Springador puppy frenzy General Chat

Hi guys,
I just wanted to say hello as I am new here. I love this forum, I have been reading so many of your stories/opinions for some time now and you give so much information it’s great. I am so happy I found it
So the reason I’m here is because of my puppy – he is ¾ springer and ¼ Labrador. He is from Kent, East Malling. He comes from working dogs family where mum (springer) and dad (half springer, half lab) were gun dogs. We met the mum and she was great. Family was really nice and also other dogs they had were good. Our little one was the smallest and not as crazy as some other puppies. Not shy but also not as full on! We played with all puppies and Coda instantly was the one we had picked and so 2 weeks later we came back to take him home.
He was shy and quiet first few days and then he’s gone CRAZY. I mean, he is now what other puppies were when we came to see them 1 time. He is very confident and even a bit too much I would say.
Now I have a question. Please tell me are all the puppies like this or am I going crazy?
My husband had a springer before and said he was nuts but this one is just WOW .
I had two German Shepards cross and never felt like it was too much. Now this one is a lot of work.
Don’t get me wrong we love him and he is a very smart, super clever. We just surprised how full on he is. Also he bites so much, especially when he gets in his evening frenzy and told NO and he is very vocal (barks). I know this is stupid question but is this normal for this kind of doggy?

What a cute puppy and looks like a bundle of mischief.

Normal high energy puppy behaviour, mental stimulation, tricks/training in small doses will help tire him out .

Sounds like your cute little guy is showing the typical over-exuberant behaviours of the breeds he has in his cross.

He does sound 'normal', but you might want to look at what you are feeding as it can make a difference. When I ran puppy classes many moons ago, I could pick out the pups fed on one particular popular brand within 10 minutes of the first class as the pups were way too over the top

Thank you! That's good to hear.
We are doing all that and if anything he NEVER gets tired of walking. Even though in that age he isn't supposed to do too much of it anyway, and his only 10 weeks old. Also - he can jump and climb! I have never seen a dog climb before! We wanna do a DNA test as he is such an interesting type. Only tricks and games work so far where he needs to focus and train.

That’s an interesting comment Chris
When looking at the feed contents what would you particularly looking at that would influence this kind of behaviour?

Just to add - we feed him 3 times a day with 60-70gr portions - James wellbeloved dry food for puppies. It was hard to read instructions but that's what our vet has recommended. He likes it but sometimes doesn't finish the portion.

As has been said - you have a normal high energy puppy - and a lot of stimulation should help him understand what is being good and being not-so good is about.

Young puppies can be nuts. Try telling me to a 2 year 7 [or 8 month] old "thing" who is still nuts!

They do learn. Mostly. Eventually. But it is never an over night thing.

Your puppy is real cute - just give time for him to learn what is OK and what is OK, and please,never punish him for a not Ok thing.

Maybe his food is not perfect for him. Maybe a change in food will help him not so be over-umbunctious?

But he is still a baby and has a lot of learning to do.

Actually, you are already feeding one of the brands I would have recommended

A lovely puppy. Working breeds are high energy, and can be a challenge to train.
Do not overdo the walking though. To prevent joint damage, just five minutes for each month of his life is enough to begin with. Tire him with lots of outdoor play, and using mental effort - searching, and learning tricks.

There are others but Bakers Complete and Pedigree are well known for added sugars/ fat/additives and limited real meat content and added colourants which cause hyperactivity.
https://www.doglistener.co.uk/bakers-pedigree-dogfood
https://www.doglistener.co.uk/dog-food-review-royal-canin-hills-and-burns

https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0012/bakers-complete-adult

Yes the sugars and also the ones with high protein levels. It's also wise to avoid gluten

As an “ add on “ to my previous comment Karolina, I read an article that “chewing” is very calming for dogs, if Yoji seems restless, even after his walk, we give him a treat giving toy, it seems to do the trick and may help you and we often take him on a “ sniff “ walk. What I mean by that is we just wander around no route planned and literally go where his nose takes him, when he starts sniffing things we leave him to finish in his own time. When dogs are sniffing they are using their brain to work out exactly what it is etc
I’m better at “ sniff “ walks than my hubby, he seems to rush Yoji
It’s just another way to stimulate their brains. You just have to do it when you haven’t got anything planned or need to rush home
Let me know how you get on. You can researched both topics I have mentioned
Philippa

Just wondering... does your vet sell this food? Because if he does then of course he will recommend it.

