# What to do when puppy gets WILD!



## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

I will preface this with I really am trying to give her as much exercise as possible during the day.

At night though she gets very wound up and nippy. I THOUGHT my husband was watching her and my kids but once again, she went nuts on my two year old who was watching TV and broke the skin again (obviously my husband isn't to be trusted anymore).

I put her in her corral and gave her a proper toy and she calmed down. What do you think?
I let her out when calm for some "constuctive playing". 

This sure is hard! All of the "no bite" methods I've been trying (yelping, ignoring, even two fingers in her mouth tend to get her more riled up).


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## Asteri00 (Aug 19, 2008)

I am very surprised that your pup gets wound up at night...just because mine is very good about calming down around 8 O'clock. What is your routine with her? What type of exercise are you giving her? I know a lot of people on the boards don't set out on walks with their pups...either because of them not being fully vaccinated or them feeling the pup could have joint damage due to being over-exercised. I was always told as a guideline 5 minutes per month. Right now I am walking Griffin for about 15 minutes a day about an hour and a half before bedtime. I let him drink some when we get back, but then take the water up. I think with your case a consistent routine and focused exercise might help. I'm not sure how old your puppy is, but obedience classes are sure to help. Good luck!!


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## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

Thanks, we've started obedience classes thank goodness.
Maybe I am overexercising her and she's getting overstimulated?
I usually let her out in the am and she runs around a bit and then at least 5x more after that throughout the day. She usually runs around for about 5 minutes and then hangs out on the lawn. I just started walking her down the block 1x a day as well. 
I don't know. It sort of comes out of nowhere when she does this and all I can do is put her in the corral so that my kids don't get nipped and she doesn't get more excited with their squealing. Uggh!


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## Groundhog (Jul 26, 2008)

My 17 wk old pup is "FULL" of energy in the evenings, even thou he gets outside a lot during the day and plays with our Gracie (4 yr old) lab/dal . Evenings Gracie is ready to lay on the couch and Takoda is biting at her trying to get her to play. I try to play with her and Gracie does play too, if it's nice outside I let them both go out and play. But when inside he's still wound up and still likes to mouth me too. Still working on the "no bite" command and using a "Chill" command to try to calm him down with Gracie. 

The other thing I have been doing is taking Takoda in the basement with me and keeping him seperate from Grace to give her some peace. I play or work on commands down there while watching TV, sewing or whatever. When he is alone with me he tends to settle down faster. Maybe seperating your pup from where your child is in the evening might help. If hubby is not watching what is going on in the room it's not good for a small child to be left with a young puppy. Hubby either has to get involved with the program or move the pup to where you are or another area of the home, or kennel, until you can be present.

A little spray of "Bitter Apple" stops Takoda with the biting, if he doesn't listen to me, that stops him for a while. He's getting to know what the bottle looks like and is starting to stop on his own before I need to use it. LOL


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

you need to exercise her, not let her exercise herself. Get outside with a ball or a frisbee, take her not just up the road, but around the block a few times. Just letting a puppy out in the yard is not enough. And yelling and saying anything never worked for any dogs I ever had. If she starts to bite, you get up and walk away. Eventually she will learn that biting = no playing and she will stop. This will be harder of course for the 2 year old to do, but, the 2 year old and the puppy should never be alone together anyway.


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## RileyStar (Mar 24, 2008)

Riley is walked twice daily, then after dinner we have coffee outside and throw the ball for about an hour. She has 2 other dogs to play with and every night when I bring her in she thinks its playtime. After weeks of routine I finally convinced her to not bite and run in the house. When she would play bite with me I would hide in the closet. The problem was the kids would play with her when she came in and she developed that routine. So now I have the kids go outside before bed and play rough with her. She no longer bites either.


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## jnmarr (Mar 7, 2008)

To this day my 2 have 3 super energetic times. The one with the most energy is mid morning. There is a mild one at 4 ish , and the one between 7 and 8. If we hope to relax without the wrestling, chewing, in house zoomies they had better be exercised. We either go out and throw things for them, let them get zoomies on their own or go for a nice long walk, letting them stop and sniff here and there. Then we all can relax.


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## GoldenOwner12 (Jun 18, 2008)

how old is this puppy? When my Shelley was 16 weeks she had never ending energy and still has. At 16 weeks old she handled been walked on leash for 30 minutes to an hour without tiring out, All of our walks are mainly off lead runing and swimming. Takes me about 10 minutes to get where we are going when there dogs get let off lead. At the oval i take a toy to hrow and do this till there that buggered they have to lay down for 5 minutes then we head home. At the lake i throw a stick into the water afor them to fetch as i keep walking so they retrieve the stick then run to catch up to me. I do this daily if the weather is good, If its not i throw a toy outside in the backyard for 30 minutes or untill Einstein is tired. Einstein is that tired by time we get home he sleeps the rest of the day and night, Shelley on the other hand is ready to go again late in the night time. Shelley also gets 5 to 10 minutes training each day,But throughout the day she gets told to sit,drop,saty and come so i should say shes in training all day she just doesn't know it.


