# My 14 month old acting up



## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

I have a 14 month old and he is very active. We got basic obedience and advanced obedience (off leash) training done on him by Carlos Rojas in New Jersey. Although very well behaved on walks and during training, he acts up when at home from being mouthy and puttin our hands in his mouth, chasing his tail even after we have walked him and trained him. He also is kind of destructive around the house. He stopped for a while but has started again. The situation in my house isn't the greatest with my parents on the verge of getting a divorce and constantly fighting with each other. Is this a possible reason for his behavior? If someone could help it would be great! I don't know what else to try! 


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## Alwaysaworkingdog (Feb 27, 2013)

anushtharnari said:


> I have a 14 month old and he is very active. We got basic obedience and advanced obedience (off leash) training done on him by Carlos Rojas in New Jersey. Although very well behaved on walks and during training, he acts up when at home from being mouthy and puttin our hands in his mouth, chasing his tail even after we have walked him and trained him. He also is kind of destructive around the house. He stopped for a while but has started again. The situation in my house isn't the greatest with my parents on the verge of getting a divorce and constantly fighting with each other. Is this a possible reason for his behavior? If someone could help it would be great! I don't know what else to try!
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Seeming as you're finding it difficult to understand cause and effect relationships in dog handling, let me put an analogy to you. Suppose I have a car, that has a broken engine. I lift the hood of the car, and notice that the oil tank is on low, so I fill it up. Is it logical to expect the engine to be fixed from a simple oil change?

No.

Then how can you expect training a dog in obedience, even advanced obedience, to stop behaviours that it has never been trained for. You don't stop a dog from being mouthy by teaching it good recall. You don't convey to a dog that tail chasing is an unacceptable behaviour by teaching it to sit. Teaching your dog to sit, down, come, heel, bark, or backflip on command, will not solve behavioural problems that are COMPLETELY UNRELLATED to those problems.

Now.

Being mouthy is not a big problem, it's just a symptom of excitement combined with the fact that it has never been discouraged properly. If this is an issue then start working on correcting the behaviour. Redirect it into toys, channel your dog into biting something else and discourage it by telling your dog "NO".

Tail chasing can be tackled in the same way.

It sounds like your dog has a lot of prey drive, if tailing chasing and mouthiness have gotten to such an extent as to be considered a problem. So IN ADDITION to this being your fault for not discouraging it, your dog probably has a lot of genetically derived prey drive. Prey drive can be channelled into games such a tug and fetch. Perhaps you could learn how to safely and positively play tug with your dog - it's great for exercise and engagement, for both you and your dog.

I think any family disruption is going to affect your dog, but more so because of it being neglected as these problems take toll.

In conclusion your dog seems high energy and highly prey driven. Only satisfying the needs of your dog AND discouraging unwanted behaviours are going to solve this.


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## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

Thank you for the response I will use this on my dog and let you know how it goes. Also would schutzhund be a good option for him since he has high prey drive? His bloodlines are deeply rooted in the sport so that can explain the high prey drive 


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## rumhelka (Aug 31, 2011)

anushtharnari said:


> Thank you for the response I will use this on my dog and let you know how it goes. Also would schutzhund be a good option for him since he has high prey drive? His bloodlines are deeply rooted in the sport so that can explain the high prey drive
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I wouldn't add this sport, unless you will do it professionally. Your dog is "mouthy" and teaching him to bite can cause more problems (even an unwanted bite). He seems to need more excersize ( ball chasing, etc. to unload his energy and strict limits to his unwanted behaviors, like tail chasing). Also, yes the arguments and nervous atmosphere at home will influence your dog very much, just like a small child. The dog loves you all and does not understand why you are fighting...
he might become a nervous wreck, so try to remove him from stressful situations, and exersize, excersize, excersize.
Good luck.


