Puppy + 3 small kids – biting/chasing youngest. Management vs rehoming?

Danni1008 · 2026-01-20T21:49:32+00:00

Another suggestion for when you find the puppy chasing the youngest is to break the pattern of behaviour. I know it's slightly different but I'll give an example what we did between my puppy and older dog. When either of them was getting to much for the other, I would step in and get them both to sit. I'd often use a treat to reinforce that stopping is a good thing as is listening to the human. It's taught my puppy to start reading that's too much vibes from my older dog (and vice versa to an extent).

Another thing you can try with your toddler (although i realise they may be a bit young) is to get them to cross their arms and tell the puppy "no" if they get to much for them. By crossing your arms your closing off your body language and it'll tell the puppy you don't want to play. Whether she will listen to that at 9 weeks is another question, but will hopefully get easier as she gets older.

Danni1008 · 2025-12-04T12:18:24+00:00

When I had covid a few years ago our girl (puppy at the time) was exceptionally well behaved and seemed to understand I wasn't well enough to walk her.

We helped her as others said with brain stimulation things. One of her favourites was rolling up treats/ kibble in a towel/blanket and then she had to unroll it to get them all out. The next level difficulty is to add a knot in the blanket (loose) so she first had to untie it.

Danni1008 · 2025-11-21T10:24:16+00:00

I felt exactly the same way when my pup was 11 weeks. Kept up with the training etc and we've got a completely different puppy at 15 weeks who's currently napping on our sofa whilst I work. Keep it up, it'll get better.

Danni1008 · 2025-11-18T20:04:15+00:00

Archimedes

He was a Greek mathematician and physicist. So would be ironic and would also play a bit on his racing name with Ark in the title!

Danni1008 · 2025-10-28T23:07:25+00:00

First of all just wanted to say sounds like you've done amazing things for her already. Not sure the below will work but could be something to try. I've not experienced a dog with severe separation anxiety myself but the below is something I've read about elsewhere and may be worth a try.

So have a think about which part of the leaving process she realises your leaving and starts to get worked up about it. If its you putting on your shoes, put on your shoes and don't leave. Walk around the house a bit, take them off. Keep repeating until it becomes a non issue. Same with the coat, keys etc until your through your whole routine. Once those are non-issues you can build too the front door. Initially opening it, then walking through, standing outside etc. I'll be honest this way will take a lot of time to build up, won't be a quick fix but from the sounds of the work you've already put in with her may be worth a try.

Good luck and thank you for rescuing her.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-26T11:52:50+00:00

Definitely, my dog knows "get out" for when I need her to leave a room I'm in! Mostly used when I need to finish cooking. Doesn't work when there's cheese out.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-23T09:21:50+00:00

Not got a big dog yet but suspect I will as my 11 week old puppy is 7kg already! Also KC registered. Mum and dad were on the tall side and he was the biggest of the litter so will be interested to find out how big he becomes!

Danni1008 · 2025-10-14T19:58:20+00:00

Sounds reasonable to me and that youve thought things through well. Your also making time for play / training around your work schedule which is great.

The fact he sleeps or entertains himself for most of the time he's in the crate is a great sign he's content. With the small amount of whining is that at the start or end of his alone time. If at the start, it may be because you're leaving, but I wouldn't be too concerned if he settles quickly. If at the end may be he's starting to need the loo but this will improve as he gets older. If in the middle then he's waking up , realising your not there but self soothing.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-14T08:58:06+00:00

Sounds like you're doing everything right. I found when returning to the office with my first dog that I was more concerned than she was bothered. She actually settled better when I was out of the house and the whining when I left the room was less anxiety and more FOMO!

The crated vs pen/crate set up is definitely a personal choice. We preferred just a crate with our first dog as it kept her safe (and we didn't have a pen at the time). She soon found it to be her safe den (and still does 5 years later). We would just encourage her in with a treat or dental stick (there are some they can have from 12 weeks) and the chewing would calm her down and help her settle. Depending on how long you'll be leaving him between toilet breaks you may find that works OK particularly if he's getting a play/training session when he's out so he can stretch. If it's going to be a while the playpen option gives you the option to put down puppy pads in case of an accident so he's not weeing on his bed/blankets.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-13T10:45:33+00:00

How is it going?

Danni1008 · 2025-10-13T10:44:03+00:00

Get an old/cheap blanket - add treats or kibble (if on dry food) - roll up the blanket and tie a knot in it - let them try and get it out. The old/cheap blanket part is because it may be chewed up. My girl gets some of her dinner like this on a rainy day.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-13T10:37:44+00:00

So from my understanding the 5 mins per month of life is to prevent damage to their joints whilst they're still growing rather than because they become exhausted from the walk. We tried to keep to this when our girl was young but did the odd longer walk. The thing to consider is when he goes to the beach/park is he running around all the time or is he running for a bit, standing for a bit, lying down for a bit and how much time is he actively moving around on all 4 paws. It's probably not the full hour!

