# 6.5 Month Standard Poodle Goes Crazy Sometimes When Digging



## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

At 6.5 months he is still very much a puppy. While it is appropriate to require good manners from him, including no mouthing, he is still going to need you to set him up for success. In this case you already know what happened: he got over tired, and his impulse control disintegrated. 

My boy went through a bad attitude period between 6 and 9 months. He was more confrontational and less cooperative than he had been as a young puppy. I backed off on picking unnecessary battles with him over things like trick training, but I stood firm on my requirements for things related to human and canine safety. Greet people politely with no jumping, sit at street corners before crossing, wait for permission before stepping out the door, walk down the stairs instead of running, etc. I also avoided putting him in situations where he would fail. When he stopped coming to my call he lost his off leash privileges. When he started digging up the planters on my deck I put the planters behind a baby fence.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Do you do any impulse control games with him?


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## Oonapup (Oct 16, 2020)

Oona is going through this now, though (cross fingers) it feels like we've moved through the worst of it. She's 8 months. Setting her up for success by preventing the situations where the behavior is likely to happen, like @cowpony suggests, has been helpful. As has training to build self control. Oona's triggers aren't from digging, but getting overtired, overexcited, or frustrated will sometimes bring out jumping and biting. If our outing has been too long she might start on our walk home; she tends to try it at the first street crossing at the start of our walks when she's fresh, so I've been reinforcing her more for walking nicely at those times/places, and sometimes it's just uncontained exuberance after she greets another dogs or does something really fun. In those cases I can usually ask her for something else and we are able to move on. Try to prevent the digging in the first place and/or change your response to it so whatever is getting him so excited isn't happening (scolding is really exciting sometimes - I just have to say 'stop digging' to Oona and that results in zoomies).

Another thing that I think has really helped us with self control recently is a two-cue time out we learned from our new trainer. The first time the dog does something you don't want, they get a cheerful "that's enough". If they do it again/ keep doing it, you say "oh, too bad" in a disappointed voice and they get a 30 sec-3 min crate time out. It shocked me how quickly Oona learned this - much more effective than "ah ah!" or "off!" or "leave it". She changes her behavior more than half the time now on the first warning.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I would be cautious about how you approach him when he’s digging, especially since you say he’s edgy after. Dogs can resource guard holes, and you don’t want him to start thinking an approaching human means his treasured hole will be taken from him. Even worse will be if he learns that using his teeth can keep the humans away. 

I think getting professional help is always a good idea, if only to have that resource available to you, especially as you navigate adolescence. Just make sure the trainer is certified (CPDT or KPA) and that they’re not going to escalate the situation by using excessive force. Your puppy just needs to learn that good things happen when he stops digging, and he maybe also needs another outlet for that drive.


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## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

I’m sure a trainer can help way more than me but can you cover the bare spots with sod or seed? I’m trying to fix my front yard which has gotten a huge bare spot and the Scott’s seed I got has really helped it!


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## Bailey_Whiskey (Jan 18, 2021)

Whiskey gets obsessed when he plays with Bailey, my Shih Tzu. Refused all the high value treats and toys too. I've been managing his obsession by removal of Bailey when he is excited, as suggested by his trainer. 
But like your pup, it has been failing me the last two weeks (Whiskey is also 6.5 months male spoo puppy) and there were 2 incidents where he snapped at us. We just gave stern NOs and left him for 2 minutes as his "punishment". Thankfully no more snapping and growls because those were SCARY (first big dog for us).



Oonapup said:


> Another thing that I think has really helped us with self control recently is a two-cue time out we learned from our new trainer. The first time the dog does something you don't want, they get a cheerful "that's enough". If they do it again/ keep doing it, you say "oh, too bad" in a disappointed voice and they get a 30 sec-3 min crate time out. It shocked me how quickly Oona learned this - much more effective than "ah ah!" or "off!" or "leave it". She changes her behavior more than half the time now on the first warning.


This I want to try


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## Oonapup (Oct 16, 2020)

Bailey_Whiskey said:


> Whiskey gets obsessed when he plays with Bailey, my Shih Tzu. Refused all the high value treats and toys too. I've been managing his obsession by removal of Bailey when he is excited, as suggested by his trainer.
> But like your pup, it has been failing me the last two weeks (Whiskey is also 6.5 months male spoo puppy) and there were 2 incidents where he snapped at us. We just gave stern NOs and left him for 2 minutes as his "punishment". Thankfully no more snapping and growls because those were SCARY (first big dog for us).
> 
> 
> This I want to try


Just be careful that you are touching or have close access to the dog if you're going to give the "too bad". If they can jump or move away it can easily turn into naughty "chase me" once they learn what the two cues mean.


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## artichokepainting (Mar 23, 2021)

Wow I don’t know why I did not see all these fantastic replies to my post until now. Thank you all so much. I agree sometimes it seems resource-guarding and what we did was restrict times in the yard and also cover bare dirt spaces and digging has significantly decreased! We’re dealing with other similar over excitement issues now but not in the yard anymore at 10.5 months old.


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## artichokepainting (Mar 23, 2021)

Oonapup said:


> Another thing that I think has really helped us with self control recently is a two-cue time out we learned from our new trainer. The first time the dog does something you don't want, they get a cheerful "that's enough". If they do it again/ keep doing it, you say "oh, too bad" in a disappointed voice and they get a 30 sec-3 min crate time out. It shocked me how quickly Oona learned this - much more effective than "ah ah!" or "off!" or "leave it". She changes her behavior more than half the time now on the first warning.


I’ll give this a try if I need to now, sounds like something he would respond to. Our main issue now is over excitement and having some biting attacks but no more resource guarding-ish or digging.


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