1 year old cockerpoo... challenging behaviour
What about it?
Hi all. Long post incoming so apologies in advance. My wife and I are struggling a bit with our year old cockerpoo. I've had several dogs before this (mainly collie mixes - this breed is new to me) including a puppy, so I thought I knew what I was doing and what to expect, but our little girl (Frida) has proven challenging in a number of ways, and to be honest, we're struggling a bit.
Her energy levels are sky high and it seems almost impossible to give her all the stimulation she seems to need. We're now walking her three times a day, and it certainly makes her sleep more, but whenever she's awake she needs some kind of interaction or stimulation. She's very smart and quick to pick up new tricks, completely engaged whenever we've got a treat or toy in our hands, but if not, she's almost always up to no good. Attacking her bed, or our cushions, is a favourite pastime. In the evenings when we want to settle down, she won't chill out at all, unless she's literally passed out. Often she'll go to the back door where she can stare out the window, and just bark, for attention or to be let out. When we let her out she doesn't do a wee and come back inside or whatever, she'll wander around, finding bits of whatever on the ground to crunch up, digging in our plant pots or biting plants or the walls of the shed, or digging at a particular patch on the wooden decking where she's already managed to carve out a huge hole. We've been given some tips by a trainer to teach her to settle (we put a matt down and give her treats while waiting longer periods of time) which she does fine while we're doing it, but as soon as we stop, it's back to the disruptive/destructive behaviour.
For me the hardest thing is feeling like I don't have much of a relationship with her. Owning dogs has always been a big part of my life and having a companion to just cuddle with on the sofa and go for walks with brings me so much joy, but I'm just not getting that right now. If I go in to pet her, most of the time, she'll just start to bite my hand (in a playful way, but still). She almost never just sits with me on the sofa and hangs out, she only wants to play or be given treats. Which I'm happy to do, but I can't do it all the time. When we're on walks she pays very little attention to me, often won't obey commands without a lot of insistence/encouragement (her recall is terrible), and mainly wants to just chase squirrels, run at butterflies (her new obsession) or look for other dogs to play and run around with. She goes to daycare once a week which I know she loves and she's very friendly with other dogs, but tbh, I feel like she could take or leave us. Like if we gave her away to a different home she wouldn't care. Me and my last dog were utterly inseparable so I suppose I was looking forward to that sort of relationship again, or at least something approaching it, but right now I'm not feeling it.
I've been really struggling with all this recently because I put at lot of it down to just puppyishness, but now she's a year old I think I was assuming it would be a bit better by now. I love her to bits but right now I'm finding owning this dog more difficult than joyful.
The worst thing so far happened just last night, we let her out and she started barking at something - no idea what, there was no sounds, I can only assume she could smell a rat or other creature nearby - and when my wife tried to shoo her inside, like we've done a million times before, Frida went crazy at her, snarling and snapped/lunged at her hand, in a way she's never, ever done before. She play bites a *lot*, but this was something else. I didn't see it but I heard it and she made a sound I've never heard her make before. It was insane and my wife was quite scared and upset by it. I have no idea where that came from or if it's something to be worried about.
Is this all normal behaviour for this breed? Is it just still puppy period hyperactivity she'll grow out of or is this the sort of thing we can expect from now on? Will there be a point I'll start to feel a relationship with her or am I just putting myself through unnecessary pain by expecting it?
Sorry for the wall of text. Picture of her for attention, thanks in advance for any replies.
Chris
