I'm very close to rehoming our puppy. :(

Caroline_a

I have a friend who is a breeder. Last year one of her pups went to a family with slightly younger children than the OP. They assured her that they had had dogs before, etc etc. She keeps in touch with all her pups and had heard that they were finding this pup 'difficult'. Despite going to a series of trainers this pup was 'aggressive' and 'had no recall'. My friend offered help, went over to see them several times and came back shaking her head and telling me that it was the owners. So, rather than take her advice (which was keep up with the training, walks, etc) what did they do? They got another pup! This pup was a smaller breed and is, apparently, the perfect puppy.

The first pup is now stuck in the kitchen, while the rest of the family play with the new pup in the lounge all day and all evening. Walks are with the second pup off-lead and the first one on a short choke chain (despite my friend's insistence that they shouldn't use a choke chain!). The pup is now quite ill with an unidentified disease as yet, but whatever it is, I would suggest that stress has paid a large part.

Now, I'm not saying that the OP is or has done this, but it does show that not everyone who thinks that they can cope with a pup can do so. They are hard work - to get it right - the same as with children. Additionally, as with children, if routine and boundaries are not maintained, they grow up wild and uncivilised. Hopefully the OP's pup will find a home where he can be correctly trained and shown how to behave.

thorsoak

blossomhill wrote: »

Hi OP

Sorry to hear about your problems with your dog - have you tried giving him longer walks? - you mention 2 x20mins and another short walk, which doesn't sound like enough to me, although I am not too experienced

The dog I look after gets at least 2.5 hours with me and a morning and evening run with its owners - and still has some "walk" in him at times, which would come out as getting overexcited if we tried to do something sedentary

Murphy is a puppy of 8 months ...therefore his walks of 20 mins each are right on target for his age - rule of thumb being 5 mins per month up to a year old. If you walk a youngish large breed puppy for 21/2 hours at a time, you are in danger of seriously damaging his hips.

poppyfield19

I just cannot believe some of the replies people are posting. The link to the poem and the constant "poor puppy" - how is this supposed to be helping, are you trying to make the owners feel guilty that their puppy is clearly... through no fault of their own... not fitting into their family? All of these replies are far from helpful and just nonsense... if you payed any attention they have clearly been trying their best with Murphy... but of course you all know better and have these apparently perfect dogs. Yes puppies bite and he isn't attacking, but I don't think people understand his behaviour here. It isn't the normal mouthing and jumping, he sounds like he is from a working line and has all of this extra energy (that extra walks and so on will not help) and this is why he is so hyper and excited. The bites that they can give when they go "off in one" like that aren't just mouthing... it is quite sore bites. I don't know why everyone is constantly saying poor Murphy - in what way is he poor Murphy? OP would probably best to talk more in PM if you want to at all

Welshwoofs

poppyfield19 wrote: »

The link to the poem and the constant "poor puppy" - how is this supposed to be helping, are you trying to make the owners feel guilty that their puppy is clearly... through no fault of their own... not fitting into their family?

There's been plenty of practical suggestions that you appear to be closing your eyes to.

All of these replies are far from helpful and just nonsense... if you payed any attention they have clearly been trying their best with Murphy... but of course you all know better and have these apparently perfect dogs.

Have you been reading the same thread I have? Time after time people have been saying that their pups were total nightmares for a long time.

Yes puppies bite and he isn't attacking, but I don't think people understand his behaviour here. It isn't the normal mouthing and jumping, he sounds like he is from a working line and has all of this extra energy (that extra walks and so on will not help) and this is why he is so hyper and excited.

Suggested early on - gun dog training. If he's from a working line (and frankly none of us know at this point), then gun dog training will play to his instincts. The op doesn't appear to have considered this sort of training.

The bites that they can give when they go "off in one" like that aren't just mouthing... it is quite sore bites.

What is a 'sore bite' ??? All bites are sore to some degree or another, but there's obviously a difference between a dog biting out of aggression and one that's biting whilst playing.

I don't know why everyone is constantly saying poor Murphy - in what way is he poor Murphy?

Because he's been bought by a family that clearly weren't prepared for how long it takes to train a puppy, how long it is before you start seeing results in many cases and how puppies act and the dog will most likely have to go through the upheaval of being rehomed because of that (though if they're not ready for a hard slog for the next year or so that upheaval will be for the best)

MurphytheLabrador

Thank you to the few members that have posted helpful and supportive replies.

