Zoomies and biting in puppy

[Sue Jordan]

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Hi all, Firstly id just like to say I'm enjoying my new puppy so much he's now 14 weeks. He's brilliant (most of the time ) into everything , chewing, teething etc, He's now house trained , crate trained, sleeping through the night and has mastered the sit, paw , down training so im really happy with his progress so far. However he can get quite hyper sometimes and he has these what I can only describe as frenzies maybe once twice a day....usually after play, he will go hell for leather zooming around at 100 mile an hour across the room then stop on the settee pull all the settee cushions off and bite everything in his path uncontrollably. Now I used to deal with this by trying to calm him down 30 seconds time out in the kitchen id just pick him up say timeout and gently place him in the kitchen , sometimes this worked sometimes he was still in what i call Raptor mode so id repeat, anyway this is getting more difficult because the biting is getting bit more out of control and painful so i'm having a job picking him up. I really want to nip this in the bud as I have my 8 year old grandson every weekend and don't want him being afraid. I can deal with the zooming about but its the frenzied biting that goes with it that has become a problem, Any advise would be much appreciated, TIA

 

[JoanneF]

Zoomies are perfectly normal and he will outgrow it, but there are things you can do to help things along.

If he normally starts at, say 7.00pm, maybe do some quiet training at 6.50. He might be a bit young for impulse control but I will tag @JudyN who has a great video that might help. There is also this -

For the nipping, you are doing the right thing in my opinion by giving timeouts to teach that teeth on skin = end of fun (although 30 seconds might be too long, you don't want him to forget why he was there). A few suggestions to use with this - first, as with any training, timing is key so he has a really, really clear association between action and consequence. Second, consistency - every person, every time. And the third suggestion is to use a house line, which is a lead with no handle (so it can't catch on anything) kept on his harness in the house so you can use that to lead him out. This keeps him away from your hands, and also keeps your hands for only good associations.

 

[Sue Jordan]

Thank you @JoanneF I will try the long line and harness and thanks for the video I would not have thought to treat his calm behaviour. Im glad that im on the right tracks with the timeout but ill reduce the time like you suggest.

 

[JoanneF]

I should have also mentioned something called extinction burst. This is when a behaviour that used to get attention no longer works for the dog so he tries it all the harder and it seems like things are getting worse, not better. This is good, because it means that what you are doing is starting to work!

 

[JudyN]

Here's the video JoanneF mentioned:

And he's definitely not too young to make a start!

For what it's worth, when my lurcher was that age my hands felt like they'd been chewed off up to the elbows, but it did pass. You might be able to find a more convenient way of putting him in timeout. Either you walk out the room and shut a stairgate on him (don't say anything, just stay calm), or maybe keep him on a house line (a very light lead with no loop to get caught up on anything) and lead him out - or just attach it to a bit of furniture and move out of reach. If you carry him, the added excitement will be arousing in itself, and there's more chance for him to remember what he had done just before the fun stopped.

You only need to leave him in timeout for 5-10 seconds - that's still enough time for him to think about what he'd just done. And it gives you more opportunities to practise this as at first, he'll be in and out of timeout dozens of times in an evening!

When your grandson comes over, at the first sign of those puppy teeth coming into action, I'd separate him from your pup so he can laugh at the zoomies from a safe distance. Just tell him that this is what puppies do, they need to learn but it takes time, and they can't help having teeth like needles.

 

[Sue Jordan]

Thank you for the advice and video @JudyN definitely going to be trying a house line on him and timeout for shorter 10 seconds, i'm so glad they grow out of it .