PLEASE HELP - About to give up...

Glad the little one got tuckered out today...  I think the issue on not running with your puppy to avoid stress to bones and joints before they are fully set means that you shouldn't take the dog running with you - rather, you should allow the dog to play and run at his or her own pace (run like mad, stop, turn, trot, run etc. - rather than the constant steady pace of a couple mile jog with a human, usually on concrete)...  So, running the pup, off leash, at his own pace around the yard is, I think, fine and really good for him...  If your pup plays nicely with other dogs, maybe set up play dates so another dog can wear the pup out - that always seems very effective over here...
 
I also think that for your peace of mind you should get a behaviorist in to meet your pup...  I think that a professional opinion will help put your mind at ease about what is and is not normal and what you can do to nip things that may in fact be problematic in the long run, in the bud.
 
And, I agree that NILIF should start now...  if you feel like your pup is tough to manage, better to get started now - you are in charge, and pup works for you to get everything good.  There are a ton of posts on this, so look it up on the internet and do a search on the forum, and if you have any questions, definitely ask, a lot of us here live with our dogs constantly practicing NILIF to greater and lesser extents...

1. Dogs that get rehomed suffer, wind up with behavioral problems sometimes, and often wind up dying. Please do take rehoming very seriously.

2. Be the human. Restrict your dog's access to things he isn't ready for, like faces. Listen to him, and let him be your guide about whether or not he can handle being next to your prone body without playing with you as a dog does... with his teeth. Tethering and crating regularly teach him how to settle down--I would keep crating him regularly myself.

Ignore unwanted behavior. Any stimulus you are giving him for biting is what he is working for.

3. Be careful about too too much physical exercise, or physical exercise at the expense of mental exercise. He needs to be eating every single meal out of a puzzle toy, every treat needs to be a hide-and-seek game, he needs to be problem solving (stuff a kong, put it in the freezer, put the frozen kong in a box, etc...) whenever he eats anything at all. Training in short sessions, freeshaping, and all other kinds of training games are very mentally tiring.

If you exercise your dog too much, or for too long, you will train your dog physically to need increasing amounts of exercise. Don't turn into a puppy owner who needs to spend 3 hours in the dog run in order to have any peace and quiet at home! Train instead!

4. He is a normal, high energy puppy, which brings me back to point number one. Puppies don't come knowing how to do anything at all, except things that humans don't care for. They aren't particularly fun. They are a lot of work--they are very ignorant, require the patience of Job, and can be painful and destructive. This is why puppies are so cute.

Unfortunately, it's also why so many dogs wind up dying every day. Owning an animal is an act of stewardship--you are responsible for his life.

I just wanted to say that Willow was my first dog and she was such a challenge.  There was aggression, not eating, illness that they couldn't diagnose, fear of lot of things, she had never lived in a house before, the list just goes on and on. 
 
The aggression almost got to me twice.  I on two difference occasions was so afraid of her and overwhelmed that I arranged for a rescue to pick her up.  But, I could never go thru with it. 
 
I cancelled them and worked and worked so hard.  Training, NILIF, commands, walking on leash, you name it, we did it. 
 
Now, three years later, I thank God every day I didn't give up.  What I would of missed. . .I can't even think about it. 
 
Please hang it there.  This forum was a lot of help to me and I know if you just weed thru the BS posts you will see that. 
 
Lori

You're willing to spend any amount of time or money yet you've only had him for 8 weeks!

 
Hmm Id have to say after 8 week with Bailey I would have already felt the same way.  Do you have a time limit on your love and devotion...?  I dont.

Im so sorry for what your going through. 
 
From your last post it seems like you have him in his on sapce when your home.. (sorry if Im wrong)  I think if your home he needs to have free run of the house and free acess to you.  If not, when let out he may just be so excited to be with you and play that he goes nuts.  If he was always free in the house (while your home) and able to lay by you and all it wouldnt be a big deal anymore after a while and he would calm down. That may help with the biting.
 
I agree your pup may just need a different kind of activity like agility or something... maybe you could try tthat instead. 
 
