Puppy Too Excited to Pee Outside!!

[moosesmom]

Hi everyone!

Moose is just 8 weeks 3 days old - the breeder gave him to us at only 7 weeks (this is a whole other story, and I'm actually quite upset now that I know we should have gotten him at 8 weeks). Anyway...at early evening/night time (after 4pm) Moose has his puppy hour(s) and is biting non stop, playing non stop, etc. So when we take him outside, he's way too overactive to go to the bathroom. He'll start biting my legs (HARD!) or chewing on his leash non-stop to the point where I just have to take him in because it's a lost cause.

I'll take him in and he will immediately pee inside.

I know when to take him out (after nap, play, eating, morning, before bed, and twice in the middle of the night), but after play he just won't pee outside because he's too riled up.

We've tried doing the "time out" in the crate for 5 minutes and then bringing him back out. But honestly, getting him to go to the bathroom is taking the entire night and we have to do normal nightly things as well.

Open to ANY ADVICE!!! It's driving me mad!!!

[barry581]

Welcome to the board.

There is a couple schools of thought between getting puppies at either 7 or 8 weeks. My vet is a long time Lab breeder/field trailer and he's firmly in the get a puppy at 7 weeks camp. I got my most recent puppy at 8 weeks, and he chastised me for waiting the extra week.

Anyway.......

You're dealing with a baby and the problems you are having a quite common. You pups whole world was up ended when you took him from his litter mates and the only place he's ever known. It's going to take a few weeks to get him into a routine and settled in. Puppies thrive on a routine. SO far from what you describe you are on the right track. Just keep doing the same thing, over, and over, and over.

I've raised 4 puppies in the past 10 years. My current pup just turned 8 months old and it took til she was almost 4 months old to potty train her. My other Lab is about to turn 6 in May. He potty trained in about 3 days, which was the fastest I've ever had one get it. Every pup is different.

As to the biting, yeah that can be a real issue for some Lab pups. The explore their world with their teeth. As soon and he start biting you, tell him "NO" and give him something that's appropriate for him to chew on. If it continues after doing this for a couple day you may have to do a "lip curl" with him. Basically you curl his upper lip over a canine tooth with enough pressure to make it uncomfortable and tell him "NO". I've had to do this with a couple of my pups and they usually figure it our pretty quick that biting is not good.

Lastly I'll say this. Raising a Lab puppy is a journey, not a destination. With a lot of love, patience, and time, you'll have a great dog one day. And trust me, they will test your patience along the way, but in the end, it will all be worth it.

[zd262]

Are you using a word or phrase to mark them going to the bathroom? We use "get busy" and during potty training we say "get busy" as soon as it seems like the puppy is about to go to the bathroom and the praise with "good get busy". After doing that for a few days I'll start to use it as a prompt as well, so I'll take the puppy out and set them down and say "get busy" and continue to redirect them from stick chewing or laying down or whatever they're doing and say "get busy". Eventually they get the idea that they're supposed to be going to the bathroom when that's said and focus a little more.

My only other suggestion would be to try to take him out or stop the play before he gets to that level of excitement. With our last lab we would do what we called puppy massage calming. Where we would just hold him and stroke him slowly and purposefully. He was a puppy terror and we basically couldn't ever interact with him in a quick or excited way or he would just bounce off the walls.