Jazz At 10Months - Advice Required (Again!!)

[markquinton]

Hi all

 

Some of you may see my username and think "my god is he moaning again!!" lol

 

Jazz our mally has just turned 10months and I just thought i'd give you an update and also I guess what i'm looking for is some reassurance that I'm not alone and maybe suggestions as to whether i'm doing things right or wrong as I often doubt myself.

 

So here is what has improved and what hasn't over the last 10months.

 

Improvements:

 

- We have now moved away from the land shark stage and she no longer randomly jumps and attacks you in the house.

- She doesn't seem to take so many items which she deems to be valuable and guard them

- She has mature spells of calm (occasionally)

- There are signs that she is starting to learn to control her excitement and stop her self from losing control, this still needs lots of work though, more on this in the next paragraph.

 

Things i'm stuck on and slightly worried about:

 

- I have major problems with Jazz just not letting me sit down in the lounge. My wife can without any problems and she is generally very chilled throughout the day but when I get home from work and after I've taken her for a 45minute walk she is a right pain the butt all night and every night. The only way she will lay and be calm is if she has a treat or finally when she is tired around 9:30 (hence why i'm now able to write this while she is sleeping next to be). What she does if she sees me sitting is either jump on the couch opposite me and steals/bites the cushions, or she will walk into the couch i'm sitting on a bite the corners. She does it because it get's a reaction although I can't let her do it as she has already ripped 4 holes in our couch over the last few weeks. She knows exactly what buttons to press to get me up and giving her attention. I've tried ignoring her, walking away and grabbing her by her collar and taking her to time out. Unfortunately when I grab her collar she goes completely limp and I struggle to get her out of the room. I know it's not the way to do it and I now thing that she likes me man handling her. If I jump up to tell her off she runs around excited trying to evade me like she thinks it's a great game. This problem may seem very minor but when it's every single night I tell you it's ruining the time I spend with her and I don't know how I can stop it. Please any ideas on how I can break the cycle are very welcome.

 

-  at 10months I had expected her to not mouth any more but she still mouths a lot, I've tried saying 'no', nipping her lip when she mouths and pressing her tongue and walking away. The nipping her touch and lip definitely do not work as she comes back again just to check whether I will do it every time. Is it normal for dogs at 10months still to be mouthy?

 

- she is taking much more interest in our cats!!

 

- We still are having the occasionally issue with Jazz jumping up and mouthing our arms mid walk, this was a major problem which was causing us significant bruises and scratches and i'm very pleased that this problem is a lot less common now. It still seems to be triggered by noises and overexcitement. For example I've tried taking her for runs in the evening to take away some of her endless energy. Sometimes it goes great and other times the running just makes her too excited and she looses control and mouths my arm and jumps up and it's difficult to recover her. I'm still worried that this isn't normal at all especially at her age now but I am pleased that it's improving.

 

So all in all the first 10months have been bloody hard and i'm really hoping it gets easier, I believe she is in her adolescent stage now and it seems quite apparent. I do love her to bits and hope that things get easier. If anyone met jazz i'm sure they wouldn't notice all the problems I do but they are all important to me as I want her to grow up and be a great companion, not a pain in the butt.

 

Thanks all

 

Mark

[mydiamond]

aww Mark, you're free to "rant" anytime! That's why we're here but unfortunately I have to tell you this beforehand: I'm not a Mally owner. I don't know that much about Mals, so can't reply to all of your questions. But hey, you can still regard this post as a "bump" our Mal owners will show up anytime soon. Anyways:

 

1. First and foremost, YAY at the progress! Every little steps count. From my experience working with Diamond, he tends to make teeny tiny progresses at first and once he understands what is expected of him he takes giant leaps. Generally he learns new things faster than average. I'm guessing Mals are the same way. So please do look forward to that giant leap

 

2. The sitting down problem: IMO she did that because you're his human and she misses you ("NO, I only want to play with my DAD!") which also kinda explains why she doesn't bother your wife. Fixing this problem is gonna be a two-men job, because--as you already know--you can't give her a response when she starts bothering you. Is there a family member that Jazz respects? Get him/her to pull her away or call her off. Your job is to ignore her. 

 

3. The mouthing problem: Err, honestly? Yes. I met some dogs that are still mouthy even at 12 months old. No advice on this one as I've never raised a puppy, but all I can say is you're on the right track and keep doing what you're doing.

 

4. The cats problem: Eeeek!! Is that in positive or negative way?

 

5. The mid-walk mouthing problem: can you carry chew toys on walks and let her chew on that instead? Or better yet you can find a toy she really loves and she can carry it with her mouth the entire walk. I know some dogs do that with rocks or tennis balls. 

 

6. So I see that everything is improving even just a little bit. Well, honestly I don't expect anything more since it's just been a month since the last time you posted don't worry though looks like her adolescence calmness starts to kick in. Feel free to post updates or some more questions anytime you want good luck! xxx 

 

P.S: I know it's frustrating, but we're here for you xxx

[Tatipu]

I don't really know about Mallys but as for the mouthy part.  I'm told some huskies/mallys mouth when they play.

 

(Jelly mouths when she plays all the time.  of course it doesn't hurt but sometimes it's just annoying .  getting dog slobber all over my hand.)

[markquinton]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Ranting is a much needed release of stress I can tell you!

 

You are right that there are general steps towards improvement. She is very much little a child, somedays she wakes up quite calm and loving and others she wakes up mental with tons of energy and it's difficult to use it all up.

 

I must say this site and the people on it have been a big help for me.