Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums. Sibling rivalry (also known as littermate syndrome) is a real thing and the main reason why many breeders and shelters have started no longer sending two puppies together in new homes. The puppies tend to bond a lot together and they may get into frequent squabbles as they mature and separating them may become problematic once they are deeply bonded. It seems like several dog owners encounter more problems when the puppies are of the same sex versus having one female and one male. However, it is also true that there are many sibling pups of the same sex living together happily, therefore there may be too many variables to make blank statements. I have personally raised two littermates (my Rottweilers) one female and one male and can say that it takes a lot of work because you'll need to separate them e.g. separate sleeping (initially starting with separate crates kept side-by-side, then gradually increasing distance), separate training, separate socializing, separate walking, so to help develop their individual personalities and prevent raising two "half-dogs' who depend too much on each other and risk failing to bloom and who may also learn to not pay attention to us. It is therefore best to start this early as it may become more difficult later on. These separation periods do not need to be an all-day ordeal for days or weeks. What counts is that the pups are separated for periods of time during the day, including nap times (one owner spends time with one puppy, while the other spends time with the other, and then possibly swapping) with the purpose of building a strong bond with each pup independently. While you are initially training them individually a lot, once they have a solid response to sit, down, come, etc, it is possible to work with them together every now and then to your advantage. For example, I like to have sibling pups sit before they are fed their meals or sit before I open a door to let them out to potty. I also like to dorecalls with them together when needed. This type of training teaches the pups to pay attention to us despite the distraction of being together and in my opinion is very valuable.

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! This COVID is sure putting a dent into all our good intentions in socializing our pups and doing what's best for them. Not all is lost though. You can jumpstart a good experience by practicing several weeks or days ahead in creating positive associations with being handled and preparing mock vet visits. For instance, you can pretend to check his ears and feed a treat, check his paws and feed a treat, check his mouth and feed a treat. Rinse and repeat. You can then pretend to check his heart by placing a small cup around his chest area and feed a treat, and you can even pretend to give a shot by using an empty syringe with no needle and feed a treat. You can also put him on a table and have other family members practice these "mock vet visits." Look for happy anticipation. Then, to further up your chances of a good experience to the vet, you can perhaps try to find a veterinarian near you committed to the 'fear-free program." These practice and vets are committed to ensuring your dog's emotional wellbeing during visits. In other words, they are specifically trained to handle fearful and stressed dogs and make vet visits less frightening. Hopefully there is one near you: https://fearfreepets.com/resources/directory/

Hi Marlene, So sorry to hear your shepherd mix is suffering from prostatitis? (I guess).I would wonder about getting a urinalysis done to look for signs of infection and consider treatment of that. Makes me wonder now whether he was feeling hot and asking to go out a lot altogether because of this? Pertaining neutering... as with everything, there are risks and benefits to each procedure - if he is having more issues secondary to testosterone, then the benefits of desexing at a younger age might be greater than the risks. So this is something to consider based on whether this will be an ongoing issue or just a one-time thing. I would inquire with the vet on this to determine the pros and cons. Sometimes it's best to get various opinions from different vets so to make an informed decision. Another thing that comes to mind would be a condition that German Shepherds are at high risk for ( is he a GSD mix?). This condition tends to cause irritation around their rectum and is called perianal fistulas - this can cause a lot of discomfort of their anus and some of the symptoms you have described. So if this issue presents again, it may be worthy of asking the vet if this could be a possibility. I hope he gets better soon!

Could you also advice me about how many hours of sleep he essentially requires? This is rather subjective as it varies based on breed, age, temperament, activity levels, surroundings. Puppies in general should take frequent naps. It's sort of on and off, on and off throughout the day. One minute they are playing, the next the batteries discharge and off they are to dreamland. Puppies need lots of sleep because they are growing and have a lot to learn. So on average we can say a puppy should sleep anywhere between 16 and 18 hours a day (spread out in several small naps) while an adult dog may sleep 12-16 hours a day. Of course, this is just a rough estimate as they are many factors to consider.

