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End of our rope…
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Hey Everyone,
Looking for advice and hope with our almost 6 month Weim puppy. I used to love her, but as you can imagine she has hit her adolescent stage and we are just about at the end of our rope… She gets at least a morning run, is in a puppy and obedience class, and has a backyard to run in anytime she wants.
We feel like right now she gives nothing back, she is constantly hard unless she is in her crate, she knocks our kids over at a full run (they are 1 and 3) if they are ever in the yard together, even supervised, she won’t sit by us anymore or snuggle, she is such a teenager!
My husband is seriously thinking about rehoming her and my little boy doesn’t even like her anymore because all she does is steal things from him and knock him over. Will this end? Is this just Weim behavior? We have a great breeder who would take her back or rehome her if needed, but it would be heartbreaking for me to give her away.
Any support or ideas would be appreciated.
Wow, what a hard time you are having.
We rescued our girl at the age of 4 so we didn’t have her in puppyhood. This seems to be a pretty normal behavior not just for weims but for dogs in general.
Weims are big dogs that can knock even an adult over if not careful.
Have you spoken with your breeder for suggestions, I am sure they want your girl to succeed with you so they may be a good first resource. My next suggestion would be to speak with a trainer/behaviorist and possibly have them work with you and your girl. Your local rescue might be able to help you and would also be a good resource for the trainer?behaviorist.
Where are you located? I know that is an excellent husband/wife training team in Northern Ky. They are very experienced they weims. Even if you are not from the area they have quite a network and might be able to make good suggestions for someone else to work with.
Good luck.
Around 6 months old is the hardest time. They test you on everything and suddenly seem to forget everything they once learned, but it does get better! It will help a lot to increase the exercise. off leash running or playing with other dogs will really help to wear her out. Mental stimulation is just as important and will also wear her out. I know you said you are doing puppy classes, but how often do you work on it at home? Multiple, short training sessions every day will be beyond helpful! A tired puppy is much easier to enjoy! Puppy hood can tough, but it is so worth it.
Ok, I am going to be “that guy” and be blunt and honest. Very blunt. But I hope you’ll read through that.
This is normal. This is what puppies do. Puppies can be assholes. Just like kids can be assholes. If you think this is bad, boy are you going to be in for a nasty surprise when your kids hit puberty. Would you re-home your kid the first time they get into a fight at school? (Trick question, my wife works with foster homes)
This behaviour tends to be worse with smart dogs. We choose smart dogs because of many reasons. But at times, this comes at a price. They won’t just test you. They will try to “solve” you. But because they are so smart, they’ll try to “solve” their problem (not getting what they want) in a million different ways. It will test your character. They will test your character. You will have to prove that you’re worthy of this challenge, otherwise you don’t deserve the rewards.
See; when smart dogs grow out of their asshole phase, they will turn this intelligence into making you happy. Contrary to some yappy little fluff ball just gazing out into space, they will look at you like an equal, and they will make you feel part of “their” family. They will come bring you toys and kisses when you’re sad. They’ll pull funny faces when you’re angry. They will bring you a blanket to share when it’s cold. They will seek your approval, and your love. They will look at you, and they will understand you. They will want to be close with you. All the time. They’ll sleep besides you. Watch over you while you nap on the sofa (there might be a rogue squirrel) go with you on any trip, anywhere, any time, love anything and everything that you do, and they’ll stand by you, firmly. They develop a very distinct personality that is very easy to read and relate to. They will become self aware and vocal, and will literally try to talk to you, and try to understand you.
Eventually.
But all these rewards are to be considered privileges. And will have to be nurtured through a bond. A bond that won’t “just happen” like with any ol’ dog that’s just happy there’s a person around. They bond with you, and just you.
This will be a matter of months. Years, even. If this is not a commitment that you can handle, then maybe you should consider a cat.
Digest this for a bit, and if you have any specific questions besides “my puppy is bad” then I’ll be happy to give you an honest, useful answer. So you can improve the bond with your dog. Like the one everyone else on this forum enjoys so much. I have 2 of them. They drive me to the edge of sanity sometimes, but I wouldn’t know what to do without them.
