for dogs, and it’s important they can satisfy that urge.

    Have you tried the crinkle toys? One of our dogs loved the crinkle toys, and the other loved the squeaker toys.

    Golden retrievers, and Golden Doodles are pretty insane when they’re young. It takes a lot of work to exercise and train them. The good news is that they settle down a lot in a year or two, and then they’re a lot easier to deal with. Despite the saying, you can reach an old dog new tricks, so there’s still time for training after she grows up a little.

    • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I plan on breaking out a kiddie pool tonight and seeing if she’ll swim. I am also going to take her to the park when it cools off a bit. This week is going to be hot.

      My dogs LOVE crinkle toys.

      Do you have any suggestions on how to get my beagle to share bones?

      • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The pool is a great idea! Most Doodles love water.

        We trained our domineering dog not to steal from our smaller dog by sitting between them when they both got bones. When he would try to approach her we would push him back, point at his nose, and firmly say NO. Then we’d redirect him back to his bone, giving him lots of praise. As he started figuring it out we could just say his name in a scolding tone and he’d slink back over to his bone. Eventually he figured it out, and would just look longingly at her bone, despite having the same bone himself. Silly dog!

        • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I will have to try that. I had to do the same thing you did with when teaching them that they each have a good bowl and they need to stay at that bowl to eat. They didn’t literally fight over food though. They just nudged each other away to get at the other’s bowl.

          • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Oh, then he’s already gone through it once and should pick up on what you’re telling him pretty quickly. Best of luck! Well trained dogs are awesome dogs. The doodle will be a wild woman for awhile, but then she’ll settle down a bit.

            • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.worldOP
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              1 year ago

              Thank you! My beagle was an absolute madlad for the longest time. Once his anxiety got better, he calmed down a lot. He’s calmed down even more since I got the puppy. She wears him out so much lol.

              • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Our boy was a total mutt who pretended to be really chill when we went to adopt him. He was chill for the first day and half at home too. But then he decided he’d fooled us enough and turned on his full crazy. He was completely untrainable for the first two years of his life, unless he was exhausted. So I’d go play catch with him using a ball launcher for an hour, then go home and work on stuff like sit and stay. He ended up being the most awesome dog ever once he got a little older. He pretty much understood plain English, and was very expressive and communicative. He was totally content with laying around and cuddling, but as soon as you said “let’s go”, it was like a switch, instant unlimited energy. He passed away a few months ago, but he lived a wonderful life, full of love and adventure.