[yoshiposhi]

Hi,

**sorry for the long post**

I have a 10.5 week old puppy that I got at 8 weeks. She is a pitbull (red nose/blue nose mix). Overall she's a good puppy - already knows basic commands like "stay" "sit" "come" "leave it" "drop it" but she's also has the typical puppy behavior: nipping, biting, occasional barking, random crazy puppy spurts, whining when I'm away...you get the idea.

I've noticed in the last few days that after playing with her for 10-15 minutes she stops and just sits there staring at me. If I ignore her and make no eye contact, she will walk over to me and sit by my feet. If I step away and ignore any needy behavior (sometimes leaving the kitchen area where she is kept), she will run after me and whine at the baby gate. I figure that she's just tired and doesn't want to play anymore but then she gets destructive and starts chewing on things or starts whining louder.

I'm trying to find ways to burn off her energy indoors but I'm having trouble getting her excited to play with me now. She hasn't gotten all of her shots yet so I don't feel comfortable taking her outside to run around. My neighborhood is very busy with lots of dogs, dog parks everywhere with dogs running around all the time. It's too high of a risk for her to run around (she's getting her second set of shots in 1.5 weeks).

I have Kong toys that I fill with kibble, she has a bully stick and an antler chew. I make her work for all her food to try and tire her out mentally. We train briefly on leash, I'll hide food in one hand and she'll touch the hand that has the food, I'll make her sit stay and come and I'll treat her with her kibble. I'll also teach her "leave it" before she can eat kibble from my hand. She's learned to make eye contact with me first before she's allowed to eat from her bowl. I'm running out of ideas on how to drain her energy.

When my friends come over to play with her, she goes ballistic! She runs around them, jumps on them and will play with them for hours. I do discipline her more than they do and I know their energy is much more excited when they see her. Whenever I come home and I'm around her, I'm very calm. I ignore her when she's super excited and jumps on me only because I don't want to encourage that behaviour. I will only give her attention when she is sitting and calm. Is that the reason why her behaviour has changed when we play now?

Any advice would be great, thanks!

Yoshi

 

[vatsanajmounivong]

I read a great blog that covers everything about pet ownership, myths and pet safety. Came across this great article about "Subtle Signs Your Dog Loves You" maybe it'll gain you some clarity on what your pup is doing.

 

[yoshiposhi]

Thanks! I'll take a look!

 

[Gilliandi]

I do discipline her more than they do and I know their energy is much more excited when they see her.

A few questions...

What do you mean by discipline?

How do you play?

What are you doing when she disengages with you?

 

[yoshiposhi]

A few questions...

What do you mean by discipline?

How do you play?

What are you doing when she disengages with you?

Sorry, I think "discipline" is probably the wrong choice of words.

For example, when she jumps up on me I will say "off", turn my back and ignore her. When she is calm, I will turn around and pet her. Or if she nips or bites me (even by accident) I will say "OW!" really loudly and stop playing with her until she calms down.

When she plays with my friends, they don't all do the same thing I do, or if they do, they kind of do it half a$$ed so she doesn't take the corrections seriously.

When her and I play, my voice is never high pitched and excited. Actually I don't do a lot of talking with her. We play fetch, a bit of tug of war and I will make her "drop it" every once in a while. I think at most I say is "go get it!" or "good girl!" when playing fetch or when she listens when I tell her to drop the toy.

Sometimes when I throw the toy she just stops, sits and stares at me. I'll say "go get it Mia!" and she will either stay there, or walk over to me and want me to pick her up. I go get the toy and tease her with it, trying to get her to play and when she doesn't engage I'll just drop the toy and start doing dishes or something. She'll sometimes either get a burst of energy and go crazy in her crate (digging in the corners) and run around, other times she'll go into her crate and sleep lol.

Lately though, this behaviour has stopped (of not playing with me). I haven't done anything differently, go figure!