Like said above I am not sure in what way we have made him like this. We have tried so hard with his training, we have tried to get his attention onto toys, we've used a crate, a clicker, treats to try and get his recall better, stuck to a smaller space / the garden to get him better at coming back, tried an extending lead, made sure we try and keep up to date with the basic commands (sit, stay, wait, lie etc).

As for the link above, I also fail to see how this is anything to do with our situation. We spent months with his toilet training and never got angry with him as the link suggests, we've never lost our temper and done wrong by him. Not sure how many times I have to repeat it - we have done everything we can. This behaviour is not improving at all.

Yes, he is from a working line, and the breeder didn't really mention that there was any difference. Maybe I should have thought to ask, but I didn't at the time, and it wasn't mentioned again. Have spoken to one other person through PM that has a very similiar dog and he is also from a working line. Maybe we could try some more excersise and see if that helps him at all. He does love playing in the garden and gets a couple of hours there a day.

We have not made our minds up yet - we do not want to have to rehome him, but if that was what was best for not only us, but him, then of course we would let him go if we had to. He is kept in the kitchen and the hall, when he had the whole downstairs this made his behaviour worse. However, we have put our laptop in the kitchen simply to give him company. I wish people would stop posting such ridiculous and completely unhelpful replies about what terrible people we are....

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Laptop?

What dog sees himself as part of a family with a Sony Vaio?

krlyr

poppyfield19 wrote: »

I just cannot believe some of the replies people are posting. The link to the poem and the constant "poor puppy" - how is this supposed to be helping, are you trying to make the owners feel guilty that their puppy is clearly... through no fault of their own... not fitting into their family? All of these replies are far from helpful and just nonsense... if you payed any attention they have clearly been trying their best with Murphy... but of course you all know better and have these apparently perfect dogs. Yes puppies bite and he isn't attacking, but I don't think people understand his behaviour here. It isn't the normal mouthing and jumping, he sounds like he is from a working line and has all of this extra energy (that extra walks and so on will not help) and this is why he is so hyper and excited. The bites that they can give when they go "off in one" like that aren't just mouthing... it is quite sore bites. I don't know why everyone is constantly saying poor Murphy - in what way is he poor Murphy? OP would probably best to talk more in PM if you want to at all

Way to patronise those that have tried to help, especially insinuating that OP should just PM you - so no one else on the forum has anything worth saying?
OP has not physically done everything they can - I'm not saying that to be mean but mean it in a literal sense. For example, their one-to-one training appointment was literally just the other day, so they have not done weeks worth of one-to-one training. They have not have a behaviourist come in and do an assessment (often a bit more indepth/specific than a trainer). Pretty sure they have not had full blood workups to rule out a health issue. They don't mention that they've tried a lot of the methods and training I've posted links to, just that they will look through them (which is fab - again, I'm not criticizing but just pointing out that there are many things they are yet to try).
We don't know that Muphy is a working line Lab, but even if he was, there are lots of methods OP could try to deal with his behaviour - many working lines end up in family homes and his desire to work could be shaped into another outlet, e.g. agility, scentwork in the garden, training him to help with household chores much like a guide dog, etc. - physical and mental stimulation can come in many shapes and forms.

MurphytheLabrador

We didn't honestly know that there was any difference in show / working line. Maybe we should have looked into this, but it wasn't something the breeder mentioned, so we didn't think. If we can try anything in the garden or if his recall improves somewhere else, we will try some games etc that might interest him.

I obviously meant we put the laptop in there so we could sit in with him while he was sleeping and just "be there".... very obviously,

Rochelle

krlyr

I would really recommend you summarise all your issues and post a thread over in the Training section on Dogpages, I think you'll get some brilliant advice
http://www.dogpages.org.uk/forums/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=4


Just for example, this was someone having issues with their dog mouthing, they didn't come back to update the thread but they got good replies from two members - both trainers/behaviourists, happy to give their time and free advice
http://www.dogpages.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=260197

Or this one on a hyper puppy, not so indepth but multiple ideas from various members from people with experience on the issue
http://www.dogpages.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=261214

MurphytheLabrador

We will definitely be trying to find out as much information as we can. A lot of people are just ignoring the fact we haven't made up our minds and that rehoming him is a last resort.

Rochelle