my puppy is a terror !!! helpppp

[Amanda & Maddie]

our four month old golden doodle has been nothing but a terror the past couple weeks! she is very energetic and outgoing which we love about her she has already been trained and very smart she seems to know right from wrong although she knows when she does something wrong she still tries to be the leader of the pack lately she's been biting more than usual not enough to break the skin but she gives this mean face when she's ready to bite after she is reprimanded as if she wants to bite to hurt us she can never be left alone and if she is we hear her screaming and crying and I mean literally screaming even if we walk out of our room that she's in she requires a lot of attention which is very stressful on everyone in our house when she's involved in everything we do seems to never be enough for her she tears are close apart bites her feet when were walking and always bites our hands if we try to pet her although she requires us to pet her and she's also just recently learned to go outside to go to the bathroom she rings the bell when she's ready lately she's been taking advantage of the bo she tears are close apart bites her feet when were walking and always bites our hands if we try to pet her although she requires us to pet her and she's also just recently learned to go outside to go to the bathroom she rings the bell when she's ready lately she's been taking advantage of the bell and just wants to sit outside and dig all day long every time we let her out she comes and covered in dirt we reprimand her and she just doesn't again!! she's becoming quite the handful and we don't know how to deal with her her biting is what scares me the most whenever she is yelled that or told now she snaps and give such an angry luck as she's biting I'm nervous to bring her around children although she is playful when she is around other people I'm afraid one day she's going to snap what do I do about this behavior !!! HELP

[Sally M]

Yeah, I hear you! I try to keep Penny as busy as I can. LOL! We fetch indoors which does a real number on my house. I forgot to mention, I've been walking her daily...sometimes twice a day, as long as I can keep her out of the snow. Penny hates getting snow between her toes.

[BG and Gavin]

Sally, get a couple of pairs a toddlers athletic socks to put on Penny. She will get used to them quickly and it prevents the snow from balling between the toes.

[BG and Gavin]

You really need to adjust your expectations and increase your supervision and training. Your puppy should not be left outside alone to do as she pleases at this age. Someone needs to be outside with her so that she can be redirected from undesirable behaviours like digging. Redirecting does not mean scolding, but getting her attention on you with treats or a game of fetch or hide and go seek. Also make sure she is getting plenty of exercise each day so that when she goes to bed at night she is tired and worn out. Also the biting is totally normal. Retrievers explore the world with their mouths. When my guy was a pup I could not pet him without him putting his open mouth on me. I would give him a toy or a large knot to occupy the mouth so that I could pet. Lots of work ahead for you but it pays off before you know it. Read up in the puppy madness group.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Amen

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Honestly, I miss these days. My dog is getting old, has lots of bumps and growths and...   Well, I long for his youth. Lucky you. You have a puppy.  Sounds like a puppy, acts like a puppy, and just as promised, this too, shall pass.

Wait it out. Be patient.  Your story is not unique to anyone else that has a four month old puppy.  It passes

[Amy and Annabelle]

The winter months can be rough with getting enough exercise. We don't ever let Annabelle out by herself and she is 1.5 years old. One of her favorite toys is a Kong chase-it wand. She can play with that for a long time. Of course you have to play it with them. It isn't something they can play with by themselves. But it wears her out chasing it around. It is like a teaser cat toy for dogs.  When she was about 4 to 5 months old, we called her sharkadoodle, she was so bitey. She is a perfect little angel now, but it comes with a lot of repetitive training so they learn what is acceptable behavior and what's not.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

That looks like fun. My dogs would probably have it destroyed in 10 secs even with me playing. Well at least Gracie would. She is rough on toys.
I've thought about getting a tether tug - but it's an outside toy. Looks like a lot of doggie fun.
https://tethertug.com

[Sunik]