Forever Weimanamanama
I’m so sorry to hear that your girl is giving you such trouble (it moved me to register! I’ve just been lurking since the transition from WeimAddict).
My girl is 9 months now, and I was right there with you three months ago. My profile pic is Sky at 6 months, and you can see there’s lots of snow. 6 month old weimy + brutal Chicago winter = no fun, but we persevered, and Sky has changed a LOT in the last three months. She hasn’t grown much physically, but mentally she has changed quite a bit. She’s become much cuddlier and more focused on my boyfriend and me, and has become more respectful of our other dog. We still see some puppy zoomies, but not as much. 3 months ago she was a champion counter surfer, and now I’m really stunned if I see her jump up (the Petco cashier couldn’t believe she wouldn’t jump up on the counter for a treat! I was so proud).
Now, it’s not all good. She’s getting mouthy again (this is 100% to be expected–8+ months are prime chewing time), and she jumps on me. She used to be totally cool with nail trims and she’s decided they’re terrifying. But we got through the first round of mouthiness, and we’ll get through it again. Same for the jumping and nails and everything else.
The point is, so much can change in a few months. Everything BasG said about them maturing into smart, loving companions is true. We got our weimy because we loved the adult weims that we worked with, not because we expected to have an easy puppy (honestly, I feel that we’ve gotten off pretty easy). So if you’ve given her a few months already, can you stick with it a few more? The problem behaviors today can change if you work at it.
With all of that in mind, a few practical suggestions:
-Schedule a behavior consultation with a trainer. Obedience/puppy classes =/= individualized attention. We did a consultation over a month ago and it has been so helpful in our day to day coexistence with Sky. We spent 2 hours with a trainer, and she assessed Sky, Sky’s interactions with her, with us, and with Meadow (doggy #2, a small brittany mix). She gave us training tasks, but also easy, practical rules to follow around the house, and implementation has been pretty easy.
-Does your girl wear a leash in the house? Leash = extra control for you, even if it’s just dragging around behind her.
-Reinforce calm behavior. Our trainer told us to work on long downs for Sky to improve focus and reinforce calm behavior. Helping her hold a down for 15 minutes can be mind-numbing, but it’s paying off and she’s definitely more focused.
-Remember (and please don’t be offended by this!): your son is young, and young children can be fickle. I’m sure it’s painful knowing that he doesn’t like her now, and I’m sure that she’s given him reason to feel that way, but all it will take is a few consistent and positive experiences between them to turn that around.
It really stuck out to me that you said she was giving nothing back, because I was struggling with the same feeling with Sky for a few weeks. However, I had the benefit of knowing several adult weims, and I kept them in mind in the hard moments, knowing that Sky will get there some day. And the biggest thing that’s changed in the last 3 months is that she’s really started to give back.
Everybody’s experience and dog is different, though, and you’re coming into the hardest months. If it’s already this hard, I really really think it would be good to get individual help from a trainer. The people on this forum are all lovely and have wonderful advice, but having a professional come to your house and witness the behavior firsthand might be really beneficial.
Thank you! That is just what I needed to hear. I only want to know that if I put up with it I really will have the dog you talk about. I have not had a Weimaraner before and just want to make sure that the behaviors are normal and that she will eventually come around. Thanks for your honesty 🙂
You’ll only get out what you put in. Obviously, character traits are influential with the kind of dog you end up with. But dogs are very much the sum of their environment.
Forever Weimanamanama
All those things sound like normal puppy behaviour to me and specially Weimaraner puppy behaviour. I think your expectations were probably more in sync with a smaller and less energetic dog breed. Our puppy had those and MORE things that were driving us crazy as she also had some behavior issues. I would say that at 6 months she is not yet close to be a teenager but instead just full on the puppy stage. One thing they always tell you when considering a weimaraner is that they play rough and run fast so it is super normal for them to knock kids down. Will this change? Yes, but you need to continually work with her and also know that she still have a bit more time to start maturing. Big dogs take longer for this. My dog is over 2 and we are definitely having more fun with her now and seeing the rewards of the intense and hard training we did and continue doing these 2 years. They have so many different stages that is difficult to tell you when she will be out of this one. I also felt my dog was not giving anything back and was a lost rebel. We are getting lots back now.