Lovely pups, thank you for posting their picture. I like to see this level of lovely attention. Yes, you are definitely doing a lot of great things for your pups, so you need to pat yourself on the back for that! Another option for the ears that came to mind is letting your female wear an E-collar (Elizabethan collar), but that may not be very fair to her if she hates wearing it. You will have to see how she does with that and if you can create positive associations with wearing it. With Einstein (my male Rottie), he sort of used to have a blast wearing it when playing with our female Petra as he used it as a "weapon." As soon as we put it on him, he would turn into "super dog" and charge poor Petra using the collar as leverage. Perhaps if she gets the idea that wearing the E-collar equals play time with her brother, she may get to like wearing it somewhat. 23 September 2020 11:

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! At such a young age, and considering the fact this pup has been with you only 4 days so far, I am more inclined to think that the behavior stems from some sort of anxiety. You see, before coming into our homes, puppies are mingling with their littermates, playing with them and sleeping piled up on each other for warmth. This provided them with reassurance. Now, she's in a new home, with different sights, scents and sounds. She no longer has her mom and littermates to play with and sleep with. So this is a time of uncertainty and stress. To further compound things, consider that puppies go through what are known as fear periods and one of a puppy's fear periods coincidentally takes place between the age of 8 to 10 weeks of age. During this time, the puppy may be very sensitive to traumatic experiences, and a single scary event may be enough to traumatize the puppy and have life-long effects on his future behaviors. So we are dealing with a delicate stage. It's not unusual for very young pups to not be able to cope with being left alone. These pups need love, reassurance and security. The more a puppy experiences the trauma of being alone, the sooner the panic will set in next time. Fortunately, most puppies become more independent once they mature. So at this stage, I would suggest if possible avoiding putting her in situations that may cause her distress. Important is therefore to keep her under threshold and not expose her to situations she might not be ready for yet. So baby steps, teeny-tiny steps to fostering independence and also aiming to create positive associations with our brief departures through the combination of desensitization and counterconditioning. So for example, you can leave the area very briefly and come right back repeatedly (making sure your pup doesn't go over threshold) until your pup comes to understand that you don't leave for long. At the same time, teach your pup that great things happen when you are not around. Give your pup her meal which you have placed out of reach up the counter or give her a safe chew toy you have kept on the shelf (but that your pup could see/smell so you can build a bit of anticipation) and walk away so she gets to enjoy it lone. When she’s done, return. Do this several times during the day to create the positive associations. If she ever appears distressed, take a step back and work with briefer absences until she's comfortable with that before progressing. Also, mix in brief absences among the longer ones randomly so that she doesn't come to anticipate an increase in difficulty in the exercises. Usually, as pups grow they learn to be more independent as they reach the flight instinct period: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/flight-instinct-period-4-8-months/ I hope this helps, keep me posted on how things go. Best, Adrienne

Oh wow, that was quick. Last time I had young pups, it took Amazon to ship my Snuggle pup three days even with Prime. It was a good investment for me as I have used it with several generations of cranky, lonely pups. I'll take one accident before bed over an accident in the crate any time. Those crates are such a pain to clean, not to mention bathing the poor pup in the wee hours. Hopefully, you'll see less accidents over the next coming days/weeks, although setbacks are not uncommon. It should be though an upward curve for the better. Keep me posted on your pup's progress. Best, Adrienne