People gave good incite. In an effort to give any sort of guidance, I will share my experience that I am currently going through with my puppy. She is 16 and a half weeks old. I am experiencing maybe 3/4 of the issues you have addressed. I have done tons of research, read almost every forum post here, and talked to coworkers who are uncertified dog behaviorist trainers (took courses just to know, not be certified). I tried Zak George youtube videos, and while many were helpful, many did not work. While people freak out with maybe 2-4 skin breaking bites a year, I've been getting maybe 8 skin breaking bites per week, drawing blood. So with the premise set, my puppy at 16.5 weeks old has pretty much stopped biting me (for the past 4 days or so). I feel like I've been battling her for the alpha role, and starting 4 days ago I took proactive measures to reinforce it. I never let her jump up on me anymore (I gently push her off and say no, while giving her a sit command). When she doesn't listen to the sit, I try not to repeat but give her a few seconds to comply. When she still doesn't listen, I force her into a sit, followed with saying sit again and giving her much praise and body massage. I don't lay on the floor with her anymore. I make her sit-stay and wait for me to enter doors or stairways before she goes through. At the beginning this took a lot of time, and waiting, but now she complies much better (I only need to use treats when doing sit/stay outside). I always make her sit before I pet her when I come home and she's super excited. Her default position is always to lay on her back and I give her massive belly rubs. She doesn't try to mouth me as much as she used to, but when she does her mouth is like a magnet to my hand. I don't let her get to me, but instead I do the "ah-ah" sound, and when she persists I perform the alpha roll on her (pinning her to her side, gently holding her scruff and legs away from your body). I've been doing it on her, so if you're new to it your pup will probably fight you hard. When she's completely relaxed, I start to let go of my hand holding her scruff slowly, until it is completely off her head. I've trained her to keep laying until I let her know she can go. As soon as my hand is completely off, and she remains still, then I give her full body rubs with lots of praise again and her desire to mouth my hand is completely gone. Prior to this week, when I implemented a lot of these techniques, I was extremely fearful of my pup having a deep dominant aggression in her. She used to snarl and bite me if she ever felt uncomfortable (i.e. touching her rear paws, cleaning her ears, etc.) She once bit me bad where my other hand had to catch blood, and some spilled over to the carpet and my jeans from overflow. This is a long story, and it is an on-going process and experience for me too and I thought I'd share what is currently working for me. I love her to death, and while I have a baby on the way, my greatest fear is having to re-home her due to aggression.

Oh yeah, I have mulch infront of my house, that she needs to step over everytime she goes pee or poop. She always grabs a piece when she's passing, and drops it in the grass before she pees. Then on the way back, she grabs another piece and waits by the door, then brings it inside the house and chews on it/drops it in the house. It creates a huge mess both inside and outside, and I hated it. I'm still trying to fix it, but one method I've been using is saying "GOGO" as soon as she reaches the mulch on the way to the grass, which causes her to speed over the mulch. And I show a treat to her to entice her to follow me quickly back to the house over the mulch so she doesn't pick one up on the way to the house. I don't know if your pup has a particular digging spot, but if you tried to bury her poop in the hole and it didn't help, perhaps you can keep your pup distracted from the digging spot.

Lastly, my puppy tore so many of my shirts/pants, and my wifes shirts/pants with her teeth. After I stopped letting her try to jump on us, and redirect her while she tries to nip, she doesn't bite at our clothes anymore. The best chewing toy that I have for her, is this thick stick that I bought at the pet store. Anyways, I hope this information helps you. Good luck!

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Sunik,
As far as the mulch could train her to leave it and drop it. It would work in this instance and others that are sure to come down the road. I would begin with treats to train.

Alpha rolls have been largely disused as a technique because they were misunderstood. The leader of the pack does not roll the others, the others just submit to them. The leader leads. You might want to be careful continuing with the alpha roll since it sounds like you are doing it from hearsay and Internet research.

Have you tried any obedience training with a certified trainer? The reason I say this is because with Gracie I thought that I could just read Internet articles and watch you tube, but found that it was so much better going to a training course. It was only 6 Thursday's out of my life and an hour in training plus travel time. It made life so much better with her and we bonded without negative interactions. It really took the stress off of me thinking that I wasn't training her right. It was my responsibility, She is very energetic still and we continually work on fine tuning behavior.
At 16 weeks she is still a puppy, so I'm not sure you have any aggression - just puppy behavior.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Hi Amanda ~ I am afraid you are teaching your doodle some bad habits by yelling and reprimanding her whenever she exhibits a unwanted behavior - it is a very negative form of training!  You would be better off to redirect the behavior to something positive.  Take her outside and play fetch - it will use up some of that puppy energy.  Also, your doodle is the perfect age to start in an obedience class.  It will be good for you and very good for her-and you will form a bond.  I would suggest you check in your area for a formal training class where you meet up one hour a week with the trainer, and the rest of the week you work 10 -15 minutes daily on the week's lesson.  It really does not require that much time from you and the benefits will be amazing.  You have a very cute doodle, it would be unfortunate if you have to rehome her because you cannot manage her. Nothing, will replace training - and training properly so that you can enjoy her and she can enjoy you and your family.