Hi

I've got a 5 and a half month old Golden Retriever puppy and this morning I've just had enough. She is so destructive and keeps weeing and pooing in the house, I feel like I've become her slave. I just wanted a tiny bit of a lie-in so thought I'd give myself one extra hour of sleep. So she's decided to have a poo in the house and eat it to make it worse. She's also started chewing the skirting board in the meantime.
She's just wearing me out and she seems to have gone worse over the last month. When you start thinking "that's is now, she's got it, she's almost house-trained", then she'll do something to send you back months ago. I go through moments when I feel I hate her and that's not what I want to feel about my dog! I know I've never been a fan of puppies and am only looking forward to her coming of age, when I can start trusting her and life together is peaceful and harmonious... But not now.
I suppose she's just one those puppies and I've just got to take a deep breath and bide my time. Just wanted to let it out though this morning as I feel so frustrated and down.

trying to remember back to those difficult early months................i think it was about 6 to 9 months before i could leave mine unsupervised in the house without fear of something being ruined, but nothing ever was because he had a large crate and he would be in there whenever i couldnt watch him, a bit of a lie in once theyve been out in the garden isnt too much too ask for once a week!.
youre probably doing everything with  her in mind and not thinking about the bigger picture anymore and she has come to dictate how things go, naturally they need a lot of attention at this age  but dont let it get out of hand, get a secure place for her so you can have some time out.  and of couse in 6 months this will all be history.....with luck.

The early months are very difficult - similar to having a new baby! I don't know if you let her out into the garden before you went back to bed for your lie-in, but dogs are very much creatures of habit, and if (particularly when they're young) they're used to being taken out for a morning wee and poo at 7 o'clock, they genuinely can't 'hold it' till 8 all of a sudden. And when you gotta go, you gotta go!

Don't worry, we all have these times when it all seems too much for us, but rest assured that it does get easier! She's still very much a baby, even though she's physically quite big now. As you say, you must just take a deep breath, count to ten, and get back into your stride. Perhaps if you take her for a walk this afternoon she'll settle down and you can have a nap then to recharge your batteries. Good luck!

Oh thank you guys, it makes me feel better. I think that if I didn't already have an adult Golden here I would have given the crate a go. But I can't really cage her when he's not as i know they spend a lot of time playing together and sleeping together. All I can do it anticipate any mischief and reduce any possibility for her to find things to destroy or damage.
I did let her out at 7:00 but she wasn't interested. An hour later she'd poo-ed and I can't help thinking she could've held herself as she usually has it later anyway when I walk them (8:30). Ok for wees, I know my boy was about 6 months when he stopped weeing in the night and girls are supposed to be worse. The poo eating just makes it worse and with the 2 awful weeks I've just had at work, I just collapsed. Now I've sobered up again and try to concentrate on what she's learned and knows now. Can't hold it against her. She's just a baby dog.

I have four adult dogs and the pup who are in the kitchen when not directly supervised.

Pup is only 14 weeks today, and house-training going well, but if I am not watching she will pee in the kitchen unless back door is open (which of course now when heating is on I keep shut), especially if.

I still crate my pup at night and will continue to do so until she is more mature, this gives the others a break from her over enthusiasm and enables her to chill. 

As for chewing I have found over the years that anticipating the places and things likely to be chewed and spraying them with the Pet Behave spray from Wilkinson's stops it before it starts, if you spray things that have already had a good chew it is less effective.

Pups of this age are starting to sleep less and looking for thigns to do, though you do ahve tob e careful to not over stimulate too.

Hi thereI
I.m so glad you,re feeling a little better about it all now it always helps if you can share your problems and theres always someone around on here to listen and hopefully advise you.
Please don,t think its unfair to crate your puppy because she plays with the older dog.
The puppy I kept from my last litter (twelve years ago ) turned out to be the naughtiest puppy in the world according to my daughter who was thirteen at the time.
There was nothing she wouldn,t chew even though her mother was an absolute angel .
Inga was fine no prpblem at all when we were with her but I caged her if I had to go out or the house would have been totally destroyed she even dug up my matress on the bed one day while I popped to the post box two minutes walkaway hubby still doesn,t know but thats a story for another day,
Safe to say she was into interior design and house renovations in a big way.
Finally I decided to crate her she,d be about four or five months old by then, so if I had to go out she was caged and her mum stayed in the same room with her , it worked just fine and after a few weeks she was put on parole and allowed out.
Once the teething stage was over she never chewed another thing and had the total run of the house by about nine or ten months of age.
Please just hang on in there we all know how hard it can be but we also know the good times far outweigh the bad times, I really would consider a cage if you feel its too much for you at the moment.
Take care Sharon

Hi, sorry to hear you are having a few problems but just remember that, as well as being a puppy, the clocks have gone back. So instead of it being an hours lie-in this morning you actually had 2! At least as far as she is concerned ;-)

Things will improve, then you will hit the teenage phase Just take a deap breath and count to a hundred :-)

I think mine was about 7 months before she was completely clean, though all her litter mates were clean almost as soon as they arrived in their new homes ;-)

Our first bitch Mitzy was a lil bugger when it cme to housetraining but with Turbo he was the complete opposite and was clean and never soiled in his crate or even weed on the floor!!! :eek Not one mistake from him but with Mitzy I was forveer cleaning up her wee lol

She will get better but it might not seem like it now :)

Its that horrible period when you love em but hate em at the same time. I would try a crate as others have said it will allow the adult time out and may give you your sanity back.
I have never used a crate at 5months only form very little but I should think if you do it sowly and makeit a happy place, titbits and chews and praise it may help.
I would never have a pup now without a crate having done it both ways over the years. Good luck I am sure you will get there.

