Puppy Training with kids

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Hello!

  We have a 14 week old labradoodle named Roxy and we are slowly but surely getting her trained.  Once we got a doggie door, the potty training got way better, she has probably one pee accident in the house a day.  I don't seem any rhyme or reason for those except it tends to happen at night before we put her in her cage, so maybe she is too tired to go outside?

 

My problem is the rest of her training.  She is a shoe stealing garbage digging biting mess. :)   Most of it is solvable.  We are working on getting baskets for the shoes so she is not able to take them out of the cubbies as easily.  The garbage can is fixable, we just need to get a dog proof one.  The nipping, however I am at a loss for what to do.

 

We have three boys, they are almost 5 and I know they are giant part of the problem.  She nips them, tears holes in their pj pants and today she bit one of their faces.  I have told them not to run around her, I have told them not to get into her face, but they are children and realistically, it is hard to have a head count of all three and the puppy at all times of the day. 98% of the time, all is fine, but when it is not- well, that is what I need help about. 

 

Roxy gets lots of love and has tons of toys and bones.  We try the trade off of when she is giving even love bites we give her a toy in her mouth instead and it works wonderfully.   We have had the boys be trees, but since she has started hurting them, they are not as likely to stand quietly looking away. 

 

I am aware they have created her bit of craziness and I need to get it all under control.  Short of telling the boys they are not allowed to play, look or touch our Roxy girl, what can I do to help her feel comfortable not to want to rough play with the boys.  I think she thinks they are her littler mates, and that is also some of the problem. 

 

Thanks for reading through this I know it has been all over the place.  We love our puppy and just need help training her (and my boys) to behave around each other. 

 

Thanks for your help!

Laura

 

 

 

 

[Camilla and Darwin]

The Puppy Madness group is a really great resource for these kind of new puppy issues. The discussions REALLY helped me when Darwin was younger. :-)

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

If at all possible, it may prove helpful to give the boys tasks that will make Roxy realize that they are above her in the family chain. For instance, maybe the boys could take turns providing the water and food bowl. They could give her a sit command and then she will visually see them being the ones providing her with her food. You could also help the boys with one on one training sessions with her. A young puppy won't respond to a kids voice necessarily unless they are trained to respond because the intonations just sound differently. You could reserve Roxy's favorite treat for these training sessions. If the boys aren't comfortable having her take the treat directly from their hands, even dropping it on the floor or tossing it lightly will do the trick. Roxy is still very young though so you may need to limit the interactions with all three boys at once as this could get her going. If she does start acting up, you can remove her and put her in her crate until she settles down. You could also tether her to you when she is with the boys so that you always have control and can make immediate corrections. Anyway, others I'm sure will have some great tips for you! Good luck!

[Jennifer Goaring]

I was going to post something like this so I probably don't have anything new to share... but my 2 year old is seen as a litter mate for my now almost 6 month old puppy that we got at about 16 weeks. I have tried to get Teagan to stop climbing in the crate with the puppy, rolling on the floor with the puppy, etc. but I have given up. Yep, he gets nipped! I tell him to yelp or say "yip" loudly in a high voice when it happens and when he does the pup stops... and when he doesn't Teagan gets a nip... but I just don't have a good answer if you don't want that. My dog Sammy really doesn't nip much... Teagan has to really be rolling around with him before he may try it and usually he only does if I am not sitting there (and so far I am always near by when Teagan and the pup are together).

I do have Teagan give him treats and have him call him outside and treat him and when the 3 of us go for walks I have Teagan walk ahead of us a bit so puppy knows he is a little higher in the pack. I will also swoop in an rescue Teagan if pup is just being annoying and will ignore the dog -- so again, the dog sees that Teagan matters to me. It seems to be going well. The dog does really well with my other 3 boys (I have 4) and I have had them all treat the dog, feed the dog, etc. at times.

I think time will really help though... just need to get past the puppy stage :) Join us on the Puppy Madness group -- lots of good info over there -- or the Dog Whisperers group has good training advice.

Jen G.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Once Roxy has finished her vaccinations (probably very soon I am sure!), go ahead and enroll her in obedience class. This will REALLY help you bond with her and become her leader. I suggest one with positive reinfocement techniques or clicker training. But that is just my opinion. Training is such a great help.