Dog owners: Why is my puppy so mischievious??

Question

I have a 5 month old pup, who is the most curious, hyper and overall mischievous boy I've ever seen! I don't know how to calm him down; whenever he is ANYWHERE, he is always sticking his nose in something, knocking things over, pulling apart, digging, and exploring! I can't even have him in my bedroom because he goes CRAZY! He'll pull my clothes off of their hangers, grab all the trinkets off of my desk, pull my blankets off of the bed, and EAT anything that seems edible! I keep seeing these dogs (at other peoples' houses) that walk around peacefully, ignoring newspapers (which my pup will chew up on sight), blankets, and trinkets (like the remote controllers) along the way! How do they do it? Why aren't these dogs chewing up everything on sight?? My pup has MILLIONS of toys to play with, so why is he so interested in everything he SHOUDN'T be playing with?

Answer 1

Puppies are different, just like people are different. So dogs at other people's houses may or may not be similar to yours.
Although you don't give any breed specs, my first guess is that you have a lab or retriever mix, or a boxer or boxer mix. These puppies are typically the most mischievious.
Puppies will often do things to get attention, and they will easily deermine what is theirs and what they shouldn't have. They will go for what is off limits - just like a child will go for that forbidden toy.

When you are with the dog, and they start to go for something they shouldn't have, give them a firm "no", take whatever it is that they have away from them and replace it with something they can have.

More importantly, get enrolled into a basic obedience class. Your local shelter, park district, kennel, or community college will most likely offer classes. This will help with common problems as well as teaching alternative behaviors that can get the dog totally under control.

Regardless of training, make sure the dog gets enough exercise and enough attention. A lot of times dogs will also get into mischeif because they are bored and want to do something. Negative attention, i.e, scolding from their owners, is better than nothing at all.

Answer 2

I've had puppies who are like this in the past. Some breeds are more prone to this sort of behavior than others.

Fortunately, you can train him to be a little more socially acceptable. First, any time he does anything that is unacceptable, immediately tell him put him out of your room (you can put up a baby gate if you don't want to keep your door closed). You can also fill up a metal container with some pennies and shake it really hard when he's doing something you don't want him to do. Whenever you notice him being calm and good, give him a treat. This reinforces the type of behavior that you WANT him to display.

Basic obedience training can work wonders as well. I'm not sure how old a dog needs to be in order to benefit from the training, but you can give somewhere like Petsmart a call, or a local trainer, and they can tell you how old he should be.

Answer 3

Your pup needs more exercise and training, and LESS toys.

A dog with MILLIONS of toys will see everything as his toy. Cut back to 3 or 4 favorites.

Get him out to exercise more, a tired dog is a good dog.

Invest in some training classes.

It takes time, patience, and a lot of work but your dog can act like the dogs you keep seeing. Those dogs weren't born perfect either.

Answer 4

He's a puppy - you are lucky, he sounds like a healthy, active, normal puppy. Now take him for a walk, take him for obedience classes, play with him. In short, keep him occupied and give him something constructive to do so that he develops into a normal, loving well adjusted and socialized adult dog.

Answer 5

my lab puppy was like that and can still be at 2 1/2 yrs old

Answer 6

sounds like a normal puppy to me

Answer 7

You might want to think about training him, just like your friends are.