I have a just turned 7 month old Terrier :)

At 5 and a half months I brought out the crate ;)  until then, housetraining had been going well and she was in a puppy pen at night or if I couldn't physically watch her, but then she began climbing out and the rain started !  

Skirting boards chewed, wee anywhere, chewing shoes and socks, stealing things - she did it all! in the day or so that we got rid of the pen, before the crate   every time my back was turned, she became a demon!  We still had the baby gate at the kitchen too, which she could jump

Then we got the crate out :-D   If I couldn't watch her - she went in it.   At night time - she went in it.  If we went out - she went in it ;)   suddenly she discovered she could go all night without a wee, but would whine and wake me at 6 or 7 to go out  :-D    and that also translated to the day time, she now asks to go out (makes a bit of fuss, no barking :-D
I had to stop taking her out as she would just play, then wee inside when we came back in   so I started leaving her out, and watching thru the windows (2 in different rooms, including jumping in and out of the bath )  and also using a tissue pad to make sure she's 'been' before she gets her treat :-D

These days she only uses the crate at night :-) when I go out she stays in the kitchen with mum (granny stays in the living room in case pup gets too wild) and is clean, last week we were delayed and she went 6 hours and was clean!  I raced thru the house to open the back door for them so they could go.   

Now we just need to get her newfound ability to run off after interesting people sorted, I thought I'd lost her last week then she discovered she'd lost me LOL   More training methinks!

the skirting boards - I put VICKS on them and it only took one try, she jumped as if bitten :-D  and has never looked at them since :-D   Now I just have to stop her chewing shoes, socks she brings to me :-)

She's really into GARDEN REDESIGNING and TOPIARY, but as she's teething I just let her get on with it, I'll worry about the garden next year when she's got bored with it ;)

I've also changed her food back to JWB puppy, she was mental on the CSJ HERBIE RINGS LOL

Hope this helps you realise, you're not alone ;)

I know exactly how you feel, just when you think you cracked it the little toad goes backwards in her behaviour. We think we've got it sussed with our 6 and 7 months pups then low and behold who's produced that monstrous 'log' in the kitchen.

They are very much creatures of habit, when we first got ours of course it was summer (scuse the sick joke :(  ) my OH leaves for work in the morn at 5.45am so I would get up with him and spend time up the garden with all 5 dogs, in my jim jams.!!! As the days got shorter (wetter colder windier) of course I no longer wanted to do this, it took quite some time to break the habit of 1hr out in the garden and many a turd was deposited on the fireplace or in a bed or by the back door.

Even this morning when getting back from our walk, we got back into the kitchen and says I to my beloved 'when did that hole appear in the kitchen wall?' One of the little buggers did it yesterday says beloved!!

Now our dogs have the company of one another all day, loads of toys, I leave for work at 8.30am and hubster arrives home from work at 1pm then they have another good walk, not too bad a life me thinks but I have chewed dresser door knobs, skirting boards with evidence of teeth marks and somebody has tried having a nibble on the brick work round my fireplace. Makes my home sound like a hovel but I am of the opinion that if you want to live in a palace then don't let the dogs into it.
They do eventually grow up :) and at least they won't leave plates under the bed that have grown fur or underpants lying about that could walk to the washer!!
You will feel better now you've let it all out and in a few months time you'll have a lovely dog and all of the frustration will have been worth it.

If it's any consolation, pup will grow up and you will eventually get a lie in!

Whereas mine - well, two dobes on thyroid meds and me working early shifts means that to keep on a decent schedule, I have to get up between half 5 and half 6 at the weekend to give them their pills and breakfast.  The trick is to go back to bed afterwards ;-)

I'm sorry to read your having a hard time of it at the moment, give it time. Just remember to laugh and try and enjoy her, you can always replace items, there are too many bad things happening in the world we all need to try and be happy with what we have and smile more. Enjoy everything!!

Good luck with your puppy! Go give her a cuddle. Lois :-)

HI GAELLE
I know how you feel ive been there too,we have had many Goldies and one of the pups we have now has been really hard work right from the start,she has eaten the skirting boards  and our table and chairs.
our other GR who is just 2 now would never have thought of doing such things.....I think personality of the dog has a lot to do with it..some being stronger willed than others.
Good Luck Keep Smiling.

Thank you all!
I think I was having a really bad day yesterday. All the frustration and tension I've experienced at work and in my life in general lately, added to miserable weather and lack of daylight just made me see everything black!

