Puppy's first week home--couple questions?
Hi everyone!
So it's been a week since I took my lovely little Jax home. I've never owned a corgi before (I only had a German Shepherd, and Jax is a LOT different than my shepherd), and I'm still getting used to his amount of energy. Is it normal for a corgi pup to play for 10-15 minutes then immediately pass out and sleep? He'll sleep for 30 minutes then get back up and want to play. I swear he gets like....16 hours of sleep a day and I only get 4-5 :(
Also, my boyfriend and I live in an apartment. We're still looking for a new place with a yard or at least a good lawn, since all we have is our living room and the balcony. It's becoming a struggle to take him on walks since he hasn't gotten his 12-week shots yet, so what can I do to wear him out in my apartment? I bought him tons of Kong toys, ropes, and squeakers...but he plays with a toy for a minute and becomes uninterested. Toys won't wear him out as much as playtime.
One last question! He has a VERY bad habit of getting very nippy when he gets excited. I usually get on ground-level with him when he plays with chew toys, but sometimes he'll walk over to me and just CHOMP on my neck. He'll even climb on things to get to my neck. It really hurts, and of all the places he bites me he always chooses my face or neck. I gently bop him on the head and say "NO" but he hasn't stopped. He drew blood the other day and people at work were asking why I had a gash on my neck. It was very painful and embarassing. How can I get him to stop that, without being too negative on him?
Thanks all SO much. He's a wonderful addition to the family but it's definitely a lot more work than I thought!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Vicki/Kurt Pegel on
-
I dont have any good answers for you but we got our Corgi puppy 2 1/2 weeks ago. She slept alot the first week too, but not as much now but still enough. As far as the biting I am trying to get that figured out also. Nothing is seeming to work for us. She doesnt seem to understand the NO, everyone tells me to be patient and consistant and eventually she will get it. I keep wondering how long it takes. I have been told not to play with them on their level, but hopefully some more knowledgable people can give you some good advise. I will be reading their responses also.
-
Permalink Reply by Ellen Andersen on
-
The sleeping/playing thing is fine....they'll go go go and completely crash.
Folks on here will have lots of good advice about the nipping. I can tell you what I did with mine, though it involved hands and not the neck. It might sound cruel, but it worked...it was shown to me by a vet I had at the time. When puppy would nip at my fingers or hands I'd gently move a lip (of the pups) into her mouth with my finger and when she nipped she'd bit her own lip. It took a few times but never had a nipping problem with fingers since. They'd also tend to nip ankles (herding, I s'pose..not too fun at 3 in the morning) but a sharp cry/yelp from me and a firm no stopped that pretty quickly. You might want to consult a trainer.
To tire him out.....play games with him maybe...like hide and seek with a little treat when he finds you? Hide and call his name and reward him with something he loves...smooches, cheese...
Oh, and puppies are a HUGE amount of work but sooooooo worth it.
-
Permalink Reply by Jane on
-
The sleeping sounds normal to me. I'd get him some little tennis balls or something he can chase that will tire him out. Most dogs won't play with toys by themselves either, you have to play with them or like you said they become uninterested after a few minutes. It is a lot of work!
With the nipping, you can try making a loud YELP! noise like a littermate would do, and immediately stop playing, ignore him, walk away if you need to. With my pem, the yelping noise actually seemed to make him MORE excited, so we would just stop what we were doing and ignore him for a few minutes. If he was really worked up we would say firmly TIME OUT and put him in a puppy safe room for 10 minutes (we used the laundry room). I personally wouldn't bop him on the head or the nose or whatever, I don't think that really sends the right message to a puppy. I'd also highly recommend a puppy class.
-
Permalink Reply by Emily & Scout on
-
Other people on this site have posted some good advice, so here are a couple things I have seen others suggest.
1. When the puppy bites, immediately ignore him for a good while. Pay no attention, don't even touch him.. He should learn quickly that biting means he gets no more attention from his human.
2. Also, make a high pitched yelp sound when he bites, as that is what puppies do to tell one another to back off.
Good luck, and have lots of fun with the new puppy!
-
-
Oh, and also, at this point in life, the puppy probably does not know that the word "no" means stop, so you could also start teaching something like leave it, stop or another word of your choice.
Have plenty of treats, hold out 1 in a closed hand so he can't get it, but can smell it, and 1 in another hand out of reach. Tell him leave it, etc. and when he stops trying to get it, give him the treat in the other hand. Then, "leave it" should work when he starts getting a little too nippy.