It really hurts my heart to hear you say you havnt felt the benefits of a dog yet.... its the most incredible thing in the world.  None of us can really say whats wrong over the internet other than the exercise thing... and while I may get stoned for this... some dogs are not for some people and as long as you found him a good loving home.... maybe it would be worth it for you to find one more your pace. 
 
Okay, please people... Im not advocating giving up by any means, but if it turns out that way then what can you do.  I just want you to MAKE ABSOLUTE SURE its not just puppy behavior that will pass with time.  Consistency and love... every day, for months and months.  Puppies need SO much.  I could go into a ton of stories about Bailey as Im sure anyone here can about their pups...
 
And since you said how much you love him I dont expect that you would give up... but I did want to touch on the subject.  Good luck. 

The problem with writing posts is how easily they can be [mis]interpreted. I know--it's happened to me time and time again. If we could all take face-to-face . . . well, just imagine the possibilities.

I think, in part, that you, GSB, need a place to vent and you are, perhaps, wanting to know where the puppy ranks against other puppies. (Again, I could be off and misinterpreting--the inherent problem with writing.)

I have you tell you, as a first-time puppy owner myself, everyday I said this when I woke up: "Aha. You are a day older. We are a day closer." And I survived it day-by-day.

When we went to training, she wasn't like the other 4 dogs, either. She was weird. Shy, awkward, weird. There's a graduation picture and I'm the ONLY one who's holding her and helping her stay, otherwise she wouldn't have done it. She was SO HARD. And that wasn't even my hound.
 
My hound was hard, too. I once went to Canada and my baby sister watched her and when I called to check in, she was crying, saying that Kina was being really hard, "hunting" (we rarely said that with joy in our tone), ignoring her, etc. Really hard.
 
When I rescued her, my landlord told me to take her back, that I couldn't have her. I cried and told him No Way could I do that. So, we compromised--she could stay if I got her a dogloo and had her outside while I was at work.

I had her only two weeks (this is the walker hound) when she broke into my house, ran through it all, trashed it (not unlike what Johnny Depp did years ago to a hotel room), and I found her under all my covers (she pulled them back), sleeping with her head on my pillow. She was hard, too. Really awkward, really into hunting, really into her own life and her own goals--really like a hound.

But it all turned out okay, and I know this will, too. In the meantime, if he's in a crate, you and your people family can take a break and go see a movie. It helps. Really. Not seeing his little squirming and naughty face for a couple of hours helps.

[]

PS--my hound learned to hunt all cats but the two she lived with. I don't know how Lazlowe1 did it, but it took my hound 6 months to be appropriate around my first cat and 3 months to appropriate around my second one. I used a muzzle and a water bottle and my voice. (Not that she could hear it when she was howling, mind you. [])
 
So, after that, she looked for other cats and not her own "brothers."

ORIGINAL: agilebcs

You're willing to spend any amount of time or money yet you've only had him for 8 weeks! 

 
 
So much for proofreading...what I meant to say was:
 
You're willing to spend any amount of time or money on him yet after only 8 weeks you are talking about getting rid of him?  Any amount of time is a whole lot longer than 8 weeks.
 
 

All you hear is how cute and cuddly and fun they are.

 
Hahahaha!  who told you this? pups are cute the way kids are cute-- if they are someone else's.  Pups are hard work. But hang in there-- the wild high-drive ones usually turn out to be the absolute best dog you've ever had, once they are three and older anyway.

the wild high-drive ones usually turn out to be the absolute best dog you've ever had, once they are three and older anyway.

(emphasis added)

[sm=rotfl.gif] Truer words have never been spoken my friend.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy
Hahahaha!  who told you this? pups are cute the way kids are cute-- if they are someone else's.  Pups are hard work. But hang in there-- the wild high-drive ones usually turn out to be the absolute best dog you've ever had, once they are three and older anyway.

 
HA!!  I keep telling DH that I am just WAITING for Wes to be 3!! 

ORIGINAL: agilebcs

ORIGINAL: agilebcs

You're willing to spend any amount of time or money yet you've only had him for 8 weeks! 

