# Evening Behaviour - help!



## TorLaw

Hello, 

This is the first time I've posted in this forum but I am in despair.

Our 7 month old puppy will just not settle in the evening and drives us to distraction with jumping up on the sofa and furniture, snuffling down the side of the couch, biting us when we try and stop her.

We've tried everything: repeatedly asking her to get down, putting her in her pen everytime she misbehaves, having her on a leash and telling her to settle down, teaching her where her bed is, giving her a bone to chew.

When she was a little younger she'd tire earlier but doesn't seem to tire at all now whilst she's in the lounge. We'd love nothing more than to have her sit with us on the floor or in a bed, chew on a bone or even sit on our laps but she will not settle!!

Can anyone help us?!

To give you an idea of evening routine:

- 6-7pm - dinner time for pup and then take her for a walk
- 7-8pm - plays in house whilst we prepare dinner
- 8-9pm - sleeps in crate/pen whilst we eat tea in the lounge
- 9-11pm - we let her into the lounge with us and she used to have a bone, play a bit and finally nap in her bed - Now she just goes mental and pays very little interest in bone or us for that matter!
- 11pm - put her to bed.

Thank you in advance for your advice - we need it


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## Milliesdad

Our Millie was just like that at 7 months. we used to call it her mad hour , which usually lasted from 5.30 pm till 7.30 pm. luckily she slowly grew out of it by the time she was 10 months and now she is fine.


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## Mazzapoo

Oh dear, we've been there, 6pm to 11pm non stop sillies with a sprinkling of biting for good measure. It's very draining and I sympathise but it does go away!

Have you done a puppy training class? Their advice was the 'settle' command - use a mat to the side of the settee and encourage pup to use it with treats, naming it 'settle down' 'good settle' etc when that behaviour is shown. It didn't sort it a great deal because giving her treats made Poppy forget the 'good' bit and go bonkers again, so we fine tuned and tried hard not to look at her, just dropping a treat casually onto the mat as a reward. 

The other major part of this is sleep I think, more sleep in general, in a non stimulating place - and some 'time out' in the evening when it goes too far - a bit of crate time if you use one or baby gate an area away from the lounge. Not in a punishment way, obviously, just a 'time to sleep now' swift removal from the scene to stop the madness breeding on itself. The lounge made Poppy go utterly insane, the pack was altogether, sometimes there were visitors, soft furnishings to jump on and chew, space to run around and the TV didn't help. Sometimes I resorted to sitting in the kitchen with her for the evening and she was a different dog but ultimately she has to fit into your life so that's not a long term solution. 

I'm sure you'll get lots more advice here and do use the search function, try 'doodle dash' and 'crockapoo' for starters. The main thing this forum taught me was to keep a sense of humour, it doesn't last forever and you just have to bend your life a little bit for a while. Chocolate and wine also helped  as did posting on here, give us pictures and we'll pay you in tips


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## dogcrazy

Do you think you could just leave her to sleep from 8pm or is she itching to get out and play? From what I have heard a lot of people put their puppies to bed about 8.30pm and then just wake them up for a wee before the family go to bed. Of course this would not work if she is all hyper and raring to get out and play but am wondering if she is just overtired?


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## Annabellam

Was about to ask if you walk her in the evening? but then i see you do. I think when they are growing up the level of activity goes up until now it starts going lower as they age. Basically maybe increase the time of play slightly earlier so that by the time you want to go to bed it has calmed down. Sammy is 2 but we have an agility course in our back yard designed for him. Keeps him busy and stimulated mentally and physically.


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## Tara

Hi. Maisie is 9 months old and still does this from time to time. It does sometimes seem like she is over tired which makes her go a bit loopy, a bit like an over tired toddler. When she gets like this and really won't settle, I put her in her crate which is in the dining room (away from the lounge) for 10-15 minutes, this seems to settle her down so when she comes back into the lounge she will usually doze on the sofa until we go to bed.


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## Billythespoodlenz

Our six month old puppy Billy went through a similar patch - in the evenings, just when we were about to relax for the night, he would go crazy - biting, pawing, jumping up on couch, resource guarding (growling) and generally being quite unpleasant. 

We tried all sorts of things to try and combat this, but nothing really worked until the trainer at our puppy school suggested we try one week of withdrawing all affection and ignoring him completely unless we were training and only rewarding him when he behaved nicely and was relaxed. 