It sounds like most of the plants you mention growing in your terrace are not toxic to dogs. I am though not sure what flowers garden pink are exactly and certain types of cypress trees may be troublesome. When I am not sure about certain plants or flowers, I look up what the ASPCA has to say. They have an extensive list of toxic and non toxic plants that you can find here: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/dogs-plant-list and here: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants Some varieties, you may need to look up their botanical name. However, the peace lilies you have in your home are another story. The ASPCA lists them as toxic https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/peace-lily, so I would keep them out of reach, maybe in a high hanging basked or wall planter that is totally inaccessibile. In any case, even though our outdoor terrace plants may be not toxic, we surely don't want our lush gardens destroyed by our companions! Your terrace is quite large. This poses a challenge considering that you mention that your dog poses a "deaf ear" when you tell her "no" when she approaches the plants and you are at a distance. I don't think she's really voluntarily deciding to disobey, I think it's more a matter of how her powerful nose works. You see, in beagles there's this phenomenon known as "one track mind." In a past time, when beagles were mostly bred for hunting down hare, they were said to be on a "hot trail' when they were really focused on tracking smells. The "one track mind" refers to their predisposition for staying so focused on scent, so much so, that they find it difficult to concentrate on other things rather than the scent. Many times, beagles are therefore accused for being stubborn when in reality they are just too focused on tracking scent, especially on walks and outdoors. On top of this, a beagle's past required them to be quite independent thinkers, moving ahead of the hunters and just focusing on doing what they were bred for without much human directions. While the "one track mind" and independent thinking were premium qualities of this breed's past, they can put a dent in our modern lives where we desire our dogs to focus on us and please us. Fact is, to put it bluntly, certain dogs may care less about certain things, unless we can motivate them and prove them that listening to us can be potentially very rewarding. From your beagle's perspective, your terrace is therefore interesting and quite irresistible, with all the intriguing aromatic scents and flavors. Dogs don't have a green thumb nor do they understand the aesthetic aspects of gardening for our delight or our habit of growing herbs for our cuisine, so they come to think that any patch of growing things is there for their pleasure. They'll be instinctively drawn to it, especially if they spend a lot of time outdoors unsupervised and maybe get a little bored so they come to enjoy every little bit of mental stimulation they can get with the added bonus of a savory perk if they enjoy the taste. So what can we do to prevent access to plants in a terrace? Here are a few things that come to mind: -Place your flowers and plants higher. Nowadays, there are many options when it comes to gardening. Variety is the spice of life. You can find hanging planters, raised beds, window boxes and wall planters. -Another option is to restrict access to only when you can supervise your dog, but since the terrace is her potty area, I understand this may be difficult to do. - I suggest all dogs learn to "leave it." This can come handy in a variety of circumstances. I feel that this command works better than "no" because it tells your dog to leave whatever she is trying to get and come to you for a reward. Dogs do better when we tell them what we want them to do rather than just telling them to stop doing whatever we are doing,. You may have to practice this indoors with random items and them progress to where you have a solid response and then practice with distance. Here's how to train "leave it" https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ Here's a thread on training leave it, with an accompanying video demo: However, I want to point out, that when we train leave it, we will need to be in most cases present because, left to their own devices, dogs may come to make 'bad choices" either out of boredom or the fact that they may learn to leave things only when in our presence when we tell them to. Sure, there may be ways around this (like using a camera we can watch our dog while outdoors in the terrace and remind to "leave it' even if were't not physically there such as when using a Furbo camera) but that is quite a stretch. It also wouldn't be helpful to train a dog to leave it when we are around and let the dog do as she pleases when alone in the terrace as this inconsistency will just have a negative impact on our training. The easiest fix may be to therefore simply place chicken wire panels (or other type of barrier) around your plants. Out of reach, out of mind. I feel this may be the best option if you are unable to always supervise her when she's out going potty and enjoying some fresh air. -Last but not least, have your dog see the vet if there are chances she may be eating flowers and plants due to digestive issues or if she may have nutritional deficiency. Some dogs who get quite obsessed about eating greens and certain things, may have some underlying medical issue so always best to mention any odd eating habit to the vet to play it safe. I hope this helps! Best, Adrienne

Hi Leigh Wilson, Welcome to the forums! Each case of aggression is different so they all require different approaches. There's no cookie cutter approach, but I can pinpoint you several reads and techniques if you can provide me with more details. What behaviors are you observing in your dog? What's his age and what breed? Please give me some of his history. Of course, please consider that in the case of a dog biting or threatening to bite or in the case of general aggression, behavior modification needs to be conducted under the guidance of a dog behavior professional for safety and correct implementation.

