# 4 month old puppy started being naughty!



## Annie_cockerowner (Jul 17, 2015)

Hi there, I have a four month old (or 18 week old) cocker spaniel puppy called Bella and up until now she has more or less been the perfect puppy! Today, she has been beyond naughty and I am very frustrated by it! This morning whilst I was brushing my teeth, she had done a dirty protest on the rug! I had taken her out about 5/10 minutes prior to this and left the back door open to get some air in. She then ripped up an important document, I have no idea how she got it down from the fridge but it was very naughty! She has always been good at leaving everyone alone when they're eating food but today she has been terrible, not listening when I tell her to get down. But what has worried me most of all is that every time I go to stroke her or touch her in any way, she goes to bite me. She had never done this before and knows not to bite as I have spent a lot of time training her not to do so. Could this be the start of her adolescence stage or is this something I should genuinely be concerned with? She is also starting puppy training classes next week.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

She has started teething I suspect


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## Annie_cockerowner (Jul 17, 2015)

rona said:


> She has started teething I suspect


yes definitely! she's lost all of her incisors now and one of her canines but still has quite a few to go. Hopefully it's just teething and not just her being a cheeky pup!


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

Hold on, don't get so upset, she is just a baby still. You have been very lucky so far by the sound of it, most people are writing these comments earlier in their pups life.

Your pup isn't being naughty, she is being a puppy who has to learn as she grows up, that there are things she can and can't do. 
Go back to basics with the toilet training, don't get upset and ahout, praise the good, ignore the bad, she will get it in time. She wasn't doing a dirty protest, it's just her bowel control is not mature enough yet, when she needs to go then she needs to go now, not when you took her out earlier.

Read about how to control your pups biting of you on this link
http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/disc...192c8917185b3efb41214fd4e9a&amp;topic=64170.0

It works.

She is too young for the adolescent stage, that's normally about a year. Probably she has gained in confidence and is just finding out more about what she can and can't do. Just keep up with the training as you have been doing before. Do you go to training classes? The teacher will be able to help you if you discuss this with them.

Don't get to despondent, keep calm and keep going with the training.


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## StrawberryBlonde (May 27, 2015)

This sounds very familiar to me. My cocker spaniel was a crazed biter from earlier on & carried on (to a lesser extent) past 6 months. Its all part of puppyhood & very normal. I visited my friends 12 week old working cocker & he's already at the bitey, rebellious stage! Sounds like you have a cheeky, mischievous little madam who will test you but be consistent with training & it will get better!


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## Annie_cockerowner (Jul 17, 2015)

Siskin said:


> Hold on, don't get so upset, she is just a baby still. You have been very lucky so far by the sound of it, most people are writing these comments earlier in their pups life.
> 
> Your pup isn't being naughty, she is being a puppy who has to learn as she grows up, that there are things she can and can't do.
> Go back to basics with the toilet training, don't get upset and ahout, praise the good, ignore the bad, she will get it in time. She wasn't doing a dirty protest, it's just her bowel control is not mature enough yet, when she needs to go then she needs to go now, not when you took her out earlier.
> ...


Thanks for the advice!  however she is housetrained now and knows to go outside, especially if the back door is left open for her - she'd had a bit of a moan at me when I went into the bathroom to get washed rather than coming downstairs to play straightaway!


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

Annie_cockerowner said:


> Thanks for the advice!  however she is housetrained now and knows to go outside, especially if the back door is left open for her - she'd had a bit of a moan at me when I went into the bathroom to get washed rather than coming downstairs to play straightaway!


But your pup doesn't think to herself, 'I know what will annoy her, I will poo now, that'll teach her not to come and play with me'. 
Yes, she is house trained, but only to a degree, she will still 'forget' from time to time. You can't really guarantee your pup is totally house trained just yet. My pup rarely wee'ed indoors catching on to doing it outside pretty quickly, but there were times she forgot or hung on til she was bursting and didn't have time to get outside. She was at least six months before I could genuinely say that she was house trained completely.
As rona said, your pup is probably teething and the discomfort from that is affecting her behaviour, she is not thinking as clearly as before. You know what it's like when you have a headache, you forget things and don't think straight, it's the same for your girl.


