Nitrosmom

Hi all! Nitro is a very healthy happy 14 weeks old now. His newest favorite thing to do is bark. He is typically quiet all day, but around 3:45 he will sit in front of me and bark. He follows me around the house and barks. He goes outside and barks. Some days he will og on like this for up to half an hour.

I have tried turning my back and ignoring him, he runs around me biting my feet and barking.

I tried crating him. He barks louder.

I resorted to trying to pet him, he bits and barks.

I don't think he is hungry, he gets breakfast at 6, lunch at 12:30 and dinner at 6. When I train him, I use his food as training treats, so he gets even more food throughout the day.

I am thinking perhaps this is when I should try walking him? We typically go around 8 am and 7 pm. Perhaps he needs to burn off the energy? Any other suggestions?

LuciaB

Cannoli gets this way and our solution is to either start a game or take her for a run. My boyfriend gets down on the floor and wrestles and plays with her, which she LOVES. She also like fetching, which is usually my solution as I can do that while I'm doing other household chores. My daughter will get on her bike and ride while 'Nolli runs along beside her. If we don't address it she does the same thing Nitro is doing, bites our feet and generally pesters us. They know how to get their point across!

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~Lucia~

Nitrosmom

Yes they do! I do try to play fetch with him, but when he gets like that instead of dropping the toy so we can throw it again, he will drop it and the bit when we try to pick it up.

I am working on leash training him His nose gets the best of him so I spend more time coaxing him to come than actually walking. Unless he sees something to chase, then he is off to the races! I am hesitant to try biking with him because he is still so small. I have never had a dog actually walk/bike. How do I get started?

MollyMcFrecklesMom

Are your pups sassy too? When I tell Molly "no!" she sits and barks at me. Such a sassy little girl...always has to get the last word in. It cracks me up!

SophieB

Personally I think Nitro wants to play... and his barking is attention seeking.... Having had two litter sisters, I've had no problems whatsoever with them and we never heard them bark until they were eleven months old, after our Cocker Spaniel barked when a huge dog was at our front gate and they joined in!!!! They don't even howl/bay and we wish they would!!!

My Bassets have always played together ever since we got them at 9 weeks of age and they play each other indoors and out... both gently and some rough and tumble and they also enjoy playing with balls, soft toys, tuggy toys etc and when they were chunky pups I loved rolling around the floor with them!

Don't forget that at 14 weeks you shouldn't be taking Nitro on long walks, better several short walks each day until he's 10 or 11 months old! I wonder if he'd like to have a doggy friend to play with because two dogs play so differently to a dog and a person... as I know only too well, and they also get gentle exercise this way too!

I wouldn't go biking with him at such a young age as he shouldn't be forced to keep up with you.... he should be just having short 'gentle' walks for now at his pace. Can you throw things in the garden for him to fetch and gain exercise this way?


Edit: We have a long passageway leading from our hall and our hounds love chasing balls that we roll along for them and they bring them back and we have fun this way and they burn up energy too! Maybe you could try playing with Nitro instead of crating him!

Nitrosmom

We have a cat that loves to play with Nitro. For a short time anyway. I am not in the situation to get another dog at this point in time. We "play" most of the day, of course, he is learning what "get it", "bring it", "drop it" and come mean, along with the usual sit, down, wait. We are working on leave it, but that is asking a lot from him!

I will throw two toys at once and tell him which one I want, he gets it right about half the time. It cracks me up!

SophieB, I don't walk him for far. It is less than half a mile to the corner and back to the house, we have only made it that far twice. I usually stroll and let him smell and roll in the weeds. He has an easy life!

Nitrosmom

SophieB, we have a 30 foot cable in the yard for him, we are not allowed to have fenced yards in my subdivision. I tied a stuffed bunny to the end of a rope attached to a stick and play catch the bunny with him. One neighbor reminded me he is not a cat. It is fun, and it tires him out anyway! When he is outside, he totally forgets how to play fetch. He watches the ball fly through the air and land, then roll. Then he looks at me as if to say "you threw it, you go get it" Ah the life of a basset!

SophieB

Awww I'm just picturing Nitro chasing the bunny!!!! He's a clever boy bringing back the right toy!!

Do you leave him unattended outside tied up because hopefully he won't run round and round and strangle himself?!

Nitrosmom

Oh no, he goes out for short periods of time. He has found the fun of digging up my yard. He is still quite small, and we have some HUGE birds that could swoop down and snatch him. His cable is on a spinner so it will not tangle too.

I added a picture of him and his bunny to my profile.

LuciaB

Cannoli is definitely sassy! She has become more and more vocal over the past couple of months, probably because we have conversations with her which encourages it.

We have 3 dogs and they all play together, our other two are generally fairly quiet and sometimes when 'Nolli is excited and getting really loud they just stop and look at her as if in shock. If the other two are playing tug of war with a toy she'll run around them in a circle barking.

I saw you asked about how to get Nitro started on biking and to be honest I have no idea, my daughter got Cannoli doing it at some point this summer. I'll have to ask her how she did it.

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~Lucia~