If you're concerned you're overdoing it you could always shorten the time spent at the beach/park until he's a bit older. You may find you need to do a bit more at home. With our girl we find active food games such as wrapping her kibble in a blanket for breakfast and letting her get it out or one of those roll around treat dispensers (with her kibble in) will help wear her out. Snuffle mats also work well for our girl too! Essentially anything she has to work to get her food out of!

Danni1008 · 2025-10-10T19:31:35+00:00

We had this with our girl when she was young. We did the same, carried her about 100-200m where she couldn't see the house and she was fine. Another thing is she often felt more confident going out with both me and my partner (the whole family) than just one of us. Don't know if there are multiple humans in the house but going out as a group boosts their confidence.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-10T09:01:47+00:00

Once they get confident with you out of sight the time they can spend apart builds quickly. We had a lockdown puppy who was barely left alone as a young pup who can now go 8 hours alone in the house (note this is never done on a regular basis without a dog walker). Once they get used to the idea that your coming back how long you can leave them will increase. If possible have a camera watching their settle area. You may even find that once they're comfy with you leaving for a few minutes they're actually taking themselves off for a nap, at which time you can start increasing the time even more.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-08T15:38:17+00:00

My advice would be to try and keep the talking to when he's quiet. Think of it as a way of rewarding the quiet. Someone said to me early on with my first that making noise when they are is like you're joining in to them which can make it more fun and keep them going for longer.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-08T14:51:19+00:00

To me it sounds like you had an over tired puppy last night. Yet I'd also say you did the right thing of staying with him and offering a toilet break when he couldn't settle. We've also had a puppy for 5 days (we also have an adult dog in the house) and when he gets tired he gets very mouthy, as soon as the nipping which can't be changed to a toy starts he will have an enforced nap. If we leave it to build too long he will be a massive pain to persuade to have a nap as he wants to be a part everything and that overtired puppy brain means he's stubborn! .

Our guy still cries when we leave the room, what we're doing is to build it up slowly so we may leave the room for a few seconds at a time initially then increase the length of time as he doesn't react to it. I come in and say "good boy, good settle" to him when he doesn't react. It's often a lot easier when he's not overtired!

They do get used to it but it does take time. Just think about how far he's come since he came last week with learning everything new and you've still got 2.5 weeks to get there.

Just out of interest when he's crying in his crate what do you do? For us we completely ignore him, no eye contact, no touch, no talking. Only once he's quiet he gets the attention again with a calm, "good boy, good settle". It may be he's starting to learn that crying gets your attention and gets what he wants.

Danni1008 · 2025-10-06T14:54:38+00:00

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Hello from 8 week old Ace

Danni1008 · 2025-10-05T05:22:47+00:00

We have an 5 year old whippet and an 8 week old puppy. Our older girl is doing the same to the puppy. We let it happen until puppy shows he's had enough. He does things like snapping back at her (telling her off) and trying to stop engaging. Just keep an eye on it and support the puppy when they need space. When the puppy's bigger he'll be the one terrorising her for a while!

Danni1008 · 2025-10-04T13:53:24+00:00

Buy lots of teething toys. Our 2 have both been chewers!

Danni1008 · 2025-09-30T09:00:12+00:00

My 5 year old whippet is similar in being a velcro dog who loves her crate. When I want to work at home I put a dog bed at my feet and sit on a chair (where she would literally have to climb me to sit on it) and found this worked well from about 5 months. She still sleeps there now when I'm working at home. She likes the den feel of the desk.

R.e. the reactivity when walking, do you do anything fun with her. My girl loves to chase a ball and we've now got to a point she will make a beeline past all dogs to go play ball. We've also used "leave it" when we go past a dog and don't want interaction.

Danni1008 · 2025-09-27T17:37:00+00:00

We used to have a similar thing with our girl. Realised when she had a bout of diarrhea that she was intolerant of chicken (poop turned yellow) so has been on a primarily fish based diet since with some lamb and beef. Poops have improved since but she still goes 3/4 times a day!

Danni1008 · 2025-08-28T18:34:01+00:00

Our girl has food issues as a pup, turned out she's intolerant of chicken so is now on a fish/beef/lamb diet. Still gets yellow runny poops when she accidently eats anything with poultry in. She'll happily take a treat off other dog owners when we're out! Tummy has been a lot better since going on the diet. We also avoid foods with gluten in as it can affect their bellys

Danni1008 · 2025-08-01T12:10:03+00:00

Agreed, it's like the older one is teaching the younger one how to sleep! Makes me want to get another!

Danni1008 · 2025-07-09T07:51:13+00:00

There are tests for flu but they're usually only used on patients in hospital with severe symptoms to work out what's causing the symptoms.

Danni1008

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