Terrible Twos!!!

[Lindsey]

Our pup Molly, is a little over 4 months old....so in dog years, that's around 2 years right!?
It has to be, because my sweet, calm puppy is GONE!
I keep telling myself that she's just going through a stage, I pray she's just going through a stage, because she is being soooo stubborn!

Has anyone else experienced their puppy suddenly becoming wild?
Molly was never a really calm puppy, but she would at least sit everytime I said "sit" and I could at least hold her attention long enough to work with her on other commands. She was doing GREAT at the "wait" "okay" commands...but now, it's like she never learned them!
She is getting so big so quickly and while it was cute to have a puppy running around the house, now she's being destructive when she runs. I blame myself b/c we would play fetch with her inside, so she thinks it's okay to run around, so I told my DH last night that we can no longer play with her inside. We are going to just be calm in the house and give her toys that she can lay down and chew on, but not tug and chase around with.
Last night she was going crazy, running from room to room. Jumping up, which she knows not to jump up, and just acting like she had not had any exercise for days...which is quite the opposite, she's getting even more walks in and we're playing outside with her longer, now that the days are longer.

Today DH is walking her and we're trying her backpack out. I've read where getting your dog to walk with a pack on and then slowly adding weights causes them to work even harder and get even more exercise. I hope it works, I'm not sure what has gotten into our sweet pup!

Someone tell me its a phase and it will pass, lol.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

What you have is a teenager and what you are experiencing is pretty much normal puppy behavior.  The best thing that you can do is obedience training and lots and lots of exercise.  While walks are good for training purposes and to have a dog that walks well on a leash, it (in my opinion) doesn't qualify as the exercise that a dog needs.  If you have a fenced outside area, getting exercise in this manner by being allowed to run and play etc. is the best possible scenario.  If you have a dog that fetches, lots and lots of outdoor fetching would be great.  One of the best pieces of advice that we received from our trainer was not to allow our girls (especially because there are two of them) to run in the house.  A little puppy running and jumping is cute, but two 70 lb dogs can knock over a sofa ..... so we established the no running in the house rule from the beginning.  Sounds like you are on the right track by starting that now.  I started to notice a significant difference in our girls shortly after they turned a year old, maybe 14-15 months they started slowing down and now they are pretty much couch potatoes in the house.  Let them outside and they are crazy, but inside they lay around and sleep.

[BG and Gavin]

Do not worry!  This phase will pass.  Just remain consistent.  Her little brain is still developing and she is now becoming aware of things outside the small world of her pack.  I absolutley would not use a weighted back pack on a puppy that young.   Especially a large breed puppy.  Her bones are still developing and she should not be carrying any excess weight to put a strain on her legs and hips.  Also do not run/jog/bike with her until she is at least over a year old.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It sounds like Molly had a bad case of the "zoomies".  Both of my guys still get the zoomies from time to time, and they run wild through the house....usually chasing each other.  It's much less frequent now though (they're 1 and 2 yrs).  It definitely gets better as they mature.  It's great that you're working with her on some commands...I believe that burning up "mental" energy is as important as physical exercise.  We do use a backpack now with our 1 yr old Dood, especially if we're on a long walk.  He seems totally comfortable wearing it.

[Lindsey]

Thanks for the advice!
I was really crossing my fingers that it was a phase...
I didn't think about her being to small/young for the backpack, Do you think it would be okay if the pack were empty, it's really light empty and just add weight when she's over a year old? Or should we just wait all together. We've put the pack on her to let her walk around the house with and she was fine with it...but I DO NOT want to hurt her :-(

She is a fetcher, so we do play fetch A LOT. We used to play fetch with her in the house, but like I said, that is ending.
We joined a local dog park, so she can run even more...but she can't visit the park until she is spayed and she isn't scheduled to get spayed for another couple weeks (our vet was booked!).

Thanks for the support and PS. how do I reply to each individual post? I click on the little "reply" link below the post, but it takes me back to the top of the main page...

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

Hey Lindsey! This sounds like typical baby dog behavior. I don't know that she's quite old enough to be an adolescent, but she's well on her way. :-) The very best thing you can do for you and her is get her into Obedience classes. It will be fun, bond-building and help her find ways to channel her energy in a positive way.

Sounds like you're doing everything right. I think just wearing the backpack now is okay, but I wouldn't add any weight yet as her little bones/joints are growing so fast.