So much for proofreading...what I meant to say was:

You're willing to spend any amount of time or money on him yet after only 8 weeks you are talking about getting rid of him?  Any amount of time is a whole lot longer than 8 weeks.

 
Ahhh, I see[]

My two year ols Shih-Tzu was a rehome. So far I would say it was a very successful rehome, but I didn't expect miracles and I knew I was getting someonelse's problems to straighten out which I think is harder then taking a pup and training it the way you want it to be.  I got a two year old dog that was kind of set in his ways, but he turned out to be quite a good little learner.  Anyone who gets a dog or puppy has to realize that their is work involved.  They need to learn what is expected of them and what the routine is etc.
THe woman who owned him ended up with MS and could not care for him any longer.  For the first month it was trying for Harley and me.  He learned a lot of bad things when he lived with the woman.  He would jump up and nip your hand if you didn't pay attention to him 100% of the time, he jumped on the furniture, thought the carpet was a good place to pee, and he didn't have any obedience training whatsoever.  He didn't know sit, down, off, no,stay, wait, etc.  This was a 2 year old dog that had very little manners, BUT he was friendly and loving.  The poor dog was scared to be here at first since he had left his original owner and went to the breeder for two weeks then ended up here.  Harley didn't  know if he was coming, going or staying.  It has only been four months but I have done a lot of home training and obedience training.  He has learned the routine and what is expected in a very short time but sometimes he forgets himself.
He loves his new home now but we had quite a few things to work out.  He is now crated at night and when we leave to go out.  Another thing he was really lazy when he came here now he likes to have a few playtimes and walks.  Harley didn't know how to walk on a leash, he thought he should be carried everywhere and babied.  Now he likes playing and walks.  Harley was also bad about getting his nails done because the original owner had let them get so long they grew into the pads and he is liking grooming now.  The Original owner had let him get all matted.  So I have had minor annoyance behavioral roblems with him.  But after four months he likes his routine and grooming and playing and such.
I had said before with my other dog my Rott that it took me over 2 years to train him.  He was a tough dog to teach and there were times I wanted to rip my hair out and give up but I didn't because I knew that with all the hard work I was putting in that I would have a good dog.  He was an awesome dog and well trained.  It was worth every minute of aggravation!  Having him gave me a real education and respect for myself and him and I couldn't have asked for a better first dog as an adult.  I had dogs when I was a kid but I didn't do much of the training and with my Rott I did it all.

Benefits of having a dog :  having uncondtional love and devotion, a dog can make you smile when you feel bad or make you laugh and they are so much fun to have around.  Your pup is a work in progress and when you look back years from now you will say it was ALL worth it.  I think any of the other I-dog members will tell you that!

I would like to echo that I know what you are going through, to an extent.  When I got my hound, I knew that I would have 10 months of excruciating work ahead of me, and another year or so of just hard work...in order to have a lifetime of liveable, social companionship. 
 
I'm sure that you didn't realize what you were getting into, most of us don't have that complete picture.  We think we do but we paint a picture of puppy kisses and soft cuddles.  What we get is shredded pillows, holes in the drywall, scratches, abrasions and the occasional "awwww just look at him lying there..."  My own personal belief is that hounds, being so pack oriented, are the most difficult to raise.  You have to find what motivates them, deal with the boredom that comes with training, and keep everything up-beat for them.
 
My best suggestion, at this point is for you to ask one of your fellow puppy class mates to make play dates.  Since he is already familiar with the other pups, and they're familiar with him, these might be good playdates...and a way to really burn off some of that puppy energy.

ORIGINAL: agilebcs

ORIGINAL: agilebcs

You're willing to spend any amount of time or money yet you've only had him for 8 weeks! 

So much for proofreading...what I meant to say was:

You're willing to spend any amount of time or money on him yet after only 8 weeks you are talking about getting rid of him?  Any amount of time is a whole lot longer than 8 weeks.

 
yea..I meant time in the day, not time as in the rest of his life.  When you see no progress in behavior, its gets old and you wonder if its ever going to get better.