> our other GR who is just 2 now would never have thought of doing such things
It's exactly the same with my 6 year old GR Sam. He's never damaged a thing in his life. He was an unruly puppy but never destructive and house training was achieved reasonably well. So Tess is a bit of a shock compared to him.
I have to admit I can't really blame Tess too much for being naughty as she is left alone a fair bit at the moment (sudden unexpected changes in my life mean I live alone and still have to work). In a way, I think it's only fair, she's probably very bored despite all the toys and chews I leave them. And as somebody said before, she doesn't sleep as much now being older. I am definitely going to get some Kongs, they sound such a brilliant idea. And hopefully, this horrible period of my life will soon be over and I will have more time for my animals again.

I feel for you. I have only had one dog like yours in a household of 8.  All I can think of is that it is to do with her being kenneled in the open with her mother and other family members before we got her as the breeding is very very similar to ours in fact our boy is her dad.  All ours were raised from the start in the house and got the idea of toilet training quickly. She was a little slow to start but had it by the time she was 6 months baring the odd accident.  She is also a poo eater (thankfully that has stopped at 12 months + age).

She tore the house up, ate doors, skirtings, vinolay, desk, chairs, telephone, mouse - you name it it was fair game even with lashings of tobasco sauce (the others wont go near it).

The house is still a mess and we have now decided that as she hasn't eaten any furniture or skirtings for a while, she can be trusted and we can replace things. 

She still steals the odd mouse, pen, food container - last week box of eggs lol - but mostly it has stopped. 

Don't beat yourself up about it, they're like kids everyone is different.

Just keep posting and we can cry on each others shoulders.

Just having our office redecorated mainly the walls in the boardroom where Jake lies in his bed legs in the air and scratches the plaster off. By my desk where cocker sleeps and chews the skirting and the archieve room which Im sure doubled as a doggie toilet if we got stuck on the phone and didnt act IMMEDIATELY!! we were told either of them wanted a pee!!!
Keep up with it, its all worth it when they get out of the puppy stage.

I agree that they will not leave plates under the bed, send emails telling you there out of money and reverse charge the phone as they are out of credit.......

We've always had dogs in the house and always got them as puppies. My Bernese has to of been the worst puppy we've ever had. He was so destructive from chewing and scratching at the skirting board, to chewing holes in the walls to the point it went through to the plaster board.
He still goes digging in the garden and we can't stop him on that. No amount of different no chew sprays, pepper, tabasco sauce or chilli powder has done the trick. He gets told off when caught(very rarely do we catch him).
He always had a huge amount of bones, chews and toys. He also had the other dogs for company, but this made no difference.
If anyone forgot to pick up their shoes he would be right on him and chew holes into them. He chewed up 2 pairs of my ugg boots, flip flops(took me ages to find somewhere to buy these again) and also my fathers slippers x 2.
My show shoes, i had just got them and worn only a few times before someone left a door open into the room they were in and he got them.

He has come out of it apart from the digging the garden, which is a god send as we can now look to start doing the house back up again.
Though saying that when he stretches out during sleep he will claw at what ever is nearest to him, so have new scratch marks in the skirting board.
I can leave my walking shoes about, he will pick them up, take them outside and try and chew them, but they are too hardy for him and they don't get destroyed by him.

We live in the country and when he was slightly younger i would walk him when i got in from work in the dark, i've had him on a lead and if he saw a rabbit i didn't he would go and chase it. I have ended up with 2 broken fingers now due to this, one ended up in an operation on it. My fingers couldn;t release the lead quick enough. So now he is walked off lead when darkness hits.

He is getting easier and i'm glad that his real puppy stage has now gone, it does get easier, though i know that it feels very difficult on some days.

Also to this my friend had a Lab puppy and when she went to work he was shut into the conservatory. Some days she would forget to do this and he has chewed a playstation, the new laminate flooring which hadn;t been put down yet. £500 tv speakers. There is more but these have been the most expensive items.

So you are not alone and it will become easier. Its just one of those things where by the odd pup here and there is going to be very difficult.

> I have to admit I can't really blame Tess too much for being naughty as she is left alone a fair bit at the moment (sudden unexpected changes in my life mean I live alone and still have to work). In a way, I think it's only fair, she's probably very bored despite all the toys and chews I leave them. And as somebody said before, she doesn't sleep as much now being older. I am definitely going to get some Kongs, they sound such a brilliant idea.

I'm lucky in that I work from home, the dog only gets left home alone when I'm on the school run or food shopping, he is used to this he's never left for more than 1& half hours. On the rare occasion that I will be out for longer than this I will get a couple of cardboard boxes (cereal box/shoe box) and put some treats inside, first I scrunch the treats up in newspaper, these get put in the kitchen just before I leave (easier to sweep the mess back up!) and Buster really enjoys shredding the box and ripping the paper to find the treats. The first few times I did this I made sure I was with him so I could see if he would try to eat the paper & card, but he didn't, he spits the pieces out so I have no worry of him having his 'treat box' when I'm not there.
Every so often Buster gets one of these boxes while I'm home so he doesn't associate them with me going out, it's a great way to keep him occupied while I'm busy (ie, cooking, visitors etc..).