That's awesome! Your dog is very lucky to have such a dedicated owner like you !🙂

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! If the rear tends to stay up, we can try a variety of methods. Sometimes for some reason or another we may occasionally stumble on small, medium or large dogs with an odd conformation or dogs who have some anxiety or quirk that makes traditional dog training methods taken out from manuals not effective as we would hope. This is why I often emphasize how a cookie-cutter approach is not applicable to dog training considering that dogs are individuals and instruction manuals are more suitable for objects than living beings. This is also why we have the forums 🙂 Just the other day I stumbled on a dog with an unusual conformation that made training to lie down using traditional methods a little bit of a challenge. This dog is a Maltese with a long back. With her, I had to create a "bridge" with my legs bent in front of me and get her to lie down by presenting a treat under my legs so that she would assume the "Army crawl" position. After getting the behavior, I had to gradually fade reliance on my legs by getting her to perform the down with my legs set up higher and then farther away until the behavior became fluent enough for her to perform it without the aid of my legs. Please excuse the quality of the video, as it's difficult for me to film as I am working with a dog directly, but I hope you get the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2dCEQgEtZ0&feature=youtu.be Alternatively, you can try working under a low bench. You can also try shaping. You can find how to use shaping in the troubleshooting the down section here where it says how to split the exercise into smaller components: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/lie-down/ Another option is to use capturing where you praise and reward a natural behavior without the use of any prompts. Sit on the couch with your dog on leash and wait for her to get tired and lie down (this may work best when your dog is tired) . Once she lies down, say "yes!" or click the clicker and give a treat. Repeat several times (the behavior should increase once she starts associating the position with treats), then at some point, once the behavior starts getting more and more reliable, you can then move on to naming it. Simply say "down" right as your dog is lying down, praise and reward and then start saying it one split second prior to lying down and praise and reward. At some point, the behavior should start getting more and more reliable. Here's an example of capturing a down (in this case, I am not using a leash as this dog had issues with closeness to her face): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwfz5BAbs54 I hope this helps! Let me know how things work out for you. With some dogs, we need to think outside of the box, which is what makes training dogs never boring! Best, Adrienne

Hi Hannah Carney, Welcome to the forums, With crate training a puppy, it's sort of like dealing with a newborn baby, only than rather than getting up to change diapers, we need to get up to take our pups to potty. This can be quite bothersome the first few weeks, especially if we need to get good sleep. So if we can schedule a couple of trips outdoors at night, crate training works well because we are training our pups to go outside to potty and hold it. However, if we can't take them out at night for some reason or another, and the puppy has accidents in the crate over and over, that's not good, obviously because the pup will be soaked in pee or will have poop caked on his fur and going potty in the crate repeatedly defeats the purpose of the crate which is instilling a den instinct (the insticnt for pups not to soil where they sleep). So in order to start on the right paw, I would suggest either 1) using crate training and getting up those 2-3 trips outside a night (you may need to set the alarm for this to prevent mishaps, until your pup learns to signal a need to be taken out) or creating an enclosure where she can potty at night until she gains better control. 2) creating an area where she can sleep and potty at night as needed. In other words, you will have an enclosed area where your pup can pee/poop on pee pads in one corner and sleep in the opposite corner. It sounds like you have chosen your kitchen as the designated sleep/ potty area, but she seems to be struggling with this as pups at this age are very prone to feeling lonely and scared after being separated from their litter mates and moms. So for this setting, you may need to find ways to alleviate her fear such as wrapping some warm bottles in a blanket to mimic the warmth of mom and siblings, wrapping a ticking clock in a towel in hopes of it reassuring your pup as it mimics mother dog's heartbeat or even better investing in a Snuggle Pup behavior aid which provides warmth and a heartbeat. However, not always these strategies may help with young pups who want to hear our voice, be touched and reassured that we are close. Fortunately many pups get better with time, but it's not good to cause them too much stress at such a delicate age. So I would think your best option at this point is the crate and taking her out as often as needed. It may be annoying at first, but at least it sounds like you may at least get some sleep versus hearing her whine non-stop. It often helps to restrict some water before bedtime (like 3 hours prior) so that she has less accidents at night, but ask your vet first if it's OK to play it safe. It's also important to ensure the crate is of the right size so that she's can't pee in one side and sleep comfortably the opposite side but yet not that snug that she can barely move around and is forced to sleep on her mess. The good news is that the first 2-3 of weeks are the most challenging and gradually things get better. You may go from getting up 3 times a night, to then two and then one eventually. You may find more tips on dogs who have accidents in the crate in this recent thread: Let me know if you have any further questions! Best, Adrienne

Hi Kelly, Welcome to the forums! I am glad your vet suggested training your dog, it's the best thing you can do for your dog and beagles benefit from extra guidance, although their powerful noses can get them sometimes in trouble 🙂 I have a couple of questions: What plants and flowers are you growing in your terrace?- Not being nosy 😉 just wondering whether there may be some toxic type of plants (some rather innocent looking flowers and plants can be harmful- just think that a sago palm can easily kill a dog) How much time does your beagle spend in the terrace? Is she sent on the terrace to do something specific? Like it it her potty area? Do you send her there to get some fresh air? Is your terrace very large? Thanks for the extra details!

