@abugah Thanks! Tbh, I’m thinking it might actually be acid reflux which might be easier to manage than pickiness! Either way, definitely with you on the struggle being real and immediately after posting that comment more things started popping to mind (like the fact that she decided she doesn’t need to pee before bed anymore, but that means she’s waking me up at 3am desperate to go)
@abugah Sounds very familiar! My pomspitz just turned 6 months and has started exhibiting very similar behaviours, right down to the fear of garbage cans. Just took me 25 mins to get him back on his lead after our evening walk - he usually has perfect recall. I don’t have any advice alas but wanted to let you know you’re not alone!
@abugah Ours is a 6 month old sprockapoo (springer, cocker and poodle). The biting is much improved, but she's doing a lot of barking now. She's got beef with a dog about 3 streets away, you can hear them calling and answering each other. I'd love to know what they were saying. Her hearing has become very selective, and she has become very stubborn. She picked up a sports bottle top on our walk yesterday and refused to move or drop it. She parked herself on somebody's lawn and when I tried to open her jaws to get it out, just clamped down as hard as she could on it.
One thing that's absolutely made my heart melt though is that I got a 7 metre long line for her, and oh my goodness, her nose to the ground while she has a good sniff is such a joy to watch. She goes a bit crazy on it at first and then it's like the Spaniel brain is activated and she becomes the best sniffer dog in the world. And all that sniffing makes her very sleepy.
Ours is horrible with recall now, and likes ignoring commands. Still chasing the cats, even though she by now knows that’s a big no-no. But she “forgets”. (The cats remind her not so kindly to bug off sometimes.)
She was broken of chasing birds/squirrels/bunnies on walks. Now we’re back to that again.
Obnoxious brat mode is now 8pm-9:30pm.
On the plus side, she is now 100% fully housebroken. However, due to her behavior, she still can’t be trusted alone in the house unsupervised while my husband and I are at work. Unless we want all trash cans emptied with contents chewed and/or eaten, and the cats terrorized.
@abugah My 5 month old welsh springer spaniel is doing well with alone time for 3-4 hours and potty training. But she is definitely showing more fear outside now and barking at other dogs on leash. If I walk her with my adult dog, she does better, but I want her to have confidence on her own, too. We took one puppy class and are starting another soon, so I'm hopeful that will help. I also have been looking at engage-disengage clicker training games. In general, she is very focused on me, but she's also getting distracted by birds and squirrels more often now (as is normal for a spaniel). I'm so afraid of having a leash-reactive dog! I just keep reminding myself that puppy brains are still developing, and she can have new (better) emotional responses to things with my help.
@abugah my 9mo toy poodle puppy is now spending his time:
barking at every single sound he hears and every dog he sees (i have become what i feared most - the owner of a small yappy dog who is unable to get it to shut up lol)
stealing and unraveling the toilet paper (i had to relocate it-it can’t be on the toilet paper holder anymore)
stealing any article of clothing or shoe he can get his paws on (especially the brief moments i have my closet door opened to grab something -mind you, it used to be open 24/7 and he never paid it any mind - he now uses that as an opportunity to take the first thing he finds in there and run)
eat large holes through several cardboard boxes
repeatedly knock over my small garbage bins (again, which he used to fully ignore) and then grab receipts or whatever else falls out
steal stuff OUT OF MY DRAWER while i’m grabbing a hair clip from it
nearly take my fingers off by slamming my drawers closed while i’m trying to get a fork
chew on every single book i own
take things off my desk/counter??? (he is 10 lbs and 10” tall at the withers i have NO CLUE how he’s managing this)
very randomly snap/bite me when i give him scratches or brush him sometimes(?)
did i mention incessant barking?
pls send help lol (and any advice on how to stop the barking would be SO SO appreciated)
@jakebakes you've just described my biggest fear: my pup who never barks turning into a yappy dog. I'm not there yet, but let's console ourselves that adolescense is just a phase and afterwards he turns back to the well behaved dog he was before. I mean if that wasn't the case, why would anyone invest all that time into socializing and training their puppy during the first 6 months?
@abugah Hey! Just wanted to chime in since I've been through this with my papillon last year. It does get better, I promise
Had the same issue, where he was afraid of literally everything as a teenager, and I had to carry him on our walks. He is a little over a year old now and is much more confident and a joy to be around As for the putting everything in their mouth, it didn't go quite away, but he's much better with dropping it on command.
Sending good thoughts to you and your little friend, you got this!
@chiefyang83 Thank you so much for this! . Did he just outgrow the fear or was there anything in particular you did? I appreciate this. It made me feel better
@abugah My vet said that a lot of puppies go through this stage, especially papillons, as they are such drama queens. That being said, I worked with him nonstop and praised him for our every little victory. I also always gave him the option to be carried. If I saw that he is starting to freak out, I kneeled down and gave him the option to decide whether he wants to go up or conquer his fear. He rarely chooses the lap option nowadays. Hope this helps
@cisk777 That i don't really know, as my mother reinforced the behaviour, and he is still a mini dragon whenever he hears someone at the door Still working on it, but is much more responsive now as a young adult
Recall is nonexistent I get 20% success out of recalling her.
Usually if your dog is barking then they're over threshold, I would work heavily on counterconditioning their engagement to their triggers. Luckily enough if your pup is reacting to everything then start to reward them for disengaging with their triggers! I'm still working through that myself and some days she does well some days I just can't get her to calm down.
One thing I'll say about walks is that if your dog is at a point where you can't walk without the dog putting everything in their mouth then I would stop going on walks with your puppy and instead focus on engagement and respecting leash pressure. It definitely sucks and I'm in the same boat but my trainer told me that if they're consistently self-reinforcing that it's okay to put things in their mouth then it'll just get worse the more you continue to walk your pup.
@billover70 This makes sense about walks. I think I’m trying to rush things too much and need to lower my expectations. Thank you so much!!! Can you explain what you mean about counterconditioning?
@billover70 This makes so much sense! THANK YOU. Yeah I need to stop pushing my expectations on him and just work w him at his pace. I get so caught up w at 5 months they should do this and at 6 months this and well other posters puppies are walking perfectly on a leash. That way of thinking is not fair to him and I need to remember every pup is different
. Did he just outgrow the fear or was there anything in particular you did? I appreciate this. It made me feel better 
Still working on it, but is much more responsive now as a young adult