-
Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
-
What has always worked for me and I have had many is to let out a quick but loud "owe" stand up turn away and totally ignore for a few minutes. I cross my arms and just stand there giving NO ATTENTION...you can smile even laugh to yourself but you are not enforcing the behavior but ignoring an unwanted one. You need to be very consistant!!!! Puppy teeth are like razors and he will also start teething soon so if he stops eating his food or slows down add warm water to his food and let it soften as many people think they don't like the food but it is hurting their gums. Sorry to get carried away.
The sleeping is normal!
-
Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
-
What I did with Ellie, regarding nipping, is I made a very loud and dramatic yelp. Ellie would instantly stop and look at me as if to say, "Oh my gosh, what happened?!" and then would calm down. If your pup gets more excited or doesn't calm down enough, then it's time to ignore him. Don't talk, don't look at him and don't touch him. Just get up and start doing something else, like looking at a magazine. Once he has calmed down you can give him attention again. Then just rinse and repeat. :) If he starts nipping at your legs for attention, then it's time for him to be put in a puppy-safe room or X-pen until he calms down.
Even though you play with him a lot, he sounds like he might be a bit bored (it might be contributing to the nipping a little.) If he is food-driven, try getting him a toy that makes him think. I used to feed Yuki his meals in this treat ball to get him to lose weight and work his brain at the same time. On the hardest setting it kept him busy for just under 1 hour. Toys like this should get your pup to focus on something other than your neck and will exercise him a bit, too. ;) Get a soft rubber version of this if you think he may try to chew it.
-
Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
-
I also was successful with my Jaws as a puppy now known as Sparty by yelping the high pitched dramatic screech. If he continued he got a time out in the kitchen for a couple minutes. At this age your puppy is a total baby and consistency will train him but he will continue to make mistakes for a few months. At least puppies learn a lot faster than human babies do! Hang in there, puppy stages are so short, trained adulthood lasts much longer:)
-
Permalink Reply by Melissa VanGennep on
-
The sleeping sounds very normal to me. He's still a puppy and still getting used to his new home. When my Koda was that small, all he wanted to do was bite my face. It hurt, and it scared me all the time. I was worried he'd turn out to be aggressive. But keep up with the training on that and he will learn. I agree with Jane, when Koda would do it I would stop playing with him and just ignore him for a few. Koda no longer does that...it actually stopped pretty quickly.
Oh, and as for exercise in an apartment, we live in a small-ish one as well. He is obsessed with playing fetch, but you do need to play WITH him for that. We also recently acquired a laser pointer :) It's probably torture for him not being able to catch it but he LOVES it, just aim it around and he will chase it until he is completely tired out.
-
Permalink Reply by Harrison & Melyza on
-
This video was very helpful (this trainer in general!)
Also, Patience! It does get better! :)
-
Permalink Reply by Ozzie & Bebop on
-
Congrats on your new puppy :) I'm sure you guys are bonding and having a lot of fun!
I was in a very similar situation as yours. I had a very mouthy puppy! It's as if he was trying to play with me the same way he played with his sister - rough and tumble and using the mouth all the time. My hands didn't like it too much! I also received the advice of giving a loud Yelp mimicking a dog who is unhappy and stop playing. However, like Jane mentioned, he became more excited and thought we were playing a different game! So then I started to ignore him completely and walk away if I needed. If he got in a weird "puppy crazy" biting moment, i would put him in "his area", which is puppy safe, and walk away and leave him there for a bit. I was sending him the message that it wasn't ok to do that to me. Whichever method you use, the change you're looking for won't happen right away, but you will notice a difference. Just stay consistent. And don't be surprised if he seems like he's better, then all of a sudden acts up again. He's just testing to see if he can get away with it (they're smart like that!), but don't let him!
I also live in an apartment and he would frap (which is always cute), but we also used things to mentally stimulate him and get him tired. We used toys where he would have to manipulate it to get the treat out. Also, we would hide treats under 3 cups,shuffle them around and then he would have to sniff and tip over the cup (or whatever use chose to hide the treat) to get the treat. After that we got a toy from petco that used the same concept. He LOVED the game (and still does)! Hopefully this link works. If not, it's called: Hagen Dogit Mind Games Interactive Dog Game
http://m.petco.com/Petco/product/detail.do?itemId=1364871&categ...
-
Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
-
Get very seriously into training. Invest time. It will all pay off 500%. Do a lot of research, plan your work, work your plan. One of the first things to teach is: teeth on humans NOT OK!!! Enroll in a puppy class. Take puppy outside as much as possible, +100%. Face it, he owns you now. Get busy. Notebook, logbook, Plan. All the work you do now is way better than money in the bank. Big deal. Friend for Life.
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