Thanks for the extra details and the pictures, they are very helpful. If the biting ears behavior happens only when she's wearing the tapes, then it would be important keeping them separated when she's wearing them. While it's true we can train a dog to "leave it" (in this case leaving the sister's ears alone), I feel that it wouldn't be very fair to interrupt play every few minutes, because he's so tempted to play with that "unfamiliar thing" on the ears his sibling is wearing. This would take constant supervision (as the behavior may happen often when you're not looking) and perfect timing for him to understand that it's when he plays with the ears that he must stop, so sometimes it's just easier to manage the situation rather than spending most of the day watching and redirecting as needed at a moment's notice. I know some dog owners have been able to discourage their dog from chewing on another dog's bandage by applying taste deterrents such as Bitter Apple Spray or Bitter Yuck, but it does't always work and some dogs actually even come to like the taste. So since this is a temporary problem, I feel separating them during wearing the tape may work best. I understand that sometimes those tapes need to come off every now and then for resting the ears, and those times may be good for playing (if she's in the mood). Perhaps, since she hasn't played with him as much as before and since he may be less focused on the ears, she may hopefully be more in the mood for play. In the meanwhile, during these couple of months that she needs to wear the posts (check with your vet who did the cropping for the exact timeline), you can take advantage to train your dogs some solid responses to specific cues that may turn handy when play starts getting a little rough. Here are some options: 1) Train your dogs to respond to an interrupter cue that tells them to rush towards you for a treat. I like to personally use a dog whistle (but other options are verbal cues such as "enough" or "'that'll do!'') which teaches the dogs to happily break apart and come to you for a treat. After some time, you can also insert a few calm behaviors--sit or down to help them calm down before giving the treat. After some time, a pleasant surprise is that some dogs may learn to self monitor and when things start escalating they automatically break apart to come get their treat! 2) An alternative option if you are looking for longer-lasting time-out is to use a verbal cue such as "chill!" where you redirect the dogs to lie down on their mats where they get a stuffed Kong or some other longer lasting goodie to work on. 3) Clicker training can also help and you can work on capturing calm play. Simply, capture breaks (click/reward them as they happen spontaneously) and shape less intense forms of play. Click when play is at a low level of arousal and use valuable treats. Soon, you may notice that your dogs will start checking in with you every now and then during play. I understand that keeping two young pups separated may seem like a complicated issue, but there are fortunately many ways you can keep both dogs busy. When we got out Rottie pups they were littermates too, and when getting siblings, there's a big emphasis on preventing sibling rivarly or littermate syndrome and taking steps to ensure both pups develop independently without depending too much on each other. The good thing in your case though is that you've had them together just recently. In any case, here are several ways you can resort to for keeping them separated and chill. 1) Take your dogs on walks with one dog per handler. Have a household member walk one dog, while you walk the other. This is a great bonding activity, allows the opportunity for training polite leash manners (see how to train polite loose leash walking in the obedience 101 section) and can help tire out the pups. Ideally, two walks a day that last at leash half hour (ideally 45 minutes) can help. 2) Dog rotations. Have one household member watch one pup while you watch the other and then you swap. If feasible, during this time, you can do training, play brain games or offer some long-lasting chew (stuffed Kong, Kong Wobbler filled with a daily portion of kibble). 3) Car rides. Most dogs on car rides are too focused on watching the scenery to think about play. Make sure they are secured in some way for safety (dog seat belts, car divider). 4) Crate/kennel time. This is quiet time for chewing a durable toy and naps. 5) Group training. This means encouraging training despite the distraction of each other in a structured way. Once your dogs are trained to respond to obedience cues during your rotations, then it's time to ask them to respond to your cues in presence of each other. Great cues to ask as a group include recalls, sits, downs and stays. For instance, you can do several recall games where you are at one end of yard and a helper on the other end. You can ask your dogs to sit/stay and then take turns calling them and rewarding them for coming. Other exercises that can keep them busy if they aren't food possessive are asking them to lie down/stay, then hiding treats around the home /yard and then releasing them to search. Hide and seek can be a great game to play too. We used to love putting our dogs in a stay and then hide and have them come looking for us! 6) Erecting a baby gate in the home where both dogs can have their space yet stay separated can come handy too. You may need a tall one since your girl is a jumper. During these times, it can help providing each a long lasting chew so they're busy. Finally, I would aim to train your dogs to respect your items in the house. I know it's tempting to just keep the troublemaker out of the house, but when we have time to supervise, it would be extra helpful training the leave it and drop it commands so that they can learn to leave items and drop them when asked to. It certainly helps a bunch as well to remove as many tempting objects as possible and leaving around several tempting toys so that your dogs can make good choices. I find that when dogs are kept out of the home they fail to learn polite manners and therefore end up being kept out more and more with never have a chance to learn. Of course, this takes time and lots of supervision, but if it's possible to cut out a few minutes for training these each day, there's a good return on the investment in the long run. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or need clarifications, Best, Adrienne

