[Getting ready]

When not strictly supervised, Noodle (8 month mpoo) is in his ex pen even when we are home. We'd love to give him more freedom when we are home. (especially because at times he is super whiny in there). But when we try, he promptly grabs anything he can get his teeth on and runs around like a madman so we can chase him. Clearly he is trying to train us to play his favorite game more.

Wondering if anyone has experienced this with their poodle and, if so, when your poodle grew out of this fun stage.

 

[Skylar]

Tether your poodle to you with a leash. This will keep Noodle close to you and if he’s getting into trouble you can call him off immediately. He hasn’t earned the right to have complete freedom yet

 

[lily cd re]

What Skylar said! Adolescent dogs can be great destroyers of many things. Even though the needle teeth are gone they do a lot of chewing to set up vibrations from the adult teeth down into their jaws that stimulate osteoblasts (bone bulinding cells) that help to firmly set the roots of their teeth firmly. Preventing mischief is much better than correcting its results.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

I third the tethering suggestion!

Also: When he's not tethered, use gates/doors/whatever to limit Noodle to a puppy-proofed space. This gives him the chance to practise freedom without setting him up for failure.

We have an open-concept home and our kitchen/living/dining area is still puppy-proofed. Peggy will be 9 months old on Wednesday and (so far!!) has never chewed a shoe or any valuables because she just doesn't have access to them.

Peggy still BEGS us to chase her, but we don't. Ever. I offer her up an alternative, though: "Chase me!"

It's not a free-for-all. It's actually more like working on our heel, off-leash and indoors, but she doesn't have to know that! I do lots of direction changes, with quick but controlled movements, and she has a blast sticking close.

In general, whenever Peggy persists with an undesirable behaviour, I try to think of a new outlet for it, to satisfy whatever need isn't currently being addressed.

If Noodle is also showing a strong need to chew, Himalayan Yak Cheese Chews have been great for us. We hold one for Peggy in the evening and she really gets to work those adult teeth. Also works great stuck in a Kong. That way, when it gets dangerously short, it gets trapped inside. And there's no waste with yak cheese: Just microwave it into a crunchy puff snack.

 

[Getting ready]

Thanks all. I should have mentioned that we do tether him. And I wish he liked talking cheese. Maybe the heeling games mentioned will help. Thanks!

 

[PeggyTheParti]

In that case, I'd probably just focus on keeping the space puppy-proofed, so it's just like a larger x-pen, filled with lots of Noodle-friendly chewables and playables, but with everything else out of reach.

Peggy's probably passed through multiple phases like Noodle's, but they mostly go unnoticed because she doesn't get a chance to rehearse unwanted behaviours. It's tedious being so careful, but ultimately a sanity saver.

 

[scooterscout99]

What Peggy said. Never chase your dog in play as it teaches a dangerous keep away when what you want is an iron clad recall.

 

[cowpony]

Have you tried teaching him to play fetch? When Pogo was little, before he lost his puppy teeth, I used to roll a golf ball across the kitchen floor for him to chase. (The room was gated off, so he couldn't leave. )Then I'd call him back and make a huge deal out of him bringing the ball. I would just ignore him if he didn't bring the ball. Since he wanted attention, and since there wasn't anything to do in the room besides play with the ball, he got pretty good about fetching.

 

[Starvt]

Some good suggestions here.
Since you already do tethering/ umbilical, you might want to try letting him drag a light line so that you can step on it to halt his mad dashes, along with better puppy proofing, as an in-between step.

 

[Mufar42]

I still experience this at times with my 2 year old standard. He is getting better and no longer needs to be crated but I do limit him to our ding room/foyer area, I'm there much of the time anyway. I have one of those short leads, Similar to this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5WP4R... for Large Dogs - 1 Inch Nylon (12 in, Black)

That way I can grab him, and he isn't tripping over a long line.

 

[Rose n Poos]

Good suggestions from all. I didn't tether because, well, two puppies, but they were restricted to the two rooms we spent most of our time in, kitchen and family room. We gated off the rest of the house and slowly expanded their access as they learned each new area was to be treated the same. We went from two rooms to four rooms, the main living area, at around eight months with upstairs still gated off. And so on. They were probably around a year before we gave them full access.

We were lucky that ours weren't particularly destructive towards our objects lol.

Probably a really bad idea, but have you ever just let him run around til he tires out? If you can puppy proof a couple of rooms, how long do you think he might keep it up if no one's chasing him?

 

[Dianaleez]

Normie makes wild fast circling runs through our living area to work off steam, but there's absolutely nothing out for him to grab and steal. He does the same thing in the fenced backyard. I've been assuming that puppies have a lot of energy to work off and have to find a way to do it.

We've had dogs all our lives and have always just provided them energy outlets. We can provide walks but there's no way either of us can sprint that fast.

What do you have out that he's stealing?

 

[Getting ready]

Our house really isn’t puppy proof-able except for one room. We will try hanging out in there with him. Since that room is the office, maybe it will prompt me to get some work done!