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## Wilson's REAL Mom (Nov 10, 2006)

It seemed to me that my puppies always had a case of the zoomies in the evening. That's pretty normal. Also, puppies are like toddlers. When they get overtired, they get more wound up and grouchy (come to think of it, teens are kind of like that, too!). I would say, as soon as she starts ramping up, put her by herself so she can calm down.

Good luck. I don't know how you do it with young kids and a puppy!


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## Adriennelane (Feb 13, 2008)

What time of night is it? I know that with Lucy, she's sometimes like a little kid who can't be still at bedtime. if she's like that after playing and her walk / run, then it's time to put her to bed. Like any kid, once she's still she goes to sleep.


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## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

She gets crazy at around 8 - right around my kid's bedtime.
I guess more walks are in order for us.
She is out with me in the lawn for playtime but I've not been able to get her to "fetch" - she'd rather chew on leaves - 
We do have bitter apple and I think I'll use that more. 

Thanks - I'll keep you all posted.


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## jnmarr (Mar 7, 2008)

slowe216 said:


> Thanks, we've started obedience classes thank goodness.
> Maybe I am overexercising her and she's getting overstimulated?
> I usually let her out in the am and she runs around a bit and then at least 5x more after that throughout the day. She usually runs around for about 5 minutes and then hangs out on the lawn.




Funny thing about Goldens.. they won't exercise themselves.. You have to be out there, calling them, playing, etc. to get them running around following you, and getting tired. When just let out they will just find something to chew or someplace to dig.


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## wagondog (Aug 24, 2007)

Your post is very specific that the pup nips only the kids. If this is so the kids are the stimuli that is making the pup a little nippy. All puppies will play bite, even with adults, the kids squealing and responding to the play can only encourage more of the same. Did you ever watch a litter of pups in play overdrive? the kids have replaced the littermates. I know this is tough to deal with, I had it many times when family was young. Try to get the kids to understand the biting is not a good thing and when the pup does nip have them respond with a word that shows displeasure, ouch works, and always remove the part that was bitten and immediately respond with the word. But kids will be kids and they enjoy the interaction with the puppy, and they should. the other alternative is to do what worked for me..........wait until everyone grows up! (just kidding of course)


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## Softpaws (Apr 8, 2008)

Puppy need to learn bite inhibition. When they mouth you yell "ouch" if they bite too hard. They only have 20 weeks to develop their bite inhibition. Check out this link

http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_BiteInhibition.php

Or Google Bite inhibition

Try to find a puppy play group. 30 minutes of puppy play will do wonders


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## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

Thanks - I am going to read those articles.
My puppy bites us all HARD when in overdrive. We yell, scream, use two fingers in her mouth and she just doesn't seem to be getting it. My kids cry so at this point they are not enjoying playing with her when she is riled up. That is why I seperate her when she gets "crazy".
I am working on more exercise already and I hope it can pay off.

I WISH we could have waited till the kids were older but my husband was hellbent on this and she is here, so I am managing the best I can and telling myself "it will be worth it in a year".


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## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

PS - She is 10 1/2 weeks


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## Wilson's REAL Mom (Nov 10, 2006)

My Wilson was an insane biter. Nothing worked until we started spraying Bitter Apple in his mouth. My kids took to walking around with a bottle of the stuff in their hands all the time. It was not an enjoyable time of life for any of us. However, he learned real fast to respect the bottle, and it wasn't long until he wasn't biting anymore. And, after a while, he outgrew it. He's turned into a wonderful, well-trained dog, but it was an uphill battle with him. 

Keep up the good work. Things will work themselves out eventually. If possible, invest in lots of baby gates and separate your little one from the puppy except during specific play periods, where your attention is totally focused on the two of them. That's what I'm planning on doing when my granddaughter (8 months) comes to visit at Thanksgiving.


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## Sienna's Mom (Oct 23, 2007)

I just skimmed the other posts, but remember to wait until your pupper has had all her shots to walk them where other dogs are/have been.

We would practice having Sienna run after a ball. She would chase great LOL, but never give the ball back. We started working with treats- it took a while but she finally brings the ball back. A little squirt gun or spray bottle works really well and/or the bitter apple to deter bad behavior. I like the squirt gun/water approach because I always seem to get the backlash of the bitter apple LOL.

BTW, Sienna can still be a bit nippy when she is excited (19 months) I usually hold her nose firmly and order "NO BITE" after a bit she gets the picture, but I think I might start back to the bitter apple! They should make a travel size LOL, that way it's easier to always have on person, ready to go!


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

Vito is 7 months and he is more mouthy now than he was when he was little. If he starts to get bitty and I ignore him he will grab my clothes, me, anything to get my attention. Then when I turn he runs away. It's a big game to him. NOT FUN for me.
I need to start using bitter apple again.


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## nictastic (Aug 21, 2008)

slowe216 said:


> t night though she gets very wound up and nippy..


Firstly, i hope your 2 yr old is ok!!!