Hi Sydney, Welcome to the forums! Your dog is at the peak adolescent stage, and with this comes an increased need for mental stimulation and boundless energy. You can read more about this stage here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ If this is just play biting (no aggression) and his bite is inhibited (not breaking the skin or hurting), and your dog responds well to sit, you can find the Jazz Up and Settle Game helpful: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/jazz-up-and-settle-down/ This game gives you a sort of "off" button for those times he's acting overly excited. If your dog hasn't been trained to sit yet or struggles to sit when he's too hyped up and it's difficult to keep his attention, you may find these tips below helpful as a starting point, until you can get a more fluent response to sit and lower his threshold. Here are some ideas: -Avoid as much as possible exposing him to triggers or situations that seem to get him overly excited. If possible, therefore compile a list of circumstances that get him riled up and try to avoid them. For instance, don't encourage the kids to play wrestling games if that gets him over the edge or avoid letting him chase you if that starts the behavior. We don't want to avoid these situations altogether in the long run, we are just trying to prevent him from rehearsing this excessively excited behavior while in the meanwhile teaching him a little better impulse control through redirection. So what can you do though when you recognize his trigger and you know he's about to start play biting? In such a case, it's best to catch him before he starts play biting, than after he has already latched on. Notice how I emphasized the word "before." It is far easier to redirect this before if you can catch it before, considering that once dogs have latched on they are already too focused and too over threshold to listen. So here are a few things you can do as soon as you notice him going into "bitey mode." (Please note that most of these exercises require you to carry treats (or toys) in your pocket or treat bag for most of the day.) -When you expect him to come towards you to bite, as soon as he is close to you, freeze (become motionless) and offer him a stuffed Kong. Stuff it with some peanut butter mixed with some kibble and crushed dog cookies so he has to lick to get it out rather than trying to dislodge things. A Kong Wobbler/ Buster Cube filled with a portion of your dog's daily allowance of kibble can also come handy once he learns how to get the kibble out. - When you notice he is about to bite as you walk around, you can also try to engage him with toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or a flirt pole (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than your body. --Redirect to an interactive game with you. As soon as he approaches you, ask for a sit and reward by tossing one piece of kibble/treat. He'll likely eat it and come for more if he perceives them as valuable enough. Repeat several times. This makes your dog tired, provides an outlet for chasing instincts while you incorporate some fun obedience. Here is how to train sit, which is an incompatible behavior compared with biting (a dog in general cannot sit and bite us at the same time). Here's a link on how to train sit, of course start in a quiet room first and work your way to making sits very fluent. Initially, as your dog is learning to sit, you can just toss the treat without asking for a sit as soon as he approaches you. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/ -Alternatively you can redirect to an empty water bottle with no lid filled up. Most dogs cannot resist the crinkling sounds produced by chewing on these. They make an economical. temporary chew toy. Always monitor your dog when chewing if your dog tends to ingest things and consider that excess chewing can make some parts sharp. To make the bottle even more interesting, fill it up with a portion of your dog's daily ratio of kibble so your puppy will keep busy trying to roll the kibble out. You can read more about this fun game here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/ -If he loves to tear up things (always better than biting people!) you can try to redirect him to play with a cardboard box you always keep handy on some tall shelf or keep always handy nearby so that you can grab at a moment's notice. Toss it and tell him to "rip it up!" as you point at it. After several reps, you can put the behavior on cue and use it to your advantage when you know he might get overly excited. Of course avoid this if your dog tends to ingest parts of boxes or other items. You can also turn this into a game where you hide a cookie in a box, ask him to sit and tell him to "rip it up." -Targeting is also a great option to divert a dog's biting to something else. You can train to target your hands when you are sitting, and when you are standing up, you can use a target stick or a ruler and reinforce targeting with his nose with treats/kibble tossed at a distance. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ -Make sure you provide outlets for pent-up energy. Games, training and exercise should wear him out and provide outlets for his basic needs. With brain games that allow him to chase things and get rewards out of them (like kibble out of a bottle or a Kong Wobbler) he should seek these games more and more which can turn biting you pretty boring after a while because she gets more out of these activities when he's bored/frustrated/overstimulated/excited. The main goal in getting a dog to stop play biting is to teach that it's boring playing with our bodies and clothes because there are far better forms of play out there. So move less and make your toys move more. Wriggle them, toss them, provide toys that release food. With their strong urge to bite and play satiated with other forms of play, soon, most dogs should outgrow the habit of biting us. -Don't forget to train him better impulse control through these games! https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ Finally, a word of caution: Please consider that it may be sometimes difficult differentiating rough/obnoxious play from true aggression with an intent to harm without seeing the behavior. If this behavior has an aggressive component, it would be important seeing a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification I hope this helps, Happy training! Best, Adrienne

