# Questions about play time and crate training for 20 week old puppy



## vb01 (Jun 16, 2020)

Hi,
So me and my wife got the cutest little puppy about when he was 12 weeks old and named him Yoda (should've named him Vader.. haha).
Now he is almost 20 weeks old. He is very friendly with people and just wants to play all the time.
As new parents, me and my wife struggle with a lot of things and don't quite understand some of his behaviours. 
So here go the questions:
1. As I said, he plays a lot. His daily schedule involves atleast 2 walks 45 mins each and in the evening we go to the park for him to interact with other puppies. The evening play lasts a lot.. sometimes he plays for 1.5 hours straight. Then we have to carry him home coz he doesn't want to leave. Some people say that it's not so good for him to play that much since he is small. Is that true?
2. Any advice on how to stop him from putting every damn thing in this mouth? I understand things are still new for him and he is curious but will this habit go away as he grows?
3. We have trained him in basic command, sit/stay/ down/ come etc. He follows them almost always when inside and with varying degree when outside. What other types of training will be helpful to give the puppy?
4. About crate training. He has been a good pup from the start and stays in the crate all night, without a sound. However, during day time it's a completely different story. Till we are in his sight, he is calm, but as soon as we go away, he starts barking and whining. We can see that he is very restless in the crate. He does settle down after a bit but starts again at the slightest of sounds from the outside. It's been already about a month since we started him on the crate, but this behaviour isn't going away. We don't take him out of the crate till he settles down. We feed him in there, also give him treats etc.
Does this change?
5. When the puppies play. they bite each other.. I can see it's not real biting most of the time but sometimes when he wants to play with a smaller puppy (chihuahua), he bites them and it seems to hurt them. I want him to learn how to play with smaller puppies. Is it something I can teach him or he will learn on his own?

And atlast, attaching a pic of the little devil when we got him









And after his first haircut


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## vb01 (Jun 16, 2020)

I just realised I posted this in the wrong thread. Is there an option to move it to Training thread.?


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## wkomorow (Aug 26, 2011)

I moved this to the training sub-forum as requested.


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## zooeysmom (Aug 1, 2011)

1. As I said, he plays a lot. His daily schedule involves atleast 2 walks 45 mins each and in the evening we go to the park for him to interact with other puppies. The evening play lasts a lot.. sometimes he plays for 1.5 hours straight. Then we have to carry him home coz he doesn't want to leave. Some people say that it's not so good for him to play that much since he is small. Is that true?

That is too much formal exercise and also too long playing with the other puppies. They often don't know when to quit. One hour free play should be fine, but I would give him breaks on leash every now and then so he can rest and recharge. As for the walking, check out the Puppy Culture Chart to see what is better for his age: Puppy Culture Exercise Poster


2. Any advice on how to stop him from putting every damn thing in this mouth? I understand things are still new for him and he is curious but will this habit go away as he grows?

Limit what he has in his area to chew on. Does he have an X-pen? Only put safe chews in with him--Kongs (look on their website to see some cool ideas for what to stuff them with), Nylabones, bully sticks are all good (but please supervise him with the latter two). I spray bitter apple spray on any furniture, woodwork, or rugs the puppy shows interest in. 

3. We have trained him in basic command, sit/stay/ down/ come etc. He follows them almost always when inside and with varying degree when outside. What other types of training will be helpful to give the puppy?

Stay and come are the most valuable commands for safety, so kudos for doing those already! Check out Kikopup and Zak George on YouTube for some fun tricks you can teach him. You can also work on him heeling on leash. 

4. About crate training. He has been a good pup from the start and stays in the crate all night, without a sound. However, during day time it's a completely different story. Till we are in his sight, he is calm, but as soon as we go away, he starts barking and whining. We can see that he is very restless in the crate. He does settle down after a bit but starts again at the slightest of sounds from the outside. It's been already about a month since we started him on the crate, but this behaviour isn't going away. We don't take him out of the crate till he settles down. We feed him in there, also give him treats etc.
Does this change?

Look up "Crate Games" on YouTube. Also make sure he isn't spending too much time in the crate. Not more than a few hours in the daytime since he also sleeps there at night. An X-pen is much better to confine him in for daytime. 

5. When the puppies play. they bite each other.. I can see it's not real biting most of the time but sometimes when he wants to play with a smaller puppy (chihuahua), he bites them and it seems to hurt them. I want him to learn how to play with smaller puppies. Is it something I can teach him or he will learn on his own?

No, he should have already learned this lesson from his mother and siblings. Best to put him on leash if he gets too aggressive with other dogs. Never let him do that to the other puppies. Other dogs could become frightened for life because of it. 

And atlast, attaching a pic of the little devil when we got him
View attachment 274626


And after his first haircut


View attachment 274625

[/QUOTE]
Very cute


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## Snuggle's Mom (Jan 3, 2008)

Please do not give your dogs the hard (resin) Nylabones as they have been proved to be damaging to a dogs stomach. I would seriously suggest that you do your research regarding Nylabones. Our late Snuggles had a issue with them many years ago. When we stopped giving them to her, all of those issues stopped.


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## vb01 (Jun 16, 2020)

Thanks for the replies!
Yeah even we think he shouldn't play so much. We did try limiting his walks and play time outside, but then he is never tired and doesn't sleep. Any suggestions on that?
I've heard puppies sleep for 20 hours a day. Can it be too much carbs from the food keeping him awake or something? We give him Royal canin puppy food mixed with plain boiled chicken. The breeder was giving him the same brand and suggested to continue with it. I've heard the brand is not that good. I've tried to search for brands suggested in the group but can't find any of them where I live (EU).

He has almost stopped chewing things in the house, except our shoes. It's outside that he goes sucking everything in this path. Mostly wooden sticks and leaves but also random stuff (atleast he has stopped taking cigarette butts in his mouth). We don't want to put a muzzle on him when outside, but still want to know if it works in the long run?

We haven't tried a playpen yet. We are trying to housebreak him, so with all the space in the plypen.. wouldn't he pee in it if unsupervised ? We didn't start housebreaking him as soon as we got him ( a big mistake).
We did try frozen kongs in the crate, but again he plays/eats it till we are in sight.. as soon as we leave he stops playing and starts whining.

Most of the time he plays it's not even biting.. I see them opening their jaws and tying to catch one another.. haha..
Yes we do hold him when he plays rough and stop his play for some time before letting him play again... Will this solve the biting issue as he grows?


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## zooeysmom (Aug 1, 2011)

vb01 said:


> Thanks for the replies!
> Yeah even we think he shouldn't play so much. We did try limiting his walks and play time outside, but then he is never tired and doesn't sleep. Any suggestions on that?
> *
> Yes, crate him for naps regularly! They are like kids who get overtired and just can't stop! *
> ...


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## rosietoby (Mar 27, 2008)

I started following a group on FB called Saving Pets one pet @ a time. They have some great information on food and vaccines. This photo shows which foods they recommend.


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