I made the mistake of allowing my 14 week old Gordon Setter puppy way too much freedom in my large fenced in yard. At first I supervised him closely but lately I have been watching him from the window. What I thought was cute in now becoming a problem. He runs around the yard burying his raw hides and toys, digs them up and buries them again somewhere else. I have put his feces in the holes which helps but with such a large yard he just finds more places to dig including my flower garden.

He also sometimes ignores me when I call him and lost interest in always responding to my commands.

Finally I realized I have given this puppy WAY too much freedom! Today I tried tethering him to my waist in the house. He changed back into a nice submissive puppy; watching me and walking by my side while I did my housework. My question is, what do I do tomorrow when he wants to go outside? I was in the habit of letting him out whenever he wanted. Do I go back to leashing him to do his business and close supervision again?

Also I am wondering; now that he has had all this freedom for the past several weeks, how am I going to undo the damage? I'm afraid he will alway be trying to get outside. All this puppy knows is playing freely outdoors, then happily sleeping exhausted in his crate.

His life will change to being confined in a room with toys while being supervised, crated more often, tethered to me, and much less time outdoors except for supervised play and walks on leash. Can puppies that young forget all the freedom they had. I'm figuring he will not get that kind of freedom until he is an adult dog that has been properly trained.

I am retired so I can be with this puppy all day but I feel like my life is on hold for the next couple years or more...HELP!

Sounds to me like he is just doing what puppies do. You need to spend more time on his training, at this age 5 mins 3 -4 times a day is fine doing some controled recalls, sits etc.. Pups need to play maybe if your yard is huge fence of a smaller area that you don't mind him digging in and let him have access to the rest only under supervision.
When you take on a pup you do in a way put your life on hold and the first couple of years are often hard work, like having children he needs to learn your boundaries but he also needs to be young and free and to be able to play and run about.
My doors are open all day when I have a new pup and I am on 24/7 call !!. I think you would do more harm than good to restrict him from the garden but you need to keep an eye on him and if you see him digging where you do not want him to then go and stop him but give him an area you are happy for him to play, lead him to it and fuss him if her plays there. If you fence off a smaller area  he can still enjoy himself in safety and will not damage your "Best" bits of garden. I think you will find most people have a Dog area and a best area, My back garden is for the dogs but the front of the house is mine ;-) Digging is a natural thing for a dog to do but most grow out of it except on odd occasions.
Remember he is a baby and needs to play as well as to learn his manners.
Aileen

>His life will change to being confined in a room with toys while being supervised, crated more often, tethered to me, and much less time outdoors except for supervised play and walks on leash.

I'm sorry, but that sounds rather unkind, especially for a gundog breed who are designed to be active all day. I think that regime will result in a frustrated and unhappy puppy. :-(

He sounds like a perfectly normal puppy, so that's good news! I would suggest that, rather than have him tied to you all the time, you go out into the garden with him when he wants to go outside - that way you can supervise him and monitor his behaviour so that he learns what's allowed and what isn't outside, just as he has inside. :-) You're lucky being retired in that you have the time necessary to devote to him for this short period of his life.

ETA: is it possible to rig up some kind of fenced off area from your back door so that he can go in and out freely to play but doesn't have access to the rest of the garden?

> Sounds to me like he is just doing what puppies do.

> Pups need to play maybe if your yard is huge fence of a smaller area that you don't mind him digging in and let him have access to the rest only under supervision.
>

This is what I always recommend and do.  My dogs have the first 20 foot of my 60 foot garden.  If this can be a paved/gravelled are it will make life much easier re poo patrol and also mud in the house on wet days.

The close control is good in some ways, (excellent when staying away from home where it will be needed), but the pup needs to have a life to, and your home is his home surely.  it is better than eh can vent his chewing and digging needs outdoors and therefore it will be easier to prevent him destroying the house.

Remove precious and dangerous plants from his area (use hanging baskets or window boxes)  fence off any areas of garden you wish to preserve from being a moon scape.  May owners provide a digging pit for their dogs to encourage them to dig in one area.  with my won dogs I prefer they don't dig and just fill any holes with any stones rubble etc I can find and backfill with earth.  it is then less pleasant to dig in.

To reduce the visual impact and your view from the house I would advise purchasing 4 ft high weld mesh panels (2 inch x 10 gauge) that is made in bolt together box sections, so easy to put up using galvanised angle irons.

Alternatively do as my neighbour did when eh got his JR pups that were wrecking his beautiful garden.  I advised him to fence off the large patio for them,a nd he purchased a roll of the 2 inch weld mesh and made wooden framed panels which he had originally planned to be tem,porary, but ti worked so well 13 years later they are still up in front of his lovely raised beds containing the patio, with a little gate into the rest of the garden. 

The wooden frames of course need to be treated each year, so in the long run the ready made panels such as made by Oakenden http://www.oakendenpetfence.co.uk/petfence_specifications.asp (where I got mine) may work out cheaper.  There are other manufacturers, and you may be able to source locally.

If you have a patio, it would be fairly easy to erect a picket fence with a gate to access the lawned area of the garden. I've done this in two properties so far, am just about to move and will no doubt be doing it again. It is attractive, fairly inexpensive and effective. The dog will only then have access to the lawns and borders when you are there to supervise.

