Adolescent Puppy Help!!

570 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Lillith, Apr 22, 2021

downtownrooster23

Discussion Starter · Apr 21, 2021

Hi everyone, I am new here. I have an 11 month old Cavachon. He used to be the sweetest puppy and now he is turning into a little demon at home thanks to adolescence. I am LITERALLY at my wits end with him at the moment. Yesterday, I was minding my own business (after taking him on a walk, playing with him/training, and taking care of all basic needs) and he jumped on my and tried to grab my shirt and ended up biting my arm!! Not hard enough to break skin but still I think this is extremely innappropriate behavior. He also demand barked (very very loudly). I've had this issue for a few months and haven't been able to manage it because I have no idea what he wants from me or what is triggering it. So yesterday when he did this, I left the room and ignored him. Today, he did the same the same thing to my mom without the biting. He has this high pitched demand bark and I dont know what he wants. He gets enough exercise, mental stimulation, food, water, treats, attention, and sleep!! I am worried this is going to continue as he gets older and I don't want this to continue. How do I stop this? Once he reaches the point where he is demand barking all communication is lost with him so I have to catch it before, but its almost like a surprise attack. If anyone has dealt with this please tell me this is normal and he will grow out with it and I didn't screw up my puppy somehow

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Kensi

· #2 · Apr 21, 2021

What had you finished with before he jumped and nipped? Had you been playing so that he was excited? Try to see if you can find some kind of a trigger, because you will almost certainly need to know this to fix the behavior.
You are right to leave when he acts inappropriately, but it will take days, or more likely weeks, of everyone in your house very consistently doing this. NEVER allow him to do it, even at times when you may be tempted to allow it, like if you have a treat or toy, or just walked into the house. Same for barking. Don't ay anything, just turn around or leave. The second he stops, return your attention to him
He may want something to do while you are not interacting with him. Have you tried stuffing a kong or buying a chew toy? (my dog has a petstages dogwood chew toy)
You may want to research how to train a "settle" for him, so he knows what he ought to be doing.

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downtownrooster23

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 21, 2021

Kensi said:
What had you finished with before he jumped and nipped? Had you been playing so that he was excited? Try to see if you can find some kind of a trigger, because you will almost certainly need to know this to fix the behavior.
You are right to leave when he acts inappropriately, but it will take days, or more likely weeks, of everyone in your house very consistently doing this. NEVER allow him to do it, even at times when you may be tempted to allow it, like if you have a treat or toy, or just walked into the house. Same for barking. Don't ay anything, just turn around or leave. The second he stops, return your attention to him
He may want something to do while you are not interacting with him. Have you tried stuffing a kong or buying a chew toy? (my dog has a petstages dogwood chew toy)
You may want to research how to train a "settle" for him, so he knows what he ought to be doing.

I was playing with him! He left to go look out the window, and then I was on my phone and then he jumped up on me. But today, I don't know what the trigger was, my mom said he just came back inside and jumped on my mom and was barking. Got it. So when he does this we pretty much leave (aka negative consequence in this situation) and only return when he is quiet. I will try this, hopefully we can get away before he keeps jumping. We tried a kong, he generally doesnt have too much interest. He has a lot of chew toys though.

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Lillith

· #4 · Apr 22, 2021

Ahhh, I had/have one of these. Note the cute dog in my avatar, who barked every time we sat down for dinner incessantly, the whole time, for more than two weeks before he finally gave up. We absolutely, completely ignored him. He did not exist. No amount of demand barking made him visible. He is a herder, with a high pitched bark made to startle and move livestock. How any of us survived, I still don't know, but today he finishes his own dinner and pretends to be very offended that we're not letting him join us at the table, but he's quiet.

Demand barking often seems to have no real purpose. The dog just wants attention. Any attention. Good or bad, doesn't matter, they want you to pay attention to them. Unfortunately for the dog, we can't pay attention to them all the time. They must learn that attention happens on our terms, and only if the dog is behaving appropriately. Kensi offered some great advice and linked to some good videos.

I will add that if you need to, utilize an ex-pen and a crate. Sometimes they need help to settle. And remember, it will get worse before it gets better. It's called "extinction." They try harder and harder and harder to get what they want, but when you can ignore or remove yourself and the barking/grabbing gets them nothing, the behavior dies.

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