How does anyone do this?

[ohumhithere]

@bitz Yes usually after he’s played so we can hold him for a bit. All the smells provide some good mental stimulation.

 

[andrew923]

@bitz Depending on size, you can take them for a walk in a pet backpack. My chihuahua gets quite tired even in the backpack because she’s observing and sniffing during the whole walk.

 

[breakingcontact]

@bitz Sniffing is supposed to be 2-3x as stimulating as walking.

I try to take mine out for a 30+ minute sniff session daily. We head out to a park and I just let him sniff and lead the way through the park.

 

[nintkola]

@bitz as far as the nipping goes, have you tried getting up and leaving the room. Doesn't have to be for long, maybe 10-15 secs. That is what helped my puppy. The only time he gets playful with his mouth is when I first let him out of the crate in the morning. Lasts about 5 mins and then we are good for the day. I did notice the behavior was quickly corrected when he learned that biting me loses my attention, the thing he seeks out the most.

 

[irnbite73]

@bitz Puppies at this age are just bitey and it’s how they play an explore. A little schnauzer can’t be hurting that bad. I’d let her bite you some and let her learn some bite inhibition instead of putting her away everytime. The phase doesn’t last am very long and it will really let you bond.

 

[dananglingson]

@bitz Schnauzers are people dogs, they want to be with their people, touching if possible. They are wickedly smart, can get bored and stubborn when they hit their “teenager” stage. Join mini schnauzer sub if you haven’t already.

Every time he nips redirect him to a toy or chew. He’s a baby -teething and probably in pain nipping at you releases the pressure and is his way of looking for help/ relief. Look for teething type toys or dampen a rope flossy toy and freeze it. My pup enjoyed getting his gums rubbed with a finger tooth brush and would stop nipping afterwards. For some reason my schnauzer liked the white dinosaur looking nylabone- not the bone shaped ones. They can figure out puzzle type toys in no time so the busy type feeder balls will keep him amused a little longer.

We hide a handful of treats around the house and then tell him to find them.. Great for a rainy day and to satisfy their hunting drive. This can easily move on to people/dog hide n go seek games which is fairly hilarious.

Schnauzers need to be physically tired out like all breeds but it’s often not enough. Training mentally exhausts them. Watch a few YouTube videos of how to train come, sit, stay, lay down, hi five, roll over, speak, leave it… etc Pick one at a time and work on it- for 10 minutes or so at a time- when he gets it celebrate and reward, reinforce and then nap time. When they’re trying to figure out how to get the treat from your hand you can almost see the gears turning and the smoke coming out of their ears LOL.

If you can get him in a routine/ schedule of sleep, wake, potty,eat, play- whatever order works for you they’ll pick up on it and your cues of what’s next pretty quickly. Make sure you’re talking to him - telling him it’s time to eat/ play/ sleep so he picks up the vocabulary.

 

[onceemt]

@bitz My lab is 13 weeks today. Had him for 5 weeks now. There's been a lot of ups and downs already but he is slowly learning boundaries and able to calm down sometimes lol. It is really hard though. He had too many treats yesterday so I woke up twice overnight to take him out and Clean up diarrhea lol. Not a fun time.

 

[oceansdeep]

@bitz Doggy daycare once or twice a week, life saving!

 

[bren_dm]

@bitz Why don't you try asking her breeder?

A new puppy should be a joy - not a burden.

This doesn't sound normal and there's no shame in reaching out to her breeder who not only has experience with the breed but has likely experienced similar things with this pup's parents, etc.

 

[theemcon]

@bitz Don't beat yourself up - all puppies are different! What I liked to do with mine is to go out for a socialization walk (him in my bag) and I'd bring his meal and hand feed him kibble by kibble to keep him calm.

Here was my mini at 9 weeks! He's always been a lazy guy. It gets better. I didn't sleep a full night until he was about 3 months old. And even then we were waking up at 6am sharp. But one look in those little eyes and it was all worth it.

 

[pofo2020]

@bitz Ok so with the biting: have toys next to you and when you hold her to stroke her, put a toy in her mouth when she tries to bite you. That way she learns to chew the toys and not your hands. Worked with my 2 dogs

 

[andrew923]

@bitz I cried a lot, read a lot of posts on this group, and just kept taking it day by day. We are at 9 months now and she’s much more manageable, but still bites and has developed some new annoying habits like barking at every dog she sees. I just keep telling myself so many people have dogs and love them and get second and third dogs, so it eventually has to get better.