Hi Dobemom, Welcome to the forums! Were the ears recently cropped? If so, are the sutures removed and the ends of the ears totally healed? Is your other puppy attracted to playing with your female dog's ears only when taped? I am not sure I understood well your setting/situation. It sounds like she can jump over the x-pen to get away from him, but you would like to find another way to keep her separated from him other than crating him? Is the x-pen indoors or outdoors? How does the x-pen relate to the doggy door and patio? Do you have a picture of the setting? Sorry, I am having a bit of a hard time imagining it in my head and don't understand how she might jump over the fence outside or why you need to teach her to come inside. Maybe a picture may help me. This sounds like more of a logistic issue where you may need to find a setting that can help her get away from him and come inside. Do you have any family members that can help you watch one pup while you watch the other and take turns with you? Since these are siblings, they both would benefit from individual attention and training.

Hi Marlene, A fan can be also helpful for dogs who get hot. I used to board/train a GSD who was often hot and we had to use a fan on him to get him to relax and sleep. I also had a Pry who wanted to sleep in the bathroom on the tiles "hugging" the toilet seat. Anything to make our dogs comfy. I am glad he is feeling better and enjoying the pool! We have some fun brain games using the pool, have you checked them out? You can find them here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-ball-pit-game/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/bobbing-for-treats/

"Safe" is a difficult word to use when it comes to dogs, it's sort of like with toddlers, you can never leave them a moment without them getting into some type of trouble, especially the younger pups. With the crate outside, I would worry about some bug stinging him and him not being able to communicate to you his need for help, or something else going wrong ( like panic from something scary). I may be over protective though, as my in-laws have raised their farm dogs to be outside (l mean out with no crate, just within a fenced property) most of the time (they always had secure shelter so that they were cool in the summer and warm in the winter, plenty of water etc), but I rather be safe than sorry. I usually therefore don't recommend it, but of course, there may be exceptions in the case of a dog that is just happier to be outside. In such cases, it's important to consider (and accept) the risks and cons (impact on training, dog/ owner bond, rehearsal of possible problematic behaviors) and try the best to minimize them. Therefore ensuring the dog is safe (no toxic plants, things the dog may chew/ingest, no dangerous critters like snakes, scorpions, poisonous spiders), behaves well and doesn't try to escape, also important is checking local ordinances so to not get into any trouble. I am not sure about Australia, but in some rural places, as long as the dog has food, shelter and is unchained, and there aren't temperatures extremes they can be left outside.