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## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

rumhelka said:


> I wouldn't add this sport, unless you will do it professionally. Your dog is "mouthy" and teaching him to bite can cause more problems (even an unwanted bite). He seems to need more excersize ( ball chasing, etc. to unload his energy and strict limits to his unwanted behaviors, like tail chasing). Also, yes the arguments and nervous atmosphere at home will influence your dog very much, just like a small child. The dog loves you all and does not understand why you are fighting...
> he might become a nervous wreck, so try to remove him from stressful situations, and exersize, excersize, excersize.
> Good luck.


Thank you very much how long would you say I should exercise him for? Right now he goes on 3 walks anywhere from 30min-1hr long depending on our schedules plus his training and then whatever time we play in the yard 


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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

What kind of games are you playing in the yard, and for how long? Is your pup on a leash, or running free during your walks? It sounds like he needs to release alot more pent up energy. My pup needs lots of frisbee and flirt pole to wear him out. I also try to keep him in a routine where he's exercised and then as soon as he comes in he knows it's time to relax. Maybe you could try getting yours all tired out, and then once inside, settling him on his bed or in his crate with a bone to get him used to this? That works really well for us


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Blanketback has some good tips. If you can still attend weekly classes, that would be great. If obedience is getting boring  have you thought about agility? There are alot of groups to train with in NJ.

http://www.dizzydogs.com/#!training/con8

http://www.jagdogs.com/

Have you used a chuckit? Huge help to exercise my dogs on the days I don't have alot of time. http://www.chuckit.com/ The ball/launcher are ideal for me. Buy the tougher orange/blue balls too.


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## lorihd (Nov 30, 2011)

well I would ask your trainer about schut*zhund*, he has a very good reputation in that field.


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## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

Blanketback said:


> What kind of games are you playing in the yard, and for how long? Is your pup on a leash, or running free during your walks? It sounds like he needs to release alot more pent up energy. My pup needs lots of frisbee and flirt pole to wear him out. I also try to keep him in a routine where he's exercised and then as soon as he comes in he knows it's time to relax. Maybe you could try getting yours all tired out, and then once inside, settling him on his bed or in his crate with a bone to get him used to this? That works really well for us


In the yard we usually at fetch. I have a huge retaining wall in my backyard and he loves when we throw the ball against it and he chases that ball after it bounces off the wall and sometimes he even catches the ball in mid flight which looks so cool. Then we made a toy with a rope and a soft toy on the end which we make him chase as we pull it around the yard. The play last anywhere from 30mins-1hr depending on wen he goes in the corner of the yard and lays down On our walks he is usually on the lead because a couple times when we have taken him off the lead he runs away from us which is so scary cause I don't want him to get hit by a car or something. So we don't really trust him without it unless we have it dragging but then he freezes up and acts very timid with every step he takes. 


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## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

If I could find an enclosed field where I can let him run free and not worry about him maybe running away then that would be great but he doesn't come when called when we aren't doing training is another issue I forgot to mention 


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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

Hopefully you can find a nice location to let him run, because that's really good for him. I don't find a leashed walk does much for my boy - although it's enjoyable, he doesn't get tired out from it. I just got him a new ball for the yard (the big plastic one with the handle, similar to the jolly ball) because I want to switch up the different exercise he gets. The frisbee is great, but this ball gets him actually kicking it around. My last GSD loved his regular jolly ball - I'd take him out to a local baseball field and he'd play soccer with it, lol. Now that was exersice! He'd run like the wind with it. This boy hasn't figured it out yet, he'll just bark at it and try to bite it, lol.


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## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

Yeah right now what we do is there a soccer field that is fenced in so we pick him up and bring him over the fence but for that I need the help of another person and plus its a pain to carry a giant 90lb dog over a fence lol but anything that gets him tired ill do but I would really like to do obedience training with him and have him enjoy it and take something from it. 


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## anushtharnari (Sep 15, 2012)

Now that he is older I'm all recovered from my torn acl injury I plan on starting to go on runs with him so that way he gets tired and also is gonna get me back in shape after a year of no exercise lol or I should I still wait a little lo get for that? 


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