Thank you all for tips and ideas.
We do take him for a walk but it is usually about 10-15 minutes as he is still a baby. Also he will have his second shot tomorrow and it was recommended to wait another week after that. So walks only in safe areas. I really like the idea of sniff walk – will try it.
When we got him we were given a big bag of Royal Canin Vet Care Nutrition Pediatric Junior and he really liked it. James wellbeloved was our pick as the other one was pricy plus JBL looked good content wise. We might change it again at some point but dunno really, there are so many brands.
Overall he is doing fine; tomorrow will be exactly three weeks since he is with us. I realise now that during the day he is fine with no crazies. He doesn’t misbehave and can even stay home alone for like 5 min at the time. (We try short periods of time). Then afternoon comes and here we go again . One thing I don’t understand is – we take him out for a short walk and his fine. Walking on a leash, no pulling, everything ok. The moment we come home he goes crazy. Almost like he is over stimulated or has too much energy, I worry about his joints etc as he jumps so much all over the place.
Nights are difficult. He has his crate in a bedroom and we leave it open so he can go to the bathroom at night + he hates being locked in. But sometimes when he wakes up in the middle of the night he wants to get in bed with us and will cry and I mean CRY. Our bed is about 60 cm high and he can jump up and climb into bed. We do feel like he is trying to train us sometimes with this attention crying but still if feels like he doesn’t want to be alone. When we take him down, put him in a crate and in few min he will fall asleep. I do feel like it will get better. I can’t believe it has been three weeks!

Hello again Karolina - my bubba still sleeps in her crate in my bedroom, and eeps when she wakes and needs to go out for a pee and or a poo. If it is stupid o'clock she goes out, does what she has to do and then comes in and goes straight through into her crate.

But she has always been used to be in her crate and she only goes in it when it is bed time. She has a little bikki and then her crate is then closed. And if she wakes at stupid o'clock, she has a little bikki and zonks off until it is wake up time.

I’m glad you say that – it means that he might get there.
My other dog never had a crate and she is fine. We never had any issues whatsoever. Not with separation, being home alone or doing her business. So I wonder if this crate business is necessary.
He likes his crate, uses it as his bed. Is just he doesn’t like to be locked in. And that’s not only crate, it is anything that will make him locked in somewhere. We had a play pen that he is ok to be in when the door is open but moment we close it he goes mental. We can put him in another room and that’s fine but to be locked even in the same room as us is crazy. Weird. We will install a door gate today and see how it goes.

Also I forgot to mention – we are looking for a dog parks around here – Southampton/ New Forest area but find it really difficult. It seems like it’s not really a thing. We found few places that do puppy classes and you can book a field - we wanted to get a membership but it wasn’t as flexible as we first thought so will keep looking.
We just want him to meet other dogs/puppies in a controlled environment as some dogs we’ve met in public were a bit mental and he wasn’t comfortable. So calm and supervised play asap would be good as he is a little shy and gets scared - so slowly but surely.

I had never used a crate before but Tikva is happy with it. She is not left alone if I go out and is free in the house, never put in her crate, but this morning I had two guys removing dead air conditioning units outside and inside, and I had to put her in her crate so she did not get in their way.

She was not over happy but she chombled a little bikki and then went to sleep in her crate. Closed. Just as it is closed at night.

But I only closed it this morning to keep her away from the workers. For their sake and for hers.

Have you tried entering your postcode into www.dogwalkingfields.co.uk?
I entered Southampton and had four suggestions - though one was Hampshire Dog Club - which I suspect might be the one you refer to in your post. It might be a good idea to look for another youngster to share with for social reasons, but a safe space to practice his recall is a valuable asset.
IMO James Wellbeloved is a good food, and does have better ingredients than Royal Canin. Personally, I prefer to feed a grain free product, but many dogs do well with a named protein source as the main ingredient, plus vegetable and rice.

Yes, that's the place. We are actually still thinking about the membership as like you said - at the beginning we just want to be safe and who knows maybe we can find a puppy friend

Hi everyone,
I thought I’d do and update of how Koda is doing - now that he is exactly 3 months old today and a month in his new home with us.
We can now see some changes in him, he is much more expressive, started going outside for a potty and we are better at crazies which happen every day between 19.00 -20.00
We are going for longer walks twice a day and also train at home. He is very vocal and so very full of energy. For the last few days he started being a little bit shy with people which is new as he used to be very open and happy to see everyone and he is a bit scared of dogs. So far he’s had few interactions but no play yet as they were adult dogs. He is starting puppy classes this week and hopefully he will be better after more socialisation.
We also have a ban on a sofa as he would jump on it and refuse to get off. The worst time for this is in the evening when he really gets bad. If you try to take him off he would bite and also bark and protest. However if you have a treat with you he will get off have a treat and go back to his position. Still work in progress with this one. He challenges us more than we expected so it is kind of hard. On a positive side he sleeps all night till like 7.00 and no issues or potty accidents. Negative would be that he managed to jump on bed in the middle of the night and so he slept in our bed few times – hence no crying -_-
Overall we are still getting used to each other and work on our routine as first few weeks were really hard on all of us. The only issue we have is his separation anxiety. He really cries when away from us, locked in a cage or a pen. He can see us but as long as he is caged – he will shake and cry etc. This is very hard and we will probably stop doing that as he doesn’t do it when left alone at home. Almost like being separated from us is his worst punishment.4
We also changed food from James wellbeloved to Royal Canin Junior (pink one from the Vet as we had a discount). He didn’t really like James wellbeloved; Dry Turkey and Rice was just ok but lamb, duck or soft pouches was a NO. We will see how this goes down…
Other than that it has been up and down. I hope this doesn’t sound too negative but the truth is – he is really hard work. We need to keep positive as it is very easy to forget we wanted this! But, totally worth it when you look at his little face.