[Bailey's Dad]

Ok Bailey is doing good on many fronts and in many respects is a well rounded young dog. the things he is doing are causing alot of conflict and trouble.

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Pee-</span> Bailey gets walked all the time but will pee on the floors when no one is around. Sometimes he shows no signs of needing to go out. No sniffing the floor, walking in cirlces or sitting or sniffing by the front door but still he pee's on the floor.

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Poop-</span> Bailey has been giving some trouble with pooping on the kitchen floor or anywhere around the house. He has no problem showing the signs of needing to go out to pee or poop and more then half the time he does display the signs and goes outside. The past week or so my wife has been taking him out as usual but he won't do anything, then comes in the house and will do his business on the floor

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Blood-</span> Bailey has been jumping up on my wife and sons alot. He scratches them and nips at them and draws blood. I know his nails need to be kept short and they are but he is also nipping at the kids on their faces and puncturing skin. My son has a puncture on his face and this is a concern for me.
I talked to the kids about how Bailey is pretty much just a kid like they are and means no harm. He see's the kids playing or wrestling and comes over to jon in and tries to jump in the fun but his sharp teeth and claws are getting in the way. I told them that he just wants to play along with them and would never hurt them intentionally.

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Tears-</span>This morning and many other mornings its the same thing. I work at night and sleep in the day and when the rest of the family is getting up I am going to lay dow to sleep. Usually all I hear is Bailey, NO Bailey, sit Bailey, Down. Stop biting me. Owe he scratched me. blah blah blah. Then I hear i'm gonna kill this freaking down if he bites me again. I"m gonna kick this dog. I"m gonna do this. I'm gonna do that and its frustrating.

This morning my wife was not in a great mood as all of us have had before but today was tough. Bailey was nipping at everyone, tipped over a full bowl of food and when my wife walked away to help with the kids and then I hear her gagging and almost puking because of the loads of crap all over the floor and the hwole bowl of dry dog food scattered all over the floor. She's in tears and i'm not happy that this stuff is going on but I understand completely and don't want my family that upset, but I want them to learn how to live with Bailey and have Bailey do the right thing.

Bailey does none of these things to me and i've told everyone what they need to do and they have seen what works and doesn't work but no one seems to do the same things I do. I know not everyone can do things the same way I do but I wish that I could get everyone on the same page.

Any advice? <span style="color: #FF0000"><span style='font-size: 17pt'>PLEASE?!?!</span></span>

 

[wrenny]

First - How old is bailey?

Everything you described I've been through. My wife has cried numerous times because of our shark puppy. He literally took a chunk out of her ear one time and she was bleeding bigtime. The good news is most likely it gets better with training and age. I think your dog is really young because I might remember some posts for you.

The biting - Redirect to toys. Everytime you play with a toy, call it a toy. Eventually when he starts biting, you can say toy and he'll go grab a toy. This works with mine 90% of the time and the othe 10% he keeps biting me and earns a time out. My puppy is 8 months old.

The pee and poop - Mine never went in his crate but took 2-3 weeks before he would stop going in the house. It just takes them time and some longer then others. You can't expect much out of a puppy, they are puppies! I took mine out 1-2 hours everyday and he eventually got the point that he goes outside. Some people hang a bell from the door and ring it before going outside so he might start doing that whne he has to go potty.

The biggest thing is people think puppies are easy going. IMO they are the hardest to deal with, especially german shepherds. These aren't your little dogs that are always cuddly and stuff. They like to chomp on you until you teach them that you aren't a littermate to chomp on. It sometimes gets worse during teething and immediately stops after teething. Mine still hasn't stopped but working on his obedience helps a lot.

Maybe you need to keep him on a leash 24-7 for awhile if the pooping and peeing is bothering you so much. Either way, you need him in someones sight 100% of the time.

Different views/opinions if hes older but I don't know his age.

HANG IN THERE. They can be very trying and cause lots of stress, but they are so worth it!

 

[dd]

Sounds like Bailey needs a lot more supervision. For the indoor accidents - you need to leash Bailey to you to get that under control. The minute he starts to go - get him outside, then praise him like crazy!!

Blood and tears - you need more structure. Jumping on the kids is not okay sometimes and sometimes not - that is confusing to the dog. So don't let him wrestle with your kids, find other ways for them to play with him - fetch, for instance where they are in control of the ball.

To stop the jumping up, grab Bailey's paws when he jumps up and hold him in place while speaking to him...for ...a ...long...time. He won't like it and it should only take a few times for him to get the message.

Have you considered having one of your children take Bailey to obedience classes? You don't say what kind of training you are using but clicker training with lots of praise and rewards will help Bailey to understand what is and is not desired behaviour in your household.

dd

 

[wrenny]

1-26-08 he was 10 weeks old. So about 3-4 months old. He is still a big puppy and should grow out of the potty situtation very soon. Just start taking him out every 1-2 hours!! puppy potty boot camp.

 

[DocSoc]

It is important to remember 3 things in this EXACT ORDER...

