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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
**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