Too Hyper - Please Advise

[SARAH1942]

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Hi I have a beautiful little whippet puppy of four months. When she is just with me she is calm and fairly laid-back for a puppy. I live alone and am retired. However as soon as we go to the park she runs like a bullet to absolutely everyone she sees and keeps jumping up as if to say "I love you , I love you please play with me"! Most people love her and make a fuss of her but some don't like dogs so I want to discourage this but just can't dampen her "enthousiasm" for absolutely everyone on this earth!! Now my grandchildren have come to stay and Romy's knocked over two of the babies with her jumping up and scratched the leg of one of the older children. The children love her but the baby's a bit frightened as she's so energetic. :unsure: Is the "hyper -mode" characteristic of whippets because every single whippet I've met over many years all act like this - jumping up at everyone.It's getting really stressful here now as Romy is so energetic and the children just"appear" so I can't really keep her close to me. :sweating: I'm a member on another dog site and they believe it's nothing to do with the breed at all - it's a bad training problem they believe and they suggest I keep her on a lead next to me wherever I go so she learns commands to "stay". I still think this hyper-thing is a whippet characteristic though so just hoping someone on here with a good knowledge of this breed can help?? Thank you, Sarah.

 

[hollyvictoriab]

My whippet was like this too. She is a year old now and slowly improving....

I have to admit I have always kept her on a lead in public and tried to be firm at stopping her jumping up. I think that if someone then chooses to approach her and encourage her attention, then it is not so embarrassing if she jumps up a bit, but the rest of the public are safe from her unwanted attention!!!! I did tell friends not to encourage her to jump up as she has such hard scratchy feet, and there have been a couple of incidents where they have ignored my pleas and ended up with a scratch or bruise, but I think that is more their fault than Pixie's! I try and avoid having her loose in the house if a number of friends or children are coming round which may be too exciting for her to cope with, unless they are understanding ones that will help her education positively. So no one gets bruised or scratched and Pixie doesn't end up getting told off. Basically I don't set her up to fail!! She is turning into a very happy (and calmer) dog. I have a nine year old daughter of my own whom with the help of her friends have helped immensely with her children training!!

She is definitely less exuberant now, but I would still never let her off in a public place as I would hate for her to get lost or hurt in an accident, or to knock down a vulnerable person. I am lucky in that i rent a yard set in 90 acres of wood and parkland that is fully secure, so I let her off there, but again she is never loose near the horses to avoid accident to people/horses or Pixie!!!!!!!! I think the firm but gentle curbing of her uberlove for everyone/thing is paying off.

Good luck! It gets better!! :luck:

Oh, and ps, I have always found plebty of exercise helps the situation ) :thumbsup:

 

[hollyvictoriab]

My whippet was like this too. She is a year old now and slowly improving....

I have to admit I have always kept her on a lead in public and tried to be firm at stopping her jumping up. I think that if someone then chooses to approach her and encourage her attention, then it is not so embarrassing if she jumps up a bit, but the rest of the public are safe from her unwanted attention!!!! I did tell friends not to encourage her to jump up as she has such hard scratchy feet, and there have been a couple of incidents where they have ignored my pleas and ended up with a scratch or bruise, but I think that is more their fault than Pixie's! I try and avoid having her loose in the house if a number of friends or children are coming round which may be too exciting for her to cope with, unless they are understanding ones that will help her education positively. So no one gets bruised or scratched and Pixie doesn't end up getting told off. Basically I don't set her up to fail!! She is turning into a very happy (and calmer) dog. I have a nine year old daughter of my own whom with the help of her friends have helped immensely with her children training!!

She is definitely less exuberant now, but I would still never let her off in a public place as I would hate for her to get lost or hurt in an accident, or to knock down a vulnerable person. I am lucky in that i rent a yard set in 90 acres of wood and parkland that is fully secure, so I let her off there, but again she is never loose near the horses to avoid accident to people/horses or Pixie!!!!!!!! I think the firm but gentle curbing of her uberlove for everyone/thing is paying off.

Good luck! It gets better!! :luck:

Oh, and ps, I have always found plebty of exercise helps the situation ) :thumbsup:

 

[hollyvictoriab]

My whippet was like this too. She is a year old now and slowly improving....

