Hello,
My Partner and I run a pub and have had our new puppy for 3 weeks now.
He is a 10 week old lab x collie, who we named Mason.

As we get to spend so much time with him and he is rarely left alone (only a few hours during food service) he has already kind of got the basics i.e sit, stay(ish), where to go to the bathroom, drop the toy etc
but he has started to get really really excited and seems unable to tell the difference between happy play voice and stern 'no' voice i.e when he chews trousers, shoes, bites faces and hands and anything that dangles (ears are a favourite)
are we expecting too much from him at such a young age??

As he is our first pup any advice would be appriciated!! :)
p.s he is booked in for training classes mid jan!

thanks

Welcome to the forum :)

I love your pup's name too - fab!

In answer to your question, YES, you're expecting too much, but never fear, eventually they grow up into well adjusted non-bitey, clean and obedient little critters so this is all par for the course just now.

Read and print off this article - it's a 'must have' with pups in the baby teeth stages.  Over excitement leads to all sorts of mischief, fortunately they tire easily and sleep a lot at this stage so you will have some time to rest up in between 'the zoomies' (pub aside of course!)

True bladder and bowel control are several months off I'm afraid but over the next 2-4 weeks your pup will be better able to let you know when he needs out and be able to hang on a little longer, staying dry overnight for short periods of between 4 and 6 hours :)

He doesn't speak English - or any human language - so at the moment he will learn best between positive rewards for things you like him to do he gets something he likes too, and feeling miffed when ignored which is what you should do if he's behaving inappropriately :)

Sometimes pups need 'time-out' - just like kids.  IME it's best if this is required to have a safe haven for the puppy to call his own, whether a dog bed, large box, play pen or indoor kennel crate.  Make it comfy, dark by covering sides etc, den-like really and somewhere he can enjoy and feel safe curling up in to sleep or chew on an appropriate toy :)  If really over excited and unlikely to settle in his 'den' then often it's best we remove ourselves from them rather than the other way around - even the briefest attention is a reward to a puppy, no matter the tone of voice used :)

Pups tire easily and have short attention spans - IMO it's best not to try and train too many different commands at this tender age as he'll become confused.  Ensure he learns his name, a word for toilet such as 'busy' and 'come' :)  Once he's got those firmly planted into his baby head you can work on other words such as off, sit, leave, down, stay etc - too much too soon for this little guy and he'll not *really* understand any of it.

HTH, teri

Yay

My boys called mason, good choice. Hes only a baby give him time, be a firm leader and read some books. Remember not to spend too much time with him and gradually increase your time apart so he doesnt develop separation anxiety.

Louise

good posts. except i wouldnt read books. in my experience, many people have gone wrong reading books, as they give conflicting advice and some waffle on with outdated ineffectual wolf based dominance theory (such as Jan Fennell's books). the advice you get on here will be better, as will be the good reward based training club you are starting in January.

good point about starting separation training now, as your lifestyle with the dog is of the type that can inadvertently create separation anxiety for the dog as it matures...especially if you have a change of lifestyle such as getting a new job.

I would highly recommend "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey - best puppy book out there and recently updated! :-)

> Remember not to spend too much time with him

I've not found this to be a problem with my pup. For the fist few months of getting him, I was with him nearly every moment he was awake. I never made a fuss when leaving/returning to the room he was in, the same if I had left the house - no fuss.
I've found that spending so much time with pup helped us get to know one-another quicker, but it hasn't hindered his ability to be left on his own as this is something that has happened gradually. He never usually gets left for more than 2 - 3 hrs without getting somebody in to keep him company, but yesterday we got held up shopping and were gone for 6 hrs. I was convinced I would be getting home to a stessed dog, but a sleepy head greeted me, he did go OTT with exitement to see us, but it was obvious he had spent the entire time asleep (he gets 'bed-hair' LOL - a tell-tale sign of a long sleep).

> good posts. except i wouldnt read books. in my experience, many people have gone wrong reading books, as they give conflicting advice and some waffle on with outdated ineffectual wolf based dominance theory (such as Jan Fennell's books). the advice you get on here will be better, as will be the good reward based training club you are starting in January

couldn't agree more.. you need to see what works best for this individual character

also i wouldnt be using any stern voices at this age.... you should only use a stern voice when the pup is older and able to read your emotions better... otherwise you'll find him tuning out far more easyer... you'll be told this when you start the reward based training

labs are funny.. at this age they tend not to understand what a stern voice is all about.. trust me... when he chews your trousers 'YELP' and walk away... then distract with a toy.. he'll learn that toys are far better fun than trousers!

Thank you all very much for the advice!

Now he is allowed out, he seems alot calmer when at home and is learning so quickly!
Find it strange though how many children are terrified of him, even on the lead! hes only about 10 inches tall lol!

thanks again!

Good to hear he is doing much better now, training classes are a great idea, I am not in the least surprised so many children seem afraid of him, sadly so many mums drag their children away from even a small extremely friendly dog, I know you have to be aware some dogs are not good natured but parents really do pass on their own dog phobia to their children when they drag them away from all dogs no matter how friendly they are, sad sign of the times really, when I was a kid I used to round up all the strays and bring them home for a biscuit much to my mothers disgust lol.