Problems with whippet behaviour

[Pinkbenj]

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Hello everyone I am new to the forum but hoping someone can help.....

We adopted a10 month old whippet 2 months ago and although we adore him and he is fantastic in the car, goes into a crate at night and has to be dragged out in the morning! He won't settle in the day and will throw himself at me play biting and barks at me constantly. When I try to catch him to lock him out of the room he pelts round at high speed uncontrollably. We have recently had him castrated which has stopped the 'humping' he was doing.

We have him on chappie original as we noticed he was worse on a raw diet.

We are at the end of our tether with his behaviour in the house and really hope someone can help. He gets plenty of exercise as we live in a rural area

Thank you

 

[eingana]

Hi

Sorry not to have spotted your post until now. To be honest your dog's running around sounds pretty normal for a big puppy- his age is really significant here.

There are quite a lot of skills which puppies need to learn as they reach adulthood, from delayed gratification to doing what is asked of you rather than turning it all into a big game, and I think that he could do with learning both of them.

For delayed gratification I'd work on a 'leave' command, working up from 3 seconds to challenge him. Get a really lovely treat in your hand, close your fist so he can smell it but not get to it, and put it near his nose. Let him sniff it and try to get it without challenging him, and just wait until he works out that he's not going to get it and stops trying to get it. As he pulls his nose away, say 'leave' and give him the treat. Repeat x100 until you're sure that he knows what you're asking him to do (at this point most dogs see you pick up the treat and don't even bother trying to reach it, they just sit down and look hopeful instead) and then start offering him an open hand with the treat on, asking him to leave and then giving him a different treat out of your other hand. When he's good at that one you can put the treat on the floor in front of him and then give him a treat out of your hand. It will take him time to learn that he can have a nice treat if he waits, but as he grows he should get that message.

To combat the running around madly, which I think is probably a 'chase me chase me' game, get loads of practice in with calling him by his name, getting him to come and sit for a nice treat so he knows that when you call him he will get something good and some fuss. Then translate that into coming to you gets a handful of treats thrown into where you want him to go (whether that's another room, or his crate or the car) but turn it into a game in your own favour. The first time you throw the treats don't shut him in, but maybe do it on the third time on day 1 and the 5th time on day 2, just so he's not sure which time will involve him being shut in. Make sure that on the other times he can come back out and it's not an issue. Above all else, when he's running round pay him no attention at all. Turn your back on him- if you're not playing the game you're a lot less fun.

I hope he gets through this stage really quickly