I have to admit I have always kept her on a lead in public and tried to be firm at stopping her jumping up. I think that if someone then chooses to approach her and encourage her attention, then it is not so embarrassing if she jumps up a bit, but the rest of the public are safe from her unwanted attention!!!! I did tell friends not to encourage her to jump up as she has such hard scratchy feet, and there have been a couple of incidents where they have ignored my pleas and ended up with a scratch or bruise, but I think that is more their fault than Pixie's! I try and avoid having her loose in the house if a number of friends or children are coming round which may be too exciting for her to cope with, unless they are understanding ones that will help her education positively. So no one gets bruised or scratched and Pixie doesn't end up getting told off. Basically I don't set her up to fail!! She is turning into a very happy (and calmer) dog. I have a nine year old daughter of my own whom with the help of her friends have helped immensely with her children training!!

She is definitely less exuberant now, but I would still never let her off in a public place as I would hate for her to get lost or hurt in an accident, or to knock down a vulnerable person. I am lucky in that i rent a yard set in 90 acres of wood and parkland that is fully secure, so I let her off there, but again she is never loose near the horses to avoid accident to people/horses or Pixie!!!!!!!! I think the firm but gentle curbing of her uberlove for everyone/thing is paying off.

Good luck! It gets better!! :luck:

Oh, and ps, I have always found plebty of exercise helps the situation ) :thumbsup:

 

[hollyvictoriab]

Apologies my computer is playing up! You didn't need that 3 times!! :wacko:

 

[bertha]

You need to go to a training class. You seem to be letting her just do as she likes with no guide lines or training. She obviously needs firm handling to stop her jumping all over people. Keep her on a lead in public places until you have her well trained to come when called. She will jump up if you don't stop her, she doesn't know it's wrong.

Find a good training class and get her sorted out. Whippets are not normally a hyperactive breed, puppies can be a bit full on, but, you need to train them.

 

[eve]

I agree with both posts. You need to keep your puppy under control and teach her what is acceptable behaviour and what is not.

I have 1 super energetic whippet and 3 that are not. Toddy is the only hyper whippet I have ever had and I have had 12 whippets.

He does not jump up at strangers. He would be straight back on the lead if he started to do this.

Many puppies are excitable and like children need to learn the boundaries. You cannot blame your puppy or the breed for her behaviour.

Some people are afraid of dogs and could put in a complaint against you if your dog jumps up on them or knocks over a child.

With regard to your Grandchildren. You need to keep her under control around them until she learns how to behave.

Your puppy will start teething soon and if this behaviour is allowed to continue there is a real chance that one of the children could be injured.

There is nothing like children running about and having fun to get a young dog over-excited at which point they my start to nip.

Young children should never be left unattended even for a second with an unpredictable boisterous puppy or dog.

My son nearly lost his eye and still has a scar from one moments inattention when he was a toddler and that was from a dog I trusted.

Your pup needs to learn what is acceptable behaviour as soon as possible and must not be left to 'play' with your Grandchildren.

If you really cannot cope with her behaviour, commit to training classes or manage to train her yourself, you should perhaps consider rehoming her.

 

[FeeFee]

I agree that training classes - or even some one-to-one sessions with a good trainer initially - are a great idea. If you look on the APDT website they list members in each area, and you will know they are committed to using up to date reward based methods:

http://www.apdt.co.uk/local_dog_trainers.asp

I don't know if it's any comfort, but often dogs that appear hyper are the ones that do really well with formal training - they are often very bright and need their energy and intelligence to be channelled into something constructive. Clicker training is fabulous because it's a 'game' that the dogs really enjoy at the same time as learning to pay attention to you and follow commands. You might even want to consider agility classes once she's got some basic training in place.

In the meantime, as others have said, I would keep her on a lead or a long line until you have a good solid recall and can stop her rushing up to people. The problem with cute pups running up to people is that sometimes they get rewarded by lots of fuss and attention, so naturally they will carry on doing it until you break the cycle. Make a rule that she gets absolutely no attention from anyone (including you and any children she meets) until she's sitting nicely. Anything else and you fold your arms and turn your back and ignore her - she will very soon learn!

