11 Month Old Goldendoodle Questions

[Kristen]

Hi All, 

Our baby is 11 months old (almost) I have a few different questions though and don't know if I should post them all here in 1 post or on separate parts of the website. Anyways, here's what I'm wondering

1. He pulls REALLY BAD when we walk him and he chews through EVERY harness we buy for him - Suggestions on training and/or harnesses or collars?

2. He doesn't guard his food or anything, but if he gets to something he's not supposed to have he will. I'm always able to get it from him, but only by offering a treat or being "alpha" and just going right in and pulling him away from it and taking it. Again, do I continue just to swap with a treat or is there a particular type of training that would be best? (I should note: We have SIX children ages 13,11, 7, 5, 3 and 1)

3. He LOSES his mind anytime a child is on a bike or anything with wheels. How do we correct this? 

4. He is a bully when he wants attention. He absolutely drives us CRAZY because he will bring a toy and chew and chew and chew on the toy right up next to our skin - so many times he accidentally bites our skin. We push him off, but he comes right back and is also REALLY strong so the kids aren't able to push him off. How do we stop this? 

5. He jumps on every person that walks in the house including the kids that come in. He literally wraps his paws around them. It scares the kids of course. I always tell him "off" and pull him off of them, but I have no idea how to make him stop. 

Now that I'm typing this I realize most of our issues are training issues it seems. I do feel like he's beyond the typical "beginner PetSmart class" -- but maybe not? What are your thoughts on the type of training that would be good for him. He NEVER goes to the bathroom in the house and he's crate trained so all that is great. 

[Mary]

#1 Mine also did this, he just stopped after a while.  We just persisted.  Honestly, a lot of what you are describing became a non-issue for us by 18 months.  You can read on to see how we responded to each scenario that just stopped not long after the one year mark....

#2 Mine did this and learned that he will be sent (forced) to his room (crate) if he growls at any of us for any reason.  I don't swap - I just sent him to his room and took it away from him.

#3 he got sent to his room (crate) to chill if he can't control himself.  After He was about 18 months old, he just kinda outgrew this behavior

#4 the toy thing on me drove us all nuts.  If he did that, I would sternly say "no thank you" and move the toy.  Every time he did it, I would tell him the same thing and put it on the floor.  I would only play with him while it is on the floor or otherwise not on me.

If he wants to play and it is not playtime, I just tell him "not now" sternly and take the toy away from him and put it in a place he could not get it.  Then he would grab another toy.  Same thing.  A few times and he realized that if he brings a toy to me and I say "not now" then he would just play with his toy by himself near me.  Consistency is key.  It did not take him long.

Now, my children and husband were not consistent.  This was a challenge.  As time went one, they wondered why the dog did not treat me the same as he treated them, so they got trained, lol!  i.e. How come he never does that to you?

These dogs are sooo smart.  They know what they can get away with and with whom.

#5 ours did this.  We never gave him any attention when he jumps and told him sternly "no thank you."  No pet, no nothing at anytime if he jumped.  He hated being ignored, so he learned this pretty quickly with the family.  As for guests arriving, I put him on leash that I held and told him to sit and stay as guests arrived.  I asked the guests to NOT pet him unless he was sitting.  If after a few tries he did not listen, he would be told to go to his room until he calmed down enough to display proper manners.  Eventually, after failed attempts, we had to crate him a few times when people arrive due to lack of control, (but then again, his crate, which he loves and we call it his room, is in the mix and he can still see what is going on).  He would whine, but because he loves company and attention so much, and is so smart, he realized there was only one way to greet guests pretty quickly.  Next, when I tried the leash-n-greet thing while sitting, he got it.  Soon, he did not need a leash and controlled himself without intervention.

Hope this helps!

[Laura and Angus]

Hey there! Here goes..

1) Gentle leader - it's on their snout, so they can't chew it

2) work on "drop it" and 'leave it" constantly. Practice having your pup "drop it" and "leave it" every single day. 

3) you have to sensitize him to bikes - have a bike near him when he's calm and give lots of treats and praise for being calm. Then have a kid sitting still on the bike (treats and praise for calm behavior). Then graduate to having someone walk a bike past (treats and praise for calm behavior). Then riding a bike by (treats and praise for calm behavior). Notice your pup's signs and when they are able to master each step above, move to the next step. If they are getting too excited, take a step back in the training until they're ready.

4) This may be helped by training your pup to go to a specific place - we use "bed." Then you reward them with play for going to their bed. Ignore when they bring the toy to you (maybe even stand up and walk away if you have to) and then play with them when you're ready for play. It's likely they'll just learn this as they get older - although our 3 year old still will come up to us with his bone when he wants to play, but if we aren't available for play, we send him to his "bed" or to go lay down and play later. This is just teaching the pup some "leadership." If you really need a more serious intervention - put the leash on your pup and step on the front about 6in from their collar. This will have them lay down - they may thrash about a bit the first time you do it, but this teaches your pup to sit when you're sitting. Then when they are calm and relaxed laying comfortably give treats and praise. It takes time, but it's important for your pup to learn that when you're relaxing everyone is relaxing and when you say it's time to play - that's the time for play. Took our pup a lo tof training to get to that point since he's pushy and demanding  - we're pretty much there now (although he still gets bored and comes to us to play tug with him).

5) Put him on a leash before anyone ever enters the house. Tell every visitor to please ignore the dog until they're calm and stand far from the door and have your pup lay down at your feet. Once they are calm, allow people to pet and interact, but NEVER wen your pup is excited and jumping (that just reinforces that energy level).

Good luck with everything! They also calm down with time :)