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eldridge

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We have a 12 week old Red Heeler. We have done our research before buying this pups but we kept getting mixed training styles. I need help with 5 things.

BITING:
We have a chew toy ready with us at all times. Anytime he bites we give him his chew toy. Play tug. Try playing fetch still learning he just stares at the toy and immediately comes to our feet or hands. They hurt! We have been told not to yell or tell him no cause he’s a puppy. We also took a step back on playing too rough with him. Am I wrong.

FOOD:
When he hears his food being made he goes crazy.
We feed him 3 meals a day. We have been pushing the time back little by little 15min a day cause he wakes us up at 5AM every morning. We let him cry till he stops to let him out. We feed him in his crate and pet him softly but he growls at us. Doesn’t bite. His body language is firm. So we keep petting him and stay next to him. Am I wrong?

WALKING:
We try to do at least 30 min walking a day and he doesn’t like it at all. He throws a fit! Cry’s like he is being dragged to hell. Doesn’t like being on a leash. We praise him when he is walking with us without grunting or tugging. A lot of positive praising. Give him a lot of treats too. We live in Echo Park, Los Angeles. There is a lot of noise so we take him at night but we want him to get used to people and other pups. Am I wrong?

SLEEP:
We wake up 2hours and 30min every night to let him out. No accidents as of yet at night. We try to keep him up till we go to sleep but no matter what time he falls asleep he wakes up at 5AM sharp. I think that has to do with feeding him when we first got him so that’s why we be been pushing his feeding time by 15 min everyday now. Am I wrong?

HOLDING:
He doesn’t like being lifted up. If you are sitting on the ground he will go into your lap and nestle himself in and bite your clothes but we always give him his toys. Anytime we try picking him up though he wiggles and cry’s. I don’t want to make this a traumatizing experience so I let him down. I don’t pick him up often. Only at night when it’s potty time and not play time. Am I wrong?

I feel like we got a pups from hell. It makes me feel like the previous owner did something horrible. We want to take him to training classes but we keep getting quotes over 500-1K sometimes even over! We love this dog and if it takes that much well hell, I’ll do it. When we got him he had 2 types of worms and wasn’t in the best shape. He’s doing a hell lot better health wise. Any help you can give would be AMAZING!
 
@eldridge I feel any time I try to give puppy advice I get downvoted or corrected.

All I want to say is I know how you feel and that consistency is key.

Not sure how long YOU have had your pup, but we adopted ours from a shelter at 2 months, and the next 4-5 months were stressful with behavior and training. He is now 3 and a good boi, with some occasional heeler tendencies.

If you have barely had your puppy, it’s going to take time. People like to talk about the joy of puppies, but I’m betting the majority have never raised one!
 
@lovelikeyou Thank you! I was scared to post on here cause of how everyone seems to have the perfect pups. I’m on a strict schedule with him. I’m just scared of doing something wrong and making him more aggressive...that would destroy me. Me and my partner are hikers, walkers, and runners. We wanted a dog that would need a lot of exercise cause we do too.
 
@eldridge As you mentioned you don’t know his background but he has plenty of time to change.

Also all dogs are different. While mine enjoys walks, he is satisfied with 4 miles or less max
 
@eldridge He is just a baby at 12 weeks. I think you need to socialize him to everything but at a decent pace. Walking a 12 week old is never pretty. But you should be able to pick him up and have him relax. Work on everything consistently but lower your expectations for the wee one. In addition, he will regress during his teen time (6 to 10 months?) but will come out of it. I got my pup at 10 weeks. At 12 weeks we were in full uncontrolled nipping mode. The posters on this sub helped me realize I had to control nipping and that became my main focus. Redirection, redirection, redirection, constant and consistent redirection are what worked for me. He stopped nipping me but demanded attention for fetching. We played lots of fetch, indoors and outdoors. I work from home and practiced stationing, which is tying him to me and making him follow me through my day. I took him to obedience, nose work, and agility classes. We still do agility. But this is a long haul without a quick fix. Celebrate even the smallest of steps. They are smart and if they are food or toy driven, they are trainable. My 10 week pup is a 4 year old non-nipping, quirky, obedient adult!
 
@eldridge I think you’re doing good. Like another poster said, consistency is key. My girl was a biter/mouthed too and she just now is starting to stop putting her mouth on me. She’s almost 5 months. Bully sticks have helped a lot to occupy her time/mouth. I also have her registered with a doggy daycare where she can socialize with other pups, as well as a walker/trainer who comes once a week to walk with her for 30 minutes and work on her manners. The leash training and socializing takes time, so just keep on keeping on. It’ll come. These guys are SUPER smart so they pick up on stuff fast.

I think the food aggression should improve with age; your pup is still very much a baby and used to competing with his siblings for stuff. Once he’s secure in the fact that “this is mine and no one else is taking it”, he should ease up. This may mean you need to feed him and leave him alone so that he doesn’t feel tense because you’re sitting there touching him. Put his bowl somewhere in a common area and let him eat while you’re around/doing other stuff. So you’re sharing space, but not making him feel uncomfortable.

My girl also doesn’t like to be held. She’ll sit in my lap if I’m on the floor, but doesn’t like to be lifted off the ground. I personally don’t see it as a big deal because I’m not going to be lifting her when she’s 45-50#. She’ll let me help her in and out of the car, and that’s all the lifting I want to do anyway.

Other than that, hang in there! You’re not doing anything wrong and puppies are hard! I think the first few months of having my girl was almost as bad as when my son was a newborn. The good news is puppies grow much quicker!! It’s just going to take time. I used to tell my girl that she was so good, but she was just dumb, and that’s because she was so young. She’s getting better every day and I truly believe you will have a wonderful dog in a few months once the puppy dumb wears off lol.
 
@eldridge With the food, I make mine sit and wait while I prepare his food and set it out and then I tell him it's ok to get up and go eat. When he was a puppy I would make him eat out of my hand alot forcing him to be gentle. And also would place my hand in his bowl while eating and occasionally take it away and have him sit and wait and start again. It worked great with his food agression with people. But mine is still sometimes agresssive with other dogs towards food. Haven't solved that issue...
 
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