She's adorable! Give her lots of hugs (which I'm sure you do anyway)! :-)

[BG and Gavin]

The reply button seems to be working for me, but there are some weird glitches on the site today. 

I would shelf the back pack all together until she is older.  I agree with Jane about the mental exercise.  Try hiding treats around the house and sending her to find them.  Also get a buster cube or some type of puzzle toy that dispenses food.  Training sessions a couple times a day also will help. 

Gavin was always the worst in the evening, around 8pm.  We called it the witching hour.  He would just seem to lose his mind.  Enforced rest time (crate) was often needed.  Even last night (he is 20 mons old) he was getting a bit nutty, biting his bed, around this time.  If I put him in a down stay on his bed, he falls asleep.  Just like a kid he gets over tired and forgets his manners :)

[Lynda Kamrath]

I had an airedale when I was in college and wanted to take her backpacking with me.  I made some saddlebags for her that snapped around her chest and under her belly.  She practiced with them with some food in the bags and was very comfortable.   When I would take out the saddlebags she would get all excited because she knew we were going somewhere.   We did some multiple day pack trips and she carried her own food, brush, and treats.  She loved it!

[Lindsey]

We def. do a lot of mental exercises. We give Molly her lunch in the Kong food/treat dispensing toy, it not only takes her longer to eat, but she really has to work at it...and we have noticed that that will cause her to remain calm longer than just handing her an open food bowl. I'll def. keep that up with her...I've looked into some other puzzle toys too.
I really think it's all me, letting her run around and act like a nut when she was smaller...so I'm trying not to loose my patience with her. However, last night I could feel myself getting frustrated and ended up having to put her in her crate for a nap...she just would not listen. She kept rushing past me when I would walk into another room and I've tried, since day one, to make her wait on me to walk through a door before she can come...however, no matter what I did...she refused to sit and wait when I walked inside from being outside with her for her potty break. She kept dashing towards the door and I would have to grab her and force her butt down, then say "wait" over and over...we probably had to repeat that over 30 times, before she FINALLY sat, with her head on the door step, and waited for half a second before I finally said "okay" and she came in.
The crazy thing is, or what is driving me nuts, is she KNOWS these commands, it's nothing new...it's just like all of a sudden, she doesn't care to listen.

[BG and Gavin]

Really so typical.  Sounds like you are totally on the right track so just keep doing what you are doing.  When Gavin was 8 months old we took Intermediate training.  He did well during the training but on the final test day he would not do one single thing for me.  I could not believe what a brat he was!  The trainer laughed and told me this happens all of the time with young dogs.  He got his certificaiton anyway because he has demonstrated over and over during the classes that he could do all of the requirements.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Sounds pretty normal to me.  She is just starting to feel her independence.  You and your DH will just have to be more consistent is letting her know what is acceptable behavior.  They do outgrow it.  I am on my third doodle pup, and he is 10 months old.  He is into everything.  We have learned to put everything up in the house and he has tons of toys everywhere, but he still does things like catch mice outdoors, dig everywhere, chew on the deck, and refuse to come to get his leash on.  I let him see me fill up my pockets with treats before we go anywhere, and he will definitely follow directions to get those treats.  So who is getting trained?  Me or him?

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

I agree with all said. Not listening, zoomies, etc. All typical. Her world is becoming bigger and she has more curiosity.

Out of curiosity...is it a park rule that Molly can't go to the park until after she is spayed. I brought Izzy to the park almost daily after she had all her shots and before she was spayed. That's how we were able to release her energy.

[Lindsey]

Yes, it is a park rule...no pups allowed until they have been spayed. I understand why, so I won't complain...but I wish they would at least let her in until her appt. it's not like shes going to go into heat, shes too young and they know I'm scheduled to have her spayed...but oh well.
WHICH by the way, I actually called on my lunch break and they have moved her appt. to next week! So she will get to go to the park soon!!

I just got her a few new toys at petsmart...they are going to be her strictly indoor toys and I'm going to give them to her when she's being calm indoors :-) Maybe that will help encourage her not to run wild inside!
I got her some new outdoor toys too, and we'll only use those outside (fetch toys and such) so maybe that will help eventually, maybe she'll grow to learn that some toys are meant for when she's inside and calm and some are for outside and running. HAHA, I'm probably giving her little puppy brain too much credit...but we'll see :-)