Good luck, I hope you are able to sort things out! :luck:

 

[SARAH1942]

I agree that training classes - or even some one-to-one sessions with a good trainer initially - are a great idea. If you look on the APDT website they list members in each area, and you will know they are committed to using up to date reward based methods:
http://www.apdt.co.uk/local_dog_trainers.asp

I don't know if it's any comfort, but often dogs that appear hyper are the ones that do really well with formal training - they are often very bright and need their energy and intelligence to be channelled into something constructive. Clicker training is fabulous because it's a 'game' that the dogs really enjoy at the same time as learning to pay attention to you and follow commands. You might even want to consider agility classes once she's got some basic training in place.

In the meantime, as others have said, I would keep her on a lead or a long line until you have a good solid recall and can stop her rushing up to people. The problem with cute pups running up to people is that sometimes they get rewarded by lots of fuss and attention, so naturally they will carry on doing it until you break the cycle. Make a rule that she gets absolutely no attention from anyone (including you and any children she meets) until she's sitting nicely. Anything else and you fold your arms and turn your back and ignore her - she will very soon learn!

Good luck, I hope you are able to sort things out! :luck:

 

[SARAH1942]

I agree that training classes - or even some one-to-one sessions with a good trainer initially - are a great idea. If you look on the APDT website they list members in each area, and you will know they are committed to using up to date reward based methods:
http://www.apdt.co.uk/local_dog_trainers.asp

I don't know if it's any comfort, but often dogs that appear hyper are the ones that do really well with formal training - they are often very bright and need their energy and intelligence to be channelled into something constructive. Clicker training is fabulous because it's a 'game' that the dogs really enjoy at the same time as learning to pay attention to you and follow commands. You might even want to consider agility classes once she's got some basic training in place.

In the meantime, as others have said, I would keep her on a lead or a long line until you have a good solid recall and can stop her rushing up to people. The problem with cute pups running up to people is that sometimes they get rewarded by lots of fuss and attention, so naturally they will carry on doing it until you break the cycle. Make a rule that she gets absolutely no attention from anyone (including you and any children she meets) until she's sitting nicely. Anything else and you fold your arms and turn your back and ignore her - she will very soon learn!

Good luck, I hope you are able to sort things out! :luck:

Thanks for all replies, yes will definately consider training classes when grandchildren have returned next month. Incidently we DO fold our arms and turn our backs to her but she just continues jumping up and down, up and down and we could stand there for hours before sitting, then she'd jump onto our sofa and roll on her back for a tickle - which we don't give either!. Amazingly she's never wee'd or poohed in her crate all night from the age of 8 weeks. I couldn't believe this. She's a poppet - just needs a very firm training pattern I now suspect!

 

[eve]

Wishing you luck. :luck:

Meantime I would strongly advise walking her on a lead so that she cannot jump up on strangers and controling her around the Grandchildren or her access too them..

to quote feefee's excellent post

in the meantime, as others have said, I would keep her on a lead or a long line until you have a good solid recall and can stop her rushing up to people. The problem with cute pups running up to people is that sometimes they get rewarded by lots of fuss and attention, so naturally they will carry on doing it until you break the cycle.

It is never too early to start training and she will only get worse if this is allowed to continue

Again good :luck:

 

[spooksnscout]

Good luck with the training :luck:

It does make such a difference, and it's really good fun too. I took Spooky and Scout when they were puppies (not together, there's a 2 year age gap). Spooky wasn't too keen but he's always been a bit of a wimp :clown: , but Scout loved it! So much so, that we're going to have a go at agility once our local trainer gets the classes organised!

Let us know how it goes :thumbsup:

 

[TillynPip]

I think whippet puppies can be completely 'off the wall' and my heart was in my mouth at some of the things Gracie and Milo got up to. I didn't encourage any children to visit my house or approach my dogs unless they were dog savvy and knew how to behave around them (children require just as much training to act responsibly as the dogs do). All my dogs went to obedience from 12/14 weeks and Gracie and Milo found it particularly challenging having to sit and wait for their turn to perform their bit of the obedience and would be constantly up and down fidgeting and whining. Gracie particularly would always jump up to greet anyone but I can now settle my dogs in most situations, they have learnt to ignore other dogs (and children) that show less than desirable behaviour and if Gracie does go to jump up at anyone, one word and sometimes even just a look, reminds her that it's not done. Don't be downhearted, your whippet sounds absolutely normal, just get some solid training in and you'll have a happier whippet because she won't be constantly being told off for doing something that she doesn't even realise is wrong. Good luck :luck:

