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Hello, new member here! Hoping I can get some advice or know if I should get a personal trainer for this issue we’re experiencing with our adolescent dog/puppy. Sorry for the incredibly long post, just want to provide context.
We’ve had our 6.5 month old male standard poodle for about 4 months now and he’s great in most areas, I’m deeply in love with him! he was a wild and demonic puppy at times when he was 2-3 months but we put a lot of work in and I have to say he’s pretty good with basic obedience commands in and out the house, really good recall (hasn’t failed in months and we have multiple recall phrases), good leash walking for the most part (he was fantastic! altho he seems to “listen” less since a few weeks ago and has started to pull a little more now again especially when chasing a smell, chalking it up to adolescence, we keep working on it), ignores people on walks but loves meeting new people, plays good with other dogs his size (altho we have never gone to a dog park), super smart and likes learning new tricks (he knows 30-35 commands/tricks), calm around the house when he can (capturing calmness works!), not destructive at all, sweet, loves being petted, still a lot of energy ofc and no biting anymore except...
He seems to have a very specific trigger for some biting/nipping attacks which had completely gone away for a good 2 months until now, again, probably adolescence-related. We have a fenced in yard, there’s some spaces with bare dirt and no grass. When he was a young wild puppy, he couldn’t be outside in the yard without the long leash cause 9/10 times he would start digging if not actively playing or if I wasn’t paying attention to him. If he started digging, 3 seconds later he would become unmanageable/would not listen at all, even if presented with sardines, sausages, anything. The only thing that would work was to pull him away with the leash to a grass or concrete space for him to calm down, often he would have this crazed face and stare like he got possessed by something haha. And often while pulling him away he would turn around and start biting whoever was pulling him away (calmly or as calmly as one can be with a big puppy chomping on your arm, no yelling just stern Nos and Leave its which he was too aroused to hear anyway). This nipping/biting attacks where he would clamp down on your pants or shirt had not happened in so long, that we had started to use the yard again (before we would go out maybe once a week at MOST cause of that issue, I didn’t want him rehearsing it - apartment friends would say I was lucky to have a yard for my puppy and I was like lol we can’t use it, but fast forward for when he was 4-5 months, he had had no issues in the yard unleashed).
I definitely know his “bucket” can get full after he’s been awake for 2+ hrs and he can get moody haha and today I made the mistake of going out on a long walk with a friend (new to him but he loved her, rolled on his back on the grass to get pets and accepted the little chicken heart she gave him), and then coming back home and letting him on the yard for a 5-10 min while I tidied up the deck before putting him down for a nap. Well... he didn’t have the long leash on and started to dig sigh. Panicked I went for his normal leash to leash him up since he was not listening to my Leave its which he’s so good at. When I put the leash on him and started to pull him away sure enough he turned around and started mouthing and biting my arms. He had not done this in a long time and his jaw strength is crazy now. He definitely left some marks and scratches, I was really upset to the point of tears cause it was scary, he’s so big now not a small puppy anymore. I put him on a timeout in the guest bathroom cause our old method of leaving the room obviously does not work in the yard. He came out much better 1 min later but still on edge. He did not protest at all when told to go to his crate for a nap and just crashed. He’s been sleeping for 1.5 hrs now.
So... has anyone else experienced this bout of craziness when older puppy is overstimulated? Should we keep with our old approach of restricting the yard etc.? Or seek professional help? For sure keeping up with enforced naps, and trying not to get him overstimulated like he’s a 2 month old puppy again I guess, but dunno if I should get a trainer to deal with this issue since I would for sure break down in tears again if he “attacks” me like that... Everyone says keep the training consistent etc. And he’s been such a great puppy with other people and dogs but these “puppy attacks” were annoying when he was smaller, but imo unacceptable due to his size now. Am I expecting too much of him? Ahhh
We’ve had our 6.5 month old male standard poodle for about 4 months now and he’s great in most areas, I’m deeply in love with him! he was a wild and demonic puppy at times when he was 2-3 months but we put a lot of work in and I have to say he’s pretty good with basic obedience commands in and out the house, really good recall (hasn’t failed in months and we have multiple recall phrases), good leash walking for the most part (he was fantastic! altho he seems to “listen” less since a few weeks ago and has started to pull a little more now again especially when chasing a smell, chalking it up to adolescence, we keep working on it), ignores people on walks but loves meeting new people, plays good with other dogs his size (altho we have never gone to a dog park), super smart and likes learning new tricks (he knows 30-35 commands/tricks), calm around the house when he can (capturing calmness works!), not destructive at all, sweet, loves being petted, still a lot of energy ofc and no biting anymore except...
He seems to have a very specific trigger for some biting/nipping attacks which had completely gone away for a good 2 months until now, again, probably adolescence-related. We have a fenced in yard, there’s some spaces with bare dirt and no grass. When he was a young wild puppy, he couldn’t be outside in the yard without the long leash cause 9/10 times he would start digging if not actively playing or if I wasn’t paying attention to him. If he started digging, 3 seconds later he would become unmanageable/would not listen at all, even if presented with sardines, sausages, anything. The only thing that would work was to pull him away with the leash to a grass or concrete space for him to calm down, often he would have this crazed face and stare like he got possessed by something haha. And often while pulling him away he would turn around and start biting whoever was pulling him away (calmly or as calmly as one can be with a big puppy chomping on your arm, no yelling just stern Nos and Leave its which he was too aroused to hear anyway). This nipping/biting attacks where he would clamp down on your pants or shirt had not happened in so long, that we had started to use the yard again (before we would go out maybe once a week at MOST cause of that issue, I didn’t want him rehearsing it - apartment friends would say I was lucky to have a yard for my puppy and I was like lol we can’t use it, but fast forward for when he was 4-5 months, he had had no issues in the yard unleashed).
I definitely know his “bucket” can get full after he’s been awake for 2+ hrs and he can get moody haha and today I made the mistake of going out on a long walk with a friend (new to him but he loved her, rolled on his back on the grass to get pets and accepted the little chicken heart she gave him), and then coming back home and letting him on the yard for a 5-10 min while I tidied up the deck before putting him down for a nap. Well... he didn’t have the long leash on and started to dig sigh. Panicked I went for his normal leash to leash him up since he was not listening to my Leave its which he’s so good at. When I put the leash on him and started to pull him away sure enough he turned around and started mouthing and biting my arms. He had not done this in a long time and his jaw strength is crazy now. He definitely left some marks and scratches, I was really upset to the point of tears cause it was scary, he’s so big now not a small puppy anymore. I put him on a timeout in the guest bathroom cause our old method of leaving the room obviously does not work in the yard. He came out much better 1 min later but still on edge. He did not protest at all when told to go to his crate for a nap and just crashed. He’s been sleeping for 1.5 hrs now.
So... has anyone else experienced this bout of craziness when older puppy is overstimulated? Should we keep with our old approach of restricting the yard etc.? Or seek professional help? For sure keeping up with enforced naps, and trying not to get him overstimulated like he’s a 2 month old puppy again I guess, but dunno if I should get a trainer to deal with this issue since I would for sure break down in tears again if he “attacks” me like that... Everyone says keep the training consistent etc. And he’s been such a great puppy with other people and dogs but these “puppy attacks” were annoying when he was smaller, but imo unacceptable due to his size now. Am I expecting too much of him? Ahhh