1) exercise: this dog has a lot of pent up energy and this needs to be dealt with 1st

2) Discipline: The Dog/puppy is part of a pack and from the sounds of it doesn't know where he ranks, this needs to be addressed ASAP

3) Praise/Affection: Only when he does something positive is he to be treated with this. Some people go "No" then follow up with a pat, or kiss or worse...

Good luck my friend...

 

[LandosMom]

i am not sure how old your kids are but i would have Bailey crated whenever they are rough-housing. that includes running. i would also make sure that they do not bend over him from the top- my Quest used to jump and nip at their faces when they bent over her. ouch. i also used to try to have my kids act aloof with the pup when she was 2-5 months old unless i was right there with a hand on her collar so i can correct when he/she does something unacceptable.

exercise is your biggest ally.
also crate him unless you can watch him like a hawk.

good luck.

LandosMom

 

[jinj]

Take the dog out every 30 minutes now, do not pet or speak anything nice to them until they have done their business. Keep them on a leash, do not move from one spot until they have done it. They will get very bored and get it over as soon as they can, so they can run around and play.

This worked for our dog at around 9 weeks of age, 98% of the time, its 100% for the last week.

 

[Bluewolf]

Your Bailey and my pup are about the same age. I think you've been given good words of advice and encouragement here. In regard to the accidents in the house, I believe taking my pup out every 1-2 hours helped to train him to go outside for his toilet (thanks Wrenny for driving that home to me). He's had one accident at the door this past week, and it's because I was too slow getting my coat on and he'd just woken up from a full night of holding his water. It does improve with time

 

[WiscTiger]

I know that this can be very tough. wrenny has had some problems and his wife probably thinks I am the biggest of bitches but once the pup gets a little older she will forgive me.

Now you and your wife need to sit down and come up with a schedule that works for the two of you and the pup. You need a crate and maybe a excercise pen.

Your pup doesn't need Discipline, he needs structure.

Just a few notes:
Every time your pup messes in the house it re-enforces that it is OK to just pee or poo where it wants to. The pup needs to get potty trained and the crate is your best friend. Your wife sounds like she really has her hands full in the am's and she really doesn't need a fiesty untrained puppy adding to her work load. Next one of you has to find enough time in your schedule to go outside with the pup and stay outside until it goes potty, for mine that was always at least 2 pee's at an outting because they would never stand still long enough to empty their bladder. Then reward the pup for going potty outside. Once the pup understands that it should go outside and not in the house, then you can start putting a time limit on how long you are going to stand outside waiting for the pup to potty. I always pup my pups on a leash and started training them to go potty on command. If you are just sending the pup outside by itself then you have no idea if it went potty or not.

Now the blood and tears, if the pup can't be supervised, then the pup need to be in a crate or excercise pen. Puppy can't bite what it can't reach. Have lots of puppy toys for the pup to play with. Right now your pup thinks it is GREAT fun to jump up and bite your wife and kids. This behavioe when you are around needs to be redirected, I am not sure your wife has time with the kids.

Val

 

[MaggieRoseLee]

What Wisc.Tiger says.............

STRUCTURE, not discipline is what's needed here.

And the number one thing that will INSTANTLY help almost all the issues is a CRATE!!!!! Either the dog is in the room WITH you and you are watching so if there is an 'accident' you can correct and TEACH. Or the puppy is safe in a crate that is easy to clean.

The second thing is vast amounts and time for exercise for the puppy. And I'm betting your wife/kids won't be able to take this on. I personally don't know how people with kids and the time they take in your day can even raise a puppy (people do all the time, but I don't know how you do it!!!!) because I had to spend over an hour OUTSIDE THE HOUSE and offleash each and every day for the first year of my puppies life.

I would come home from work, put on my 'play' clothes, pack the pup in the car (this exercise is NOT the same in the yard or leashed walk around the block) and go to a new place to exercise/walk/run/play and wear that pup out. If I didn't come home and have my puppy walk off to 'crash' in it's crate from exhaustion then I knew I did NOT exercise my puppy enough. And that was my cue for the level needed. How my puppy would behave when we got home.

BTW, a tired puppy won't bite, jump, scratch the kids from BOREDOM and just trying to get some normal (for a puppy) play time. Puppies know only ONE way to play. How does a litter of puppies play? With mouth and toenails. So when your puppy is bored and full of energy and your wife/kids are there as obvious playmates, they get the same treatment.

 

[lcht2]

i want to say i havent read any of the replies so sorry if u read something twice.

i had the same problem with family not being consistent with tyson. they would let him jump, bite, scratch etc etc when i was trying to teach him that this is not acceptable. they thought it was cute..NOT. so i had to put my patiance with them behind me a be a prick about it..needless to say they listened.

i cant really help u with the accidents in the house bc tyson doesnt poo or pee in the house (unless we ignore the wines) so sorry

and as for everybody complaining, coiuld u possibly put him in the crate while kids, wife are getting ready for school, work etc.?? tell them that if they cant be consistent with the way ur teaching your pup rules that they will not have contact with him?? it worked for me bc that was that last thing everyone wanted when they came to my house was to not be able to see the puppy..trust me, i even say those things sometimes but would never intentionally hurt my pup, there are times when i say i want to get rid of him but in all reality i spend a lot of good time with him and at the end of the day guess what, he's right at my feet mans best friend