Things that have helped us are enforced naps, bully sticks (for something to chew on while we sit together - I hold it and she chews it), flirt pole, “settle” training (getting her to lay down and then rewarding - quickly at first but working on spreading out the rewards), and lots of patience

ETA: putting things in her pen that she really likes might help her settle in there. We use lick mats, kongs, safe chews, etc and at first I only gave her those in the pen so she’d associate the pen with that. I also used to sit in the pen with her quite a bit when we introduced it so she wasn’t always in there alone.

 

[nicolek]

@andrew923 I had a really hard time crate training mine. What finally worked was sitting next to the crate and treating her every single time she was quiet in there, even for a couple of seconds. Then one day she went in there herself and just hung out.

 

[andrew923]

@nicolek Good tip! I gave up on the crate after about 5-6 months because she started waking up all night long and barking. I want to reintroduce it, though, so we can eventually have the crate and no play pen (which takes up way more room).

 

[dougloose]

@bitz Yay fellow mini owner checking in!! I experienced all the same behaviours except the biting - my girl was never much of a biter/chewer.

She panicked even if put her in a pen right next to my feet. I had to work a lot on separation training. Stepping away from her in the pen and throwing her a treat and stepping back. Enforced naps with white noise machines and a crate cover was a life saver. I always had treats on top of her crate and I used to play crate games with her. Sometimes she’d even take herself to bed!

But I will say - I’ve met a lot of schnauzer owners, none of them really love their crates. I had to give up when she was around 8 months. She just one day had an almighty fit and refused to sleep in her crate. I started to let her in my bed and now she sleeps in till 8-9 am.. they are Velcro dogs but I’d definitely teach them how to separate from you in a healthy way.

In terms of the biting, I think a lot of that is overtiredness. I used to follow the 1 up 2 down to keep her from turning into a gremlin. It does work and you’ll find their behaviour improves a lot. Schnauzers also love snuffling for food given their breed, so I’d do a lot of food puzzles - use a cardboard box and some old towels. Chuck her kibble in there and let her snuffle it out!

 

[towsend4234]

@bitz Try brown noise at night. It really works. I have also used an Echo to play “calm my dog” when I’m away. Home camera shows everybody just snoozing.

 

[peeledgrapes]

@bitz Great advice here! Teaching relax was huge for us. I’d add try getting a flirt pole if you think she’d be into chasing something around. It’s easy enough to do while watching tv so you get some down time as well. Thought the exact same thing two month ago. You’re not alone. Godspeed!

 

[niclas0108]

@bitz This was us with our gsp/gsd lil baby land shark. I was unemployed (luckily?) but man was I working hard. First week he only slept in like 1-2 hour intervals. He destroyed shoes, rugs, our couch. We felt like we made the biggest mistake. People would come over and just he bitten the entire time. Trying to walk him would just be him biting at my ankles and me dragging him. It’s so funny now I kinda miss how little he was. Puppy classes helped. But really it’s just time. Everything changed around 4.5 months. His sharp teeth fell out and he enjoys cuddling now and just being pet ! One tip I can give is frozen treats like carrots or Broccoli

 

[dragonfly34]

@bitz ‘When I see pictures of puppies sleeping on their owner’s laps, I think it must be a joke! We would be eaten alive’

This was my experience with my puppy when he was little, this time last year. It was so tough going, and I wondered why on earth my husband & I had done this to ourselves! I cried, I was sleep deprived & full of anxiety. I didn’t enjoy the early puppy phase. Looking back, I wish I’d enjoyed my puppy more when he was so tiny, but I was too overwhelmed.

However, puppies grow up, and it does get easier. My puppy is 14 months old now, and we still have things to work on, but overall life is more normal now.

Looking back, the biting / chewing teething phase only lasted a few months, it just felt forever at the time.

Keep reminding yourself it’s all a phase, they do grow up and become dogs

 

[morganegg]

@bitz Exercise. A tired puppy is a much calmer puppy.