PS I was recently asked by one of the class trainers if I and my dogs would join him and his immaculately trained English Bull Terrier, to go into a local school to give a talk and demonstration on responsible dog ownership and training! )

 

[hollyvictoriab]

I think whippet puppies can be completely 'off the wall' and my heart was in my mouth at some of the things Gracie and Milo got up to. I didn't encourage any children to visit my house or approach my dogs unless they were dog savvy and knew how to behave around them (children require just as much training to act responsibly as the dogs do). All my dogs went to obedience from 12/14 weeks and Gracie and Milo found it particularly challenging having to sit and wait for their turn to perform their bit of the obedience and would be constantly up and down fidgeting and whining. Gracie particularly would always jump up to greet anyone but I can now settle my dogs in most situations, they have learnt to ignore other dogs (and children) that show less than desirable behaviour and if Gracie does go to jump up at anyone, one word and sometimes even just a look, reminds her that it's not done. Don't be downhearted, your whippet sounds absolutely normal, just get some solid training in and you'll have a happier whippet because she won't be constantly being told off for doing something that she doesn't even realise is wrong. Good luck :luck:
PS I was recently asked by one of the class trainers if I and my dogs would join him and his immaculately trained English Bull Terrier, to go into a local school to give a talk and demonstration on responsible dog ownership and training! )

Wow what a good idea!!! I think it would be excellent to instill in children how to look after a dog or any animal responsibly, well before they are old enough to get one themselves that they are totally responsible for. Good luck with that

 

[Strike Whippets]

Some great advice above ........ I would also teach her fetch as it'll help her focus on you and will tire her out thus lowering her energy levels :luck:

 

[SARAH1942]

Thanks again - great advice. I feel much more confident now. :cheers: Incidently Romy DOES bring back her ball every time I throw it but doesn't let go. I've tried giving her treats but she eats so many of them whilst teaching her to drop I really don't feel it's good for her teeth. But if she doesn't see a treat she just doesn't drop. Any ideas??

 

[Seraphina]

Some good advice, but I would not stop letting her have a good run as often as possible. If she is only walked on the leash, she is very likely going to get frustrated and become even more excitable. You could try to take her out for run at the time when it is less likely to meet anybody there; like very early in the morning, or when the weather is not so great. Take some treats with you, let her off the leash when you cannot see another person, let have little run, call her give her treat & cuddle, walk for few more minutes and call her again. I do this with a young dogs, until they get the idea, and are very good at recall. They learn very quickly and then I call them the moment i can see anybody walking towards us or if I see them looking at somebody, put them on leash and if possible stop to say hallo to that person and their dog, if they have one, and if all is well (the other dog is friendly, and the person is happy to say hallo) i let them off the leash again.

If she is jumping on the kids, i would crate her, let her out later, take her for walk on the leash, but is she is not behaving when at home I would put her back in the crate.

Another way to stop dog jumping on you is to lift your knee up, but it can be bit severe, if the dog hits your knee they can fall backwards and hurt themseves, so it has to be done very carefully and I would only do it when the dog is very excitable, and uncontrolable, and nothing else works.

 

[~Sarah~]

You have been given some great advice, so hope things start to improve. :thumbsup: I would also suggest using extra special treats when training for recall. Treats that she doesn't normally get at home, such a liver or chicken. They have to be very tempting. There are some recipes for making liver treats somewhere on this forum - perhaps someone can help with the recipe.

Good luck - they do calm down eventually!! :luck: :luck:

 

[Seraphina]

I use dried meat (jerkies) cur into tiny pieces; that way it is not bad for them and they love it. They only get it on our walks as a reward. i bought a food dehydrator and make my own; I use any cheap lean beef I can find, slice id as thin as I can manage, dry it and then freeze it and it keeps for a long time. I always keep small bag in the fridge, ready to use.

 

[SARAH1942]

I use dried meat (jerkies) cur into tiny pieces; that way it is not bad for them and they love it. They only get it on our walks as a reward. i bought a food dehydrator and make my own; I use any cheap lean beef I can find, slice id as thin as I can manage, dry it and then freeze it and it keeps for a long time. I always keep small bag in the fridge, ready to use.

Cheap lean beef it is then! Thank you.