My pup was also like this ... i called it vampire syndrome!She was fine all day until 10pm at night and then OMG, she was WILD! Everytime i tried to pay with her with her toys she would just bite me.
Here are the things i did

Redirected her to her toys
Sprayed dog training spray on my hands and clothes (she hated it) it would stop the bites for an hour or so.
Every time she i did the 'OUCH' and then said no bite.
If she bit me more than twice i would stop playing
If she then came up and bit me for attention i would ignore her or time her out in the kitchen..she hated beng seperated from me.
The first few weeks i found horrible...but she is now just over 12 weeks and is soooooo much better!she's so sweet most of the time, until she forgets herself and then i just revert back to the above.
All that being said she still picks on my 5 yr old (who is very small) and he is working very hard to get her to see she is the not above him in the pack. I do realise 2 is too young, so for now i would keep them supervised or crate her when you can not. 
Good luck i am sure it will get better soon


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## samchu_mammy (Jun 20, 2008)

nixietink said:


> Vito is 7 months and he is more mouthy now than he was when he was little. If he starts to get bitty and I ignore him he will grab my clothes, me, anything to get my attention. Then when I turn he runs away. It's a big game to him. NOT FUN for me.
> I need to start using bitter apple again.


OMG, I am not alone!!! Vito is the same as Sam, and he's driving me nuts. He would jump on the computer desk while I am trying to read the forum...:uhoh:


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## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

I've walked her several times today and she seems REALLY tired now. Is this okay?
I'm okay with it but I don't want to overexercise her either. We'll see what tonight brings :uhoh:


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## CharmedOne (Sep 2, 2008)

I used to find that when my Hunter was the same age, he'd get right crazy and even more nippy in the evenings. It wasn't long before I associated this behaviour with his need to go out and poop! He always went after supper but when he had a need for an extra one, I noticed the increased nippiness. He'd come back inside and be fine.


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## Celeigh (Nov 29, 2007)

Zoomies!!! As a little puppy Fergus would get those about 9 PM. He was a wild piranha at those times. I knew that this was his last burst of energy for the day before sacking out for the night. Sometimes I'd roll the tennis ball into the kitchen with him to tire him out, or let him out in the backyard to run around or take him on a 10 minute walk, or if all he wanted to do was bite, put him in him pen until he wore himself out. What I ended up doing was switching the time in the pen so he was out if I wasn't busy and he was calm and in when I sensed a case of the zoomies coming on. It's normal and it will pass in a few months.


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## slowe216 (Sep 1, 2008)

I love the term zoomies! That is totally what it is. Its like she starts freaking out after 9 or so and there is no calming her unless she is put in the corral. I did take her outside on a leash (lots of coyotes here unfortunately) and she was hurling herself around on the leash even.
She's in her corral now until my husband gets home and he can take her out again and see if she is calmer. She got plenty of exercise today so I am hoping its a phase that is outgrown soon. She literally gets a crazy look on her face and starts biting. Thank God for bitter apple.


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

samchu_mammy said:


> OMG, I am not alone!!! Vito is the same as Sam, and he's driving me nuts. He would jump on the computer desk while I am trying to read the forum...:uhoh:


lol, nope! You are definitely not alone! He doesn't jump on the desk but he'll shove his slobbery toy in my lap. :doh:


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## samchu_mammy (Jun 20, 2008)

nixietink said:


> lol, nope! You are definitely not alone! He doesn't jump on the desk but he'll shove his slobbery toy in my lap. :doh:


Sam does that too, and he would chew the rawhides, pig ears and anything I give him on my lap, even if I sit and he stands! :


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## Old Gold Mum2001 (Feb 25, 2007)

samchu_mammy said:


> OMG, I am not alone!!! Vito is the same as Sam, and he's driving me nuts. He would jump on the computer desk while I am trying to read the forum...:uhoh:


LOL, is this what I have to look forward to at the 7/8 months age :doh:
(Quinn's 6 mo now)


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

Lucky was always the most energetic and misbehaving in the evening. They do start gaining some self-decipline (for Lucky anyway) after 16 weeks.

I had no problem crating Lucky when I had to (serveral times per day) but made sure he wasn't in for long periods of time, had three to four walks a day and made sure I scheduled time where I could focus purely on him or him and my kids. If I couldn't focus 100% on the interaction between my kids and Lucky, he was not around them.

It will get better.....


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## Old Gold Mum2001 (Feb 25, 2007)

slowe216 said:


> I love the term zoomies! That is totally what it is. Its like she starts freaking out after 9 or so and there is no calming her unless she is put in the corral. I did take her outside on a leash (lots of coyotes here unfortunately) and she was hurling herself around on the leash even.
> She's in her corral now until my husband gets home and he can take her out again and see if she is calmer. She got plenty of exercise today so I am hoping its a phase that is outgrown soon. She literally gets a crazy look on her face and starts biting. Thank God for bitter apple.


Do you have a long long leash? Think mine was like 40/50 ft, it helped tons. My Quinn doesn't like to fetch balls too much at all, but he will fetch a woobie (stuffed toy) 

Also exercising the mind helps us, we use a food cube, we also play hide n seek games with toys, as well as running thru the basic commands. Swimming tires em out too  HTH


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