Bad or Puppy Behaviour???

[kiwigirl]

Hi! This is my first post on the site. We have had Bran for two months now, he is a gorgeous (teething!) four month old Border Collie puppy. I have found this site incredibly useful when looking for info, so thought I would see if other's can help me with this one.

 

We have one major behavioural issue with him that is driving me crazy! When he is too excited or tired (usually they seem to line up!) he goes mental when you try to pick him up. He rolls onto his back with his little paws in the air, eyes wide, mouth open. You try and get him and he bites (not hard, just puppy play biting) and rolls all over the place so you can't pick him up.

 

Usually we are simply trying to remove him from a situation and then he goes mental like this, and what point we put him into his crate to calm down and he falls straight asleep.

 

We have tried to calm him down by holding his collar, but he just responds to that in the same way, and doesn't calm a bit, no matter how long we do it for.

 

Once he does get into the crate he falls straight asleep, leading me to think that perhaps he is simply being a tired toddler whose behaviour is effected by being too tired.

Or he doesn't want to go into his crate (though he has no problems with it at other times).

Or he thinks we are just playing.

Any other ideas for what might be causing it?

 

Is this puppy behaviour that he will grow out of? Or is it something that needs to be disciplined, in which case how do you do it?

 

Any ideas would be very helpful!

[Maralynn]

Puppy behavior. He's over tired and acting up. With my pup I just pick him up and put him in his crate. After a nap he is his happy, normal self. As he gets older (18 w/o now) I'm seeing less and less of the behavior as long as he has regular "down time"

[Shetlander]

First Bran is adorable. Second, he sounds over tired, like you said, an exhausted cranky toddler. I have seen similar behaviors in my puppies where they were so wound up, the only thing to.do was plop them in their crate and they almost instantly fell asleep.

 

Try to see if he gives any cues before he hits meltdown mode and pre-empt the tantrums by putting him in the crate before he is so far gone or cutting play time a bit shorter. He will outgrow this phase soon enough.

[CMP]

Puppy stuff.

 

I agree on trying to find his warning signs. My 4 month old did exactly the same stuff for a while - I would just calmly pick her up, try not to get bit, act like it was a happy good night and put her in her crate,

 

Her warning sign was she started to get mouthy. More teeth / biting than normal.

 

When that happened I would go into "bedtime" ritual mode which was designed to wind her down - she gets a treat while I groom her. I sit on the floor beside her, get a pile of brushes and combs, let her eat her treat while I groom her and occasionally lose a brush (she chews on them / plays with them but also seems to be "picking" which brush she wants me to use) By the time we're done, ,she's sleepy and I put her to bed. When I get the brushes she is SO excited that whatever crap she has been pulling is forgotten - she would never risk getting brushed. (if she does not calm down, I stop grooming her and put her to bed)

 

Maybe create a wind down ritual that he will *love* that can only be done when he is being calm and well behaved,

[Cass C]

I never had that issue with Lyka, because she would crate herself when she gets sleepy and still does oddly enough.

 

Lily however drove me crazy with that type of behavior. I eventually started giving her a biscuit, which she ONLY gets at bedtime after she is crated. It got to the point that she would start crating herself for naps to try and get a biscuit.

[CptJack]

Mine's just shy of 11 weeks old and has been home just shy of three weeks. She does this. She does this intensely and with vigor. You can tell she's getting tired because she gets extremely unfocused, crazy active, and bites us, the kids, the cats, and the other dogs.

 

We can sort of predict her nap schedule at this point, so when it's getting close to crazy-time, we toss her in her crate with a kong, cover most of it and leave her to it. She aggressively works on the kong for a few minutes, then passes out cold. She's gotten better the past few days, in as much as she's willing to put herself into the crate to sleep.

[RemsMom]

My pup is four months old and I will agree with all the other posts. When she is well rested she is agreeable and ready to please. When she is tired she is a little monster!

 

My pup belongs to my 12 year old and tonight at puppy class my daughter finally gave up because pup was being difficult. We finished class with me handling pup and not expecting too much of her.

[Two Labs & Mia]

Our girl has just hit the 4 month mark. She goes from bad thing to bad thing when she's tired. Our last 2 pups did this same thing. DH thinks they are "fighting sleep".

[Root Beer]

Yep - Bandit was similar. I would put him in his crate for a nap and he would be back to his sunny self.

 

At just a bit over 5 months old, he has pretty much moved past that stage.

[CMP]

Yep - Bandit was similar. I would put him in his crate for a nap and he would be back to his sunny self.

 

At just a bit over 5 months old, he has pretty much moved past that stage.

Oh good! We hit fifteen weeks today and I am seeing a gradual reduction in the crazy-tired puppy antics. Hopefully she is on the same schedule as Bandit.

[Sue R]

Crazy pups, like cranky children, are usually ready for a rest, whether it's quiet nap time or bedtime at night. If it's the zoomies, I let them zoom it out and then crate them or put them to bed. If it's the bad tempers, it's time for crate or bed.

 

Dan was so different - he didn't get the zoomies like Skye, Celt, and Bute did. When he got tired in the evening, he'd put himself to bed. Many the evening did we look for him and find him back in the bedroom, asleep in his puppy crate for the night. Of course, he was energetic and naughty enough in other ways!

 

I do love the zoomies.