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## Jamesgoeswalkies (May 8, 2014)

Annie_cockerowner said:


> she'd had a bit of a moan at me when I went into the bathroom to get washed rather than coming downstairs to play straightaway!


As Siskin says, this isn't a calculated action. If she 'had a bit of a moan' and this resulted in a poo, this would tell me she was reacting to your disappearing to another room by showing a level of anxiety rather than a level of petulance.

And yes, puppies have accidents as they have neither the mental or physical ability yet to consistently hold their wee's and poo's.

I suspect she is teething as others have said. Puppies aren't 'trained' at 18 weeks, they are still puppies .......expects lots more up and down days...and you have adolescence yet to come 

J


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## candy1567 (May 4, 2015)

wow your lucky to have got to 16 weeks before the biting started lol, we have doberman/GSD cross

we have a 9 week old puppy and he is the devil dog, anything he can grab gets taken outside, he's also trying to dig outside so he now has a dedicated spot for this and he is usually ok in only digging here, he fav trick is to pick up stones in the garden and torment my hubby into chasing him to get the stones away from him, anything at mouth height goes in it, we've tried to Bailey proof our house and have sort of managed this, but his fav trick is to pull up the drain plug from my wetroom, hence now all doors are shut lol. he is a very mouthy dog and barks at what he wants to do, hence am trying to teach him to speak so i can put a stop to this

on the upside of this, he is such a clever little chap, can sit on command and just learnt to give paw, were now working on recall and he's sort of getting it lol, only had a few toilet accidents in the house which is usually from him playing with toys and just forgetting he needs to go.

I keep on threatening my husband am gonna throw him out as it was his idea to get the puppy, and telling him were sending him back to get a good puppy lol, cant wait for the teenage years oh the joys 

Juliex


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## Latekin (Jun 29, 2015)

To be honest, this all sound perfectly normal, if a bit frustrating. While the poop was probably a bit of absent minded/forgetfulness, a puppy can sometimes be a bit like a little kid in that, even when they know the rules, sometimes they push or poke at the boundaries to see just what that can get away with. It might be subtle (For example, they're not allowed to jump on a certain bench, so while you're watching, they'll carefully stick their two front paws on it to see what you do and how far they can go), or it might be obvious. Sometimes puppies have mental days, where they go a bit crazy, shred the photo albums, dig up the flowers and eat the houseplants before falling asleep in a big puddle of mud they tracked into the living room. They can be the best trained puppy on the planet and they'll still have those days from time to time. 

Add in the teething, and you've probably got a puppy that's a bit grumpy and painful around the mouth who really wants to bite something. Your hands are just the closest thing available.


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Sounds like pretty normal puppy behaviour to be honest. I wouldn't expect an 18 week old puppy to be reliably house trained, puppies are like kids in that often they don't actually realise they need to go until they need to go RIGHT NOW. At this age I'd still be taking her outside and rewarding for toileting out there, not letting her take herself out. It's not a dirty protest, dogs don't think like that.

As for chewing things up, dogs chew. Some more than others. And puppies especially chew. It's not naughty, it's just normal behaviour and it's up to us to manage the environment while we teach them what things are appropriate to chew. I don't leave important documents taped to the fridge, it's too easy for them to fall down and be shredded. Mine would most likely bring me them now rather than chew them but he's 4 years old and we've done a hell of a lot of work on trading stolen or found items for treats instead of running off with them.

Puppy biting is perfectly normal behaviour. And if she's teething then it's no wonder she's reverted to it really. She needs to bite, have something to hand to shove in her mouth that is appropriate to chew on.


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