Getting puppy to chill the F out?

[the_journey]

I've got a 10mo old Weim. He's a great dog when we are outside. Knows his commands inside and out. Sticks right next to me on our runs, recall is excellent, doesn't take off after rabbits or birds....inside the house is a completely different story. He won't ever sit still no matter how much I've played with him, or ran him, or do agility drills or scent work...he just won't calm down. Always getting into stuff he knows he shouldn't; wants to play with the kids toys no matter how many of his own toys he has; eats rugs, sticks his face on the table when we are eating...his manners suck. The only exception is around 2000 when he will go lay in his bed.

How do I go about instilling manners in this puppy? He absolutely will not listen in the house when it comes to staying away from our food, destroying things he shouldn't, nipping bc he wants to play...he knows none of this is okay but he just won't calm the F down. He's always up and moving around, never stays in one place. I'll tell him to leave something, give him his toy instead, and then I turn my back and he's back at it.

How do I train this out of him?

 

[srm332]

@the_journey Teach him the place command. Like a kennel without walls. Can be a rug, doggy bed, or something raised like the corner of a couch. He stays on his place till you release him.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@srm332 Place is a great solution to this

 

[the_journey]

@imagebeastmarkbeast He knows the command, but it's getting him to stay there for anything over 15 seconds that's difficult...any resources to accomplish this?

 

[halpme]

@the_journey If he won’t stay in place then I wouldn’t say he knows what the command means, you need to build up the amount of time he spends in place. Start very short, release him before he leaves on his own so he learns he can’t leave until you give the okay, slowly build up the time until he can stay there for the amount of time you’d like him to.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@the_journey Just takes time. 15 seconds the first time, 17 seconds the second time. Lots of praise while he's staying

 

[sherrine]

@the_journey Do you have an elevated dog bed? If the dog doesn’t stay on his place ..put him in a harness and a line and tie him to a couch leg or something. The dog needs to know he doesn’t leave unless you give him the release command. This is how we taught our dog to stay until release command given.
You are giving your dog permission to roam and that’s why you are having this problem.

 

[sherrine]

A kindle book that really helped me is https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0C29K6R87/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1693503637&sr=8-2.

This man had two Belgian Malinois while working a 9 to 5. He now has working dogs while also have many kids and he doesn’t allow dogs to run crazy in the home. He has a chapter on place command. Keep in mind your dogs temperament while using methods and modify accordingly. No nonsense training book.

 

[dianes]

@srm332 Absolutely place is a solid solution!

 

[seelah]

@srm332 Came here to say the same thing.

 

[atm23]

@the_journey Teach him how to be calm. Force naps / quiet time. A crate can help with this

 

[tenderloin]

@the_journey More structure and management. I also have a young gundog that needs reminders of how to chill in the house and not be in "Shark Mode" (if I stop moving, I'll die). I do that by meeting his needs (which it sounds like you're doing) alongside managing the environment with crates, pens, gates, tethers, etc in the house when he needs help with settling. You need to remove the option to rehearse taking your kids' toys, jumping on the table, eating rugs, etc. by managing his environment. Maturity is a beautiful thing and will probably help resolve your issues, but he's more likely to get there if he isn't allowed to practice those behaviors in the meantime.

Besides management, I would also recommend working on teaching him what you want him to do. Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol is a good resource for teaching a dog how to relax on a mat by slowly increasing distractions.

Keep in mind that your dog is an adolescent, and you should be constantly asking yourself "is this a training moment or a management moment?" based on how much brain he appears to have that day.

 

[but_first_coffee]

@tenderloin Structure and management are so important inside the house. So all of this. It's also important to make sure an adolescent dog is given the freedom (when appropriate) to let loose and just blow off some steam.

A trap I see high energy dog owners fall into all the time is feeling like they always have to be training/managing/working on something outside the house, and it results in a dichotomy for a young dog where they then understand that inside = free time. Runs where he's in heel position, agility drills, scent work, not chasing things... it's all utilizing his focus and impulse control, so when he comes home there's none left. Try to introduce structure and management to this environment too, and you'll be hard pressed to have a young dog where "naughty" behaviors aren't leaking at the seams.

I'm a huge proponent of decompression time, where the dog is free to do literally whatever it wants. Zoom through the forest, roll in shit, chew up sticks, bark at birds, smell a tree stump for 5 minutes, you name it. No recalling, no long line, no leash guidance, no do this/don't do that. Let them get it all out on your terms, so they don't go home and do it on theirs.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@the_journey Your dog sounds exactly like my 18 mo Aussie. Mine usually goes shark mode after sunset. Doesn't matter how much of training, exercises we had during the day, after sunset, in the house, he won't stop being busy. He's always on the look out to get into things he shouldn't have. Place command really helped with this. I used to just crate him, but my trainer and his breeder both said that crate is a physical barrier, so he has no choice but to chill. With place command, he has to exercise impulse control, and that tires them out mentally.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

I'll tell him to leave something, give him his toy instead, and then I turn my back and he's back at it.

You might be unknowingly teaching the dog a sequence of behavior. Dog chew on shoe -> leave shoe -> Dog gets rewarded with toy, so dog goes to chew on shoe again to initiate next sequence.

This happened with my dog too. He brat barks to demand stuff. If he gets bored of standing on the grooming table too long, he starts barking. I used to tell him to "quiet", once he's quiet for a while, I reward him with treats. Even with varying up the duration of "quiet", he learned to Bark - > stay quiet till I get treat - > bark again to initiate next sequence.

 

[the_journey]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Never considered that. I always thought taking away what he wasn't supposed to chew on, and giving him what was ok to chew on was the correct move.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@the_journey That's what I thought before too. In most puppy raising videos, they all tell you to always trade or redirect your puppy with a toy. My guess is that strategy is for young puppies when you want to build a relationship and avoiding correct them too much. But eventually the dog will need to learn "leave it".

 

[powersforgood]

@the_journey Good suggestions here.

I have a mutt that per his Embark results is malinois, weimaraner, GSD, lab, in that order and slightly decreasing percentages. Personality is definitely what you'd think.

He's about 17 months now and his inside manners have gotten a LOT better in the last six months or so. He was similar to what you're describing, but now generally leaves things alone that aren't his--generally. He still has issues here and there. So part of this I would think your dog will just grow out of.

The ecollar has helped quite a bit too. Definitely recommend one if you're not using.

 

[the_journey]

@powersforgood Yes, I've been using an e-collar, but only for recall, heel and stop commands while outside. I haven't used it for any behavioral stuff indoors.

 

[halpme]

@the_journey You’ve set the e collar up as a recall heel and stop command, personally I’d leave it at that as far as ecollar use goes. You might confuse him if you start using it for other things like stopping a bad behavior, although you could use it to recall him to you inside when he’s doing something undesirable, or having him heel inside. I think a crate or place command would suit you best here, enforcing naps and teaching an off switch. Just be very careful not to spoil his understanding of the ecollar if you do decide to use it for this!