Weekend Rage!!!!!!!!!!

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

This weekend has been a trying one for me. Remington has been an absolute pistol!

Remington is 6 months and a wonderful dog and listens so well at home... however, recently he has become obsessed with shoes and clothes and towels... I have no idea why this came about since he has never shown any interest in these items before, but this is his "new" thing. All weekend long I was pulling shoes, socks, underwear, hand towels, wash rags, big towels, robes, etc... out of his mouth. It was and is driving me insane! It is horrible to get dressed in the morning because he is constantly biting at my clothes as I put them on. He knows what "drop it" means, but he refuses to do this when I tell him to. I ended up calling Dan this morning to see if he was on his way home from work because I was ready to MURDER (not really) my precious puppy!

Then when I went to leave for work, Remington and Dan always walk me out, well Remington refused to come downstairs with me! He was acting like he was mad at me! He laid down by the bed and wouldn't move. This is so unlike him since he follows me pretty much everywhere! He would not even look at me or anything. GRRR! I feel like my little boy is testing me!

Dan and I talked about it and Dan thinks he is trying to make a point that he is higher in the "pack" than me, which could very well be for all I know. The thing is he listens to all commands I give him except when it involves this! I'm at my wits end and it has only been going on for the weekend! Please help... I need advice!

P.S. He is getting neutered tomorrow... maybe he knows this and has decided to act out because of this :) haha! I dunno!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

No advice, but sympathy :)
Lady P slept only 4 hours Saturday night, woke us up at 5:30 and refused to go back in her crate. She was a mess all day Friday also. I almost had a major breakdown!!! And she is driving me nuts on the leash.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Anything new at home? Go anywhere different? I know in PK with Samantha, the trainer told us at 7 months or so dogs become 'stupid' as if they never learned a command. I wonder if he is just ahead of his time.
Keep smiling!! Keep breathing!!

[Phoebe's Mom]

Oh my gosh, the trainer must have met my Phoebe somewhere! She just turned seven months and I swear she has that command down cold these days. Her 'thing' is not clothes but wood--any and all of it. I fear my dining set will be splinters by the time Fall rolls around. As you suggeted, I am trying to breathe deeply and smile. Now if only I can get my DH to follow your advice I might not be knocking back the Excedrin quite so frequently~

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Dogs will sometimes go through a stage where they act as though they have learned nothing (sit, stay, down,,etc) and all of a sudden a light comes on and they turn around amaze you again with "Look what I can do attitude", this usually is around 7 months to 1 year of age. I don't think Remington is acting this way because its with just one command. Neutering may actually help this situation as it might be the cause that he is maturing into that male role and not the little boy puppy. If you are also tense about him being neutered he might be picking up on that, a change is coming but does not know what. Some dogs (especially the one's who show the Retriever in them) have to have something in their mouth and carry around. It's the Retrieving in them. If you ignor this and do not make a big fuss he will become disinterested and stop. Or, you might want to try and give him something old to carry in his mouth while you are dressing and let him learn this is now yours to carry around, not my clothes or other belongings. Honey loves to retrieve, every morning its my flip flops, has to carry them around because she is so happy that I wake up and play, she is just beside herself and will run with my shoes in her mouth. If I do not make a big deal out of this and change whats going on, (I will distract her by saying lets go out) she will drop the shoes. Try giving him different direction and don't show fustration if it does not work right away, it will with time.

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

This is good advice! Thanks!

[GBK]

I remember well the tug of wars I waged with Buddy and my socks, and my pants as I tried to put one leg in at a time while he pulled at the other end :) It definitely is a phase, and as he ages and after the nueter things will get better. You could always try dressing in your room and putting him on the other side of the door until you are done. My boy still will grab my night shirt if I leave it on the bed and now try to play tug with his sister. I still close bedroom and bathroom doors, he stopped trying to get my clothes as I dressed at about 1 year. Good Luck to you and Remington for tomorrow!

[Adrianne Matzkin]

That is some visual - tug of war while half in your pants! ROFLMAO
I am so hoping that is a stage Charli misses! Samantha never did it.

[GBK]

I hope he misses it too Adrianne, for your sake :) I wonder if this is more common with the first dog?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Luckily, Ned isn't interested in clothes or shoes but he does want to carry things around in his mouth. When we get up in the mornings - or when we don't want to get up - Ned grabs a ball or a bone and does a happy dance on and around our bodies. He carries the toy out to go potty and then drops it. He also grabs something to carry with his happy dance when we come home. I thought he "caught" it from his Springer brother, but perhaps it is a doodle thing also.

[Wendy and Eddie]

I kept the book "Puppies for Dummies" close at hand and checked it at every new stage my puppies went through. It was comforting to know when NEW annoying traits showed themselves that it was a normal puppy stage. I highly recommend it.

[sbis0oszc95r]

our puppy likes to get in trouble when we're trying to watch TV after dinner. He'll grab things he shouldn't and then we'd have to chase him which he thought was a game. We bought a water sprayer/mister and we spray him with the water to make him drop whatever he has. It's the only way we came up with that gets hime to drop something without chasing him. Now, we say "drop" and threaten with a spray and he does it.

Put the bottle on stream and the spray goes farther

[GBK]

Your lucky it works for Barney, Buddy just opens his mouth for a nice squirt of water :)