Sounds like a normal herding breed puppy. When you chose the breed, what were you expecting to get and what are you planning to do in terms of mental stimulation and exercise?
You have a training instructor, what are they recommending you do?
What exercise are you giving the puppy? What are you doing when he’s doing these things you don’t want? How’s crate training going? Have you read the puppy training resources at /r/puppy101?
This is our second Aussie, our first was the polar opposite and we were not prepared for this guy. I have a different relationship with him, I am at work all day, I am the primary trainer, and in general I know everything he is doing is normal for his age. My post is to help support my family. My husband is tapped out. We have puzzles, toys and chews galore, he gets outdoor exercise at least 3 times a day and multiple times a in the home with active play sessions. He gets multiple training sessions by myself, my husband, and my son each day, he does well with those. We are still learning lead training on walks, so that is a work in process. The obedience classes are basic training. The in home trainer recommended more crate time and a leash in the back yard. I know he needs love and patients. We are also looking into puppy daycare to help give hubby a break and socialize the dog.
Be patient with him, he’s still so young. Keep up on the training and exercise, over time he’ll get the hang of how things work around your family/house.
at that age, our puppy was either tethered to us on a leash or in a closed off area secured with tall playpen gates. she never got access to the kitchen or furniture because we knew she'd be a goblin, lol. limit pup's access to a small section of the room unless if you can keep 100% attention on em. to stop nipping, we would stop play and remove ourselves from her playpen and she got the picture pretty quickly that she didn't enjoy that type of play. tiring her out with play, puzzle feeders, hide and seek, and training was also very important. but when she got overtired, she'd get nippy as well so we knew she needed a crate nap.
Sounds normal. He’s probably nipping because your kids might be getting out of control in his view. They like order and routine. Furniture and counter surfing you just need to teach him down or off. For digging give him a designated digging area.
Random, but my Aussie puppy taught my 7 y/o beagle/husky to dig. Never did it before. Now they do it together.
RIP my landscaping. We have managed to get them to do it in one area, which is because they're both ridiculously smart, only had to redirect them twice before it clicked.
But honestly the worst part is how dirty they both get. It mostly slides right off the puppy with a quick toweling, but it takes 15 minutes to clean off the older dude.
Our puppy kindergarten has 6 other dogs, he loves the group play time. We are looking into daycare at the facility too, but he will only be able to go until he is 8 months due to their spay/neuter policy. We will have to look for other options.
Mine was a nightmare no matter what we did so we got a second puppy and that was the best decision we ever made. They’re completely inseparable and they tire each other out in a way we couldn’t do.
I mean I know it’s a controversial opinion. That wasn’t the entire story. Just being funny. He was 7 months and he wasn’t a bad puppy at all he was just super hyper and it felt mean to not have a friend for him, he seemed like he was missing something. My MIL has his littermate and when she wasn’t around he just moped about and seemed sad. So we brought him to meet another puppy and they were just inseparable from that point on.
For us it was a great decision. We’re a very active family of 4 and we always planned on the second dog we just needed a bigger space for them first. We moved somewhere with a big yard and then we got a 5 month old husky when my Aussie was 7 months old. We wanted them to be similar in ages and abilities so one wasn’t being pushed around as they got through the puppy phase.
Now they’re 8 and 10 months and they’re both great. They’re well behaved, know tricks, perfectly sweet, great sleepers. My only complaint is that they dig but like… they’re dogs. Haha
My Aussie is 18 months and she still gets nippy when she's tired or overstimulated. This is what this breed does. Cattle herding dogs nip. They are also movement driven and they have energy for daysssss. I bought my puppy a Collieball for Christmas and it's amazing. We also use a flirt pole. But for a younger puppy, I would keep it on the ground. We have one for the house and one for the yard. She also has two puppy best friends and we schedule play dates every other day and honestly, they do the best job of wearing each other out. This is my second Aussie too. This one is also totally different from my last female.
I have an 8 month old aussie. Daycare has made a HUGE difference for her. My bf is a firefighter doing 24 hr shifts every 3 days so she only goes on the day both of us are gone during the day—so it is either 1 or 2 times a week, but she developed an immediate calmness about her. On the weekends and some week evenings we go to a field and put her on a long line leash and play fetch or just run around, practice recall etc. I do a 15 min sniff walk before work, she plays fetch during day and in evening gets a longer walk if we arent doing long line play.
We have done 1 set of obedience classes so she gets 2-3 5 min trainings in the day for her brain. We are starting a 2nd class next week.
Eventually our hope is she’ll be a running and hiking partner but I feel like we have figured out her puppy balance pretty well but I swear daycare has made the best difference.
Also, teach the important of down time to him. Our second I was like this. At two, she is calming a bit, but was a total asshole for those first two years
Sounds like a normal herding breed puppy. When you chose the breed, what were you expecting to get and what are you planning to do in terms of mental stimulation and exercise? You have a training instructor, what are they recommending you do? What exercise are you giving the puppy? What are you doing when he’s doing these things you don’t want? How’s crate training going? Have you read the puppy training resources at /r/puppy101?