A very cheap and effective short term solution is the orange building mesh from garden centres and builders merchants. They cost approx £10 and are held in place with metal or plastic spikes, costing around £2 each.  If you do try this, buy some tent pegs for pegging down the bottom of the mesh in between the poles, this will stop pup from getting underneath. We now use this system when staying in our caravan, but was a permanent structure to prevent dogs from escaping when our back wall fell down just before we moved into the house.

As a side note, I would refrain from giving rawhide if possible as it is a choking hazard. The hide goes really gooey and they can swallow big chunks. If he isn't given high value things, chances are he won't be so tempted to bury them. Good chews are nylabone or kong toys.

Good luck with your pup, it's a hard job and easily forgotten when adults, can be a big shock to the system!!

Buy a kids sandpit, fill it with earth and bury toys and bones inside it and encourage digging there, so pup has a set aside digging area. I'd do that if I had just the one dog, but what with having lots, my gardens both back and front look like moon landscapes. The biggest hole out the back is large enough for an adult Malinois to hide inside! We have gravel out back and half gravel half lawn at front, the lawn part is fenced off and dogs only allowed there in dry weather.

Have you had a puppy before? If you have, maybe it was some years ago? It's awful how our memories diminish as we get older ;-) As does our energy, stamina, etc, etc :-D Me thinks he's just being an absolutely normal puppy and maybe you've forgotten quite how active and energetic and wanting to do normal puppies are? ;-) Most of us do.

Lots of good advice. The sandpit for diggers can work a treat ... if you put in the time of training that that's where they dig. He's also approaching an age where they start to become more independant. Have patience, put in short, but frequent and most definitely fun training sessions, be prepared for stuff you taught last week to get forgotten about next week ... it'll all be ok in the end :-D Can't think of many things better than a free, happy, healthy puppy that crashes contently :-D

My dog is nearly 10 years old but on top of his usual walks etc I make the most of him whenever possible. If he's in the garden I like nothing more than joining him and kicking tennis balls all over the place for him and chasing him with the watering can ( not cruel, he loves it !). At 14 weeks how dull for your puppy to be left to find entertainment alone in the garden. Get out there and enjoy him, all too soon he'll be adult and more independent.

No, sorry but I think the mistake you made was in allowing your puppy to become self sufficient - happy to play on his own, rather than with you - simply of course because you weren't with him.  Instead of punishing the poor pup for becoming self reliant (mind, a trait a lot of gordon setters have!) you should simply be involving yourself more in his life, playing with him, training him etc etc etc

Life is on hold with a puppy, whatever the breed.  We all know that if we work very, very hard for the first year or two, we will end up with an adult dog who is perfect!  :-)

At 14 weeks I am still going out with pups to supervise toileting.  He does seem to be spending far too much time alone.  He doesn't know that you're watching him from the window.  Why aren't you out there interacting with him?  And, sorry to say, if he ignores you, then you aren't exciting enough.  You have to work harder to make yourself the bestest thing in the world.

You say that he's lost interest in always responding to your commands.  Always????  Come on, he's a puppy, not an obedience champion.  :-)  Be honest - do you think that you may be just a teeny bit over optimistic in your expectations?  He's far too young to have to find his own entertainment.  Make the most of enjoying his puppyhood before you have an adult dog who isn't interested in your company.

> At first I supervised him closely but lately I have been watching him from the window

From what you've described you've simply stopped supervision, encouragement, training and praise way, way, too soon.  Most puppies will enjoy a bit of time bimbling about on their own exploring things, and this sort of time is a necessary part of their learning, BUT it needs to be managed as part of their overall training and isn't a substitute for hard work on your part.  You need to be the one that reinforces the good things he discovers with praise and reward and you need to distract him from behaviours you DON'T want, whilst teaching the behaviours you DO want.

You've mentioned two extremes: complete freedom and tight control (being tethered to you), but you seem to have completely neglected the option of middle ground!  You do need to help shape your puppies day and all his activities but there is still plenty of opportunity for down time for both of you.  For instance, once he's done his business outside and you've had a short training session with him (using lots of tasty treats or toys etc) to tire him out a bit, then get yourself a cup of tea/coffee and sit outside with him whilst he mooches around the garden.

You've been given a lot of very good advice, but perhaps some additional training will help.  Do you have him booked into some classes?  Also have a look at an excellent book - The Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnell and take a look at her website here.  Puppies are such hard work but she has lots of simple common sense ideas that will help keep you on the right track.  Good luck with your boy, he sounds delightful :)

> He changed back into a nice submissive puppy;

Is this really what people want from a puppy?

>> He changed back into a nice submissive puppy;
> Is this really what people want from a puppy?

Yep, I'm afraid that's what all these Cesar Milan programmes and books tell people. I'm always meeting people on walks talking about how their dogs have to be submissive to them and don't get me started on the amount of poor dogs wearing prong collars I see :-(

My lab puppy digs for England,I accepted years ago this is what they do,its the dirty paws full of soil thay I have a problem with,oh well there only young for a short time.

Sheila

I wonder where the OP is and how the poor pup is doing :-(