My advice is to keep working with her. Some dogs are just fine with a regular class (as far as you TRULY work with them at home A LOT and reinforce all the training). Reinforcing the training and setting up rules that you are certain can reinforce (you will learn this in true behavior classes but most like not in petsmart type of classes, which only teach you very basic commands and things) are critical at this stage.
I cannot say enough how important good training is for these dogs. Not sure what type of class you are in but not all classes are good. We had a couple of pretty cookie-cutter standard classes that did not work that well for our dog. We had to do our research, and read books, and find a truly good trainer/behaviorist. We did classes and home reinforcement for about 1 year and the second year has been only us working at home with her (outside, inside, in the park, everywhere and in every situation). I can imagine it is much harder for you with 2 kids but i recommend you work with your dog as much as you can. If you just wait for her to grow but do not give priority to training and reinforcing good behaviors (which you can only learn from a trainer or from good books) she will calm down (will be less hyper) BUT she will still have bad habits.
I encourage you to not give up on her, put some good work on training, and you will have a good dog in the future. Good luck on your journey and all the best for you!
It really stuck out to me that you said she was giving nothing back, because I was struggling with the same feeling with Sky for a few weeks. However, I had the benefit of knowing several adult weims, and I kept them in mind in the hard moments, knowing that Sky will get there some day.
I feel this is a very good point. We also know several older Weims, and their owners always gave us the all knowing grin when we were complaining about our pup.
Helpful comments online are great. But not a substitute for having real life Weim friends.
Where are you located? There are people going on group hikes all the time.
Forever Weimanamanama
Amazingly well said! You really need to write a book on Weims. Indigo is my first 100% Weim and boy can he be an asshole, he’s now 13 months old, getting better but sometimes he just can help himself. I have the book “Gun Dog” by Richard Waters and he makes one statement that keeps things in prospective “there comes a time in training when you have to strongly resist the urge to beat up yourself or the dog”, and he was training Labs. I really think Weims are the ultimate dog, just not sure if I’m up to the task of being his equal and getting him to his full potential. Thanks for your insights it makes me realize and appreciate my buddy even more.
We are in both a puppy socialization class and a canine life and skills class (not from petsmart). After reading the comments and a scare the other night (she had an allergic reaction to something, and I was so worried about her) I’ve changed my attitude and we are going to work it out. I’ve set up puppy playdates in my backyard for every other day with dogs from the neighborhood. We live in Utah and don’t know anyone else with a Weim besides the breeder and she lives 3 hours away. Everything you all said, I knew all along but forget and needed to be reminded.
Thank you for your empathy and suggestions. Thank you for this site! My husband and I have wanted a Weim for 8 years, we just got overwhelmed and needed a kick in the butt to remind us why we got her in the first place!
She’s adorable.
Now, obviously I don’t have any context with this picture and they seem utterly comfortable with eachother. And you’re probably well aware about this already, but I wanted to share this just in case.
Forever Weimanamanama
I have only had senior weims, but seems you have gotten a lot of good advice. They are just too cute!
I see great advice here.
To add:
– take time out of your day to just be with your dog. I like taking one of our two just around the corner and practice tricks or whatever they are training for at that time.
– if you worry about control in a situation with kids or many stimuli a leash can be too long. Ink about a leash tab/traffic lead (a one for long little leash. I use them all the time. At the market, agility training, any situation I need them close to me) I know TuffPawsh has some on the Facebook page.
– talk to your dog trainer. If they are any good, they will be able to help. We are super lucky that our trainer happens to own a weim.
-we also noticed that our Weimaraners are very weim oriented in their play. They are snobs. If it ain’t a weim, it ain’t good enough.
Weimanamanama Weimaranermama
Any improvements? Did you try any of the ideas?
Weimanamanama Weimaranermama
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