[ Post a Response | Rhodesian Ridgebacks And Friends ]
Posted by Sara2 on 10/6/2008, 3:16 pm, in reply to "4 mo. old puppy questions"
198.91.8.12
Hey Jodi,
4 month old puppies are beautiful and imperfect creatures, aren't they? 
They grow up very quickly so when you're not swearing under your breath at her, you should enjoy her! (I know, I know. I'm one to talk. Mine finally quit destroying things.) It will help to remember that your 4 month old is developmentally about the equivalent of a 2 yr old; she's not capable of any real advanced learning yet, so keep it simple and give lots of kisses.
My #1 piece of advice would be to crate her liberally. I know it feels like you're imprisoning her, but you're not. It will save you lots of destruction. She should sleep in her crate at night (preferably in someone's bedroom) and any time you leave the house. (Helps with house-training, too.) And a crate is a great thing to have when you or she needs some calm-down time.
Teething: the last of the major teething stages hits around 8 months. Frozen washcloths work as well on puppies as they do on babies. Even better if they've got a little diluted chicken broth in them.
Mouthing you or the kids: The best response to a mouthy puppy is for the victim of the nip to yell "Ouch!" and (this is the important part) get up and walk away from the puppy. The puppy's trying to play, so not-playing is sort of the equivalent of a time-out for her. (This may involve a lot more kid-training than puppy-training; no kid hands in the dog's mouth is a good rule.)
Able to be trustworthy alone in the house: This varies. My male was good to go at 18 months. My female needed a little longer, and at 2.5 yrs old, she'll still do a little rearranging to the house if she's not had enough exercise when we leave. Some are never trustworthy loose in the house, but I think most are pretty good to be left out by 2. It takes them until about 2 to leave the puppy stage.
Counter-surfing: I got lucky and didn't get bad surfers. What helps the most is not leaving food out, which I know isn't always a reasonable expectation. I've heard you can tie a can of pennies to an irresistable treat and let her scare herself my pulling it off the cabinet, but I've never tried that myself.
Sanity: Most of us would give our eye teeth to have our dogs back to puppies for a day, so count yourself lucky. Plus, they grow and change SO QUICKLY; as soon as you think you can't handle whatever phase she's in right now, she'll be on to something new. If you haven't started doing some NILIF training, you may find that useful. Since she knows how to sit, make her sit before she gets fed, and don't let her eat until she's released.
Can you post some photos so we can all drool over your baby? Here's a couple of mine as wee ones:
Lucius at 4 months 
Selma at 2 days 
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