It was quite hard to ignore him, but we tried really hard and it had such an impact! We pretty much didn't look at him, even when feeding him or taking him to the toilet. We rewarded any good behaviour with either treats or pats and in the evenings we rewarded relaxed behaviour and things like sitting down in his bed or playing with a toy, but ignored him whenever he jumped up or went crazy. After only a few days, he started relaxing more and trying very hard to be good. He's now a delight in the evenings - very independent and just trots around playing with his toys or sleeping in his bed in the lounge. Much nicer to be around! Good luck!


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## Gill57

Billythespoodlenz said:


> Our six month old puppy Billy went through a similar patch - in the evenings, just when we were about to relax for the night, he would go crazy - biting, pawing, jumping up on couch, resource guarding (growling) and generally being quite unpleasant.
> 
> We tried all sorts of things to try and combat this, but nothing really worked until the trainer at our puppy school suggested we try one week of withdrawing all affection and ignoring him completely unless we were training and only rewarding him when he behaved nicely and was relaxed.
> 
> It was quite hard to ignore him, but we tried really hard and it had such an impact! We pretty much didn't look at him, even when feeding him or taking him to the toilet. We rewarded any good behaviour with either treats or pats and in the evenings we rewarded relaxed behaviour and things like sitting down in his bed or playing with a toy, but ignored him whenever he jumped up or went crazy. After only a few days, he started relaxing more and trying very hard to be good. He's now a delight in the evenings - very independent and just trots around playing with his toys or sleeping in his bed in the lounge. Much nicer to be around! Good luck!


Am pleased to hear that Billy is a good boy now, but I could not withdraw love and affection (it would break my heart to do that) - you must have had a very strict trainer!! However, I think ignoring them when they mis-behave and then rewarding the right behaviour is the best way for the pup to learn.


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## Billythespoodlenz

Gill57 said:


> Billythespoodlenz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our six month old puppy Billy went through a similar patch - in the evenings, just when we were about to relax for the night, he would go crazy - biting, pawing, jumping up on couch, resource guarding (growling) and generally being quite unpleasant.
> 
> We tried all sorts of things to try and combat this, but nothing really worked until the trainer at our puppy school suggested we try one week of withdrawing all affection and ignoring him completely unless we were training and only rewarding him when he behaved nicely and was relaxed.
> 
> It was quite hard to ignore him, but we tried really hard and it had such an impact! We pretty much didn't look at him, even when feeding him or taking him to the toilet. We rewarded any good behaviour with either treats or pats and in the evenings we rewarded relaxed behaviour and things like sitting down in his bed or playing with a toy, but ignored him whenever he jumped up or went crazy. After only a few days, he started relaxing more and trying very hard to be good. He's now a delight in the evenings - very independent and just trots around playing with his toys or sleeping in his bed in the lounge. Much nicer to be around! Good luck!
> 
> 
> 
> Am pleased to hear that Billy is a good boy now, but I could not withdraw love and affection (it would break my heart to do that) - you must have had a very strict trainer!! However, I think ignoring them when they mis-behave and then rewarding the right behaviour is the best way for the pup to learn.
Click to expand...

We probably wouldn't have managed to stick with it unless we could see it working, but we had results pretty quickly. Even now if Billy gets a bit crazy, we ignore him and he settles down fast. He knows if he sits down he will get a pat, so it's often his default when he is trying to get our attention. Much better than when he was jumping and biting! It's all worth it in the long run! ?


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## Disneyboo2

I'm certainly no expert as Whisky is only 6 months old and I've only had one other dog who was totally different! 
We often have a similar evening with Whisky, she just goes completely hyper! Running after the cats, chasing then on and of the furniture, running round the sofa and growling! I've notice when she is over tired she "digs" in her bed, on our bed or on the furniture and this hyper time seems to involve this behaviour also. It's like a baby not wanting to give into sleep! 

I usually try and remove the cats from the situation and try and be really calm with her, get her attention with treats and try some basic training that I know she can easily do. This tends to focus her, once she is focused I sit her with me and gently stroke her or brush her, she usually is asleep within minutes!


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## TorLaw

Hello all,

Massive apologies for not being back in touch since all of your kind messages about our pup. We have tried a variety of things but there is definitely food for thought in all of your suggestions.

I think that Rey's behaviour is down to a mixture of being over-tired, excited to have us home and maybe a distracting environment. She also really doesn't like having just my husband or just me around in the evening, that's when the behaviour starts to get even crazier. 

Some things to build on and training to do, me thinks!

Thanks so much for all your suggestions and look forward to more forum chat in the future.

Best wishes, 

Vicky


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