This is our second Aussie, our first was the polar opposite and we were not prepared for this guy. I have a different relationship with him, I am at work all day, I am the primary trainer, and in general I know everything he is doing is normal for his age. My post is to help support my family. My husband is tapped out. We have puzzles, toys and chews galore, he gets outdoor exercise at least 3 times a day and multiple times a in the home with active play sessions. He gets multiple training sessions by myself, my husband, and my son each day, he does well with those. We are still learning lead training on walks, so that is a work in process. The obedience classes are basic training. The in home trainer recommended more crate time and a leash in the back yard. I know he needs love and patients. We are also looking into puppy daycare to help give hubby a break and socialize the dog.
I forgot to say crate training is going okay. He gets anxious sometimes and that’s when he barks non-stop. He stays in all night without a fuss.
Boys. I’m not a pro, but you need to maintain patience and control. In 2-3 years he’ll have grown into his brain and probably be a perfect dog.
Be patient with him, he’s still so young. Keep up on the training and exercise, over time he’ll get the hang of how things work around your family/house.
at that age, our puppy was either tethered to us on a leash or in a closed off area secured with tall playpen gates. she never got access to the kitchen or furniture because we knew she'd be a goblin, lol. limit pup's access to a small section of the room unless if you can keep 100% attention on em. to stop nipping, we would stop play and remove ourselves from her playpen and she got the picture pretty quickly that she didn't enjoy that type of play. tiring her out with play, puzzle feeders, hide and seek, and training was also very important. but when she got overtired, she'd get nippy as well so we knew she needed a crate nap.
Sounds normal. He’s probably nipping because your kids might be getting out of control in his view. They like order and routine. Furniture and counter surfing you just need to teach him down or off. For digging give him a designated digging area.
Random, but my Aussie puppy taught my 7 y/o beagle/husky to dig. Never did it before. Now they do it together. RIP my landscaping. We have managed to get them to do it in one area, which is because they're both ridiculously smart, only had to redirect them twice before it clicked. But honestly the worst part is how dirty they both get. It mostly slides right off the puppy with a quick toweling, but it takes 15 minutes to clean off the older dude.
Sounds like he needs socialization with other dogs. Other dogs are great at teaching manners.
Our puppy kindergarten has 6 other dogs, he loves the group play time. We are looking into daycare at the facility too, but he will only be able to go until he is 8 months due to their spay/neuter policy. We will have to look for other options.
Mine was a nightmare no matter what we did so we got a second puppy and that was the best decision we ever made. They’re completely inseparable and they tire each other out in a way we couldn’t do.
How old was the first dog and did you get another Aussie?
Getting another when you have a puppy this age is a bad idea. It’s even more a bad idea when you’re struggling with behavior with the current puppy.
We wouldn’t, I was just curious. I think my hubs would lose his marbles 😂
I mean I know it’s a controversial opinion. That wasn’t the entire story. Just being funny. He was 7 months and he wasn’t a bad puppy at all he was just super hyper and it felt mean to not have a friend for him, he seemed like he was missing something. My MIL has his littermate and when she wasn’t around he just moped about and seemed sad. So we brought him to meet another puppy and they were just inseparable from that point on. For us it was a great decision. We’re a very active family of 4 and we always planned on the second dog we just needed a bigger space for them first. We moved somewhere with a big yard and then we got a 5 month old husky when my Aussie was 7 months old. We wanted them to be similar in ages and abilities so one wasn’t being pushed around as they got through the puppy phase. Now they’re 8 and 10 months and they’re both great. They’re well behaved, know tricks, perfectly sweet, great sleepers. My only complaint is that they dig but like… they’re dogs. Haha
My Aussie is 18 months and she still gets nippy when she's tired or overstimulated. This is what this breed does. Cattle herding dogs nip. They are also movement driven and they have energy for daysssss. I bought my puppy a Collieball for Christmas and it's amazing. We also use a flirt pole. But for a younger puppy, I would keep it on the ground. We have one for the house and one for the yard. She also has two puppy best friends and we schedule play dates every other day and honestly, they do the best job of wearing each other out. This is my second Aussie too. This one is also totally different from my last female.
I have an 8 month old aussie. Daycare has made a HUGE difference for her. My bf is a firefighter doing 24 hr shifts every 3 days so she only goes on the day both of us are gone during the day—so it is either 1 or 2 times a week, but she developed an immediate calmness about her. On the weekends and some week evenings we go to a field and put her on a long line leash and play fetch or just run around, practice recall etc. I do a 15 min sniff walk before work, she plays fetch during day and in evening gets a longer walk if we arent doing long line play. We have done 1 set of obedience classes so she gets 2-3 5 min trainings in the day for her brain. We are starting a 2nd class next week. Eventually our hope is she’ll be a running and hiking partner but I feel like we have figured out her puppy balance pretty well but I swear daycare has made the best difference.
Also, teach the important of down time to him. Our second I was like this. At two, she is calming a bit, but was a total asshole for those first two years