Sofa jumping and exercise/sleeping

[Shanti Lall]

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Hi guys. We have a couple of dilemmas with our 10 week old 'sprolliedor' puppy. In the past few days she has has grown enough to now be able to jump onto our sofa. Since we've been told she should not be jumping on anything higher than her elbow, I have been trying to have a no going no the sofa rule to discourage her. My concern is that if we are not in the immediate vicinity to lift her down she will jump off (although she is rarely unsupervised). How can I discourage this jumping, short of getting rid of our sofa?

Also, re. exercise. One of the trainers at our puppy training class said she should be sleeping for two hours our of every three and that exercise should be limited (again to protect her joints). But although she does sleep for several periods each day, she is very active and at times seems to be chewing or biting because she's bored (she can't go out for a few days yet). We know she is an energetic breed but we don't want to overdo the active games with her (like tug) because of the '5 minutes of exercise per month of her age' guidance. (We've tried training exercises and puzzles instead). She gets the zoomies every day and the trainer suggested this was as a result of overtiredness. We can't seem to get the balance right! Any advice, please?

 

[JoanneF]

The sofa - can you block access to it when you aren't there (even tipping it on to its front if necessary)? Or use other furniture so she can't get to it?

The five minutes per month of age is a guideline and really is for enforced walking - play is not normally included. And the zoomies are completely normal, although it's true a lot of pups do them when they are tired. I would play if she is enjoying it then allow some zoomies but also train a "now settle down" cue as well. She is only 10 weeks so don't expect this to work too quickly but this video might help. Incidentally Kikopup has loads of good training videos on YouTube.

 

[JudyN]

We put cushions on the floor in front of the sofas so our pup would jump onto them rather than straight to the floor. It's hard to stop puppies playing pirates on the furniture, but IMO it's a matter of damage limitation - the occasional high-dive is unlikely to harm them, you just don't want it to happen too often.

I've never heard of a rule about how long a puppy should sleep for, and don't know how you'd enforce it. It certainly didn't work with my human babies! I'd intersperse games of tug and similar with calmer activities and chew toys/kongs/bones. Try to enjoy the zoomies now, one day you'll look back on them fondly

 

[Shanti Lall]

The sofa - can you block access to it when you aren't there (even tipping it on to its front if necessary)? Or use other furniture so she can't get to it?

The five minutes per month of age is a guideline and really is for enforced walking - play is not normally included. And the zoomies are completely normal, although it's true a lot of pups do them when they are tired. I would play if she is enjoying it then allow some zoomies but also train a "now settle down" cue as well. She is only 10 weeks so don't expect this to work too quickly but this video might help. Incidentally Kikopup has loads of good training videos on YouTube.

The sofa - can you block access to it when you aren't there (even tipping it on to its front if necessary)? Or use other furniture so she can't get to it?

The five minutes per month of age is a guideline and really is for enforced walking - play is not normally included. And the zoomies are completely normal, although it's true a lot of pups do them when they are tired. I would play if she is enjoying it then allow some zoomies but also train a "now settle down" cue as well. She is only 10 weeks so don't expect this to work too quickly but this video might help. Incidentally Kikopup has loads of good training videos on YouTube.

Thanks Joanne, I'll look at the video. Florrie's zoomies often get quite destructive and bitey - they're ok when it's just her running around! My husband asked the trainer if playing tug counted as exercise and he said yes! That's what made us panic because we're playing with her much more than 10 minutes a day. She's often overexcited, it seems from her behaviour and it's hard not to overexcite her. One of her triggers for the zoomies is doing a wee or poo on the pad and us cleaning up! Yes, we could try tipping the sofa over, but wouldn't want to have to do this whenever our back was turned or we'd just nipped into another room, but it's an option I'll bear in mind.

 

[Shanti Lall]

We put cushions on the floor in front of the sofas so our pup would jump onto them rather than straight to the floor. It's hard to stop puppies playing pirates on the furniture, but IMO it's a matter of damage limitation - the occasional high-dive is unlikely to harm them, you just don't want it to happen too often.

I've never heard of a rule about how long a puppy should sleep for, and don't know how you'd enforce it. It certainly didn't work with my human babies! I'd intersperse games of tug and similar with calmer activities and chew toys/kongs/bones. Try to enjoy the zoomies now, one day you'll look back on them fondly

Thanks, Judy. I like the cushions idea (although we usually hide them because she chews them!).