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haliwa01_gw

Puppy question

haliwa01
13 years ago

I am have been a reader of this forum for a while but never had any questions, but now I have one and need help.

My wife and I found a stray puppy (looks like a shepherd/husky mix or a huskey/golden mix) last weekend at a function that we went to out in the country. My wife was worried that the puppy would go out into the road and get hit so we brought him home with us. We already have 2 dogs at home a Bagel (Beagle/Bassett Hound mix)named Charley and a Cockerpoo named Gogi. They both get along fine with each other. We named the puppy Lakota.

Here are my questions:

1. Gogi growls at Lakota whenever Lakota comes near him. It is bad when Gogi is on the couch with a bone or chewy and Lakota walks by and looks to see what Gogi is doing. Will that resolve itself or do the wife and I need to be doing something to make Gogi more friendly to Lakota. We have noticed that a lot of times that Gogi is growling at Lakota is because Lakota is bitting at his legs when he is walking behind Gogi.

2. Charley growls and barks at Lakota whenever he comes near him. Is there something that we need to do or will they work it out.

3. Lakota is ADHD we think as he can't seem to focus on one toy at a time. he will go get one and then he will see another one and then drop the original one and go get the other one for 1 mintute drop that one and then go back to the original one or another one. When do puppies learn to entertain themselves and stop being ADHD?

4. When the wife holds Lakota he is always bitting on her hands, we have tried getting several teething toys for him to bite/chew on but he is not interested in those he only wants to chew on my wife's hands. We have told him no and she has done a low growl when he does that but nothing seems to work. How can we get him to stop bittin on her hands?

Any advice is appreciated

Comments (5)

  • calliope
    13 years ago

    Lakota is exhibiting pretty normal puppy behaviour. Some dogs stay in puppyhood longer than others, and I can't speak for all the breeds who do, but I know Labs don't grow out of their puppyhood for about two years. The other dogs do what many dogs do with boisterous puppies about. They warn and they sometimes nip. There is a fine line where their actions go past necessary and into a problem and you'll have to decide where that lies. Big dogs aren't always dominate over smaller ones, and I know our little schnauzer bullied my DD's ridgeback and the nipping at legs and bellies made him nervous. There is also the pecking order and the new kid on the block, unless he challenges the older dogs, will be at the very bottom of it.

  • Meghane
    13 years ago

    My huskies always steal from the other dogs, try to take toys away, take all the toys and just guard them, that kind of thing. Since all my huskies have done that, I consider it normal husky behavior.

    Some of the growling is about guarding important resources- the couch, a chewy toy, etc. That may escalate, so watch closely for problems. We had to stop giving my first husky rawhides because he would turn into an evil thing even if he wasn't actually chewing it any more.

    They may work out the interpersonal relationships. My Ana doesn't like any dogs near her for the most part, so the others learn to leave her alone quickly. If she initiates play the others will join but otherwise they don't push her.

    Try screaming in pain when Lakota bites. That's what another dog would do.

  • trancegemini_wa
    13 years ago

    It's all very typical puppy behaviour, and your existing dogs will growl to teach the pup when he has crossed the line by getting close to their food or biting their legs etc and lakota will learn from that.

    "Lakota is ADHD we think as he can't seem to focus on one toy at a time."

    just about all pups act as if they have adhd :), puppies have a short attention span and they are energetic but you dont want lakota to learn to entertain himself because that often leads to chewing things or digging holes or other problematic behaviour.

    Dakota is a baby, and you need to engage with him and keep him occupied, and exercise and games are a great way to get a pup to burn off energy in a positive way, and a more tired lakota will not pester the older dogs so much as well.

    I think all he needs is regular walks, throw a ball or toy for him and play with him so he doesnt get bored or have too much pent up energy. My dogs are 2 and 3 years old and they still have energy to burn so I play with them everyday and take them for walks to tire them out. puppies are a lot of work and lakota is just being a pup. He will outgrow some of the biting behaviour as he gets older but pups bite and chew all the time. when my pup bit me on the hands I yelped and it didnt work with her but she did mostly outgrow it and learned to bite more gently instead of painfully.

  • pamghatten
    13 years ago

    LOL! I laughed at "When do puppies learn to entertain themselves and stop being ADHD?" My Rocky, even at 2 years old is that way. How funny.

    My previous dog, Dakota a husky mix, used to always steal Lily's chewy/toy even when he had his sitting next to him. I'd walk throught he room and he'd be surrounded with toys and Lily would have none. I'd give her some of his. She made a game of running around with one in her mouth and look back at him, since she knew he'd shase her. It was so cute.

    I think you needf more time for everyone to settle in, besides all the good info given by other posters.

  • spedigrees z4VT
    13 years ago

    Is your new puppy getting a ton of exercise outdoors? Puppies are like children. They need more exercise than an adult human can conceive of. A bored puppy is a holy terror while a tired puppy is a very good puppy, as the addage goes. (IMO most human children need a heck of a lot more exercise than they get these days, but that's off topic.)

    Take Lakota outside for long walks twice daily or more and if he can also run off leash safely somewhere (in a large fenced area for instance), his pestering of your older dogs should slow down.

    Are there any puppy play groups in your area that you can attend with Lakota so that he can play with youngsters his age?

    I agree with trancegemini that your older dogs are correctly teaching/communicating to the pup that harassment is not socially acceptable, and I would not interfere. They are being good role models and mentors to the small one. If I intervened at all it would be to prevent a pup from bothering his older housemates, using distraction or gating him in another room for awhile until he settled down. If he doesn't settle down, he probably needs another long walk.

    Enjoy the time with your puppy because they don't stay little long, and you'll look back someday and laugh when you remember his puppy antics.